Pastor Mike Impact Ministries

I just realized as I started writing this blog that today is a day in history we will never forget. Twenty-three years ago, September 11, 2001, America was attacked by Islamic terrorist in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania. The day began as a normal day for most Americans as they woke up, dressed and went to work. But before the morning was over, these terrorist attacks would kill 2,977...

Now in verses 21-24, Luke shares with us what happened in the first forty days of our Lord’s humanity. Someone said, our Lord's first experience on this planet was one of pain (v. 21). Jesus experienced this rite of circumcision on the eighth day. The rite of circumcision was the covenant sign between Abraham, his seed, and God. It symbolized the cutting off of the flesh as useless as a means...

Somebody told someone, who told someone, who told someone, who told you, that a Savior was born in Bethlehem two-thousand years ago! I couldn’t help but notice this phase at least three times in our passage today!   But first let me go back to yesterday’s chat and make a final comment about verse 14, where the multitude of angels said, “On earth peace, goodwill toward men!" Some text actually...

Luke tells us here about the first event that took place that night after the birth of the Lord Jesus in Bethlehem. First, an angel, in a burst of the light of “the glory of the Lord”, appeared to the shepherds with a message of “good tidings of great joy which will be for all people.” Next, this angel was joined with a multitude of the heavenly host of angels, and they also had a message for the...

I really think we could continue to look at these verses in Luke 2:8-14 every day for several months and never exhaust the eternal golden nuggets of truth that are in them. I believe it is even possible that we will spend eternity in heaven meditating on this wonderful message by the angels to the shepherds that dark night two thousand years ago, as we sit in the very presence of our Lord and Savi...

Yesterday we talked about the wonderful truth about the Gospel that is found verse 10, where the angel said to the poor lonely shepherds living in the fields, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.” We don’t need to fear that we will be left out, or that God does not want us, or that He will reject us because of who we are or what we...

10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For several days we have been looking at this first public proclamation in Luke of the Gospel by the angel to the shepherds “living out in the fields”. Remember Luke was writing his Gospel to confirm the historical account of Jesus and His life on earth (Luke 1:...

10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. I don’t know about you, but Edith and I have basically turned off the news on our TV. We are tired of hearing nothing but bad and discouraging news about politics and world affairs. I love good news! And that is what Luke is giving us in this passage. It is amazing...

10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. I believe some of the most exciting verses in all the Bible are found here in Luke 2:8-14. Today, we live in a broken world. The world that Jesus was born into two-thousand...

Luke 2:8-14 8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For the...

Luke gives more details and specifics about the actual birth of the Lord Jesus than any other of the Gospel writers. Most of our Christmas stories and songs seem to come especially from Luke chapter 2. This chapter opens up the events of the most holy night in human history. My favorite Christmas song is “O Holy Night”, and my favorite solo singer of it is Chaplain Shawn Taylor! I have so many gre...

Mary and Joseph have traveled some eighty miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be registered for the Roman census. The journey took at least three days. They finally arrived first at Jerusalem and then would have continued the five or six more miles south to Bethlehem. But when they arrived there, the place was packed. Joseph pushed his way inside the inn to beg and plead for a room for by now the...

Luke chapter 2 has to be one of the most exciting, important, and special chapters in all the Bible! Luke has done his research, no doubt interviewing Mary personally, and even possibly talking with the shepherds mentioned in this chapter. He gives more details concerning the birth of Jesus Christ than any other of the Gospel writers. Matthew gives only a little description of Jesus birth at Bethl...

After Zacharias gives his praise and prophesy about the Jesus the Messiah in verses 67-75, he turns his attention to his newborn son, John. I can imagine the excitement in the room as the family, friends and neighbors of Zacharias and Elizabeth are gathered around them and they are hearing Zacharias speak for the first time in nine months. A wonderful miracle has taken place with them having a chi...

74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. When Elizabeth gives birth to John, her husband Zacharias has his heart and mouth filled with praise and he gives us a prophecy about the future ministry of both the Messiah, Jesus, and his son John. But he also gives us an exhort...

After Zacharias has his mouth open and his tongue loosed (v. 64), he immediately begins to praise God. And as the Holy Spirit fills him, he first speaks about the imminent fulfilment of the Old Testament prophesies concerning the Messiah and His salvation and deliverance for Israel and all people. But Zacharias makes it very clear that Jesus didn’t just come to redeem, deliver and save us to sit a...

Luke chapter one ends with Zacharias, the priest and husband of Elizabeth, both praising the Lord and prophesying about the coming Messiah and also his son John that had just been born, who later would be better known as “John the Baptist”. For the nine months of his wife’s pregnancy with John, he was both mute and deaf because of his unbelief at the announcement of the angel in the temple. But as...

Again, we can’t forget that the theme of the Gospel of Luke is joy and rejoicing as we will see throughout the book. Everything changes when God shows up! The great need for America and the world in these fearful days of war, chaos, violence, hatred and division, is for God to show up! Luke records how God first showed up to Zacharias with a message that he and his barren wife Elizabeth would have...

56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house. 57 Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. 58 When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.   Luke is writing his Gospel during a very dark and dismal period in world history, and especially for the nation of Israe...

We have been discussing Mary’s divine joy and rejoicing. Her joy was spiritual as she experienced the presence of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in her body and life. Her joy was in God (v. 47). She knew she had a Savior (v. 47), so she had salvation joy. She had praiseful joy and “magnified the Lord” (v. 46). She had grateful joy because she knew didn’t deserve or merit this honor (v. 48). And she had...

49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me, And holy is His name. In Luke 1, we are looking at the divine joy that Mary experience when she believed the message that the angel Gabriel had delivered to her directly from God, that she would miraculously conceive in her womb a baby who would be the Messiah, the Son of God, the Son of the Highest, and she would call His name JESUS! (vv. 30-3...

In Luke 1:46-56, Mary is singing a divine song of joy as she shares with Elizabeth the wonderful news that she is miraculously pregnant with the Messiah! Elizabeth is rejoicing, John is “leaping for joy” in Elizabeth’s womb (v. 44), and Mary joins them with her praise to the Lord! Mary is experiencing spiritual joy because her “spirit was rejoicing”. She had joy “in God ” (v. 47). She had salvatio...

48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;   We are presently discussing the divine song of joy that Mary in singing as she shares with Elizabeth the wonderful news that she is miraculously pregnant with the Messiah! Elizabeth is rejoicing, John is “leaping for joy” in Elizabeth’s womb (v. 44), and Mary joins them with her praise to the Lord!   In John 10:10, Jesus said that “the t...

Thank you so much for your prayers for Luke and his surgery yesterday. The neurosurgeons said everything went well with the procedure. Luke came back to PICU very unhappy and in a lot of pain. But by the evening he was giving us smiles and doing a whole lot better. Now we need to pray that the infection will clear up quickly and they can repeat the surgery to replace everything to properly drain t...

Dear friends, today I need to ask for special prayer again. This morning Edith and I will be driving back up to Roanoke Virginia to be there for our little grandson Luke, and Kimberly and Chris. Luke is presently back in PICU at RMH because another infection has developed. This morning at 7:30 he is scheduled to go back in for emergency surgery. The neurosurgeons will be removing the shunts and al...