John 10:3

Title: He calls his own sheep by name

Note: Most churches in America are small. Fifty percent of churches average fewer than 75 attendees on any given Sunday and only 5 percent attract more than 350. A century ago, in 1890, the average Protestant church had only 91.5 members; in 1776, the average Methodist congregation had 75.7 members.

Do local congregations have to be small? Yes. I think that was the plan, so that the pastor could call each one by name, and wash everyone’s feet, meaning, serve each person individually.

We have to understand the wisdom here, in the light of the shepherd to sheep ratio, which is determined by the ability of the former to give individual care and attention to the flock.

Outside this personal attention and care by the leader, not by those who assist him, a person is really an outsider in a family of believers.

Luke 2:11

Title: A Savior has been born to you

The birth of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, is not about loving one another. The birth of the Messiah is about God loving man. It is not about gift-giving. It is about God giving himself to take away the sins of those who would trust in Jesus for their salvation. Therefore, only the Christian has the legal right to celebrate His birth; only the recipient of eternal life can rejoice on that day.

Luke 2:13

Title: A great company of angels

The humble beginnings of the Lord Jesus cannot be ignored if only for the army of angels watching over his birth. This early in his life, as a newborn babe, we are given an insight into the majesty of his person, the authority in his words, and the supremacy of his works. Why, then, have we paid no heed to the Messiah? The answer may lie in the fact that we have detached the power of heaven from the totality of His ministry on earth. We have forgotten about the multitude of powerful angels at his birth, that they had always been with him, ministering to the Immanuel who had nowhere to lay his head.

Genesis 2:16

Title: You are free to eat

Free will doesn’t guarantee liberty to do what is against the will of God. Actually, God doesn’t give us a choice, because only obedience to his laws promises blessings and lasting benefits, while rebellion leads only to destruction. What the Lord is showing here is our paramount rank in the ladder of creation, that in our being created in His image, we shall have the capacity to think and not exist by means of mere instinct, like the animals of the fields and the birds of the air.

John 16:33

Title: In this world you will have trouble

But not in the next world, if you are a Christian; It is only on this earth, in this life, that believers will be hemmed in by trials and persecution that could weaken the body and the spirit, but even then the afflictions will have lost much of their power to inflict harm and travail, only because we are in the Lord Jesus, and not in the world.

John 1:39

Title: So they went and saw where he was staying

To the Lord Jesus, it was not important where he stayed, but where he went and what he did in obedience to the Father. Therefore, a true believer would live as if he had nowhere to lay his tired body, because he has become a leader in his own right, and the brethren would come and see, and continue on the road the Lord had taken.

Hebrews 13:5

Title: Never will I leave you

A promise is best understood as the warm, assuring nearness of God, which generates a confidence that the Lord will not loosen his grip on nor threaten with abandonment to a state of helplessness those who have not served mammon, but instead found sufficiency with food and clothing, or in whatever state they are in.