Gifts From God To You This Christmas Unwrapping the Gift of Forever (Part 4)

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Elmer Norman
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Mailing Address: PO Box 797 Molalla, OR 97038 Phone: 503-829-5101 Fax: 503-829-9502 Pastor Dale Satrum Gifts From God To You This Christmas Unwrapping the Gift of Forever (Part 4) Intro: Everything

1 Mailing Address: PO Box 797 Molalla, OR Phone: Fax: Pastor Dale Satrum Gifts From God To You This Christmas Unwrapping the Gift of Forever (Part 4) Intro: Everything in this world is temporary. Nothing lasts very long!!! Illustrate: God offers us the gift of forever to give us hope. He wants to assure us that there is more to our existence than our temporary experiences. That we can count on something beyond this life beyond the pain and disappointment that results from everything being temporary. He wants to give us the gift of eternity. The gift of eternal life! He wants us to count on something that lasts forever. Forever Facts: 5 Facts about unwrapping this gift we must understand I. God s Gift Of Forever Is Given Because God Loves You John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it. (NLT) A. Adjust your concept of God 1. Most people have made up their own opinions about God based upon their experiences / media / faulty information instead of the Bible. 2. The problem isn t that most people don t believe in God most people do in America. The problem lies in the fact that what they believe about Him is incorrect and this misunderstanding keeps them from God. 3. Here are three of the most common misconceptions about God God is an angry / critical / judgmental God He s there to punish you when you ve done something wrong. God is a disinterested God / impersonal / He really isn t that interested in your daily needs Besides there are bigger problems than you! God isn t strong enough. He may care but is incapable of intervening in my life. After all, there are 7 billion people in this world. 4. These are all barriers to His gift. Page 1

2 B. Accept the truth of God s love for you 1. WHY? Because God has said over and over again in His Word that He loves you! He demonstrated it by sending Jesus. (Last week I said Christmas is a love story) This story corrects our misconceptions about God. 2. If God is so angry and wanted to condemn us, why did He send Jesus? If God had already written us off, why did He go to such extreme measures? 3. If God is so disinterested in your needs why did He choose to become a man and live out the daily needs of humanity? He chose to live our experiences! He chose a personal way to connect with us! (manger / animals / real life He didn t send you a text message / He didn t write some neon sign in the sky / He sent Himself! 4. If God isn t strong enough, why did God send the angel Gabriel to Mary to announce the miracle of conception in her. Then, when Mary asked how all this was possible, Gabriel said, For nothing is impossible with God! 5. The motivation behind the Christmas story is the fact of God s great love for you! God loves you so much He was willing to go through extreme measures to show you! II. God s Gift Of Forever Is Offered To Everyone John 3:16 : so that everyone who believes (NLT) Years ago, Lisa and I had to put limits on who we bought gifts for. We both grew up here locally and have many relatives. We had to start being selective about our gift giving. The gift of eternity though, God doesn t put a limit on! It is offered to everyone. A. God doesn t play favorites! 1. God wants everyone to experience an eternity with Him. He doesn t just offer this gift to some people and exclude others. He doesn t have a favorites list. 2. I ve had people over the years tell me that if they would come to church a bolt of lightening would zap them / OR the walls would fall in on them. They think they re on God s black list or something. 3. The gift of forever is a universal offer. (Every person / everywhere / all the time) God is not selective in His offer and His resources are inexhaustible! B. You can t earn the right for this gift 1. Some people think that they can earn the right to experience this gift. That they can do enough good things / religious activities to qualify. Kind of like spiritual credit score! (If your score is high enough, you re in! you qualify!) Page 2

3 2. People can think it s how Santa Clause distributes gifts. Santa knows if you ve been naughty or nice / good or bad / and based upon you re behavior you get gifts right? Or a lump of coal! 3. God s gift of eternity doesn t operate like this. It s not based upon our behavior. It s not determined by our merit. It is a free gift offered to everyone regardless if you ve been naughty or nice! 4. Because of this mentality, some people think they have gone too far they have disqualified themselves for God to ever offer them eternity. Not true! If you can t do anything to qualify for it, you can t do anything to disqualify yourself either. III. God s Gift Of Forever Is Experienced In This Life John 4:13-14 People soon become thirsty again after drinking this water. But the water I give them takes away thirst altogether. It becomes a perpetual spring within them, giving them eternal life. (NLT) There is a now and later element to these verses. A. Eternal life is experienced immediately in this life 1. Most people think in terms of the future when they think of eternal life / forever. It is something to look forward to and to be enjoyed at a later date. 2. This is why some people just don t want to think about spiritual things / eternity because they think it all about the future and they have plenty of time to consider it. (We re so immediate gratification anyway in our culture) 3. BUT, the way Jesus describes this gift is that there is a benefit in our lives immediately for receiving this gift. That something eternal is placed within us that becomes a continual stream that begins to satisfy internal thirst. 4. It s as if God gives us a taste of what is to come. He gives us a taste of eternity / a taste of forever. He places that gift in us for us to enjoy as we live out this physical existence. It s not all just about the future; it s about tasting eternity now! 5. This Christmas our daughter Jessica is going to get her letterman s jacket. Well, not really the jacket. What she is going to get is the paper that says we already paid for it, but she has to go pick it out and what she s going to put on it. She will get to enjoy the Jacket in fullness in 6 weeks. (explain) 6. God s gift of eternal life is like this. There is an immediate impact upon our lives we get to enjoy it in part now, but in all its fullness later. B. God s gift of forever fulfills our lives right now 1. Too many people look at the gift of eternal life like Life Insurance. It s there when I die. I know I m covered, but it doesn t really impact my daily life. BUT, Jesus didn t come to bring us life insurance, He came to give us Life! Page 3

4 2. The gift of eternal life is not like Retirement either. When I retire, I m going to really start enjoying life. That s wasting your life! God s gift of eternal life allows us to enjoy life NOW! 3. God s gift of forever is for the here and now! IV. God s Gift Of Forever Is A Literal Place John 14:1-2 Don t be troubled There are many rooms in My Father s home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. (NLT) A. Heaven is God s idea not man s 1. I just love what Jesus says to His disciples. If heaven isn t real, I would tell you plainly! Heaven is not some made up idea by ancient people to help ease the pain of death. (According to Discovery Channel) It s a literal place God wants you to count on! 2. Heaven is a place God created not for Himself, not for the angels, but for you! The greatest desire on God s heart is that we spend eternity with Him. 3. So much so, that Jesus is still preparing a place for you! Illustrate: We have big holiday dinners and there is a place set for everyone! Explain: Jesus has a place set in eternity waiting for you! 4. There s a reservation with you name on it. You simply have to claim it. B. Heaven is where we continue to exist 1. Heaven is not a place where we become angels (sorry to disappoint some of you!) Heaven is a place where we continue to exist. Where the internal / immaterial part of who we are continues on forever. 2. Jesus told a group of religious leaders one day that God is the God of the living not the dead. That He continues to relate to those who have physically died but live on in eternity. (Jesus was referring to seeing Abraham) 3. In eternity we will recognize and relate to each other. Heaven is all about relationships. The 2 greatest commands are relational commands (explain) So it makes sense that the only things that will last forever are relationships. My relationship with God and my relationships with others who have opened this gift! 4. One of the reasons this gift gives us so much hope is that it removes the finality of death. For those who have opened this gift, death is only a temporary separation. God wants us to be looking forward to some reunions. V. God s Gift Of Forever Is Only Experienced Through Jesus A. Jesus is the distributor of this gift. John 14:6 I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Page 4

5 Father except through Me. (NLT) Quite the exclusive claim! 1. There is no other possible way to experience it. Some people may say they want the gift of eternal life but not Jesus. There must be another way to receive this gift? Must be another way to eternal life. 2. Other historical religious leaders may have helpful things to say, but none of them claimed to be God in the flesh. None of them claimed to be the distributor of eternal life. 3. Many people simply assume that Christianity s claims are like every other religion. When in reality it stands in stark contrast to every other one. B. To reject Jesus is to reject the gift. John 5:40 Yet you refuse to come to Me so that I can give you this eternal life. (NLT) 1. The gift is only experienced relationally. God doesn t send it UPS / Fed Ex. God is not that impersonal! It must be personally received through the person of Jesus. 2. We don t go to church to receive this gift. We don t receive it by doing good deeds or trying to earn it in some way. We simply go to the only person who offers it. AND, He is the one who wants to give it to you! C. When we receive God s Son, we receive the gift that comes with Him. I John 5:11-12 And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. So, whoever has God s Son has life; whoever does not have His Son does not have life. (NLT) 1. Jesus was born in a manger so that He could grow to be a man and die for us on a cross. He paid the price for this gift. In order for this gift to be offered, it had to first be purchased. You can t offer a gift you haven t bought. I would love to offer my wife a red convertible Mustang Cobra. The reality is that I can t afford one! It s beyond my financial ability. 2. Jesus purchased eternal life for us with His own life. That is the significance of the cross. He paid off our sin that was keeping us from eternity with God. Now, He has the right and the ability to offer this gift. 3. Therefore, when we receive Jesus, we automatically receive the gift of eternal life. Eternal life comes with our relationship with Jesus. Out of all the gifts you are going to unwrap this Christmas, have you unwrapped God s gift to you of eternal life His gift of forever? As we close today, I want to give you this opportunity. Page 5

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God s Process For Life Change Moving From Despair To Hope (Part 2)

Mailing Address: PO Box 797 Molalla, OR 97038 Phone: 503-829-5101 Fax: 503-829-9502 Pastor Dale Satrum God s Process For Life Change Moving From Despair To Hope (Part 2) Intro: Life change is impossible