The joy of a newborn!

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There is great joy when a baby is born. I remember the birth of our two boys very well. Our eldest was born six weeks early, and number two was born on his agreed due date. I have got to admit that I shed tears of joy at both births. 

We chose not to find out the gender of our boys, so we waited patiently for their birth. In recent years, many people decide to say “Yes, please”, in response to the question, “Would you like to know if you are having a boy or a girl?” They then may have gone on to hold a gender reveal party. 

News from an expectant couple is good news. It is usually shared after the 12 weeks scan. Good news spreads fast with family and friends being told via text, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or a good, old-fashioned phone call. A birthday is a happy day with a great deal of shared celebration. Names would have been discussed, and a nursery made ready. 

The prophet Isaiah foretold the birth of Jesus some 700 years before His actual birth: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.“ Fast forward to the New Testament where Luke tells us of a young teen, Mary, who was visited by an angel who told her, “…you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest…”

There was no scan and no need to discuss names. Both were shared with Mary. She then spoke with Joseph, to whom she was betrothed. To be betrothed meant engaged to be married. Joseph wanted to end this arrangement privately to not embarrass her because the baby was not his, but enter another angel to reassure him that God was at work. In due course, the baby boy was born, and He was given the name Jesus. So, what is so special about this birth? It is His name, Jesus, Saviour.  

Having spoken about birth, Jesus introduced the phrase ‘born again’ as he chatted with a ruler of the Jews called Nicodemus one night. Jesus said: “…unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ” 

He was thinking physically, but Jesus was emphasizing the spiritual side of life. Have you experienced this second birth? Do you have a day in your life’s experience when you were born into God’s family? For me, it was on Tuesday, August 10th, 1982, in a farmer’s field in Llangennith. 

Please remember that God has always promoted family life. Adam and Eve were encouraged to multiply. Paul told the early church that mums, dads and children were to respect each other and live in line with God’s values. Today’s message has been about birth and, more importantly, new birth, which is having a relationship with God. I have two birthdays: a natural birth-day and a second spiritual birthday. I hope you do too!

Messages with Meaning (05/03/21), Written by Nigel Binding for Your542Day 

Mr Grumpy - what would change you?

 

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When we think of someone, we can often think of a characteristic that describes them. It could be grumpy, optimistic, sullen, generous, or mean. I wonder what people say about you and, more importantly, what people say about me. The truth is that we all exhibit many commendable qualities along with our flaws, but often one of our idiosyncrasies seems to represent us.

There are often reasons for this! Maybe a lack of confidence stops us from being optimistic, or past failures stop our confidence from showing. Is it easy to change? No, not really!

Who can you trust?

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We are promised much in life by so many. These promises do not always come to fruition. Would it not be wonderful if you knew who you could trust and to know that someone you trusted was 100% reliable?

The prophet Zechariah wrote, directed by God's Spirit, 500 years before the Lord Jesus was here. He wrote about a king coming in a lowly way and being transported unusually. The Bible predicted that the Lord Jesus would ride into Jerusalem on a donkey’s foal and join several Bible prophecies together. The Bible even predicted the day.

Right on that day, the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey. It is astounding how accurate the predictions are and the period of time between the prophecy and its fulfilment.

Really though, we should not be surprised; we should be reassured! The Bible is God’s Word, it is true, and as such, it will be accurate, and we can trust each and every word.

When the Lord Jesus entered the city, the people recognised the prophecy and hailed Jesus as king. They threw their coats on the road for the donkey to ride over and waved palm branches and shouted ‘Hosanna’, which means ‘save us!’

They had their own idea about how that should be done. They wanted Jesus to recruit an army and rise up to overthrow what they saw as the biggest problem that they had, the Romans!

They wanted Him to be their king and to wear the crown of the king of Israel.

The people failed to see their biggest problem; they failed to see that the God who ensured the prophecy was fulfilled would meet their need in His own way. They thought they knew best; they failed to trust God.

There would be a crown, but a very different one than the one they envisaged.

The prophet Isaiah said that each of us is like a straying sheep; we wander away from God and go our own way. Rather than following God’s way, we take the crown and put it on our own head, and thinking we know best, we rebel against God’s way, which is sin. We deserve to face the punishment of our sin.

But God so loved us and sent His Son for us. The Lord Jesus Christ was sent by the Father God to be the Saviour of the world. For this, He had to go to the cross. He wore a crown, not one of gold and rubies, but one of the thick eastern thorns. He should have had an orb and sceptre, objects of power in His hands, but He took nails through them. He should have had the finest royal robes, but He was crucified in shame on a cross. He should have been surrounded by His people adoring Him, but the crowds cried for Him to be crucified.

Why did He choose this? So, we as sinners could be forgiven! So, we could escape the punishment of sin, so we could enter Heaven.

How is this all possible? It is possible because the sinless Son of God bore our sin in His body on the cross. He died for us, and we can be forgiven by trusting in Him. The Bible makes a simple but profound statement ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!’

To be saved from sin, we must trust in the Son of God.  Is it not wonderful that the One we must trust has proved to us His trustworthiness in the accuracy of the Bible. Do you trust in Him?

Messages with Meaning (03/03/21)

Written by Stuart Scammell for Your542Day

The times they are a changing!

 

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Another week and another amazing number of things going on in the world! The French ex-president Sarkozy found guilty of corruption; Harry and Megan’s interview about to explode on the world’s media, global covid cases rise for the first time in seven weeks, the pandemic won’t be over in 2021 and so on. News, fake news, real news, fears and facts – who knows what to believe any more. All in all, you would be forgiven for thinking that the world is in quite a mess. Who can sort it out? In terms of physical health, mental health, economics or social cohesion, it will be a tough job to keep society together. I think most would agree that there are no easy answers, and it will take impressive leadership to steer us back to better days.

 

If you read the bible carefully, you would not be surprised. The bible predicts wide-ranging changes in the world, some of which we could be witnessing at the present time. Many of the things that we are seeing are among the catalogue of changes that are defined in the bible: global changes, increased seismic activity, political upheaval and changes in the social and economic fabric of society.