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”Why Do Christians Celebrate Christmas and Jesus’ Birthday?

Context: The Church I attend, EV Church, speaks at lunchtime groups around high schools on the central coast. Recently we have been telling kids why Christians celebrate Christmas.
I gave this talk one afternoon, (has slightly been altered) on the subject of  ”Why celebrate Christmas and Jesus’ Birthday”

G’day guys!

This week at flipside we’re talking about why we celebrate Christmas. Have you ever thought about that?
At Aprox 4-6BC Jesus Christ was born. A historian called Luke wrote down what happened. This is chapter 2 of his book, and this angel has just appeared to a group of shepherds, and they’re terrified.

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

The First thing you need to notice is that it says there is “good news” and it says the good news is ‘of great joy’. What is the good news? And why is it such a great joy?
Well the angel tells us what the news is in the next sentence: “Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you, he is Christ the Lord.

The good news is that the Jews have been waiting for a saviour, and he’s here! Someone to save the world. Now if the world was in trouble, and there was news that someone was going to save it, that would be a MASSIVE joy, wouldn’t it?
Now the obvious question now is what is wrong with the world?

It’s pretty obvious that there is something wrong with the world. You just need to watch the news to see that. The Bible says the main problem is actually us, humans. If you think about it, most of the stuffed up stuff we see is because humans, including you and me, do the wrong thing.

God is pretty angry with us for the way we’ve stuffed up His world and even worse, for the way we’ve treated him. So there’s something wrong with the world, but the bigger problem is that the ALL POWERFUL God of the Universe is angry at us, even me and you.

This verse says Jesus is the saviour… and  If Jesus has come to save us from God’s powerful anger, that’s good news!

Notice in also in the sentence that I read out earlier that it says the good news and great joy will be for ALL People. Every person needs a saviour, and every person can be saved by Jesus. I need to be, and I can be saved. Your best friend needs a saviour, and he can be saved. You need a saviour, and you can be saved by Jesus.

It’s good news for ALL people, but you need to accept Jesus as your saviour and King – see the verse says “He is Christ the Lord.” That’s telling us who Jesus is, the Lord – that’s not a word we use much, it means “King” or “ruler”.

Basically, it’s saying Jesus is the saviour and the ruler. You can’t come up to a king and say, I want you to save me but I don’t heaps want you to rule me… you come to a king recognising that he is the king or not at all.

So the good news is that there is a saviour for the world, for all people, even you. But you need to accept him as your saviour and make him your king.
I think this verse sums it up quite nicely. I’d like to share it with you.

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

It’s saying that if you believe in Jesus, God’s anger which we just talked about gets poured out on Jesus, instead of YOU and we get to spend forever with God. Which is why Christmas is EPIC, we get to celebrate Jesus being born, and the saviour we all need.
Have you made Jesus your saviour and your king?

Questions for Discussion:
  • What do you guys look forward to most at Christmas time?
  • Do you think Jesus is worth celebrating? Why/ or why not?
Articles

Myth: Christians Can’t Do Anything Wrong

Context: The Church I attend, EV Church, speaks at lunchtime groups around high schools on the central coast. Recently we have been telling kids, as Christians, what we arn’t saying, and trying to show them that there is alot of stuff that gives Christians bad raps, that isn’t true, or has been twisted.
I gave this talk one afternoon, (has slightly been altered) on the subject of  “What we’re not saying – Christians cant do anything wrong”

G’day guys!

Who surfs here?? Alot of Mum’s attempt to surf, maybe your mum has tried.  Most mum’s however, keep trying, but they keep falling down. Theres these things in life, that seem impossible, and you think why bother?

I was having a conversation with my sister a while back, and I asked her why she didnt come to church anymore. Her response was something along the lines of  “I don’t want to do all those good things Christians do, it is to hard to do everything right.”

Alot of people think this. They don’t want to become a Christian because they know they are not going to stop doing bad stuff and they don’t want to be a hypocrite. That’s exactly what my sister thought.

That’s why you need to understand what we’re not saying. We’re not saying Christians can’t do anything wrong.

We ALL have fallen down.  We ALL do bad stuff, and we WILL keep doing it. EVERYONE knows that.
That’s why we need a saviour, we need Jesus to save us.

If you want to go to heaven without Jesus, all you need to do is live a perfect life, never do anything wrong.
But see this fat part of the bible. “Show OLD TESTEMENT” – This whole part, before Jesus came, is about people trying to just that. Trying to obey Gods law perfectly. And you know what? EVERY single person, failed.

Thats why Jesus came!

If you trust in Jesus to save you, he brings you back to God, like you’ve never stuffed up, or fallen down.

I was at Wamberal beach with my mate Andy when the surf was MASSIVE. The sign said no swimming, but we decided to go out anyway. Huge waves crashing on us, we got straight in a rip, honestly, we both thought we were going to die.

Now imagine a lifeguard had come out, and dragged me back into shore. Threw me on the sand. Then he collapsed from exhaustion, and before my eyes, was dragged back into the water and drowned – His last breath, he says “don’t do that again”.

Would you want to do it again? OF COURSE NOT!

When Jesus saves you, you want to do what he says. You will try to do what he says. That’s what the piece of paper in front of you says. 1 John 2:1 “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin”. When Jesus saves you, you will want to try to do what he says.

But you will stuff it. Your not perfect. I know from experience – but it also says in that next sentence on the piece of paper. “But if anyone does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, Jesus Christ, the righteous one.”

Jesus says to God, it’s ok. I died to save that person. He’s forgiven.
Your stoked that Jesus would love you, even though you stuff it, so you get back up, and try to follow him again. And you stuff it again. And he forgives you. And you try again. And you stuff it again. And he forgives you.

Your sooooooo stoked. Because he keeps forgiving you.

Being a Christian doesn’t mean you can’t do anything wrong. It means you KNOW you HAVE done stuff wrong, but you know you’re saved by Jesus, and so you try to follow him, and you know that if you do the wrong thing, he forgives you, and it’s ok.

Questions for Discussion:

  • Why do you think people think Christians cant do anything wrong.
  • Whats so special about Jesus dying for us, why couldn’t Jo blog die to save my sins?