Day of Praise

Tu, 12/24/13, Christmas Eve, "Day of Praise"

"And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." - Luke 2:6-7

Yes, it's the same verses as yesterday because I've been thinking about these verses, including verse one through seven.

Have you ever noticed in the "birth of Jesus" verses (Luke 2:1-7) that there's a lot more about the census of the world and laying Jesus in the manger than there is about the birth specifically? The reason for this, that God put on my heart, is that the birth of Jesus is a fact, so it's just said as a matter of fact.

However, the census and laying Jesus in the manger have more said about them because we need to think more about the scope of Jesus's birth (census) and how we handle him (laying him in the manger). In sum, the scope of Jesus's birth touches the whole world, so God wants us all to share Jesus and the love of Jesus with the whole world. Additionally, it's impossible to share Jesus and his love with the whole world unless we ourselves handle him rightly, so God wants us to 1) receive Jesus personally into our lives, which is to truly believe in him, 2) talk to him intimately, which is to have constant fellowship and prayer with him, and 3) adore him with all our being, which is to worship him. By "handling" him rightly, we can then share him with the world.

Praise God!


Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson