Shepherds worshipping
What a great kick off to December! The Spotswood Baptist Church service started with some classic Christmas carols, mixed with contemporary sounds. This day’s sermon theme was “Adore.” We were warmed up with this Christmas standard:
O Come All Ye Faithful
Joyful and triumphant,
O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him,
Born the King of Angels;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
O Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation,
Sing all that hear in heaven God’s holy word.
Give to our Father glory in the Highest;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
All Hail! Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning,
O Jesus! for evermore be Thy name adored.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing;
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.
The scripture text came from the “Christmas Story” as told in Luke 2, specifically
“The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.” Luke 2:20
What does it mean to “adore?” Get up quickly and bow. And that’s what the shepherds did!
The sermon outline touched on these points:
- God does not exist to make my life better.
- Adoration is an attitude for life.
- Adoration is my soul realizing I am in the presence of a great transcendent King who is holy, yet kind beyond description.
- Adoration is the truest form of worship in its greatest expression.
- Adoration is the outward expression of a surrendered heart praising and glorifying God.
- Adore Jesus because… of the great love of Jesus.
- In His great love, Jesus left all glory of eternity to be born in a manger in Bethlehem. It was love that moved Jesus to give His life for you and me and “the world.”
- God’s love really came to this place in Jesus.
- God’s love in Jesus came for every person.
- The moment you surrender to adore Jesus is the moment you have the victory in Jesus for all eternity.
And then reality hits…we had to run to the grocery store for some dinner fixings. It’s always a downer to go shopping after such a great service!
So my thoughts as I walked around the store with my daughter:
I love Christmas, but I just can’t get into the junk for sale. Did I mention we were in Walmart? So as I looked for Christmas cards (couldn’t find any I liked so I’m not sending them out this year), I wondered to myself, “I love Christmas as it is a sacred holiday for me. But I’m not into all the decorations or gift giving.” So what can I do? I had to think back to my post of 2011….and then I decided I needed to “wear” Christmas on my face, in my countenance, to be cheerful and pleasant to everyone I met in the aisles. So how long did that last? I need to ask the Lord, What does HE want for HIS birthday this year?
How do you celebrate Christmas? What do you think about gift giving? As a minimalist, it’s so hard to shop for others since we don’t really shop for ourselves. When I give a gift, I want it to be special, from my heart, to meet a need, to show I love the receiver.
Soon, I’ll be sharing our traditions on our TumbleLees.me blog.
Real life.... 
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I agree. All of the gifts are homemade here and usually edible goodies that won’t go to waste. My daughter and I are making Xmas cards with pine needles, glue, glitter and cotton balls. Very messy but lots of fun. My sympathies on your loss Debbie.
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Thank you! I wish I was creative and could make things as well.
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Actually, some of the food gifts will be stolen from Katrina at eclecticyellowhouse.com I think her popcorn recipes are fabulous and easy to send in the mail ☺
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Glad you’re back to blogging! Missed you, dear sister! Through the years that God has been changing my heart, I have come to avoid the commercialism of Christmas so much that the only people I buy gifts for are in my immediate family. So far I haven’t sent Christmas cards this year either, and if it wasn’t for my 16 yr old, I probably would not even (prepare yourself for this!) have put up our Christmas tree! Now that it is up, though, I’m glad that I did… Ahhh, continuing on with less of the world and ourselves, and more of heaven and Christ!
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Greeting my sister! Thank you! It took me days to write the Update post-Snippets here and there. But Adore Him flowed in a few minutes. I’m still working on time management as we blend two families this holiday season and get up so early!
I’m having a hard time keeping up with others blogs….it’s such a two way street. I’ve had a number of friends asking what’s going on!
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