God’s Workout Program – Strengthening the Hands

by: Rev. Leon Aguilera

As we embark on the New Year many make resolutions.  Not a few will be to lose a few of those holiday pounds or to begin a new workout program.  What we need is God’s Workout Program. 

Hebrews 12:11-13 “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.”

Over the years, I found out what happens when you have a heart attack. Oh, I have known a lot of people who had heart attacks. I have been to hospitals to pray with and for them. I have read about all symptoms. Before they released you from the hospital, they gave you a custom-designed workout program to improve my cardiovascular strength and help prevent another heart attack. I told you that God designs the program specifically for each believer. It was planned just for them. The cardio regimen is not a pleasant program. It is rigorous. You do not get up in the morning and say, “I can’t wait to get down to the gym and get on that elliptical trainer!” You will get used to one level on the treadmill, and then they would make it go faster and increase the angle so it was higher and create more resistance to make you work harder. I might hate that program, but you must know that it was for your benefit.

Non-Optional Classes.

Then you would do it all over again…and again…and again. I might have hated gym class. But it was not optional-you could not quit. You could try not doing the exercises, but I heard of one trainer having a motivational device in his office called a paddle. So, you did the leg lifts, and the jumping jacks, and the push-ups, and the sit-ups, and ran laps just like he told us to do. God has assigned us non-optional chastening, because He loves us so much. He brings adversity, pressures, problems and people into our lives as part of His custom workout program prepared just for us. Let’s look at God’s exercise program, and what it is designed to do in our lives.

First,

God’s workout program is designed to strengthen our hands for work.

The hands mentioned in verse twelve are a metaphor for our work for the Lord. So, God has designed our training to make us stronger in His work. More than fifty times, the Bible talks about the work of a man or woman’s hands. Work is not a curse; it is a blessing. Adam had work assignments even before the “Fall”. There is a work that God has called every one of us to do. Too many people think that God’s calling is restricted to preachers and missionaries. If you are doing the work that God has called you to do, it is sacred work, whether you are a pastor or a plumber; a missionary or a machinist. For the children of God, there is such thing as sacred and secular; everything we do is to be done “as to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:23) Wherever you work, you are working for the Lord. No obedient Christian serves God part-time.

Secondly,

God’s workout program is designed to strengthen our hands for prayer.

In 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul wrote, “I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.” What does that mean? In the Hebrew culture, it was common for people to raise their hands up toward Heaven while they prayed; in fact, many Jewish people still do that today. Psalm 28:2 says, “Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward the holy oracle.” God intensifies the burdens and pressures in life, so that I will develop as a man of prayer.

Thirdly,

God’s workout program is designed to strengthen our hands for praise.

Psalm 63:4 says, “Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.” Psalm 134:2 says, “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.” One of the main purposes for which we were created is to give praise to God. It is easy to praise Him when you are on top of the mountain. It is easy to lift up your hands in praise when you have experienced a great blessing, but what about in the hours of discouragement? What do you do in those times when those burdens are so heavy? That is when God develops our strength of praise. He says, “Now, I want you to lift up your hands unto Me. Now, I want to hear your praise.” God puts us in His workout program to strengthen our hands for work, for prayer, and for praise.

THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS

by: Rev. Leon Aguilera

What is the spirit of Christmas?  We can best answer that by first asking ourselves...

1. What is Christmas?

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior.  Matthew 1:21-23 says, “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”  As Christians, we celebrate the birth of the Son of God, when God became flesh and dwelt among us. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  It is precious to us because He came to all people everywhere.  John 3:16 reminds us of this: “For God so loved the world....”  John prophesied that the church will be made up of people from all points of the globe.  “...for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9). 

At Christ’s birth the Shepherds came, later the Wise Men came and at the Temple Simeon and Anna recognized Him.  Different groups of people, from different parts of the world welcomed the little King of Kings! We see when Jesus was only twelve he astounded and confounded the teachers of the law.  In His ministry he came to women of ill repute, maniacs and tax collectors.  Some of the highest-ranking religious rulers came to Him such as Nicodemus.  Even the enemies of our Lord said, “...behold, the world is gone after him” (John 12:19).  Christmas is a reminder that Christ is the gift to the entire world. “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift” (II Corinthians 9:15).  Christ was born to die for our sins.  He rose again and is willing to give eternal life to whosoever believes by repenting and putting their whole life in His hands by faith.

2.  Why Gifts at Christmas?

Like a tree with one trunk and multiple branches, the custom of gift giving has more than one reason.  The record of gifts at Christmas comes to us from the Wise Men or Magi, ”And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had  opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11).  The Magi viewing from Jerusalem would have seen the star as it in the sky above the little town of Bethlehem.  (Christ was a toddler at this time).  So after the Wise Men left Jerusalem, God continued to guide them to the exact spot to find Jesus and it is no coincidence that gifts were brought to Jesus on.  So the first Christmas gift giving did take place. 

The second branch on our Christmas tree comes to us from an actual person named Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara, when this area of the world was under Greek dominion.  He was reared in an affluent family and while very young, his wealthy parents died leaving a substantial fortune to him.  Nicholas committed his life to serving Christ and took very seriously the words of Jesus when He said, “For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in” (Matthew 25:35). “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matthew 25:35,40). Shortly after entering the ministry Nicholas became the Bishop of Myra located in modern day Turkey.  As Nicholas beheld the poor and abused of his community, he desired to secretly become a blessing.  So he stealthily set out at night away from observing eyes and threw small sacks of money into people’s windows, chimneys or shoes which had been placed outside the houses.  Because of the vast sum of money left to him in his inheritance, he was able to keep this custom up for a good while.  One of my favorite stories of this kind man tells of a poor village man who had three virgin daughters and in that time and area of the world a man was required to pay a dowry in giving his daughter away in marriage.  If a man were not able to make dowry, his daughters would not marry or, even worse, become prostitutes to make money for the family.  As each girl came of age to be married, Nicholas anonymously threw a sack of gold into the house to cover the girls’ dowries.  One night, one of the girls had washed out her stockings and hung them above the smoldering embers of the fireplace to dry while she slept and when Nicholas threw the sack of gold into the chimney, the dowry money for the girl landed in her stocking.  Thus, the custom of hanging stockings at Christmas was born.

By the time the reformation began to take place, Nicholas, like many departed saints (which all believers are) who had lived a good Christian life, began to be venerated beyond God’s design.  Thus, to restore the true desire of Nicholas to remain unknown in his giving so that Christ might receive the glory,  Martin Luther of Germany began to refer to this ancient giver of gifts as “Christkindl” meaning “The Christ Child.”  Therefore in the original intent of Nicholas, to give God the glory as the giver (James 1:17), Luther encouraged everyone to give in the spirit of the Christ-child.  And this is where we get our modern “Santa Claus,” a derivative of the Dutch name “Sinterklaas” meaning Saint Nicholas.  Let us embrace the spirit of giving like the Wise Men as an act of worship to Christ and let us be practical in our giving to be a blessing to those we love in the spirit of Christ.

Christmastime is Here...But Where's Christ?

by: Rev. Leon Aguilera

As we approach this wonderful time of year known as Christmastime I wanted to share a word with you from our Legal Missionaries at the Christian Law Association and the National Center for Life and Liberty.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

The word "Christmas" begins with the name "Christ" for a reason: it is a celebration of the day Christ came to earth--a celebration of His birth and His willingness, as Philippians 2:7 says, “to take upon himself the form of a servant to be made in the likeness of men.”

Yet, in our increasingly hostile society, the name "Jesus" or "Jesus Christ" is offensive. It's offensive because Christ claims to be the only way to eternal life. To believe that Jesus is the only way requires us to reject all other claims of truth and acknowledge that God's Word, as delineated in Scripture, is the only source of real, absolute truth. Once we admit this, we are held accountable to a standard of behavior that many of us aren't willing to accept.

So how do the liberal theologians and atheists convince more and more people of their belief that Jesus is not God? They do this by first removing Him from our society in every way possible--from our conscious existence. Out of sight, out of mind. Nowhere is this more obvious than during the season in which we celebrate His birthday: at Christmas.

Truly, if they can convince us that Christ has no place at Christmas, then surely He has no place in our lives during the rest of the year.

Keep in mind that many of these efforts to eliminate Christ were (and are) not necessarily made by anti-religious groups. Rather, they are made by those who have been convinced, or deceived, into thinking that public expressions of Christianity are illegal. Much of this belief, however, comes as a result of concerted efforts by anti-religious groups in the last 15 years to create this perception. And, frankly, this campaign has been successful in many ways. People are worried about being sued, so they quickly back down and remove the manger scene or forbid Christmas carols at the "Holiday" concert when these religious expressions are challenged. This is not necessary--Jesus is still legal in America!

So don’t let your expression of Christ at Christmas time be challenged. Remember Luke 2:11 & 14

¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.