2. URGENT: Capital Campaign Update!

4. The second week of Advent The second Advent candle that has been lit today represents love.

5. The Christmas Gift The (Best) Time for a Gift The Giver

6. A Christmas Gift (1976) My mother loved me She gave me the gift she thought I needed 39 year later – I still have the banjo! My mother and father were great

7. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

8. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

9. A gift begins with a giver The Gift of Jesus Christ for humanity begins with God God is the ultimate giver, because he gave the ultimate gift

10. What did God do?

11. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

12. God loved because that is what God does. Love is an action. God’s reason for giving us the gift of Jesus Christ is love.

13. Who or what did God love?

14. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

15. the world The disciples and Jewish people who heard this would have been surprised because they thought that God only loved them – the Jewish people. Our current (English) translation of the Greek word for “world” is much more impersonal than the original Greek meaning. In the original Greek “world” basically means every single person in the world.

16. Romans 5:8 (NLT) But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. God loved the world and he loves each and every one of us in our current condition.

17. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

18. God “gave” because love is an action. God gave us his best, he gave us something (someone) unique, something (someone) that he could not replace. God gave us that which he loved the most.

19. THIS SLIDE SHOULD BZE HIDDEN How do you feel when someone gives you a one ofa kind item? Wedding ring? Mom’s microwave

20. The Greek word that we translate as “gave” also meant “sacrificed” or “offered”. When a giver offers us a gift we have two choices. o Accept it o Reject it

21. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

22. Who will not perish? The same people that have eternal life. Everyone who accepts The Giver’s (GOD’S) gift, who believes in Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, has eternal life. What happens if we don’t accept The Giver’s gift (and accept Jesus as our personal Savior)? We perish and we don’t have eternal life.

23. Perish does not mean that we die, it means that we are eternally separated from God.

24. But wait... How could God, the great giver, if he is a truly loving God, send his children to perish (go to hell)? God doesn’t send people to hell; we choose when we don’t believe or when we reject the gift of Christ.

25. John 1:12-13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.

26. So what does all this mean to me? What should I do? Personally accept the Giver’s Gift (Give your life to Christ.) Use the Gift. Make the gift of Christ part of your daily life. Give the gift of Christ to others