Christmas Traditions

Purification

Virgin Birth John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Mark 7:6 "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.‘”

Galatians 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;

20... hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions

21and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Matthew 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together,

as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38Look, your house is left to you desolate.”

Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

Revelation 12:1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.

3Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.

5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

6The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

7And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.

9The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ.

For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

11They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.

12Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

13When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.

14The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach.

15Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent.

16But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring--those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

'This is War‘ Dustin Kensrue

This is war like you ain't seen.

This winter's long, it's cold and mean.

With hangdog hearts we stood condemned,

But the tide turns now at Bethlehem.

This is war and born tonight,

The Word as flesh, the Lord of Light,

The Son of God, the low-born king;

Who demons fear, of whom angels sing.

This is war on sin and death;

The dark will take it's final breath.

It shakes the earth, confounds all plans;

The mystery of God as man.

Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. 24Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 51:7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Romans 3:22 We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.