“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:20).

 There was only one explanation for the lives of the shepherds: God! There should be only one explanation for our lives: God!

 The Shepherds believed God. The Angels appeared to them and told them there was a Savior, Lord, the Messiah born and given unto them and for the whole world. They left the scene and searched for the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths.

These Shepherds were men who were not counted worthy of anything appearing to them from heaven, yet God thought so. They felt unworthy by their peers and yet God said that they were of value. The religious crowd considered them unclean, unintellectual, and unattached, but God appeared unto them and touched them by angels.

Afterwards the men left in search for the Lord Jesus, found Him lying in the manger and told everyone of what and who they had seen. They went on with God and didn’t stop telling the good news. The appearance of the Living Word changed their lives.

After we meet the Lord Jesus we want to be like Him. We have a sincere desire for the Word. A man without an appetite for God’s Word causes us to wonder if he is saved. We will desire as the shepherds did to be like Jesus.

There should be only one explanation for our lives. “God” is the only explanation for what we are and what we are doing. If we can explain it on any other level, we are a failure. Most Christians’ lives can be explained on a basis other than the work of God. The shepherds represent what happens when we see the face of God.

“Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again” (Luke 24:7).

God delivered His only Son into the hands of sinful men to be crucified. It doesn’t seem fair for God the Father to desert His Son in that manner but He did. Why? Because it is the only way to be saved from sin. Do you see the “must”?

God must take on human flesh if we are to be saved. He must be seen as the sinless Son of God. God must show His sovereignty and control. God’s must is divine and purposeful. His must is for you and for others is to be saved from SIN.

Are you saved? Why are you waiting to repent? Why would you tarry so long when you understand the drawing of the Spirit saying, “Come to Jesus.” You must be born from above. You must be born again. The only way for you to be saved is you must come to Jesus. He must come again. He must judge sin. He must and you must!

Only What’s Done for Christ Will Last

“And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity” (Leviticus 7:16).

God commanded the people of Israel not to eat of the flesh of the sacrifice after three days. For if the offering is given to God it will not be accepted. The Bible tells us that it is “an abomination.” For whosoever eats of the sacrifice on the third day will bear his own perverseness in penalty.

When you and I are not enjoying the presence of Christ daily then we begin to stale-out and contaminate those around us. Our families are affected, our coworkers are contaminated, and all around us are brought down lower than where they were before.

The church suffers and the glory of Christ becomes a non-reality in the life. What an abomination before God and among others. God brought us out of the bondage of sin, given us newness of life, and supplies us the opportunity for nobility of life.

The sacrifice of the peace offering was meant for identification with Christ and with others. It was a meal shared together as well. He has become our peace and since we have the peace of God then we are to be at peace with one another. But the person who is compromised, the person who is play-acting, the one who is not in God’s Word failing to read, study, and feed off of Christ, will fail others and will fail to glorify God in the only life they have to offer to God.

“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
“In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” Eight words. Two qualities. One result. This is how to decode life. When we are rattled we can become loud. When we become loud and rattled, we’re weak. No wonder the world is in the state of confusion as it is today. A heavy truck rattles, an unlatched gate beats against the gate post, but a silent river runs deep, and a quiet and confident person stands out like a giant tree among the pines.

What is the tale behind the text? What did the prophet’s pen mean as he wrote? Isaiah saw an envoy of men headed down to Egypt to broker help. Israel was afraid of the impending invasion of different countries. Isaiah told the people in his sermon that God owned them and cared for them. He said to them to return back to their Creator, Redeemer and He would watch for them. Isaiah demonstrated, “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”

The last phrase of the sentence is stunning–“but you would have none of it.” The people of Israel would not listen to the “seer”. They rejected God’s vision for safety and security, for they were hell-bent on their own agenda.

God has spoken these words to our nation and to our souls. He promises quietness and rest if we would repent and return. To rest in Him is our hope, to trust in Him is our strength, and to turn back to Him is to find quietness for our souls. Quietness is horizontal; it’s our attitude toward circumstances and difficulty. Confidence is vertical; it’s our trust in God. When the horizontal and the vertical come together, it becomes our inward strength.

“So built we the wall, and all the wall was joined together to half of it in height; for the people had a mind to work.”  (Nehemiah 4:6)

The people in Nehemiah’s day worked hard at that wall — almost as if they were going to finish it in one day.  It took them fifty-two days, which was quick work at that, but they labored at it so desperately that it looked as if they were trying to do it in a day.  It was that spirit that was with them which roused the attack of the enemy.

Satan never bothers half-hearted Christian people, but once you are desperate for God and become burdened for the salvation of men, then all hell will oppose you.  Sanballat and Tobias were both the agents of Satan.  Their scorn was a cloak for something else, they were angry that the work was progressing.  If the people jeer at our Christian testimony today, it is because they have no argument against the gospel.  The world will always be angry at any message which exposes sin.

Watch what happens when you get up with others and try to rebuild the walls that have fallen down.  See if all hell will not come against you when you rise up to build.  The enemy of God will try to ridicule and loathe the work you are trying to complete.  But if we stay away from the rubbish of the wall that has fallen, and refuse the activity of action, then you will find your own life surrounded by passivity and selfishness.  Satan has no reason to disturb you for he has you in his catch and he knows the work will not be approached.

If we are not building then we are tearing down.  If we are not with Christ then we are against Him.  Either we will love Him or hate Him, there is no middle ground.  Thank God for Nehemiah and the people who had a mind to work, a heart to pray, and an eye to watch.  The apostle Paul said, “…I labored more abundantly then they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Corinthians 15:10).