lrbartel

Dec 25 2020

The First Christmas – The Dawning of a New Day!

I’m an early riser and delight in seeing the dawning of a new day… the sunrise for me is a sign of hope!

There is a dawning that exceeds them all, however – the dawn that occurred when Jesus, the “Light of the World,” was born! Here is how John expressed it… “In the beginning was the Word,, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. THE LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS, AND THE DARKNESS CANNOT OVERCOME IT!” (From John 1:1-5 ESV)

Hey, He changed my darkness to LIGHT that cannot be put out! He became (and IS) the dawning of a new day – The LIGHT OF MY LIFE!!! Merry Christmas!!!

Dec 22 2020

“Insignificant Bethlehem?”

Just a reminder during this Christmas season… When the “Kingdom of Heaven” broke into time and space and invaded the “world stage” in the person of Jesus Christ, it didn’t happen in a “religious capitol” – Jerusalem, or the powerful political center of the time, Rome… instead the “King of kings and Lord of lords” came in a humble stable (there was no room elsewhere) in a little “insignificant” town (check out Micah 5:2 and Matthew 2:3-6)… He was “the Bethlehem babe” …

Nothing really has changed… The Messiah’s presence and the revelation of the “Lord of all” comes to the humble, the seemingly insignificant and those receptive by faith (check out 1 Corinthians 1:18-31)… “The Kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” (Revelation 11:15ff)