Friday, December 24, 2010

Jesus, The Real Gift

Christmas is full of hustle and bustle with all the preparations for family meals, Christmas parties, church activities such as programs, cantatas and office parties, outings with friends, Santa for the children, decorating our homes, lights outside, the list goes on and on. We have made Christmas into such a commercial and social event that we have really forgotten the most important part of Christmas.

We must get back to that very first Christmas when our Savior Jesus Chrsit was born. It was a cold night and Mary was about to give birth to her son and she had ridden a donkey all day and was very tired. Jacob had walked all day guiding the donkey carefully so that Mary would be as comfortable as possible. When they arrived in Bethlehem there was no where for them to stay except in a barn with animals. Now mind you the child she was carrying was Jesus Christ the Son of God.

That night she gave birth and wrapped him in cloths and laid him in the manger, or feeding trough to sleep. There was no large family gathering, no gifts, no carols, no decorations, no toys, just Mary and Joseph and the animals in attenance. Jesus should have been born in a palace with all the attendants to care for him. I can only imagine what was going through Mary's mind after her birth experience. She knew that Jesus was the son of God, but I can imagine that all of this was very confusing to her. Can we imagine that when she held him close and kissed his cheek that she was actually holding and kissing the Son of God. That sends cold chills down my spine to think about that.

This gift was and still is the most wonderful, perfect gift that has ever been given. Jesus was the one who died for our sins on the cross so that we could have eternal life with God in heaven. When I think about Jesus and his life here on this earth, it was short, simple , but oh so amazing and fullfilling. He spent his life giving to others of himself and God. He never turned anyone away or had a harsh word for anyone. He gave totally of himself to all. He did this in the end by dying on that cruel cross for our sins. Jesus had done nothing wrong. He lived a perfect life here on this earth, but was treated alike a very horrible criminal. When Jesus died he had no more belongings than what he had when he was born.

When we look at Jesus' mother and father and him we see that each of them had a choice in this matter. They could have each said no and God would have followed through with their wishes. They did not. Mary and Joseph had faith in God that he was directing them in his will. Jesus knew that he had to be the sacrificial lamb for all of us who were sinners to go to heaven. When I think how our story could have been, it makes me so thankful for Jesus and his life and death.

We as believers should be constantly in tune with those around us and taking every opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus christ with all that we come in contact with, because we never know when there is someone standing right beside us that does not know Jesus and we may be the very one that either helps or hinders their gift of knowing Jesus as their Savior. Quite a sobbering thought when you think about it.

I urge each one of you as Christians to spend time with someone that does not know Jesus this season and help them to understand and accept this most wonderful gift of Salvation. I promise you that your heart will never be the same and you will have helped someone else to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

May God Richly Bless you and keep you this season.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Indoor Christians

Our lives on this earth as we know them could be very short indeed. Our country is such a combination of nationalities and beliefs that it makes it hard for some of us to understand just what our country is all about. When I was in school and studied history we were told that our country was built on christian principals. We believed in God and we stood for what the Bible taught. We were proud to let it be known that we were a Christian nation. Today as I spend time here and watch people in our nation killing each other for no reason, women aborting babies that are just as alive as the rest of us and who knows could be the one person that could bring about the cure for some of our most horrible diseases, see groups of young people in gangs that have absolutely no morals or thought for the lives they take each day, I ask myself, "Where are all the Christians?" Our government has strayed so far away from our beginnings that our nation doesn't even resemble the nation it started out to be. We care only for ourselves and what we can obtain, the glory we can have for ourselves, yet there are thousands of people in this nation that are homeless and out of work and have no future at all. There was a time when we could go out of our homes at any time of day or night and leave our doors unlocked and not have to worry that our belongings would be there. Now we have all these expensive security systems in place and still our homes are not safe. I remember the day when you did not have to fear for your life if you picked up a hitch hicker and took him a little farther down the road and maybe even bought him a meal. He would be gracious and say a harty "Thank You," and be on his way. I remember a time when our preachers could proudly stand in their pulpits and preach the whole Bible and not fear what might happen to them for doing so.

There are now people that have now been successful in taking prayer out of our schools, put legislation into place that makes abortion legal and a decision that is made by man instead of God, who by the way created us, removed the Ten Commandments from public places and have now even made money that does not even have the words "In God We Trust," on it. I ask you, "Where Are All The Christians Now?" As I live my life and make attempts at trying to help someone come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, I am told by some people that they are not interested in that right now. I am told that they are good people and they will go to heaven. Some have even said that they don't care. There was one young man that I worked with several years ago that even made the proclamation that when he died he was going to hell and that he would rule hell. He boasted about this as though this would be his grandest accomplishment. I ask, "Where Are All The Christians?"

I don't know about the rest of this country, but this scares me to death. God has given us so much and blessed this nation with so much and yet we have so little regard for our nation and the path that it is taking. We have elected a president that has no regard for Christian beliefs, as well as a lot of our legislators who feel the same way. I look around at the family structure to- day and see that it is very poorly put together. I see children living between divorced parents, not having any idea if they are truly loved or just tolerated, parents who have absolutely no morals spending their time with first one and then another person trying to find happiness and belonging. I see mothers who can't cope with raising their children so they just kill them instead of trying to take care of them and love them. The age of mothers is astounding. A lot of mothers are just children themselves trying to live adult lives. In times of death, I see children arguing over their loved one as they lay dying trying to decide who will get what when they pass instead of spending this time saying goodbye to their loved one. I see the legislation that has made same sex marriages allowed. Again, "Where Are All The Christians?"

Our regard for life has truly diminished. The sad thing is life is such a precious commodity. It is given by God. He is the one who breathes that first breath that we take at birth. God is the one who made us so perfectly inside the womb of our mothers. God is the one who gave His only son for our redemption that we could have everlasting life when we pass from this earth. God is there 24/7 to be our friend, our comforter, our rock, our shelter, the one that we don't even have to make an appointment with when we need to unload our problems. God is the father that no earthly father could ever be to us. He loves us when we don't even love ourselves.

I simply can't understand why this is such a hard concept for people to understand and why there are not more Christians in this world today. Again, I ask, "Where Are All The Christians?" I can tell you the answer to this question without even hesitating. The Christians of this world are inside their churches singing, having meetings, planning events, having fellowships, listening to preachers who preach a Feel Good sermon and are not out in this world living their faith where anyone else can see it. Christians today are "Indoor Christians."

I call out to each of you to come out of your little cocoon and be what God intended you to be. He wants you to be someone who stands for what you believe and make it known that you want our nation to stand tall as a Christian nation and that we are a nation that is Bible based and that we will conduct the business of this country in a Christian manner. This means that the Indoor Christian will have to become an Outdoor Christian. I can promise you that if you tell someone about Jesus Christ, you might just be surprised at what God will do with your willingness to serve Him and make the gospel known again in this nation. This is the only way that we will take our nation back and make her the strong God fearing nation that she once was and let people know and feel the love of God in their hearts. I feel that if we do this, our crime rate would go down, abortions would cease, gay marriages would stop, infidelity would stop, our children would grow up learning the Godly way to live their lives and unplanned pregnancies would greatly diminish, our family units would become strong and Godly once again, our country would be managed with Godly principals, the world would know us as a nation to be revered and not laughed at anymore.

I am so looking forward to the day when I can be in Heaven with my Heavenly Father and know that He loved me enough through the gift of is Son Jesus Christ to give me a place in His kingdom forever and ever. I don't want to live my life so that I can rule hell as this one young man boasted. I am so thankful that I was raised by 2 very loving, christian parents and that they taught me how to live a Godly life. My life has not always been what God would have, but I know that I have the assurance of a place in Heaven and that until that day I must be about My Father's business which is spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth as it is stated in Matthew 28:19-20. Christians of this country and this world, we have a job to do. We are instructed by God to be out in the highways and byways of this world sharing the gospel to every person in this world until Jesus comes for us and takes us home.

Indoor Christian, COME OUT AND LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE FOR HIM AND BE ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF SPREADING THE GOSPEL TO THE WORLD !!!