Pathways Church | Messages

A willingness to change without a willingness to face reality is doomed to failure.

One of the biggest hurdles for many people, when they come to Christ, is... themselves. If you were to visit the church of nativity in Bethlehem, you would discover the entrance to the Church of Nativity, is a bit unique. This simple doorway can teach us all an important lesson this Christmas.

We often make statements like, "If i had just seen it for myself, if I could have just seen Jesus face to face" or "if I could just visit this sites in Israel personally..." However, even if you go to Israel, it’s sometimes hard to visualize life during the time of Christ. In life whether in Israel or at home, we all must put your faith lens on and see what God has truly done for us! It is surreal to know that still today, there is an exact place, where love was born.

It's a simple truth, over time the more familiar we are with something, the less fascination we have with it. We get tired of things very quickly. Things that once fascinated us, now bring little emotion.

God wants to do a new work in your life and staying stuck in the past can keep us from the new thing God wants to do. Christmas can either be the most difficult time of the year, or it can become the season that brings excitement and springs us into a new year and new spiritual season in our lives!

Have you ever truly considered the journey that Mary and Joseph took to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem? They had to travel 80 miles to the city of Joseph’s ancestors: south along the flatlands of the Jordan River, then west over the hills surrounding Jerusalem, and on into Bethlehem. It was a grueling trip. This trip traveled up and downhill. It was not simple.

Most people are well aware that Jesus was not born on December 25th. Yet we use this time every year to celebrate the greatest gift ever given, Jesus. We live in times of serious economic concerns, political unrest in much of the world, drug abuse and domestic violence run unbridled. The world around us quakes and our hearts cry out for certainty in uncertain times. God did not settle for an illusion of identification. He didn’t send Christ to earth for a couple of minutes, pose for the cameras, flash a smile, and go back to the heavens. The Bible is clear, God became Emmanuel, He walked with us!

D.L Moody said it best, “Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.” Put simply, you are either the most or least effective tool, to share the gospel to others. So the question is this, who's counting on you?

In fiction, asking “What if?”, can create dozens of plot possibilities. But in real life, can asking “What if?”, steal your joy or bring you inner peace?