via TJC
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
—Isaiah 9:6 ESV
I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts last week. One of the hosts was talking about trying to explain Christmas to his little girl. After giving all the details about how Jesus is God yet came to us as a baby, she asked “Daddy, who writes this stuff anyway?”
Several years ago, a missionary friend in Eastern Europe shared how the people of post-Cold War communist countries hear the Gospel. He recounted the Gospel story to us, but everywhere we would normally say the name Jesus, he replaced it with “Tinkerbell.”
Have you ever taken the time to consider how people who don’t know Jesus as their Savior, or maybe don’t believe in God at all, receive this crazy story of the God of the universe becoming a baby? It’s a wild story... Would anyone make up a story like this? Instead of embracing this Bible story, most people seem way more into stories about Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman (sounds like Tinkerbell).
But what would make the Christmas story convincing to someone who doesn’t already embrace it? The answer has to come from those of us who have already realized the too-good-to-be-true story is in fact true. It has to show in our lives and how we live in response to what we say God did for us.
So when you feel like the government has gone crazy, remember that Jesus took it on his shoulders. When the depression so many people experience during the holidays comes, point them to the Wonderful Counselor. After the latest Christmas turmoil erupts at the family gathering, demonstrate the peace you have from the Prince who gave us his position beside His father to become a baby on the first Christmas.
Daily Battle Order:
Be the Christmas story to the people around you today and EVERY DAY.
Just because we love it, here’s a link to Linus telling the Christmas story on the great Charlie Brown Christmas Special:
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Please receive this Christmas Present from TJC:
We join you in celebrating the amazing gift of our Savior, who became like us, so we could become more like him.
We want to personally thank you for being part of The Joshua Commission in 2023. This year, we focused on deep change in our lives and building great men out of conflict. We expanded that theme into our Battlefield Campaigns at Chickamauga, Manassas, and Gettysburg. Our Daily Battle Orders have taken us on a journey through every book of the Bible, concluding this April.
The Daily Battle Orders for the rest of 2024 will then focus on our very first ministry, in our homes and community. We will dive deep into becoming better disciple-makers as husbands, parents, mentors, and neighbors. We will be introducing new battlefield programs that will then include our wives, children, and family as our first line of responsibility which must be done together as family and community.
Our gift to you this Christmas is a free registration to join us on a Battlefield for your spouse or family member. When registering for one of the Battlefields, please use GIFT2024 as a coupon code to register that person.
We are very fortunate to offer this gift to your family through the generosity of dedicated and generous donors who know and help expand our ministry. We invite you to help extend our outreach by donating so others may be gifted through this link:
Our Daily Battle Orders reach several thousand readers each day, and several hundred men have joined us on a Battlefield. We pray our gift to you this Christmas will be used and loved as you join us in person in 2024.
From everyone in The Joshua Commission, we pray and share with you a wish for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Via TJC