My new year’s wish for everyone is to have a closer walk with Jesus this year than the last.  This is much more important than exerise, losing weight, eating healthier, spending more time with family, saving more money, or whatever resolution you can make.  Make Jesus a priority this year and all the other things will fall into place (Matt 6:33).

This is not December 26.  It is well after the holiday season has ended and family has gone back home.  It is wonderful (at least in my family) to be together at Christmas.  And even though the house is a bit crowded and places to sit a bit fewer, it is good to be with family.  And it was great to be with family on Sunday with our services.  We were able to celebrate together the Lord’s birth.  Who knows where we will be in 11 years when the next Christmas Sunday takes place.  So I hope you all a great Christmas and that you will have a wonderful new year.

It was wonderful to hear all the musical talents of our youth from our church.  They did a great job offering their gifts to the Lord for his praise and glory.  What is your gift for Christmas?

The flu is going around our house.  I pray that you will be healthy and be able to enjoy this season in it’s entirety.

Christmas time is here.  And it is wonderful to see all the light go up around the area.  Do you have any outdoor Christmas decorations?

Christmas time is here and I hope as we start this season of hope that we will see Christ anew.  He has given us so much to celebrate.  And he has given in a way that we need to respond with gifts back to him.  So come and receive, but also be prepared to give.

Yadah!  What a wonderful word.  And a wonderful concept.  Giving to the Lord what he rightly deserves.  Whether that is thanks or praise or confession.  It is just one word used in the OT to praise the Lord.  The more familiar one is Hallelu as in the combined Hallelujah!  So now you know two ways to praise the Lord in Hebrew!  For those of you who are NT scholars, you probably all know the Greek word for praise which is of course doxa as is doxology.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

“Heaven is more than a destination; it is a motivation.  Knowing that we shall dwell in the heavenly city ought to make a difference in our lives here and now” (Warren Wiersbe)  What are you living for?

One of the questions I did not answer fully on Sunday is why will God allow to reenter the world after being locked up for 1000 years.  Warren Wiersbe believes it is “the final proof that the heart of man is desperately wicked and can be changed only by God’s grace”  As I said, it is hard to believe that people who have been living in a perfect environment, under the perfect government of God’s son, will rebel in the end and choose to follow the lies of Satan.  But that is what the Bible says will happen.  And with the fire that destroys them, it will also destroy the old heaven and the old earth.  I cannot wait to see the new heaven and the new earth next week!