Thought for December 16, 2023

  • 1631: Mt. Vesuvius erupts killing around 3000
  • 1773: Boston Tea Party
  • 1811: New Madrid Earthquake
  • 1897: African American delegates gather at Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington to organize the Lott Carey Foreign Mission Convention. Their work continues today evangelizing Africa i the name of Christ.
  • 1908: First credit union in the U.S.
  • 1930: Bobby Jones wins the Sullivan Award as the best amateur athlete. 
  • 1946: Dior Fashion House founded
  • 1951: "Dragnet" premiers
  • 1953: First White House press conference
  • 1970: "Love Story" released
  • 1972: Dolphins complete undefeated season 14-0
  • Born: Catherine of Argon, George Whitfield, Beethoven, Jane Austen, Noel Coward, Margaret Meade. Arthur C Clarke ["2001, A Space Odyssey"], Leslie Stahl, Don Meyer [basketball coach], Yosemite Sam, Refrigerator Perry
  • Died: Wilheim GrimmBetsie Ten Boom [sister of Corrie, in a concentration camp], Somerset Maugham, Colonel Sanders, Lee Van Cleef, Dan Fogelberg, Ray Price

Thought:
Yesterday, we saw God do a miracle--a virgin conceives by the Holy Spirit--God Himself takes on flesh and dwells among us. Look again at Luke 1 this morning.  What a story! A young woman living in Nazareth, not Jerusalem. Doing ordinary things--engaged, living at home, a virgin. And then an encounter with an angel--Gabriel. Look with me at 1:26-38. 
  • The angel's greeting--Favored one! The Lord is with you. Gabriel tells Mary she is favored by God twice [1:28, 30]. How would you like for an angel to tell you that you are favored by God? What would that mean? Perhaps that God had watched Mary's life and found her to be one who loved and feared God and tried to keep His commandments. When our parents were pleased with us it was usually because they saw us as loving and obedient children. Or perhaps finding favor with God meant that God had a special assignment and God was going to bless Mary by allowing her to be part of His plans for the world. My prayer for today is that I would find favor with God because He sees me as one who loves Him and obeys Him and that like Isaiah, whatever the assignment God had in mind, my response would be here am I, send me. And all of us are favored by God because He loved us and sent Jesus to save us. But stop for a moment and look ahead at Mary's life--she is favored by God and conceives the Christ; but that means:
    • Maybe being divorced, humiliated, stoned
    • Fleeing into Egypt.
    • Having her children and others think that Jesus is crazy
    • Seeing people flock to Him for healing and wisdom, but seeing the religious leaders want to kill Him and many reject Him.
    • Seeing Him tried and convicted as a rebel, beaten and whipped, crucified.
    • Watching Him die, but seeing Him raised from the dead.
    • Being favored by God, chosen for special service, does not mean a life free of challenges and pain. Being favored by God means the blessing of participating in His plan. 
  • The angel's message--you are going to have a baby named Jesus; He will be great and called the Son of the Most High; He will take the throne of David and reign forever. Now notice Mary's response--the only thing she questions is that she is a virgin. She doesn't ask how her son in Nazareth is going to be King in Jerusalem. She doesn't ask about Son of the Most High even though she is engaged to Joseph. She doesn't question Jesus reigning forever. Mary is like me--Lord I cannot grasp all those other things--but I do know I can't have a baby as a virgin. I love it that the angel meets her where she is--Mary, you don't need a husband, the Holy Spirit will be the Father, and by the way your barren cousin is pregnant. 
  • Mary's response--If this is from God and nothing is impossible with God, as His servant, do whatever He says. 
I see several thing for my life in this passage--
  • Favor with God does not mean everything will be easy. Favor with God means I get to serve Him.
  • God may ask me to do the impossible--but in Him all things are possible for those that believe. 
  • If I am His servant, if I have joined His kingdom and He is King, my response is always "yes."
Blessings
Larry

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for July 19

History: 1553: Lady Jane Gray deposed after 9 days 1692: 5 people hung during Salem Witch Trials 1848: First women's rights convention -Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. Wesleyan Chapel at Seneca Falls NY 1910: Cy Young wins his 500th game 1941: US Army flying school at Tuskegee AL dedicated 1945: USS Cod saves 51 sailors from Dutch sub--only sub-to-sub rescue 1957: Firing of first rocket with nuclear warhead-Nevada 1984: Geraldine Ferraro is first major party female VP candidate 1996: Olympics open in Atlanta 2007: Madmen debuts 2018: Duck Boat sinks in Table Rock Lake killing 17 Born: Samuel Colt, Edgar Degas [painter], Lizzie Borden, Charles Mayo [Mayo Clinic], George McGovern, Al Haig, George Hamilton IV, Vikki Carr, Ilie Nastase, Stuart Scott, Benedict Cumberbatch,  Died: Syngman Rhee [President South Korea], Clyde Beatty [circus animal trainer], Mary Jo Kopechne [passenger with Ted Kennedy], Jack Warden, Frank McCourt [Angela's Ashes], James Garner, Garry Marshall
Read more

Thought for November 23, 2023

Happy Thanksgiving!  1664: Blaise Pascal is converted following a vision. He wrote the date and time of his conversion and said, "Fire. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Not of philosophers and intellectuals. Certitude, certitude, joy, peace. The God of Jesus Christ." Laid the foundation for the law of probabilities; genius in hydrodynamics and hydrostatics developing Pascal's principle of pressure; taught the experience of God through the heart rather than reason; mathematician and philosopher. 1783: Annapolis Maryland becomes U.S. Capitol until June 1784 1863: Patent for making color photographs granted 1889: First jukebox debuts in Palais Royale Saloon in San Francisco 1897: Pencil sharpener patented 1904: Summer Olympics in St. Louis close [1st Olymics in U.S.] 1921: President Harding signs an Act prohibiting doctors from prescribing beer or liquor for medicinal purposes 1923: Cecil B. DeMille's first "The Ten Commandments" premiers
Read more

Thought for April 5, 2024

1722: Easter Island discovered 1792: First Presidential veto 1815: Mt. Tambora erupts. Largest eruption ever witnessed. Created year without summer in 1816--frost and snow in North America in June and July. Largest part of eruption on April 10th. Killed 10,000 in initial blast.  1906: Mt. Vesuvius erupts killing 100 1923: Firestone begins producing inflatable tires 1936: Tupelo almost completely destroyed by a tornado--216 die 1972: Baseball strike costs 86 games 2063: On "Star Trek", earth has its first contact with the Vulcan species Born: Thomas Hobbes, Joseph Lister, Booker T Washington, Spencer Tracy, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Arthur Hailey. Gale Storm, Frank Gorshin, Colin Powell, Pharrell Williams Died: Robert Raikes [Sunday School], Douglas MacArthur, Howard Hughes, Abe Fortas, Sam Walton, Allen Ginsberg, Saul Bellow, Charlton Heston, Honor Blackman Thought: Reading Daniel 1:5-7 this morning. Continuing with the thoughts about Nebuchadnezzar's plan. Having brough
Read more