The Good Samaritan In Lego

The Good Samaritan

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
27He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[c]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' " 28 "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." 29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" 30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' 36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" 37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." Luke 10:25-37

Christmas Chalk

Matthew 2:1-12

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' "
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Merry Christmas - This is a cool card

A Christmas Duo

This little nativity scene sets atop the CPU unit in the office I use at the church building. It was purchased at a Dollar Tree Store in 1996. I keep it out throughout the year to remind me that Christmas is all the time. Enjoy the Christmas Season and remember Christmas is all the time. Christ Mass or Christ Worship is what Christmas is about.

Matthew 1:18-25 From The Message

18-19The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.
20-23While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream. God's angel spoke in the dream: "Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to get married. Mary's pregnancy is Spirit-conceived. God's Holy Spirit has made her pregnant. She will bring a son to birth, and when she does, you, Joseph, will name him Jesus—'God saves'—because he will save his people from their sins." This would bring the prophet's embryonic sermon to full term:

Watch for this—a virgin will get pregnant and bear a son;
They will name him Immanuel (Hebrew for "God is with us").

24-25Then Joseph woke up. He did exactly what God's angel commanded in the dream: He married Mary. But he did not consummate the marriage until she had the baby. He named the baby Jesus.

Nativity Story

Stress Free Christmas

10 Tips for a Stress-Free Christmas
Written by Dwayne Hastings

Most of us have problems with stress sometime during the year, but the Christmas season seems to bring out the worst in all of us.

One-third of Americans live with extreme stress year-round and nearly half of Americans (48 percent) believe that their stress has increased over the past five years, according to a survey released by the American Psychological Association in October. Most of those surveyed (75 percent) tagged money and work as the contributing factors to the tension in their lives.

Richard Swenson, a physician and author of several books on stress, including "Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives," says, "Stress is such a common term that we might tend to trivialize it, assuming it's a convenient fiction for the weak who do not wish to do their best. Such an attitude would be a mistake. Stress is real, it is increasing and it can be highly pathogenic." Swenson is a member of the Christian Medical and Dental Associations.

With the Christmas shopping season nearly upon us, it is wise to plan ahead to minimize the anxiety and maximize the joy that often comes with the season. Experts might call this managing stress.

To avoid the build-up of stress knocking you down during the Christmas holiday, consider these tips:

1. Be reasonable in your expectations of the holidays.
2. Focus on the first Christmas. Involve your family in a ministry to the less fortunate in your community.
3. Be realistic in your spending plans. Set a realistic budget and don't budge from it.
4. Avoid impulse shopping. Make sure you save your receipts in order to return merchandise once you've gone home and surveyed all your purchases.
5. Take advantage of special sales, but refuse to consider bargains once you've finished your shopping list.
6. Plan ahead and take advantage of sales to buy gifts year around, but make sure you keep good track of your "good deals." A toy you bought on clearance for your preschool son doesn't have quite the same value it originally did when you discover it in the attic, still in the bag, when he is in 6th grade.
7. Make it a family-centered Christmas. Recall the favorite Christmas memories of your youth and seek to recreate them, e.g., make sugar cookies and snicker doodles from scratch as a family. Craft garlands of construction paper loops to decorate your tree. Set aside time to drive through town to see the Christmas lights. Visit a live nativity if one is held in your community.
8. A big buildup to Christmas day leads to a big letdown the day after Christmas. Keep the Christmas spirit alive by planning family events during the week after Christmas and throughout January.
9. Listen to Christmas carols!
10. Make Jesus the focus. Celebrate the Christ -- His birth, His life, His death and resurrection -- this season. Rejoice in the new, victorious life you have in Him.

Give a gift of good health to your family this Christmas -- don't let the stress of the season sour your spirit and muddle your family's merriment.

This article was written by Dwayne Hastings who is a writer for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. I found it at http://www.lifeway.com/

This Is Christmas

Intention And Action

Despite popular belief, there is absolutely no power in intention. There's no difference in the person who intends to do things differently and the one who never thinks about it in the first place. Have you ever considered how often we judge ourselves by our intentions while we judge others by their actions? Yet intention without action is an insult to those who expect the best from you. ~Andy Andrews

Thanks to my friend Jay Hathaway for htis one. He posted on FB.

Christmas - God Sent Us A Savior

"If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior." - Author Unknown

Christmas In A Nutshell

Joy To The World - Remember This As You Shop

Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Luke 2:11 - Hope