Moment 8: What Jesus Wants for Christmas

There are several ways you can play with an empty cardboard gift wrap tube. Look through it like a telescope, blow into it like a trumpet, or pretend it’s a shepherd’s staff. That’s what one of my friends' two-year daughter was doing as she wandered through our house. She said, “I’m looking for my lost sheep.” I told her about a Nativity in the next room where there was a sheep. She came back carrying it and saying, “I found my lost sheep.”

The Bible tells us that “all of us have wandered away like sheep, each of us has turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6 ). God calls that sin, and it keeps us away from Him—ultimately forever. The only hope for a lost sheep is if the shepherd comes looking for him. Jesus is God’s Son come looking for you. His pursuit took Him all the way to a brutal cross where He absorbed all the penalty for all your sin.

He’s come looking for you this Christmas. The Shepherd paid a very high price to bring you Home.

Moment 7: The History Splitter

You know, in a way, all the parents can divide their lives into two parts—before the baby and after the baby. Your life’s never the same after that child is born!

The birth that created Christmas was really a bombshell! Jesus’ birth literally split history in two—B.C./A.D—before Christ and after Christ. Across the world, He has split the history of millions of lives like mine and given us a new beginning. The Bible says: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’ (2 Corinthians 5:17 ).

Something amazing happens when you give your life to Jesus, because He gave His life for you, for your sin. You’re clean because He’s forgiven every sin. You know you’re going to heaven because Jesus has erased your sin. You’ve got His power to change the things about you that you’ve never been able to change, and you’ve got His peace as an anchor in the darkest times.

It may be you’ve never had your Jesus-day, when you experience His love for yourself. This could be that day. If you want Him in your life, call onto Him to come into your life. Your life will never be the same.

Moment 6: Battering Baby Jesus

Last Christmas, somebody stole the Jesus figurine from a park Nativity scene. They found Him, badly defaced and damaged. Baby Jesus was treated horribly.

As disturbing as that incident is, it pales in comparison to how Jesus was really treated when He came. The Bible says: “His face was so disfigured He seemed hardly human …He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins…Led like a sheep to the slaughter” (Isaiah 52:14 , 53:3, 5, 7 NLT).

There’s no way they could do that to the Son of God unless He let them, and He did. That’s how much He loves you. The Bible says: “The Lord laid on Him (Jesus) the sins of us all” (Isaiah 53:6 ). Jesus willingly took all the punishment for every wrong thing you and I’ve ever done. This Christmas season, He’s reaching out to you—into your heart—offering to give you what He died for.

Your eternity depends on how you treat Jesus—whether you say yes or no to what He died for. If you’re ready to put your life in His hands, God will never forget what you do with His Son.

Moment 5: Lost at Christmas

Last Christmas, our local news told the story of a little Amish girl who was thrown from a runaway buggy. In spite of the efforts of the searchers, she was outside all night in freezing temperatures. Then, after ten hours, a woman found little Hannah, all huddled up, very cold but alive. The doctors called her their “Christmas miracle.”


There may be a miracle like that in the making this Christmas, and you’re the one the Rescuer is seeking. Jesus said He came “to seek and save what was lost” (Luke 19:10 ). Maybe lost is how you’ve been feeling: alone, out in the cold, short on hope.


The Bible says lost is what we all are, because we’re away from the God we were made for. Because we’re running our own life instead of letting God run it. And like that lost little girl, our only hope is a rescuer who finds us. That’s why Jesus died. It’s why He’s moving in your heart this Christmas, to bring you home to His love.


If you’re ready to belong to Him, call on HIM. And be “Home” for Christmas.

JESUS CHRIST: The Only Reason for the Season

Scripture:  Luke 2:11

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. A Winter Festival instead of a Christmas Concert at the local school. Seasons greetings instead of let's celebrate the Savior's birth. It is interesting to me how many people are willing to be politically correct when it comes to the only reason for this season. Make no mistake the only reason for the season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ the Savior, the Messiah, God's only Son. I know many people always make the argument that we don't know the exact date of Jesus' birth, but I also find it interesting that they don't either. It's not about the exact date. It is about celebrating that He was born.

The birth of the Savior for the true Christian is celebrated every day. However, many in society have decided to celebrate it during this time of season in a more formal manner. The true meaning of the season does rest in the birth of the Savior, not in the Christmas parties, Christmas events, the lighting of the trees or any of those commercial events that seem to have overtaken the true meaning of this season. I also find it very interesting that the word Christ is in Christmas yet many people will celebrate Christmas and make a deliberate attempt to not include Christ. This is the equivalent of celebrating your birthday, but deliberately excluding you. Let us not forget the real reason, the only true reason for this season; that the Messiah came to save us from our sins. We can all acknowledge that we as human beings are sinful, and in order to be in a right relationship with God we were in need of a Savior. God sent his son into the world that we might be saved through him and that is reason to celebrate. Do not take this season, or this time of year as a time to deny the Savior, but to embrace what His arrival on this earth meant for us all. In our quest to be politically correct we deny Him and the purpose of His coming.

I know many people often say “well I don't want to offend anyone.” However, it is very interesting to me that those who are opposed to Christ or the use of the word Christmas have no problem offending Christians. We as Christians have to begin to make it very clear whose side we are on. When we deny what we know to be true, we offend God in order to please people. Peter is ostracized by many for denying Jesus three times. However, how many times do we deny him just in our salutations when we're conscious enough to know that we should offer people a greeting that is representative of our belief that the Savior came to the earth for our sakes. Yet we dress it up with a politically correct salutation instead.

Scripture tells us that born to us this day in the city of David is a Savior, which is Christ the Lord this means that the only reason we as Christians should be celebrating at this time of year and every day. However, we cannot deny him during this special time of year that is set aside to commemorate His birth. These subtle denials and compromises will lead to big issues in the life of a Christian. Jesus himself said in Matthew 10:33 “But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.” Do not allow political correctness, pleasing people, not wanting to take a stand for Christ, or any other reason to stop you from fully celebrating the birth of the Savior. If Christ is your personal Savior. You can not deny Him. If you are ashamed of Him and deny Him then perhaps you should reevaluate your relationship with Him.

The commercial parts of Christmas should never outweigh the spiritual component that makes Christmas what it is. The reason why we should have such a large celebration of the birth of the Savior is because as the Bible says we were held captive by sin and Jesus Christ is the payment for our sins. Look at it this way, we were just like a child held hostage by kidnappers and Christ represents the ransom payment for our freedom. To deny Him as Savior or our ransom payment is the same as denying the one who paid for your freedom their proper due. If you acknowledge that you are in need of forgiveness of sin then this is the perfect time of year to celebrate the birth of the ultimate payment for all of our sins; Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. Or as it says in Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” He is all of those and more for whoever will receive Him and not deny Him and that is the only reason we need to celebrate this season.

Challenge: Do not deny Him celebrate Him this and every season.

Moment 4: Beyond the Party

They called it a Christmas miracle. A California dad drove into a Sierra forest, parked his truck and went looking for a Christmas tree with his three teenage children. Then the snowstorms came. They were lost and they were unprepared. After searchers looked for three days, two pilots finally saw the word “HELP” stamped in the snow and a man waving. For that lost family, Christmas meant rescue.

And that is really what Christmas is about for every one of us. Behind the big party called Christmas is a mission as serious as life-or-death—yours and mine. That first Christmas, God announced Jesus was coming to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21 ). 

He didn’t come to start a religion or be a good example. He came here to rescue people who would die otherwise forever, because our sin carries a forever death penalty that He paid with His life on the cross.

This Christmas season, He wants to make you a Christmas miracle, if you’ll grab His outstretched hand as your Rescuer from your sin.

Moment 3: He's Making a List

It's the Christmas song words that made me briefly want to be a good boy: "He's making a list and checking it twice; gonna find out who's naughty and nice." Santa's all-important list that determines how you'll be treated at Christmas. We're big boys and girls now, and we know that list doesn't exist.

But there's an all-important list that does exist, and believe me, you want your name there. Jesus called it the "Book of Life" with the names of every person who's going to heaven in it. But a holy God says that no one is good enough to be on this list, and here's the scary part. The Bible says, "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:15 ).

That's not what God wants. That's why, when Jesus came, the angels said, "A Savior has been born to you" (Luke 2:11 ). The Son of God who came to pay the penalty for the sin that keeps me from God, now and forever. And the Bible says, "He that has the Son has life" (1 John 5:12 ).

God's waiting to enter your name in His book of life

Moment 2: The Baby is Your Future

The new movie, “2012,” has freaked out a lot of moviegoers. Based on an ancient Mayan prophecy, it’s all about the world ending on December 21, 2012. Definitely not a very merry Christmas!

The only prediction, though, about how the world will end that you need to be thinking about comes from Jesus Christ: “I will come again” (John 14:3 ). “Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world…At that time, they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” (Luke 21:26-27 ).

There’s three “Jesus-comings” that decide everything. First, He came that first Christmas to become one of us so He could ultimately die to pay for our sin. Second, He’s coming back—maybe soon—as the Judge of all the earth. He’ll write the last chapter. The other coming of Jesus is really up to you. Has He ever come into your heart to be your Savior from your sin? If not, you are fatally unprepared for your appointment with Him. But that could change today.

Moment 1: Trash At Christmas

It’s amazing how much trash our family can generate when they’re opening Christmas presents! And you should see me attacking all those boxes and wrapping paper with my garbage bags. It may be Christmas, but there’s still trash.

Unfortunately, that’s how this whole season may be for some people—maybe you. A lot of garbage surfaces this time of the year: the brokenness, the loneliness, the regrets, our own “ghosts of Christmas past.” There’s just something about Christmas that amplifies the joys and the pain.

That’s why I love the Biblical promise that spoke of Christ’s coming that first Christmas: “There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress…for to us a child is born…He will be called…Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:1 , 6). So many of us have found in Jesus the Savior who can heal what’s broken inside of us and what’s broken between us and others. All because He was broken on a cross to pay for everything we’ve done wrong and set us free from it.

This Christmas season you could make the Savior your Savior. 

CHRISTMAS MOMENTS

I am pleased to present the "25 Days of Christmas Moments" as a ministry tool for you. Each "Christmas Moment" is full of warmth and personal style of ministry to point people to Jesus this Christmas season.

Spread the hope of Jesus this Christmas by emailing the message of  "Christmas Moment" to a friend or family member who may not know Jesus. Free free to print the messages to post at work or share with someone.

Check out the "25 Days of Christmas Moments" that is being posted above: