Christmas Thoughts

From John Collins, Evangelist:

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 (NKJV).

“And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:40 (NKJV).

Jesus came to be our Savior, to teach us and to die for us. As you go through life, you are to look to Jesus to care for you, to guide you and to strengthen you. The human spirit is strong and can withstand more than you could ever imagine.

Jesus is strong in spirit and knows your weaknesses. He knows what scares you, what intimidates you and what you avoid. Jesus is there to help you face your fears and conquer what you thought you couldn’t. Jesus will listen to you and will help you.

Faith in the Lord allows your spirit to have courage. Hope in the Lord allows your spirit the freedom from worry and that confidence allows you to serve the Lord honestly. The human spirit is capable of being beat up, smashed down and trampled upon and it will still get up and fight. The spirit of a person is a gift from God and faith in His Son is the eternal blessing.

If you are in the need of encouragement just look to Jesus and His life and you will find it. Look to the character of Jesus and you will find the beauty and grace of God. Look to the Son to find the hope of all of your tomorrows and you will know that the spirit that is inside of you is made of strong stuff indeed.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN

Read more at John Collins Ministries or reach me personally at www.johncollinsministries.com

PASTOR JOHN COLLINS: CHRISTMAS RESTRAINT

From Pastor John Collins:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?” Matthew 6:24-25 (NKJV).

Black Friday is here and before you run out and break the bank, overload the credit cards and spend hard earned cash that you should not, please rethink this holiday season!!

One of the hardest lessons to learn in life is restraint. When to restrain yourself from acting, from speaking and from reacting in a manner that is expected from you. Just because the world, especially the United States has come to drive buying in excess to please our loved ones in some kind of celebration for the birth of Jesus Christ for some and just an excuse to shop for others does not mean that you need to buy into the nonsense.

Jesus Christ was NOT born on December 25th. Although you may believe that you are celebrating Him when your family opens its gifts on that cold December morning, I promise you that Jesus would rather you not go into debt, not struggle to pay your bills in order to buy those presents and He would rather you not buy those gifts and would rather you restrain yourself from the manic need to “show your love” through material means.

Jesus is about love, salvation, hope and eternal bliss. Don’t make this year the same as all of the rest instead choose to make this year a new tradition that includes all of the love and faith that you can summon with all of the joyous celebration that you can endure without partaking of the “Christmas Traditions” that celebrate materialism and not God.

And for those of you who have small children, please learn restraint. Christmas is not about filling up the space under the tree. If you do buy gifts, restrain yourself and limit your purchases. One gift is lovely and if opened with Jesus on your mind and not yourself, then that is a pure and true rejoicing in Him and not the excuse to give and receive. We should never think of Christmas as if it were OUR BIRTHDAY and therefore our right to receive gifts and the same goes for our children. It is not their birthdays. This holiday season, learn to restrain yourself.

“Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV).

LOVE THAT CROSS, PASTOR JOHN BELIEVE THAT