John 3:16 "The Greatest Gift"

[ALLFORHIM]

My Pastor spoke of this in church yesterday and I wanted to share.

John 3:16 “The Greatest Gift”

“For God”… …The greatest Lover

“So loved”… …The greatest degree

“The world”… …The greatest number

“That He gave”… …The greatest act

“His one and only Son”… …The greatest GIFT

“That whoever”… …The greatest invitation

“Believes”… …The greatest simplicity

“In Him”… …The greatest Person

“Shall not perish”… …The greatest deliverance

“But”… …The greatest difference

“Have”… …The greatest certainty

“Eternal Life”… …The greatest possessionSo, I dont know about anyone out there, but I accepted this FREE GIFT from God about 10 years ago and I have never been the same.

I hope everyone on here as also accepted this FREE GIFT. If not, Accept the Gift of Christ this Christmas.:bounce:

Merry Christmas to all!!

AFH

 

[Della]

This is fine, however, I cannot agree that to “believe” is a simplicity.

Believing is a whole lot more than a one time act. It is the daily taking up of one’s cross and following Jesus–hardly simple!

Even though the Son was given to us freely, we have to make a commitment to follow faithfully, and that is the part that is not easy, but it is eternally rewarding–with the “award” of being wedded forever to the Spouse of our souls. And that is worth anything and everything we have and can give. Yes?

 

[MrS]

I might add that God now loves us the way we are… but He loves us too much to let us stay this way…

His gift is a gift that keeps on giving… graces to overcome the worldly for the heavenly…

In the Catholic Church we feel we have more of these graces than are available anywhere else… the Sacraments, the Saints, the Teaching Body, the Church Fathers, and all the other “strange things” that make Catholocism so unique. We are in fact the original :Bible Christians" and our Canon of Scripture is among the great gifts from a Great God which He gives to the world through His Church.

Yes Christmas is a time to be grateful… but I think the Greatest Gift was given to us 9 months ago… we look to March 25th, the feastday of the Incarnation as the actual moment when God gave us His Son, and then we celebrate His birth next week.

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[HailMary]

My Pastor spoke of this in church yesterday and I wanted to share.

John 3:16 “The Greatest Gift”

“For God”… …The greatest Lover

“So loved”… …The greatest degree

“The world”… …The greatest number

“That He gave”… …The greatest act

“His one and only Son”… …The greatest GIFT

“That whoever”… …The greatest invitation

“Believes”… …The greatest simplicity

“In Him”… …The greatest Person

“Shall not perish”… …The greatest deliverance

“But”… …The greatest difference

“Have”… …The greatest certainty

“Eternal Life”… …The greatest possessionSo, I dont know about anyone out there, but I accepted this FREE GIFT from God about 10 years ago and I have never been the same.

I hope everyone on here as also accepted this FREE GIFT. If not, Accept the Gift of Christ this Christmas.:bounce:

Merry Christmas to all!!

AFH

Thats very beautiful and the gift is realized at the Divine Sacrifice of the Mass in the Blessed Sacrament.

 

[MrS]

This is fine, however, I cannot agree that to “believe” is a simplicity.

Believing is a whole lot more than a one time act. It is the daily taking up of one’s cross and following Jesus–hardly simple!

Even though the Son was given to us freely, we have to make a commitment to follow faithfully, and that is the part that is not easy, but it is eternally rewarding–with the “award” of being wedded forever to the Spouse of our souls. And that is worth anything and everything we have and can give. Yes?

Della… that’s what it says in my Bible too…

“…pick up your cross and follow Me…”

“…unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man…”

"…and so on

I think there is a big job required for a big reward.

If all I have to do is believe… I would have to then ignore all the Lord’s other instructions. Not me.

 

[Eileen_T]

If belief in Christ were the only requirement of salvation we wouldn’t need the Bible at all, would we.

John 3:5 says that no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is first born of “water and the Spirit”

Eternal Life is a free Gift of God’s Grace to us but it does not mean that having once accepted this Gift we cannot, at some later point, reject or neglect the Gift, or throw it away. (John 15:5–6, Rom. 11:22–23, 1 Cor. 15:1–2)

I am pleased to see that your Pastor realises we are saved by “Grace” alone not by Faith alone.

In Philippians 2:12, Paul reminds us that we are to work out our Salvation “with fear and trembling”.

“If we have died with him [in baptism; see Rom. 6:3–4] we shall also live with him; if we persevere we shall also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2:11–12).

May the Blessings of Christ’s MASS be with you all this Christmas.

 

[Fidelis]

My Pastor spoke of this in church yesterday and I wanted to share.

John 3:16 “The Greatest Gift”

“For God”… …The greatest Lover

“So loved”… …The greatest degree

“The world”… …The greatest number

“That He gave”… …The greatest act

“His one and only Son”… …The greatest GIFT

“That whoever”… …The greatest invitation

“Believes”… …The greatest simplicity

“In Him”… …The greatest Person

“Shall not perish”… …The greatest deliverance

“But”… …The greatest difference

“Have”… …The greatest certainty

“Eternal Life”… …The greatest possessionSo, I dont know about anyone out there, but I accepted this FREE GIFT from God about 10 years ago and I have never been the same.

I hope everyone on here as also accepted this FREE GIFT. If not, Accept the Gift of Christ this Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all!!

AFH

You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by just beginning another debate on the “Once saved, always saved” merry-go-round.

Salvation may be free, but it’s not cheap!

Merry Christmas to you too, ALLFORHIM.

 

[mrs_abbott]

My Pastor spoke of this in church yesterday and I wanted to share.

John 3:16 “The Greatest Gift”

“For God”… …The greatest Lover

“So loved”… …The greatest degree

“The world”… …The greatest number

“That He gave”… …The greatest act

“His one and only Son”… …The greatest GIFT

“That whoever”… …The greatest invitation

“Believes”… …The greatest simplicity

“In Him”… …The greatest Person

“Shall not perish”… …The greatest deliverance

“But”… …The greatest difference

“Have”… …The greatest certainty

“Eternal Life”… …The greatest possessionSo, I dont know about anyone out there, but I accepted this FREE GIFT from God about 10 years ago and I have never been the same.

I hope everyone on here as also accepted this FREE GIFT. If not, Accept the Gift of Christ this Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all!!

AFH

and Merry Christmas to you!!!

 

[ALLFORHIM]

You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by just beginning another debate on the “Once saved, always saved” merry-go-round.

OH LORD NO NO MORE DEBATE PLEASE!!! I am not interested in a debate. I just liked what my Pastor did and wanted to share.

Merry Christmas to you too, ALLFORHIM.

Merry Christmas to you too

 

[Pax]

I think that your pastor did a very nice job with this passage. Although there is clearly a non-Catholic slant in the presentation it certainly contains a great deal of beauty and truth. For non-Catholics it clearly speaks “the word” as they see it. If your pastor’s presentation made your Sunday attendance more meaningful then that is commendable. We can all get behind the idea that God’s love and mercy are unfathomable within the limits of the human mind. Sending Jesus, His only son, for our salvation is something we are all eternally but inadequately grateful for.

In John 15:13 Jesus says, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The Father so loved the world that He sent His divine son. The Son so loved us that He died for us. It is difficult to fathom the depth of this, but it is truly wonderful. I know that at least on this part of the sermon, we separated brothers and sisters in Christ can, nevertheless, all agree.

Merry Christmas

 

[ALLFORHIM]

I think that your pastor did a very nice job with this passage. Although there is clearly a non-Catholic slant in the presentation it certainly contains a great deal of beauty and truth. For non-Catholics it clearly speaks “the word” as they see it. If your pastor’s presentation made your Sunday attendance more meaningful then that is commendable. We can all get behind the idea that God’s love and mercy are unfathomable within the limits of the human mind. Sending Jesus, His only son, for our salvation is something we are all eternally but inadequately grateful for.

In John 15:13 Jesus says, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” The Father so loved the world that He sent His divine son. The Son so loved us that He died for us. It is difficult to fathom the depth of this, but it is truly wonderful. I know that at least on this part of the sermon, we separated brothers and sisters in Christ can, nevertheless, all agree.

Merry Christmas

AMEN!!!