Luke 2:10 ~ Great Joy

Luke 2:10

And the angel said to them, “Fear not!

For behold!

I bring you good news

of great joy

that will be 

for all the people!"

Our Father God is Astonishing.

All of the Scripture points to Jesus the Lord and in this moment  is His Great Announcement.

In His Announcement, He reveals the depth of His Love for you. This Reveals God's Heart.

God begins by telling you, "FEAR NOT!"

If we met God of All, we might say, "Oh Woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips.!"

God says Fear Not. We will believe God. We will not fear our God of Love.
.

The Good News is told to us, by God's Message and Messenger, to be
"Great Joy!:"


For? All People.

This completely explains God.
and 'that' makes our Father God ASTONISHING!!!

This commitment to this goodness is the vast nature of God.

And the beauty of GOD is beyond compare.

The Requirement of our response, is expected.

Our Father,

Who art in Heaven,

Hallowed be Thy Name.

Thy Kingdom Come,

Thy Will be done, on earth as in Heaven.

Give us this day,

our daily bread.

Forgive me my sins

as I forgive those who sin against me.

Lead me not into temptation,

Deliver me from evil.

For Thine is

the Kingdom, the Power and the Glory.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Hebrews 13:2 

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, 

for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels 

without knowing it.

Romans 8:14

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Scripture for Today Web Results  

Scripture for Today Blogspot 

Scripture for Today

Psalm 101 ~ cut off every evildoer ( O Lord - fast please!)

Psalm 101

Of David. A psalm.

1 I will sing of your love and justice; to you, O LORD, I will sing praise.

 2 I will be careful to lead a blameless life-- when will you come to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart.   3 I will set before my eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me.

4 Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil. 5 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure.

  6 My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.

  7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.

  8 Every morning I will put to silence all the wicked in the land; I will cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

Bethlehem has become a land of milk and honey.

So many things in Scripture don't make a lot of sense.
God says so many things in life don't make sense except to the One who knows the pages of our days in His Book of Life.

We have to delve into God's Word and really seek Him to see the message.
We cannot dismiss what we do not understand - we seek to Understand.

David wrote so many Psalms.  Believing the Scriptures. God is GOD.

David started out in the fields. 
Learning how Close Father God was to him even when his own father Jesse would show all of his sons for the anointing of blessing, but not David.

And then David was anointed the King of Israel. Even Samuel was worried about that. David went back to the flocks and protected them from all types of dangers. And praised God - making plans to make his future clean and sparkling to God.

Fame immediately followed. After his own family had scoffed at him with his anointing and pushing his way to the front. Saul was thrilled. And then paused to consider what this meant to an ever increasingly self - sufficient Saul.



David's anointing began to pale. His best friend saved his life and elected to not fall in with David. David's wife scorned him to remain a princess.  David was helped by priests - who were killed. Things looked - not that great to say the least. Not your typical Sunday School lesson. The people who ran to help David were the ones the system had not prospered.

David, has spent many, many hours with God and David decided that while this looked without fruit - David would believe God.

Habakkuk 3:
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, 18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

Writing a Christmas message is difficult. Go gloomy and all will scatter. Go to cheery and people with less than blessed lives will feel gobbled up.

It's best to go with the Truth. The Truth will protect, upbuild, keep in Joy, command Hope and be reliable. Finding Love, Faith and Joy.

What Age was David when He wrote the Scripture? Maybe David had just killed Goliath!

President George W. Bush arrived back in Dallas after his Presidency. His grandfather, Prescott Bush and wife, had been a very, dear and reliable many, many, many weekends friend with my mother's employer Ebby Halliday and her husband. Ebby was 98 years old and going strong. During the Dallas years, President George W. was not often at the Ebby office. Probably only when he and his wife, Laura, bought a home where his twin daughters had a lemonade stand until their Grandfather found all members of the Grandfather's President's family would need Secret Service. This was a nice house and the daughters attended Preston Hollow Elementary, a public school. And W. wasn't at the offices when he owned part of the Texas Rangers Baseball Club.

(I suggested to my mother to use this as her Christmas Card the year she became a Democrat.

And I took this to my Bible Study to get a vote on this as the Christmas Card, told my mom the results - no, sadly, no Christmas Card.)

And George who wasn't the Silver Spoon Bush, wasn't there, except maybe for a lunch or so when George was Governor of Texas. But all the office liked this man. Friendly goodness. Local flavor. Friendly and open.

And when he was President George W. Bush - still a favorite. Too much goodness to listen to the critics who hadn't met George W. Bush.

Suddenly the Presidency was over. My mom, still a newly- born- again- Democrat, due to her liking for President Clinton and his policy on working people collecting their Social Security - was worried President Obama couldn't take office from President Bush because he would declare Martial Law. I said, oh c'mon you've met George W. C'mon. My mom relented.

And we saw President Bush at a wedding. My whole family trailed over to him like little ducks. We asked Laura and Mr. Bush if they wanted to attend. He claimed clothing for golf was not wedding wear. We assured him the Leader of the Free World could carry this off and we were his... Fans. He laughed. And later Mr. Bush would give our oldest Son Cal, some sporting words of good advice. Very well appreciated.

But due to knowing my mother and Ebby, we could all see this man was absolutely crushed. Critics were so bold. A few of the women in the family cried a tear for him. Cal and I were a little horrified for such a man - who had done his best. No critic with us would have pressed for more cruelty to see a man laboring so hard at leisure.

My mom would call and tell me he'd come in to see Ebby. My mother began to born-again-Democrat thaw to Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush would visit for an hour or so with Ebby. I'd say Mr. Bush was there a dozen or more times in 3 months. Mr. Bush was the favorite of the 300 person Corporate Office. He'd take 20 or more photos with long-time Ebby employees. A lot had been with Ebby since about the end of World War II. 1970s? Newcomer.

About three months went by and No new Mr. Bush. Ebby wasn't concerned, she was pleased and she let everyone know Mr. Bush was writing his memoirs. And by the end of the year, the Memoirs were published. In one year, Mr. Bush was glowing and friendly again. He had faced his choices and found he'd done what was possible. To read William Manchester's "Last Lion" Winston Churchill is to realize how all of the people of God - have limited choices. We do the best we can with what we have. Some of Winston Churchill's stories are frail. The human frailty life offers. At all levels - in different ages - to all of mankind.



When we sit down with Father God who loves us so high, so wide, so compellingly endearingly - wouldn't God say we did our best if we did our best? God tells us the Narrow Gate is the Narrow Gate.

It's not Hollywood where the Future is all unwritten vaguely and up to humanist boot straps. With Christians, This is God's Book of Life. Psalm 139 assures us God has not only known our name, but is ahead of us and plans our days.

Christmas - David certainly had "His" Seasons. The Narrow Gate. When Life offers this choice and that choice, but not one variation. This can arrive Quickly or it can be deliberately and intentionally slow seasons. The purpose of the Narrow Gate? Imagery provided...

Job 1:21

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return."

We present ourselves to God. From the no wind and the hurricane seasons of life. What we leave for our next generations to learn about their families' lives.

And we find richer lives to add in the wonderful memories, the challenging times and find Love, Faith and Hope. Always chose God of Love.

Let the Circle of relying upon God be unbroken. Love without beginning or end.



Abba,

We Give Thanks for the Seasons and as we grow we will ask You about this Season or that and You will say you my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. Psalm 40.

Psalm 85:13
Righteousness will go before Him And will make His footsteps into a way.

Psalm 17:5
My steps have held fast to Your paths My feet have not slipped.

We will all have our moments and seasons of assessing and feeling sorrow or glum. Being on Your Path to be encouraged, Loved, upheld, strengthened, guided will lead us to Blessings of Love within and surrounding, Mercy and Goodness. You said to leave these footprints.

Help us to go far with Your Good Will. Help us to be strengthened to be Upheld to Your Love all our days.

Thank You for Your Steadfast Love and Grace. Your unrelenting Love and mercy. God You Bless us. You do. Thank You.

Cover us in the Love, Help and Mercy of Jesus. Cover those we love. Praying for Your Good Will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. All the Nations of the world arriving at the Brightness of Jesus Light of the world.

And in Jesus, we will have Love, Joy and Peace. Amen.

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Scripture for Today Web Results  

Scripture for Today Blogspot 

Scripture for Today

Matthew 3:13-17 ~ fulfill all righteousness

Matthew 3:13-17

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 

14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, 
“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus was giving God His Gift.

What do you want for Christmas? Jesus held children on His lap and spoke to us.

And what will we give our Children?

My younger Christmases were put around a book or a time in History. The gifts had a theme my father thought would be fun to shop around. When I was 4 years old, Daddy chose King Arthur and Barbie was purchased with Ken. I got my first car. A Peach Jaguar with turquoise seats for Ken and Barbie - Arthur and Guinevere. Arthur arrived in silver flakey leotards - armor.

Another year was Sherlock Holmes. And my father said he would try to include every Christmas with a gift I'd have forever. I still have the Sherlock Holmes books.

We gave our sons baseballs signed and signed Presidential books. Discussions arrive today saying I bought too much of one President or another for one son and not the other. Pretty table clocks were another thing they, sort of, say they are glad for.

What does the USA want for Christmas?
Or more - Aptly put... What would Father God enjoy for Christmas?
Or your nation? The Glory of being part of prayer communion all over the world! The Communion of Saints 365 24 7.

What if we gave God Baptism?

The USA is seeing Church attendance rise and be steady. And we have something new in the USA, new for the first time in 160 years in USA Households - family numbers are rising. Families live together in multi-generations. And we, the USA, are considered to be a G7 nation, the population is not growing to replacement even if our median age is low. Legitimate births are vastly on the increase. Householders hold and live together.

A unique part of the Spiritual Life in the USA is changing denominations to better be served - according to those who move - to better be told the actual Word of God. To know the actual Scriptures and not just ideas.

Bringing us to something else unique.
Since 2013, continuing to 2017 - Christian USA Spiritual statistics indicate some Baptisms are 14 people to 1 Baptism and other Churches across the USA even have 37 people to 1 Baptism.

For some reason, our youth group of almost 37 years ago decided to go into the reasons for Baptism. We spent Months on Baptism. After learning about Baptism for months I finally said, "Oh, please can we move on?" And as the result of the odd little variation in regular Youth Ministry, I could converse with you on immersion and all the aspects and philosophies of Baptism.

Maybe you would enjoy the summarization instead of the details? Yes, very probably.

Baptism. Yes, God is for Baptism. Bingo.

Jesus decided as God's exact nature... One of the most Beautiful Verses of Scripture...

Hebrews 1:2-4

But in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. 

3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature, upholding all things by His powerful word. 

After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4So He became as far superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is excellent beyond theirs.


Ok. Why not Baptism? Now here, I think we have the real Bingo.
A. People are changing denominations. Not what Mom, Grandmom, Aunt and Uncles did.
B. Someone is going to be offended over dunking or sprinkling and age.
C. No four foot Christening Gown.
D. Their party was better than we want to throw. We are busy with relevant things.
E. Our family isn't Churchy - no one is going to attend. No one is going to buy Airfare tickets.
F. I'm not Baptized - someone is going to ask why I'm not Baptized in the middle of a Church. That's not fun, pleasant. I can't get my kid baptized and be asked about me.
G. I'm embarrassed I'm not Baptized. It's not Relevant.
H. Hell - doesn't this focus on sin and Hell? Not really. More about Redemption. Renewal.

Ok What would Jesus Do?

Jesus was baptized to say Living Water be in me. When we all long to know about God's House and God's Kingdom of Heaven - we find Father God makes sure to say forget pesky Oceans where Jesus is in a Storm. Father God wants the Jordan River. A small stream of Shining Water. We find Father God has gone very artistic to arrange trees and Living Water right at His Throne.

Poetic? Really we live in a rare time in History when we are Visual Learners.

God has what He calls Shining Water to honor His Son. To say their streams flow together in Beauty and Harmony.

The Beginning of the Jordan River

John 7:37-39 

37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 

‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 

39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive

Weddings and Baptisms are Sacraments. According to Luke 2, Weddings take Preparation. Jesus had to help the Preparation. According to John the Baptist and to Jesus and to the Book of Acts - Baptism is supposed to be spontaneous. A pure act of Joy between Father God and His Creation - you. Baptism is sometimes with entire families.

In all of the Scripture, this act of Joy is not fussed over. No one is recorded at being upset. It's as if Jesus would wish the the Concerts for Christian Music had a Baptism Station. Baptism is not ever recorded as being done over and over. A one time event of Love for God. The Acts of the Apostles say, "Do you believe Jesus is God's Son? YES! Then be baptized!" Spontaneously. Large Groups.

 Is what we do ok - to make this Sacred. YES. Our Baptisms today, as we do them now, are Sacred to God. The Point being - this is a Gift Jesus gave His Father.

What further Scripture could we read?

Amos 5:24

Let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5, we face God as Father. The way Archie Bunker decided his grandson was being Christened. We have to always allow God to be God.

The valid points God makes are clear.

1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

We have to want to Rise.

The numbers who want to Rise have fallen and this is tragic.

For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel:

Seek God and Live.
Put away that which is deemed relevant and is very temporal. What we see every day is not eternal. God is New. Redemption. Fresh. Living. Abundant. Not the usual.

Seek God and Live.
What we see as Eternal are like the Cities Jesus said would not exist and, now do not.

We are so very familiar with the Christmas Story of the Heavenly Host Singing - but God made the stars themselves, He knows them intimately and calls them all by name.

The Lord is His Name. God is God. Jesus is His Son. His only Son.

Seek Good.
So the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you

Establish Justice
to live in the Graciousness of God.

Why would God want a drawn-out ceremony? Jesus Himself told us not to heap up empty Phrases. God is Abundant. Alive. Verdant. Living. The Book of Acts Honors God as Living and Baptism is a Spontaneous Gift.


God of the Shining Water is Living. Merciful.

God is not the God of the ceremonial to be trodden to. God wants Eager, Open Hearts. To see His Eternal Kingdom. Not to be mired in the everyday repeat of commercial ways and culture. Renewed minds. God is Merciful, see sorrow here forever decreases, or what we see in God. The Parable of the Talents is to say See God as Merciful. Read God expecting to Agree with Him and His Love.

Amos 5

♔ Lord Jesus Saves! †  

Scripture for Today Web Results  

Scripture for Today Blogspot 

Scripture for Today