Gospel House Ministries

Guest (Female): Welcome to the Good News Hour hosted by our senior pastor Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr. and Pastor Dr. Brenda Ward, the lead pastors of Gospel House Ministries in Brooklyn, New York. This program supports the advancement of God's kingdom by addressing topics relevant to the growth and development of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

To connect with the ministry, please visit wearegospelhouse.com. And now, here is Pastor Ward with a special holiday message: "Why do we have Christmas?" A message that will encourage you to remember the reason for this holiday season. And also at the end, we will have our very own Mother Martha Anderson to give words of encouragement and recite some nostalgic Christmas poems.

Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr.: Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. It is a blessed time of the year. It is Christmas, and it's a day that we all appreciate. I just want to share a few words with you and wish you all a Merry Christmas. My title here is "Why do we have Christmas?"

We have Christmas to celebrate God's physical entrance on the earth to save mankind. Emmanuel, the name of Jesus, which informs us that God is with us. Jesus was a gift to mankind from God himself. Jesus is a gift from God that was and is needed. Because he was so much needed, he should be much more appreciated.

How do we appreciate Jesus who brought us Christmas? We appreciate him by believing upon his birth, burial, and resurrection first. We appreciate him the more by taking on his command to go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God wants us to reach nations on behalf of his son. That's why we sing "Joy to the World, the Lord has come."

Mark tells us that Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned." Jesus came to give us the gift of salvation so that we do not be condemned with the world.

We have Christmas because Jesus wants us to believe upon him so that we might be saved from the wrath of God to come. We have Christmas because God wanted us to not perish but have everlasting life. We have Christmas so God might place a robe of righteousness on all who believe in the birth of his son.

We have Christmas so every valley be exalted and every mountain and hill be brought low. We have Christmas so the crooked places be made straight and the rough places be made smooth. We have Christmas so the glory of the Lord be revealed and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken this.

Jesus was gift-wrapped for us. He was wrapped in swaddling cloth. This gift from God is a gift that keeps on giving. Aren't you glad? A gift of many gifts that never stop giving because this gift is eternity. This gift is full of surprises. If you were in darkness for most of your life and someone came and gave you a gift that light up your world, you would be surprised to see all that was hidden from you.

You were unable to enjoy the gift because you couldn't see through the darkness. Jesus is seen as the light of the world, entering darkness, bringing hope. Santa can only bring you toys, but Jesus brings us hope, peace, and everlasting life. He's a gift not only to the adults but to the children also.

You see, Santa comes just to bless the children, but Jesus comes to bless us all. The world gave us Santa to deceive us. What better way to deceive you early while your mind is developing? Satan wants you while you're young to confuse you so you don't know what to believe or who to believe.

Santa is of the world and Satan is the prince of this world, the prince of darkness. If he's the prince of darkness, he likes hiding things. He likes hiding things in himself so you can't see him coming. When you look at the word "Santa" closely, you see Satan has hidden his name in Santa.

It's him. It has nothing to do with Jesus because it's against Jesus. Either you're for him or against him. The world is totally against our beloved Savior. We know that Jesus was not born on December 25th, but it has been said that he was conceived on or about that time, which would cause him to be born nine months later, which is September.

I somewhat believe it because of the number nine. All who study the word have learned that nine is the number of the Holy Spirit. How did you come to that conclusion, preacher? I've come to that conclusion because there are nine fruits of the spirit. It's really one fruit, but all of these gifts are inside of it: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, faithfulness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.

This bundle of joy came from heaven with fruit gifts that would enhance our lives abundantly. Most people on earth desire the first three: love, joy, and peace. These three gifts are first on the list, and they are the greatest gift that came to us on Christmas. But the other six, which is the number of man, man has a hard time producing or living because he is not a seven.

He's not complete. We need Jesus to be complete in God. You see, we want to receive the first three, but the other six are hard for many to have, be, or give. That's why we have Christmas so that we can receive it from the King of Christmas. If you do not have the first three, you will never have the last six. Only believe and you will receive.

So I want you to turn in your Bibles with me briefly to Isaiah the 42nd chapter. We're going to start at the first verse. This is coming from the NLT and it reads: "Look at my servant whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one who pleases me. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or raise his voice in public.

He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. He will bring justice to all who have been wronged. He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth. Even distant lands beyond the sea will wait for his instruction. God, the Lord, created the heavens and stretched them out. He created the earth and everything in it.

He gives breath to everyone, life to everyone who walks the earth. And it is he who says, 'I, the Lord, have called you to demonstrate my righteousness. I will take you by the hand and guard you, and I will give you to my people, Israel, as a symbol of my covenant with them, and you will be a light to guide the nations.

You will open the eyes of the blind. You will free the captives from prisons, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.' I am the Lord, that is my name. I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor shall my praise with carved idols. Everything I prophesied has come true, and now I will prophesy again. I will tell you the future before it happens."

Isn't that good reason to want to know Jesus, when God can help you to see things before they come to you? Jesus, the light of the world, wants to be a part of your world. Will you let him? Every day is Christmas because every day Jesus is born into someone's life.

Jesus came in a cradle to bear the cross for you and for me to wear a crown after Calvary. Cradle, cross, and crown. Christmas is not a myth, not a tradition, not a dream. It's a glorious reality. Amen and amen. And a Merry Christmas to you all.

And I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year. We have a guest with us today, a mother of our church, and we love her dearly. She will be 90 years old next week. So she's going to give some words of wisdom to bless you so that you would have a beautiful Christmas. Here she is.

Mother Martha Anderson: Good evening. We are not rushing anywhere. We are not scrolling, and we are not performing. Tonight we are remembering because nostalgia is not about living in the past. It's about honoring that moment that shaped us. The smells that stayed, the songs that lingered, the voices we still hear when the room gets quiet.

Take a breath with me. Listen. Nostalgia is a joy, not to escape the present but to understand it. It reminds us of front porches and late-night talks, old radios, handwritten notes, worn photographs, a time when laughter came easy and grief came quietly.

Some memories make us smile, some still ache, and some we didn't realize were holy until they were gone. I remember when times moved slower, when summers felt endless, and goodbye didn't sound permanent. I remember voices calling my name before phones ever did.

I remember believing that adults had answers and home was always waiting. And even now, with years stacked behind us, those moments still live, folded neatly inside our hearts, waiting to be spoken. Tonight we unfold them. Four days after Christmas, this is a poem that I wrote for myself.

Four days after Christmas, my birthday came near. I've been blessed by the Lord now for 90 good years. The light's still a-shining, the song's still a-sung, and my heart feels as joyful as when I was young. For 54 years, I've been certain and sure my greatest Christmas gift is holy and pure.

No present compares, no treasures or toys, to Jesus Christ's birth, my true Christmas joy. So I thank God for life, for each day that I see, for this Christmas, for Jesus, and for family. This brings back so many memories during the holiday seasons when my mother and my grandmother would sit down with us.

Mother would always teach us and she would always say, "Listen, I'm going to help you tonight with your homework, and I'm going to feed you and we're going to have a little program." She would sit us down and talk to us. She said, "I want to teach you something. I want you to watch everything that I do.

I want you to watch the expression that I put in the poems." She says, "If I tell you I want you to sing, I want you to sing. If I tell you I want you to recite, I want you to recite." She says, "I don't like this yah-yah-yah for a song or for a poem." She said, "I want to teach you how to do it correctly. I want you to feel it when you do it."

So I just want you now to sit still and I want you to listen to the way that I do it. I want you to watch me, every move that I make because when I finish, I'm going over it with you and I'm going to have you to do it. Mother always believed in doing things correctly. She believed in what was right, what was good.

And she said, "Now what we're going to do, I'm going to have someone to say the prayer. I'm going to have someone to read a scripture, and then we're going to have a little welcome address." We would sit there on the floor, sit around the floor there. My mother made up poems, she made plays that she did at the schools, the churches.

It wasn't nothing that my mother left South Carolina reciting. Everybody in South Carolina knew my mother for her poetry. She came to New York and I don't believe there's a borough in New York in the five boroughs that somebody don't know something about my mother. So this has been passed down to me and I thank God for this opportunity that I have to share some of the poems that Mother taught me, she and Grandmother.

First I'm going to say, due to the fact this is the Christmas season, I pray that everyone be blessed from these poems. She said, "What can I give him, poor as I am? What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would give him a lamb." Speaking about Jesus. "If I were a wise man, I would do my part. But what can I give him? I will give him my heart."

Another poem she taught us: "Why do bells on Christmas ring? Why do bells on Christmas ring? Why do little children sing? Once there was a shining star seen by wise men from afar. Gently moved until its light made a manger cradle bright. There a darling baby lay, pillowed soft upon the hay. And his mother, sang and smiled, 'This is Christ, the holy child.' Therefore bells on Christmas ring. Therefore little children sing."

Another one of hers was "In the Temple." Now this could be sung or you can recite it. I'm going to recite it. In the temple, in the temple, stood a happy boy one day. And the doctors listened greatly to the word they heard him say. It was Jesus. It was Jesus standing in the temple there.

And the light of heaven was shining in his face so pure and fair. It was Jesus that was teaching and they listened to his words, and he told them of his mansion of the great and heavenly Lord. It was Jesus. It was Jesus standing in the temple there. And the light of heaven was shining in his face so pure and fair.

The next one was "Keep the Spirit of Christmas in your Heart." And it goes this way: "Why do bells on Christmas ring? Why do little children sing? Once there was a shining star seen by wise men from afar. Gently moved until its light made a manger cradle bright. There a darling baby lay, pillowed soft upon the hay.

And his mother, sang and smiled, 'This is Christ, the holy child.' Therefore bells on Christmas ring. Therefore little children sing." I remember we had a card, a Christmas card that came to the house that year. And I will never forget the words of that card and it lingers, it stays with me.

And it goes this way: "Old days, old times, and old friends. There's never a Christmas morning, there's never an old year that ends, unless someone thinks of you: old days, old times, and old friends." Her favorite one, Mother's favorite one, I believe was "You Can't Beat That Greeting Today."

In the good old horse and buggy days, movies were not in the picture, and radio were not in the news. Beauty didn't come in a bottle, and jazz bands didn't feature the blues. Nobody drank dated coffee or wrapped things in cellophane. There were no nightclubs and cocktails, and mail didn't ride in a plane.

The popular greetings of those times were just "Merry Christmas." And say, in spite of the changes in living, you can't beat that greeting today: "Merry Christmas."

Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr.: Praise the Lord. We thank you, Mother. Didn't that warm your heart, her words? So we wish you all a Merry Christmas and yes, again, a Happy New Year. God bless you all.

Guest (Female): Thank you for listening to the Good News Hour with senior pastor Dr. Herbert Ward, Sr. and Pastor Dr. Brenda Ward of Gospel House Ministries in Brooklyn, New York. Join Pastor Ward Wednesday nights at 9:00 for more impactful teachings of the gospel to bring you spiritual clarity, transform your life, and strengthen your union with Jesus Christ.

If you want to hear this message again, listen to the podcast on wmca.com. To experience what you hear on the radio, join us at our church location at 770 Fulton Street located in Brooklyn, New York. We start every Sunday at 10:00 AM, and we also have Bible and prayer service on Tuesday nights starting at 7:00 PM.

We also do outreach Saturdays at 10:00 AM to our women's shelter, Magnolia House, and we also go to United Methodist Nursing Home. For more information on our additional church ministries, visit wearegospelhouse.com. All are welcome to come and join us in our other ministry meetings.

We have our women's ministry titled "Women of Work," which is led by our pastor Dr. Brenda Ward. We meet every second Friday of the month starting at 7:00 PM. Our men's ministry, "Brotherhood," meets every third Saturday at 1:00 PM. And lastly, our youth ministry called "Young and Driven," we meet every first Friday of the month starting at 7:00 PM. For more information on how to support the ministry and how to give donations, please visit wearegospelhouse.com. All are welcome to come and join us.