what is the essence of christmas? - squarespace · what is the essence of christmas? ... jesus...

What is the essence of Christmas?

What does Christmas really mean?


1. Christmas means we are saved by God’s grace.

2. Christmas means we can have fellowship with God.

3. Christmas means we can have an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ as His Bride.

Christmas means we are saved by God’s grace

• God came to the earth to rescue us

• God fixed what is wrong with us

• God gave us hope, He saved us

• God destroyed the power of the enemy

• Our sins forgiven and eternal life promised

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

Have you ever considered what life would be like if Jesus had never come to the earth to save us.

God became a man

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:1-3

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 1:14

He came to save us

Jesus Christ came to this earth as a man to do what we could not do. He lived a perfect sinless life, fulfilled the law perfectly then went to the cross to pay the price for our sins. He destroyed the power of sin and shed His precious blood to forgive us of our sins. He came to save us.

For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. II Corinthians 8:9

We think Salvation is by Works if

1. We are still beating our self up, thinking we are not measuring up, we are not good enough, we need to live better, we need to do better, we need to try harder to be good. Still afraid of the judgment seat.

2. We are living so good we feel superior to others. We are living better than most so we see our selves as superior to them. We know more about God than others so that makes us feel superior. We look down on other believers. You still have performance based relationship with God if you are thinking this way.

If you have thoughts like these, you don’t yet understand grace like you should.

If I feel I’m not good enough

It is not what I do, it is what Jesus has done.

I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die. Galatians 2:21 NLT

For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. Galatians 5:4 NLT

I’m not good enough

I can never do enough to earn God’s favor. If I have to do something to earn grace then it is not grace, because Grace is unearned, unmerited, undeserved pure favor of God poured out upon the heart of man.

And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. Romans 11:6 KJV

And since it is through God’s kindness, then it is not by their good works. For in that case, God’s grace would not be what it really is—free and undeserved. Romans 11:6 NLT

I am very good

..to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Romans 12:3 JKV

..Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Romans 12:3 NLT

Grace

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7

Christmas means we can have fellowship with God

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. I John 1:1-3

How close do you want to be?

• Admirer

• Acquaintance

• A Son or Daughter (adopted)

• Friend of God

• Follower, Disciple

• Servant, Steward

• His Bride

Draw nigh to God

But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. James 4:6

Are you willing to work on it?

Your body is promised glorification, your spirit has been born again and regenerated. It is your soul that needs to be sanctified, changed and transformed. So how are you doing? How is your soul?

• Are you willing to pray, “LORD reveal to me if there is any deception in my mind.”

• Are you willing to pray, “God please change me”?

• Are you willing to confess and repent of your sins to draw closer to God?

• Are you willing to pray, “LORD make me willing?”

• Are you willing to break bad habits and form new ones

Every Thought

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; II Corinthians 10:4-5

Are we willing to destroy all deception, all false ideologies and allow the truth to set us free?

No Room in the Inn

Open your hearts, allow Jesus to come into your hearts. We need to rid ourselves of rival lovers and false identities. (idols) Devalue the temporal/visible and put more value on the eternal/invisible.

• Materialism, shopping, brands, identity

• Money, wealth, possessions, The need for power or control. (false security)

• Family, friends, people, The need to be loved, accepted, or admired by people.

• Ministry, the need for a good name.

Your Soul needs to go home

Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Isaiah 51:1

You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until we rest in you. St Augustine

Our Souls need to go home

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Proverbs 23:7

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. John 17:17

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2

The Heart

Christmas means we can have an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ as His Bride.

It is not just about the head, (the way we think), but it is about the heart (what do we love), what do we worship.

Lovers are the ones who know most about God; the theologian must listen to them. Hans Urs von Balthasar

Born to Love

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23 NLT

Christianity is more about hungering and thirsting than it is about knowing.

There is a gap between the head (knowing) and the heart (doing), wider than the Grand Canyon.

All humans love something. We cannot not love. The question is what will you love. You love what you worship.

What is it that you want?

Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. John 1:38 NLT

What seek ye? John 1:38 KJV

All humans are living toward something, some goal or objective, “the good life.” We are directed toward something or leaning into something. The magnetic compass of our being has a north and lives in the center of our heart. We will only find rest when our ultimate end is found in our creator, Jesus Christ.

The New City

Do you love the promise of the “New City”, more than you love Jesus Christ? If so, it is easy to fall back into a works based theology trying to obtain the highest eternal reward.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

A Mary Heart in a Martha World

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:41-42

Do you love ministry more than Jesus?

Do you love the gifts more than the giver?

There are no atheist

Everybody worships something or someone.

We worship what we love.

Our identity is discovered and defined by what we love.

We might think and say we love one thing, but our actions prove that we love something else. We may not really know what we love.

God is love, not love is God.

We love God because He loved us first and put His love into our hearts.

Love Relationship

The entire journey home toward God is about our love relationship with Jesus Christ.

Stop trying to have a relationship with the Father circumventing Jesus. Christmas proves that there is no relationship with the Father except through the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

Don’t measure your relationship with Jesus based upon failed relationships with family, spouse or friends.

A Love Relationship

Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. Song of Solomon 1:2

Draw me, we will run after thee: Song of Solomon 1:4

He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. Song of Solomon 2:5

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Song of Solomon 2:10

A Love Relationship

Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? Song of Solomon 3:6

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. Song of Solomon 4:9

The Brides response.

The Choice One

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her. Song of Solomon 6:8-9

The one that loved Jesus ultimately, supremely, as her all in all, with all of her heart, soul, mind and strength.

Put your heart into it

Get to know Jesus better, draw closer, set your single eye upon Him alone. This is how to fall in love with Him.

Stay in His Word, stay in the Spirit, abide in Him.

Learn what true worship really is.

You love what you worship. So worship only Him.

You have to get vulnerable to love.

Love and trust Him, and obey His voice.

what is the essence of christmas? - squarespace · what is the essence of christmas? ... jesus...

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