Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Kosti Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple, Spotify, and those of you enjoying this on our YouTube video podcast format. On today's episode, I want to kick off a series that will take us through the Advent season and help you win this Christmas. I'm going to use that word a lot, win or winning. You'll see why. I've titled the series Five Priorities for Winning This Christmas. We're going to be looking at five key priorities that are going to set you up for this season. Now, first of all, I want to explain why I'm using the word winning. In today's society, I think we bubble wrap everyone, especially our kids, when it comes to words like winning, words like losing. And our society is one in which everyone gets a trophy, people try to soften the blow of truth. And it seems like more and more people can't handle the reality that there are winners and losers in situations and I would argue in seasons. Hence the reason I'm starting this series early. There will be winners and losers this Advent season. Now let me define that. What is winning and what is losing? First, what is winning this Advent season? Those who keep the main thing the main thing. Those who are filled with joy, those who set the calendar the right way, those who, even through trials, were centered on Christ, those who, even when materialism beckoned, kept it in its place, those who, even during work parties, didn't ruin their witness, those who, when it was all said and done, rest assured that this Advent season, they didn't roll over for the culture and get pinned down by worldly pursuits. No, they won. Winning is linked to a lifestyle of worship this season, in the way that I'm defining it in these episodes. Now, what is losing? Losing is getting caught up in the culture during Christmas. Uh, being uh uh on the losing side is spending too much money going into debt to keep up with the culture, those who party away the season but fail to prioritize what matters most, those who deck the halls, if you will, but don't don the church doors, those who are so impressed with their baking and cooking and traditions and their decor, but they fail to adore Christ in this season. Who loses? Those who finish in first place when it comes to the rat race of a worldly Christmas, yet they forget to run the race that matters in eternity. You may or may not like this truth, but it doesn't change the fact that in every season of life there's winning and losing, advancing, retreating, taking strides forward, or slipping backwards. You're either walking in God's will or you're flowing downstream in the river of this world. And I just can't go through this Christmas season without providing you something to encourage you as the world ramps up on meaningless pursuits. If you keep these five priorities at the top of your list, I guarantee you're gonna look back on this Christmas season with no regrets and a great deal of joy no matter what you face. For some of you, this is just gonna affirm how you're already living and it's gonna be an encouragement to you that you've been making the right choices. But for others, I think this series will save you from the aftermath you experienced last year or in years prior, filled with debt and arguments and annoyance and regrets and frustration and the rubble of defeat. Yes, there are winners and losers. There is winning and losing. To win, the way we would define winning biblically, your first priority this Christmas, number one, needs to be Christ. He is the reason for the entire season, he's the majesty of heaven, he's the Son of God, the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. Christmas is one history-making moment that started the unfolding events of redemption as Christ came as a baby and grew up to be the man who would lay his life down as not mere man, but the God man. Christmas, in one simple but history-making phrase, can be summarized saying, God with us. That's what Emmanuel means when we hear that word or sing that song during Christmas. Matthew 121 is one of multiple places we find it in Scripture saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translates God with us. The announcement of Christ coming told the world, Messiah has come, salvation is here, look to no one else for hope and peace and joy and redemption and eternal life with God. There will be no separation between sinners and their Father in heaven because the Son has come to reconcile God and man. Christmas, the Advent season, has been made to be about so many other things, competing things that pull our attention away from Jesus, that many would even roll their eyes at an episode or a series like this, claiming, oh, give me a break. Everyone knows Christmas is about Jesus. I understand he's the reason for the season, blah, blah, and all that. You know, we're just having our Christmas fun and enjoying and then fill in the blank. Don't miss it. Don't take this for granted. Don't do the American Christian thing where you go, I've heard it all before, and just because you've heard it, you think you know it, and because you think you know it, you think you're living it. No, don't miss Christ this season. To help start this in a bit of a counterintuitive way, seeing things in the negative before the positive, let me jump into five ways to lose sight of Christ this Christmas. Number one, let yourself be controlled by gifts under the tree. Nothing says that gifts and materialism run the show more than letting this aspect of the season control your emotions, your disposition, and your view of whether Christmas was a success or not. Be sure to count the gifts and let your kids throw fits if they only got 17 this year, but they had 18 last year. More than that, let your own heart and your family gauge the success of your year. On how many gifts are under the tree? Just several means we're struggling and we couldn't buy a ton this year. Four to five layers deep, like you got to swim in them and climb over them to get to the inner echelons of the gifts under the tree. Oh, that means we're loaded or we are on top of the world. And don't worry about the credit card being racked with money you don't have in order to make everyone feel happy. You can worry about that this January. That's a surefire way to forget about Christ this Christmas. Number two, another way before we get to the positives and negative, lie to your kids about Santa Claus. Nothing puts Jesus in the backseat of Christmas more than you putting Santa in his sleigh. Make them feel all the warm and fuzzy feelings about him and the magic of Christmas, sing about his reindeer, put out the milk and cookies, and be sure to confuse them by mixing in Jesus, by presenting Santa as like his special helper, and he just gets all the gifts to the people. It's really about Jesus, but we're pumped on Santa. Getting an early start on syncretism is the perfect way to lose sight of Christ this Christmas and beyond. But if anyone says what I just did, be sure to call them a legalist because they've touched the golden Christmas calf of Santa Claus. You know, it's fascinating to me that we lie to our kids about some overweight guy in a red suit being the giver of gifts at Christmas for people all over the world. And then our children grow up, they realize their central Christmas figure is a fable, but then we expect them to keep believing that the other guy that we sometimes talked about, Jesus, he's real, Santa's fake, and now that you're older, you should figure that out. We spend years, if you believe this stuff, indoctrinating children with Santa Claus shenanigans, and then supposedly they're going to grow out of that, it's all just innocence, and they're going to believe in the God you've presented to them that they can't see. It's deception. You've lied to them, created a whole system, put out the milk and cookies for the imaginary man, thanked him for the presence, or said he's Jesus' helper, but you want them to believe in God. I think most ironic of all are the parents who complain about how they can't trust the government nowadays and you can't trust your food sources and everything's polluted and you can't trust the honey coming from China. You know, we're all economic experts now on what we can and can't trust. Meanwhile, we lie to our kids for 12 years about Santa Claus under the guise of what they know won't hurt them. We're the biggest hypocrites ever. We're mad at government because they lie about where honey comes from, but we've been lying to our kids about a fat guy in a red suit, and then we want them to believe in God. I think we should do a better job, not wasting time. If you say, oh, come on, what's the big deal? It's innocent, our children know, it's just a fun little thing. Great. Well then we're wasting valuable time we could have spent meditating on Christ, bringing up Santa and Christmas fakery. It's a great way to just backseat the Lord this Christmas. Number three, worry about pleasing everyone except Christ. Christmas comes with a number of obligations for us, and we're gonna talk about some of those and the other priorities to come. There's family, in-laws, friends, bosses, neighbors, church folk, school folk, and a host of other scenes as the drama unfolds. You want to feel exhausted this year? You want to empty your spiritual tank and be depleted? Then fill your time with trying to please everyone except the Lord. Worry about what everyone else will think but Him. Number four, use a nativity scene to check off your Jesus box. That's a great way to just backseat Jesus this Christmas. The nativity scene can become like the modern day cross around your neck. It's this external symbol of your spirituality, but it doesn't mean you have an internal spiritual pulse. But when we think of Jesus in Christmas, we think of putting up the nativity scene and we come home from whatever busy Christmas thing we did, or we stuff another big box under the tree, we look up at the mantle and we look at the nativity scene and think, oh, there you are, Jesus, right there in the middle of my Christmas, because he's on the mantle. There you are, Mary wearing blue. There's the star. And would you would you look at the way everything just feels so Christmassy in this mid-century modern living room? I just love you, God. I just love Christmas, what a feeling. No, no, no. You're just checking the box off of external religion, thinking it's genuine Christianity, the same way we often check off the box on our reading plan, thinking we've done the religious exercise, now we move on with our day. And this mindset treats Christ like an ornament and worship just another thing. We needed to get off our Christmas list rather than a lifestyle. You can have a nativity scene, that's fine. You do you. But don't think that that is the symbol of your Christ-centered Christmas. It's a decoration. Worship is your lifestyle. Number five, obsess over Christmas performances and parties. Just obsess over them. You know, never mind worship, never mind things that matter in eternity. Just go nuts over all of the Christmas pomp and circumstance. This is the final way to lose sight of Christ, and it's easy to do. Make all of the special events, the performances, the parties, make all those the be all end all of your Advent season, minimize spiritual pursuits, but worship in the religion of performing arts and festivities. And no, there's nothing wrong with enjoying Christmas plays, the symphony, a joy-filled party, or your child's Christmas role as a wise man. Don't hear what I'm not saying. But friends, you know and I know, when we put max effort into sewing their little head covering onto their house robe, and we make a huge deal about everything performance-related and party-related and my events and where I have to be and who's on the guest list. But we skip church each week, or we just put off to the side service and love and care and an other focused Advent season, or maybe just a family-focused Advent season for discipleship and things that matter. Well, we've become too busy and we have forgotten the reason for the season. You can add to those or customize them with however the Lord would lead you and apply them in your own life, but you get the point. So with the problem glaring at us and Santa now slayed, let's get some positive solutions in our minds. Let's land the plane with five ways to prioritize Christ this Christmas. Number one, spend time with him daily. Change nothing in your schedule if you've already been spending time with the Lord each day. But if you haven't, make this the season where you dial that in. Christmas comes and goes, but your time with him is a precious and protected devotion. Don't let the chaos of Christmas cause you to forget what keeps your soul at peace all year long. I think one of the reasons so many people say, you know, this new year, I'm going to start spending time with the Lord. I need to hit reset, is because our lack of devotion all year was never more obvious during Christmas. The stain of materialism and the lust for the things of this world begin to show through and suddenly it's, uh-oh, you know, we've really lost sight of what matters, haven't we? Yeah. So be proactive here, not reactive. Protect your time. Be with him in the word and in prayer daily. Number two, for keeping Christ the center of your Christmas. Keep gathering for worship with eager consistency. And I want to qualify eager consistency, not a loathing, not that church or gathering for worship is getting in the way of your amazing Christmas plans, but no, it's the priority of worship. It's a love for worship. It's not allowing the pace to push out meaningful avenues of spiritual benefit. God designed the church to be a means of grace for you and I. And it's a time where we gather and we are spirit-filled and we exhibit the evidence of being spirit-filled. We're renewed in our mind and our hearts through singing and preaching, fellowshipping, and giving and serving, being together and worshiping the Lord. It seems that more than other times a year we fall into two extremes. We suddenly go to church because it's Christmas, so we've got religious exercise, or we skip church because we've got a lot going on. But both of those extremes miss the whole point of worship as a lifestyle and Christ as our everything. So be eager for it. Gathering to worship him isn't getting the way of you having Christmas. It is the centerpiece of Christmas and ultimately all worship is about Christ. Number three, emphasize Christ-centered media more than the classics. Notice I'm not saying you can't watch a good Christmas movie or have some Christmas traditions. Look, I love a good Christmas movie, and there's some fun and family friendly ones that we enjoy in our home. The classics, as I would call them. In our home, we're pretty normal. We have our hot apple cider nights with the classic Christmas movie and lots of family cuddles and quality time. But in the midst of that, I think it's wise for all of us to major on Christ-centered media, Christ-centered books, Christ-centered stories that emphasize our worldview and strengthen our focus on the gospel, Christ as Savior, the hope of salvation and the true meaning of Christmas. And I would view that as a key part of laying a strong foundation in the truth for your home. It also will keep all of us from getting caught up in worldly presentations of Christmas, no matter how funny they may be. Number four, remove anything that distracts you from Christ. I say anything because this one will be personal. What is it for you personally, for me, in my own home, in my conscience, in my life, that we need to give serious prayer and thought to as well as some honesty. We got to look in the mirror. What specific thing blurs your vision this Christmas? What tradition or special thing to you has become more important than Christ? If you didn't have this one thing or this one event or this one tradition, you'd become depressed or angry. You feel like it wasn't Christmas without that. If you could think about that one thing and it doesn't revolve around Christ, take it and dump it out. Take a break from that this year. If there's anything that would cause you to say it's just not Christmas without that thing, if the that is not Jesus and spiritually meaning pursuit, spiritually meaningful pursuits, it's time to get honest about the idol that has monopolized your Advent season. Number five and finally, this one's practical. Use an Advent calendar to emphasize biblical truth all season long. I bring this up because one of my favorite ways to create steady moments of Christ-centered time each evening in our home, alongside my wife and my children, is the Advent calendar. My wife got one of these years ago, and it comes with 25 days of these little slots with a scripture verse and a picture in each slot, along with a little Velcro character, and the kids love it. And there's this kind of family-friendly tool we have, but adults enjoy it too. And I think there's different versions out there. But the point is each night we gather together as a family. We pull one out, we read the scripture, we talk about what's unfolding, we put the special little Velcro character up on the calendar around the nativity scene. And look, I'm aware that the Magi didn't show up on the night Jesus was born, and I'm aware about the other nuances regarding nativity scenes, but the main focus we emphasize is the scripture passages and walking the kids through the Christmas story night after night until Christ is born. This, while not the key to salvation, and just being a practical tool in and of itself is not the be all end all. But for us personally, and maybe you'll have your own, it's a moment to quiet the noise of this world, to have a checkpoint each evening where we reflect on Jesus coming to earth. It's our true North moment where the scriptures pull us back into the true meaning of Christmas. We pray together, we reflect on it, and it becomes a meaningful part of family worship through the Christmas season, ultimately, again, being about Christ. I hope the five ways to forget Christ this season are sobering and helpful in a sense, although they can be uncomfortable to think about and hard for us to admit sometimes, our little idols that we've developed each and every Christmas season. But more than that, I hope that the five ways to keep Christ the center has stirred some thoughts in your own mind as you plagiarize and customize in your own way for your own home and your own life to apply. The one thing that needs to be uniform in your life and mine is the first priority of Christ in our Christmas. In the next episode, we'll dig into the second priority for a winning Christmas. It's sorely needed in our fractured society. And I think there are some helpful truths for us to think about. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching and supporting. 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