There are many gifts we will all receive this Christmas, some wanted, some re-gifted, some delightful and some rejected but at that very first Christmas a gift was given to humanity that we may not fully appreciate until we meet Him in glory.

"For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.

There are consequences to our actions, there's a link between what we do and what happens afterwards and there are consequences to the sin that we do and the bad decisions we make even if we are forgiven. The aim of the consequences of forgiven sin is not to settle the accounts demanded by retributed justice but to show the evil of sin and that God does not take sin lightly. We must not equate forgiveness with the absence of painful impact, being forgiven does not remove the consequences of our actions.

In Luke Chapter 11 the disciples decided to ask Jesus to teach them how to pray, they had already been sent out to minister and had seen many miracles and yet here they are asking about prayer. The disciples knew that there still needed to be change in their lives and pray is a foundational key. Change isn't change until it's changed.

Today is Vison Sunday and we believe God has some incredible things in store for His people who are called by His Name.

The Story of King Hezekiah and Sennacherib is one that highlights the incredible mercy and grace of God. Hezekiah had hit a low point in his faith, a testing like he had never experienced before, he even writes to Isaiah can you pray to the Lord your God. Despite this in 2 Kings 19:34 God declares that because of His own sake and for the promise He made King David that God would come through and help Hezekiah.

Jesus in His time on earth made many trips to a town called Bethany. During some of these visits Jesus showed us how to come into the presence of God through sitting at His feet to coming into the presence in humility and worship, in His presence there is fullness of joy and His blessing.

The Apostle John was not always known as an Apostle of love, he was flawed, he was brash and presumptuous, he wanted to call down fire from heaven. John developed a relationship with Jesus over his lifetime that saw him change from a firebrand to on fire for Jesus.

There is nothing in us or done by us, at any stage of our earthly development, because of which we are acceptable to God. We must always be accepted for Christ's sake, or we cannot be accepted at all. Grace is not self effort, grace is not self improvement, grace is not self esteem in fact grace is not self anything, it is soemthing that is a free gift that is given by God. The gospel of grace is all about what has been done for us; the fruit of the gospel is what is being done in us.