12.17.05

life gift

Christmas

a time for giving

and getting?

the first Christmas gift

This is how much God loved the world:

He gave his Son, his one and only Son.
And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed;
by believing in him,
anyone can have a whole and lasting life.

John 3:16
Message

In the story of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,
an adventure written by C.S. Lewis,
Edmund has been decieved and
is sentenced to die.

“Can anything be done to save Edmund?”  
Lucy asks Narnia's Lion-King, Aslan.

“'All shall be done,' said Aslan.  
‘But it may be harder than you think.'” 

And the King died in Edmund's place.

Aslan represents Jesus Christ in Narnia
– the one the Bible calls the King of all kings.

Who believes what we've heard and seen?

    Who would have thought GOD's saving power would look like this?

But the fact is, it was our pains he carried--

    our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.

He took the punishment, and that made us whole.

    Through his bruises we get healed.

The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin

    so that he'd see life come from it--life, life, and more life.

The God-setting-things-right that we read about has
become Jesus--setting-things-right for us.

And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him.
For there is no difference between us and them in this.

Since we've compiled this long and sorry record
as sinners (both us and them)
and proved that we are utterly incapable of living
the glorious lives God wills for us,
God did it for us.
Out of sheer generosity
he put us in right standing with himself.

A pure gift.

He got us out of the mess we're in
and restored us to where he always wanted us to be.

This is not only clear, but it's now--this is current history!
God sets things right.
He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.

Don't weep. Look--the Lion from Tribe Judah,
the Root of David's Tree, has conquered.

Isaiah 53, Romans 3, Revelation 5
Message

check out previous red worships--archive

Resource List for 12.17.05

The Holy Bible (Message, NAS, NCV, NIV, NLT)
online

Narnia, What's in it for you Ron Hutchcraft Ministries
online