Christmas Eve (2)

Abundant Grace, Abundant Giving

Abundant Grace

Merry Christmas !

We are here to celebrate the birth of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

The bible say that God so loved the world, that he sent his only son

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Joh 3:16

Let’s pray

Abundant Grace, Abundant giving

God’s grace is a free gift from God that is undeserved unmerited

Our salvation is a gift of Grace is free, we don’t deserve it and we can’t urn it.

This Christmas I don’t know on which list you will find your name on in the naughty list or nice, if we are honest with ourselves probably will not be in the nice one.

His grace is abundant he is looking for you

1) Luk 15:1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

Remember tax collectors, were seeing as traitors, they were working for the Roman empire collecting taxes, they were escorted by Roman soldiers, they would collect the amount the Romans wanted plus whatever they wanted. They were part of their very naughty list, lower than prostitution.

Luk 15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Luk 15:3 So he told them this parable:

Luk 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

Luk 15:5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

Luk 15:6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

Luk 15:7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Jesus will leave the 99 behind and come after you,

His abundant grace is always looking for you and me

He will not give up on us, he will come for us

Our Heavenly Father loves you, he wants a relationship with you.

2) Somehow, We believe that God’s acceptance and love for us depends on our performance, if I perform well God is right there for me, but if I make a mistake something big or small He will reject us and gives up on us.

My prayer tonight is for all the ones who are lost, like our Heavenly Father is looking for you in His abundant Grace, His abundant giving

The bible is very clear that we can not obtain salvation or enter the kingdom of God based on our performance, our works.

Rom 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Rom 3:24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

All was done through His abundant Grace, His abundant giving

In the Gospel of John he writes about Jesus going into Samaria what most jews would avoided.

3) To the Jews, a Samaritan was more revolting than a Gentile (pagan); Samaritans were half-breeds who defiled the true religion.

Joh 4:3 he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.

Joh 4:4 And he had to pass through Samaria.

Joh 4:5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Joh 4:6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

Joh 4:7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”

Joh 4:8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)

Joh 4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

she was a woman, she was from Samaria a half bread, defiled

no Jew would even talk to her, Jesus ignores all of that.

If John was using a Jewish time the sixth hour was noon, under the hot sun, she was probably avoiding to meet any one at the well

Joh 4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

Joh 4:11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?

Joh 4:12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”

Joh 4:13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,

Joh 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Joh 4:15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Joh 4:16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

Joh 4:17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;

Joh 4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

Joh 4:19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.

Before you have an opinion her, remember that a woman in those days, could never initiate a divorce, if she had been unfaithful she would be stoned to death, the man was the one who would initiate a divorce and would only benefited him, she was probably not able to have children, they would reject her for that , now she was with a man who was not her husband, Samaritan’s was a non-Jewish sect, they could marry their cousins and apparently live together without being married.

Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”

Joh 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

Joh 4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Joh 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Joh 4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Joh 4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”

Joh 4:26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”

Jesus could easily by pass Samaria, and ignore the woman by the well, her husband’s and community had, Jesus abundant grace would not live them behind or you.

Joh 4:39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”

Joh 4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

Joh 4:41 And many more believed because of his word.

Joh 4:42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”

4) One of the main reasons for us to get lost is unforgiveness, when we refuse to forgive those who offended us, to let it go, we become blind, and many don’t even know they are lost, do you know that you can be very religious and yet lost?

Mat 6:9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Mat 6:10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Mat 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread,

Mat 6:12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our

debtors.

Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Mat 6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,

Mat 6:15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Unforgiveness keep you in bondage, will make you blind and lost.

His abundant Grace , abundant giving, is looking for you.

Have you welcome Jesus as your Lord and savior?

Just for you to know there are people praying for you tonight

To receive Jesus we need to accept Him as God’s son,

we need to repent from our sins and a life of selfishness,

ask Him to be your Lord and savior, not that we deserve it, but is a gift from God.

If this is your desire today, please repeat this prayer after me? Heavenly Father I’m sinner, I’m sorry for my sins, I’m willing to turn away from my sins. I receive Christ as my savior, I confess Him as Lord And from this moment on, I want to follow and serve Him, in the fellowship of His church, In Jesus name, Amen!

1Co 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you: that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread;

1Co 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke itand said, "Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me."

1Co 11:25 In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me."

1Co 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes.

1Co 11:27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks thiscup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

Heb 9:14 dead works, acts, sins

E mau aku ka loko maika’i o ka Haku, Iesu Kristo; me ke aloha a ke Akua, a me ka launa pu ‘ana mai o ka Uhane Hemolele ia ‘olua, a me makou apau. Amene.