the gospel and jesus

Daniel Patz, Lead Pastor

Grace Church, Sunday Worship (Children's Christmas Program)

Various Texts

December 11th, 2011

  

Matthew 1:21 ESV  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

Luke 2:8-11 ESV  And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  (9)  And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.  (10)  And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  (11)  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

 

INTRODUCTION

Jesus is a Savior. Why?

I want to share with you six of the most important truths that ever existed. They are truths that every person needs. They are truths that we might not want to think about them but they are still important to every single person. You may know them but you need to hear them again.

 

These truths are related to something we call – THE GOSPEL. Gospel means “good news.” Can you say that with me “Good News.”

 

I am going to show you these six points with pictures on the screen. Mat Adams made these pictures.

 

6 of the Most Important Truths

  1. God is greater than you could ever imagine.

Psalms 95:1-6 ESV  Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!  (2)  Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!  (3)  For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.  (4)  In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.  (5)  The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.  (6)  Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

There is a God. This God is Great! This God made everything.

Illustrations: Power to speak a milkshake into existence

Grand canyon

 

  1. God created you to love and enjoy Him forever.

Romans 11:36 ESV  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

God made this creation to point to Him and to worship Him.

T-shirt – “Its All About Me.”

What does it mean to give glory to God? What does it mean to give glory?

To make something or someone bigger (or to look bigger to others) in a good way.

Illustrations:  bragging about your daddy

All creation – name creatures – if they could speak English they would say – “There is a God and He made us and He is awesome.”

 

  1. No one loves and enjoys God rightly.

Romans 3:10-12; 23  "No one is good—not even one.  11 No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.  12 All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one." 23 For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.

We want to make ourselves bigger instead of God.

We want to say – its all about me.

The Bible says that because of sin – we are dead.

Sins: telling a lie, disobeying, whining, complaining, being mean, stealing

 

  1. Because of this we deserve to be punished.

Romans 6:23 – The wages (or payment) for sin is death.

God promised this to the first people – Adam and Eve. They would die. The punishment for our sin is not small because God is not small. We sinned against a glorious God and He will not allow us to dishonor Him like this forever.

 

  1. Because God is loving and fair and great, He punished His own Son, Jesus for our sins.

This is where the story of Christmas comes in. The world that we live in was condemned to being punished by God. Our sin is so serious that it must be punished.

Yet God is full of mercy. He sent His Son to be punished for us.

There are rules that God will not break – rules of His holiness that He cannot break because He is holy. So he sent His son to be punished for our sins.

1 John 4:9-10  God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.  10 This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

 

  1. You can be forgiven of your sins by trusting in Jesus.

Romans 3:22  We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.

There is a great gift that Jesus gives to those who trust Him.

If we come to Jesus knowing that He is God and that only He can save us, He will. We must believe Him and ask Him to forgive us.