You Gotta Have This

Luke 4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed,”

Jesus came for you, He came for me, He came for all.  He came because we needed Him.  We needed Him to live for us…..preach the gospel to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind!

We needed Him to die for us…..heal the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, set at liberty those oppressed!

Jesus came for you and He came for me.  He came that we might know the Father through Him. 

John 14:9b Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father…”

Yet we needed more than just to “see the Father”, we needed our relationship with Him restored.  The life of Jesus allows us to see the attributes of the Father, the character of the Father and the desire of the Father.

The death and resurrection of Jesus shows us the Love of the Father toward us.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor, He did open blinded eyes and He was able to heal the brokenhearted.  He is still doing that today for anyone who will believe in Him.  With His life, death and resurrection, He has given to all who will believe in His Name, liberty from and victory over our sinful, fallen nature. The nature that separates us from God.

Romans 8:6-7 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”

We needed Him!  We still do!!!

PRAYER:  Heavenly Father, I need you.  I needed You yesterday, I need You today and I will need You tomorrow.  Help me to remember and acknowledge my need for You.  Don’t ever let me think I can make it without You, without Your Grace and Mercy.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

For This Reason

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

“But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.  To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.” Hebrews 9:26-28

On this eve of Christmas, let us remember for what purpose the babe born in a Manger appeared, which was to bring to you, and to the world remission of sin.  Remission is the “putting away” of sin, exemption from the consequences of an offense, setting free and the obliteration of any debt owed.

 The remission of our sin, our salvation, required a Savior and His name is Jesus Christ.  The cost of our remission was His life which He willing gave because of His great and expansive Love that he has for us. 

Don’t forget today to worship and give Praise to the Savior of the World, honor him with your praise, and recognize him in the center of your family celebration.  And for those who wait, look for and expect Him, He will appear a second time, but this time it will not be as a babe in a manger but as the King of Kings coming to complete our salvation, a glorious reunion day where we will live with our Savior forever in eternity. 

Yes, today is a reason to celebrate, Merry Christmas and Joy to the world!

Prayer:  Heavenly Father, Thank you for your very precious gift to us, your son, Jesus Christ my Savior.  I give you praise and thanksgiving for my salvation and for the gift of eternal life.  In Jesus Name, Amen.