About 10 years ago, I was walking through downtown Omaha after lunch. I hadn’t walked far before I was approached by a disheveled gentleman asking if perhaps I had some money I could spare for him. This was not uncommon for that part of town and I imagine many of you are familiar with the experience. He 
had the appearance of a vagrant, a man who slept on bus benches and in alleyways. Previously, I had been content to hand over a few dollars but I was under the conviction at the time that this was not the best response. I felt that giving cash would only enable and encourage whatever poor decisions had brought him to this place in his life.
Instead, I told the man that if he was hungry, I would be happy to buy him lunch at any place he chose. He thanked me and led me around the corner to a small deli where he approached the counter and placed an order for fried chicken and sides. I paid for his meal which was promptly delivered and placed in his hands. I wished him farewell and started to leave but as I opened the door on my way out, I overheard him ask the lady behind the counter if he could return his food and get the money instead. I don’t know whether she honored his request or not. I doubt she would but I didn’t stick around to find out. Apparently the man wasn’t hungry for food after all.
I was very discouraged by the experience. I assumed he was hungry for his addiction whatever that might have been but the truth is, he wasn’t hungry for those things any more than he was hungry for food. I wish I could have offered him what he was really hungry for but to be honest, I was still quite hungry for it myself. When Christ was tempted to turn stones into bread, He quoted Moses from Deuteronomy 8:3. In this verse Moses explains to the Israelites how God caused them to go hungry and then gave them bread that fell from heaven in order to teach them than people need more than food in order to live. In order to truly live, we must be fed with the complete word of God and that Word is Christ.
People are all hungry for the Word of God. Hungry for Christ. Starving in fact. How do we feed them? When I left the man at the deli I probably said something like “God bless you” or “God loves you” as I excused myself but I didn’t feed him. I can only hope that maybe he caught the scent of a satisfying meal as if somewhere off in the distance, but Moses said in Deuteronomy 30 that this meal is not somewhere far up in the heavens that you have to climb up to it, nor is it so far below the sea you must plumb the depths for it. It is very close. It is in fact on our lips and in our hearts.
Paul explains this passage for us in Romans 10. We don’t need to climb up to heaven for this meal, God’s Word, because God sent it (Christ) down to earth. Nor do we need to scale down to the grave for it because God raised Him from the dead. The meal we offer, or the message we preach as Paul says, is already within easy reach. It’s righteousness based on faith. With your mouth you confess that Jesus is Lord and with your heart you believe God raised Him from the dead. This meal is very near indeed! It’s on our lips and in our hearts and what a feast it is!
Do you know how God spends His days? I assume most of us imagine God has a great many affairs to rule over and is quite busy, but Paul answers this question for us at the end of this chapter by quoting Isaiah 65:2. The Lord says through the prophet, “I hold out my hands all day long to a stubborn people, but they ignore me, going their own way.” Surely, God has better things to do right? No He doesn’t. He has prepared a feast for you and all day long, every day, He holds out His hands to you, inviting you to take and eat. Those who accept His invitation, those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, will be filled!
the serpent. An interesting aspect of this passage is that the first Gospel presentation was made to Satan. It was in God’s address to Satan that we find this verse. We have it as a promise however as did Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve would not be able to save themselves from the serpent but God promised them a deliverer who would in the future accomplish that task for them. Most translations say that the promised one will “bruise” the serpents head while the serpent will simply bruise the promised one’s heel. Some translations say they will “strike” each other. Satan will strike the promised one’s heel and the promised one will strike the serpents head. But I like the stronger language of other translations which say the promised one will “crush” the serpents head. The NET Bible says He will “attack” the serpents head. I actually would prefer it to say “cut his head off.” It seems to carry the idea of a more thorough victory which the Hebrew word seems to imply. Cutting off the head of one’s enemy was a common practice among the ancient people’s of the Mideast.
secured them with hopeful expectation under our trees. All that remains is the anticipation of how our gifts will be received. Do we really know our loved ones? Do we know them well enough to predict what they would like or not like? Will our selections bring them delight or disappointment? Will they illicit joy and excitement or will they be tossed aside to make room for the next one? It’s no wonder Christmas is so stressful!
sentence; “God.” Then follows the predicate which goes on to tell us what the subject did: “created the heavens and the earth.” We can learn a lot about God by studying what He created. Everything in the world shouts out the greatness of God. It’s obvious that if God is the cause of everything that exists, He’s greater than what He created and everything just “declares” His glory as the Psalmist says. Although we can see the glory and majesty of God in the creation we can only learn about his character, his nature, his interests and his dealings with both the created order and mankind from the Bible. The Bible was written to teach us about God. God is not only the subject of the first sentence of the Bible, He’s the subject of the whole Bible.
the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.” What was it that made Cain’s sacrifice unacceptable? It seems that we see grain offerings and first fruit offerings pleasing to God in the Bible so what caused God to disregard Cain’s offering?
nations, God said to Abraham “I will make you into a great nation.” When men were conquering and possessing vast territories, God said to Abraham “I will give you all your territory.” God chose to make for Himself this nation and give them their land to demonstrate to the whole world His majesty and sovereignty over all our affairs.
the Christmas spirit and you can see it all over their houses. I haven’t gone by a house quite like the one Chevy Chase decorated in the “Christmas Vacation” movie, but we have some good ones! The lights really seem to bring our city to life. The lights seem to bring each house to life as well. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?