Let's talk about Christmas. Now, I know there are many
Christians who don't celebrate Christmas.
They believe it's Pagan. And if we do look at the history
of Christmas, we can't dispute that it is Pagan.
There's no two ways about it. And the other thing you've got
to remember is this. When we look at, you know, all
of the tinsel, all of the lights, all of the trees, Santa
Claus, all of it, I think it's the very opposite thing that
Jesus came into the world to save us for.
He didn't want us to live this life full of glitz and glamour
and basically worldliness. But whether you celebrate
Christmas or not, one thing you also cannot deny, and it's this.
As an evangelist, Christmas is a tremendous time for us to share
the gospel. It's like one of the only times
in the year where you will get unbelievers who will come in
droves into churches and they will sit under the gospel
preaching of a minister. Now sadly, many churches do sell
out. They don't share the gospel and
they make it more about, you know, chocolate and and
different things. And they don't really share the
true message of the Bible. But as an evangelist, I
personally think Christmas, it is a wonderful time to share the
message of the cross, the message from the crib to the
cross where Jesus came into this world and died for sinners.
And that's really what I want to do with you today, if that's OK.
I want to tell you a little bit about Jesus.
Now, welcome to my kitchen. This is where we make all of our
food. And I'm going to just make a
little cup of coffee, if that's all right with you.
I'm not sure. If you're a coffee fan.
I would love to pour you a drink, so maybe this is a good
chance for you to pause the video and also to get a a cup of
coffee. I don't know what kind of coffee
you like to drink personally, and my wife's got me into
organic coffee, so we're going to be having some organic
Colombian roast today. OK, so and let me see if I can
multitask as we do this. This is the first time I've ever
felt paranoid about making a cup of coffee That I'm being watched
by. How many people are watching
this video? I don't know.
So back to Christmas. If I ask you what is your
favorite Christmas song, I wonder what you'll say now
again, you might not celebrate Christmas.
You might hate it. And and for a lot of people,
let's be honest, Christmas can be a terribly stressful time
where you've got to get presents for all of your family.
And it can also be a very lonely time.
If you're not married or if you're going through a divorce,
Christmas is. It really emphasizes that it
zooms in on all the problems of life.
But let's just pretend, you know, there are people here who
do like Christmas, and this is what I'd say to an unbeliever.
I'd ask them, what's your favorite Christmas song?
Perhaps you like Mariah Carey. All I want for Christmas is you,
and maybe you like the song by Wham.
What was that one? It goes like Last Christmas.
I gave you my heart. Perhaps.
Perhaps your favorite Christmas song is Live 8 Feed the World.
What about this one? Finish the line for me.
Bing Crosby once sang I'm dreaming of a White Christmas.
Now wherever you're watching this in the world, I can
guarantee to you that you will 100% have a white Christmas this
year. And it's in this verse here in
the Bible. Isaiah chapter one, verse 18
says, come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.
Though your sins are like Scarlets, they shall be as white
as snow. Though they are as red, like
Crimson, they shall be as white as wool.
I don't know whether it will snow this Christmas.
If you're watching this in Africa today, I very much doubt
it will snow on Christmas Day for you.
But I can't promise you this. We can all have a white
Christmas because the Son of God can wash away our sins and make
as white as snow. So did you catch what that verse
said? God said, Come now, let us
reason together. Can I ask you a personal
question? If you're not a Christian and
you're watching this video right now, what is it that's stopping
you from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ?
What is it that's stopping you from becoming a Christian?
Many people say to me, I don't want to become a Christian
because, you know, I just don't understand why there's so much
suffering. Well, there's so much evil in
the world. Why is it that good people often
go unrewarded and the evil people, they're able to prosper
and they live great lives. Why is that?
Perhaps the reason is this, you might say to me, OK, yes, I I do
believe there is a God. I can't deny that that God
exists. But which gods?
How do I not know that the Muslim gods correct?
Or how do I not know that Hinduism?
There's truth in that. Why believe that?
The God of the Bible? Well, whatever it is that's
stopping you from committing your life to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Did you know that gods is not an
unreasonable God and much of prayer is actually just telling
Gods all of our feelings? Yes.
When we pray, we come before him and we worship him.
But we can also just tell Him, Lord, I'm confused.
I don't understand why my mother is in hospital right now.
I don't understand why I lost my job and I work so hard at my
job. But my other colleagues, they
were lazy and they've kept their job.
Lord, I don't understand. When I look at your Bible, I
don't. Some things, they just don't
make sense. They seem so hard.
And how can you be this loving God?
I don't understand it. God, I don't understand.
When I look at science and the world of it and it just seems
like there's so very little evidence.
Tell God your concerns. Tell him your worries and he'll
listen. He's there to to reason with
you. Come now, let us reason
together, says the Lord. You know Jesus Christ, you know
it well that he rose from the dead.
That's what we believe as Christians.
But did you know one of his disciples, Thomas, didn't
actually believe that Jesus had risen from the dead.
You see, all the other disciples had seen the risen Lord.
They saw him on that cross nailed and then they saw him at
Risen 3 days later. But Thomas wasn't there.
And Thomas said listen, unless I put my finger in the nail prints
of his hand, unless I put my finger in his side, I won't
believe. For him seeing was believing.
I wonder if you've ever said that yourself.
Seeing is believing. Well, listen, the Lord God,
Jesus Christ, what did he do with Thomas?
He didn't get angry at him. He didn't say, How dare you not
believe in me? He didn't cast him off.
No Jesus. Very gently he met Thomas where
he was risen, and he took Thomas's hand.
He said, Here, take your finger and put it in my nail prints.
Here, take your hand and put it in my side.
Don't be unbelieving, but believe it's me, Jesus.
I've risen from the dead, and that same Christ who met with
Thomas is the same Christ who is willing to meet with you today
and to save you and to show you. Even though you've got these
confusions, He'll meet you exactly where you're at.
You don't have to clean yourself up to meet the living God.
Just come with all of your issues, all of your problems,
and he'll deal with them if you are willing to to come and meet
with the Lord. Now, as we sort of think about
some things here, I wonder what kind of a life you've lived.
I wonder if you're a a nice person.
I probably guess the majority of people who are watching this.
You're you're good upstanding citizens, aren't you?
You've you've done nice things, you've helped the poor, you're
good parents, you've raised your children up in the best way
possible. Yes, you've made mistakes, but
as much as possible, you've tried to be a good person.
But did you know this? You and I, we're actually
sinners, you and I. We've actually done wrong.
You know, we stand condemned before holy gods, and we have
this thing that clings to us, this thing called sin, which
separates us from a holy God. Let me try and put this in an
analogy for you. We used to imagine you're a
child, OK? And you're wearing white
clothes. You've got white pants on,
you've got a white shirt on, you've got white trainers on,
and you knock on your mother's house.
She has a white door. She's got a white carpet, white
ceilings, white roof. Everything's spotless,
everything's clean. And you stand before your
mother, and she looks at you at the front door and she notices
you've got this tiny little speck of dog muck on your shoe.
Will your mother let you enter into that house when she's seen
that tiny little stain? She won't, will she?
Because you'd ruin the the cleanness of this beautiful
house. And so it is with God.
Although we might try to do our best, we have sin, don't we?
And just one little Oz, just one tiny bit of sin, is enough to
keep us out of heaven. Why?
Because we'd ruin the perfect heaven like we've ruined planet
Earth. We'd ruin heaven and and stain
it and and ruin that holiness that that stains and ruins so
much of our lives. And that is why God's standard
is perfection. But God knowing that we are
sinners, and God knowing how much he deeply loves us, this
extravagant love, God's made a way for you and I.
He sent his only begotten Son, his precious Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, to enter into this world.
And you know, as I've just said, Jesus was put on a cross, an old
rugged cross there. It wasn't glamorous, wasn't
precious. It was a it was a dirty, rugged
cross. When a man went out to the
Calvary, when he went out to the place of the school, you knew
that that man was not coming back because there was an
ugliness to that place where the Romans put men up and crucified
them. And when that happened,
something tremendous happened. The weight of our sin, all of
our rottenness, all of our sins, all the wrong things you and I
have done was laid on Christ. And the Bible says that darkness
fell on the land. So I don't know if you've been
getting presents and you maybe went on Black Friday to get lots
of presents. Well, did you know that the Lord
Jesus Christ, he died on a Black Friday where the sun, quite
literally there was an eclipse that happened and darkness fell
on the land when all of our sins were laid on Christ.
And there God's wrath was poured out and it was placed, It was
embedded on Jesus Christ. And there Christ suffered the
darkness of the cross for your sin, for my sin, so that you and
I can be forgiven. The Bible says without the
shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins.
And Jesus Christ on that cross, he shed his blood so that you
and I can be forgiven. My wife, Emma, I'll do this
coffee now. I think it's brewed for long
enough. My wife Emma actually became a
Christian when she was 18 years old.
Do you know how she got saved? She was reading the Bible and
she was reading Psalm 51. And perhaps you're familiar with
the passage. It's basically where this great
King David, he had made a real mess.
He'd cheated and he'd taken another man's wife, Uriah's
wife, Bathsheba, for himself. He then had this man put on the
front line, so sadly Uriah had died.
He committed sins and once he realized is wrong, he felt a
sense of guilt and he cried out to the Lord.
He asked for forgiveness and what he said was very powerful.
And it was this particular line that saved my wife Emma.
And it was this wash me and I should be whiter than snow.
Now how is it we get whiter than snow?
Well, the blood of Jesus Christ. It has a a cleaning effect.
It scrubs it away. There's literally it.
It can scrub away our sins. Those stains, although we might
not have only one little bit of stain on our on the bottom of
our chute, know from our head to our foot, we're unclean and
Christ's blood washes us. It cleans us.
It makes us righteous in God's eyes.
And that's really what I'm asking you today.
Have you come to the cross? And have you asked the Lord
Jesus Christ to wash away all of your sins, past, present and
future? The sins you've forgotten about,
All those sins that separate you from God, All those sins that
you deserve to be punished, dare I say, in a place called hell.
And yet Christ died there. So that wouldn't have to happen
if you'll come and receive him. Now, we have talked a little bit
about Christmas songs, haven't we?
But I wonder if you are a Christmas fan, what's your
favorite Christmas film? If you're still with me now,
write it down in the comment box.
Perhaps your favorite film is A Christmas Carol.
You can't beat A Christmas Carol.
Maybe you like, I don't know. What about The Polar Express?
Is that a film that you watch in your country?
Or maybe you like the Home Alone series?
When I was a little boy, people used to say I look like Macaulay
Culkin and my brother even more so.
But I wonder if you you're a fan of the Grinch, you know, the The
Grinch that's that's sold that That Stole Christmas.
I'm just wanting to have a little taste of this.
Let's see how it tastes. That's some good coffee.
I hope you're enjoying yours if you've made one at home.
Now, what would you think of this idea that imagine Jim
Carrey has a premiere for his film The Grinch That Stole
Christmas. And imagine, you know, everyone
turns up, You've got the the big celebrities, the big A listers,
you've got a red carpet, you've got all of this money, all of
these things that's been poured into this premiere and
everyone's invited. But Jim Carrey isn't.
He's not invited to his own premiere.
You'd say that's madness, That's ridiculous.
This film wouldn't really exist. I mean, they could get another
actor, but it wouldn't be the same without Jim Carrey.
It's a bit like the whole Now, I don't endorse Harry Potter, but
it's like the Harry Potter situation.
Do you remember about a year or so ago there was a a reunion of
all the Harry Potter stars? So they had Rupert Grint, they
had Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, all these stars that had
been made famous by the books that JK Rowling had written.
But because JK Rowling had made some comments that people didn't
agree with, she wasn't invited to her own celebration.
She wasn't invited to her own reunion, which would not exist
if it wasn't for her. And that's kind of what I think
of when I think of Christmas, when I think of the millions,
even billions around the world who celebrate Christmas.
The reason it took off, yes, it had Pagan roots, but the reason
it took off, it's because it was a celebration of the birth of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, billions of people,
they'll get a Turkey, billions of people, they'll cut down a
tree and they'll put it in their living room.
Billions of people, they'll invite their family, they'll
have presents. They'll they'll do all these
things. And yet Jesus Christ is not
invited to his own birthday celebration.
He's not even welcome when he is the reason behind this season.
So here's the big question. Will you have a white Christmas
this year? Will you come to the living God
Jesus Christ? And will he be welcome?
If you're going to celebrate Christmas, will he be welcome at
his own celebration? It's a big question, isn't it?
Because many people, they'll do everything but think of Jesus.
And I guess if you sit with your unbelieving family members, if
you are a Christian, if you start talking about Jesus, he
won't be welcome around the Christmas dinner table, will he?
But you do realize this. It is more than just saying a
prayer before you get your cranberry sauce and tuck into
the Turkey. It's so much more than that.
You see the idea behind Christmas?
It's this mystery. Here is this great big God,
mighty, the God who has created millions of galaxies.
This God who is huge, who is massive.
And yet this God made himself so small.
He encased himself in skin, blood and bones, and he took the
form of a man, a baby. Jesus Christ.
Christ spirit stepped into a child, and there Christ became a
helpless babe again. Here is this living God who
formed all of the universe. And yet, think about it.
He needed someone to change him. He needed a mother to feed him,
totally helpless. Yet he did that, that you and I
could have a salvation. God didn't just leave us distant
away from us in heaven. Now he stepped in and he took on
a flesh and he lived amongst us. And that that little baby grew
up into a boy, grew up into a man, and yet without sin and
died on the cross. And this is the crazy part.
If you do choose the Lord Jesus Christ, if you do choose to
receive him, this great big God also has another part of him.
God in three persons, the Holy Spirit.
And the message of the Bible is when you receive the Lord Jesus
Christ, you also receive the Holy Spirit.
And the Spirit of God comes and lives inside you and me.
It's a mystery, isn't it? That here is the life of God
inside of the soul of man. And that's really what I'm
asking you about. Not just to remember Jesus at
Christmas time, but we receive the Lord Jesus Christ that he
might come and live inside of you, wash you clean, and give
you eternal life. Please, please think about this.
And please come to him. Not even at Christmas.
Whenever you're watching this, come to him right now and know
that the blood of Jesus Christ can wash you whiter than snow,
can clean all of your sins away. I will say this and then I want
to talk to you about something else.
Snow does have a cleaning effect, doesn't it?
I don't know if you've ever, if you have a tip or a rubbish or a
junk mound, I don't know what you call it, but where you get
all of the rubbish. You know, if I get the packet of
coffee there and I put it in in my rubbish, in my trash can,
they get all of that rubbish. Where we are in our wheelie
bins, we call them, and then they take it to a place called a
tip, and they put it in one big mound, all these smelly bananas,
all these Coke cans, all in this big mound.
And it stinks. And yet when it snows, which it
often does in my country, when it snows, snow falls on that big
mound and it makes that horrible mess look like Mount Everest.
It looks beautiful, like this pristine, clean mountain.
And that's what Jesus wants to do with you.
All of your sin, all of that rottenness, all those things
you're ashamed of. God wants to take that and cover
it with his blood and make you totally clean.
That's the message, and it's there for you.
If you want it, you can have it now as I have another sip of
coffee. That's some really good coffee.
I want to tell you something else.
And my plan for this new year is I really hope to go back to
weekly videos again on my Off the Curb Ministries channel.
Now, if you are a Christian and you watch those videos, If
you're not, please every Saturday we're going to aim for
around 9:30 Eastern Time to post a video every single Saturday.
Maybe it'll be a couple of hours later, but that's going to be my
goal, to be as consistent as possible this coming year.
And I just really hope that you will.
If it if it's OK with you, make the time to watch those videos
because they do take a lot of time.
It can be a little bit difficult every week to try and get them
out. And if you watch them, it helps
send them out to more people. And something that people have
been saying to me, I see it all the time in the comments.
Oh, it's great to have you back, Joe.
We've missed you. Well actually I've been posting
very regularly recently, but my videos haven't been reaching as
many people. I have got a few reasons for why
I think this could be happening, but one of the big things I need
to do is go back to consistency every week and I'm going to try
and post every week, so if you can turn up for that, that would
be wonderful. Now again, I've been chatting to
you about this idea of this second channel that you're
watching right now and I'm in two minds.
Should I post every week on here or should I, you know, just post
every now and then? I just need to know your
opinion. I could also put these kinds of
videos on my main off the Curb Ministries channel.
If you can give me advice I'd really appreciate it.
And then the other thing I'm sort of considering is you know
how many shorts should I make? You know, I've spent a lot of
time this year and and even last year making short form content
which is great at reaching the younger generation, but I can't
really build that depth. You know, there's no way I could
make a cup of coffee if you're still watching now.
I know you're very patient, you're very, can I say, loyal
supporters of this ministry and most people won't stick around
for that. Everything's so quick and and
you know there is definitely a a need to reach those people to,
to get them hopefully onto the long form content to consider.
Christ, but I just need wisdom really.
So do pray for me. I'm also considering how many
open airs and St. preaching do I do in the next year.
What do I do in 2024? Because I need to pray about
these things and and know the the Lord's insight.
So if you've got any thoughts, please let me know.
And if you've got any ideas for videos, please let me know.
And but just please the the big thing I'm asking for is remember
and spread the word, if you can, that you know we're trying to
make videos every single week on our Off the Curb Ministries
channel where we can reach unbelievers with the gospel.
One more final thing. If you did appreciate this video
and if you thought it might be helpful to your unbelieving
family members, please share it with them.
I think it would help me and it would help well, it would
encourage me. It wouldn't help me, it would
encourage me. But above all, I want to see
souls saved. That's my big burden.
But the next thing is this. If you're looking for tracks,
people often ask me, Joe, where do you get your tracks from?
Well, I get them from an organization called
tenofthose.com. And there's a tract, actually,
which really I got the idea from for this video, which is called
White Christmas. And if you'd like to get a copy
of that, that's a wonderful track to give out to your non
Christian neighbours and family. That just sums up what we're
trying to say, that Jesus Christ can wash us whiter than snow.
That's all I've got to say today.
Thank you for listening. And it's really precious to have
your friendship and your support and all of your love.
I really don't take it for granted.
Thank you so much for all that you do and for those of you who
support the ministry as well. I know I don't talk about this
often. I kind of keep it quiet.
But I do want to also thank you also for your help.
God bless you all and I hope you have a a great Christmas.
Whether you celebrate it or not, I hope you have a wonderful end
to 2023. God bless you all.