From The Pastor’s Desk

The Road to Bethlehem Part 2

From the Pastor’s Desk

As we enter into this Christmas Season, we are constantly bombarded with traditional celebrations: Yule logs, Christmas trees, wreaths, cards and presents, and even a visit from a large man, dressed in red and white who flies a harnessed group of reindeer across the sky. I have no problem with any of these traditions. I have a problem with people not understanding that tradition is not necessarily “truth”. When God sent forth His Son in the form of a human baby boy, He told us through His word everything that we needed to know concerning His birth. Unfortunately, tradition has blurred our understanding and most people, even Christians, get their theology from songs, cards or Hollywood script writers. We, as believers on the One He sent, need to be careful that we know the truth – “The truth will set us free”. Tradition may be fun at a Christmas party but the Savior of the world was given to mankind and God has told us the true story of His Son’s birth. Today, let us have fun looking at some of these traditional misconceptions of His birth – From Tradition to Bethlehem.

Pastor Wayne

The Road to Bethlehem

From the Pastor’s Desk
The real “Reason for the Season” is SIN. Last week we talked of how God created everything “perfect”. Then, for His reasons, He allowed sin to enter into His creation. Because of that sin, which infected the entire human race, God said He would send One into the world through the “seed of the woman”, who would destroy the work of the devil (Genesis 3:15). That “One” would become known as “the Messiah”. Throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, the reference to this Messiah occurs between 300 and 400 times. However, Jesus said on the road to Emaus that “all” Old Testament Scriptures are about Him. Jesus is the One sent from the Father to eradicate sin from God’s creation. That cute little babe lying in a manger had left His Heavenly Home to save the human race from the deadly curse of sin. Today, we will explore many of those Old Testament prophecies that foretold of His coming and of His birth into humanity. Throughout these Old Testament prophecies we will see the work of the Messiah as we move from sin to that little town of Bethlehem.
Pastor Wayne

From Sin to Bethlehem

From the Pastor’s Desk
No man knows the actual date or time that the Jewish Messiah, the Son of God, the Savior of mankind, Jesus, was born. We do know that He did come, and we celebrate His coming on December 25th each year. More importantly, it is not when He came but why He came. The “why” will take us back to the very beginning of all time — to a world that was created “without form or void.” It was created from darkness to light. Our Bible records that at the end of each day of creation, God pronounced that it was “good.” Upon the final 6th day, God created man and, on that day, God pronounced that it was “very good” — Translation: It was perfect. We, man, were made in the very image of a perfect God; therefore, we were perfect. We all know what happened to that perfect creation when sin entered the world. However, we are still left with a big “why.” Why did God allow His perfect creation to undergo thousands of years of sin and misery? This will be the subject of our new series:

“From Creation to Bethlehem” — From sin to perfection, From lost to found.