Today on the show we read some devotionals from Our Daily Bread. We also got an update from WNZR’s Joe Rinehart on how he and Marcy are feeling health wise.
Here are the devotionals that I chose from Our Daily Bread:
“Caring For Those In Need” by Julie Schwab. You can find the link here.
“A Worthwhile Wait” by Leslie Koh. You can find the link here.
I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Atlanta, Georgia to meet, celebrate, and worship with thousands of people at Passion 2022. Today on the show, I reflected on how God was able to move through 18-25-year-olds in this event to bring in the New Year!
Many big names in Christian music and ministry came together for the two day event including
Today on the show we talked about how today is National Still Need To Do Day.
Here is the article about the National Holiday:
Still Need to Do Day comes at a lull time in the holiday season, before New Year’s festivities. Children are still out of school, and maybe you have some time off of work. With only a few days left in the year, you may start reflecting on what you have accomplished during the last trip around the sun, and what things were left undone. Today is for tying up some of the loose ends of the year, and getting things done before the calendar changes. Completing tasks give people a sense of accomplishment, and doing some now will lay a foundation to start the new year off strong. Thomas and Ruth Roy of Wellcat Holidays started the day, and while they put it on December 29 to illustrate the opportunity to finish things before the end of the year, they also said you have “the rest of your life” to do them, meaning that it’s okay if it takes longer than just today to finish them. They point out that procrastination does not move one forward, and that “it’s time to start pursuing the dream,” implying that not only small tasks need to be focused on, but large life goals as well.
How to Observe Still Need to Do Day
Celebrate the day by making a list of things that you wish to accomplish yet this year, and a second list outlining things that you hope to start focusing on during the upcoming year ahead—this second list may be part of your New Year’s resolutions. Then spend the day working to check off things on your first list and see if you can complete them. Maybe there is something broke in your house that you’ve been meaning to fix all year. Today is the day to do it! Is there something you have been meaning to buy all year to simplify your life, but you’ve been putting it off? Go out and get it today and start the new year fresh! Do you have children and they are off of school? If so, have them make lists too, and see what they can accomplish today as well.
· I was born on December 29th, 1808 in Raleigh, North Carolina · I was born into poverty and never went to school · I was elected into the House of Representatives in 1843, where I served five two-year terms. · I was also the Governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857 · I became the 17th President of the United States following the assassination of then President Abraham Lincoln I died on July 31st, 1875 due to a stroke
Answer: Andrew Johnson
Congratulations to Karolyn of Mount Vernon for guessing the correct answer! She wins a $5 gift card to Everlasting Cup!
For Artist Newsday, we recapped an awesome year for Dante Bowe and talked about how We The Kingdom made the most of their live performance on national television!
Dante Bowe has had a very successful year you could say. He has had arguably the most powerful year of his career and is closing out the season with top ten placements on three different Billboard Year End Charts. He is No. 9 overall for Top Gospel Artist, No. 4 for Top Male Gospel Artist, and No. 4 on Top New Christian Artists.
From the release of his deeply personal album, circles, via Bethel Music, to sold out performances, KLOVE Nominations, and multiple DOVE Award wins Dante’s incredible year culminates with three GRAMMY Award nominations in the Best Gospel Performance/Song category, a record that no other artist has achieved since the field was created in 2015.
Earlier this year, Dante released his album and Bethel Music label debut, circles. The incredibly personal album quickly shot to the top of the charts, debuting at No. 7 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart. The lead single, ‘joyful,’ reached No. 2 on Billboard’s Gospel Digital Song Sales and No. 3 on Hot Gospel Songs, making it the highest solo charting position of his career, and earned him a GRAMMY Nomination. The follow up single, ‘family tree,’ premiered on BET marking his first televised debut.
Next spring, Dante will join four-time GRAMMY Award winning duo for KING & COUNTRY on the road for the ‘What Are We Waiting For? – The Tour.” The 33-date trek will make stops in arenas throughout the United States beginning on March 31st in Southaven, MS before traveling through Chicago, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and more then wrapping in Franklin, TN on March 22nd. More information about the dates and tickets can be found at forkingandcountry.com.
We The Kingdom celebrated Christmas Eve with Fox & Friends, making an appearance on the show to perform their rendition of “Silent Night (Heavenly Peace).” Following their performance, the song soared to No. 1 on the iTunes Top Christian Songs chart (Top 15 all-genre), and the band’s holiday EP, “A Family Christmas”, also rose to No. 3 on the iTunes all-genre Top Albums chart.
The 2x GRAMMY-nominated group will kick off their headlining We The Kingdom Live tour in the new year, packing out the month of March with 16 shows! For tickets, make sure to visit wtklive.com.
Come all you weary Come all you thirsty Come to the well That never runs dry
This week was a stumper so we will bring these lyrics back next week for a chance at TWO $5 gift cards to Everlasting Cup!
Today for Monday Motivation, we returned to Our Daily Bread to talk about what there is to look forward to after celebrating a holiday such as Christmas. Read the full devotional from Adam R. Holz HERE.
We also covered New Years as 2022 is quickly approaching! Tim Gustafson shares a story from Ezekiel in his devotional entitled “Back to the Basics”.
Name a book that could knock you out if someone hit you over the head with it.
Dictionary 39
Encyclopedia 25
Bible 14
Phone Book 14
War & Peace 6
Congratulations to Aranae of Fredericktown for correctly guessing our top two answers! She wins the $5 gift card to Everlasting Cup for today. Make sure to tune in tomorrow for your next chance to win!
Today on the show we shared some Christmas devotionals.
Here are the Christmas devotionals that we chose:
MATTHEW 1 – THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS
#1
The New Testament begins in Matthew 1 with what’s called “the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah.” Have you ever wondered why?
Matthew’s Gospel doesn’t begin with the nativity itself…the star, the shepherds and the manger. Instead, it begins with a long list of ancestry. And let’s be honest- how many times have we skipped through this?
In his book, Hidden Christmas, Pastor Timothy Keller gives us perspective on why Matthew started the story of Jesus this way. He reminds us that Christmas is not just about a birth, it is about a coming.
The birth of the Son of God into the world is a gospel, a good news, an announcement that says, you don’t save yourself – God has come to save you. Of course, Christmas is just the beginning of the story of how God came to save us. Jesus will have to go to the cross. But you begin with Christ by believing this report about what has happened in history. Matthew tells us here that this story is no fairy tale – Jesus is real!
Matthew doesn’t start his book with “Once Upon a Time.” That is the way fairy tales or legendary fantasy stories begin. Matthew is grounding who Jesus Christ is and what he does in history with the genealogy. Keller reminds us that in Matthew 1, we learn that Jesus is not a metaphor – he is real. This all happened!
#2
In this genealogy at the beginning of the New Testament, what else is Matthew saying? Pastor Keller writes that the list of Jesus’ genealogy is also a type of resume. In those times, your family, pedigree and clan made up your resume. Therefore, this list is really saying, “this is who Jesus is.”
Matthew’s genealogy is shockingly different from the other ones of his time. First, there are five women in the list. Three of them, Tamar, Rahab and Ruth, are Gentiles. The Jews would have considered them unclean. In fact, Tamar was a prostitute. He also refers to “Uriah’s wife,” who you may know is Bathsheba. These names recall some of the most difficult stories in the Old Testament. Yet, they are in Jesus’ genealogy. Why?
But wait, in verse 6 we have the name King David. We might think, “now there is somebody we want in our genealogy!” David, after all, was the boy who killed Goliath, favored by Saul, anointed as King, and the man who conquers Jerusalem. But David also was a flawed man, who arranged the killing of his friend Uriah and whose son Solomon was the result of his affair with Bathsheba. Yet out of that deeply flawed man, the Messiah came. These people are all acknowledged in Matthew 1 as the ancestors of Jesus.
So what does that mean? Tim Keller asks us to think about it this way:
It means that people who are excluded by culture, society and even by the law of God can be brought into Jesus’ family. If you repent and believe in Him, the grace of Jesus covers your sin and unites you with Him.
Moreover, with King David, it means even the powerful and great are still in need of the grace of Christ. It is not what you have done; it is what Christ has done for you!
God is not ashamed of us. We are all in His family!
Q:Only two Gospels include any details about the birth of Jesus. Which of them starts with a genealogy to establish that Jesus is the Messiah to whom Old Testament prophecies referred?
A:Matthew
Congratulations to Janice of Mount Vernon for guessing the correct answer! She wins a $5 gift card to Everlasting Cup!
Today we shared a couple of ‘who knews?’ about the origins of a couple of Christmas song classics:
Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s ‘Christmas Eve Sarajevo’ is consistently among the top songs in music surveys. TSO’s Paul O’Neill told the story behind the rock/orchestra song in an interview with Christianity Today:
We heard about this cello player born in Sarajevo many years ago who left when he was fairly young to go on to become a well-respected musician, playing with various symphonies throughout Europe. Many decades later, he returned to Sarajevo as an elderly man—at the height of the Bosnian War, only to find his city in complete ruins.
I think what most broke this man’s heart was that the destruction was not done by some outside invader or natural disaster—it was done by his own people. At that time, Serbs were shelling Sarajevo every night. Rather than head for the bomb shelters like his family and neighbors, this man went to the town square, climbed onto a pile of rubble that had once been the fountain, took out his cello, and played Mozart and Beethoven as the city was bombed.
He came every night and began playing Christmas Carols from that same spot. It was just such a powerful image—a white-haired man silhouetted against the cannon fire, playing timeless melodies to both sides of the conflict amid the rubble and devastation of the city he loves. Some time later, a reporter traced him down to ask why he did this insanely stupid thing. The old man said that it was his way of proving that despite all evidence to the contrary, the spirit of humanity was still alive in that place.
The song basically wrapped itself around him. We used some of the oldest Christmas melodies we could find, like “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” and “Carol of the Bells” part of the medley (which is from Ukraine, near that region). The orchestra represents one side, the rock band the other, and single cello represents that single individual, that spark of hope.”
Here’s the story behind the book…and the song…‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:’
As the holiday season of 1938 came to Chicago, Bob May wasn’t feeling much comfort or joy. A 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward, May was exhausted and nearly broke. His wife, Evelyn, was bedridden, on the losing end of a two-year battle with cancer. This left Bob to look after their four-year old-daughter, Barbara.
One night, Barbara asked her father, “Why isn’t my mommy like everybody else’s mommy?” As he struggled to answer his daughter’s question, Bob remembered the pain of his own childhood. A small, sickly boy, he was constantly picked on and called names. But he wanted to give his daughter hope, and show her that being different was nothing to be ashamed of. More than that, he wanted her to know that he loved her and would always take care of her.
So he began to spin a tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team. Barbara loved the story so much that she made her father tell it every night before bedtime. As he did, it grew more elaborate. Because he couldn’t afford to buy his daughter a gift for Christmas, Bob decided to turn the story into a homemade picture book.
In early December, Bob’s wife died. Though he was heartbroken, he kept working on the book for his daughter. A few days before Christmas, he reluctantly attended a company party at Montgomery Ward. His co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. After he read it, there was a standing ovation. Everyone wanted copies of their own. Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee.
Over the next six years, at Christmas, they gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house in the country was making offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of good will, the head of the department store returned all rights to Bob May. Four years later, Rudolph had made him into a millionaire.
Now remarried with a growing family, May felt blessed by his good fortune. But there was more to come. His brother-in-law, a successful songwriter named Johnny Marks, set the uplifting story to music. The song was pitched to artists from Bing Crosby on down. They all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. The cowboy star had scored a holiday hit with “Here Comes Santa Claus” a few years before.
Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Marks begged him to give it a second listen. Autry played it for his wife, Ina. She was so touched by the line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games” that she insisted her husband record the tune.
Within a few years, it had become the second best-selling Christmas song ever, right behind “White Christmas.” Since then, Rudolph has come to life in TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, greeting cards and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The little red-nosed reindeer dreamed up by Bob May and immortalized in song by Johnny Marks and Gene Autry has come to hold a special place in children’s hearts all over the world!
– We were born 35 minutes apart on December 22, 1949 in Douglas on the Isle of Man – Our dad was a drummer so we caught the music bug – We performed for the first time with our older brother, Barry, in 1957 at a local theater – Our family moved to Australia in 1958 and continued singing – Our band name was a spelled out acronym – We are best known for songs like “Staying Alive” and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?”
We are Maurice and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees! Congratulations to Amanda of Mount Vernon, who guessed correctly and wins the $5 gift card to Everlasting Cup.
Lisa from Mount Vernon and Renee from Howard
Here’s the article and recipe about the holiday yule log that Dylan shared…
Driving Notes 