Gifts without Wrappings - Christmas Songs and
Christmas Presence - Purity 602
Purity 602 12/15/2021 Purity 602 Podcast
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a pink “summery” sunset sky looking east over O’Halloran
Hill from Cove Road in Hallet Cove in South Australia comes to us from Dave
Baun Photography as Dave continues to capture God’s creation in all its glory
with his Olympus EM1 MKII. Dave is a transplant
from Pennsylvania so it may seem odd to experience the three hottest months of
the year in December, January, and February in his Australian home but with
views like this Dave is clear when he proclaims: “Man, do I love where I live!”
It may be “summertime” in Dave’s neck of the woods, but that terrain,
pink sky, and that “manger like” structure in this photo could easily remind us
of the Christmas story and how Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to find there
was no room at the inn and had to make the best of a bad situation when Christ
was born.
Christmas is 10 days away and rather than resisting the holiday and trying
in vain to stop Christmas from coming like the Grinch, I am actively finishing
up my preparations for the day we celebrate the coming of our Savior.
Last night, I actually decided not to wrap up the few gifts I will be
giving out this year and instead decided to build a playlist of Christmas music
to enjoy on the first Christmas that I will enjoy in the company of my fiancé.
TammyLyn and I have discovered the peace, joy, and intimacy that comes
from just being in each other’s presence early on in our relationship and I
often joke how we are perfectly at peace just staring at one another.
As two divorcees who have found new love that is centered in Christ and will
be under a marriage covenant a week after Christmas, we have lots of experience
in making the best of a bad situations from our past and now are basking in the
love that we have found that resulted from deciding to live our lives according
to God’s way.
So last night I compiled a Christmas play list that will consist of some
old classics, some newer Christmas songs from Christian’s artists, and others that
focus on Jesus Christ’s Christmas story rather than that of Jolly Old St. Nick,
Frosty the Snowman, or traipsing through a winter wonderland or sliding along
in a one horse open sleigh. Neither
TammyLyn and I are children anymore and we know that Christ is the reason for
the season and we will give glory to God this Christmas for all He has blessed
us with and for bringing us together.
After coming to faith in Christ in 2010, Christmas for me has been less
and less about Santa, Jingle Bells, and Holly and more and more about the
loving Creator of all things who loved us enough to send His Son to save
us.
So as we are gliding along in our regular work schedules, getting ready
for Christmas, and trying to deal with life’s problems and tragedies that know
no season, let’s make sure that we prepare our hearts for the silent night that
comes, oh my, next Friday and somewhere in the midst of all the holiday hoopla
make plans to find a few moments of peace with the people who are near and dear
to us that God has put in our lives, next Saturday!
Toys and presents are said to satisfy for a few days but the moments
where we can love one another and be in each other’s presence become another
chapter in the love story of our lives.
So keep walking and talking with God, He will take your heart of stone
and make it a heart of flesh and the love that He pours into you can make you
feel as if you will burst with joy and can flow into the dear ones in your life
in this holiday season and all the days of our lives.
Today’s Bible verse is
drawn from “The NLT Bible Promise Book for Men”.
This morning’s meditation verse is:
Isaiah 59:21
(NLT2)
21 “And this is my covenant
with them,” says the LORD. “My
Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They
will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your children’s
children forever. I, the LORD,
have spoken!
20 “The Redeemer will
come to Jerusalem to buy back those in Israel who have turned from their sins,”
says the LORD.
You don’t have to be an advanced bible scholar to see that
verse 20 seems to predict the coming of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem and how His
death on the cross pays for the sins of all those who turn from their sins and
make Him their Lord and Savior.
The new life in Christ makes us spiritually alive. It gives
us a meaning and purpose to our lives.
When we experience our “second birth” by placing our faith in Jesus, we are
transformed and if we properly
understand the magnificence of the gift we have received we will be motivated
to share the words of the gospel of Jesus Christ as today’s verse
predicts.
The words of the gospel of the Kingdom of God, grace, and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ will never leave us and will be on our lips and our children’s lips forever and ever.
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org
where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors
to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
As always, I share this information for educational purposes
and encourage all to purchase A.W. Tozer’s books for your own private study and
to support his work.
DAY 19
THE REASONS HE CAME
For God did not send his Son into
the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
JOHN 3:17
Let us think and imagine ourselves
back to the condition of paganism. Let us imagine that we have no Bible and no
hymn book and that these 2,000 years of Christian teaching and tradition had
never taken place. We are on our own, humanly speaking.
Suddenly, someone arrives with a
proclamation: “God is sending His Son into the human race. He is coming!”
What would be the first thing that
we would think of? What would our hearts and consciences tell us immediately?
We would run for the trees and rocks and hide like Adam among the trees of the
garden.
What would be the logical mission
upon which God would send His Son into the world? We know what our nature is
and we know that God knows all about us and He is sending His Son to face us.
Why would the Son of God come to our
race?
Our own hearts—sin and darkness and
deception and moral disease—tell us what His mission should be. The sin we
cannot deny tells us that He might have come to judge the world!
Why did the Holy Ghost bring this
proclamation and word from God that “God did not send his Son into the world to
condemn the world” (John 3:17)?
Men and women are condemned in their
own hearts because they know that if the Righteous One is coming, then we ought
to be sentenced.
But God had a greater and far more
gracious purpose—He came that sinful men might be saved. The loving mission of
our Lord Jesus Christ was not to condemn but to forgive and reclaim.
Why did He come to men and not to
fallen angels? Well, I have said this before in this pulpit, and I could be
right, although many seem to think that because others are not saying it I must
be wrong: I believe He came to men and not to angels because man at the first
was created in the image of God and angels were not. I believe He came to fallen
Adam’s brood and not to fallen devils because the fallen brood of Adam had once
borne the very image of God.
Thus, I believe it was a morally
logical decision that when Jesus Christ became incarnate it was in the flesh
and body of a man because God had made man in His image.
I believe that although man was
fallen and lost and on his way to hell, he still had a capacity and potential
that made the incarnation possible, so that God Almighty could pull up the
blankets of human flesh around His ears and become a Man to walk among men.
There was nothing of like kind among
angels and fallen creatures—so He came not to condemn but to reclaim and to
restore and to regenerate
Tozer, A. W. (2016). From heaven: a
28-day advent devotional. Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers.
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
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