Around 2,000 years ago in the town of Bethlehem in Judea (modern day Israel) the most precious gift was given . . . the most significant birth that had ever or would ever taken place on this earth – the birth of a baby, born of a virgin, fully man and fully God . . . Jesus was born. (Luke 2:1-20)

The Sweetest Christmas!!!

 “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

For many people, Christmas time is when the jolly St.Nick, a.k.a, Santa Clause, comes to visit, riding all over the world on his sleigh, pulled by his reindeer, eating way too many cookies, chased by hundreds of gallons of milk, and leaving a spoilage of gifts behind for the “good” girls and boys (who were probably naughty during the year).

For many Christians, we celebrate Christ as “the reason for the season”, and we celebrate Christmas as a way to commemorate His (Jesus’) birth. We like to do Advent and decorate our homes and churches with nativity scenes. We enjoy going out to sing Christmas carols and giving each other gifts.

Something I’ve noticed over the past few decades is how much things have changed over here in the western world. When I was younger there were nativity displays at the courthouse, churches, schools, outside of stores, and the parks and Christmas music about the Savior all over. Schools allowed Christmas parties. Now I seldom see nativity scenes outside of churches or religious establishments. It’s becoming less and less common to hear songs with the words “Jesus” or “Savior” or “God” mentioned in them. Instead the songs played or sang are “Jingle Bells” and “Frosty the Snowman” and “Santa Clause is Coming to Town”. Instead of saying, “Merry Christmas”, all the store displays, Christmas cards, and gift paper now say things like, “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings”. When we go to the school to participate in activities for our children there is no “Christmas party”anymore, it’s now called a “Winter party”. There is no longer a “Christmas dinner” with the students at lunch time, it’s now called “Winter dinner”. We’re urged to not say “Merry Christmas” because it “might” offend someone. We’re always so concerned about offending someone. The problem is that someone will always be offended, that’s nonsense. Maybe we could just have some tact and be kind and loving. We can be kind without being rude. People need to have a backbone. I’m not offended when people say, “Happy Holidays”, to me . . . even though I think it’s silly to not say, “Merry Christmas”. Just because you take the word Christ out of Christmas, you’re not taking Christ out of Christmas, He’s still here – so there’s no reason to “sensor” Him. I hear something silly sometimes. People complain that the problem with violence in the school is that God was taken out of the schools. That’s not the problem in the schools, that’s not even possible. God is in the schools. God is everywhere. God is omnipresent. The problem is that God isn’t in enough hearts. Too many people have rejected Him. Too many people don’t personally have a relationship with Him . . . they’ve been given the gift of the Savior, and they may even think that they’re Christians, but they’re fans and not followers; so they’ve rejected that gift. The problem is that too many children aren’t learning about Jesus at home. It’s not the school’s responsibility . . . it’s not just for the church to teach our children about Jesus, either. The primary responsibility is ours, as parents, to teach our children about Jesus Christ, and to help our children by modeling to them our own relationship with God. Our world is full of too many people that think they can say a superficial prayer and check it off their list, or blame their problems on government, or the schools, or so many other things . . . the problem is “WE ARE THE REASON FOR THE SEASON” and we don’t realize it. Too many us don’t recognize that and take it seriously. There’s no repentance, there’s apathy, and there’s disbelief. Where does this all start? Where did it all begin?

We have to read God’s Word – He’s speaking to us.

Do you know why the birth of baby Jesus was so significant? I mean, really?

To fully comprehend the magnificence and significance of this event we have to turn to the one and only undeniable source of truth, the ultimate source of truth: God’s Holy Word, The Bible. Over hundreds of times the Bible claims to be the inspired, revealed, inerrant Word of God. The God of all, God of creation, God of the universe: He created the universe and all life – every living thing, He made Himself known to man, He sent His one and only Son to die that we may have eternal life.

Genesis (the book of origins) tells of how He spoke the world into existence. Wow. Just . . . wow. He spoke and there was light. He created first man from dust and breathed life into him. Wowzers. Adam & Eve were given free will, but instructed to obey: don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and they were put to work in the garden. The serpent deceived Eve, and her and Adam both ate of the tree of knowledge. This was known as “the fall”, because of Adam’s sin against God and his disobedience here, he was no longer living in a state of perfection and he would now die, but also all of his descendants would die (this means you and me, too), and now we’d have inherited sin. Adam and Eve tried to cover their “nakedness” with fig leaves after they had sin, because they recognized they were “naked” after they had sinned, and they were trying to hide what they’d done from God, but they couldn’t. We can’t hide from the holy one, God sees everything, and He knows every bit of sinful, rebellious, ugliness hiding in our hearts. We can’t hide that from Him, that’s why we just need to tell Him about it. Our hearts are impure. Plain and simple.

Insert God’s Ultimate Grace.

Genesis 3:15 – God’s grace. He gave hope to Adam & Eve and their descendants when He told the disgusting serpent (satan):

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 3:15

{Read: Genesis 22;18, John 1:29, Colossians 1:16, Galatians 4:4-5, John 3:16, 2 Corinthians 5:21, John 1:12,}

This!

This was the way! Yahweh!~

Emmanuel, God with us.

This statement is what the birth of a tiny baby, King Jesus – born in a manger, signified: there was going to be a way for them (for us) to be saved from our sins. There was a perfect world created – we have sin in Adam – we need a Savior – God sent His son in the flesh. We’re all sinful from the moment of our birth (Psalm 51:5)

The gift of a baby, baby King Jesus, wasn’t just some gift among the virgin mother and her husband and some shepherds, animals, and wise men some 2,000 years ago . . . He’s our present-day gift. (Pun intended) Making Christ my Lord and Savior was the best decision I ever made in my life and will ever make. When we acknowledge that we’ve blown it, that we’ve missed the mark, and that we’re sinners before a holy God, when we repent of our sin, and when we confess the Lord Jesus and we believe in our hearts that God did raise Him from the dead, we will be saved. There is no “special” commercial prayer to pray, stop searching for one, the Bible tells us what we must do to be saved. Have faith. Believe. Confess.

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:18

“…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9

God has already given you the most precious gift you’ll ever receive.

Will you receive it today?

*** Please listen to How Many Kings (Downhere) and How Sweet The Sound (Citizen Way) and Winter Snow (feat. Dinah Wright) today when you have some time!!! The 1st two songs are two of my very favorite songs. Ever. The third song is a new found favorite of mine.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!