Prepare the Way for Christmas Podcast Series Available
- michgirl0076
- Dec 2, 2025
- 8 min read
Hey y’all, Merry Almost Christmas to you and thanks for joining me today for another daily dose of the PowerHouse Momma Podcast’s special Christmas series, entitled Preparing the Way for Christmas. We are going through the Gospel of Luke this month and today we’re talking about Luke chapter 2. So far, we’ve seen the birth of John the Baptist and Spoiler alert, today we’re going to see the birth of Jesus! I’m super jazzed!
So , let’s get started here continuing from yesterday, you will have to go back and hear all about Luke Chapter 1 in the previous episode but here in Luke Chapter 2 we start out by learning that Caesar Augustus required the whole empire to be registered and everyone had to go to their own town, So Joseph and the very pregnant Mary travelled to Bethlehem to be registered. Then of course while they were there Mary gave birth to her son, and she wrapped him in cloth and laid him in a manger because there had been no room at the Inn. There was no place for them to go so they were staying out with the animals in the stables. Such a humble beginning for this new baby child.
Meanwhile, there was another Angel visitation, the angel of the Lord visited the shepherds out keeping watch over their flocks in the area. The angel of the Lord, who shown bright with the glory of God said the very famous words, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great Joy that will be for all the people: Today in the city of David a Savior was born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” “This will be the sign for you (yay sound) you will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.” So this is not just from the Charlie Brown Christmas movie, this really happened.
Now this is awesome. Truly the best news ever. Worthy to celebrate every minute of every day, but especially at this time of year, You know my small group and I were recently talking about how some people in the world celebrate sin and they are so proud but we, as Christians, sometimes lack the same level of passion to celebrate Jesus and this good news that this angel and that Baby brought. Isn’t that kind of sad… and I wonder if this is possibly me sometimes, or is that possibly you, at times? There will be troubles in this world and struggles but let us never fail to celebrate Jesus and this amazingly good news, right?
And Listen to what happened next here, suddenly there was a multitude of the Heavenly host with the original angel praising God and celebrating. Now, I wanted to tell you something about this that you might not know, so the “heavenly host” refers to a vast multitude of angelic beings who appeared in the sky to praise God and announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds.
The heavenly host is actually: A great assembly of angels who serve as God’s celestial army and His worshiping attendants… The term “host” is stratia in Greek which literally means army or organized heavenly forces, reflecting God’s authority and majesty. However, In this context, they were of course not appearing for battle but for praise, filling the sky with worship as they declared: “Glory to God in the highest Heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors.”
Then after that wild celebration the angels left and the shepherds said, “Let’s go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” Right away they went to see Jesus, their savior. Let me ask you something… If we showed this kind of joy and excitement for Jesus do you think people in the world who see it, like the shepherds did, would take notice and want to go see what this Jesus stuff is all about , too? That’s worth asking here I think. I know I could do better to show and say how great Jesus is, how about you? You know I aw this car in the Costco Parking lot yesterday and they had Jesus stickers all over their car and I was like that is some crazy dedication. We all could be a little more like that I think.
Anyway, with that in mind let’s continue to watch what the shepherds did… they, indeed, did go to find Mary, Joseph and the Baby lying in the manger, they indeed found him. They found the Baby Jesus, just as the angel had promised they would. They met Jesus and then they proceeded to tell everyone they could what the angel had shared with them about this miraculous little baby. Man that is all I wanted to do after I graduated from college was tell people about my encounter with Jesus and all about what he had done for me, that’s what the Apostle Paul did after Jesus knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus. That’s still what I want to do, again, I ask, how about you? Is this a reflection of your heart and your desire?
Then after this, according to Jewish law and practice Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day, he was indeed officially named Jesus (as Mary had been instructed he should be by the angel Gabriel before she was pregnant). And Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to the Lord.They offered a sacrifice, a pair of turtle doves, you know like in the song, on the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree?
Following this, a man named Simeon filled with the Holy Spirit entered the temple, took Jesus into his arms and praised God, giving a prophetic message to Mary, saying “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
The Meaning of the Prophecy, according to online sources is that
Simeon was telling Mary:
Jesus would divide humanity
Some will fall in rejection of Him.
Others will rise through faith in Him.
Jesus will be a “sign that is opposed”
His life and ministry will face conflict, resistance, and hostility.
Mary will experience deep personal pain
The phrase “a sword will pierce your own soul” points to the suffering she will endure, especially witnessing Jesus’ crucifixion.
Jesus will reveal the true condition of human hearts
People’s response to Christ will uncover what is really within them.
In addition to all that, a prophetess named Anna came up and began to thank God for the Baby Jesus, and continued speaking about Jesus to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
So the Family, after completing their registration, and everything required for a new Baby boy, according to the Law of the Lord returned to Galilee, to the town of Nazareth where Jesus grew up and became strong, filled with wisdom and God’s grace was on him.
But following this Luke proceeds to tell us an interesting story which is that they travelled every year to Jerusalem for the Passover festival, like good Jews should right? And when Jesus was 12 years old he stayed behind by himself in Jerusalem without his parents knowledge, which I guess was ok since I believe they considered 12 year olds to be like men in the Jewish culture, But man! His parents didn’t find him for three whole days. When they did find him he was in the temple sitting amongst the teachers, listening and asking questions. All those who heard him were astounded at his understanding But of course Mary, his mother, said, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you!” And Jesus simply said, “
“Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
Other translations phrase it:
“…about my Father’s business?” (NKJV)
Meaning Jesus reveals here that he is actually the Son of God.
This would be a tough moment I think for Mary and Joseph, for sure, I mean I can’t imagine… my 12 year old missing for 3 days, but in the end, in obedience to his Earthly parents he went back with them to Nazareth, where Jesus increased all the more Luke says, in wisdom and in favor with God and people.
So we see from everything that was prophesied about Jesus that God had a redemption plan at work here, with the birth of his son Jesus, so what does that mean for us, today?
Well, the light of the world and the hope for salvation for all of mankind had arrived. And that’s why we sing Emmanuel, God with us because he is now with us, to this day, available to us. So, for you and I, we have Christmas coming up, this is a time when the whole world, or at least the whole U.S. and several other parts of the world will be celebrating, our families will be celebrating… do we focus on the real reason that we are celebrating, this birth of Jesus? Do we hurriedly run to Jesus and then excitedly share the good news of Jesus with all those around us? Starting with our kids and our family, making sure that we all keep our focus on the reason for this season, our reason for joy, and hope and celebration? If we have not been great at doing this, it is not too late, you can start right now, just share a chapter a day in the book of Luke. Talk about Jesus and his birth and the hope that we have because he is now with us. I know that’s why I am doing this podcast, I am also going to continue with Christmas devotional times with my family each evening, using the festive advent calendars, candles and fun with my children. We will worship and sing praises with Christian Christmas music (courtesy of PowerHouse Radio). What else, maybe sharing our blessings with others through giving and
generosity and perhaps service to others.
We support a little girl in Haiti, named Francesse, through Compassion International and we send her a letter and an extra gift at Christmas time. I’m hoping to do a few gift packs of stuff to give out locally to bless others who are begging or who are homeless and living on the streets, as well. I want to bless others and give them a reason for joy and celebration, in the name of Jesus this year. We serve in our church and for a foster care program called Child Bridge. These are just some of the ways you might think of contributing to others this Christmas time but I’m sure there are so many more options. I am having a Christmas brunch party for some ladies in my area just to gather and fellowship and celebrate. The point is that I want my children to learn why and what we celebrate so that they will never forget to focus on Jesus, the reason for the season, when they are forever getting festive at Christmas time and all the year through. How about you though? Do you know why and what you celebrate at Christmastime?
The Bible says if you seek God with all your heart you will find him… he will draw near to you as you draw near to him. So I pray you will seek him more, that you will start there this Christmas season and build on that first very important step, hurry to Jesus like the shepherds did, praise and celebrate the birth of Jesus like they and the angels of Heaven did and then share the good news with everyone you meet like all of the people who met Jesus did. Amen? Focus on Jesus and celebrate him, not just at Christmas but all the year through, that’s the challenge for me and for you!
Well, Thanks for joining me today for another daily dose of the PowerHouse Momma Podcast’s special Christmas series, entitled Preparing the Way for Christmas, I’ll be back tomorrow to share more from the Gospel of Luke, we will be in Chapter 3. We’ll talk more about John the Baptist and Jesus, think Baptisms, but until then, have a blessed day and Merry almost Christmas y’all.
Comments