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Merry Christmas!


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#1 Meema

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Posted 24 December 2017 - 05:07 AM

I want to wish you all a very Merry and Blessed Christmas. May the coming year be filled to overflowing with the joy that comes from serving Christ.

 

Love, April (Meema)

 

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#2 bob wire

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Posted 24 December 2017 - 11:03 AM

And a very Merry CHRISTMAS to all  .May our wonderful savior be more glorified in the coming days


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#3 Candice

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Posted 24 December 2017 - 05:23 PM

Beautiful blog.  Merry Christmas to all on the forum - my sisters and brothers in Christ

Love,

Candice


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#4 Tony Davison

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Posted 25 December 2017 - 04:17 AM

Wishing you a Blessed Christmas Day From our family to yours here is a little WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS from His Book

Approved Unto God

Am I learning how to use my Bible? The way to become complete for the Master’s service is to be well soaked in the Bible; some of us only exploit certain passages. Our Lord wants to give us continuous instruction out of His word; continuous instruction turns hearers into disciples.

 

Tony & Jane Davison

 



#5 Tony Davison

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Posted 25 December 2017 - 05:32 AM

My Dearest Friends:

 

Here is a letter from My dear brother in the Lord Louis Voyer who is a lay preacher with the Brethren Assemblies:

 

"Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift" (2 Corinthians 9:15).

 

Ordinarily, we use the word unspeakable to denote something which is so awful or horrible - that we dare not even allude to it or little less to speak of it. 

 

But here of course in 2 Corinthians 9:15, the word "unspeakable" is used in a very different sense or context. It means this: "something which is so marvellous that it cannot be described with words", "a type of gift that is so precious that it defies all description, or that which our vocabulary is totally inadequate to express."

 

But in what way exactly was God's gift of His only Son Jesus Christ, and eternal life through faith in Him, unspeakable? How is it marvellous beyond description? Let me offer 8 reasons why it is so! I assure you that there are many more. 

 

1. UNSPEAKABLE LOVE

 

Is it not true, my friends, that we usually value those gifts the most which express a person's love for us? A gift is often the way by which a person will manifest his love for someone, is it not?

 

The great statement of the Bible is that the love of God can only be known fully when you consider that it was His great love for lost sinners which moved Him to send His Son into the world to die in our stead. The issue is not just the gift itself: it is what motivated God to give this gift in the first place!

 

And this gift of God's love is even more unspeakable - when you consider that it was given to the UNLOVABLE or to those who were in fact at enmity with God. Yea who were rebels at war against God. 

 

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins," we read in 1 John 4:10.

 

"But God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).

 

"(it is) when we were enemies that we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son..." (Romans 5:10).

 

And again in Romans 5:6, "For when we were yet without strength, in due time, Christ died for the ungodly."

 

What led God to give this precious gift of His Son to undeserving sinners? Yea, why did God EVEN look upon us or LET ALONE send His Son to die a shameful death on the Cross? There is only one answer: this unspeakable gift is due to UNSPEAKABLE LOVE!

 

2. UNSPEAKABLE WISDOM

 

Do we not appreciate receiving gifts that reveal the thought, the planning or more so the wisdom that WENT BEHIND IT? Or how this wise gift is so suited to meet an important need in our life? 

 

But how does the gift of God's Son show wisdom? The sin of man (and thus yours and mine - for all have sinned and come short of God's glory) posed a stupendous problem which man in his wisdom could never have solved.

 

For the dilemma was this: how could God who is of purer eyes than to behold evil - how could He justify guilty sinners while not condoning their sin or by not setting aside His holiness? God could not wink at our sin as though it had not happened.

 

Some way had to be found for His mercy and for His justice to meet. And this was a problem that only the WISDOM OF GOD could - and did resolve!

 

And how so? At the cross where the Lord Jesus was made sin for us, God dealt with our sin by pouring out His wrath in full on His Son. He punished Him for our sin. For a price had to be paid in order for our sin to be forgiven.

 

In so doing, God thus satisfied His justice and His holiness. He is now at "liberty" to pour out His saving GRACE on those that repent of their sin and who trust in Christ as their personal Saviour.

 

The death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross - and His resurrection on the third day according to the Scriptures is God's perfect and wise plan for the redemption of sinners.

 

God's gift unto us is an unspeakable gift because of the unspeakable wisdom that first planned it - and then carried it out!

 

3. UNSPEAKABLE COST PAID

 

Is it not true - that if you have to see the price tag, or if you have to ask how much a gift costs, that it is because you cannot afford it anyway?

 

But who can put a price tag on the words penned by a hymn writer below?

 

Death and the curse were in our cup

   O Christ, it was full for Thee:

But Thou hast drunk the last dark drop,

   'Tis empty now for me.

That bitter cup, love drank it up,

   Now blessing's draught for me.

 

Yea, the Lord Jesus Christ drank a cup of wrath so that the repentant sinner might drink a cup of mercy without wrath! Who can put a price tag on the amazing truth: JESUS PAID IT ALL?

 

God's gift unto us is an unspeakable gift because of the unspeakable COST PAID!

 

4. UNSPEAKABLY INDISPENSABLE

 

Is it not true that 99% of what we view in shopping malls for Christmas are actually gifts that we could well do without? How many of these things could be classified under the category: YOU MUST HAVE IT?

 

And yet the advertisers would make you think that it is imperative that this gift or that MUST BE in your possession in order to change your life! What vanity is this!

 

When the Scriptures say that "the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10), we are left to conclude that there is only ONE THING  which we MUST have: A SAVIOUR. This is indispensable.

 

You may possess all that the world has to offer (and it has much to set before you) but if you have not a Saviour - you have not the one thing NEEDFUL. Without this gift, you are hopelessly lost in your sin.

 

God's gift to us is unspeakable because YOU CANNOT DO WITHOUT IT. It is a gift you MUST have. It is indispensable. The question seems obvious: do you have the indispensable gift?

 

5. UNSPEAKABLE SINCE IT IS PERSONAL

 

For many years prior to my conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ, I was not unaware that He had come into the world to take away the sin of the world. But, this truth did not change my heart - or my life until it was made PERSONAL or until the eyes of my understanding were opened to see that the Son of God LOVED ME and GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME.

 

This unspeakable gift was given unto us. Unto US was this child born in a manger. For us He died: for us He was buried: for us He rose from dead.

 

You may know all the facts of the story of Christmas and Easter Sunday: but unless it is personal, unless He is YOUR Saviour, unless you believe that He washed YOUR sins away by His precious blood - God's unspeakable gift is an unwrapped gift!

 

What a shame if this is so! For this is an UNSPEAKABLY PERSONAL GIFT. For it has your name on it! Have you opened it?

 

6. UNSPEAKABLY SUFFICIENT

 

Imagine if you please getting a gift which makes all other gifts superfluous! Such is Jesus Christ: for He alone is sufficient for salvation.

 

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

 

Jesus Christ IS ENOUGH. "... He was once offered to bear the sins of many". There is no need for anything else to be done! He cried "IT IS FINISHED" from the Cross:  no other offering is required for sin. He is altogether sufficient for our SALVATION, our SANCTIFICATION, and ultimately one soon day for our GLORIFICATION when we shall see Him face to face. 

 

People shopping at the last moment for Christmas gifts may ponder: how much is enough? ONLY JESUS IS! An unspeakable gift since He is unspeakably SUFFICIENT!

 

7. UNSPEAKABLY SATISFYING

 

Since God was satisfied with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross for our sin, it follows that we shall satisfied in Him for certain as well. It's about God: he had to be satisfied before we could ever be!

 

Pardon for sin, peace with God, freedom from the condemnation of sin, assurance of salvation, adoption into God's family, a mansion in glory, shared inheritance with Jesus Christ... All and more is wrapped up in this one unspeakable gift of God's Son.

 

"He (God) that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things" (Romans 8:32).

 

How can this unspeakable gift of God to us be anything but satisfactory?

 

8. UNSPEAKABLE BECAUSE IT'S FREE!

 

A gift would hardly be a gift if you found a charge to your own Credit Card in it! The price for man's salvation has already been paid in full by the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross.

 

But why are some still trying to "pay for it" then? Would you not be offended if at the moment you gave a precious gift to someone - they took their wallet out and said: "How much do I owe you for it?"

 

When men seek to "earn their salvation by doing good works" rather than accept it from God as a free gift, they insult God in a way unimaginable.

 

Remember: "for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23)

 

Have you accepted this unspeakable gift with gratitude and thanksgiving - or are you still trying to earn it? Let it be known to you then: "For by grace are you saved through faith: and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

 

If your boast is in anything but the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is an indication like none other - that you are NOT in the POSSESSION of this free gift of God.

 

FINAL WORD

 

I was an only child. I had no siblings who could also vie for the loving attention of my French-speaking parents. Moreover, on my mother's side of the family, I was also an only grandchild.

 

And so memories of holidays past in my grandmother's home in Montreal are that of a Christmas tree laden with gifts after gifts under it that were all for ME. There was no need to put my name on the gifts for who else could the gift be for except me?

 

But in retrospect, there was a gift which I never "unwrapped" till February 1974. I was then 22 years old. It was only at that moment that I "came into the possession of this unspeakable gift" when I came to God in repentance of my sin. I looked to His incomparable Son to save my soul for ever.

 

What good is a gift, even an unspeakable one, if you don't possess it as your own? 

I gave My life for thee,

   My precious blood I shed,

That thou might'st ransomed be,

   And quickened from the dead;

I gave, I gave My life for thee,

   What hast thou given for Me?

 

Louis Voyer


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