Proclaiming the Gospel with Evidence to All Peoples Everywhere
By Dr. Don Bierle, FaithSearch President
The celebration of Christmas with family and friends usually includes a feast–a veritable potpourri of eatables.
I couldn’t decide on only one thing to serve up for this Christmas feature, so decided on a potpourri of things suitable for this special season.
While understandable alone, this article is more complete when coordinated with our Christmas letter. So let’s dive right in.
By Dr. Don Bierle, FaithSearch President
And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God…” (Luke 1:35-38).
Jesus is “the image of the invisible God… For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 1:15; 2:9).
Thanksgiving may come first in our calendar today, but Christmas gives it its fullest meaning. Therefore, it is appropriate that Christians gathering for Thanksgiving would anticipate celebrating the advent of our Savior Jesus Christ.
Churches and Christian families do so with a centuries-old Christian tradition called the Advent wreath. It consists of a wreath with four candles in a circle around a fifth larger candle in the center. One candle is lit each week of Advent (this year on December 1, 8, 15, and 22), symbolizing the lighted path which leads to the ultimate spiritual light of the world. The birth of the Savior Jesus Christ is represented by the fifth candle, which is lit on Christmas eve.
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A heart giving thanks at any given moment is the real test of the extent to which we love God. Love must carry with it a ‘thank you’ to God. –Francis Schaeffer
A Hebrew word for praise is “halal” from which we get the “Hallel Psalms” (113-118). It is instructive to note that “thanks” occurs there as frequently, or even more than the word “praise,” especially in Psalm 118. Furthermore, our praise word “hallelujah” combines “halal” and “Yah” [the shortened form of God’s name Yahweh) meaning “Let us praise YAH.” This is retained by the KJV and Jerusalem translations of Psalm 68:4: “Sing to God, sing praises to His name…by His name YAH, and rejoice before Him.” Most other translations miss this hallelujah connection by substituting “Lord” for YAH.
The sacrifice we are to offer God this Thanksgiving is not an ox or a bull (or a “turkey”!) on a temple altar, but “the fruit of our lips” (Hosea 14:2; “our lips as bulls” in the Masoretic Text, the authoritative text of the Hebrew Bible). The Psalmist says, “…magnify Him with thanksgiving, and it will please the Lord better than an ox” (Psalm 78:30-31).
By Dr. Don Bierle, FaithSearch President
The apostle Paul told the Colossian Christians that Jesus “is the image of the invisible God” (1:15). Later in the same letter he expanded the meaning of that: “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (2:9).
The apostle John identified a significant problem about God: no one has ever seen Him! But John also provided the solution to the problem: Jesus – the “One and Only” (NIV), the “begotten God” (NASB), the “divine and only Son” (Phillips) – “has made Him known” (John 1:18).
As a result, whatever attributes you attribute to the Father, you must also find in the Son – different in person but the same in essence. He is “the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). What evidence supports that?
[Read more…]By Dr. Don Bierle, President
Recently I have noticed several current views within our culture which stand opposed to God and His revelation to us. For example, alleging there are many genders is a rejection of God’s creation of humanity in His image as “male and female,” as revealed in Genesis 1:27. An ideological refusal to bear children by some rejects God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” (v. 28). God’s institution of marriage and family as being between a man and a woman (2:24); the sanctity of life as opposed to abortion as a right and on demand (Psalm 139:13-16); and the rejection of any “authority-figure” except self – all appear to me to be a rebellion against God, His character, and what He has revealed.
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