“On the fourth day of Christmas my True Love sent to me: Four Calling Birds.”

The four calling birds represent the four gospels communicating the grace-filled message of Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Matthew was written to the Jewish culture and revealed Jesus as the King of Kings. The Gospel of Mark was written to the Romans and revealed Christ as the Greatest Servant. The Gospel of Luke was written to the Greek culture and revealed Jesus as a human. These are known as the synoptic gospels, meaning they tell stories that run side by side.

The Gospel of John was written much later to the universal church, as all cultures were blending together into one church. It has been called the Gospel of Belief because it reveals Christ as God’s Son and emphasizes His deity.

When these four perspectives are put together, they present a full view of the life of Christ on this planet and the clear message they proclaim, or call out. The Four Calling Birds.

Tags: Bible

“On the second day of Christmas my True Love sent to me: Two Turtle Doves“.

To the authors, the two turtle doves represented the Word of God, in two divisions: The Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament contains God’s desire of His chosen people, Israel. It contains the Books of the Law, the Historical Books, the Poetic Books and the Prophetic Books. It reveals God’s perfect will for man on the earth, but leads to a hopelessness for man who has fallen from perfection.

The New Testament contains the Gospels, History of the Early Church, the Epistles (letters) and the Book of Revelation, which is prophecy. The New Testament leads hopeless man into hope. Through the New Testament we learn how to effectively live as God instructed in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. Two Turtle Doves nestled together.

Tags: Bible

Dwight L. Moody illustrated grace like this in a late 1800s sermon:

“Remember, salvation is a free gift, and it is a free gift for us. Can you buy it? It is a free gift, presented to “whosoever” will accept it.

Suppose I were to say, I will give this Bible to “whosoever” will take it; what have you got to do? Why, nothing but take it. But a man comes forward, and says: “I’d like that Bible very much.”

“Well, didn’t I say ‘whosoever’ will can have it?”

“Yes; but I’d like to have you mention my name.”

“Well, here it is.”

Still he keeps eyeing the Bible, and saying, “I’d like to have that Bible; but I’d like to give you something for it. I don’t like to take it for nothing.”

“But I am not here to sell Bibles; take it, if you want it.”

“Well, I want it; but I’d like to give you something for it. Let me give you a cent for it; though, to be sure, it’s worth about five dollars.”

Suppose I accept the cent; the man takes up the Bible and marches away home with it.

His wife asks, “Where did you get that Bible?”

“Oh, I bought it.”

Mark the point: when he gave the penny, it ceased to be a gift. So with salvation. If you were to pay ever so little, it would not be a gift.

Tags: Bible, grace, Moody, works

Unbelief, indifference, busyness, and laziness are some of the excuses people give for not reading the Bible. Gamaliel Bradford, a renowned American biographer who explored the lives and motives of famous individuals, candidly admitted, “I do not read the New Testament for fear of its awakening a storm of anxiety and self-reproach and doubt and dread of having taken the wrong path, of having been traitor to the plain and simple God.”

How do you think that excuse will hold up in the High Court of heaven when he will surely stand before God? Its about as irrational as refusing to see a doctor because there’s a suspicion that cancer has started to develop in your body.

As I reread his statement above I thought it was a remarkably accurate record of what happened to me when I encountered God back in 1972 and was awakened to all the things he described. Thank God I listened and repented.

Tags: awakening, Bible, Excuses, repentence

Dr. Burt Nanus recalls that on his first day in engineering school in 1953, a professor advised the entering freshmen to buy the best slide rule they could afford. The professor told them, “You will be dependent on it all your professional life.” Nanus dutifully bought a slide rule. Yet after he graduated and went on to MIT, he never used it. The calculator had taken its place.

In a day when technology advances at an ever quickening rate, it seems that nothing remains the same. What was the style yesterday is already old fashioned. And yesterday’s technolgy is today’s junk. But there is one standard that has never changed because it has its root in truth: The Bible. Its stories may seem culturally irelevant in the King James Version, but the message is as fresh and relevant today as it ever was. Get a modern English version and learn about life. What have you read today?

Tags: Bible, relevance, truth

Part of the training to be a US Secret Service agent includes learning to detect counterfeit money. Agents-in-training make a thorough study of the genuine bills – not the phonies – so that they can spot the fake currency immediately because of its contrast to the real thing.

The child of God can learn a lesson from this. While it is helpful to study false religions and be fully aware of their dangerous dogmas, the best defense against such error is to know the truth, so we will spot it at once and won’t fall for it.

Today many are being led astray because they don’t recognize how they are being deceived. So, let’s handle the real thing as often as possible.

Tags: Bible, counterfeit