The Fate of Your Christmas Tree

 Well, praise Jesus today, everyone. What I wanted to speak about shortly is the fate of Christmas trees. You've probably seen what happens to Christmas trees. I remember when I was a little kid, I would notice the day after Christmas or so that the Christmas trees would be thrown out into the backyards around the town, and it surprised me how quickly those Christmas trees would be turning brown. There was a lake not far out of my town that people used to throw Christmas trees into, and right after Christmas, they would go out there and throw the Christmas tree into the lake, and the Christmas tree wouldn't be discovered until late summer when the lake's waters recessed, and then you would see the Christmas trees in the lake. But Christmas trees are like the Christians who have the Christmas trees. They're spiritually dead. Christmas trees are not alive. You go into the forest, you cut them down, so they're already dead by the time they make it inside your house. And then there's false fruit. There's false decorations and ornaments all over the tree that appear to look very beautiful. Christmas trees are like spiritually dead Christians. Spiritually dead Christians, they look like they have fruit. On the outside, they look good. They maybe wear nice clothes. Their family looks nice on the outside. They go to church. They keep the Sabbath. They keep Sunday. Whatever it is they do outwardly, it appears good before men. But inwardly, they are spiritually dead and dying, and we all know what happens at the end of the age. We all know what happens at the end of the year. The Christmas trees are taken out of the house and they are burned, and the same happens at the end of the age. God gathers with His angels all of those who are alive, and He brings them into His barn, and all of the chaff, all of the weeds, and all of the dead trees, He gathers them and He throws them into the fire to be burned. So this is like a huge spiritual manifestation that happens every single Christmas, guys. Let it remind you that the Christmas tree represents dead Christians. The Christmas tree looks really good. Everyone wants a nice Christmas tree. Everyone wants to look beautiful on the outside. But remember, the Christmas tree is dead. Its fruit is all fake. It's all plastic. And the people that don't have real dead Christmas trees in their house are going out to Walmart and they're buying completely plastic and fake Christmas trees, and they're putting that in their house. So either way, those trees are fake, they're phony, they're dead, and at the end of the season, they'll be thrown out onto the fire or into the bottom of the lake, and they will be completely burned up and destroyed. So remember this, because the important thing is not about looking good on the outside. It's not about having this plastic fruit, but it's about having genuine fruit, being a tree in God's garden, having fruit and having life because we are connected to the life source. A real tree should be somewhere out in the mountains and it should be reaching up to the heavens and the gardener should be pruning it. The gardener is God. And we are as the branches. God is the vine. Jesus is the vine. And if we're connected to Him, we are alive. And sadly, so many Christians are worshiping what they don't know. They're bringing a dead tree into their house because they are spiritually dead. And they're not worshiping the true living God. I have no need for Christmas because I worship the one true living King. And Jesus hasn't called us to just remember Him year after year as a baby. What Jesus has called us to remember is that last supper where He broke the bread and He said, do this in remembrance of Me. And He gave them the grape juice or the wine. And He said, this is the blood that I'm going to shed for you of the new covenant. So He said, do this in remembrance of Me. Every time that you break bread, do this in remembrance of Me. It's important to our eternal destiny. Keeping Christmas will benefit you absolutely nothing. And at the end of Christmas, all of that joy goes away. But if you keep Jesus's commandments, if you eat His flesh and if you drink His blood, there will be those rivers of living water that spring up in you, that well of living water. You will eat His flesh and you'll be alive because His words, His truth are in you. His blood is cleansing you from all your past sins. You'll be made new and you'll be able to partake in Jesus's suffering, new life. You have to partake in Jesus's suffering in the cross. And we have to bear our own cross, daily denying ourselves, taking up our cross to follow Him as Jesus said. And we have to remember what Jesus actually taught, which was the new covenant. We have to eat Jesus's flesh and drink His blood. That is what is important to remember. But keeping Christmas, that's not helping anyone live holy. That's not helping anyone repent. That's not what Jesus commanded. But what He did institute is the Lord's supper, eating His flesh, drinking His blood, taking communion so that we could be in communion with God. So the question is, what are you keeping? Are you keeping a dead tree in your house? Are you keeping Santa Claus? Are you keeping a tradition of men? Are you keeping something that's pagan? Are you keeping something that just church people are lifting up as if it's holy, a candlelight service? Or are you keeping the words of Jesus close to you? Are you obeying what Jesus actually taught? Are you eating His flesh? Are you drinking His blood? Because if you aren't keeping His words, then you have no life in you. I'm telling you guys, this world has no life. Even though they go to church, they hold their candlelights, they worship under the Christmas tree, at the end of the season, that Christmas tree is thrown out and burned. And the people that don't know God are also gonna be thrown out and burned. That's what Jesus said. At the end, the angels go out and they gather the good from the bad. The good are brought into the barns and the bad are bundled and they're thrown into the fire. We need to remember the words of Jesus. We need to practice the words of Jesus and remember what He has called us to do. He hasn't called us to participate in rituals of the world and the holidays of the world, but He has called us to communion with Himself. Are you in communion with Jesus? Are you eating His flesh? And are you drinking His blood? So I wanna pray for those of you that want the truth in you, that wanna receive Jesus's flesh, that you wanna eat His flesh and drink His blood. “So Lord Jesus, I pray for those who are serious to eat Your flesh and to drink Your blood, not to just take some ornamental thing in the Catholic church or the Baptist church or just do a candlelight service or do presence under a tree. I pray that we can be separate from all of the traditions of the world and that we could be connected to You in the newness of life and that we would truly be eating Your flesh, living on Your words, drinking Your cup, living in the newness of life and that You would purge us and purify us and keep us holy and unstained, that we may enter into Your presence with joy and thanksgiving and purity of heart and with our new robes. I pray this in Your name, Lord Jesus, amen.”

False Fear

 Many Christians only follow God for a short time out of a false sort of fear. It is the fear that He will return imminently. These Christians hustle to get their life in order thinking that He will return in a matter of months. When they see no sign of Jesus's imminent return, they immediately go back to the world, supposing they have more time. How sad it is for these people who have founded their entire religion upon a false fear of God and not the truth. The end of these Christians will be complete ruin and destruction.