Bring it in 2016!  

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That’s my resolution. 

Step up my game. 

Ramp up my efforts. 

Press into the calling!

What about you?

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Here are 16 biblical ways to Bring It in 2016 from Hebrews 12

#1 Let the past go.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”  The past of distractions and failures, of sinful desires and reminders, and of fears and failures can be dropped at the end of 2015.  Nothing of 2015 can be undone, so just move along into 2016.  Leave that baggage back where it belongs.

#2 Focus on the right stuff.

Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  If you look back over your shoulder, you’re not looking ahead to the end of the race.  If you look at your neighbor’s race, you’re not looking ahead.  If you look at your life with resentment because you’re comparing yourself to others, you’re not looking ahead!  Keep your focus and let that heavenward calling lift your sights and keep you on that path laid out for you in 2016.

#3 Keep encouraged.

Hebrews 12:3 “Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”  Surround yourself with encouragers who will inspire…even demand…that you be the best version of yourself.  Don’t listen to those voices who say you’ll never amount to anything, who put you down and tell you that you’ll never rise from your circumstances, or who tell you that it’s impossible. Mark 10:27 “Looking upon them, Jesus said, ‘With men it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.'”  Gather those around you who will plant holiness in your days, coach you, and encourage you to do the right thing in 2016.

#4 Keep some perspective.

Hebrews 12:4 “In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”  Drop the pity party.  Feeling sorry for yourself does two damaging things.  First, it causes you to focus on yourself instead of on God.  But even more importantly, it causes you to resent and despise God…where God has placed you, how God has gifted you, the calling God has on your life, and the work He wants to do with you ….exactly where you are!  Yup.  Even in poverty.  Yup.  Even in your skin color.  Yup.  Even in your dead-end job.  Yup.  Even without a job.  Yup. Even being discriminated against.  God is calling us to rise above it…in Him!

#5 Accept God’s course correction.

Hebrews 12:5 “And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.'”  OK, none of us likes to be corrected or disciplined.  We want to think we’ve got it all under control.  But we don’t.  Correction?  Discipline?  Unpleasant!  But it does us all good.  Just imagine how much better our world would be if we accepted God’s discipline, His course correction for our lives, and if we embraced His wisdom for our days.  From our government officials, law enforcement, all the way to the man or woman on the street…if we all accepted God’s course correction instead of rebelling and seeking the path of greatest selfishness.  Instead of looking for what’s in in for me, and if we actually loved our neighbor as ourselves.

#6 Endure hardship.

Hebrews 12:7 “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons.”  Wow.  Who would have thought that godly discipline and accountability for right living would be signs of inclusion in the family…and not of exclusion, judgmentalism, intolerance, or holy-rolling?

#7 Discipline teaches respect.

Hebrews 12:9 “Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  Don’t you find it curious how many people out there are demanding that we respect them…for who they are…and for what they do…even if it harms themselves and others?  Respect is earned.  And discipline–self and otherwise–is how we earn it.  It’s the outcome of holiness training.

#8 Become strong.

Hebrews 12:12 “Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.”  Arms are used for action of helping others.  Knees support the body for standing firm.  We don’t need to strengthen our fists or our stomachs.  And we become strong by knowing what God says in His Word to us.  We can strengthen ourselves by learning and serving.  Faith without works is dead.  Believe and do what God says.

#9 Become level-headed and able-bodied.

Hebrews 12:13 “‘Make level paths for your feet,’ so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed.”  Look for stumbling blocks others put in your way and ones you’ve set up yourself.  A level-headed person will remove what will trip him up and for the ones which cannot be removed, he will find ways around them.  Able-bodied people will bring health and healing to others by removing obstacles that might be in their way.

#10 Find peace without compromising integrity.

Hebrews 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.”  Peace is only good if one doesn’t compromise God or personal integrity to get it.  Because genuine peace is with God and from God. Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable– if anything is excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me– put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

#11 Grace trumps bitterness.

Hebrews 12:15 “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”  Are you a bitter-clinger to self-justification?  Are you holding a grudge or hating someone?  Maybe you’ve been mean to someone online through social media or sent electronic venom through an email.  Life’s too short for that stuff.  Learn to forgive and be forgiven.  This grudge is hurting you far more than whatever perceived-insult prompted it in the first place.

#12 Treasure today’s inheritance of godliness.

Hebrews 12:16 “See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.”  We cannot control what our brothers or sisters do, but we can encourage all of us–ourselves included–to treasure the inheritance of godliness.  I can control what I do and I can try my best to model my awareness of that kind of treasure.  You can too.  There will come a time when it will be too late, so treasure it today.

#13 Come to the right place.

Hebrews 12:18 “You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” 22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”  We all need that come-to-Jesus moment when we realize that He is the right place to find love and forgiveness.  He is waiting with open arms now.  You can stop trying to earn heaven with all your hard work and checkboxes.  Jesus already did it for you.  You just need to come to the right place.

#14 Shaken not stirred.

Hebrews 12:25 “See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ 27 The words ‘once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken– that is, created things– so that what cannot be shaken may remain.”  Your greatest peace in 2016 will be found in Christ Jesus.  Though the world and the heavens will be shaken–over and over again by wars and terror and disasters of every conceivable kind–and though everything feels like it’s falling apart, guess what?  In Christ, you will not be stirred.  You will have His perfect peace.

#15 Harbor gratitude.

Hebrews 12:28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful.”  When is the last time you harbored gratitude instead of resentment?  Gratitude instead of depression?  Gratitude instead of jealousy?  Gratitude instead of hatred?  Gratitude instead of protest?  Gratitude instead of anger?  It’s time to lay aside all that bad stuff.  Let it go.  Cultivate a heart of gratitude and let it harbor there as an anchor for your soul.

#16 Worship like you know He’s God.

Hebrews 12:28b “and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our ‘God is a consuming fire.'”  Reverence and fear (the true meaning of awe) are lost in our culture among so many things deemed awesome which really aren’t awesome or awe inspiring at all.  If God were to pop into your room right now, that would wake you up to what awesome really is.  It’d probably feel more like getting hit by lightning or having a heart attack.  But we don’t worship Him because God could nuke us without nukes, we worship Him because He’s God and we know it.  So worship God acceptably.  You’ll be glad you did.

Do you want to do more than ring in the New Year?  Bring it…in 2016!  Happy New Year!

It’s Christmas Eve and the miraculous hidden in the womb of a virgin named Mary would be a miracle revealed at His birth.

The Incarnation—beginning as a fertilized egg—would become visible to a watching world in His birth. Although if they’d had ultrasound back then, He would have been there: The Son of God visible at 12 weeks gestation, at 21 weeks;  the Son of God at 28 weeks; 32 weeks; and at 36 weeks. He was the Son of God while a fetus.  From fertilized egg to fetus to baby, He was someone to celebrate!

His birth was all joy to Mary when the angel told her…and all joy to shepherds who would hear the Good News pronounced by angels in His birth.  All joy to the magi who would see His star in the east and later would come to the house where the boy Jesus was with His mother Mary.

What began hidden in the womb and revealed in a manger would be the Good News to all mankind.

There are only a few corners of the earth where this baby Jesus is completely unknown. While many do not know Him as God Incarnate, they know enough to accept Him and learn… or turn to Him away and reject His offer of forgiveness.

The Incarnation has always been far more than just Jesus becoming fully human. Because He remains fully God through it all.

The graphic introducing this series depicts the Hebrew words, “Behold, your Savior comes!” This is the Word of God… made flesh, an idea originating in the mind of the Father, conceived through the Holy Spirit as the Incarnation of our Savior Jesus Christ—the perfect Lamb of God to be sacrificed for us. And that’s the whole reason He came.

Thought for the day: Christmas Eve means so much more than anything this world can give. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Questions for pondering:

1. How is this Gift better than anything in Santa’s bag or under a tree?
2. Imagine yourself as one of the shepherds in the field. How do you respond to the Good News of great joy?

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This is the final devotional in the Incarnation series of 26 lessons. I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas, full of all the kind of good news and great joy which truly ministers to all people. The Good Shepherd came for His flock and wise men….yeah. They still seek Him. Rejoice!

What Jesus could not be as the pre-Incarnate Christ was to be personal to every man. What Jesus could not be as the Incarnate Christ was everywhere at once. The Incarnation was therefore critical to God’s expanding rule. Both personal and everywhere at once!

Not as a geographical land conquering, but with Jesus as Lord of an expanding numbers of hearts.

It began with His teachings, but required His death in order to grow the Kingdom of God.

For that reason, the ongoing presence of God (the Holy Spirit) came at Pentecost, and empowered witnesses of the Gospel to the farthest reaches of the earth.

And now He’s counting on His followers, Jesus’ disciples throughout the ages, to faithfully share the Good News (which is Jesus’ Incarnation, yes! But also His Crucifixion, Resurrection, and Ascension).

In two Messianic passages of Scripture, we see the Gospel outlined, revealing the identity of the Christ, the One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas as the birth of Jesus.

Isaiah 52:6 Therefore my people will know my name; therefore in that day they will know that it is I who foretold it. Yes, it is I.” 7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” 8 Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the LORD returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. 9 Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. 10 The LORD will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God. 11 Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing! Come out from it and be pure, you who carry the vessels of the LORD. 12 But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for the LORD will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard. 13 See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him–his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness– 15 so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. 3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. 8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was stricken. 9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. 10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. 11 After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Thought for the day: The death of the eternal One paved the way for an entire flock of the faithful to enter in through His sacrifice. It’s God’s expanding rule.

Questions for pondering:

1. What is your role in expanding the Kingdom? Have you given your life to Christ and asked Him to forgive you? If you’re in the Kingdom, that’s one more than without you.
2. What is your role in expanding the Kingdom to others?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

In the movie Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Kevin McCallister says to a New York City taxi driver, “Boy, it’s scary out there.” The scary-looking driver responds, “Ain’t much better in here, kid.”

It’s a scary world out there for all of us. There’s terrorism in Paris and San Bernardino. It’s a world of human trafficking and our culture passing off things as no big deal and a woman’s right when if it were done at Dachau, it would have been something so horrific, we couldn’t bear to see it. It would be worthy of a world war to stop it.

We’ve lost our moral compass as we’ve lost our devotion to God. Arguably, God has already turned His eye from blessing the United States of America. We’re like a biplane of human moral aimlessness flying in a sky of ethical uncertainty. Plus, we’re flying wounded and Americans are frightened.

What we need is peace, but not the kind the world gives. The kind that only God can give.

Before Jesus went to the Cross, He said, John 14:25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. 28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. 30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. “Come now; let us leave.”

The whole reason Jesus came to earth, the entire reason behind the Incarnation, was to bring us an everlasting peace by His shed blood. Not a peace the world can give at all.

In Romans 5, it is stated this way: Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Today’s thought comes from the benediction in Hebrews 13:20 May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Question for pondering: There’s only one religion of peace and only one true God who offers it in His Incarnation. Do you know this God of peace?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

Unlike technology where the second is called a beta version (often viewed as a product or service deemed unready for mainstream consumption) when Jesus came as the Second Adam, He was perfect. Beta products may not ready for prime time and people will wait for debugged items to hit the store shelves, but Jesus was simply second, not faulty in any way. And His return (the Second Coming) will be just as powerful as His first Advent, the Incarnation.

He had to come as the Second Adam because the first one didn’t obey God’s command.

Even after the first Adam’s descendants had it all spelled out for them in the law.

Romans 8:3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man.

Unlike the alpha Adam, the Second Adam was absolutely perfect.

Read Romans 5: 12-21 especially verses 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Indeed, this life is not just for earth but beyond it. 1 Corinthians 15:20 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. …42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

Thought for the day: Perfection had to come in the Second Adam, Jesus Christ, in order for us to experience life through His death. The life He gives is eternal and the resurrection is a trail He blazed ahead of us.

Questions for pondering:

1. If Jesus hadn’t been the perfect Second Adam, would His death have mattered any more than yours or mine?
2. If we were all to behave perfectly can we be a god too? Let me answer that one. No! That is the stuff of heresies and false religions.
3. Why is Jesus’ death sufficient, and what is it about us that makes it impossible for our deaths to be sufficient no matter how well-behaved we are?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

As we’ve begun to consider the Incarnation as the means through which God makes us acceptable to Him, we cannot forget that the scarlet cord running through it has always been sacrifice.

It was sacrifice when God supplied the ram so that Abraham’s faith would shine and the line of God’s promise would carry forth through Isaac, just as He said. And it was sacrifice too, when God supplied the perfect Lamb so that our faith might shine and God’s promise would be fulfilled … once and for all time.

We don’t like to think about sacrifice in our culture. Everything is designed for the easiest way out.

Take a pill and lose 10 pounds with no change in your diet or lifestyle required. “There’s no need to give up, cut back, or be responsible!” our political culture screams. “Just take on more debt. Easy-peasy. You can do it.  Kick the can down the road.”

There’s just one little problem: eventually one must pay the piper.

And in the case of sin and judgment, the cost is higher than any of us can pay.

So Jesus did it for us. 

It was sacrifice and cost His very life.

Hebrews 9:22 In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Thought for the day: Jesus’ Incarnation always had Good Friday as its earthly end. The gift of the Christ Child at Christmas was always meant as Easter’s Lamb of God, the perfect sacrifice.

Questions for pondering:

1. How did God supplying the ram (Genesis 22) instead of Isaac serve to keep God’s promise alive?
2. We don’t do animal sacrifices anymore. Why?
3. In our aversion to blood, have we lost something of the understanding of sacrifice?
4. There is a widely known phenomenon on social media called the “Online Disinhibition Effect” in which people say awful things to each other that we would never say in-person or in front of a crowd of actual onlookers. We don’t see what damage, hurt, and harm we’re doing to people because they are not present, they’re virtual. How is the lack of “blood” if you will, as feedback on our behaviors missing, and contributing to such poor behavior?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

The Incarnation was never the end game. It was always preparing the way. The way of peace. The way of reconciliation. The way of ongoing presence of God. And the way for the Holy Spirit to come.

In the Incarnation, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all had some skin in the game, even if Jesus was the only one who would ever have actual skin.

Up until now, we’ve primarily looked at the Incarnation as solving a problem. That problem is what to do when a holy God still wants to maintain relationship and preserve His Image … but when His Image bearers are a bunch of sinners.

Today, however, I’d like for us to look at the Incarnation as preparing the way. In John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Yes, the Incarnation paved the way and Jesus is the Only Way. Eternal life is the future awaiting believers in Him.  That is a forward look.

Between now and the afterlife with Christ, we see the Incarnation preparing another way. The way to an ongoing presence of God for today in His Holy Spirit. The Bible has always looked forward to this.

Jeremiah 31: 31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. 33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD

Read Joel 2:15-32, especially verses 27 Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the LORD your God, and that there is no other; never again will my people be shamed. 28 ‘And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. 29 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days. 30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 31 The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. 32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.

Thought for the day: The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and is God’s ongoing presence in the hearts of believers.  Were it not for the Incarnation preparing that way, we’d be unable to know God and the blessing of having His Holy Spirit to guide us.

Questions for pondering:

1. Read John 14:1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  What preparation work is Jesus doing?  How is He preparing it and us?
2. Read John 16:4 I have told you this, so that when the time comes you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you this at first because I was with you. 5 “Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. 7 But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; 10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; 11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.”  How does this describe the work of preparing and the ongoing presence of God in the lives of believers?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

When opposing groups come to some sort of peace agreement, each side usually gives up something to reach a so-called happy middle ground. It’s all about compromise and getting to a place of relationship.

Not so with God.

Because God is holy and we are sinners, there is no middle ground.

It’s like pregnancy, you either are or you aren’t. You’re holy or you’re not. And God, being holy, can have nothing to do with sin or the result is that He compromises His holiness. There is nothing He can do with sin except to eradicate it, punish it, and conquer it.

Jesus is God’s peace accord and He did it in the Incarnation.

Read all of the vastly misused Romans 8. Especially verses Romans 8:1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4 in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. …31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all– how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died– more than that, who was raised to life– is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Thought for the day: Jesus is our peace accord. God did not compromise His holiness to make peace with a death sentence we deserved. Know Justice. Know Peace.

Questions to ponder:

1. Why is it that we can never be holy apart from being “born-again” through faith in Christ?
2. Why does humanity prefer the idea of compromise? Of earning heaven? Of self-determination?
3. How is Jesus God’s peace accord and able to turn our disposition away from following our sin nature which leads to only death…and toward life in the Spirit?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><

Do you ever wish you’d lived back in the days when Jesus walked the earth?

To touch His human hand, to know His human voice, to see His human face, to hear His human laugh, and to look deep into His human eye… knowing what we know now… on this side of the Ascension? That He is God revealing Himself and He did it in Jesus’ Incarnation.

Scripture tells us that Hebrews 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Jesus answered Thomas and Philip saying, John 14:7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Thought for the day: There was a point when Jesus-the exact representation and perfect Image of God-walked this earth. It was the Incarnation. And it was a miraculous revealing of who God is.

Questions for pondering:

1. Read John 16:12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you. 16 “In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.” How does the work of revealing continue in the Holy Spirit?
2. Why did Jesus have to do the work of revealing in the Incarnation before the work of revealing could continue in the ministry of the Holy Spirit?

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Incarnation (2015 Advent Devotional Series) began November 29th.  By way of reminder, if you haven’t signed up yet, you can receive these devotional studies in your email throughout Advent 2015 by entering your email address on the SeminaryGal.com home page in the space provided in the sidebar.  Or “Like” the SeminaryGal Facebook page to access them there.  If you like these devotionals, I’d really appreciate your letting others know so I can continue to spread the Good News far and wide.  Blessings to you, in Christ always, Barbara <><