About this time of the year zealous religious folks seem to come out of the woodwork and attempt to rebuke others for “celebrating Christmas”, stating that it is a pagan holiday. After I posted a “Have a BlessedChristmas” message a couple of years ago on Facebook, one such person contacted me and presumptuously proceeded to lecture me on the subject. Well, the short version is that I don’t celebrate holidays, I celebrate Jesus Christ and His birth, life, words, death and resurrection each and every day of the calendar—I enjoy 365 celebrations each year! A person who attends church on Saturday once tried to lecture me that the rest of us worship on the wrong day. I allowed him to 
know that I worship seven days a week and wondered why he only emphasized one day of worship a week when Jesus is worthy of worship every day, all day long. Our Lord had problems with people in His days on earth who legalistically observed days and calendar events, yet their lives, morals and values were no better than the pagans who also carefully observed days and calendar events. The hope of the church is not a calendar event. The hope of the church, of all mankind and of all history is a Person, Jesus Christ. Have our calendar dates and observances made us more into the image of Christ, doing the redemptive works of Christ or has our daily personal relationship and devotion/prayer to Him benefited those we come in contact with 24/7/365? After that mean-spirited person finished attacking me, I sorta felt like I would rather spend the holiday season with those pagans who culturally celebrated the Christmas season than with them and their mean disposition (and their sad family). It is, after all, the season of lights and the season of good cheer and giving—all of which may be found in the Bible, especially giving: “For unto us a child is born, unto us A SON IS GIVEN.” (Isa.9:6); “For God so loved the world THAT HE GAVE His only begotten son’ (Jn.3:16). It would seem that loving and giving go hand in hand as exemplified by our heavenly Father.
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Kathy, Melissa and I invite you to join us on Christmas Eve at 8:15pm Central Time for our annual family Christmas Eve Communion. We will be streaming live from our living room on Marty Gabler’s Facebook page reading the Word, singing, worshipping and taking communion. Join us live on Christmas Eve.
Posted by Marty Gabler |
December 19, 2018 | Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: 1 Thessalonians 4:17, 365, Advent, anticipation, Apostle, Barbara Yoder, Bethel Church, Bible, Bill Johnson, Body of Christ, calendar, celebrate, CFNI, charismatic, Christmas, Chuck Pierce, church, Cindy Jacobs, circumstances, comfort, Daily Discovery, Damon Thompson, destiny, dreams, Dutch Sheets, elderly, encouragement, expectation, faith, father, Five-Fold, FMCI, future, gifts of the Spirit, god speaks, grace, Haggin, happy, happy holidays, healing, history, holiday, holly, Holy Spirit, hope, Identity, intercession, Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 9:7, Israel, issues, ivy, Jentezen Franklin, Jeremiah 29:11, Jesus, Jim Goll, Jim Hodges, John 3:16, John Eckhart, John Kelly, Joseph Prince, Joyce Meyer, joyous, Kathy Gabler, Kim Clement, Kingdom of God, Lakewood, Lance Wallnau, life, Lindsey, manger, manifestation, Marty Gabler, Matthew 6:10, Matthew 6:33, Melissa Gabler, Myles Munroe, obstacles, ORU, Osteen, power of god, prayer, problems, prophecy, prophesy, prophet, prophetic, prosperity, purpose, Redding, rejoice, Rick Joyner, Rick Pino, righteousness, salvation, Savior, SEEC Ministries, sentiment, sons of God, spiritual warfare, success, TD Jakes, Texas, Tony Evans, transforming power, victorious, victory, visions, Will of God, wisdom, word of god, yuletide | Leave a comment
is the fact that He was the glory of His Father in the earth. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn.1:14, NASB) In his new book, The Orphan Heart, Larry Burden gives an interesting definition of “glory” from the Greek word “doxa”: “the appearance, form or aspect of a person which catches our attention and commands our recognition”. The Message puts it like this: “The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” (Jn.1:14, Msg) Though the Father was sitting upon a throne in heaven, He could be seen in the earth in Jesus as He grew and interacted with His environment.
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