Let earth and heaven combine, Angels and men agree, To praise in songs divine The incarnate Deity, Our God contracted to a span, Incomprehensibly made Man. The Hymn by Charles Wesley - "Let Earth and Heaven Combine."

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would be either a lunatic - on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg - or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse." C. S. Lewis. Mere Christianity (New York: Macmillan, 1943), 41.

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:26-28). Many people unconsciously expect their church to serve them. The expectation shows with the checklist we bring to worship. We ask, "Did the pastor preach a sermon to my liking? Did the music suit my taste? Does the building have the right décor?" Of course, we are right to be concerned that our church does what is right. The Bible tells us to be vigilant about God's priorities. But sometimes God's priorities get confused with our preferences. Whether we are expressing greater concerns about the latter than the former may take serious heart examination. That examination, if it is Biblical, often begins with asking whether we really are willing to follow Jesus by denying ourselves (Matt. 16:24)? Are we more seeking to serve or to be served? Of course, we are all ready to testify that we are willing to be a servant - until someone treats us like one. Then, we must ask if Jesus only calls us to an occasional act of service, or to a life of selflessness for the sake of others knowing him. The charge to put God's priorities above our own often can reduce our checklist to one item: Does this church help me serve Jesus better? Bryan Chapell. ByFaith Magazine. Devotional. 18th November 2022

"Thus says the Lord of hosts: ...To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen; behold, the Word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn; they take no pleasure in it." Jeremiah 6:9-10 (ESV).

"The purpose of Jesus' startling deeds was not to evoke a belief in miracles today but rather to inspire a longing for the day when God's kingdom comes fully upon the world. That's the perspective of the Gospels. Throughout history, Christian faith has always involved a restless hope - a hope captured perfectly in the prayer 'Your kingdom come'! The previews of the kingdom glimpsed in Jesus' miracles have typically made Christ's followers dissatisfied with the way things are and desperate for the way things Christ said they would one day be. Christian hope is thus confident but restless: it praises God for the preview (in Jesus' life) and pleads him for the finale (in the "kingdom come"), when evil will be overthrown, humanity healed and creation itself renewed." John Dickson A Doubters Guide to Jesus - An introduction to the man from Nazareth for believers and skeptics. (Grand Rapids, Michigan. Zondervan. 2018) page 80.