Adventures of Albert E. Farley

Preacher Funnies When one of our elderly members, who was past 90 years of age, suffered a major stroke, she was unable to speak for many weeks. As I visited with her in the days and weeks afterward, her eyes would search my face as she tried to speak but could not. I would speak with her and knew she could understand my words but not respond. I prayed with her before leaving, and would ask if there was anything she wanted me to do for her. Her eyes would often fill with tears. After many weeks, she began to regain and to redevelop her ability to use her muscles and she tried very hard to speak. There seemed to be a plea in her face as she struggled to say something. She would earnestly look up into my face and seek to speak but could not form her words clearly enough to be understood. Finally, a day came when I began to recognize her words. With some difficulty, I heard her slowly say, “I want to ask you something.” After all of the weeks of not being able to speak, she was now able to make me understand what was in her heart! At last, after all the weeks of looking up and searching my face and eyes, she was able to make her first request known to me. I said, “Of course, you may ask me anything.” I took her hands and bent over so I could closely observe her face and …

The Birth of Jesus Christ

The world took little note of an event which took place about 2,002 years ago in the hills of Judaea, in a small village called Bethlehem. However, that event — along with other subsequent and important events during the next thirty-three years — has changed the human race more than all other world events put together! That event was the birth of Jesus Christ. The birth of Jesus Christ was according to God’s eternal purpose, but it was hid in God from the beginning of the world (Ephesians 3:7-11). Peter said the coming of Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20)! The first hint in the Bible of the coming of Christ was spoken by God to Satan in Genesis 3:15. Later, God promised Abraham that, through his seed, all the kindreds of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3; Acts 4:25). Still later, Moses declared that the Lord would raise up a Prophet like unto him and that every soul which would not hear him would be destroyed (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 4:22-23). All of God’s holy prophets foretold of the coming of Christ (Acts 4:24). Isaiah prophesied, over seven hundred years before Christ’s birth, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (‘God with us’)” (7:14, 9:6; Matthew 1:22-23). Balaam had prophesied “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel …