Sunday's Coming

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


Good morning,

LaVon and I want to wish you a very Merry Christmas! We pray you are warm and healthy and want to thank you for your prayers, calls and gifts. May God bless you richly.

Each December we celebrate Christmas for the birth of Jesus. Then, in the spring, we celebrate Easter for Jesus’ death and resurrection. But really, these two parts of the story of Jesus’ life cannot be separated. Christmas would lose its meaning without remembering what Jesus did during His life.

Jesus lived to reveal God to us. He was crucified and rose again to pay the penalty for our sins, to invite us into relationship with God, and to offer us eternal life.

Hail! the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail! the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King"
(from Hark! "The Herald Angels Sing")

So what is Christmas, at its worst? It is a crass, commercial, empty, exhausting, and very expensive event that drags on for months at a time. And what is Christmas, at its best? It is a glimpse of something that is coming: the beauty . . . the wonderful music . . . the adoring angels . . . the love . . . the warmth . . . the promise . . . the hope. Because when you get down to it, Christmas is a promise. It is a promise of things to come.

We celebrate Christmas not only for Jesus’ birth, but also for His life, death and resurrection. Through Him, we have a real reason to celebrate. We have our sins forgiven!

Merry Christmas!

Have a great day, love you, pass it on.

Don

Sunday's Coming

Good morning,

I pray all is well with you yoday. I want to thank you for your prayers this past week. I would not have been able to preach Sunday if not for your prayers. I am still having problems, but am getting a little better each day. Thanks, again, for your continued prayers.

In my reading this morning, this was a devotional I read and I would like to share it with you.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel 36:26

In Dr. Seuss’ classic Christmas tale, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the Grinch suffers from having a small heart. The source of his heart problem is his lack of understanding the meaning of Christmas. As the story goes, the Grinch tries to put a stop to Christmas, but in the end, he comes to understand what Christmas is all about and his heart grows three sizes! This heart change makes a big difference in his life.

I’m not sure what Dr. Seuss’ intentions were when he wrote the story back in 1957, but it certainly comes across as a Christian parable to me that parallels the change that takes place in a person’s life when he or she comes to understand the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of Jesus, God’s Son, who was born to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21). When the light of the Good News of Jesus dawns upon the heart of a person, God replaces the old heart of stone, with a new, fleshy heart – and a new person emerges. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“Welcome Christmas – While we stand – Heart to heart – And hand in hand.”

It might just make all the difference in the world.

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in;
Be born in us today!
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!
(from O Little Town of Bethlehem)

We celebrate Christmas because of the power Jesus brought to change our hearts.

May you have a Merry Christmas!
Have a great day, love you, pass it on.
Don