One Sunday morning, the Sunday School department director happily announced that one of

the young couples had had their baby – mom and baby were doing well. Everyone smiled, and

all eyes focused on the man making the announcement – expecting some other details like

maybe whether it was a boy or a girl, the name, weight, date of birth, etc. He didn’t know! All he

knew was that the baby had landed! No details!

And that’s why we’re so thankful for Luke – a man of many details. He included details in his

gospel account that the other writers often omitted. He introduced his writing with these words:

Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which

have been fulfilled among us… it seemed good to me also… to write to you an orderly

account…  that you may know the certainty of those things… (Luke 1:1-4)

And, as a part of that orderly account, here are some of those details leading up to the birth of

Jesus:

Now in the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy] the angel Gabriel was sent from God

to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was

Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. (Luke 1:26-27)

Why are these details important - besides just filling in some gaps in the story? Luke, the

physician and gospel writer, wants us to know the details so we can be certain, but also

because they are a fulfillment of prophecy from centuries preceding the birth of Christ. Let’s look

at two from this short passage:

1 - The Messiah will be born to a virgin: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;

Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

(Isaiah 7:14)

2 - The Messiah will be a descendant of the house of David. “Behold, the days are coming,”

declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch…” (Jeremiah 23:5)

By Including what had already been prophesied (both Isaiah and Jeremiah were written in the

7th century B.C.!), Luke also wants us to know that this wasn’t some genius idea that suddenly

popped into the mind of the Almighty God. This plan was in place from the beginning.

So… knowing that God’s plans have been fulfilled, are being fulfilled, and will be fulfilled (with or

without our cooperation), how can we not trust Him with the few years we have on this planet?

How can we not trust Him with TODAY?

By Judy Shrout

Your Daily Missions Moment:

7 words to help you live your life on mission:

Know God

Love People

Impact my World

Do you know God better today than you did last week, last month, last year. Spend some time in Bible reading and prayer to get to know God better. That will help you with step two.

Loving people is not always easy. Ask God to help you love especially those who are not easy to love.  Who are people you see every day that need to know that you love them and God does too.



Finally, Impact my World. Sounds daunting.  Your world is right where you live. Are you praying about ways you can impact your everyday world for God. Keep these 7 words in mind as you go about your week.