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  'NOTHING!'
  by Selwyn Hughes
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Summary: The Incarnation of God is the distinctive of our faith, setting
us apart from other world religions and emphasizing the love and
sacrifice of God.

Topics: "Incarnation Of Christ", "Gods Sacrificial Love"
Scripture References: John 1:14, Philippians 2:6, Colossians 2:9, 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 2:14

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DESCRIPTION
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Selwyn Hughes emphasizes the unique and profound belief in Christianity
that God appeared in human form through His eternal Son, Jesus Christ, a
concept unparalleled in other world religions. The missionary's
experience of engaging with leaders of various faiths highlights the
unmatched truth of the Incarnation in Christianity, leaving others in
awe and silence. The humility and love displayed by God in coming down
to humanity through Christ evoke deep gratitude and praise from
believers, recognizing the unparalleled nature of God's sacrificial
love.

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CONTENT
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"... He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit ..."(v. 16)

For reading & meditation:

1 Timothy 3:1-16

Max Muller, a writer on religious issues, once made this arresting
statement: "You do not know the worth of your Christian faith until you
have compared it to others." The first article of belief we look at is
the fact that God has appeared in this world in the Person of His
eternal Son. Our faith is not the word of a prophet but, as we saw
yesterday, the Word of the Son Himself. No other world faith even
attempts to represent its great teacher as God incarnate. Yet we claim
for Christ just that. As God, He comes to us from the highest, and He
comes all the way. I remember hearing a missionary to India say that he
was forced to rethink his faith in the light of other faiths and other
ways of life. "All the old shibboleths and modes of expression and
accepted outlooks on life are challenged," he said, "and one begins to
see where the relevant lies." He started discussions with Hindu,
Buddhist, and Muslim leaders, as well as representatives of India's many
other religions. The gatherings were called "Round Table" discussions to
suggest that everyone could present what they considered to be the
distinctives of their faith. One could see scintillations of truth, the
missionary recalled, as people spoke from experience or from their
sacred books. But whenever a Christian spoke and unfolded the truth of
the Incarnation, the meeting would lapse into silence. Sometimes the
silence would last for many minutes, only to be broken with the remark:
"We have nothing in our faith that compares to that. Nothing!"

Dear God and Father, if You hadn't come down to us, how could we have
ever come up to You? What humiliation this must have meant for You. Yet
what love. Our hearts sing with gratitude. Blessed be Your Name forever.
Amen.

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Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/selwyn-hughes/nothing/
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