Sunday Worship Service Livestream


December 28, 2025
  • Welcome and Announcements
  • When We All Get to Heaven
  • Prayer of Invocation
  • Missions Report - Melody Warford
  • All The People Said Amen
  • I Believe In Jesus
  • Scripture Reading: Ephesians 2:1-9; Romans 6:23
  • Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
  • Pastor's Message - God's Greatest Gift
  • Grace Like Rain



Ephesians 2:1-9; Romans 6:23

Ephesians 2:1-9
  • 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
    2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
    3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
    4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
    5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
    6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
    7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
    8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
    9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

  • Romans 6:23
    23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.


SERMON NOTES - God's Greatest Gift

INTRODUCTION
  • The real meaning of Christmas is about gift giving. But it is not about our giving to one another, or even following the example of the magi. The central message of Christmas is about God giving to us! God gave the human race the most precious and wonderful gift that He could give. He gave us Himself.

THE FRAMEWORK OF THE GIFT IS DEATH AND LIFE
  • God's gift involves a before and after component.
  • Spiritually dead mean being separated from God. If a person claims to be "spiritual but not religious," but has not received God's gift of eternal life that person is neither spiritual or religious, because he or she is dead! What does a spiritually dead person look like? They are world-shaped, Satan-influenced, disobedient, desire-driven, naturally sinful, and under God's judgment. This is the before component and is who we all were because that is how we are born int this world.
  • We were spiritually dead but God made us alive.
  • "There are many evangelicals today who view salvation as a joint project between God and men. God has done all that He can do, and the rest is up to the free will of the sinner. They don't view him as dead, but rather as sick or wounded. Like a drowning man, there still is life in him. He can grab the rope if we throw it to him. But, if he refuses to cooperate, even God can't save him. That is an unbiblical view of salvation! The biblical view is summed up in the short sentence, 'Jesus saves!'" - Stephen Cole
  • "It is not a matter of a drowning man grabbing the life ring. Who wouldn't grab it, if he knew his desperate condition? Rather, the sinner is a corpse, floating face down in the water. He's dead. God must raise him from the dead. But the good news is, God can raise the dead! He can impart new life to dead sinners." - Stephen Cole
  • Notice the verse says. "even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)."
  • The verb "made us alive" is interesting because it describes a completed, once for all action coming from outside ourselves; but it is not just made alive, but made alive together with...In other words, our life comes from being joined with something or in this case someone and that someone is Christ.

THE FOUNDATION OF THE GIFT IS GOD'S GRACE
  • Grace says something about the nature of God. It is a testimony to his generosity, goodness and his beneficent character. God is the ultimate Giver. No one has or can out-give God.
  • In the New testament there are three basic words translated as gift in English with beautiful nuances of meaning which communicate something about God, the Giver. (1) The first one is the most neutral and broad word for gift and emphasizes the thing being given, the gift itself. (2) The second word stresses the graciousness of the gift and emphasizes that it is given without payment, without merit, and without obligation. It is a gift given with no strings attached. (3) The third word is a gift flowing from grace and is always connected to God's grace and the effect of grace in a person's life.

THE FACE OF THE GIFT IS GOD'S LOVE
  • It was God's love for people, even people separated from Him, people in rebellion against Him, people who did not love Him that moved God to send His only unique Son to be the Savior of the Lord.