Why I Don't Keep Christmas

Okay. Why I don't keep Christmas. I'm going to lay out my material under that particular banner today. I'm going to answer that. It's going to be pretty comprehensive in answering it. If you want to title this sermon, just title it that, Why I don't keep Christmas. Why should I not keep Christmas? What's wrong with it? What's the harm done? Why does it matter? I mean, we're just having fun, aren't we? If you think about the appeal, because there is a human and natural appeal to it. The pageantry, the lights, the colors, the parades, the family times, traditions, memory lane, nostalgia, acceptance, mainstream, and the crowd. See, those are all part of it. And so obviously, if you leave it and you don't keep it, there's a cost of leaving it, for not keeping it. And of course, that cost itself is pretty tangible, and pretty real, and pretty in your face, and pretty hard, and pretty difficult to deal with. Yeah. And there's sacrifice that's got to be made if you don't keep Christmas. So, why should I come out of it? What's wrong with it? What's the harm done? Well, I have a Bible here. It's what I do my best to base my life on, and then do an Army 12. I try to read this and study it every day. I think on it, meditate on it a lot of times when I'm driving. Maybe sometimes just working, doing something physical, but I'll have scriptures go through my mind, and I'll think about them, meditate on them. And this Bible is here, Deuteronomy 12. I go back to a time when God had a nation who said, this is my nation, and married them. The one who became Jesus Christ became their husband through the covenant that we know today as the Old Covenant, where the whole nation was entered into a covenant with God in the form of the Logos, the Word, who would later come as Christ. That's clear enough in other scriptures. And God tells them in verse 29 of chapter 12, when the Lord your God shall cut off the nations before you, where you're going to possess them, and you succeed them, and you dwell in their land, take heed to yourself, be diligent, that you don't get smeared by following them after that they are destroyed from before you, and that you don't inquire after their gods, because I am your God. And as He says in other places, I am married to you. Don't inquire after their gods saying, well, how do these nations serve their gods? What is the pageantry? What is the appeal? What is the beauty of it? What's all that's involved in it? Don't inquire after all that. We're going to do likewise. We're going to serve their gods like they were doing. They had a pretty good idea. Now He says, you shall not do so to the Lord your God. Verse 31, every abomination to the Lord which He hates, have they done to their gods? And He talks about the far range that it ran. Even their sons and their daughters, they burnt in the fire to their gods, specifically the god Molech.

And then He says, verse 32, Why I don't keep Christmas. What thanks to ever I command you observe to do it. You're not to add to it and you're not to diminish or take away from it. Why I don't keep Christmas. Jeremiah 10. Jeremiah 10. Beginning in verse 1, hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. I'm part of spiritual Israel today. So He's speaking to me as well. Why I don't keep Christmas.

That says the Lord, learn not the way of the heathen. Don't learn their ways. Learn not the way of the heathen. Don't be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain, empty, that don't have an eternal purpose period. For one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hens of the workmen with the axe. They deck it with silver with gold, they fast it with nails, with hammers, that it move not.

They are upright as the palm tree, it's an evergreen, but speak not. They must needs be born because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. Up in Chattanooga, where we meet, I have to pass a Christmas tree in the lobby to go into the main hall. Big deal! Ooh, that's scary! No, it's not. It's just a dumb piece of material that's decorated out. And I do not partake in any participation with it. It can't hurt me. Revelation 22, verses 18 and 19. Why I don't keep Christmas. Revelation 22, verses 18 and 19.

Last page of the Bible. The last column of the last page. Verse 18 and 19. For I testify unto every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add to him the plagues that are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life.

My name is in the book of life. I'm glad it's there. I want to keep it there. I don't want to do anything that's going to jeopardize it being blotted out. God has a problem with anyone, and especially someone that He has enlightened. Especially someone that He has turned the light on and shown them what is expected of them. And shown them His truth in His way. God has a problem with anyone adding and subtracting from His way. Now, this is not in keeping with Christmas, but it's in keeping with the same flow of paganism.

And that's Ezekiel 8 and verse 16. Ezekiel 8 and verse 16. And God is showing Ezekiel abominations, things that are detestable to him. That's thinking his nostrils. And in verse 13, he said, Ezekiel is writing this, He said also to me, turn you yet again, and you shall see greater abominations that they do. Then He brought me to the door of the gate of the Lord's house, the temple, religious place, which was toward the north, and behold, there sat women waiting for tamas. Then He said to me, verse 15, have you seen this, O Son of Man?

Turn yet again, and you shall see greater abominations than these, bringing corruption into religion, and as we would say today, bringing corruption into Christianity. And He brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, that's the temple, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, religion, religious people, between the porch and the altar, there were about 25 men. Now notice the positioning, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces.

They were facing the east, and they worshiped the sun toward the east. When is the sun in the east? In the morning. What did they do every year at Easter? Some people across this nation will actually literally go out and have a Son-Rise worship service, where they will face the sun as it is rising in the east.

Okay. Revelation 18, 4. Why? I don't keep Christmas.

And all the rest that trails along before it and after it, with wrong customs. Revelation 18, verse 4.

And I heard another voice from heaven's saying, Come out of her... This is Babylon the Great, Mystery Religions. It's talking about the false religion, the paganism, their pagan customs, all of that. And I heard another voice from heaven's saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.

Why don't I keep Christmas? Because I take God's Word personally.

I take God's Word personally, and because I chose God's way of life when I was a young man.

I've lived a lifetime with it now. I am a spiritual Jew. And according to what Christ said in John 4, verses 23 and 24, according to what Christ said, as a spiritual Jew and covenant with God, I am to worship God.

And the exact words there in John 4, verses 23 and 24, is in spirit and in truth.

In spirit and in truth. Truth is so crucial.

Why? I don't keep Christmas, because I don't want to do anything that was given us from the devil, not God. Satan wants to be worshipped. He doesn't care if it's out front where somebody claims to worship him, or it's through deception where he puts out deception, the things that people do that came from him, which he sees as honoring him, not God. He doesn't care, as long as he knows that what's being followed is what he gave them, not what God gave them.

But he wants to be worshipped. Notice Isaiah 14, verses 12 through 14. Isaiah 14, beginning in verse 12, Oh, how are you fallen from heaven, O Lewis, for son of the morning? How are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations? For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven.

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will spit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, and I will be like, and it's better rendered, I will be the most high. We worship God. God's throne is over everything, the entire universe. Satan wanted that throne. What he wanted was the position. What he wanted was to be the one that is worshipped. Now, is that really in his makeup? Was that really in his makeup?

Is it still in his makeup? Will it remain in his makeup? I will be the most high. Is he really going to be worshipped? Notice Matthew 4. Study your enemy. Great generals have always said, just like when Patton beat Rommel, he said, I studied his book. I read his book. Know your enemies. Matthew 4, verses 8 and 9. Again, the devil took him up to the exceeding high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, and said to him, all these things will I give you, if you will fall down and do what?

Worship me. He wants to be obeyed. He wants to be followed. He wants to be copied. He wants his institutions taken on. He wants what he has instituted taken on and done. Let's look at a prime institution of his, and you'll find it in John 8.44.

And this is a prime institution of his, John 8.44. Christ, in addressing some very corrupt leadership, said, You are of your father the devil. Don't say that every human on earth is a child of God. No, they're not. Every human on earth is part of the creation, and every human will have an opportunity to repent someday.

You become truly children of God when you're in Christ, receive forgiveness, cleansing, and God's Holy Spirit, and are begotten of the Father through Christ and His sacrifice. Christ said, You are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and He didn't stay in the truth because there's no truth in Him. When He speaks a lie, He speaks of His own because He is a liar and the father of it.

He's the one that authored lying. God cannot lie. Period. You find that mention, I won't turn there, but you find that mention in Hebrews 6, verse 18. Hebrews 6, verse 18, and you also find it mentioned in Titus 1, verse 2. Titus 1, verse 2. Plain, simple, black and white, no wiggle room. God cannot lie. No lie has ever come from God.

God has never lied. God never will. That's one reason that we can trust Him and count on Him for eternity. Because lying is of the devil. All lies are of the devil. No lie is of God. 1 John 2, 21. 1 John 2, verse 21. No lie is of God. Now, when John wrote this, keep in mind, the church had been going for 60-something years.

This is 60-something years after the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. And John says in 1 John 2, verse 21, he says, I have not written unto you because you know not the truth. He's talking to the church because you know it. And here's what you know, folks, he says, that no lie is of the truth. No lie is of the truth. Going back to the last chapter of the Bible again, Revelation 22. This caught my attention long, long ago. Revelation 22, of course, verse 14, reading it from the King James, says, Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have rights to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

In the ultimate outcome, those are the ones that have opportunity to be a part of God's plans, His eternity, His family. But those who are left out, those who in the ultimate, when the plan of salvation is totally finished, those who are no longer a part, who wind up becoming smoke and ashes in due time, after everybody has been given truly a true opportunity, and a full opportunity, through the plan of salvation, which includes the last great day.

But what will be left out is those who haven't repented and changed from, and this is not a total list, but it illustrates the list, for without are those left out are dogs. That's homosexuals. That's male prostitutes, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters. Boy, that's a bad company. And whosoever does what? Loves and makes a lie. Makes lies and loves lies. Now, I've known a few people in my lifetime who just simply thrived on lying.

They lied at the drop of a hat. They lied when the hat wasn't dropping. They just loved a lie. It was just their... not just their second nature, it was their first nature.

Whosoever loves and makes a lie. Following lies honors Satan, not God. God cannot lie, and He cannot be served with lies.

What are the lies of Christmas? You know them.

Christ wasn't born December the 25th. Raindeer don't fly.

The fat man in a red suit doesn't come down your chimney, whether you have one or not.

I mean, just for starters, those are some of the lies, and they are lies.

And here's the question I have, if somebody can answer it for me.

At what age is it appropriate to begin lying to your children?

At what age? At what age is it okay and appropriate to lie to your children?

And at what age are you supposed to start being completely and totally truthful with them, and not operating by lies?

Well, as we all know, there's not really an age at which it's appropriate to begin lying to your children.

Why does man fall so prey to this? Well, one basic reason, motivationally, is self-will.

His own boss, free to do his own thing, decide for himself.

I heard a man say, and I've heard others say it, but somebody that I knew very well, many, many years ago now, he said the best thing there is, is to do what you want to do.

When you want to do it, how you want to do it.

My own God!

Think about it.

Anyway, that automatically generates why? Compromise and corruption.

Let's look further at what is involved and the harm that is done.

Why I don't keep Christmas?

Because the spirit of Christmas is get.

What are you getting for Christmas?

What are you getting for Christmas?

What's Santa getting you for Christmas?

I'm always so glad to get past January 1st.

I've got almost a whole year before I have to get into this specific part of the pagan fabric.

Of course, there's Easter in the spring, and then there's Halloween in the fall, and the biggie, of course, this time of the year.

What's Santa getting you for Christmas?

Get, get, get, get, get.

A very wise man that some of us know to continue to properly honor and properly respect, not putting him on a pedestal is perfect, because I don't see anybody in this room that's perfect, and you're not looking at a perfect man today as you look at me.

Because there's no such thing as a perfect human being.

Human beings, or to some degree, even in God's hands, and complete until the time of the resurrection when we will be made perfect.

But a very wise man, he was a mentor to us, a mentor to me, to be honored, to be respected, because only the blind can't see that he was a true servant of God. Only the blind can't see that God raised him up and used him, and did a great work of revitalizing the church and doing the work that he was given to do at that time.

There are others that disparage him and completely put him down. That's their problem.

I don't have that problem. I honor and I respect. I don't put him on a pedestal, but I honor and I respect him, just like I do the other men of God that I read about in the Bible, because he was truly a man of God. And he narrowed the way of God and the way of the world down into two words. He had an uncanny ability, and I think a lot of it was gifted to him by God, to be able to take and pull very big and wide comprehensive issues down to succinct words that expressed it all. And he had this statement, the way of give versus the way of get.

The way of give versus the way of get. And really, when you think about it, doesn't that in a nutshell really sum up God and God's way versus Satan and his way? That God's way is the way of give and Satan's way is the way of get. I mean, we've got a world going mad. We've got a nation of hedonistic, selfy, self me, self this, me, me, me, me. And it's funny, we'll laugh at a song like, is it Toby Keith that does the one I want to talk about? Me. Me. Me. You know, it's a country westerner song, and it's real catchy.

And of course, you can find quite a bit of truth in a lot of these songs, too. Truth about carnality, truth about human nature, truth about the way things work.

The way of give versus the way of get. And isn't that part of our challenge to learn how to operate from a motivation of give and what that really means versus the way of just get and intake and receiving? God is the giver. James 1, 17.

James 1, 17.

Do you ever think that God has to have us? He can't run things without us?

He was running things without us before we were brought into existence.

It's not because He's got to have us to help Him run things because He can't do it by Himself, because He's the God of love and He wants to share.

He's a giver. It says in James 1, 17, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variable, and neither shadow of turning. God is a giver.

Satan is a getter. He is a taker. And he doesn't really understand God's motivation.

And he absolutely doesn't care for it and doesn't want it. And the motivation he has, he believes that's the motivation that we all have or that motivation he has can be instilled in all of us. If you look back at the book of Job, Job 1, and this has always been interesting to me, it's an insight into Satan's thinking. Job 1 and verse 6.

Now, there's a whole lot bigger situation going on here than appears just in what we will read.

But this is part of it. Now, verse 6, chapter 1.

The Lord said to Satan, basically like, where did you come from?

Now, it's not that God doesn't know. A lot of times it's rhetorical to just see what response He will get or to initiate something. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, and frankly, this ought to put us on high alert from going to and fro in the earth.

Do you think He was doing that back then, but He's not doing it now? That's this pattern.

And it's not that just He's going to and fro upon the earth. He has a lot of little companions that we don't see traveling around with Him and from walking up and down in it.

Okay, since you are doing that, Satan, have you considered my servant Job? You obviously have seen him, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect, upright man, one that fears God. You haven't been able to find anybody quite like him, have you? And he's shown evil.

Okay. And here's Satan's comeback, verse 9.

Then Satan answered the Lord and said, well, does Job fear you for nothing?

I mean, look what's in it for him. You think he's doing it because it's just what he thinks he should do, or it's what he can get out of it, what he can get. Have you not made a hedge about him? Which, that's encouraging, because it tells us God does put a certain amount of hedge about us.

We do have protection. Many times, we're not even aware of things we're protected from.

We still have to exercise responsibility. We still have to extra free moral agency to do the right and good and wise thing.

But have you not made a hedge about him? And about his house, and about all that he has on every side? You've blessed the work of his hands, and his substance has increased in the land. He's doing it for what he's getting from you, God. But put forth your hand now, touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face. Because he's in it for himself. He's in it for what he's getting. Satan believes, for one thing, he believes his motivation is in all human beings. He also believes that that motivation that he has can be instilled in everybody. And he is partially right. Not 100%, but he is partially right. Notice with me John 6. It's Jesus Christ who is walking about the land. And it's a broken land. It's a downtrodden land. People are in need. And here comes a great light. Jesus the Christ. And you find in John 6, verse 22. And Christ is speaking comforting words, encouraging words. He's a bright light in a dark land. Verse 22, John 6, the day following, when the people which stood on the other side of the sea, saw that there was none other boat there, except that one wherein his disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not with his disciples into the boat, but that his disciples were going away alone, howbeit there came other boats from Tiberius' night to the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks. Verse 24, When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus. And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did You come here? Notice what Christ says to them. Jesus answered them and said, fairly, verily, or that is truly, truly, I say to you. Notice, you seek Me not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves and were filled. You seek Me because you got something for it. You got food. Your bellies were filled. You can start a church in a poor place and open a bread line and you can fill the pews. There's just something intrinsic about us in our makeup that we tend to prove to Satan that it's easy to ingrain in us the way of get because the way of get just comes natural. And so, what does He do? He starts early. Why do you think that certain corrupt powers that be want to start on our kids when they're three years old with perversions? Get them as young as you can and start ingraining in them. And start wiring their minds and their brains to think a certain way so that they will accept drag queens, pedophiles, transgenderism, homosexuality, all the perversions. Because the earlier you can get to them, the more you will be able to either make that a part of them or generate acceptance in their minds for it. So they won't at least fight it. He starts early. Getting becomes a powerful motivational base that they operate off of.

And isn't it ironic and significant that the very spirit and attitude of Satan get that we're all going to have to fight and overcome to be in the kingdom of God is the very spirit and attitude that we start instilling at the very earliest age? What do we do at Halloween? Trick or treat!

Think about that statement. Of course, not to mention dressing up as ghouls and goblins and devils and demons and witches and all of that. And of course, even a certain amount of mainstream religion with Protestants, Baptists and others, there's quite a few of them who have drawn the line and won't get involved with that anymore. But the ones who do seem to try to make up for the ones who don't. Extorting to get. Trick or treat! Treat me! I'm going to trick you. So when people say it's not relevant, it doesn't matter.

It's no big deal. They're totally wrong, aren't they? Why? I don't keep Christmas. Because it is a relevant issue. It is relevant. It does matter. It is a big deal. And when they say, well, God doesn't mind because we're using it to worship Him, they're choosing for God what He chooses. They're not letting God choose what God chooses. They're choosing for Him. And when they say, well, Christ has conquered it, Christ has redeemed it, Christ has baptized it.

Now, for instance, has Christ redeemed Satan? No. Because He's not redeemable. And the things that Satan has authored and propounds are not redeemable. Someday, there will come a day when there not and never ever again will be practiced again, including sin. When that will be a thing of the past, it will all be history. But I've heard people say, well, Christ has conquered it.

Those are just words. Christ has redeemed it, the paganism. Christ has baptized it. They're playing with words and twisting things. Take the heart and core of God's great spiritual law. What is the heart and core of God's great spiritual law? Well, we know that the heart and core instructions are not just on the surface, but to the very depth of what those words are expressing and reflecting the Ten Commandments. And just briefly, going through those Ten Commandments, you can find them in Exodus 20.

Of course, you can find them in Deuteronomy 5 also. But just in kind of a cursory view in Exodus 3, you know the heart and core of God's great spiritual law, you take it and you analyze paganism in the light of it. Just paganism in the light of God's great spiritual law, because the Ten Commandments encompass and encase the heart and core of God's spiritual law. For instance, Acts 20, verse 3, know other gods before Me.

So if you have a custom that incorporates the techniques and institutions of Satan, such as lying, who is being served behind the scenes? Is it God or is it the devil? Now, I'm not saying the people know they're serving the devil. That's not my point. The point is the reality is who are you serving, whether you know it or not. It's not God behind the scenes they're serving.

Who's the real hero of Christmas? Ask any little three-year-old, in some cases even a two-year-old, or a four-year-old, or a five-year-old. Who's the real hero of Christmas? You think they're going to say Jesus Christ? They're going to say Santa Claus. Santa Claus. He's the real hero. He's the one who knows everything about you. He's the one who knows if you're naughty or nice. He's the one that will reward you or not reward you.

You have just slotted, slid a fat man in a red suit in a position in the little child's mind that is reserved for God, the Father and Jesus Christ. You do God no honor. You do Him a great dishonor. The real hero, the all-powerful, mighty one, who can be everywhere, basically at the same time it seems, is Santa Claus. The second commandment in verse 4, no grave in image to bow down and serve them.

And I've always found it ironic that people bow down before the Christmas tree to put the gifts there. They bow down to take the gifts up. You might say, well, that's a little thing. It may be. But just think about the form, the procedure, what's done. You kneel down to put the gifts there. You kneel down to get the gifts and open them later. No grave in image to bow down to serve them.

Or nobody knows what Jesus Christ looked like except. He was an average Jew of His day. He wore the customary styles of hair and clothing. He was a very strong, masculine man who was totally...as a sacrifice, he had to be a perfect physical specimen. He was just as perfect a physical specimen as Adam was. There was no defect with him. There was no weakness.

He was very masculine. He had short hair, not long flowing hair. He wasn't effeminate, and looks or manner. So these pictures and representations of Christ are false. It's a false image. It's a false image. No grave in image to bow down and serve them. And there are people who have on their wall in front of them a picture of Christ. And when they pray, they would go and kneel before that picture. Third one, verse 7, Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Now again, there's a whole lot more depth to that than just what I will cover today, because it's not like purpose to explore each of the commandments to their depth today.

But to apply God's name to a vain, empty, pagan custom. That violates that commandment so clearly. And God might say, if He were to speak, don't use my name as an excuse to do what you currently want to do. And of course, why are we here today? Because it's the seventh day. It's the Sabbath.

And there's a command to keep the Sabbath. That's why we're here. Verse 8. The Sabbath day. Remember the Sabbath day. To keep it holy. We're here because the commandment says to be here today. There is no commandment to be in a religious worship service tomorrow. But that's where mainstream religion will be, those who attend. That's where the Catholics will be. That's where the Protestants will be. 52 times a year. Sunday, worship.

And that day is named properly. Sun day, the day of the sun. The sun's day. Because Sunday worship does go back to Baal. It does go back to sun worship. And there's various names for it. Verse 12, the fifth one. Honor your father and your mother. Those who honor their father and their mother will find it easier to honor God. Those who choose not to honor their father and their mother.

They will also find it harder to honor God because, again, even though that is a commandment, that first and foremost, or let's say first, represents and reflects on how we are to do by our parents. Yet also at its depth has to do with also the supreme father. I mean, God the Father is the supreme parent, the supreme father. And so, how is it that if I break the first commandment, the second commandment, the third commandment, and the fourth commandment, how can I then say, well, I honor God the Father, God the Father, God my Father?

I honor Him by breaking every one of the first four that have to do with how you honor Him. I mean, that's what the first four most specifically deal with is how you honor God. And I'm honoring God my Father, Father my parent, by breaking all four of the ones that are designed to honor Him.

That makes no sense at all, does it?

Verse 13, the sixth one.

And we understand that when it says, shall not kill, the Hebrew is, shall not murder. We understand that. At least we should understand that. Shall not murder.

The depth of that gets into not just life involved, but relationships. The spirit of something, obviously. How do you violate all of the foregoing and still have a relationship with God? You can murder your relationship with God. You can kill your relationship with God.

And here is one of those inconvenient truths.

When the truth is suppressed, the Holy Spirit does not flow.

When the truth is suppressed, the Holy Spirit does not flow because no lie is of the truth.

And God's Spirit cannot flow down a channel bed of lies that's lined with lies.

Does not. Now, you go to the seventh one, verse 14, thou shall not commit adultery. And of course, again, even though I'm putting everything under the heading, why do not keep Christmas?

Christmas is part of a whole pagan system that's been set in place.

And you think, well, what's number seven, thou shall not commit adultery, have to do with?

How does that fit in?

Anybody ever heard the phrase, and I'm being facetious and rhetorical because we all have Mardi Gras?

Stay out of New Orleans at a certain time of the year.

Mardi Gras. It means fat Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.

Fat Tuesday.

You can go. You can fornicate. You can commit adultery. You can get so drunk you can't stand up. You can party and do everything because it's okay because you're going to be absolved with Ash Wednesday, with Lent.

It's just part of the religious system.

Like I said, all you got to do is just go to someplace like New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mobile, Alabama, Biloxi. Just go to some of these places at Mardi Gras and be your own investigative reporter, and just see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears what goes on.

Nothing godly about it.

It's part of the paganism, again, where the center, the biggest, is Christmas.

Number 8 in verse 15, Thou shalt not steal.

I've often thought, trick or treat, are you going to treat me, or am I going to have to trick you?

And it's worse these days than pushing the outhouse over it.

You know, I've used the example that if I came out of my house someday, and there sits my car on blocks, and all four wheels were missing, somebody stole my tires. That's theft. But isn't it theft? If I come out of the house and I look at my car, and it's sitting down low because all four tires are still there, but they've been slashed and ruined, and they've been taken from me, I've got to go get four new ones. That's theft also.

Number 9, verse 16.

Again, not to bear false witness, lying. Bunnies that lay eggs, Batman in a red suit, coming down to your chimney, reindeer that fly.

Biggest lie of all, Christ in Christmas. He is not in Christmas.

And then number 10, verse 17.

Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not lust.

The get and the greed that seems to permeate it all the way through, whether you're talking about Halloween, you're talking about Christmas, you're talking about Mardi Gras, the get and the greed. And how many experience, well, I didn't get as good a gift as I gave, so see what they get from me next year. Or I didn't get a gift at all, so, and I spent them ones. See if they get anything from me next year. So we all know about this. We dealt with it. One reason, you know, we're here is because we're willing to do God's way. And yeah, there's a price in this human lifetime we pay, but the rewards are tremendous for paying the price. Some of the rewards come now, but the biggest ones will come in the future. So when people say, you know, it's not relevant, oh yeah, it is. And this simple exercise, just briefly, in a cursory way, going through the 10 commandments, along shows us why we have to come out of it. God's way of life is expressed by the 10 commandments, and that way of life is trampled all over. Let's look at one final area, where we wrap this up, and that is our operational behavior with others at this time of the year.

And when we talk about operational behavior, we have to take into account God's calling.

You know, our calling, God's calling, and people's blindness and weakness.

We've been called to see and understand these things. They haven't yet. And number two, their sincerity. Because, and yes, there's a lot of sin in sincerity, because the very first three letters of the word sincere or sincerity is sin. Yeah, there's a lot of sin in it.

But they don't see it like we see it. And we have to take that into account, and we have to be careful in how we deal with them. You know, responding to the greetings and the gifts and all of that, you know, they're constantly wishing you, you know, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, whatever. What's the time of bringing you this year? Is your church doing anything different this year than it did last year? And of course, a lot of people, they just get into the spirit of the time. And whether they mean it or feel it or whatever, it's what's expected of them.

And it's good for business. And they're pushing to move as much merchandise as they can.

You know, if somebody is truly interested in wanting to know, if somebody were to say to me, point blank, do you keep Christmas? They'll say, no, I don't. I'd say it about like this, no, I don't.

If they said, well, why not? First of all, I would try to discern, do they really want to know, or are they just curious? And I might say, well, do you really want to know? And I'd try to ascertain whether they really want to know, because if they're just curious, I'd just say something like, well, look, just you can Google it. You've got a smartphone, you've got a computer, you've got a notebook, whatever, laptop. Just Google it. Just do some research on Christmas, and if you go and do the research, you will see why I don't keep it. Now, again, if it's just the passing comment, like I said one time, the teller at the bank, you know, I've had this happen to me more than once, is your church doing anything different this year for Christmas? I said, no, we're not doing a single thing different. We're doing the same thing we did last year, which is not a lie.

And when you've got white people behind you that are wanting you to hurry up, and you know, so they can get up there to the counter, dealing with love and discretion.

There's two scriptures I will read in closing. Proverbs 2 verse 11. And this is such a good one to learn how to practice. Proverbs 2 verse 11. Discretion shall preserve you. Again, we're called. We understand. We know. And there was a time when we didn't. There's a time when we were out there, and we may have been totally sincere. And there are some totally sincere people. They just don't know. We don't join in with them. But at the same time, we take into account the reality that they just don't see it and understand it. And again, asking God for the discernment to know when truly an explanatory measure is needed to be taken to give Scripture and answers and being equipped for that. And when really, it's better just to point them, to Google it, you know, just curious versus being truly interested. Now, if somebody said, look, I get off work at five.

Could we meet down at the local McDonald's and you show me from Scripture why you don't keep it? I say yes. What time do you want to meet there? And I'll bring my Bible and I will show you why I don't.

Discretion shall preserve you. Understanding shall keep you. The second Scripture, and this is the one that we have to learn to practice as best we can. It's Ephesians 4.15. There's a part here that we really need to study on, meditate, because it applies. There's all kinds of situations that come up in which, other than just Christmas, so many situations that come up that we need to learn how to apply this as specifically as we can to different situations. Now, Ephesians 4.15, but speaking the truth and love may grow up into Him in all things, which is in the head of even Christ. Yes, we need to learn to grow up in Christ in all things. But this phrase right here, speaking the truth because we're not going to speak lies. We're going to speak the truth.

We condemn ourselves. We indict ourselves when we speak lies. So that's not an option for us. We have to speak the truth. True worship of God is based on spirit and truth. Speaking the truth, but how do we speak it? We speak it in love. We speak it in love. You can't give people that which they cannot receive. And you can't get people to see what you see if they're not given to see it. And you have to judge how much can I say or not say. And again, based on whether they're just curious or they're just saying something because it's rote. It's just what they say to every customer that goes through. Speaking the truth in love. Not defensive. Not like we got something to hide. Not angry. Not condemning. Not indicting. Not self-righteous. Not like we're hurt. Not like we're rejected. Nor like we're superior. You think about it. If you're speaking the truth in love and you're exercising discretion, you're going to learn how not to be defensive.

You're going to avoid being angry. You're going to avoid coming across as self-righteous and superior.

You're not going to act hurt or rejected. You know they're going to see it in due time, whether it's in this age yet or the age to come. But God will help us to deal in wisdom and in love.

But the bottom line is we honor God with our practices and our attitudes. Let's be prepared to help, yes, for help can truly be given and received. But these are reasons why I don't keep Christmas and won't keep Christmas.