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Jack Hayford
“For there is born to you this day in the
city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” - Luke 2:11
Our
finest authors and composers have written their most magnificently when taking
the theme of Christmas.
Though
ten thousand marvelous stories and songs are at our disposal, all across the
face of the planet millions of hands turn to the pages of Luke’s timeless
record of Jesus’ birth.
Chapter 2, verses 1–20, not only root the
coming of Christ in history (in the days of Caesar Augustus), but they target
Christ’s birth on our present moment, “to
you this day.”
The angelic message, delivered to men at their
work place, could not be more eloquent in its simplicity: “To you … today … a Savior.”
Then His title is given, “Christ the Lord,” and the pathway to His side is revealed.
So
it is that we have come to know Him as Christ our Lord and as Jesus, the Son of
God.
We
have come to His side, not only to kneel in humility at a manger, but to
worship with gratitude, praising at the side of Him, who later from His side
paid the blood-price to win His role as Savior and to purchase our gift of
eternal salvation.
Jack Hayford knows
the awesome power of God firsthand. When he was a baby, he was gripped by a
life-threatening illness. But as a result of the earnest prayers of friends and
family, he was miraculously healed. The doctors had no other explanation except
that the grace of God snatched him back from the brink of death. Several years
later, Jack was struck down again by sickness. This time it was polio. The
church elders anointed him and prayed for his recovery. God heard their
petitions and granted a second miracle. These two extraordinary events ignited
in Jack's heart a passion for God and convinced him that the Holy Spirit is
alive and active in the contemporary church. "Contrary to our
preconceptions, God is not economical with healings and miracles. Such wondrous
works are frequently attending the proclamation of truth in Jesus' name,"
asserts Pastor Jack.
Jack Hayford serves as Chancellor of The Kings University
(formerly The King's College and Seminary) in Los Angeles and Dallas, which he
founded in 1997. From 2004 to 2009, he also served as President of The
International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. He is probably best known,
however, as "Pastor Jack," founding pastor of The Church On The Way
in Van Nuys, California, where he served as senior pastor for more than three
decades. A prolific and best-selling writer, Pastor Hayford is the author (or
co-author) of more than fifty books and has composed 500 hymns and choruses,
including the internationally known and widely recorded "Majesty."
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