Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope that you are all having a wonderful holiday season. It is not often that the day for posting the sermon falls on Christmas day itself, but today is such a day.
For today's message, I want to focus on the gift of love that came to us at Christmas. The Bible makes it clear that everyone has sinned and come short of God's righteous standard. However, God did not give up on His creation, and He did not stop loving us. In Genesis 3:15, we have the first promise that God would provide a way of salvation. Scripture records in many places the promise that the Messiah would come to redeem the world from sin.
On the first Christmas day over 2,000 years ago, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ,was born. Matthew's Gospel tells us that Jesus was God come to be with us. He had come to save us from our sins.
We often don't think of it as a Christmas verse, but John 3:16 sums up what Christmas is all about. It states, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
God loved us. Jesus came as both God and man. He lived a holy and sinless life as our perfect example. He bore our sins in His body on the cross as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Jesus rose bodily from the grave triumphant over death and hell.
Whoever sincerely comes to Jesus in repentance and faith will find forgiveness. Whosoever will may come and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord. Jesus will take away our sin, and He will impute to us His righteousness.
Christmas is about God's gift of love and salvation in Jesus Christ. If you have never turned to Jesus and accepted Him as the Lord of your life, I pray that you will do so today. Amen.
Prayer Requests
I started my new job this week, and it is going ok so far. I would ask you to pray that the winter storm predicted for my area next week will not be bad.
My nephew's wife is out of the hospital. Please continue to pray for her full recovery. Thank you for your prayers.
Continue to pray for peace. Pray for peace in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, Libya and Ethiopia.
Pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Pray that the vaccines will be distributed quickly and efficiently. Pray that those who are sick will soon recover.
Our prayer focus countries this week will be Madagascar and North Korea. Pray that many will come to faith in Jesus.
Next week, I will post a message on the New Year on Friday. I will try to post a review on Wednesday. I am reading more now, and I hope to regularly post reviews again in 2021, Lord willing. I will post the verses on Monday. May God bless you all.
No comments:
Post a Comment