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Should Christians get involved in supporting or celebrating Christmas? Have you ever heard that argument? Why in the world would Christians want to get involved in something that was really a “pagan holiday,” that we the Church co-opted? So for those critics, I have three points.
Number one: Do you give your kids birthday gifts? You celebrate your kids birthdays, why not celebrate the birth of the Savior? If we’re not going to do it now, when would you decide to do it? That would be a question.
Secondly, in 1st Corinthians 9:22, Paul says, “I became all things to all men, that by all means I may win some.” I can’t think of a time, and I doubt that you could think of a time in the year when there is more focus on the birth of Jesus Christ. Once a year, the world is confronted with the reality of His coming. And I think that’s great!
The third point is in Matthew 16:18,where Jesus said, “On this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The idea is not that we are holding out against the world. The idea is that we are assaulting a world and they cannot overwhelm us. They cannot withstand the assault of the Church. The very fact that you and I are here, 2000 years after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, is evidence of that. The world has done everything it can to squash the message, destroy the Word, and intimidate believers. Yet, all around the world today there are those who are singing praise, spreading the Word and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, if we co-opt or take over Christmas, that’s what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to seize the gates of the enemy. This is why we’re here and why this season is so important.

Gene Cunningham - April 19, 2023

Delivered from Wrath

Without Jesus Christ, you are in grave peril! For the unbeliever,it's not just that, it's death and hell and the lake of fire forever and ever. "It's appointed unto man," the author of Hebrews says, "to die once, but after this comes the judgment." And I love what Paul tells us in Romans 5:9, he says, "Therefore, having been justified by His blood, we are delivered from the wrath of God through the blood of Christ." What do we deserve? We deserve the wrath of God. What do we have instead? We have life through Christ. We have joy and peace. Why? Because Christ bore the wrath in our place. When we look at the cross, we talk about the application of the blood, and it's a wonderful concept. But we need to go deeper. And we need to realize that when the Bible talks about "the blood of Christ" it is simply a phrase used to encompass all that He went through on the cross. On the cross, the Scripture tells us that He paid the penalty for the sins of every member of the human race. Paul tells us in Philippians Chapter two that, "He went to the cross, despising the shame." Because all of us know that when sin is exposed, it always brings shame. Christ not only bore the penalty, He bore the shame of every sin of every member of the human race in those three dark hours that He hung on the cross. And we will never know fully what that meant.

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