Step 3 - Week 2, Day 1 - God's Love for You Through Jesus' Birth

[Music] Step 3. Trust. Week 2. Day 1. God's love for you through Jesus' birth. The opening prayer for this lesson is, "God, help me to see your love for me through your son's life." God loves you. In fact, the Bible says that God is love. Through Jesus, God is taking great effort to make His love for you known, so that you can experience regeneration. Knowing Jesus is critical for you to experience the fullness of God's love and ultimate freedom in recovery. 1 John 4 verse 8 to 10 says, "God is love. In this, the love of God was made obvious among us, that God sent His only son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins." Look closely at this amazing passage. Propitiation is a big word. It means that the wrath of an offended person is satisfied because all wrongs have been paid for or reconciled. This scripture says that God's love for us is so great that He sent His only son to pay for our sins against Him, even though we don't love Him. This payment satisfies God's wrath and offers a favorable condition for a restored relationship with God. Psalm 27 verse 10 and 13 says, "For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Good parents deeply love their children and make great sacrifices for them. A perfect father loves his son perfectly. Consider how much a perfect Heavenly Father loved the world. If He sent His son to suffer His wrath for us, the very people who reject Him. Take time to answer these questions now. Question 1. What are some sacrifices you've made for people whom you love? How about sacrifices you've made for people who reject you? Question 2. Describe a time when someone made a sacrifice of love for you. What did this communicate to you? How did it impact your relationship? Question 3. Was there a time when someone who was supposed to care for you, failed to love you? How did this impact your relationship? Did this influence your view of God's love for you? If Jesus is God's son, then as His son, He would resemble the Heavenly Father and carry God's qualities. Consider Collagens 1, verse 15 to 17 and 19. Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. The Bible says all the fullness of God dwelled in Jesus. It also says Jesus created all things in heaven and earth. Jesus eternally existed before coming into the very world He created. Think about how much Jesus sacrificed to come and restore you. Philippians 2, verse 5 to 8 says, "Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Grasp is defined as "to seize upon, hold firmly." It would take great humility and sacrifice for Jesus, of the same form and equal to God, to become part of His own creation. At times, He would have to be dependent on His own creation. Jesus' arrival on earth for the sake of people who reject God would be a fantastic, supernatural love. Take time to answer this question. Question 4. Have you ever considered that Jesus created this world? If true, what does Jesus is coming into this world? Tell you about God's nature. Many world religions tell us how we can become God or how to be a part of God or how we can make ourselves acceptable to God. They teach about humans rising to God's level. These teachings depend upon human effort. This is not the story of the Bible. John 1 verse 1 to 3, 10 to 12 and 14 says, "In the beginning was the Word, Jesus, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth. The Bible's love story is about God lowering Himself to human level to recover you. Step 2, God loves you so much He sent His Son into the world to rescue you, a sinner unable to save yourself from sinful patterns. Step 1, the Son in whom the fullness of God existed became a man so that He can make you acceptable to God. He can give you a new nature, and He can restore you to a relationship with God. The fullness and freedom of God's love can only be experienced in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. On the night of Jesus' birth, as prophesied hundreds of years earlier, an angel appeared to shepherds to proclaim great news of God's love. Luke 2, verse 10-11, and 13-14 says, "And the angels said to the shepherds, 'Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased.' Jesus, the Creator, born of the Virgin, is the great love story of God for you. He came into His own world to make the way for your full recovery. Unto you is born a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. Take time to answer this final question. Question 5. What does Jesus' birth tell you about God's love for you? The closing prayer for this lesson is, "God, help me experience the fullness of your love and freedom." Now it's time to take action. Take time today to pray for the members of your regeneration group by name.