We've all been on job interviews in our days. And some of the questions we have as we go through the interview process are related to the "fringe" benefits of that job. We want to know our salary, what are the health benefits, dental benefits, vacation time and the list goes on. But today, we are going to look at the benefits of God's love. These benefits are not "fringe". The benefits of God's love are core, central and solid benefits that we will experience as believers in Jesus Christ.

Faith is powerful. Every person alive depends on faith at some level every single day. We would not be able to function for long without some measure of faith. When we get into our car, we have faith that it will start and will safely get us from point A to point B. But what about faith when it comes to our eternity. Are we confident our faith is in the right place? Are we sure we have a saving faith? Who is the object of your faith? Do you rely on your wealth? Do you rely on your good deeds? Do you rely on your skill and ability? Do you rely on the One True God? Ultimately, where we place our faith for eternity makes all the difference. More specifically, who is the object of your faith?

Today, I would like to take some time and examine what being a follower of Jesus looks like. Because we do not always follow Jesus the way that we should. And it is important for us to remind ourselves that we are neglecting God’s work. We are neglecting our relationship with Him. We are placing our wills ahead of the will of the Father in heaven.

But when we pay attention to God and listen to Him, when we put His will above our own will, it is amazing the things he works out in our lives. And God cares for all the details of your life. He cares for and loves you deeply. After all, He has given His best for you. He has given you His Son Jesus Christ, who became the propitiation for our sins. Because of Him, our sin debt has been wiped clean.

Jesus doesn’t just want us to participate in the work He is doing. He wants us to be confident in Him and confident in His grace, confident in Him to direct our path and lead us into righteousness as we share His great love with the world.

Have you ever been required to do something and been resistant in fulfilling your responsibility? Have you ever known something is important yet you were reluctant to getting it done? Have you ever known that if you do not get a specific task completed that there would be grave consequences? Yet you decide to wait, put it off until later or procrastinate anyhow.

I am sure we have all found ourselves in these types of situations. Maybe we do not like the task at hand. Maybe we do not think that we are good enough to finish the job well. Maybe we just don’t feel like it. Or maybe we are worried that we will make things worse if we take the necessary steps to simply get it done.

Uncertainty is one of the things that causes us to be vulnerable, dependent. It certainly doesn’t bring about self-confidence or self-fulfillment. It is in this state, that God can accomplish his greatest work in our lives. It is when we realize that we are vulnerable. We are dependent, solely and wholly on Him and Him alone.

And during these past few weeks of uncertainty, I have asked myself many questions. And as I was perusing the scriptures, I came across a story of a man by the name of Nathanial. Though his circumstances are different than mine in so many ways, I could not help but to see parallels that could happen in our thought processes.

Happy New Year Church family. Today is the first Sunday of 2021 and I pray God blesses the Church with great power and influence over the culture of the world this year. I pray that rather than being assimilated into the culture, we become change-agents in today's world. I pray the Church impacts the world mightily and that many hearts are drawn into a saving relationship with our Lord, Jesus Christ.

I remember before I became Christian listening to my mom and dad discuss with other family members and some visitors about God. I remember that I was always intrigued by their conversations and hung on their every word. I didn’t know much about Him but I was, by that time, keenly aware that I did not always follow the rules and that I disobeyed God and my parents from time to time.

It is the Sunday before Christmas which is a time of celebration for the Church of Jesus Christ. In just a few days, we will be celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. It is a day of great rejoicing, a day to bask in the wondrous work of God.

The day of Jesus' birth was planned by God before the foundations of the earth were set into place. This day has been prophesied numerous times in the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus birth has had such a profound impact that His birth is celebrated across the globe every year and has been celebrated now for more than 2 centuries.

Today we are joyful because of our confidence in Christ. We are joyful because we know that one day we will be in God’s presence forever. We will never know trials and difficulty, pain or suffering, nor shall we know sin anymore. Because we will be in the presence of Almighty God with OUR glorified bodies never to be troubled again.

This eternal bliss, the bliss that fills us with joy is because we have chosen to lean on the everlasting arms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Since our new birth, he has strengthened our faith consistently until now. As we trust Him more, he increases our faith.

In this life, we experience many things. We experience happiness, sadness, difficulty, times of peace, times of turmoil, love, hate, anger, excitement, times of wonder, times of hope, etc . . .

However, the one thing that we experience on a regular basis and without fail is the experience of sinning. We find ourselves giving in to the temptation of getting our way; or doing what we want though we know it is wrong; or lashing out in selfish anger; or lying or gossiping, slander others, deceive, are boastful, are envious; or indulging with possessions, money, food, working too much, laziness, etc.

As a Christian, I get frustrated, angry with myself and wonder how a righteous a pure God could ever forgive me time and time again.

There are Christians who even want to give up on their faith because they feel hopeless in their sins.

The very definition of Advent is “the Arrival of a notable person. The arrival of Jesus Christ, Our Lord, is about as notable of an arrival one will ever know. For there is no one greater than He. It is Jesus who brought peace, everlasting peace into the world. The way we find lasting peace, eternal peace is ONLY through Jesus Christ. For it is by Him and Him alone that we can receive the gracious and free gift of salvation.

So today, we begin Advent, we are going to focus on the hope given to mankind by God. Hope in anyone or anything else is fleeting and does not last. Our hope for a better future, our hope for lasting peace, our hope for salvation will not be lasting without God. You cannot know and experience everlasting hope until you know God and know Him on a personal level. It is when you begin a relationship with Jesus Christ that you begin to understand the power of eternal hope in Him.