The Spirit of Christmas

I've been thinking a lot lately about the spirit of Christmas and asking this question, "What is the spirit of Christmas?"

• To the liquor industry, it comes in a bottle.
• To Scrooge, it was a ghost.
• To Hallmark, it comes in the form of sending a card. (Some 5 billion cards will be sent this year.)
• To some, it's all about friends and family and sharing a meal together.
• To many, it's giving.

Biblically, I've come to discover that the Spirit of Christmas is WORSHIP. All throughout the Christmas story, you read how people extemporaneously explode into worship for God.

• Elizabeth worships God when Mary visits her.
• Zachariah erupts into worship at the sight of his son, John, who would prepare the way for Christ.
• Mary worships God when she resolves to carry out His purpose.
• Angels worship. Shepherds worship. Wise men worship. All creation worships.

So, this Christmas, I've determined to see everything I do as worship unto God.

• My time with my church family this Christmas Eve at our services will be filled with worship to God.
• My time away from work with my physical family is going to be worship unto God. My family is a blessing from God.
• The gifts I give to loved ones will ultimately result in worship ... because I recognize that I can only give because God has given to me.

Everything we do can be worship unto God if we keep Christ at the center.

Weekend Update

This past Sunday was a lot of fun at PCC. We are in week three of our series, Radio Christmas. Even though we had to cancel our first service due to the snow, we still had a great time and many people committed their life to Christ.

I want to take a moment to thank all of the Creative Arts Team for doing such an awesome job with this series. The music and worship has been nothing short of inspirational.

Also, the Children's Ministry Team did a fabulous job with the PCCKids Christmas program. You guys knocked it out of the park. It was the first Christmas kids program we've done in many years and I was so proud of all our kids and their teachers. Thanks!

This week don't forget to invite your friends to our Christmas Eve Services. We have two great services planned f0r 4:30pm and 6:30pm. Also, please bring a plate of your favorite Christmas cookies to share.

New Christmas Series

This weekend we begin our new series, Radio Christmas. In this creative series, the band is going to perform some of the top hits on the music charts and then I'm going to preach on the theme of the song.

So, this weekend, the band is doing a song by U2, "I still haven't found what I'm looking for" and I'm going to preach a message titled "Searching." We're going to talk about what people are looking for this Christmas and wrap the message around the Magi.

This is one of the most creative message series we've ever done and I'm totally psyched up about it. Please be in prayer this week for our weekend services. Invite your friends that are far from God and I promise to deliver a message (with the help of the Spirit) that will guide them to God's love in Jesus Christ.