Gospel Message Day 74

Christmas Scripture Advent Calendar, Part 7

Day 7 Scripture: Isaiah 40: 1-4. However, I think v. 5 should be included.

 1 Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

 2 Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

 3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

 4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:

 5 And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

I know two songs that go with this, so I'm going to post both. And only one is from Handel's Messiah.

"Every Valley"



"And the Glory of the Lord"



I like that the first verse assures comfort and then leads in to why we should find comfort: because we were promised a Savior. He would wash away our sins if we choose to repent. He would bring about our resurrection. He would be the means to our exaltation if we live righteously. And the promise of him coming and making those things possible has happened. We have every reason to rejoice and celebrate the baby born in Bethlehem who became the man at Gethsemane, on Calvary, and in the realms of glory.

The rest of the scripture speaks of his ability to do great things. I think the last verse refers to a future time, for there are still many today who do not know or believe in our Savior. But one day, they will not be able to deny who He is and all He has done for us. I look forward to that day--it will be nice not to have to disagree on the most vital part of who I am.

Gospel Message Day 73

Christmas Scripture Advent Day 6

Day 6 Scripture - Jeremiah 33: 14-15

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land.

This sounds similar to the other scriptures. The Savior's coming was not just foretold. It was a promise.
 

Gospel Message Day 72

Christmas Scripture Advent Day 5

Day 5 Scripture - Luke 1:32-35

He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.

Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

This seems like a repeat of the previous days (excepting Bethlehem being singled out as the place). But there are many, many recounts of what happened as well as of the prophecies of what would happen. While this is a prophecy, it is not about Mary. This one is to her, about the Son that she will have. (Again--that whole "Mary, Did You Know?" Yes. She did.)

I've been waiting to share this song, since we've been singing it in my choir and will do so at our concert next week. It must be shared some time during the Christmas season. So here you go!


With God, nothing is impossible. The Christmas season, and the reason for it, are perfect examples of that.

Gospel Message Day 71

Christmas Scripture Advent Day 4

Day 4 Scripture - Jeremiah 23:5

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper. and shall execute judgement and justice in the earth.

It was prophesied that Jesus would be a King. The people throughout history up to this time (and goodness--even ever since that time) have mostly seen kings as high and mighty. Above everyone. Rich, wealthy. All that jazz. Not many people grew up with a King Benjamin over their kingdoms, who was humble and worked right alongside them.

So it makes sense that they were looking for someone grand as to the ways of the world. Not a humble child born in a stable. And yet He that had the lowliest beginning is greater than any man to ever walk the earth. He had the greatest worth of all, and those unwise seeking him (like Herod) did not know how to see worth right in front of them. So it is with all of us. We are all of great, infinite worth. And yet there are those our lives who might treat us with little to no respect. Perhaps we do that to others. It is up to us, not just at Christmas but all the year round, to look and see the worth of souls all around us. For He that is greatest of all wants us to help everyone know and feel that He loves them, too.

Today's song is the one my ward choir worked on for 4 months and sang absolutely beautifully a week ago. It talks about our King, so I'm sharing it with today's message:

Gospel Message Day 70

Christmas Scripture Advent Part 3

Day 3 Scripture - Micah 5:2

But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

A scripture about where our Savior was born! I found a definition of Bethlehem: House of Bread. Isn't that the neatest thing? Jesus is known as the Bread of Life. Bethlehem is where He came from. AND His Father (stepfather, actually--namely Joseph) was of a house (lineage) that traced back to Bethlehem.

I love that our humble Redeemer was not born in a huge city (namely Jerusalem). He was born in a smaller town, less fanfare (angels aside!). So sweet how the scripture says, "though thou be little among the thousands." How often do we feel small or insignificant? And yet there is greatness within us, for we are Children of God. And as my friend used to say: God don't make no junk. :-) He doesn't!

We are of infinite worth and wondrous things come from each of us. I like the analogy of us being like Bethlehem--and this is the first time I've made it.

Today's song seems a pretty obvious choice:
 

And I must include the lyrics, for the 3rd verse is not as well known, but is the best part of the whole thing!

O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep,
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light.
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth
And praises sing to God, the King,
And peace to men on earth.
For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.

How silently, how silently,
The wondrous Gift is giv'n!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sins and enter in,
Be born to us today.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell:
Oh, come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

Gospel Message Day 69

Christmas Scripture Advent, Part 1 & 2

So, I think I'm going to take a break from drawing topics from the dog so I can focus on the best part about this season: the Savior! Always something I can talk about, because the Savior is my all and my everything. But I'll keep it a bit structured. I'm going to do the scripture advent I've been seeing others do. I'm starting a day late, so I'll do Day 1 & 2 together today. And what would Christmas be without music? I'm going to share a Christmas song/video each day as well. Here we go!

Here is the calendar I found to use:

Day 1 Scripture - Isaiah 7:14

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 

I have always wondered about Mary's part of this story. We don't worship Mary in our religion, but we certainly honor, respect, and revere her. She was pure, virtuous. Heavenly Father chose her to not just bring His Beloved Son into this world, but to raise Him. The responsibility for such a thing! He would not have picked just any woman. Mary surpassed much to be worthy of this. 

There is the song "Mary, Did You Know?" While I don't think she knew exactly what specifics would be part of her Son's life, I think she knew she was kissing the face of God. That He would save mankind. I think she understood the magnitude and significance and responsibility that came with her calling. Daunting and humbling. Yet also exciting and bringing hope. It is one of many reasons I love the movie The Nativity. I love how they portrayed Mary knowing what her baby would be coming to save.

I'm going to share a simple song that I love. I will be in a women's trio singing the SSA version of this in a couple of weeks. Couldn't find one with good sound that had all 3 parts. Sorry.

Day 2 Scripture - Isaiah 9:6:

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

I love this scripture! And the fabulous Handel song of it:



The joy that song conveys of how excited we should be that our Savior came for us! If one is not sure why the Savior is so amazing, just look at some of the names He is called by:

Wonderful - I'm quite a fan of that word. Full of wonder. Amazing. Marvelous. Awesome. They all go together.

Counsellor - Someone whom we can go to for guidance in any aspect of our life because no one knows better how to comfort, succor, lift, and guide us than He knows.

The mighty God - He created the world. He has power over all the things of the Earth. He had the power to atone for our sins, lay down his life at His own will, and then take up His body again. There is nothing mightier than that!

The everlasting Father - With His Atonement and Resurrection, He has bought our souls back from the adversary. Thus, He is the Father of our souls. For always, for ever. Everlasting.

The Prince of Peace - Peace is possible in this world because of our Savior. He knows how to comfort us, which can bring personal peace. He has atoned for our sins, which can bring everyone peace and hope to know they are not lost forever. And when He comes again, He will bring peace with Him.

Those very basic explanations of only a few of His names--is He not the very epitome of Awesome?! He is for me. Which is why I'm so grateful He made the choice and the sacrifice to come to this earth and be my Savior and Redeemer.

Gospel Message Day 68

Accountability, Part 3

I honestly don't know what else to say on this topic. It feels lie one I should write about in more than 2 days. Yet I'm stuck. There really isn't much beyond the fact that we're accountable for our own actions, whether righteous or not, and that this accountability is a gift from Heavenly Father which puts our salvation into our own hands. (With the needed help of our Savior, of course.)

I'm sure there is more that I could say, but I can't think what. This is a simple concept for me. Which means I'm not very good at teaching it. Plus it goes with choice and agency. But I didn't pick those topics, so I'm trying not to say much of them so I can save up for when it is their turn.

I've even been trying to think of music to share that goes along with the topic. Growing up, we had a Young Women values songbook. I learned the one for Infinite Worth. And of course I knew the one that mentioned the then-seven values. But unfortunately, I did not learn the song for Choice & Accountability. I know there are plenty of songs that relate to choice. But not too many about Accountability. The LDS hymnbook doesn't list anything under that topic. The LDS Primary Songbook has a few, but not quite what I had in mind. One if the Article of Faith I quoted 2 days ago.

Still, I'll link to these two Primary songs that get kind of close to it, one (Dare to Do Right) being one I sang a lot as a child and the other (I'll Walk with You) having a message that gets me every time I play or sing the song.

Cute video of Dare to Do Right being performed!