How Should Christians Respond to these Days?

1. What we Should Not Hold on to.

a. We cannot Rely on our Human Assets.

b. There is very Little that we can Control.

2. What Should our Response Be?

a. Pray for our Leaders.

b. To Trust In the Lord.

We can Still Trust in Him even when we have more

Questions than we have Answers.

c. Refuse to Speak for God, when God is Silent.

Declare God’s Word and let God Speak for God.

d. Extend a Positive Witness to the World.

* Show them the Love of Christ.

* Reach out in Friendship, witness by your Life.

1. Life Can Be Unfair.

Ecclesiastes identifies at least 5 ways life can be really Unfair.

a. Crime sometimes Pays.

b. The Powerful Mistreat the less fortunate.

c. Some Politicians are Unethical.

d. Dishonest people seem to Get Ahead.

e. Gifts and Abilities do Not guarantee Success.

2. Why does God Allow life to Sometimes be Unfair?

a. Because God made us with the Ability to Choose.

Where there is Freedom to Obey,

there is also Freedom to Disobey.

b. Because there is Still the Rest of the Story.

God will judge everyone, both the wicked and the good.

c. Because Hard Times can Develop Character.

We can learn something and grow through it.

d. Because God wants to Show us we Need a Saviour.

Everyone has sinned at one time or another in life.

Unjust people make up an unjust world.

3. How should we Respond when Life is Unfair?

a. Accept that Life can be Unfair.

b. We need to have a Long Term Perspective.

i). Realise that Character still Matters.

ii). Have an Eternal Viewpoint.

Having an eternal viewpoint means:

i). We will Realise and Admit our own Injustices.

ii). We will let God Settle the Score.

How can we live our lives so they really count?

1. Realise that God has a Purpose for both the Good and the Bad Times of my Life.

Scripture tells us if God is the Centre of our lives, then even the

Mundane and Routine parts of life are Important.

2. When I Embrace Faith in the Confusing Times of my life.

Only when we learn to Trust God when we don’t understand everything that’s Happening can begin to live life like it Counts.

3. When I Use the Present Time to do Good.

God’s desire is for us to make Proper Use of this life.

4. Cherish all my Time as God’s Gift.

The Time we have is a Gift from the hand of God.

Cherish your time as a Gift from God.

5. When we Recognise we will have to Account for our Time.

We are Responsible for what we do with our time and our life.

Time is a most Precious commodity, more Important than Money.

There are 4 questions we can ask ourselves every day to help us:

1. What can I Learn from this moment?

2. What Good can I Do in this moment?

3. How can I Enjoy this moment?

4. How can I Trust God in this moment?

There is just one, basic message, that needs to be proclaimed:

It is in 4 simple words: You Matter To God.

God so Loved the World that he Gave.

1. Let me encourage you to Unwrap God’s Gift of Joy.

Don’t be Afraid.

There is Good News and Great Joy.

2. Let me encourage you to Unwrap God’s Gift of Hope.

Our greatest need as human beings is to be Forgiven.

That’s why God sent us a Saviour and Lord.

We need both in our lives:

A Saviour - Someone who can deal with our Guilt.

A Lord - Someone who can give us Direction.

There are 3 reasons we need a Saviour:

a. We need Forgiveness from the Past.

b. We need Freedom from our personal Problems and Struggles that mess up the Present.

c. We need Fulfillment in Eternity.

3. Let me encourage you to Unwrap God’s Gift of Peace.

Peace with God, gives us the Peace of God, which allows us to have Peace in our Relationships with others.