Christmas Message From Pastor Glenn Davis

Christmas Message From Pastor Glenn Davis

Jesus, the Light of Life.

A couple of years ago Jan and I went to Carlsbad Caverns. We were down 700 feet in one of the caves, it was magnificent. The guide turned out the lights and you talk about darkness. It was so dark it was darker than pitch black.

You have heard it said, “You can’t see your hand in front of your face.” It was worse than that.

That’s what the world was like before the Christ Child was born 2000 plus years ago. Only the darkness I spoke of was a “spiritual darkness.” Another word for this is, evil or sinful. But Jesus changed all that, the Bible tells us in John 1:4-5:
•In Him (Jesus) was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The darkness or evil in the world did not comprehend or understand, the Light of Jesus, nor did they receive Him. It’s not much different today either, all you have to do is look out into the world to see this truth.

There are so many things that Jesus did, and continues to do for us, we can’t look at them all, here’s two,
•Jesus brought His Light, into a lost world, a dark world, and it wasn’t just for a chosen few, it was for all of mankind.
•Jesus also came here to show us all about the love of Father God, which the religious people of that day were supposed to do but failed to do.

Spiritual darkness also implies the ignorance and errors of people. Then the Bible tells us that,
•“the Light (Jesus) shines in the darkness”

It means that the Lord Jesus, this little baby, came to teach us about love, about truth and about forgiveness, giving hope to a hurting world.

The Bible tells us that Jesus’ Words are a lamp to our feet, it lights our paths (Psalm 119:105), and it gives us understanding (Psalm 119:30).

Jesus cried out and declared, “I have come as a Light into the world, that whosoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.” (John 12:46).

If we truly know and follow Him, we won’t be stumbling through the darkness any longer, because we will have the Light of Jesus, which shows us the way, the way to Life.”

Once we have trusted Jesus, we need to “follow” Him – that means that we become obedient to His desires for our lives!

The Scriptures record Jesus stating in John 14:6, “…I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Of course trusting in Jesus is way more than believing in Him. Why do I say that? The Bible tells us in James 2:19, the demons believed in Jesus but they trembled.

Those of us who accept Jesus, as our personal Lord and Savior, can resume our relationship with God the Father which was lost because of sinful lifestyles. Our access to God only comes through the “Light of the World” – Jesus Christ!

When we come to the Light, we become sons of the Light! Jesus, did not come to put us down or trample on us! He came to earth so that we could realize our full potential in Him!

The Bible tells us, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world could be saved through Him.” (John 3:17).

The Bible also tells us in John 3:19-21,
•…….the Light has come (down from Heaven) into the world, and men loved darkness rather than Light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the Light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

So this little baby whom we are worshiping tonight, not only came into the world to show us Gods love, but to pour out the Light of truth into this dark world, and that our sins could be forgiven through Him. How do we do that?

Jumping forward 33 years we have the story of the Cross. Within that story it tells of a Man, Jesus, who was put on that Cross to die because He was speaking of a better way.

Not the way of following polluted teachings and regulations from the Pharisees who were supposed to be God’s teachers. But to follow the true and simple way that He taught.

Like I said previous, within the dark and wicked world men were separated from God because of their sins. It was impossible for a sinful man to fix the problem because they were the problem.

But Jesus went through life perfectly, never committing one little sin. That’s what qualified Him, and only Him, to go through the process of paying the price to God so mankind had the opportunity to have our sins erased as far as God was concerned.

The suffering that our Lord went through was so extreme that most’ probably all men would have died. Then Jesus had to carry His own Cross to Calvary, then He was nailed to it, and all of our sins were on that Cross with Him.

Jesus died on that Cross to pay your debt to God.

Father God accepted Jesus’ sacrifice. Why is that? Because three days later Jesus rose from that grave, fulfilling what the scriptures said, and also proving He had, and has still, victory over death.

So, by accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior, because of His works on the Cross, you to can be forgiven and come back into fellowship with God. And on top of that you will also have an eternal life. Oh,not in this age, but later in Heaven.

This is why we celebrate and should always be giving thanks, to the birth of the Christ Child. Who brought us Light and Salvation!

So I want to close with 1 John 1:5-7,
•This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

So if Jesus lives in you how are you doing with the sacrifice He gave to you.

If you haven’t asked Jesus, the Light of the world, into your life, why are you waiting, come to Him just as you are.

One last thought, let us all be thankful to God for providing this Light of Jesus that we so much needed.