Merry Christmas! I hope you have a really great one with friends and family. This is from a previous Christmas. The following is without comment. Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, he said to her, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was very perplexed at the statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Mary said to the angel, "how can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel answered and said to her, "the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you and for that reason the Holy child shall be called the Son of God." ... Bethlehem ... and she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. ... shepherds in the fields keeping watch ... an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them ... behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Christ the Lord. ... A baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. ... A multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with him He is pleased." ... they found the baby lying in the manger. ... they made known the statement which had been told them about the Child. ... Many treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. May God richly bless you and your family. May He bring the blessings of heaven upon your household. May you always prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. May you find your future in His word. And again – merry Christmas!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas!

   Good morning, and Merry Christmas! We are going to digress and look at the first Christmas. This was something that had been foretold centuries before; and yet people still did not understand what was going to happen. They were thinking that the Messiah was going to come as an adult and was going to re-establish the nation of Israel above all other nations. They were not expecting Him to come as a baby, supposedly born to a carpenter and placed in a manger. Many things had to happen at precisely the right time. You had to have the right person to be His mother and the right person to be His supposed father. You had to have a reason for them to be in Bethlehem on the night He was born – the census. It had to be when shepherds would be in the field near Bethlehem watching their flocks. And just at the right time – an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them...
Read more

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

  Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
Read more
  Good morning. So Peter just told them that basically they were responsible for the death of Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do? Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we will see much later, it seems that at this point in time they believed that you could not receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit without first being baptized in water. It appears that that idea did not change until chapter 10 after God baptized Cornelius and his family in the Holy Spirit before they were water baptized. Now lest someone think that this was just for the people in the first century Peter then says, for the promise (of the Father - baptism in the Holy Spirit) is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself. That means us! And...
Read more