CHRISTMAS is for NEW BEGINNINGS
Today has been a wonderful Christmas Day filled with all the best elements that our family looks forward to each year. It has indeed been a very merry Christmas.
But it has also been day that has reminded me clearly of why it was so important for Jesus to come to earth.
This morning, I read a message from Dudley Donaldson, missionary to Swaziland. He had gone to preach at the maximum security prison and had shared that God sent His son to us because of His great love for us. As a result, a young prisoner turned to God and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
A few hours later, our family went into Jackson to celebrate Christmas with the We Will Go Ministry family.
We ate a wonderful meal, sang songs of worship, talked and laughed, and shared testimonies. Among those sharing was another man who talked about God to an audience. But this time, the man wasn't a missionary. This man is a former drug dealer, one who was widely known for his hardness and hatred. He had often made curse-filled threats against the Christians at We Will Go when they would visit his home to pray for him and tell Him about God. Finally, the Word of God worked its miraculous way into his soul and he repented of all the sin in his life, turned to Jesus, and now passionately loves and serves the Lord. He doesn't just come to the worship services and Bible studies, but he is there every week serving and helping others and telling those around him about the difference that God has made in his life.
As I sat there listening to him, I thought about another man changed by the power and love of God. I thought of the young prisoner who, though he is held behind bars and high walls, is now free.
Both of these men are now new creatures in the Lord. Because God loved them so much and knew them before they were even born, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to prepare a way that they could turn from the ways of death, darkness, and destruction and be made clean, whole, and His.
Thanks to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, these two men are beginning new lives with amazing and miraculous potential.
Emmanuel --- God with us.
God for us.
God making us new.
Christmas....a time for new beginnings, for them and for us.
Today has been a wonderful Christmas Day filled with all the best elements that our family looks forward to each year. It has indeed been a very merry Christmas.
But it has also been day that has reminded me clearly of why it was so important for Jesus to come to earth.
This morning, I read a message from Dudley Donaldson, missionary to Swaziland. He had gone to preach at the maximum security prison and had shared that God sent His son to us because of His great love for us. As a result, a young prisoner turned to God and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.
A few hours later, our family went into Jackson to celebrate Christmas with the We Will Go Ministry family.
We ate a wonderful meal, sang songs of worship, talked and laughed, and shared testimonies. Among those sharing was another man who talked about God to an audience. But this time, the man wasn't a missionary. This man is a former drug dealer, one who was widely known for his hardness and hatred. He had often made curse-filled threats against the Christians at We Will Go when they would visit his home to pray for him and tell Him about God. Finally, the Word of God worked its miraculous way into his soul and he repented of all the sin in his life, turned to Jesus, and now passionately loves and serves the Lord. He doesn't just come to the worship services and Bible studies, but he is there every week serving and helping others and telling those around him about the difference that God has made in his life.
As I sat there listening to him, I thought about another man changed by the power and love of God. I thought of the young prisoner who, though he is held behind bars and high walls, is now free.
Both of these men are now new creatures in the Lord. Because God loved them so much and knew them before they were even born, He sent His only begotten Son Jesus to prepare a way that they could turn from the ways of death, darkness, and destruction and be made clean, whole, and His.
Thanks to the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, these two men are beginning new lives with amazing and miraculous potential.
Emmanuel --- God with us.
God for us.
God making us new.
Christmas....a time for new beginnings, for them and for us.
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