Christmas: God Is For You

Friday, December 24, 2010
Christmas: God Is for You
by Rick Warren

But the angel reassured them. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. Luke 2:10 (NLT)

"And if God is for us, who can be against us?"
Knowing God is for you will change your whole perspective on life. You'll stop thinking of God as someone looking down from heaven, ready to yell, "Gotcha!" anytime you mess up.
Instead, you'll realize God loves you; God is with you; and God is for you! God is for your success in life; he created you for a purpose and he wants you to succeed. It is God, your Creator, who will measure your success in life, and no one else.
This is extremely good news!
It means you don't need to be afraid of God because God is for you. Yet, some people are so afraid of God they get nervous just talking about him. Do you know why? They feel guilty, and then they start thinking, "If I get close to God, he's going to lecture me. He's going to remind me of all the things I've done wrong, and then I'll feel even worse!"
Nothing could be further from the truth of God. Jesus said, "I did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it." In effect, Jesus is saying, "I didn't come to scold you, I came to save you."
And if God is for us, who can be against us?
Jesus came to save us, not to scare us.  That's why when the angel was telling the shepherds about the birth of Jesus, the first thing he says is: "Don't be afraid!"
In fact, when God sends a message to people in the Bible, it's not unusual for the first words to be: "Don't be afraid." There are 365 messages from God in the Bible that begin with a phrase like, "Fear not!" In other words, every single day of the year you can read a message from God that says, in effect, "You don't need to be afraid. I am for you; I am with you; I love you."
We celebrate Christmas because of this good news from God!

Christmas basket preparation

Birth Announcement

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2010

Birth Announcement

"...you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." - Matthew 1:21
One type of letter we often get in our household is a birth announcement--someone announcing the birth of a child---a wonderful time of celebration and excitement. But when Jesus Christ was born, the ultimate birth announcement came straight from heaven when God, through His angels, said, "Today in the city of David has been born for you a savior who is Christ the Lord."
You may ask, "Why do I need a Savior?"
God's Word is clear that we need a Savior because all of us sin, and in the process, find ourselves separated from God. If we die separated, that means hell...and that's bad news. But Christmas is about good news, because Christ came to pay the penalty for our sins so that we could be forgiven and made right with God. For those who believe, He saves us from sin and, ultimately, hell...and that's pretty important.
As you rush around getting ready for Christmas, remember why He came and believe it. That's the key to having a Merry Christmas.

Cowboy 10 Commandments

Yeah, right. Take a look below. ;)



Thar ya go! ;)

Bidding Farewell to Tinco & Jane Tran

We will miss your presence at Fairview Alliance Church Dr, Tran and Jane.


Bro Jean Milfort reading a message for Dr. Tran and Jane Tran.


Pastor Fady presenting a plaque.


Reading to Dr. Tran and Jane the inscription on the plaque.


Dr. Tran addresses his Fairview Alliance Church' Family

Lost Ones

September 10, 2010 — by David H. Roper

Our Daily Bread Radio is hosted by Les Lamborn

Read: Luke 15:4-6

Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost! —Luke 15:6

Bible in a year:
Proverbs 8-9; 2 Corinthians 3

In my college years I worked as a guide, taking boys on treks into Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. On one occasion one of my hikers—a small, slow chap—lagged behind and took the wrong fork on a trail. When we arrived at our campsite he was nowhere to be found. I frantically went out to search for him.

Just before dark, I came across him sitting by a small lake—utterly lost and alone. In my joy, I gave him a bear hug, hoisted him on my shoulders, and carried him down the trail to his companions.

In a story by Scottish writer George MacDonald, he describes a young woman finding a child alone and lost in the woods. She gathered him up in her arms and carried him home to her father, at which point she gained an insight that was never to leave her: “Now she understood the heart of the Son of Man, [who came] to find and carry back the stray children to their Father and His.”

I want you too to know the heart of Jesus, the Son of Man, who came to find and carry back His straying children to their Father, “for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). No matter how far you may have strayed and how lost you may be, He came to seek and to save you.

Jesus came to seek and save the lost,
Left heaven’s glory, minding not the cost;
Looking high and low and far and wide,
The Son of Man for all was crucified. —Hess

To find salvation, you must admit that you’re lost.

Sovereign Calling

August: Evangelism
Every notable advance in the saving work of God among men will, if examined, be found to have two factors present: several converging lines of providential circumstances and a person.
Let My People Go: The Life of Robert A. Jaffray, 50.

---

August 26

Evangelism: Sovereign Calling

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
--John 1:12-13

There is another and worse evil which springs from this basic failure to grasp the radical difference between the natures of the two worlds. It is the habit of languidly "accepting" salvation as if it were a small matter and one wholly in our hands. Men are exhorted to think things over and "decide" for Christ, and in some places one day each year is set aside as "Decision Day," at which time people are expected to condescend to grant Christ the right to save them, a right which they have obviously refused Him up to that time.

Christ is thus made to stand again before men's judgment seat; He is made to wait upon the pleasure of the individual, and after long and humble waiting is either turned away or patronizingly admitted. By a complete misunderstanding of the noble and true doctrine of the freedom of the human will salvation is made to depend perilously upon the will of man instead of upon the will of God.

However deep the mystery, however many the paradoxes involved, it is still true that men become saints not at their own whim but by sovereign calling. The Pursuit of Man, pp. 37-38

"Sovereign God, I'm Your servant. I'll share the message, I'll pray for response, but only You can draw an unsaved person to faith in Christ. Thank You for the privilege of having even a small part in Your sovereign work. Amen."