Immanuel Baptist Church

Deacons, spouses, and church staff are invited to the Deacon Christmas Social on Friday, December 19 at 6:00 pm. Cost for food will be $15.00.

Romans 10:14-17

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This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the evening service on December 14, 2008. During this installment of our The Christian Life series Pastor Chris focuses on the need for believers to be faithful witnesses of Jesus Christ.

John 3:16; 1 John 3:16

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This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on December 14, 2008. The third of four Advent messages, Pastor Chris discusses how the cross was the greatest display of God’s love.

Before we get into the message this morning I want to remind you all of what is or will be taking place during our various services and I want to encourage you to participate as much as you can when you are able.

In a few weeks we will begin working through the book of Ephesians during our morning worship times. It will take us a little while, though I don’t yet know how long that series will last. On Sunday evenings we continue our series on the Christian Life though we are getting close to wrapping that up. Tonight we will look at Evangelism. Next week we will have our Christmas Cantata. The following week will be the last of our Christian Life messages as we look at stewardship, how to handle your stuff. Once that is wrapped up we will begin a new mini series on defending your faith – how to respond to various challenges people raise against Christianity. Questions like why do you believe God exists, or why do you say Christianity is the one true religion out of all the religions out there? Do you have answers for these sorts of questions? If so come join in our discussion and help others understand how to respond. If not come and learn with us how to defend the faith. Finally, on Wednesday evenings we have started a series on knowing the Bible. In this we are looking at things like how do the books of the Bible fit together; how exactly did God inspire men to write the Bible, and so on. From there we will most likely move into a series on the Old Testament.

Make plans to come and join with us during these services. They are good times to fellowship, good times to worship, and good times to go together into God’s Word.

Now on to the message, but first let’s pray.

Today begins the third week of Advent. Traditionally this would be Gaudette Sunday, the Sunday of joy or rejoicing. We are breaking with tradition here and our theme is love. Next week we will do joy. Now you will notice that three of our candles are purple and one is pink. Purple is the color for royalty, recognizing the king that was born. Pink is for rejoicing and is lit on the Sunday of joy, rejoicing because the wait for our King is almost over. Now, why are we switching the Sunday for love and the Sunday for joy? Simple. Your preacher, knucklehead that he is, made a mistake and got them backwards, preparing for the wrong theme today. Rather than wing it with a sermon on joy, we will just switch the themes and begin the week of love this week.

What is love? Ask that question and one might have dozens of songs come to mind. Hollywood wants to help people figure out what love is – and how to find it. Teenagers and adults alike ask this question and others like it such as: how can I know love when I see it? How can I find true love? Does true love really exist?

There are many answers to the question what is love? I want to present two possible answers. One comes from the modern world, the notion about love that seems prevalent and growing in today’s world. The second answer comes from Scripture.

In the world today love is best understood as reflecting some sort of libertarian ideal. In a libertarian worldview people are given the freedom to do just about anything they want provided it does not directly hurt another person. When this mindset is applied to love – and it is increasingly common these days – what you have is a permissive, all-tolerant view of love. Love means letting people do anything they want to do provided it does not hurt anyone else. It means accepting anything another person considers acceptable even if it seems repugnant to you. Parents are increasingly told that truly loving their children means giving them freedom, permissive parenting with few firm controls, guidelines, or expectations on kids’ behavior.

With this view of love people feel justified saying things like, “If you really loved others you would not oppose their lifestyle choice.”

God’s love is a bit different. Two places we can go to learn of God’s love are John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16. Let’s take a look at these.

If we were to give a brief description of God’s love we might say that love preserves God’s standard of right and wrong. The cross does not undo God’s righteous requirements for his people – sin is still sin and the penalty for sin still exists. The cross means people can have the curse or penalty of their sin removed from them. All of this means godly love is not permissive love. It does not tolerate anything a person chooses to do. God still holds people to a standard of righteousness and there is still a penalty of his standard is violated.

Also, all the benefits of God’s love are not extended to all people. On one level God does love every person and on one level all people benefit because of his love, but not everyone will experience the full benefit of his love. The full benefit of his love is reserved for whoever believes in him.

Let’s take a closer look at this definition by asking a few questions:

How does God show us his love?
How does the cross display God’s love?
Who receives the benefit of God’s love?
How should we respond to God’s love?

There are countless ways that God has shown us his love. I want to mention three things that serve fairly well to represent all of the ways God displays his love to us:

He upholds himself.
He is faithful to his Word.
He sent us his Son.

On the matter of upholding himself, God preserves his character before his creation. He shows himself unwavering, constant and sure. He does not change like the shifting wind or fickle men. People are right when they observe that the world and culture changes. They are wrong when they say Christianity should also change. Christianity should reflect and unchanging God to a changing culture. Some of our methods and ways of reflecting Christ _SHOULD_ change. The content of our message, though, should _NEVER_ change.

The content of our message is God. We proclaim him throughout the earth even as he proclaims himself throughout the universe. God is the greatest of all beings. The greatest gift of the gospel is God himself. God shows us his love by presenting himself to us in all his perfection. He shows us his character, his nature, his goodness and his wrath, his glory and mercy and love and justice. He upholds himself before us, and this is love.

Some say that would make God terribly self-centered, arrogant and boastful. But consider who we are talking about. As John Piper reminds us, when God tells us we are to put nothing above God – the third commandment – God also follows that instruction. God upholds himself as the highest of all beings and as the most profoundly perfect way for humans to experience real and lasting satisfaction. God shows his love for us when he shows us himself in all his glory.

God also shows us his love by his faithfulness to his word. This relates to upholding himself. God does not change. He is faithful to what he promises to do. There are two sides to this: on the one hand this means he will fulfill his promises for good. He promised David a lasting kingdom and even when David’s descendants did wickedly he still preserved David’s family line in order to fulfill that promise in Jesus. He also promised hope and a future for the nation of Israel and rather than wipe them out for their sins he always preserved a remnant.

On the other hand, he promised there would be judgment against sin. The people of Israel experienced judgment because of their rebellion against God.

God will fulfill his promise of good for all those who come to him by faith. Nothing will separate God’s people from him. If you are his, you are secure. But if you are not his, he will fulfill his word that you will experience judgment. For those who are saved, judgment was paid by Christ. For those who are not saved, they will experience judgment themselves. He will be faithful to fulfill his word.

Third, he shows us his love by sending his Son. So significant is this event for displaying the true love of God that 1 John 3:16 tells us that because of this we know what love is. Your notion of love is meaningless if it does not somewhere include and focus on God’s love for us displayed through Christ. In 1 John 4:19 we are told we love because he first loved us. Throughout 1 John we are reminded of this connection between God’s love and our love, and God’s love is always focused on Christ, such as in 1 John 4:10: In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. We are only able to love God and each other because God has first loved us. And the greatest expression of God’s love for us is found in the work of Jesus Christ.

But what did Christ do that shows us God’s love so clearly? Let me answer the question with a question. How is it that God, who has said that he will execute judgment against sinners, is able to show any mercy at all to sinners without contradicting his word? To phrase this question in the language of the Apostle Paul: How can God be just while also justifying the sins of the world? He cannot just wipe away our sins. Absolute justice demands a penalty for sin. So how does God remain just when we are forgiven?

The answer is found at the cross of Christ. Here is how Paul puts it: Romans 3:23-26 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Without the cross there would be no mercy in the world. If we got what our sins deserved we would experience God’s wrath with no mercy at all. No blessing. No warm, sunny days. No enjoyable meals with friends and family. No experience of the joyful gifts from God. Each one of these things is an act of God’s mercy. James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect gift is from God. Had Jesus never died for our sins none of these gifts would have been possible. The only reason we experience good things is because of God’s love for us and the mercy he extends to us. The cross is what enables God to show mercy. He is true to his character. He cannot tolerate sin and wickedness. His absolute justice demands punishment for our sins. His justice demands there be no mercy. The cross provides the answer.

Let me follow an aside for a moment. We sometimes have difficulty thinking of God in terms of absolute justice. As humans we can forgive people who have wronged us even if no satisfaction is made for the wrong, even if the wrong is not punished. In fact, we are encouraged to treat others with this kind of forgiveness. Why, then, do we say that God must have justice? Why would I say that God cannot forgive someone without the wrong being paid for when we are told to do just that?

A couple of quick responses. First, Col 3:13 tells us one reason we are to forgive others is because Christ forgave us. Just as the foundation of our love is God’s love, the foundation of our forgiveness of others is Christ’s forgiveness of us.

Second, ultimately the wrong a person does is not against us but against God. Sin is not an offense against you, it is an offense against God. Remember David’s great sins? He committed adultery then had the husband murdered to try and cover it up. After the prophet Nathan confronts David with his sin David goes to God in prayer. Psalm 51 contains that prayer. Hear what David says in Psalm 51:4: Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. What about Bathsheba, the married woman he brought to his bed? What about Uriah, the murdered husband? But no, David says his sin was against God. We may wrong others, but ultimately our debt is with God. You can forgive others without receiving satisfaction because you do not hold their debt. God holds their debt. Thus we read the same thing three times – in Deuteronomy 32:35, Hebrews 10:30, and Romans 12:19 – here it is in Romans: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

You can forgive others without satisfaction because their debt is against God, not you, and God will execute vengeance on those who are not in Christ.

So if our debt of sin is against God and we cannot pay it and he cannot be merciful unless our debt is paid, how can there be any sort of mercy at all? The answer is what we already read in Romans 3:23-26. Through the cross God remained just when he justified people in their sins. This is how he had mercy on Old Testament saints and sinners. This is how he has mercy today. The work of Jesus on the cross was not just for those of his time and those would would come. The effect of his work covers all of human history. Christ’s death shows that God is both merciful and faithful. He did not back down from his absolute justice, he remains just. And yet in Christ he was able to show his love and mercy.

So let’s summarize. How does the cross display God’s love? Three points to mention.

First, it demonstrates God’s wrath against sin. God’s answer to sin was to send his perfect, holy, divine, infinitely precious Son to die on the cross and bear our sins. If this does not demonstrate for you just how serious sin is and how strong God’s response, I don’t know what would.

Second, it justifies God’s goodness to unbelievers. The cross does not save those who do not believe. As we talked about last week, a person must be born again in Christ before he can experience resurrection with Christ. He will die in his sins unless, like Galatians 2:20 describes, he is crucified with Christ… and Christ… lives in him. But although not all are saved, the cross makes it possible for God to show earthly, temporal mercy on those who deserve no mercy at all. You who refuse to submit to God, who refuse to bow to Christ, who will not turn in repentance – why do you think God will give you tomorrow, another day in which to find faith and forgiveness? It is not because of your goodness or charm. It is all his mercy and even the mercy of another day is granted you only because of what Christ did on the cross.

Third, it justifies those who have faith in God, allowing us to live forever in God’s love without experiencing for ourselves his wrath against sin.

Again summarizing what we have said, who is it that receives the benefit of God’s love? Everyone in part, believers in full.

Everyone receives benefits on this earth, though not equally. We enjoy his creation. We enjoy good weather when it comes. We enjoy food and family. These blessings come from the love and mercy of God. Sinner, how do you know he loves you? Because he has not wiped you out of existence. Because he has blessed you with many things to enjoy. Even those living in absolute suffering have at least been given the chance to turn to Christ in faith and if they would do so they would have God himself and their suffering would pale in the face of his glory! Would it be enjoyable? No. But it would be made meaningful for even in their suffering they would be able to glorify God.

Those who do have faith in Christ enjoy the full benefits of his love. They experience his victory over sin, his triumph over the tomb. They will not feel his judgment. They will know the full depths of his mercy. Eternal life with the living God! United with Christ. Brought into the family of God through the body of Jesus. Sins wiped clean. The righteousness of Christ covering them. The promise of coming glory when they join him in eternity. Their tears wiped from their eyes by God himself. This is the fullness of the love of God and it is only given to those who would believe in him.

A final question. How should we respond to God’s love?

Respond by turning to him in faith and trust. Unbeliever, why continue rejecting his love? Why allow yourself to be deceived into thinking your life is okay, your religion okay, your performance good enough, your destiny secure in your own abilities. Turn to Christ. Cling to him as the only hope of your salvation. Salvation comes from no one else. Believe in him and receive eternal life.

Christian, live in obedience to God as children who delight to follow their Father. He is your heavenly Father. Delight to follow him and obey him faithfully.

As I write this I am watching the trees blowing around outside. The clouds are piling up and the sky has grown darker. The weather forecast says to expect a long day of rain, ending in powerful thunder storms. The weatherman is already telling us to be on the lookout for tornados.

There is nothing like a storm to show God’s power. The late Rich Mullins had a song, The Love of God, in which he sang about “the fury of his love”. Storms can be tragic and frightening. They can also be majestic and inspiring. Your God made these storms and your God controls these storms. And no storm is fiercer than God’s love. Trust in his love. Trust in his might. Trust in his goodness. Whether your storm be wind and rain or pain and loss and suffering, God is in control.

Never forget what takes place in Mark 4:35-41. Jesus and his disciples are out on stormy seas and the disciples are terrified, but God could not be overcome by his creation. “Peace! Be still!” Jesus called out, and the storm was silenced. He then turned to his disciples and asked, “Have you still no faith?” Have faith in God. Trust him with your storms. Rest in him. Delight in him.

Luke 2:8-14

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This sermon was preached by Rev. Chris Roberts during the morning service on December 07, 2008. This is the second Sunday of Advent, the day of Peace. In this message Pastor Chris reminds believers that peace can only come through Jesus Christ.

Today is the second Sunday of Advent. Last week was the week of Hope, this is the week of Peace. Last Sunday I gave a little bit of background on Advent practices but there was one thing I neglected to say that I wanted to mention this week.

The four themes we are recognizing are Hope, Peace, Love, and Joy. These themes are not observed by all churches practicing Advent, but these could probably be called the traditional Advent themes although some churches might do something different. For example, I know of one church using Prophecy, Bethlehem, Angels, and Shepherds. But since Advent should not be just a time of looking back, I prefer our themes which help us look back to his first coming while anticipating his return.

So today we begin the Advent week of Peace. The text is Luke 2:8-14.

This passage is mostly an announcement along with a celebration. The announcement was the only one of its kind in the history of the world: made by angels, introducing the God-Man.

Throughout the Bible angels have often been God’s messengers. Usually, though, it is one angel relaying a message to one person. Part of what makes this announcement so unique is that it ended with a multitude of angels proclaiming the glory of God.

Angels had been involved throughout the work of announcing the coming of the Messiah. An angel told Mary what the Lord would do. An angel spoke to Joseph, telling him to remain with his bride-to-be. Another angel visited Zechariah, announcing the birth of John the Baptist who would prepare the way for the Messiah. But with this announcement in Luke two we find the first time the birth of the Messiah is announced publicly. No longer is his birth a matter of significance only for those directly involved. This is now good news of great joy for all people.

Be sure to note who the angels have been sent to visit. This announcement was not made to kings or princes, preachers or politicians. They were sent to shepherds. Not even the wise men got an angelic visit – though they did get a star. The gospel is not just for the rich, the powerful. In fact, we learn it is especially for those who are weak and lowly. What comfort for we who are so inadequate! Gospel has come to you. We are all weak and lowly but some will refuse to recognize that truth about themselves. The gospel, first announced to those who were not powerful or influential, continues to be given to people freely, with no basis on human merit or ability, given solely by the grace of our almighty, loving God.

There are five parts to the angel’s announcement. While I want to focus mostly on the peace that was proclaimed, I first want to look over the whole announcement.

First there is good news of great joy. The angel said fear not! For behold, I bring you good news of a great joy. The shepherds need not fear though they are visited by a mighty angel because he comes bringing them good news. He comes announcing the birth of the gospel himself – Jesus Christ is the good news! We sometimes confuse what God did to bring the good news with the true treasure of the good news. We think of the gospel as the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Yes, that is good news! But there is even better news. The cross was the work necessary to bring us to the heart of the good news God has for us. The good news is that you, sinner, have been adopted into the family of God and now have God for your Father! God is the gospel! You have received God himself, a relationship with the creator of the universe.

The second part of the announcement was that it was for all the people. For shepherds and wise men, for kings and prostitutes. The good news is not exclusive to a certain segment of the population. The gospel is also not just for Jews living in first century Israel. It is for all people at all times. This is one reason we collect the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, to help all people hear the good news. How will they know the news unless someone tells them?

Third is the announcement of a Savior, Christ the Lord. The people have been waiting for God to send his anointed one. The angel proclaims that he has come. He is savior to the people. He is also Lord. Sometimes people want to make Jesus be one or the other. Often people think of him as savior and nothing more. He came to save people, to end injustice. His work finished, he returned to Heaven where he waits and watches what goes on. He is savior but he is not Lord. Others want a hard nosed Lord, one who always makes demands and threats, a savior only in that he demands that his people be good enough to save themselves. But the angels announced one who is both savior and Lord. The anointed of God to bring salvation to his people and rule over his creation. Sinner, receive his salvation – and do what he commands!

Fourth, the angels give glory to God. The good news for the people comes from God, not from men or angels. Glory goes to God for the wonders that will be accomplished through his Son.

Finally, the angels announce peace on earth for those on whom his favor rests. Now, those using the King James will be looking at me a little funny. “What? It says, ‘on earth, peace, good will toward men.’” Well, I won’t take time this morning to go into all of the things behind differences in translations. I will say that in the Greek the difference here is very small. There is only one letter difference between the Greek used by the King James translators and that used in modern versions. But that letter changes the grammatical structure of the sentence. All evidence indicates the modern translations better capture what was meant in the original Greek text.

The point here is twofold. First, there is a great offer of peace from God. True peace! Lasting peace. Outside of Christ there is no real peace. And that is the second point – that this peace will not be experienced by all people. The older translation might lead a person toward universalism – the idea that all people will experience God’s peace. But for those who die in their sins, who continue in separation from God, there will be no peace. In Isaiah 48:22 we read, “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

Although the experience of God’s peace is not universal, it is still given to many. Who are those with whom he is pleased? It is not people who experience his favor because of their merit, because they somehow earn his favor. It is no attractiveness in him. It is by his grace. Those who do receive Jesus Christ by faith will experience God’s peace. There is no other true peace in the universe and a gift like this has never been possible before. Hey! Shepherds and sinners! Here is good news of peace with God!

So there is the announcement. Good news to the people on earth. Glory to God in the highest for this great gift! And peace for those on whom his favor rests. But that leaves us with a few questions we will address with the rest of our time. First, why do we need someone to make peace? Then, how would this child make peace? Finally, how is this peace received and experienced?

Why do we need someone to make peace. Why did someone have to come making peace? Why did God send a peacemaker? Because Colossians 1:21 tells us that without Christ we are alienated from and hostile to God. Because Romans 5:10 says we were enemies of God. Because Romans 7:23 says a war is being raged between desires of the flesh and desires of the Spirit. Because Ephesians 2:3 tells us that people are children of wrath. Because in Genesis 3:15 the battle between humanity and Satan began and sin and Satan have sown discord and disorder between humans ever since. Much more could be said about the lack of peace experienced by humans. Our need for a peacemaker, for a savior. But I hope you get the point.

So how would this child make peace, this babe in a manger? Two ways, both of which go together. The incarnation and the cross. Incarnation is a fancy term that refers to God taking on flesh. The babe in the manger was not just human. Fully human, yes, but also fully God. At Christmas we focus on the incarnation. At Easter we focus on the cross. But at no time can we forget either.

Why, though, did the incarnation have to take place? Why did God have to become man? There are a few parts to the answer. Salvation couldn’t come from a distance. There must be a penalty for sin and that penalty had to be paid by a human.

Also, humans needed someone new to lead us as our head. 1 Cor 15:42-49 talks about the first man and the second man. What is in view here are representatives of the human race. Adam, as head of the race, caused all mankind to plunge into sin. Because he fell, we all fell. Because he was made subject to the curse, we have all been made subject to the curse. The second man is the second representative for humans. This is Jesus Christ. He had to be a human in order to represent humanity the same way Adam did. So as death came through the man Adam, life comes through the man Jesus Christ.

To briefly go on a tangent here, this is part of why Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. There are not many representatives for humanity: there are two. Everyone is descended from Adam so everyone is under the curse of the Fall. No one, though, is descended from Christ. No matter what Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code says, Jesus has no physical descendants.

This is one reason we must be born again. 1 Peter 1:3 says we have been born into a living hope. That hope is Christ. When we are born as infants we are born into the line of Adam. As his descendants we are born sinful, fallen, depraved. This is what David means in Psalm 51:5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. He doesn’t mean his mother was involved in sinful sex. He means that he was conceived by a sinner and from the womb he was himself a sinner. We are people in need of the saving grace of God from the moment of conception.

When we are born again we are born in Christ. We are made his. Still descended from Adam in the flesh, we are now also descended from Christ in the spirit. We will still suffer the curse of the Fall – death – but it will not bind us, it cannot hold us. Its sting has been removed because of Christ.

The only way any of this is possible is because God became man. Only God could pay the debt, but the debt could only be paid by a man in order to be applied to other men. God had to take on flesh and dwell among us and that happened two thousand years ago when the babe was born of a virgin.

The second part of how Jesus makes peace between God and man is through the cross. The cross was ground zero for God’s redemptive work. The incarnation would have been meaningless without the cross. When Jesus came as babe in a manger he came with the path already set for the cross. 

This is one thing we tend to forget at Christmas. Christmas for us is a sentimental time, a time of peace, of goodwill. We think of low lights, bright, colorful trees, warm fireplaces, and family gathered together. We forget how hard his birth was and how terrible was the life he came to live.

Sinclair Ferguson in his book In Christ Alone says, “Those whose lives were bound up with the events of the first Christmas did not find His coming an easy and pleasurable experience.” For his mother and father it meant giving birth in a cold, dirty room meant for animals, not people. Our peaceful manger scenes with adoring parents, wise men, and shepherds leaning over an irenic child with uplifted arms, these are beautiful scenes and reminders of who was born and how we should respond to him, but they bear little resemblance to the actual setting of the first Christmas.

The God of the universe, born in a feed trough in a dirty animal pen. Visited by dirty, smelly, tired shepherds and later by travel-worn travelers from the Orient. Hardly a scene of glamour or prestige.

And don’t forget what followed the visit by the wise men. This Jesus who came to bring peace, he was hunted with the sword. Jealous king Herod gave an order that caused the slaughter of baby boys all around Bethlehem.

His life ended in a far more gruesome way and it is here that he made peace. Born in a dirty stall, crucified in the dusty ground, nailed to a tree he had spoken into existence, he died as a common criminal, not as the peace-bringing Lord.

We consider Christmas a time of warm memories and good experiences. But Sinclair Ferguson reminds is that Jesus “was not sent to be the source of good experiences, but to suffer the pangs of hell in order to be our Savior.”

We experience peace, then, because God took on flesh and made his dwelling among us.

How do we receive this peace? It is not through the world or its ways. The world offers many things that it presents as peace but in John 14:27 Jesus tells us, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.” I am glad for peace efforts. I am glad the United Nations exists. I am glad governments talk to each other and work out disagreements without resorting to guns and bombs. I am glad psychologists and psychiatrists help families find ways to live with one another without constant fighting and arguing. I am glad the police force exists to help keep the peace on our streets. But none of these ways are lasting and none of these ways offer peace with God.

The world offers us so many things. So many temptations, so many distractions. And yet nothing the world offers is lasting. In times like the one we live in, the uncertain, limited nature of the world’s peace is especially easy to see. Economic turmoil, global unrest, political transitions – all around us things the world trusts in are being rocked and dismantled. In this nation many people are gearing up to put a tremendous amount of hope and trust in one man. And even if he does a stellar job as president, his presidency too will someday come to an end.

Various leaders – in the world and some in the church – say there are other ways to find peace, or say that everything is already okay. The book The Shack is very popular in Christian circles right now. But in that book – and in other sources – one is left with the notion that everyone is already okay with God, that we already live at peace with God. Such things are not new. Hear how God described the religious leaders of Israel in Jeremiah 6:14 They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

Satan wants to put people to sleep with a false sense of security and comfort, a feeling that everything is okay and no one need fear the wrath and judgment of God. But peace comes through one name only: Jesus Christ. And it comes only to those who bow to him as Lord, confessing their sins, turning from their sins and toward Christ in faith and trust, seeking him only for their salvation. The peace offered by the world is temporary, shallow. What God makes available through Christ will never fail.

This required the cross. Colossians 1:20 says that Jesus made peace by the blood of his cross. In Ephesians 2:14 we are told that he himself is our peace. It does not require your works. You cannot earn it. I pray that no one here feels he will experience the peace of God because he is basically a good person. None of you are basically good people. I pray that no one here feels he will experience the peace of God because God’s love overlooks all sin and God welcomes all people into Heaven equally. He doesn’t! There is wrath against sin and peace is found only by yielding in faith to Jesus Christ.

If you have not yet given your life to Christ, turning to him in faith and trust, confessing your sin and receiving his forgiveness, let today be the day of your salvation. The only thing that waits you without Christ is God’s eternal wrath and judgment. You will have no peace. You will die in your sins and for all eternity you will pay for your sins. But God has given the gift of his Son so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. The work of your salvation was finished at the cross. The call to come to Christ has been extended to all people. Will you now receive him?

Seniors, come join our senior adults on Tuesday, December 09 from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. for their monthly gathering. The time together will include a speaker and a fellowship meal.

All our church staff – both full- and part-time – and their spouses are invited to join us for a lunchtime Christmas get together Monday, December 22 at 12:00 p.m. You can join us at the church shortly before 12:00 p.m. and we will carpool together to Rodeo’s Steak and Seafood or you can plan to just meet us at Rodeo’s.

Come join us at 6:00 p.m. on December 24 for our church Christmas Eve service. We will come together to worship and celebrate the birth of our Lord and to anticipate his promised return. The service will include a message from Pastor Chris and singing to candle light.

Come join us for our Christmas Cantata. The Cantata will be presented during our evening service at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 21. Come hear the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, celebrated in song.

Following the Cantata we will enjoy a finger food fellowship with one another. Bring food if you can, come anyway if you can’t!

The Missions Walk is the peak point of our focus on the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. During the Missions Walk you will have the opportunity to carry your Lottie Moon offering to the collection baskets at the front of the church.

The Missions Walk will take place during our morning worship service on Sunday, December 07.