16 December 2016
The Christmas Song
Luke 1:46,47,49
Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.
This is the first recorded Christmas song ever. It should be the model for all Christmas Songs - He has done great things for me!

It seems easier and more common to focus on the great things we have done for ourselves. Especially at Christmastime, we are impressed when we’ve shopped ahead of time, found a sale, or saved up for the traditional holiday gift giving. Or, maybe we focus on the great things we have not done for ourselves like NOT shopping ahead of time, finding good deals or saving up enough money. Either way, these things should not be what we talk about or think about at Christmas. Mary didn’t. She focused on what God had done and was doing and would do for her not what she did or didn’t do for herself.

Do extra bills come up in your household mysteriously at Christmastime? Trying to have extra money to do extra things is often accompanied by a broken appliance or car in our house. It can be very frustrating and self condemning to think, “Oh, man, if we just had been more careful with our money this wouldn’t be a big deal...” I think God uses these opportunities to make sure I continue to rely on him daily and momently (not a word). But, Jesus  instructed us to be ready spiritually not financially in all things. The illustration of the Bridegroom’s return for the ladies with oil in their lamps is about living obediently because we do not know the hour of Christ’s return (Matthew 25). Jesus also taught us to seek the things of God first every single day, and then watch how HE will then provide everything we need (Matthew 6). I don’t put my hope in money anymore because money has let me down. It’s never there when I need it.

And what about the people who are sage investors and have money to cover incidentals at the holidays? I’ve noticed they’ll have other reasons to trust in God like crazy. What if their body fails them? All the money in the world can’t sustain one’s health, but God can sustain us in times of illness even terminal ones. What if a loved one skips out on them? Sure, they have enough money at Christmas, but they have no one to buy a gift for!

I don’t think we should toot our own horns or feel like failures – especially at Christmastime. Christmas is the time to sings songs about what God does. Actually, that should be our default focus all year. But Christmas is when God did the greatest thing for us every by sending his Son into the world to take the punishment for all of our sins and to love us no other.

So, whether I’m cooking a turkey, buying gifts, or paying the repair man this week, I want this to be my focus and MY song... The Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me! BECAUSE HE HAS!

Dear God,
You are great and greatly to be praised and I desire for praising and thanking you to be my focus. I love you and thank you for always providing for me and giving us what we need regardless of my ability to save up enough or not. I love you so much and thank you for never neglecting me or making me feel like I should’ve done better. You know I need you and you do not withhold yourself from me. I cannot thank you enough and I love you and thank you in Jesus’ name, amen.
  

13 December 2016
Straight Outta Bethlehem
Hebrews 1:1-2
Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets. And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe.

​How do we know for sure that what God says is going to happen will happen? This passage explains how God told certain people what was going to happen and then those things happened. We can look back in history and see these things happened.

Long ago God spoke many times and in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets... In Women’s Bible Study at our church, we’re studying the book of Daniel, and that book records all sorts of historical things before they happened. The Persians really did conquer the Babylonians, Alexander the Great really did die in his prime and his kingdom was parceled out in quarters, and Anitiochus Ephipohnes really did desecrate the Temple. (See Daniel 2, 7 & 9) Daniel did not cause these things to happen in order to make God’s Word true; these things happened because God said they were going to happen. And they happened.

When Jesus was born, circumstances arose that caused him to be born in a location previously predicted by the prophet Isaiah. Prophecy from scripture is so reliable that even King Herod inquired the “experts” about it. (Matthew 2:4-6)

Herod called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?” “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:
And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.

Joseph didn’t take his wife to Bethlehem in order for Jesus to be born there. Jesus was born there because God said he would be born there.

These passages of prophecy prove God’s reliability. And so God’s Word is reliable in all other places too! Ephesians 4:6-7, for example, teaches this: Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

I have peace in my heart because God told me how it will get in there not because I did a bunch of stuff to make that happen.

​Dear God,
Thank you for your Word and its proven reliability. Thank you for what you’ve done so that we can confidently trust you for what you say. I love you and thank you for the assurance that accompanies following your & reading your Word. And I pray in your Son’s name, amen.