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Is It the End? No, It Is Now the Beginning

< Luke 2:1-20 >

"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while
Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own
city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to
the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and
lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with
child. So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be
delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in
swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them
in the inn. Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields,
keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood
before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly
afraid. Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in
the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you:
You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger." And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God
and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward
men!" So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the
shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing
that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us." And they came
with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now
when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told
them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things
which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and
pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising
God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them."

How are you today? Usually I greet Christmas from the tropics and with cautious
spiritual optimism so far the reason why we celebrate Christmas is in remembrance of
the day the Savior Jesus was born incarnated in the flesh of man. The name Jesus is
"Ιησούς (iesous)" in Greek originated from the Hebrew name "‫( ישוע‬yeh-ho-shoo'-ah)"
which means "Jehovah is salvation" put differently He who will save His people from
their sins (Matthew 1:21). Christ "Χριστός (khris-tos)" in Greek and "‫( משיח‬mashiyach)"
in Hebrew means "the anointed King" (Daniel 9:26, John 1:41) and it is the New
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Testament's appellation for the Old Testament's Messiah. In the Old Testament the three
kinds of persons anointed in order to perform their duties included kings, prophets and
priests. Jesus Christ fulfilled all three roles as our King, our Prophet and the High Priest
of Heaven. Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit and
10 months later at the time of His birth Joseph and his betrothed wife Mary were at his
hometown in Bethlehem for a census decree by Caesar Augustus throughout the
Roman Empire. Since there was no empty room for them in the inn the Baby Jesus was
born in a stable and lying in a manger wrapped with white linen swaddling cloths He
was visited by some shepherds and Gentile wise men coming from the East. The news
of this greatest miracle event—that is, of the birth of Jesus Christ—greater than even
the exodus of the children of Israel on dry land across the Red Sea led by Moses in
human history (History simplistically is His story) was given to shepherds who tended
their sheep at night by an angel and accompanied by a multitude of the heavenly host
(Luke 2:1-20).

When King Herod heard of the birth of Baby Jesus in Bethlehem near Jerusalem in the
region of Judea he ordered the killing of all the young males under the age of two, this is
to tell us that for us who are the truly born again saints, in less than two years of
experiencing our faith, incontrovertible problems attack us unceasingly to shaken our
faith in the true gospel of the water and the Spirit especially at this infantile stage as
newly born-again lambs who have only recently been saved by believing in the gospel
of the water and the Spirit, therefore, we have to constantly deny our own thoughts as
we meditate and ruminate on the Lord's spoken word of Jesus' baptism in the Jordan
River and His bloodshed on the Cross at Calvary in order to overcome these obstacles
to our faith as we move on from eating blank food to solid nutrients to empower us
through the church of God and our leaders else we fall preys to and become victims of
circumstances ruled by the world and its ruler, the fallen angel, the Devil. To every
direction you point with the index finger three other fingers point back at you. I certainly
do not want to make a big fuss here because lifting that finger and pointing it here and
there will cause three fingers to point back at you. One of our fellow brothers, I will not
mention the name here, who is a Ugandan used a foreign mobile phone number from
South Africa on a social media app. You and I just like this our brother who have
become truly born again from every indication when we become lethargic in our minds
we are kind of troubled similar to what happened to King Herod to be followed by the
extermination of boys less than two years old at the birth of Christ the Lord in
Bethlehem. So I admonish that we just need to catch our breath, have a little bit of rest
even if it's just up to a split second and take a look to examine ourselves deeper.

Do not be confounded to think here that when I say we should at least have some short
respite it's compared to what preachers have religionized as the sabbatical year leave
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with paid salaries on the seventh year after serving their church for six straight years.
This is rather ministering in the church as a wage earner on a worldly occupation.
Furthermore, after a plot of land has been cultivated for six years in the seventh year it
was given rest by the people of Israel in the Old Testament to observe the sabbatical
year. To help your understanding let's turn to Exodus 23:10-11. "Six years you shall sow
your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie
fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field
may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove." Of
course, the Bible must be the ultimate benchmark of your and my faith in the truth. Like
this, the Israelites rested on both the Sabbath Day and the sabbatical year. So now we
must continue and keep on with our priestly duties every now and then like the priests
who offered the peace offerings in the Tabernacle (Leviticus 3:1-5) pressing toward the
goal for the prize of the midpoint of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus otherwise we
ourselves will end up to draw back to perdition. I pray and hope the Lord resolves all our
difficulties in the billows of life and encamp us with the blessedness of the former and
late rains of the Holy Spirit. So I am beseeching that in order to lessen the provocation
not to make matters worse out of lethargy may it be according to God's will given that
we either stand a chance for the first resurrection or to face an accursed spiritual death
in the lake of fire and brimstone forever based on our freedom of thought on what we
strive to believe and preach. Being mindful of the will of God our free will should be
dependent on what pleases God in order to glorify God. Even so, let's keep, maintain
and defend this faith of the gospel of being born again of water and the Spirit and
spread this true gospel with all our heart's content. Without a shadow of a doubt the
genuinely born-again saint carries out his or her small duty of spreading the
righteousness of God with a Berean spirit. For us the born again saints are not
conformed to this world but are transformed by the renewing of our minds by pondering
on the gospel word of the water and the Spirit. Like that I am continuously being refined
spiritually under the guidance of the church led by the perfect Savior Jesus Christ. Here
with Christ as the Head of the church that is our Commander-in-Chief we are being
trained spiritually through the available literature ministry as we walk in this race of faith
where absolutely indispensable is not whether you come in first or complete the race as
the last but above all it is for you to finish the race. This means, in other words, that our
spiritual prosperity or the prosperity of your soul comes before and precedes the

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prosperity of the flesh and not the other way round. To God the Father and Jesus Christ,
I give all my thanks!