Sharing Christ For Christmas

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I have been doing some thinking and have decided that a weekly blog post just isn't working out very well for us. The main reason being that I can't come up with enough stuff that's worthy to talk about every week. For this reason, we will now post one guaranteed blog each month, with the option of adding extra posts if needed.

Recently, I have started working with another ministry called ABIDE! Radio. We do two 30-minute talk-radio shows each week. The show focuses on growing in your spiritual walk and abiding in Christ. If you feel like you haven't been growing in your relationship with Christ, this program is for you. You can find more information about ABIDE! Radio on their website, as well as listen to past episodes, watch ABIDE! TV, and find out about ABIDE! Ministry Events that are taking place. There is also a mid-week live show and a show devoted to prayer on Tuesdays.

We have many ideas for evangelism and outreach floating around for this month. One idea is to go door-to-door and sing Christmas carols and giving each house a "songbook" that has a Gospel message on the back. Another idea is to head to downtown Cleveland on New Years Eve to tract blitz the bar districts and possibly some open-air preaching if the bars have their decks open to the public. Lastly, we were invited a few months ago to visit another ministry that feeds the homeless. Obviously, we still have other things going on during the month, but we need one event to call our own. What are your thoughts? I'll add a poll to the blog and you can vote on what your favorite idea is for our outreach event this month.

I want to close this post with a story. You can find it in Luke 2:1-40. Many of you know this to be the "Christmas Story," the birth of Jesus. I will not post the whole story here, but I do encourage you to read the entire story.

 ²⁵ At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him ²⁶ and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, ²⁸ Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, 

 ²⁹ “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. ³⁰ I have seen your salvation, ³¹ which you have prepared for all people. ³² He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

Why was Simeon so happy to see a Child that had been born in a barn? God showed him that this Child was the promised Messiah that had been prophesied about in scripture. This Child, Jesus Christ, was to bring salvation to the entire world. He was not coming to offer you a new car, money, or other earthly desires. The sole purpose of His birth was to die for you. Why? Without the sacrifice of a perfect lamb, there would be no way for any human to enter the Kingdom of God. Our sins keep us from getting to Heaven.

Have you ever stolen something, dishonored your parents, or told a lie? The punishment for these sins is an eternity in Hell (Revelation 21:8), but because of the promised Messiah, you can be set free! He took your punishment by hanging on a cross to pay for every single sin ever committed. Jesus offers you a gift this Christmas, an eternity in Heaven. In order to receive this gift, you must turn from your wrong doing (sin) and trust in Christ for salvation from Hell. I pray that you have a blessed Christmas and that you will take the gift offered to you today because we are not guaranteed tomorrow. Merry Christmas!