5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,
Philippians 2:5-9
Tag: Bible
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Being Thankful
You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
You have loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness,
That my soul may sing praise to You and not be silent
O LORD my God, I will give thanks to You forever.Psalm 30:11-12
I usually don’t do “what I’m thankful for” because I find it a bit cheesy, and what is there to say except what my scripture selection says? However, I wrote up some good ones this year.
- I am thankful for the grace of God and the blood of Jesus. Compared to how thankful I am for these, I am not thankful for anything else.
- My husband, Jerrod. He’s the best husband I could imagine and I can’t imagine having gone through what we have in the past couple years without him. Living with my grandparents, his help when they were sick, the time Papa fell outside and Gramma and I couldn’t help him up – I just don’t know what I would have done if I had been with them alone. And his support when Papa was in the hospital and when he passed away… I just can’t think of the words for how thankful I am.
- I give thanks to God for the new little baby girl we are expecting. I feel like I can already tell some of her personality.
- I am especially thankful this year for something a little unusual – That God caused Jerrod and I to move back in with my grandparents. I did not know then that I would be spending Papa’s last year with him. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
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Good Friday
4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.Isaiah 53:4-6 (New Living Translation)
Technically I’m writing this very early on Saturday, and that’s what the date stamp will reflect, but I haven’t gone to bed yet, so I’ll be assuming it’s still Friday.
My best friend will be working on Sunday(she works at a hospital) so she invited me to come with her to church’s Good Friday service at noon. I don’t normally go to her church but I’ve visited on multiple occasions and I actually went to preschool there.
It was a pretty good service. Her church still has a traditional choir which was nice. My church doesn’t have one anymore and I do enjoy choral music. The music was good and there was plenty of scripture reading.
Near the end of the service, one of the pastors led in prayer and invited people to accept Jesus as their savior. As we were praying I realized that that was where I had accepted Christ. There, in that very chapel in preschool. I knew of course that I accepted Christ in preschool and remembered it it quite vividly, but I hadn’t really thought about the fact that I was in the same place. How fitting, I thought, how wonderful to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on Good Friday in the very place where I came to Christ. That’s when I lost it. Then we took communion and that always makes me cry too.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (NASB)
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Thanksgiving 2008
In 1621 Governor William Bradford declared that the settlement have a thanksgiving feast to give thanks to God for the harvest. Wanting to invite their Indian friends, they sent an invitation to Chief Massasoit.
The pilgrim men hunted and fished in preparation for the feast. In a day they had plenty of game including wild turkeys. When the Indians arrived the pilgrims were surprised to find that ninety braves had come. Fortunately the Indians were used to celebrating the harvest. They hunted and contributed five deer and more seafood to the feast.
Before eating, the pilgrims prayed praising God and thanking Him for his blessings. The feast lasted for three days and included games that the pilgrims and Indians shared together.
In their first year in the new world the Mayflower passengers survived, but now they were thriving. It was not without hardship, Plymouth had lost fifty percent of their people, but Jamestown in Virginia lost ninety percent.
I am thankful for the wisdom and sacrifices made by our ancestors. In his history, Of Plimoth Plantation, William Bradford said “a great hope and inward zeal they had of laying some good foundation (or at least to make some way therunto) for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world; Yea, though they should be but even as stepping stones, unto others for the performing of so great a work.”
This year I would like to express an extra thanks for my favorite grandfather through whom I am descended from William Bradford and William Brewster. In the example of his forefathers, he trusted God and took his family to a new place where they began our church and have shown Christ to everyone they meet.
Thanksgiving is not only a part of our American heritage, but our Christian heritage as well. We were being instructed to give thanks long before 1621.
“Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
I get such a thrill when I read this scripture. Just think of it; God becoming a person like us, being born a human, becoming flesh. As Christians, the focus is often on the death and resurrection of Christ, and that was the whole plan, but it is impossible to separate those miracles from the miracle of the Incarnation. It’s one big story, and this is a very exciting part of it!
Merry Christmas!
also posted at http://prettygeek.com
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John 1:19-34
19This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
21They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not ” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
22Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.
25They asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26John answered them saying, “I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.
27″It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
28These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
30″This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’
31″I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”
32John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him.
33″I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’
34″I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”
Another exciting passage! John the Baptist is going around baptizing people in water and getting them ready for Christ to come. John the Baptist does some important things here. I love where he first sees Jesus and says “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”. He baptizes Jesus and this is important I think, because he was witness to the spirit’s decension in the form of a dove and the Father’s claiming Jesus.
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John 1:1-18
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2He was in the beginning with God.
3All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
The Witness John
6There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.7He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.
8He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.
9There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.
10He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name,
13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15John testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'”
16For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.
17For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
18No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
This has always been one of my favorite passages of scripture. It’s always so cool how it mirrors Genisis 1:1 by starting with “In the beginning,”. That first verse alone says so much, calling Jesus God and pointing toward the idea that we call The Trinity. It’s a beautiful setup for the rest of the chapter. Of course, the first John talked about is not the John that wrote the gospel of John, but John the Baptist. But then of course he starts talking about Jesus again, refering to him as “the light”. The image of “the Word becoming flesh” really excites me. I often read part of this at Christmas. That’s what Christmas is all about, of course. That’s what John is about, really; The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. You get a little thrill, don’t you? 🙂
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The Importance of the Resurrection
1 Corinthians 15:12-22
Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised.
For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
The Order of Resurrection
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.
For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.
For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
Shannon Kay 