Editor: Richard (Dick) Innes
Published by: ACTS International
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Vol. 13 – No. 5211 December 24, 2011
MERRY CHRISTMAS and A HAPPY NEW YEAR: Wishing all our readers a very Merry and God blessed Christmas and New Year, and thank you for the opportunity to share with you via Weekend Encounter every week. From Dick and Joy Innes.
Thought for the week: "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds that you plant." – Robert Louis Stephenson
"Along the pathway of the stars we
toil toward the moon and Mars ... have we lost our mind in leaving
Bethlehem behind?" – Johnston G. Patrick
"Man is a creature who buys football
tickets three months in advance, but waits until Christmas Eve to do his
Christmas shopping." – sermons.com
"God is dead." – Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead." – God
"Islam is a religion in which 'God'
[Allah] requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith
in which God sent his Son to die for you." – John Ashcroft
"And there were shepherds
living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An
angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around
them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I
bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town
of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord'" (Luke 2:8-11).
"The message of Christmas is not about the proclamation of a holiday or the declaration of a season. It is about the proclamation of a Person and the declaration of Salvation. The birth of the child in the manger was an event that prophets had written about, the people of Israel had spoken about, the patriarchs of old had wondered about, and the angels of God shouted about on that glorious night when Christ was born."
– Roy Lessin, Co-Founder DaySpring Cards.
Submitted by Dr. Cath Filmer-Davies
* * * * * * *
Christmas
Christmas is sharing your gifts, not purchasing gifts;
It's not wrapping presents, its being present
and wrapping your arms around the ones you love;
It's not getting Christmas cards out on time,
It's sending any card, anytime, at the right time;
It's not having the biggest and best Christmas light display,
It's displaying the Christ light that comes from your heart;
It's not Santa coming down the chimney,
It's Jesus coming down from heaven,
and giving us the gift of eternal life."
Year after year with "tireless regularity and eternal patience," God reminds the world every Christmas that he sent his Son, Jesus, to save lost mankind. Christmas is also God's reminder that Jesus is coming back to earth for all who have accepted him as their personal Lord and Savior.
His first coming is an indisputable fact of history. His second coming to end this world age is as certain. According to Bible scholars, there are 1,845 references in the Old Testament and 318 in the New Testament about Christ's coming again. This means for every prophecy in the Bible about Christ's first coming—every one of which was fulfilled in minute detail—there are eight about his second coming!
Jesus is coming again. God has promised this in his Word, the Bible. Jesus himself promised it as well.* And all the signs that Jesus and the Bible said would immediately precede his return are evident today, also reminding us that Christ's return could be very soon. If it were today, would you be ready?
*Jesus' promise: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2–3, NIV).
His grief was multiplied by the sudden death of his precious wife. The only thing he had left was his faith, and it was weakening.
One day he was combing the neighborhood looking for work. He stopped to watch some men who were doing the stonework on a church building. One of those men was skillfully chiseling a triangular piece of rock. Not seeing a spot where it would fit, he asked, "Where are you going to put that?"
The man pointed toward the top of the building and said. "See that little opening up there near the spire? That's where it goes. I'm shaping it down here so it will fit up there.
Tears filled this good man's eyes as he walked away. "Shaping it down here so it will fit up there" gave new meaning in his difficult situation.
Abe was fiercely independent, even at age 85, but after a mild stroke his son insisted he move in with him. Abe missed going to the park near his old apartment, and one Saturday he set out to find it.
When he became disoriented, he asked a young boy named Timmy where the park was. Timmy said he'd like to take him there, but he didn't have time because he was looking for God. He said he needed to talk to Him about why his parents were getting a divorce.
"Maybe God's in the park," the old man said. "I'd like to talk to Him, too, about why He's made me useless." And so they set off together to find God.
At the park, Timmy began to cry about the divorce, and Abe lovingly held his face in both hands and looked him straight in the eyes. "Timmy, I don't know why bad things happen, but I know it wasn't because of you. I know you're a good boy and your parents love you and you'll be okay."
Timmy gave Abe a big hug and said, "I'm so glad I met you. Thanks. I think I can go now."
From across the street, Timmy's mother saw them hug and approached her son in a worried voice. "Who was that old man?"
"I think he's God," Timmy said.
"Did he say that?" she demanded.
"No, but when he touched me and told me I'm going to be okay, I felt really better. Only God can do that."
When Abe got home, his son asked in a scolding voice, "Where were you?"
"I was in the park with God."
"Really? What makes you think you were with God?"
"Because He sent me a boy who needed me, and when the boy hugged me, I felt God telling me I wasn't useless anymore."
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
"The people of this generation ... are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other: 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.'"1
On a December day back in 1903 at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, Orville and Wilbur Wright, after numerous failures to fly a heavier-than-air machine, made amazing history. They achieved something that no man had ever done before. Ecstatic, they sent a telegram to their sister Katherine: "We have actually flown 852 feet. Will be home for Christmas."
Overjoyed, Katherine ran down to the local newspaper and pushed the telegram—the greatest news story of the new century—into the hand of the editor. After reading it, he smiled and said, "Well, well! How nice the boys will be home for Christmas."
The religious people of Christ's day who were actually anticipating his coming as their Messiah failed totally to recognize him—and ironically had him crucified—because he didn't come and didn't operate in the way they expected him to.
How sad it is that so many miss the full meaning of Christmas in that they have never thanked Jesus for dying for their sins, nor accepted the most profound and precious Christmas gift ever given ... the gift of the Savior and his pardon for all their sins and his gift of eternal life.
Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank you for the most wonderful Christmas gift ever given—the gift of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Please use me to share your great gift of salvation with as many people as possible for as long as I shall live. And because of my inadequacies, please do this through me. Use me every day to be as Christ to whomever you bring into my life and grant that they, seeing Jesus in me, will want you for themselves. Eternally grateful, in Jesus' name. Amen."
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