Good morning. Today we are
in Hebrews. Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the
heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not
have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has
been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Once a year the high
priest would sprinkle the blood and make intercession for all the people. Jesus
our high priest sprinkled His own blood once for all. He doesn't need to do it
year after year. Sometimes people say "well, Jesus was perfect – He can't
sympathize with me. He can't know what I'm going through." And yet He was
tempted in all of the types of ways that we are tempted; but He did not sin.
It's also not just the temptation to sin; but also to do things on our own
without God's help. He could have said "I know a better way than
this". That was especially true in the garden. He is not some high and
mighty person far away from us that we fear to come close to. He desires for us
to come close to Him. And so we know: let us therefore draw near with
confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. In the Old Testament people came to the Kings in fear
because they could lose their lives. We can come with confidence. For: no
temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful,
and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the
temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure
it. Father thank You for the reader. Help him/her in him/her time of need to
know that You are there with him/her; that You desire that he/she come with
confidence; and that You will help him/her when he/she starts to go the wrong
way and provide the way of escape.
Merry Christmas!
Good morning, and Merry Christmas! We are going to digress and look at the first Christmas. This was something that had been foretold centuries before; and yet people still did not understand what was going to happen. They were thinking that the Messiah was going to come as an adult and was going to re-establish the nation of Israel above all other nations. They were not expecting Him to come as a baby, supposedly born to a carpenter and placed in a manger. Many things had to happen at precisely the right time. You had to have the right person to be His mother and the right person to be His supposed father. You had to have a reason for them to be in Bethlehem on the night He was born – the census. It had to be when shepherds would be in the field near Bethlehem watching their flocks. And just at the right time – an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them...
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