Christmas The Supporting Cast // Part 6: Living as Christmas People Every Day
Living as Christmas People Every Day Christmas is over. It’s time to start boxing up the decorations, putting up the tree, and saying goodbye to family members in town. Every year, the “after Christmas” lull hits. The cheery feeling of Christmas fades, as the lights come down and the bright, fun Christmas music no longer…
Read MoreChristmas The Supporting Cast // Part 5: Worship Jesus This Christmas
The Role We All Play This Christmas season, we’ve learned about the roles the different supporting characters of the Christmas story played as they waited for the coming Messiah. Simeon obediently waited, trusting God to fulfill His promise. Anna remained faithful, even in the heartache and longing. The Magi joyfully sacrificed and invested in what…
Read MoreChristmas The Supporting Cast // Part 4: The Magi: Sacrifice and Investment
We Saw the Star… After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.” Matthew 2:1-2 In…
Read MoreChristmas The Supporting Cast // Part 3: Anna: Stayed Faithful All Her Days
Faithfulness: One Day at a Time Faithfulness is a daily, intentional decision. It would be much easier to remain faithful and steadfast in our walk with Christ if it was just for a few days, right? But, that’s the challenging part about faithfulness – it’s a life-long, consistent, and prayerful effort from us. In Luke…
Read MoreChristmas The Supporting Cast // Part 2: Simeon: Will you see Jesus this Christmas?
Waiting in Hope Think of a time when you held a baby in your arms. Maybe it was a newborn son or daughter, niece or nephew, grandson or granddaughter. We all know, or can imagine, the beauty of that moment, the fragility of it, the special feeling of holding a sweet new life in your…
Read MoreChristmas The Supporting Cast // Part 1: The Ancestory.com of Jesus
You are a Part of God’s Story Have you ever used the phrase, “I’m just not good enough”? Maybe you’ve felt that way about a work position, a relationship, or a task you’ve been given. You look ahead at the task, and you just feel like you’re not the person for the job. You just…
Read MoreChristmas Eve // Part 5
The Coming of Jesus Write down today’s date. Think about how often you write that date throughout the years – reference it historically, presently, and futuristically. We determine and associate when things happened based on this time reference. That point in history has to have a fixed reference point. A day or year is not…
Read MoreLove Came Down // Part 4: Joy
Joy to the World Joy to the world, the Lord is come! These are lyrics we sing every Christmas season and is a song that people, non-Christians and Christians alike, are likely very familiar with. But, when we sing these lyrics, what are we really singing about? Where does this joy we sing of come…
Read MoreLove Came Down // Part 3: Love
When Love Came Down What’s one thing that’s happened in your life that changed everything for you? Do you have something that immediately comes to mind? We all have an event or a situation that has impacted our life in a lot of ways, or impacts many people in our life. There are even events…
Read MoreLove Came Down // Part 2: Peace
Peace Found in All Circumstances Most, if not all, of us like to know what’s coming around the corner. We prefer to have a plan for our lives and for every aspect of our lives to go according to that plan. Unfortunately for those of us who do make plans and put our hope in…
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