For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:8-10 ESV

Warrior;
Merry Christmas. Why do we give at Christmas? Because He first gave to us! It is written; We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) This is the gift of JESUS, the GIFT OF GOD! These verses show a double gift, a double blessing! Not only are we given the GIFT OF GOD, JESUS. We are also given the ability to participate in HIS GOOD WORKS. He even tells us He has planned, and prepared GREAT THINGS for us to do, if we are just AVAILABLE and WILLING. We tend to categorize certain scriptures as part of the Christmas story and many others as irrelevant to the Christmas story. May I posit that the Bible is The Christmas Story, that is the GOOD NEWS, that is why it is called the GOSPEL! All throughout the Bible do we get to understand the GIFT OF JESUS, which is CHRISTMAS. Hear the Word of the Lord; According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. (1 Corinthians 3:10-13) Are you picking up on all the gifts of Jesus? GRACE, MERCY, A FOUNDATION. Without a foundation, NOTHING matters! You will build your life, only to see it washed away by the storms of life!

Leader, hear the WISDOM of GOD: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Matthew 7:24-27) Without a FIRM FOUNDATION, then whatever we build will eventually collapse. With the GIFT OF GOD of FOUNDATION, we also get WISDOM. James 3:13-18 agrees with the writer of Proverbs when they both posit that all WISDOM comes from God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth comes knowledge and understanding. (Proverbs 2:6) Hear the Word of the Lord; And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31) Jesus is the Christmas gifts of WISDOM, RIGHTEOUSNESS, SANCTIFICATION and REDEMPTION. Why can NO MAN BOAST? Because they are GIFTS, not earned, but GIVEN! The gift of the foundation brought about wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, grace, mercy and so many other gifts. May I close with one final gift to consider? One might say this is one of the GREATEST GIFTS of JESUS, and that GIFT is PEACE! We can never have the PEACE OF GOD, until we can have PEACE with GOD, and that PEACE IS JESUS! Yahweh Shalom!

Conduit, what do so many people love about Christmas even though they don’t know the CHRIST of Christmas? I would believe it is PEACE. You see this was the original promise of God given to us through the ArchAngel Gabriel. Hear the Word of the Lord; And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:10-14) When we have PEACE with GOD then our World View changes. Those changes create a chain reaction in our attitudes, our behaviors, and our environment. This is the attitude Paul had, and the attitude we should also have; “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of the King. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing King Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain the King and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in the King, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” (Philippians 3:7-9) I replaced the word CHRIST with KING to remind you of another GIFT. We have unmerited favor- that means a GIFT! We are children of THE KING; we have been ADOPTED. If you are a male, you are a PRINCE, if you are a female, you are a PRINCESS. Again, these are GIFTS OF JESUS. If you have the GIFT of unmerited favor, then QUIT PLAYING VICTIM! You can’t have unmerited favor and claim victim status- decide! That decision alone can be a great gift to you and your world! Remember, beyond all the wrapping paper- celebrate the REASON for ALL SEASONS, JESUS! NO Jesus, NO PEACE. KNOW JESUS, KNOW PEACE! Merry Christmas.