CURRENT SERIES
Christmas Present
Dec. 24, 2017
— LifeNotes —
• Present: Right now, this moment in time.
— Luke 2:1-20 NLT
• If God has spoken something to you and if your life didn’t turn out in that direction, God never changes His mind. The Bible says the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. In modern-day terms, that means God is not upset that He gave you the gifts that He did. He is not reluctant, He is not repentant, He is not sorrowful that He blessed you.
• Luke 2:11: The Messiah means anointing. What does anointing mean? It means making something that is hard easy. The moment you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you became anointed.
• In Galatians 4, it says that Jesus came at the right time.
• The more we know about God, the more we love God.
“For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
— John 3:16 NLT
• Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners.
• John 3:17 says the He didn’t come to condemn the world but to save it. Paul said, “I am the worst among you.” If you ever feel like you are “the worst among them,” you need to rebuke that thought immediately if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior. We are not a worm saved by grace, we have been raised up and seated with Him in heavenly places. If you are born again, you are no longer a filthy wretch, you are a son or daughter of God.
• Isaiah was in awe that he was standing in the presence of the Almighty. That same Lord is living inside of us.
• Being saved is not about what we do; it is about what He has done.
“That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
— Romans 10:9-10 NKJV
• We have to confess with our mouth. We can’t be saved by someone else’s confession.
I think about the things that God has prevented me from doing, the road I was headed down. If I had not accepted the Lord as my Savior, not of His doing but of my own stupidity and the devil, I wouldn’t be standing here today.
— Pastor Danny
Life lesson
When we understand the who, what, when, where and why of Christmas, we will really know how to celebrate it.
• God wants us to be a witness. We don’t do witnessing, we be a witness. What you be is much more important that what you do.