Blog
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Incarnation
December 25 Incarnation Philippians 2:5-7 [Christ Jesus], who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. We must at some time contemplate why
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Word in flesh
December 24 Word in flesh John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. The Apostle John, writing his Gospel account, does not give us a birth narrative,
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Go Tell It on the Mountain
December 23 Go Tell It on the Mountain Luke 2:17-18 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. “Go Tell It on
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Betrothed
December 22 Betrothed Matthew 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. One of the first bits of confusion in the New Testament birth narratives is trying
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One Little Christmas Tree
December 21 One Little Christmas Tree Luke 1:68*69 “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us … There is no getting away from it, music is the “Christmas spirit”. People, now that it
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Silver Bells
December 20 Silver Bells Luke 1:46-47 And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For reasons I still don’t understand every singer worth their salt needs to produce and publish a Christmas album. There is no doubt that Christmas music is
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Death row
December 19 Death row Matthew 2:13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child
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Gift list
December 18 Gift list Matthew 2:11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. One of the big activities
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Bloody murder
December 17 Bloody murder Matthew 2:18 A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more. Our title and key verse today might seem a bit strange for an entry in Christmas devotional series. However,
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Contradictions
December 16 Contradictions Luke 2:35 “yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also” Simeon made a prophetic declaration, one of many made in the early chapters of Luke and Matthew as they weaved the birth narrative into the historical, religious, cultural, social and economic tapestry of that place
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Confirming witnesses
December 15 Confirming witnesses Luke 2:33 And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him. The annual recounting of the birth narratives from the Gospel records of Matthew and Luke are so familiar that after a while we stop discovering anything new. Our focus was
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Departing in peace
December 14 Departing in peace Luke 2:29 “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace …” In Guyana, every year on Christmas Day the media rush to the hospitals to take photographs of the Christmas Day babies and their mothers. Often, corporate representatives of companies that produce or
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Salvation seen
December 13 Salvation seen Luke 2:25 And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. There are some people who are a part of the Christmas story
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Census
December 12 Census Luke 2:1-2 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. A
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Virginity
December 11 Virginity Matthew 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. Guys want to marry a virgin. Good, we got that out of the way quickly. First-time sexual intercourse for a woman
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In vivo
December 10 In vivo Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. So Gabriel, back
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Xmas
December 9 Xmas Luke 1:31-33 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father
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Baby names
December 8 Baby names Luke 1:61-62 But they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” So they made signs to his father—what he would have him called. The birth of a baby is always drama, and in the old days, the
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Heard prayer
December 7 Heard Prayer Luke 1:13 “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard…” In the 1960 Pulitzer Prize winning novel from Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird, the novel’s protagonist Atticus Finch, tells the narrator, his daughter Scout that, “You never really understand a person until you
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Fresh Silence
December 6 Fresh Silence Luke 1:19-20 And the angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and was sent to speak to you and bring you these glad tidings. But behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the
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Broken Silence
December 5 Broken Silence Luke 1:11-12 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. After about 400 years of ‘silence’ suddenly Gabriel returns with a message
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Covenant God
December 4 Covenant God Matthew 1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham This genealogy of Jesus that Matthew provides at the very opening of the New Testament is like a prism refracting light and giving us the different perspectives of
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Scandalous begetting
December 3 Scandalous begetting Matthew 1:5-6 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Evidently, Matthew had access to a lot of material from which
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Backstory
December 2 Backstory Matthew 1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations. We love to start the Christmas story at Matthew 1:18, “Now the