Dawn 2 Dusk The Small Town That Changed EverythingMatthew reminds us that when the Messiah entered the world, God did it through a place most people would overlook. Bethlehem wasn’t the obvious stage for a royal arrival, yet it became the proof that God keeps His promises in precise, surprising ways—and that His greatness often shows up wrapped in humility. Bold Prophecy, Quiet Geography God didn’t need a capital city to announce a King. He chose Bethlehem—small, familiar, unimpressive—and made it the address of hope. That’s how He loves to work: He threads redemption through ordinary places so we learn to recognize His hand, not just human hype. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Corinthians 1:27). And notice the tenderness in God’s accuracy. The Messiah’s birthplace wasn’t random; it was promised. When God speaks, history eventually catches up. “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:20). If He was faithful down to the town, He will be faithful down to the detail in your life, too—even the parts that feel small or stuck. A Ruler Who Comes to Shepherd Matthew 2:6 doesn’t just point to a birthplace; it reveals a kind of King. He comes to rule, yes—but His rule looks like shepherding. He doesn’t lead from a distance; He draws near, knows His people, guards them, and carries them. That’s the heart of Christmas: not simply that a Child was born, but that God came close enough to be followed. Jesus later says it plainly: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11). This is not the rule of intimidation, but the rule of sacrificial love. And when you feel scattered, anxious, or unsure, you’re not being asked to perform your way into His care—you’re being invited to come under it. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” (Psalm 23:1). When God Chooses the Overlooked, He Is Choosing You Bethlehem’s story is permission to stop despising the “small” parts of your life. The hidden seasons, the humble responsibilities, the unglamorous obedience—these are not evidence that God forgot you. They may be the very places He is preparing you to recognize His voice and respond with faith. “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin” (Zechariah 4:10). And it’s also a call to look at people differently. If God’s promised King arrived through an overlooked town, then we should expect Him to be at work in overlooked people. Christmas reshapes our attention: we watch for grace in the margins, we make room, we honor the lowly. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble” (Luke 1:52). Father, thank You for keeping Your promises and sending the Shepherd-King; help me trust You in the small places and obey You today with joyful faith. Amen. Evening with A.W. Tozer Thoughts on CommunionWhat a sweet comfort to us that our Lord Jesus Christ was once known in the breaking of the bread. In earlier Christian times, believers called the Communion the medicine of immortality, and God gave them the desire to pray: Be known to us in breaking bread, But do not then depart; Savior, abide with us and spread Thy table in our heart. Some churches have a teaching that you will find God only at their table-and that you leave God there when you leave. I am so glad that God has given us light. We may take the Presence of the table with us. We may take the Bread of life with us as we go. Then sup with us in love divine, Thy body and Thy blood; That living bread and heavenly wine Be our immortal food! In approaching the table of our Lord, we dare not forget the cost to our elder Brother, the Man who was from heaven. He is our Savior; He is our Passover! Music For the Soul Christ’s Incarnation in Order to His Vicarious and Redeeming DeathI lay down My life for the sheep. . . . have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. - John 10:15-18 We can imitate Christ in His service, but not in His sacrifice; we can tread in His footsteps to the gate of Gethsemane, but He has to wrestle in His agony alone; alone has to stand before His judges, and to die alone. He gives His life. As at its beginning He willed to be born, so at the end He wills to die. He is the Lord of Life and the Lord of Death; and never did He witness the completeness of His authority over that awful form, which yet is His servant, more marvelously and entirely than when He seemed to submit to its blow. Like the King of Israel who bade his armor-bearer fall upon him and slay him, so Christ commanded and Death obeyed. If you will read with an eye to this thought the stories of the Crucifixion, you will see that all the evangelists, as of set purpose, choose expressions which are at least consistent with, and I think were selected on purpose to express, the thought of the voluntariness of our Lord’s death. " He yielded up the ghost," "He gave up the spirit," with a mighty cry which indicated unexhausted strength, " Father! into Thy hands I commend My Spirit!" The same witness is borne, as I believe, by the remarkable language employed in the account of the Transfiguration, when these three, each of whom stood in a peculiar relation to death, Moses, Elias, and Christ, conversed in solemn words, "concerning the departure which He should accomplish at Jerusalem " - by Himself willing to go, and therefore going. You will not understand either birth or death unless you interpret them both according to His own profound saying: "I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world." Again, "I leave the world and go unto the Father." And, still further, we have here set forth our Lord’s voluntary death as a ransom. A ransom is a price paid for the deliverance of a slave from captivity. And Christ distinctly, beyond all cavil on the part of honest interpretation, as it seems to me, sets forth His death here as the crown of His service and the climax of His work, because in it there is the power by which the bonds of sin and condemnation are broken, and liberty is proclaimed to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. He dies, not as the hero dies who closes his heroism by a brave death. He dies, not as the martyr dies who seals his witness with his blood. He dies, not as the saint dies, leaving behind him sweet and pathetic memories that draw us onward upon a course like his own. Other men’s deaths are but the closing of their activity; Christ’s death is the climax of His. It is not enough that He should serve in our stead; He must die our death if we are to be set free. It is not enough that He should witness of God by the wisdom of His Word, the purity of His life, the graciousness of His deeds, the tenderness of His compassion, the pathos of His tears. A nobler revelation of the love of God triumphing over man’s sin; of the consistency of that life with perfect righteousness - a revelation, too, of the darkness and the foulness of man’s evil which nothing else could have given, is given to us when, and only when, we recognise the voluntary death of Jesus Christ as the ransom and propitiation for the sins of the world. Spurgeon: Morning and Evening Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually. What the patriarch did early in the morning, after the family festivities, it will be well for the believer to do for himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as pure and sanctifying as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude should be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for our poor hearts, that facts prove that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting. Come, believer, in what have you sinned today? Have you been forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in idle words and loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice. The sacrifice sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day--to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good tonight, it is good every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead works. Gladly I close this festive day, Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn; My slips and faults are washed away, The Lamb has all my trespass borne. Spurgeon: Faith’s Checkbook He Came; He Is ComingMany are celebrating our LORD’s first coming this day; let us turn our thoughts to the promise of His second coming. This is as sure as the first advent and derives a great measure of its certainty from it. He who came as a lowly man to serve will assuredly come to take the reward of His service. He who came to suffer will not be slow in coming to reign. This is our glorious hope, for we shall share His joy. Today we are in our concealment and humiliation, even as He was while here below; but when He cometh it will be our manifestation, even as it will be His revelation. Dead saints shall live at His appearing. The slandered and despised shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Then shall the saints appear as kings and priests, and the days of their mourning shall be ended. The long rest and inconceivable splendor of the millennial reign will be an abundant recompense for the ages of witnessing and warring. Oh, that the LORD would come! He is coming! He is on the road and traveling quickly. The sound of His approach should be as music to our hearts! Ring out, ye bells of hope! The Believer’s Daily Remembrancer This Honour Have All His SaintsWhat honour? Of being redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, out of every nation, country, people, and tongue. Of being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible; by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever. Of being acknowledged as the sons of God : "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is". Of being closely allied to Jesus : He is not ashamed to call them brethren. Of being heirs of God : "If children then HEIRS, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ". Of being delivered from slavery to serve God in liberty : "that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies we might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life". Of being appointed to sit in judgment with Christ : Know ye not that we shall judge "angels"? "This honour have all His saints." Are we saints? Do we walk as becometh saints? Are we living under the influence of these great privileges? Let us admire, adore, and obey. Pause, my soul, adore and wonder; Ask, "Oh, why such love to me?" Grace hath put me in the number Of the Saviour’s family; Hallelujah! Thanks, eternal thanks to Thee. Bible League: Living His Word "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us."— Matthew 1:23 NKJV Immanuel, God with us. God the Son stepped out of heaven to come in the flesh. But why in the form of a baby, a child? God is the creator of heaven and earth, of you and me, and God desires and wants a relationship with each of us on a personal level. He desires we see and engage in His creation as it is a gift and blessing for us. He desires a personal relationship with His people on an intimate and loving level that goes both ways. "Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23). I believe in order to illustrate the kind of reciprocal, intimate, loving, and caring relationship God desires, He sent His Son first as a child. It is Christ as a baby and child that evokes compassion in all of us—the compassion of a parent for a child. The Bible tells us that when Pharoah's daughter found the baby Moses in a basket by the river, "she saw the child: and behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him." Compassion evokes joy and the natural desire to be in a closer relationship. Elizabeth, upon hearing news of Mary's pregnancy rejoiced, and the babe in her womb even leaped with joy (Luke 1:44). What are some of the blessings of an intimate, loving relationship with the almighty God? For starters He promises to always be with us (Genesis 28:15, Hebrews 13:5). The Bible tells us the Lord God is our rest (Exodus 33:14, Matthew 11:28-30). God promises to be our strength in the battles (Deuteronomy 20:1, Romans 8:37-39). He promises to be our comfort (Isaiah 43:2, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4). God is our friend (James 2:23, John 15:15), and He promises to be with us to the end (Matthew 28:19-20). And these are just some of the wonderful promises we have with an intimate relationship with God. Christmas is the celebration of God's perfect gift to us. A gift of love and salvation and an invitation to a relationship with the real and living God. Jesus Christ, the gift, is the only baby with such promises and qualities. He was and is the only baby to be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of Peace. So revere and celebrate the baby Jesus, the divine child who came to invite you into a personal relationship with a personal God. Merry Christmas! By Pastor David Massie, Bible League International staff, California U.S. Daily Light on the Daily Path 2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!Psalm 100:1,2,4 A Psalm for Thanksgiving. Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. • Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. • Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. Isaiah 9:6,7 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. • There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this. Romans 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Mark 12:6 "He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' Psalm 107:21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! Psalm 103:1 A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Luke 1:46,47 And Mary said: "My soul exalts the Lord, • And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.Insight Peter wanted to rouse the complacent believers who had listened to the false teachers and believed that because salvation is not based on good deeds, they could live any way they wanted. Challenge If you truly belong to the Lord, Peter wrote, your hard work will prove it. If you're not working to develop the qualities listed in 2 Peter 1:5-7, maybe you don't belong to him. If you are the Lord's—and your hard work backs up your claim to be chosen by God (“called and chosen'')—you will never be led astray by the lure of false teaching or glamorous sin. Devotional Hours Within the Bible The Multitudes FedMatthew 14:13-21 ; Matthew 15:29-39 “As soon as Jesus heard the news, he went off by himself in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed by land from many villages. A vast crowd was there as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.” It was just after the death of John the Baptist. John’s disciples went and told Jesus of their great sorrow. Their grief touched the heart of their Master, and He withdrew, seeking a little season of quiet. The best comforter in our times of trouble is God and when our hearts are sore, we can do nothing so wise as to flee into the secret of His presence! Jesus went out in a boat to cross the lake. But the people saw the boat departing and flocked around the lake to meet Him on the other side. As He stepped from the boat, the multitude began to gather, eager to see Him. Although He was seeking rest, His compassion drew Him to the people that He might help them. It was always thus that Jesus carried people’s sorrows. When He looked upon the great throng who had flocked after Him and saw among them so many suffering ones lame, sick, blind, palsied His heart of compassion was stirred. When we remember that Jesus was the Son of God, these revealings of His compassion are wonderful. It comforts us to know that there is the same compassion yet in the heart of the risen Christ in glory. He did not lose His tenderness of heart when He was exalted to heaven. We are told that as our High Priest, He is touched by ever sorrow of ours. Every wrong that we suffer reaches Him. Every sorrow of ours thrills through His heart. It was not their hunger, their poverty, their sickness, nor any of their earthly needs that appeared to Him their greatest trouble but their spiritual needs. Our worst misfortunes are not what we call calamities. Many people may seem prosperous in our eyes, and yet when Christ looks upon them He is moved with compassion, because they are like sheep with no heavenly Shepherd. Yet the first help Christ gave that day, was the healing of the sick. He thinks of our bodies as well as our souls. If we would be like Him, we must help people in their physical needs and then, like Him, also, seek further to do them good in their inner life, their spiritual life. There are times when a loaf of bread is better evangel than a gospel tract. At least the loaf must be given first, to prepare the way for the tract. As the day wore away, it became evident that the people were very hungry. They had brought no provisions with them, and there were no places in the desert where they could buy food. Combining the stories in the different Gospels, we get the complete narrative of what happened. Jesus asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” (John 6:5). Philip thought it was impossible for them to make provision for such a throng. “Eight months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” The apostles could think of no way to meet the need of the hour, but by dispersing the people. “Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” To this suggestion the Master answered, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” We are like the disciples. We are conscious of having but little of our own with which to help or bless others and we conclude hastily that we cannot do anything. If we feel responsibility, we meet it by deciding that it is impossible for us to do anything. Our usual suggestion in such cases, is that the people go elsewhere to find the help they need. We suggest this person or that person who has means, or who is known to be generous, thus passing on to others the duty which God has sent first to our door. We are never so consciously powerless and empty in ourselves, as when we stand before those who are suffering, those in perplexity, or those who are groping about for peace and spiritual help. Our consciousness of our own lack in this regard leads us often to turn away hungry ones who come to us for bread. Yet we must take care lest we fail to do our own duty to Christ’s little ones. Jesus said to His disciples that day, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” That is precisely what He says to us when we stand in the presence of human needs and sorrows. He says, “Feed these hungry people!” There is no use sending them to the world’s villages there is nothing there that will feed them. Nor need you send them to people who seem to have more than you have they have no duty in the matter. Whenever Christ sends to us those who are need, whether it be for physical or spiritual help we may not lightly turn them away. The help they actually need we can give them. They would not have been sent to us if it had been impossible for us to do anything for them. If we use the little we have in Christ’s name, He will bless it so that it shall feed the hunger of many. We learn how to use our resources by studying the way the disciples fed the multitude that day. The first thing they did was to bring their loaves and fish to the Master. If they had not done this they could not have fed the people with them. The first thing we must do with our small gifts is to bring them to Christ for His blessing. If we try with unblessed gifts and powers to help others, to comfort the suffering, to satisfy people’s spiritual hungers, we shall be disappointed. We must first bring to Christ whatever we have, and when He has blessed it, and then we may go forth with it. The miracle seems to have been wrought in the disciples’ hands as the bread was passed to the people. They gave and still their hands were full. In the end all were fed. So with our small gifts, when Christ has blessed them, we may carry comfort and blessing to many people. It was a boy who had these loaves. Here is a good lesson for the boys. Someone say that this boy was a whole Christian Endeavor Society himself. He and Jesus fed thousands of people with what ordinarily would have been a meal for but one or two. The boys do not know how much they can do to help Christ bless the world through the little they have. The young girl who thinks she cannot teach a class in Sunday-school, and takes it at last tremblingly but in faith, finds her poor barley loaf grow under Christ’s touch, until many children are found feeding upon it, learning to love Christ and honor Him. The young man who thinks he has no gifts for Christian work finds, as he begins that his words are blessed to many. We must notice, also, that the disciples had more bread after feeding the multitude, than they had at the beginning. We think that giving empties our hands and hearts. We say we cannot afford to give or we shall have nothing for ourselves. Perhaps the disciples felt so that day. But they gave, and their store was larger than before. So the widow’s oil was increased in the emptying (1 Kings 17:12-16). The disciples said that Mary’s ointment was wasted when she poured it upon the Master’s feet (John 12:3-8). But instead of being wasted it was increased, so that now its fragrance fills all the earth. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingHaggai Haggai 1 -- The Word of the Lord by Haggai; Haggai Inspires Temple Building NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Haggai 2 -- The Builders Encouraged to the Work by Promise of Greater Glory; God's promise to Zerubbabel NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading Revelation 16 Revelation 16 -- The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath; Armageddon NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. |
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