Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in YouTube images and lyrics with Steve Green singing … People Need the Lord … poignantly singing of how we need to be sharing God’s wondrous “Christmas” gift of salvation everyday of the year.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Acts 3:19-20 [NLT] … 19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.
… Peter preaches the truth of what man must do to receive God’s gift of salvation and to await Jesus’ return to bring His Bride to glory.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Acts 3:12-26 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter preaches the first post-pentecostal Gospel sermon and many came to faith and were given God’s eternal gift of salvation.
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Reference Passage : … Isaiah 7:14 [NLT] … 14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
… For those of us who’ve truly received the gift of God’s saving grace, everyday is a Christmas gift of sanctifying grace. Everyday God is with us!
Reference Passage : … Mathew 5:14-16 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus commands us to share His light of salvation with all we can.
Reference Passage : … John 3:16-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God sent His Son to give all mankind the gift of salvation and eternal life.
Reference Passage : … Acts 1:8 [NLT] … 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
… Everyday we, as God’s saved ones, are called to share God’s wonderful Christmas gift with our witness and testimony of salvation.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author,Tim Gustafson, uses a literature reference to show that everyday should be an opportunity to share the wondrous Christmas gift of salvation thru our witness. The ODB author writes … In “Christmas Every Day,” William Dean Howells tells of a little girl who gets her wish. For one long, horrible year it is indeed Christmas every day. By day three, the yuletide joy has already begun to wear thin. Before long everyone hates candy. Turkeys become scarce and sell for outrageous prices. Presents are no longer received with gratitude as they pile up everywhere. People angrily snap at each other.
Thankfully, Howell’s story is just a satirical tale. But what an incredible blessing that the subject of the Christmas celebration never wearies us despite the fact that we see Him throughout the Bible.
I have a friend, a retired Pastor, who wishes me “Merry Christmas” almost every time he greets me; and I know what he’s saying, … that every day we, who know Christ as Savior/Lord, carry with us the Lord’s gift of salvation in our hearts, the Holy Spirit [see Isaiah 7:14 and John 3:16]; and so, everyday we should be shining the light of that eternal gift by the way we live for all to see that they can share in that gift [see Matthew 5:14-16 and Acts 1:8]. In that way, through our witness, everyday becomes a Christmas gift we can give to anyone with whom we’re gifted to confront.
That’s what Peter did when he preached his first Gospel sermon (see highlight passage); and it’s what the Apostles did for the rest of their post-resurrection lives. And since we know the truth of what Steve Green sings in the linked song, we need to be witnessing God’s wondrous gift of saving grace to any/all we can … especially going into a new year.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for giving me (us) Your eternal - everyday - gift of salvation to share with others.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to do all we can into the new year to give witness to Your eternal gift of salvation. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled “Our Daily Bread,” distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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