Born of the Virgin Mary...Continued from page 7

Second: This combination of human and divine, the incarnate God, makes Jesus the authoritative teacher of how to live the smart way.

When you come to realize the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, you are able to learn from Him, not as just another human religious teacher but as the preexistent God, now in human form, fully God, fully man.

If you have not yet discovered the profound writings of Dallas Willard, I urge you to get a copy of his book The Divine Conspiracy. It is the kind of book I love to read a few pages at a time. In it, he declares that Jesus is the smartest man in the world. Commenting on His life and teachings, he writes:

All these things show Jesus' cognitive and practical mastery of every phase of reality: physical, moral, and spiritual. He is Master only because he is Maestro. "Jesus is Lord" can mean little in practice for anyone who has to hesitate before saying, "Jesus is smart."

He is not just nice, he is brilliant. He is the smartest man who ever lived. He is now supervising the entire course of world history (Rev. 1:5) while simultaneously preparing the rest of the universe for our future role in it (John 14:2). He always has the best information on everything and certainly also on the things that matter most in human life. Let us now hear his teachings on who has the good life, on who is among the truly blessed.

This is what biblical preaching is all about, opening the Word of God, not just telling cute little human interest stories about a boy and his dog. You and I have access through this One conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, God in human form, teaching us all we need to know to live creatively, and all we need to know to die triumphantly.

That is why I urge you to take advantage of Wednesday evenings when Jim Birchfield is opening the Bible for us to those wonderful teachings of Jesus, the Sermon on the Mount. This is radical, life-transforming teaching. Take advantage of it.

Open your own Bible, finding God's Word for you for each day!

Third: With this God, anything is possible!

Our God is an awesome God! You and I are not alone!

Take yourself back to the first century. Revisit Luke 1. Refresh yourself with what happened when Mary went to visit her relative, Elizabeth. These two women were mind-boggled at what God had done. Here is a young virgin teenager, pregnant by the Holy Spirit. In her womb is Jesus the Christ. That just happens once. How amazing! She goes to visit her relative, Elizabeth, whose barren womb had been opened. She and her husband, Zechariah, had gotten pregnant. In her womb was John the Baptist! Women her age didn't get pregnant.

Our God is an amazing God. He is the God of all that is in the entire natural order. And He is the God who breaks into that natural order in supernatural ways.