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“But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).  Read Luke 1:26-38. I’ve often wondered what Mary and Joseph would say about Christmas. I imagine that if I had the opportunity to interview Mary, she might say, “I will always remember the agony, pain, and bewilderment of being pregnant when I had not been with a man.” She would probably tell me, “In the midst of this hurt, I remember the comfort that came when the angel Gabriel spoke to me and told me that, of all the women of Israel, I was privileged to carry the Messiah.”   Mary might also share about her visit to the home of her cousin Elizabeth and how John the Baptist leapt in his mother’s womb at the sound of her voice. She might explain in detail the shepherds’ visit on the night Jesus was born. She might describe the three astronomers from Persia and the gifts […]

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come” (Matthew 24:42).   Read Matthew 24:36-51.   To illustrate just how sudden His coming will be, Jesus told three short parables. First, He compared the generation that will be alive for His return to Noah’s generation, which was filled with wickedness, self-indulgence, and complacency. The people had no regard for God’s Word; they mocked Noah as he tried to warn them of coming judgment—and they were taken by surprise when the flood came.   As part of this first picture, Jesus described the separation that will take place between those who love the Lord Jesus and those who merely pretend to be Christians. Two coworkers, two relatives, two next-door neighbors, two roommates—one will go to heaven, the other one will go to hell. Our Savior, who paid for our salvation with His own blood, is warning us that not everyone will be saved. Only those […]

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near” (Matthew 24:32).   Read Matthew 24:29-35.   Jesus gave us the supreme signs of His return, the things that will take place after the great tribulation: The sun will darken, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavens will be shaken (see Matthew 24:29). You see, though we are prone to forget, God is not only the Creator of the universe but also the sustainer of the universe.   In Hebrews 1:3, we read that Jesus is the one “sustaining all things by his powerful word.” He upholds all the stars and the galaxies by His power. And on the day when, just for one nanosecond, He withholds that sustaining power, you’re going to see thousands of stars pile up in the sky.   While […]

“For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27).   Read Matthew 24:15-28.   In AD 70, Satan instigated the Romans to attack and destroy Jerusalem, the birthplace and epicenter of the Christian faith. As terrible as those days were, they cannot compare to what’s coming next. Jesus revealed to His disciples that just before His return there will be a great tribulation “unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again” (Matthew 24:21). This tribulation is going to encompass the whole globe. No one will be able to escape it. And this will be a great indicator that the return of Christ is near. Now, Jesus also said that no one knows the day of His return. It could be today, or it could be one hundred years from now. Only the Father knows when it will […]

“All these are the beginning of birth pains” (Matthew 24:8).   Read Matthew 24:1-14.   There are many people wondering if we are living in the end times. Believe it or not, Jesus’ disciples also wondered if they were living on the edge of the end of days. They went to their Master and asked, “[W]hat will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3). It was a short question, but Jesus gave a long answer. That’s because the Truth was more complicated than the disciples knew.   You see, the Jewish people believed the Messiah would come only once. Thus, the disciples were wondering when Jesus would declare His global, eternal rule and usher in a new era. But through His answer, Jesus indicated that His visible rule on earth would be in the distant future; it wasn’t going to happen immediately, as the disciples thought. He went on to explain that […]

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16a).   As Christians, we must remember God chose us not because we are lovable but in spite of our unlovable condition. His love is unconditional. His choice was a function of His sovereign will. Why He chooses one and not another is a mystery known only to God. And because His sovereign election of you and me is an act of His sovereign grace, we have no reason to be arrogant. His election of us drives us to our knees in humility and brokenness before Him.   We can only cry out to God and say, “Lord, I don’t know why You love me, why You called me, why You chose me, why You predestined me—but in utter amazement and humility, I say thank You, I believe in You, and I want to spend all […]

Read Genesis 35:1-15.   For the believer in Jesus Christ, life goes from disorder to order, from the deep pit to the highest mountain, from disobedience to surrender. We go from power to greater power, from strength to greater strength, from one point of glory to another.   I realize that things don’t always feel this way in the Christian life. Take Jacob, for example. He acts selfishly and dishonestly, but then he has an experience with God and begins to live by faith. Then time goes by, and he gets busy, and suddenly he’s operating out of his own strength again. But then he’s reminded of God’s promises, and his spirit is renewed. Is it any wonder that when we read about Jacob’s life, we see a bit of ourselves?   In Genesis 35, we read that Jacob was reminded of an experience he had had with God some twenty years earlier. God had spoken to him, saying, “Go […]

Read Genesis 33:1-20.   When a person surrenders to God, they are changed on the inside. They are freed from their striving, and they can rest in the goodness of God. As a result, they do not look at the world in the same way again. But this inward change cannot stay on the inside; it must overflow into every relationship.   We see this happen in the life of Jacob. When God appeared to Jacob as he camped on the bank of the Jabbok River, the pair had wrestled till daybreak. In that experience, Jacob surrendered to the Lord, and God changed the patriarch’s name from Jacob to Israel. God touched him, and he was never the same again.   The next day, Jacob finally met Esau. Although Jacob was a very different man from the schemer who had left home twenty years earlier, he still needed to clean up some past business. It didn’t matter how much time […]

Read Genesis 32:1-32.   Jacob was afraid. The entire reason he had fled to his Uncle Laban those many years ago was to escape his brother, Esau, who had threatened his life (see Genesis 27:41-45). Now he was on his way back home with no assurance that Esau’s feelings toward him had changed. So, he tried to buy his brother off. He separated his flocks and herds and counted out a substantial gift for Esau. “For he thought, ‘I will pacify him with these gifts I am sending on ahead; later, when I see him, perhaps he will receive me’” (Genesis 32:20). It was a smart plan, but it was unnecessary. God was with Jacob and was watching over him as He had promised (see Genesis 28:15). No evil thing would come upon him without the Lord’s say-so.   Of course, Jacob didn’t understand that. He let his fears and worries overtake him. But then, in the midst of his […]

Read Genesis 30:25-43.   The word prosperity often has a bad connotation today. When we think of prosperity, we frequently associate it with the prosperity gospel—a false gospel that entices people with promises of wealth and material possessions. Of course, if someone bends their knee to Jesus in order to receive money, then money is their god, not Jesus. And there is no greater tragedy than for a person to neglect the true riches of heaven for the poverty of financial security in this life alone.   With that said, we need to understand that prosperity is a Biblical word. God does, at times, prosper His people with financial and material blessings. He prospered Abraham (see Genesis 12:1-3, 7). He prospered the Israelites (see Acts 13:17). He prospered King David and King Solomon (see 1 Samuel 18:14, 1 Kings 3:11-14). And God also prospered young Jacob.   If you recall, Jacob had gone to work for his Uncle Laban. Laban […]

“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23). Yesterday we began looking at some of the things that can hinder our communication with God. Today we will look at three more pitfalls we must watch out for. Covetousness is also a hindrance to prayer. Covetousness is not only wanting what other people have but also wanting to keep resources that belong to the Lord. God said through Malachi, “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ In tithes and offerings” (Malachi 3:8). When we hold on to resources that belong to God, we are coveting and stealing from God. Yet when we joyfully give back what is rightfully His, we can experience “so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” (Malachi 3:10). Another hindrance to prayer is habitual disobedience. King Saul’s greatest flaw was his disobedience to […]

“Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3). Do you feel like your prayers are powerless and that God is not listening? This is not the experience God intended for prayer. He wants us to find joy and fellowship with Him, not frustration and loneliness. Jesus opened the communication lines between us and the Father; however, our sinfulness can affect our prayer lives. We must remain on guard against potential pitfalls so that we can maintain open lines of communication with our Lord. The first hindrance to prayer is a marriage relationship that is off kilter. Scripture warns us, “Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers” (1 Peter 3:7). God has given us a balanced formula for a […]