FBC Gallatin,
As we draw near to the end of a year full of unexpected trials, I hope we can all discover even greater hope and encouragement from the gospel of the savior born to rescue us and to be with us. I’m thankful that as Christians we have gospel hope in a savior who is for us and with us. As we have seen and will continue to see in our series Kingdom Come in the gospel of Matthew, Jesus is the long-expected messiah who has come to save us from our sins. So, in that sense, Jesus is clearly for us because the very reason he came was to die to cover our sin and guilt. If you are a believer that should encourage you because your sins are covered because the savior truly has come to rescue you!
The savior is not only for you though, he is also with you. Matthew 1 shows us that the birth of Christ was not only for the reason of saving us from our sins, but also to be with us in a miraculous way! And these two great truths go hand in hand. For God the Son became human in the incarnation to be with us! The incarnation is just a fancy theological term that describes the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem. The newborn baby in the manger truly was God with us! Can you believer that? A baby in all of his helplessness and need was at the same time a human baby and also the second person of the Trinity God himself! Immanuel means God with us! And we are reminded at Christmas that the savior born is none other that God himself with us through the miracle of the incarnation. God the Son became man and remains fully and truly God and also fully and truly human as well! And Christmas reminds us that Jesus is truly for us and with us in a miraculous way!
As we continue to go through the first chapters of the gospel of Matthew this next month, I hope we are all reminded of the great hope we have because of Christmas. In this season, we need more hope than we can get on a daily basis so it is my prayer that your faith would be increased as we consider and celebrate the events of our great savior’s birth.
Sincerely,
Pastor Daniel Pelichowski
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