Happy Independence Day - SVG 🇻🇨

Salute to the nation of St. Vincent & the Grenadines HAPPY 44th INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY to St. Vincent & the Grenadines, which celebrates today the 27th day of October, 2023.  The word independence means - the fact and state of being independent or self governed. St. Vincentians have come a long way since their fight for independence. It is a happy time for the government and the people and we pray that they will celebrate well.  Prayer for the nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines : Dear Heavenly Father,  We thank You for the beautiful Caribbean isle of St. Vincent & the Grenadines. We thank You for creating our island and for giving us the chance to live on it. We thank You for Your protection from day one, up to our present day and for the protection that You will continue to give to all who live and dwell on this beautiful archipelago. We are conscious of the care and love that You have poured upon us LORD, in the way that You have not allowed our nation to fall ap

Christmas

The following is a message that was preached on Sunday 25th day of December, 2022 at the New Creation Ministries COGOP in Biabou, SVG. Nikisha Ollivierre was the presenter of this message and is Youth Leader at that Assembly. May God bless you all as you read and understand the words of this message. 

 

Presenter / Speaker: Nikisha Ollivierre

 

I will begin this message with an excerpt from a website named Newsweek. First of all, I asked myself “Where did Christmas come from?” or perhaps, “When did it begin?” and so I went to my browser and typed the question into the search bar. This is the answer I got from the website:

“Church officials started celebrating Jesus’ birth in the fourth century, according to History.com and Pope Julius 1 chose December 25. The Bible doesn’t mention the date of Jesus’ birth and there’s debate as to when it actually took place. Some point to the shepherd’s presence to argue that it was likely spring since that’s when they herd, and others claim the stars depicted in the sky indicate it was a summer birth.

By the time the church decided to celebrate Jesus’ birth, there were already a number of festivities that marked the winter solstice including the pagan saturnalia festival. It’s possible Pope Julius 1 chose December 25 because if it was surrounded by other holidays, it was more likely to be embraced.”

Keep in mind the saturnalia festival was made to honor their so-called god, Saturn, which also happens to be a planet. It’s kind of crazy when you think about it, that people worshipped a planet.

My next question is, what exactly is Christmas? Well, according to the internet, it’s “the annual Christian festival celebrating Christ’s birth held on 25th December in the Western Church.” But what is the true meaning of Christmas? The internet makes it sound like it’s just some day we put together. Maybe even the world who do not believe, as we believe, thinks so too. As Christians we know differently because the Bible tells us of the amazing birth of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was born so that He could pay for our sins instead of us paying for them ourselves. God sent His only son to die for our sins. A sinless, perfect being, charged for something He did not do. But a lot of people in the world who are not believers of Christ, don’t really think about or know that Jesus is the reason for Christmas. To them it’s just a season for deals and sales, while for others it’s a season for presents, lots of food and drinks. But to a child of God, it is a reason to rejoice year after year. 

We might not know what day exactly Jesus was born, but it sure is good to have a day dedicated to His birth to celebrate Him. Unfortunately, the true meaning of Christmas gets lost in all the shopping, eating, drinking and decorating we do. There’s even a fictional character that distracts our children on the true meaning of Christmas called Santa Claus. Legend has it that he originated from a monk named St. Nicholas who was admired for his kindness. But why around Christmas time as a modern day obese, jolly old man who sneaks into your house and leaves presents for you? Sounds very suspicious if you ask me. Hopefully not many children still believe in him today. Just seems like a pretend man created to scam children’s parents into buying them lots of toys so that stores can make a huge profit around the season. This supposed Saint has nothing to do with Christmas.

I encourage you all to remember why we celebrate. While I understand that all the best sales happen around this time, we need to remember to be thankful for Jesus. The thought of Him is lost in all the festivities, the lights, the tree, the presents. Why do we need all those things? I don’t believe anywhere in the Bible mentions that we should put up a Christmas tree either, so why do we do it? 

According to my research on the internet, it actually started long ago before the tradition of Christmas began to have a tree in your home, but eventually it was placed into the Christmas tradition. Now I can’t tell you what to do in your own home, but it will be kind of odd to put up a Christmas tree from now onwards with that bit of information I just gave you, Christianity wise. Actually, it was also used by a number of religions that don’t believe in our one true God. Knowing that, again I say we need to get back to the reason for Christmas even if the holiday was made to attract non-believers in a time when they were practicing their religions. But again, I say in terms of the Christmas tree, I can’t tell you what to do in your own home. 

Enough of that. Let’s talk more about our wonderful Saviour Jesus. The real gift giver. The giver of the gift of eternal life. All we need to do is believe in Him and accept Him into our lives and we shall be saved. Jesus is our Saviour. Yes, we should celebrate Him every day, praise Him every day and thank Him every day. But this season we should double it, better yet we should triple it because it was set aside for celebrating His birthday specifically just like we have a season for when He died and rose again. 

Imagine where we could have been right now if He was not born. The world probably would have been so much worse. It’s hard to imagine a world worse than this but think about it. What if He was not born? But fortunately for us we don’t have to worry about that because He was and is and is to come. God loved us so much that He sent His only begotten son to die for our sins so that we may have a chance to redeem ourselves. All we need to do is believe, get saved, turn our lives around, follow God’s commandments and His Word and just trust Jesus to be the way, the truth and the life that we need and seek. I for one will be forever grateful for Him being born so that I can now be saved. I am thankful that even though this world is far from perfect, I was born and I’m alive today with a chance to know of the existence of a God the father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit. I could have been born into a different family, even a different part of the world and never even knowing about God but I am thankful that it is not so and you should be thankful too. I am grateful that I know of the existence of our Saviour. I rejoice to know that He is real and has saved me.

Thinking about that day, whatever day it was that He was born, because like I said before, we don’t know exactly what day but it must have been exciting to know a Saviour was born. I can only imagine the faces of the people who heard that they now have a Saviour born on a beautiful day. O the joy and the celebration that must have taken place. Sometimes I wish I could have been there to witness history in the making. 

Luke 2:8-15 says “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing, which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

Can you imagine seeing angels in this day and age? It would be an amazing sight to see. And then on top of that, those very same angels tell you that a Saviour is born. In a world filled with sin and sorrows, a Saviour was born unto us all. 

In the scripture earlier, the words “come to pass" stood out to me because those words mean “to happen". Jesus' birth was prophesied to happen years before it ever happened. Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” I wonder if the people (who heard about the prophecy of the Saviour who was to come) got excited about it or if some of them were in disbelief. I could only speak for what’s happening in the world today. We are told that our Saviour is returning and some of us are excited for Him to return, while others don’t believe in His existence or believe He will return at all. But we know the truth. In the gospel of Mark chapter 9, after the transfiguration, Jesus cast out a dumb and deaf spirit from a man’s son. In Mark 9:24 it says, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” I hope that those who do not believe in the next coming of Jesus that they would pray for their unbelief and as they pray it can be helped and turned into belief. I pray that those who have not yet found their belief in Jesus our Saviour, would find Him and believe in His Words before it’s too late for them. And I pray that they will accept Him into their life and heart and be saved for all eternity.

Christmas is only a reminder to us that Jesus was born but we know that He grew up, did countless miracles, died for our sins and rose from the dead and is alive today. Let us make room for our forever living Saviour in our hearts. Luke 2:1-7 says “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judæa, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David to be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” 

There was no room, but they found room. Sometimes there is so much going on in our lives and we think that there is no room for Jesus in our messy, chaotic life but I urge you to make room for Him. When you make room for Him, He will help you. Let Him in and He will begin to turn your chaos into clarity, your sorrow into joy and your heartbreak into relief. All you have to do is make a little room. Just like in the manger, the conditions might not have been ideal, but room was still made and a wonderful thing happened. Make room for Jesus and He will make room for you in heaven.

Finally, I say to you all, enjoy the Christmas season but remember to be grateful and thankful. Remember to pray and reflect on the year that is about to end and remember that Jesus is the reason for the season. 

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