Like trinkets hanging on a full green tree, presents round its base. I find that I’ve lost the one true heart, I never can replace. The Christmas season comes and goes and with each passing year, the Christ from which the name is found is lost beneath the cheer.

Oh yes we sing, round yon virgin, and silent night, and hark those angels sing. Yet deep within we lost the sound of what it really means.

It’s ho, ho, ho and mistletoe, someone pass the eggnog round, we’ve said our prayers gave Christ His due, it’s time the gifts be found. 

Toys for Bob and Sarah too, and mom and dad as well. While Christ is watching from the throne, the lost look up from hell.

Joy to the world the Lord has come, let earth receive her King, but now our songs talk of deer, and elves on shelves, bows and wrappings…

Just like it was one silent night His birth in silence came and if not for the angels song we would not have known His name. Don’t let the season drown Him out, let Jesus gift unfold. He came a dying world to save, A love that never grows old… 

Could it be that what we really think of Jesus comes into play once, maybe twice a year? Christmas and Easter? So let me put a few questions forth and see if we can answer them together.

What do I think of Jesus?

What do you think of Jesus?

What does the World think of Jesus?

Are the answers obvious? Maybe, maybe not.

We all like to think that we have Jesus figured out somehow. We have volumes of books, sermons, songs. If that weren’t enough we have the plethora of Theologians to give us their interpretations.  Do we really know who Jesus is? Before you get spiritually huffy on me then start spitting scriptures and pious words out. I want to drop a thought in your mind. It is a thought or a question really that keeps running around in my brain.

You can find it in Matthew 16: 15

He (Jesus) saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

This came on the heels of the pharisees demanding of Jesus a sign. Not that He hadn’t already performed many miracles already. I mean come on, He had just fed a whole lot of folks. I can’t do that, can you? Have you heard of anyone else throughout recorded history doing that again?

Has anyone beside Jesus ever been recorded walking on water? Raised a dead man that has been dead 4 days? Healed people creatively, meaning giving them a new ear such as the High priests servant in the garden? Healing a blind man from birth? 

So, Jesus is now asking His own disciples, who do you say I am?

Go back to Matthew 16:16

And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Pretty awesome answer right. You’re thinking he got it, he knows who Jesus is. All those miracles, all that time walking with the Lord, Peter got it. Go back to the Matthew 16:17 one more time before you give Peter too much credit

And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Now we see the truth. The Father had revealed who Jesus was to Peter. Is that a bad thing? Absolutely not. It is actually a must. For you or I to know anything about Christ it must be revealed by Father God to our hearts. It is a gift from the Father to us.

What I think about Christ is directly inspired by what the Father has shown to my heart. That will be revealed to us in His Word. It doesn’t matter what I come up with or try to come up with on my own, if God hasn’t revealed it and it doesn’t line up with His word it isn’t true.

With that being said, what do you think about Christ and what is your influence?

It is really, really important that your influence comes from scripture, that God is revealing His Son in your heart. If this is not how you are learning, stop immediately. Get to a bible quick then get on your knees quicker.

You cannot depend solely on a man or woman to reveal Jesus to you. Only God can show His Son. Man can point you in the right direction, even help you on your journey to some degree, but only God and God alone can reveal His Son to you.

So, what does the world think of Jesus? I think that is obvious.

They think He is either dead, a dork or a baby.

They have no realistic ideology of who Jesus is, part of that is our fault because we have presented a false Jesus to the world. We the church, don’t know who we serve. You are wondering how on earth I can say that. I can tell you I say it with much conviction as I look around at the evangelicals who are presenting a false Christ while we are merrily following them to our peril.

Jesus did not come to unite all faiths on this earth. He did not come to tell you that all ways lead to His father. He did not tell you that you have a man on earth to look to as father. He did not tell you to embrace any religion at all. He said to pick up a cross and follow Him exclusively. To love not your lives to the death. He said to lay up your treasure in Heaven not put them in 401’s or bank accounts on earth.

He said in His Fathers house are many mansions, not to build them on earth. He said to preach the gospel to all men, not compromise it for a few. He said to tell them that He is the Way the Truth, The Life. If you try to come any other way you would be a thief and cast out. He said the only way into His kingdom was to be born again.

All of these things you can’t see if you don’t see Jesus as He is revealed in scripture. It is a gift from the Father to us. 

Some of you are following false teachers who are going to lead you straight to hell if you don’t wake up. Jesus last words to His disciples before He ascended are in:

Acts 1:6-7

6 When they therefore were come together, they asked of Him saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?

7 And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in His own power.

What does this mean to us?

It means that until Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 61) is completely fulfilled there will be no peace on earth. So, we are to continue to seek a kingdom that is clearly in heaven not here. To seek Christ where He is sitting next to God’s right hand. We need to ask God the Father to reveal what Christ did for us. Not just the basics we all think are a nice gift wrapped set: the baby, the blood, the return.

There is so much in the pages of scriptures that tell of how awesome Christ is plus the work He did for us, I challenge you, I beg you to search Him out diligently, ask God to show you His Son on every single page of the Word. It will blow your mind as He is revealed from cover to cover.

This is the glorious, magnificent and awesome eternal gift of God to you.

It started long ago in Bethlehem in a manger, it continued on to Jerusalem to a cross, it was completely finished when He sat down at God’s right hand. The grand finale is coming soon when He returns and He sets up His Kingdom on earth. Then and only then will there be peace on earth good will to men.

Jesus is so much more than we could ever imagine. What He is doing is so much greater than we could ever dream. Let God blow your mind today with How awesome His Son is~

Hark the herald angels sing… Glory to the newborn king… Jesus came as a babe, died as a man, ascended as Redeemer and He is soon coming KING~ Rejoice. This is the gift of Christmas~ This gift is all year long~

I’m hid with Christ!

Shawn