Isaiah 7:14

¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Spoke to a lovely lady yesterday about Christ on my prayer walk.  She said she is an ex-anglican, ex-catholic now Budhist among other things.

I asked her how she got to that view.

She said it was just too hard for her to believe in a virgin Mary giving birth to Jesus.

I asked her why she could not believe that.

She said she is very pragmatic and it was too much of a fable like story with no hard evidence.

She said you probably won't like my view on Jesus but I think he was just a good man and prophet.

I said you can't offend me, I have heard many views on Jesus but I do find it difficult to understand why people would find it difficult to believe that God could cause Mary to be pregnant.

I said if you look at all of creation around us, you see a beautiful sunrise in the morning, it becomes very easy for me to believe that the God that created all of this and all of humanity can cause a young woman to be pregnant in Bethlehem.

Many people have forgotten or don't realise why God caused Mary to be pregnant as a virgin. Jesus Christ was fully divine and fully human in order that His sacrifice and death on the cross would be sufficient for our sins so that we could all receive forgiveness.  People have missed the message in amongst the religious views and confusion that all we need to do is receive what He did on the cross, receive His grace freely. 

We continued to talk about Jesus and who He is and who He was while on earth.

We talked about how she didn't believe in miracles. We talked about extremists.  We talked about Church.  We talked about family.  We talked about community.

By the end she started saying things like I guess life itself, and the kids and grandkids that I have are a miracle and we should be thankful and grateful for that.

That was the end of the conversation.  But we did share a great moment talking about Jesus.

It did get me thinking about the virgin birth.

If Mary or Joseph had anything to do with the pregnancy humanity could take credit for the supernatural entry of Christ into the earth.

As Isaiah prophesied the virgin birth was a sign.

A sign that from the start this was all about grace.  Not about human effort.

Although Mary carried Jesus inside her, it was the spirit of God inside her that formed Jesus.

It was God coming to us.

It was God wanting to be with us.

It was God giving us Himself.

The great Creator of all things put Himself inside His creation.

The Lord Himself gave us the sign...

Oh! the humility Oh! the wonder

God with us.

When all of us did not deserve any of Him He gave all of Himself to all of us.

The verse before Isaiah 7:14 the prophet says is it not enough to try the patience of man.  Will you also try the patience of my God also?

This Christmas I pray we would not try His patience but embrace His free gift of grace.

Unto us a child is born.

Unto us a King is given.

What a gift!

What a King!

What a God!

Let us receive Him freely, for He has freely given Himself.

Bring Glory to Him by enjoying Him this Christmas.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

+jk

Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart.  They say, 'The people are stronger and taller than we are;the cities are large, with walls up to the sky...Deuteronomy 1:28


Where and what has God called you to?  Is it bigger than you? Is it impossible?
Good. 
It might just be about His glory and not yours.
Good.

Possessing the promise land for the Israelites was God's design, it wasn't their idea.
Their question therefore 'Where can we go?' or 'What way can we go up into the land?' was not based on what God desired but rather what man feared.

If the fear of what others think is louder in our hearts than what God desires we will lose heart.

What is it to lose heart?
To lose heart is to lose courage.
Courage is always coupled with the purpose of God.
Courage is always coupled with His glory.
Discouragement is always coupled with self, seasoned with victim mentality, blaming others for our lack of heart.

Courage.

Two spies came back with a positive report, ten negative...difference...faith.
Believing what God says is true. 
Faith always results in courage.
Its a gift because you know it is possible even though you have done nothing and logically it is totally impossible.

The cities we are called to reach are intense.
Its real.
It will eat you up and spit you out.
Its imposible.
Its too difficult.
Its too dark.
Its too large.
Its too...
Its too...
Its too...

It was His design not your idea.
He commanded you, you didn't ask.

It is not your fear driving you to reach a city it is His heart for humanity to know His glory.

You lose sight of His Glory you lose courage, you lose courage, you lose heart, you lose heart, you lose purpose, you lose purpose, you lose.

Our Heart His Courage.

Our Heart His Love.

Our broken hearts His unending Grace.

As we live for His glory courage comes like a flood.

Do not lose heart friend, lose your heart in His glory.


It all hangs on this...


+jk

Hebrews 12 ⁷Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! ¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.


When things get tough, whether it be physically, in our emotions, relationships, mistakes, finances, or other areas we must have a greater understanding of God then the western world around us.

When we as believers face trouble, whatever it may be, we must look to the scriptures to see that trouble does not mean God has left us or God is against us but rather He is loving us through this hardship.

The writer of Hebrews shows us that we should endure hardship as discipline, that it is a sign that you are part of the family of God and what kind of Father would God be if he did not discipline His sons and daughters.

God is the perfect Father so we believe what we are going through is perfect for us.

That is why we should as David did, compare our lives only to the Love of God not the life of someone else.

We now have an even greater comparison then David for although the spirit of God spoke the coming of Christ through him he never saw the fulfillment of that word as we have now seen it and know it to be true through scripture and our hearts.

Let us compare our current troubles to that of which Jesus Christ humbled himself...to very death itself, even when he lived the only flawless life that has ever been lived.

Perfect love drives out all fear.

When we see that God is Love and that He has shown us this and truly lived it out to the point of death we can be set free of the fear of failure and of suffering and of every other kind of fear this life brings.  God does not drive away suffering he drives out the fear of it.

Compare your life to His love and great joy will fill your heart by grace through faith.

Not only will we see that the hardship (if you can call it hardship living on the northern beaches) is God's way of disciplining us but we will see that without pain it is impossible to truly become the chosen people of God's Kingdom, for it is pain and suffering and our response to it in this life that reveals whether the grace of Jesus Christ is truly in us and completing its work in our hearts and lives.

Now don't be discouraged if you haven't responded well to trouble lately or in the past, but just as I have to consistently, let's as followers of Christ fix our eyes again not on the things of this world but on Christ who is seated far above this world and that we also by His grace through the work of the cross and the power of the resurrection have been seated in heavenly realms with Him.

Our joy is not reliant on us but on the completed work of Jesus Christ.

This I pray will set us free to be the hands and feet of a lost generation that need this good news preached through action, word and lifestyle.

As we see the perfect love of Christ I believe we can stop worrying about the little hardships we are facing in this life, that Paul describes as light and momentary and begin to reveal the joy that is beyond all joys in Jesus Christ.

This is your salt, this is your light.

With no suffering there is no discipline, with no discipline there is no growth, with no growth there is no righteousness and peace. 

Righteousness and Peace is what Jesus came to bring, right relationships with God, people and within ourselves and peace between God, people and within ourselves.

Be encouraged today the Father must love you.  Don't skip out of the race there are many who have gone before you and they are cheering you on from the stands of heaven. 

+jk