靈修

HAS THE GRINCH STOLEN YOUR CHRISTMAS? And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall 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.”  Luke 2:10-11 Without a doubt, Christmas is to be a time of GREAT JOY.  On that first Christmas night, the angel announced to the shepherds “good news of a great joy.”  The Savior has come!!  WOW!!  Those shepherds were so excited.  That announcement changed their lives forever.  They were filled with joy and wonder and praise. At Christmas time, are you filled with joy and wonder and praise?  Or has the devil, the original Grinch, the thief who comes only to steal and kill and destroy, stolen those things from you?  If so, there is still time to get

Do You Believe in Christmas Miracles? By Lynette Kittle “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). — Matthew 1:23 Have you noticed how many Christmas movies focus on receiving a Christmas miracle? Although many center on Santa Claus making things happen, still Christmas is portrayed as a time for long-awaited hopes and dreams to be fulfilled. Rightly so, too, because Christmas is all about miracles! It’s a celebration of the miraculous virgin birth of Jesus, God come to earth in human form, to live among mankind and save people from their sins. What could be more miraculous than that? So how do you approach Christmas? Are you hoping for God to do the impossible in your life? Do you believe what Jesus said, that all things are possible with God? (Mark 10:27) If you aren’t expecting God to do

O Christmas Tree By Skip Heitzig I read somewhere that in a recent Christmas season Americans used 28 million rolls of wrapping paper and 17 million packages of tags and bows, sent out 372 million greeting cards, and set up 35 million Christmas trees. Some of our Christmas traditions are just that, traditions. Jesus was probably not born on December 25, for example. And the Christmas tree is based on the celebration of the reincarnation of Nimrod. The ancient Babylonians burned a “Yule” log (the Chaldean word for infant) in the fireplace, and the next day a symbolic evergreen tree was placed inside the house. This pagan ritual is hinted at in the Bible, in Jeremiah 10:1-4. But before you get worried, I want you to know that if you come to my church, you’ll find a very large Christmas tree in the foyer! And you know what? Most people born in this country

A Prayer to Put Jesus First This Christmas Season By Debbie McDaniel “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.” Luke 2:7 No room for them. No vacancy. No place. Words that still seem to hang close, even today. In a world that seeks to crowd Jesus out, where busyness abounds, and hearts are stirred to focus on other things, it can be hard sometimes to choose to keep Him first. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the whole hurried dash of the holidays, and to give our attention to what seems more urgent. Our focus gets blurred; and the most important gets pushed aside. It takes an active and daily choice to put Christ first, especially in a culture that says you’re too busy to focus there. Or that

SHOW YOUR JOY TO THE WORLD by Karen Ehman “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.” Psalm 13:5-6 (NIV) When you think of the phrase, “Christmas is coming!” … what sort of emotion does it evoke? It might be any one of these: Panic: I only have three more Saturdays of shopping before Christmas. I’m never going to get it all done! Frustration: Ugh. There are so many activities this month. We are going to be running all over the place with very little time to just be together as a family at home, enjoying each other’s company. Regret: Why did I say we’d host the family get-together? Now I have to straighten and scrub this place from top to bottom AND make the dessert I signed up to provide, as if I didn’t already have enough to

Hail the Incarnate Deity On that still winter's night, something was up... something extraordinary... something supernatural. The shepherds raced to the City of David and found their Savior, just as the angel had said... swaddled and lying in a feeding trough. This was the Promised One, the Messiah! God had finally come to dwell with His people, but in such an unexpected way. Just who was this holy Child the shepherds gazed upon? Make no mistake: He was incarnate deity. The newborn Jesus existed in eternity past as God the Son. He was coequal, coeternal, and coexistent with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. However, Jesus relinquished the privileges and the pleasures of His existence in heaven when He took upon Himself the limitations of humanity (Philippians 2:6-7). In emptying Himself, Jesus voluntarily set aside the prerogatives and prerequisites of life as He had known it, an existence He