The Gift Continues

We are entering the season of year that gift giving is going to become norm. Don’t you love getting a useful gift, a gift that endures and keeps giving for a long time.

(Ever notice that Halloween stuff comes out in August and in October Christmas is in full regalia!)

God’s intention to save the world was to give a gift that would give a gift that would make the gift perpetual to all generations and to all peoples.

That is the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ!

The key to this gift being perpetual is for every recipient to pass it on!

But what happens when there are no longer recipients of the gift, when the gift has been stifled or hidden or vacant —- when the gift is no longer accessible.

John 3:16–21 NLT

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. 18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. 21 But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

Perhaps one of the most recognized Scriptures in all the world — John 3:16 - that God loved the world so much he Gave HIS SON

The gift of salvation is at the very heart of God’s purpose and mission for all mankind - but what happens when no one is sharing the gift?

Across Europe seven plus generations of secular society have overtaken the generations of religiosity to stifle the accessibility of the Gospel and gift of salvation to the point that most indigenous Europeans will never have a Christian friend who shares Jesus with them.

ON average 98.7% or more Europeans are going to hell!

(SHOW THE PEG JARS)

Romans 10:13–15 NLT

13 For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14 But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? 15 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

Romans 10:17 NLT

17 So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

We are convinced that this generation of Europeans needs to hear for the first time about God’s love for the world.

Luke 19:10 NLT

10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

The word for seek here is the same as require - Jesus came to require the lost to be found, saved!

1. Gift of Salvation

So the first gift is the gift of Jesus sacrifice for our salvation!

God loved us enough to give HIS SON!

I want you to think of the depth of this love!

I was watching a TV show where the plot revolved around a mother who endangered her life with a risky pregnancy to provide a baby that would be a match to do transplants for her daughter with Lukemia….

The catch phrase is I will do anything, die, to save my child…

How great is a parent’s love to go to such lengths, but what if the only way to accomplish the salvation of others to give the life of your child?