Scripture for Today, 12-23-20: One Solitary Life

'One Solitary Life'
By: James Allan Francis*, 1926
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The Savior Jesus Christ
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The world annually celebrates 'CHRISTMAS' - it is the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ Who was born of a virgin; and died for our sins ... He was buried and rose again the third day. He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once.

Isaiah 7:14; 1 Corinthians 15:3-6
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"A man born in an obscure village as the child of a peasant woman.
He grew up in another obscure village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until he was thirty and then for three years was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.
He never held an office.
He never owned a home.
He never had a family.
He never went to college.
He never put his foot inside a big city.

He never traveled two hundred miles from the place where he was born.

He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness.

He had no credentials, but Himself.

He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of his divine manhood.

While still a young man the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends ran away, one of them denied him, another betrayed him.

He was turned over to His enemies, He went through the mockery of a trial.

He willingly was nailed on a cross between two thieves. Matthew 27:38

His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while he was dying, and that was his coat. Matthew 27:35

When He was dead, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave Matthew 27:57-61. [Because of His great love for mankind He provided the only WAY for all to be saved. Romans 5:8, John 3:16]

He arose from death and over five hundred at once saw Him. 1 Corinthians 15:3-6

Many centuries have come and gone and today He is the center of the human race and the leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that were ever built, and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon the earth as powerfully as has this one solitary life; JESUS CHRIST. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Deuteronomy 10:17; Daniel 2:47; Psalm 136:3; 1 Timothy 6:15

And He will return. John 14:3; Revelation 1:5, 6:2, 19:11-16

* Dr. James Allan Francis was born in Nova Scotia, Canada [1864-1928]. He became a pastor at age twenty-one; his first pastorate was in New York City at the Riverside Baptist Church, and after serving in other varied pastorates in the East, he came to Los Angeles in 1914. Though he had a busy life as a pastor, Francis was able to publish a handful of books: Drops from a Living Fountain (1895), Christ’s Mould of Prayer (1924) and Christ is All And Other Sermons (1928). His publications are full of passionate encouragement for Christians to know their Lord, to rely on him, and to follow his example. His most famous words, now known as “One Solitary Life,” originated as part of a sermon that he delivered to the Baptist Young People’s Union at a Los Angeles Convention on July 11, 1926. More here