MONDAY MOTIVATION: LIVING A WONDERFUL LIFE

CHRISTMAS EVE - Living a Wonderful Life

We are right in the middle of our Christmas Eve services today, and if you want to join us we have 3 more today at 12:00pm, 2:00pm, and 4:00pm. Join us online at C3Church.com!

There's always that one guy (or girl) in the family on Christmas with the best one-liners, so I'm gonna help you out... Ha!

Christmas One-Liners:

Q: Why can't the Christmas tree stand up?

A: It doesn’t have legs.

Q: What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire?

A: Frostbite.

Q: What do snowmen eat for breakfast?

A: Snowflakes.

Q: Where does a snowman keep his money?

A: In a snowbank.

Q: What do you get if you cross mistletoe and a Uncle Si from duck dynasty?

A: A Christmas Quacker.

Q: How do you know when Santa's in the room?

A: You can sense his presents.

But Christmas is more than gifts and presents its about the GIFT of HIS PRESENCE!

He’s Immanuel – God with Us.

Isaiah 9:6, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”(NLT)

He is the WONDERFUL… Counselor!

He is the MIGHTY… God!

He is the EVERLASTING… Father!

He is the PRINCE…. Of Peace!

I love that word Wonderful!

Wonder - beyond what is ordinary or usual - full of wonder.

Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”(NIV)

Today, I am highlighting my favorite Christmas movie, It’s A Wonderful Life (1946.)

With Jimmy Stewart playing George Bailey. A Christmas classic. George falls on hard times and thinks to himself it would have been better if he had never been born. So an angel saves his life and gives him his wish of seeing what his life would look like if he had never been born.

He didn’t realize what an impact his life had made on other people and on the town.

At the end the town comes to his rescue and his family is reunited.

Here are a few thoughts as it relates to living a Wonderful Life…

OUR LIFE HAS A BIGGER IMPACT THAN WE REALIZE - Either a positive impact or a negative.

One life can impact another life that ends up impacting thousands of lives.

George Bailey thought his life was a waste but he learned that his life had a bigger impact than he thought. He had helped so many people and they had impacted other peoples lives.

When we impact one life we aren’t just impacted one person… we are impacting everyone person that life impacts.

The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out,

Exodus 34:6-7, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy!
I am slow to anger
and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin.
But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren;
the entire family is affected—
even children in the third and fourth generations.”(NLT)

His loves goes a thousand generations. If we deny God our sins can impact up to 4 generations. But He’s a God of compassion and mercy!

JESUS shows up! And when Jesus shows up EVERYTHING CHANGES.

No life has made a bigger impact on our world than JESUS!

When Jesus came he split BC and AD. Every time we look at the calendar we are reminded of the birth of Jesus.

Jesus impacted just 12 guys and they changed the world.

God wants to use you to change the world! Don’t underestimate the power of impacting one person’s life.

It’s far better to life your life and just impact one person’s life for eternity than to life your life for yourself and have everything the world has to offer.

Matthew 16:25-26, “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. 26 And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”(NLT)

What benefit? NONE. There is nothing more valuable than a soul.

THE GREATEST BLESSINGS IN LIFE ARE OUR RELATIONSHIPS

– things of this world will come and go but people will last forever.

Our greatest possession are the friends and family that we have. This Christmas don’t take people for granted. Express your thanks to them. Focus on the positive rather than the negative. You might say but I don’t think there is anything positive about them. Go ahead on faith and speak something positive.

We see a guy in the Old Testament named Solomon that had everything the world had to offer but he says it was meaningless.

Ecclesiastes 2:9-11, So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. 10 Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. 11 But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.”(NLT)

Power doesn’t fulfill us.

Pleasures of this world doesn’t fulfill us

Possessions will not fulfill us.

I saw an interview with the famous Model Fabio. This guy has everything you can imagine a guy would want. Huge mansion, Lamborghinis, and over 222 motorcycles.

Fabio was asked, “Is there something missing in your life?


Yes. Love. There are more important things than one's career and one's body. Love is the most important thing in life. All the other things are infatuations. I knew true love 20 years ago, but I ruined it. I put my career first. Even my mother told me to choose my career over love. But it was a mistake. You must never let go of true love. You'll only experience it once.

BUT

Personal Relationships WILL!

The Word of God and people will last forever.

THE GREATEST RELATIONSHIP WE CAN EVER HAVE IS JESUS!

Christmas is a time of year that we remember who Jesus is and how much He loves us. And what’s amazing is He wants to have a Personal Relationship With You.

John 15:16, “You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

Jesus chooses you! He wants you to bear fruit. Fruit that will last!

You might say I’m not worthy. I’ve made too many mistakes. God can’t forgive me.

Because of Jesus TODAY you can have a Fresh Start with God!

Philippians 3:13-14, “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”(NLT)

Even as we are coming to the end of one year and beginning the next it’s a great time to tell God I wan to make a Fresh Start.

Isaiah 9:6, “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us...”