An Carraig Baptist Church

This child was born in an obscure village, to a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three brief years as an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message about a different life. He never wrote a book. He never held a political office. He never raised an army. He never had a family of his own. He never owned a home. He never went to college. He never travelled more than two hundred kilometres from the place where He was born. Yet He did gather a little group of friends about him and taught them His way of life. While still a young man, the tide of popularity turned against him. One of His friends denied knowing him; and another betrayed him. He was turned over to His enemies, where He went through the mockery of a false trial. Within hours, He was whipped, beaten and cruelly nailed to a cross between two thieves, and left to die. And when He died, He was hastily laid in a borrowed grave out of pity by a friend. Yet those are not all the facts about this life! Because, three days later He rose from the dead! And today, when we look back across two thousand years and ask, What kind of trail has this Christmas Baby left across the centuries? The answer comes back, “all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of mankind on this earth as much as this one solitary life!”

• Children were easily abandoned, especially if they were weak or sickly.

• Women were slaves, both at home and society

• African slaves (which at the time of the birth of Jesus amounted to over half of the Roman Empire) were only property with no rights or value except as subhuman workers.

• Cruel blood sports were rampant. Gladiators were the sport’s stars of the day, and coliseum style sports were very popular, where wild animals were turned loose on unlucky humans

• Cannibalism and human sacrifice was rampant throughout the world, and much of it used in the worship of pagan gods.

• Suicide was seen as a noble exit from this life.

• Drug induced abortions, and euthanasia were the norm in homes where there were too many mouths to feed.

• And, a person’s self-worth consisted only in the things and the slaves that they owned.

Then Jesus Came!
Nations have used His very words as the bedrock of their governments. Christ’s Sermon on the Mount set the world-wide standard for all ethics and morals! Hospitals exist because of the sacrificial desire of Christ-followers to bring help to the sick and dying. Our modern democratic governments are the result of Jesus’ teaching that all people (not just the rich) are of immense value, especially to God! Former drug and alcohol addicts, prostitutes, and countless others claim JESUS as why their lives have been changed for the better. It took a while, but women were made equal, and slaves were made free because of Christians who obeyed Christ instead of culture; cruel sports were abandoned, and human sacrifices were stopped! None of these things happened because of governments or religious groups, but because of the affect of one Person on hearts!

You probably are! With all the sin and evil in our culture, do you realise just what sins YOU are capable of? But God says He loves you and wants to save you from your sins! At the birth of Jesus, Mary was told, “thou shalt call his name JESUS: for HE shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). But you have to want Him to save you! You can’t find God’s forgiveness by doing good, or being religious, or going to church. We only get eternal life by believing what Jesus has done for us on the cross. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Have you received that gift? Jesus offers it to you today!