As the people of God assemble today may “all ye faithful” come, assemble today (whether with family or in a church building or a prison or in some place non-typical) and be joyful and triumphant as we adore Him: CHRIST THE LORD, JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH, THE HOLY CHILD, SON OF GOD, GOD MY SAVIOR. (Luke Chapter One) We will be joyful in considering His names and titles and all their implications for Israel, for us and for the nations as were Gabriel and Mary. Let us give voice to those names and titles today with expressions of hope.
Team Gabler will be live Christmas morning at 9:00 Central. on Marty Gabler’s Facebook page.
Theme: “Christmas Thoughts”
(Click on picture below to go to view video.)
MARTY, KATHY, MELISSA — Thoughts of Christmas MARTY—Jesus, son of Abraham and son of David, was born when the seed of Abraham was a despised people and tributary to the Roman yoke and when the house of David was buried in obscurity. The performance and provision of God comes when circumstances would place upon it the heaviest it has to offer. Ease and convenience are not the components of fulfillment. The CHRISTMAS story is a story of hope in the face of all that is contrary. “Against all odds, when it looked hopeless, Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfill it. He took God at His word…” (Rom.4:18a) KATHY— Growing up on Abraham Avenue, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary had no idea how they would fit in the plans of God and the history of man. Amid all their lessons in history and prophecy from the Torah, they had never pictured themselves as key players in the greatest story ever told. However, their lives were divinely positioned for the plans of God. God intends your life to be spent to His glory. (Jer.29:11) MELISSA—Yesterday I was praying over a situation for which I have no answers and can do nothing about.As soon as I prayed I heard, “Now, let go of all of your ideas of how this thing needs to be worked out and let Me have it.” As we head into CHRISTMAS and a new year may we lay down every weight, worry, and preconceived idea of what the will of God should look like in our current situations, and leave it in the capable hands of the One Whose birth we are celebrating! Have a very Merry Christmas and may you find peace unspeakable in the decision to trust the One who already set us free.
Kathy — Growing up on Abraham Avenue, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary had no idea how they would fit in the plans of God & the history of man. Amid all their lessons in history & prophecy from the Torah, they had never pictured themselves as key players in the greatest story ever told. However, their lives were divinely positioned for the plans of God. God intends your life to be spent to His glory. (Jer.29:11)
The birth of Jesus, Savior of the world, was announced in terms supernatural. The pronouncement & the experiences of those involved in the broadcast cannot be explained in mere natural terms. Not only did angels appear to Jewish shepherds but a heavenly phenomenon caught the attention of learned Gentile observers and drew them to the City of David to worship One whom they would hail as King of the Jews. (Acts 4:12, Amp) ”And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved.”
Melissa — I was praying over a situation, sometime back, for which I had no answers and could do nothing about.As soon as I prayed I heard, “Now, let go of all of your ideas of how this thing needs to be worked out and let Me have it.” As we head into Christmas and a new year may we lay down every weight, worry, and preconceived idea of what the will of God should look like in our current situations and leave it in the capable hands of the One Whose birth we are celebrating! Have a very Merry Christmas and may you find peace unspeakable in the decision to trust the One who already set us free.
Subtle things in the Bible that no one noticed until they were put in place and activated by the timing and purpose of Yahweh: (1) One Hebrew in Pharaoh’s prison (Joseph); (2) 300 men on a hillside outside a Midianite camp (Gideon); (3) 14 yr. old with a slingshot (David); (4) A baby born in an obscure stable (Jesus); (5) 12 nondescript men sitting at the feet of Jesus (ragtag, imperfect group of disciples); (6) A little boy’s lunch (feeding of 5,000); (7) 120 people having a prayer meeting in an upper room (believer-empowering, city-rocking move of Holy Spirit). Result: History Changed! Conclusion: Don’t give up!
Emmanuel, “God is with us”, is the God-Man who was born of a virgin that God might dwell among men. Not only did Jesus, Emmanuel, live among men but He lived redemptively among men. He didn’t come to bring merely a message or a creed but He lived out redemptive acts through His life on earth. His disciples, those whom He has redeemed by His redemptive act of His shed blood on the cross must, in turn, live redemptively among men. There are too many and too much to redeem to simply live to go to heaven. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matt.1:23, NKJV)
Jesus came as Emmanuel, God with us, and brought forth fruit (Jn.12:28;17:1). He was not just a religious icon. Jesus was the Kingdom exposed to mankind. In Jesus, the Kingdom was observed — in His lifestyle, His character, His actions (Matt.12:28). The fact that He brought forth fruit 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, our dear friend 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 Translation 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.
Kathy — Growing up on Abraham Avenue, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary had no idea how they would fit in the plans of God and the history of man. Amid all their lessons in history and prophecy from the Torah, they had never pictured themselves as key players in the greatest story ever told. However, their lives were divinely positioned for the plans of God. God intends your life to be spent to His glory. (Jer.29:11)
Kathy — Miracles are begun in grace and perfected in glory. They start with God’s supernatural enabling and come to complete manifestation through His intent and purpose and timing. As I wait on God, I shall continue to pray for miracles this Christmas season because the coming of the Christ is still in effect as well as God’s goodwill toward men. May His presence and power and purpose and timing change your life as His goodwill touches the earth again.
As the people of God assemble today, may they rejoice in the God of their salvation for He has provided us a King who rules in righteousness (Isa.32:1). May they practice the wisdom of seeking Him. As the song says, “…Three wise men came from country far; To seek for a king was their intent…” “Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel.” “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you; He is [uncompromisingly] just and having salvation [triumphant and victorious], patient, meek, lowly….” (Zech.9:9, Amp)
Jesus, son of Abraham and son of David, born when the seed of Abraham was a despised people and tributary to the Roman yoke and when the house of David was buried in obscurity. The performance and provision of God comes when circumstances would place upon it the heaviest it has to offer. Ease and convenience are not the components of fulfillment. The Christmas story is a story of hope in the face of all that is contrary. “Against all odds, when it looked hopeless, Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfill it. He took God at his word…” (Rom.4:18a, TPT)
The birth of Jesus, Savior of the world, was announced in terms supernatural. The pronouncement & the experiences of those involved in the broadcast cannot be explained in mere natural terms. Not only did angels appear to Jewish shepherds but a heavenly phenomenon caught the attention of learned Gentile observers and drew them to the City of David to worship One whom they would hail as King of the Jews. (Acts 4:12, Amp) ”And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved.”
I was praying over a situation for which I have no answers and can do nothing about. As soon as I prayed I heard, “Now, let go of all of your ideas of how this thing needs to be worked out and let Me have it.” As we head into Christmas and a new year may we lay down every weight, worry, and preconceived idea of what the will of God should look like in our current situations, and leave it in the capable hands of the One Whose birth we are celebrating! Have a very Merry Christmas and may you find peace unspeakable in the decision to trust the One who already set us free. — Melissa Gabler
Growing up on Abraham Avenue, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary had no idea how they would fit in the plans of God & the history of man. Amid all their lessons in history & prophecy from the Torah, they had never pictured themselves as key players in the greatest story ever told. However, their lives were divinely positioned for the plans of God. God intends your life to be spent to His glory. (Jer29:11) — Kathy G
As the people of God assemble today may all ye faithful come, assemble today and be joyful and triumphant as we adore Him: CHRIST THE LORD, JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH, THE HOLY CHILD, SON OF GOD, GOD MY SAVIOR. (Luke Chapter One) We will be joyful in considering His names and titles and all their implications for Israel, for us and for the nations as were Gabriel and Mary. Let us give voice to those names and titles today with expressions of hope.
The Christmas story is the story of hope — hope in the face of all that is contrary. Christmas time is a great time to use for the purpose of remembering, memorializing the fact, that when God says, “I will….”, then God will. He will move mountains, seas and people. In Josh. 2:11 the fact and realization is that our God is able to move anything or anyone in heaven or in earth to accomplish His purposes. He is able to move in the life of an obscure girl who had no credentials or evident reason for expecting to be part of an earth-shaking, history-shaping event. Her qualities and integrity (evidenced in the writings of both Matthew and Doctor Luke) helped to place her in the middle of the road where an unprecedented moving of God was progressing like a steamroller and changing history as man had known it. That change was taking place through a small handful of individuals and not through some large and varied political or military movement. From all that we can find concerning this person called Mary, precious few people even knew of her qualities and integrity. It would seem that Jehovah was about the only One who saw and might very well have been the only One who noticed. And by the time she was discovered to be with child, she would have been disqualified by any who did happen to notice. Had it not been for dreams and angels intervening by Divine directive, her own husband would have done away with her. When God promised Abraham a son it would appear that it was long deferred. Abraham most likely thought that the son which was promised was his immediate son. However, that promised Son was the One through whom the world would be blessed, the One who would be called the Christ. This Son of promise proved to be coming at the great distance of some 42 generations and about 2,000 years. Though it be long and arduous by our standards, God Jehovah is faithful in all and brings about detail for detail that which was foretold long before it was realized in this realm which we call reality. Delays do nothing to weaken the promise of God; for in what seem to us to be delays, our all-wise and provisional Father is preparing a people who will walk out His fulfillment rather than being caught unawares and overcome by His fulfillment. As we learn in the New Testament teaching of our Lord, the new wineskin must be prepared for the new wine or it shall burst and the wine and its value lost. It is interesting to note M. Henry’s observation on this one point: “This son of David, and son of Abraham, who was to be the glory of his Father’s house, was born when the seed of Abraham was a despised people, recently become tributary to the Roman yoke, and when the house of David was buried in obscurity; for Christ was to be a root out of a dry ground.” From such a studious observation we could readily come to the conclusion that the performance and provision of our God comes when circumstances would place upon it the heaviest it has to offer. Ease and convenience are not the components or the ambiance of fulfillment. The Christmas story is the story of hope — hope in the face of all that is contrary.
Emmanuel, “God is with us”, is the God-Man who was born of a virgin that God might dwell among men. Not only did Jesus, Emmanuel, live among men but He lived redemptively among men. He didn’t come to bring merely a message or a creed but He lived out redemptive acts through His life on earth. His disciples, those whom He has redeemed by His redemptive act of His shed blood on the cross must, in turn, live redemptively among men. There are too many and too much to redeem to simply live to go to heaven.“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matt.1:23, NKJV)
As the people of God assemble today, may they rejoice in the God of their salvation for He has provided us a King who rules in righteousness (Isa.32:1). May they practice the wisdom of seeking Him.“…Three wise men came from country far; To seek for a king was their intent…” “Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel.” “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O Daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you; He is [uncompromisingly] just and having salvation [triumphant and victorious], patient, meek, lowly, and riding on a donkey, upon a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zech.9:9, Amp)
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Kathy, Melissa and I invite you to join us live 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.
(Melissa Gabler) Yesterday I was praying over a situation for which I have no answers and can do nothing about.As soon as I prayed I heard, “Now, let go of all of your ideas of how this thing needs to be worked out and let Me have it.” As we head into Christmas and a new year may we lay down every weight, worry, and preconceived idea of what the will of God should look like in our current situations, and leave it in the capable hands of the One Whose birth we are celebrating! Have a very Merry Christmas and may you find peace unspeakable in the decision to trust the One who already set us free.
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Kathy, Melissa and I invite you to join us live 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 Christmas songs, worshipping and taking communion. Join us live on Christmas Eve.
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 suchperson contacted me and presumptuously proceeded to lecture me onthe subject. Well, the short version is that I don’t celebrate holidays, Icelebrate Jesus Christ and His birth, life, words, death and resurrectioneach 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 usworship on the wrong day. I allowed him to know that I worship seven daysa week and wondered why he only emphasized one day of worship aweek when Jesus is worthy of worship every day, all day long. Our Lordhad problems with people in His days on earth who legalistically observeddays and calendar events, yet their lives, morals and values were nobetter than the pagans who also carefully observed days and calendarevents. The hope of the church is not a calendar event. The hope of thechurch, of all mankind and of all history is a Person, Jesus Christ. Haveour calendar dates and observances made us more into the image ofChrist, doing the redemptive works of Christ or has our daily personalrelationship and devotion/prayer to Him benefited those we come incontact with 24/7/365? After that mean-spirited person finished attackingme, I sorta felt like I would rather spend the holiday season with thosepagans who culturally celebrated the Christmas season than with themand their mean disposition (and their sad family). It is, after all, the seasonof lights and the season of good cheer and giving—all of which may befound in the Bible, especially giving: “For unto us a child is born, unto us ASON IS GIVEN.” (Isa.9:6); “For God so loved the world THAT HE GAVEHis only begotten son’ (Jn.3:16). It would seem that loving and giving gohand 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.
As the people of God assemble today may “all ye faithful” come, assemble today (whether with family or in a church building or a prison or in some place non-typical) and be joyful and triumphant as we adore Him: CHRIST THE LORD, JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH, THE HOLY CHILD, SON OF GOD, GOD MY SAVIOR. (Luke Chapter One) We will be joyful in considering His names and titles and all their implications for Israel, for us and for the nations as were Gabriel and Mary. Let us give voice to those names and titles today with expressions of hope.
MARTY, KATHY, MELISSA — Thoughts of Christmas
Melissa — I was praying over a situation, sometime back, for which I had no answers and could do nothing about. As soon as I prayed I heard, “Now, let go of all of your ideas of how this thing needs to be worked out and let Me have it.” As we head into Christmas and a new year may we lay down every weight, worry, and preconceived idea of what the will of God should look like in our current situations and leave it in the capable hands of the One Whose birth we are celebrating! Have a very Merry Christmas and may you find peace unspeakable in the decision to trust the One who already set us free.
despised people and tributary to the Roman yoke and when the house of David was buried in obscurity. The performance and provision of God comes when circumstances would place upon it the heaviest it has to offer. Ease and convenience are not the components of fulfillment. The Christmas story is a story of hope in the face of all that is contrary. “Against all odds, when it looked hopeless, Abraham believed the promise and expected God to fulfill it. He took God at his word…” (Rom.4:18a, TPT)
pronouncement & the experiences of those involved in the broadcast cannot be explained in mere natural terms. Not only did angels appear to Jewish shepherds but a heavenly phenomenon caught the attention of learned Gentile observers and drew them to the City of David to worship One whom they would hail as King of the Jews. (Acts 4:12, Amp) ”And there is salvation in and through no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by and in which we must be saved.”
Growing up on Abraham Avenue, Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary had no idea how they would fit in the plans of God & the history of man. Amid all their lessons in history & prophecy from the Torah, they had never pictured themselves as key players in the greatest story ever told. However, their lives were divinely positioned for the plans of God. God intends your life to be spent to His glory. (Jer29:11) — Kathy G
As the people of God assemble today may all ye faithful come, assemble today and be joyful and triumphant as we adore Him: CHRIST THE LORD, JESUS, KING OF THE JEWS, SON OF THE MOST HIGH, THE HOLY CHILD, SON OF GOD, GOD MY SAVIOR. (Luke Chapter One) We will be joyful in considering His names and titles and all their implications for Israel, for us and for the nations as were Gabriel and Mary. Let us give voice to those names and titles today with expressions of hope.
Emmanuel, “God is with us”, is the God-Man who was born of a virgin that God might dwell among men. Not only did Jesus, Emmanuel, live among men but He lived redemptively among men. He didn’t come to bring merely a message or a creed but He lived out redemptive acts through His life on earth. His disciples, those whom He has redeemed by His redemptive act of His shed blood on the cross must, in turn, live redemptively among men. There are too many and too much to redeem to simply live to go to heaven. “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matt.1:23, NKJV)
As the people of God assemble today, may they rejoice in the God of their salvation for He has provided us a King who rules in righteousness (Isa.32:1). May they practice the wisdom of seeking Him. “…Three wise men came from country far; To seek for a king was their intent…” “Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, Born is the King of Israel.”
(Melissa Gabler) Yesterday I was praying over a situation for which I have no answers and can do nothing about. As soon as I prayed I heard, “Now, let go of all of your ideas of how this thing needs to be worked out and let Me have it.” As we head into Christmas and a new year may we lay down every weight, worry, and preconceived idea of what the will of God should look like in our current situations, and leave it in the capable hands of the One Whose birth we are celebrating! Have a very Merry Christmas and may you find peace unspeakable in the decision to trust the One who already set us free.
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