T'is the Season of Giving.. Let us help our Fellow Man..Remember Who's in Control

Miles McPherson: Christmas is Season for Sacrifice Thursday, 24 Dec 2009 02:45 PMArticle Font Size By: Dave Eberhart Those who find themselves adrift at Christmas should learn the lesson that giving is, indeed, better than receiving, says Pastor Miles McPherson. “I promise you that, when you sacrifice for someone else, you are more like Jesus than at any other time,” the senior pastor of the Rock Church in San Diego tells Newsmax.TV. See Video: Pastor Miles McPherson talks about the meaning of Christmas - Click Here Now He stands behind his own advice, offering help at his DoSomethingWorld.org Web site and in his book “Do Something, Make Your Life Count.” Both ventures provide a guide to giving of oneself. Special: Get Sarah Palin’s New Book – Incredible FREE Offer -- Click Here Now. McPherson, whose church is described as one of the fastest-growing congregations in the United States, is a motivational speaker and president and founder of “Miles Ahead” outreach ministry. Having played for the San Diego Chargers in the 1980s before founding his ministries, he knows something about absorbing life’s tougher knocks — inspiration he has recorded in his new book. When Newsmax.TV’s Ashley Martella asked McPherson what message people should get from reading his book, he answered simply, “It is about people helping other people to make a difference. “I hope they will get the message that God has created all of them in his image to do something way above their heads. Jesus said if you believe in me, the things I do, you will do even greater works." The book "contains stories of all kinds of people who overcome tragedies,” he said. “We have an 8-year-old boy who has a Bible study on his campus. We have former escorts now helping other strippers minister to young girls from foster homes who are themselves stripping. We have cancer patients helping other cancer patients. There a lot of stories of people who overcome incredible odds to go on to help other people.” Editor’s Note: Get Miles McPherson’s “DO Something!: Make Your Life Count” — Go here now Included in the pages are lessons learned from football that helped him later in life. “When you watch a football game, if you pay close attention, you see the running back run down the field and get hit by two or three guys weighing 200-300 pounds, give or take,” he said. “It’s as violent as a car accident. And then they will jump up and start talking trash like you didn’t hurt me. Then, they will go back to the huddle and say, give me the ball again. That mentality is something that I’ve learned from sports.” “What does Christmas mean to you?” Martella inquired. “I want to answer that question by telling you a story about a pimp,” the minister replied. “The street ministry tells the story about one particular pimp who managed seven girls. He accepted the Lord into his heart. “Christmas is about God sending his son to give us hope that one day we can be forgiven our sins and change our life. . . So Christmas is about that pimp having an opportunity to ask God to forgive him and give him a second chance in life.” McPherson offered further explanation: “Christmas is a relationship opportunity — an opportunity for us to have relation with God. That is why God sent his son to have a relationship with us, not to just have a holiday. We have an opportunity to experience the peace of God that things cannot give us.” Martella asked McPherson to comment about a John Zogby poll showing that 39 percent of Americans say they are less in the mood to celebrate the holidays than they were last year. The former pro athlete offered a practical explanation: “Well, it’s probably because they don’t have the money to celebrate. We associate celebrating Christmas with spending money. When we understand that it’s about our relation with God, and in the context of that relationship, we can not only give a gift, but we can ourselves be a gift to someone.” He cited his church as an example of giving on a large scale: “This year, our church gave 600,000 hours of volunteer service. We dedicated 100,000 of those hours to our mayor, and we valued the services at $1.6 million. This is something every church can do around the country and around the world. We as people can decide to help other people, and instead of looking to take, we look to give. “What we did was go to the mayor and ask what are the biggest needs in San Diego? He gave us a look at what had gone unfunded because of the state’s budget deficit. We decided to be a gift to the city instead of taking. At Christmas, if you do not want to spend money, fine, go out and give of your time and treasure to help somebody. It will be the best Christmas you ever had.” Martella noted the world's problems with war, economic hardship, and unemployment and asked the pastor what message of hope he might offer. “The uncertainty of the wars, the uncertainty of terrorism, the uncertainty about the economic crisis all make people fearful because they do not know what the future holds,” McPherson said. “What Christmas gives us an assurance that we know who holds the future. God sent us his son. He lived 33 years, died and rose from the dead and basically made a statement — if you trust me with your life, I will give you eternal life." “If you have the promise of eternal life, then wars, money or jobs is less of an issue because you know you have eternal security… “Looking to the person who holds the future in his hands is the true spirit of Christmas.” See Video: Pastor Miles McPherson talks about the meaning of Christmas - Click Here Now Editor’s Note: Get Miles McPherson’s “DO Something!: Make Your Life Count” — Go here now © Newsmax. All rights reserved

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