Christmas Message 2007
It is the Christmas season once again, as we begin the
celebration of our Heavenly Father’s great gift of eternal grace through His
Son Jesus Christ. We have the tradition of giving gifts at Christmas time, but spiritual
gifts are so much more important than physical presents. The greatest gift we
will ever be given is the love of our Almighty God. The greatest gift we can
ever give is to pass His love on to others. And the more love we give to our
Lord, to all people, the more love our Lord will give us. Read the Christmas
story from Luke 2:1-20 and let the words of Scripture open your heart to
rejoice in this great celebration. As we wish all a Merry Christmas, let us
also inwardly remember to thank Jesus for coming to save us.
The
real Christmas celebration is not about physical things, but the spiritual
blessings our Lord wants to give us. It is not about complicated intellectual
ideologies, but about acceptance, a simple faith that will enable the Spirit to
introduce us to Jesus. When we allow Jesus to live in our hearts, our lives are
encompassed with His love. We then have the love, peace, and assurance to
understand that we have been given by far the greatest gift, the greatest
treasure we will ever receive, the everlasting love of Almighty God. For there
is no love that can even be compared to the glory of our Lord’s love, there are
no bounds that this love will not go to bring us back into the family of God,
into our Lord’s presence once more. If we merely accept our Lord’s love for us,
if we only give this love back to the Lord, to all people, Jesus has prepared a
home in
We are
not told nor are we sure when Jesus was born, but it is unlikely that He was
born on Christmas day (see Christ’s Birth). Early Christians merely
replaced a terrible pagan holiday with a celebration for the coming of the
promised Messiah, Jesus, the Savior for all who would
believe. Those who love their Lord celebrate Christmas as the beginning of our
Heavenly Father’s plan of eternal salvation for us. A plan
that would be completed thirty three years later on a cross outside of
Satan
is trying to get the Christmas season in His clutches through political
correctness, financial manipulation and outdoing the real Christmas message.
Many believers are defeated at Christmas time before they even open their
mouths. They are intimidated by political correctness, are scared to say
anything about their Lord less they be labeled a radical Christian, or worse
yet, maybe even a bigot. The intellectual liberals have decided with their
mental superiority they should make new and better rules about Christianity, how
one should live a Christian life, and celebrate Christmas. Their political
correct rules say that one should be careful about talking, telling or
displaying anything about their God, less they offend someone else. Today a
warning label of hazards is required on about every product, and a warning
label should also be put on political correct statements as well:
Not
talking about, telling, or displaying truths about Jesus could result in the
following hazards:
1.
Many who would have accepted Jesus will lose the chance of receiving His love
and the rewards of Heaven, of living with their Savior in
2.
Unbelievers will not be warned one more time about the futility and heartbreak
of not knowing God’s love, the inevitability of suffering eternally in Hell.
3. All
believers should remember that anyone who denies Jesus here on earth, will be denied by Jesus in Heaven above.
We
don’t have to just look at our adversaries to see how Christmas is being taken
away from us. Just look how our own desires have manipulated Christmas into a
great free enterprise financial story. Companies, a part of our economy, are
dependent upon Christmas sales of every kind to survive, to exist. We have
fallen for their advertising, made giving and receiving at Christmas time our
top priority. We have carried the exchanging of gifts, especially to children,
to the extreme. And next year, if we are able, we will give even more lavish
gifts than we did this year. We are outdoing ourselves to such an extent that
we don’t even have a real appreciation for most of the gifts we are given. We
get tired of them after a short period of time and can’t wait, already have
expectations of the new gifts we want, will receive. We are living in the world
of instant gratification and our children are thoroughly getting engrained in
this style of living. Gratification is now becoming our greatest desire and
emotion at Christmas time. Love for the Lord, remembering all He has done for
us, filling the presence of His love all around us is now just an after
thought. We no longer take the time to quietly visit with Jesus, thank Him for
all the love He has shown us. We can no longer concentrate on our Lord, without
our minds drifting away to the earthly Christmas celebration going on around us.
We must put first things first, and realize what the Christmas celebration is
really about, Christ coming down so He could save us. That this great gift is a
trillion times greater than all the gifts the world will ever produce. That
Christmas should be a celebration to thank our Lord for all He has given for
us.
Christian
congregations, leaders, pastors, groups, believers and non believers alike,
often try to outdo the simple story of Christ’s birth, of Christ coming down to
save us. They try and use their own feeble minds to make the Christmas story
more spectacular, more glamorous, more meaningful, and more emotional. They
believe the Biblical version of Christ’s birth every Christmas can be
redundant, becomes boring. They turn to other alternatives to help Christmas
come alive. This can be anything from stretching or misrepresenting the true
Scriptural story of the birth of Jesus, to reading worldly stories to help all
get in the Christmas spirit, invoke more emotion. But we must all remember who we
are and who God is. We are nothing. Christ is everything! Yet Jesus became
nothing to give us everything, make us holy so we could be one with our God
again, be His holy children. We need to realize the
strongest emotion we can ever have is the love of Christ in our hearts. The
most spectacular love story ever told is the simple, humble, story of Christ
coming to save us. The Christmas season is all about us spiritually connecting
with our Savior. The Word of God talks to us as it
tells the simple story of Christ’s birth, the true story of His love for us.
The Spirit is able to strengthen our faith, our love, as we concentrate on what
our God has done for us. God’s Word alone is needed, alone shows us who our God
is.
There
have always been and will always be those who do not believe, even scoff at the
idea of Christ’s birth at Christmas. We should enjoy this festive time with
these unbelievers, family and friends who have not accepted Christ. Remembering
the harsh reality that any day, any season may be the last time we will have
with those who do not know Jesus. Those who have not had Heaven’s gates opened
for them. We must love them, tell them about our Savior, pray for them, and
Christmas is a good opportunity to gently remind all who our Savior is, why He
came into the world.
Let us
celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, proclaiming the love of our Savior
Jesus Christ. Getting our priorities in order, happily
reflecting on our Heavenly Father’s great love for us. Thanking our best
friend Jesus for coming into our world to save us. And
letting the Spirit guide us through God’s Word to the simple truth of Jesus’
birth.
And it
came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus
that all the world should be taxed.
(And
this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor
of
And
all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
And
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of
To be
taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
And so
it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should
be delivered.
And she
brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid
him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And
there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch
over their flock by night.
And,
lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round
about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not:
for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all
people.
For
unto you is born this day in the city of
And
this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And
suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising
God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men.
And it
came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds
said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing
which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And
they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a
manger.
And
when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them
concerning this child.
And
all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the
shepherds.
But
Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
And
the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that
they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them. Luke 2:21-20 KJV
Remember
what Christmas is simply about:
A gift of love
is given, only a gift of love is desired in return.
God
reaffirms His great love for us by becoming man to save us – desiring only a
gift of love in return, that we love our Lord more than anything else, that we love our neighbors as ourselves.
Copyright
2007 by Ron Borkey
Christmas + New Years 2006
Christmas
It is the Christmas season once again, as we
commemorate the greatest gift ever given
to mankind. Our Heavenly Father’s gift of eternal grace
through His Son Jesus Christ. Christmas begins the celebration of this
great gift, when long ago Jesus came down from Heaven to become man, to be born
of the virgin Mary as a little baby. Jesus was the
promised Savior of the world, and 30 years later He would teach us who our God
is, and how He would have us live. Jesus would die for us, providing atonement
for all believers’ sins. Our Savior arose from the dead assuring all believers
they will also rise from the dead and be taken to Heaven.
We have the
tradition of giving gifts at Christmas time, but spiritual gifts are so much
more important than physical presents. The greatest gift we will ever be given is
the love of our Almighty God. The greatest gift we can ever give is to pass His
love on to others. And the more love we give to our Lord, to all people, the
more love our Lord will give us. Read the Christmas story from Luke 2:1-20 and
let the words of Scripture open your heart to rejoice in this great
celebration. As we wish all a Merry Christmas, let us inwardly remember to
thank Jesus for coming to save us.
New Years
As we start a New
Year let us remember there are no great men or women of the Bible, there
are no great leaders or ministers of God's word. There are only men and women
whom God does great things through. With man nothing is possible, but with God
all things are possible. Our Heavenly Father gives each of us special talents,
special gifts to use. To some He gives much, to others He gives less. We
are to use what He has given us to the best of our abilities. That could be
from telling one sinner about the Lord, to telling thousands about
our great Savior. We should merely strive to do what our Savior would
have us do and let the Lord worry about the results. That does not mean
we should not follow our dreams, for with God all things are possible. But
our lives will always be full of ups and downs. We should even them out by
remembering to do what our Lord would have us do, although sometimes our
results will be good, and sometimes we will struggle. God alone determines
the outcome, we only determine whether we are willing
to follow our gracious Lord or not. For the battle is not for all to become the
greatest, but for the greatest to become the least, servants bringing the good
news of Jesus Christ to all people. And when we use our God given abilities and
just concentrate on telling others about the love of Jesus Christ, we are
storing up blessings beyond imagination in Heaven above. Happy New Year!!!