Christmas - Celebration!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas: Celebration!
by Rick Warren

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”

Luke 2:10

 

This may come as a shock to you, but God really likes parties.

God is into parties; God likes to party; God is constantly throwing parties.

 

In fact, the Bible says that

God’s angels throw a party every time a single person trusts Jesus as the Lord and Savior of his or her life.

They party for joy whenever someone turns away from self-centeredness and turns toward Jesus.

 

Christmas is a party; it’s a birthday party for Jesus. It’s why we say “Merry Christmas.”

Yet, we often leave the guest of honor out of our Christmas parties!

Thinking about this irony, I started asking people, “What are you celebrating this Christmas?”

 

This is what a few of them told me:

· “What am I celebrating? Not a lot.”

· “The blessings that we’ve had in our family this year.”

· “Just the Christmas spirit.”

· “Being home and not being on the road for the holidays.”

· “This Christmas? I’m celebrating the birth of Christ.”

· “Nothing. I just want to get through it.”

 

This last comment is true for a lot of people.

Christmas may be a season of celebration, but they feel they have nothing to celebrate. Perhaps that’s true of you, too.

You’re thinking, “I just want to get through Christmas. I just want to survive it. I’ve got nothing to celebrate.”

But God, through his angel, tells us that embedded in Christmas is good news of such great joy that,

if we believe it, we won’t be able to contain the celebration within us.

 

But we get so frustrated in our circumstances or so busy simply getting ready for the celebration that we lose sight of the joy.

The good news turns into the fact that your in-laws aren’t coming this year or you managed to keep within the Christmas budget.

God’s good news is so much more than that!

 

The joy of Christmas is based on three things:

(1) God loves us; (2) God is with us; (3) God is for us.

Can you hear the celebration in that?!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas: God Loves Us
by Rick Warren

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

 

 

God loves you so much that he sent Jesus on a mission of love with a message of love.

Christmas is a yearly reminder that God loves you.

The Bible says God is love. It doesn’t say God has love; it says God is love. Love is his nature – God is love.

 

And God created the entire universe; he created this planet; he created the human race;

then, he created you because he loves you.

It could be said the reason you’re alive is because God created you as an object of his love.

God made you so he could love you and so that you could love him.

God’s love for you is the reason your heart’s beating right now; it’s the reason you’re breathing.

 

God’s good news is that he loves you on your good days as much as he loves you on your bad days.

He loves you when you can feel his love, and he loves you when you can’t seem to feel his love.

He loves you regardless of whether or not you think you deserve his love.

 

There is nothing you can do that will make God stop loving you.

You could try, but you simply can’t do it

– because his love for you is based upon his character and not on anything you do or say or feel.

 

God loves you so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus, into this world

– “so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

 

When the baby Jesus grows into a man, he will stretch his arms out as wide as the cross, saying,

“I love you this much! I love you so much it hurts. I love you so much I’ll die for you so that I won’t have to live without you.”

 

God’s love surpasses all human knowledge,

and it is difficult for any of us to grasp the width and length and height and depth of God’s love for each one of us

(Ephesians 3:17-19).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas: God Is with You

by Rick Warren

 

“Look! The virgin will conceive a child!

She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”

Matthew 1:23

Have you ever been to a baby dedication where the child’s full name is announced to everyone,

and the baby has three or four different names from first name to last name?

Sometimes there may five or six names in the middle!

The baby Jesus was like that; God gave him several names to tell us about the character of Christ and the purpose of his life.

One of Jesus’ names is “Emmanuel.” It means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

He’s with you always and forever; he will never leave you, and he will never abandon you (Hebrews 13:5).

 

You may have been abandoned in life by your parents, or your spouse, or your children, or your friends.

Because of that abandonment, you approach this Christmas season in pain and full of heartache.

But, the Bible says God will never abandon you.

 

Everyone else may abandon you, but God will never abandon you.

You may not feel God’s presence in your life right now, but that is no indication that God is not there.

He is with you – even now and unto the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).

 

Would you be surprised to hear that God hates loneliness?

He not only hates loneliness, he understands what it means to be lonely.

The Bible records that when God created man, he said, “It isn’t good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

 

Loneliness is not an issue unique to you or unique to people who are single.

There are many married people who are painfully, desperately lonely.

You feel lonely because God created you to need people in your life – but, regardless of how many friends you have

– your loneliness will still remain until you are intimately connected to God.

 

The good news is this:

Because of the birth of Jesus, you now know that God is with you, and you never have to face another day alone.

God being near removes your fear.

You don’t have to worry; you don’t have to sweat it; you don’t have to be anxious about what’s going to happen.

 

You may not feel like God is with you; in fact, some days, you may not even feel like he’s on the planet!

But his presence in your life has nothing to do with your feelings.

 

Through the birth of Jesus, God says,

“I’m going to give you hope.”

If you’re lonely this Christmas, let Jesus fill the void in your heart.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas: God Is for You
by Rick Warren

But the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said.

“I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.

Luke 2:10

Knowing God is for you will change your whole perspective on life.

You’ll stop thinking of God as someone looking down from heaven, ready to yell, “Gotcha!” anytime you mess up.

 

Instead, you’ll realize God loves you; God is with you; and God is for you!

God is for your success in life; he created you for a purpose and he wants you to succeed.

It is God, your Creator, who will measure your success in life, and no one else.

This is extremely good news!

It means you don’t need to be afraid of God because God is for you.

Yet, some people are so afraid of God they get nervous just talking about him.

Do you know why? They feel guilty, and then they start thinking, “If I get close to God, he’s going to lecture me.

He’s going to remind me of all the things I’ve done wrong, and then I’ll feel even worse!”

 

Nothing could be further from the truth of God. Jesus said, “I did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”

In effect, Jesus is saying, “I didn’t come to scold you, I came to save you.”

And if God is for us, who can be against us?

Jesus came to save us, not to scare us.

That’s why when the angel was telling the shepherds about the birth of Jesus, the first thing he says is: “Don’t be afraid!”

 

In fact, when God sends a message to people in the Bible, it’s not unusual for the first words to be: “Don’t be afraid.”

There are 365 messages from God in the Bible that begin with a phrase like, “Fear not!”

In other words, every single day of the year you can read a message from God that says,

in effect, “You don’t need to be afraid. I am for you; I am with you; I love you.”

 

We celebrate Christmas because of this good news from God!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Is a Time of Salvation
by Rick Warren

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Luke 2:11-12

 

Today in the town of David (that’s Bethlehem) a Savior (there’s the salvation part) has been born to you (for you – a savior for YOU);

he is Christ the Lord.

No doubt you’ve heard the phrase, “He was saved” or “She was saved,” but maybe you’ve wondered what that really means?

 

Let me give you a simple illustration.

When my oldest child, Amy, was still young enough to be strapped into a car seat,

she was with me as we were driving on a very, very hot day.

She finally hung her head out the window, and being a three-and-a-half-year-old unable to get herself out of the car seat,

she said, “Please, God! Get me out of this!”

Amy needed a savior! She couldn’t get out of her predicament by herself; she needed someone else to set her free.

She needed someone to rescue her, to deliver her, to release her.

 

Maybe you’ve hit a point in your life when you felt the same way? Or, maybe you feel that way today?

You simply want to hang your head out the window, and plead, “Oh, God. Get me out of this!

Hello, God, I need your help here … please!”

 

What you’re hoping for is a savior. You’re hoping someone will somehow save you.

The good news is that your hope is no longer an empty dream.

God is actively engaged in a plan to save you. He is a God of hope, and it is a hope that will not disappoint.

 

God’s plan for your salvation is three-dimensional:

You’re saved from something; you’re saved for something; and you’re saved by something.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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