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Archive for the ‘Christmas Season’ Category

Second Sunday of Christmastide-Jan 5

04 Jan

Tell Them What You Heard-Christmastide is a time when we remember that God revealed Himself to His people. God could have come into the palace of a king but chose rather to come in the manger as a baby to remind us that He wants us to serve rather than to lord it over others. He revealed Himself first to the shepherds to remind us that He cares for the lowest shepherd, as well as the greatest king. Once the shepherds heard the good news, they immediately went and worshiped Him. Then they went and told everyone all they had heard and seen. During the worship service, do you feel the Lord’s presence? After the service, have you gone out and told anyone what you have heard and what you have seen the Lord do?

 

 
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First Sunday of Christmastide-Dec 29

30 Dec

-(Lights Reveal His Coming) See the Lights-Help someone see the Light-Every Christmas cities, corporations, and private individuals create beautiful light displays and Christmas displays. Many are free or very low cost. Search the net and find one. There are probably some within an hour or two drive of where you live. (check if they continue until the new year, some end on Christmas Eve) Invite someone to go along, especially if they have kids. When I was younger many home displays had a display of the manger, of Santa Claus, or other Christmas scene, but few do today. Many Christmas displays today are just a mass of light which look pretty, but fail to convey a message. The government is increasingly banning manger scenes from public property, so it is all the more important for churches and individual Christians to display the manger scene. If neighbors have no church background they may be confused about the baby in the manger and it will give you a chance to tell them about the first Christmas when God sent His Son to save us all.

 

 
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video-Meaning of Christmastide

25 Dec

 
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Fourth Sunday of Advent-Dec 22

19 Dec

Mirth-Sacrifice-Lamb The third gift they brought was Mirth in recognition that He would be the sacrificial lamb who would die for all men. Mirth was a burial spice used to embalm the body of the dead to preserve it. As High Priest, Christ would offer Himself willingly, the Lamb without spot or blemish for there was no sin in Him, to pay the price to redeem us from the power of sin and death. With His death and resurrection, there was no longer any use for the temple sacrifices because He was the ultimate and final sacrifice that paid for the sins of all mankind. At His death, the curtain of the temple that separated us from God, was torn in two, from top to bottom, opening the way for us to approach God.

 

 
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Third Sunday of Advent-Dec 15

11 Dec

Frankincense-Deity-God With Us

The second gift they brought was Frankincense in recognition of His Deity. Frankincense was the incense which the priests burned before the alter, symbolizing the prayers rising to heaven. In fact, all the rituals and ceremonies conducted by the priests in the temple were shadows of what is now going on in Heaven. Indeed, when Christ arose from the grave, He would ascend into heaven and would become our High Priest, standing before the throne of God in Heaven, interceding on our behalf, just as the High Priest had stood before the alter in the temple interceding for Israel, after he had offered the sacrificial lamb. It symbolized that Christ was God, come to earth in flesh, to dwell among us.

 

 
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Second Sunday of Advent-Dec 8

05 Dec

 Gold-symbolizing Jesus as the coming King-While hymns portray the Wise Men as Kings, they were more likely astrologers who were advisers to the Persian kings, sent by the kings as representatives bearing gifts.  The songs say there were three but we don’t know how many. However the Wise Men brought gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Mirth in recognition of the roles that Christ would fulfill. The first gift they brought was Gold in recognition that He would be a King. Indeed, He would bring hope because He would subdue all the powers of the world and would become King of Kings and ruler over all creation. However, before He would wear a crown of Gold, He would wear a crown of thorns as He conquered death itself as the sacrificial lamb. While before, all we knew was the way of serving the flesh, Christ came to show us a better way through serving God. We can conquer the slavery to the flesh and live as God intended us as we allow Christ to be ruler of our life. A lot of people don’t know any other way than serving the flesh and won’t know there is a better way unless we step out into the world like Jesus did and show them.

 

 

 
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First Sunday of Advent -December 1

27 Nov

Expectation-Angel-From the time of Adam, God had promised that He would send a deliverer. Before Judah fell to the Babylonians, the prophets reminded the Jews of the promise of a Messiah. When Judah fell to conquerors after the return from Babylon, the Jews again looked for the promised Messiah that would deliver them from their enemies. When the angel appeared to Mary, he told her that the time had come and she would conceive and bear a son. He would be the Messiah and His name would be Jesus (a form of Jeshua or Joshua)(meaning God is Salvation) He would be a leader like Joshua who would lead His people out of Egypt (the world) into the Promised land. Because of His name, the Jews did not realize that He must first come to be the Sacrificial Lamb before He would come as the conquering King. He could have been born in a palace but lowered Himself to come not only as a mere man, but as the lowest of men, born in a stable.

 
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Preparing For Christmas

13 Nov

Children are beginning to think about Christmas as stores are ramping up their Christmas advertising. Yet Christmas is more than getting presents. It is a celebration of when God gave us the greatest gift of all.  Advent is a time when we begin to prepare our hearts for celebrating when Christ came to save us and begins on December 1st this year. I have an Advent booklet available to help parents teach their children about Christmas. It has a short Scripture for each day of Advent which helps to remind us of what Christmas is about and includes pictures that go with the daily Scriptures that the kids can color, cut out, and glue to construction paper. It provides a time the family can get together and learn from God’s Word which hopefully will become a regular family practice all year round. The pictures can be hung on the Christmas tree or on cords strung around the room. It is an electronic file that I would be glad to E-mail to you free and can be printed off. E-mail me at neighborhoodministriesnwoh@gmail.com and use heading “Advent booklet”.

 
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First Sunday of Christmastide-Dec 31

27 Dec

Tell the Story-Many people will see the manger scene and not understand what it means because they have no church background. A large percentage of people today have not attended church and do not know anyone that they know of who attends church. Many Christians assume those they meet at work and at school attend church somewhere but few of them do. Few churches today have Christmas eve services but those that do usually include only members and do not include visitors. It is a great time to invite those who do not attend church to come and hear the Christmas story, especially those who have children. Christmas carols used to be sung in the schools and played in stores, but many have dropped or even banned those with a Christian message. Church members can get together and carol at nursing homes and in their neighborhood to tell the Christmas story. Songs should not be random but organized to tell the story.

 

 
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Video-Meaning of Christmastide

21 Dec

 
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