Joy (2 of 5)
Series: Christmas Presence
Bob Ingle
John 15
Open your bibles to John 15. Last week we started our Christmas series in an unlikely place in the Bible. In our passage we saw no star, manger, or wise men, just the purpose of Christmas.
1 Timothy 1:15:''Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.''
That's the heart and soul of Christmas. That's the reason we celebrate.
God Himself became like us, lived among us, and died for us in order to save us from sin and give us eternal life. We also found out last week that eternal life isn't just living forever. Everyone is going to live forever in one of two places: heaven or hell. Jesus said eternal life is knowing the One true God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Eternal life is knowing God in a close, intimate, personal, experiential way. Eternal life is not something you get after you die, it's something you receive the moment you believe. Christians have eternal life in this life and it only intensifies into the next life. When a person repents of their sin and trusts in Christ they have eternal life. Christmas, then, is the celebration that Christ Jesus came into the world to forgive us of our sins, rescue us from death, and give us an incredible, close, personal, intimate, experiential relationship with Him. And when you have eternal life and a growing relationship with the Creator of the world guess what you have available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year? Joy. Real joy. Radical joy.
Now, look at what Jesus says in John 15:11:''These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.'' If there is one word that might describe Christmas best it might just be joy.
Christmas is about joy. One of the top three Christmas songs of all time is one that we sang today ''Joy to the World''. And it's true. Christmas is supposed to be joy to the world.
Christmas is not just joy to America--it is not a national joy.
I ...
Series: Christmas Presence
Bob Ingle
John 15
Open your bibles to John 15. Last week we started our Christmas series in an unlikely place in the Bible. In our passage we saw no star, manger, or wise men, just the purpose of Christmas.
1 Timothy 1:15:''Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.''
That's the heart and soul of Christmas. That's the reason we celebrate.
God Himself became like us, lived among us, and died for us in order to save us from sin and give us eternal life. We also found out last week that eternal life isn't just living forever. Everyone is going to live forever in one of two places: heaven or hell. Jesus said eternal life is knowing the One true God and His Son Jesus Christ.
Eternal life is knowing God in a close, intimate, personal, experiential way. Eternal life is not something you get after you die, it's something you receive the moment you believe. Christians have eternal life in this life and it only intensifies into the next life. When a person repents of their sin and trusts in Christ they have eternal life. Christmas, then, is the celebration that Christ Jesus came into the world to forgive us of our sins, rescue us from death, and give us an incredible, close, personal, intimate, experiential relationship with Him. And when you have eternal life and a growing relationship with the Creator of the world guess what you have available to you 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year? Joy. Real joy. Radical joy.
Now, look at what Jesus says in John 15:11:''These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.'' If there is one word that might describe Christmas best it might just be joy.
Christmas is about joy. One of the top three Christmas songs of all time is one that we sang today ''Joy to the World''. And it's true. Christmas is supposed to be joy to the world.
Christmas is not just joy to America--it is not a national joy.
I ...
There are 18276 characters in the full content. This excerpt only shows a 2000 character sample of the full content.
Price: $5.99 or 1 credit
