The Light of Christmas

I love it when we get a different pastor at our Wednesday evening service because most often the message they share is a powerful one and this last Wednesday was no exception. It was our assistant Pastor Brian who is heads up the Missions at our church. As the worship and praise part of our service ended, the lights dimmed until no lights remained. At first we sat there thinking it was a temporary power outage until we saw a flashlight come up the podium and the lights were brought back up.

Being a corporate trainer the use of visuals is bound to make the message stick and this was designed as a powerful opener of just what light means when surrounded by darkness. He asked us the question of how powerful light is when surrounded by complete darkness. The darkness that must have been present not only at the formation of the world found in Genesis but also the darkness that was present before Jesus was born. The darkness that fills us with loneliness and confusion. A world without hope and without end. A world of uncertainty and fear.

He spoke of places in the remote villages of Africa where he visits on mission work and tells of how truly dark the world can be where the only light is just a simple candle or lantern. How powerful that little bit of light can be and how people are drawn to it. In fact in the remote villages of Africa the light is where people gather. In the darkness no people, but around the light, people gather together. That is the message Jesus brought by being the Light of the world. He was spoken of in prophecies throughout the Bible even as far back as in Genesis before the creation of the world.

Some of those scripture references from the Bible include most notably Isaiah 9:2 " The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."

We pick back up in Isaiah 9:6 as to the answer of just what the light is, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

You can find more such references of light and darkness in Isaiah 7: 13-14, Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 42:5, 49:6.

However "light" is a concept that we take for granted kind of like water, until we don't have it anymore. The world is depicted in the Bible as darkness and the church is commissioned to be the "light." Even in Genesis 1:3, "And God said, "Let there be a light", and there was light. God saw that the light was good and he separated the light from the darkness." This also depicts our spiritual life without Christ til Light came like the Spirit of God into our lives and changed us.

Even as far back as Numbers 20:17 which states that a "star" shall come from Jacob, a scepter out of Israel which refers to the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.

When the three wise men followed that star to find the Christ child, they bestowed upon him three gifts of great significance and symbolized who He was and the life He would live. Gold is given to kings as a gift and speaks of the kingship of Jesus Christ. Frankincense was given to a priest, given as a way to intercede to God as an atonement for our sins. We even see in Revelation 8:3-4 " Another angel, who had a golden censer came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand." And finally myrrh was given to the one who would die, a Savior born to die. Myrrh is used as a pain reliever and was mixed with wine and given to Jesus as he hung on the cross to help with the pain, but He refused it. It was part of the burial spices used by Joseph of Arimathea who brought myrrh to prepare the body of Jesus for burial.

The symbol of "Light" is for the world, brought to us, given as a gift to us through the birth of Jesus Christ.

May every light you see remind us all of a Christ-centered Christmas and the light that entered the world to save us from darkness. In closing I leave you with a beautiful music video that closed our own church service from Barlow Girl, Hallelujah (Light Has Come). Hope it becomes your favorite as it has our families!

What Does Your Life Your Look Like?

Every year I get a letter from an organization now that my kids are still in school offering a chance for them to be Ambassadors and have the opportunity to travel. It's always fun to read about the trip but we are often stuck on the price to send our kids for a week to 10 days on a trip quite literally at times around the world. Sometimes it's exotic locations like Egypt or a European journey through Paris, Italy and Germany, an opportunity to visit things we've only read about in the History books. Sometimes I wonder if my own parents received letters and never shared them with me because the cost is always an issue.

It reminded me about a study I did this morning in my devotions about developing our own character as representatives in Christ. As believers we are Ambassadors for Christ in everything we do or say. What we need to stop doing is living for people. What people will think about us when we fall at times, like all Christians do. We are representatives for the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to show people what Jesus Christ looks like because they may not have heard about Him, read about Him and they certainly can't see Him any longer since He left the Earth so many years ago.

If you think about your day to day dealings with every single person you interact with such as family, friends and even strangers. We need to understand that its never about us, but about Him. Jesus is trying to reach someone through us. We either honor Him or dishonor Him in everything we do or say. WOW! Did you catch that?

We can't act like everyone else we see. We need to develop new habits and realize with time growing shorter and the persecution of Christians everywhere growing more intense, now is the time to shine for God. When people are suffering and dealing with the struggles of this world instead of praying for their problems to cease, perhaps we could offer prayers for endurance, comfort and strength. There is a huge learning that happens when we endure the storms of life. Paul never prayed for the problems of the church to go away, but for them to have the strength to endure and learn from them.

We need to make sure we are putting forth our very best in doing what we can for God. I don't mean perfection but excellence. The very best to our ability, giving God your very best you can offer today.

You don't want to leave this earth simply being takers but to leave a legacy behind that shows what an impact you offered to give God opportunity to work through you. Are you open? Are you ready to show the excellence in what you offer people today? Are you ready to be an Ambassador for Christ? God needs you to reach others today. Remember it's not about you, it's all about Him!

"We are therefore Christs ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christs behalf: Be reconciled to God." ~ 2 Corinthians 5:20

The Dark Knight Rises

I know at some point in all of our lives, we've all been afraid of the dark. In the dark, things aren't what they should be, things are hidden, and our minds play with our imaginations so much that suddenly life is breathed into fear. So where does this fear come from? Is it simply a lack of knowledge, an overactive imagination, or perhaps its an unveiling waiting to take place. Darkness isn't even real, it is simply the absence of light. No matter how much darkness prevails, all it takes is but a little light and it flees from it. Darkness can not put out the light. Just like evil can not outweigh goodness. There will also be a light in this world and that light is the love of God.

This is why on the day of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, that darkness was allowed to dwell for a time, the light for a moment in time, had gone out. Disbelief, sadness, despair, fear and grief was not present in the lives of those that lived with Christ. All hope was lost, despite Jesus' words that He would return on the third day. But during that time, darkness had a field day. Much like it still is ever since sin came into the world when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate of fruit of the tree of knowledge. Notice they didn't get a chance in all their time in the Garden of Eden to sample any of the fruit from the Tree of Life? The stage had been set for a time of man's conscience choice. Man would chose wrong and the consequences would be felt by all even if we didn't commit the original sin. Life was forever changed.

Just like last night when a masked man, entered a darkened theater. He was covered and he entered the darkness. He didn't want to be seen and what he had planned to do was pure and utter evil, and thus the need for darkness to hide him. He took the lives of innocent people and wounded many others. For every single person in the theater that day and even afterward, darkness wanted to have it's time and push out the light and now their lives will never be the same again. Yet light can still push out that darkness. We can't let what one person did, outweigh the lasting effects of God's love. The enemy would love for us to dwell upon all the what ifs, what is that had been our family, why did that happen if God really cares, and why should this man be allowed to live despite the lives of some many that didn't have a choice?

It goes back to the darkness against light. The enemy would have us now, cower in our homes, afraid to send our family out anymore to prevent this type of thing from happening again. To begin to question every single person that is around us now. Life was renewed in fear again last night, but it doesn't have to stay that way. We serve a greater God than the enemy.

We serve a God whose light shines before men, but those who do not know Him can't seem to understand it. They run from it because it exposes them for what they want to hide. This is why our world is falling apart, because the darkness is threatening to overtake the light. We cast blame, look the other way when we should be shining the light of what God is doing in our lives. We need to immerse ourselves with those that are in need, the sick, the hungry, the lost and bring them into the light of God's eternal love.

How much do we have to hate someone for us to withhold the great news that eternal life awaits anyone who asks for it? Why do we only associate ourselves with other Christians, see only Christian movies, listen only to Christian music, and build up the walls around us, so we can keep the darkness out? God has called us for something more. He didn't come here to save us so we would keep the information a secret. He came so we might all who know Him, would tell every single person about Him. We, as Christians, need more than ever to take a stand, and let His light shine before ALL men, not just the ones we want to see enter heaven. More than ever, this world needs the love, mercy and grace of God. Each one of us that is saved now has a responsibility to share the Love of God with the lost and unbelievers. The light we are to shine is not our own, it is God.

This is the reason that the Jews missed their calling. They failed to understand their purpose in bringing the light into the darkness from the Old Testament. Let not this generation fall into a spiritual sleep like the generations of old. God came so we would know Him. It's time to rise up, and address our lost culture.

When was the last time you cried?

When was the last time you cried for the people who are lost that don't know Christ? Isn't it about time for us to soften our hearts towards the lost instead of ganging up on them in a Us versus Them mentality? Our testimony's hold the greatest power to change lives. It is the power of Christ living in us that has completely transformed us through the renewing of our minds, our thoughts, and our bodies and we need to share what God living in us has done for us. Just look at what William Booth, the founder/creator of the Salvation Army had to say on this:

"Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible, and hear him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity, and listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters, and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish his mercy to the world."

Our greatest treasure in life is the gift of salvation and shouldn't everyone have an opportunity to share in it? Even David Wilkerson had this to say, "Today, some Christians are content to merely exist until they die. They don't want to risk anything, to believe God, to grow or mature. They refuse to believe his Word, and have become hardened in their unbelief. Now they're living just to die."

God can and will raise up misfits to use to get His word out. We need to stop feeling like what we have to say doesn't matter. We need to share every day what God's love and power is doing in us. We need to rise up and become bearers of the Light. Let us not, allow what has happened in the world around us, to make us bitter and angry. Let us instead rise up and put an end to the darkness that is trying to prevail in the word. All it takes is one speck of light in a enormous darkness to make a difference. I challenge you to be the difference today.

That is why the world around us is spiraling out of control, unbelievers are blind, they can't see what is happening right in front of them, but we can. This is why we can see the evil but there are those that can't. They remain in the darkness until we can help them "see" with the power of God's love what has been in front of them the whole time. No amount of reasoning can help someone see in the darkness if there is no light.

Matthew 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light (God's power) shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."