<\/p>\n

Merry Christmas to you!\u00a0 What does a broken-down chair on the beach have to do with Christmas?\u00a0 Everything.<\/p>\n

When I saw this dilapidated chair on the beach months ago, I instantly thought of Christmas.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

\n
• In part, because my ministry encourages people to carve out time to sit with God and cultivate a deeper relationship with Him.\u00a0 It is in my own prayer chair that God changed everything about my heart, mind and life.\u00a0 I used to think I had to have it all together to enter into God\u2019s presence.\u00a0 Nothing could be further from the truth.\u00a0 Now I bring Him all my brokenness and He makes me whole. \u00a0 We can approach Him with our fragile, flawed, battered and broken selves.\u00a0 It\u2019s a \u201ccome as you are\u201d invitation that never ends.<\/li>\n
• In part, because my first thought on the beach was, \u201cThe owner should just throw this one away and get a new one.\u201d\u00a0 Scripture records, \u201cThe wages of sin is death.\u201d\u00a0 We are all disqualified by birth.\u00a0 We are all disqualified by the Law.\u00a0 Instead of throwing us away in our sin, Jesus Christ came to rescue, restore and redeem us.\u00a0 Through Him we are made new.<\/li>\n
• In part, because the chair on the beach clearly had been neglected and possibly abandoned.\u00a0 It represents me when I neglect to cleanse my heart and renew my mind \u2013 I can quickly become a mess if I neglect practicing His presence to many days in a row.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  That\u2019s a lot of parts so I snapped a photo.\u00a0 But here\u2019s the biggest message of all I found hidden in the broken-down chair:<\/p>\n

  Does your family tree include any prostitutes?\u00a0 How about multiple murderers?\u00a0 Any adulterers, evil leaders, incessant liars or deceivers?\u00a0 Check out the first chapter of the first Gospel.\u00a0 The book of Matthew traces the ancestry of Jesus all the way back to Abraham.\u00a0 THE LINEAGE OF JESUS CHRIST INCLUDES ALL OF THESE BROKEN, SHADY, MESSED UP PEOPLE.\u00a0 AND THAT\u2019S THE POINT OF CHRISTMAS.<\/p>\n

  JESUS CHRIST CAME TO EARTH AS \u201cGOD IN A BOD\u201d TO SAVE BROKEN PEOPLE.\u00a0 AND THAT\u2019S PRECISELY THE POINT OF CHRISTMAS.<\/p>\n

  In the Old Testament Isaiah 61:1-3 predicts Jesus will come to \u201cbind up the brokenhearted\u2026proclaim freedom for captives\u2026comfort all who mourn\u2026give beauty instead of ashes\u2026gladness instead of mourning\u2026a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.\u00a0 And all will be for the display of His splendor.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 \u00a0 Later in the New Testament, in Luke 4:21, Jesus himself quoted Isaiah when he spoke these words, \u201cToday this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Today in your life this Scripture can be fulfilled when you seek out the One who came to this earth to save you.<\/p>\n

  Christmas puts an exclamation mark on Isaiah\u2019s prophecy.\u00a0 Jesus didn\u2019t come for the glamorous people who appear to have it all together and all figured out.\u00a0 That\u2019s a twisted, false idea held by many religious people.\u00a0 If Jesus came for the glamorous people who have it all together he would have been born at the Bethlehem\u00a0Ritz-Carlton.\u00a0 Instead our Savior was born in a broken-down filthy stable.\u00a0 Don\u2019t miss the message of Christ\u2019s delivery room.\u00a0 Allow Him to deliver you from your brokenness.<\/p>\n

  MAY YOU CHERISH THE CHRIST CHILD, THE ROCK ETERNAL, THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON.\u00a0 MAY YOU ENTER INTO HIS PRESENCE AND BE MADE WHOLE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Merry Christmas to you!\u00a0 What does a broken-down chair on the beach have to do with Christmas?\u00a0 Everything. When I saw this dilapidated chair on the beach months ago, I instantly thought of Christmas.\u00a0 Here\u2019s why: In part, because my ministry encourages people to carve out time to sit with God and cultivate a deeper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=619"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626,"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/619\/revisions\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/werockinc.com\/weROCK\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}