Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

As I have reflected on the season in my own life, the Holy Spirit has drawn my heart back to the meaning of the season and the goodness of God throughout the many generations of humanity in the earth. God is good, and He has given great gifts to man.

For many today’s message may seem like a simple review of what you already know, but I would also assume that there are those here today that may have never heard the story of our need for the demonstration of God’s goodness and mercy.

Like any good story we should start in the beginning. In the beginning, God begins to create a universe. He brings order to the heavens and the earth, and everything that He created was good. On the sixth day of creation, God said,

God’s original design was for man to be blessed, fruitful, and to multiply. We were to fill up the earth with the image and glory of God and have dominion (rule).

God, in His goodness, places man in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 2:9 “And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

Man was to tend and keep the garden and walk obediently in relationship with God. Through temptation, Adam and Eve fractured the relationship with God. Man’s disobedience brought sin, death, and destruction to the human race. Spoiler alert, God chose not to leave us in that condition.

God in His goodness made a way for man. He made a covenant with Abram that through him all families of the earth would blessed Genesis 12:1-3. He revealed Himself to Moses at the burning Bush at Horeb, the mountain of God. To Moses He would also give the commandments and the Law of God (Ex. 20).

Even as mankind was deserving of death God in His goodness prepared a way for man to draw near to Him through tabernacle worship in the wilderness followed by temple worship in Jerusalem. Throughout the centuries He was with His people.

He gave wisdom and understanding through Psalms and Proverbs. He gave prophets so that the generations would be able to hear the word of the Lord and have connection to the Divine and hope for redemption.

The prophets would foretell of a coming savior. Isaiah 9:6–7 “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”

God in His goodness throughout the generations worked to bring hope to humanity and the restoration of our lives from the destruction of sin. He purposed to bring judgement, justice, and order to the chaos man created in the garden. What I love most is that God is faithful to His word.

There came a day in the fullness of time that God’s plan was revealed. An angel named Gabriel appeared to a virgin girl named Mary in the city of Nazareth and He proclaims that the gift of God will come to the earth.

Luke 1:31–35 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

This declaration was the fulfillment of the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah. Matthew 1:22–23 “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

For what purpose did God send us His greatest gift? Matthew 1:21 “And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

How do we grasp such a precious gift?

Humanity separated by sin and hopeless on its own for redemption has been lavished with love by God.

In His goodness, God didn’t allow us to stay separated from Him. He gives His most precious gift, His Son Jesus Christ, John 3:16–17 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”

Through His death and resurrection from the dead this son Jesus has become the hope of the nations and Romans 10:13 says “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

The beauty of the gift of Jesus is that He has power to bring redemption to the total man. Not only is there the forgiveness of sin, there is also the potential for complete life transformation. Through faith in Christ we can be changed.

Romans 3:21–26 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Romans 8:1–2 “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

We were once alienated separated from God, now we have been brought near through Christ.

Romans 8:14–15 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”

Through the renewal of our minds with the word we can be transformed.

Romans 12:1–2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

God in His goodness calls us to himself.

Romans 13:11–14 “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

What we must understand today is that this amazing gift does have a time stamp on it for each of us. We must choose to receive it in this life. No one knows what tomorrow will hold or how much time they have on the earth. Romans 14:12reminds us that “So then each of us shall give account of himself to God.”

My simple question this morning, what will you do with this most precious gift?