Christmas

Greetings My Friends;
As I write this message, it is 2:28 AM. I woke up with this message going through my mind. Two things about this message stand out to me. First, I was going to do my Christmas message at Christmas, and second what I am about to say is quite a bit different than what I thought as recently as 10 PM last night. I don't know how long this message will be ,but if it is too long, I will split it up over a couple of days.
We really don't need to get into the history of how Christmas has been celebrated, and for how many centuries. If some religious leader at some point in history was trying to get rid of a pagan celebration or not is also not very important. What is important is that it came about to celebrate the birth of Christ.
God gave his most precious son to man as mans Savior. Most people know that. What most people really don't think too much about is what that means exactly. At the time Jesus came to us it was God's way of providing a way for us to get to heaven, instead of the destiny we deserved. Think how important that was, and how much God loved us to do it. Joy and peace became something we could have. If ever there was a reason for joy and celebration, the birth of Jesus was certainly it.
While Jesus was on earth, He taught us to love our fellow man, He healed the sick, taught us to feed the hungry, and to help the poor. He told us to follow Him and His ways, in order to have eternal life. Most of us in this world do not realize what an unbelievably precious gift Jesus was and is.
The last several years really started to get to me as far as Christmas was concerned. It seemed that all Christmas turned into was nothing more than a great excuse to sell stuff. Stores started in September with Christmas stuff. Every year they tried to outdo each other on the amount of hours they are open for business in their so called super sales and black Friday sales.
They took Christ out of Christmas and often refer to it as X mass. We have taken Christ out of everything, and turned to stuff to make us happy. No more Merry Christmas. We say happy holidays so that no one is offended. Most stores do not play Christmas music that could be even remotely considered religious, because that would not be politically correct.
When you put all this together, you can imagine my despair. Maybe you feel that way too. I started doing things my way as much as I could.
Cashiers in most stores are told not to wish anyone a Merry Christmas. When I am at the cashier I make it a point to say Merry Christmas and have a blessed day. 99% of the time I get a big smile and a Merry Christmas right back. Some even say you have a blessed day too. Their reaction in most cases seems to be what you would get if you gave someone dying of thirst a nice glass of cold water.
I'm calling this part one, and I will follow-up with part two tomorrow.
God Bless You And Remember
 Jesus Loves You
Prayer of Salvation;
"Oh God in Heaven, I believe with all of my heart that Jesus has been raised from the dead. I receive Your Word, and I repent of sin. I renounce the past. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus. I receive my forgiveness. I receive the new birth, cleansed and washed in the Word and in the precious blood of Jesus. Fill me with Your Spirit, in Jesus name. Amen"