Christ

 The Christ candle is lit on Christmas Eve.

But we didn't get to have a Christmas eve service this year because of a travel ban in our county. We did, however,  have service on Christmas Day!  Which I find wonderful!

So we combined a bit of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! With the advent, scripture and special music from the evening before and the songs for Christmas Day! 

📖 “For unto you is born this day, in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”   Luke 2:11   CHRIST IS OUR HOPE

LIGHT THE 1^st  PURPLE CANDLE

 📖 "Glory to God in the highest, PEACE on earth, good will toward men” Luke 2:14 

CHRIST IS OUR PEACE                 

LIGHT THE 2^nd PURPLE CANDLE

📖 “Behold, I bring you good news of a great JOY which will come to all the people…” Luke2:10   CHRIST IS OUR JOY

LIGHT THE PINK CANDLE

 📖 But God demonstrates His own LOVE for us in this:  While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 

CHRIST IS LOVE

LIGHT THE LAST  PURPLE CANDLE

Jesus Christ is all of these. He is the Greatest Gift, He makes all the other gifts possible, tonight we light the Christ Candle

LIGHT THE LARGE WHITE CANDLE

📖  ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.                             1 John 4:9-12 

Prayer

📖 Romans 15:13 “ May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” 

 We thank you God, for your gift of Jesus Christ to the whole world.  We thank you that His coming makes HOPE, PEACE, JOY and LOVE possible for every person in every nation. Encourage us to do our part to bring goodwill, and peace to our families, our churches and our neighborhoods and the world. Amen

What has been eveident to me through out all the Christmas season services is LOVE. Christ's love for each of us, enough to be born to this earth and to die on a cross for our sins.

Why do we celebrate Christmas....because Jesus love me!  because Jesus Loves ___________(insert your name!)  

We have HOPE because Jesus loves ______________!

We have PEACE because Jesus loves ______________!

We have JOY because Jesus loves ________________!

We can LOVE because Jesus loves _________________!

If we accept that gift of Love we will be so full of His love that it will overflow and we can give it away!

🎵 Give This Christmas Away

🙏My prayer is that you are so filled with Christ's love that you were able to give it away over and over this holiday season!❤️🎄

LOVE 4th Sunday of Advent

 

We light this candle to represent LOVE.  God loved us so much he sent his only Son and Christ loved us enough to come to earth and lay down is life so that all people can be saved.  Throughout the year we may love others as Christ loves us.

 

                        LIGHT THE Last PURPLE CANDLE

📖 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him   John 3:16-17  

 

PRAYER

  Our Lord God and gracious Father, we thank You for Your Son and the gift He was and is to all of us.  “Lord in You our hearts rejoice, for we trust in Your holy name.  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in You.” (from Psalm 21-22)

 

📖 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.  This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.   God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.   We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:7-19

AMEN?!

🎵 God So Loved

JOY 3rd Sunday of Advent

 

LIGHT THE FIRST Purple CANDLE,  “Jesus is our HOPE”

                        LIGHT THE SECOND PURPLE CoANDLE “Jesus is our PEACE

📖  Luke 2:9-11   

An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord

LIGHT THE PINK CANDLE

“We light this candle to represent JOY.        

📖 John 15:10-11

¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

                                   

Prayer is from Psalm 28:7
📖 “Lord you are our strength and shield; our hearts trust in you, and we are helped. Our hearts leap for JOY and we give thanks to you in song.” Lord may our joy be complete this season and throughout the year as we love others in the same way you love us.

🎵 Feels Like Joy. Micah Tyler

PEACE 2nd Sunday of Advent

 

Peace 

                        LIGHT THE FIRST PURPLE CANDLE,  Jesus Christ is our HOPE

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,  and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this           Isaiah 9:6-7

 

LIGHT THE   SECOND PURPLE CANDLE

We light this candle to represent PEACE.   

 Ephesians 2:13-18

 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.

                         PRAYER (is from John 14:27)

Jesus said "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”  Lord thank You for Your peace that is available to all, I pray that those here today take comfort in Your peace.   Amen

HOPE 1st Sunday of Advent

Even though it is still November, it is the first Sunday of 

Advent.

 noun

a coming into place, view, or being; arrival:the advent of the holiday season.

Usually Advent . the coming of Christ into the world.

Advent, the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas, observed in commemoration of the coming of Christ into the world.  (Advent Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com)

As I have done every year, I share with you what we do for church advent each Sunday.   Last year I did something different that I had been inspired to do.  This year I am back to the traditional, more simple advent.   I encourage you to find your own advent candles and/or wreath.

LIGHT THE FIRST PURPLE CANDLE

  “This candle represents HOPE.

 

                        Matthew 1:20-23

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,  And whose hope is the Lord. Jeremiah 17:7-8

           

                        Prayer

Heavenly Father we thank you for the hope that we have in You.  You were, are and will be forever the HOPE of the world! May all who are here place their hope in You and You alone. Amen

 🎵 Hope For Everyone Matt Maher

Challenge

This morning as I headed into my prayer time I decided to challenge myself this week.... 

The challenge is thankfulness...being mindful of my words ...that in my conversations with God I utter nothing but gratitude and thankfulness.

And maybe that will even spill over to all those I  come in contact with!  

And so I challenge you to do the same!

Before words come out our mouth, they are born in our hearts.

📖 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. Luke 6:45

So we need to have a grateful heart.

📖 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. Colossians 3:15-16

I would suggest before words come out of the mouth....review them in your mind first....do they sound as if I am grateful? Thankful?

🙏My prayer is that for the week we can all be mindful and then thankful❤️

               Thanksgiving Day

                                    Tracey Thompson       ©TJT 2010

Thanksgiving is a time to gather those we love close by

We laugh and eat and celebrate and even enjoy some pie

We eat until our bellies are full, we work, and rest and play

But do we stop and give pause on Thanksgiving day?

To reflect on all the blessings that are showered from above

Gifts from our Lord and Savior, who lavishes us with love

Will we stop to think as we dress ourselves that morn,

 that we have choices of what to wear, what color or how warm?

As we bathe and shower and brush our teeth so clean

Should we pause and be grateful for the gift of simple hygiene?

As we prepare the food, with extra portions to spare

Will we take the time and thank the Lord that we have enough to share?

 As we smile across the table from family and loved ones so dear

Should we stop and say ”Thank you, Lord,  for all those gathered here”?

 As stories and memories are shared, even some with tears

Will we give thanks for those who touched our lives over the passing years?

 God has blessed us so with much, our cups to overflowing,

 if we only take the time and find what is most important in knowing

 that God’s love, and grace and mercy is there for us each day

 and we must share it with others we meet along the way.

Thank you God and Father

For loving us so

That you sent your Son

So Salvation we could know

🎵 Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

Static

I was listening to a Christian radio station and really getting into the praise music....just getting my worship on...and it turns to static! Aaarrrggg!!! 

You want to, and maybe even do, grumble, complain, the raised hand becomes a raised fist! Ok...maybe a bit dramatic,

BUT it got me thinking!

Like in our relationship with our Lord, we can think we are really worshipping, feeling it and all of sudden...static!

But just like when you are in your car...the radio station or tower hasn't moved...you have.

In our walk with the Lord, if there is a lot of static, He hasn't moved, we have!

📖 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

Though all we may hear is static, the music is still playing. 

We may have traveled into an area that could have things that cause interference.

Places that may almost completely block the signal or we have gotten too far from the source so that all we hear is the static, not what is actually there and intended

And what is the first thing we tend to do when we encounter static....just like when we are in our car....grumble and complain...."Where was God when I needed Him?" "Why are things so hard for me?!" "Why can't I just get the things I want in life?!"

But all that does is increase the static.

📖 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.”  Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky. Philippians 2:13-15

We have to remove the things that cause interference and get ourselves to a place where we can clearly hear.

📖  He who has ears to hear, let him hear! Matthew 11:15 (NKJV)

We need to make sure we are traveling on roads that keep us in proximity to our source of life

We need to be near to God.

📖 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:8

🙏My prayer for you is that when you hit some static in your travels with Him, you are slow to grumble, quick to recognize the things causing interference and head away from them and can get back to full on worship!❤