The Real Christmas
So tis the season to be…You know the rest.
As I watch people hustle and bustle through the streets to find last minute deals on gifts, I only wonder how many of them are keeping Christmas in perspective. If you have the patience read on… if not at least watch this. Not promoting legalism or saying burn your trees and stop giving gifts. (That’s weird).
Anyhow
I recently met with my church community and we walked through the meaning and significance of this time of year. We came to a place where we understand that this a time to remember and reflect. A time of symbolism and significance. A time of humility and help.
Before you get caught up in the hustle and bustle and look back and realize the only time Jesus came up this season was in Church and the prayer for Christmas dinner, think on this.
After Adam and Eve decided to trust the lies of satan over the promises of God, God laid out the
consequences of their actions in Genesis 3:16-19.
If they had followed God’s will and trusted His promises, they would have lived forever in perfect fellowship with Him. But they fronted on God. They played Him and His promises thinking their way was better than His. They paid for it and the consequences of those choices are eternally terrible.
So mankind chose their own way, and the future looked hopeless.
They were doomed to experience pain and frustration in those good and perfect gifts that God had given them to enjoy such as their human relationships, bearing children, and subduing the earth in godly labor to serve one another. Not only that, but they were also ultimately doomed to wallow in that pain until they experienced the death on the earth.
But something happens.
Just when it seems hopeless God gives mankind a promise of salvation from the very beginning. A promised child who would overcome the sin of Adam. In fact Genesis 3:15 has been called the “protevangelion” by theologians which means, “?rst gospel.”
We see Eve’s hope in this promise as she and Adam have their ?rst son, Cain, in Genesis 4:1. Eve claims, “I have gotten a manchild with the Lord.” Could this be the one God promised? Adam and Eve soon realize Cain is not that promised child and so begins the desperate anticipation by mankind for the promised One who will come and save the world from the curse that it was placed under since the beginning of time. We can peep all this anticipation throughout the Old Testament.
14″Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. 15 “He will eat curds and honey at the time He knows enough to refuse evil and choose good. 16 “For before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be forsaken.
-Isaiah 7:14-16
Check out these too!
-Isaiah 9:2, 6-7
-Zechariah 3:8-10.
-Micah 5:2-4
And finally it happens.
Luke 2:8-14 (READ IT FO’ REAL!)
The promised one Jesus has come. Born in dirty stankin’ manger. Real mangers were not clean with lil lambs and cute donkeys running around. They smelt like manure and usually had rodents. Jesus in all humility chose to enter into humanity in this condition.
He comes in weakness.
We do not have a Savior and a King who only knows privilege, and honor, and power. We have a Savior and King who was born to be our friend, who knows our trials, our needs, and our weaknesses. Look at Hebrews 4:14-5:9 (Now! Naw I’m kidding)
Jesus Christ humbled Himself so that we could have life.
What are some ways you could humble yourself and consider someone else as more important than you this Christmas to look out for their interests even above your own?
Jesus left the glory of Heaven to come to us on Christmas Day. In what way might you be willing to leave your comfort zone and relative “glory” to go to others and even
possibly become like others so that you can identify with their needs and put those needs above your own?
CONCLUSION
The long awaited Savior and King has come on Christmas Day to rescue the world from the consequences of our sin that dates back to the very garden of Eden. But He came in an unexpected way. He showed us what real power and salvation was, and how it comes to others. Through humility, love and sacri?ce. And He asks His followers to do the same until He returns and completes the ful?llment of the prophecies which were spoken of Him.
Thank God for Christmas Day!
Now, go show the world what Christmas is all about.
Shout out to Ben Parkinson for keeping things in perspective. Love you!
All Comments 39
check out this video we put out on this subject!
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Jonathan
– Dec 19 2008
go to youtube and type in
The Christmas Gift that lasts for Eternity
and you'll find it, it's the first one
Jonathan
– Dec 19 2008
Thanks, Lecrae. Very good stuff, man.
Saint K
– Dec 20 2008
HE IS the Hope of All humanity.
HIS coming IS the greatest rescue mission in history
Love ya man!
A fan and brotha in South Africa!
Please keep up what you doing man,everybody at Reach and your brothers at Crossmovement Records.
I appreciate you,you are an inspiration man.
May GOD keep you and bless you.
Stay foussed Hebrews 12:1(b)-2(a)
Mzinkulu Patrick Kaka
– Dec 20 2008
HE IS the Hope of All humanity.
HIS coming IS the greatest rescue mission in history
Love ya man!
A fan and brotha in South Africa!
Please keep up what you doing man,everybody at Reach and your brothers at Crossmovement Records.
I appreciate you,you are an inspiration man.
May GOD keep you and bless you.
Stay foussed Hebrews 12:1(b)-2(a)
Mzinkulu Patrick Kaka
– Dec 20 2008
Good stuff Lecrae.
I also like the new song featuring Sho Baraka 'Glorious'.
God Bless you all at Reach Records!
DWYL
– Dec 20 2008
I thought that Christ wasn't born in this season..
Another question,
People say that Jesus Christ's death on the cross was God's Plan B because if adam and eve didn't sin and obey their flesh, then there would've been a need for Christ to be born to die..but I think that it was God's Plan A. (I believe there are no mistakes or coincidences made)
So that brings me to look at it like this, Adam and Eve were just instuments used to bring sin into mankind so that mankind can experience God's power and realize his sovereignty and His intelligence.
There's more I wanna say but I don't wanna take up all the space on the page with all my crazy questions...(;
Good post homeskillet
Angelica Stewart
– Dec 20 2008
Good stuff Lecrae. I also want to affirm love for Ben Parkinson!!!
Jason Lapp
– Dec 20 2008
This video is real good! So crazy that if we wanted to solve the water problem it is 10 billion and yet we spend 450 billion on the holiday.
That is so true with so many of the problems here on earth, that if we stop looking at our flesh needs and look to the world we can knockout these problems.
Keep up the good work of spreading the good news and I h hope we can find Trip here soon.
Aaron Bardon
– Dec 20 2008
james
– Dec 21 2008
lecrae, i recently heard one of your cd's and i must say that it is the best gospel cd's i have ever listened to. i have been a christian for 7 years and just about a year ago heard the true gospel for the first time. hearing your music has encouraged me and has shown me that God's sheep are all over. amen
my question to you is if you have ever studied the origen of christmas and its pagan roots having to do with the winter solstice, nothing to do with the only Begotten Son of the Father, but the pagan sun gods. God also never gave us the command to remember the birth of His Son, wonder why?like you have said God humbled Himself and became a man. That was His greatest shame, because He left glory and became obediant, even lower than the angels. and the time of His greatest shame was the day He was born, becoming a man.
David
– Dec 22 2008
i like very much what you are saying and its very true that we should give more of our time and money to the less fortunate however christmas is not the birth of christ, place take the following into consideration and e-mail me if you have any questions. What is the meaning of Christmas? Where did the customs and traditions originate?
You, as a Christian, would want to worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth, discerning good from evil.
The truth is that all of the customs of Christmas pre-date the birth of Jesus Christ, and a study of this would reveal that
Christmas in our day is a collection of traditions and practices taken from many cultures and nations.
The date of December 25th comes from Rome and was a celebration of the Italic god, Saturn, and the rebirth of the sun god.
This was done long before the birth of Jesus.
It was noted by the pre-Christian Romans and other pagans, that daylight began to increase after December 22nd, when they assumed that the sun god died.
These ancients believed that the sun god rose from the dead three days later as the new-born and venerable sun.
Thus, they figured that to be the reason for increasing daylight.
This was a cause for much wild excitement and celebration. Gift giving and merriment filled the temples of ancient Rome, as sacred priests of Saturn, called dendrophori, carried wreaths of evergreen boughs in procession.
In Germany, the evergreen tree was used in worship and celebration of the yule god, also in observance of the resurrected sun god.
The evergreen tree was a symbol of the essence of life and was regarded as a phallic symbol in fertility worship.
Witches and other pagans regarded the red holly as a symbol of the menstrual blood of the queen of heaven, also known as Diana.
The holly wood was used by witches to make wands.
The white berries of mistletoe were believed by pagans to represent droplets of the semen of the sun god.
Both holly and mistletoe were hung in doorways of temples and homes to invoke powers of fertility in those who stood beneath and kissed, causing the spirits of the god and goddess to enter them.
These customs transcended the borders of Rome and Germany to the far reaches of the known world.
The question now arises: How did all of these customs find their way into contemporary Christianity, ranging from Catholicism to Protestantism to fundamentalist churches?
The word "Christmas"itself reveals who married paganism to Christianity.
The word "Christmas" is a combination of the words "Christ" and "Mass.
The word "Mass" means death and was coined originally by the Roman Catholic Church, and belongs exclusively to the church of Rome.
The ritual of the Mass involves the death of Christ, and the distribution of the "Host", a word taken from the Latin word "hostiall" meaning victim!
In short, Christmas is strictly a Roman Catholic word.
A simple study of the tactics of the Romish Church reveals that in every case, the church absorbed the customs, traditions and general paganism of every tribe, culture and nation in their efforts to increase the number of people under their control.
In short, the Romish church told all of these pagan cultures, "Bring your gods, goddesses, rituals and rites, and we will assign Christian sounding titles and names to them.
When Martin Luther started the reformation on October 31st, 1517, and other reformers followed his lead, all of them took with them the paganism that was so firmly imbedded in Rome.
These reformers left Christmas intact.
In England, as the authorized Bible became available to the common people by the decree of King James the II in 1611, people began to discover the pagan roots of Christmas, which are clearly revealed in Scripture.
The Puritans in England, and later in Massachusetts Colony, outlawed this holiday as witchcraft.
Near the end of the nineteenth century, when other Bible versions began to appear, there was a revival of the celebration of Christmas.
We are now seeing ever-increasing celebrating of Christmas or Yule, its true name, as we draw closer to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In both witchcraft circles and contemporary Christian churches, the same things are going on.
As the Bible clearly states in Jeremiah 10:2-4, "Thus saith the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen; and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven. For the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain. For one cutteth a tree out of the forest. The work of the hands of the workman with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not."
So, what is wrong with Christmas?
1. To say that Jesus was born on December 25th is a lie! The true date is sometime in September according to the Scriptures.
2. Trees, wreaths, holly, mistletoe and the like are strictly forbidden as pagan and heathen! To say that these are Christian or that they can be made Christian is a lie!
3. The Lord never spoke of commemorating his birth but rather commanded us to remember the sacrifice of His suffering and death, which purchased our salvation.
Think about it! Can we worship and honor God by involving ourselves with customs and traditions, which God Himself forbade as idolatry? Can we convince God to somehow "Christianize" these customs and the whole pretense and lie of Christmas, so we can enjoy ourselves? Can we obey through disobedience?
Sean
– Dec 22 2008
Posted something just today about 'The Christmas Presence'.
Great information you've given! That Jeremiah 10 verse on adorned trees gets me every time!
Shalom Aleichem, Brother....
thanks for keeping things REAL for the sake of His Name!
www.jesusyourwordistruth.blogspot.com
Carmen Schroeder
– Dec 22 2008
Your comments are both encouraging and hilarious. Thank you all for your comments. Let me clarify a few things.
1. I am in no way saying this is the Exact time and season that Christ was born.
2. I am not endorsing idolatry or pagan worship. But I'd need to write a paper to address the legalism and lack of biblical worldview that makes people find trees and multi colored lights inherently sinful. If you find yourself convicted of sin for having them or endorsing them Id say leave them alone. Otherwise perhaps you should move to the planet Gnostic.
3. If the birth of Jesus is significant. It marks a fulfilled prophesy.
4. This post was to encourage the people who live in the real world and will see family members and friends who care nothing about Jesus but will celebrate self this Christmas. We get the chance to love them and take advantage of the windows of opportunity to share the gospel and live it out.
It be interesting to hear the conversation with you and my Uncle Junebug (fresh from jail) about sun gods and reindeer. I hope people know you love them before your dissertation begins.
5. Jesus entering humanity was NEVER Gods plan B. He knew from eternity past. He knows everything!!
I'd encourage you all To check out a Book entitled Total Truth by Pearcy.
I love you to death!!! Merry Christmas.
Anonymous
– Dec 23 2008
To our loved online commenting family,
Please limit your "comments" to something appropriate to comment length. Brief, outlined, etc. This is not the place for super long comments for theological discussion. Please go to the message board for that (link is in the navbar at the top of the site).
We appreciate your participation but please don't be that guy. You can also email in your longer issues/praises/gripes with more length in the contact section of our site.
Thanks!
Anonymous
– Dec 23 2008
Waz up lecrae!
Man, do you know how long i've been trying to find a place to try and chat with you? I'm glad i found reach records today...
Well lecrae I love ALL your CD's especially "REBEL". All dem tracks waz killin it dawg. My friends said it changed there mind about Christian rap. All i listen to is Christian rap. At a young age(13)it's hard to say i do not listen to world rap "AT ALL" well it's not hard... But it's the way people look at me when i say that. I said it's not hard because since i was 8 i got filled with holy ghost,
GB5
– Dec 23 2008
My bad i didn't know we had to limit our comments...
To continue...'
Close to the beginning of 2008 God has showed me a vision about a rap group i will have. He said it will be called GB5 4LIFE. cause there will be 5 of us in the group. He said we will preach the gospel through music, dancing,
GB5
– Dec 23 2008
Oops sorry bout my long comment..(heheee)
good post Crae
Angelica Stewart
– Dec 23 2008
My intent was never to make my convictions anyone else's convictions, only to share some truth with brothers and sisters because of my love for the church. What greater love can there be than to share the truth of the scripture with anyone? Saved or lost.
Keep preaching that Gospel Brother.
God bless you Lecrae
David
– Dec 23 2008
good post lecrae i had to go to dictionary.com a few times though haha keep it up man ur music is real
Travis Daniels
– Dec 24 2008
Powerful Words!
What a blessing.
Jay M.
– Dec 26 2008
everyone who see this please visit gb54life.webs.com
gb5
– Jan 3 2009
everyone who see this please visit gb54life.webs.com
gb5
– Jan 3 2009
gb5
– Jan 3 2009
And also visit t4c4life.webs.com please join
GB5
– Jan 3 2009
Lecrae
Just wanted to say thank you for your music and message you put out. Your music is often playing on our family vehicle (I have 3 boys between 9-13) and everyone enjoys it. It's nice to hear my boys singing your lyrics instead of Black Eyed Peas or Nickelback. You inspire us and we'll be moving to West Africa next month to work as missionaries.
Keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
A family that is not watching Xzibit pimping a hummer this summer.
Rusty
– Jan 3 2009
I know this is kind of late to comment about the christmas thing but i just wanted to say how dare lacrea go against the word of god because the guy was right he came biblical and crea came back with theology just to keep it short lacrea that was not smart. bcause it is not jesus birthday and it peganistic just like all the rest of the holidays. now e-mail me back
shawn
– Jan 8 2009
I know this is kind of late to comment about the christmas thing but i just wanted to say how dare lacrea go against the word of god because the guy was right he came biblical and crea came back with theology just to keep it short lacrea that was not smart. bcause it is not jesus birthday and it peganistic just like all the rest of the holidays. now e-mail me back
shawn
– Jan 8 2009
This is the reason why Christmas can be so sickening. I'm glad that someone with a more prominent voice like you has posted this up. God bless you my brother. Grace and Peace
Denzel
– Jan 13 2009
A tree that symbolize the birth of Jesus Christ is not the truth.
MH
– Feb 8 2009
i was just browsing when i saw this blog. i wanted to know what your beliefs on christmas were. historically christmas is a pagan holiday celebrated as saturnalia by the romans. i can see where confusion may come from this holiday. there has always been confusion. the bible never speaks of having to celebrate any of the holidays we in america have created. In america lots of holidays have been shifted through here. all i'm saying Crae is pray about it read your bible a little more closely. don't get caught up in the christmas lie. Christmas meaning "Death to Christ". Study the history books as well as the bible. both sometimes go hand and hand with each other. Peace
Crystal clear
– Feb 16 2009
Ok christmas is done but the debate is crazy rather is a pagan belief or godly.i wanted to hear trip lee perspective in this christmas debate thanks and God Bless
melle
– Mar 18 2009
strong words,butwhat's the real date o christmas?
vasy
– May 11 2009
I was once a sinner of sinners and i came to no i am nothing and nobody. So as a young (25) temporary steward of 5 (kids) and 1 wife who I'm thankfull for, I have made a choice to not celebrate Christmas, (for now) while not jugding others (i aint judgin nobody just talkin about self). Furthermore, I am trying to raise these kids in the way that they should go. while i learn godliness w/ contentment among other things. I pray that they will delight in the ways of the lord always. Brothers and Sisters may we all increase from faith to faith and be pleasing to God and Christ.(Remember Acts 26:14-20, Romans 12, Colossians 3:17) Pray Collosians 1:9-14 for me and all the bretheren Amen.
jamael
– Jul 18 2009
Once again not judgin but I want you to know the comments above have nothing to do w/ the economy. The substance has been necessary to me for a little bit. God bless!
jamael
– Jul 18 2009
True..True. Sorry about my super long comments on your (as in any of yall at reach) blogs. I was just..ughh I'm not going there.
Love Yall
Love (14) Jaz
Jazmyn Magee
– Jul 27 2009
Once again You continue to ignite my faith in reading the good news of you ministering the gospel in your very own style to grab a hold of lost souls, You are definitely on fire for christ and it definitely inspires me the more, if only you could come and visit where I live in the Hood at the Austin Oaks apartments in Decatur Georgia and you can all minister the word of God to the youth and the Adults where crime continues to run rampant in the streets where they slang dope and the youth don't really have a perspective in getting out of the guetto and have a mentality where they can literally be Youth for christ, You know they think livin for christ is a joke. They go to school and learn all about this world system increasing knowlege as the days go by and care nothing about livin for christ. Parents overworked daddies is not apart of childrens life, no morals being taught, kids are disobedient, abuse and misuse run rampant kids are looking for love all in the wrong places. A few weeks ago liitle Kamaya died just right outside her parents door from playing on the Balcony hall area she had fell head down and busted her head with blood gushing out from nose and mouth. The funeral was held and her mother cried uncontrollably with all the family and friends that was there that knew her. She was unloved many say, I prayed for her to stay alive and her soul be saved but God had another plan to hopefully saved her soul and took her on to glory she died in the hospital imediately after that great fall. The family remain shambles after her loss and could be before. I was told kamaya had alot family problems. The community pitched in and raised money for the little girls funeral because her parents could not afford her burial. I wish I could have did something, we need in this hood area a community center where kids can enjoy a variety of activities and maybe even being fed a nutritional meal when parents don't take care of them to where they can eat. Many parents in the hood have addictions to substance abuse. I will pray that you can come out and maybe minister to the lost where I live at.
Sherell smith
– Nov 9 2009
man this is so true..now i dont want to get christmas presents this year..JK LOve u LECRAE...TRIP LEE!!!
dontwannawastemylifelifelife
– Nov 17 2009
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Alviaa
– Sep 19 2012