New Year's Prayer.

 

Follow Jesus

 

A New Beginning with a New Heart

 

Closing This Chapter of our Lives.

 

Called to Prepare the Way

 

What is the True Meaning of Christmas?

 

Another subtle attach on our Religious Freedom

 This morning as I was reading my daily emails, this email from the Christian Headlines, written by John Paluska, and the article's title was "School District to Pay $187,000 to the Atheist Group over Praying, Singing Hymns during Graduation Ceremony." The American Humanist Association brought the lawsuit against the Greenville School District to allow prayer and singing of hymns during the graduation ceremony.

These questions came to mind, is this another attack on our religious freedom? What happened to our First Amendment rights that give us the freedom of expression and worship? Who is this group, and what right do they have to say when, where, and how we worship God? There is a God regardless of what this or any other group believes, and all who believe in Him have a right to worship Him whenever, wherever, and however we please.

The church must step forward and tell this group, any other atheists, and the courts that freedom of worship will stand, and all non-believers have no right to say otherwise. The church must not make the same mistake it did when it sat quietly and allowed one atheist to take prayer out of our schools. When God and prayer left in walked the Devil.

In all fairness to the judge who presided over the case left some central parts of our freedom of speech in his ruling. However, in my humble opinion, this group won by the mere fact that there is a monetary settlement in the case and with this part of the judge's ruling on the case; "The district also shall not include an obviously religious piece of music as part of the official program for a graduation ceremony," wrote District Court Judge Bruce Hendricks. "The district and/or school officials shall not encourage, promote, advance, endorse, or participate in causing prayers during any graduation ceremony."

I am not asking anyone to agree with me; I express my opinion and observe as I remember how prayer was taken out of the schools. Since then, we have had nothing but troubles in our schools and society overall. There have been mass shootings in our schools and communities, families against one another, and evilness of all kinds. There was a time when the church, school, and home were on the same teaching Christ in one format. There was devotion in my school every morning, and it didn't infringe upon my First Amendment right to participate or not to participate.

When are we going to put Christ back at the forefront of our lives?

 

A Regal Response to a Holy Light

 

God's Grand Announcement

My love for Jesus: 1 John 4:19; Ephesians 2:8

  We love him, because he first loved us. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Today’s message is written in the first-person encouraging readers to make this personal between them and God.

 

If the question was raised, why do I love Jesus? The answer is because He first loved me when I didn’t love Him. Accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I am saved and have received salvation, which is the gift of God the Father. The gift of salvation makes me an adopted child of God, a member of His holy family nation who sees and does things according to His laws and statues (1 Peter 2:9).

I love Jesus because He left His home in heaven disrobed of His glory became humanity for the sole purpose of atoning my sins, which is paying a sin-debt that He did not owe. Jesus paying my sin-debt is reason enough for me to sing praises to His holy name with shouts of joy to a Savior who loved me enough that He sacrificed His life to save mine.

Lastly, Jesus is my high priest making continuous intercessions for me. Yes, I love Jesus because He first loved me.

 

Comments are welcome.

Author’s contacts:                               

White3285@sbcglobal.net

https://willie-writing.blotspot.com

http://theshepherdministries.org

www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUya5OrWPvzru4dpaTF80KQ

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©All Rights Reserved December 18, 2020

Rev. Dr. Willie B. White

What is Advent and its Meaning.

 

Remembering Christmases video

 

Remembering Christmas

 This being the Christmas season, I began to reflect on my childhood Christmas; what came to mind was my mother would start her baking at least one week before Christmas. There would be cakes of all kinds; chocolate, pineapple, jelly, and Carmel cakes. The pies were sweet potato, lemon meringue, and sometimes coconut pie.

Mother always had to make two extra sweet potato pies for daddy to eat before Christmas, and he would tell me, "come eat some pie with me." I would tell him, I will eat the crust, and you can eat the pie. He once told me, "you must not be my child." My response was, "I don't know about that, but I don't want the pie."

I remember very vividly daddy going into the woods to get the tree because we lived on the farm in the country. Sometimes he would take me with him, and at other times he didn't, but he would always come back with a beautiful tree for Christmas. Sometimes he would help my mother decorate the tree. When the decorating was complete, it would be the most beautiful tree there was, to me. I would get great joy out of just watching the light flickering and the different colored blubs adding to the tree's beauty. The garland gave the tree an extra added glow with an angel atop the tree.

I remember daddy bringing in the fruits, some of which made stocking stuffers that consisted of oranges, apples, tangerines, nuts (walnuts, pecans, brazil nuts) peppermint candy. The stockings would sometimes be underneath the tree and at other times hanging across the fireplace.

I remember writing a letter to Santa Claus and my mother telling me to put the letter in daddy's pocket so when he went to downtown Montgomery, he would mail it to Santa. Not knowing at that time, daddy played the part of Santa. For the most part, whatever was on my list, I received at Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, I can remember my mother telling me, "you better go to bed early because Santa Claus would be here soon."

Most of the traditions that I was raised with have been passed on to my children, except maybe the different homemade cakes and the other pies. Still, the one tradition that is carried on today is having a fruitcake for Christmas, the beautifully decorated Christmas tree, the large Christmas dinner of turkey and dressing, ham, greens, or some other green vegetables starchy sides.

Christmas was and still is a joyous time of the year; Christmas carols being sung, decorations all aglow, and gifts being exchanged.

There is joy in celebrating Christmas; we are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Comments are welcome.

Author’s contacts:                                                                

White3285@sbcglobal.net

https://willie-writing.blotspot.com

http://theshepherdministries.org

www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUya5OrWPvzru4dpaTF80KQ

Donate here: https://giv.li/xve1t6

God has dispatched His Angels to Protect us.

 

God's reach for Humanity

 

The Birth of Christ: Luke 2:7

 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

During this Christmas season, where shopping is taking place, decorations are all aglow; these questions came to mind, what does Christmas mean to you, or what is your understanding of Christ?

We are celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who was prophesied years before His birth fulfilled the promise that God the Father made with His people. We are celebrating Christmas in honor of Christ's birth because there would be no Christmas to celebrate without Christ's birth. We celebrate Christ as a way of saying thank You, God, the Father, for giving Your only begotten Son to redeem humanity (me) from my sins and to provide me with a new life, one of righteousness; I am no longer a slave to sin and Satan and his unrighteous living (John 3:16).

In our gift-giving, we emulate the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus in their worship of Him. Each of these gifts has a significant meaning, and they are: gold represents His kingship, Frankincense was a valuable perfume and is a symbol of Jesus' priestly role (His deity). He is God in the second person. Myrrh is a precious ointment that was often used in the burial process (an embalming oil). Myrrh was a prefiguration of Jesus' death. It is noteworthy to say that Jesus came to earth in human form for the sole purpose of going to the cross, atoning the sins of the world. The gifts brought were a form of honor for Jesus because He is God's Son and was brought as a spiritual symbolism about Jesus Himself.

Let us ponder these questions knowing that without Christ, there is no Christmas; what will you give Jesus this Christmas; how will you honor Him? Let us take time out of our busy schedules to tell God, thank You for sending Your Son to die for my sins, and Thank You, Jesus, for Your willingness to die for my sins so that I can live in eternity with us You. Let us take time to honor Jesus with our sincere worship of Him, for He is worthy.

Without Christ's birth, there would be no Christmas.

Comments are welcomed.

White3285@sbcglobal.net
http://theshepherdministries.org
www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com
https://willie-writing.blogspot.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUya5OrWPvzru4dpaTF80KQ

https://giv.li/xve1t6

A New Day

 

I Am Satisfied with Jesus

 

We serve an Awesome God.

 

Jesus is His Name: Isaiah 9:6

 For to us, a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Approaching the Christmas season, where we celebrate the birth of Christ, I felt led by the Holy Spirit to provide some uplifting insights on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

From our scripture text, several names are associated with Jesus Christ; whether He is referred to as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, our Prince of Peace, they all mean Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

 

In the name of Jesus, men are saved; in the name of Jesus, we have peace that the world cannot give; neither can it understand. In the name of Jesus, we have a Wonderful Counselor who will fight our battles and plead our legal cases before God the Father. He is the mighty God who came to earth in human form to set men free from their sin. Jesus is His name.

 

Comments are welcome.

White3285@sbcglobal.net
http://theshepherdministries.org
www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com
https://willie-writing.blogspot.com
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUya5OrWPvzru4dpaTF80KQ

 

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