3 Steps To Putting Christ Back Into Christmas

All the running around, planning, gift buying, traveling, and other craziness during the Christmas season makes it very hard to slow down and remember that Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus. Most people's busy lifestyles don't allow them to spend a lot of time focusing on this. But, I don't think one has to spent a lot of time in order to put Christ back into Christmas.

Here are 3 Steps to putting Christ back into Christmas

1. Honor Christ through service/commitment

I believe the first and most important way to put Christ back into Christmas is to find your ministry and serve Christ. This is something that all Christians should do year round, but the Christmas Advent season is a great time to make a commitment and start going back to Church or to serve in other ways.

2. On Christmas Day and/or Christmas Eve do this:

Sing Happy Birthday - We sing the happy birthday song to almost everyone else on their birthdays, why not for Jesus? You may even want to decorate the Christmas dinner cake or dessert in His honor.
Write a Thank You Note - Take just a few minutes and sit down with your children and have them write a list of why they are thankful Jesus was born. Then, share your lists with each other and use them when time to pray for dinner.
Read Matthew 5, 6, & 7 - Take a few minutes and read what is commonly called the "Christian Faith's Magna Charta" which celebrates Jesus' birth and what he taught in life. This will help you and your family focus on Jesus' message of love, compassion, and service.

3. Do this Every Day:

Talk with Jesus - Talking with Jesus doesn't mean you have to be kneeling next to your bed or bowing at a table. Talking with Jesus is something that we can do all the time. However, during the Christmas season, we should spend a little more time talking to Him and remembering his birth and sacrifice.
Pray for Someone Else - Again, something that Christians should do year-round, but during Christmas it is especially important. Identify someone who really needs prayer and call upon Jesus to heal them physically, mentally, economically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Be a witness - The best way we can put Christ back into Christmas is through sharing the good news of the Savior. If there is any time during the year to be a good witness for Christ, it is during Christmas!

Please join the Good Fight for the Faith by sharing this message with others.

by James Apple Jr.

How to Witness to an Atheist

How to Witness to an Atheist

The first step to witnessing to an atheist is understanding the character of most atheists. Most atheists are arrogant and possess intellectual barriers that will keep them from hearing the truth. Basically, they believe that Christians are ignorant blind followers of superstition that have not yet been enlightened by the so called "scientific facts" of evolution that are based on hypothetical theory.

FYI, there is no real difference between an atheists, deists, and agnostic. All three set themselves as #1 in the universe and are accountable to no one! The only noticeable difference is the atheist believes there is no God, the deist believes there was a God, but for some reason went on a permanent vacation and the agnostic doesn't know for sure and is does not care.

One noticeable trait of an atheist is most of the time when confronted by a Christian he/she will typically disregard the Christian off with an attitude because they do not believe Christians have anything interesting to tell them. This is a good time to say something like, "Oh, you an atheist huh? You must be really out of touch with reality."

This will usually cause quite the reaction because atheist believe they have been "enlighten" by what they believe is scientific facts such as the Big Band Theory and evolution. Which the chances of life happening by chance are probably somewhere around 99 million to the millionth power.  Remember, we with all our great scientific advances still cannot create life, but this somehow happened all by its lonesome self. Atheist call Christians ignorant for believing in a higher being, but they themselves believe in something that the odds clearly point to being utterly impossible. For me, the odds point straight to the existence of a creator. Creation by God is the only plausible explanation. It is crazy to believe otherwise!

Because atheists do not believe in GOD, they believe that everything is made up of nothing more than physics and matter. Basically, the chemical makeup of the human brain is no different than our closest living relatives, the monkey and apes (believed true by Atheists); the only difference is the amount and arrangement of the exact same materials. But there is something very unique about the human brain from other brains. The human brain knows the difference between good and bad, right and wrong, and sin and holiness. You see! Molecules do not have the ability to decide between these things, but somehow our brain has the special ability to do so.

As much as I love animals and believe that they are intelligent and understand many things; there is one thing they cannot understand. They do not understand or comprehend values and morals like we do. Imagine a loyal dog that just witnessed its owner murdered during a robbery of their home. The dog may be sad or upset that its owner is dead, but will never understand that it was wrong and a sin for the robber to take its owner’s life. How do I know this is true? Because the killer can steal the dog too and the dog will learn to love him the same as its first master as long as the dog's needs are met. Could you love a murderer that killed your beloved master?

So, what makes us different from animals? We already know that the chemical make-up of our brains is practically the same! I believe it is because humans are God’s most special creation. God put a little something extra in us; he made us in His image!

Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

You see! In order for an Atheist to believe that there is a living God, she/he must first believe that they are made of more than just molecules and matter. They must understand that they were given a spirit by God so that they can have a special relationship with Him. This spirit is what makes us different from our loved intelligent animal friends. This spirit is what gives us the ability to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong, and sin and holiness.

This spirit that gives us our God-given conscience to understand that murder is wrong, is the same spirit that will live forever somewhere.

God wants that forever to be with HIM!

Please join me in a prayer for Atheists everywhere to finally understand how special they are to our loving Lord. Pray that they finally give their hearts, minds, and SPIRITS over to their loving Father in Heaven.