What if someone would give...

... you $10,080 dollars each week of your life. It would be up to you how you spent your money. You decided. What if you had to spend that money every week and what you didn’t spend would be lost. We all have 10,080 minutes.  What we don’t use we lose!  We all have the same. We need to give to Jesus TIME!

1. We need to give Jesus the gift of Time. Time to pray.  We may not all have the same amount of money but same time to pray…pray without ceasing. Time to be benevolent.  Go out of your way to bless someone else. Do random acts of kindness! Time to be thankful and remember His gift.  Jesus! Don’t rush this time…Time to worship. Time to understand God’s plan for us! Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NKJV) “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

2. We need to give Jesus the gift of Intimacy.  Intimacy pertains to knowing the inmost character of a person…knowing them intimately. Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV) ^“ I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Intimacy can only be developed through spending time with God in prayer. Talking and listening.

3. We need to give Jesus the gift of Meditation.   Meditation is continued thought and deep reflection on the Lord and His goodness. Always have Him on your mind and in your heart. Meditation on Him and His Word will be a guardian and a gift. King David saw it protecting him. Psalms 19:14 (NKJV) “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”  Psalms 64:1 (NKJV) “Hear my voice, O God, in my meditation; Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.”

  4. We need to give Jesus the gift of Evangelism.  Evangelism is a zealous effort to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mark 16:15-20 (NKJV) And He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Jesus last Words were to be filled with His Spirit, and then, go and preach. Go evangelize! Acts 1:8 (NKJV) "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." If we don’t have time for intimacy with Jesus, if we don’t meditate on Him, there is a good possibility we will not make time for evangelism. This Christmas…give Jesus the gift of TIME!

As we approach Christmas my prayer...

... is that all of us will keep the main thing the main thing.  We all know this but sometimes we need to be reminded that Christmas is about the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He left the splendor and glory of heaven to be born in a manger, live His life among us, go to the cross, and be raised from the dead that we might have the most awesome gift of eternal life with God.  It should never be hard for us to worship Him at Christmas time when you consider all He has done for us.  A few years ago I preached a message “Wake Up! The Gifts Are Under The Tree!”  That is what my parents used to say to us on Christmas morning.  My sermon said for us to wake up because our gifts are under the tree...the cross!

Many get caught up with the pressure of making sure everyone gets a gift and unfortunately many go into debt to do so.  Christian financial expert Dave Ramsey says that we should never go into debt for Christmas but that we keep the main thing the main thing.  He said we spend what we have on those we can and trust that everyone will understand.  He goes on and tells parents not to get all stressed out over this issue but to sit down with their children and explain to them the best they can their situation.  He also says it is a great opportunity to share with them that the most important things are our relationship with God and each other.

  Mary (the mother of Jesus) had to learn Christmas was gaining and losing...how so?  She gained by being chosen to have the Christ-child conceived in her.  She had to be willing to lose her reputation and almost her husband.  Luke 1:35 38 (NIV) “The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God." "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.” As we choose this Christmas to be the Lord’s servants let us choose like Mary to keep the main thing the main thing!

Twenty-one days of fasting...

... to start January 1, 2018 and who can even believe that we are almost there.  How can we make our fasting more effective this year and what is it that God expects of us as we fast?  Isaiah 58:69 (NIV)  "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?  Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?  Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.  Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I...”

Please be aware that fasting is not intended to be a “quick-fix diet” for over eating during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the New Year Holidays.  It is a time of seeking God with all your hearts and it is a time of searching our hearts and repenting for ourselves and our nation.  According to Isaiah, it is a time of seeing people set free by the power of God, a time of being compassionate to those in need, and about taking care of our own families.

I am praying this year that men will step up and take their spiritual responsibility as the leader in their homes.  I am also praying that women will adorn themselves with the glory of God and cause their homes to be a place of blessings and refuge.  I am praying that our children will seek God passionately and for those who are prodigals to return to the Lord with all their hearts.  Come on, Life Church Assembly of God, let us fast and pray as one in the Lord, let us see our light break forth in our community, and our healing to come quickly!!