The Prince of Peace has come

The story is told “about a certain kingdom wherein there was a handsome prince, searching for a woman worthy enough to be his wife and to become queen of the land. 

One day while running an errand for his father, the prince passed through a poor 

village.

As he glanced out the window of his carriage his eyes fell on a beautiful peasant maiden. 

During ensuing days, he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love with her by sight. 

But he had a problem. How could he seek her hand in marriage?

He could command her to marry him, but the prince wanted someone who would marry him out of love, not coercion. 

He could show up at her door in his splendid uniform in a gold carriage drawn by six horses, attendants in tow, and bearing a chest of jewels and gold coins. 

But then how would he know if she really loved him or if she was just overawed and overwhelmed with his splendor? 

Finally he came up with another solution.

He stripped off his royal robes, put on common dress, moved into the village, and got to know her without revealing his identity. 

As he lived among the people, the prince and the maiden became friends, shared each other’s interests, and talked about their concerns. 

As time went on, the young lady grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.

My friends, This is the good news of Jesus!. The Prince of Peace Himself, Jesus Christ, laid aside the robes of His glory, garbed himself as a peasant, became a human being, and moved into our village, onto our planet, to woo us to himself.” (NCBSIQ, 483)

John reminds us that: “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 

12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.” (NIV84)

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, makes peace with God and peace with ourselves possible. Because He became one of us and paid the sin-price for us, we can be at peace. 

For us to be at peace, we must receive the Gift of Jesus the Prince of Peace. 

In a culture where it seems that rest, security, freedom, stability, and safety seem to be disintegrating on a daily basis; you can receive Jesus the Prince of Peace. 

You can receive the gift of being at peace with God and you can receive the gift of being at peace with yourself. 

These gifts are available to you, and these gifts are what we need if we are going to make it 

in this messed up world.  

God knows this and that is why He has given us the gift of Jesus the Prince of Peace. He has come to make peace a priority in your life. 

Will you receive the peace that He has to offer you?

The Baby changed everything!

Bret Harte—the author not the wrestler—tells the story of Roaring Camp, in his short story called “The Luck of Roaring Camp”

Roaring Camp was supposed to be, according to the story, the meanest, toughest mining town in the entire West. 

More murders and more thefts occurred at Roaring Camp then at any other place. 

It was a place inhabited entirely by men, and one woman who tried to serve them all. Her name was Cherokee Sal. And she died while giving birth to a baby. 

The men took that baby, and they put him in a box with some old rags under him. 

When they looked at him, they decided that didn't look right, so they sent one of the men eighty miles to buy a rosewood cradle. 

He brought the cradle back, and they put the rags and the baby in the rosewood cradle. But the rags didn't look right there. 

So they sent another man to Sacramento, and he came back with some beautiful silk and lace blankets. 

And they put the baby, wrapped around with those blankets, in the rosewood cradle. 

It looked fine until someone happened to notice that the floor was filthy. So these hardened, tough men got down on their hands and knees, and scrubbed that floor until it was clean. 

Of course, what that did was to make the walls and the ceiling and the dirty windows without curtains look absolutely terrible. So they washed down the walls and the ceiling, and they put curtains on the windows. 

Now things were beginning to look as they thought they should look. 

But of course, they had to give up a lot of their fighting, because the baby slept a lot and babies can't sleep during a brawl. 

Soon the whole temperature of Roaring Camp seemed to go down. 

These men used to take the baby out and set him by the entrance to the mine so they could see him when they came up. 

Then somebody noticed what a dirty place that was, so they planted flowers, and they made a nice garden there. 

They would bring the baby shiny little stones and things that they would find in the mine. 

But when they would put their hands down next to the baby, their hands looked so dirty. 

Pretty soon the general store was all sold out of soap and shaving gear and perfume... 

The baby, you see, changed everything.   

Just as this baby changed these rough and tough men, the Baby that was born in a manger over 2000 years ago has also come to change our world. 

John wrote the following: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

Author and Pastor Max Lucado, in his book Next Door Saviour, writes: “a just-God Jesus could make us, but not understand us. A just-man Jesus could love us, but never save us. Jesus was not a godlike man, not a manlike God. He was God-man.”

God stuffed Himself into a Baby and lived among us to make it possible for us to dwell with Him in heaven now and for all eternity. Will your life be changed by the coming of this God-Man