The STAND Podcast

Inevitable, was it not my fellow Christians, that artificial intelligence, the so-called AI would step into the pulpit?
This people-replacer, so say the experts, can be either friend or foe. It can either be an aid to the pastor in terms of preparation and time, like the concordance, the wrap-opt, the microphone, and existing sophisticated bible research software; or say the foes, AI can actually write the sermon for the pastor. If the sermon originates from a non-human source, why bother to go to church at all?
The potentiality for AI use can be addictive to any pastor, to any Christian preparing materials looking for a shortcut, unwilling to invest the time for real human preparation, a God-required responsibility of any pastor, at least to this point. It is, in the words of one Jared Bridges, where:
AI IS COMING FOR YOUR PASTOR!
The real problem occurs when this brand-new technology doesn’t nearly aid the pastor in doing his responsible preaching, but instead does it for him! To be sure, AI indeed saves time, and to some, that saved preparation time can allow the pastor to “reroute that time to other ministry goals.”
One pastor stated:
‘When I need examples or applications for a sermon, I go to ChatGPT for ideas.”
Having been called upon generative AI can produce applications for a sermon, not from a mind and heart dedicated to the things of the Lord but from the code base and algorithm of the AI chatbot itself. So, the question may be, is the chatbot born again, has the chatbot experienced salvation, is the chatbot led and influenced in preparing the materials by the Holy Spirit, does the chatbot have a soul, does the chatbot pray and seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit before it tells the pastor what to say?
So then, if any pastor, any preacher was to use AI methodology in sermon preparation, in outline, priorities, applications, and illustrations, that is a shortcut which allows them to avoid hard work, the hard work of preparation, the pouring of a spiritually led, Holy Spirit led heart and mind to the testimony to be given to those who hear. Says the scripture, study to show yourself approved, laymen and pastor. Study don’t shortcut. Be a workman or woman for God. WORK! Work in preparation for the delivery of the sacred Word of God to a congregation entrusted to you. Then and only then will that workman, the Lord’s workman never be ashamed of anything written or prepared, delivered in the power of the gospel to those who hear. There are no shortcuts in the work of the Lord, NONE!
The more AI is used, the more a pastor trusts a soul-less AI with known biases to interpret the meaning of the Word of God. By its very title, ARTIFICIAL, much of what AI produces is indeed soul-less, a matter of fact, and any sensitive hearer of the word can discern the fact that the material does not come from the heart and mind of a human being nor does it contain the real wisdom, love, and emotional impact of the Holy Spirit. There is absolutely no way that a chatbot can interpret the real meaning, the real spirituality of the Word of God, NO WAY!
But that doesn’t stop the founders of Pastors.ai, or ChatGPT, or SermonAI among others. They continue to produce materials, outlines, suggestions, illustrations, and applications drawn from sources everywhere and unknown. But the sites always produce the following disclaimer:
‘Since an AI generates these thesis statements and outlines, please use them with caution. Notably, AI likes to make things up so don’t trust anything it says at face value.”
So, that is the bottom line. In sermon preparation, pastor, AI is untrustworthy, and should not be taken at face value, so perhaps the real issue is not don’t trust it, but the real issue is:
DON’T USE IT!
To be sure, AI can write sermons. They can do the work of a pastor however worthy or trustworthy. In fact, with sermon.ai, the sermon it can write for the pastor is written at the level of an honorary doctorate, so they say. In fact, AI has the capability of writing that very sermon in a different voice. It uses the illustration of voicing that sermon in the voice of none other than:
BILLY GRAHAM.
Can you believe that? If I were Franklin Graham of the Billy Graham organization, I would get the lawyers ready to stop that nonsense.
So, my fellow Christians, do we want a sermon prepared by a machine or a human being empowered by the Holy Spirit of God, which? AI simply cannot do the soul-transforming work required of a real sermon honoring our Lord. Machine sermons cannot fully bless a congregation and this shortcut for the pastor severely curtails his own spiritual development. Lose-lose, don’t you think?
There are no shortcuts in the work of the Lord. We need to fight the fight to the end, run the race to the finish line, press on for the prize, work for the night is coming, study to show ourselves approved, and in all of that, in the call of our Lord, there are no:
SHORTCUTS.
We the Christians, the congregations must hold our preachers to a much higher standard, a standard which is set and strengthened by a heart generated by love and grace and not generative AI, not generated by a prompt. We need heart-open pastors, not automated ones, not spokesmen weak in the flesh but mighty in the scriptures. We need the power of the Holy Spirit in sermons, not the applications and prompts of AI. Another sign of the end times, don’t you think?
So, pastor, we your congregations, say study to show yourself approved, be a workman rightly dividing the word of truth. Spend the time in the book and the things of the Lord and teach us sermon after sermon of HIS faith, hope, and love.

Study to show yourself approved unto God. Workmen and workwomen who know what they’re talking about, know what and in whom they have believed, and consequently are not ashamed because they really know how to understand, digest, and explain the precious INSPIRED WORD OF GOD:
OUR BIBLE!
What a pleasure, what a privilege, to be a Christian, especially in this dark day and age. Christian faith does not only make us a life better, but in itself is that which is:
DIFFERENT AND BETTER THAN ANYTHING ELSE,
anything else in this life. So, to learn more about it, to become a better, more knowledgeable Christian, intellectually and spiritually, should be priority number one in our life.

LOVE IS THE GREATEST.
Even greater than faith, or hope, or any other thing.
We celebrate the love of Valentine’s Day and appropriately so. That loving celebration is fun, romantic, even emotional. It is a day set aside once to live love and to express our love to all, but especially so to someone special.
Love is a word difficult of definition. In fact, it has many component parts. Love is complex, defining itself, manifesting itself in so many different ways. But love is a force without which we can not live, or live right. It is the stuff of life, and without it, life is mere existence, sterile and harsh. Love is the force, the resource of God, an energy which produces the highest and best relationships with OTHERS, and, as we love ourselves, allows us to live life at its highest levels.
TO LOVE AND TO BE LOVED IS THE GREATEST HAPPINESS OF EXISTENCE. So said Sydnie Smith.
Love out and in is a daily process which produces the greatest happiness. It does indeed. Nothing feels better than to give love, share love, and experience love. NOTHING.
If you had no one to love, you would never be hurt. But, you would never grow. You would never venture outside your own self-centered needs and perceptions. Your heart would never be cracked open so that God could enter it. To love and love unconditionally is to take risks, and especially the risk of rejection. But nothing energizes and cleanses like love.
Profound words about love by a poet unknown. To love another, large or small, is the only real way that one can grow as a human being. The risk of loving produces the risk of hurt but even hurt toughens and matures love. The risk of loving another allows one to VENTURE OUTSIDE and to experience. Doing that allows your very own heart to be CRACKED OPEN so that love in its purest sense could enter, that is God Himself. Loving is always risky, and especially the risk of rejection. Rejection hurts but it is part of the loving process. The risk of love is worth it because nothing energizes like love, and nothing cleanses like love, NOTHING.
Charles Dickens said that a loving heart is the truest wisdom. Knowing life at its best, the most real and the truest wisdom can only be produced by a loving heart, a heart cracked open and wanting more love.
Robert Schuller said that in the presence of love, miracles happen. Love itself is a
miracle and the loving miracle produces other miracles. Miracles can and should
happen more often and they can and will happen when:
LOVE IS AT WORK
True love allows us insight, real insight into the character and persona of another:
“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, I CATCH GLIMPSES OF THE YOU GOD CREATED, THE
TRUE YOU. I SEE YOUR IMPERFECTIONS AND FAILURES, BUT I CHOOSE TO SEE
PAST THEM TO THE REAL YOU. LOVE CREATES A PLACE WHERE YOU ARE FREE
TO BECOME YOUR COMPLETE SELF.”
What a marvelous statement. Perhaps we can only really know another not completely
but only with glimpses and those glimpses made possible only because of love.
We are all riddled with imperfections and failures, are we not? We can see past things
in our desire to find the real person, the real you. Love breaks down those barriers
and produces eyes that truly see.
Benjamin Disraeli the great English Prime Minister said that:
“WE ARE ALL BORN TO LOVE. IT IS THE PRINCIPLE OF ITS EXISTENCE AND ITS
ONLY END.”
Born to love, genetic, all that we really are, the very highest principle itself of existence.
And, its only end, like the highest and greatest spiritual commandment that we should
love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor
as ourselves. In fact, we are known as Christians, followers of the Christ:
IF YOU HAVE LOVE ONE FOR ANOTHER
Love said another is tough, practical, and active. Love is washing the kitchen floor
over and over again. Love is scrubbing the toilet and doing the laundry. Love is taking
out the garbage and cleaning the refrigerator. Love is smiling when you are tired,
finding reasons to laugh even when you are angry, volunteering for a dirty job, working
hard, and making the world a better place.
Powerful and profound. Indeed, love is practical. Love is very much in the scrubbing
of the toilet. Love is there from the one who takes out the garbage. Love indeed
delights in the dirty jobs for when you do for the least of these, you do it unto HIM.
And yet more insight into the God of all love:
GOD SAYS TO US, IN LOVE, I HOLD YOU IN MY MIND. I REMEMBER YOU. I HOLD
ALL OF THE PIECES OF YOU. THE PAST WOUNDS AND THE PRESENT. AND IN
LOVE, I KNIT THEM TOGETHER INTO THE PERSON I LOVE, THE PERSON I
CREATED TO GIVE ME JOY:
YOU.
Held are we in the mind of God, remembering us even as we remember Him, all of our
various pieces, wounds, wrongs, and problems no matter. God knits them together
and all become the mosaic, the person God loves, the individual and special you.
Love frees us of the weight and pain of life! True love always lightens life’s heaviest
burdens. True love is a force far more powerful than the weapons of any enemy.
Life is a flower of which love is the honey, so said Victor Hugo. Love is knit into the
very cells of our bodies. It is written into our DNA. It is encoded in the chemicals that
make plants green. It is that which makes the sky blue, the substance of the song of
the birds in summer, the whisper of the wind in the trees, the silence of the snow as it
falls. Love is the voice of God calling to us endlessly and passionately through all HIS
marvelous creation.
There is no fear in love. Perfect love drives out fear. The more one loves, the less there
is of which to be afraid. Love secures and drives our insecurity. Love at work is the
most powerful force and energy of all.
Take away love, said Robert Browning, and our earth is a tomb. Without love, life is
like dead, lifeless, even meaningless. And, if you wish to be loved, LOVE. Any time
that is not spent on love is time wasted.
True love is a durable fire in the mind ever-burning, never sick, never old, never dead,
from itself never turning, so said Sir Walter Raleigh. The durable fire of love burns
unquenchable, always alive, always energizing.
The great artist Vincent Van Gogh said:
“THE HEART THAT LOVES IS ALWAYS YOUNG. LOVE IS A MARVELOUS
BEAUTIFIER. LOVE IS ART AT WORK. I ALWAYS THINK THAT THE BEST WAY TO
KNOW GOD IS TO LOVE MANY THINGS.”
Indeed, all of art is love at work and there really can be no great art without love. It
beautifies and brings out the best in everything.
Here, the words of Thomas Merton:
“THE BEGINNING OF LOVE IS TO LET THOSE WHO LOVE BE PERFECTLY
THEMSELVES, AND NOT TO TWIST THEM TO FIT OUR OWN IMAGE. OTHERWISE,
WE LOVE ONLY THE REFLECTION OF OURSELVES WE FIND IN THEM.”
The more we are perfectly ourselves, living to our highest and best, the more and
better of us there is.
Love cures people, the ones who give it and the ones who receive it. Love conquers all
things, so said the ancient poet, Virgil.
Love allows us to believe so fully and firmly in God even when He is silent!
The great thinker-theologian Soren Kierkegaard profoundly stated that when one has
once fully entered the realm of love, the world, no matter how imperfect becomes rich
and beautiful. It consists solely of opportunities for love.
It is love, said Thomas Mann, not reason that is stronger than death. And that love,
stronger than and which conquers death is the love of the Christ on the cross and the
resurrection which followed.
To love someone is to see a miracle invisible to others, said Francois Mauriac. Life is
replete with invisible miracles which can only be revealed by love at work.
If you love somebody, tell them, so said Rod McKuen. The telling unleashes the energy
and the power of love.
The heart has its reasons which reason alone can not understand, so said the thinker
Blaise Pascal. Love is a dimension in life different from and beyond reason itself. The
more the mind the less the heart and consequently the less love. Reason no matter
how wise can never understand love.
The great theologian Paul Tillich said that the first beauty of love is to listen. One who
loves wants to listen more than talk, listen to every word, every expression of thought
and emotion which comes from the one loved. Listening, really listening in a caring
way, may very well be the highest attribute of true love.
For those who love, time is eternity. Love is God’s finger on man’s shoulder. Love is
like a running brook that sings its melody to the night. To wake at dawn with a
winged heart and to give thanks for another day of loving. Love is a symbol of eternity.
It wipes out all sense of time, destroying all memory of a beginning and all fear of an
end.
Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson said:
“TIS BETTER TO HAVE LOVED AND LOST THAN NEVER TO HAVE LOVED AT ALL.”
Love indeed is risky, the risk of rejection but a life lived without true love is a life never
really lived at all.
I love you, says Anna Corbin, as you are, not as you wish to be. I love you for the real
person you are, not the imaginary perhaps I fantasize you could be. I love the real,
amazing, utterly unique YOU.
Love in the ultimate, unconditional, love so REAL.
If you love until it hurts, really hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love said
the wonderfully loving Mother Teresa. True love at work drives away the hurt.
Looking back, said one, I have this to regret. That too often when I loved, I did not say
so. Love uncommunicated is love aborted. It is there but never shared. More time is
spent judging people which leaves less time to love them.
Zelda Fitzgerald said that nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much love
the heart can hold. There is no limit to love, none whatsoever. Love is there, always
and love takes up when knowledge leaves off. In fact, love is the supreme knowledge,
superior to all else.
Love’s greatest gift is its ability to make everything it touches sacred. Love at work
produces the holiest of the holies. The great English statesman William E. Gladstone
said the following:
“WE LOOK FORWARD TO THE TIME WHEN THE POWER OF LOVE WILL REPLACE
THE LOVE OF POWER. THEN WILL OUR WORLD KNOW THE BLESSINGS OF
PEACE. POWER KILLS LOVE AND WITHOUT LOVE, THERE IS NO PEACE. THERE IS
NOTHING MORE POWERFUL BEFORE AND EVER AGAIN THAN LOVE.”
The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said the following:
“WE ARE SAVED BY THE FINAL FORM OF LOVE, WHICH IS FORGIVENESS.
FORGIVING AND FORGETTING ARE THE HIGHEST ACTS OF LOVE RESULTING IN
OUR SALVATION. THERE WAS ONE, YEARS AGO, DRIVEN TO THE CROSS BY THE
LOVE OF MANKIND PROVIDING IN HIS DEATH THE LIFE AND THE LOVE WE LEAD.
THE CROSS WAS THE FINAL AND FORGIVING FORM OF LOVE.”
The crucifixion of the Christ on the cross was indeed the ultimate act of love.
The great writer C.S. Lewis said the following:
“TO LOVE AT ALL IS TO BE VULNERABLE. LOVE ANYTHING AND YOUR HEART
WILL CERTAINLY BE WRUNG AND POSSIBLY BROKEN. LOVE BREAKS DOWN ALL
BARRIERS, OPENS WIDE THE HEART, EXPOSES TRUE INNOCENCE AND RISKS THE
WRINGING AND THE BREAKING OF THIS MORE PRIZED POSSESSION. REAL LOVE
DEMANDS THIS, CONSTANTLY.”
Sir Arthur Pinero said that “those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old
age, but they die young at heart.”
That deep love here and now is but a prelude to the perfect love there. In fact, they are
one love contiguous and continuous. Love is both earthly and eternal. Love never
dies. For there is only one real happiness in life and that is to love and to be loved.
The great writer Ralph Waldo Emerson said:
“NEVER SELF-POSSESSED OR PRUDENT, LOVE IS ALL ABANDONMENT.”
True love is pure risk, always. Love at work risks hurt to the self and rejection by
another. But the risk at work is what makes the word of love so special.
Vulnerability, openness, risk but so great reward.
Hear then the marvelous words of the great poet William Wordsworth:
“A PERSON CAN BE SO CHANGED BY LOVE AS TO BE UNRECOGNIZABLE AS THE
SAME PERSON. LOVE TRANSFORMS, REGENERATES. LOVE PRODUCES CHANGE,
EVERYWHERE AND IN EVERYONE. LOVE BETTERS WHAT IS BEST!”
The great philosopher Plato said that love is the best friend of human kind, the helper
and the healer of all ills that stand in the way of human happiness. In fact, love and
compassion are necessities, not luxuries and without them, humanity can not survive.
And for some real definition of the word love, hear the words of Saint Augustine:
“WHAT DOES LOVE LOOK LIKE? WHY, IT HAS HANDS TO HELP OTHERS. IT HAS
FEET TO HASTEN TO THE POOR AND NEEDY. IT HAS EYES TO SEE MISERY AND
WANT. IT HAS EARS TO HEAR THE SIGHS AND SORROWS OF HUMANKIND. THAT
IS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!”
Amen and amen. Hands and feet at work, eyes and ears to see and hear human need.
Love at work is what love really is.
Love comes supreme and most innocently from a child. A child’s love is pure,
uncomplicated, unconditional, fully trusting. Such innocence opens deep the world of
feeling and emotion and it is a return to that childlike love and that ability to love
which alone can make complete the adult version of that child. May we all be wise
enough to return to the innocent love of a little child.
And so my friends, my fellow Americans, we the Crawford Broadcasting Company wish
you all of the love possible on Valentine’s Day and during Valentine’s week. May love
in all its forms permeate your life and may you know the supreme love of the One who
laid down His life for you. Live love every day and know the real and true meaning of
life.
And finally, the profound words of poet Emily Dickenson:
“IF I CAN STOP ONE HEART FROM BREAKING
I SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN
IF I CAN EASE ONE LIFE THE ACHING
OR COOL ONE PAIN
OR HELP ONE FAINTING ROBIN
IN TO HIS NEST AGAIN
I SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN!”
Love is the greatest!

The greatest of all things is LOVE.
The greatest, says the Apostle Paul, agreed upon by the world’s greatest thinkers, artists and poets is:
LOVE
Love is best.
The Bible book 1 Corinthians 13 is Paul’s finest expression of love by far. Read and read again those marvelous apostolic definitions of love. One of the meanings of this powerful force is spiritual devotion, a reasoning, intentional spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God’s love for and in us. To really know what love is, says Paul, can only occur as a result of a meaningful (loving) relationship with God Almighty. The longer, the deeper the relationship, the more the meaning of love becomes clear.
Love is good. In fact, good is defined by love. For no mere mortal can do good without love. One may intend to live right, perhaps following the Ten Commandments and other great moral precepts. But mere intention, the act of the will is not enough for it lacks the energy, the conviction, the power of LOVE.
There really is no definition of love, no simple one. Words like affection, attachment, emotion, even ultimate feelings are inadequate. So, Paul says let’s begin by defining love as PATIENT. Love is longsuffering because love is eternal. We live in a world fundamentally impatient, Type A, a world of pressure and intensity. Life as it is in the 20th Century and the people who live that life cause us to be impatient, frustrated, even angry. But if one loves and lives by the power of love, one says Paul is PATIENT. That is, no matter the circumstances, one is patient because patience is inherent, a spiritual genetic component of one who loves.
Love is kind, says the open-hearted Apostle Paul. Love is gentle, easy. It avoids meaningless confrontation and struggle. Love thinks on those things which are good in gentle ways, avoids strife and is slow to anger. Our world is hard, feisty and confrontational, so often without love. But love at work is the antidote to harsh things in life. That easy love soothes. It strokes. It forces its way into the heart and opens it. Love replaces the harsh with hugs. It cares about others first and about the things of God even more. There is no gentle or kind without love.
Love, God’s love in us, does not insist on its own rights or its own way. Love is not self-seeking. The natural man without love is selfish, self-centered, and egotistical. A loving person is giving, open, and caring. These standards are extremely high, and virtually impossible for any human being to accomplish without, says Paul, the love of God.
Love even allows us not to take account of the wrongs or evil done to us by others. Love allows us to forgive and forget. Love allows us to love an enemy rather than to seek vengeance. Love allows us to move past righting wrongs. We can lovingly forgive even as a loving God forgave us.
Love rejoices when right and truth prevail. Real love is straight, a kind of tough love structured by what is right and true. Love deals with problems in the present, and deals with them straightforwardly as truth would have it. Love can discipline and correct in truth without hurting. True love never compromises. How wonderful and joyful it is to lovingly live in truth at all times. For to know the truth of love is to be set free and allows us to live a life rejoicing and praising.
Love protects and defends. It guards the hearts and minds of the young. It trains up children in the way in which they should go. It shows them the way of the Lord, the path of righteousness. Love protects and defends home and family. Love guards against false prophets and the lie. Love tolerates no evil, only the good.
Love is loyal, says Paul. Love is trustworthy and trusting. Love makes character predictable, reliable, steady, and dependable. Love produces bonds unbroken, full trust unto death.
Real love, says Paul, always hopes for the best, especially the best in others. No matter the evil or inconsistencies in others, or the uncertainties in life, hope for the good is always love’s objective. Love, real love is contagious. In the presence of love, real love, others participate and share and begin to feel that real love themselves. Love at work creates the belief that all things will work together for good for those who love each other, and especially those who love God. That, says Paul, is an absolute truth for:
LOVE NEVER FAILS
It endures now and for all eternity. It overcomes the greatest evils in this world which combined, can never destroy love.
But the Apostle Paul in his great treatise 1 Corinthians 13 also tells us what love is NOT.
Paul tells us that love is not talk no matter how eloquent. Words are not love and may even have difficulty communicating or defining love. No matter how eloquent the tongue, even the language of angels, words are like sounding brass and tinkling symbols, hollow and meaningless. Even, says Paul, if words are those of the angels themselves, they are worthless without love.
And Paul says that even the gift of prophecy, knowing the future, discerning the divine will and purpose without love means nothing. Even moving mountains with all power and energy means nothing without love.
One can not even give to the poor without love. One can not even be willing to die, offer a body to be burned, or lay down a life for another without love, for all such acts no matter how charitable are meaningless without love.
Love is not envious. Love is not jealous of others, what they are or what they have. Love desires the best for everyone. Love rejoices when the best things happen to other people. Love never craves or lusts. It is content no matter the circumstances.
Love is not controlling, says Paul. It lets go. It never holds on. Love never demands and always reasons with an open heart. Love is never possessive. Love is always ready to share, give and understand.
And love never boasts or brags. Love is not proud or puffed up. Love has no ego. Love cares little for power, fame or possessions. Love is in the doing for by their loving fruits we shall know them. Love wishes to be known and loved by God and not man. Love reminds that it is not about me but about HIM.
Love does not behave unseemly. Love allows one to live modestly, humbly and joyfully. Love builds and sustains character. Love has its own rules and standards, instinctive even genetic, which controls and directs behavior instinctively. By their fruits, by their actions, it is easy to know one who loves.
Love is not easily angered says Paul. Not that one never gets angry, but that anger is slow to wrath. No tempers, no rages. Life can not be lived on the defense. Love calls for rational and reasonable responses and reactions, for a fiery tongue does nothing but damage. When one is possessed, and consumed by love, that loving person can not be easily provoked. Anger, even righteous anger does very little good.
Perhaps so very importantly Paul reminds us that love does not keep any record of wrongs. We, the humans, have such long memories when things go wrong, when we are wronged. We may in some sense forgive, but it is so very difficult to forget. But love, says Paul, keeps no record of these wrongs, love has no balance sheet, no list of spiritual assets and liabilities. Love is owed nothing for all it gives, even for major acts of forgiveness. It requires no payback or retribution for any harm done, no matter the wrong. Love truly forgets and presses on for only the good things in life. Love holds no grudges, none whatsoever. There is no get-even, no aggression, nothing defensive about real love at work. Real love allows anyone to love an enemy, the worst of them no matter the wrongs, so says Paul. Love allows us to do good to those who persecute us, defame us, slander and abuse us. That is real love. Easy it is to throw up one's hands and say impossible, all of it just plain impossible. And perhaps all such things are impossible at the human level only, that is without the love of God at work in any life. We are told that God is love and the more of the love of God in our lives and hearts, the more we can live by love and in love. We now see imperfectly, we now understand love imperfectly, as Paul says, but we will know when we see the source of all love FACE TO FACE. Then we shall know that perfect love which passes all understanding. To stand in the HOLY PRESENCE, the source of all love is to know completely. Love is a process as is learning to love, here and now. But love will be fully completed in the dawn of that eternal day.
And finally, Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13 that there are three great things, the very best of all things in this life, namely:
FAITH
HOPE
LOVE
No matter how important faith is, and it surely is, that is the conviction and belief with respect to man’s relationship to God and divine things, love is greater. And no matter how strong the force of hope, the joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation, as important as that is, love is greater.
The greatest of all things is LOVE, that is, true affection for God and man, affection growing out of God’s love for and in us.
The greatest of all things is love because LOVE NEVER FAILS!

SHOW YOURSELF APPROVED UNTO GOD.
Those are the words of the Apostle Paul, inspired by the God for whom we should study, to his brother, his son Timothy.
And to you and to me and to all.
Once the heart is redeemed, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ, then comes the mind, the ability to think and to reason in a Godly way, on Godly Christ-like things and to learn how to train up that mind, make it fully effective, and use it to the best of your ability:
FOR ALL THINGS GODLY AND CHRISTIAN.
Many of us fail to do that. To train the mind, to really STUDY is difficult, time-consuming, a matter of real priority and commitment, difficult at first, especially when we begin to run the mental race and fight the mental fight of faith, which God requires.
But there is no substitute for the study of scripture, none whatsoever. We cannot simply digest THE VERSE FOR THE DAY, or read a chapter a day as though it were enough. Daily devotionals may help but they seldom rise to the level of the scripture demand, the Godly demand, of real and true:
STUDY.
So, the scriptures tell us clearly that if we do not learn how to study those 66 books, our way, with the special and individual intellect which God has given us, each of us so very different, we will not be approved by God as worthy disciples functioning for HIM with all of our might, and to the best of our abilities. It is our Christian duty to learn how to think, to use the mind, to reason, to testify, to tell all what we believe, not as someone would, not as anyone else would, but the very best of us, you and me.
We cannot be compared to another. Most of us are not scholars, theologians, biblical analysts, or teachers of the Word. We are lay people, saved by grace, therefore fully desirous of serving our Lord but only to the best of our individual talents, capabilities, and intellect. We are not the Apostle Paul, nor Billy Graham, nor the Pope, nor Charles Spurgeon. We are different. We have our own mission, our own priorities, our own abilities as God has given them. We study to show ourselves approved unto God in
terms of the abilities He has given us to do just that. THAT AND THAT ONLY, NO MORE!
But we need to constantly learn how to THINK. Scripture tells us that it is our Christian duty to think on the good things in life, the good things offered to us by our Lord, the blessings, the positive, and to grow intellectually and spiritually, grow every day, to improve the mind, the brain, the ability to reason, which God has given us. So that, when the right opportunity arises for us, for you and me, we are ready, READY to give an answer, to explain who we are, what we believe, and why, and how we have been transformed. That, for most of us, is not standing behind a pulpit or on a street corner, or even necessarily talking to strangers. We can do all those things through Christ who strengthens us if that is the right thing for us to do, but that might not be our gift, our talent, and the way our mind, redeemed by the blood of Christ, requires us to live, and grow, and learn, and become fortified as better Christians mentally in every way.
We should be what God intends us to be and not what any man or woman wants us to be or thinks we should be. We should be ready to give a reason for what we believe, what God has laid on our mind and heart, and how with aggressive, committed, prioritized study, we learn and grow in THE WORD OF GOD.
Alone, by ourselves, the study we do is only partial. We need, in fact, we must have the guidance, the inspiration, the explanation of:
THE HOLY SPIRIT.
Therefore, before we enter the Word of God, before we STUDY, we must through prayer invoke the intercession, the intellectual partnership of the Holy Spirit. We must ask that the Spirit awaken us, stabilize our focus, make every inspired word of God meaningful, and know that every word in those 66 precious inspired books is the words, THE WORDS, of eternal life. They are indeed precious, unique, the words of the living God, and it is those very words that we must study, constantly study, so that our mind can be trained up in the way in which it should go, and when the wiles of evil and the culture of this world try to bring us down, plant doubt, or guilt, or spread diabolical disinformation, we know and only have believed, that knowledge dominates our mind and we will not go astray, mentally or spiritually. The mind, the brain, the intellect, firm in the Lord, cannot be changed by the forces, the evil of this world. It stands on the rock and any such attack only strengthens belief, and to the extent we are intellectually capable, our mind is totally infused, injected, energized with the Word of God and intellectually:
WE WILL NOT BE MOVED!
So then, we can come together and reason, the mind at work in the things of the Lord:
COME NOW, LET US REASON TOGETHER.
So that, whenever we are with one or more, whether in the household, among friends, in study groups, at church, anywhere and everywhere, if the opportunity arises, we are ready to reason together and offer a reason which God has given us, which the Holy Spirit has given us, to explain who we are (Christian) and what we believe, the truth of scripture and our Lord Jesus Christ.
You matter. You are endowed with the ability to think. You can, no matter who you are or what education you have had, learn how to STUDY TO SHOW YOURSELF APPROVED! But that takes work, commitment, time, and energy. Will you put the work in that is necessary to train your mind and really STUDY? Will you today allow the Holy Spirit to show you how?

We who believe live in a day and age of so-called:
PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY.
Progressive means that Christians today are subject to new interpretations of scripture, a redefinition of what Christianity is all about, a resetting of Christian values, morals, and priorities, and most of all, a battle with a foreign and antagonistic culture like never before. The Bible, always presumed to be the inspired word of God, becomes more of a moral guide rather than statement of absolute truth. The Bible is subject to mankind’s interpretation and even an individual’s sense of right and wrong, rather than the infallible standards of scripture. Christian believers have, now more than ever, ITCHY EARS, a far greater propensity to compromise and accommodate the current culture, rather than standing up for scripture, our Lord, and the absolute truths of the Bible.
That is why the Apostle Paul in II Timothy says that even then, some 2000 years ago, the ITCHY EARS of believers have wandered into myths, forming a religion based upon THEIR TRUTH, not that of God Almighty. If such a trend prevails and those progressive, woke changes continue to occur, that will indeed portend the very end of Christianity itself.
There is strife in the church. Denominations compromise and individual churches move on, especially when woke prevails. Christian fracturing becomes every day a more serious problem. When any church or Christians therein bow to the world’s standards and interpretations, true believers come apart and are separate from them refusing to bow to woke in any way.
The bottom line for woke is that there is no such thing as absolute truth. Wokers thrive on the penance of this so-called age of POST TRUTH, compromise, the religion of the individual, and changing standards of morality and truth as individuals define them. The Apostle Paul clearly indicates this is dead wrong and, in fact even more so, a critical sign of the END TIMES.
An essential question, says Joseph Backholm, of the CENTER FOR BIBLICAL WORLDVIEW, is the following:
“The Question seems to be whether or not God actually wants us to repent or mostly just wants us to be happy and comfortable.
In short, the new and progressive approach to Christianity attacks the concept of sin, the very reason itself for repentance, and wishes to do away with sin and the need for repentance, and instead of a redeemed mankind, one which is merely happy and comfortable. These woke changers simply do not believe that sin exists, but rather that the concepts of right and wrong are in flux and constantly changing. They have forgotten the Biblical admonition:
BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT!
So, says our Lord, and the Apostle Paul, Christian believers, true believers, are obligated, indeed have the duty to stand up to the evil of woke and progressive Christianity and defend the faith, our Lord, and His scripture. It is, says Christian author Eric Metaxas, this new form of evil that must be confronted. We cannot compromise, accept, or be silent. We must speak out against it. Metaxas says the following:
SILENCE IN THE FACE OF EVIL IS EVIL ITSELF!
Indeed, it is. Not standing up, not speaking out, is a form of compromise, and in essence, is condoning, accepting, and not confronting the evil as it is. As Paul says in Ephesians, we the church are called to stand against the culture as we engage in the spiritual fight regarding the principalities and powers of this world. That is our duty, His command, and if we do not stand and confront the evil of woke, we disrespect HIM and we fail to do our duty as Christians.
Any denomination or church which changes or modifies in any way spiritual beliefs, Biblical beliefs, and postures themselves as politically correct, and with the times, seeing itself as loving and not confronting, cannot change the non-changing and absolute truth of scripture, and the eternal truth of God’s word. That word, those principles will never change, and:
“ANY CHURCH THAT CHANGES THE MESSAGE TO FIT THE TIMES, IS PREACHING A FALSE GOSPEL.”
So, my fellow Christians, man or woman, remember the words in the book of James:
“BLESSED IS THE MAN OR WOMAN WHO REMAINS STEADFAST UNDER TRIAL.”
Never giving up, never compromising, willing to lay all on the altar, believing without woke interpretation the true and absolute truth of scripture, never deviating from that and always ready, willing, and able to defend that. What a joy, what a privilege, what insight into eternal truth is ours to be a Christian, a true follower of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a joy to abide in Him and as 1 John 2 states:
“WALK IN THE SAME WAY IN WHICH HE WALKED.”
More than ever, HE asks you to do that so that you can be salt and light to this world, emphatically resisting the progressive, woke, secular culture of the times and standing for Him.
As Joseph Backholm further states:
“WE HAVE TO DECIDE WHETHER WE ARE TRYING TO SHAPE OUR MINDS AROUND GOD’S WORD OR WHETHER WE ARE TRYING TO SHAPE GOD’S WORD AROUND OUR MINDS.”
The former produces actual Christianity, the latter produces so-called progressive Christianity.
I pray that you stand for actual, real, biblical Christianity, which now more than ever is what the world needs.

Public schools in communities across the country have failed to educate students.
Have they ever, with very few exceptions.
Public schools have failed and are continuing to fail to educate students. The worst part about all of this is that there really is no solution in sight. It really seems as though public education will only get worse.
Years ago, parents and taxpayers lost control. Perhaps that loss was gradual. Perhaps parents were in default, indifferent, and many others feeling simply helpless. They lost control, these parents did, to what Matthew Hennessey, Wall Street Journal Deputy Editorial Editor, called:
THE EDUCATION BLOG.
The blog was a quasipublic syndicate of teachers unions, government bureaucracies, brand-name credentialed institutions, and the woke and progressive media. They were determined to keep control of education and, of course, to get as much money to do that as they possibly could.
In one sense, there was a public-parental awakening. That occurred in 2020, the year of Covid, and in the year of lock-downs and lock-outs. Schools were closed, education occurred online and virtually, and parents, perhaps many of them for the very first time, were forced to pay attention to what education in those public schools was really like. Millions did not like what they saw. What they saw, in so many ways, was:
WASTED TIME
WOKE-INFUSED CURRICULA
POOR INSTRUCTION
among others and so many of them, by the millions, decided change was in order, rather necessary. They decided they liked the freedom and convenience of homeschooling. They liked it so much, these parents did, they saw the benefits and they kept homeschooling alive even after the lockdowns and the virtuality ended.
But, the progressives, the wokers woke up. They saw what was happening, real education, good education, quality education, and they realized the real threat to the public education they were committed to foist upon the American public. They saw the end to their control, these wokers did, and their money, and the threat of taxpayer's dollars being utilized elsewhere, and as wokers do when their backs are to the wall, they attacked. So many of these radicals preached the message that education wasn’t about helping young people reach their full potential, but rather:
TO SOCIALIZE CHILDREN INTO RESPONSIBLE CITIZENSHIP.
In other words, to WOKE them, change them, do away with so many traditional American values, and of course, water down individual freedom, family, and most importantly:
FAITH.
Millions of parents fought back.
Hear the words of MSNBC personality Melissa Harris-Perry, who said the following:
“SOCIETY HAS TO SHAKE OFF THE ANTIQUATED NOTION THAT PARENTS HAVE SOME SPECIAL CLAIM ON THEIR CHILDREN. INSTEAD, WE HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THAT KIDS BELONG TO WHOLE COMMUNITIES.”
Can you believe that? Parents have no claim, no rights, and no ability to instruct, mold, or teach the very children they bear and bring into this world. Can you believe that? That really represents the views, opinions, and the values, the radically changing values, of the progressive educational wokers of today. That did nothing but give added impetus to the homeschooling movement.
And more. Teachers’ union member Randi Weingarten said the following:
“THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH PUBLIC EDUCATION THAT MORE MONEY WOULDN’T CURE.”
More money for more woke education, anti-American, anti-faith, anti-Christian, anti-classics, anti-fundamentals (reading-writing-Arithmetic) among others? More money to foster all of that?
Said Matthew Hennessey of The Wall Street Journal:
“THE EDUCATION BLOB AND MEDIA PROGRESSIVES SEE THE GROWING POPULARITY OF HOMESCHOOLING AS A SOCIAL PROBLEM THAT URGENTLY NEEDS TO BE SOLVED.”
These radicals are simply unwilling to give up their control of public education, the molding of the young American mind, and of course, the money, always the money to some extent.
Homeschooling is a great remedy for the ills of public education. It is the answer to the biblical admonition to:
TRAIN UP A CHILD IN THE WAY HE OR SHE SHOULD GO AND WHEN THEY ARE OLD, THEY WILL NOT DEPART THEREFROM.
Children when born are the responsibility, the privilege, and the duty of the parents who brought them into this world. That, says scripture, cannot be delegated, especially to woke-radical public education.
We, the Crawford Broadcasting Co., and our charitable entities believe in and support the homeschooling effort. We are proud sponsors and benefactors of:
HOME SCHOOLING LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION
HSLDA
That is one good work, determined to fight any attempt of big unions or progressive education, to take away, eliminate, or water down homeschooling. We urge you to know more about this good organization, and more importantly, HOMESCHOOLING ITSELF. Whether or not you do it, or know others who do, it is a movement worthy of your time, attention, and financial support, for real American education can occur, and so can faith-based training, and the morals, values, and standards of Christianity. If public education cannot be reformed, then homeschooling, especially by Christian parents, is a viable, worthy alternative, and perhaps in some cases:
THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE.

If you were born, human being created by God Almighty, between the years 1997-2012 you are a member, like it or not, of the newest generation in America:
GEN Z.
You would be of the age 11-26.
Therefore, you are so informed, you and your Gen-Z compatriots have little if any interest in RELIGION, whatever that means. In the extreme, perhaps that means you have no interest in faith, or no faith in your life. Do you?
I personally know a multitude of young, wonderful people that age, who are strong, passionate:
PEOPLE OF FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.
Do you?
And more, you Gen-Z’er. You have little interest in patriotism, so these progressive pundits say. You are not willing to protect and defend your country, your freedoms, your constitution, in fact, your way of life. If you are 30 and under, is that you? Do you have little concern, love, passion, or commitment to your country, to the America in which you are blessed to live? Is that you?
Some of the most Passionate Patriots I know are THE YOUNG, 30 and under. They know what the real America is all about and are willing to do whatever it takes to protect this country, its freedoms, and their way of life, in any way possible. Is that you?
Don’t you just despise generalities like that?
And, you Gen-Z’er, you have little or no interest in marriage and virtually no interest in having children. Is that you? I know any number of wonderful people 30 and under who are married with children, raising families with the blessing of God, and I am privileged to have any number of them in my very own company. Do you eschew marriage and do you, man or woman, not wish to have children of your own? Such generalizations for millions of young people are ludicrous, inaccurate, false, and even
fraudulent and perhaps politically purposeful in a very negative way.
And even more. You are supposedly a member of a generation that has a very poor
work ethic, cares more about self rather than others, and is negative, critical, and
indifferent to the norms of society, and the morality of the past. Is that you?
Again, I know dozens and dozens of human beings, God-created, 30 and under, who
are exactly the opposite.
The real YOUNG PEOPLE of today are people of faith. They have strong faith in Jesus
Christ, living out that faith in a passionate young way. They are patriots believing in
the real America, working to change and solve its problems, all the while protecting its
fundamental concepts of freedom, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, equality, and
justice for all. They are married or will be. They will then have children, God willing.
The real young Americans, the real Gen-Z’ers are workers, people of strong work ethic
and commitment, workmen and work women, worthy of their hire. Those are the Gen-
Z’ers I know, and like, and respect, and have the highest hopes for turning over my
America to them and not the stereotypes, negative and demeaning, individuals who
woke, progressive, radical, anti-Americans described and categorized in such negative
ways.
You and I, human beings, all, were created by the God of the universe, the Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, as unique individuals. There is no human generalization or
categorization which can apply to any of us. Every human being thinks differently,
more or less. Believes differently, more or less. Lives life differently. Works and plays
differently. Worships differently. EVERY HUMAN BEING IS DIFFERENT! He or she is
not Gen-Z, not millennial, not baby-boomer, not a member of the so-called silent
generation, but a unique, specially crafted, INDIVIDUAL, different from any other and
striving to be better in every way. Those are the young, the 30 and under I know,
respect, and believe in. If you are of that age, privileged to be young, with many more
years of productive life to live, I pray that you are:
YOU.
That you will be all that you can be and that you will never fall victim to some
generation, age, or category classification. Just like so many of those RIGHT young
people 30 and under whom I know so very well, productive, faithful, patriotic, believers
in marriage and children, and with a work ethic as good as anyone anywhere. I
personally thank God for every individual male and female in my company, 30 and
under, who brings fresh vision, commitment, passion, the dynamic of youth, and the
love for:
GOD AND COUNTRY,
the twin pillars of the right, ethical, and moral life. If you are 30 or under, I pray that
is you. We should be about the business of encouraging the young, educating and
edifying, for they are the ones who will replace us, live in a world and an American
society far different from ours, face challenges not before faced, and be responsible to
our God with risks and rewards intensified as never before. They will battle an enemy
internal, determined to destroy and seize power, control, and demand conformity.
Their faith in God and Country will be challenged like never before. The courage the
young will need will increase day by day and it is absolutely critical that their vision be
clear, bold, and steadfast, just like that which so many young 30 and under in my
company exhibit and live by.
The young who inherit America must have a new grit, a rekindled passion, and a
mental fortitude that allows them to endure intimidation, threat, even violence, and of
course criticism, backlash, slander, and opposition. They will be tested like never
before, tested like we of previous generations never experienced.
Thankfully, I know many, many young people 30 and under who are that way,
TOUGH. They are ready for the fight of faith. They are anxious to run the race and win
the prize. In them, there is no quit, no give-up. They will not be bullied or intimidated.
They know in whom they have believed, and they are persuaded that HE IS ABLE and
together, they are invincible.
They, the real young, are biblically guided. They are Holy Spirit-led. They know right
from wrong. They learn, grow, and work for the night is coming. This generation of
young Americans has the God-given potential to be the best of any, THE BEST! It has
to be because the challenges have never been greater. I have seen enough of the right
thinking, right living, and right believing young Americans, 30 and under, young
human beings, GOD-CREATED to whom I’d gladly turn over my beloved country and
to whom I pledge my allegiance as they FIGHT THE FIGHT OF FAITH. I only wish I had
the years they have to serve God and Country.
Encourage them, WE THE OLDER. Support them, give to them. Guide them. Advise
them. Share wisdom. For in them, ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD, in the
purpose and rule of God, and for the incredible America in which we and they have
been privileged to live.
Categories and stereotypes are dead wrong, DEAD WRONG! There is purpose,
meaning, and individuality for every human being, no matter the age. YOU ARE YOU!
May every privileged young person 30 and under be all that he or she can be as God
intended. The more of them I know, the better. The more of them who work for CBC,
the better. For, my fellow Americans, there is only one category that matters. And that
is whether one is fully committed to Jesus Christ, born again, saved by Grace. That
category is real Christian:
GEN-JESUS.
No other category matters, none.

We live, my fellow Americans, in the greatest nation in the history of mankind. There is not, nor has there ever been, a nation like:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Never.
It is a nation conceived in freedom. It treasures and fosters democracy. It is a constitutional nation, and it is a nation where, as Dr. Martin Luther King so well said, if in fact its citizens live up to its constitution, treasure it, believe in it, and enforce it, all men and women who are created equal can live a life to the fullest.
AMERICA. What is America to you? Do you understand your country, your nation, its history, its purpose and meaning, the reality of the:
REAL AMERICA?
Do you? Right-thinking men and women thank God every day, EVERYDAY, for the privilege of living in America and being an American. Do you? Are you a grateful citizen, are you proud to be an American, and since this great country can do so much for you, remember the words of President John F. Kennedy, who admonished us to:
ASK NOT WHAT AMERICA CAN DO FOR YOU
ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR AMERICA!
That in my opinion should be the motto of every real American.
THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION. Please read it. Do your best to understand it. Study anything which helps you understand the incredible rights, privileges, and duties which are yours as a citizen and as an American. Think always about the First Amendment to that Constitution, perhaps the finest words, rights, privileges, opportunities, and expressions of freedom ever written in the history of mankind. The First Amendment of America’s Constitution allows you full and unabridged freedom of:
RELIGION
SPEECH
PRESS
ASSEMBLY
PETITION
These precious freedoms are the very best that can be offered to any human being and they are essential, priorities, GUARANTEED to every man and woman by this Constitution and its very precious First Amendment. Read it, know it, treasure it, and thank God for it.
RULE OF LAW. It is watered down, ignored, or even eliminated in this woke and radical, anti-American day and age. Lawlessness in the end times, says the scripture, prevails and runs rampant. That is happening today. Stand up, my fellow Americans, to lawlessness and insist upon the rule of law, insist upon the concept of:
JUSTICE FOR ALL.
There is risk in so doing, but the reward is well worth the risk.
RIGHT AND WRONG. There are those today that think there is no such thing as right and wrong. There is no absolute truth. This is the day and age of:
THE LIE.
We live in an age which many describe as:
POST TRUTH.
That is, we live in a culture where there is no such thing as absolute truth and consequently, the lie, that which is not truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is the law of the land. WRONG, dead wrong. There is right and wrong, there is truth, and never forget in this great year 2024, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ:
I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE!
I AM THE TRUTH!
Believe in Him and you will know the truth indeed.
STAND. Stand tall for America. Protect it. Founding Fathers were willing to die for it. Are you? Am I? Are there enough Americans left who are willing to do whatever is required to protect and defend the greatest land in the history of mankind?
So much of the world despises, even hates America. Perhaps that is because we live hypocritically, we do not stand tall for our ideals, our freedoms, and our way of life, and we are not consistent, constantly compromising, and so often not holding individuals and nations accountable for their actions. We the People need to redefine who we are as a nation, make those ideals, values, and standards clear, and stand for them no matter the cost, now more than ever in the great year 2024.
POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT. We the People need to be far more politically involved. Especially Christian citizens. We need to be active in government. We need to take positions of authority locally and to make certain our neighborhoods, towns, and
cities, are safe, law-abiding, and true to American ideals, its constitution, rule of law, and way of life. WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO STAND UP! We need to make certain right-thinking and right-acting men and women are elected to office, who will truly represent us, and even more importantly, our Constitution, rule of law, and all that America should be. WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO MAKE CERTAIN THAT HAPPENS! If not, we need to speak out critically so, aggressively, withhold financing, and our vote, and where necessary, exercise the process of recall and do whatever we can to get elected or appointed officials unworthy of citizen trust out of office and authority. WE THE PEOPLE NEED TO STAND UP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE!
WOKE, THE PROGRESSIVE, THE ANTI-AMERICAN. They are everywhere, EVERYWHERE! They are determined to effectuate radical change or even in so many cases, the destruction of the American way of life. They would water down or eliminate much of our Constitution, curtail our freedoms, control family and education, and change the way we live, think, and believe. DON’T LET IT HAPPEN MY FELLOW AMERICANS, DON’T LET IT HAPPEN! Time is short. America needs right-thinking Americans in action now more than ever.
PRIDE. Be proud 2024 to be an American. Be proud to be a citizen of the real America, the constitutional America, with its freedoms, and be proud to stand tall as America beckons, asking you now more than ever to be a soldier in the fight for freedom.
Wear the flag, salute the military, proudly sing, and respect the National Anthem:
STAND UP FOR AMERICA.
Pray that God will bless America, convicted of its wrong doings, and once again make it the city on the hill, the shining light among nations, a country safe and protected for us today and for our descendants tomorrow. Let us proudly sing in 2024:
GOD BLESS AMERICA
LAND THAT I LOVE!

With God, all things are possible. ALL THINGS!
Even an event like THE VIRGIN BIRTH.
Some 2,000 years ago, an angel was sent by God to the tiny town of Nazareth in the Galilee area. The area was small, the inhabitants few, and a popular saying of the day was:
CAN ANY GOOD THING COME OUT OF NAZARETH?
Perhaps not before, but after the visit by the angel Gabriel to an unknown Mary, from Nazareth would come the Savior of the world.
Mary the Virgin was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The angel Gabriel said to her:
GREETINGS, YOU WHO ARE HIGHLY FAVORED! THE LORD IS WITH YOU.
Gabriel went on to say:
DO NOT BE AFRAID, MARY. YOU HAVE FOUND FAVOR WITH GOD. YOU WILL BE WITH CHILD AND GIVE BIRTH TO A SON. YOU ARE TO GIVE HIM THE NAME JESUS.
HE WILL BE GREAT AND WILL BE CALLED THE
SON OF THE MOST HIGH.
THE LORD GOD WILL GIVE HIM THE THRONE OF HIS FATHER DAVID AND HE WILL REIGN OVER THE HOUSE OF JACOB FOREVER. HIS KINGDOM WILL NEVER END!
And, rightly so, Mary was troubled and she said to the angel:
“How will this come about since I am a virgin?”
To which the angel responded:
THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL COME UPON YOU AND THE POWER OF THE MOST
HIGH WILL OVERSHADOW YOU.
So the Holy One to be born would be called the SON OF GOD.
The natural man scoffs at angels but the spiritual man knows that with God all things
are possible, including angels.
Mary, now with child, the Holy Ghost having come upon her, went to the home of
Zechariah and Elizabeth, relatives, and when she arrived, Elizabeth knew of this
Immaculate Conception and Elizabeth said to Mary:
BLESSED ARE YOU AMONG WOMEN, AND BLESSED IS THE CHILD YOU WILL
BEAR!
Elizabeth knew that Mary would be the mother of her Lord and ours as well.
So, the world was about to change because of that event in Nazareth. Jesus of
Nazareth would soon be born in Bethlehem of Judea and this Nazarene, this SON OF
THE MOST HIGH would soon be known as THE SAVIOR, the Prince of Peace, the
Christ of Glory.
When Elizabeth had finished, Mary began her very own song of praise:
MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD
AND MY SPIRIT REJOICES IN GOD MY SAVIOR!
FOR HE HAS BEEN MINDFUL OF THE HUMBLE STATE OF HIS SERVANT.
FROM NOW ON ALL GENERATIONS WILL CALL ME BLESSED
FOR THE MIGHTY ONE HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME
HOLY IS HIS NAME!
Such powerful praise and adoration this Magnificat of Mary was. Mary, the virgin, so
humble in spirit, thought of herself as the HANDMAIDEN of the Lord, perhaps still
puzzled as to why she was chosen to bear the King of Kings, but willing and obedient
to do the will of God.
And the Babe of Bethlehem grew within her. Fiancé Joseph, of the lineage of David,
sought to put her away but again, an angelic message explained to him what had
happened, foretold the birth of this Son and the instructions to him that His name
would be Jesus. Thereafter, Mary would be wife and mother for Joseph. It is incredibly
difficult to imagine how this man 2,000 years ago would react. Nothing like this in
human history had ever happened before. He, Joseph was chosen to supervise and
support the birth of the Savior of the world. That would be impossible for any man to
comprehend but Joseph, obedient like Mary, accepted the angelic explanation and this
divine drama proceeded.
Surely, Joseph could see the remarkable changes in Mary. For those precious months,
Mary’s soul glorified the Lord. She told all that her spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
Surely that glorifying and rejoicing was well noticed, even participated in by Joseph.
Mary, the humble servant of the Lord knew what great things God had done for her
and she was perhaps the first to live in a brand new, revolutionary state of praise and
worship. Soon, that would be available to all mankind.
Then came the decree from Caesar Augustus that a census should be taken of the
entire Roman world. Joseph, who belonged to the house and lineage of David therefore
went to Bethlehem of Judea to register with Mary, since Bethlehem was the City of
David. But the town was full and there was no room in the inn so that Mary and
Joseph slept in a manger. And there, in that manger, Mary gave birth to a son and as
a proud and loving mother, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a
manger. Such were the humble circumstances of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the
Babe of Bethlehem, the Prince of Peace, and the Savior of the world.
AND THAT IS THE REAL MEANING OF CHRISTMAS! That birth of the Savior of the
world is what we celebrate at Christmas! This rabidly secular world of ours wishes to
de-spiritualize this event and take CHRIST OUT OF CHRISTMAS. We who believe must
never let that happen but rather band together in glorious praise and worship to the
Babe and especially to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let not, my fellow
Christians, the secularists abandon the Christ of Christmas.
So, Christ was born and there began the spreading of the Word:
AND THERE WERE SHEPHERDS ABIDING IN THE FIELDS
KEEPING WATCH OVER THEIR FLOCKS BY NIGHT
AND LO THE ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARED TO THEM
AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE ROUND ABOUT THEM
AND THEY WERE SORE AFRAID
BUT THE ANGEL SAID TO THEM
DO NOT BE AFRAID
I BRING YOU GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY THAT WILL BE FOR ALL PEOPLE
THIS DAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID
A SAVIOR HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU
HE IS CHRIST THE LORD
THIS WILL BE A SIGN UNTO YOU
YOU WILL FIND THE BABE WRAPPED IN SWADDLING CLOTHES
AND LYING IN A MANGER
AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS WITH THE ANGELS
A HEAVENLY HOST OF ANGELS
PRAISING GOD AND SAYING
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
AND ON EARTH PEACE AND GOODWILL TO ALL MANKIND
How interesting that shepherds were chosen as the first to hear this angelic
enunciation. Shepherds were watchmen, observant, especially at night as they made
certain to protect their sheep. They knew the heavens, the stars and their movements.
They were familiar with the night and they could, like wise men and kings, identify and
follow the STAR OF WONDER, the star which shone brightly that night over the City of
David, the blessed Bethlehem of Judea, where the Prince of Peace was born.
And those shepherds left immediately and they found Mary and Joseph and the Babe
lying in the manger. And when they had seen him, they were the very first evangelists,
spreading the word of this miraculous and marvelous birth, the message they had
been told by the angel about this Babe. And that was the beginning of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. From then on, the shepherds glorified and praised God for all the things
they had heard and seen even as we who believe do so today. We well say today as the
shepherds and angels did then:
GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST
AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOODWILL TOWARD ALL MANKIND
Men and women search today for truth even as the shepherds did. The search is
everywhere but the truth, the ultimate truth was revealed to mankind in a manger in
Bethlehem 2,000 years ago. Wise men and women, who truly seek him, will find him
there. Those who scoff, mock a virgin birth, the concept of angels, and the creation of a
God–man will never, ever know that:
NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD
Nothing.
But to find HIM is a most joyous, wondrous discovery. It is an epiphany like no other.
The finding of the Babe is the finding of the world’s greatest treasure. The power, the
love, and the understanding which results from finding HIM is life–changing then and
forevermore. That finding allows us to become as a little child, open and transparent,
filled with love and compassion, fully understanding the GRACE of God and that
gracious gift which changed the world 2,000 years ago. That faith in the Babe of
Bethlehem is the key to entering the Kingdom of God, humbly trusting and believing
even as Mary did of old. Women become handmaidens of the Lord as Mary did. Men
become servants of the Lord as the shepherds did.
So that, on Christmas Day, we discover the greatest present, the greatest gift one
could ever find:
THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM
The gifts we give to others at Christmastime can never begin to equal the gift of God to
us. We should celebrate that gift FIRST and wherever possible, give the love of that gift
to others. That is what Christmas is all about and that should never change.
And we, like the shepherds should spread the news, the Good News. That is true
evangelism and we who believe must never let that message die not only at Christmas
but every day. The wise men of old found Him and the wise men and women of today,
the truly wise who search will find Him. For in Him, it is all that God is. And that, as
the angels well said, are indeed the glad tidings and the great joy for all.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son to all humankind so that those
who believe could have life abundant here and life eternal there. For those who
received this gift of God, there comes the power of God making them sons of God and
daughters, life all brand new. Women praise the Lord like Mary of old. Men glorify the
Lord as the shepherds of old. And that, and only that can bring peace to the world.
The message of that Babe is the only message which can spread the goodwill of God
and transform the lives of all mankind. May it be yours.
We the Crawford Broadcasting Company, all of us, wish you a very happy, merry,
blessed Christmas centered around the Babe of Bethlehem, and may the love of God in
Jesus Christ be your very special gift this Christmas season. Glory to God in the
highest and on earth, peace and goodwill for all.
CHRIST IS BORN!