The Story of Christmas

Christ Born of Mary

2 And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. ² This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. ³ So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

⁴ Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, ⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed ^[a]wife, who was with child. ⁶ So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. ⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a ^[b]manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Glory in the Highest

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And ^[c]behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a ^[d]manger.”

¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill^[e] toward men!”

¹⁵ So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” ¹⁶ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. ¹⁷ Now when they had seen Him, they made ^[f]widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. ¹⁸ And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. ¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
-Luke 2:1-20 New King James Version (NKJV)

Thank you God for sending Your Son for all of us. He was and is the best gift the World as ever received.

Merry Christmas to everyone on out there! May God bless you today, into the new year that is coming and always.

Have a Blessed Christmas
-Chris

In defense of Christmas

The Good Word

It seems the new trend for many Christians is abandoning Holidays like Christmas and Easter. They shout that it is Pagan and we shouldn’t celebrate these things. Some even condemn those who do to Hell. Seems pretty harsh too me.

I often wonder if these people who go on commenting about these things or pointing out every “False Prophet” on the internet, really have God in their minds and heart or are they just using this time to make themselves feel better than other people? They claim they are doing this out of love, and that we need to “correct” our Christian brothers and sisters.

Doesn’t sound a lot like Jesus’ message of love, compassion and forgiveness does it?

I love all my Christian brothers and sisters. Views may be different but the most important thing we must do is show love. You know who loves believers arguing and dividing…

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Toxic Environments in Christian Culture

I really wanted to write a Christmas blog this week but this has been on my heart.

Why are so many Christian discussions like comment sections so toxic? It makes me sad. Where is the love? Just because you can quote scripture doesn’t mean you know scripture.

So many Christians take a few scriptures and use that as a license to judge.

Didn’t Jesus tell you not to judge?

Stop taking a few verses out of context in order to behave like you are God, you are not.

All you’re doing is pushing people away from the Lord, your job as a Christian on Earth is to bring others to Jesus and take care of the needy. Not tear down your brothers and sisters in Christ.

It’s okay to go to other Christians and attempt to reconcile them with God. But it seems that many only wish to “expose” false preachers or pastors. They’re obsessed with certain scriptures and want to comment on every video that doesn’t go along with their beliefs. I notice many people like this also mock, laugh and insult others. I see people like this say, “LOL” at someone’s response to them or call them a bad name. I have even seen people curse as they argue.

This leads to the other side becoming heated as well.

Watching Christians argue over the Lord in such hateful ways is really heartbreaking.

Others see it to, imagine if you weren’t a believer and go to check out a video sermon and see Christians behaving this way?  How does that make the church look?

Unfortunately many are leaving the faith not because of God but because of a toxic environment they’re experiencing. It’s up to us to show the Light of God to those who need it, not cover that Light up and let darkness take over.

Read Paul’s letters, when speaking of correcting the peoples ways he did so in a loving manner, not an angry, judgmental way.

Speaking of Paul, after reading some of his letters recently, it hit me. We are still dealing with the same problems in the church 2,000 years later. In Paul’s day people argued over scripture, some were abusing their grace and letting the outside world influence them, while others were still holding on to the law so harshly that there appeared to be no grace at all. People were arguing over who they followed, saying they were followers of Paul or Titus or Peter or James or another, the predecessor to all the denominational differences of today. Some were complaining about giving any money to their church and didn’t want to tithe. Believers didn’t know what do believe so it was chaos and bickering.

Does this sound familiar?

Paul addressed all these issues. Now in this day and age people take a bit of Paul’s letters and other scriptures out of the Bible in order to win arguments but they don’t realize they are behaving in a way that he spoke out against.

What it all comes down to is you have to pray to God, you have to LISTEN to God, if you can’t hear the voice of God that is a problem. But fear not, you still have the Bible.

WWJD is not just a bumper sticker or a bracelet. Know how Jesus would have handled a situation, don’t just look at one situation, but follow His entire story. Jesus was the most loving and forgiving person to ever walk this Earth. Try to show the same love and forgiveness God does, He knows best.

I am not going to be a hypocrite and judge those who lash out in comments sections or any other platform. I have run theories in my head to why they people behave that way but I am not going to entertain those thoughts and tear those people down. I don’t know what is truly in their hearts, only God knows.

I just pray that we all do God’s will.

Have a blessed week,
Chris

Hanukkah

There seems to be a new debate on whether or not Christians should celebrate Hanukkah or other Jewish Holidays. I personally am fascinated by the celebrations from the Old Testament and Judaism. Jesus of course followed the traditions of His heritage.

The Gospel of John even mentions Jesus entering the temple for the “Festival of Dedication”, which is Hanukkah.

Here is an interesting article on John 10: 22-23 and Hanukkah.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-s-keener/jesus-and-hanukkah-john-10-22-23_b_2233251.html

With the exciting movement of Messianic Judaism I feel there will be an increase in Jesus followers celebrating the traditional Feasts and Holidays.

Pastor Steve Cioccolanti has a video on How to Celebrate Hanukkah as a Christian and a Jewish Follower of Jesus. I enjoyed watching this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Da9pVkJyoo&t=1s

Anyways to those who chose to celebrate it, have a happy Hanukkah and may Yeshua/Jesus be the light in your life that burns forever and ever.

Have a Blessed Week,
Christopher