There are hundreds of talented worship groups across the country and throughout the world. When I stumbled upon the Christ Fellowship Worship team, I enjoyed their montage of Christmas music. This is similar to spontaneous worship montages that I like to listen to before going to sleep, A Thousand Songs is like a series of condensed snippets of almost every Christmas song that I am familiar with to keep the theme of Christmas within your hearts and mind.
The Lord is my Strength and my [impenetrable] Shield; my heart trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him, Psalm 28:7.
The passage above is a Psalm of David. As a skilled harpist, David had a special connection with music. Perhaps this is the inspiration behind David’s words about music. It’s unclear when David wrote this Psalm, but his close relationship with the Lord is unveiled. This commitment led the prophet Samuel to refer to David as a man after God’s own heart. May this Christmas season inspire you to sing songs in your heart to the Lord this holdiay season.
A surrogate is a substitute, especially a person deputizing for another in a specific role or office. The definition of a surrogate mother is a woman who bears a child on behalf of another person or a couple, typically via artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization. Based upon the words of Luke, a first centurion doctor, Mary is compared to the surrogate of God. Who needs artificial insemination when you have the power of the Holy Spirit as Mary was a virgin teenage girl.
Now in the sixth month [after that], the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 To a girl never having been married and a [v]virgin engaged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, Hail, O favored one [[w]endued with grace]! The Lord is with you! [x]Blessed (favored of God) are you before all other women! – Luke 1:26-28
This isn’t something that you’ll find in a high school sex education class. While most first century children were uneducated, local synagogues taught young Jewish men and women about life through the Bar Mitzvah process for boys and Bat Mitzvah for girls. Similar to the Confirmation process which takes place in Christian churches, the Jews believed children become adults at age twelve. Jesus’ Bar Mitzvah is featured in Luke 2:41-52 where Jesus is allowed to teach in the temple for the first time.
But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled and disturbed and confused at what he said and kept revolving in her mind what such a greeting might mean. 30 And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace ([y]free, spontaneous, absolute favor and loving-kindness) with God. 31 And listen! You will become pregnant and will give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great (eminent) and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His forefather David, 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob throughout the ages; and of His reign there will be no end, Luke 1:29-33.
When an angel appeared to Joseph in Matthew 1:18-25, Joseph realized that his future wife would become the surrogate of God. To avoid any questions about this child’s father, Joseph decides to not have sex with his wife until after Jesus was born. Despite the rumors spreading about Mary’s illegitimate child throughout Joseph’s hometown, they each trusted God about the message conveyed to each of them by angels. These are the circumstances of Mary, the surrogate of God and mother of Jesus.
Sometimes when I read the Bible, certain verses jump off the page. When Mary let the testimonies of the shepherds sink in, pondering their eyewitness accounts with an angel in her heart, she didn’t overreact. When I was younger, I had a tendency to celebrate too soon. Yet, as I have grown older, I now try to respond like Mary, weighing everything before I come to a conclusion. As an adult, what Christmas means to me now is to be with and spend time with family.
And all who heard it were astounded and marveled at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary was keeping [h]within herself all these things ([i]sayings), weighing and pondering them in her heart, Luke 2:18-19.
Any teenage parent has a lot of their minds. Yet, before Mary could enjoy being a mother, God warns Joseph in a dream to flee. The first few years of Jesus’ birth Mary and Jospeh were on the run, trying to escape King Herod’s decree to kill all baby boys under the age of two. From age 2 to 12, the Bible doesn’t mention Jesus’ life. As Jesus grew up from a child into a young man, Mary likely realized that her son would one day save her soul, Luke 19:10.
Whenever the signs of End Times Theology begin to make their way into nightly news headlines, there are three common responses. My immediate response is to get my life right with God by confessing the errors of my sinful ways so if Jesus does return, I’ll be ready for His arrival. The next is to become a prepper, by making an intentional shift toward living a more traditional, self-sufficient, and responsible lifestyle. The third is to ignore these warnings and move on with your current life.
The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination and intention of all human thinking was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved at heart. 7 So the Lord said, I will destroy, blot out, and wipe away mankind, whom I have created from the face of the ground—not only man, [but] the beasts and the creeping things and the birds of the air—for it grieves Me and makes Me regretful that I have made them, Genesis 6:5-7.
If I have learned anything from history over my years living on this planet, history moves cultures in a series of cycles from good to bad to worse. When sinful natures are allowed to break free from their human conscience without any limits or restrictions, the direction of the earth becomes unsettling. As bad, corrupt and wicked this current generation of leaders may be in your eyes, King Solomon declared thousands of years ago, there is nothing new under the sun, Ecclesiastes 1:9.
Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself]. 17 And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever, 1 John 2:15-17.
According to Moses, the inhabitants of the earth pre-flood were just as morally bankrupt as those during the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. Perhaps, these two acts of God, in the form of natural disasters are meant to serve as a history lesson like 1 Corinthians 10:1-6. When the direction of the earth becomes unsettling to you doesn’t mean you should retreat and hide from society. Rather this is a golden opportunity to shine like stars by holding out the light of Christ, the Word of God, Philippians 2:13-16.
Sometimes when I hear a new group on You Tube, I’m not sure if the name of their song is the group’s name or vice versa. Such is the case of First Things First which was recently released by the group Consumed by Fire. Upon listening to this song, I was reminded of the passage above. The author of Hebrews begins chapter 6 with a message to those who have become lukewarm. Anytime a believer begins to slip away from God, consumed by conviction tends to be a common way to be brought back to God.
For if we go on deliberately and willingly sinning after once acquiring the knowledge of the Truth, there is no longer any sacrifice left to atone for [our] sins [no further offering to which to look forward]. 27 [There is nothing left for us then] but a kind of awful and fearful prospect and expectation of divine judgment and the fury of burning wrath and indignation which will consume those who put themselves in opposition [to God], Hebrews 10:26-27.
The lyrics of First Things First is based upon Matthew 6:33-34. This portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reinforces the beatitudes with an emphasis on hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Unfortunately, there are so many distractions in this life with other things in the world take our attention off of Jesus. As 2023 is about to start, may Consumed by Fire’s version of First Things First inspired you to make Jesus a priority in your life in the coming year.
The other day a thought popped into my mind about a hypothetical conversation that may have occurred as Abel and Cain came home for dinner one night. After tilling rock hard ground in desert like conditions, Cain sees the Garden of Eden over in the distance, lush green beyond the sandy soil. Cain sarcastically asks his parents, “can you go over why you two were kicked out of the Garden of Eden?” Adam and Eve look at each other in silence, before Eve starts to share her accounts of that fateful day.
For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity. 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate, Genesis 3:5-6.
As Adam takes a big bite, chewing feverishly, a nervous laughter prompts Eve to set the scene. Eve was memorized by the Tree of Knowledge, unable to resist taking a second glance. The more Eve stared, the low bearing fruit got her attention, eliciting lust within her heart for this tree’s fruit. Cain immediately interrupts, “you’re telling me our family got kicked out of Eden over two figs?” Eve replies, “but it was so good.”
And Adam knew Eve as his wife, and she became pregnant and bore Cain; and she said, I have gotten and gained a man with the help of the Lord. 2 And [next] she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground. 4 And Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions. And the Lord had respect and regard for Abel and for his offering, Genesis 4:1-4.
Hindsight is always twenty/twenty as anyone can play Monday morning quarterback. While Cain has a right to be disappointed by his parents, he should have been more concerned about getting his own life under control rather than pointing the finger at someone else. Jesus addresses this in his Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7:1-5. There is plenty of time for personal reflection, especially after making poor choices in life. Yet, like the Michael W. Smith classic song, we’re all Living and Learning.
Now that Christmas Day has passed, coming up with the remaining 38 songs from different artists will be a challenge. However, know that my children have come home from college, this final month of Sing A New Song will be a joint effort. Today’s song Glory by Jervis Campbell is thanks to my daughter Lydia. Lydia was introduced to Jervis by a classmate at Liberty University. While driving to church one Sunday morning, Glory was playing in the car CD player.
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory (His honor, His majesty), such glory as an only begotten son receives from his father, full of grace (favor, loving-kindness) and truth. 15 John testified about Him and cried out, This was He of Whom I said, He Who comes after me has priority over me, for He was before me. [He takes rank above me, for He existed before I did. He has advanced before me, because He is my Chief,] John 1:14-15.
While the calendar clearly shows Christmas in 2022 is over, the passage above provides a spiritual reminder of what Jesus’ birth means. This supernatural conception via the power of the Holy Spirit demonstrates the glory of God the Father. Two chapters later, the disciple whom Jesus loved, boldly proclaims the meaning of Christmas to those who are born again, John 3:16-17. May today’s song prepare how heart, mind and soul to bring glory to God in 2023.
Since 2022 is my first Christmas living in South Carolina, all of my usual traditions were replaced with a new one. At seven in the morning, I went over to my sister in laws to watch my three-year-old niece and daughter open up their stockings. The rest of the morning was spent watching Annie open up her Christmas presents while eating breakfast. As I was observing from a distance, my mind pondered, “what’s God’s Christmas gift to me?”
But when He, the Spirit of Truth (the Truth-giving Spirit) comes, He will guide you into all the Truth (the whole, full Truth). For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future], John 16:13.
As Jesus tried to prepare his disciples for his arrest and crucifixion during Passion Week, He spoke of how the spirit of Emmanuel would continue to live on following his departure. Jesus compared God’s presence to a counselor and spiritual guide. Although invisible like a Holy Ghost, God will announce and declare messages to you. Rather than place your trust in Amazon’s Alexa for knowledge or controlling your electricity, place your hope and trust in God’s Christmas gift for you.
For His divine power has bestowed upon us all things that [are requisite and suited] to life and godliness, through the [[d]full, personal] knowledge of Him Who called us by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue). 4 By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:3-4.
According to Luke, a first century doctor and historian, Peter was present on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2:2-5. On this special day, Peter was overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Spirit. While writing 2 epistles known as Catholic Letters addressed to Christians scattered all over the world due to Nero’s persecution, Peter highlights what happens when you open up God’s Christmas gift for you. The Holy Spirit provides everything you need for life. Once you learn to separate yourself from the commercialism side of Christmas, may you have to faith to accept and embrace God’s gift to you, Romans 6:23.
There is a saying that I learned in the Youth Ministry Trade School that I attended. “If you fail to plan; you plan to fail.” These are the words I repeated to myself each time I prepared for a Sunday School class, youth group message and Children’s Sermon. When a Census bought Mary and Joseph to the town of Bethlehem, it sounds worse that a mall packed with Christmas shoppers on Black Friday. The masses were too quick for a pregnant woman, snatching up every available room in town.
So they went with haste and [[g]by searching] found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known what had been told them concerning this Child, Luke 2:16-17.
There were no parking spots for their donkeys. All traffic was at a standstill and restaurants had more than a one wait just to get inside their establishment. Desperate and willing to settle for anything, a stable was offered for Mary to finally give birth. While it’s not mentioned, Joseph likely scooped up as much hay as possible to make Jesus’ birth bearable for Mary. These are the circumstances which led the son of God and Savior of the World to spend his first night on earth lying in a manger. Rejoice as Christmas Day has arrived, and our savior Emmanuel has arrived!
From a historical perspective, God’s ability to communicate with human beings has varied throughout time. In the earliest days on earth, Moses writes about Adam and Enoch walking and talking with God like going on a walk with a friend. Following the flood and Tower of Babel, God spoke to the forefathers of Israel, usually in the mountains. This period was replaced overtime as God began to speak to Judges and prophets. Prior to Jesus’ birth, there was 400 years of silence before Emmanuel was awakened.
Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power. 13 Food [is intended] for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will finally end [the functions of] both and bring them to nothing. The body is not intended for sexual immorality, but [is intended] for the Lord, and the Lord [is intended] for the body [[a]to save, sanctify, and raise it again]. 14 And God both raised the Lord to life and will also raise us up by His power. 15 Do you not see and know that your bodies are members (bodily parts) of Christ (the Messiah)? Am I therefore to take the parts of Christ and make [them] parts of a prostitute? Never! Never! – 1 Corinthians 6:12-15.
Every Christmas clergy seek to come up with a creative message to celebrate the birth of Jesus. While some sermons have been unique to me, there’s a better way to awaken the Spirit of Emmanuel. Unfortunately, Jesus realized that God’s Spirit is willing, but human bodies are weak, Matthew 26:41. The apostle Paul reinforces this fact to the Church at Corinth. If you don’t spiritually exercise your body with Bible Study and prayer, Christians can become weak to the point of defiling and corrupting our bodies.
But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, 23 Gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [[f]that can bring a charge]. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus (the Messiah) have crucified the flesh (the godless human nature) with its passions and appetites and desires. 25 If we live by the [Holy] Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [If by the Holy Spirit [g]we have our life in God, let us go forward [h]walking in line, our conduct controlled by the Spirit,] Galatians 5:22-25.
The only way to reconnect with God is learning to keep in step with the Holy Spirit. While having access to 5G on your phone is amazing, this doesn’t block out the sinful nature which is in direct conflict with the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:5-8. This is why the apostle Paul calls Christians at Colosse to put to death your old self, Colossians 3:1-9. Only when these appetites and desires are crucified will you have a clear connection with the Holy Spirit. Follow the advice of one of Jesus’ disciples to use the power of the Holy Spirit to awaken Emmanuel, God with us in our daily and personal lives on earth, now and forever, 2 Peter 1:3-4.
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