Let me ask you a question:

What does Christmas mean to you?

I suppose it means different things to different people. To some it’s the commercialized/marketing reason for the season. Using the holy day (holiday) season for selling more goods and increasing sales. Capitalism is good, right? Or on the consumerism side, a reason to spend money excessively and if it’s done on credit cards, the more the merrier!

For others, Christmas means colored flashing lights, feasting, exchanging gifts, and the expectation of a home invasion from a fat man in a red suit and rewarding the criminal for breaking and entering with milk and cookies. I personally disagree with lying to children about a mythical man that lives at the North Pole, elves, and Reindeer that fly. I would encourage parents to tell the truth about the real St. Nicholas and here’s a good link for kids:    https://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/real-santa/

So…what does Christmas really mean? Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of our soon coming King Jesus Christ. Yes, the commercial and secular view of Christmas may be fun but it seems shallow after January 1st when the lights come down and the credit card bills start coming due. But for the Christian the reason for the season rings true all year long! The Baby in the manger was God in the flesh. He grew up. Preached good tidings of His Gospel that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. He was crucified for mankind’s sins. Buried. Resurrected bodily from the grave and is now in Heaven preparing to call His own up to himself to meet Him in the air and ever be with Him. That the reason we celebrate Christmas!

And He’s coming back! Not as a baby in a feed trough but KING of kings and LORD of lords to rule this world!

Are you ready? Hebrews 9:27 says people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. Don’t just take my word..read it for yourself…while your at it read about The Judgment of the Dead found in Revelation 20:11-15…

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹² And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

All humanity have sinned. None of us are righteous enough to escape The Lake of Fire no matter how hard we try. That’s why Jesus was born of a virgin. He is sinless. His sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty for all who put their faith in Him. That’s the meaning of Christmas. The greatest gift of all time is before you..eternal life…just for the asking. A simple prayer, “Jesus, I acknowledge I’m a sinner and I by faith believe You paid the penalty by Your shed blood on the cross for me. Please forgive me. In Your name Jesus I ask, Amen.” If you prayed this you have received the best Christmas gift ever! Let me know and I would love to help you any way I can.

I wish each and every one of you a blessed Christmas!

Preacher John