At Christmas, What Is Important? (330) - December 27 2025

The truth is, the world you see on social media is not real. Clothes are borrowed, selfie backdrops are designed and props are bought to create the image the creator wants people to believe exists. All these things are created just to get you to believe that what you see is real, and cause you to want those things or that lifestyle. Because that lifestyle and those things are not real, you can not base your real life on a computer image. This season, come out from what the world is telling you to celebrate and celebrate real life abundantly.

We discuss the following topics:
- Christmas the way the world wants you to live, according to the desires of the flesh.
- Spiritual cycles of bondage that is increased around Christmas
- Christmas life in balance and not through addiction/temptation
- Christmas, living life according to the Spirit
- Thankfulness

This program covers the following Scriptures from the Amplified Classic version (AMPC): 1 John 2:16-17, Genesis 1:26, Matthew 16:26, Ecclesiastes 5:10, Romans 13:8, Ephesians 2:3, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Matthew 6:9-13, Colossians 3:2, Philippians 4:7, Matthew 26:41, Proverbs 14:30, Galatians 5:16-25, Romans 8:12-14, Colossians 4:2, Philippians 4:4-6, 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18.

Transcript

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(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.) Good day everybody, this is Pastor Marc and Catrice with Touch of God. We want to take this time to recognize a very important moment in our calendar year. It is of course the birth of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus himself, as prophesied in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. You know, we should be mindful that the Father did not have to send his son Jesus to die on the cross for us, to pay for the forgiveness of sins and for souls to become born again, a new creation for those who would receive God's free gift of eternal life through believing in Jesus and making him their Lord. Let us be bold enough by the power of the Holy Spirit to spread this good news of Jesus Christ and his free gift of salvation to those who want to receive it. Share your testimony with those in front of you, how God lavishly bestows his blessings upon us. But let us also appreciate that it could have been a very different situation had the Father never sent his son for us. He never had to. We could never earn it. But his great love, mercy and grace for his creation removed one of those two options because he never wanted and still does not want any soul to end up perishing. But man has a free will and we must reflect Jesus to the lost so they can make a decision for Christ. May you all have a very blessed Christmas and a prosperous 2026. Katrice and I love you. And now she'll bring a timely message to us. And welcome back to another episode of Touch of God. My name is Catrice. I'll be delivering the message for you this week. This week we'll be talking about at Christmas, what is important. This holiday season, many people are rushing around to find that special thing or meet that special someone or get that special something. It may seem like everyone is celebrating and buying things, but that is not true for everyone. We must focus on the things that really matter and leave the images on social media where they belong. The truth is the world you see on social media is not real. Clothes are borrowed, selfie backdrops are designed and props are brought in to create the image the creator wants people to believe exists. This season, come out from what the world is telling you to celebrate and celebrate real life abundantly. This week's topics, Christmas, the way the world wants you to live according to the desires of the flesh, spiritual cycles of bondage that are increased around Christmas, Christmas life in balance and not through addiction and temptation, Christmas living life according to the spirit and thankfulness. Let's start with Christmas, the way the world wants you to live according to the desires of the flesh. This holiday in particular, Christmas gives the false image that everyone on social media and in the stores are buying gifts, decorating trees and sipping hot chocolate in a fancy place. An excuse to spend makes sales, increases business, heavy marketing. Social media advertisements are unreal expectations of a famous or important person's holiday. This increases people's desire to lust after the things they can't afford. It keeps some people wanting more to keep up with the rich who do not even live the way they are showing. It keeps people in bondage to debt. It keeps people comparing themselves to others. 1 John 2 verse 16 to 17, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh craving for sensual gratification and the lust of the eyes, greedy longings of the mind and the pride of life assurance in one's own resources or the stability of earthly things. These do not come from the father, but are from the world itself. The world passes away and disappears and with it the forbidden cravings, the passionate desires, the lust of it. But he who does the will of God and carries out his purposes in his life abides, remains forever. The constant images of the world of social media are creating an unrealistic life expectation for those who watch it. When you look at social media long enough, you can be drawn into all the desires of the world. These desires are not based on real life. This means you can never fulfill what you are seeing. Why? Because it is giving you unrealistic standards. Let's talk about spiritual cycles of bondage that increase around Christmas time because of us seeing these unrealistic standards constantly on media and entertainment. These unrealistic standards can create cycles of bondage in a person's life. What is the definition of bondage? A state of being around, usually by compulsion, slavery, serfdom, examples, debt bondage. Let's look at some examples of things that are not based on reality that can keep someone in bondage. Entertainment media and social media can give you unrealistic ideas about what you or your life should look like. These examples are to set people free from the illusion of trying to meet standards they see that are not all real. We will be listing some of the bigger things that have kept people in bondage. Let's talk about women's appearance. Many of the women seen on social media are extremely enhanced. This means they have added things to themselves to appear more the way they want to be seen and not how they are. This is a choice. You are free to choose how you want. This is being said to you so that you don't think that these women are perfect, perfect skin, perfect lips, perfect hair, perfect eyes, perfect weight, perfect clothes. They were not born that way. There are camera filters as well that remove blemishes, make a person thinner, changes their eye color, their appearance. So if you are a person trying to look like someone on social media, it's not real. This way you don't try to obtain what you see. They are just like you when they do not have all the things added to them. Again, you get to choose each day. Let's look at Genesis 1 verse 26. God said, let us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit make mankind in our image after our likeness and let them have complete authority over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame beast and over all the earth and over everything that creeps upon the earth. We can see that God's intention was to make us in his image. You are made in God's image for those who don't feel good enough when you're looking at social media. God made you beautiful and does not want you to endure the idea of trying to fix what he made perfect in his image. Every woman wants to be beautiful, but we must stop and think the improvements are causing any sickness, pain or depression. Let's look at Matthew 16 verse 26. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life, his blessed life in the kingdom of God? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his blessed life in the kingdom of God? Let's stop, think, decide if attracting a person is worth altering yourself. Is that person worth you being in pain, sickness, debt? Would it not be better to find someone who likes what you have without the alterations? Sometimes when we go to extreme measures to try to change how we're looking so that we look a certain way in front of people, we can become obsessed with how we look. This is called vanity. Vanity is defined as excessive pride or admiration of one's own appearance or achievements. Vanity is recognizing only accomplishments or appearance of oneself without the humility to appreciate the merit of others, including God. Faith is allowed to focus on God, rather learn more through the Bible and what the Bible is saying about vanity. Let's look at Ecclesiastics 5 verse 10. He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, nor he who loves abundance with gain. This also is vanity, emptiness, falsity, and futility. What they're saying is when we become overly obsessed with something, it becomes vanity because it's never going to be enough. It's always going to need something else and something else and something else. And at the end of the day, all of it is meaningless at the end of the day because when you are going to heaven, you're not going to be able to take this body with you. We need to decide what's important in life and what's not important. Let's look at another hindrance that can keep us in bondage around Christmas time and even all year round. Let's talk about financial debt and holiday spending. Let's look at Romans 13 verse 8. Keep out of debt and owe no man anything except to love one another, for he who loves his neighbor, who practices loving others, has fulfilled the law relating to one's fellowmen meeting all its requirements. If we're not coveting what our neighbor has, we're loving on them and we're not trying to take from them just for financial gain. Everything is covered under loving our neighbor and not loving them to get something from them financially. The definition of temptation. Let's look at Christmas life in balance and not through addiction and temptation. When we're in debt, we're coveting to the point where we're addicted to buying and spending what we don't have. We're looking at temptation because that's what happens when you cannot control yourself and you continue to buy and spend with money that you don't have. The definition of temptation is the act of tempting or the state of being tempted, especially to evil, enticement, something tempting, a cause or occasion of enticement. We must try to come up with a plan to not position ourselves to lust, covet, or be tempted. Common temptations during these times can be food. It can be alcohol, smoking, debt, financial spending, partying. There's a whole list of things that seem to increase around the holiday because people want an excuse to celebrate. During the holidays, the idea of creating debt is not an obvious topic for some. Temptation is there. When you go to stores, go online, see social media, there are wants everywhere. Business sale prices increase to get people to buy, buy, buy. People are buying beyond what they need because they are wanting things to fulfill the lust of the flesh and they're coveting. What is the definition of lust? Bible definition, Ephesians 2 verse 3, among these, we as well as you once lived and conducted ourselves in the passions of our flesh, our behavior governed by our corrupt and sensual nature, obeying the impulses of the flesh and thoughts of the mind, our cravings dictated by our senses and dark imaginings. We were then by nature, children of God's wrath and heirs of his indignation. Like the rest of mankind, coveting and lusting are the same thing. We don't start off lusting and coveting, but the more we look, the more a person can want. We have all been there. Let's look at Romans 13 verse 8, the commandments, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not covet, have an evil desire and any other commandment are summed up in the single commandment. You shall love your neighbor as you do yourself. The idea of buying, buying, buying is everywhere. For those who are unable to resist these suggested sales, commercials, advertisements, social media ads, it can be overwhelming for them. So in this process, we begin to covet and we just read in Romans 13 verse 8 that thou shall not covet. So if we're looking for Bible justification for those who are going according to the Bible, we already see that we're not supposed to covet. We're not supposed to lust after something. So this can begin to bring your life into balance for those who are following the Bible and you realize we're not supposed to do this. This gives you a foundation to begin to want to fix those things that are going on. Learning to resist these things will take practice. If you do not see what's important to have and what's a need, you can easily become addicted to spending what you don't have. This can become a challenge for some who have credit cards that do not require you to pay back the full amount immediately. This also can become a challenge for those borrowing and borrowing and promise to pay it back. Each person has to decide what is a need and what is a temptation, which is outside of the need. So the temptation is outside of a need, meaning it's not something that you need. You're being tempted by that thing momentarily and you feel the need to get it. Is there a way out? Let's look at 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13. For no temptation, no trial regarded as enticing to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads, has overtaken you and laid hold on you. That is not common to man. That is no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience. And such a man can bear. But God is faithful to his word and to his compassionate nature. And he can be trusted not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure. But with the temptation, he will always also provide the way out the means of escape to a landing place that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently. Therefore, my dearly beloved, shun, keep clear away from, avoid by flight if need be, any sort of idolatry or loving or venerating anything more than God. You can look at making a planned budget. When you are in this situation and you are in debt, you want to begin to set boundaries in your life. So keep the budget away from those in your house, friends, acquaintances that will want to tempt you. Do not go places that will tempt you. Avoid social media around the holidays until you are strong enough to resist the devil so he will flee. Pray over your holidays so you do not enter into temptation. Let's look at Matthew 6 verse 9 to 13. Pray therefore, like this, our father who is in heaven, hallowed, kept holy, be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven, left remitted and let go of the debts and have given up resentment against our debtors and lead bring us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Uncontrolled desires can lead to addictions, debt, depression, envy, jealousy, and more. We must stay in balance and not let our inner desires take control. How can we do this? We must keep our mind on things above, Colossians 3 verse 2, and set your minds and keep them set on what is above, the higher things, not on the things that are on the earth. Guard our hearts and minds in Christ, Philippians 4 verse 7. Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything but in every circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition, definite request with Thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God and God's peace shall be yours. That tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and Mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ. Watch and pray to make sure that you do not enter into temptation. Matthew 26 verse 21, all of you must keep awake. So this is Jesus talking to his disciples. Give strict attention to be cautious and active and watch and pray that you may not come into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Let's look at Proverbs 14 verse 30, a common undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness to the bones. So when we begin to desire all of these things and we're, we're coming out of our peace because we're lusting after these things. And when you begin to lust after different things, some people are not doing okay during that time because they desire more than they're supposed to. Lusting over things, take you from your calmness. Let's look at Christmas living life according to the spirit. Galatians 5 verse 16 to 25, but I say walk and live habitually in the Holy spirit responsive to and controlled and guided by the spirit. Then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh of human nature without God for the desires of the flesh are opposed to the Holy spirit and the desires of the spirit are opposed to the flesh. Godless human nature for these are antagonistic to each other, continually withstanding and in conflict with each other so that you are not free, but are prevented from doing what you desire to do. But if you are guided, led by the Holy spirit, you are not subject to the law noun. The doings practices of the flesh are clear, obvious. They are immorality, impurity, indecency, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, ill temper, selfishness, divisions, dissensions, party, spirit, factions, sects with peculiar opinions, heresies, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Verse 22, but the fruit of the Holy spirit, the work, which his presence within accomplishes is love, joy, gladness, peace, patience, and even temper forbearance, kindness, goodness, benevolence, faithfulness, gentleness, meekness, humility, self-control, self-restraint, continence against such things. There is no law that can bring a charge. And those who belong to Christ, Jesus, the Messiah have crucified the flesh, the godless human nature with its passions and appetites and desires. If we live by the Holy spirit, let us also walk by the spirit. If by the Holy spirit, we have our life in God, let us go forward, walking in line, our conduct controlled by the spirit. Let's look at Romans 8, verse 12 to 14. So then brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh. We are not obligated to our carnal nature to live a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates of the flesh. For if you live according to the dictates of the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the Holy spirit, you are habitually putting to death, making extinct, deadening the evil deeds prompted by the body, you shall really and genuinely live forever for all who are led by the spirit of God, our sons of God. Lastly, let's talk about thankfulness. If we walk continually gratifying the things of the flesh for every occasion, we will never be satisfied because lust and coveting are at work. This is when it becomes a addiction, a spiritual bondage. Therefore do not enter into temptation. Stay alert, pray and fast, be watchful and mindful. Do not let the distraction of the holiday dictate the cravings of the flesh, but be led by the Holy spirit. We just learned in the previous scriptures. Let's look at Colossians four, verse two about thankfulness, be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer life, being both alert and intent in your praying with thanksgiving Philippians four, verse four to six rejoice in the Lord. Always delight, gladden yourselves in him. Again, I say rejoice, let all men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness, your considerateness, your forbearing spirit. The Lord is near. He is coming soon. Do not fret or have anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition, definite requests with thanksgiving, continue to make your once known to God. And lastly, first Thessalonians five, verse 17 to 18, be unceasing in prayer, praying perseveringly. Thank God in everything, no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks for this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus, the revealer and mediator of that will. Amen. God is always faithful in everything. And just because it's the Christmas season doesn't mean that your life has to change according to what the world is desiring for you. Stay the course. Do not enter into temptation. You don't have to enter into debt just because the world is wanting you to buy all of these things. Women, you don't have to alter your appearance, especially for the holidays, because the world is dictating that you should look perfect at all times. In the real world, people wake up and we look like we've been sleeping when we work all day. We look like we have been working and that's okay because that's real life. And that's where we want to remain in real life, life abundantly and staying under God's blessing. Amen.