MY 2006 CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Date: Sun Dec 31 13:57:36 2006

First, may you and those you love enjoy the most blessed Christmas you have ever had. May you experience the intimacy with God that Christ came to bring you in increasing measure.

Many people say Christ wasn't born on December 25th, so what IS the big deal? The big deal is that Christ came, though no one living today knows the real date. From the Bible, we can place it in late September or early October, as Jesus was six months younger than John the Baptist, and we can determine John's birth month from the end of Zechariah's priestly duty month and adding nine months to that. Actually, December 25th may well be close to the day Jesus was CONCEIVED by the Virgin Mary. It wouldn't surprise me if Jesus was conceived on the winter solstice, because that is the darkest day of the year, and it would be like God the Father to have the Light of the World conceived at the darkest time of year. However, all this is conjecture.

What is NOT conjecture is that Jesus came, lived, died, and rose again, and that we have LIFE through him. Jesus came to deliver us from all sin. He came to redeem our lives from the pit. He CAME so that the veil in the temple could be torn from top to bottom. And he LEFT so that the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, could come and live in us. How tragic it is that even at this time of year, only a dwindling minority actually remember him even as a baby. They send cards with snowflakes and they avoid saying "Merry Christmas" like the plague and instead use the innocuous HAPPY HOLIDAYS, which actually comes from HOLY-DAYS. It is sort of like XMAS. Many churches have the chi-rho symbol in their chancel. While some complained that X was the unknown quantity, X was actually an abbreviation for CHRIST. Face it world, you cannot avoid Jesus Christ. David said if he made his bed in hell, God would be there. So must be in areas where the ACLU has removed the creche or in the church in your neighborhood that has turned to a different gospel or in a workplace where Christians are afraid to share their faith. You have to deal with Him sooner or later. I say the sooner, the better. The terms are great now - free salvation, a blessed life of peace and godliness, and a future spent with the Lord forever. The terms later degenerate faster than one of those predatory credit cards - you know, the ones that increase your interest rate to over 30% if you are only five seconds late paying your bill online or if you go over your limit because they charged you to print some access checks. Some charge fees each month that raise the effective interest rate higher than a loan shark in South Philly.

Those terms are pretty bad. But not as bad as those you will have to deal with on judgment day if you rejected Christ your whole life. On that day, the sins you committed over your lifespan, perhaps 80 years if you have good health, will need to be paid for over all eternity. If you make the minimum payment on that predatory credit card I mentioned, it takes about 30 years to pay off that sofa you just had to have. Problem is, there is no minimum payment that God will accept, and the debt is more than anyone could possibly pay. He doesn't grade on the curve, and he won't take an I.O.U. The only payment he will accept to cover your sin debt is the BLOOD OF JESUS, and if you are not covered by Christ, you will surely be in the worst agony of your life before you even get to the flames.

Why do people keep falling for these bad deals? A season of sin can't be worth an eternity in hell. It isn't even worth it here. Most young girls who lose their virginity before marriage do not find it satisfying. Five minutes of pleasure degenerates into years of guilt and regret. Boys with any sense of right and wrong feel the same way. Students who have been brainwashed by secular humanism and evolution celebrate death. Heavy metal, anyone? They play video games pretending to kill or rape people instead of blessing them. They disfigure themselves, cut themselves, and pervert themselves. My friends, it is nuts to follow the wiles of the devil when you can follow the Spirit of Christ. You can commune with God 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can enjoy the lifting of the burden of sin and regret from your soul and from your spirit. If you are married, you can enjoy guilt-free sex to your heart's content and know you have a committed partner for life. You can experience the power of God within you - at home, at school, at work, at church. And last but not least, you have guaranteed eternal life. No one wants to retire unprepared. The one surety I can say about social security is that it will NOT help you AFTER you die! If you do not have another plan to sustain you for eternity, it will be miserable indeed. Why not take God's provision for your eternity and enjoy the fruit of righteousness the rest of your life here?

Today is the day of salvation. And it all started that first Christmas when God broke into this dark world with the Light that has transformed millions ever since. Don't ignore Jesus. Don't get so preoccupied with pagan celebrations that you fail to celebrate who He is. Know that the way of destruction is wide and the way to eternal life is narrow, but blessed are those who find it.

Merry Christmas, and a very spiritual New Year.

Evangelist John A. Teets