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The “eleven pipers piping” represent the eleven Apostles who remained faithful. Judas was the one who denied Christ and was replaced. But the 11 were the ones who continued to stand next to and for the Lord.
The “twelve drummers drumming” are the twelve basic beliefs in the Apostles Creed. You probably know them as this:
1. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth:
2. And in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord:
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary:
4. Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried: He descended into hell:
5. The third day he rose again from the dead:
6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty:
7. From there he shall come to judge the quick and the dead:
8. I believe in the Holy Spirit:
9. I believe in the holy Christian church: the communion of saints:
10. The forgiveness of sins:
1l. The resurrection of the body:
12. And the life everlasting.
So as we end this Christmas season with all of the twelve days of Christmas, we move toward Epiphany when the Christian church celebrates the arrival of the 3 kings, I hope this fun song reminds you of how wonderful it is to be a Christian, and be part of the family of God. How blessed with are that our God came in the form of a baby, to live among us. Our God is with US! On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me……

Storms of life will come and go. In fact, in the story of the house built on the rock and the house built on the sand, both houses had storms. The difference was the foundation. The one on sand got swept away. The one on the Rock stood firm. We can stand strong against the storms of life when we build our life on the rock. Perspective helps us to make our priorities clearer. If you watch a super storm like SANDY take out a whole coastline, you realize that even houses that thought they were safe from the ravages of the sea, were too close to the storm. As we pray for and send help to those whose lives were devastated, we can see a picture that paints a very clear picture. Build your house on the ROCK. We know that the enemy is the one who comes to kill, steal and destroy, and that it is God who comes to give life, and no just average or get along life, but abundant life. (That’s found in John 10:10) God’s plans are for your good as it says in Jeremiah 29:11. We make choices every day. Are we building on sand? Or are we building on the Rock? Is the Word of God our solid foundation. Do we consult God on decisions in our life? Are we too busy to dig and find out from God what our next steps should be? Let’s make it a priority to get the right perspective. The Big Picture comes from the Word. When we can see what God sees, we will act like God acts. That’s the way to live a life with no regrets.

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Today we will take a look at number 10 on the list of the 12 days of Christmas. The “ten lords a leaping” are a reminder of the Ten Commandments listed in the book of Exodus. You may know them by heart, but in case you don’t here they are:
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall worship no graven image
“You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long on the earth.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet.
In the NewTestament, Jesus simplified these 10 Commandments down to these two. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Matt 22:37-39 The two, cover all of the 10! I know you can remember those two! As we begin the New Year, my prayer for you is that your life would revolve around God more and more. When we love someone, we want to do what they want. Our love for God should make us want to obey Him, and honor Him with our life. Since every day is a new beginning, we can start each day with this prayer. Father, today is the day I want to honor you with my life, through my words, my actions, and my attitudes! When we do that, we will be loving the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and strength, and our neighbor as ourself.

Our inner GPS is the Holy Spirit. He is your personal coach and the one who guides you if you let Him! Romans 12:11 says to serve the Lord ENTHUSIASTICALLY. That word enthusiasm actually means GOD within. We can live with passion, because God is within! He is our personal GPS helping us to navigate life the very best way possible. In a fallen world, and an earth that has a curse on it, we have to be aware of where we are. We should get our global positioning system hooked up with the Holy Spirit so we have the inside track. We never need to be lost, because we are strategically positioned in our place in Christ, and have made the Holy Spirit the voice in our GPS, telling us where to go and what to do. I know that may sound funny, but the Bible actually says that we are God’s sheep and we know His voice. We won’t follow the voice of a stranger who is trying to get us off track, trying to ambush us, or just get us off by ourselves so that he can attack. We know God’s voice. We are receiving His signal loud and clear. His satellite is always on. There is never a bad connection. Because we are guided from within, even circumstances that come at us from the outside don’t have to derail us. We are positioned in Christ, and make choices based on who God is on the inside of us. Living this way, we will definitely be on the path to a life of no regrets.

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Happy New Year! Blessed New Year! How blessed we are to have another year to love, worship and glorify God! The word blessed, means happy, prosperous, and to be envied! We are highly favored by God, and he has a great future for you this new year.
As we continue the 12 days of Christmas, the eight maids a-milking are the eight Beatitudes. As we get close to the end of the list, we can remember the eight beatitudes from Matt 5.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn,
For they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek,
For they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
For they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful,
For they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
For they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers,
For they shall be called sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,
For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
There are some tremendous blessings available to those who are meek, who are merciful, who are peacemakers, who are poor in spirit and even for those who mourn. God’s kingdom is theirs. How amazing is that. The kingdom of God is within us, when we are born again as it says in Luke 17:21.
Nine ladies dancing are the nine fruit of the Holy Spirit listed in Gal 5:22.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The fruit of the Spirit are attributes of a person who is yielded to the Holy Spirit. They are evidence that a believer really is a new creation. That they have been changed from the inside out, and just like smoke from a chimney signifies that there is a fire in the fireplace, the evidence of fruit of the Spirit in our lives reveals that there really is the fire of the Holy Spirit on the inside!

Who are you, where do you find your identity? Don’t let the enemy try to convince you that you are someone you are not! Most people believe that if they think something it must be true. Just like most people believe that just because it is on the internet it is true! Our thoughts can come from various places. We can have thoughts that come from an unrenewed mind. We can have thoughts that are planted by the enemy. And we can have thoughts that are truly the thoughts that God would have us think. The best way to tell the difference is to line up each thought against the Word of God. If what we are thinking is contrary or totally against the Word, it is easy to spot. Capture that thought immediately! Sometimes the enemy will twist the Word and make it sound right, and we have to have our minds renewed to the Word to tell where the thought is coming from. We have to capture those thoughts immediately. The kind of thoughts that come from God, sound like this….the good thing I have begun in you, I will complete. You are a new creation in Jesus Christ, old things are passed away, behold, all things are made new. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. You are the head and not the tail. You are above and not beneath. I am perfecting that which concerns you. You are blessed to be a blessing. Those are the thoughts you can identify with, and those thoughts will get you way down the road to living a life with no regrets, serving the Lord with you whole heart!

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The six geese a-laying stand for the six days of creation. The seven swans a-swimming represent the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is pretty astounding to realize that God spoke the world into existence. He said, let there be light. He said and it was. Before anything was made that was made, God knew the power of words. Obviously His Word have enormous power. But our words do too. We know that the power of life and death are in the tongue. We can speak life giving word, or words that wound and damage. If we are smart, we will choose life! Let’s make this New year a time to watch the words of our mouth, and only speak words that edify and encourage. The easiest way to do this is to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then we have power to live our Christian life. If the choice was power on or power off, I know what I would choose! Be filled with the Holy Spirit. The seven swans represent the seven motivational gifts listed in Romans 12.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
These seven gifts are God’s thumbprint on our lives. Each person fits into one of these catagories, and when you find your motivational gift, you often will discover where you can best serve in the work force or your career, and how you can best serve in your own church body. Every need is met when every joint supplies! God gives gifts to be used, so use yours this New Year!

You reveal your heart through your words, your expressions, and your actions. To live a no regrets life, we have to learn to share our heart. Lovingly follow the truth is what Eph 5;15 says in the TLB. It tells us to live, speak and deal truthfully. We can share our heart by the way we live, how we deal with others and how we speak to others. Let’s live above board. Let’s make our words count. Let’s make sure our actions line up with what we believe and what we say. We don’t want our words to say one thing and our expression to tell a whole different story. If we tell our kids we love them, but sound mad as we tell it to them, they aren’t hearing love, they are hearing anger. No regrets living realizes that kids spell love, TIME. Actually everyone spells love that way. If you spend time with me, you show that you love me. So in your busy day, show some love to those you love, by spending time with them. You probably know someone who has a time share vacation home. They share time with other people, and have a few weeks a year to vacation in a beautiful place. They get the benefits of partial ownership without the cost of complete ownership. As good as that sounds for vacations, that isn’t realistic for relationships. We have to be all in with our time. We can’t say I will give them quality time for 2 weeks a year and little time in the other 50 weeks. Families and spouses need us everyday, engaged in life. Instead of deciding between quantity and quality, let’s do both. Let’s give our families lots of quality time, as often as possible. That’s the way to a no regrets life.

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The five gold rings recall the Hebrew Torah (Law), or the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. Many Jews memorize the whole Torah, and young Jewish children who make the right of passage through their bar or bat mitzvahs are tested thoroughly on their knowledge of the Pentateuch.
The first five books of the Bible are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For the most part, both Jewish and Christian traditions give credit to Moses for being the author of the Pentateuch. These five books form the theological foundation of the Bible.
“The word pentateuch means “five vessels,” “five containers,” or “five-volumed book.” In Hebrew the Pentateuch is Torah, meaning “the law” or “instruction.” Another name for the Pentateuch is “the five books of Moses.” The Pentateuch gives us history and instruction. It is valuable to read even if it seems long, especially if you are in Numbers!
The 5 books of the Pentateuch introduce Bible readers to God’s divine purposes and plans, and explain creation and how evil entered the world. In the Pentateuch we also see God’s response to sin, his relationship with mankind, and we gain insight into God’s character and nature. All scripture is God breathed and is profitable! Be a lover of the Word, and hide it in your heart!

Graditude. Do you remember that old praise and worship song, “Give thanks with a grateful heart”? I Thes 5:18 tells us to give thanks, for this is God’s will for you! How often do you receive a thank you note anymore? A hand written note is almost a lost and dying art. I used to be really good at immediately sending notes, but now I struggle at it. What do you think God thinks when He miraculously acts on our behalf and we barely acknowledge him or forget to stop and even say thanks at all? Let’s be one who live a life of gratitude. Thankful for the warm sunshine. Thankful for our child’s smile. Thankful for a warm place to live. Thankful for those who love you. Thankful for a great church to attend. Thankful for a friend in time of need. That list could go on forever. None of those are huge things, but they are all things that we should give thanks for often. A no regrets life is one of gratitude. If you live a grateful life everyday, never will you have to look back and say I wish I would have told my family how much I appreciated them. You will have done it. Never will you have to say, I wish my pastors knew how much I have learned from their teaching , you would have done it. Never would you have to say I wish my kids knew how much I loved them, because you would have said it and demonstrated it. Grateful people do it now. Find someone to thank today for their influence in your life!

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