The Town

God paid for the miracle of Christmas. In fact, God paid with His life. The reason God paid for Christmas was so that we could have a relationship with Him by faith in Jesus Christ. Galatians tells us that when the time was right, God sent His Son Jesus to redeem us and to adopt us as sons. God paid the costly price of our sin so that we could in turn be given his righteousness.

Throughout the The Old Testament, God shows his plan for the miracle of Christmas. The miracle that God, who is perfectly righteous, would save those who cannot save themselves.

The church is the only organization that Jesus paid for with his life. There is no other institution like the Christian church. The Scriptures often liken the church to a family and uses familial names to describe one another. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. In this sermon Pastor Dan preaches from I Thessalonians 3 and Acts 16-17 in order to demonstrate how the church is a family that has been adopted by God the Father, paid for by Jesus Christ the Son, and is bound together in love by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God has given sacrificially, joyfully and generously to us. As a disciple of Jesus, we as God's children, give the way our Father gives - sacrificially, joyfully and generously. In 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul lays out a situation where the churches were called to give. From this situation, the modern day church learns what it means to give the way God has given. Many churches try to steer clear from talking about money but giving is one of the biggest blessings a church can take part in.

Jesus tells us to expect persecution as Christians. But he also promises great blessings for suffering in his name. As with all the Beatitudes, our ability to properly understand this is directly tied to our identity with Jesus. As his church, we can take hope in knowing that we are on a journey toward our great reward in heaven. Ultimate peace will one day be ours.

Christians are called to be "chips off the ol' block." We are to emulate and imitate our Father. The fuel and drive to that makes Christians peacemakers is grounded in the Gospel of peace given to us by our peace-loving Father.

In Romans 12, Paul says to the disciple of Jesus, "Therefore, in view of God's mercy, life a life of sacrifice." The word "Therefore" is a big word for the disciple. Paul does not begin this part of his letter without any connection to the previous 11 chapters that display the mercies of God in Christ. The word "therefore" connect living to learning, duty to doctrine, belief to behavior, and orthopraxy to orthodoxy. The disciple's life is built upon the objective truth that Jesus saves sinners by living a perfect life for them, dying the death they deserved, his resurrection from the grave, and his rule as King.

In the Bible, the heart is the seat of the human identity. We are what our heart is. The heart is who we are and makes us do the things that we do. Who can see God? Only those with a pure heart. The problem is that the human heart is duplicitous and hypocritical. The solution is that Jesus did not come to clean up society, he came to change hearts. A changed heart will be undivided in it's loyalty to God.

We are really big charity cases. Yet God, seeing us in our misery has given us what we do not deserve - mercy. God is extravagant in mercy. Jesus says that those who practice mercy will be given mercy.

What is it about our existence that brings us great satisfaction? Purpose. Whatever we believe is our purpose will be our source of righteousness. But self-righteousness will never be satisfied. We are born starving for purpose and righteousness. Jesus says that those who know they are starving for righteousness will be satisfied in him. Pursue Jesus and we will pursue a righteousness that satisfies.

Meek is not weak. The meek inherit the earth. In the third beatitude Jesus describes a Christian as someone who has nothing to lose and nothing to defend and everything to gain in Him. The meek do not fear others because they have nothing to defend. The meek do not fear that they have done enough to bring God's pleasure because they know they have nothing to give. The meek have a deep strength that is only possible under grace. They know who they could have been without grace and paradoxically know who they are because of God's grace. The meek will inherit the earth.

There are two kingdoms that compete for the heart of human beings - the Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of God. These kingdoms are incompatible and yet religion tells us that to enter the Kingdom of God you must enter by man's way. We pursue happiness, wealth, success, and other things that make us happy. But Jesus tells us in just a few short words that we don't have what it takes in our kingdom. We need a new Kingdom. Those who know that they are spiritually bankrupt and helpless to be in a relationship with God without Jesus are the poor in spirit. Jesus calls the poor in spirit blessed because theirs is the Kingdom of God.

The Beatitudes are the greatest introduction to the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest person to ever walk the earth. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus introduces us to his teaching by beginning with the Beatitudes. The Beatitudes are declarations of what the Christian is and what has been given to them. In just a few words, Jesus crucifies our effort to achieve real happiness on our own and shows us that it is only when we pursue him that we can have real happiness.

Jude reminds the church that heresy and those who have fallen away should not come as a shock. The times we live in should not come as a shock. Where there is faithlessness there will be persecution and there will be those who do evil. This should not thwart us in our mission to preach the Gospel, in our love for others, our love for Christ or in our own salvation. Jesus has sealed our redemption. So we can go to war, dive into the lives of others without ever fearing that we will lose what Jesus has secured.

Jude tells the church that people in and out of the church are condemned. Even some who claim faith in Jesus are not really saved – their lives have no connection with what they say that they believe. This is motivation enough for the church to know what they believe, to be able to identify.

We need a prophet. We need a priest. We need a king. We need a prophet so that we can know what God wills and wants for us. We need a priest because we cannot approach God on our own due to our sinful nature. We need a king who has the authority and power to crush our enemies and protect us from evil. Jesus is the only prophet, priest and king that we will ever need. He has fulfilled and is fulfilling all of these roles perfectly in our place.

The Psalm's are so beautiful because they contain the breath of God in the words of man. They are simple and Psalm 24 continues the simplicity so that our hearts can sing with the Psalmist these songs that are over a three millennia in age.