The shepherds knew of the customs and religious practices of the day, though they weren’t able to join in because of their lifestyle. They new the significance of sacrifice for it was their very sheep that they were watching over that were to be used. Staying out
Read more →And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be
Read more →In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up
Read more →In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up
Read more →And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of
Read more →I feel that sometimes we get very familiar with scripture. I know that I do, I can read something again and again and I don’t always stop to think about what is happening. We tend to think of the birth of Jesus as just that, the birth.
Read more →1 This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother
Read more →This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet
Read more →At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud
Read more →In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings,
Read more →“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the
Read more →Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7 NIV) I love prophecy. I love that God would speak to us and excite with His plans and purposes. As we have just read in Amos, the Lord doesn’t do
Read more →Throughout these first few devotions we have been looking at Zechariah and his encounter in the temple. His angelic encounter is not an isolated event, in fact it is a frequent occurrence in the bible. From the Garden of Eden to Abram, to Lot, Moses and Daniel,
Read more →Luke 1:18-20 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to
Read more →Luke 1:8-17 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time
Read more →And so we begin the season of advent, the coming of Jesus. And I begin a season of thoughts and meditations on Jesus’ coming and the promise that He offers. I love this time of year and find it an excuse to indulge in the riches that
Read more →“Go,” Jesus replied, “your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed. (John 4:50 NIV) Jesus has just me the woman at the well and has now travelled to Cana in Galilee. As gets there a royal official hears about him and goes
Read more →Harmony in the musical sense is the simultaneous playing or singing of notes chords that produces something that is pleasant and pleasing to the ear. When musicians and singers aren’t playing together you can hear it straight away, the discordant voice or instrument rises above and can
Read more →Do you ever stop to think about the sights and the sounds of the stories in the bible? I have recently been thinking about legion (you can find the story in Mark 5:1-18 and Luke 8:27:33). Think about what this would have looked like (maybe not too
Read more →But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” (Luke 8:46 NIV) If you have been around a while you will be familiar with the story of the lady with tthe issue of blood. She has spent all her money and
Read more →And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22 NIV) It feels like a mystery, that God should dwell in us. That we should contain something of Him in our hearts. More so that
Read more →Your presence is all I need It’s all I want, all I seek Without it, without it there’s no meaning Your presence is the air I breath The song I sing, the love I need Without it, without it I’m not living David said: Seek the Lord
Read more →I don’t know what it is when I read these words but I struggle to believe that they are for me, I struggle to think of myself as having an anointing. I think others do, but not me. Where does that come from? Is it the typical
Read more →Paul is a man devoted to prayer, his encouragement to the Ephesians is to pray in the Spirit on all occasions, to the Colossians to be devoted to prayer, to the Thessalonians to pray continually, to the Philippians to consider everything in prayer, to the Romans to
Read more →We live in a disposable world. If it breaks we throw it away, and that’s not just the ‘stuff’ we acquire, it is friendships, marriages and families. Whilst reading this morning I came across this passage in Colossians 1:17 – in Christ, all things are held together.
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