Dear friends,
Our weather is seasonal for the most part, and we received two to three inches of snow. It didn’t stick around too long, but we are thankful for the moisture it provided. We certainly won’t complain if we get some more, even if it comes as snow. It seems everyone is gearing up for the Christmas season. The Lake Ericson Trail of Lights event was held Friday and Saturday evenings. The wind held the attendance down on Friday, but there were many who braved the elements and many more attended Saturday.
As we celebrate this season, it is always good to review what happened at Christmas, and why. Old Testament prophets wrote and spoke of a coming Messiah. In Isaiah 7:14, we read, ‘Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel.”
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shouldersAnd he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). The Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. From the prophet Micah we read, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, thought you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will rule over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times” (Micah 5:2).
But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons (Galatians 4:4-5).
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12).
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve (1 Corinthians 15:3-5).
The simple truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is this: We are all born sinners, separated from God. The way to restore our relationship with God the Father is to confess our sin and by faith confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. See Romans 10:9-10.
In Truth,
Pastor Jerry
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