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Worthy of Our Worship
by Greg Laurie
Dec 15

"When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh."
—Matthew 2:10-11

The wise men, these followers of the stars, met the Lord Jesus Christ who created the stars. They were occultists, yet God reached into their dark world with a star to bring them to their Creator.

Matthew’s gospel tells us, “They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh” (2:11).

Everyone worships at Christmas. There are no exceptions to this. Christians worship. Atheists worship. Skeptics worship. Republicans worship. Democrats worship. Independents worship. Everyone worships at Christmas, but not everyone worships God at Christmas. Some worship material things, which they never seem to have enough of. Others worship their bodies. Others worship their families. But everyone worships something or someone.

The wise men worshiped Jesus. And what does it mean to worship? Our modern word worship comes from the old English word worthship. We worship the One who is worthy. A god of our own making isn’t worthy of our worship, but the true God is worthy of our praise.

Two words often are used in the Scriptures to define worship. One word means to bow down and do homage, which speaks of reverence and respect. The other means to kiss toward, which speaks of intimacy and friendship. So when we put these two words together, we get an idea of what worship actually is. To worship is to bow down and have reverence, and it is also to have tender intimacy.

Jesus was born, He died, and He rose from the dead so that you and I could come into a relationship with Him and become God’s adopted children. Simply put, we should worship the Lord because He deserves it—every day of the year.

Regina,

Thank you for posting this message, it points to the times we are living in.

I would like to see more people worship the Lord, especially on that day, to show God reverence, love, and gratitude. Jesus came into this world, to die for our sins, so that whosoever, believes on the Lord, would not perish but have everlasting life; with the Lord in His kingdom.

Each year as it passes and Christmas Season rolls around again, we hear, less and less mention of the name of Jesus, and more and more consumerism, secular devotions, decorations, parties, etc. etc. Without Jesus, there would be no Christmas. The true meaning of Christmas is that we should worship Jesus and remember His birth. For it was Jesus who was born, to bear the sins of the world. Jesus, our beloved Savior, the One and only begotten Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world, through His lovingkindness was shown by His sacrifice on the cross, death, and Resurrection for our sins. Jesus died in our (the sinners) place, so that we could be reconciled unto God the Father, with eternal life, in God's kingdom.

Jesus is the Reason for the Christmas Season, and all year round.

Jesus, Jesus, may we never forget you, for Lord you have not forgotten us!
Thanks be to God for sending Jesus, to save us from eternal d a m n a t i o n.

Happy Birthday Jesus, I love You!

Valerie

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Happy Birthday Jesus Solo

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Christmas: Naughty or Nice



Published on Dec 16, 2017
For most of the world, Christmas has become little more than an annual exercise in spending money we don’t have, to buy things for need for people who don’t need it!

Christmas is certainly the most gift giving time of the year, but it seems that the true meaning and purpose for Christmas have become lost. Traditionally, Christmas was the time of the year set aside to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. However, these days, many people have no idea that Jesus is associated with Christmas. Furthermore, for the last several years, the world has attempted to completely strip any mention of Christ from Christ-mas. With the banning of singing traditional Christmas songs in our schools, and preventing public nativity displays in our cities, and many retailers replacing merry Christmas with happy holidays, the question needs to be asked, should a believer even celebrate Christmas?

The debate about whether or not Christians should celebrate Christmas has been raging for centuries. There are equally sincere and committed Christians on both sides of the issue, each with multiple reasons why or why not Christmas should be celebrated in Christian homes. Many evangelical Christians believe that Christmas is a pagan celebration dressed up in “Christian clothes.” While many Christians mark Christmas as a special day to worship Christ and give thanks for His entrance into the world, they reject anything to do with Santa Claus, Christmas trees, exchanging gifts, and the like.

But what does the Bible say? Does the Bible give clear direction as to whether Christmas is a holiday to be celebrated by Christians?

I will never remove either the sacred or the festive aspects of the celebration of Christmas. Remove the festive aspects, and Christmas becomes just another serious, dour religious day, a day simply for saying prayers, reading the Bible, and perhaps attending church. Remove the sacred aspects, and Christmas loses its meaning: we must never forget that Jesus is the reason for the season. But combine the two aspects together, the sacred with the festive, and you have a joyous, festive, meaningful Christmas celebration. Therefore, my Christmas celebrations will always include Christmas trees, holly, Santa Claus, exchanging gifts, and the like. At the same time, it will also always include Natvity scenes, church Christmas pageants, attending church during the Christmas season (weather permitting!), Christmas carols, reading the Christmas story in the Bible, and whatnot.

Kathy,

That's a very healthy way of looking at celebrating Christmas. Jesus is to be celebrated first and foremost, and then all the man made traditions of celebrating Christmas, which very in many countries of the world.

The problem is when people, take away the real meaning of Christmas, Christ's birth, and not even mention Jesus, during their secular celebrations, that's when Christmas, is nothing more than another party, and meaningless to me and many other Christians.

Celebrate in whatever way, we want to celebrate, but Jesus should always be front and center of the celebrations, because without Jesus there would be no Christmas "Christ "mas". There would be nothing, worthwhile to celebrate, or look forward to, in future time to come; however, with Jesus' birth, we rejoice, that our Savior was born, gave us the gift of Salvation through his sacrifice; Jesus Lives, never to die again, and coming soon.
Now if this isn't something to celebrate about, then I don't know what is!!! Surely, no greater joy have we,
that Jesus came, brought us Salvation to redeem our soul, and now Jesus will come to redeem our body...Wow,
this is spectacular, to say the least...awesome, absolutely, AWESOME!

For me, a Christmas without Jesus, is just another party day, nothing more...secular.
With Jesus in it means the world to me, and it should to everyone. For with Jesus came our Salvation, and our assurance of redemption, through Jesus we are finally reconciled unto God the Father, and a family related to the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Happy Birthday Jesus, I love you!


P.S. If you watched the video about Christmas below/above, you will note, it agrees with the way we look at it;
not in a negative way. Therefore, watch, or listen to the video...it's on the right track.

Christmas Naughty or Nice?

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from One For Israel, an article about Christmas, is it pagan or kosher?

this is an interesting article, and even brings up fir trees...