Christmas Celebrations

Many more Australians celebrate Christmas than there are Christians in the nation. I believe this is because we have replaced Christmas as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ with family gatherings, parties, elaborate exchanges of gifts and extended holidays.

In my younger, more agile years, I decorated our house and front yard with lots of lights and colourful characters. They were not of Santa or reindeer or Christmas trees, but of the manger, the angel, the star and the characters from the original Christmas story. 

I did my best to convey the true message of Christmas to show why those celebrations were relevant - the real reason for the season - the extraordinary birth of the Son of God into our world to become its Saviour. 

Jesus, the immortal Son of the Father in heaven, humbled himself and came to earth to become mortal flesh. God prepared a body of flesh for His Son, similar but not the same as ours, and placed it as a living embryo in the womb of the virgin Mary.

For this reason, when Christ was about to come into the world, he said to God:
“You do not want sacrifices and offerings, but you have prepared a body for me.
[Hebrews 10 : 5  GNB]

And, in this body of mortal flesh, in the likeness of our sinful flesh,  He died for the sins of the whole world.

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh,
[Romans 8 : 3  NKJV]

Isn't there so much that God does that is way beyond our human comprehension? 
We, the created, have little chance of understanding the plans and ways of the Creator. The best we can do is to know "the what" of God's doings and just conjecture and wonder about "the hows and whys", although the Bible does give us clues from time to time.

So we celebrate Jesus' arrival on earth as a babe at Christmas, not just because it was a  miraculous birth, but because his purpose in coming was to rescue us - by destroying sin and reconciling us all to God.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Christmas as we celebrate Jesus' birth and enjoy the Church services, family gatherings and travel on our very busy roads. 

Blessings, Barry

BTW, the picture above shows the most decoration I can manage these days, and even that by using a painting I was able to purchase from a friend.
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Other published Writings at https://www.ibtechservices.com.au

Salvation is Gold

Evangelicals usually preach that people are saved when they admit they're sinners, repent or turn from their sins, believe that Jesus died for them, and accept Jesus into their hearts.
In other words, a mixture of their actions and their faith is what gets people saved. And this is called the good news. 

But there is much better good news than that. God doesn't need our assistance or our faith to complete anyone's salvation, to complete what Jesus supposedly "began" on the cross.

Jesus said, "It is finished!" when he died on the cross. There was nothing more to be done. The rescue mission on which God had sent His Son was completed.

Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit. 
[John 19 : 30  NASB]

Jesus died for the sins of the world - every sin of everyone was covered by Jesus' death on the cross.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
[1 John 2 : 2  NIV]
And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
[1 John 4 : 14  NKJV]

We don't have to believe it for it to be so. But we do have to believe it to appreciate and enjoy it, and to begin a life of joyous hope and blessing.

This thought from Francois du Toit helps to illustrate the true nature of our salvation.
"Gold does not become gold when you discover it."
In other words, gold has always been gold, whether you have discovered it or not.

Salvation follows this golden pattern. Salvation has always been salvation for over 2000 years, whether you have discovered it or not.

But eventually you will, as will everyone else, as this have been God's plan for all of humanity from the beginning of the world.

That is, in Christ, he chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people—people without blame before him.
Because of his love, God had already decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ.
[Ephesians 1 : 4, 5a  NCV]

So a time of discovery has been allocated for each of us.

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.
But each one in his own order…
[1 Corinthians 15 :  22, 23a  NIV]

Yes, salvation is a permanent feature of God's world - eventually to be discovered and enjoyed by all.

Blessings, Barry
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Other published Writings at https://www.ibtechservices.com.au

Was Jesus Successful?

I believe Colossians 1: 16 - 20.

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
... For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. (NIV)

Because I believe this, I don't believe the usual message of the Christian religion.
The usual Christian message is that God's plan for His Son to die for the sin of the world has failed and will continue to fail. 
Apparently, it is understood that the sin of unbelief was not covered by Jesus' death on the cross.
Man's so-called free will, which allows man to not believe the gospel message, conquers God's will and intention to save (reconcile) the whole world.

Personally, I find it blasphemy to believe that evil (sin of any kind) will triumph over the death of the risen Christ.

In any case, the success of God's plan to save the world does not depend on the faith or belief of mankind. It depends on the faith of Jesus in trusting and obeying his Father, so dying on the cross for all of humanity's sin.

He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
[1 John 2 : 2  NIV]

You really can't get too far off course if you stick to the Bible!
Blessings, Barry
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Other published Writings at https://www.ibtechservices.com.au