The Christian Christmas Condition by Scott Rankin - Book Tour + Giveaway
Christian - Holiday - self spirit improvement
Date Published: December 2019
What do you want for Christmas? We all hear this question everywhere, but author Scott Rankin invites us all to slow down for a moment and ask a different question... What does God want for Christmas? Our Lord desires that we become more Christ-like every day (1 Corinthians 11:1). To accomplish this goal, He tells us to renew our minds (Romans 12:2). But how do the Christmas holidays help accomplish this goal if so much busyness and stress make it hard to focus all our attention on Christ and completely rest in His peace? In an easy-to-read format, "The Christian Christmas Condition" takes a new and refreshing look by asking the question, “How does our Lord feel about Christmas today?” encouraging Christians of all ages to examine Christmas-time traditions from God's perspective. Filled with Bible references, this study will boost your faith, increase your knowledge, and strengthen you to fully honor Jesus in the midst of Christmas, traditions, and busy holiday activities, and reveal the secret of what God says in the Bible about Christmas today! Whether your family participates in Advent, Hanukkah, midnight mass, uses a Christmas tree, or watches for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, this powerful book encourages all Christians to become more Christ-like in our thinking and our actions each, and every day of the year... not just in the winter holidays!
Excerpt
- CHAPTER 5 -
CURIOSITY KILLS
THE SACRED COW
Why
is Gideon’s story so important? It’s because Gideon’s situation is so very
close in resemblance to what many Christians are experiencing today. Gideon’s
response to a request from a holy God to renounce tradition resulted in
blessings and miracles beyond imagination. I have found that when I respond to
God in the same way, I too have received more miracles and blessings in my life
than I can count, and that’s what I want for you. That’s the reason I’m sharing
this with you today.
For a moment, I’d like to do a little bit of role play… I
would like to put you in Gideon’s shoes. If you were Gideon, and God Himself
came down today and asked you to tear down the city’s altar to Baal along with
the Asherah pole, and to sacrifice your father’s bull in order to worship Him,
would you do it? Would you be afraid, like Gideon was?
Are you going to delay God’s plan by first choosing to
weigh out the consequences? “Hold on, God, you’re telling me you want me to go
tear down the altar… and the Asherah pole… and
sacrifice Dad’s sacred bull? Wait a minute—what assurances do I have that
I’m gonna come out of this thing alive? And what’s in it for me?”
Would it make your decision easier to follow through with
if God told you ahead of time that the altar and pole were both an abomination
to Him? If you knew how much God despised the worshipping of false gods, would
that help motivate you more to get rid of the idols?
I understand it’s difficult to imagine tearing down
someone else’s property. But what if you were the owner? That’s right, you own
the pole, the altar, and even the cow. Does that make the task easier? How fast
would you tear it down if it all belonged to you and it was in your house?
I’m asking you to put yourself in Gideon’s shoes because
God has already talked to you, and to me, to show us some of today’s Christmas
traditions that are displeasing Him in the very same manner that Gideon’s
homeland worship traditions were displeasing Him. Are you curious to know
exactly which traditions I’m talking about? Are you curious to know where and
how God addresses today’s Christmas traditions in the Bible? Good! I want you
to grab your Bible and hang on tight, because that curiosity for what God has
already said may just help us to kill a few sacred cows!
About the Author
Scott Rankin graduated with a degree in music education and spent his 20's and 30's as a successful music director, visual designer for marching groups, and a professional clinician for high school and college music programs.
In 2009 he was injured in a bicycle accident where he was instantly paralyzed. Today as a healing quadriplegic, Scott's passion for teaching has been re-focused from music to writing Christian books and public speaking.
Scott Rankin is a gifted educator and effective public speaker. His ability to take complex subject matter, break it into bite-size pieces, and re-assemble those through simple, logical, and enjoyable teaching techniques makes his material easy to understand and hard to forget!
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