ChristMas = ChristMORE
Notes
Transcript
Christmas – ChristMore
As we are quickly coming to the Christmas season, I began to think about what the Christmas season has become, and I began to be convicted, in a sense, because I am a Christian, a Christ-like-one and in my own life, Christmas was not about Christ.
It is about family, food, gifts, etc., which are not bad things, but my Savior was born with the understanding that His mission, His purpose, His destiny was to die a brutal death for me and my sin.
Christmas when you break it down is CHRIST-MAS. Now MAS in the Spanish means MORE, so the word Christmas can literally be translated to CHRIST-MORE. This led me to the thought…I need Christ More.
I need Christ in the morning; I need Christ in the middle of the day; I need Christ at night; I need Christ on Thanksgiving; I need Christ this Christmas.
I need Christ more because of the fact that I can have more of Christ!!
Let me say that again. I need ChristMas, ChristMore because I can have more of Christ!
Christ in us is the hope of glory. When we receive Christ into our lives, we receive the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome whatever life has thrown at you.
Overcome:
Addictions
Chains
Strongholds
Bondage
Depression
Oppression
and Possession
Christ is the only thing in the world that can break every chain, which is why I need ChristMas.
The more you fill your mind with the divinely-inspired Word of God…
…the more you transform…
…and the more you transform, the more Christ you have
…and the more Christ has of you
…the more redeemed you become, the deeper chains you break
…and the more sold out you are to overcome!
As children of God we are already destined to overcome!
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
says “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the One who is in the world.”
This verse is telling us that if you are born again, then you are a child of God and because you are a child of God, the Holy Spirit of God is living in you automatically…Giving you the power to overcome He who is in the world, referring to Satan and his allies.
The He who is in us is the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Son of the most High God, which ensures my victory over the evil one in the world.
I rely on the He who is in me to fight my battles and for us that continually hunger and thirst for ChristMore, victory is assured…because the beginning of this verse tells us that Children of God HAVE overcome!
We HAVE overcome; that is a fact, not a wishful hope. If you are not overcoming in your life and you are a Child of God you need ChristMas, More!
He who lives in us is greater than He who is in the world means that Christians have no place for fear, because there is not a spiritual enemy that is greater than the Jesus who lives in us.
The whole key to everything I’ve said so far is how much Christ are you allowing to live in you? Do you build that Spirit He has placed in you with truth and prayer and surrender? Do you constantly want ChristMas or are you satisfied with Christmas, a national holiday?
I NEED CHRIST-MAS BECAUSE I CAN HAVE MORE OF CHRIST!
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
(New Living Translation) My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me!
I love this verse! When you give your life to Jesus, your old sinful self is dying…that person should no longer exist…because Christ now resides in you.
But here is the thing, the Holy Spirit is a gentleman, so you have invited Him to live in you, but you need Christ more!
I say He is a gentleman because He doesn’t just barge in and take over everything. He waits for you to allow Him to move into the different areas of your life. This is one time where Jesus is waiting for You to open up doors.
You get saved and He is in the foyer; you invite Him in more and He is in the living room. You surrender a little more and He is in the kitchen, so you have to want Him more and more.
You must PRAY more to eliminate your old self. You STUDY more to eliminate your old self. You WORSHIP more to eliminate your old self…
…until there is no trace of your old self
…until it is no longer I who lives,
…but it is Christ who lives in me.
I live in this earthly body trusting in the Son of God, because I sought Christ more, because when they see me they should see Jesus.
The old man, the old Jonathan, the self-seeking, sinful, prideful man was slain and that old man was replaced with a life of intimate communion with Christ that is sold out and still seeking ChristMas, ChristMore each and every day!
Philippians 1:21 says to live is Christ and to die is gain. So Paul is saying while I go on living, my life will be a reflection of Christ in me. My life is not about my job, my hobbies, my friends. It is first and foremost about Christ and what He is calling me to do; what He is asking me to do and who I can share this amazing relationship with today…because today is the day of salvation and ChristMore is what I need today.
For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Every day Christ reveals a little more of Himself to me and every little bit more He allows me to see and experience just makes me that much more in love…
…and makes me that much more passionate about reaching lost souls
…makes me more hungry to see more of Him
…enables me to be more on fire than I was the day before …helps me hunger and thirst for righteousness...
So I can live approved in the sight of God and make an impact on the lives I come in contact with, because to live is Christ.
Christ made an impact on every life He encountered. By having the mindset that to live is to literally be as Christ-like as you can be. You too will be completely consumed by the Holy Spirit - which will guide you to making an impact everywhere you go for the Kingdom of God because the very Spirit that lived in Christ lives in you.
If you wake up wanting, longing, needing more of that Spirit of Christ, you can’t help but impact people in your every day life and that is exactly what Paul meant by saying to live is Christ.
By living as Christ you should be MISSION-MINDED with the understanding that dying is gain, because you are gaining eternal life with the One and only true God of the universe.
First, your mission to live as Christ means your mind needs to be thinking about how many people you can give the dying is gain gift to, to live as Christ means you now love and care about the people Christ made. It is now your responsibility to help them live for Christ so when they die they also gain!
The only way that is going to happen is for you to desperately seek Christ more, because you can have more of Christ!!
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
says JESUS IS THE WAY to God through the Cross! Jesus shed His blood to enable a new covenant between God and man that introduced grace…Grace that not only erased our sin, but empowered us to live without the burden of sin.
Once we are covered by His blood and redeemed by Grace, we are then clean in the eyes of God…which is absolutely required to be in the presence of God.
Jesus is the way to being redeemed from sin that we are guilty of.
He is the way to God the Father, as our Mediator.
He is the way to eternal life in heaven.
He is the way to absolute truth.
Jesus said I am the way, because when He hung on that cross the final thing He said is IT IS FINISHED, meaning:
I completed my mission, Father
I lived as a sinless man
I endured temptation
I taught humans what God expects…and
I sealed the new covenant with the words IT IS FINISHED…
which also makes me THE WAY…
the ONE and ONLY WAY to Salvation,…Grace…Heaven and God the Father!
He didn’t say I am A way; He said I am THE way!
So church as we grow in our relationship with Christ, the more of THE WAY He reveals to us, and the more I am allowed to see, the more of Christ’s THE WAY I want.
ChristMas, ChristMore is what I want because more Christ is what I can have.
So Christ is the way and the next thing he says in that verse is I AM THE TRUTH! By saying I am the truth you have to be indicating something else is a lie right? What He is saying is I am the truth. If you have the truth, then no one can fool you with a lie.
Christ is equipping us with the FULL TRUTH so that we can DISCERN LIES, we can SPOT DECEPTION. The truth is the word of God, which is Jesus.
John 1:14 says “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
So the true Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us. When we compare Jesus’ life with our own life, we see the obvious difference…then the truth goes to work!
The truth SHEDS LIGHT on the true sinful nature of our lives and then it reveals THE WAY we must begin to walk so that the divine TRUTH can start transforming us into the image of Christ.
When we accept the way, then we can walk in truth and that truth frees us from sin - both the consequences of it and the power of it - which is known as freedom.
So ChristMas, ChristMore reveals to us The Way…The Way leads us to TRUTH…and the next thing Jesus is, is the LIFE.
Jesus is life. Before you meet Jesus you are not aware of life and life more abundantly. We as humans are either LIVING ETERNALLY WITH JESUS or we are DYING EXTERNALLY WITH SATAN. There is no in-between.
I refuse to water it down, because God has entrusted me with His Word and His Word says JESUS CHRIST IS THE WAY TO SALVATION. Jesus Christ is the INCARNATE TRUE WORD OF GOD “The TRUTH” and Jesus Christ is the ETERNAL LIFE - the only true way to eternal life!
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus told them. “No one who comes to me will ever be hungry, and no one who believes in me will ever be thirsty again.
Jesus said to them. I am the BREAD OF LIFE! He that comes to me shall never hunger; and He that believes on Me shall never thirst!
This verse is amazing! Profound, yet easy to relate to. Jesus is to the soul what bread is to the body! We need food to live and be healthy. Our soul and the spirit Christ gives us needs a healthy amount of Jesus to be healthy.
How much is a good amount of Christ? More ChristMas ChristMore…we can never have too much of Christ!
The more we have the more we are required to live out! With Jesus say I am the life and I am the bread of life. That means we have to feed on him just like we eat to stay alive. We need to feed on Jesus to have the spiritual life Christ requires us to have.
Just because you go to church on Sunday doesn’t mean you don’t need to do your devotions that day. We should be craving ChristMas, ChristMore!
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.
Jesus says I am the RESURRECTION and the LIFE. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.
Church, the only way off of this earth alive is through Christ. There is no resurrection apart from Christ and there is no eternal life apart from Christ, because Jesus does more than give life.
He is life and since He is life, death has no power over Him and since we Christians give him our life and have faith in Him, we are going to die but like Christ’s death, death can’t hold us…Satan can’t overcome us…because our God is the way to SALVATION, the TRUTH, a life of ETERNITY.
Without Jesus there is no way to heaven
Without Jesus there is no truth to help us discern a lie
Without Jesus there is no life or life more abundantly.
He didn’t say he would show us A way; He said He is the way. He didn’t promise to teach us A truth - He said He is the truth. He didn’t offer us secrets to life He said He is life.
So it is no wonder I can’t get enough of Christ because my heart and soul is on fire for ChristMas - on fire for ChristMore.
He must increase, but I must decrease.”
HE (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease. This is John the Baptist speaking, and I believe in a way, realizing that the purpose God placed on his life was to PREPARE THE WAY for the One and Only Messiah, …to work the stage, so to speak, and then fade into the shadows SO ALL EYES COULD BE ON JESUS!
Church, this should be all of our MOTTOS and INTENTION, that our carnal, sinful version of ourselves must decrease and Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior must increase!
Christians we must realize that “I” is the issue. Once we give our lives to Jesus, that it is NONE of “I” but ALL OF THEE; it is none of me but all about “He…the He who lives in me, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Once we truly surrender, we finally understand that
It is His way that is BEST…
It is His truth that is PERFECT…
And it is His life that leads to ETERNITY.
So John the Baptist was special - mainly because he had the Holy Spirit before the Holy Spirit was given to every believer.
The Holy Spirit’s JOB is to POINT TO JESUS and that is what John was doing, but now Christ has come and gone, and we have the Holy Spirit.
So, we should be seeking Christ more, increasing HE and decreasing ME…and then being an A.D. type of John the Baptist, after Death of Christ.
A John the Baptist - preaching the gospel everywhere we go, because we have ChristMas, ChristMore… because we have allowed Christ to fully take over and sanctify us Holy.
We are 100% set apart for the work of the Kingdom of God and the only way we will ever get to that spot is if we SEEK CHRIST MORE, if we STOP being “I” centered and be THEE CENTERED, live a life of…
”I need you more…More than yesterday
…I need you more…More than words can say
…I need you more.
I need ChristMas, because I can have more of Christ. We can have all of Christ…
We just have to WANT Him…
We just have to LONG for Him…
Stop PLAYING CHURCH and get real
Stop enjoying the LUKE WARM Christianity
We must get HUNGRY
We must get WHITE HOT ON FIRE for Jesus!
When you play church, you are HURTING the Kingdom way more than HELPING it and you are HURTING YOURSELF too, because there is coming a day when we are all going to GIVE AN ACCOUNT to God the father.
Now is the time to put FAITH WITH ACTION and be KINGDOM-MINDED and be ON FIRE for Jesus!
Jesus is still coming back, the rapture is not a RESCUE MISSION. It is a PICKUP DATE. Each and every one of us as Christians are part of “The Bride”. The BRIDE IS THE CHURCH. Are you ready or are you playing church?
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
…then Jesus said to his disciples, “if anyone wants to follow after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” In other gospels. it says take up your cross DAILY and follow me!
We must have:
A daily RELATIONSHIP…
A daily SURRENDER…
A daily DEVOTION…
A daily DENIAL OF SELF…
And once you CONSISTENTLY do these things, you will see more of Christ daily in your RELATIONSHIP with Christ. Christ will have MORE OF YOU when you SURRENDER daily, you will LEARN more daily from your DEVOTION, and you will see the effects of ChristMas, ChristMore in your life when you deny yourself daily and follow Jesus!
The cross stood for death, Jesus is telling us to DIE TO SELF DAILY and follow Christ and have ChristMas!
Christ is telling us that it is a REQUIREMENT to die to self daily, then follow Jesus.
Jonathan can’t live for Jonathan and be on fire for Jesus. Almost everything that we have to die to on the front end, seems like “MAN, I HAVE TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING I LIKE TO FOLLOW JESUS”, but let me tell you - as someone who has given up basically everything I knew:, the way of life I had for years…YOU ARE NOT GIVING ANYTHING COMPARED TO WHAT YOU ARE GAINING!
You are gaining a RELATIONSHIP with Jesus…
You are gaining the SPIRIT OF GOD to GUIDE you…
You are gaining PEACE
And so much more if you pursue ChristMas, ChristMore!
I can remember times SPEEDING ACROSS TOWN driving crazy, running red lights, trying to get to the dope man’s house as quickly as possible - for no other reason than I wanted to get high…but a couple of weeks ago I got off work early on Wednesday night and I realized that I could make it to church and I had the ________ playing as I was rushing to church…trying my hardest to get to church before they quit singing, so I could WORSHIP Him, PRAISE Him, THANK Him, CRAVE HIM MORE. I was speeding across town not for drugs anymore, BUT TO CELEBRATE JESUS, because the more I have the more addicted to Jesus I become!
Church, there is more to Jesus Christ than an hour Sunday and an hour Wednesday; THERE IS SO MUCH MORE.
When you surrender all, and your LIFE begins to CHANGE, and your MIND begins to TRANSFORM because you are CONFORMING to Christ...and you start seeing small changes, like your LANGUAGE isn’t vulgar anymore, your HEART becomes TENDER to spiritual things, you start CRAVING that TIME with Jesus everyday in His Word...the next thing you know you are getting more and more BOLD in sharing your FAITH and sharing the CHANGES God has made in your life and then all of a sudden you are realizing that God has brought you:
From the DRUG house to the CHURCH house
From the PIT to the PULPIT
from ROCK BOTTOM to STANDING on the ROCK
And you just can’t help but tell somebody about your relationship with Jesus.
You can’t settle for Christmas, because you know you can have ChristMAS and you know how much Christ has already done…so the thought of having Him more BUILDS A HUNGER, ENERGY, a JOY, an EXCITEMENT that you can’t hold in…It goes form my HEAD TO MY TOES and INTO MY BONES and I’ve got to LET IT OUT because ChristMas, ChristMore is life-changing and no matter where you are in your relationship with Christ, make sure the fire never gets out and that you keep seeking ChristMore because you can have more of Christ.
I say, “I won’t mention him or speak any longer in his name.” But his message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones. I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.
But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.