Special Prayer Bulletin
Dear Brethren,
We have all heard about the tragedy that has befallen our fellow brothers and sisters from Sutherland Springs Church in Texas.
Would you join me in prayer for this congregation in their time of need.
Let us pray.
Our Heavenly Father,
We uplift to You today, our fellow brothers and sisters of Sutherlands Springs Church.
We grieve with them. And we know that You are saddened as well.
Holy Spirit, please comfort them in their time of grief, and strengthen them in the knowledge of Your immense love for them.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray for God's healing touch upon those who are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.
We pray also that your healing touch be upon those who have been emotionally wounded from this traumatic experience.
Show forth Your glory O Lord, through the lives of the living. Heal them and restore them unto a deeper hope in Christ for Your Name sake!
In the wake of this tragedy, please assure them that your Work in the church and the community will be unsurpassed because of their courageous testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ in their lives.
May they be emboldened by Your Holy Spirit to be Your witnesses and agents of love and reconciliation within the community.
May Your Shalom be upon their lives in the assurance that every member of the family who was lost that day, is right now found in You, Jesus, our loving Lord and God.
We believe that You will renew all things.
We thank you and pray all these in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Thank you for praying.
May the Lord bless and keep you - as you devote your life seeking after Christ alone.
I believe in Jesus Christ…
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
To recap what we covered last week – there is absolutely and categorically only one way to be saved from death due to the wages of our sin, and it is solely through Jesus Christ, the Son of God - who has absolute supreme and unparalleled authority over all heavenly and earthly powers.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Indeed, Jesus is the Christ, God’s only Son, and our Lord!
Amen!
This week, the Apostles’ Creed beckons us unto a deeper reality of our Triune God; by inviting us into the life of the Holy Spirit – the third person of the Trinity, who was responsible for the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
The incarnation of Christ is a fundamental Christian doctrine that facilitates our understanding that the Son of God – and second person of the Trinity - took on human fleshly nature, and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul explains this to us in Colossians 2:9, ‘For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form’.
The divine nature of the Son of God was perfectly integrated with the human nature becoming one divine Person, making Jesus - truly God and truly man.
This perfect integration between the divine and the human is known theologically as the hypostatic union.
This hypostatic union is what is described in this faith statement of the Apostles’ Creed ‘I believe in Jesus Christ…who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary’, and fully essentializes, and eternalizes, the Christmas story as told in the Bible.
We all adore the Christmas story.
It is a story of new hope for mankind. It is a story of joy to the world, for the Lord has come. It is a story of salvation, redemption and restoration.
We all know that story well, enough.
If you profess to be a believer, well, that’s not enough.
As believers, we need to believe that - Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, ‘conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary’, is much more than the Christmas story in itself.
Existentially, the birth of Jesus Christ stands to be a:
·Present reality
The birth of Christ … A Historic Event.
Apart from the biblical evidence, reputable scholars agree that it remains indisputable that in the course of human history, Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. Notwithstanding the fact that this birth is a miracle in itself, this historical miracle has withstood the test of time to remain part of our present reality.
The Christmas story is not a legend, it is a true story based on true events.
The place (Bethlehem) is real. The circumstances surrounding Christ’s birth (the Census, the shepherds’ encounter with the Angels, Herod’s attempt to murder his perceived competition, the visit from the magi) were all real, and historically documented.
Even the fact that Mary was a virgin is generally perceived to be true.
It has to be true so that we may account for the miraculous birth, right?
Right.
But the fact of the matter – again – belies a far greater reality as to why we must believe, and insist – when required, that Mary was indeed a virgin at the time of the Holy Spirit’s conception of Jesus Christ.
Biologically, in any act of conception, pregnancy and delivery, both the father and the mother are respectively instrumental - as the latest dispenser of a particular human lineage, and current host of the life form now conceived - when human sperm meets human egg.
Throughout the process, there is no creative function on the part of the human parents. What is transpiring is merely reproduction, not creation.
No matter how we wished or willed our child to turn out to be during the point of conception or carriage, we know that how the child turns out is pretty much out of our control.
Here’s the reality, the entire reproductive process, from conception to delivery, is entirely in God’s hands. We may be instrumental in the reproduction process, but we are merely instruments in God’s hands where reproduction and the continuity of our family line is concerned.
We are creatures. God alone, is the Creator.
Which is why every human conception is a miracle.
The woman cannot do without the man. The converse is true.
But the point is that Man cannot do without God.
Without His divine hand upon the process - which we are beginning to discover is a deeply delicate process – no conception can actually take place.
Every conception is a miracle of God. Let’s us establish that as fact.
Now, the virgin birth of Christ is the miracle of miracles because God intentionally overshadowed His routine miracle of conception through a human agent, and through His Holy Spirit conceived Christ within Mary without bypassing the history of human events leading up to this moment, whilst presenting a fresh start for a New Creation - that was not begotten from the first Adam - by bypassing a human instrument; who would have otherwise carried the baggage of original sin into this conception.
Jesus Christ is the fresh start for New Creation.
Jesus Christ is God’s salvific intervention; albeit through human agency.
Jesus Christ is the New Adam; in that, the Holy Spirit’s conception of Christ within the womb of Mary represents God’s New Creation by being the First of a new humanity without sin. (Ref: Romans 5:12-21)
The agency and lineage of Man was bypassed in one of the greatest miracles in the world, but it was the woman who bore Christ into the world – such is the heart of God who remains deeply engaged with His Creation; a divine mystery!
To deny the virgin birth is to deny the New Adam of God’s New Creation – Jesus Christ – and to deny that Christ is truly God and truly man; the necessary reality that substantiates our complete redemption from death, which is the wages of our sin.
Never deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that we may become the children of God, through His only Son.
The birth of Christ … A Prophecy Fulfilled.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
Of the more than 300 prophecies fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ through His life, death and resurrection, this was the very first that followed immediately after the fall of Man, uttered from the mouth of God Himself.
When Man fell into sin, God was on hand with a rescue plan.
In this verse, we learn that God placed a state of war between the serpent and the woman, between the seed of the serpent (cf: Revelations 12:9) and the seed of the woman.
And so, in this reality of an ongoing war between demons and Man is found the greatest promise of God as He reveals the final outcome of this war - ‘the seed of the woman’ is ultimately and supremely victorious over the serpent and all that it represents.
‘He will crush your head.’
The war is over. The deceiver loses – big time.
Who is the ‘Seed of the woman’?
Common knowledge informs us that the ‘seed’ comes from the male agent of the human reproductive process. The woman carries the egg. Again, the human agency – male and female - is stressed because every reproductive act is a miracle - divinely ordained by God.
For the tens of thousands of years following mankind’s banishment from the Garden of Eden, and then after the Flood (another historic event), it was precisely through human agency that led to the population of the Earth.
However, there was a point in human history some two thousand years ago, when a virgin conceived, not through human agency, but by divine intervention.
Luke 1:26-28 reveals to us the details of this miracle of miracles.
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
The Virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit of God.
The child whom she bore – Jesus Christ – is the ‘Seed of the woman’, God’s victorious redemption plan for the world.
Understand this. Up till this point, this was a Genesis 3 world that we are talking about; a world in the state of war between demons and humans; a realm of conflict, sin, brokenness, death and destruction.
So, forget about all the ‘nice’ impressions or perceptions of Christmas.
The divine conception and birth of Jesus Christ through the Virgin Mary is the most audacious invasion operation to ever take place in the entire cosmos.
This heavenly invasion into the realm of the world amidst darkness, demonic influences, death and destruction saw the Son of God leading the charge as the baby Jesus borne unto the Virgin Mary.
His mission: To rescue the world.
Jesus didn’t come to the world in His true splendor as a divine Conqueror with His armies of angelic warriors; but as a helpless babe, surrounded by Mary, Joseph and the livestock they shared the barn with.
From infancy through His life, death, resurrection, Jesus Christ is God’s prophecy, and promise fulfilled.
Through Jesus Christ, the promise of Salvation from sin and death unto eternal life is fulfilled and real.
All you need to do - is to believe in God’s promise fulfilled, and live in Christ’s reality for you.
The birth of Christ … A Present Reality.
Just as the Holy Spirit conceived Christ in the Virgin Mary, we need the Holy Spirit to conceive Christ in our lives as well.
In every way, Mary represents the utter helplessness, hopelessness and inability for man to ever find faith in God apart from His divine intervention.
For the Virgin Mary to even conceive without human agency is not only a medical improbability, it is an existential impossibility!
Thus, in the same way, having our faith in Christ conceived through human agency is an existential impossibility.
In other words, if you think you came to faith in God all by yourself, think again.
Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)
To have faith in Christ is to concede to the work of the Holy Spirit upon our lives.
It is through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in whom we declare the Lordship of Christ in our lives, just as it is the Holy Spirit who ‘testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.’
It is through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in whom we may be born again.
Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks clearly to this Spiritual Rebirth when He taught Nicodemus (John 3:3-16) -
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Are you BORN AGAIN?
For your own sake, don’t be so quick to answer.
When was the last time you recognized your utter helplessness in having faith in God, and your utter hopelessness in saving yourself from sin and death?
When was the last time you recognized that you need the Holy Spirit to conceive Christ in you?
When was the last time you recognized that you need the Holy Spirit to guide you through your day, to help you overcome temptation, or to read the Word the God?
Let’s consider Titus 3:4-7 carefully,
‘4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
When was the last time you realized that ever since the Holy Spirit has started His Salvific work through Christ in you, He desires to continue His divine work of progressive rebirth (Salvation) and renewal (Sanctification) in your life?
The point is, Salvation and Sanctification is not a one-off deal; where the Holy Spirit engages you in divine encounter and revelation once, and then leaves you alone to figure things out on your own for the rest of your life…
Biblical salvation and sanctification is both distinct (a calendar event in your life) and progressive (a continuous lifelong process of engaging the Holy Spirit in His work of rebirth and renewal in your life).
Fact is, distinct and progressive salvation and sanctification is clearly expressed in John 3:16 ‘that whoever believes (note: continuous tense) in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ – a belief that started at some point, and continues on relentlessly.
Has your belief in Jesus continued on relentlessly?
Think about that for a moment, because that is the key consideration of your salvation through Jesus Christ.
‘Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.’ – Jesus Christ.
When was the last time you desired a spiritual rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit?
You cannot be born again on your own strength, will or by any means whatsoever.
Only through the Holy Spirit.
To be born again is to daily allow the Holy Spirit to fulfill His divine work of rebirth and renewal in your life.
Everyday holds new challenges and greater temptations that pull us every other way except towards Christ.
Let the Holy Spirit empower you to live a full life in Christ through living out the greatest Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40), and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) in the purpose and power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
To be born again is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39) and daily allow Him to convict you of your sins, so that you may repent and turn to Christ, ‘the Author and Perfecter’ of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
To be born again is to constantly allow the Holy Spirit to help you continue believing in Jesus Christ, to continue trusting in the Lord with all your heart, and never leaning on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) even when we continue to live in this realm of sin, brokenness, death and destruction.
Believe this also.
To always lean on God to understand everything – including the tragedy of the 26 fellow Christians from Sutherlands Springs Church, Texas, who lost their lives on the Sunday morning they chose to worship God together – is never easy, and most times, very agonizing, very painful.
In a press conference, the church pastor, Frank Pomeroy echoed this agonizing sentiment whilst courageously expressing his trust in the Lord when he stated, “I don’t understand, but I know my God does…”
In the face of tragedy, would it be enough for you to know that God understands, and that He alone knows what is really happening?
Only through the Holy Spirit.
Are you BORN AGAIN?
If you are still reading this today, know that the Holy Spirit has started His something in your life.
See it through with the Holy Spirit.
Be BORN AGAIN!
If you are not sure if you are born again, make sure right now!
Open your heart to God, let the Holy Spirit conceive Christ in your life.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Through the Holy Spirit, the Son is given to you.
Are you ready to receive Him, and be born again?
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You were conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
And I acknowledge that You are my Lord and my God.
I believe that Your holy birth is a historical event, God’s prophecy fulfilled and a present reality in that today, I am saved by Your finished work on the Cross, and may be a part of God’s New Creation and Family through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
I acknowledge that apart from the Holy Spirit, I am utterly helpless in saving myself from the wages of sin, and hopeless in establishing faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
And therefore, because of Your presence in my life, Holy Spirit, I may proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord!’
Thank you, Lord!
Lord Jesus, I believe that You are born into this world, and not from it. You did not appear within history, but descended into history from on high.
Lord Jesus, You are not the best human being that Man can boast about, but because You are conceived by God, You are God Incarnate – the most heavenly, holiest and highest of life entering into the world through the humblest of human means – as a helpless babe.
Lord Jesus, I believe that You are God becoming man, to grant Your children the justification – by our faith in Christ – to enter and eternally be part of Your New Creation, through Your finished Work on the Cross.
By following You, our Christ, we begin living as a New Humanity, a chosen people and a holy nation – a people belonging to God – right here and now in this world.
God, I yield myself completely to Your Holy Spirit’s presence and power.
May You constantly grow and deepen my faith in Christ with each and every passing moment of my life.
I believe that in You, I have redemption through Your blood, the forgiveness of my sins.
May I never waver in my faith nor falter in my steps in proclaiming that my only means to know Christ is through the Holy Spirit, with these resolute words,
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Indeed, no one comes to the knowledge of the Son except through the Holy Spirit of God.
Holy Spirit, fill my life, fuel my heart and fulfill Christ’s destiny in my life.
I thank You and pray all these in the Supreme Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear Brethren,
We have all heard about the tragedy that has befallen our fellow brothers and sisters from Sutherland Springs Church in Texas.
Would you join me in prayer for this congregation in their time of need.
Let us pray.
Our Heavenly Father,
We uplift to You today, our fellow brothers and sisters of Sutherlands Springs Church.
We grieve with them. And we know that You are saddened as well.
Holy Spirit, please comfort them in their time of grief, and strengthen them in the knowledge of Your immense love for them.
In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray for God's healing touch upon those who are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.
We pray also that your healing touch be upon those who have been emotionally wounded from this traumatic experience.
Show forth Your glory O Lord, through the lives of the living. Heal them and restore them unto a deeper hope in Christ for Your Name sake!
In the wake of this tragedy, please assure them that your Work in the church and the community will be unsurpassed because of their courageous testimony of our Lord Jesus Christ in their lives.
May they be emboldened by Your Holy Spirit to be Your witnesses and agents of love and reconciliation within the community.
May Your Shalom be upon their lives in the assurance that every member of the family who was lost that day, is right now found in You, Jesus, our loving Lord and God.
We believe that You will renew all things.
We thank you and pray all these in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Thank you for praying.
May the Lord bless and keep you - as you devote your life seeking after Christ alone.
I believe in Jesus Christ…
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary
Dearly Beloved,
Greetings in the Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!
To recap what we covered last week – there is absolutely and categorically only one way to be saved from death due to the wages of our sin, and it is solely through Jesus Christ, the Son of God - who has absolute supreme and unparalleled authority over all heavenly and earthly powers.
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Indeed, Jesus is the Christ, God’s only Son, and our Lord!
Amen!
This week, the Apostles’ Creed beckons us unto a deeper reality of our Triune God; by inviting us into the life of the Holy Spirit – the third person of the Trinity, who was responsible for the conception of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
The incarnation of Christ is a fundamental Christian doctrine that facilitates our understanding that the Son of God – and second person of the Trinity - took on human fleshly nature, and became a man in the form of Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul explains this to us in Colossians 2:9, ‘For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form’.
The divine nature of the Son of God was perfectly integrated with the human nature becoming one divine Person, making Jesus - truly God and truly man.
This perfect integration between the divine and the human is known theologically as the hypostatic union.
This hypostatic union is what is described in this faith statement of the Apostles’ Creed ‘I believe in Jesus Christ…who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary’, and fully essentializes, and eternalizes, the Christmas story as told in the Bible.
We all adore the Christmas story.
It is a story of new hope for mankind. It is a story of joy to the world, for the Lord has come. It is a story of salvation, redemption and restoration.
We all know that story well, enough.
If you profess to be a believer, well, that’s not enough.
As believers, we need to believe that - Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, ‘conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary’, is much more than the Christmas story in itself.
Existentially, the birth of Jesus Christ stands to be a:
- Historical event
- Prophecy fulfilled
·Present reality
The birth of Christ … A Historic Event.
Apart from the biblical evidence, reputable scholars agree that it remains indisputable that in the course of human history, Christ was born of the Virgin Mary. Notwithstanding the fact that this birth is a miracle in itself, this historical miracle has withstood the test of time to remain part of our present reality.
The Christmas story is not a legend, it is a true story based on true events.
The place (Bethlehem) is real. The circumstances surrounding Christ’s birth (the Census, the shepherds’ encounter with the Angels, Herod’s attempt to murder his perceived competition, the visit from the magi) were all real, and historically documented.
Even the fact that Mary was a virgin is generally perceived to be true.
It has to be true so that we may account for the miraculous birth, right?
Right.
But the fact of the matter – again – belies a far greater reality as to why we must believe, and insist – when required, that Mary was indeed a virgin at the time of the Holy Spirit’s conception of Jesus Christ.
Biologically, in any act of conception, pregnancy and delivery, both the father and the mother are respectively instrumental - as the latest dispenser of a particular human lineage, and current host of the life form now conceived - when human sperm meets human egg.
Throughout the process, there is no creative function on the part of the human parents. What is transpiring is merely reproduction, not creation.
No matter how we wished or willed our child to turn out to be during the point of conception or carriage, we know that how the child turns out is pretty much out of our control.
Here’s the reality, the entire reproductive process, from conception to delivery, is entirely in God’s hands. We may be instrumental in the reproduction process, but we are merely instruments in God’s hands where reproduction and the continuity of our family line is concerned.
We are creatures. God alone, is the Creator.
Which is why every human conception is a miracle.
The woman cannot do without the man. The converse is true.
But the point is that Man cannot do without God.
Without His divine hand upon the process - which we are beginning to discover is a deeply delicate process – no conception can actually take place.
Every conception is a miracle of God. Let’s us establish that as fact.
Now, the virgin birth of Christ is the miracle of miracles because God intentionally overshadowed His routine miracle of conception through a human agent, and through His Holy Spirit conceived Christ within Mary without bypassing the history of human events leading up to this moment, whilst presenting a fresh start for a New Creation - that was not begotten from the first Adam - by bypassing a human instrument; who would have otherwise carried the baggage of original sin into this conception.
Jesus Christ is the fresh start for New Creation.
Jesus Christ is God’s salvific intervention; albeit through human agency.
Jesus Christ is the New Adam; in that, the Holy Spirit’s conception of Christ within the womb of Mary represents God’s New Creation by being the First of a new humanity without sin. (Ref: Romans 5:12-21)
The agency and lineage of Man was bypassed in one of the greatest miracles in the world, but it was the woman who bore Christ into the world – such is the heart of God who remains deeply engaged with His Creation; a divine mystery!
To deny the virgin birth is to deny the New Adam of God’s New Creation – Jesus Christ – and to deny that Christ is truly God and truly man; the necessary reality that substantiates our complete redemption from death, which is the wages of our sin.
Never deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that we may become the children of God, through His only Son.
The birth of Christ … A Prophecy Fulfilled.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)
Of the more than 300 prophecies fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ through His life, death and resurrection, this was the very first that followed immediately after the fall of Man, uttered from the mouth of God Himself.
When Man fell into sin, God was on hand with a rescue plan.
In this verse, we learn that God placed a state of war between the serpent and the woman, between the seed of the serpent (cf: Revelations 12:9) and the seed of the woman.
And so, in this reality of an ongoing war between demons and Man is found the greatest promise of God as He reveals the final outcome of this war - ‘the seed of the woman’ is ultimately and supremely victorious over the serpent and all that it represents.
‘He will crush your head.’
The war is over. The deceiver loses – big time.
Who is the ‘Seed of the woman’?
Common knowledge informs us that the ‘seed’ comes from the male agent of the human reproductive process. The woman carries the egg. Again, the human agency – male and female - is stressed because every reproductive act is a miracle - divinely ordained by God.
For the tens of thousands of years following mankind’s banishment from the Garden of Eden, and then after the Flood (another historic event), it was precisely through human agency that led to the population of the Earth.
However, there was a point in human history some two thousand years ago, when a virgin conceived, not through human agency, but by divine intervention.
Luke 1:26-28 reveals to us the details of this miracle of miracles.
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
The Virgin Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit of God.
The child whom she bore – Jesus Christ – is the ‘Seed of the woman’, God’s victorious redemption plan for the world.
Understand this. Up till this point, this was a Genesis 3 world that we are talking about; a world in the state of war between demons and humans; a realm of conflict, sin, brokenness, death and destruction.
So, forget about all the ‘nice’ impressions or perceptions of Christmas.
The divine conception and birth of Jesus Christ through the Virgin Mary is the most audacious invasion operation to ever take place in the entire cosmos.
This heavenly invasion into the realm of the world amidst darkness, demonic influences, death and destruction saw the Son of God leading the charge as the baby Jesus borne unto the Virgin Mary.
His mission: To rescue the world.
Jesus didn’t come to the world in His true splendor as a divine Conqueror with His armies of angelic warriors; but as a helpless babe, surrounded by Mary, Joseph and the livestock they shared the barn with.
From infancy through His life, death, resurrection, Jesus Christ is God’s prophecy, and promise fulfilled.
Through Jesus Christ, the promise of Salvation from sin and death unto eternal life is fulfilled and real.
All you need to do - is to believe in God’s promise fulfilled, and live in Christ’s reality for you.
The birth of Christ … A Present Reality.
Just as the Holy Spirit conceived Christ in the Virgin Mary, we need the Holy Spirit to conceive Christ in our lives as well.
In every way, Mary represents the utter helplessness, hopelessness and inability for man to ever find faith in God apart from His divine intervention.
For the Virgin Mary to even conceive without human agency is not only a medical improbability, it is an existential impossibility!
Thus, in the same way, having our faith in Christ conceived through human agency is an existential impossibility.
In other words, if you think you came to faith in God all by yourself, think again.
Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:3)
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.
And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:15-16)
To have faith in Christ is to concede to the work of the Holy Spirit upon our lives.
It is through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in whom we declare the Lordship of Christ in our lives, just as it is the Holy Spirit who ‘testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.’
It is through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in whom we may be born again.
Our Lord Jesus Christ speaks clearly to this Spiritual Rebirth when He taught Nicodemus (John 3:3-16) -
“Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
“How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Are you BORN AGAIN?
For your own sake, don’t be so quick to answer.
When was the last time you recognized your utter helplessness in having faith in God, and your utter hopelessness in saving yourself from sin and death?
When was the last time you recognized that you need the Holy Spirit to conceive Christ in you?
When was the last time you recognized that you need the Holy Spirit to guide you through your day, to help you overcome temptation, or to read the Word the God?
Let’s consider Titus 3:4-7 carefully,
‘4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
When was the last time you realized that ever since the Holy Spirit has started His Salvific work through Christ in you, He desires to continue His divine work of progressive rebirth (Salvation) and renewal (Sanctification) in your life?
The point is, Salvation and Sanctification is not a one-off deal; where the Holy Spirit engages you in divine encounter and revelation once, and then leaves you alone to figure things out on your own for the rest of your life…
Biblical salvation and sanctification is both distinct (a calendar event in your life) and progressive (a continuous lifelong process of engaging the Holy Spirit in His work of rebirth and renewal in your life).
Fact is, distinct and progressive salvation and sanctification is clearly expressed in John 3:16 ‘that whoever believes (note: continuous tense) in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ – a belief that started at some point, and continues on relentlessly.
Has your belief in Jesus continued on relentlessly?
Think about that for a moment, because that is the key consideration of your salvation through Jesus Christ.
‘Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.’ – Jesus Christ.
When was the last time you desired a spiritual rebirth and renewal through the Holy Spirit?
You cannot be born again on your own strength, will or by any means whatsoever.
Only through the Holy Spirit.
To be born again is to daily allow the Holy Spirit to fulfill His divine work of rebirth and renewal in your life.
Everyday holds new challenges and greater temptations that pull us every other way except towards Christ.
Let the Holy Spirit empower you to live a full life in Christ through living out the greatest Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40), and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) in the purpose and power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8).
To be born again is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39) and daily allow Him to convict you of your sins, so that you may repent and turn to Christ, ‘the Author and Perfecter’ of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
To be born again is to constantly allow the Holy Spirit to help you continue believing in Jesus Christ, to continue trusting in the Lord with all your heart, and never leaning on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) even when we continue to live in this realm of sin, brokenness, death and destruction.
Believe this also.
To always lean on God to understand everything – including the tragedy of the 26 fellow Christians from Sutherlands Springs Church, Texas, who lost their lives on the Sunday morning they chose to worship God together – is never easy, and most times, very agonizing, very painful.
In a press conference, the church pastor, Frank Pomeroy echoed this agonizing sentiment whilst courageously expressing his trust in the Lord when he stated, “I don’t understand, but I know my God does…”
In the face of tragedy, would it be enough for you to know that God understands, and that He alone knows what is really happening?
Only through the Holy Spirit.
Are you BORN AGAIN?
If you are still reading this today, know that the Holy Spirit has started His something in your life.
See it through with the Holy Spirit.
Be BORN AGAIN!
If you are not sure if you are born again, make sure right now!
Open your heart to God, let the Holy Spirit conceive Christ in your life.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
Through the Holy Spirit, the Son is given to you.
Are you ready to receive Him, and be born again?
Shalom.
Let us pray.
Our Father in Heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name.
Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done; on earth, as it is in heaven.
Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You were conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
And I acknowledge that You are my Lord and my God.
I believe that Your holy birth is a historical event, God’s prophecy fulfilled and a present reality in that today, I am saved by Your finished work on the Cross, and may be a part of God’s New Creation and Family through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
I acknowledge that apart from the Holy Spirit, I am utterly helpless in saving myself from the wages of sin, and hopeless in establishing faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
And therefore, because of Your presence in my life, Holy Spirit, I may proclaim ‘Jesus is Lord!’
Thank you, Lord!
Lord Jesus, I believe that You are born into this world, and not from it. You did not appear within history, but descended into history from on high.
Lord Jesus, You are not the best human being that Man can boast about, but because You are conceived by God, You are God Incarnate – the most heavenly, holiest and highest of life entering into the world through the humblest of human means – as a helpless babe.
Lord Jesus, I believe that You are God becoming man, to grant Your children the justification – by our faith in Christ – to enter and eternally be part of Your New Creation, through Your finished Work on the Cross.
By following You, our Christ, we begin living as a New Humanity, a chosen people and a holy nation – a people belonging to God – right here and now in this world.
God, I yield myself completely to Your Holy Spirit’s presence and power.
May You constantly grow and deepen my faith in Christ with each and every passing moment of my life.
I believe that in You, I have redemption through Your blood, the forgiveness of my sins.
May I never waver in my faith nor falter in my steps in proclaiming that my only means to know Christ is through the Holy Spirit, with these resolute words,
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.
Indeed, no one comes to the knowledge of the Son except through the Holy Spirit of God.
Holy Spirit, fill my life, fuel my heart and fulfill Christ’s destiny in my life.
I thank You and pray all these in the Supreme Name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.