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In the end light wins, darkness loses. Why? Because we have Jesus.

He is our Unwavering Certainty in the midst of uncertainty. He is our Sacrificial Savior who covers us in his love when we are prone to fear. He's our Overflowing Abundance when scarcity whispers, "Protect what is yours, there’s not enough to go around." He is our Almighty King, our Righteous Redeemer and in the end He will be the one still standing and we will see Him with our own eyes and when we see Him, what was lost will be found and what was broken will be redeemed, the darkness will be no more and we will celebrate Christmas, like we have never celebrated before...

Christmas is an epic, fear-not story, and you are invited to join the story!

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The angels said to the shepherds, "For a savior has been born to you..." That to you was just for them, it includes us. Listen to me, the glory of Christmas is not that God was born in a mess without a family, it's that He welcomes messy people into his family. This is Jesus' trademark. He wasn't born in a gated community or a palace with guards. He was born to us and there is no us that is not welcome to come home. Messy people have been drawn to Jesus for thousands of years, and He's been drawn to them.

And because of that...your best Christmas is yet to come!

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I love the iconic manger images of little baby Jesus, but I have to be honest, it's full-grown Jesus with whom I want to be side-by-side. It's the one who stilled the storm, fed the crowd, healed the outcasts and noticed those in the margins of life. It's the one who could gather a crowd but loved you one-on-one. It's the one who
riled up the religious leaders, confused the politicians, scared the hell out of Satan, and loved his enemies all the way to the cross. It's his steps I want to follow. Grown-up Jesus.

In this Cosmic Christmas battle, we need more than a baby. We need a King! And that's what we have and because of our King, in the end Christmas wins!

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Revelation 12 does not describe a merry, little Christmas. Christmas is a holy war, a cosmic battle for the glory of God, with a vicious villian. Like Frodo and his fellowship against Sauron in the Lord of the Rings, or Iron Man against Thanos, even Little Red Riding Hood against the Big Bad Wolf. A cosmic battle agnst the hosts of darkness. We live in a culture that sees evil as a disease, a pyschological sickness, but the Bible describes evil as personal, malicious and dangerous.

That first Christmas led to war in heaven. Christmas is a cosmic invasion in the epic battle between God and evil; between darkness and light. And guess who wins?

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I used to pray, God put me in the place where you can use me the best, but these last few years, my prayer has changed, now it’s God put me in the place where you can love me the best. And isn't this what Jesus is saying is the reward of those who have little strength and keep his word and love his name? Yes, sure this is an open door to make a difference. This is the church that will feed a hungry world and love their neighbors all the way to Jesus.

But don't miss this. If we don't have intimacy with Christ, we won't make an impact for Christ. As you listen to this episode, I hope a point comes where you pause and ask yourself, "What if that's Jesus knocking on my door?"

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So in this episode and the next we are going to hit the last two letters, but I’m going to deal with them together…because they go well together. They go well together because they both reference a door. The church of Philadelphia has an open door. The church of Laodecia has a closed door.

Will this Christmas bring you an open door, or a closed door?

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In this episode we will look at two "Christmas" letters, one to Thyatira and one to Sardis. With both churches there is this sense of unfinished business. There's a need to keep progressing, keep growing, keep become more of a force for good and God. With Thyatira, it was a bit more of a commendation and with Sardis it was a bit more of an urgent diagnosis. Both churches had good and bad; but both also have this theme of preserving growth. Sometimes in the church and perhaps even in our personal lives we find ourselves exerting a lot of energy, putting on a lot of programs but not really strengthening what matters, not really growing in areas that count.

If we want to honor Jesus on his birthday, perhaps the gift of spritual growth would put a smile on His face, so consider this a bit of a Christmas guide to growth!

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Today we go back to our Calvary series...ONE CHRISTMAS. And it dovetails well with our regular series, "Come Lord Jesus." Because it's all about having one Christmas that Jesus will never forget. AND it's all about joy.

You are pursued. You are invited. There are still empty seats around His table and around His table, the joy overflows! He's inviting us to a Christmas party that could change your world!