Spreading the aroma of Christmas: Make your life the fifth Gospel (1st lesson from Luke)

Stephanie beckons you into the full Gospel Spice Christmas experience today, in an episode that she took great delight in preparing for you today. Do you long for fresh spices to flavor your spiritual experience of the Incarnation of Christ? Are you tired of stale clichés that taste like microwaved Christmas dinner

leftovers? Are you hungry for an explosion of fresh flavors in your Christmas devotions? We invite you to experience a Gospel Spice Christmas alongside the shepherds, and to discover how to make your life a daily nativity scene where Christ can be born in ever-deepening ways. Today's episode is based on Luke 2 and the famous carol, The First Noel, and invites you to taste the Christmas spices of the gospel with fresh insights into the timeless truths of the Incarnation.The First Noel, the Angels did sayWas to certain poor shepherds in fields as they layIn fields where they lay keeping their sheepOn a cold winter's night that was so deepNoel, Noel, Noel, NoelBorn is the King of Israel!Don't forget to check out the accompanying workbook to enhance your experience of the Gospel of Luke! Go to https://www.gospelspice.com/luke Stephanie invites you to experience Christmas not only as a historical event, but as a living spiritual reality in your life today. It means your life can become a “fifth Gospel”—a living testimony infused with the rich, fragrant spices of Christ’s presence. Build a legacy of hope and spiritual delight by becoming the spice of the Gospel for your family, community, and beyond.The Christmas story begins in the humble town of Bethlehem, where Mary and Joseph found no welcome, echoing a year of hardship for many. Yet, within this inhospitable setting was the Tower of Eder—a place where shepherds bred lambs destined for temple sacrifice. These lambs were cherished, kept unblemished, and swaddled for protection. The parallels are striking: Jesus, born among these sacrificial lambs, was also swaddled and placed in a manger, foreshadowing His role as the Lamb of God who would carry our sins. You’re invited to reflect: What is your own “Eder”—your place of difficulty—and how might God reveal His glory there?God speaks through our circumstances—the good and the hard. The shepherds, poor and cold but devoted to their unique role, were the first to hear the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth. Their story underscores this truth: God uses our ordinary surroundings to reveal His extraordinary love. Likewise, your own life contains hints of God’s presence, and you are beckoned to seek Him in the everyday.Through reading Luke 2, Stephanie reminds us that the glory of God returned to earth that Christmas night—a glory absent since the days of Solomon’s temple. In the darkness of disappointment and Roman oppression, God’s light shone bright to those who were ready to receive. The shepherds’ wonder led them to worship and to share the news, illustrating the natural progression: when you truly “taste the spice of the gospel,” you’ll want to spread it.Just as spices enrich a meal, each Gospel offers its unique perspective: Mark and John focus less on nativity details but deeply celebrate God’s glory. Matthew gives us the wise men and their spices, but not much on the birth scene. Luke gifts us the manger, shepherds, angels, and music—our cherished nativity traditions. It means your life can become a “fifth Gospel”—a living testimony infused with the rich, fragrant spices of Christ’s presence. Build a legacy of hope and spiritual delight by becoming the spice of the Gospel for your family, community, and beyond.Christmas is not confined to December. Let Christ’s incarnation flavor your entire year. Seek moments of glory in everyday life, delight in His presence, and invite others into God’s story. As jars of clay holding heavenly treasure, may your life shine with the fragrance and glory of the Gospel.Reflection Questions:- Where is your Tower of Eder, and how is God speaking through it?- How can you intentionally spread the spice and delight of Christ’s presence this season?- What legacy of hope are you building, starting this Christmas?SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT TO YOU!! "A Gospel Spice Christmas" is a five-day devotional and reading plan available exclusively on YouVersion / the Bible App. It is based on this episode, and takes you much deeper into the beauty of Christmas.Do you long for fresh spices to flavor your spiritual experience of the Incarnation of Christ? Are you tired of stale clichés that taste like microwaved Christmas dinner leftovers? Are you hungry for an explosion of fresh flavors in your Christmas devotions? Experience a Gospel Spice Christmas alongside the shepherds, and discover how to make your life a daily nativity scene where Christ can be born in ever-deepening ways.Click here or go to your YouVersion Bible App on your phone, and search "Gospel Spice." It is our gift to you! Enjoy!PLEASE JOIN THE TEAM BY DONATING TO GOSPEL SPICE - it's fully tax-deductible!more details here: gospelspice.com/payitforward What matters to us here at Gospel Spice is to create a place where people who seek deeper intimacy with Jesus, will find Him. We want a warm, welcoming atmosphere to journey ever deeper into the heart of God. We believe it is the ultimate calling of the Christian life, and I like to summarize it with my motto, God’s glory, our delight. That is why we invite you to “taste and see” that the Lord is good. And we have been doing this every day since 2019. We need YOU to keep Gospel Spice alive and growing.  Financially speaking, we rely on people who understand this vision and who understand that we cannot function without a minimum budget. We run an extremely tight budget. For example, I work full time but don’t draw a salary. And yet, we have expenses – for example, the equipment and technology we use, and also the wonderfully gifted staff who make it possible to deliver high quality content all around the globe, and then the necessary occasional promotional budget to make it possible to be discovered by those who seek to live a life spiced with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need your help.  So we would love for you to consider if this ministry is blessing you to pay gospel spice forward. You can partner with us monthly with $10 or $25 a month, by example, or you can make one donation, once.And because we are a register nonprofit organization in the United States under the status of a 501c3 charity, it means that the amount that you pay to gospel spice is fully tax deductible. Completely tax deductible. So you're even saving money as you invest in gospel spice ministries. It is an eternal investment, and we are very grateful to you for it.Now it's very important to us that we give back as much as possible from what you give us. And so we commit to giving the majority of what we receive, once all of our administrative costs are paid, to organizations that fight human trafficking on the front line. There are many worthwhile causes in the world, so why this one? Because I have always personally felt deep compassion for victims of human trafficking – maybe because I have never been its victim myself, so I feel a responsibility to help those less fortunate than me. Also, because Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. Human trafficking is modern day slavery, and that is something that revolts the heart of God. We want to play our part in raising awareness and then financially supporting those who fight this great evil.  So, we do some due diligence. We pick organizations who have proven themselves trustworthy of our support. And then we give money to these Christians organizations that fight human trafficking.So would you consider paying us forward at gospelspice.com/payitforward ?Your hard-earned money is always well used at Gospel Spice. Ultimately, you are giving back to the Kingdom, a portion of what Jesus has given you. We are well aware of the privilege to steward your partnership. And my prayer is always that you will find your own life spiced with the gospel as you partner with us to flavor the lives of those around us, near and far, with the spice of the gospel.DID YOU KNOW?The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries. Would you consider supporting this show today? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce. For the price of a cup of coffee, your monthly support of $5 or $10 would make a huge difference! Contact us to donate by Credit Card, or donate via PayPal.The Gospel Spice Ministries exist to inspire Christ-followers in our generation to delight in the glory of God by knowing and experiencing Jesus more intimately. We provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. Contact us to donate by Credit Card, or donate via PayPal.Do you enjoy Gospel Spice? Then let's deepen our relationship! There are 4 very simple ways to do that, and it would truly mean the world to us. 1- If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you will love receiving our newsletter. It contains value-packed free gifts and rich content each month. It’s at gospelspice.com/signup. There is always something new and exciting happening around here, and I don’t want you to miss out! Sign up at Gospelspice.com/signup2- Did you know Gospel Spice has a YouTube Channel? There’s exclusive content there too. So, join Gospel Spice on YouTube! It's at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 3- Also please give us a star rating and a comment on your podcast listening app. Your reviews actually really do make a difference to help others discover and experience Gospel Spice. You would be surprised how helpful these are! So please leave a star rating and a review of a sentence or two. Thank you!4- As always, we are praying for you! You can confidentially email us your prayer requests and praise items at the email address contact@gospelspice.com. It is our privilege to pray for you!So, would you please invest 3 to 5 minutes of your time, maybe even right now, to do one (or more!) of the following suggestions:1-      signup on our website for our newsletter to receive gifts you’re going to love - at Gospelspice.com/signup 2-      find us on YouTube, and see what content we’ve put together to help you grow closer to Jesus - at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice3-      rate Gospel Spice on your listening app – it’s one of the easiest ways to share the gospel!4-      and finally, tell us how we can pray for you!Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogWhat matters to us here at Gospel Spice is to create a place where people who seek deeper intimacy with Jesus, will find Him. We want a warm, welcoming atmosphere to journey ever deeper into the heart of God. We believe it is the ultimate calling of the Christian life, and I like to summarize it with my motto, God’s glory, our delight. That is why we invite you to “taste and see” that the Lord is good. And we have been doing this every day since 2019. We need YOU to keep Gospel Spice alive and growing.  Financially speaking, we rely on people who understand this vision and who understand that we cannot function without a minimum budget. We run an extremely tight budget. For example, I work full time but don’t draw a salary. And yet, we have expenses – for example, the equipment and technology we use, and also the wonderfully gifted staff who make it possible to deliver high quality content all around the globe, and then the necessary occasional promotional budget to make it possible to be discovered by those who seek to live a life spiced with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We need your help.  So we would love for you to consider if this ministry is blessing you to pay gospel spice forward. You can partner with us monthly with 10, 25, 50, 100, a month, or you can make one donation, once.And because we are a register nonprofit organization in the United States under the status of a 501c3 charity, it means that the amount that you pay to gospel spice is fully tax deductible. Completely tax deductible. So you're even saving money as you invest in gospel spice ministries. It is an eternal investment, and we are very grateful to you for it.Now it's very important to us that we give back as much as possible from what you give us. And so we commit to giving the majority of what we receive, once all of our administrative costs are paid, to organizations that fight human trafficking on the front line. There are many worthwhile causes in the world, so why this one? Because I have always personally felt deep compassion for victims of human trafficking – maybe because I have never been its victim myself, so I feel a responsibility to help those less fortunate than me. Also, because Jesus tells us to love our neighbor. Human trafficking is modern day slavery, and that is something that revolts the heart of God. We want to play our part in raising awareness and then financially supporting those who fight this great evil.  So, we do some due diligence. We pick organizations who have proven themselves trustworthy of our support. And then we give money to these Christians organizations that fight human trafficking.So would you consider paying us forward at gospelspice.com/payitforward?Your hard-earned money is always well used at Gospel Spice. Ultimately, you are giving back to the Kingdom, a portion of what Jesus has given you. We are well aware of the privilege to steward your partnership. And my prayer is always that you will find your own life spiced with the gospel as you partner with us to flavor the lives of those around us, near and far, with the spice of the gospel. Support us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!