Tag Archives: Peace

“The Mesage of Christmas”

by • on 10:01 AM • in Christmas Messages

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.                               John 3:16

Intro:

1. Tonight I want to take just a few minutes and share with you about:

a. “What Is Christmas All About?”

I. Love

“For God so LOVED the world”

A. God is love, which is His very nature

1. He cannot be anything but love

B. There is nothing that we can do to get God to love us anymore than He does!

1. In Eph. 3:16, the Apostle Paul prayed that we —-

 “may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.                  Eph 3:16-19

C. For GOD SO LOVED YOU!!!

1. That He sent His only Begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth

D. In Psalm 139:13, King David said of the LORD -

 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.                Psalms 139:13-18 (NKJV)

E. So #1, Christmas is about LOVE

1. 2ND; Christmas is about –

 

II. PEACE

A. When Christ was born;

1. The angels came to the shepherds proclaiming the message of PEACE:

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: 14 “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth —–peace, goodwill toward men!”   Luke 2:8-14

 B. When Christ comforted His disciples in John 14:27, He said:

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

C. Every time Christ appeared to His disciples after His resurrection,

1. He met them with the words:

“Peace be with you!”

D. So CHRISTMAS is about:

1. LOVE

2. PEACE

E. Christmas is also about

 

III. SALVATION

 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.                               John 3:16

A. The bible tells us in the BOOK OF ROMANS -

1. That all of us are sinners –

[3:23]“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

 [3:10-12] As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

B. The consequence to our sin, resulted in GREAT DEBT –

[6:23a] For the wages of sin is death,

C. But God loved you so much, that He sent His Son Jesus

1. To come to this earth, be born in a manger

2. So that He might one day DIE to pay for your SINS

[6:23b] …but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

D. That’s the GOOD NEWS of the GOSPEL

1. And that’s the ULTIMATE MESSAGE of CHRISTMAS

E. God gave us the ULTIMATE gift of FORGIVENESS

1. Through JESUS CHRIST

[5:8] But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.   

F. Isn’t that amazing?!

“IN THAT WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS, CHRIST DIED FOR US!”

G. No matter how great your sin

1. God didn’t require that you go CLEAN YOURSELF UP 1ST

2. And THEN COME TO HIM

H. God said:

“I love you so much, that I’m going send JESUS to the earth, to pay for your sin”

I. There is nothing that you can do to make yourself more or less worthy of being forgiven

1. No amount of GOOD that you can do will ever…

a. MAKE UP for ALL the SIN that you have COMMITTED

J. Now here’s the key…

1. In order to BE FORGIVEN BY GOD

2. You have to RECEIVE God’s gift of FORGIVENESS through Jesus Christ

K. God says, if you want ME TO FORGIVE YOU, then you must -

[10:9-10] …confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

L. If you BELIEVE in your heart that God sent Jesus Christ to pay for your sins;

1. Then you MUST CONFESS this with your MOUTH

M. It’s just like all the PRESENTS you have at home right now;

1. They may be under the TREE with YOUR NAME on THEM

2. but in order for that PRESENT to become YOUR PRESENT….

You have to receive the PRESENT, TAKE IT; open it; make it yours

[10:13] For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

N. Have you received the greatest gift of all?

1. Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ as YOUR PERSONAL Lord/Savior?

Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.           2 Cor. 6:2

SINNERS PRAYER:

1. Dear God I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness

a. Lord, I admit that I can’t earn my salvation

b. I can’t be good enough or undo anything that I have done

c. So I desperately need You to forgive me

2. LORD, please forgive me and cleanse me for all of my sin

3. I repent of all known sin and I surrender my life to You today

4. Jesus please come into my heart and right now become my Lord and Savior

5. By faith I receive Your gift of salvation

6. Thank You for cleansing me and forgiving me from all of my sin

7. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit

8. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen!

* If you just prayed that prayer and mean it, then Jesus just came into your life, and not only has God forgiven you of all your sin, you are now a child of God and one day when you die, you will go heaven!

O. The Word of God tells us that – We CAN KNOW where we’ll spend eternity!

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. 1 John 5:13

CONCLUSION:

A. And that’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown!

1. Love

2. Peace

3. Salvation

 

 

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

“Confidence” Dec. 1, 2011

by • on 12:02 PM • in Journaling

 

   Scripture

   Romans 8:31

 

 

Observation

Life is a battle and there are many people and difficult circumstances that we must face every day. Here Paul reminds us that God is for us and because of this fact, we have nothing to fear. ‘Since’ God is for us, then Paul’s logical question is ‘who then can defeat us’? With God on our side, there is no trial, temptation or testing so great that we should ever have to live in fear or defeat.

With God on our side, we are ‘more than conquerors’. Though we often must ‘walk through the valley of the shadow of death’, we need not fear any trial in life, because God is for us. God’s call today is to abide in His peace, in the assurance that everything will be just fine.

 

Application

God never promised to keep us from trials, nor did He promise us that we would never suffer. Suffering and trials do not mean that God has forsaken us, nor does it necessarily mean that He is punishing us. God loves us so much, and to prove it He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ to save us.

In Hebrews 13:5, Jesus said “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” I just can’t be reminded of God’s love too much. If God loved us so much that He would die for us, then it only makes sense that He is for us and will never leave us nor forsake us – no matter how hard life may get.

Our LORD is loving, kind, compassionate, merciful and slow to anger, and as one of His adopted children today, we can rest in the assurance that He is with us and for us in all that we may face today.

 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I thank You for this day, and I thank You LORD for this assurance that You are for us. Teach us to trust You and to live in the assurance of Your presence. Thank You Lord that You are for us, and that You will never leave us nor forsake us. In You Lord, we have peace and confidence and joy!

I love You and pray that You would make me a blessing to everyone I see today. In Jesus’ wonderful name, Amen.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

“Choosing To Rejoice!” 2 Corinthians 13:11

by • on 9:18 PM • in 320, Exhortation, Life Journal

Scripture

2 Corinthians 13:11 (NASB)
11 Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.

Observation

Paul now ends his 2nd letter to the church of Corinth with an exhortation on how to live. They are to rejoice! And Paul doesn’t say “When things are good”-but rather just “Rejoice!” Paul also states that they are to be made “complete” or “mature”. They are to be growing and maturing in their faith. They are also to be comforted, or to “take comfort” that they are living in joy and maturing spiritually. Paul also says that they are to be like-minded, which can only take place when believers fix their hearts upon the Lord. The end result of being like-minded produces peace between man and God and among men.  Paul says they were to live in peace. Literally they were to dwell in the state of peace which can only come from God via His methods – as Paul states within this verse. The fruit of the Spirit is made manifest when believers obey God’s Word. God’s love and peace is with all who live in obedience.

Application

Today I must rejoice in all things, through all things and in spite of many things. My job is not to ‘right the world’, because only God can do that and only in His time. My focus today is to be given to joy, grow in my faith, be content in Christ, abide in fellowship with like-minded believers and chose to live in peace! As I choose to this and obey God, HIs love and peace will abound upon my life today! Focus on these things and my life will be made complete!

Prayer

Father today I choose to love You and obey You in all things. I choose to ignore all that the world has to offer that would lure me away from Your love and Your peace and would lure me away from total devotion to You. You alone are my Lord, my God and my satisfaction. May I take joy in serving You. May my day be so blessed as a result of following You! Thank You for the plans You have for me! By faith I receive YOur blessings upon my life!!! Amen.

Read full story • Comments { 0 }

“Hush Be Still” (Daily Devotions 2.25.11)

by • on 7:32 PM • in 320, Life Journal

S – Scripture

Mark 4:39
39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.

O – Observation

Jesus and His disciples had been very busy ministering to the people and tending to a very busy schedule. At the end of one specific day, jesus said to His disciples, “let’s get in the boat and cross over to the other side.” As they were crossing the sea of Galilee, there arose a fierce gal wind and the waves of the sea began crashing down upon their little boat. The disciples were extremely fearful, but Jesus was asleep in the stern of the little boat. Christ the Lord was not affected by the circumstances. Because His peace did not come from His circumstances, neither could His circumstances rob Him of His peace. His peace came from God alone, therefore neither heaven nor hell could rob Christ of His peace. Apparently the disciples peace was predicated upon their circumstances. Apparently their peace came from what was or wasn’t going on in their lives, because when the storm rose up, they lost their joy and peace and contentment. As a result of basing their peace upon their external circumstances, when the storm came, they soon discovered that their peace was not from the Lord. In John 14:27, Jesus said ”Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” After the disciples had foolishly accused the Lord of not caring about them, he arose and rebuked the wind saying “Hush be still!” And immediately the wind and the waves died down. The disciples then experienced the peace of God, but because Christ was with them, they could have had that same peace even while in the midst of the storm.

A – Application

God is in control of the universe. My little problems sometimes may feel overwhelming to me, but they are miniscule in the eyes of my Lord. I have a choice today to abide in the peace of God, or the misery and dis-contentment of the world. The world cannot give me peace, not peace like Christ gives. If I seek my peace today from external sources, then external sources also retain the power to take that peace away. If I seek peace through being able to pay my bills, then when I can’t pay my bills, the inability to pay my bills will rob me of my peace. When I don’t understand what I am going through, then I must ever more clearly keep my eyes upon the Lord. Life is full of storms. Sometimes I think I have the “Peace of God which surpasses all understanding”, and then a problem comes up, and suddenly I’m filled with fear. It’s then that I discover that my peace was predicated upon my temporal, external environment, not the Lord. God does not allow storm to come up to overwhelm me, but rather to prove His power to maintain His peace in my life, even through the most difficult days. Storms have no authority to rob me of my peace when my peace has been given to me by the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all I need, Jesus is all i need!

P – Prayer

Father I thank You today for Your peace. Your peace that surpasses the human understanding. Your peace that brings joy and holds me upright in the midst of life’s trials. I love You and I thank You that today, nothing has the authority to sink my life, because You are at the helm, and I am Yours. As I abide in You today, may Your peace, Your love, Your joy and Your total contentment be the power that rules my life! Be glorified in and through every storm. I thank You for Your peace that is neither given by this world, nor can it be taken away by the world. You are my all in all, and today I seek You will all of my heart and mind and soul as I abide in You! Amen!


 

Read full story • Comments { 0 }