Positioned on Purpose

  It’s getting to be that time of year again; and by “that time” I mean the most wonderful time of the year!  I don’t think it could possibly come at a BETTER time. I am ready for a whole trunk full of “JOY TO THE WORLD THE LORD HAS COME!”  

   I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the conditions that positioned Christ to be born into the world.  Luke, chapter 2 gives us our greatest glimpse of the birth of Christ.  Verse 5 says that "Joseph went to Bethlehem, the place that Jesus was supposed to be born to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with Child.”

   Think of this, the primary reason they were in Bethlehem was that it was TAX SEASON. The word “taxed” means “to place a heavy demand on someone’s powers or resources.”  

   Without a doubt, this has been a TAXING year for so many, and for so many reasons.  I want you to consider for just a moment that just maybe this TAXING season was for the purpose of POSITIONING us for Christ to be born into our lives in a special way! Could it be that what we have gone through was to get us in the RIGHT PLACE at the RIGHT TIME?

   I want to ask you, what area in your life or family do you need Christ to be born in this season? What are you believing Him for in the final days of this year? I believe that miraculous things are going to take place before years end, and the taxing season you have come through has only served to get you in a POSITION TO RECEIVE.  This Christmas, I want to invite you to join Pastor Steph and me in bringing a gift to the King. I want to stir your faith to believe that before this year is over, Emmanuel is going to SHOW UP right in the middle of your taxing season.

   I invite you to join me on Sunday, December 20th, for a special time of worship and giving.  I want to encourage you to consider the SEED that represents your NEED. You are in POSITION, and now it’s time to SOW. Steph and I love you and can’t wait to worship with you!

The Bible says in Luke 2:10 that on the night that Jesus was born, “the Angel of the Lord declared to the shepherds ‘FEAR NOT: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great JOY, which shall be to all people.’” I want you to hear it loud and clear today no matter what you are facing, FEAR NOT!!! Oh, what a beautiful and powerful message of Hope.

This is the message that we are desperate to hear. We have been walking through a season that has inspired fear, doubt, and anxiety in so many, it has been a mountain that seems unconquerable. Today, I want to encourage you, do not let your MOUNTAIN be greater than His MESSAGE! Fear not! Some of you might say, but Pastor, WHY NOT? If you knew what I’ve been facing, you would understand the reason for my fear. You need only to read the following verse to find the answer.

Luke 2:11 gives the reason why: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!!!” I want to shout it! There is a Savior! For every pain and every broken place there is a Savior! For every fear and every failure, there is a Savior! What has inspired fear and doubt in your life? What has seemed like a mountain that you have been unable to move? What has burdened you until it feels as if the weight of the world is on your shoulders? Allow me to speak these words over you today, FEAR NOT…there is a Savior!

He is still being born into impossible situations and He is still bringing peace. Where do you need Him to be born today? What is it that you desperately need Him to bring into your life? I believe that in this Christmas season, Emmanuel is going to come NEAR. Before this year is over He is going to be born into every area of your need!

I want to encourage you to join Pastor Steph and I on Sunday, December 20th, for a time of worship in our giving. Christmas is the season for gifts, and I want to invite you and your family to prepare a special gift for Christ on this day that is outside our normal giving. I believe that when you give, it will only make room for the gift He longs to place in your life.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Everywhere you look, you can see the SIGNS OF THE SEASON.  The carols and the bells, the lights and the trees are all signs of a very special season.  Sometimes all you need to see is a SIGN, then you know everything is going to be alright!  I want to encourage someone today who has been looking for a sign that God is still involved in your life and that He is still working it out for your good.

Luke 2:12 declares: “And this shall be a SIGN unto you; you will FIND the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” Jesus was the sign that the Jews had been waiting to see for generations. Yet, so many failed to recognize Him when He came.  I want to ask: What have you been looking for?  What sign have you been longing to see?

I want you to hear the words of the Angel to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth because there is purpose tied up in those three words “YOU WILL FIND!” Someone is about to FIND the SIGN that you have been longing to see. The sign that affirms He has not left you. The sign that confirms His great love for you and all that concerns you.  Jesus was the gift. That was the Father’s sign that He was making all things new again!  I don’t know what you are believing that God will make new again, but I believe that before the year is over, YOU WILL FIND!

I want to encourage you to sow a seed that becomes a sign this Christmas season.  On Sunday, December 20, we will gather for a special time of worship where we will bring a special gift before the Lord.  I believe that your SEED will become the SIGN that you’ve been longing to see…a sign that declares, “I am making all things new!

There is something powerful that takes place the moment we become willing to make an “exchange.”  God’s gift to humanity was a gift of exchange.  God the Father, so desperate to return humanity to a place of fellowship with Him, was willing to exchange His only Son that He might take away the sins of the world.  We are still being made alive by the power of this exchange.

Christmas is a season for exchange, a time for the giving and receiving of gifts.  The wise men that visited Christ came to worship Him and to lay their gifts at His feet.  They came, and they opened up their treasures and laid them before Christ.  It’s easy to focus on the GIFTS they brought, but I want to focus on WHAT THEY TOOK AWAY.  Can you imagine?  Sure, they had traveled a long way, and sure, they had brought expensive gifts, but none of that could compare to the treasures that they took away!  They had been face-to-face with Jesus, and they would never be the same!  At that moment, they made a glorious exchange!

As we prepare to give our gifts to God this Christmas, I want you to prepare your heart to make an exchange.  When we open our lives and give sacrificially, it only makes room for us to receive what God the Father is so ready to give.  He has made it possible for us to make the most significant exchange of our lives.  Anytime you make an exchange with God, what you take away is always greater than what you give.

At Christmas, we sow a special seed, a sacrificial seed beyond the normal tithe, but I don’t want you to focus on what you are giving.  I want you to focus on what you are believing to take away.  It doesn’t matter the area of your need because the Father’s gift has covered it all!  He is standing, waiting for you to come to the place of exchange where He can release His Glory into every area of your life!  Pastor Steph and I love you, and we can’t wait to hear the incredible testimonies of what God does in the few days that remain in 2020!