GrizzlyPoint

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. -- Abraham Lincoln

Luke 2:15-20 (NKJV) 15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. Mary knew who this baby was. God had told her. And now at His birth, she got further confirmation when the shepherds came to worship. She must have marveled at their story of the angel and heavenly host coming to them in the fields. I wonder if she found it intriguing that sheph

Luke 2:29-32 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel.” The words of Simeon, a "just and devout man," upon seeing the child Jesus at the temple.  Simeon had been promised by God that he wouldn't die until he had seen the Messiah. Even though it would be more than 30 years until Jesus would hang on that cross, Simeon recognized in Him the salvation of the Lord.  Simeon proclaims the reality of this Savior. He is not presented for the Jews only, but for all people. He brings revelation to the Gentiles and glory to the people of Israel.  That is why we celebrate Christmas. The birth of the Savior is for the world. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son..." If we are celebrating Christmas, we must be honest with ourselves. Have we seen, lik

The Gospel of Matthew provides us the account of the wise men from the East seeking Jesus. Quite a story that these men would travel far to see and celebrate the birth of one, seemingly very ordinary, baby. But they recognized that this baby was special and warranted their attention. Matthew goes on in his account of the life of Jesus to present Him as an answer to the prayers of the Jews. This baby, according to Matthew, fulfilled the predictions of the prophets and was the Messiah for whom all Jews longed. The Jews, by and large, however, dismissed this Jesus as the Messiah. Sure, He was great at doing fascinating miracles, He could speak like no other, and He had a real dignity about Him. And as long as He was feeding the five thousand and healing the infirm, He was welcome. But get too much of the attention of the people, threatening the position and power of those who had it, and things had to change. It wasn't hard to convince the people that this wasn't the Messiah for w

 Luke 2:8-20 (NKJV) 8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” 15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came wi

I think Christmas should be celebrated. We were visiting a son in 2019 on Christmas Eve. I wanted to go to a church service and, being unfamiliar with the area, I checked the web for a church that was having services. Finding one nearby, we drove over. The parking lot was filling rapidly when we arrived. There weren't many Christmas decorations outside, but that didn't bother me. Once inside the vestibule, there was a Christmas tree and scattered other decorations. We found seats and settled in. Was I ever surprised. The service had very little mention of Christmas or the birth of Christ. It was greatly disappointing! The sermon would have been very appropriate on Easter Sunday, but it seemed very out of place on Christmas Eve. Did it present the Gospel message? Yes. Did it focus on Christ and His work on our behalf? Yes. But it didn't have much, if anything, to do with His birth. I later did some investigating and found that the churches of the particular brand we visited

 I woke up Wednesday morning with Genesis 1 coursing through my brain. I'm not sure why. But I started thinking through it and lingered on verse 4:  And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness . (NKJV) Divided the light from the darkness? How do you do that? If there is light, there isn't any darkness. Darkness is the absence of light. So just what happened here? What did God do to separate the light from the darkness? Then it dawned (no pun intended) on me. He set the Earth spinning. The rotation of the Earth separates the light from the darkness. And having done that, the evening and the morning were the first day. I'm not an astrophysicist, nor do I understand all the theories of how the universe began. But I did a little research to see what explanations are given for how and why the Earth's rotation began. I didn't find any satisfying answers. It's like that is just what is expected to happen if you're exploding