Love Is at The Heart of Christmas – Advent 2023, Week 4
During this series, we will look at how hope, peace, joy and love are at the heart of Christmas.
This series centers on the story of Jesus’ birth. It’s meant to help you grow in faith and prepare your heart to focus on the real reason for the season: Jesus!
The gift of God is priceless and timeless. Jesus is the gift of the love of God. The love of God is real and he longs for you to receive the hope peace and joy he offers.
So also, when we were underage, we were in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world. 4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship” (Galatians 4:3-5, NIV).
God gave his son on Christmas as his love for you.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:3-14).
Don’t miss the truth that God loves you. It is because of his love for you that you
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13).
Knowing the experience of the love of God is life-changing. The true love of God is witnessed in Jesus coming to us in the flesh. May this Christmas be made more real as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.
Suggested Praise and Worship
YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED
If this message has been helpful to you, we’d be grateful for your support. A small gift of $5 can help us reach our goal of helping people grow in faith, heal, laugh, and thrive—both locally and globally. It’s because of people like you that this ministry can offer hope, help, encouragement, and a closer walk in faith with God.
This and other sermons brought to you by Faith Chapel, an Assemblies of God church in Pleasanton, CA.