The Essence of Christ's Love: Beyond the Holiday Season

Hello friend Chaplain Terry Warner here and welcome to the Chaplain's Corner. net. I have still a few more updates. When you visit my website, the Chaplain's Cornernet, a drop down menu will appear and you can sign up for my monthly newsletter. Your communication will always be private and never be shared. Subscription benefits will include a monthly newsletter, blogs and articles that I write and occasionally a video. Plus, you will have the ability to email me privately for your specific questions and comments. Starting at the beginning of the podcast, I will give you the season number and the episode number. Thank you so much for listening. My podcasts come out every Monday morning. Please like or follow me and again, thank you so much for listening. Hello friend Chaplain Terry Warner here. The title of this podcast is the Christ Child has Arrived your next step. It is series 3, episode 51. It will publish on 12, 18, 2023. A little note sometimes the title is a little different. If you will always go by the season episode number, season 3, episode 51 in this case, you will always get the right podcast. Your foundation scriptures are Luke, chapter 2, verse 52, and Luke, chapter 1, verses 29 to 33. We are getting ready to celebrate Christmas in five days. Most everyone has their shopping done, decorations up and presents under the tree. Even the Christmas scrooges and the non-participants are starting to breathe a sigh of relief as the end of Christmas and the commercializing of the event comes to an end. Now let's take a deeper look at what has transpired over 2,000 years ago. In Luke 2, 52 we read and Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men. For a lot of us, christ, as the baby in a manger, is of no threat or need of any alarm. He is cute, lovable and innocent. Because of this, we are content to leave Him in the manger. Did you ever wonder why Christ the Messiah was born in Bethlehem? My opinion on this is that Bethlehem represents our modern-day world of commerce and trade. The Jewish people were looking for a conqueror, a king who could overthrow and subdue the cruel Roman rule that we were having to live under. The manger was a cold, dark and damp and dirty place. That represents the cold-hearted, stubborn and stiff-necked people we have become. That's our heart. One can see that, had an actual king who fit the Jewish ideal of defeating the Romans, I suspect someone someway would have found him a room, but by dismissing the star, the angels and the baby. They missed the God of creation. So all ignored the event, except for those who actively opposed the coming of the Messiah, mainly Satan and his ruling governments. They tried several times to kill Jesus, but to no avail, and, because of their darkened minds, were confused and incapable of stopping God's plan. So the baby Jesus, left in the manger, grew up in the Lord and became the Son of God. He was 100% man because he was born of a virgin and his father was God himself. He was also 100% God because, with his father being God, he came as 100% man and 100% God. I'm not trying to interrupt or get in on the sovereignty of God or anything like that. You understand what I'm saying. He was God. The Father sent his son, Jesus Christ, and God the Father reconciled the world unto himself using Jesus Christ. I'm not using, but Jesus Christ was glad to do it. He volunteered for it. He knew he was lamb slain since the foundation of the world. But I digress Back to the main point. Jesus was no threat to anyone as long as he was kept in the manger and pulled out once a year to celebrate his birthday. But he grew up in wisdom and stature. The Amplified, says in Luke 2.52,. And Jesus increased in wisdom, in other words, in broad and full understanding and in stature and years and in favor with God and man. Let's look at the word wisdom. Proverbs 4: 5-7 says Get wisdom, get understanding. Forget it not, neither. Decline from the words in my mouth. Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee, love her and she shall keep thee. Wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom and with all that getting, get understanding. So ask God for wisdom according to James 1.5, and it says in James 1.5 that when we ask God for wisdom, don't be double minded. Ask for him in faith. Where do you get his wisdom? From reading his Word. Where do you get his wisdom? From studying his Word. Where do you get his wisdom? By drawing to a closer relationship with Jesus Christ. We have what I call quiet times and that's where I sit and meditate and talk to the Lord and wait for him to speak back. I had to start reading the Bible quite a bit and, to be truthful, I started with the living Bible. It was a paraphrase, but I understood it and I figured out what it said. And then, after I accepted Christ or rededicated my life to Christ at 26 years old, I was able to get into his Word, and using the King James Version or the New King James Version, they didn't have that then Using the King James Version and find out what Jesus was all about, what God was all about. And what I found out was he loved me and gave me a way out of this sinful world. So over 2,000 years of Christ's birthdays have been celebrated and a lot of us have left the baby in the manger, except for pulling them out long enough, with the giving of presents, kindness and forgiveness. Everybody at Christmas is a Christian. You ever notice that? They're kind-hearted, they're compassionate, they give and the spirit of love comes over everyone and for the majority, everyone moves and operates and loves like they should be doing all year long. We will start the new year with another joyous outlook and maybe a few resolutions to do better. Then on to Easter, then summer, then Thanksgiving, then another birthday, wait, wait, wait. Stop the merry-go-round of life. I won't off, I was told, even promised, somewhere I could live an abundant life. Well, you still can, and quite easily, I may add. Hmm, how is that, you ask? By accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, by asking Him to come into your life, forgive you of your sins and creating you a clean heart. Then, with growth in Christ, comes and following in His word, in actions and allegiance, in all honesty. And any growth requires effort. I'll slow that down a little bit for you. Any growth requires effort. Your reward for doing this, that's easy. Eternal life, peace that passes all understanding, joy, unspeakable and full of God's glory. All of this can happen right now and never end. If you follow Christ, you don't have to wait till you get to heaven to have this. Won't the conquer 2024? It's saying it's going to be a rough and bumpy year, like we haven't had rough and bumpy years before. Like 2020 and 21 and 22 and 23 were rough and bumpy Pretty ridiculous. If you ask me, that was not God's plan. It's time the Christian stood up for what's right, what's truth, what's wholesome, what will do better for mankind? But to get back to its roots in religion. I don't mean religion in the church building or anything else. I mean religion in the body of Christ. I mean get back to Christianity and helping one another, get saved and go to heaven. If you want to conquer 2024, God will show you how. If not, shove the crib back into the cold, dark and damp manger's of your life until next year, if there is a next year. It was some 3,974 years from Adam until Jesus was born. It was 700 years from Isaiah until Christ was born. Israel was reborn and became a state on May 14, 1948. The time frame has progressed much smaller and as we await the return of Jesus Christ, it's getting smaller every year. As a matter of fact, it's starting to get smaller every day. How far are you away from eternity? One breath away from eternal life or eternal death, which is separation from God. My friend, we had a good Christmas this year. I hope you did too, but you got to grow up sooner or later. So this year, at Christmas, rededicate your life to Jesus. If you haven't asked Him into your heart, ask Him into your heart. Become a Christian and live and follow His guidelines. He rules the world. In truth, that sounds familiar. Jesus is Lord. Now, while I'm thinking about it, let me read you Romans 10, 9, and 10. I'll read out in the New International that if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved, for it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you are confessing to salvation or confess that you are saved. Become a Christian today and turn your life around. Quit looking at everybody else and start looking at yourself, because your eternal destiny, destiny, depends on your decision, accept Jesus, today. If you do that, write me and let me know, or find your church and I'll recommend a church for you. I want to help you. Help you any way I can. You have a blessed day in Jesus name, amen. This has been Chaplain Terry Warner. Thank you for listening to my podcast. They come out every Monday morning. It is the Chaplain's Cornernet. When you go there, there will be a place for you to sign up and get my newsletter. Thank you so much for listening and please like and share and follow me, as it helps so much to get the word out. You have a blessed day in Jesus name, amen.