“The Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to His Temple, even the messenger of the Covenant, whom you delight in; behold, He shall come, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1) Suddenly, that’s how Jesus showed up. The hopes and fears of all the years were met by God....

Matthew Henry teaches us, “The way to preserve peace among relations and neighbors is to make the best of every thing, not to tell others what has been said or done against them when it is not at all necessary to their safety, nor to take notice of what has been said or done against them...

Just outside of Bethlehem, shepherds were on the watch over the sheep under their care. It was an ordinary night. They were likely cold and weary. They sat by a fire and made sure they kept their eyes open. This keeping work of theirs was constant. Long, hard, tedious hours...

Bad guys, good guys. Every great story has a combination of these characters. And the story of the birth of Jesus has its share of them. The primary villain in the whole nativity narrative is Herod the Great. He was the first in a line of Herods who ruled all...

“I am with Child.” How did those words fall upon the ears and heart of Joseph? Imagine the questions he must have asked and the answers Mary gave him. Betrothal was a sacred right, an agreement and covenant arrived at and legally sealed between two families. Joseph had entered into...

“And you shall call His name Jesus.” The sentence came to Joseph, in a dream from the Angel of the Lord. This craftsman from Nazareth wrestled with a big decision. His betrothed, Mary, the young woman to whom he was covenanted to take as his bride was now pregnant. Her...

A girl got a song. A carpenter got a dream. A just and loyal old saint got a promise from the Spirit. All of them are part of the Christmas story. And each one shows us something important about the way of God in this world. Let’s first look at...

A cloud the size of a man’s hand. That’s all Elijah’s servant saw in 1 Kings 18. Six times the prophet prayed and sent the man up Mount Carmel to look at the sea, and every time he came back with the same message:  “There’s nothing.” “Go again,” Elijah said...

Lowly, small — that’s how Jesus came. Yes, a Star did shine. A host of angels sang praises to His glory. There were those moments of fanfare for sure. Mostly, however, Heaven came and reached down to the very bottom of things. Away in a manger, asleep on the hay,...

What to do with Jesus? The Christmas story is full of people who had to answer this question. It really started with Mary, a young girl living in Nazareth. She was a woman promised. Her husband was to be Joseph, a carpenter in the town. And then Gabriel arrived in...