Followed By Mercy

Peace For All People

W. Austin Gardner

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God’s Unconditional Love for Everyone

God is not against you. He is for you. Always has been.

The truth is, we’re the ones who drift. We run from Him, doubt Him, or ignore Him. But even then, His love never stops. It keeps chasing us.

God’s love doesn’t depend on how good we are or how many mistakes we’ve made. It’s steady. It’s sure. It’s unconditional.

That’s why Jesus came. He came to show us what God’s love really looks like. He came to make peace between God and us.

That message isn’t just for us. It’s for everyone. Every person. Every nation. Every language.

That’s why we share the gospel. We tell the world what God has already done through Jesus.

Prayer is where it starts. We pray for people who don’t know Him yet. We ask God to open their hearts and to help us love them well.

Christmas reminds us of all this. God came near. He came to save. He came to bring peace and good news for everyone.

So this Christmas, remember:

 God loves you.

 He loves the whole world.

 And He’s asking us to share that love wherever we go.

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Austin Gardner:

Merry Christmas. That's my goal to talk to you about Christmas and all the lessons I learned from Christmas. And I know they mean a lot to you also. And I was just looking at at uh old sermons I preached. And uh this one really s rung a bell with me, because I called it to all people. And the Christmas story brings a promise of peace and goodwill. The Bible says in Luke 2, 12, and this shall be a sign unto you that babe, wrapped in swallowing clothes, and the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. I think the first thing to look at here is it was God who was announcing peace. And we need peace because man is at war with God. God's not at war with you. You're at war with God. God loves you, God created you, you belong to God. He's doing everything he can to save you. And now he comes and says, Oh, y'all are trying to hurt me and kill me and stop what's going on, and you don't want me. I want you. And I'm here to announce peace and goodwill. I'm not mad. You see, all men have gone astray. Everybody has turned to his own way. Men like to say, This is what I think, this is what I want. They've done that ever since Genesis 2.16, when they ate of the tree of life and thought to themselves, I now know the difference between good and evil. And the devil told them, You are not going to really die. And so there you go. And so sin entered the world and death by sin, so that death passed on all men. But God's not angry with you. He's angry with sin. He's angry with rebellion that brought death and hell on men. So it's not that God hates you. It's all the opposite. He came to the cross to die for you. And so the angels now are praising God because it's beyond their wildest comprehension that God could love them, love humans who've rebelled against him so much that he would do that. In Luke 2.14, it says, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men. You see, Jesus came to seek and save that which was lost. It belonged to him, walked away from him, and got lost. And he's come to give his life a ransom. He's come to buy us back and to bring us back to him. He came to become sin so that we could become the righteousness of God in him. He came to save us and to rescue us. And he came to promise peace towards all men. I love that. All men, everywhere, every country, every nation, every race, every social level. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that shall be to all people. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill toward men. God wants his saving grace known all over the world. Our God loves people. He wants the world to know. In Psalm 67, 2, he said, that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health to all nations. You know, I have a missionary past and I love the thought of loving people that never have heard, and I love the idea of telling them the good news that Jesus died to pay it all. And Simeon, that's what he said when he saw Jesus. He said, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. God, mine eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all people. In Luke 2.32, it was a light delight, and even the Gentiles, the pagans, the godless. The promise was to all people. The promise was to all people. God wants everybody everywhere to know him and to be saved. He loves people. He came to rescue people. 1 Timothy chapter 4, 10. It says, We trust in the living God, Savior of all men, especially those that believe. He died for your sin. If you refuse to accept him, if you refuse to trust him, he still loves you. He still died to pay your sin debt. He still cares about you. You're still important to him. He still paid all the price for you because he loves you. He cares. He cares about you. I bring you tidings of great joy that shall be to all people. It's a promise to all people. God wants everybody everywhere to be saved. He told the church, be witnesses unto me unto the uttermost part of the earth. Take the gospel and take it to the world. And so as we celebrate Christmas, could I just remind you that there is a world dying and going to hell that's in desperate need of the gospel. They're in desperate need of hearing about Jesus. And we need to pray for people. Let's pray for lost people to hear the gospel. Let's pray for their hearts to be turned. Let's pray for their eyes to be opened, their ears to be cleansed for they can hear the truth that God loves them, God cares about them, and God is doing a work for them. Christmas, God loving everybody. He's not making a list and checking it twice. He's not saying who's naughty and who's nice. He said, I love you. I love all of you. And I die for you, and I come to do that. That's the God we serve. That's the God that we love. And that's the God who's making all that difference in all the world. I love God. I know you do. Let's pray about getting the message around the world. Let's pray about other people hearing about him. Let's pray that during this Christmas season, the good news of Jesus Christ will spread all around the world. I want to thank you for listening. I don't ask you to do this much, but I really do work it trying to be a blessing. If you would like it and share it, it'd help. If you'd leave some comments, it would help. I just want to know that we're making a difference. Thank you. We are all followed by mercy. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. That's our good God doing a work in our lives. I'll talk to you tomorrow.