January 13, 2025
I can remember going into a room where the lights were off. I was taking a test for my emergency training certification and they wanted us to experience a room with smoke. A room with smoke is basically a room without lights. You can barely see anything. It was hard to know what I was tripping over or feeling as I crawled through the room. Only when the lights were turned on did I see we were in an office with tables and chairs turned over and a victim who needed our help. The reality of the situation made more sense when I could see it. It was very difficult to figure out what was going on around me when I entered a dark room and could not see anything.
We are reminded in our text today of the following reality. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ ”) 16 Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 1:14–18 (NIV)
Imagine reading the Bible without reading or knowing the Christmas and Easter story. Jesus is the light to our lives and yet many days we live our lives forgetting the message of Christ and the angels who serve him. We live our lives as if we are alone. Yet the word became real and put on flesh. We can choose to believe and let the words of John remind us that there is more to this life we live or we can choose to wake up each day to only fulfill the tasks of life before us. My prayer is that the Christmas story changes the way you see the world. May the words of John transform your life. May the life Jesus lived live in you.
Pastor Aaron
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June 1, 2022
I don’t know about you but I have read through the Bible many times and I always have a tendency to skip or at least rush through the genealogies and lists found there. I mentioned this to a seminary professor who challenged me to write a paper on the genealogy found in Matthew. I won’t share the paper it was a mostly academic project but it did change my perspective on genealogies in the Bible. They are there for a reason. I used to simply overlook the one found at the beginning of Matthew as an effort to connect with his largely Jewish audience but there is more to it. Let’s look at it together today.
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac,Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, 15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
All of these names and so many more were involved in ultimately bringing about the birth of the Messiah. Some followed God well, others not so well. We have Kings and prostitutes, some who were great leaders others who were the least of their own families. In God’s ultimate plan to redeem us He used them all. Many of these people most of us have never heard of before. To me that is incredibly encouraging. That means even if we think we are in significant God can and will use us for great things and for an amazing purpose. When we seek Him and listen He will guide and direct us to paths that will yield amazing results. None of us have a Messiah coming as a great great grand kid but God wants to use all of us to change lives for eternity if we are simply willing. I pray that He will use each and every one of us to share His great love with the world.
In His Grip,
Pastor Dave
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