Key Thought

Today's Prayer

Majestic and loving God, forgive me for my lack of obedience. Please give me a deeper understanding and appreciation of how my obedience also helps you fulfill your promises and bring Jesus into the lives of others. In the name of Jesus I thank you and ask for this grace. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

The mother of Jesus Christ was Mary. And this is how the birth of Jesus happened. Mary was engaged to marry Joseph. But before they married, Mary learned that she was pregnant with a child. Mary was pregnant by {the power of} the Holy Spirit. Mary's husband, Joseph, was a good man. He did not want to bring shame to Mary before the people. So he planned to divorce her secretly. But after Joseph thought about this, an angel of the Lord came to Joseph in a dream. The angel said, "Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to accept Mary to be your wife. The baby that is in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son. You will name the son Jesus. Give him that name because he will save his people from their sins." All this happened to make clear the full meaning of the things the Lord said through the prophet : "The virgin will be pregnant and will give birth to a son. They will name him Immanuel." (Immanuel means, "God with us.") When Joseph woke up, he did the thing that the Lord's angel told him to do. Joseph married Mary. But Joseph had no sexual union with Mary until she gave birth to the son. And Joseph named the son Jesus.

Related Scripture Readings

But if you can believe God, then you can believe that what we tell you is never both "Yes" and "No." The Son of God, Jesus Christ, that Silas and Timothy and I told you about was not "Yes" and "No." In Christ it has always been "Yes." The "Yes" to all of God's promises is in Christ. And that is why we say "Amen " through Christ to the glory of God.

The Lord was with Samuel while he grew up. The Lord did not let any of Samuel's messages prove false. Then all Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was a true prophet of the Lord. And the Lord continued to appear to Samuel at Shiloh. The Lord revealed himself to Samuel as the word of the Lord.

We should hold strongly to the hope that we have. And we should never fail to tell people about our hope. We can trust God to do what he promised. We should think about each other and see how we can help each other to show love and do good things. We should not quit meeting together. That's what some people are doing. But we should {meet together and} encourage each other. You should do this more and more as you see the Day coming.