Can you believe Christmas is here? Just a few days left to buy your pastors that perfect gift. Christmas time can get stressful. There’s shopping to get done, parties to attend, kids to see Santa, house to get ready, it get’s crazy. With all the hurry in our lives at this time of the year, we experience stress on earth rather than peace on earth.

Sometimes we live conflicted. Maybe it’s a decision, the economy, our future, debt load, raising kids, job certainty, and even Christmas. How long are they staying with us? How long do we have to stay with them? Life just gets difficult.

We need to remind ourselves that this is to be a season of peace - peace on earth. Much of our stress is related to our future - what’s my destiny in life. We’ll look at 3 principles based on Joseph and Mary’s life to discover the destiny God has for your life.

THANKS GIVING: One Who Gives, November 27, 2016 by CHRIST Church Irving

You are supposed to say thank you. Even if children don't feel gratitude, we want them to learn to offer thanks because it is the right thing to do even if I don't feel it. Our hope is that our children one day live with thankful hearts and become thankful people. That’s God’s hope for us.

Everybody worships, and it’s not just Christians. God created us to worship. I can tell you what you worship by looking at your checkbook, credit card statement, and calendar. We were created to worship, and everyone does it. The question is, What do you worship?

We’re going to be talking about how you can impact our world by looking at a guy named Jonah. When you think of Jonah, you think of Jonah and the (whale). We’re going to talk about everything leading up to the whale. Jonah is a lot like us. He had things he enjoyed, he had opinions, fears, and dreams. God wanted Jonah to go to Ninevah and impact their world. He wanted Jonah to bring a message of repentance to them so that they would repent and be right with God.

This message is pretty radical - it’s the exact opposite of what you've been taught your entire life. We Americans love our independence. Our nation was founded on the Declaration of Independence. We don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about.

One of the GO Groups we have plays golf almost every Friday. It's a great way for them to get together and talk about life. One of the first things the coaches will teach you is your grip, just like in knowing God's Word, you need a good grip on it.

You and I were made for something more than just life in the chair. You were made to spend your life in a risky partnership with God. I’m not talking about Crazy. This is not about going over Niagara Falls in a barrel or Bunjee jumping off the Grand Canyon or investing in the stock market (something stupid like that). It’s really about making your ordinary life an adventuresome partnership with God. It’s taking your someday and making it today.