Not Like This

Merry Christmas, Beloved! (almost…)

Joy to the world, YOUR WORLD, the Lord has come!

I honestly believe, without any reservation, that we all are going into 2021 with much more expectation than at any time before. The world is experiencing a level of hopelessness, despair, and anxiety like I have never seen before. Yet, we are experiencing the goodness, love, and eternal faithfulness of God like never before! This season is of particular interest to my heart because it is the time when nearly the whole world pauses in reflection and awareness that almost 2,000 years ago… EVERYTHING changed.

John 1:14, 16-17
And the Word was made 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… And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses, [but] grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Love was born.
Grace was born.
Truth was born.

Love eternally existed before, but not like this. Not with hands and breath to breathe into our souls. Grace eternally existed before, but not like this. Not with compassion, passion, and power swirling into storm-calming authority mingled into tears of understanding at Lazarus’ resurrection story. Truth eternally existed before, but not like this. Not with the application that defended the adulteress caught in the act but also called out the satanic hypocrisy of the religious ruling class… almost in the same revelatory moment.

The birth-day of Jesus is the expression of these Heavenly realities being earths gifts. We are all going into the pinnacle of this advent season together as a family. As Christmas day arrives, please take a moment to reflect on the Biblical account of that day in Luke 2. Read it to your heart, read it to your children, and grand-children as the greatest eternal gift that you can give them. This will be an activation of what Pastor Bob ministered to the family this past Sunday. True agape love that exists only in the family of God has a powerful and universal manifestation towards the world but especially among the household of God. We all are supremely blessed to be able to legitimately declare that we have a family… one that loves us greatly… one that believes the best in us and about us… one that shares a royal heritage like no other.

I implore you to resist the influence of temptation to reduce this season to something commercialized, religiously powerless, or even insignificant as many in our nation have come to believe. The magnificent reality of what we have humble opportunity to celebrate is not just the glorious moment that God took on flesh and joined us in the human experience… BUT, and even greater… we can rapturously celebrate that the empty, broken, dark, and lonely wombs of our heart were abundantly filled when Jesus came to make His home IN US! Do not get caught up in the baby of the nativity scene, but rather be lifted up by the revelation of Jesus being birthed in our personal lives as we submitted to Him as our Lord and Savior. “Oh, come let us adore Him…!”

Philippians 2:5-11
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; and [that] every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Allow these words to saturate you for a little bit today. Literally quiet your heart, quiet your environment, and give these words permission to permeate your heart for just a little while and allow the miracle of Christmas take on more than tinsel and lights. “Let this mind,” or way of thinking, dominate all of the other holiday pressures and opportunities. Let your light shine as to properly emit the character of the One Who gave us a life that humanity thought was only a dream. That dream is now our reality, and we have only just begun to experience it in full manifestation!

I cannot, in words, properly declare my love and appreciation for you all. I will just continue to express that love by the way I serve and minister to you in every way I can.

In great love and with the blessings of a Joyous Christmas!
Steve