Come, Let's Celebrate !

Welcome all to share your thoughts and prayers for this Christmas Season!
Share your favorite Christmas Videos, articles, Bible verses, poems, songs,
etc.

Jesus IS the Reason!

Give Him Honor and Praise!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nI8ILD-Wco

From An Irish Santa

Jeremiah 10

0 HOLY NIGHT


O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Savior's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Til he appeared and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope; the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.



Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born.

O night divine. O night, O night divine.



Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by his cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The king of kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.



He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger.

Behold your king! Before him lowly bend!

Behold your king, behold your king.



Truly he taught us to love one another;

His law is love and his gospel is peace.

Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother;

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise his holy name.


Christ is the Lord! O praise his name forever.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

Is it wrong to have a Christmas tree?

It depends. Is your Christmas tree an idol that you worship?

Is it more important to you than remembering the birth of Christ?

Could Christmas still be as special to you if you had no Christmas tree?

Jeremiah 10:1-5 describes a time when heathens were cutting down trees,
adorning them with silver and gold, and setting them up to be worshipped.
This is clearly pagan,

but is most likely not the description of most people who decorate a Christmas tree.


It is not unbiblical or anti-Christ to have a Christmas tree;

however,
the meaning of the birth of Christ must be the main focus of the Christmas holiday.

Some people apply meaning to their trees
by saying that
the upward pointing branches represent praise to God,
the star at the top represents the star of Bethlehem,
and the green of the evergreens symbolizes eternal life, God's gift to us through our Lord, Jesus Christ.



http://www.raptureready.com/faq/faq52.html






Wise men seek Jesus!!!

Recommended Movie:


Jesus of Nazareth

http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/jesus-of-nazareth

Beginning before the Nativity and extending through the Crucifixion and Resurrection,
Jesus Of Nazareth brings to life all the majesty and sweeping drama of the life of Jesus
as told in the Gospels.
Spanning the entire life of Jesus, as documented in the Gospels,
and featuring a dynamic yet nuanced performance by Robert Powell,
this mini-series accurately and passionately explores the life and death of Jesus Christ
in a way that remains timeless and undeniably significant.


Principal Cast: Robert Powell, Anne Bancroft, Ian McShane, and Laurence Olivier

Director: Franco Zeffirelli

Heavenly Peace

A little boy and girl were singing their favorite Christmas carol in church
the Sunday before Christmas.

The boy concluded "Silent Night" with the words, "Sleep in heavenly beans."
"No," his sister corrected, "not beans, peas."


Michael P. Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching,
Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993, p. 57.

Christmas Trees

Sweet spring showers bring a fragrant bouquet
A soft wind blows and meadowlarks play
The pine covered hillside wild creatures reside
A season of growth as you reach for the sky.

Through long summer days you sit parched and brown
Your needles fall softly and cover the ground
The struggle so mighty the rewards seem so few
But from such despair a strong pine tree grew.

Now the days they grow short there’s a chill in the air
Changes are coming a fate we all share
The birds now seek cover in your boughs lush and green
Autumn winds are upon you it’s now time to dream.

You wear a white mantle as snow covers the ground
The song of the saw and soon you fall down
Was the struggle in vain for a seedling to grow
You’ll soon bask in splendor your purpose to know.

To be lifted once more in a glorious light
The spirit of Christmas you embody tonight
Decked out in splendor your time has now come
To herald the birth of God’s loving son.

James M. Bilbrey

THE STORY OF JESUS

AUDIO

1. The Birth of the King

2. Jesus' Ministry Begins

3. No ordinary Man

4. Jesus the Son of God

5. The Hour of Darkness

6. The Resurrection

7. New Beginnings



http://www.biblegateway.com/audio/devotional/story-of-jesus/01



Praise God Almighty who is Faithful to His promises!!!

"THIS BABY"

Steven Curtis Chapman Christmas Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1wlZoN6h9M&feature=related

"Don't Cross Christ out of Christmas"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=jxzufUe18fc&feature=endscreen

13, "If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
14, If iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles.
15, For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; yea, thou shalt be stedfast, and shalt not fear:
16, Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:
17, And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday; thou shalt shine forth, thou shalt be as the morning.
18, And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
19, Also thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; yea, many shall make suit unto thee."

Job 11: 13-19

Jesus is...

"the rock that makes me roll".

-me

Jesus pleases.
-me

Music video:

"HOW MANY KINGS"


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulY2KPmpMwk

by Downhere

"AMEN"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev3Moiil_PE

by Larnelle Harris

"Do You Hear What I Hear?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8oFV7Gwe5Y&feature=related


"O Holy Night"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKX3eyYuJ9c&feature=endscreen&NR=1


"What Child Is This?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iyflYe0zYA&feature=related


"Who is This King of Glory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRqj61J-J8s&feature=related


"Jesus, Light of The World"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwRuKAS_kj8&feature=related



+ + + All songs by Third Day + + +

"Come On Ring Those Bells"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=lDNpi7w0z84&NR=1


"One Small Child"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpm7sAq8TMY&feature=related


"Born Again"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDx6I3Hox9E&feature=rellist&playnext=1&list=PL20CB7D52E444ABC5


Anybody Here Wanna Live Forever "Say I Do"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAz9Cx6AnfM&feature=related


by Evie Tournquist-Karlsson

........................The Man and the Birds.....................



The man to whom I'm going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was

a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in

his dealings with other men. But he just didn't believe all that

incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas Time. It

just didn't make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise.

He just couldn't swallow the Jesus Story, about God coming to Earth

as a man.


"I'm truly sorry to distress you," he told his wife, "but I'm not

going with you to church this Christmas Eve." He said he'd feel

like a hypocrite. That he'd much rather just stay at home, but that

he would wait up for them. And so he stayed and they went to the

midnight service.



Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall.

He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and

heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read

his newspaper. Minutes later he was startled by a thudding

sound...Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a

thud...At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs

against his living room window. But when he went to the front door

to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the

snow. They'd been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search

for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window.



Well, he couldn't let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he

remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That

would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it.

Quickly he put on a coat, galoshes, tramped through the deepening

snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light,

but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in.

So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs, sprinkled

them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted wide open

doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the

bread crumbs, and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow.

He tried catching them...He tried shooing them into the barn by

walking around them waving his arms...Instead, they scattered in

every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn.



And then, he realized that they were afraid of him. To them, he

reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could

think of some way to let them know that they can trust me...That I

am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Because any

move he made tended to frighten them, confuse them. They just would

not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.



"If only I could be a bird," he thought to himself, "and mingle with

them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be

afraid. Then I could show them the way to safe, warm...to the safe

warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see,

and hear and understand." At that moment the church bells began to

ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And

he stood there listening to the bells - Adeste Fidelis - listening

to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to

his knees in the snow.


by Paul Harvey