Please make plans to join us for Christmas Eve Services on December 24. There will be a 4:00 p.m. service at our Springdale Campus and a 5:00 p.m. service at our Pinnacle Campus. We will be having a special time of baptism at both services. Please come dressed casual, formal, or however you normally dress for Christmas Eve. The services will last approximately forty minutes in length. Please bring your family and friends who might be in town visiting for the Christmas Holiday. Make plans to be a part of this wonderful night as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

I feel overwhelmed with joy as I write this post. My heart is grateful for the Lord’s provision. I certainly don’t deserve the blessed life He has given me.

On this day, sixteen years ago, I became spiritually alive. The Father made me a new creation. Through Jesus I won total victory.

This Christmas I have a new son. My life is different. My perspective has been transformed by a new love, unique to this little boy.

The night I experienced salvation, my father was reading the story of The Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke. Though I had heard it several times before, the Spirit illumined new truths. I saw the Father’s forgiveness in contrast to the outright rebellion of the son.

I look at Will, my 6 day old son, and a wonderful, new love flows from the wellspring of my heart, the Source being Christ Jesus.

Christmas is a celebration of new life. The celebration of a Savior who emptying himself, laid aside a throne, a crown, and robe. Amazingly, He traded heaven for a manger, rags, and a tiny human body. What a sacrifice of love!

The love the Father had for His Son is beyond our understanding. That He was willing to send Jesus to rescue us exceeds all human comprehension.

Christmas means different things to different people. But to me it means new life. It’s all around me.

It is seen in the birth of my son. It is remembered in the celebration of my salvation. It is proclaimed through the heavens and the earth, Jesus is everything.

He has come to bring new life.

As a child, one of my favorite things to do around this time of year was coming up with my Christmas list. I can remember spending hours going through catalogues and ads in the newspaper trying to create the perfect list with the hope that when Christmas day came, there might be a few of my choices under the tree. For most of my life, I never realized that God had included a list in His Christmas story as well. Although we often miss it, the book of Matthew begins not with the birth of Jesus but with a list.

This list is clearly different than most of ours. While we list numerous “things” that we want, God used his list to describe the type of people He had used to usher in the birth of Jesus. A few of these people wouldn’t have been a surprise as he included some of the great men of the Old Testament such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and King David.

Then, out of nowhere, God did something very interesting with his list. He began to include some unexpected names of people that nobody would have guessed to be the genealogy of Jesus. He included Tamar, a woman known for her deception in the book of Genesis. Next came Rahab, a known prostitute that God chose to use in the book of Joshua. Later came an outsider named Ruth, who had not even known there was a God most of her life but was welcomed nonetheless by a man named Boaz. Finally, He included a woman named Bathsheba, a woman known more for her adultery than any of her other actions in Scripture.

The question then becomes, “Why??” Why would God add these imperfect people to his perfect list? Why would He use the lives of these people to usher in the greatest event in human history- Jesus’ birth? The answer to this question is simple. He did this to show you that no matter who you are and no matter what you have done, Jesus was sent into the world as His gift of love to you. He did not come for the elite, the wealthy, and the religious alone, but for everyone.

From the beginning of time to Christmas 2009, God has chosen imperfect people to accomplish great things for Him. May God’s Christmas list remind you how valuable you are to Him and encourage you to show that same type of love to those around you.

The past few years I feel like I have not really taken full advantage of the Christmas season. Maybe I’m just getting older and the responsibilities of work and family don’t allow me hours upon hours to sit and watch Christmas movies on TBS all during this season. I told my wife a few weeks ago something like this, “I don’t want to miss it. I want to go all out.”

For me this means getting in the Christmas spirit. I want to listen to Christmas music and watch Christmas movies. There’s just nothing like Christmas! The whole world revolves around the Christmas season as people put up lights, get a little nicer, play Christmas music in their stores, and just enjoy the benefits of the Christmas season. I love Christmas if you can’t tell.

However, if I’m giving an honest assessment of how I’m doing this year, I think I’m falling into the same trap as the other years. My wife and I have watched, “Miracle on 34th Street” and I did catch the end of “Home Alone 2” the other day, but I still don’t feel I’ve taken full advantage of this season so far. I’ve not listened to a lot of Christmas music and not once, I tell you, not once have I taken a trip to the old school and listened to Amy Grant’s classic, “A Tender Tennessee Christmas.” Yes, the Christmas season is passing away and I may be missing it again.

How much worse would it be for us to go through Christmas and miss Jesus. Yes, we’ve listened to all the songs, watched all the movies, drank all the cider, but have left out Jesus. I want to encourage you to not miss Christ in the midst of CHRISTmas. It seems funny to say, but how many of us are doing that very thing? Is it all about the presents and feelings and not about the Savior who we celebrate? I encourage you to not miss Jesus this Christmas. Take some time and figure out how you and your family will celebrate Jesus this year above all. Don’t miss Him this Christmas!

This past weekend was a challenging schedule for me. With our Shiloh Football Team playing in Little Rock, we drove to Little Rock and enjoyed our time there.  What did we enjoy the most?   Winning the state championship 56-20. Congratulations to our Shiloh team, both coaches and players.

Since the game was an evening game, we got home on Sunday morning about 1:20 a.m. and got to sleep about 2:00 a.m. The challenge from there was getting up the next morning.  While we had a Christmas music presentation on Sunday morning at Springdale, I preached at our Pinnacle Hills location.

Following that, I rushed home, ate a quick bite, and prepared to return for two more Christmas musical presentations at our Springdale location. The Lord provided me the strength to move through the day and the entire weekend.  Thanks Lord!

I am grateful for the wonderful Christmas presentation of our Springdale Choir and Orchestra under the leadership of Kim Noblitt and Chris Emert. Thanks to all of you for a wonderful, worshipful presentation.  I am most grateful to each of you, believe in you, and love you.  There is no time of the year like Christmas!

What a schedule!

Date: Sunday, December 13th
Time: 3:00 and 6:00 PM
Location: First Baptist Church of Springdale (Click for directions)

A Christmas Worship Experience at the First Baptist Church of Springdale! Children, students, and special characters will bring excitement to you and your family as they join forces with 150 voices and a 30-piece orchestra. Two performance times makes this a great opportunity to invite others to enjoy the true spirit of this blessed season. Free admission.