Thursday 12/5/13 Salvation 4

Dear Father in Heaven:  Please forgive me of my sins this day, and thanks for being an all-loving God and taking care of us.  Thanks for hearing our prayers and answering them.  Please be with Bob and take care of that nagging deep cold he has had.  Please be with Patsy and Burt and also with all others on this line that need Your touch.  Thanks for all the food we have in the food pantry and thanks for all the help that has been coming and will be coming this weekend to get it ready for the hungry.  Thanks indeed for the families who need help.  Please now help me with the message and then help me dispatch it.  Lord, forgive me, for I had it all messed up yesterday, as I still cannot get my mind into this computer and have my mind send the right things to my memory and fingers.  Help me with it, Lord.  And Lord, bless the neighbors coming to Santa's House this evening to hear Your story.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Brothers and sisters, I love you, all of you.  Some of you I don't even know, however, I love you all just the same.  Today I want to work more on Salvation, for it is so very important.  Think about this, please, what good is it to celebrate Christmas and the real meaning of Christmas if we do not talk about Salvation?  The bottom line, my dear brothers and sisters, the bottom line is, Our Father sent Jesus to us to save us, and everything else that we learned and keep learning about Jesus is all a REALLY BIG BONUS.  Everyone likes a Christmas Bonus and our Christmas Bonus is Jesus.  The Bonus is everlasting life.  Then think about this.  The best Christmas gift that you could give anyone would be to help them come to Jesus.  What good is it to give them things for Christmas, a cell phone, a new TV, or give the little ones a train set, if they do not have Jesus locked into their heart?  Men, what good is it to give your wife a new mink coat or a new diamond diamond ring if they do not know Jesus?  Ladies, what good is it to give your husband a new pickup truck or a football TV package from the cable company if they do not know Jesus?  Men and ladies, why not see that they get a gift that is ALREADY PAID FOR?  Set them up to meet Jesus one-on-one and see that they receive the gift of Salvation.  And brothers and sisters, Jesus already paid for this gift.  Let's look at some scriptures:

Isaiah 35:4 - Say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution He will come to save you."  (NIV)

Daniel 3:17 - If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.  (NIV)

Matthew 1:21 - She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.  (NIV)

From the first testament to the second testament, all throughout the Bible it tells us about Salvation and being saved.  From Isaiah, if you are fearful, if you are afraid, it tells us "to be strong, not to fear, because our God will come and He will save us."  What a great promise.  These are the things we need to be telling our family, those who are not saved, or we are not sure of, who are just sitting on the fence.  Yes, we have a lot of fence-sitters.  I think they are afraid to give up the "crowd they run with" for God's crowd of Saved People, and brothers and sisters, you cannot have both, you cannot belong to the world and also belong to Jesus.  (Political leaders have been trying that for years and years.)

From the book of Daniel.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, The God we serve will save us.  Now think about this.  If we are saved by our Lord Jesus, now follow me on this one, if we are saved by our Lord Jesus, if we have our Salvation, and the only way is through our Lord Jesus, if we are indeed saved, WE WILL NOT BE THROWN INTO THE BLAZING PITS OF HELL!!!  Yes, our God indeed will save us from the blazing fire.  AMEN, someone please shout AMEN with me.  AMEN, AND AMEN!

Now from Matthew to round it out for today.  This ties Christmas together with Salvation, just one place in the Bible where it happens, and tomorrow we will look for more.  She will give birth to a Son, she is to name Him Jesus and He will save us from our sins.  So let me put it the way I understand it.  When we take on Jesus as our Savior, He will save us from ourselves.  Yes, He will save me from me, a sinner just needing saved.  AND YES, I AM SAVED ... Praise God!

Thank You, Jesus, for saving me.  I am so unworthy.  I give You all the honor and glory for this day.  In Jesus' Name, I pray.  Amen.

Go forth and share your blessings and share your blessing of Salvation with others so Jesus can save them also.  Love ya.  Please pass that Love on.  Pastor Dan