Merry Christmas Christian Message: The Gift of Redemption: Unwrapping the True Meaning of Christmas

Hello, dear friend, and welcome to Kingdom Come, with me, Andrew Nkoyoyo. Merry Christmas to you all. Thank you for tuning in and thank you for listening to our message on all podcast platforms. We are streaming it on all your connected TV platforms including Roku, Apple tv, Amazon Fire tv, Android, and of course, online. We welcome our broadcast partners and thank you for being here. We just want to share a simple but life-changing message today. The Gift of Redemption. We want to unwrap the true meaning of Christmas and we are excited to just go over some highlights of this Christmas story. This is really the message that changed the world. We all have memories of Christmas growing up, and I remember waking up to the big tree in the corner with lights and beautifully decorated presents. I also remember going to mass, coming back, eating a lot of food, and going to theater and watching plays, or however you celebrate Christmas with your family.

That was how we celebrated Christmas. That was before I really made Christ the reason for the season. Before I realized the true meaning of Christmas, that was our reach of Christmas. Christmas was enjoyable but really, I really understand what Christmas was about until I really began to follow Christ, knowing, this is important. Presents were not the real focus but God, in His infinite love and mercy reaching out and, and rescuing us. Here we see the birth of Jesus Christ. I'm going to read the whole thing, Luke 2:1-20.

Luke 2:4, “And Joseph went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betroth, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.

Do you see that Jesus is born in this meek and mild place? Because of you, because of me, because of the problem that we all have. And what's that problem? It's called the sin problem. But what motivated God that He knew He had to send Jesus? It was nothing but love.

John 3:16,” For God so loved the world that he gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. God did not send His son to condemn the world but that the world through Him might be saved. “

He came to love you. He came to rescue you, to bring you back. You are separated from God because of sin. The sin that Adam and Eve committed way, way back in the garden of Eden, which separated man from God. This in created a divide and God wants this intimacy, this relationship with humans, with you and I, with humanity that He had created to fellowship with.

He said he did not come to condemn, but so that through Jesus, we can be restored, we can be redeemed, we can be brought back home. Hallelujah! This is why Jesus came. He's the light of the world. He's the light in the darkness.

His life is our light. The light shines in darkness, and darkness has not overcome it. All the bad things in the world cannot overcome the light. All the darkness in the world cannot overcome when we are living in Christ because Christ is the light. The Bible told us that he came into this darkness, and darkness has never overcome Him and will never overcome. We have this hope that we are not only redeemed, but we are brought into light.

We can now see clearly who we are, who God is, and what He sees of us, and what He plans for us. There is a purpose. We are not created to go through life meandering about, just stumbling around by accident. No, we are God's, you know, creatures and we are here by God's design. God had to address the sin problem because it separated us from Him. What is sin? Sin is simply defined in layman's language, as the bad things that we have thought, we have said or we have done, that are contrary to God's nature. God is love. God is holy. God is righteous. He's pure, He's kind. Anything contrary to those attributes is sin and that separates us from The Lord.

God says knows that He must restore us because of His love for us, He will not leave us where we are. He loved the world, you and I so much that He said,” Jesus, you must die in their name and in their place.” That's why Jesus had to be born on earth like us. He was a man who was a hundred percent God, and one hundred percent man in covenant with God. He was born man, and He went through all the things that you and I go through as humans so that He could pay the price for us to be reunited.

Romans 3 23 says, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We all have sinned, and we have fallen short of the glory of God.”

And so therefore, because of that, because we have fallen short, there are consequences to falling short of the glory of God.

Romans 6:23,” for the wages of sin is death. The wage of sin is death, eternal separation from God. but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord.” This is the meaning of Christmas. Jesus was the gift, is the gift and will always be the gift. Now we exchange gifts. You, you know one to another, but there is a gift of all gifts. That's why today we want to share this gift with you, because this is the greatest gift that God has ever given. or anyone has ever given. The gift of eternal life that you and I have access to that can receive. Enjoy the gift of redemption. What is redemption? Redemption involves payment of a price to secure release.

We were in darkness, we were bound in our sin heading to hell, to total damnation and total separation forever from God. And then God says, “Okay, I'm going to release them. I'm going to pay the price and release them. It signifies our liberation from sins through the atoning work of Christ. This is redemption. He said, “I'm going to pay the price, restore them, and bring them back to myself.” You don't have to do anything. It's already done. Jesus came and became sin in your place. The living Bible says our sins were poured into Him. He felt the heaviness, the anguish, the pain. He took on the punishment of that sin.

My God, my God, it is so that you and I can be free, can be restored to our right relationship with God, and no longer have to hide our faces, no longer have to cover ourselves with fig leaves to talk to God.

We can talk to God, we can have a relationship as I'm going to show you here that there are results to this redemption. One result is freedom in Christ, freedom. Galatians 1:5, “It is for freedom that Christ as set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Don't go back. You have been set free. You can be free today, free from yourself, free from all the things that you thought you were but are not. You can be free to live a life of freedom from all the inward torment, the outward torment, and all the things that sin brings into our lives. You can be free; you can find that freedom. You do not have to do a single thing because it's a gift, eternal life. And what does eternal life mean? It means the quality of life. Eternal life here on earth and then eternally living with God forever. But eternal life, it means that God's kind of life, eternal life. the quality of life that God gives us. Free from sin, free from the that sin that brings a life that is full of freedom in Christ and all the privileges that Christ gives us, because now we are restored back to God. If we are in Christ, then we can begin to experience all these blessings.

Ephesians 1:7,” In Him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace.”

Because of the riches of the grace of God, that He loves you, that he cares for you. He wants to be with you. He wants to have a relationship with you. He says, “it's because of the riches of his grace, His favor, and His mercy.” He reached out to you and me. He said,” I want humanity, man restored back to me.” T

his is what Christmas is about to me. It's about the gift, the problem that I have, and the solution that God provides on Christmas day in the form of a baby boy born in a manger. He said, “This is the gift.”

Listen to Luke 2:11 again. “For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. This is what you know the angels say to the shepherds to this day in the, in the city of David, a savior is born who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.

We can be restored. Eating for humans is the highest form of fellowship. You know, for us humans. Others we like, we invite for a meal. It is the same with Him. He said, “Open the door. I am going to come into your life and we're going to tabernacle, and we're going to eat. We're going to fellowship; we're going to commune. I am going to share my life with you as you share your life with me.” This is what God desires for all of us. Today you have the opportunity to have this life receiving Jesus in our hearts as we open the door to Him. And this is what is going to happen.

Psalms 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him test and know that the Lord is good. “

Test and know that the Lord is good. Will you open the door today? Will you open your heart? Will you open your life up to Jesus and receive the free gift that He gives? Receive the solution to the problem that separates you from God and be reunited so you can have a relationship with the Almighty God, unhindered.

Would you pray this prayer with me today? But first, this is what you must know that you have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. You must realize that the consequences of sin is death, eternal death, eternal separation from God, but the free gift is eternal life. Then what you do is believe in your heart, this message that Jesus came to earth died on the cross in your name and in your place, and that God raised him from the dead for you. Confess what you believe in your heart with your mouth, and then you are redeemed.

You have accepted this gift. If that is you right now, would you pray this prayer with me?

Lord Jesus, I receive you into my heart. I open the door and receive you into my heart as my Lord and my Savior come into my life, commune with me so that I may commune with you. Write my name in the book of life, wash me with your blood. Fill me with your Holy Spirit and empower me to live a life that is worthy of your name, of your death, of your resurrection, from this moment going forward. Amen.

Dear friend, you have said that prayer Jesus has come into your life now. You are celebrating Christmas knowing the gift Himself is now in your life. The gift of Christmas is now a part of you. It is your heart. It's in your life right now. And as we receive the gift now, we don't end there. We must share the gift.

His incarnate love and redemption bring the call to embody the love of Christ. Now that you are a Christian, and for those of you that are already Christians, watching and listening to this message, He calls us to continue sharing this message, sharing the gift. This gift doesn’t, just end with us.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7, “Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist in its own way. It is not irritable and resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. He says, “Now, I want you to go and be the incarnation of this love to others.”

I want you to be the incarnation of this redemptive gift and share it. During this time, I encourage you, touch somebody you know and let your life begin to exude with acts of redemption as our response to this message. Sharing the redemptive love with others.

Matthew 25, verse 35 to 36, he says, for I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.

After we experience this gift, we do not keep it to ourselves. We continue to live the life that is exhibits the gift of God's love, the gift of redemption. One of the ways is through acts of redemption, acts of love, sharing this redemptive love with others. Whether it's feeding the poor or giving food to somebody, clothing those that are naked or that need clothing or giving water to those that are thirsty. When we welcome strangers, especially at this time, let us just go and embody the love of God.

Ask the Lord to bring somebody into your life that you can bless. Bless someone you know with a gift. Bless someone with, with not only just prayers, but something they can touch and really connect Jesus with, you know through this time. Amen. Ass we give these acts of redemption, acts of love, the greatest gift you could give is sharing this message.

Matthew 28, 19 to 20 tells us, “Therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son under the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that have commanded you. And behold, I'm with you always to the end of the age.

See, dear friend, this is why we do what we do. Today I am sharing this message because this is the gift that God has given me and our ministry. In response we are giving this message to you. We encourage you to give this message to others. Share it on your social media, send it to everyone. Tell other about our platforms and our website, and, and share it everywhere you can. Another way you can share is to give a Christmas gift into this ministry that can help us to continue sharing because at the end of the day, the greatest gift that we can give is the gift of eternal life. We know all the things we have, and we accumulate here on earth, they're going to fade. We cannot take those things with us. But the things, that we are going to take with us are the souls that we have touched, and we have brought into the kingdom.

I encourage you to give a gift, pray for this ministry, and, and share this material with someone. Share this message with someone and be a blessing and let’s together be God's voice. Let us share the good news with people around the world. Hallelujah. As we reflect on this message, let's read 1 John 4:9-10

“This is the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent his only son in the world so that we might live through him. And this is love. Not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sin. “

See, this is the love, this is the epitome of love. He said that we did not love him, but He loved us. It's not because we had done anything worthy of this love. It's because He just laughs. It is His nature. It is who He is, and it's what he does. That's why as we celebrate Christmas and as we go into the new year may we become agents of redemption, carrying the message of hope and the message of His love. That is found In Christ's birth to the world. You have a world around you. Share that message from your family and friends, your coworkers, your community, and then beyond.

James 1: 22 tells us and admonishes us to be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving ourselves. I want to pray prayer over us right now.

Heavenly Father, we stand in awe of your redemptive love revealed in the Christmas story, we acknowledge our sin and the separation it brings, but we are grateful for the gift of redemption in Jesus Christ, our Lord, Lord Jesus. Help us not only to receive this gift, but to share it generously with others. May our lives be a testimony to your transforming power. As we celebrate the birth of our Lord, ignite in us a passion for acts of love and redemption. Open our eyes to the needs around us. And may we like the shepherd spread the good news of immense joy. Thank you for the hope, love, and freedom and forgiveness that come from your love. May the message of Christmas resonate in our hearts throughout the year, guiding us in every step. In the mighty name of Jesus, our redeemer, we pray. Amen.

Hallelujah. Dear friend, again, we invite you to partner with us, join us right to us. We want to hear your stories. Merry Christmas to you and a blessed New Year. We look forward to seeing you in the next message. Tune in. Be on the lookout for the word of the New Year. I have some words God has put on my heart that I will be releasing here. I want you to know, get on our website, get on our email, and stay tuned. We love you and may God bless you. Merry Christmas