New Life

***God's love is eternal

***Why has God kept His hand on us?

John 20:21 - "Again Jesus said, 'Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.'"

***The Father had a purpose for sending Jesus to earth

***The coming of Christ was very costly

***The prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane shows us that Jesus' death was not His will, but the Father's will

***For Jesus to do the will of the Father meant sacrifice for everyone that was dear to Him

Philippians 2:5-11 - "Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

***The Father sent Jesus...Jesus now sends us

Luke 18:18-30 - "A certain ruler asked him, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.'"
"All these I have kept since I was a boy," he said.
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
Those who heard this asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."
Peter said to him, "We have left all we had to follow you!"
"I tell you the truth," Jesus said to them, "no one who has left home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the age to come, eternal life."

***The cost of discipleship cannot compare to the reward of eternal life

***There are two words that can't be said together...'No Lord.'

Hebrews 12:1-3 - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

***Have you taken account of your life this year? What do you sense that God may require of you as you head into the new year?

***Satan will try to bring discouragement by telling you the cost of obedience, but he will never tell you the cost of disobedience....(LOVED THIS!)

***Can people see eternity in your eyes?

***Are those watching your life convinced that eternity is real?

***Choose today to live your life for eternity.