The True Meaning of Christmas.

Sometimes with all the hustle and bustle we forget what Christmas is really all about.  This is a story that I came across a few years ago that reminds me of what the true meaning of Christmas is.  I hope you enjoy it.

Author - Dr. Scott Brooksby.

When I was a child of about twelve years old, we had a Christmas that I have never forgotten. We grew up in humble means to say the least, but we generally always had one or two gifts under the tree even if they were only socks and underwear.

During this particular Christmas, by good fortune we had many gifts. For the first time in a long time, we received a lot of the things we actually wanted. I was one of seven children, so this was a very big deal. We were all so excited and could hardly wait until Christmas morning.
However, on that Christmas Eve, after careful reflection and much heated discussion, my father decided that it was much too much, and that in this frenzy that we had lost the true meaning of Christmas.
With much trepidation, we were instructed to hand over all but one of our unopened gifts. There was some crying, some anger, some shock and disbelief. What happened next truly astounded us. My father loaded all those gifts into his truck and we all piled in. We went from house to house in our community and handed out our things. Some of the families we knew, some we didn't. All were as poor as we were. Some had no gifts except for ours. As that truck rounded corner after corner, slowly, very slowly, the anger left. The shock and disbelief vanished and were replaced with a different sort of emotion. We all started to feel an overwhelming sense of joy in this service. The mark that this experience left on our lives has changed the way we look at Christmas forever.
Never before had I grasped what Christmas was truly about. It is about unselfish giving. Not of toys or gifts, but giving of ourselves. It was of Christ who would gave the ultimate gift of eternal life.
That experience taught us that at the celebration of his birth, our "giving" should reflect his ultimate sacrifice. He gave the whole of his life in our service and for our sake showing us His love. Hence the best gift we can give to others at Christmas is our time, sharing our talents, and genuine love, as acts of kindness.

My First Logan-Todd Associational Meeting

I had the privilege of attending my first Associational Meeting a couple of weeks ago at Walnut Grove Baptist.  It was a blessing in spirit and in body (Baptists always know how to feed a fellowship)!  I heard some great reports, wonderful testimonies of God’s working in our state and around the world, not to mention a great sermon from our Executive Director of the KBC, Dr. Paul Chitwood.

One of the written reports was a summary of the ACPs, (Annual Church Profile Letters) from the churches.  My eye quickly went to the Second Baptist line and started comparing numbers.  Here is what I saw.  SBC was second in baptisms (19), first in total additions (32), third in Sunday School Attendance (203), first in worship attendance (330), second in VBS attendance (275), third in total monies given ($571,375), and fourth in missions giving ($76,771).

Now before you begin to scold me for comparing our church to others, I am well aware that we are not in competition with our sister churches.  We are all on the same team, serving the same Lord, and have the same goal.  That is, to win others to Christ.  “We are Second, Where He is First”!  It’s not about us, but all about Him, but numbers do give us a good picture of the health of a church.  Check the Book of Acts on God’s reporting of numbers in His church and you’ll see that numbers are very important to Jesus because each number represents a person.

With that in mind, let me give you some thoughts we need to dwell on as we go forward this year.

1.  God is blessing, so we must be doing some things right.

     Let’s keep witnessing, working, praying, and inviting others to know Christ who died
     for them. God always blesses that and I love His blessings!

2.  Seeing God’s church grow should encourage us to stay faithful.

     God does reward our work (1 Corinthians 15:58)!

3.  Knowing the potential for even greater fruit for Him should create in us a desire to be even 

     more dedicated to His kingdom work.

We are having our Fall Revival Nov. 4-7.  Be here, bring someone, pray that we might all be moved to do even greater things for Jesus (Ephesians 3:20).