Excerpts from

 The Simplicity of Christmas

By Pastor Steven J. Cole - Flagstaff Christian Fellowship

God chose to reveal the birth of the Savior to simple shepherds who were going about their job. Why shepherds? Shepherds had not been schooled in the law and thus were considered ignorant. Their work made them ceremonially unclean. ... They probably couldn’t read and write. They weren’t leadership material. ... Many would have stumbled over the angel’s directions (2:12): “You will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger”—a mere feeding trough! It smelled like a barn. Contrary to many artists’ conceptions, there was no halo over the baby’s head....  It wasn’t quite the way you would expect God to launch His Messiah into this world!...  The baby in the manger of Bethlehem is none other than the Lord God in human flesh! Nothing could be more simple and yet more inscrutably profound!... Thirty long years went by before this Child of Bethlehem even began to preach. ... Why didn’t God move faster? Why didn’t He use these men to get some action going for Jesus while He was still a boy?     We American Christians often buy into a version of Christianity that’s not much like the simple Christianity of the Bible. We seem to have a need for the spectacular and big.... Maybe we ought to get back to the simplicity of steadfast Christian living, centered on “the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). Please read the whole article by Pastor Cole at www.fcfonline.org/site/content/1/sermons/122092m.pdf

| Home | Armor of God | Persecution | Preparing for Victory |