Rick Warren - Why So Many People Miss the Real Meaning of Christmas...

One of the questions that have been asked a lot

this Christmas is what do you want for Christmas? What

do you want this year? And there's been a lot

of gifts seeking over the last few weeks. You can

ask any child what do you want for Christmas? Or

what did you want for Christmas? And they will tell

you exactly what they wanted. You know, I heard this

story about this little boy that he kept every night

at dinner time. He was sitting down at the dinner

table with his family and he'd say, Mom and Dad,

I want to watch, I want to watch, I want

to watch. And finally his dad got so tired of it,

he said, if you mentioned this again, Bobby, you're not

going to get anything. You're not going to get it

for Christmas. And so the little boy knew he wanted

to keep reminding his parents, and so the next time

he sat down at dinner and he said, Mom and Dad,

I'd like to just quote a Bible verse. And his

dad said, well, that's great, go ahead and quote it.

He said, I'd like to quote where Jesus says in

Mark chapter thirteen, verse thirty seven, I tell you again watch.

You know, we spent a lot of this Christmas season, searching,

searching for the perfect gift, searching for the bargain gift,

searching for decorations, searching for parking spots. I just wonder

how many of you found everything you were looking for

this Christmas. I doubt it. You know a lot of

people missed the very first Christmas because they were too busy.

The politicians missed it, the businessmen missed it. The ndkeeper

missed it. The religious people missed it. The only people

who actually caught the true meaning of the First Christmas

were those who were looking for it. Shepherds found Jesus

because they looked for him. They were searching for him.

The Bible says in Luke chapter two, verses twelve and fifteen,

the Angel said, you will find the baby lying in

a manger, And the shepherd said, let's go and see.

Now you find what you look for. Later on, the

Bible tells us the wise men found Jesus because they

were looking for him. In Matthew two, verses one and two,

it says wise men came from the east, asking where

is the baby? Where is the baby? We've come to

worship him. You know, we really don't know much about

the wise men at that very first Christmas. All we

know is this, they were seekers. They were seekers, and

they found Jesus because they were looking for him. They

were searching for the truth, and they spared no expense.

I want us to think about that this Christmas. What

are you looking for this Christmas? I'm not talking about

the gifts, I'm not talking about the decorations, the wrapping.

What are you looking to happen in your Christmas this year?

One of the great promises of the Bible is Matthew seven,

verse seven, where Jesus says, seek and you will find

circle that word you seek and you will find. That's

a promise to you. God says, if you seek me,

you're going to find me. A recent national and actually

worldwide survey revealed the questions that people ask most often

about life. And I read that just recently, and here's

what it said. These are the top questions people ask

around the world. Why am I here? What am I

here for? What is the purpose of it all? What's

the purpose of life? Why do I exist? Where did

I come from, Where am I going? And what am

I here for? Is there a God? And if so,

what is he like now? When you think about those

questions I just listened. Where do you think those thoughts

came from? God? Put those questions in our mind. God

is creating in us a spiritual hunger so that we

will seek Him. And this is what Christmas is all about.

The shepherds found Jesus because they sought him. The wise

men found Jesus because they sought him. Everybody else missed

the first Christmas because they weren't looking for him. And

by the way, there's no better time than Christmas to

seek God. Now what am I going to find if

I actually seek Jesus at Christmas? Well, the Bible tells

us that God has three gifts that he wants you

to find this Christmas. He wants you to find these

gifts under your Christmas tree, and you will find them,

the Bible promises if you will seek for them. Number one,

you can find forgiveness. You can find forgiveness at Christmas

if you seek it. In Luke chapter two, verse eleven,

one of the very first things the angel said was

this today your savior was born, and he is Christ,

the Lord. Now Jesus came to save us. He didn't

come to scare us. A lot of people think God

is all about condemnation. But Jesus said, I didn't come

to condemn the world. He said, I came to save

the world. Now, why in the world do I need

a savior? Well, let me just explain it as simply

as I can. The Bible tells us that Heaven is

a perfect place. The Bible says that you were made

to last forever. God doesn't want you to just live

sixty eighty or at the most one hundred years here

on this planet. God wants you to live in eternity

with Him forever. But Heaven is a perfect place. No sadness,

no sorrow, no sickness, no suffering, no sin, no jealousy,

no grief, no guilt, no grudges, no shame. Heaven is

a perfect place. And here's the second thing. And this

is a downer. This is the discouraging part. Only perfect

people get to live there, because if God let imperfect

people live in a perfect place, it wouldn't be perfect anymore. Well,

that means I don't stay at the chance of getting

into Heaven on my own merit, on my own effort.

I blew my chance to be perfect about the third

minute of my life because I started making bad choices,

and so did you. Because of that, we all need

a savior. How do I let Christ save me? It's

not very hard. I let Christ save me by admitting

I need a savior. That's it. That's it. I just

admit I need a savior that I can't save myself.

If you think, well, I'm a good person, well I

do have more good works than bad works. Well you

probably do. You're probably a better person than me. But

God doesn't grade on a curve. Heaven is perfect and

I'm not. And if Heaven is one hundred percent, and

let's say, you know, let's put Mother Teresa at ninety

nine percent, in Hitler at zero percent, and you're probably

at eighty percent, and I'm down here about fourteen. The

point is none of us make it. You see, we

don't realize how desperate we need a savior. Believe me,

if you didn't need a savior, God wouldn't have wasted

time to send one at Christmas. So the first thing

you will find at Christmas is salvation or forgiveness, if

you will just admit it. The problem is we won't

ask for help. We just keep trying. Let me give

you some advice. This Christmas. Relax, Relax, take a deep breath,

let it out. Stop trying to earn God's love. You're

never going to earn God's love. It is given to

you as a gift. God loves you unconditionally, unconditionally, and

so you just relax and you receive his forgiveness and

you receive his salvation. The good news of Christmas is

a savior has been born for you. You can't earn

your way to heaven. You're not good enough, and neither

of mine, no one is. But God sent his own son,

He came to earth, lived to perfect life, life, and

all we have to do is simply believe and receive.

Here's what the Bible says, Acts ten forty three. All

who believe in Jesus will be forgiven of their sins

through his name. All who believe in Jesus will not

might will be forgiven of their sins to his name.

Wouldn't you like to have that this Christmas? The fact

is we all have regrets, we all carry things we

feel guilty about, we all carry shame. And God offers

you the gift of a clear conscience that is priceless.

How do I get it? You simply seek it. You

can find forgiveness if you'll seek Jesus this Christmas number two.

The second thing you'll find at Christmas is peace of

mind if you will seek Jesus Christ. The Bible says

in Psalm one nineteen one sixty five, those who love

your teaching will find true peace. Those who love your

teaching will find your peace now. Piece is a word

that is used a lot today. The world uses peace

and all over the place. We don't have the slightest

idea of what real peace is. For many, peace means

drinking yourself until you're drinking until your numb and you

can't feel the pain anymore. For some people, peace means

frantically staying busy or moving from relationship to relationship to

avoid loneliness. It may mean hopping from one bed to

another in search for love. For many people, peace means

overworking to prove that you really matter. And for some people,

peace means trying all kinds of New Age gimmicks to

stop my hurt and go move from fad to fad

to fad, but nothing relieves the ache in my heart.

Let me tell you what real peace is. Real peace

is knowing that God will never stop loving me. Real

peace is knowing that God will never leave me alone.

Real peace is knowing that no matter what happens, God

will give me the strength to handle it. Real peace

is knowing that your kids, if you're a parent, are

making wise decisions because you taught them God's word as

a foundation for living.

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Do you have peace on earth, goodwill toward men? Do

you have the peace of God in your heart? Today?

See there are three things that will rob your peace

at Christmas time. Grief, guilt, and grudges. First, guilt can

rob your peace. It is impossible to feel guilty and

feel at peace at the same time. But God can

forgive you. He says, I will wash your sins away,

I will bury your sins. I will in the deepest

part of the sea. And then he puts up in

no fishing sign. God says you can be forgiven, and

God says your guilt can go. But also Christmas time

often brings up grief. I've been going through that. Grief

can bring up painful memories. The Bible says, cast all

your cares on Him, because He cares for you. The

bottom line is this, your pain matters to God. Your

pain matters to God. The third thing that will keep

you from having peace is grudges. And that's bitterness, it's resentment,

it's holding on to pain. The fact is you're going

to be hurt in life, and you got to let

it go. Some of you are still holding on to

hurts that were done to you five, ten, fifteen, twenty

years ago. And you think somehow that by holding on

to that pain, you're hurting them. You're not hurting them,

You're only hurting yourself. When you hold on to resentment,

when you hold on to bitterness, you're not hurting the

person that you're mad at. You're only hurting yourself. Some

of you are still allowing people from your past to

hurt you in the present. That's dumb. You got to

let it go, he said, But I can't forgive. I

just can't forgive them. That's why you need Jesus Christ.

That's why you need Jesus Christ. Matthew, Chapter eleven, verse

twenty nine. Jesus said this, Learn from me, and you

will find rest for your lives. He's talking about soul rest,

not just physical rest, not just emotional rest, but soul rest.

You can find this when you turn to Jesus, when

you search for him at Christmas. That's one another thing

you'll find. The angels found Jesus, the wise men found Jesus.

When you find Jesus, the third thing you're going to

find is eternal life. Eternal life. Now, let me give

you some of the facts of life. Let's just review these.

Number one, we're all made to last forever, but we're

all going to die someday. In fact, you're going to

spend more time in eternity than you spend on this

side of eternity. You're going to spend more time in

eternity than you do on earth. Now, if you know

you're going to die, and you know this life doesn't last,

and you know one day you're going to meet God,

only a fool we go all through life unprepared for

what you know is inevitable. You see, you're not really

ready to live until you're ready to die. And you

don't know what's worth living for unless you know what's

worth dying for. Here's the good news. God tells us

how to get ready. In Romans, chapter one, verse seventeen.

The Bible says, this, God makes us ready for heaven.

Are you listening, God make us ready for heaven when

we put our faith in Christ to save us. Remember

Christmas is all about a savior has been born for you.

When we put our faith in Christ to save us,

God makes us ready for heaven. The one who finds life,

and that's what I want you to find this Christmas.

The one who finds life will find it the trusting God.

And you know, here's the problem. We often don't know

what we're looking for in life. You know. We think

we're looking for happiness, or we think we're looking for success.

Maybe we think we're looking for love, or we're looking

for meaning, or maybe we think we're looking for purpose.

But what we're really looking for. What you're really looking

for is God. The Bible says, or Augustine said, our

hearts are restless until they find their rest in you. Now,

the angels said, seek for Jesus. Go to Jerusalem, go

to Bethlehem, go to the Manger, and you'll find him.

Here's the good news. All the time you may not

have been seeking God, God has been seeking you. Did

you know that, in fact, God has brought you to

this exact moment today, this Christmas season. First John, chapter five,

verse twenty says, this Christ, God's son has come. That's Christmas. Christ,

God's son has come to help us understand and find

the true God. This is what Christmas is all about.

Jesus came to Christmas to help us to find and

understand what God is all about. You know what Christmas is.

It's the celebration of an invasion that two thousand years ago,

God invaded Earth, and it's split history in the AD

and BC. If God had wanted to communicate to birds,

you would have become a bird. If he'd wanted to

communicate the cows, you would have become a cow. If

he wanted to communicate the dogs, he could have become

a dog. But God wanted to communicate the human beings,

who he became one of us. The word became flesh,

God incarnated, Jesus came in human form. Now, of all

the ways God could have entered the world, he came

the same way every one of us entered the world

as a baby. Why in the world would God humble

himself so much to be born as a baby, just

like all of us entered this world. Why, I'll tell

you why. Because nobody's afraid of a baby. And Jesus

came to save us, not to scare us. The Bible

says Jesus came to seek and to save those who

were lost. And I want you to listen to me

very closely this Christmas, No matter who you are no

matter what you've done, whether you're a religious person or

you have no religion at all. You may be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish,

you may be Buddhist or Baptist, or Muslim or Mormon.

You may be agnostic or atheist. You may have no

religion at all. It doesn't matter who you are, what

you've done, or who you've done it with. You matter

to God, and God is seeking you. Did you know

that a thousand years before you were born, God knew

that you would be at this point, at this service

right now listening to me teach you and talk to

you about how if you seek Jesus, you can find forgiveness,

you can find peace, you can find purpose, you can

find meeting in life. You see, the miracle of Christmas

didn't happen in some department store in New York City.

The Miracle of Christmas happened in Bethlehem two thousand years ago.

And God has these three gifts for you. He says,

I give you the gift of forgiveness. I give you

the gift of peace of mind. And I gave you

the gift of eternal life. And when you accept His Son,

those three gifts are wrapped up in one word. They

are the word salvation. Now, can you imagine going through

this Christmas and somebody gave you a gift and you

never opened it. And let's say, you know, three months

from to day, somebody comes and says, hey, how'd you

like my gift? And you say, oh, I'm so glad

you gave it to me, thank you for it. Unfortunately

I've just been too busy. I've never opened it. Well,

they would be offended because you had received a gift

from them that they spent time paying for and you

never opened it. But a lot of people celebrate Christmas

year after year after year after year after a year

and never open God's Christmas gift. God's Christmas gift is

the gift of say salvation, have you received that gift?

It's the gift of freedom, the forgiveness, power, purpose, peace,

It's the forgift of eternal life, new life. Now, these

gifts that God gives to you at Christmas, God's Christmas gift,

they're priceless. Undoubtedly there'll be some gifts that you probably

unwrapped that are aren't very you know, valuable. But when

God gives you gift, it's priceless. Jesus died on the

cross for your sins. It's personal, it's exactly what you need,

and it's permanent. It's going to last forever. There's some

gifts we get at Christmas that, by the year turns

around and we come to next Christmas, you won't even

remember them. But if you'll receive God's Christmas gift to you,

you'll remember the rest of your life. Where do I

find God's gift of peace and forgiveness and eternal life. Well,

let's go back to that verse Jeremiah twenty nine thirteen.

You will find me when can you seek Me with

all your heart? And if you'll seek for Jesus this Christmas,

not religion, not Churchianity, but a relationship with Jesus. If

you seek for that this Christmas, You're going to find

a new and deeper understanding of God, a new and

deeper understanding of your own life, of the problems you're facing,

and the answers to the problem that has been bothering

you all this previous year. You know, over two thousand

years ago, wise men came seeking Jesus. Wise people still do.

Wise people still seek Jesus this Christmas. I want to

challenge you to be a wise person. The wisest thing

you can do in your life is to receive Jesus Christ.

Now I'm going to pray this seeker's prayer. So would

you bow your head right now, and you don't have

to close your eyes. But as I say these words,

I want to ask you, invite you to follow me

in this prayer. You could just say me too, God,

or you can actually say these words repeat it after me.

What matters is not the words, but the humility of

your heart. Remember I said you have a savior when

you admit you need one. So it's power heads. Just

pray this prayer, Dear God, just say that in your

right Dear God, this Christmas, I want to thank you

for bringing me here to this service. I've known that

something was missing in my life. I just didn't know

what it was. I didn't know it was you. Dear God.

Thank you for seeking me even when I wasn't seeking you,

even when I ignored you. I want to know the

truth about you. I want to know the truth about myself.

I want to know the truth about life. And thank

you for sending Jesus Christ to Christmas. Jesus, I want

to get to know you. I want to put my

trust in you so as much as I know how

this Christmas I want to receive God's Christmas gift to me.

I want to receive the gift of salvation. And Jesus Christ,

I ask you to come into my life and heart

fill my life with your love. To Jesus Christ, as

I seek you today, I ask you to replace my

shame and my guilt and my unclear conscience with your forgiveness.

Please forgive all the wrong in my life. I accept

your gift of forgiveness, and Dear Jesus Christ, replace the

confusion and the worry and the stress and the fatigue

in my mind with your peace. I accept your gift

of peace. And Dear Jesus Christ, I accept your gift

of eternal life. And I ask you to accept me

into your heaven one day. And I humbly make this

Christmas request as a seeker today in Jesus' name. Amen, Hi, everybody,

this is Pastor Rick. I would like to thank you.

Thank you for being a part of our daily hope family.

I don't get to say that often enough, but your

generosity is helping us share the hope of Jesus with

people here at home and literally all around the world,

even in places where it's difficult and even dangerous to

get the good news. You know, I recently heard from

a woman named Eunice in Cameroon. Cameroon is a country

in Central Africa, and she wrote to me. She said,

Pastor Rick, I lost both my son and my daughter

in the war, and now I'm raising four grandchildren on

my own. I was overwhelmed with grief. But then she says,

but through the daily hope devotionals, I have found strength

and comfort and peace in God's word. So thank you

for helping me hold on to hope. Wow, that's powerful.

That's powerful, and that happened because your giving is helping

Eunus find the strength to carry on, to raise her

grandchildren and to keep trusting God even through the deep

loss of her kids. Now, right now, I wanted to

tell you about this because we have a special opportunity.

There's some generous friends who have offered a matching grant

that will double your gift. What that means is whatever

you give will be doubled. Okay, they'll match it. That

means whatever you give today will go twice as far

to reach even more people with God's word. So can

I ask you a favor. I want to give your

best gift you can today. Together, let's keep bringing the

hope of Jesus Christ to people like unus and to

the billions of other people who still need to hear.

There are still people who've never heard the name of Jesus.

We want to keep expanding to get the message to

the whole world, and I am so grateful that we

are in this mission together. God bless you.

When you give a gift today, your gift will be

doubled by the matching grant up to one hundred thousand dollars,

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say thanks.