Living a Christmas Life
Let’s be honest: life is too short to live unintentionally. We don’t know what is going to happen next, and none of us is guaranteed tomorrow. Wouldn’t it be good to know that you are living a life that matters?
Meanwhile, the youth group wasn’t growing, and the senior pastor and I struggled with philosophical differences in youth ministry.
Then in New Knoxville, the District Superintendent told me that our church could grow and become an “anchor” in the southern part of Auglaize County. I really, really wanted that to happen, yet the growth I saw while I was there was less than one person per year.
Somehow the devil began to use what started out as a good thing. The devil got hold of the dreams I had, dreams to do great things for God, and twisted it into a “you didn’t see those kinds of results. Maybe you’re just not good enough.”
Am I alone in this? Have any of you ever felt like you’re not making a difference? Like you’re just not good enough? Like you just can’t quite do enough? Like you’ll never make the difference that you set out to make?
Then you’ll find that fear is paralyzing. It’s hard to think about anything, let alone do anything because of the fear of failure. And guess what: when we get to that point, we’re already in failure mode. And then Satan is going around doing the “I’m so cool” dance because he feels like he’s won.
I bet Satan was doing that kind of dance for quite a while. Between Malachi and Matthew, in the “intertestamental period” some 400 years passed where it seemed like God was silent. Satan had to be pretty pleased with the course of events. God had chosen a people to be a blessing to the nations, to act as His priests, the mediators between humans and the divine, and they had continually and completely failed. And God was silent. And Satan was doing the “I told you so” dance.
Then an angel shows up in the least likely place. Mary. A young, unmarried woman. The least in her culture. She didn’t have a voice or status. Yet the angel shows up and calls her “highly favored.”
Here’s the thing: Satan loves it when we’re paralyzed by fear. He loves it when we are scared to take the next step. He loves it when we speak negative thoughts again and again. He loves the word “impossible.” He loves it when we look at situations and say “there’s nothing I can do.”
Can you imagine what Mary thought when the angel showed up? The very sight of an angel had to be terrifying – scripture says she was “greatly troubled” and the angel had to preface his news with “don’t be afraid.”
He brings some wild news of a son who would rule over the house of Jacob forever. But Mary can’t even get to the meaning of all this; she can’t get past the impossible part. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
I guess God had anticipated her incredulity, because the angel had an answer ready. The Holy Spirit was going to do something miraculous. Because, as the angel explained, Nothing is impossible with God.
Now, I’ve read this passage for years – that the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary and would overshadow her with the power of the Most High and He would work a miracle, because, after all, nothing is impossible with God. This is how a virgin could give birth. By God’s special intercession in the world, the miraculous happened.
But did you realize that the words from the angel are repeated later in the scripture? In Acts 1:8, Jesus is speaking with his disciples, and he tells them “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Do you realize that we have been given that same Spirit? The Holy Spirit has come upon us. We have the Spirit of God within us. We have the Spirit that caused a virgin to give birth. We have the Spirit that spoke through Jesus’ disciples in all kinds of languages. We have the Spirit of God within us. And nothing is impossible with our God.
What do you think we could do if we realized the power that is within us? Think about it. Do you think we would dwell on negative thoughts and words like “can’t” or “never” – or would we explore the possibilities that God might have in store for us?
In my position, I hear a lot of negative talk. Did you know that negativity is one of Satan’s tools? There are times and places for critiques (evaluation of programs and events is vitally important – when we do this, we can figure out if we are on the right track, if the event is something that we need to continue to do or if maybe we need to retool it or even to stop doing it and look at doing something different). But when our conversation is always negative, then we have problems. One of these problems is that our perceptions become reality. When we constantly hear (and speak) negatively, we begin to believe it. Satan doesn’t usually come at us with blatant lies. Satan comes with something that sounds like the truth. Or he even takes something that is true and he twists it.
This is nothing new: in the Garden of Eden, he came to Eve and asked her, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). God had indeed forbidden Adam and Eve from eating from one tree, so the question seemed innocuous. This is how Satan works. Satan says things like, “You failed at that – maybe God isn’t calling you to do something special for him.” Or he says, “This is scary; maybe there’s someone else who could do it better.” Or “I have struggled with this for so long; I can’t imagine that I’ll ever see anything different.”
When we buy into that kind of attitude, we’re just falling for Satan’s lies. And friends, there is power in the spoken word. Do you remember how God created everything? God didn’t get down on his knees and build the earth. God spoke it all into existence. There is power in the spoken word. When we constantly speak negatively, we give credence to Satan’s lies. So evaluate your speech; are you allowing Satan to slip in and deceive you? Or are you willing to speak Truth into the situation?
This is personal for me. I worked with someone who was constantly questioning me. He went so far as to write on a recommendation "I don't know if Brian is suited for ministry." As someone whose primary love language is 'words of affirmation' his criticism stung. I heard some of his words repeated in my head over and over, and I actually started to believe them.
Speaking Truth into a situation requires us to be led by the Holy Spirit. It requires us to know scripture, not just in chunks and sound bites, but in its complete unity. What is God doing? How might He use you. What might you do if anything was possible?
Here’s another example. I have been reminding all of you that you can celebrate your birthday on your birthday, but on Christmas, we’ll celebrate Jesus’ birthday. I have been reminding you that we can make a difference in the lives of young women right here in central Ohio, children who have been bought and sold. We can bring a miracle offering (for Gracehaven) on Christmas Eve. In the meantime, our church has faced a crisis. Some have asked me, “Are you going to go ahead with the miracle offering?” They’ve told me, “This is pretty ‘in-your-face’ and the church needs something ‘nice’ to help them get through this.”
There have been times in my life when I have wondered if I am making a difference. When I was leading the evening service at my first church, we struggled with poor attendance.” There were days when the band outnumbered the congregation. I wondered if we were making a difference at all.
Meanwhile, the youth group wasn’t growing, and the senior pastor and I struggled with philosophical differences in youth ministry.
Then in New Knoxville, the District Superintendent told me that our church could grow and become an “anchor” in the southern part of Auglaize County. I really, really wanted that to happen, yet the growth I saw while I was there was less than one person per year.
Somehow the devil began to use what started out as a good thing. The devil got hold of the dreams I had, dreams to do great things for God, and twisted it into a “you didn’t see those kinds of results. Maybe you’re just not good enough.”
Am I alone in this? Have any of you ever felt like you’re not making a difference? Like you’re just not good enough? Like you just can’t quite do enough? Like you’ll never make the difference that you set out to make?
Then you’ll find that fear is paralyzing. It’s hard to think about anything, let alone do anything because of the fear of failure. And guess what: when we get to that point, we’re already in failure mode. And then Satan is going around doing the “I’m so cool” dance because he feels like he’s won.
I bet Satan was doing that kind of dance for quite a while. Between Malachi and Matthew, in the “intertestamental period” some 400 years passed where it seemed like God was silent. Satan had to be pretty pleased with the course of events. God had chosen a people to be a blessing to the nations, to act as His priests, the mediators between humans and the divine, and they had continually and completely failed. And God was silent. And Satan was doing the “I told you so” dance.
Then an angel shows up in the least likely place. Mary. A young, unmarried woman. The least in her culture. She didn’t have a voice or status. Yet the angel shows up and calls her “highly favored.”
Here’s the thing: Satan loves it when we’re paralyzed by fear. He loves it when we are scared to take the next step. He loves it when we speak negative thoughts again and again. He loves the word “impossible.” He loves it when we look at situations and say “there’s nothing I can do.”
Can you imagine what Mary thought when the angel showed up? The very sight of an angel had to be terrifying – scripture says she was “greatly troubled” and the angel had to preface his news with “don’t be afraid.”
He brings some wild news of a son who would rule over the house of Jacob forever. But Mary can’t even get to the meaning of all this; she can’t get past the impossible part. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
I guess God had anticipated her incredulity, because the angel had an answer ready. The Holy Spirit was going to do something miraculous. Because, as the angel explained, Nothing is impossible with God.
Now, I’ve read this passage for years – that the Holy Spirit would come upon Mary and would overshadow her with the power of the Most High and He would work a miracle, because, after all, nothing is impossible with God. This is how a virgin could give birth. By God’s special intercession in the world, the miraculous happened.
But did you realize that the words from the angel are repeated later in the scripture? In Acts 1:8, Jesus is speaking with his disciples, and he tells them “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Do you realize that we have been given that same Spirit? The Holy Spirit has come upon us. We have the Spirit of God within us. We have the Spirit that caused a virgin to give birth. We have the Spirit that spoke through Jesus’ disciples in all kinds of languages. We have the Spirit of God within us. And nothing is impossible with our God.
What do you think we could do if we realized the power that is within us? Think about it. Do you think we would dwell on negative thoughts and words like “can’t” or “never” – or would we explore the possibilities that God might have in store for us?
In my position, I hear a lot of negative talk. Did you know that negativity is one of Satan’s tools? There are times and places for critiques (evaluation of programs and events is vitally important – when we do this, we can figure out if we are on the right track, if the event is something that we need to continue to do or if maybe we need to retool it or even to stop doing it and look at doing something different). But when our conversation is always negative, then we have problems. One of these problems is that our perceptions become reality. When we constantly hear (and speak) negatively, we begin to believe it. Satan doesn’t usually come at us with blatant lies. Satan comes with something that sounds like the truth. Or he even takes something that is true and he twists it.
This is nothing new: in the Garden of Eden, he came to Eve and asked her, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). God had indeed forbidden Adam and Eve from eating from one tree, so the question seemed innocuous. This is how Satan works. Satan says things like, “You failed at that – maybe God isn’t calling you to do something special for him.” Or he says, “This is scary; maybe there’s someone else who could do it better.” Or “I have struggled with this for so long; I can’t imagine that I’ll ever see anything different.”
When we buy into that kind of attitude, we’re just falling for Satan’s lies. And friends, there is power in the spoken word. Do you remember how God created everything? God didn’t get down on his knees and build the earth. God spoke it all into existence. There is power in the spoken word. When we constantly speak negatively, we give credence to Satan’s lies. So evaluate your speech; are you allowing Satan to slip in and deceive you? Or are you willing to speak Truth into the situation?
This is personal for me. I worked with someone who was constantly questioning me. He went so far as to write on a recommendation "I don't know if Brian is suited for ministry." As someone whose primary love language is 'words of affirmation' his criticism stung. I heard some of his words repeated in my head over and over, and I actually started to believe them.
Speaking Truth into a situation requires us to be led by the Holy Spirit. It requires us to know scripture, not just in chunks and sound bites, but in its complete unity. What is God doing? How might He use you. What might you do if anything was possible?
Here’s another example. I have been reminding all of you that you can celebrate your birthday on your birthday, but on Christmas, we’ll celebrate Jesus’ birthday. I have been reminding you that we can make a difference in the lives of young women right here in central Ohio, children who have been bought and sold. We can bring a miracle offering (for Gracehaven) on Christmas Eve. In the meantime, our church has faced a crisis. Some have asked me, “Are you going to go ahead with the miracle offering?” They’ve told me, “This is pretty ‘in-your-face’ and the church needs something ‘nice’ to help them get through this.”
I recognize that there are still many raw emotions here and that things have been tough. This is all the more reason that we need to continue with the miracle offering. Because nothing is impossible with God. Satan wants us to stop doing ministry. He wanted the Night in Bethlehem to fail, and it was fantastic. He wanted your cell groups to give up and fold. He wanted the praise band to stop leading worship. And he wants us to become inward focused and to forget about the world outside, to forget that we can make a difference.
Mary responded to the angel with one of the most impressive statements of faith I’ve ever heard. “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”
What will we look like if we answer God in the same way?
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