{"id":67565,"date":"2024-12-11T21:17:08","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T03:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/?p=67565"},"modified":"2024-12-11T21:17:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T03:17:08","slug":"the-christmas-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/the-christmas-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"The Christmas Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the great joys of Christmas is when that \u201cChristmas Spirit\u201d begins to glow in your heart.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Maybe it\u2019s the first snowfall, maybe it\u2019s the smile on a child\u2019s face, maybe it\u2019s a nativity scene, or maybe it\u2019s a song on Kinship Christmas Radio \u2013but the feeling is unmistakable.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s warm, it glows, it feels like love\u2026 and you wish you felt like this more often.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Yes, that\u2019s the feeling. Without it, it just doesn\u2019t seem like Christmas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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It seems to thrive in times of peace and love, but seems to flee from us if we get too busy, too caught up in the commercial aspect of Christmas.<\/span><\/p>\n

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We can\u2019t buy it in a store. It\u2019s not wrapped up in a box under the tree. And it\u2019s certainly not the kind of spirit that comes in a bottle.<\/span><\/p>\n

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While there is no disputing that Christmas is and should be all about Jesus Christ, maybe there\u2019s something (or someone) we are forgetting:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18 ESV)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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When the angel Gabriel visited Mary, this is what he said to her:<\/span><\/p>\n

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You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob\u2019s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end. \u201cHow will this be,\u201d Mary asked the angel, \u201csince I am a virgin?\u201d The angel answered, \u201cThe Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:31-35 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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At the same time, the Holy Spirit was also at work in the birth of John the Baptist. Luke 1:41 records that previously-barren Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit when she met with Mary. Zechariah\u00a0was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied at the birth of John the Baptist. (Luke 1:67) And, the Bible records that John the Baptist would be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born! (Luke 1:15)<\/span><\/p>\n

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The scene Luke describes immediately after the birth of Jesus is Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus in the temple to be circumcised eight days after he is born. While they were there, this happened:<\/span><\/p>\n

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Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord\u2019s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: <\/em><\/strong>\u201cSovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss\u00a0your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.\u201d (Luke 2: 25-32 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s three times in one paragraph that Luke tells us that what was going on with Simeon was the work of the Holy Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

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How about a little Old Testament prophecy to back this up?<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him\u2013 the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD\u2013 (Isaiah 11:2 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Did you get a little Christmas glow when you read that?<\/span><\/p>\n

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I thought so.<\/span><\/p>\n

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That\u2019s because, while those warm feelings associated with twinkling lights and the nostalgia of Christmases past can come upon anyone, be they Christian or not, the true Christmas Spirit is the work of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s the same spirit that was hovering over the waters at creation. It\u2019s the very same Holy Spirit that created the universe and everything in it. It\u2019s the same Holy Spirit that came upon the disciples at Pentecost. It\u2019s the very same Holy Spirit Jesus promised would be\u00a0the Advocate who would teach us all things and remind us of all Jesus has said to us. It\u2019s the same Spirit that came upon you and filled you when you believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.<\/span><\/p>\n

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So, next time that glowing Christmas Spirit seems far away and hard to grasp, brothers and sisters in Christ, remember it\u2019s not some commercialized feel-good plastic Santa Claus feeling you are longing for \u2013it\u2019s Emmanuel, God with us -as revealed in truth by the Holy Spirit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Today\u2019s Praise<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,\u00a0who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God\u2019s possession\u2014to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13&14 (NIV)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And, speaking of Christmas Spirit, don’t forget to come and share that Spirit with us at our Christmas Open House this Friday, December 13th, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. in our studios at 860 Madison Avenue in Mankato. Feel free to tour the facilities, enjoy some goodies, and meet the staff of Kinship Radio!\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the great joys of Christmas is when that \u201cChristmas Spirit\u201d begins to glow in your heart.   Maybe it\u2019s the first snowfall, maybe it\u2019s the smile on a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":67566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-14 04:09:31","action":"delete","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}