Merry Christmas
 As you enjoy your Christmas gifts and the temporary pleasures that those gifts usually bring,
 please consider another gift…an eternal one…a gift from God. 

 

 

 

                          The Bible teaches that God is your Creator and Owner of everything.

 

 Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;
 Psalm 24:1 The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains, the world and all who dwell in it.

 

                                                    We are His and accountable to Him.

 

                                      But God is not only your Creator and Lord, He is also Holy. 

 

 Isaiah 6:3  Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts.   Matthew 5:48  your heavenly father is perfect.
  1 John 1:5  God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

 

  When God created man (Genesis 1:26) He did so in such a way that our greatest
 fulfillment, pleasure and joy could only be realized in a right relationship with Him living for Him in
 holiness as He is Holy…in trusting loving obedience under His loving authority and abundant provision.

 

 But instead of  being content in that perfect fellowship (Genesis 1:31), man  rebelled against
  God’s authority (sin) being deceived to believe he could find fulfillment, pleasure and joy apart
 from God (Genesis 3).  And in that distrust & rebellion against God’s loving authority &  provision
 for them,  man  incurred God’s just judgment as God had lovingly warned would happen (Genesis 2:17).
 The devastating result was that death entered the world (Romans 5:12), man was now lost from God’s
 fellowship and corrupted with a self-centered nature desperately trying to find pleasure, joy and
  fulfillment apart from God.   The result of sin against our Just & Holy God is overwhelming: 
 sickness, disease, death, guilt, immorality, strife, jealousy, anger, drunkenness, anxiety, fear,
 greed, war, lying, theft, (even the earth suffers from  man’s rebellion (Romans 8:19-22) , all of us
  being born into this world separated from God, lost from His life, in a cursed world and guilty
 before Him.
 All of us stand guilty of breaking God’s moral Law.  Consider your standing before Him…
 

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength and your neighbor as yourself
           (Mark 12:30-31)
  "Honor your father and your mother.”      (Exodus 20:12 / Ephesians 6:1)
  "You shall not murder.”(Exodus 20:13 just being angry with someone qualifies you. See Matthew 5:22 ).
  "You shall not commit adultery.” (sex outside of marriage, pornography, etc qualify here.) 
     (Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:28; 1 Corinthians 6:9,10)
  "You shall not steal.”     (Exodus 20:15 / Ephesians 4:28)
  "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”   (Exodus 20:16 / Ephesians 4:31)
  "You shall not covet.”    (Exodus 20:17 / Galatians 5:19-21)

 

 And God’s Word to us tells us that “whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point,
         he has become guilty of all” (James 2:10).

 

 Romans 3:10  as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one;”          
  Romans 3:23  for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;

 

 And God, being perfectly Just, is obligated to punish all sin, God’s eternal wrath being
 what we all deserve, each of us deserving of an eternal hell.                        

 

 Romans 6:23a   for the wages of sin is death…

 

 To make matters worse, because of our sinful nature we cannot by our own efforts appease God’s wrath to escape
 the judgment we deserve.  A perfect life is the standard and we have no perfect righteousness of our own to
offer.Our only hope then is that God might be merciful to us.  Forgiveness of our sin and its consequences cannot be          based on   “who we are” or “what we do” but only granted to us according to mercy.

Titus 3:5…  not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness but according to His mercy …,
 Ephesians 2:8-9   Salvation is, “not of yourselves,  it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, that no one should boast”

 

 But God is also a Merciful God!   And the “Miracle of Christmas” is that God, who is one in essence, 
 yet a triune being: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, sent the Son in order to satisfy God’s wrath against 
 sinful men by willingly giving Himself to die for your sin.  In order to accomplish that, He added  humanity to His deity.  
 Born into this world of a virgin in order to escape man’s sin nature, conceived by the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:34-35), 
                                          Jesus was without sin, fully God and fully man  (Philippians 2:6-8). 

 And because He was God, He was able to live a sinless life, fulfilling God’s righteous standard for us and able 
 to die as a man for our sin as our substitute. 

 

 Man cannot appease God’s wrath, so Jesus Christ who is God, died in our place.

 

 Colossians 2:9   For in Him (Jesus Christ) all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form,
 Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 1:18-25   His name is JESUS He will save His people from their sin!
 1 Corinthians 15:3-4  Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried,
 and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

 

 He lived a perfect life…for you!…He died on the cross to satisfy God’s justice and appease God’s wrath for you!…
 He was raised again on the 3rd day demonstrating that His death for you satisfied God’s justice…so that you may have peace with God (Rom 8:1)…        the FORGIVENESS for your SIN,  His RIGHTEOUSNESS,  His ETERNAL LIFE and the hope of future glory, redeemed & restored through faith in Him!

2 Corinthians 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf,  that we might become the righteousness of God in Him;

 

                                       The big question is, “Why would He do that for you?”   

 

                     Because God is not only Creator, Holy and Just …but GOD IS also LOVE.

 

 Romans 5:8  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
 John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish,
 John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

 

 If you haven’t already, would you like to receive the ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS GIFT?  
  (Romans 10:9) says,” If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart
        that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.”  Even though God’s justice demands death for sin,
        His love has provided a Savior who paid
        the penalty and died for sinners (1 Peter 3:18). Christ’s death satisfied the demands of God’s justice
        and Christ’s perfect life satisfied the demands of God’s holiness (2 Corinthians 5:21), thereby justly providing God a basis to  forgive
        and redeem and save those who place their faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:26).  The heart of God is that you  not die in rebellion  against Him but that you
        be restored to Him.  And so He has made the perfect and only provision through faith in
        Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

 

True faith in Jesus Christ is always accompanied by repentance from sin. Repentance is
        agreeing with God that you are sinful,confessing your sins to Him, and making a willing decision to turn from sin
        (Luke 13:3, 5; 1 Thessalonians 1:9) and pursue Christ
        (Matthew 11: 28-30; John 17:3) and obedience to Him (1 John 2:3).
        It isn’t enough to believe certain facts about Christ.
        Even Satan and his demons believe in the true God (James 2:19),
        but they don’t love or obey Him and do not have His life. 
        True saving faith is always accompanied by patterns of obedience (Eph.2:10).  

 

 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance,
        God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent,
        because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness
        through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.
 (Acts 17:30)
                                                          Merry CHRISTmas! 
                      Visit the Grace Community Fellowship Website at  www.gcftx.org