At Praise Fellowship Church we have been developing a Christmas Theme with a Christmas Team. What I mean by a team is that as my wife Melanie and I have been serving together in Pastoral Ministry to the congregation, we have been able to receive Pastoral Assistants of Pastors Israel and Maleca Walters. Israel grew up in our church, recognized the call on his life for ministry and went to Bible College to be trained in the Scriptures. There he met the young lady, Maleca, who would become his wife and the two of them studied together for Pastoral Ministry. Upon graduation, we invited them to return to our church to assist us in Pastoral leadership to Praise Fellowship Church. With the various things we do and direction of teaching and ministry, we have been approaching it as a team. We meet weekly for training and prayer and seeking direction from the Lord.
As we approached this Christmas season, Pastor Maleca, asked that we might ask the Lord for a theme to direct us in ministry as we share the responsibilities of teaching on Sunday mornings. As we did, we started sharing various thoughts that the Lord was imparting to us individually. And it all culminated together in the passage of scripture from John 3:16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
This passage of scripture will be expounded upon on the Sundays of December 8, 15 and 22 and then our Christmas Eve Service of December 24. If you don’t have a church home, we invite you to come and join us as we explore the expression of God’s love through the gift of His Son, Jesus.
We see God’s motivation of love for all that He does and the great sacrifices of His Son, Jesus. Understanding that Jesus’ existence did not start with the conception in the womb of the virgin Mary, but that He was with God and a part of the Godhead from the beginning. John 1:1 “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.”
Philippians 2:6–7 “Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,”
Because of God’s love He GAVE His Son. Because of Jesus’ love He GAVE UP His divine privileges to become human. This is the only way that people could be saved from their sin and have eternal life. This happened when Jesus GAVE UP His life with His death on the cross.
When John 3:16 says “everyone who believes in him…will have eternal life” it is more than just giving mental assent to the historical person of Jesus Christ, it is described best in Romans 10:9–10 “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved.”
Receive God’s love and salvation through the gift of His Son, Jesus. MERRY CHRISTMAS!