Monday, December 31, 2012

Sermon 30 Dec. 2012


The Gift of Christmas That Keeps on Giving

Galatians 5:1 ~ 30 Dec. 2012

Let me start by reading Galatians 5:1 NKJV - Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage … Let’s pray

This verse at first may not sound very Christmassy, but this time of the year people are always asking:  What did you get for Christmas?  When I am in my best pastoral mode my answer is; I got closer to the Lord and the freedom He brings.

 Well as I studied Galatians 5:1 Paul’s statement stand fast in the liberty by which Christ has made you free; it caused me to think about the gifts of the 1st Christmas.

 Inside the Bethlehem stable we can see the spiritual Christmas tree.

Looking under this spiritual Christmas tree of life we can see the gift of Christ’s liberating grace wrapped with loving care.

We see that God has wrapped Himself in the baby Jesus; and the gift of freedom that frees us from the yoke of bondage!

 Two weeks ago we looked at chapter 5:1 as the conclusion of chapter 4; but today we see it as a stand-alone verse.

 As the children of Promise have been liberated by God through faith in Jesus Christ by God’s gift of grace.

 As I read and reread verse 1 this is how I translated and punctuated it that I might share it with us today: “Because Christ’s freedom has set us free; we are to stand-fast and not returnagainto a yoke of slavery!”

That about captures this 1st Christmas message in a nutshell

Paul’s theme has always been Christ’s gift of grace and the freedoms it brings.

Let’s focus on the 4 freedom gifts the 1st Christmas brought

1st of all we need to think back to our study in Gal. 4:4–5 recalling that God sent forth His son to redeem those who were under the law  

 We are all are born into sin and all born under the Law

 That means that all mankind needs to be redeemed; so looking under the spiritual Christmas tree of life we find that the 1st Christmas brought us God … wrapped in a baby … clothed with the gift of “redemption and lease.”

 We have been redeemed and released from the power of sin.

No one will ever understand the full impact of Christian freedoms unless they are aware of the entrapment of humanity.

In our humanity we are trapped by our sinful nature that leads us to an eternal life apart from God.

 Back in Romans 8:22 Paul said; “creation groans and labors.”

 Beloved God response to the needs of His created was a cosmic birth of freedom!

 What God did was to wrap Himself in His Son; born of a virgin, hung on a cross, to reveal the suffering heart of God; on that first Christmas Day.

Did I hear and Amen? I know this is heavy, but we are talking about God’s gift of Spiritual Freedom here!

 It started with the fall of Adam; there mankind’s sin caused pain in the heart of God and put tears in His eyes.

Today all are born in bondage to sin and only by the gift of grace can one be set free.

Church, until one receives God’s crucified Son as Lord and Savior by faith they can never be released from their sins; because no one is good enough on their own; it takes God’s gift of grace!

  2ndly the 1st Christmas brought us the gift of Reconciliation with God.

There is no greater bondage than that of being shut up in oneself and shut off from God’s love!    The world needs to wake up … Guns don’t kill, but those estranged from God do

 The 1st Christmas brings mankind an ongoing chance to be reconciled with God, through the simple act of faith in Christ.

3rdly the 1st Christmas brought us the gift of new vision.
When Jesus preached His opening sermon at Nazareth, He took for His text Isaiah 61:1–2!

You all may know that, but did you know that Jesus inserts into his message a verse from the Servant Song of Isaiah 42:7, “to open blind eyes.”

Look at John 9:39 there Jesus says to the man born blind: For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

Christ has blesses us with a new vision; we who were blind now have a new vision for 2013 and beyond.

We see that all human beings are spiritual creatures, with physical bodies, and in Christ there is unlimited potential for spiritual growth.

But to grow spiritually one must use their new vision; the old is washed away.

As the children of promise we are to reach-out to the unredeemed: The spiritually blind cannot see that their greatest need is redemption.

The world is depraved and drowning in immoral darkness; there is light that can only be seen with new vision.

Now that we have focused on the freedoms of release, reconciliation, and our new vision let’s look at the final gift of that 1st Christmas: God placed beneath our spiritual Christmas tree; the gift of belonging.

Recalling the words of Gal. 4:7:“You are no longer a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ”

On that 1st Christmas God placed the gift of belonging.

We are walking in a new life of belonging; Like the song says: Now I belong to Jesus, Jesus belongs to me, not for the years of time alone, but for eternity.

Beloved, if I know anything it is the pain of not belonging.

There is no greater pain that not belonging, praying to belong.  Looking in all the wrong places in a million strange faces and knowing you don’t belong.

It was only when I asked Jesus Christ to be my Lord and Savior did I find my family. Prayer: Today Lord, I want to pray for those who have not gone to the spiritual Christmas tree and opened your gifts of redemption, reconciliation, new vision, and belonging.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

 

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON AND FOR LIFE
FOR HE IS LIFE ETERNAL
IN JESUS IS LIFE ETERNAL

Friday, December 14, 2012