Christmas: The Ultimate Rescue Mission

”Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 NIV)

You can’t solve all of your problems. If you could, you would have by now. You’ve probably tried over and over again to solve them, but it’ll take more than you to solve all of your problems.

You need a savior, a rescuer. God sent us a rescuer for the very first Christmas. Every person on the planet is enslaved to sin. The Christmas story is history’s ultimate rescue mission. Jesus came to Earth to set us free from the sin that enslaves us.

You see, some problems in our lives can’t be solved by trying harder but only by trusting in Jesus more. The Bible says, “Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15 NIV).

If you trust Jesus, he will set you free. He will rescue you from whatever dominates you. It’s why he came. From what do you need to be set free? Maybe it’s the expectations of others, whether it’s a spouse, your parents, your co-workers, or someone else. You can’t be who you were made to be when you are living for everyone else.

Maybe it’s shame, regret, or bitterness that you need to be set free from. Jesus came to rescue you. You can’t overcome it on your own.

But you can trust Jesus to get you through it.

Talk About It

• From what do you need to experience freedom?

• This Christmas could be the most significant one of your life. Pray for God to rescue you from whatever it is that holds you captive, and accept his mercy and grace.

What Do You Have to Lose This Christmas?

“Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.” (Zechariah 10:2 NIV)

It’s easy to forget the purpose of Christmas. This time of year we have so many things that can get in the way: commercialism, traditions, even family and church commitments.

To find the real purpose of Christmas, you have to fast forward from the shepherds, the wise men, and the dirty stable. We have to go to a statement Jesus made during his adult years about why he came: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10 NIV).

The reason we celebrate Christmas is because Jesus came to Earth to seek and save the lost.

Jesus uses three stories in the gospel of Luke to demonstrate what it means to be lost: the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. They teach us that when we’re disconnected from God, we lose:

Our direction (Parable of the Lost Sheep): The Bible says in Isaiah 53:6, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Sheep don’t intend to get lost; it’s just what they do naturally. So do we. By our own nature, we follow our own way. When we do that, we lose our way.

God’s protection (Parable of the Lost Sheep): Sheep have no natural defense system, so a sheep without a shepherd is a goner. That sounds like us. The Bible says, “Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd” (Zechariah 7:2). Without a relationship with God, we’re vulnerable to stress we were never meant to have.

Our full potential (Parable of the Lost Coin): One coin can be a part of much good, but that coin has no potential if it’s lost. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:9, “What God has planned for people who love him is more than eyes have seen or ears have heard. It has never even entered our minds!" (CEV) The potential of those who are connected to God is immeasurable; the potential that’s lost for those who do not have a relationship with God is equally immeasurable.

Our happiness (Parable of the Lost Son): After the son left his father’s care and began to go his own way, it didn’t take long for him to become miserable and lonely. There’s a lot of miserable people who are choosing to go their own way and not God’s way. Being disconnected from God will eventually ruin our happiness.

Our home in Heaven (The Parable of the Lost Son): God lets us rebel while we are here on Earth, but there are no rebels in Heaven. Preparing for the next life is the best use of this life. God gives us our way. If we want to live without him on Earth, he’ll let us live without him for eternity.

Being disconnected from God has vast, devastating, and eternal consequences. If you’re living disconnected from God, don’t wait. Connect with him today.

Talk About It

• How does your life demonstrate that you are intimately connected to God?

• Who do you know that needs to get connected to God this Christmas season through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? What will you do about it?

Unselfish Giving Is the Anecdote to Materialism

“God has given gifts to each of you from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Manage them well so that God’s generosity can flow through you.... Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then God will be given glory.” (1 Peter 4:10-11 NLT)

When God gives, he holds nothing back. He gives you every spiritual blessing available in the storehouses of Heaven (Ephesians 1:3), and he meets your every need.

Do you know what that means? It means you are free to be abundantly generous because God is taking care of you. He wants us to bless others on his behalf. We receive from God, then we give to others: “Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it” (1 Peter 4:10 MSG).

As Pastor Rick has been teaching, God is generous, so he wants us to become generous. It is a Jesus-like characteristic. Since we belong to Jesus 24/7 and our generosity is unlimited when guided by the Holy Spirit and energized by the life of Christ within us, we need to apply more creativity to our generosity.

We often complain about the superficial materialism that has overtaken Christmas. Godly generosity is the anecdote to superficial materialism. Give some serious, intentional thought to how you can be generous this Christmas season, not in the sense of excessive gift giving but rather in helping and blessing those in need.

Talk About It

• Who are the people in your life whom God wants you to bless this Christmas?

• In what ways are you teaching your children or people under your influence how to be generous?

(Written by Jon Walker)

Christmas Note: Stop Trying to Win Arguments

"I beg you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to stop arguing among yourselves. Let there be real harmony so that there won’t be splits in the church. I plead with you to be of one mind, united in thought and purpose." (1 Corinthians 1:10 LB)

This Christmas — Stop trying to win arguments.

Instead, make it your goal to love those who disagree with you or seem disagreeable to you. Go for the love, not the win. In fact, Jesus tells us love will always win; he guaranteed that when he walked out of the tomb.

When you find yourself heading toward an argument with someone this season, use these biblical guidelines for getting along:

Let mercy guide your response (Proverbs 3:3–6). In a conflict, most of us say we only want what’s fair, but God’s approach isn’t about being fair. It’s about grace and mercy (Romans 5:8), the kind of grace and mercy God revealed through Christmas.

Let God determine the truth (2 Corinthians 13:8). The truth is not determined by your thoughts, feelings (1 John 4:1) or the opinions of others this Christmas. Truth is what God says it is, and he is the sole authority for interpreting any situation (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Look for God’s presence (Matthew 28:20). Satan wants us to believe we’re alone in any conflict. God wants us to follow the example of the young shepherd boy, David, when he faced Goliath. David believed God was in the fight and that the battle belonged to the Lord (1 Samuel 17:47).

Look for the conflict’s true source (Ephesians 6:12). According to God’s Word, we’re really not fighting other people; our real enemy is Satan and his “unseen spiritual forces of wickedness.”

Keep that in mind and see how it changes your view of Christmas disagreements.

(Written by Jon Walker)