Christmas gift

The Heart of Jesus Christ

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Nursing home ministry is not about being nice. It is not about feeling good or having others think of as as more religious than others. Nursing home ministry like any other service for the Lord Jesus Christ is about being obedient to His call to carry His message to those He sends us. Any “nice feelings” or “good impressions” that come of what we do are entirely secondary. We are in fact being called to the front lines of the battle for men and women for whom God sent His Son to die. If He was willing to stay on the cross for those long hours to open a path to heaven, how can we not do all we can to tell others about this good news?

This Christmas we have a unique opportunity to go into nursing homes in our community. Now would be the perfect time to call together people from our local churches to sing and share the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. How better can we express the heart of Jesus than by going to tell it on any mountain that God leads us to this year? Be blessed!kimg1068

 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed Luke 4:18

 

Christmas Devotional

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“O tidings of comfort and joy” goes the end of the chorus of the 18th century English carol. Hearing the strains of this melody stirs in many of us the picture of shepherds surrounding Bethlehem’s manger with wise men just over the horizon bearing gold, frankincense and Myrrh. While all of these images are true to the lyrics and the season, our own journey on this telling will begin in Nazareth. These glad tidings given came to Mary, then Joseph, the shepherds, wise men and now for anyone who will be willing to listen. This year I am offering two 30 day devotionals for advent reading. The Path to Bethlehem contains some content from last year’s reader with some updating and several additional daily readings. 30 Days of Comfort and Joy is entirely new for this year. I hope that one that one of these will be a blessing to my readers this year. You could follow the links I have inserted to find these or search yourself on Amazon. These are each in both e-book and paperback format.

The Path to Bethlehem

30 Days of Comfort and Joy

 

Bring Them to Me!

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They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Matthew 1:17-18
bread

Around Christmas probably more of us than we would like to admit practice something called re-gifting. Generally this is associated with someone who is either a cheap-skate or an ingrate. However, in the Bible Jesus also practiced re-gifting. In this case Jesus took the five loaves from the disciples, who got them from a small boy and then gave them to five thousand hungry people. Later, Jesus took the disciples which the Father had given Him and gave them to the world. Jesus took the life the Father had given Him and He gave it to us on the cross.

In this year ahead we will all be “gifted” with time, talent and treasure. None of these things belong to us, rather they pass through our hands. How we “Re-Gift” what we have received will feed the hungry, bring comfort, and give shelter and friendship to those in our world. Will you “Re-Gift” something today? God bless you as you share your gifts in the year ahead!