Of peace on earth, goodwill to men. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
How many “old familiar carols” have you heard Christmas after Christmas, until the words have almost lost their meaning? If we’re not careful, any song repeated too often can lose the richness of its original intent.
There are some amazing messages in many of our old familiar Christmas carols, because many of those messages are saturated with the old familiar story of Redemption that the Bible tells over and over again.
Please join me this Sunday as we once again take a new look at the old familiar messages in our Christmas carols. These messages will bring a new appreciation of God’s love that was sung at Christ’s First Advent, and reawaken the sweetness of meaning for this Christmas Day.
If you would like to check out some of the carols we have already looked at, check out these posts:
Billy Graham said, “It has always been the mark of decaying civilizations to become obsessed with sex.” Right in the opening pages of the Bible, God lays out the way sex can be fulfilling and productive, and throughout the rest of Scripture (and all of history) we see how trying to get sexual fulfillment any other way is unfulfilling and destructive.
Becky McDonald, the founder of Women At Risk International recently wrote:
“Sexuality is a real subject addressed daily in the journey of healing with the men, women, and children in our care who are facing female circumcision, sexual slavery, torture, rape, and honor killings—the list is endless. There’s no pretending behind our closed doors. I try to read every book—Christian and secular—touted as ground-breaking. None of them are. We are driven by a reality placed in us by the Creator God with legitimate ways, context, and relationship to express our sexuality. If we don’t find those legitimate outlets, we will spend our lives searching for fulfillment in self-destructive ways to fill that God-given need for community, intimacy, relationship, and meaning. We cannot live without intimacy, and here I don’t mean sex. Sex is simply one of the most powerful forms of intimacy. We are not asexual beings. Being Christ-followers, striving for integrity in all things, doesn’t neuter us.”
Pornography is one of the cheap ways men and women try to find satisfaction. But porn not only doesn’t satisfy, it keeps its victims trapped in a downward spiral of dissatisfaction and self-destruction.
Even if you remove the mandates in Scripture, science itself tells us how destructive watching pornography is. An organization I have come to appreciate for their science-based warning about pornography is Fight The New Drug.
“Parents need to take a leading role in encouraging an environment of loving accountability in the home, showing sympathy for present struggles (if there are any) while setting appropriate limits on what should and should not be accessed on mobile devices.Accountability software should be installed on all mobile deviceswith a clear expectation that there is no room for privacy when it comes to harmful content online. (By the way, if you use Covenant Eyes Internet Accountability, you can now use our Android app tolock down other apps, like unmonitored browsers.)”
If you want help breaking free from the stranglehold of pornography, the folks at Fight The New Drug have a very helpful resource called Fortify. Please click the link and sign up today!
You can break free!You can know the fulfilling, satisfying sex life that God intended for you to have all along! But you must take the first step today… do it God’s way and start really loving!
“Shall we spend our time in those things which are offensive to Him [Jesus Christ]? Shall we not rather do all we can to promote His glory, and act according to His command? O my dear brethren, be found in the ways of God; let us not disturb our dear Redeemer by any irregular proceedings; and let me beseech you to strive to love, fear, honor and obey Him, more than ever you have done yet; let not the devil engross your time, and that dear Savior who came into the world on your accounts, have so little. O be not so ungrateful to Him who has been so kind to you! What could the Lord Jesus Christ have done for you more than He has? Then do not abuse His mercy, but let your time be spent in thinking and talking of the love of Jesus, who was Incarnate for us, who was born of a woman, and made under the law, to redeem us from the wrath to come.” —George Whitefield, from a sermon “The True Way Of Keeping Christmas”
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A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinion. (Proverbs 18:2)
One’s open mouth—and closed ears and mind—says a lot of one’s heart! In this 18th chapter of Proverbs, Solomon draws a pretty stark contrast between the mouth and ears of a fool and of a wise person. Check out the links on each of the verses to Bible Gateway to get a full picture of both the fool and the wise person.
The fool…
His lips bring him trouble, a smack on the jaw, and may even cost him his life. And yet he keeps on spouting foolishness. He’s not interested in getting any better (vv. 6, 7).
“That which astonishes, astonishes once; but whatever is admirable become more and more admired.” —Joseph Joubert
“Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.” —Westminster Confession
“Adversity is the first path to trust.” —Lord Byron
“Adversity makes men, and prosperity makes monsters.” —Victor Hugo
“God’s corrections are our instructions; His lashes our lessons, and His scourges our schoolmasters.” —John H. Aughey
“Am I getting nobler, better, more helpful, more humble, as I get older? Am I exhibiting the life that men take knowledge of as having been with Jesus, or am I getting more self-assertive, more deliberately determined to have my own way? It is a great thing to tell yourself the truth.” —Oswald Chambers
“Press into God’s promises. When fears surface, respond with this thought: But God said … And when doubts arise, but God said… And when guilt overwhelms you, but God said… Search the Scriptures like a miner digging for gold and trust the promises you find.” —Max Lucado
Our youth pastor, Josh Schram, shared a message yesterday which really convicted me. Here are my notes just as I took them Sunday morning.
Some stereotypes of Christians aren’t very flattering. If we ask someone to think of a farmer or a plumber, we probably all get the same sorts of images in our minds. But when we say “Christian,” there are a lot of images that come to mind. And many of them aren’t very flattering.
The followers of Jesus preferred to call themselves disciples (see Acts 26:11). That signals a lifestyle, not just a label.
Does my lifestyle reflect the fact that I’m a follower of Jesus, or am I just happy with the title “Christian”? Am I trying to justify not doing the discipleship work that Jesus commanded me to do, namely loving God and loving others (Luke 10:25-37)? Notice especially this verse: But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29).
Why don’t Christians want to put their love into action? They say they’re busy, or don’t have enough resources, or don’t want to get involved, or they think helping may be a trap. But the priest and Levite who didn’t stop to help may have saved the injured man’s life! How much so the Christian of today!
Does my faith in Jesus change the way I live, or is “Christian” just a title I’m happy to live with?
Do I try to justify myself, or do I simply obey what Jesus says? (Acts 10:29). @schram77 has me thinking…
As kids, when we play “follower the leader” we follow all the actions of the leader. But Christians seem to change the rules: “I just need to believe what He says, but I don’t have to do what He says.”
To truly be called a “Christian”—a disciple of Jesus—my LOVE should be in action, just like Jesus (Luke 10:27-28; c.f. Acts 10:38).
If you’re ready to be challenged, check out Josh’s message for yourself—
John Maxwell’s most recent book Intentional Living is chockfull of thought-provoking, life-changing lessons. Here’s what he wrote about changing our outlook from scarcity to abundance.
“Scarcity thinking has nothing to give. It is preoccupied with receiving. Scarcity thinking is all about me. It says, ‘There’s not enough to go around. I had better get something for myself and hold onto it with all I have.’ … People who live in the world of abundance think differently. They know there’s always more. … Abundance thinking is the mindset of people of significance, and it has nothing to do with how much they have. … Anticipation is a key that unlocks the doors to abundance thinking. ‘Doors?’ you maybe asking. ‘Don’t you mean door?’ No. Expecting there to be only one door is scarcity thinking. … Finding and going through one door is an event. Going through many doors is a lifestyle. That requires an abundance mindset. … Sadly, too many people have a scarcity mindset and lack of positive anticipation. As a result, they never open the first door. Unopened doors reinforce scarcity thinking and scarcity living. … Keep searching for doors and opening them. And remember that with each open door, your anticipation will increase and so will abundance. … No one experiences abundance while anticipating scarcity. So why not try of abundance?”
I have posted other quotes from Dr. Maxwell in Intentional Livinghere and here.
John Maxwell also shares a lot of quotes from other wise people, and I posted a few of my favorite here.
You can also check out my review of Intentional Living by clicking here.
“The whole duty of the Christian can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as He really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God.” —John Piper
What a comfort we can have in this—“This very day I am being saved by the eternal intercession of Jesus in heaven. Jesus is praying for us and that is our salvation [Hebrews 7:25]. We are saved eternally by the eternal prayers (Romans 8:34) and advocacy (1 John 2:1) of Jesus in heaven as our High Priest. He prays for us and His prayers are answered because He prays perfectly on the basis of His perfect sacrifice.” —John Piper
“Getting ready to feast on all God’s Word is not first an intellectual challenge; it is first a moral challenge. If you want to eat the solid food of the Word, you must exercise your spiritual senses so as to develop a mind that discerns between good and evil. The startling truth is that, if you stumble over understanding Melchizedek in Genesis and Hebrews, it may be because you watch questionable TV programs. If you stumble over the doctrine of election, it may be because you still use some shady business practices. If you stumble over the God-centered work of Christ in the Cross, it may be because you love money and spend too much and give too little. The pathway to maturity and to solid biblical food is not first becoming an intelligent person, but becoming an obedient person. What you do with alcohol and sex and money and leisure and food and computers has more to do with your capacity for solid food than where you go to school or what books you read.” —John Piper
“When God is our strength, it is strength indeed; when our strength is of our own, it is only weakness.” —Augustine
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Craig T. Owens 