This has been a very difficult week in my part of the world. We had an extreme wind storm that caused many people to lose power. I was without power for a day, but thank the Lord, the power has been restored. Please pray for those who still need to get their power back on. There is a lot of wind damage through out the Midwest and Upper Midwest. I am sorry that I haven't been able to do reviews for a little while, but I hope to remedy that this week, Lord willing.
Today, I would like to focus on the theme of how the birth of Jesus brings peace into the world. One of the titles that Isaiah gave to the coming Messiah is the Prince of Peace. How did the birth of Jesus bring peace to this troubled world?
There are three points that I want to focus on. First of all, the birth of Jesus allowed Him to enter into this world in order to fulfill His mission of redemption. Jesus came to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He came to bring a restoration of all that existed before sin entered into this world. Jesus lived a holy and sinless life as our perfect example. He then bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might be redeemed from our sins. He rose bodily from the grave conquering death and hell. The birth of Jesus was the beginning of this.
Those who call on Jesus and believe in Him trusting Him as Savior and Lord will have the peace in their hearts that only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ can bring. Jesus brings peace to those who are troubled by sin and by guilt. Those who are in Christ have the peace of knowing that He is with us no matter what we are going through at any time.
Jesus coming into this world brings about peace in another way in this temporal world. But this relies on people following His commandments and teachings. If people would follow the teachings of Jesus, peace could come to the world now. Jesus taught us to love one another. He told us to do to others as we would have done to us. He taught the way of non-violence, and He taught us not to retaliate. He told us to love and enemies. If we would all practice the Golden Rule that Jesus set forth, there could and would be peace in our interpersonal relationships and in the relationships between nations. However, people do not want to follow the teachings of Jesus. As Isaiah said, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have all turned to our own way. The way of peace does exist through the example of Jesus. We can have peace if we keep our eyes fixed on Him.
The ultimate peace of Jesus will be obtained when He returns in power and great glory at His Second Advent. At His first coming, Jesus was born in the manager. He was born in humility. When He comes the second time, He will descend from heaven with a shout, and the trumpet of the archangel will blow. Jesus will defeat the forces of evil, and He will rule and reign in righteousness. He will establish a kingdom of peace and justice that will have no end. The Bible says that every person will sit under their own vine, and no won shall make them afraid. All will be well throughout the entire created order.
As we can see, Jesus is truly the Prince of Peace. As we focus on the birth of Jesus, remember that His way brings peace. Let us follow Him on His way, and let us look forward to His reign of peace that is to come. If you have never trusted Jesus as the Lord of your life, you can let His peace fill your heart today. Amen.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for those who experienced damage due to the wind storm. Pray that people will get their power back on quickly.
Please pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Things don't always look good, but Jesus told us to keep praying and to not lose heart. Pray that the sick would recover.
Pray for those in Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee who are still dealing with the tornado outbreak aftermath. Pray that they will get that assistance that they need.
Continue to pray for peace in the trouble areas of this world. Let us focus our prayers this week on the nations of Ethiopia, Yemen and Libya. Pray for peace in any troubled area that you know about.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those who live in the nations of Algeria and Sri Lanka. Pray that many will come to know about the love of Jesus.
Next week, I will post the verses on Monday. I will do my best to have a review midweek. I will post the sermon next Friday or Saturday, and we will wrap up our Advent focus. May God bless you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment