Latest / The BLAZE (Bible Study) / Holiday Spirit [Morning Devo]
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Good morning family, Good morning God, bless you. Welcome back
- 0:05Speaker 1: to the morning Devo. It's a new week. Amen, I
- 0:07Speaker 1: hope you had a great weekend. Time is flying by.
- 0:11Speaker 1: We are in a month that we start hearing about
- 0:16Speaker 1: Christmas season, holiday spirit. So I was thinking about it,
- 0:19Speaker 1: like holiday spirit, Where does that come from? Where do
- 0:23Speaker 1: we get this spirit from? Amen? So I said, well,
- 0:26Speaker 1: let me ask the word, let me ask the living Word.
- 0:29Speaker 1: Let me ask God through his word, what does the
- 0:32Speaker 1: holiday spirit mean? What is it all about? Amen? So
- 0:36Speaker 1: today this morning, we're gonna talk about the holiday spirit.
- 0:38Speaker 1: If you know me personally, you know I kind of
- 0:41Speaker 1: like a scrooge believe it or not when it comes
- 0:43Speaker 1: to Christmas. Not because of Jesus, his birth, his life,
- 0:49Speaker 1: his death, his resurrection. That's good news for me because
- 0:52Speaker 1: I know the end story and because of the Gospel,
- 0:55Speaker 1: the good news changed my whole entire life. But not
- 0:58Speaker 1: a scrooge about Christmas because of Jesus. I'm a scoogy
- 1:01Speaker 1: by Christmas because the commercialism of it. Amen. I become scroogeous. Amen.
- 1:06Speaker 1: It's not that you know, it's it's for another discussion,
- 1:11Speaker 1: but Amen, But I'm kind of like a scooge. But
- 1:13Speaker 1: Guy's working with me in that area. And you know
- 1:16Speaker 1: I'm lighting up on that, like I'm more lighthearted on it.
- 1:20Speaker 1: I'm not as I used to be in the very beginning.
- 1:23Speaker 1: But Holiday Spirit today in the Morning Diva, what it means,
- 1:27Speaker 1: what it's all about? Is it true? Is it real?
- 1:30Speaker 1: What spirit is it? Amen? Because we know it's a
- 1:32Speaker 1: different spirit, right, It's a holiday spirit, not Holy spirit,
- 1:36Speaker 1: but a holiday spirit. Amen. So we're gonna be talking
- 1:39Speaker 1: about that today on the Morning Devo. Good morning, Sister Joanne,
- 1:42Speaker 1: I'll see you, good morning, I'll bless you. Welcome back
- 1:45Speaker 1: to the Morning Devo, New week sometime, new era. Right,
- 1:50Speaker 1: Let's make sure the volume is pretty good, so listen.
- 1:54Speaker 1: If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or any prayer requests,
- 1:57Speaker 1: door hesitate to leave it on a live chat. That's
- 1:59Speaker 1: what we're Herefore, Amen, let me get to my notes
- 2:02Speaker 1: real quick so that way I don't mess this all up.
- 2:05Speaker 1: Holiday Spirit, and you know we're in the month that
- 2:10Speaker 1: a lot for a lot of people, it's difficult, believe
- 2:12Speaker 1: it or not, because now they're thinking about how they're
- 2:16Speaker 1: gonna get presents for everybody in their family, how they're
- 2:19Speaker 1: gonna do this how they get pay the bills during
- 2:20Speaker 1: the holidays some people, some people get into debt, some
- 2:24Speaker 1: people don't have enough or whatever. So we have to
- 2:27Speaker 1: be careful when it comes to the holiday spirit. Amen.
- 2:30Speaker 1: We want to make sure there's a happy season for
- 2:33Speaker 1: our lives, a prosperous season for our lives, a healthy
- 2:36Speaker 1: season for our lives. We don't want to be stressed
- 2:38Speaker 1: out during the holiday season, right, We don't want to
- 2:41Speaker 1: be stressed out due to the holiday spirit, if that
- 2:45Speaker 1: makes any sense. Good morning, sister Noisi, I see you,
- 2:47Speaker 1: good born, it got blessed. Welcome back to the one
- 2:49Speaker 1: and dave on my sister and my friend. Amen. Sister
- 2:53Speaker 1: Joan says, I asked my sisters and brothers from church
- 2:55Speaker 1: to pray for my sister Melody. She had two heart attacks.
- 2:59Speaker 1: Made God be with her and keep her safe in
- 3:02Speaker 1: the name of Jesus. Amen, and we'll pray for that
- 3:05Speaker 1: as well. Amen too. Heart attacks. Wow, that's crazy. But listen,
- 3:10Speaker 1: we trusted a living, holy, righteous, loving God, a saving God,
- 3:14Speaker 1: a healing God, the God of miracles. And during this
- 3:17Speaker 1: holiday season, let's trust the purpose and the reason behind
- 3:21Speaker 1: the holiday season. Let's trust God, Amen. The holiday spirit
- 3:26Speaker 1: often refers to the joy, generosity, and togetherness. I love
- 3:32Speaker 1: that word togetherness many people experience during festive seasons. You
- 3:37Speaker 1: see that. So it's a time to get together. It's
- 3:40Speaker 1: not a time to just stress yourself out and worry
- 3:45Speaker 1: about gifts giving and decorations. That's beautiful as part of it, right,
- 3:52Speaker 1: but it's not the whole thing. Amn. Holiday spirit is
- 3:55Speaker 1: not about being stressed out. Holiday spirit is about togetherness,
- 3:58Speaker 1: joy general. Amen. And we can experience that together because
- 4:03Speaker 1: of the word that puts us together. Amen. John chapter three,
- 4:07Speaker 1: verse sixteen, John three sixteen and Luke chapter two Versus
- 4:11Speaker 1: ten and eleven. That's where we'll be at today. A men,
- 4:13Speaker 1: those two scriptures to get us to reel back and
- 4:17Speaker 1: you know, bringing back in to the holiday spirit, the
- 4:19Speaker 1: true reason behind the season. Amen. So we'll pray first.
- 4:23Speaker 1: After we pray, we'll share this out for like sixty seconds.
- 4:25Speaker 1: Help me share this out, and when we come back,
- 4:27Speaker 1: we'll get right into today's morning devo. Let me just
- 4:30Speaker 1: make sure the group knows that we're here alive, and
- 4:32Speaker 1: let me put that really quick. Okay, So the group knows, Father,
- 4:38Speaker 1: I thank you so much for this season for this time,
- 4:40Speaker 1: for this day. Thank you, Lo God for giving us
- 4:43Speaker 1: purpose and having a plan for us that we can
- 4:47Speaker 1: continue to have joy and peace in our hearts and
- 4:49Speaker 1: minds because you are the one who gives us the joy,
- 4:53Speaker 1: and the joy of the Lord is what is our strength.
- 4:55Speaker 1: Thank you, Lord Jesus for strengthening us. Thank you, Lord
- 4:58Speaker 1: God for togetherness, for bonding us together through your word,
- 5:02Speaker 1: through love, through your grace, through your mercy, through your
- 5:04Speaker 1: saving message, which is the Gospel. Thank you, Lord God,
- 5:08Speaker 1: that you have protected us and guided us to this
- 5:10Speaker 1: very point, and that you can sine to protecting guide
- 5:12Speaker 1: us all the way through until you come for us,
- 5:15Speaker 1: or we come to you, or whatever comes first in
- 5:18Speaker 1: the calendar that you have set up. Thank you, Lord God,
- 5:21Speaker 1: that you are eternal God, that you sit outside of time,
- 5:24Speaker 1: but you could come back at any minute in our time.
- 5:27Speaker 1: Lord God, You're an incredible God, an amazing God, just
- 5:32Speaker 1: amazing at what you do and the lives of all
- 5:34Speaker 1: those whomsoevers who called upon your name to be saved.
- 5:37Speaker 1: I pray, Lord God, I had your protection. That you
- 5:39Speaker 1: continue to protect God guard all of us. Lo God,
- 5:42Speaker 1: and by your Holy Spirit, by your power, that you
- 5:45Speaker 1: would dispatch angels to our homes, so our job places,
- 5:50Speaker 1: to our ministries, to our churches, to our families, and
- 5:53Speaker 1: those from the youngest all the way to the oldest
- 5:55Speaker 1: and everyone in between will receive a message from your
- 5:57Speaker 1: holy ghost today, and that we would, Lord God, be
- 6:01Speaker 1: continually continually growing together in faith and knowing that you
- 6:05Speaker 1: are able and that you're willing to perform your word
- 6:08Speaker 1: for each envy every individual life that is available to
- 6:13Speaker 1: listen to you right now, and those who are listening later,
- 6:16Speaker 1: Bless them as well. And those who are watching now.
- 6:19Speaker 1: Bless the families, and bless us all, and we will
- 6:21Speaker 1: have a true holiday spirit during this season. In Jesus name.
- 6:25Speaker 1: We pray us with love, respect and by faith in
- 6:27Speaker 1: Jesus' name, and those who agree, we say amen to
- 6:30Speaker 1: the Amen. Amen. So let's go for it. Blast, what's
- 6:34Speaker 1: up Tom God, bless you, bro, It's good to see you.
- 6:36Speaker 1: Good morning, my brother and my friends. So let's go
- 6:39Speaker 1: for it. Let's share this out for sixty seconds. When
- 6:41Speaker 1: we come back, we'll get right into today's morning devo
- 6:44Speaker 1: And says joe An, We're gonna pray for your sister.
- 6:48Speaker 1: Amen as well. We know that these times, During these times,
- 6:53Speaker 1: heart attacksing, whatever condition people find themselves in could be
- 6:57Speaker 1: a scary thing, very scary thing. But where God there
- 6:59Speaker 1: is no fear. He doesn't give us a spirit of fear.
- 7:02Speaker 1: He gives us spirit of courage, sound mind, and we
- 7:05Speaker 1: have power and authority because of who he is and
- 7:07Speaker 1: what he's doing in our lives. So we'll concede to
- 7:10Speaker 1: pray for your sister as well. Let's help me share
- 7:12Speaker 1: this out sixty seconds. When we come back, we'll get
- 7:15Speaker 1: right into holiday spirit today on the morning, devil, I'll
- 7:18Speaker 1: be right back. All right, all right, we're back on
- 8:59Speaker 1: this devo here. I got a big message from sister Joanne.
- 9:03Speaker 1: Let me see if I could get to that really quick. Apologies,
- 9:06Speaker 1: I was just reading that message off the air. I've
- 9:09Speaker 1: been through so much having my sister. Let me put
- 9:12Speaker 1: this on screen so you can see what I'm reading.
- 9:14Speaker 1: Charmaine and Holy family member, only family member, and now
- 9:20Speaker 1: my other sister. They know what my sister Melody went through,
- 9:24Speaker 1: lost her husband and lost her son. And yes, I'm
- 9:27Speaker 1: very stressed out. I don't know what Thanksgiving is and
- 9:31Speaker 1: I don't know what Christmas is. I have my hands
- 9:34Speaker 1: so full and so stressed out myself. I'm worrying about
- 9:38Speaker 1: my husband, my son, and now my sister. Yeah, this
- 9:42Speaker 1: is a difficult time when these things are happening all
- 9:45Speaker 1: at once, right, But the peace be still over your life.
- 9:50Speaker 1: Is still real over your life as well, the peace
- 9:52Speaker 1: of God. You have evidence of peace because you can
- 9:56Speaker 1: speak about it. You could talk about it, and you
- 9:57Speaker 1: could trust God through it all. We have these seasons
- 10:01Speaker 1: that everything seems like is going on at the same time,
- 10:05Speaker 1: You're not alone in that. This world and this time
- 10:08Speaker 1: that we have here is very short a man, so
- 10:10Speaker 1: we're gonna make this count and we're gonna make every
- 10:13Speaker 1: day count. So as long as we have God, as
- 10:15Speaker 1: long as we have his word, as long as we
- 10:17Speaker 1: have his promises, as long as we have his healing power, authority,
- 10:20Speaker 1: everything that He offers, He's going to get us through
- 10:24Speaker 1: day by day. Have you noticed that in your worst days,
- 10:27Speaker 1: the next day still came, And your worst troubles, your
- 10:30Speaker 1: worst worrying season, the next day still came. It seems
- 10:33Speaker 1: like the day doesn't worry. Let the day worry about
- 10:37Speaker 1: the next day. Let the day worry about itself. We
- 10:41Speaker 1: have to trust God and believe him a man, and
- 10:44Speaker 1: worrying is really not for us. I know we could
- 10:47Speaker 1: be stressed out. We're human, right, but we're not mere humans.
- 10:51Speaker 1: We're found in the land of the Living according to
- 10:54Speaker 1: the Word of God. And when it comes to these
- 10:56Speaker 1: issues of family members and loss and all that, we
- 11:00Speaker 1: feel it because we have emotion a man, we have
- 11:04Speaker 1: emotions that God has placed there for a reason and purpose.
- 11:08Speaker 1: So I don't know what the answers to how you
- 11:11Speaker 1: to get through this, but I do know the answer
- 11:14Speaker 1: to the one who will get you through it. His
- 11:16Speaker 1: name is the Lord Jesus. And you know how we
- 11:19Speaker 1: represent over here on the Morning Devo. So, my family
- 11:22Speaker 1: and friends out there, if you want to send out
- 11:25Speaker 1: prayers for sister Joanne a man, she could really use
- 11:29Speaker 1: it and any type of support if you can connect
- 11:31Speaker 1: with her on the other end as well and stay
- 11:34Speaker 1: connected to one another. Togetherness is what the holiday season
- 11:38Speaker 1: is really about, if you think about it. Togetherness. It's
- 11:41Speaker 1: not about about to give a how little you don't,
- 11:44Speaker 1: how much you have, or how little you have. Not
- 11:46Speaker 1: about that, amen. I know a lot of people want
- 11:49Speaker 1: to compare themselves to the Joneses, the people who have
- 11:53Speaker 1: You know, all of this and that and the third
- 11:55Speaker 1: and say, Man, I wish I would have had this.
- 11:56Speaker 1: I wish I'll have neighbors that decorate their houses all
- 12:00Speaker 1: for the holiday season, which is great. You know what
- 12:02Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm none against that, but we don't necessarily
- 12:04Speaker 1: do that. But we still have the Spirit of God
- 12:09Speaker 1: in us. Amen. And we're still in the community, and
- 12:11Speaker 1: we still offer hope to all those who ask the
- 12:14Speaker 1: reason for why we believe and how we believe in
- 12:17Speaker 1: who we believe in. Amen. And I believe that puts
- 12:19Speaker 1: people together, brings joy, It brings peace to people's hearts,
- 12:23Speaker 1: comfort to people's hearts. Amen. And the Holiday spirit is
- 12:27Speaker 1: just that, Amen. So let's just put it on the
- 12:29Speaker 1: screen so that way you can see when I'm talking
- 12:32Speaker 1: about Amen, when it comes to the holiday spirit. On
- 12:36Speaker 1: today's morning Devo, We're gonna be in two scriptures today, Amen.
- 12:41Speaker 1: The first one is John three to sixteen, very popular
- 12:44Speaker 1: as a believer. I think everybody as a believer has
- 12:47Speaker 1: its memorized Amen in the hearts, because this is really
- 12:51Speaker 1: the core of the gospel message John three sixteen. Let's
- 12:55Speaker 1: read it. For God so greatly loved and dearly prize
- 12:59Speaker 1: the world, world that he even gave his one and
- 13:04Speaker 1: only begotten son, so that whoever believes and trust in
- 13:11Speaker 1: Him as Savior shall not perish but have eternal life.
- 13:18Speaker 1: You see that holiday spirit is about the Gospel. For
- 13:22Speaker 1: God so loved, a loving God, a caring God, a
- 13:27Speaker 1: God who responded, a God who came to this world
- 13:31Speaker 1: to not condemn this world. So in the Holiday spirit,
- 13:34Speaker 1: people are looking at God funny, like, well, God, why
- 13:38Speaker 1: would you allow this to happen? And why did you
- 13:40Speaker 1: allow that to happen to my family or to me?
- 13:42Speaker 1: Why would this happen? So a holiday spirit. If we're
- 13:45Speaker 1: not careful, we'll forget what it's all about. We'll forget
- 13:48Speaker 1: what Christmas season is all about if we worry about
- 13:51Speaker 1: the things of this world. And the things of this
- 13:53Speaker 1: world are the things of this world? Right? We already
- 13:56Speaker 1: know that we live in a broken world system. The
- 14:00Speaker 1: Kingdom of God and the message of God, and the
- 14:02Speaker 1: Gospel of God stands all through time for all eternity.
- 14:07Speaker 1: That God loved us so much that he gave his
- 14:11Speaker 1: only begotten son, the Lord Jesus, so that whoever believes,
- 14:16Speaker 1: if you believe, this is for you, If you believe
- 14:19Speaker 1: in trust in him as savior. We're not gonna perish.
- 14:23Speaker 1: We'd have eternal life. Our bodies physically will go to
- 14:26Speaker 1: the ground, but our spirit is alive and our soul
- 14:29Speaker 1: is saved. Come want somebody holiday spirit. We need some
- 14:33Speaker 1: of this juice. We need this revival in our personal lives.
- 14:37Speaker 1: We need to be reminded of who God is, who
- 14:39Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus is, and what he has done during
- 14:42Speaker 1: his holiday season, so that we want to get another spirit,
- 14:46Speaker 1: a spirit of stress, a spirit of anger, a spirit
- 14:48Speaker 1: of bitterness. We won't get into those other spirits, but
- 14:50Speaker 1: we'll have the true holiday spirit, and we'll know what
- 14:53Speaker 1: that means according to the scriptures. Amen. The second scripture
- 14:57Speaker 1: we have is Luke chapter two, Versus ten and eleven.
- 15:00Speaker 1: Luke Chapter two, Verses ten and eleven. The Bible says,
- 15:04Speaker 1: but the angels said to them, do not be afraid,
- 15:09Speaker 1: for behold, I bring you good news of great joy,
- 15:14Speaker 1: which will be for all the people. For this day
- 15:19Speaker 1: in the city of David, there has been born for
- 15:22Speaker 1: you a savior who is who Christ, the Lord, the Messiah.
- 15:29Speaker 1: That's the prophecy from Micah chapter five and two. If
- 15:32Speaker 1: you want to see the prophecy and just showing up
- 15:34Speaker 1: as a fulfilled prophecy from the Old Covenant to the
- 15:37Speaker 1: New Covenant. Amen. The angels said, do not be afraid.
- 15:41Speaker 1: Why because when angels show up, our angelic host shows up, right,
- 15:45Speaker 1: we'll probably be afraid because we've never seen anything so magnificent,
- 15:50Speaker 1: so big, so awesome as an angel. But the good
- 15:54Speaker 1: news about the angels showing up is he had great news.
- 15:57Speaker 1: Good news. He had the Gospel of great joy, which
- 16:01Speaker 1: will breathe for all the people in this day, whatever
- 16:06Speaker 1: day that was that day in the City of David,
- 16:09Speaker 1: that has been born for you a savior who is
- 16:12Speaker 1: Christ the Lord. During the holiday spirit. Let's not forget
- 16:16Speaker 1: during the Christmas holiday spirit, don't forget the reason behind that,
- 16:22Speaker 1: the spirit of holidays. Amen. This holiday season. So this
- 16:27Speaker 1: helps me out because, like I said, sometimes I could
- 16:29Speaker 1: get a little scoogis and miss the point sometimes, Amen.
- 16:33Speaker 1: And because of the commercialism of it all, I get
- 16:36Speaker 1: a little turn to the whole festivities. Amen. But like
- 16:39Speaker 1: I said, God is still working with me, and God
- 16:42Speaker 1: is good. He won't allow me to stay in a
- 16:45Speaker 1: place where He doesn't want me to be. He wants
- 16:48Speaker 1: a joy, he wants peace for all of his children. Amen,
- 16:52Speaker 1: even in this world, that we might suffer through this
- 16:55Speaker 1: and suffer through that. We have an opportunity right now
- 16:58Speaker 1: to share the Gospel message with anybody that's in near
- 17:01Speaker 1: our vicinity, that anybody that's in our current influence or
- 17:07Speaker 1: in our current circle. Right. We bring the Gospels to
- 17:10Speaker 1: the world. The world don't bring the Gospel to us. Right.
- 17:14Speaker 1: So in the Holiday spirit and the way of God
- 17:17Speaker 1: and His spirit, we could bring the good News message
- 17:19Speaker 1: John through sixteen. We could remind people of the true
- 17:22Speaker 1: reason behind the Christmas season and have a true holiday
- 17:25Speaker 1: spirit of joy, peace and togetherness because of what Jesus
- 17:29Speaker 1: has done and who He is in our lives and
- 17:31Speaker 1: in our hearts. We could be living postcards to people
- 17:35Speaker 1: who need hope, joy and peace. Amen. So we have
- 17:38Speaker 1: holiday spirit living inside of us. Amen, not what the
- 17:42Speaker 1: world's offering, and not something that's made up, but not
- 17:45Speaker 1: something that's superficial, but something foundational, something we could really
- 17:48Speaker 1: trust in, and we trust in the Lord and Savior.
- 17:51Speaker 1: Brother cavaon with something man, Lord time no see praise
- 17:54Speaker 1: the Lord. Good morning, my bro God bless you. Welcome
- 17:57Speaker 1: back to the morning. Devil, Brother Frank, I see you
- 17:59Speaker 1: good morning, my brother Sam. Bless you and your family.
- 18:01Speaker 1: Bless you in your family as well as we can
- 18:03Speaker 1: see to move forward. Right these days are just flying by,
- 18:07Speaker 1: but end the day we have today, right now, we
- 18:10Speaker 1: could trust and believe in the one who created the
- 18:12Speaker 1: day and created our future. Created, He knows about our past,
- 18:16Speaker 1: gave us for all our past, and we could trust
- 18:18Speaker 1: in him during this holiday season, so we can have
- 18:21Speaker 1: a true holiday spirit and walk around with joy and
- 18:23Speaker 1: peace and togetherness and our hearts and our minds, so
- 18:26Speaker 1: that way everywhere we go we could shine the magnificent
- 18:30Speaker 1: blazing light of the Lord Jesus. Amen. So the idea
- 18:33Speaker 1: of holiday spirit brings to mind the feelings of joy, generosity,
- 18:37Speaker 1: togetherness for us believers, for Christians. Right, these qualities can
- 18:44Speaker 1: be seen as expressions of the fruit of the spirit.
- 18:47Speaker 1: Right because joy, peace, Right, it's part of us fruit
- 18:50Speaker 1: of the spirit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
- 18:57Speaker 1: and self control. I call it the nine right relationship
- 19:00Speaker 1: five twenty two and twenty three. We see that. So
- 19:03Speaker 1: the holidays are here, so we celebrate. We just celebrated
- 19:06Speaker 1: Thanksgiving and men a lot of people are going through
- 19:09Speaker 1: tough times during the holidays because the people not being
- 19:12Speaker 1: with us and men. Last year we had a holiday
- 19:15Speaker 1: season with family members. This year, some family members are
- 19:18Speaker 1: not with us, and man happen to all of us.
- 19:21Speaker 1: No one is excluded when it comes to loss and
- 19:25Speaker 1: pain and grief. None of us are excluded from that. Right.
- 19:29Speaker 1: I wish I could say, you all your believer now,
- 19:31Speaker 1: so you're not going to experience any pain, trouble or
- 19:34Speaker 1: to be just like you know, floating our clouds and
- 19:37Speaker 1: all that. I wish I could say that, but that
- 19:39Speaker 1: just won't be the truth. The truth of the matter
- 19:41Speaker 1: is that we live in the world that's broken, but
- 19:43Speaker 1: we have the one that fixes the world. But he's
- 19:46Speaker 1: coming back with a new heaven and a new earth.
- 19:49Speaker 1: That's the Lord Jesus. We trust and cling on into
- 19:52Speaker 1: the Messiah. We cling on to the saving We cling
- 19:55Speaker 1: on to the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings.
- 19:57Speaker 1: We hang on to his promises. We have hang on
- 20:00Speaker 1: to his life giving message. We hang on to his spirit.
- 20:03Speaker 1: Holy spirit is living inside of us. So therefore we
- 20:06Speaker 1: have a true holiday spirit. We don't have the spirit
- 20:09Speaker 1: of this world, the spirit of this age. We don't
- 20:11Speaker 1: do none of that. We don't need none of that. Amen,
- 20:14Speaker 1: that's all superficious stuff. We have a foundation. We have
- 20:17Speaker 1: together this joy, peace, We have love. Right. God grants's mercy.
- 20:22Speaker 1: He forgives us for our past, for our sins, today
- 20:26Speaker 1: and forever. More so we trust to him. We grow,
- 20:29Speaker 1: and his grace grow, and his truth grow in the Gospel,
- 20:32Speaker 1: and we move forward. Yesterday's gone, Amen, Today is a
- 20:37Speaker 1: new day, and tomorrow's not promised. So we have right now.
- 20:40Speaker 1: I like to live in a moment, Amen, to live
- 20:42Speaker 1: in a moment. Yesterday I had an opportunity to celebrate
- 20:47Speaker 1: with one of my godsons his birthday at a dinner.
- 20:50Speaker 1: And then when I got home, I realized I didn't
- 20:52Speaker 1: take a picture with him, Amen, to show that I
- 20:55Speaker 1: was celebrating with him and his family. But my wife did,
- 20:58Speaker 1: and my wife, my wife takes pictures all the time.
- 21:00Speaker 1: So when I got home, it's like, oh wow, I
- 21:02Speaker 1: don't even have a picture with him. She says, you
- 21:03Speaker 1: have to grab the moment. She said, you have to
- 21:06Speaker 1: take the time in that moment. And I should have
- 21:10Speaker 1: thought about that, but of course my mind was racing
- 21:13Speaker 1: and I was trying to get to from point A
- 21:15Speaker 1: to point B. Before a certain time, and I completely
- 21:18Speaker 1: forgot to take a picture with my god son. But
- 21:22Speaker 1: let's live in a moment. You know. I received that
- 21:25Speaker 1: from my wife when she said we have to live
- 21:27Speaker 1: in a moment. We have those moments and time in
- 21:30Speaker 1: our lives. If it's a good time, a man hold
- 21:32Speaker 1: on to that good time because other times are coming.
- 21:35Speaker 1: But during this season we have a holiday spirit that
- 21:38Speaker 1: should not be based upon what we could do for
- 21:41Speaker 1: others or what we can do for others, should be
- 21:44Speaker 1: based on what God has done for us and the
- 21:46Speaker 1: finished work of Jesus that we can now give to others.
- 21:49Speaker 1: A man we could share with others is the Gospel message.
- 21:52Speaker 1: So that way everybody will get the best part of us,
- 21:55Speaker 1: which is holy spirit of God. So it's not a sea,
- 22:00Speaker 1: there's no attribute, right, the food of the spirit, not
- 22:03Speaker 1: just during you know, November, December, and January, those three
- 22:09Speaker 1: very big seasons holidays, right, we have Thanksgiving, Christmas and
- 22:14Speaker 1: New Year. I don't celebrate Halloween, so I'll leave that out.
- 22:18Speaker 1: And of course then after New Year, then we get
- 22:21Speaker 1: Valentine's Then we get to celebrate Resurrection Sunday a man,
- 22:26Speaker 1: which is Easter. So we have these seasons in life.
- 22:29Speaker 1: How about if we live from January to December of
- 22:33Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. I hate to date these things because
- 22:35Speaker 1: you might be listening or watching this ten fifteen years
- 22:38Speaker 1: from now. But in this season we're in, we're going
- 22:41Speaker 1: into twenty twenty five. How about you take January all
- 22:45Speaker 1: away to December and you have a holiday spirit all
- 22:51Speaker 1: the way through. What will happen? It will radically change
- 22:54Speaker 1: your life right, and other people will see that joy
- 22:56Speaker 1: and that peace and that love, and they'll see the
- 22:58Speaker 1: togetherness in your community. Amen, Let's see that joy. They'll
- 23:02Speaker 1: see that generosity that you're willing to give of your time, treasure,
- 23:07Speaker 1: whatever it takes, talents, your gifts. You're willing to generously
- 23:13Speaker 1: give that out. Amen. So that way you don't stress
- 23:15Speaker 1: out about how can I give to everybody? You can
- 23:18Speaker 1: give to all the people, and your influence. You can
- 23:21Speaker 1: give the gift of love, to givet the peace, to
- 23:23Speaker 1: give joy. You could share the God's message, share your
- 23:26Speaker 1: testimony of how God has changed your life. So that
- 23:30Speaker 1: way you won't be stressed out about superficial things or
- 23:33Speaker 1: things that are just for possessions or how you call it,
- 23:38Speaker 1: things that just are very temporary, very temporary. We can
- 23:42Speaker 1: think about things that are eternal and share those terminal
- 23:44Speaker 1: things for other people, an amazing gift that we could share.
- 23:48Speaker 1: We celebrate holidays. It's the opportunity to reflect on the
- 23:52Speaker 1: love and grace that God has shown us through the
- 23:55Speaker 1: Lord Jesus John three sixteen, Right, that's shown us through
- 23:59Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus. We can express this love to others,
- 24:02Speaker 1: not out of obligation, but as a natural outflow of
- 24:09Speaker 1: the Spirit's work within us. Right wherever we go, Holy
- 24:13Speaker 1: Spirit goes. It's in us working through us. So we
- 24:17Speaker 1: have holiday spirit all the way through. If you think
- 24:19Speaker 1: about it, every day, every season in our lives, we
- 24:23Speaker 1: should be celebrating somehow someway, It's gonna be a lot
- 24:27Speaker 1: of pain, a lot of hurt, a lot of loss,
- 24:29Speaker 1: But we still celebrate all the way through because we
- 24:31Speaker 1: have made it so far. We have made it that far.
- 24:33Speaker 1: When I look back thirty years, I'm like, how did
- 24:36Speaker 1: I get here? Amen to this moment right now by
- 24:39Speaker 1: the grace of God. So I celebrate the grace of
- 24:42Speaker 1: God wherever I go. And people might not understand that.
- 24:45Speaker 1: People might not be like, you know, worrying about that Amen, Listen,
- 24:50Speaker 1: I don't worry about it either. I just know I
- 24:52Speaker 1: have this peace, I have this joy, I have this togetherness,
- 24:55Speaker 1: I have this fulfillment. The promises of God being fulfilled
- 24:58Speaker 1: in your life is a thing. Right, you start realizing, like, whoa,
- 25:03Speaker 1: how did this happen? How did we get here? Because
- 25:05Speaker 1: we trust it in the Savior. We trusted in the Lord.
- 25:07Speaker 1: We trusted in the King of Kings. We trusted in Yahweh.
- 25:10Speaker 1: We trusted in God through Jesus Christ. We have Holy
- 25:12Speaker 1: Spirit of reminding us of every single thing that He
- 25:15Speaker 1: has done and every single promise that He has made
- 25:17Speaker 1: to us, and we're counting on it. We're counting on him.
- 25:20Speaker 1: He's going to come through with all his promises during
- 25:23Speaker 1: the holiday season, and the holiday spirit should be alive
- 25:26Speaker 1: in your life, should be alive in my life too,
- 25:28Speaker 1: as I come against the spirit of the Scrooge. Right,
- 25:31Speaker 1: give God thanks every time you wake up, yeah, because
- 25:34Speaker 1: there's gonna be a day that we won't And I
- 25:37Speaker 1: think about that day and I'm like, man, God just
- 25:39Speaker 1: positioned people to be at peace with where I'm at.
- 25:43Speaker 1: After I'm godfi out of here, so that way it
- 25:45Speaker 1: won't be a lot of unrest or people will be easy,
- 25:50Speaker 1: you know, knowing that there's a life after this. This
- 25:54Speaker 1: is not it. If this was it, man, we have
- 25:56Speaker 1: a road deal. Right. Atheists have no explanation of the afterlife,
- 26:01Speaker 1: and they don't understand the Gospel, a lot of them,
- 26:04Speaker 1: so they resist to even investigate the claims of the
- 26:09Speaker 1: Lord Jesus. Not that they don't want to believe. No,
- 26:13Speaker 1: it's not that they can't believe, it's that they don't
- 26:14Speaker 1: want to believe. So the atheist really doesn't have any
- 26:17Speaker 1: hope of any eternal life or after life because they
- 26:20Speaker 1: refuse the Gospel. They don't want to get involved in
- 26:23Speaker 1: none of what we're saying, Amen. So we pray for atheists,
- 26:26Speaker 1: But we could pray for atheists. We could bring joy
- 26:28Speaker 1: peace to an atheist. We could have a holiday spirit
- 26:31Speaker 1: in front of them and they're going to wonder where
- 26:33Speaker 1: did we get this from? Because it's definitely not from
- 26:35Speaker 1: this world and there's definitely not nothing we made up.
- 26:39Speaker 1: This is all the Gospel message John three sixteen, And
- 26:42Speaker 1: we read two verses out of Luke. So we have
- 26:47Speaker 1: what we need, Amen, in this life, for the holiday
- 26:50Speaker 1: spirit to continue, not just through November December and January,
- 26:54Speaker 1: but all through the year. If you think about it,
- 26:57Speaker 1: every month, we have something to celebrate. If we're still here,
- 27:01Speaker 1: we have a reason. Like my brother Blah said, if
- 27:04Speaker 1: thanks every time you wake up, I mean, what other
- 27:08Speaker 1: gift is that? A new day is a new gift,
- 27:11Speaker 1: a new gift of life. Holiday season can remind us
- 27:14Speaker 1: of the ultimate gift we have received, eternal life through
- 27:18Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Amen. The gift is the reason or a
- 27:22Speaker 1: reason for a continual celebration like I've been saying, and
- 27:26Speaker 1: gratitude transcending any specific holiday. As we embrace our identity
- 27:32Speaker 1: in Christ, we can enjoy the freedom to celebrate in
- 27:36Speaker 1: ways that align our heart, our new heart and the
- 27:40Speaker 1: Spirit's leading. So happy holidays, that's my message, Amen, So
- 27:46Speaker 1: thank you so much for hanging out with me and
- 27:47Speaker 1: giving me your ears and giving me your time during
- 27:51Speaker 1: these morning devots. I'll send you all off with a
- 27:53Speaker 1: blessing God. Bless you all, God keep you all, and
- 27:56Speaker 1: remember always that God is good. Peace out, and let's
- 28:00Speaker 1: read some here. Sister Johanne, you're being request me in
- 28:04Speaker 1: a few and they're gonta exchange numbers. Thank you. Sister
- 28:07Speaker 1: Nilsa for reaching out to my sister Joanne and sister
- 28:10Speaker 1: Joyce is here. Amen. Praise the Lord for his goodness
- 28:13Speaker 1: and mercy, morning by morning. Yes, every day is a
- 28:16Speaker 1: new day. I'm out of here. Ladies and gentlemen, God
- 28:18Speaker 1: bless you all. Peace.