What a long week! It has been a good one though. We had our Christmas Revival at church and though I hate that I believe the cold whether kept many away, and I even had some work stuff that kept me away one night, I believe it better prepared our hearts for the celebration of Christ's birth.
Today Andrew and I are celebrating our 34th Wedding anniversary, I joked around that yesterday we celebrated the 34th anniversary of being engaged. Yes, I was officially engaged for about 15 hours before we were married. We have big plans, we are heading to St. Louis today and then tomorrow morning, at 7:15, Andrew is going to cheer me on running the Hot Chocolate 5K. Then, we are planning on going to a church that I met the Pastor and his wife on a flight to Seattle. Life is definitely an adventure.
Today, I wanted to continue my Christmas journey and I want to spend one more week in the Old Testament. We sing songs about Christ's birth being "foretold", I thought we would look at some of the things that was pointing to Jesus hundreds of years before He was born Let's get started!
Of course, we looked at Genesis last week and this week I want to look at a few others.
Let's start with Micah 5:2
But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth until me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Highlight= whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting. Explain= keeping this one short but just pointing out that once again, Christ has always been. He came to Earth for 33 years, but He has always been. Apply= Just a reaffirmation that Christ is always here. He always has been, always will be. I look at other religions and people that others follow and they all have one thing in common, they died, and stayed dead. Our Savior was seen after his resurrection, by many people and in one account in 1 Corinthians 15:6, He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at the same time. This is God-given supernatural power, if He could actually be seen here on earth after His death, He truly does live. Respond=Thank you, Lord, for sending Christ to Earth to be born to die, so we can have eternal life.
And just some other voices to point out in the OT.
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
We know Mary was a follower of God and a virgin.
Jeremiah 31:15 Thus saith the Lord; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, a bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were no more.
Referring to King Herrod having all the boys under the age of 2 killed, trying to kill Jesus from the time He was a baby.
As I said last week, I just believe it is so important to understand that God had a plan to send Christ to die for our sins before we ever sinned. It seems like this time of year, we have such a mix of emotion. We are coming to the end of the year, so we are looking back at our successes and failures, and looking forward to what the new year might bring for us. There is a song by Zach Williams and Dolly Parton that just puts this into words. Robert wrote a post this week about the fact that we really don't do anything alone unless we just want to deny our Lord is there. The lyrics of this song are as follows:
Every time I try to make it on my own
Every time I try to stand, I start to fall
And all those lonely roads that I have traveled on
There was Jesus
When the life I built came crashing to the ground
When the friends I had were nowhere to be found
I couldn't see it then but I can see it now
There was Jesus
In the waiting, in the searching
In the healing, in the hurting
Like a blessing buried in the broken pieces
Every minute, every moment
Where I've been or where I'm going
Even when I didn't know it
Or couldn't see it
There was Jesus
For this man who needs amazing kind of grace
For forgiveness and a price I couldn't pay
I'm not perfect so I thank God every day
There was Jesus
There was Jesus
There was Jesus
On the mountains
In the valleys
There was Jesus
In the shadows
Of the alleys
There was Jesus
In the fire, in the flood
There was Jesus
Always is and always was, oh
No, I never walk alone
Never walk alone
You're always there
This time of year is hard on people, what is supposed to be such a celebration becomes a place of sadness when we have lost loved ones or the year has just not been filled with good memories, or we are faced with a diagnosis we don't want, but we have to remember, He is here, He is our comfort. Not a bottle, not cheesecake, not a needle. Those things only cause pain in the end. Jesus brings peace when you really soak in that He loves you, and He will never let you down. Just like a good parent, He won't just hand you everything you think you want, He will hand you the things you need but the real joy comes when you realize all you need is Him.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
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