Dear Christian friends:

"For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Dear Christian friends: During these Wednesday evening Lenten services we will preach about the theme, CELEBRATE LIFE. "Celebrate" means value your life, thank God for your life, rejoice in your life, and use your life to honor God, your dear heavenly Father.

Tonight we will remind one another that our life is a precious gift from God. Our theme is:

Our physical life is a gift from God. God made our first parents, Adam and Eve. So in a way He made us too. In Psalm 100:3 we read, "The Lord is God! He made us - we are His people, the sheep of His pasture." Also God feeds us and protects us. Psalm 104:27 says, “Everyone of these depends on You, 0 Lord, to give them daily food. You supply it and they gather it. You open wide Your hand to feed them and they are satisfied with all Your bountiful provision."

God is our Maker, Keeper and Protector, so we should thank Him and value our life and use our life to honor Him.

Many people do not do this way with their life. Also we Christians, who should know better than the unbelievers, often we, too, fail to use our life for God's honor. Why? Because we are born with sin and still have our sinful nature. Our pride prevents us from using our life as God wants. Man's soul is dead because of sin. Natural man does not know God, does not love God and refuses to obey and serve God. In Romans 8:7 we read, "The old sinful nature is against God. It never did obey God's laws and it never will." And because man does not love God, he also does not love his neighbor. Man has much pride, hate, anger, jealousy, envy and does not show much mercy to the poor and needy.

But God did not forsake man in his sin. Although man hated God, God still loved man and planned a way to save him. In our text Jesus says to Nicodemus, "God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that anyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16.

Therefore, our spiritual life is a gift of God too. God gave His only Son, so that we can believe in Him and have eternal life. God gave His Son as an offering for the world's sin, also our sins. During this Lenten season we will read and hear the story of how God gave His only dear Son to suffer and then to die upon the cross for the world's sin. Jesus says, "He who believes on the Son has life and he who believes not the Son shall not see life, but God's anger and punishment remains on him." (John 3:36)

Therefore, God gives us eternal life, spiritual life, the most precious gift in th world. That eternal, spiritual life begins when you accept Jesus Christ for your Savior. Then you have forgiveness of all your sins, peace with God and you can begin to love God and your neighbor and resist against pride, hate, jealousy, envy etc. You have joy in your heart and a really good life here on earth. True, not perfect yet, but you hope for the perfect life in heaven.

Therefore, we should gladly CELEBRATE LIFE! Value it: Thank God for it! Nurture it by regularly hearing the Good News of salvation! Use it to honor God, our dear heavenly Father. And we honor God by gladly obeying His will.

During the next Wednesdays of Lent I will preach about a few ways we obey God. And I will emphasize obeying God by helping to feed hungry people in the world. May God's Holy Spirit come into our hearts tonight more strongly than before and help us to CELEBRATE LIFE.

Amen.