CHRISTmas

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Christmas? Or do you think Christmas is not even necessary?Well it's really necessary. Through this post I hope you find the reason why Christmas is important.

See Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ, Emmanuel God with us. If God did not send his only son there would not be a reason to celebrate Christmas. Christmas is the birthday of Jesus Christ. If you do not know what I'm talking about here it is.

 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

(Luke 1:26-33 ESV)

 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
  “Glory to God in the highest,
  and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
  When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

(Luke 2:6-21 ESV)
So this is what is called the Christmas Story. It is the story of the birth of the Savior of all. I wonder what it sounded like when the choir of angels descended and began to sing. It probably sounded pretty loud. When the shepperds heard this they might have ditched their sheep and sprinted to Bethlehem The whole story is precious and wonderful.

You know how we search and search for the perfect gift to get someone that they will love and not hate? That we hope they wanted and are happy to get it? Will there is one gift that is perfect and something that we would love. This gift is Emmanuel, God with us. The gift I'm talking about is Jesus Christ God's son. He is the perfect gift.

You see Christmas is not the same without Jesus Christ. If God did not send his only son to this earth to save us we wouldn't need Christmas. If Emmanuel didn't come we wouldn't need Christmas. Christmas is wrapped around Jesus Christ completely. This holiday is dependent on Jesus. You know how the politically correct saying now a days is "Happy Holidays?" Will I got news for them, I will be politically wrong and say Merry Christmas! When they say Merry "X-mas" they are taking Christ out of Christmas. It's sickening to see how far the country is going away from our Christian roots.

I challenge all of you to say Merry Christmas to every one and not worry about whether or not you offended people because when they say Happy Holidays they offend Christianity even if they don't realize it.

My Friends I wish you a very Merry CHRISTmas and a Happy New Years.

Got Plans?

What's your plans for life? Are they to make a family be rich and drive a nice car? Is it to be in the military and get medals? Or is it to become a movie star or pro athlete? Well let me tell you guys something, God has plans for you that is far greater than what any plans that we may have. Let's look at Jeremiah 29:11.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future."
Sounds great doesn't it? That is one of my all time favorite verses in the bible. You see, like the verse says God knows the plans that He has for you. The plans that will prosper you and not harm you. Plans that will give you hope and a future. Thats is definatly awesome!
See, God knows what you will be when you grow up.  If it's to be a movie star or a pro athlete, it will be to serve God. If it's to make a family, it's to serve God. Or if it's to join the military, it's to serve God. Finally if it's to be an evangilist, preacher, missionary or anything else like that, it's to serve God. Everything that God wants you to do or all the plans that He has for you, It's to serve, and bring glory to God. Through bringing glory and honor to God you will gain prosperity and you will gain hope with other people as well. Nothing God wants you to do will harm you, although it might test you physically, mentally and spiritualy. All that is to make you better and stronger in faith and mentally stronger.
Another verse I'd like to show you is this:
Put not your trust in princes,
  in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
  on that very day his plans perish.
(Psalm 146:3-4 ESV)
See what this means is that if you put your trust in a ruler or the government you trust them in vain. It's because one day the government will be gone. There is no need to put all your trust into a man because it is not everlasting. One day he will die and all his plans will be gone.
That does not mean you should not trust anyone. You should trust your friends and other people but not all the way. What you should do is put all your trust in God because his plans will not go away. He has salvation. He has great plans for us.

Light

What do you think of the word light? Do you think of the sun, or darkness leaving a  room? Do you think of Jesus? Jesus is the light of the world.

John 1:1-5 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." (NIV)
So what does this mean? Well first who is the Word? The Word is Jesus. Now to the other question. This means that Jesus is God and all things were made through him. It also means that Jesus is the only light that will never go out. Jesus is the light of men. He shines into the darkness and the darkness flees.
The darkness will surround us, it will seem that no hope remains. That hope is the light of the world. The only living god. The Great I Am. The light of the world will shine brighter than the morning and the evening sun. He will shine brighter than the brightest star. The darkness will turn and flee! The darkness does not have any power over you as long as God is with you. God over powers darkness. There is no other God like him.
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." (NIV)
 Is that powerful or what? People walking in darkness seeing a great light? People living in the land of the shadow of death the light has dawned? That's crazy! Whose the light? Jesus! Jesus gives hope.
So remember the light and learn more of the light.

It's War!

I do not mean a physical war but a spiritual war. So in my previous blog "Filled for Battle" I talked about how being filled by the Holy Spirit equips you for battle. But there's more to it. Once you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you actually are enlisting yourself in the greatest military in the world. No, I'm not talking about America's military or any other military in the world, because one day it will pass away. I'm talking about the everlasting military, the military that is victorious even though the war is not over.

I would like you guys to read part of this introduction called "Kingdom's Heart" to the book Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lion by Chuck Black.
It says "Those who love him must travel to the far reaches of the kingdom of Arrethtrae, tell all people of Him and His imminent return, and rage war against Lucious and his Shadow Warriors.
Thus we wait in expectation. And while we wait, we fight against evil and battle to save the souls of many from darkness.
We are the knights who live and die in loyal service to the King and the Prince. Though not perfect in our call to royal duty, we know the power of the Prince resonates in our swords, and the rubble of a thousand strongholds testifies to our strength of heart and soul."
So why did I put this in my blog? Well because it's true, we are called to tell everyone about God and Jesus. Called to rage war against Satan and his followers. We as followers of the KING and PRINCE can knock down any evil kingdoms and cities through the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is war! Why? Because Satan does not rest while ruining lives, So we should never stop rescuing and saving lives. We, serve the King of life, the God of wonders, and we are the child of the King. We are called to be a warrior for God. Things can be tough, we might be scared, might get hurt, or even killed serving God. We might get  scared of what Satan does. But what all the evil doers and even Satan is scared of is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace. The best part is He is our God, He is on our side!
So war is waging right now. Even though war is tough, painful and scary. We are on the winning side!
Let me say this, the war will get harsher and harsher, it will get harder and harder to see a silver lining. But we will prevail.

Is God Real?

Some times when you talk about God with someone who does not believe in God they bring up this one point, God is not real. Why is this? Well there's a few reasons why.
The first reason why is that you can't see Him. They believe what they can prove and see. So since they can't see God, they belive that there must not be a God. So they turn to something else like drugs, drinking and all that bad stuff.
People also say that there's no God because they think that it's to far fetched. Why? Well,because they think that it's impossible for anyone to live a perfect life. Also it is impossible for anyone to rise up fom the grave. Not only that but they think that nothing or no one can speak the universe into exscistent. What do they do instead? They could turn to the Big Bang Theory and evolution. The Big Bang Theory is more far fetched than the Creation Story!
 Let's see how God is real. God is real because you have a conscience, you have emotions, and you love. Another reason why God is real is because you can't live with out Him. One other way is that when you are afraid you sometimes have an overpowering since of safety, peace and happiness. Where does that come from? God. The two most important reasons are that He loves and and the Bible says He's real. The Bible does not lie.
So if you are one of the people who think that God's not real He is. God wants a relationship with you and He loves you so much that God sent his son Jesus Christ to live a perfect life and die on a tree.

Stone Wall

So, since it's football season, I thought that I would do something with football in it. So, here I go.

The offensive line is the wall around the heart. The QB is the heart and the defense is sin. Let's say the defense is doing really good this game and they've been sacking the QB a lot. Basically, if the offensive line is weak, the wall around the heart is weak and there is a lot of holes in it so sin gets to the heart. If the defense causes a safety, the heart and the whole spiritual body is impure. That's what can happen when Satan keeps tempting us. If we let him do that, he will screw us up and we will stray farther away from the path that's straight.

Now let's say that the offensive line is doing great today and they aren't letting the defense guys get to the QB. The quarteback doesn't get sacked to the ground and he (the heart) will be clean.  When the offense scores a touchdown the heart and the whole spiritual body is clean and pure. When the heart is clean and pure that's when Satan has no hold on your heart or life because you are on the right path and you only do what God calls you to do.

Stay strong in the Lord and keep a strong stone wall around your heart.

One more thing................. GO PACKERS!!!!!!

Go Extreme

A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins  are forgiven." (Mark 2:1-5, NIV)
So these guys could have decided to wait for the group to go away, or to go to Jesus when he comes out. But they didn't, they climbed up on the roof - which was flat - and started digging a hole for the paralyzed man. The hole must've been huge because they lowered the bed with the man on it. Talk about a serious skylight!They did it because they had faith in Jesus.
Now here's an example that happened to me. One night, I wanted to get some pizza. This pizza wasn't ordinary pizza, it was Pappa Johns pizza.So anyway, when I got there, the line was HUGE, so I go away thinking that the line would shrink. But the second time I went back it was still long so I went away the second time. The third and final time I went back and it was closed. So I didn't get any pizza. If I just waited I would've got pizza, but it would be cold. What I should've done was taken the initiative and been in the front of the line.
So the guys that brought the paralyzed man wanted Jesus right then and there. So they took the initiative and dug a hole in the roof. They didn't wait because chances are they wouldn't have did what they came there to do. Jesus might have been gone when they came back.

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately he bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, "Who touches my  clothes?"
This lady who was really ill walked up behind Jesus in a huge crowd and just... touched him? She had so much faith that she knew that she would be healed. And she was healed. Did you notice that Jesus looked for her? He was being touched by a bunch of people but he looked for her. Why? Because of  her faith and that some of his power left him and healed the lady. He felt that because when that lady touched him, she had faith.
The men and this lady both went to the extremes to get to Jesus. Would you? Or would you go and wait in line for him, or let the line get shorter?

This is a video in contrast with my latest blog "Are You a Fan or a Follower?"

Are You a Fan or a Follower?

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
(Mathew 16:24, NIV)
How far will you go with this? You may deny yourself, but will you take up your cross and follow Jesus?
The cross is not a pretty thing. It was a torture method used by the Roman government to strike fear in the people so they don't go out of line. Your cross is anything that causes you to sin.
You see, there's two types of Christians.
The first one is a fan of Jesus. A fan of Jesus is someone who does not take up his cross. A fan could be someone who accepted Jesus into his heart, but limits Jesus in parts of his life. They may say, "I'm going to a restaurant to eat with my friends tonight. So Jesus, don't come with me." Or a fan could be someone who is a "devoted" believer of Christ, but won't stand up for what's right, or doesn't stand up for his faith. Now I'm not just talking to you guys, I'm also talking to myself.
Now the second one is being a follower of Jesus Christ. A follower of Christ is someone who will take up his cross daily and follows Jesus. He's also someone who gives Jesus his all and gives him his heart. Not part of his heart, but all of his heart. He's also a person who walks by faith. A follower is someone who lives according to the Bible.
Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  (Mathew 16:25, NIV)
A fan could be someone who wants to save his life. But the truth is, he'll lose his life. The reason being is, they accept Jesus just as their savior, not their Lord.
A follower is someone who may lose their life for Jesus. He will find his life in Heaven. That's because he accepted Jesus as both his Savior and his Lord. Now I'm not saying followers will be killed but in some countries they could.
The fan and the follower will each get the rewards they deserve. The follower will receive a greater reward than the fan.
Let me say one more thing, a fan is someone who denies Jesus before his friends. The consequences of that is, Jesus will deny that person in front of his father, and he he will not enter the Kingdome of Heaven, unless he becomes a truly devoted follower of Christ.

Qualified?

 As Jesus was walking besides the Sea of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come follow me" Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." (Mathew 4:18-19, NIV)

Now I think Peter and Andrew tried to become Rabbis but sadly, they were not able to become Rabbis. In other words, they failed. So when the greatest Rabbi in the world asked these two fishermen to follow him why wouldn't they?

The Bible says they immediately left their nets and followed him. Let me point this out, they were not qualified. Jesus did not call them because they were qualified. He qualified them when He called them.
You may feel like you failed in life because you lost your job, or something else like that. Guys, God doesn't care about that. I mean He does care about you, but He cares more about your heart. Maybe you are in the situation for a reason. God will do something great in your life. If you feel like you fail, think about Peter and Andrew.

God will still call you. There's this saying that says "God doesn't call the qualified,he qualifies the called." You don't get a call from God because you took a test and you answered all the questions correctly and you qualified. God calls you so He can qualify you.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.  (Revelation 3:20, NIV )

Let's review this passage. It's about God standing in front of your heart and He's calling you. He wants to be in your heart. If you answer Him, He will enter your heart and stay there forever.
So those who are reading this and think that you're not qualified or that you failed, when God calls you just answer his call and He will qualify you

Now let me ask you something, will you answer His call?

Filled for Battle

To be filled for battle is being filled by the Holy Spirit. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit you are equipped for battle. After you are filled by the Holy Spirit you will be led into battle by the Holy Spirit so you may win.
 For example Luke 4: 13. “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
 The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone,’’
 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to  anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’’
 The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. ‘If you are the Son of,’ he said. ‘throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
‘He will command his angels
Concerning you
To guard you carefully;
They will lift you up in their hands,
So that you will not strike your
Foot against a stone.’’
Jesus answered, ‘It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to a test.’’
 When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.”
 So this passage is about the temptation of  Jesus Christ, correct? The first thing it says is “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit…” therefore before he went to the desert he got filled by the Holy Spirit. He was equipped for battle. Next it says that he was led by the Holy Spirit into the desert. He didn’t go there by himself, he was led into battle.
 Why do I call it a battle? Because he was tempted by the devil. He was led there to meet the devil in battle so he could win. There were three different temptations and Jesus overcame them all. Not because he did it on his own. But because he was full of the Holy Spirit. He overcame it because he was spiritually strong enough.
 
 You are in a war-zone RIGHT now! You are led into battle by he Holy Spirit so you can win! But remember, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit -equipped with the Holy Spirit- before you are led into battle.
 When you are in a battle and are filled and led by the Holy Spirit you will win! You need to know that even when things are tough you will be ok!
 The Holly Spirit desires to make Jesus Christ real to us by filling us with himself. John 16:13 says: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” In other words The Holy Spirit will lead you into truth.
 See the Holy Spirit leads us into all truth. No matter what’s happening around you the Holy Spirit will guide and lead you out of it and into truth. When you are in a battle and are  on God’s side and led by the Holy Spirit you will win. God want’s to fill you for battle.
 To be filled with the Holy Spirit equips me to fight and win the battle.

 Remember these things:
1. First you need to be equipped with the Holy Spirit by being filled with the Holy Spirit.
2. Then you will be led into battle by the Holy Spirit.
3. Finally you will win the battle- as long as you were led and equipped by the Holy Spirit.