By Rev. Lainie Dowell
Christians the world over have celebrated December 25Th of every year in commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. We are called "Christian," because we follow the belief and faith that Jesus is the Christ. We have accepted him as Savior and Lord and know he is the soon-coming King. Further, we believe it is because He is God's only begotten Son that his blood shed on Calvary is the reason we are saved from death to life. These truths can best be understood by those who know the Lord because they have had a personal experience with him. The theology of Holy Scripture comes alive in the knowing. The more you know, the more you will want to know about the Lord.
Christmas Is Much More Than Just Another Day
Until and unless you have met the Lord somewhere on your journey, you will never be able to understand why we celebrate Christmas no matter how much is preached, taught, sung, shown, experienced, known about him. The Gospel of Jesus is our message. The reality for you will come from the depths of desire after you realize the presence of God is near to you and you have refused to stop, look, listen, hear, believe. When you do, that moment will become a great part of your testimony and nobody and nothing will ever be able to make you doubt that God is real.
If God Is Not Real, Then When Did He Die?
And, If God Died, Then How Were You Born?
I just want to speak one on one and in plain language. The Gospel is not complicated or confusing. It is also not forced upon anybody. We are at a point in our history when troubles are looming over us unlike many in years past. It could be that we are older that we feel the sting of hopelessness and despair. It could be that the political environment has pulled you away from the possibilities of the spiritual environment. It could be that you may not know that no man, woman, boy, or girl could ever rob you of your joy. Take a walk with me.
There have been many persons who have preached the Gospel of Jesus. I have been blessed to number so many among my Clergy colleagues. And, in the ensuing years, so many of them have gone on to be with the Lord Jesus. But for the joy of serving the Lord, we have been able to let so many know about the life and times of Jesus as the Son of the Living God who is the Savior of the world.
If the Lord Jesus was not the One who is the Savior and Lord, then when did he cease to be?
If the Lord God does not exist, and there is nobody anywhere who is able to refute that God does not exist and still retain their credibility, then how can it be that mankind lives and breathes until they stop living; and, yet, life still goes on upon this earth and in the entire world long after they are dead and gone?
Do you know the answer to that profound but simple question? Have you ever stopped to give that any thought? Tell me. Where is that man, woman, boy, or girl who can ever respond to this question that I will now pose? The following question for you to ponder is this.
How would there ever be life and death among us on earth where there is no evidence that we were ever created by God Himself?
There are many answers people could come up with to that question, but which would you suppose would be the correct response? After all is said and done, where is that person who has lived long enough to be able to tell anybody the story about their walk with God all the way from the foundation of the earth or, for that matter, even before the foundations were laid? I wonder? Can you say that you have ever met up with any such people walking the earth today and apart from biblical accounts recorded from centuries ago who are able to describe any such occasion from their personal knowledge and experience?
Atheists Have Reared Their Ugly Head
In this the Christmas Season of Great Joy, there are people who would have you to believe there is no God. They are called "Atheists," and they have plastered their counterfeit messages all across this nation in various places where people are known to congregate -- that is, they put up their blasphemous messages everywhere except in a church consecrated to the worship of God. And, while atheists claim to disavow the Christian faith, at the same time, you may have noticed that they have dared to copy the Christian style of communication and public relations during this time of the year. They even claim to be a religion due all respect as that of Judeo-Christian.
You'd think atheists would be able to come up with an original design for their own messages but they have plagiarized the Christian faith, albeit without having Godly faith and truth. Even as they sit speaking against God, they fail to realize we can see their foolishness with the rise and fall of their own breathing as they pronounce to anybody in sight that "There is no God." Must we be deceived by atheists and all who are like them who want us to believe they woke themselves on their own (as if they could)? If this wasn't so serious, it could almost be funny.
Atheists show up publicly more often than not during this time of year when Christians around the world come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus. And, even though they try hard to re-create the biblical account of mankind's beginnings from out of their own mentalities (or lack thereof), they have yet to refute the account of Scripture with any degree of credibility. The entire world has been in existence for hundreds of thousands of centuries even before God created the heavens and the earth and gave license to man to inhabit the earth.
Atheists are oblivious to the truth that, when the final deliberation is made between life and death, there will be a question they will need to have considered. That question is, "Who will be at their heavenly trial before God whom they have rebuffed to give testimony that they were there on hand when the Lord separated the heavens from the earth?" Surely, they must know, because they have placed themselves above the One who is Creator.
The main thought I wish to convey in this message is that nobody who is alive today, who was alive yesterday, or who might be alive in the days to come has any inkling whatsoever about the mind of God. If mankind knew the mind of God (except that He revealed it to them, and then only a portion at that), then they would go and make a deal to take out every thought He has and sell it to the highest bidder. Who would be that foolish?
But, of course, we know that will never happen, because the mind of God is infinite as He is infinite and man is finite and subject to death and the management and control of God. The world has yet to fully understand that God is and that He is all encompassing. He is God. He is real. He is alive. He lives.
The works of mankind are temporary and, what's more, they are at the pleasure of God. If mankind, of themselves alone, could ever prove that God exists, they would still not come under subjection to Him, because they would think they had thought Him up out of thin air. Such is the frailty of the minds of men. Let me ask you this? When God shows Himself to be God, shall the earth shudder and be of Great Joy then? Or, at that time, shall the earth's inhabitants shudder and become fearful for their lives knowing their abject stubborn, disobedience to the will of God as they stand in the presence of His perfection, holiness, righteousness, and the awesomeness of the God of all?
If ever man has a reason to believe on the Lord Jesus, that time is now. And the place is wherever they stand in the moment of realization that they need God in their life and that God is waiting and watching to hear their response, which is simply, "Yes, Lord."
If God has made the earth -- and He has -- What makes mankind believe that God could not make them -- create them -- to live on the earth? However mankind draws their conclusion as to the reality or not of God, it does not matter, because they have no control over the things of God. Moreover, they really do not have absolute control over anything concerning their own lives. Apart from God they can do nothing. Apart from God they are nothing. And, in the smallness of their thinking, they actually cease to think. Yet, somewhere deep down within themselves they must know that if they ever confessed that they do not own themselves, they will be giving up what little control they (think they) have to do whatever they wish and remain free from accountability, punishment, or forgiveness.
God's Word of faith is at the mouth of his Beloved to go forth and invite those who do not yet know Him in the pardon of their sin, to come know Him and be saved by the blood of Jesus which was shed on Calvary for all those who are the children of God. How can this be known? It is so, because God knows His own and they know Him.
Why Do Christians Celebrate Christmas?
The annual Seasons Greetings we celebrate are for the purpose of serving as a reminder for all the generations that come and go about what they missed but what remains for them from God during their life on earth and even what awaits them after death. But they must know for themselves the One who has created them and watches over them to guide them into all truth.
Jesus Christ is the Only Begotten Son of God who took on the flesh of mankind but who knew no sin. He was without sin being born of a Virgin overshadowed by the Holy Ghost. He was born a babe in a lowly stable, because there was no room for them in the Inn. He is God incarnate -- Divinity wrapped up in flesh but without sin. God provided for this world a biblical record of Jesus' birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, and His promise that He would come again at a time and place of His choosing. No one but God knows when that will be and, so, we await His promised second coming.
God has the answers to every question you may have about life and death and all things in between. God not only has the answers to your questions but He also knows the questions that you do not know enough to know that you do not even know to ask. But, more importantly, you have to know Him. Jesus is the answer. The God we serve and love is alive. Mankind had no hand in making Him nor could they. But God had a hand in creating all mankind and everything we see and do not see. And, concerning His will for mankind's life both now and in the life to come, all answers are found in Him. Ask Him. He will tell you and He will confirm the truth of the matter.
Here's Praying You Have A Very Merry Christmas and A Happy and Blessed New Year 2010!
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