John K. Jenkins Sr - The Importance of Christ's Birth

Father, thank You for the privilege and the opportunity to be in the House of Prayer. I am grateful for Your loving kindness and Your tender mercies. We take these few moments to simply pray for our loved ones who need You in their lives. Father, we pray that You would open their eyes to their need for You. In the name of Jesus, I pray, Heavenly Father, that You would put a hedge around this place, binding every distracting and demonic spirit. I pray, Heavenly Father, that You would anoint the Word and let it accomplish what You desire. Let it settle in hearts, change hearts, and transform lives for Your glory and honor. Put a hedge around this place, rebuke every distracting and demonic spirit, not only here but in every location where the Word is going forth all over the world. Let the name of the Lord Jesus receive all the glory and honor. In His name, we pray, amen and amen.

All right, you can be seated. I have entitled this message, «For a Few Moments, I’m Going to Preach.» Can I have 10 minutes of your undivided attention? You all say, «Take your time,» but that’s not what you mean. I just want maybe 10 or 15 minutes because I know you' re anxious to get home. Colossians chapter 2 — I want you to open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 2. Don 't look for it; just go to the table of contents so you can figure out where it is. I want to talk about the importance of Christ’s birth; that is the title of this message. A lot of fanfare goes into Christmas; a lot of people talk about many things related to Christmas, but unfortunately, not too many people talk about the birth of Jesus. Thank you. Christmas is not about the gifts under the tree; it’s about the gift that God sent to die on the tree. There were some more claps over here; let me come over here and preach to this side. Christmas is not about gifts, and unfortunately, too many people get wrapped up in talking about gifts. A lot of you have gone into debt, charged your credit cards, spent a lot of time in the mall, and walked the halls of the mall looking for gifts. You have gone into debt, spending a lot of money to try to prove to somebody on one day that you love them. Here’s my philosophy: we ought to spend every day, the 363 days before Christmas, showing love and demonstrating love. We need to stop trying to prove love by buying some gift one day out of the year. Amen? Oh, I forgot this is the " crowd.» Yeah, I need to try to be suave with you all, be cool with you all, but the point I’m trying to make is that Christmas is not about gifts. It is not about getting or giving gifts; really, Christmas is about the fact that God sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. Can I get an amen right there from anybody? Though I love gifts, I love to give gifts. When I say I love gifts, I love to give gifts, but I have not bought a single gift this year. Yep, kids hear that? I didn’t buy anything! I’ve been showing you love all year long, and some have been disheartened. Who did they put up there? I don’t know who it was. First Lady, I did buy you a gift; let me just say that. I bought her a gift. Are you wearing my gift? Oh yeah, I bought her that; she has a cross on her jewelry piece. Yeah, that’s it. Nothing else is coming, but I didn’t buy that during Christmas time; I bought it about a month ago. Amen? Go ahead, Pastor. Come on, ladies, y’all are supposed to say, «Amen!» I’m trying to lay down the example for your man of what he’s supposed to do. Christmas is, and I want to talk about this in Colossians. I’m not going to preach long; I will be finishing in just a couple of minutes. Colossians chapter 2 — did I tell you that already? Colossians chapter 2 says in verse 8, «Beware, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.» He said, «Look, be careful that you don’t allow the world to trick you and deceive you, making you think that this day is about something other than Jesus’s birth on this planet. Don 't get fooled into thinking it’s about a tree or about Santa Claus or about Rudolph. It’s not about any of that. This season and this day are about Jesus. As a matter of fact, I want to encourage us to understand the significance of that because look at what He says in verse 10.» I’m almost finished. I just want to hit these verses, and then I’ll be done. He says, «And you are complete in Him.» Stick a pen; stop right there — that’s enough to preach from for the rest of the day. We are complete in Him. I want somebody to hear me today; this message is for somebody. Say, «Complete! Complete in Him.» Complete in Him. That word «complete» in Greek means that you are fulfilled in Him, and this is important .