Pastor's Corner
A message from Pastor Andy Ross...

Past Devotionals

Google Jesus! - December 23, 2005

Read Matthew 1:18-25.

Dear friends,

Have you done a Google on yourself? A novelty that popped up this year was the fad of doing a Google search on your own name. Typing your own moniker into the powerful Internet search engine, and seeing where else your name comes up.

Ok. I did it. And I discovered "Andy Ross" all over the world! There were a number of people who seem to be using my name in Scotland and England - radio types, musicians, authors, and the such - all types who generally benefit from having a Web site presence. I never did have the patience to keep looking through the pages of results to find my own self, the one living in Tucson!

Do you know what you'd get if you Google Jesus? Hmmm. Pages and pages of references beyond human ability to read! In the Library of Congress there are more books written about Jesus of Nazareth than anybody else. No one else comes close. Abraham Lincoln is a distant second.

In Matthew 1:18-25 God began to get very specific, didn't he? With the news of the birth of this special baby, God was creating his own very special Web site. It was Bethlehem. God - and the miracle born to Mary - would become a gift to the worldwide web of people needing hope and peace.

This Christmas, don't be distracted with your own "search engines" of busyness and hurry. Find him. Search for him. Because Jesus grew up and later promised, "Seek, and ye shall find!"

Discussion Questions for Matthew 1:18-25:

• So what is it about yourself, that you would like the whole wide world to know?
• How do you think Joseph is feeling about all this news?
• What does Matthew tell us about why Jesus was born?
• What is important about Jesus' virgin birth being necessary?
• Where would you say are the "sites" in which you experience Jesus today?
• What does Joseph have to teach you about faith this Christmas?

God's blessings to you this day!

Andy Ross
Pastor