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How often does life actually goes as planned? Hardly ever in my case, but isn't that what makes life interesting? The fact that, unlike a Hallmark Movie, life is never predictable is what makes it real. Well that's exactly what happened in my life. It didn't go as planned, but that's okay. I was all set to do a blog a day about the REAL Christmas, and then a freight-train of a cold hit me out of no where. I was out of commission for several days. So that meant no blog posts. That meant no to a lot of things haha. My poor puppy had to think I didn't love her any more because she got ignored (not played with as much) most of the time. But this was God's plan for me, so I will praise God for the time I had to relax, and the time He gave you all to ponder my last post.
Because I have been sick, I have not been able to study out what I was going to post on for the next post, so I will get back to the Real Christmas Posts hopefully later this week. As an aside: If you plan to order anything, please do so by next Wednesday, as I will be unavailable to get to the post office to ship anything after that day till the second week of January, Due to the holiday season. -Jen
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First, I would like to apologize for missing a day. Yesterday was a little crazy for us around the house.
Tonight I am going to be going through Luke 1:26-31,34-35 and Matthew 1:18-25. For your convenience I have included the passages below. I know this will be a little longer than normal, but it's well worth it, I promise. I am basically going to let Scripture speak for its self, and only comment on a few key points. Luke 1:26-31, 34-35 "26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 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." Matthew 1:18-25 "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. 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. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” 24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus." There are some very important aspects from this passage that you should not miss. The first being: Mary and Joseph were not yet married; while the Jewish tradition of marriage is different from ours (I will not go into it for fear of confusing the matter more than making it more clear), this time period that is spoken of is loosely like our Engagement period. We see this laid out for us when the Luke passage in verse 27 says" ...betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph..." and in the Matthew passage in verse 18 "...After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph...." The second important aspect is how Mary became pregnant. There are two VERY important details that tell exactly how this happened: 1) Mary's question to the angel in Luke 1:34; the word 'know' here means to have intercourse with. Also in Matthew 1:18 the phrase 'before they came together' means the same as the word 'know' in Luke 1:34. And 2) the explanation given to both Mary and Joseph by the angel(s). Gabriel answered Mary's question in Luke 1:35 "...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." This is also explained to Joseph after the conception in Matthew 1:20-23. The angel tells him that the child is of the Holy Spirit, and that the child is the Son of God. Knowing the Old Testament like he did, and as I assume Mary did, judging by her Magnificant (which we will look at later...), this was what everyone had waited for. This is what every woman since the promise of a redeemer, in Genesis, was made, hoped for; to be the mother of the Anointed one, the Son of God. Yet, no one believed it, and even thought that Mary had been unfaithful to Joseph. Even Joseph thought this. This is a great commentary on how we hope for a miracle, yet deny it, refuse to see it, or even call it a lie when it happens. Why is it so easy for us to just brush off what we don't understand, or is it that we just don't want to understand? Why is it so easy for us to have Faith in people that constantly change and disappoint, yet to doubt the very existence of a God that never changes, and never disappoints? -Jen And no, I am not talking about the stupid movie where the father gets a trashy leg lamp, the kid gets his tong stuck to a frozen poll, and asks for a BB gun for Christmas. I'm talking about the true Christmas story that you often hear read for Christmas Eve/ Day Church services. This story, sadly, is fading quickly from the minds of our culture today, and just as quickly from the Churches in our nation. Want to know something cool though? It's not just a story! It's history! It's true! And over the next 23 days I hope to tell it to you, and explain why it is SO vital that we not only remember it, but Believe it.
This 'story' can be found in several books in the New Testament, but I will be looking at only two of them: Matthew and Luke. Here are the first couple passages that I will be going through, if anyone gets the inkling to read through them before I go through them: Luke 1:26-55, 2:1-20, 3:23-38 Matthew 1 & 2 I will be going through Jesus' heritage, the announcement to his mother and to-be step father (and why Joseph is his step-father), the announcement of His birth and much more. I hope to tell the true Christmas Story in a way that shines forth the light of Christ and is honoring to Him. -Jen |
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May 2023
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