River Church NOLA
Wed Dec 11
  • Open Up The Heavens
  • My Jesus
  • Goodness Of God
  • Here As In Heaven
  • ​

    What are some of the best times I’ve had during the Christmas Season?

    While you think about that, here are some of mine growing up.
    Our church Live nativity scene. If it was cold, the ladies would have some wonderful hot chocolate ready in the fellowship hall. It was fun. Then on Christmas eve we would all go out of the church with candles and stand in front of the Nativity and sing a Christmas song.
    The year we got the train and my brother Allen helped me into a wheel chair so I could go see what Santa had brought.
    Seeing which cousins would call the other the earliest to talk about what came…
    Paul said this in 1 CO 10:31-33
    1 Corinthians 10:31–33 NLT
    31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. 33 I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.
    We must always remember that we represent Jesus and in everything we do … we are either good representatives of poor ones, but we are representatives.
    Then Paul shifts gears a bit and states that he does not just do whats good for him, but for others so they can come to salvation. Christmas Salvations would be awesome.

    If God is the God of joy, then the desire for happiness, fun and excitement is a legitimate desire for us as believers.

    So the question then becomes,

    How can I enjoy Christmas this season and not lose my faith?

    It’s easy to become distracted by all of the Christmas season activities. Work gatherings, church gatherings, children and grand children school activities, shopping… there are so many things that want our attention and it’s easy to get distracted from the “reason for the season.”
    So let me give you a few things we can do to keep the faith this Christmas.

    Enjoying this Christmas means keeping Jesus as the reason for the season.

    We have to keep Jesus first this Christmas. People have tried to rename the holiday Winter Holidays but if there were no birth of Jesus there would be no winter holiday.
    Jesus’s name is Immanuel …

    Immanuel means God with us.

    Jesus birth changes everything. When Jesus entered into human history, it changed everything.
    Isaiah 7:14 NLT
    14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
    So 400 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah prophesied that Jesus would be born and that is name would be Immanuel which means God with us. So what happened at what we have come to call the “Incarnation” is that God entered into human history as one of us.
    Anthony of Padua, a Catholic saint said this…
    The Son came out from the Father to help us come out from the world; He descended to us to enable us to ascend to Him.
    Jesus didn’t come to make things better here. He came to bring us up to be with Him… to pull us out of this world and make us citizens of Heaven.
    Here is another reference to Jesus birth in Matt 1:23
    Matthew 1:23 NLT
    23 “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.’ ”
    When Jesus was born, He left heaven and entered into our world so that he could pay the price for our sins. When Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection, he sent His Holy Spirit to be His presence with us.
    So we need to make sure that we are celebrating his birth this year and not something else. So the question is,

    What will I do this Christmas to remember and celebrate the fact that God left heaven and came to earth in the form of a human so that I might know Him and live for Him every day of my life?

    Some sing happy birthday Jesus… some go to Christmas services… some participate in Nativities or Christmas caroling…

    Enjoying this Christmas means avoiding worldly indulgences.

    At Christmas this is more difficult for many than at other times.

    When facing compromising situations in life the trick is to have more trust in what God is doing in your life than in the desires you may be feeling at that moment.

    Those desires come from your enemy the devil. He wants to destroy your life.
    John 10:10 NLT
    10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
    Jesus came to give us an rich and satisfying life but we often mess that up. Usually it’s not the big decisions that cause us to destroy our lives as well as the lives of others. It’s the small ones.

    One “so called” innocent decision to compromise your beliefs can lead to a journey down the path of destructive behavior in our lives.

    And oftentimes when we finally realize what’s going on, it’s too late because we have been wounded by the devil and have hurt our relationship with the Lord.
    Many of those wounds follow us the rest of our lives if we don’t do some type of intervention or deliverance.

    As a Christian, our task is to live in such a way as to make Jesus visible, understandable, and desirable to the world around us.

    When we claim to be a Christian, people will watch us. We need to live in a way that people can see Jesus in us.
    Football player who received the Bart Star award said, “I want to decrease so He can increase.”
    When we share our testimonies with those around us, it helps people to understand Jesus in a way that they can understand. We don’t have to be a scholar or even know all of the answers to all of the questions. We just need to share what our lives were like before Jesus, how we came to know we needed Jesus, how we invited Jesus into our lives and the difference he has made in our lives.
    Kid that was witnessing the bus going to youth camp…
    When people see the difference that knowing Jesus brings into our lives as we go through both easy and difficult times… good times and bad times… Jesus becomes desirable to them. They want to know what it is that we have that helps us have the peace only God can give. And that gives us an opportunity to share our testimony.

    God’s Word tells us that Jesus is the one who can deliver us from the snare and traps of the devil.

    And believe when I say, the devil wants to trip you up and see you fall.
    Psalm 91:3–4 NLT
    3 For he will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. 4 He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
    Psalms 91 is a Psalm of protection. In verse 3 it tells us that Jesus will rescue us from every trap that the devil tries to trip us up with. Because of this, we can trade all of our fears for faith in Him, no matter how intense our fears are. By entrusting ourselves to His protection and pledging our daily devotion to Him, we will be kept safe.
    The Paul said this in Phil 4:13
    Philippians 4:13 NLT
    13 For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
    What do you need strength for today? dealing with relationships… family issues… money issues… illness… temptation
    Whatever it is, we can accomplish it through the strength that Jesus gives us.
    Remember though, that we represent Jesus at all times and people are always watching.
    Colossians 3:17 NLT
    17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.
    I love the message version of this next passage.
    Ephesians 5:1 MSG
    1 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents.
    We learn from watching Jesus. As we read the Gospels, we can see how Jesus interacted and learn from him.
    my mom used to say she couldn’t tell if it was me or my dad walking in the porch because we walked the same way… that came from following him around all the time when i was a kid and he was home.
    Here are some questions to ask to determine if something is right or wrong.

    Questions in determining right and wrong include:

    1. Is it helpful?

    When faced with a tempting situation or any situation, ask your self. Is this helpful? Will it get me to where I want to be? Will it cause my kids / co-workers / whomever to do what I want them to do or will it just make me feel better for a minute? Will it help me obtain my goals in life?
    1 Corinthians 6:12 NLT
    12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
    While something might be ok, it may not be the right thing for you.

    2. Will it get me in it’s power?

    Paul said that while a lot of things are ok, he would not let anything make him a slave.
    1 Corinthians 6:12 NLT
    12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
    Is there anything in your life that has power over you? food… alcohol… porn…

    3. Will it cause others to stumble?

    1 Corinthians 8:12–13 NLT
    12 And when you sin against other believers by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 13 So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.
    me and my Sunday School class -
    Here Paul is reminding us that we have a responsibility to not trip others up.
    When my dad had to quit smoking and lose weight at the same time, my mom stopped smoking and cooked in a way that we all lost weight. My brother and I told her that we needed more food, so she bought smaller plates so it looked like we had more food.
    Ask yourself is there anything that I am doing in my life that might cause someone else to stumble?

    4. Is it glorifying to God?

    1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT
    31 So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
    Ask, is what I am thinking about doing going to glorify God? or not. The Bible is pretty clear on most things.

    Enjoying this Christmas means inspiring others to believe.

    I believe that we need to live our lives in such a way that it makes people want some of what we have.
    Jon Elder -
    When people see us walking in faith… trusting God no matter what, it will make them want to see why we are that way… me at the hospital with Joint Commission…
    Oz Guinness said,
    The Christian faith is not true because it works; it works because it is true.
    Our faith works because it’s true. Some people believe in whatever higher power they want to, but unless that higher power is God, that higher power can’t do anything for them.
    So we need to live in a way that draws people to Jesus. Paul said,
    Romans 2:6 NCV
    6 God will reward or punish every person for what that person has done.
    Over and over we see that God will both judge evil and reward good deeds. In a final sense, everyone will be held accountable for the truth of the Gospel and what we did with it… accept or not. We will be rewarded for every time we shared through our actions and our words anything about the Lord to others.
    Augustine said,
    What I live by, I impart.
    Paul, 1 CO 10:33
    1 Corinthians 10:33 NCV
    33 just as I, also, try to please everybody in every way. I am not trying to do what is good for me but what is good for most people so they can be saved.
    Paul is saying that every word that he spoke and every action that he took was not just for his good, but for the good of others so that he might inspire them to follow Jesus. He didn’t want to be a stumbling block for others but rather an inspiration to others.

    What am I imparting to those around me?

    Which way is my life pointing them in? Am I inspiring others to attempt to live without Christ or am I inspiring them to BELIEVE in and follow Him?
    Romans 10:11–13 NLT
    11 As the Scriptures tell us, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.” 12 Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
    Paul is not saying that we will never be disappointed. People can always disappoint us, but in the end, God will hold up his end of the bargain.

    When this Christmas Season is over what kind of memories will I have made?

    What memories will we have created? My mom and dad were always creating memories for us when we were kids. campsite in our room… set up a huge train-set in the house… nativity scene at church… Christmas dinner at our house with my grand mother and an aunt there…
    We need to create those kind of memories.

    Our main purpose and goal it to glorify God with our lives and one of the tasks of the Christian life is to know God as well as we can, and then to live it out in front of a needy and hurting world.

    Paul said
    2 Timothy 1:8–9 NLT
    8 So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News. 9 For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time—to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
    Timothy was living in a time of persecution and may have been afraid to continue preaching. His fears were based on fact because believers were being arrested and executed. Paul told Timothy to expect persecution. In fact, Timothy was arrested for preaching. But Paul urged him to remain strong.
    The culture then, much like ours, said things like, the Christian faith is not true, or at best just another religion, that Jesus and His followers were radicals that needed to be kept quiet, that Paul even got what he deserved. Against all of this, Paul urged Timothy to remain strong, sure, certain and unwavering as he testified about Jesus.
    That’s what he is telling us today. He is telling us today to be strong, sure, certain and unwavering as we stand up for the Lord and the faith.
    The thing about Christmas time is this. It’s one of the two best times of they year to talk about Jesus. Everyone loves the baby Jesus, so it’s a good intro.
    Alexander Smith once said,
    Christmas is the day that holds all time together.
    Have you ever thought about that? Every year before the birth of Christ is BC. And every year after the birth of Christ is AD. He split time in two and holds it together.

    What steps do I need to take in order to glorify the Lord in all that I do while still experiencing my best Christmas ever?

    Prayer time.
    ​
    Keep Jesus first - God with us
    Salvation
    Avoiding worldly indulgences - trust what God is doing more than our feelings
    Helpful… power over me… cause others to stumble… glorifying…
    Inspiring others to believe -

      • 1 Corinthians 10:31–33NIV2011

      • Isaiah 7:14NIV2011

      • Matthew 1:23NIV2011

      • John 10:10NIV2011

      • Psalm 91:3–4NIV2011

      • Philippians 4:13NIV2011

      • Colossians 3:17NIV2011

      • Ephesians 5:1NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 6:12NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 6:12NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 8:12–13NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 10:31NIV2011

      • Romans 2:6NIV2011

      • 1 Corinthians 10:33NIV2011

      • Romans 10:11–13NIV2011

      • 2 Timothy 1:8–9NIV2011

River Church NOLA
robert@riverchurchnola.com
504-578-8317
https://riverchurchnola.com
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