Monday
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. –Isaiah 9:6 ESV
Prince of Peace
A young daughter was working so diligently on her homework that her father became curious and asked her what she was doing. She looked up at her dad and replied, “I’m writing a report on how to bring peace to the world.” The father smiled and said, “Isn’t that a pretty big order for a little girl?” The girl continued writing as she answered, “Oh, no. Don’t worry. There are three of us in the class working on it.”
Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would come as the Prince of Peace. Shalom is the Hebrew word that in its purest meaning translates peace. But shalom does not simply mean peace, the absence of trouble, it means peace that is everything good. Shalom is the idea of that which makes for the good of man. When someone says, Shalom or Peace unto you, it doesn't mean I hope you don't get into any trouble, it means I hope you have all the highest good coming your way. It's a positive word.
Reflection
The news has been filled with banners that say pray for the peace of Israel. Do you have Shalom(peace) in your life?
Praise/Prayer
Praise God for the birth of Jesus that made true peace possible. Ask God to give you all the things that Shalom represents.
Prince of Peace
A young daughter was working so diligently on her homework that her father became curious and asked her what she was doing. She looked up at her dad and replied, “I’m writing a report on how to bring peace to the world.” The father smiled and said, “Isn’t that a pretty big order for a little girl?” The girl continued writing as she answered, “Oh, no. Don’t worry. There are three of us in the class working on it.”
Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would come as the Prince of Peace. Shalom is the Hebrew word that in its purest meaning translates peace. But shalom does not simply mean peace, the absence of trouble, it means peace that is everything good. Shalom is the idea of that which makes for the good of man. When someone says, Shalom or Peace unto you, it doesn't mean I hope you don't get into any trouble, it means I hope you have all the highest good coming your way. It's a positive word.
Reflection
The news has been filled with banners that say pray for the peace of Israel. Do you have Shalom(peace) in your life?
Praise/Prayer
Praise God for the birth of Jesus that made true peace possible. Ask God to give you all the things that Shalom represents.
Tuesday
If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. – Romans 12:18 ESV
Prince of Peace: Jesus can Restore Your Relationships
Conflict is everywhere, isn’t it? In a classic Winston Churchill comeback, Lady Astor once said, “If you were my husband, I’d put poison in your coffee.” Churchill responded with his cutting wit: “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
Someone said: “Man doesn't know any peace at all; he's not even at peace in his house. Houses are shattered and destroyed and torn apart and shredded, no communication, no love, no care, no concern, divorce, the breakup of a family, all kinds of problems. I'm not going to labor the point, it's obvious to everybody. There is no answer to peace because man just can't seem to find it. There's no peace in his heart, there's no peace in his home, there's no peace in his schools, there's no peace at his job, there's no peace in his country, there's no peace in his world.
Jesus’ birth makes peace with others possible. Jesus bridged the ultimate relationship break that our sin created with God. Because we have peace with God we can have peace with others.
Reflection
Did God convict you of any relationships you needed to make right during Pastor Jim’s sermon? What could you do to start the reconciliation process?
Praise/prayer
Praise God for the relationships in your life He has helped you restore. Ask God to show you any relationships He wants you to help make right.
Prince of Peace: Jesus can Restore Your Relationships
Conflict is everywhere, isn’t it? In a classic Winston Churchill comeback, Lady Astor once said, “If you were my husband, I’d put poison in your coffee.” Churchill responded with his cutting wit: “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
Someone said: “Man doesn't know any peace at all; he's not even at peace in his house. Houses are shattered and destroyed and torn apart and shredded, no communication, no love, no care, no concern, divorce, the breakup of a family, all kinds of problems. I'm not going to labor the point, it's obvious to everybody. There is no answer to peace because man just can't seem to find it. There's no peace in his heart, there's no peace in his home, there's no peace in his schools, there's no peace at his job, there's no peace in his country, there's no peace in his world.
Jesus’ birth makes peace with others possible. Jesus bridged the ultimate relationship break that our sin created with God. Because we have peace with God we can have peace with others.
Reflection
Did God convict you of any relationships you needed to make right during Pastor Jim’s sermon? What could you do to start the reconciliation process?
Praise/prayer
Praise God for the relationships in your life He has helped you restore. Ask God to show you any relationships He wants you to help make right.
Wednesday
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. – Matthew 5:9 ESV
Prince of Peace: Peacemakers
Haddon Robinson said, “No peace will exist between nations until peace reigns in each country. And no country will have peace unless peace resides in each community. And no community will have peace unless peace dwells within its people. And no people will have peace unless they surrender to the Prince of Peace.”
As we consider this beatitude of peace, Phil Morgan suggests that there are three types of people: Peace-breakers - they are always looking for a fight. That reminds us of what one person said about Christians who quarrel: “Where two or three come together in Jesus’ name…there will eventually be conflict.”The second type are Peace-fakers - they avoid conflict to your face. Finally, there are Peace-makers. Peacemakers actively pursue peace. They are a picture of the gospel and what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Reflection
The Bible repeatedly teaches that the apex of Christian character is the ability to get along with other people. How mature is your faith if it’s measured by your ability to get along with others?
Praise/Prayer
Thank God for the blessings He promises when you are a peacemaker. Ask God to help you look like His child in the way you help bring peace to relationships.
Prince of Peace: Peacemakers
Haddon Robinson said, “No peace will exist between nations until peace reigns in each country. And no country will have peace unless peace resides in each community. And no community will have peace unless peace dwells within its people. And no people will have peace unless they surrender to the Prince of Peace.”
As we consider this beatitude of peace, Phil Morgan suggests that there are three types of people: Peace-breakers - they are always looking for a fight. That reminds us of what one person said about Christians who quarrel: “Where two or three come together in Jesus’ name…there will eventually be conflict.”The second type are Peace-fakers - they avoid conflict to your face. Finally, there are Peace-makers. Peacemakers actively pursue peace. They are a picture of the gospel and what Jesus did for us on the cross.
Reflection
The Bible repeatedly teaches that the apex of Christian character is the ability to get along with other people. How mature is your faith if it’s measured by your ability to get along with others?
Praise/Prayer
Thank God for the blessings He promises when you are a peacemaker. Ask God to help you look like His child in the way you help bring peace to relationships.
Thursday
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. – Colossians 1:19-20 ESV
Prince of Peace: Jesus can Save Your Soul
One lady said, “The best time was around 1850. The telephone was invented in 1875. The bathtub was invented in 1850. In 1850, you could have taken a bath for 25 years without being interrupted with the phone ringing! Isn't that real peace???”
In the New Testament there are two types of peace. One of them has to do with your relation to God and the other has to do with your relation to life as a believer. And you never have the second subjective peace until you have the first objective peace.
The first type is peace with God. Romans 5:1 teaches, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have Peace With God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are only good with God because of the mercy of God that’s made possible by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Reflection
What parts of Christmas remind you that Jesus came to save your soul?
Praise/Prayer
Thank Jesus for shedding His blood in order for you to be saved from the penalty of your sin. Ask God to give you the opportunity to help someone be reconciled to God.
Prince of Peace: Jesus can Save Your Soul
One lady said, “The best time was around 1850. The telephone was invented in 1875. The bathtub was invented in 1850. In 1850, you could have taken a bath for 25 years without being interrupted with the phone ringing! Isn't that real peace???”
In the New Testament there are two types of peace. One of them has to do with your relation to God and the other has to do with your relation to life as a believer. And you never have the second subjective peace until you have the first objective peace.
The first type is peace with God. Romans 5:1 teaches, "Therefore, being justified by faith, we have Peace With God. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We are only good with God because of the mercy of God that’s made possible by the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Reflection
What parts of Christmas remind you that Jesus came to save your soul?
Praise/Prayer
Thank Jesus for shedding His blood in order for you to be saved from the penalty of your sin. Ask God to give you the opportunity to help someone be reconciled to God.
Friday
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility. – Ephesians 2:14 ESV
Prince of Peace: Breaking Down Walls
Joshua Bell is perhaps the world’s most famous violinist; at 39 he was called “America’s greatest classical musician”--the kind that people would fill up Carnegie Hall at a minimum $100/ticket just to hear him play his Stradivarius violin. In 2007 a news outlet put him up to an experiment. He was in DC for a concert, and so the day after they had him go down anonymously into the L’Enfant Metro station in DC during rush hour, his $3.5 million Stradivarius in hand, and he played for an hour with his hat out to collect tips. Keep in mind, thousands of people had just paid hundreds of dollars a ticket to hear this guy play the night before. Over the 43 minutes he stood there playing Bach and Brahms in the station, no more than 6 people stopped, and he made a grand total of $32.17 in donations, not counting one $20 tip from one person right at the end who actually recognized him. It’s possible to miss some of the greatest things in your life because your heart is not tuned to look for them. Sometimes our hearts are so dull and so distracted that we don’t recognize majesty even when it’s right in front of us.
It’s easy to miss the meaning of Christmas and Jesus’ birth. The main reason He came was to tear down the wall that existed between man and God. The value of what Jesus paid for our souls is immeasurable. And when He tore down that wall, He also tore down the wall of hostility between people.
Reflection
Why do you think there is hostility between us and Jesus before we are saved? Why do you think hostility between men started in the Garden of Eden?
Praise/Prayer
Praise God for tearing down the wall that kept you from having a loving relationship with God. Ask God to bring healing to any relationships you have that are divided.
Prince of Peace: Breaking Down Walls
Joshua Bell is perhaps the world’s most famous violinist; at 39 he was called “America’s greatest classical musician”--the kind that people would fill up Carnegie Hall at a minimum $100/ticket just to hear him play his Stradivarius violin. In 2007 a news outlet put him up to an experiment. He was in DC for a concert, and so the day after they had him go down anonymously into the L’Enfant Metro station in DC during rush hour, his $3.5 million Stradivarius in hand, and he played for an hour with his hat out to collect tips. Keep in mind, thousands of people had just paid hundreds of dollars a ticket to hear this guy play the night before. Over the 43 minutes he stood there playing Bach and Brahms in the station, no more than 6 people stopped, and he made a grand total of $32.17 in donations, not counting one $20 tip from one person right at the end who actually recognized him. It’s possible to miss some of the greatest things in your life because your heart is not tuned to look for them. Sometimes our hearts are so dull and so distracted that we don’t recognize majesty even when it’s right in front of us.
It’s easy to miss the meaning of Christmas and Jesus’ birth. The main reason He came was to tear down the wall that existed between man and God. The value of what Jesus paid for our souls is immeasurable. And when He tore down that wall, He also tore down the wall of hostility between people.
Reflection
Why do you think there is hostility between us and Jesus before we are saved? Why do you think hostility between men started in the Garden of Eden?
Praise/Prayer
Praise God for tearing down the wall that kept you from having a loving relationship with God. Ask God to bring healing to any relationships you have that are divided.
Posted in He Shall Be Called
Recent
Archive
2024
2023
July
Categories
Tags
no tags