Matthew 2:11 And they came into the house and saw the child with Mary his mother; and they fell down
Mr. Bob King, the Lay Leader of our church, recently hand painted a picture he placed on the lawn of our church for Christmas. The picture allows you to look through the eyes of the baby Jesus so as to see what He saw from the manger. On one side, Jesus sees a shepherd holding a Jamb and His parents, Mary and Joseph. On the other side, Jesus sees the three wise men offering Him their gifts. Above Jesus sees the star and a white dove. But directly in front of Jesus you see the Cross with its shadow pointing to the manger.
Jesus was born both fully God and fully man! He was the Lamb of God who was born to take away the sin of the world. The wise men followed the star and offered Him the gifts representing His Deity and His Priesthood found in the gold and frankincense. But the myrrh pointed to the Cross for it was used to embalm the dead in ancient times. Jesus was born for the Cross! When He rose up from the baptismal waters, the dove descended and God said, This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.
From the One who sees you and loves you with an undying love. The One who looked down from the cross and said, Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. Can you see the compassion in His eyes, for you?
Pastor Louie
Praying for the Evangelization of the World
John 3: 16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
Yesterday morning, I was so blessed to have my dear friend, pastor, missionary, and professor, The Reverend Steve Eccles, share with the Trinity congregation during worship. Steve and I have been best friends for 31 years now, having first met as students at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. Steve is now called to be a Mobilization Representative for Wycliffe Bible Translation where he will recruit and train new translators for the mission field.
In addition to serving as a pastor in both the Free Methodist and Wesleyan Churches, Steve, his wife, and children have served as missionaries in Papau New Guinea and Zambia. Steve has always had a heart and longing for any people who have never had the Bible presented to them in their language, to have than language of the saving grace of Jesus Christ made available to them. I learned so many things from Steve on Sunday, but one which stuck out so clearly in my heart and mind was the fact of how Wycliffe Bible Translation ministries believed in 1995 that it would take 150 years translate the Bible into the last language on earth yet to receive their needed translation. Now, the goal has changed to the year 2025! How awesome is that!
For God so loved the world, the cosmos! His message was for all and is for all who would personally receive the sacrificial and substitutionary death of His Son upon the cross, in faith. Pray for Steve, his family, and other mobilizers and missionaries for the evangelization of the world. A soul to inherit eternal life!
That whosoever believeth in Him!
Pastor Louie and Steve Eccles
BANG!
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has co
If I may propose my version of the Biblical Big BANG! Before Anything New, God! Throughout the Bible, we are told that God is always doing new things. The first two verses of the Bible in Genesis tells us that God created ex nihilo, which means, God created out of nothing. Then, verse three tells us that God said Let there be light, and there was light! In Genesis Three we learn of sin and the fall of humankind, and yet God provided the first blood sacrifice when he provided animal skins to mercifully cover Adam and Eve’s nakedness and shame after they had sinned.
Yes, before anything new, God! The Ark God told Noah to build to save he and his family from the great flood, the rainbow God set in the sky to promise the world would never again be destroyed by water, the covenant God initiated with Abram in that all nations of the earth would be blessed through his seed, his grandson Jacob. The blood smeared over the doorposts of the Hebrews homes in Egypt that protected them from the Angel of Death God used to judge the Egyptians, Christ entering the world fully God and fully man, born of a virgin, to reconcile Jew and Gentile back to God and to offer us the ministry of reconciliation and forgiveness with one another as the Body of Christ! All brand new events graciously given by a loving God who does not want His children living mundane and uneventful lives, but vibrantly and joyously in love with Him as an attestation to His glory and faithfulness to His promises.
Live the New Year and the New Covenant!
Pastor Louie
The Glory of God in the Face of Christ
Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising Go
For God, who said, Light shall shine out of darkness, is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
I have a good friend in Arcadia by the name of Charles Dir, who loves humorous signs and sayings, who recently told me that wearing a frown will diminish your face value! How true! When the angel broke into the darkness and proclaimed the birth of the Savior, Jesus Christ, to the shepherds, Luke tells us the glory of the Lord shone resplendently in the nighttime sky, as it pierced through the darkness. And I’m sure these shepherds witnessed the same glory upon the face of Jesus when they visited him in manger next door in Bethlehem.
Paul, speaking to the Corinthian Christians, many having been misled by false teachers who had infiltrated the church and led members to believe that only by following strictly the Old Mosaic Law would one be certified as a true Christian, spoke of the face of Christ. He said the same God who spoke light into the darkness, was born in a manger for the purpose of living in the heart and life of anyone who would receive His Son into his or her life by faith. Have you ever considered the transformation a heart transformed by Christ can make on a lonely soul trapped in darkness and in need of Jesus? How your face, Christian, can be a witness to someone longing desperately for the grace and the glory of God. Let us invite the Holy Spirit to increase our face value for the Kingdom of God right where we live. A smile and a word of encouragement can change a life.