Merry Christmas,
Testify? You will because you don’t have any options! You will not have to “testify” before the House of Representatives or the US Senate! For sure you will never have to stand before a Roman Tribunal. But you will “testify” before the Judge of all the earth! If you have a defense do you think it will hold up in the “Highest Court” in the entire universe? Are you sure? You are going to have to have a whole lot more than just your “ducks lined up in a row.” Because the books are going to opened and you will give have to give an account for every idle word you have ever uttered and every foolish ungodly deed you have ever done. I will join you and will be at the front of the line!
Let me be frank with you – you don’t stand a “ghost of a chance” unless you have the “Defense Attorney” who has never lost a case representing you.
“And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” I John 2:1-2
Christmas is not some nice little holiday that comes around every December. Christmas is about the One who was so disfigured that He was almost unrecognizable. Jesus was: “Pierced through for our transgressions . . . crushed for our iniquities . . . cut off out of the land of the living for sinners like you and me.”
I encourage, exhort and urge you to “lift up the Savior of the world” this Christmas season and until He returns. Jesus Himself said, “If I am lifted up, I will draw all peoples to Myself.” Oswald Chambers (who Patty and I read this morning) said: “Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.
When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.
The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us.”
Let’s “testify” about what we see in Jesus. Because one day everyone who has ever lived with “testify” and “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Please consider inviting a friend this Sunday morning and Christmas Eve. Our Christmas Eve service is at 5:00 pm. I am looking forward to seeing you.
Because the Word became flesh,
Glen