12/31/14

12/31/14

Psa 67:1 ….. May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah.

Psa 67:2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.

Psa 67:3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

Psa 67:4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah.

Psa 67:5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!

Psa 67:6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.

Psa 67:7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

I pray that this new year be the best year that you have ever had in your life. By that I mean I pray that you grow closer to God than you have ever been, and that you study His word more than ever before. That you spend time in prayer each and every day. That you would trust Him in all things every day, and that you have His peace through every thing that comes your way this coming year.

12/30/14

12/30/14

Joh 8:12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

As we follow Jesus through this new year, we have the light that will lead us. Let us always keep this in mind. And have a resolve to follow, each and everyday of this coming year.

12/29/14

12/29/14

Psa 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Joh 1:1 …. and the Word was God.

It is impossible to walk in the dark without stumbling, I am not talking about almost dark, I’m talking about dark! But with the light of the world we can see the way. “Thy word” the Psalmist says is the light. So lets us read everyday in order to walk without stumbling, and falling.

12/28/14

12/28/14

Joh 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

Joh 1:7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

Always know that you are not the light! You cannot give any real light for your fellow man. You can only point to the light. Like John we need to bear witness about the light.

12/27/14

12/27/14

Joh 1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

Joh 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

C S Louis once said “I believe in Christianity, like I believe in the sun. Not because I see it come up every day, but because it helps me see everything else.” That’s what Jesus Christ does for us, helps us see everything more clearly.

12/26/14

12/26/14

Heb 10:7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"

Jesus is the “I” in this verse; “Behold, I have come to do your will, O God,” This is what the baby came to this earth to do, and He did it completely.

12/25/14

12/25/14

Luk 2:10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.

“GOOD NEWS………..FOR ALL PEOPLE.”

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

12/24/14

12/24/14

Luk 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In all of our excitement let us make sure that there is a place for Him in our hearts.

12/23/14

12/23/14

Luk 2:4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

Luk 2:5 To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

Luk 2:6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

They went to Bethlehem to be taxed. That must have been a burden to them. Not only did they have to leave home at the time when Mary was “great with child,” they had to leave there work. The government wants to take more of there money and Joseph had to put of some of his jobs. In his life, it would have been easy to think that, “surly God is not in this thing.” But God was exactly in “this thing.” So many times WE think, “surly God is not in this thing,” but rest assured, that His will was being worked out then. And His will is being worked out now in your life also.

12/22/14

12/22/14

Mat 2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.

Mat 2:23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

It is the point of Matthew is to show the Jews that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the prophets, and here in the 2^nd chapter of his book he has shown many fulfillments.

12/21/14

12/21/14

Mat 2:19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

Mat 2:20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."

Mat 2:21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.

God is willing to do what ever it takes to keep His word. And not only willing but He is also able to do just that.

12/20/14

12/20/14

Mat 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him."

Mat 2:14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt

Mat 2:15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my son."

This may indeed seem to be a strange turn of events just to fulfill a prophecy, but remember that God is not accountable to us, and His ways are not our ways. We can see, in this, the way that Joseph was willing to follow the leading of God in all matters.

12/19/14

2/19/14

Mat 2:12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

We must be as careful as we can to hear and to do what God tells us to do. No I am not talking about our dreams (although it could be) I am talking about His Word.

12/18/14

12/18/14

Mat 2:11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

The action was, “they saw the child…,and they fell down and worshiped Him.” The greatest gift we can give at Christmas is to fall down and worship Him.

12/17/14

12/17/14

Mat 2:9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

Mat 2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

They had not yet seen the Christ child, they were only seeing the star, just a sign that was pointing to the Christ. And they rejoiced. They not only rejoiced, they rejoiced exceedingly. They not only rejoiced exceedingly, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy!

12/16/14

12/16/14

Luk 2:10 And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Within the message that the angel brought to the world is “joy” for man and glory for God. Have you heard and received this joy for yourself? If you have then you will experience the real meaning of Christmas this year!

12/15/14

12/15/14

I covet that kind of joy for you. I would like you to have the experience of entering into the kind of joy that Mary and Joseph and the shepherds had on that first Christmas morning. Did they have joy? Of course they did! But the circumstances were not good. Mary and Joseph were far from home, in a strange town without even a room to themselves in which Mary could give birth to the Child. But I imagine that the joy of this couple on this occasion was the greatest this world has ever seen. Why? Because it came from God and was centered in the birth of the Savior. If you know this joy, then you can go on, as the angels did, to give glory to God; and you can possess that peace of heart and soul which transcends understanding.

James Boice

12/14/14

12/14/14

Joy is a wonderful thing; it is an appropriate part of Christmas. I wonder if you have experienced joy at this season. I am not referring to activity, of course. There is much activity — but many go through these activities in a joyless way. Nor am I referring to happiness. Happiness is a wonderful thing at Christmas — shopping, decorating, entertaining, mailing cards — but it is the world's virtue, and like all the world's virtues, it quite easily passes away. Happiness is related to circumstances. When circumstances are right, there is happiness; but when the source of happiness departs, happiness goes with it. It is not this way with joy. Joy is of God. It is based upon what God has done, and it is given to the Christian by God and is sustained by God. Nothing destroys joy except sin.

James Boice

12/13/14

12/13/14

Eph 1:10 He planned to bring all of history to its goal in Christ. Then Christ would be the head of everything in heaven and on earth.

Eph 1:11 God also decided ahead of time to choose us through Christ according to his plan, which makes everything work the way he intends.

I think the birth of Christ means more than we know!

12/12/14

12/12/14

My computer crashed yesterday (Wednesday, November 12, 2014) And all of the verses that I had ready to put on this blog were lost also. So I will have to start from here.

The birth of Jesus Christ our LORD is why we have this Holiday. We all know that but sometime we get so busy that, we don't really forget, but we get lost in the other stuff. I am not saying that other stuff is bad, in fact I love almost everything about Christmas. I think my thought here is; every now and then stop, take a big breath and remember our LORD and His birth and what that means.

Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,

Gal 4:5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

12/11/14

12/11/14

Mat 1:18  Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

This is impossible! But so is creating man in the first place. It is also very important because the sinful blood of Adam came through the Father. Jesus is sinless all the way. He is God-Man.

12/10/14

12/10/14

Mat 2:23  And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.

 And so He has been called throughout history.

12/9/14

12/9/14

Jer 31:15  Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not.

The prophecy was given a long time before, then we read in Matthew that it happened just the way he said it would.

Mat 2:16  Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Mat 2:17  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,

Mat 2:18  In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

12/8/14

12/8/14

Mic 5:2  But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Luk 2:4-6  And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.