631. The Changing Culture and the Timeless Message of Christmas
Peace On Earth
During this Christmas season, one will often see signs and banners declaring the words of Luke 2:14: “Peace on Earth, goodwill towards men.” This was the angel’s proclamation to the lowly shepherds as they were tending their flocks by night. They announced the birth of Jesus with this declaration. However, many don’t find much peace
579. God With Us: Merry Christmas
Fear Not! Behold a Savior
Four times in the Gospel record of the great event of Christmas the message is sent from God to man -- "Fear Not." It is the continuing message of God right throughout the Bible, from the Garden of Eden to the Book of Revelation. Eighty times the message comes clear and strong -- "Fear Not."… Read More
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Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
Merry Christmas Everyone! (one day late because we were having server problems)
We hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebrating Jesus with your family and friends yesterday!
Our family is believing for you to have a VERY blessed 2016.
Thanks so much for taking this journey of grace with me by reading what I believe God places on my heart to write and thank you for ALL your encouragement!
If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!
Sandra McCollom
Don’t Despise the Package!
Gifts come in all shapes and sizes. My family Christmas tree is full of gifts in different colored wrapping paper, bows and ribbon. Some are big and some are small. Each of my children hopes that the biggest one goes to them. For some reason, we often get excited thinking that the bigger the gift the better it will be.
Do you remember the greatest gift you ever received at Christmas time?
Christmas is celebrated by Christians as the birthdate of Jesus. We consider Him to be the greatest gift of all. We believe that He is the Son of God that miraculously became a human, born of a virgin. We believe that He died on a cross for the sins of mankind that we could be restored to a rightful relationship with our Father in Heaven.
Truly, He is a great gift.
You would think such greatness would come in a great package. When we want to give someone we love and cherish a special gift we will go to great lengths to pick out the right wrapping paper and the perfect bow. We might even set up the surroundings to make everything perfect for when they open that gift.
But, He didn’t come wrapped up in a great package.
He was born around smelly animals. Truly not a place for a king, let alone the God of the Universe.
He didn’t look like royalty. He was born to commoner parents. No regal robes, no silver or gold plated rattles. He was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.
His birth was made known by angels to shepherds and not to anyone else. He was born in a little, out of way town that didn’t have much significance.
His birth was low-key and was not something that you expect of a great King.
In other words, a gift came wrapped up in an unassuming package.
Throughout Jesus’ life, He was not received by many of His own. He didn’t come wrapped in the package they were expecting. They were expecting a mighty warrior King that would free them from Roman oppression. He came as the Suffering Servant. He did not look or act like they thought he should look or act.
They missed the gift because of the packaging.
Have you ever missed the gift of God because it didn’t come the way you thought it should? I have. I looked at the package (the person) and didn’t like what I saw so I was unable to receive the gift.
God wraps His gifts in the packaging of humanity.
He wants us to be able to see beyond the packaging. He wants us to see the gift inside.
The gifts under the tree are not really about the wrapping paper. It’s not even about the box that the gift comes packaged in. It’s the gift itself. It’s what is wrapped up in the paper and the box.
It’s the same with people. It’s not about what’s on the outside. It’s about the inside. Learn to look beyond the exterior to see the heart. This Christmas season, and throughout the coming year, learn to see beyond the exterior of every human being and see the gift that is on the inside.
The Joy of Giving In a Mixed-Up World
DUDLEY HALL -- I have a confession to make: I really like all the hoopla that’s associated with Christmas. I know I should be offended by all the commercialism, materialism, secularism and waste, but I love watching people running around buying things to give away. Oh, I can remember as a child not being so concerned about giving. I was focused on what I would get for Christmas. My parents seemed to enjoy the whole thing as much as I, even though they didn't get much. They knew something I hadn't figured out quite yet.
While I am confessing, I'll go ahead and admit that this year I enjoyed the Halloween festivities with our grandchildren. I know: Halloween is a mixture of celebrating death and darkness and some foolish superstitions along with harvest festivals, so some will surely conclude that I have crossed over the dark line to cultural accommodation bordering on demon worship. I don't see it that way. There's giving at Halloween, too.
I loved watching all the kids dressed up in Star Wars costumes going around with big baskets of cheap candy. Most all the neighbors seem to really enjoy giving away the treats. Sam and Ben (ages 5 and 3) got back early from their trip around the neighborhood with their baskets full. The doorbell at their home (where I spent that evening with them) was still ringing. They began to give their candy away to the late trick or treaters. They told their mom that was what they enjoyed the most about the whole night.
What is it that makes giving so fun? Giving is the nature of our Creator. Creation is a gift. God didn't owe anyone anything. He created all things and gave humans the privilege of being His representatives on earth. After Adam and Eve sinned, He gave them skins to cover their shame. He gave Noah the plans for an ark. He gave Abram promise of a descendant who would restore the earth. He gave Israel a covenant that would make them His nation. He gave them a king. He gave them promises of full and final redemption. And then he gave his own Son.
We humans are recipients of the very breath of God, so like Him we all are imprinted with a desire to give. We can't represent God properly if we don't delight in giving. Sin intruded into the lives of God's creation, interfering with this delight. It introduced fear of not having enough for ourselves. We hoard, steal and even murder, hoping to get what it will take to make us secure. The deceitfulness of sin perverts even the giving drive: some give to get more.
Selfishness smothers God's designed desire for us to love giving, yet it can't take it away completely. We can -- and do -- still find giving to be more satisfyingly joyful than getting. If all this sounds a bit mixed up, it is, because we humans are mixed up. We're God's creatures in God's image, so there's a lot right about us, but sin has made a lot wrong, too. Christmas is mixed up, and Halloween is mixed up, because we're mixed up, too.
God gave again. In giving his Son, he opened the way for humans to be born again of the imperishable seed of his word. Those who put their faith in Jesus receive the very life of God -- his spiritual DNA, if you will. His Spirit liberates the giving urge from the inner prison of fear and greed. Those who know the nature of their Father discover that they have been born of his Spirit and their greatest delight is found in giving. They find that God so delights in giving that he will channel his abundance through his representatives on earth when they live to give. Learning and living in the truth, they begin to get less confused about life and giving.
While we celebrate the greatest gift ever this Christmas, let's also enjoy giving ourselves. Let's not allow our mixed-up world and the commercialism of our culture rob us of such a pleasure. We may not have great financial resources, but the giving heart finds a way to give. We have something that will refresh another and put a smile on their face. It touches something at the core of our being. We have been born (and born again) as givers.
Not only that, but we can keep it up all year. Why limit such joy to the holidays?
The Promise of Christmas
God's first promise of the Incarnation is given in His conversation with Satan just after man's sin of High Treason. Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." The Father-God realizes that man's… Read More
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528. Born of a Woman, Born Under the Law
