See Jesus Heb' 12:14

1
(No Transcript)
2
See JesusHeb. 121-4
3
The Birth of Jesus
Humble Approachable Courageous Rev. 121-5
4
Jesus Temptation
Instead of crushing the power of evil by divine
force instead of compelling justice and
destroying the wicked instead of gathering the
children of Jerusalem under His wings whether
they would or not, and saving them from the
horrors that anguished His soul He let evil
work its will while it lived He contented
Himself with the slow unencouraging ways of help
essential making men good, casting out, not
merely controlling SatanTo love righteousness is
to make it grow, not to avenge itHe resisted
every impulse to work more rapidly for a lower
good.
5
Jesus Temptation
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the
prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I
have longed to gather your children together, as
a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you
were not willing. (Matt. 2337)
6
There is no greater drama in human record than
the sight of a few Christians, scorned and
oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing
all kinds of trials with a fierce tenacity,
multiplying quietly, building order while their
enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with
the word, brutality with hope, and at last
defeating the strongest state that history has
known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena,
and Christ has won.
7
Ironically, if the US is truly sliding down a
slippery slope, that may better allow the church
as it did in Rome to set up a new
signwhich is full of promise. I would prefer
to live in a country where a majority of the
people follow the Ten Commandments, act with
civility toward one anotherbow their heads once
a day for a bland, nonpartisan prayer. I feel a
certain nostalgia for the social climate of the
1950s in which I grew up. But if that
environment does not return, I will not lose any
sleep. As America slides, I will work and pray
for the kingdom of God to advance. If the gates
of hell cannot prevail against the church, the
contemporary political scene hardly offers much
of a threat.
8
Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world
in disguise and starting a sort of secret society
to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in
force, invading it? Is it that He is not strong
enough? Well, Christians think He is going to
land in force we do not know when. But we can
guess why He is delaying He wants to give us the
choice of joining His side freelyGod will
invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God
to interfere openly and directly in our world
quite realize what it will be like when He does.
When that happens, it is the end of the world.
When the author walks on the stage, the play is
over. C.S. Lewis