Who Started CHRISTmas

Who started Christmas

A woman who was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids.

Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her and all the bags of stuff. When the doors closed she couldn't take it anymore and stated, "Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot."

From the back of the car everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, "Don't worry we already crucified him." For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" Lk 2:19.

O dear people, ponder this illustration, ponder what is happening to Christmas. Christ is almost completely left out. It is now a holiday, not a HOLYday. Ponder what is happening to God in the whole world. In America we are about to see freedom FROM religion not freedom OF religion. Wake up world! All this is all the more reason we must study prophecy and read the "signs."

Prayer:  Father, bless your people and help us to be people who have "understanding of the times." Prepare us for the new year and may we make godly resolutions that will make a difference in eternity. In Jesus name.

God Chose You Be thankful for it

God chose you: be thankful for it

Most of the time we pray for Joe's toe, Jack's back and Jane's pains and do not pray for the big or eternal things God told us to pray for.

We can easily do the same things about giving thanks. We thank the Lord for our food and material things and do not thank Him for some of the big or eternal things.

God chose you
"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love " Eph. 1:4. Now that is awesome. Don't get side tracked and debate election or predestination or the sovereignty of God just thank God the Father that He chose you out of the six and one half billion people in this world. Isn't that staggering? Thank God He chose you!

He drew you
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" John 6:44. WOW, not only did the Father choose you but He drew you. "THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD " Rom. 3:11. God takes the initiative. No one goes around seeking God until God begins to draw him. When does He begin to draw you? On a Tuesday morning, at 4 a. m. Gene Gaskins asked me to go to church with him the next Sunday. By the time Sunday came I was so eager to go to church I could hardly wait. God was drawing me.

In sixty years of ministry
During these years of ministry, I have seen, God begins to draw people when we begin to witness to them and/or bring them to church. We are to get the gospel to people, Mk 16:15, and we are to get people to the gospel, Luke 14:23. That is how we change the world!

You could be without God
You could have been born some place where they have never heard the gospel. But for the grace of God you could be a drunkard or a drug addict. You could be lost, without God and without hope in this present evil world. Give thanks if your are saved.

Think about it
Meditate on it, dwell on it until it becomes overwhelming and give thanks to the Father, that He did choose you and drew you. This is big! Doesn't that make sense?

Prayer:  Father, we are thankful You did choose us and drew us until we heard Christ died for our sins paid our debt and rose again and we received Him and were born again. Help, those reading this to be thankful for this wonderful truth, in Jesus name.

Be Ye Thankful

Signs of the last days
Major signs of the last days, "Men began to multiply on the face of the land, (population explosion) "sexual perversion," "The earth filled with violence," "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" have you watched TV lately? Gen. 6:1-5. "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be…ungrateful" 2 Tim. 3:1-2. Now this, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness...For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened" Rom 1:18-21.

A series on prophesy
For years I preached a lot on and taught prophesy in college. Following my Bible teacher in college, I have a large beautiful colored chart on prophesy. Then, I started out as a draftsman and worked for the U. S. Engineers as a draftsman and planned to go into engineering. Using my draftsman skills, I drew up a chart on prophesy with most of the major passages of Scripture on prophesy.  The Lord willing, I will put this all on email along with the chart for your use. You will love this series sometime in the future. It will be very enlightening and open many truths in the Bible for you.

Two warnings
One, unthankfulness is a major sign of the last days. It should be a wake up call to every believer to wake up before we ship out.

Two, we have the record in Romans one that "God gave them up" for their unthankfulness and the awful things it led men to do. How we need to heed the admonition, "Prepare to meet Thy God" Amos 4:12.

Oh, dear people, be thankful. God has been extremely good to you if you are saved and going to heaven. The consequences are extremely bad for you if you are not thankful.

Prayer:  Father, forgive us for our unthankfulness. Wake us up to be thankful people.

Stay tuned as we look at some things we need to be thankful for that we often forget about and let's be thankful for the major things. All because of Calvary, sumner