Don't Let Religion Spoil Your Christmas!

Too often religion can focus on our unworthiness, and our struggle to be perfect and Holy. The church too often can take a legalistic approach to our struggles with sin.
How much should I sacrifice?
How many candles should I light?
How many prayers should I pray?
How much should I deny my basic instincts?
How much should I deny my self pleasures?
How much bible study is enough?
How much must I give financially?
But one of the most haunting questions is, "Is God going to give up on me because of my inability to stop sinning?"

Do any of these questions ring a bell? If we load ourselves down with enough guilt, will that be pleasing to God? My answer is absolutely not! God knows we are all messed up! You want to enjoy the Peace and Joy of Christmas? Then celebrate this season with passion knowing that Jesus came into this world for you and me and all the stuff that we screw up! He wants to take the load of sin off of us! That is why Jesus was so aggravated with the Pharisees. They had loaded people down with the stuff of religion and therefore missed what Jesus was offering; Grace and the freedom and Peace that comes with it!

John 3:16-1716 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Read John 3:17 over several times and let it sink in. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 

Want to please God and have your life changed? Then accept the gift of grace provided by Jesus! 

It's free! You can't do anything to earn it!  With the exception of God and Jesus, every character in the bible was a sinner!  Abraham, Moses, King David, Peter, Paul...all of them. 

Ephesians 2:88 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

I don't know about the church you go to but the church I go to is full of messed up sinners "saved" by God's grace.  Come one come all! It's Christmas! 

This Sunday pastor Jackie has invited Lea Shebangi, who has been called to be a missionary in Kenya.  She is a young mother who lost her husband and will be sharing her life changing story with our congregation. 

Praise Community Fellowship and Immanuel Methodist, two congregations meeting under one roof to worship and enjoy God's saving Grace! 9:00am Sunday mornings at 800 north main Street Edwardsville.

See you soon. Love, pastor kent