“All hell is vanquished when the believer bows his knee in importunate supplication. Beloved brethren, let us pray. We cannot all argue, but we can all pray; we cannot all be leaders, but we can all be pleaders; we cannot all be mighty in rhetoric, but we can all be prevalent in prayer. I would sooner see you eloquent with God than with men. Prayer links us with the Eternal, the Omnipotent, the Infinite, and hence it is our chief resort…Be sure that you are with God, and then you may be sure that God is with you.”

And there’s nothing like the warmth of familiar Christmas memories this time of year – memories of childhood and of family. It reminds me how often God speaks through the familiar, the common, to amaze us all over again.

Consider the familiar Christmas story in the Gospel of Luke. The angel appears to the shepherds watching over their sheep at night and proclaims,

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

To these lowly shepherds, the angel says “Unto you is born”. This message was not given first to kings or clergy, but to shepherds – to lowly shepherds out in the field with their flocks. All through the Nativity story, we see God choosing the humble, the weak, the rejected, and the familiar in society to proclaim the wondrous news of Christ’s birth.

The angel said this good news would be for “all the people”. Salvation is no longer limited to Israel, but is for every country, every race, every culture, every walk of life. The walls of division have come down. This truly is good news for the world.

And the good news of great joy is this: the Savior has come. Not just for the world, but He has come to save you.

Then the angel told the shepherds how they could go and see for themselves this wonderful sight.

“And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12).

They would find a baby in a barn, wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough made for animals. Now the shepherds were familiar with barns, so they were going back to something familiar – to surroundings that were not new to them. But what they would find there was anything but familiar.

The Christmas story reminds us that God humbled Himself and became a man. God used the lowly of the world to proclaim His glory. And God used the familiar to introduce what had never been before.

It’s easy to hear the story of Jesus and let it become too familiar. Most Christians have a story of when they heard the gospel for the first time, and the joy and clarity and hope that came upon them. And I love to hear those stories. But we should also share those stories when we heard the gospel clearly for the hundredth time, or the thousandth time, and joy and hope flooded our souls all over again.

When you hear the good news of the gospel preached, or when you hear it in the Christmas carols being sung, or when you read it in the Bible, does your heart still leap with joy? Sometimes, mine does not. Sometimes the message of the gospel isn’t good news of great joy.

Those are the times I need to go back and see for myself. Like the shepherds, we need to go back to something we may have seen a hundred times, and we need to see it again – as if for the first time. We need to pray for fresh eyes to see and hearts that will be moved again.

And we need to go back to that hill called Calvary and look upon the One nailed to the cross for us. We need to see the love and grace that poured from those wounds and be reminded of the great price Jesus paid for us. And in that familiar place, we will be compelled to kneel – and to worship.

Consider afresh the great love He has for you. That’s why He came, because of His love for you. Receive that good news today, and your familiar Christmas will be one to remember.

Youcef Nadarkhani is a name you’ve probably never heard of. But he’s become one of my heros.

Youcef is a Christian pastor who lives in Iran – a country dominated by Islam. Back in 2009 he humbly, yet courageously protested when the school his sons were attending were being forced Islamic teaching. He was arrested and put in prison. During this time, Pastor’s Youcef’s faith in Christ was revealed, and that he was pastoring some 400 other Christians – many who had converted from Islam. The Iranian religious leaders gave Youcef a choice – either reject his faith in Christ and embrace Islam…or die.

While in prison, they tried propaganda, making him read literature that claims Christianity is a lie. That didn’t work. They tried to drug him. That didn’t work. They repeatedly beat him and placed him in solitary confinement. That didn’t work.

Then they arrested his wife and ran her through a mock trial. They found her guilty of apostasy and sentenced her to life in prison. Still Youcef trusted God and held to his faith in Christ. Soon, his wife’s charges were overturned and she was set free. Then they threatened to take his sons – 7 and 9 years old – and give them to Muslim parents unless he denied Christ. Still, Youcef chose Christ.

Youcef has chosen Christ over his own life, over his wife, over his children. He has embraced persecution for the sake of the gospel. And to this day, he still sits in an Iranian prison, where his health is deteriorating and he could be executed at any moment, yet he refuses to deny Christ.

One news article reports…

During one hearing he was told to recant and he responded, “You ask me to recant. Recant means to return. What do you wish me to return to? The blasphemy that I was in before Christ?” The judges responded, “To the religion of your ancestors, Islam.” Youcef replied, “I cannot.”

In September of this year, the Supreme Court in Iran reviewed his case and passed down a sentence of death by hanging for “turning his back on Islam” and “converting Muslims to Christianity.” Pastor Youcef sits in an Iranian prison, awaiting either the sentence to be overturned, or to be a killed for the sake of the gospel.

Unfortunately, Youcef’s story is not uncommon. For the last 2000 years, Christians from across the globe have suffered persecution and death. Countless numbers of brothers and sisters in Christ have chosen imprisonment and death over denying their Lord.

When you’ve seen Jesus, when His gospel has changed your life, nothing else can compare to His beauty and splendor. As Paul says, everything else is worthless – nothing else compares to the worth of knowing Christ.

During this Thanksgiving holiday, take time to pray for Youcef, his family, and for the persecuted Church across the world.

Deuteronomy 18:15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.”

Moses says that God will one day send, “A prophet like me”. Moses was pointing to Jesus. How were Moses and Jesus alike?

-They were both born in a time when God’s people were under a foreign rule.
-They were both born in the midst of babies being killed, and survived.
-They both were Hebrew by birth, yet belonged to royalty.
-They both often spoke with God on a mountain.
-Moses was given the Law, Jesus fulfilled the Law.
-They rebuked people for their idolatry. Moses when he came off the
mountain and the people were worshiping a golden calf. Jesus when he went into the temple and turned over the tables of the money changers.
-Most importantly, they both freed God’s people from slavery. Moses freed Israel from slavery. Jesus frees God’s people from the shackles of their sin.

Jesus was the prophet that Moses predicted. But Jesus was infinitely greater than Moses.

-Jesus didn’t just deliver messages from God. He was the message.
-Jesus didn’t just bring the 10 commandments down from the mountain. Jesus wrote the 10 commandments, and He perfectly fulfilled them.
-And Jesus would not just be the one to speak with God on behalf of the people. Through faith in Jesus, we would be able to go to directly God in prayer. He would no longer be this scary cloud on a mountain. He would call us his kids, and we would call Him Father.

But Jesus is no longer with his disciples in body. Would miracles cease? Would the power of Jesus leave with Jesus? No. Jesus promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The presence and power of Jesus was with His Church through the Holy Spirit.

In Acts 3, this is the very first miracle we see the apostles do since Jesus ascended. God used Peter and John to heal a man who was crippled from birth.

That’s what this miracle communicated. The ministry and message of Jesus have not ceased, but continue in His followers – in His Church.

“The main point of the story is the continuing power of the name of Jesus to perform the same gracious and healing acts which were signs in the Gospels of the coming of the kingdom or rule of God.” –I. Howard Marshall

By healing this lame man, God is making it clear that Jesus is still the Messiah. And His followers carry the authority of Jesus because they carry the mission of Jesus.

So not only was Jesus a miracle worker, but Jesus made it clear to his disciples that they would do the same.

Miracles may not happen in the same way or the same frequency today, but they do happen.

I say that with certainty, because I’ve seen miracles happen. I’ve seen people on their deathbed be healed and recover. I’ve seen demons cast out of people. I’ve seen God heal disease, both in our country and others. We all saw and heard a miracle just a couple of weeks ago right here when Jeanne Chavez asked for prayer for breast cancer. We prayed, and God healed her days later. God still works miracles.

And I know God works miracles today because the work of the gospel goes on today. If God does miracles for the chief purpose of pointing to the gospel, it should be no shock that God is still pointing the gospel today, and sometimes He performs a miracle to do it.

When you know life, death won’t do.

In Acts 2, the Church is infused with life. The Holy Spirit has been poured out on followers of Jesus gathered in the upper room.

Peter preached the gospel and thousands are saved. The Holy Spirit regenerated them, and the Lord added them to His Church.

And what did they do next? They came together. They lived life together. They had new life. They received what Jesus called “life abundant”. Before salvation, they were dead and didn’t know it. Now, because they are alive, they realize what it is to be alive.

Those whom Jesus has saved are drawn to others whom Jesus has saved. Life is drawn to life.

And for followers of Christ, that’s the drawing of the Holy Spirit who is in you to others who are filled with the Holy Spirit. God put the Spirit in us – He gives us the unity of the Spirit, as Paul calls it – because the Church is meant to live life together, glorifying God and serving one another.

And as we are constantly filled with the Spirit, God will use you to point others who are dead to Jesus – the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

“I think the one great lesson the Lord has taught me over these years is that the importance of the family and the local congregation supersedes every other relationship to which the Christian is called. Christians demonstrate the glory of God and the power of the gospel by the way we marry and stay married, by the way we raise our children, by the way we love each other, and by the way we live faithfully in the congregation of believers. The centrality of Christ’s purpose to glorify himself in His church and the blessings of God that are directed to the precious gift of the family — these far exceed our other allegiances.”

What happened on the Day of Pentecost was the event foretold by the prophet Joel, some 800 years before. Peter says, “What you are witnessing is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. In the beginning, God’s covenant was given only to the Jews. But now, God has poured out His Spirit on ALL flesh.”

Peter goes to scripture and quotes Joel to show how these cultural divisions are being removed.

2:17 – “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy”.

In this one statement, we see the divisions of gender and generation removed when it comes to salvation. Men and women are made distinct and different, yet both are made in the image of God – different in function, yet equal in value.

And this promise of the Spirit would not be limited by age. “Young men” AND “old men” will see visions and dream dreams. Unlike fashion trends, the Holy Spirit does not go out of style with one generation. He is given to every generation whom the Lord is calling to Himself.

2:18 – “even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit…”

That word “servants” is actually “slaves”. If it wasn’t enough to remove gender and age limitations to the Spirit, now God has gone and removed the division of social classes. The Holy Spirit is being poured out on all flesh, regardless of social status or age or gender or race or nationality.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” -Galatians 3:28-29

Because of the Holy Spirit, salvation would no longer have a zip code. No longer would God’s people be identified only by geography or generations, by borders or earthly bloodlines. But God’s people would be identified as “The Church” – those who share a heavenly bloodline, having been washed in the blood of the Lamb – Jesus Christ.

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.” (Acts 2:12-13)

People’s response: some were amazed, some confused, some mocked.

These are the same kind of reactions the Holy Spirit receives today. When we see the work of the Spirit through the preached word, through the saving of souls, through some of the speaking gifts of the Spirit like prophecy or tongues, some are amazed and praise God. Some are confused and wonder is all of this real. Others simply mock and ridicule.

The modern church today has earned some of that ridicule because it does not always function biblically when it comes to the Holy Spirit.

For instance, we know that the Book of Acts is not meant to simply give us methods to reproduce. But I didn’t always believe that.

I grew up “Pentecostal” – some of it was biblical, and some of it was not. To be “Pentecostal” means, for the most part, that you emphasize a second experience after salvation. That you have one class of Christians without the Spirit, and then you have another class of Christians who have been baptized in the Spirit after salvation, usually expected to show evidence of that baptism by speaking in tongues. This belief is based on at attempt to reproduce what happened on the Day of Pentecost.

However, we know from what the Bible teaches, when a person is saved, they cannot be saved apart from the work of the Spirit. Therefore, at salvation, we have the Holy Spirit living inside us – we are baptized in the Spirit at salvation. So we do not believe a Christian has to have a second experience to have been filled with the Spirit. We can have a second experience, and a third and fourth and twentieth. The infilling of the Spirit happens when a person is saved. But I would suggest that Christians should pray for a constant “filling” of the Spirit, to be “full” of the Spirit as many were in the New Testament.

The Day of Pentecost was unique and in many ways, never to be repeated. Just as Christ died once for all, never to be repeated, the Holy Spirit was poured out once upon the Church. Yet, the same way the cross of Christ continues to have lasting effects on all of us, so should the coming of the Holy Spirit.

While we don’t believe in a mandate for all Christians to speak in tongues as a sign of the Spirit’s infilling, we do embrace the gift of tongues as an authentic gift for today. That gift is given to some, and it should be used – along with the gift of interpretation of tongues – to edify the church and to glorify God.

Paul taught extensively on the use of tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy to the church at Corinth, encouraging them in their proper use. And this was many years after Pentecost. So if these gifts were not for today, Paul would have never encouraged the church to use them.

So when it comes to the work of the Holy Spirit, how do we respond? Are we amazed, thanking God…Are we confused because we’re not sure what scripture says….Or do we ridicule?

One thing we can be sure of – the work of the Spirit continues today. He continues to be active in the church that was birthed on the Day of Pentecost.