Joe Barnett

Today is the day for you to choose whom you will serve.              —Joshua 24:15 When the angel told the shepherds that the Savior had been born in Bethlehem and that they would find him lying in a manger, the implied message was, “Go see the baby.” Would they go? […]

There were no rooms left in the inn.                              —Luke 2:7 The Bethlehem innkeeper has been the target of many a censorious sermon for his heartless refusal to make room for the Nazareth travelers, compelling Mary to give birth to her baby

They will call him Immanuel— which means, “God with us.”            —Matthew 1:23 What a night! It was the night the world had been waiting for since God vowed that the seed of woman would crush Satan (Gn 3:15). And since he promised Abraham that in his lineage would be one

You shall name him Jesus.          —Matthew 1:21 Parents-to-be give serious thought to the name of their baby-to-be. The baby’s name isn’t a trivial tag. It establishes an identity that will follow the child from the cradle to the grave—and beyond. Mary and Joseph weren’t asked what their baby’s name would be—they

Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened.                —Luke 2:15 Christmas season is a reminder of the Bethlehem-happening. I was drawn to a group of caroling children at the mall. Cherubic faces scrubbed, they had come to sing. And did they ever sing! What was

I bring you good news of great joy.                          —Luke 2:10 Fifteen-year-old Isaac Watts (1674–1748) constantly complained about the “atrocious music” in British churches. His father, tired of his grumbling, challenged him to write something better. That evening he wrote his first hymn. For

Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.                                        —Luke 2:11 In 1739 Charles Wesley wrote the lyrics to Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. In 1753 Wesley’s

You will find a baby lying in a manger.                                 —Luke 2:12 Walking to his one-room apartment after a midnight Christmas Eve service in New York City in 1934, Robert MacGimsey passed the open door of a pub. The raucous

To us a child is born . . . And he will be called . . . Prince of Peace                      —Isaiah 9:6 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s wife had recently died. His soldier son lay wounded. And he was in despair over the massive loss of lives

On earth peace, goodwill toward men.                               —Luke 2:14 Edmund Sears was depressed. The United States and Mexico were struggling in the aftermath of the Mexican-American War (1846–1848). And Europe was staggering under the weight of the numerous revolutions of 1848.