Gospel
and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said:
A voice of one crying out in the desert,
Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
John wore clothing made of camel’s hair
and had a leather belt around his waist.
His food was locusts and wild honey.
At that time Jerusalem, all Judea,
and the whole region around the Jordan
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins.
When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees
coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers!
Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
Produce good fruit as evidence of your repentance.
And do not presume to say to yourselves,
‘We have Abraham as our father.’
For I tell you,
God can raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees.
Therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit
will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
I am baptizing you with water, for repentance,
but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I.
I am not worthy to carry his sandals.
He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
His winnowing fan is in his hand.
He will clear his threshing floor
and gather his wheat into his barn,
but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Amen!
MANAGERIE thank you so much prayers for you and your’s be well GOD BLESS
R>D.
Thank you for posting from Matthew.
We saw the Messiah last night for the first time in many years. What love and reverence for the Son of God to create such music!
My High School Concert Choir actually sang the entire Messiah. A public school. Imagine that!
Seems so very long ago. How the times have changed.
When I was in elementary school, one of the mothers in our neighborhood was actually a well known soprano with the Seattle Opera and a group of us got to sing in the background in their production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors”. That was over 50 years ago but I still remember how magical and holy it all felt!
I heard Messiah sung in Chester Cathedral in England my first Christmas in Wales. It was freezing both outside and inside the Cathedral. There were massive heaters within, and people familiar with those conditions brought blankets.
The performance was for me a spiritual experience for many reasons, but as I came to love this oratorio when I was a teenager, hearing it in such a magnificent House of God was something I’ve carried with me all these years.
I do not, to this day, understand how those performing it, could execute the perfection I was privileged to hear in the cold that we sat in. But it was glorious, and it remains a Christmas (and Easter) essential for me.
I hope for everyone here a peaceful Christmas, one full of prayerful hope and assurance that as our Father always fulfills His promises, there is much to comfort and sustain us for the days ahead. God bless each one in these bless-ed branches.
I too would sit in a frozen church to hear the Messiah…it is truly the breath of God funneled through Handel”s glorious music.
Thank you for posting, and thanks be to God Almighty our Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Heavenly Father!
Thanks for the beautiful and inspirational message. It is even more moving when the “young woman” of Isaiah 7 is read as “virgin”, which is used in the Septuagint/LXX and NT.
Peace to all. Come Lord Jesus. Amen.
Menagerie,
Have you seen”The Chosen” series free on AngelStudios.com?
Sooooo good and I love the depiction of John the Baptist within.
Draws me ever closer to The Lord. My teen daughter loves it too.
Thank you for your faith- filled posting. We know by Whom’s Hand delivers us from this.
I love that series. I use the Hallow app for daily prayer, scripture readings, etc. and Jonathan Roumie does a lot of them. Right now they have a daily Advent reading on the app, and one of the other actors does the Bible reading. I’ve really enjoyed it.
My daughter has talked about the Hallow app. Considering she’s a 16 yo teenager in love with the Lord… I look for connection for her at every opportunity. We don’t have a church anymore, she’s outgrown AWANA, Upwards, and is no longer in Christian school due to learning difference. We didn’t go back to Bible Study Fellowship because I refused to read The Word of God out loud through a mask (even after almost dying of CVID) so we fill in the gaps everywhere we can. We are hanging on (for dear eternity!)
Whatever paths we walk, God grant us the Wisdom & Faith to choose the one that leads to Him.
Isn’t it interesting that John the Baptist already knew about the coming of the Holy Spirit? Before Jesus’ Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension, final assurance as he was spirited away of the Comforter who would come to be with them after he was gone?
Cousin John was executed before any of these events, yet he spoke knowingly.
I’m also struck by the symmetry involved, John spoke of God’s ability to raise up stones as children, Jesus spoke of the stones raising voices to tell of the good news should every tongues be stilled.
Menagerie, your efforts on this site are a blessing to us all year. In fact, I think it is your calling, by God, in what are possibly the last days, if not of the world then at minimum of the Republic. Thank you.
“Advent” reminds me of when I was a kid and went to Advent Lutheran Church with my parents. My little sister was being baptized and I was the young acolyte that day as had been arranged. As I was standing nearby as she was being baptized, I was looking at her and smiling, she was looking at me and was audibly laughing out loud. The congregation went, “Awww.” It had to have been my acolyte outfit.
The two lengthy interviews Carlson did with Hunter’s short-time partner, Tony Bobulinski, is what needs to find dissemination on the social media platforms, preferably Twitter.
I’m tired of the ignorant saying, “What does an addict’s perversions have to do with a POtuS.” and I’m even sicker of the those who feign ignorance being able to get away with their phony stance.
THE BIG GUY has adopted policies that favor the people and countries he took money from WHILE IN OFFICE.
Why did you post this here?
Baptism, an outward expression of an inner reality….,
Be clean, straighten up and fly right, get ready because there is one coming who will bring grace and suffering. The Holy Spirit and fire.
It’s the joy of the Spirit that will sustain you like honey in these days that bug us.
His presence and inputed righteousness preserve us and separates us from the lightweights . The breath of his Word will blow them all away.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.
Just trying to edit😊
Amen, thank you so much for sharing this scripture.
Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Lycia, the Miracle-worker (+ 343)
The Saint Nicholas Center has a vast abundance of artistic, cultural, historical, and religious resources about the Saint.
http://www.stnicholascenter.org
THANK YOU FOR THIS LINK. St Nicholas/Sv Miklavž came today @ “his annual performace” here in CLE, Ohio…. in the company of his heavenly angels and those pesky devils… bearing gifts. Pure MAGIC for the young and young at heart…. for years… A GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING.
And whose feast day is December 06.
Amen 🙏🏻