Christmas: January 6

Old Testament Lesson

Jonah 2:2-9

Jonah prayed this prayer while in the belly of the fish. He prayed that he knew the Lord would deliver him and that salvation would spring forth. His prayer is a retelling of his story until now, he had forgotten the Lord, but in the midst of the pit, he suddenly remembered. And then, he prayed, and he knew the Lord would save him. How often do we wait until we are in the pit and then say, oh, yeah, what about God? So often, prayer I is the last thing on our list instead of the first. So often we wait until we feel like we have out run the outstretched arm of God and then we hit our knees. Jonah wound up in the belly of a fish because he wanted it his way and did not see the Lord’s face, but instead ran. Do we have the wind up in the belly of the fish before we will remember to pray?

New Testament Lesson

Ephesians 6:10-20

This is on of my favorite passages: The Armor of God. I’ve preached sermon after sermon about it. I’ll just make this one point. There is a spiritual war going one around us. There are forces of evil that are work against the Church and against God’s people. I know that may sound old fashion, but is true. Do we take that seriously? Do we put on the thing that God has given us to fight this fight? So often in sports, if one team really doesn’t want to play the game, but the other one does, it’s the team that plays the hardest and works the hardest that wins. If we approach life and spiritual matters like they are no big deal; we will be defeated. Do we take seriously the role of the evil and demonic forces working against us? CS Lewis said (this is a bad paraphrase) there were two opposite and equal problems with the devil. One is to see the devil everywhere and become obsessed, the other is to see the devil nowhere the foolishly believe that he does not exist. Do you take seriously the power of evil, not just in the world, but in your won life? The Word says do not give the devil a foothold. One way to keep him out is to put on the armor of God.

Gospel Lesson

John 11:17-27; 38-44

The grave could not hold back the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is stronger than death. I read a quote yesterday where someone asked, “Is there life after death?” There teacher responded, the correct question is, “Is there life before death.” Will you wait until you death bed to realize all the life you could have lived now? So often we wait and wait and wait to begin living. Jesus Christ has conquered death. Has He conquered you life?