11th episode of the ninth season of ''NCIS''
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Sunday, January 5, 2025 Richmond's First Baptist Church
Dr. Landon Reynolds December 22nd, 2024 Southside Baptist Church Florence, SC www.SouthsideNow.church
Service from Christian Bible Church in Cissna Park, Illinois. Guest speaker: Justin Kron
A sermon by Brad Snyder based on Luke 2:20 preached on December 29th for the Tri-City congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
Part of the Joy to the World! Responses to the Newborn King sermon series from Matthew 2:1-12. This sermon was preached by John Severn and is 29 minutes long.
Read OnlineWhen the magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.” Matthew 2:13The most glorious event ever to take place in our world also filled some with hatred and rage. Herod, who was jealous of his own earthly power, felt greatly threatened by the message shared with him by the Magi. And when the Magi failed to return to Herod to tell him where the Newborn King was located, Herod did the unthinkable. He ordered the slaughter of every boy, two years old and younger, who was in Bethlehem and its vicinity.Such an act is hard to comprehend. How could the soldiers carry out such an evil plot? Imagine the deep mourning and devastation so many families encountered as a result. How could a civil ruler murder so many innocent children.Of course, in our day and age, so many civil leaders continue to support the barbaric practice of permitting the slaughter of the innocent within the womb. Thus, in many ways, Herod's action is not that different from today.The passage above reveals to us the will of the Father regarding not only the protection of His divine Son but also His divine will for the protection and sanctity of all human life. It was satan who inspired Herod to kill those precious and innocent children so long ago, and it is satan who continues to promote a culture of death and destruction today. What should our response be? We, like Saint Joseph, must see it as our solemn duty to protect the most innocent and vulnerable with unwavering determination. Though this newborn Child was God, and though the Father in Heaven could have protected His Son with a myriad of angels, it was the Father's will that a man, Saint Joseph, protect His Son. For that reason, we should also hear the Father calling each and every one of us to do all we can to protect the innocent and most vulnerable, especially the child within the womb. Reflect, today, upon the will of God for your life. In what ways is God calling you to be like Saint Joseph and protect the most innocent and most vulnerable? How are you being called to be a guardian of those entrusted to your care? Certainly on a civil level we must all work to protect the lives of those who are unborn. But every parent, grandparent and all those entrusted with responsibility for another must strive to protect those in their care in countless other ways. We must diligently work to preserve them from the evils in our world and the numerous attacks of the evil one on their lives. Ponder this question today and allow the Lord to speak to you of your duty to imitate the great protector, Saint Joseph. Lord, give me insight, wisdom and strength so that I can work in accord with Your will to protect the most innocent from the evils of this world. May I never cower in the face of evil, and may I always fulfill my duty to protect those entrusted to my care. Saint Joseph, pray for me. Jesus, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured image above: The Virgin and Child surrounded by angels by Peter Paul Ruben, via Wikimedia Commons
Part of the Joy to the World! Responses to the Newborn King sermon series from Luke 2:25-38. This sermon was preached by David Shaw and is 30 minutes long.
Christmas Day service
It is my heart-warm and world-embracing Christmas hope and aspiration that all of us, the high, the low, the rich, the poor, the admired, the despised, the loved, the hated, the civilized, the savage, may eventually be gathered together in a heaven of everlasting rest and peace and bliss, except the inventor of the telephone.Mark Twain - Letter to the Editor, New York Evening World, 23 December 1890If you grow up on the Left, you grow up without religion. After the counterculture movement split from conventional religion in the 1960s, we'd done everything we knew how to do to fill up the eternal emptiness that had us chasing everything from sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, cults in the 1970s, gurus, and ashrams, the self-help movement, the mental health movement, and eventually, we ended up back where we started.We “found religion,” but this time as the politics of identity, where our happiness depended on how we solved the problems of society, like racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and climate change. It came from needing to feel good about ourselves and our world, but it was followed by anger and resentment when we could not convert the entire country to our way of life.The truth about the Left is that they know no other way of life. This was the problem for the Southerners after the Civil War. They, too, knew no other way of life and could not evolve out of their hatred, fear, and hysteria. All they could do was preserve it by banishing those who threatened it. I wish I could say I've come out of these past several years with a renewed faith in humanity. The truth is exactly the opposite. What I saw was what collective hatred, fear, and tribalism can do to otherwise decent people. I saw what we're all capable of when our power is threatened. I saw how easy it is to go along with the crowd, even when what they're doing is wrong.I always thought the people I called my heroes were made of tougher stuff. Better stuff. Kinder stuff. I always thought my side was the side of the good guys who would be immune to group dehumanization. I also did I think we would ever be the ruling class aristocracy sneering at the middle and working class, gathering all of our culture, wealth, and institutions, and hogging them for ourselves.Now that the empire is in collapse, those with all of the power are scrambling, not just to explain it but as a way to get back some of what's been taken. Good luck with that one. Take yet another agonizing, unbearable column by your typical Leftist elite, Jill Filipovic, writing for The Guardian:Worse than what, Jill? Indoctrinating children to choose their genders, then surgically or chemically sterilizing them? Or does it just come down to immigrants and their right to cross the border illegally by the millions, their safety, and our safety be damned? Corruption? You mean like government censorship on a laptop or covering up the mental incapacity of the Commander in Chief for four years? Weaponizing the Department of Justice? Immorality? Like what exactly? Lying to the public via the propaganda press? Calling half the country “garbage” or “White Supremacists” or “Nazis”? And what rights? The right to have an opinion without losing your job, status, or social standing? Your right to play in sports as a biological female without having to compete with biological men? Oh, of course not. She means abortion, as usual. Honey, if you want an abortion, there's a pop-up clinic down the street. People like Jill examine half the country as insects in a jar, watching how they behave in tightly confined spaces, how they respond to being called racists, or how they are de-banked or canceled off of social media. It's fun, right? To watch the insects get stressed and claw at the glass for a way out? The disgust drips from every word, even as she tries to make nice-nice, now that her ass has been handed to her in a historic, humiliating defeat.Trump won again, Jill. Eat that for breakfast. It isn't you people who have to learn to tolerate Trump voters. It's you who have to apologize to them for what you've done not only to them but to this country. You have destroyed every great thing you ever built, and listen to you now, pretending you still have the moral high ground. She then tries to explain why she's writing this at all:To paraphrase a line from Carrie, “Shut up, Jill. Just shut up.”These are the kinds of people I used to call home. I knew them, mingled with them, read them, RT'd them and was Facebook friends with them. Now, they terrify me. They are the banality of evil. They are the side that would go along with segregation, even if they'll never admit it. They're the side that would lock arms as the Jews were carted off to camps, and no, they'll never see themselves that way. She writes:Oh, poor deluded Jill. She has no idea what just happened, does she? It would do her a world of good to start opening her mind to reality, escape the fear bunker, and start interfacing with the truth. She should read David Samuels' piece in Tablet, one I'll be writing about in more depth for my next piece: “Trump's head turn was a perfect example of an event that has no explanation outside the favor of the gods, or whatever modern equivalent involving wind factors and directional probabilities you might prefer to the word “God.” Trump was fated to win, just as Achilles was fated to overcome Hector, because the gods, or if you prefer the forces of cosmic randomness, were on his side, on that day, at that moment. That move not only saved his life by allowing him to escape an assassin's bullet; it revitalized his chi and set in motion a series of subsequent events that generated a reordering of the entire world.”“You can't stop what's coming. It ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity.”A Christmas StoryI was always the first to wake up on Christmas morning. It was almost like a job. I'd scramble into the living room before the sun even came up to gaze upon the abundance of treasures beneath the Christmas tree. I never believed Santa was real, but those presents got there somehow. It was my grandmother who enlisted my older sister to help her wrap all of the presents after the rest of us had gone to sleep. It was a magic trick she performed every Christmas to keep the illusion of Santa alive in our imaginations.She thought she had us fooled. We let her pretend. It didn't matter because every Christmas morning was a rare moment of pure joy. One after the other, we'd tear through the presents, not waiting for each person to finish before moving on to the next. Pure carnage but oh what fun. I never really thought much about what Christmas really means until recently. If it is only about driving the economy or buying stuff, then it isn't worth celebrating. But if it is about something much bigger than ourselves, a way to unify us as one people under God, well, then it means something.I began thinking back on my life, on my childhood, and how religion fit into it. Most movies during the Hays Code era (before the 1960s and 1970s) were infused with Christian ideology, especially Christmas movies. And why wouldn't they be? George Bailey prays in It's a Wonderful Life, and an angel shows up to answer his prayers. In A Charlie Brown Christmas, they sing about the “Newborn King,” who is, of course, Jesus. We all used to share that as a country. It was a thread that united us, along with being American citizens. We all watched these movies because we understood the foundational principles of what made America. That isn't true anymore. To even reference religion, as I'm doing now, is practically a revolutionary act. There is a new religion in town, a fundamentalist one that offers no path to redemption or forgiveness and demands total compliance or else.What does any of it mean to us now? Is it really just about the list of things we buy? Is it about the movies we all treasure every year? Is it about what unites us, not what divides us? Is it about something bigger than ourselves? Are we still even allowed to say “Merry Christmas?” I don't have the answers; I just know that I was raised by a devout atheist who hated religion, and thus, I never thought about Christmas other than as a way to give things and get things. But now, thanks to my four years of getting to know Trump supporters, I see that and many other things differently. I wandered out of darkness and despair toward what looked like a golden light of hope and optimism, surrounded by people our ruling class deemed “dangerous” at best and “human garbage” at worst. I knew every step that brought me closer to them would be one more step that separated me from everyone and everything else.As I've written so often here, it was another Christmas movie, maybe the best one, that reminded me of what happened to me. It was The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The moral of that story is that you can't steal Christmas. It isn't something you can buy or attain. It isn't even something you can give. That's why the Whos in Whoville are still celebrating and singing even after the Grinch takes away every last symbol of Christmas. He couldn't take away the one thing that mattered most - what was in the hearts and minds of those celebrating.I can't call myself a Christian or even a person of faith. I lean in, and that's farther than I did before. But I also know I have learned the same lesson the Grinch did. I saw people abandoned by our political establishment, institutions, and culture - people who should have been angry and bitter. But they weren't. They were happy. That's how my heart grew and why I think differently about Christmas now.It wasn't Trump supporters who demanded I pick a side—it was the Left. They have imagined an unbearable reality for most of us. Perhaps it comforts people like Jill Filipovic, but for the rest of us, we choose the better way, one that values forgiveness, redemption, and humility. And one that allows us to say, even shout, Merry Christmas. So thank you, dear readers. When I say you saved me, I really mean it. You did. There, but for the Grace of God, Go I. // This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit sashastone.substack.com/subscribe
Dr. David B. McWilliams - December 24, 2024
Glory to the Newborn King!Welcome to our candlelight Christmas Eve service at Immanuel Baptist Church!
Glory to the Newborn King!Welcome to our candlelight Christmas Eve service at Immanuel Baptist Church!
Advent: The Newborn KingThe Newborn King, Salvation He'll BringSeries: Advent: The Newborn KingSpeaker: Jeremy NortonScripture: Isaiah 7:14 #God #Advent #Christmas #Salvation #NewbornKing #King #Newborn #Jesus #LordSupport the show
George Diwakar - Isaiah 9:2-7 promises light in darkness through a coming ruler. Despite political and spiritual despair, Isaiah foretells a child—Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace—who will break burdens, end wars, and establish eternal peace. Jesus, the fulfilment of this prophecy, offers true light and hope. Christmas isn't fleeting sentimentality but a reminder of lasting salvation and freedom through Christ, our eternal King.
God gathers a surprising group of nobodies to witness the birth of the Newborn King. Luke 2:1-20 Christmas 2024 Gene Pensiero Jr Home https://www.youtube.com/calvaryhanford Find us on Substack https://calvaryhanford.substack.com/ Experience the wonder of Christmas in The Sights Before Christmas, an expository sermon on Luke 2:1-20. Dive into the heart of the Christmas story as we […]
God gathers a surprising group of nobodies to witness the birth of the Newborn King. Luke 2:1-20 Christmas 2024 Gene Pensiero Jr Home https://www.youtube.com/calvaryhanford Find us on Substack https://calvaryhanford.substack.com/ Experience the wonder of Christmas in The Sights Before Christmas, an expository sermon on Luke 2:1-20. Dive into the heart of the Christmas story as we […]
A sermon by Phil Shimer based on Luke 2:1-7 preached on December 22nd for the West congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
Series: N/AService: Sun AMType: SermonSpeaker: John Pollard
Subject: Advent 2024 Speaker or Performer: Randy McLendon Scripture Passage(s): Psalm 89:19-29 Date of Delivery: December 22, 2024
Advent: The Newborn KingWe can know the Love of God through JesusSeries: Advent: The Newborn KingSpeaker: Aaron MonesScripture: Isaiah 53:1-6#Advent #Love #God #Jesus #Lord #Redeeming #LoveRedeeming #TheNewbornKing #KingSupport the show
NEWBORN KING Caesar Augustus as the emperor of Rome decreed that a census be held so that everyone in the empire could be taxed according to their property ownership and other possessions. They all had to go to their place of birth to be registered so Joseph who was of the house and lineage of King David had to take Mary to Bethlehem, to his family home. The Scriptures had prophesied that the true King of Peace would be born in Bethlehem at that very time, in a small village nearly five thousand miles distance from the palace of another king, Caesar Augustus in Rome. And we read the amazing prophecy of Micah, over seven hundred years earlier that declared that Bethlehem would be the place of the birth of Jesus. Micah 5:2. O Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are but a small Judean village, yet you will be the birthplace of my King who is alive from everlasting ages past!” God will allow his people to become subject to their enemies until she who is to give birth has her son; then at last these fellow countrymen—the exile remnants of Israel—will rejoin their nation in their own land. And he (The Son) shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God, and his people shall remain there safely, for he will be greatly honoured all around the world. He will be our Peace. Joseph and Mary were sent to the right place at the right time for the birth of Jesus, fulfilling the seven-hundred-year-old prophesy of his birthplace, and becoming the King of Peace. Joseph walked beside the donkey that carried his wife. He was getting weary, and the journey was tiresome for Mary, and he knew he had to get his wife to the place of his family's household and out of the cold, and the time was getting close for her to give birth. They finally arrived at the family home where they were warmly welcomed and invited inside. The dwelling complex was the usual cluster of rooms surrounding a central courtyard and it became clear to Joseph that the house was overcrowded, and that all the guestrooms were occupied. The word for guestroom in the Bible is kataluma, and this is the word for ‘Inn', as in Luke 22:11 which states in the narrative that ‘There was no room at the Inn'. So we are not talking about two travellers trying to book into a local tavern that had already filled its quota in such a busy season, and they did not have to go and look for a stable in some paddock up the road. What the story is saying is that Joseph and his wife would have to stay in the stable of the family home, downstairs, in that warm place where the animals slept and fed. Joseph saw the signs of the oncoming birth in the drawn face and the discomfort in Mary's eyes and he settled her as quickly and gently as he could. Then Mary gave birth to her child and a baby cried its baby cry of shock as it entered the world. The smile upon Father's face in heaven became a laugh of joy, which was echoed by Joseph in the earth, who would now adopt the role of the child's earthly father. On earth it was the natural and familiar scene of new birth. In the universe it was the most supernatural of any birth in history. It was also ordained that this birth would become the most celebrated event for all time, being celebrated annually by millions upon billions down through the ages, many of whom have scarce idea of what is really being celebrated. Nearby, where shepherds were looking after their sheep upon the hills a huge shining star having reached its zenith was lighting up the entire night sky. The shepherds looked up in wonder at this light and suddenly the lights of shining angels dazzled them and they became terrified and ran and huddled together. The Angel Gabriel appeared above them, sent to tell them of the birth of Jesus. He told them not to be afraid, and that he had great and marvellous news for them, for all the world to hear. He told them that they would find a child, the Newborn King of the universe, God the Saviour, wrapped in simple clothing in a nearby stable. Suddenly Gabriel was joined by a multitude of angels as the brilliant night sky resounded with their voices singing, and they listened enraptured at the magnificent words. “The glory of God is being seen in the heavens, and his love and goodness is creating a new era of peace for all mankind.” The angelic song about this new creation in the world was the magnificent sequel to their song of the first creation of the world as we read in the book of Job after God challenges Job and says ‘Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:4,7,8). When the angels' singing had stopped, the shepherds were guided to the place where this extraordinary event was taking place in the earth. These simple shepherds became the emissaries to the world of the birth of this king of kings, this child, and all who heard them were astounded and amazed. A great light shone that night. The light shone upon a newborn child who would bring light into this world, to every person born into this world (John 1:9). And this light would be contested by darkness as always, but the conflict now rose to a new height. Time waited for the outcome, the verdict, the final encounter between light and darkness on a cross that would come one dark and stormy day. Time would wait until Father was ready, then this light would be able to overcome darkness in every single life. God with us means more than just alongside us. It means he is within and through our being, and more than that, we are within and through his being. Jesus had declared this mystery of the human/ Divine intersection of life and being when he prayed to the Father in front of the disciples “I have given them the glory you gave me—the glorious unity of being one, as we are— I in them and you in me, all being perfected into one—so that the world will know you sent me and will understand that you love them as much as you love me. (John 17:22) This Divine intersection of our being with God is how we get to ‘know God'. The Holy Spirit speaks into our spirit the mind and words of Jesus, and we ‘see and know' Jesus in this way. Faith lets us speak to him as a person, person to person. 1John 2:27 But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don't need to learn another person's personal perception of God to know what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true. This does not mean we disregard Scriptural teaching. This Scripture simply makes alive and real the personal and individual whisper of God into our spirit as the wisdom and understanding of the mind and heart of God that we need in any given situation and at any given time. That is what Jesus accomplished for us. That becomes the light to our path allowing us to express our unique and truest self in the best possible way. That is our faith. Christmas waits to be truly celebrated within this understanding. Without Christmas there is no way we could ever have known God and become one with him. Amen
Dr. Landon Reynolds December 15th, 2024 Southside Baptist Church Florence, SC www.SouthsideNow.church
A new MP3 sermon from First Christian Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Newborn King Reveals the Hearts of All Subtitle: Together We Grow Speaker: Dr. T. J. Gentry Broadcaster: First Christian Church Event: Devotional Date: 12/19/2024 Bible: Luke 2:34-35 Length: 1 min.
A new MP3 sermon from First Christian Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Newborn King Reveals God's Perfect Timing Subtitle: Together We Grow Speaker: Dr. T. J. Gentry Broadcaster: First Christian Church Event: Devotional Date: 12/18/2024 Bible: Galatians 4:4 Length: 1 min.
A new MP3 sermon from First Christian Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: The Newborn King Ends the Tyranny of Satan Subtitle: Together We Grow Speaker: Dr. T. J. Gentry Broadcaster: First Christian Church Event: Devotional Date: 12/15/2024 Bible: Genesis 3:15 Length: 1 min.
A sermon by Brad Snyder based on Matthew 2:13-18 preached on December 15th for the Tri-City congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
A sermon by Joe Byler based on Matthew 2:1-12 preached on December 15th for the Short North congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
Anticipation of the Newborn King | Matthew 1:1-25 by Christ Community Church of Magnolia
Joy Is Found When Jesus Is CrownedSeries: Advent: The Newborn KingSpeaker: Jeremy NortonScripture: Luke 1:39-56#God #Lord #Jesus #NewBornKing #King #Joy #Advent #Crowned #JoyOverflowingSupport the show
In this week's Advent devotional, Dr. Stewart shows us how the birth of Christ is marked by his coming death, and yet his incarnation also marks the gift of salvation and eternal life with God.
Dr. Landon Reynolds December 8th, 2024 Southside Baptist Church Florence, SC www.SouthsideNow.church
Deacon Steve Greco is a permanent deacon of the Diocese of Orange. He is founder of Spirit Filled Hearts Ministry, director of evangelization and formation for the Diocese of Orange and host of Empowered by the Spirit. Katie Hughes of Spirit Filled Hearts Ministry serves as his co-host in this episode. They talk about Christmas.Empowered by the Spirit airs live weekdays at 10:00am and Fridays at 5pmPacific Time go to https://www.spiritfilledevents.com/empowered-by-the-spirit website or download our Spirit Filled Radio App for Android or Apple Devices.APPLE LINK FOR APPGOOGLE PLAY LINK FOR APPArchives of shows from Spirit Filled Radio are available on podcast at https://www.spiritfilledevents.com/empowered-by-the-spirit
A sermon by Brad Snyder based on Matthew 2:1-12 preached on December 8th for the Tri-City congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
A sermon by Jordan Fillmore based on Matthew 2:13-18 preached on December 8th for the West congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
A sermon by Parris Payden based on Matthew 2:13-18 preached on December 8th for the Short North congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
Dr. Landon Reynolds December 1st, 2024 Southside Baptist Church Florence, SC www.SouthsideNow.church
Kent Nighswander
A sermon by PJ Wenzel based on Luke 1:5-25 preached on December 1st for the Tri-City congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"
A sermon by Parris Payden based on Luke 1:5-25 preached on December 1st for the Short North congregation of Veritas Community Church as part of our sermon series called "Advent: Glory to the Newborn King"