Devot. What We Celebrate at Christmas

HI Folks,

 

Merry Christmas!  

 

I hope you and your family will be heading off to a Christmas Eve service tonight, reading the Christmas story from Luke 1-2 and looking forward to celebrating and emphasizing Jesus' birthday tomorrow.   It's not every day that we get to celebrate GOD'S BIRTHDAY!   How huge is that:) 

 

I have several things for your below. 

 

Our devot. is from Days of Praise and focuses  a bit on the time of year that Jesus was born.

 

I have also included a short, but  very practical sermon from Dr. Charles Stanley that I REALLY encourage you to watch (I watched it yesterday). 

In his own words regarding the sermon  Dr. Stanley said, "It's simple," but the sermon focuses on "How do we explain to others, esp. non Christians, the Meaning of Christmas in simple, easy, terms that they will understand."   It was a practical, simple sermon but oh so useful to all of us.

 

I have also included Friday's devot. ahead of time for those of you who already get a devot. for the weekend. 

The middle of the week is way too nutty for me and I wanted to send this while I had time.    It focuses on the awesomeness of Christ's birth, the circumstances, the people involved, and the place He was born.  Pray is blesses your heart. 

 

Lastly, I have include a link for some sermons by another powerful preacher, Dr. David Jeremiah, who did some amazing sermons on the people of the Christmas story-Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, Angels, Wise Men and The Music of Christmas.   I LOVED the ones about Joseph and the Shepherds- they spoke to my heart the most.    I heard things in these sermons I had never noticed before in the Christmas story, and again, it gave me some "WOW" moments.     Pray you would find time in the next week to listen to them while you are out and about.

 

Lord bless each of you and your families this Christmas and Merry Christmas from me and my family!

(Devot. at the bottom of the links)

 

Sermon:  https://www.intouch.org/watch/our-savior-who-is-christ-the-lord (Taken from https://www.intouch.org/)

 

 Devot. https://www.dayspring.com/articles/when-glory-was-birthed-in-a-barn?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NEBNAEN20181223WhenGloryWasBirthedInaBarnContent%2BEcards&utm_term=DaySpring%20Newsletter%20%2B%20Daily%20Devotion%20List   (Read and Share. Taken from https://www.dayspring.com/)

 

Extra Sermons: https://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/radio_archives.aspx    (From https://www.davidjeremiah.org/site/)

Why Joseph from 11/28/18 and Why the Shepherds from 12/7/18 and 12/10/18 were my favs.

 

 

 

 

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December 25, 2013 What We Celebrate at Christmas “And [Joseph] knew her [Mary] not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.” (Matthew 1:25)   The actual birthday of Jesus was sometime in the fall (September or October) rather than in December. The date is of lesser consequence, however, than the reason for the celebration (Isaiah 1:18). Heaven itself celebrated the birth (Luke 2:8-14). And after the shepherds got over their fear, they couldn’t stop telling the news.   Then there were the wise men from the east who came to worship the one “born king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:1-2). They got there well after the birth, having put their lives on hold, and willingly gave of their time and treasures to honor this great King while they rejoiced with “exceeding great joy” (Matthew 2:10). Surely all Christians should worship and rejoice as well as open our treasuries when we celebrate Christ’s birth.   But if we just focus on the birth, we may miss the greatest reason for the commemoration. After all, there was nothing uncommon about the physical process. But the conception, now that was miraculous (Luke 1:35)! The eternal “Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The great Creator and Son of God, “foreordained before the foundation of the world” (1 Peter 1:20), submitted to the will of the Father and “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). That was why heaven celebrated.   Counting back nine months from around September puts us pretty close to the end of the previous December. Perhaps our sovereign God has orchestrated events so that we would celebrate the real miracle of the conception: “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). HMM III     This email was sent to | Print this article Unsubscribe | Subscribe