{"id":104692,"date":"2011-12-07T20:02:35","date_gmt":"2011-12-07T20:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=104692"},"modified":"2011-12-07T20:21:56","modified_gmt":"2011-12-07T20:21:56","slug":"christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/?p=104692","title":{"rendered":"Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Every time the Christmas season rolls around, two very different kingdoms always collide. It happens every time.<\/p>\n

One kingdom is earthly and temporal. The other Kingdom is heavenly and eternal. The king of the earthly realm is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153self\u00e2\u20ac\u009d along with its frenzied desires for\u00c2\u00a0temporal gain. The King of the heavenly realm is God and the gift He freely gives\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 bringing life and restoration.<\/p>\n

Behind all of the merchandising and sales and shopping extravaganzas, there is still that one simple manger in Bethlehem\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 one young couple\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 one perfect Creator who became an infant in the Virgin Mary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s womb.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 the One born of a virgin is all that ever matters.<\/p>\n

For the atheists and other opponents of Christmas, the problem is that Jesus didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stay in the cradle. He grew up. He lived a sinless life and proved beyond any honest doubt that He was in fact God.<\/p>\n

The ungodly don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want that to be true. Because if it is<\/em> true, then they are tragically wrong and their destiny is an eternal hell. Therefore, much is denied because much is at stake.<\/p>\n

Yet Jesus Christ is who He claimed to be. He is truly God in human flesh. He lived a sinless life and died a substitutionary death on behalf of those who would trust in His merit and goodness instead of their own, those foreknown before the foundation of the world.<\/p>\n

Christmas is never just an end in itself. Christmas is really a beginning. It is the prelude to a fuller narrative that climaxes on Calvary.<\/p>\n

From death on a cross to resurrection life three days later; the empty tomb with Christ appearing to crowds of over 500 witnesses and then ascending bodily back into heaven demands a response from all humanity. Many will mock and scoff at the news. Others will believe and repent.<\/p>\n

Jesus came to bring life. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of Christ. Jesus also said He was coming again. Until then, the righteous will live by faith!<\/p>\n

How will you live as a result of believing this truth?<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas,
\nPastor Kevin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every time the Christmas season rolls around, two very different kingdoms always collide. It happens every time. One kingdom is earthly and temporal. The other Kingdom is heavenly and eternal. The king of the earthly realm is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153self\u00e2\u20ac\u009d along with its frenzied desires for\u00c2\u00a0temporal gain. The King of the heavenly realm is God and the … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Christmas”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104692"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104692\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/provbaptist.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}