Thoughts about the Word

The Birth of Jesus

2006-12-16T11:42:00.001-08:00

The Birth of Jesus was a humble moment as the King of Kings became a human so he might identify with our suffering, and temptations, as well as to provide Salvation. He was born into a Family of little means. We know that Mary and Joseph offered the least of the sacrifices required by the law on the eight day of Jesus’ birth; two turtledoves.

When we think of birth, we think of hospitals, birthing suites, clean rooms and Demurral. The image of Jesus’ birth is very different to us today Jesus was born in a stable, and wrapped in strips of rags, to sleep his first night in the very object that animals would have eaten from that day; a manger. We must remember this King did not go unnoticed. Angels and Kings alike acknowledged his birth. “Yes the messiah the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem.”

if they had brought sugar, soap, and candles they would have acted like wise men”

2006-12-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Who were the Magi ?
The word Magi is a Latinization of the plural of the greek word magos (μαγοι).
Referring to the priestly caste of a distorted form of Zoroastrianism.
They gained an international reputation for astrology, which at that point was a highly regarded science, only later giving rise to aspects of mathematics and astronomy.
Do we Know the Magi

Matthew 2. 1 Some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem.
Were they kings Or Astronomers?
Isaiah 60 Psalms 72 - gives the ideas of Kings or What about the Song "We Three Kings"

The names of the Magi derive from an early sixth Century Greek manuscript in Alexandria, translated into the Latin Excerpta Latina Barbari
The GIFTS
Gold
Gold was the gift given by Melchior, a king of Arabia, said to have been the oldest of the Three Kings
Gold Is a highly sought-after precious metal that for many centuries has been used as money
Gold has a symbol of kingship on earth

Frankincense
Frankincense was the Gift given by Balthasar, a king from Saba (Southern Yemen)

Frankincense is resin from the dried sap of the Boswellia tree – a tree that has grown on the craggy slopes of the Arabian Sea for thousands of years. In ancient times, Frankincense and Gold were equally valuable. Frankincense is harvested by making slits in the bark of the tree and letting the resin slowly bleed out and harden into white tears of Frankincense.

The primary use of Frankincense is the same today as it was in ancient times: it is very strong incense with a sweet aroma that is used today in religious services.

Myrrh
Myrrh was the gift given by Caspar, a king from Tarsus (Southern Turkey)

Myrrh is resin from the Cammiphora tree and is harvested by cutting slits in the bark of the tree from which Myrrh resin hardens into dark red crystals. In ancient times, Myrrh was among the most valuable substances known and, at the time of the birth of Christ, it was worth seven times its weight in gold. It can be used as incense or it can be ground into a powder and mixed with oils to make a balm or processed into oil. (In ancient times, myrrh was used in the mummification of the Pharohs in Ancient Egypt and to anoint kings.)

The Gifts
They are all ordinary gifts for a king - myrrh being commonly used as an anointing oil, frankincense as a perfume, and gold as a valuable.
That they are prophetic - gold as a symbol of kingship on earth, frankincense as a symbol of divine authority, and myrrh as a symbol of death

So why Give them to Jesus - Was he a King, would he need this honor.

(Next Post the Incarnation of Christ)

The Child Of Spitting Pulpit

2006-08-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

Col 2:16-18 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ

I've seen him again.

This summary of other men's visions!

This poor cripple on two legs,.

Dressed all in black

From top to toe

To front to back.

Parted hair, and matching plastic smile.

Clutching and scratching

At his black old Bible

Gripped in ivory fingers,

Underneath his black banded arm.

His feet squeezed into black and shiny shoes,

At the bottom of his sharp and shiny trousers.

A fitting button boy

Resting on some reformed ideas,

Of strange godliness,

From another age.

He's of another age.

His blackness is his darkness,

That covers

His real hurts

And questions.

His black and dour plasticity

Are fearful reflections,

Of all he has been told,

From,

And in old

Ferocious pulpits,

That have spit judgment on the saints.

On the son's of His love.

He has become what in public they appear,

And in secret they fear to be.

Too screwed up to meet this age,

For they are the products of another.

Probably neither fit for then or for now.

by a British Pastor

It seems very offten that people are always becoming what others think they should be. This poem was give to me years ago and I cam across it today as I was thinking about how we often conform to the image or pattern people have for us. Not what Christ would have us BE.

Thought from Reading AW Tozer

2006-07-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. --Philippians 2:20,21

In this day when shimmering personalities carry on the Lord's work after the methods of the entertainment world it is refreshing to associate for a moment even in the pages of a book with a sincere and humble man who keeps his own personality out of sight and places the emphasis upon the in working of God.

It is my belief that the evangelical movement will continue to drift farther and farther from the New Testament position unless its leadership passes from the modern religious star to the self-effacing saint who asks for no praise and seeks no place, happy only when the glory is attributed to God and himself forgotten, people must be willing to return to the servanhood state that Paul spoke so frequently about. Regular accounts in his letters even of him self as a doulos "a slave". To the purpose of Christ not himself.

Within the last quarter of a century we have actually seen a major shift in the beliefs and practices of the evangelical wing of the church so radical as to amount to a complete sellout; and all this behind the cloak of fervent orthodoxy. With Bibles under their arms and bundles of tracts in their pockets, religious persons now meet to carry on "services" so carnal, so pagan, that they can hardly be distinguished from the old vaudeville shows of earlier days. And for a preacher or a writer to challenge this heresy is to invite ridicule and abuse from every quarter.

The only hope is that renewed spiritual pressure will be exerted increasingly by self-effacing and courageous men who desire nothing but the glory of God and the purity of the church. May God send us many of them. They are long overdue. Of God and Men, 16-18.

"Lord, forgive me for my pride. Give me the humble spirit of the self-effacing saint. That i might serve your people and find their call to holiness, as my upmost joy. In so doing I will find my happiness in who you have allowed me to become, as a servant of your kingdom. Amen."