Purpose of Christmas

Purpose of Christmas - Rick Warren

The 1st purpose of Christmas is to CELEBRATE.  - Session 1

GOD LOVES YOU.  God's love is based on who He is.  Not what you do.  John 3:16.  Romans 8:35-39.  Nothing can separate us from God.  NOTHING.  The 2nd reason to celebrate Christmas is GOD IS WITH YOU. God is with you all the time whether you feel it or not.  Hebrews 13:5 " I will never leave you and I will never abandon you".  GOD IS FOR YOU.  He wants you to win.  He wants you to succeed and give your life purpose and meaning.  John 3:17.  God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.  Don't condemn the world, point people to the way, the truth and the light.  Jesus didn't come to condemn it, he came to save it.   Jesus came to save us not to scare us!  "do not be afraid".

YOU DON'T NEED TO BE AFRAID.  God says I love you, I'm with you, I'm for you!  That's the good news of great joy!

The 2nd purpose of Christmas is SALVATION - a personal Savior. - Session 2

Statistics show 90% of people pray, this tells us that people recognize there is something bigger than ourselves.

What do you need to be saved from this Christmas?
traffic
chaos
busyness
spending too much money
shopping
inadequacies
family members

Salvation is 3 dimensional:  

1.  Save us FROM sin.  Sin is an attitude, it's a pride problem.  Sin is saying "I want to be my own boss, I don't want to follow God, I want to serve my purpose not yours."  We have these attitudes at different times of our life.  We all fall short of God's glorious standard.  EVERYONE.  Sin separates us from God.  Our sins are the roadblock between us and God, this is why our prayers aren't being answered.  That's why he sent Jesus as a savior.  Jesus came to set us free from our sins.  We need to be set free from ourselves.  We are our own biggest problems...our own reactions and inadequacies that cause us to do dumb things. Welcome to the human race!! Apostle Paul understands, Romans 7:24-25. Answer to our problem - Jesus.  We need a savior.  That's what Christmas is all about.

2.  Save us FOR a purpose:  Ephesians 1:11-12.  God has designs on us for glorious living.  God has a plan and a purpose for our life.  He's had it all along.  As our creator he knows what's best for us.  He saves us for a purpose he wants us to fulfill in our life.  We have to find out how make it come to pass in our life.  You can live at survival level, success level or the significance level.  We were made for more than success.  We were made for significance which comes from God.  Are you tired of living an unfulfilled life.  God longs for us to move from success to significance.  It's not about you/us!  Our culture says it's ALL about us...so this is counter-cultural.  You won't find satisfaction for living for yourself.  God did not wire us to live this way and we will always have a hole in our heart until we realize this.

3.  Save us by HIS grace:  We can't buy our way into Heaven.  We don't deserve to be saved.  Jesus, who is perfect, came to do.  He will give us His grace.  God gives us what we need, not what we deserve.  Grace says I'm going to take your problem and make it my problem.  God's Riches At Christ's Expense (GRACE).  Eph 2:8  "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift from God..."  God gave us the greatest gift.  He sent us a savior.

A Time for Reconciliation - Session 3

Celebration - Good news of Great Joy

Salvation - A Savior is born

Reconciliation - "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good will to men"

RECONCILIATION - Peace on Earth

Where do you need peace in your life this Christmas?

family

friends

taking time out to enjoy what's important

happy

focus on Christ and His birthday

everywhere

No peace in the world until there is peace in the Nations.  Communities won't have peace until peace in families.  There won't be peace in families unless there is peace in individuals and that won't happen unless we allow the "prince of peace" to come into our hearts.

What type of peace does Jesus gives us?  3 kinds

1.  Peace with God - Spiritual peace.  If you are trying to live without God, you are at war with God.  You need a peace treaty with God - you need reconciled with God.  Jesus came to be the bridge...the reconciler between you and God.  When you trust in JESUS, he will make all the conflict go away.  Come on home!  Have you made peace with God?  If you haven't, you need to...one day you will stand before him.  How do you make peace?  Not by promising to be perfect or saying you will never sin.  You make peace by faith.  Faith in God's grace.  Once you make peace with God, you get the 2nd kind of peace...

2.  The peace of God - Emotional peace.  This is the one you need on a daily basis.  Stress goes down in you life, not as angry, things don't bug you as much.  More patient, more joy, more forgiving.  You have the peace of God in your heart.   Phil 4:6.  You have two choices:  Pray or Panic.  Which will it be?  Worship or Worry - Your choice.  worry has never solved a single one of your problems, it doesn't change anything.  Prayer will change things though.  Pray about everything.  Tell God what you need and thank Him for all that He has done.  His peace will guard our hearts and our minds through Christ Jesus.

3.  Peace with others - Relationship with others:  End the war with everyone else.  Be a peacemaker.  2 Corinth 5:18-20.  He is committed to us the message of reconciliation.  God has given us a ministry and a message and it is reconciliation.  Be gracious to others.  Cut people some slack and don't hold them to such a heavy standard.  "Blessed are the Peacemakers, they shall be called the Children of God".  Matt 5:9.  If you know Jesus personally, you are going to be a peacemaker not a troublemaker.  Build people up, don't tear them down.  Love people the way Jesus loves the people.  Christmas is the perfect time to show grace to other people.  

Who do you need to rebuild a broken relationship with this Christmas?  Who do you need to reconcile a relationship with?

If you can't forgive someone, then you need Jesus, which is why you can't forgive.  You need to be filled with the love of Christ in order to let it go.  You are holding it in and it's hurting you.  Some of you are still letting people to hurt you from the past.  This is dumb.  The people of the past cannot hurt you any more unless you hold onto the hurt.  LET IT GO!

You are going to have to let Jesus fill you with His love, so you can love others the way He does.  Let him fill you with HIS forgiveness.  Until you truly feel forgiven, you can't forgive others.  You had some bumps, heartaches and hurts....it's all pointing at this moment right now.

God says:  You matter to me.  I love you, more than you ever know.  I have been watching and waiting for you to love me back your entire life.  I want you to know me.  I want the rest of your life to be the best of your life.  This is the good news of Christmas.  I love you, I'm with you and I'm for you.  I want to save you from your past, for a purpose and save you by my grace for all eternity.  If you let me do that, I will give you the peace between you and me and make you a peacemaker. 

Acts 10:35 - The door is open - if you are ready.

Jesus Christ is God's Christmas gift to you.

Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus, thank you for all the things you've done for me so far and will continue to do in the future.  Thank you for the peace you have given to me and allowed me to pass on to others.  Continue to build in me the peacemaker heart so that I may glorify you to everyone who I come into contact with. 

*notes from Pastor Rick Warren "Purpose of Christmas"

Getting God's Vision for My Life

The "American Dream" is a dead end.  Having it all, is not enough.  There is more to life than the "goods"...looking good, feeling good.  If we give in to marketing we will be constantly reminded that more is better, that the family on the TV is "normal" and we aren't, to constantly be dissatisfied with our lives.  The media wants to "shake us up" and think, "I need that, I want that, I won't be normal unless I resemble that".

The purpose of your life is not about making money, buying stuff and dying.

If you want long term permanent change it only happens when you change the way you think, change your mindset,  change your vision and your paradigm.  You have to change your relationships to things for it to be long term change.  It's the way you "think" about it.  Changing your behavior only lasts about a month...changing the way you look at things is what creates permanent change.

In the bible, the book of Habakkuk gives us the 7 steps to change our life and get God's vision.

1.  WANT/DESIRE:  HUNGER and THIRST for God's dream.  It's NOT OPTIONAL.    Get that desperate and you WILL hear from Him.  I must want to do God's will.  I choose to do God's will.  It has to be a NECESSITY to you. "God I have to know why I'm here on earth".  "I've got to hear your voice and hear your vision".  "I want to do what you want".  "I want to honor your ways, most of all."
God says, "But these things I plan for your life won't happen right away.  Slowly, steadily and surely the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled.".  Deut: 4.  If you search for God passionately, you will find him.

2.  WITHDRAW:  Get ALONE with God.  God won't speak to you if you have a lot of noise in your life.  You need quiet time every day of your life for the rest of your life.  If you aren't having daily time with God you are not plugged in.  You have NO power in your life which is why you are tired at the end of each day.  You can't withdraw and get alone and get in a quiet place!  God WANTS to meet with you.  He's waiting on you, you aren't waiting on Him.

3.  WAIT - I want, I withdraw and I wait.  I must calm my emotions, call my thoughts if I'm going to hear from God.  Mind operating too fast to hear.


How to Wait on God:
1.  Wait quietly - sit and be quiet
The most important thing you do in your life is to PLUG into God by spending time with him every day.
2.  Wait patiently - find the inner calm and be patient
3.  Wait expectantly - I believe you are going to speak to me.'
4.  I watch in prayer - listen
5.  I write down the ideas that I receive.  Write down clearly what I reveal to you.
6.  Worship- I thank God for speaking to me.  Natural response to hearing God speak to me.

Dear God, help me to give you the best I have.  Help me to want/thirst and hunger for your vision for my life, remind me how important time alone is with you and help me to wait on your response before I act.  Help me to discern in my life where I have fallen short in these areas.  Amen

*notes from Pastor Rick Warren sermon.

Hearing the Voice of God, Recognizing God's Voice

It's incredibly important to know if the idea or message you hear - is from God.  

Test it first to see if it really is from God.  It could be the difference of life or death.

7 ways to test whether it's a message from God or not.

1. Does it agree with the bible?
God doesn't change His mind or ask you to violate a principle that he's already given.  Does this line up with what God has already said?  Gods will not contradict His word.  Truth never changes. (examples:  pay your taxes)

2. Does this make me more like Christ?
God's purpose in our life is to make us like Jesus.  God wants us to develop Jesus' character.  Jesus is the standard.  What would Jesus do is a good question.  If you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition, those are of the devil.

3.  Does my Church family confirm it?
Does other mature believers believe it's a good idea.  You need support with others.  If mature believers question it, you should too.  Eph 3:10.  The wisdom of the righteous can save you.

4.  Is it consistent with how God has shaped me?
Before I was born, God knew what He wanted me to do with my life.  He shaped me to perform that specific task.   Ephs 2:10.  We are God's workmanship, created in Christs.  Created in us to do good works which God prepared, in advance, for us to do.  He shaped us.  God's masterpiece, God's poem, God's handicraft.  Shape reveals your purpose.  Use your talent for the glory of God.

5.  Is it convicting rather than condemning?
Romans 8:1.  There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  God never attacks my value.  He may attack my sin, but not my value.
God doesn't give you a dark cloud of guilt.  He says "this is what needs to change and let's change it".  We mistake our low self esteem with God's voice.  As soon as you repent, everything is okay - that's conviction.  Condemning comes from the devil.

6.  Do I sense God's peace about it?
Pressure, overwhelmed or confused - money, ministry, kids - this is you being caught up in yourself about it.  God is not the author of confusion.  If I'm feeling confused, it's some other voice speaking into me.  Pressure is legitimate if God keeps asking me to do something, and I don't.  Satan wants to drive us compulsively.  Phil 4:7, Don't worry and pray about everything.  Tell God what you want and thank you - then you can experience peace.  When God speaks it doesn't create anxiety and worry.  

If God gives you a word for someone else - 3 guidelines
1.  Be patient and pray - don't be in a hurry.
2.  God will use me to confirm what He has already said to them.
3.  God usually uses you without you being conscious of it.  You don't even know He spoke through you. 

Not from God if....
1.  It's not an idea from God if it's motivated by bitterness or envy. Satanic idea.

2.   If it's based on envy, buy something so people would envy me, so people will jealous of me.  Satanic idea.

3.  If it's motivated by selfish ambition - does not come from God.  He does not give you self serving ideas. I didn't put you on earth to bless your selfish ambition.  If it hurts everyone else but helps me.  That idea did not come from God.

God's voice is peace loving and Pure - God's ideas are pure and peace loving, impartial and sincere.  Promotes reconciliation not war or separation.  Not going to give us an idea to create conflict in our family.  He won't give us an idea that will divide people.  Bridge builder or Wall builder.    All gossip is satanic.  Real ideas from God are submissive, humble willing to have your idea checked by someone else.

God's voice is full of mercy.   True wisdom that comes from God is full of mercy.  God has been gracious to me, I must be give everyone else graciousness.  Critical nature.It takes maturity and wisdom to find the beauty in everyone. What takes intelligence is finding the beauty.

Guys if you have an idea and you don't want to tell you wife about the idea...it didn't come from God.  Girls, if you don't want to check it out with your husband, not an idea from God.  You are willing to have it tested.  Ask around.  Ask people what they think about the idea.

If you have heard God in the past and can't now?  You have allowed sin to block the passage.  It may be a relationship you need to let go of, it may be a habit you need to let go of.

What if you have never heard from Him.  You need to begin a relationship with Jesus.  You can have religion and not a relationship.  

If you belong to God, you will hear from Him.  

If you want to belong to God, pray this:
Dear God I want to know you and I want to hear your voice and I want to know what you want me to do with my life.  Jesus I don't understand at all, but I thank you that you love me and made me and that you shaped me for a purpose that you forgive me and take away my condemnation.  Show me the things in my life that are keeping me from hearing you.   I want to confess them and get rid of them and I want to follow you and trust you from this day forward.  I ask you to accept me into your family so I can hear you voice and feel your presence.  Amen.

*notes from Pastor Rick Warren "Hearing the Voice of God, Recognizing God's Voice" - Daily Hope with Rick Warren Podcast.