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To Hell With Hesitation
Life is not measured by time – life is measured in
When we allow God to work in and through those moments, they become
15… if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. 16But do this in a gentle and respectful way.…—1 Peter 3:15-16 (NLT)
You never know how God will use one moment of
8That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”—Luke 2:8-12 (NLT)
It’s not surprising that the shepherds were “
We know the Jews were very aware of God’s promise to send them a Savior, the Messiah or Christ, but there had been
LORD of Heaven’s Armies: Look! I am sending my messenger [who would be John the Baptist], and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming …. —Malachi 3:1 (NLT)
LORD of Heaven’s Armies: 5Look, I am sending you the prophet Elijah before the great and dreadful day of the LORD arrives. 6His preaching will turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers.… —Malachi 4:5-6 (NLT)
What’s amazing is that through the angel God didn’t announce the birth of His Son to a King or the Jewish elite or those with power, but, instead, to a group of
The most incredible news going to the most
13Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” 15When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”—Luke 2:13-15 (NLT)
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.—Luke 2:16 (NLT)
The shepherds’ attitude of to hell with hesitation, that boldness and courage to just go, allowed them to be the
17After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished…. 20The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.—Luke 2:17-20 (NLT)
The shepherds found themselves in a moment of spiritual urgency, and Luke tells us they went and “told
The shepherds weren’t caught up in what others thought of them but just realized they had just received and seen the
Wouldn’t it be great if today we responded to the Good News of this story with a sense of spiritual
What if we were so concerned about other’s
Today’s passage reminds us that God often uses the
Next Week: Holy Moments - Part 4