Christmas Eve has always been one of my favorite times of the year. As a young child, almost every Christmas Eve was spent traveling the 10-13 hours, depending on the weather, from Eastern Iowa to Detroit, MI to spend Christmas and New Year’s with my grandparents and my mothers family.
The last several years, our family has spent Christmas Eve together, taking part in our Christmas Eve Services. Even though it takes work, I especially like planning for the service, because it has so much potential for transforming hearts. I'll never forget one man telling me that the Christmas Eve service was the door through which he and his family were drawn back to Christ. But more than that, it led eventually to the salvation of that entire family. From humbug to hallelujah!
The preaching series that we have been working through on Sundays has been taken us “from humbug to hallelujah.” Hopefully, several of you have stories to tell of miracle transformations that God has accomplished--broken chains, reawakened joy, renewed relationships, humbugs turning into hallelujahs. I’m reminded of something that Scrooge said,
“I am light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am a giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!”
I wonder today, what is your testimony? Has God helped you see your Christmas miracle this Advent season? Is hallelujah becoming your strongest attitude? As we celebrate Christmas Eve today and spend time tonight and tomorrow with friends and family, I’d like to challenge you to pray a prayer that the psalmist prayed,
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life (Ps. 139:23–24, NLT). As you do this, allow God to once again transform your heart from humbug to hallelujah.
Have a Merry Christmas as you celebrate Emmanuel, God with us.
Pastor Dave
The last several years, our family has spent Christmas Eve together, taking part in our Christmas Eve Services. Even though it takes work, I especially like planning for the service, because it has so much potential for transforming hearts. I'll never forget one man telling me that the Christmas Eve service was the door through which he and his family were drawn back to Christ. But more than that, it led eventually to the salvation of that entire family. From humbug to hallelujah!
The preaching series that we have been working through on Sundays has been taken us “from humbug to hallelujah.” Hopefully, several of you have stories to tell of miracle transformations that God has accomplished--broken chains, reawakened joy, renewed relationships, humbugs turning into hallelujahs. I’m reminded of something that Scrooge said,
“I am light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy, I am a giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world!”
I wonder today, what is your testimony? Has God helped you see your Christmas miracle this Advent season? Is hallelujah becoming your strongest attitude? As we celebrate Christmas Eve today and spend time tonight and tomorrow with friends and family, I’d like to challenge you to pray a prayer that the psalmist prayed,
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life (Ps. 139:23–24, NLT). As you do this, allow God to once again transform your heart from humbug to hallelujah.
Have a Merry Christmas as you celebrate Emmanuel, God with us.
Pastor Dave
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