No Christmas?

On a recent trip back from St. Louis, I noticed a sign on the side of the road which challenged people to skip church this Christmas.  The basis of the sign was an imaginary letter from a young girl which reads, "Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is to skip church!  I'm too old for fairy tales."  It was sponsored by the American Atheists National Convention, but, nevertheless, it caused me to think about the meaning and message of Christmas and how the church fits into the Christmas season.  So what if there was no Christmas and no church?

If there was no Christmas, there would be no celebration of Immanuel, God-with-us (Matthew 1:23); no celebration of God dwelling with men (John 1:12).  God would remain nothing more than a mere idea in the hearts of men and women; a distant designer who is indifferent to our trials or triumphs.

If there was no Christmas--no baby Jesus in a manager--then there would, of course, be no Easter.  If no Easter celebration, then no resurrection power or the promise of New Life in Christ!  If there was no Easter, then there is no more promise of "dead to sin and alive to God" (Romans 6).  No hope for heaven, no joy in a transformed life, and no peace with God.  Forgiveness would be nothing more than an empty word without spiritual power and the promise of eternity would only be real in a person's imagination.

If there was no Christmas, there would be no kingdom of God and no local church to proclaim the gospel and live out the compassion of Christ in a local community.  Without the historical reality of Christmas, there is no personal responsibility for sin and no need for salvation.  Without Christmas,  we have no message of hope for a world which is increasingly lost, secular, humanistic, broken, and corrupt.

So what if there was no Christmas?  And what if you and I simply skipped church this year and celebrated Christmas without Christ?  Would the world be a better place?  Would people live in peace in a new enlightened era in which God is a fairy tale and we exist to serve ourselves or worse our governments?  Would corruption cease?  Would humanity save itself?

No . . . I'm convinced that my life, your life, and the world would be a darker place void of God's amazing love, peace in our hearts, joy in our thoughts, and hope for a brighter day ahead.

I'm so grateful for Christmas and the church which is a gift from God to convey God's message of salvation to our local community.

Join with me this Christmas and worship our Savior at a local church.   If you are looking for a place to worship, we welcome you to New Life Community Church this Sunday, December 21st or Christmas Eve, December 24th.  Go to newlifecolumbia.org for more information.

Messiah is coming!

This Christmas season, we will focus on the first advent of Christ and His soon return.  I've been looking forward to this series for some time.  The Bible has a lot to say about end times events.  I am planning on three sermons - "Signs of the Second Coming", "The Rapture of the Church", and "The New Heavens and the New Earth."  

Without a doubt, the Bible teaches us to believe in a beginning and ending to human history as we know it.  How close are we to the end?  Is Jesus planning to return soon?  Get ready in December for the sermon series "Messiah is Coming!"  1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 says,  "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever." 

Check out current or future sermons online at http://www.newlifecolumbia.org/new_life_media.aspx