(December 14, 2023) Carol Round encourages to be joyful this Christmas…
Christmas is a special time when we should by joyful. Matthew 2:10ESV speaks of exuberant joy that the wise men had – ‘When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.’
(December 12, 2023) Richard Winter challenges…
It’s the Christmas season… many stores are playing carols, advertising specials, sales increasing through the selling of Christmas gifts or seasonal tucker.
Churches are preparing, or have already prepared, expected Christmastime presentations centring on God’s greatest gift – the birth of His Son Jesus who would redeem the world from sin freeing people from guilt and eternal punishment when they genuinely repent and accept Christ as Saviour… and freedom from Satan’s clutches.
Our attention will be on that special day regarded as when Jesus came into the world – but let me remind about some other interesting, important happenings linked with God’s great gift…
(i) Circumcision
Every new-born Jewish male was circumcised: So scared a rite that the day was controlled… eight days after birth and on this day the name was officially given.
When pregnancies are confirmed we usually choose birth names. Sometimes it’s not until enroute to the hospital on the day of birth. Or in the hospital after the birth… but Mary the chosen young virgin was given Jesus’ name by the angel Gabriel way before she conceived!
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(December 12, 2023) Maureen McQuillan shares her testimony of her ‘special’ Christmas Day miracle gift…
Christmas Day is that special traditional time when we give thanks to our heavenly Father for the priceless gift of His Son Jesus who would become our Saviour.
For Robert and me, it’s also a very special day of thanking God for the gift of our precious daughter, Wendy, as she was born on Christmas Day. Indeed I give thanks to Father God not just at Christmas but many times during the year for Wendy – who when younger always reminded me, ‘Two pressies, Mummy; Christmas and my birthday, not together, but separately.’
I particularly give God thanks when out-of-the-blue I hear on TV news a latest remembrance of the horrible results of a particular dangerous tablet common back in the 60s. Why?
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(December 09, 2023) Elizabeth Kendal, RLPB, shares…
Blaise Pascal is mostly remembered as a 17th Century French child prodigy; a genius in mathematics and physics. But Pascal was also an extraordinary theologian and apologist of grace. Though he remained in the Catholic Church, he was beloved of Protestants.
Requirement
Pascal is the author of one of my favourite quotes on prayer: ‘God has instituted prayer in order to lend his creatures the dignity of causality’ . . . causality being the principle that every effect has a cause. As Pascal understood, God instituted prayer for our benefit!
(December 08, 2023) Angeline Selvakumari shares good points…
Ever since I was a child, Christmas has always held a special place in my heart. It brings indescribable joy. When I was young, we didn’t have enough money to buy new clothes or gifts, or to decorate the house with fancy colored paper or lights. We lived in a small one-bedroom house with limited food, but… my parents always found ways to make our childhood beautiful and meaningful.
My brother and I are forever grateful for their efforts. It was an amazing time! Visiting grandparents, meeting cousins, going to church early in the morning with sleepy eyes, eagerly waiting to eat a delicious lunch with the whole family gathered around, playing games, and even the occasional sibling squabble – all these things made those days truly beautiful.
Even now, every year, the scent of candles, aroma of cookies, twinkling decorative lights, and the chilly wind, along with heartwarming carols, bring back great memories.
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(December 04, 2023) Wayne Swift calls it as it really is regarding Christmas…
1. Someone has to pay
When something goes wrong, the repair costs!
Something went wrong with the church lift and we tried to reset it… but it didn’t work. Eventually we had to have a serviceman come to repair the lift and – surprise, surprise – we had to pay for his time.
One Friday I noticed a screw in the tyre of Ruth’s car and knew that it was only a matter of time before the tyre went flat, as in this icon. So I had a choice – pay now or pay later. To get the problem fixed I needed to find someone with a solution. Something went wrong and someone had to pay.
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(December 02, 2023) Norman and Margaret Moss reflect…
During my (Norman‘s) childhood we had two harmoniums in our home.
Longing to play them
Unfortunately, both were far gone playing-wise! The smaller one suffered from a pair of bellows which often leaked very badly requiring my grandfather to repair them with an abundance of glue which came strongly smelling and piping hot out of a glue pot.
When repaired the organ made quite a good sound, but the repairs didn’t last very long.
The other instrument had two keyboards and more stops. The main fault of this one was that if I pulled out one of the stops it would disable the instrument, requiring my father to drag the organ out of the alcove in which it was placed, so that he could struggle into the alcove in order to remove the back and repair it.
Needless to say, sometimes I forgot and pulled the stop out!
My father who was an accomplished organist could extract a wheezy music from both organs. I longed to play them… but the sounds I produced were execrable!
Witnesses
These instruments were witnesses to me of the great family celebrations at Christmas when we would get together round an instrument and sing in glorious harmonies at the top of their voices.
How generous it was of God to give us music. Tastes may vary and times change, but most of us enjoy singing… and just wait till we hear what heaven can do!
Whatever else you do at Christmas this year, be sure to sing His praises… and to enjoy doing so.
Christmas meditation
We were meditating on Revelation 4:11, ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things and by your will they were created and have their being.’
We felt the Lord was saying –
‘It is by my will that you were created, created for my glory and blessing. Created to tell of me and of my kingdom. Created to bring about my kingdom on earth. What better use for your tongue than that your lips should sound forth my name and my honour. Therefore open your mouth and show forth my praise and my people will hear and come into my kingdom.
‘Fear not, for I am with you. There is no pride or insecurity in me that has need to be praised, nor is there any doubt that I am to receive glory, honour, and praise. Creation brings me praise because worship is declaring ultimate truth and bringing the worshippers into the harmony of heavens symphony. The truth is that I AM worthy, and that is unassailable and unthreatened truth. All that denies this is lie and deception. I AM perfect light, perfect holiness, perfect righteousness, justice and purity. I AM perfect love, kindness, compassion and mercy.
‘All my blessed attributes meet in the cross and resurrection. All were manifested in my incarnation, and shall be declared in my glorious return to the planet and the people whom I love. So rejoice and live in spontaneous praise and delightsome worship, for in this way you also come into the reality, which is filling all things,the glory and wonder of my magnificence and my worthiness of honour and majesty.’
The Lord bless and keep you this Christmas – and through the coming year! Praise His name!
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Norman and Margaret Moss pastored Queen’s Road Baptist Church, Wimbledon for over 30 years, experiencing charismatic renewal since the 1960s and bringing the congregation into renewal in the 70s when the church grew significantly. Their desire is still to encourage ministers, churches and groups that are hungry for more of the Holy Spirit and although ‘retired’ they preach and teach by Zoom, and also contribute to Dr. Ayodele Afuye’s Vessels of Virtues Fire Ministries. Link: charlesnmoss@gmail.com
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(Sunday December 03, 2023) Dr Jim McClure shares …
Today is the first day of the season called Advent which many churches observe throughout the world. Often associated with Advent is the lighting of a candle each Sunday with a final one being lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
The lighting of the candles is not just a decorative novelty – but symbolic of light that banishes darkness.
One of the values of Advent is that it encourages us to –
(November 28, 2023) David McGuire, originally from England, has been called The Missionary With The Camera. He often conveys reports to readers with his camera, not words! But here he does… sharing his heart regarding Romanian Christians who are still willing to assist troubled Ukrainians with needed supplies.
David emails…
I’ve been praying today and the Lord has put something very dear on my heart – the need to take food bags to areas close to the Ukranian war zone before Christmas.
(November 27, 2023) Maureen McQuillan shares…
Robert needs to ‘raise’ his study cabinet – a small unit in a corner behind the door that gives him additional work space beyond his desk. But… it’s not tall enough and stooping over it to work on for any length of time causes his back to ache.
So when I say raise it, I mean make it higher. Thinking that he could make a frame himself that he can put under the cabinet and give the unit some extra height, my husband bought some wood.
As he was about to search for some carpentry tools last night Robert heard neighbour Matt using an electric saw in his garage and thought, ‘I know what… I’ll rush next door and ask Matt to kindly saw this wood into the lengths I need and that’ll save me time… and fiddling around.’
And he did… with no hassles and came back a happy chappy. But… later last night he was thinking ‘Umm. Did I thank Matt? I can’t remember. Duh!’
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Connecting with You! 