The Gift 2 - The Story of Christmas (notes)

The Gift 2 - The Story of Christmas

Amazing Grace

• Let’s look at the word Gift and what it means.
• Gift means Grace and Grace means Gift. The Greek word for Grace is Charis, the root word for Charismatic or Charisma. The Charismatic movement was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Catholic Church and mainline denominations in the 1970’s and 80’s. I consider our church a result of that move of God.

The Gift

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

(NKJV)

We Believe

• In the Charismatic gifts or Grace gifts. These are spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Cor. 12 &14.
• That the Word Grace defines who we are as a body of believers. The gifts are for us today and we totally embrace the move of the Spirit in our daily lives and in our church life.
• Grace is God’s favor, which is not dependent on our earning power but on His power to accept us.

When We Know God accepts us, we also know all that God is and has is for us today. Every gift (grace) is for the church today. Healing, miracles, prophecy, faith, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, discernment, and tongues are all for us today because of Grace.  

Grace Brings Us

• Into God’s presence. Grace means that we don’t have to do anything but believe in what Jesus has done.
• Grace also means that we belong to Him and He belongs to us. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. It was written by a former slave trader (John Newton 1725-1807) an Englishman who became a poet and clergyman.

Grace is one of the major themes in the New Testament.

John 1:14-18, Romans 5:1-2, 15-17, 20-21, & 6:1-11.

Grace Invokes God’s favor when anyone calls upon the name of Jesus. Jesus was full of grace and truth. There is a grace in our lives because of His grace. When we see Jesus we see the Father.

We Are Justified By Faith

Let us grasp the fact that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have confidently entered into this new relationship of grace, and here we take our stand, in happy certainty of the glorious things He has for us in the future. (Romans 5:1-2)

Grace Gives Us a gift and that gift is God Himself. When we get Him we get everything. Without Him we are empty, lost, and miserable. With Him we have abundant life, and we get all that God has for us.

On The First Christmas

• God sent His Son, the free gift of grace and the result is justification before God. When we are justified before God nothing else matters but the fact that we are right with God.
• During This Season Let’s
• Concentrate on the greatest gift ever given to us. Salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ.
• Ask God to give us an opportunity to give this gift to someone who does not have Jesus.