December 22, 2022
Download MP3 (right click to save)
One of the beautiful things to see on the news at Christmastime is soldiers coming home. Boy, we've seen it over the years, and coming from sometimes war torn places in the world. But there was a Christmas not too long ago, and that was not Amy's story. I had met her at a dinner I had spoken at and she was stressed. See, she had just gotten called up to go to Afghanistan at that time. So as the Christmas displays were lighting up everything, Amy was saying goodbye to the people she loved and leaving for the battlefield. By the way, God knows that feeling.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where the Battle is This Christmas."
Yeah, Jesus knows how that feels. That's actually what the Son of God was doing that first Christmas. He actually left the safety - the glory of heaven - to come to this battlefield where we live. Imagine this: The Creator of a hundred billion galaxies, of the stars, the moon, the sun, and this planet and everyone on it. The Bible says, "Worshiped by angels." The book of Revelation tells us "He is worshiped by 10,000 times 10,000 angels." That's a hundred million angels!
Now, listen to our word for today from the Word of God in John 1:14. It says, "He became human and made His home among us." And, when He came, of course, His life began not in a palace, but in a stable and it ended on a cross. You say, "Well, poor Jesus. That's so sad that happened to Him; that He was a victim of that violence." Jesus was not a victim. He said in John 10:18, "No one takes my life from me. I lay it down myself." He said, "I am the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep." He chose to come here. He chose to let them strip him and beat him. He chose to let them mock and ridicule him, and to drive nails through his hands and feet, and to hang on that brutal cross. They couldn't do that to him without his permission! He made the men who nailed him to the cross. He made the tree they nailed him to.
But He had come here to do battle with the monster that has ruined so many things; so many things you and I care about. It's called sin. It's not breaking somebody's religious rules. Sin is the "all about me" choices that we've all made. Who hasn't?
Ultimately, we've hijacked our lives from the God who gave us our life. Where does that take us: broken relationships, broken promises, broken dreams, broken marriages, broken hearts. And Jesus won when He came and paid our death penalty on that cross.
In Isaiah 53, the Bible says this, "the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." The punishment that made peace in my heart - peace with God possible - was upon Jesus. The sacrifice on that cross was something not just historic, not just religious, but it's deeply personal.
One of the writers of the Bible put it this way, "God loved me and gave Himself for me." He did that so you could be forgiven; so you could be with Him forever in heaven some day.
So, now guess where the battle is? It's in your soul. You can feel it. It's over whether or not you will put all your trust, and pin all your hopes on Him. And that battle can be over today if you'll just say, "Jesus, You who loved me enough to die for me; You who was powerful enough to walk out of Your grave, this Christmas I want to be Yours. I want to be forgiven. I want to know I'll be with You forever." Tell Him that now.
And as a next step, go to our website. Simply because there you'll find out you'll have information that will help you be sure you belong to Him from this day on. That website is ANewStory.com. When you open your heart to Jesus, the battle is finally over and the peace comes to your soul.