Lessons learned the first 50 years

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I hit a milestone. I turned 50 years old. I am thankful that I don't feel 50.   I am thankful for things God has taught me throughout those 50 years. .  I have learned that God loves mercy and when I feel a sense that justice needs to happen over mercy, all I need to do is remember that I am thankful for when God gives me mercy instead of a just punishment.   (Micah 6:8 8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.) ( Luke 6: 36  Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. ) I have learned that hurt people end up hurting people.   When I am able to see that I didn't hurt them but I am bearing the results of that persons hurt inflicted by other people, it helps me forgive whatever hurt they pushed onto me and move on.  (Romans 12 : 18  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. )  I have learned that anyone who thinks they have God

What is the true meaning of Christmas?

What is the true Meaning of Christmas?   Christmas is about God’s grace and mercy towards us, mankind.  God choose to come in human form to do what we could not do:  Come as a baby… live as a man and ….live a sinless life.  Then,  He bore the cross to redeem mankind, as death is the penalty for sin.  As John 3: 16 says, for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish..but have eternal life.   Jesus died in our place..he took the punishment on the cross so that we would receive a pardon for our sins and his righteousness.  Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Jesus is God, and Messiah, the Sacrifice for sins.   He died for our sins according to or just as the Scriptures (the Old Testament) said He would.
Here are some of the Scriptures that said what Christ would do:.
Isa 53:5 wounded for our transgressions Rom 4:25
Isa 53:8 Died for our sins I Cor 15:3
Isa:53:9 Died with the wicked Matthew 27:38, Mark 15:27-28, Luke 23:32-33
Isa 53:10 Was an offering for sin I Cor 15:3, Hebrews 10:12-14
Zach 12:10 His side would be pierced John 19:34-37
Psalm 31:5 Would commit His spirit to God when He died Luke 23:46
Isa 53:11 Would justify many Acts 13:38-39, Romans 5:17-19
Psalm 22:16 His hands and feet pierced John 20:20, 25
Psalm 40:6-8 That He would come, and die as a sacrifice willingly John 18:4-11

Praise be the God…for His unfailing Mercies…. Merry Christmas!!!!!!

1 Corinthians 15: 3-9 in the NIV and the Message: 1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast [a]the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you [b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to [c]James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as [d]to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, [e]and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

3-9The first thing I did was place before you what was placed so emphatically before me: that the Messiah died for our sins, exactly as Scripture tells it; that he was buried; that he was raised from death on the third day, again exactly as Scripture says; that he presented himself alive to Peter, then to his closest followers, and later to more than five hundred of his followers all at the same time, most of them still around (although a few have since died); that he then spent time with James and the rest of those he commissioned to represent him; and that he finally presented himself alive to me. It was fitting that I bring up the rear. I don't deserve to be included in that inner circle, as you well know, having spent all those early years trying my best to stamp God's church right out of existence.   10-11But because God was so gracious, so very generous, here I am. And I'm not about to let his grace go to waste. Haven't I worked hard trying to do more than any of the others? Even then, my work didn't amount to all that much. It was God giving me the work to do, God giving me the energy to do it. So whether you heard it from me or from those others, it's all the same: We spoke God's truth and you entrusted your lives.


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