Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

As we look forward to advent, that is the coming to our world of Jesus the God-man, we must be aware of a few things. Jesus coming to us was God’s idea and not ours. He came with a specific mandate and that was to save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21b), by binding up the broken hearted and releasing those held captive from the prison bars of Satan (Isa 61:1). The Old Testament is replete with prophecies about the coming Messiah and each of these prophetic utterances was fulfilled to the letter. There are over 300 OT prophecies fulfilled in the New Testament by Jesus of Nazareth and two eminent American scientists (Professors Peter W. Stoner & Robert C. Newman) have calculated the odds of fulfilling just eight of them as 1 in 10¹⁷ which is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000.  When Jesus arrived on earth, it was not with the fanfare of trumpets, fireworks and royal pageantry, but in a disused shed surrounded by animals and smelly shepherds who were invited to attend by a host of angelic beings. The whole host of heaven had lined up to welcome the Messiah, with the brightest star pointing anyone who cared to take notice to the exact position of the new king of glory. Today, Christmas is just another festival when people give presents, others get drunk and still others use it as a time for spending what they do not have. For those who have seen the light, just as the wise men did, Jesus beckons you to come away from the hype and the hustle and bustle and seek him out. For all those who seek will find him and all those who are bound will be set free and then the real purpose for the season will become the reality in your life.  Ream Matthew 2.