The Gift
Table of Contents
The Gift
This month has been a bit of blur honestly, but let's jump into all the cool things that has happened in the world of TFC! First of all, we had a blast going to a Jordan Feliz concert at the beginning of the month! The kids had a blast and even really liked the guy who opened for Jordan, Joseph O'Brien. If you have the time, look up when Joseph O'Brien was on America's Got Talent, it's pretty funny!
We also had many good conversations about Jesus and the incredible gift it was that he came to earth! Romans 3 walks us through this powerful and beautiful truth. How even though we don't deserve any of God's great gifts and we all fall completely short and cannot do a single thing to fix our problem of sin that we've committed, God gave us a gift in Jesus. This gift fixes the real problem. You see with all other walks of life, religions, belief systems, and even just attitudes other than Christian ones, they neglect the real problem. Sin.
I tell the kids at TFC that since Adam and Eve turned away from God, their sin lives on in us, so we are born evil, and the even sadder truth is that if we were in their shoes back then, each and every one of us would do the same. That's why when you get to Romans 3:24 you feel so down hearted. But the next verse….
Romans 3:23-24
"23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,"
God gave us an awesome gift in Jesus. During this Christmas season, would you be willing to share that gift with someone? Sometimes we go through Christmas just so incredibly focused on the night it was when Jesus showed up, but we forget why He is really there. Jesus is there to die. To die for you. To die for me. Because the real problem is sin.
So yes, even though Harod wanted Jesus dead as soon as he heard about Jesus, Jesus would survive, but only to die later. To die so that we might be redeemed through Him. That's the true point of Christmas! What we celebrate isn't the birth of Jesus, it's the gift of His sacrifice!
Ephesians 2:4-8
"4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,"
And what an incredible gift indeed. So, it's been my challenge to the teens at TFC, give this gift to someone else this Christmas, because it's an awesome one indeed. All year, we've hit on how God designed earth to be in the same realm as Heaven, but our sin messed it up, and Jesus has been bridging the two back together, but now that Jesus has gone and sent us the the Holy Spirit, He has left it to us to continue His work.
Remember what Jesus told His followers before ascending back into Heaven? "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
If you get the chance, tell someone why you celebrate Christmas, tell them that Jesus has come to fix all that's broken in our world, and He is doing that by dying on the cross for our sins, so that we might become who we were meant to be again, God's children.
Prayer Requests
- We have 4 children now!!! Wow! It has been so fun to see all of them at once roaming around our house, but it’s also a lot of work to raise young men of Christ, so please pray that as we do, God will work in them too!
- At TFC, we’ve been having a decent group coming, but changes in sports schedules and school schedules always tweaks our numbers and mostly not in a good way, please pray that we will keep a good group coming during the advent season and into the new year especially!!
- Our house has stalled in many ways recently! Due to the extra effort of 4 kids and the colder weather, a lot of things have slowed down, pray I’ll find time to keep working on it, and we will watch as God helps us to put together a good home for these 4 little boys!
Cochrun Happenings
November has felt so busy, it’s hard to remember all the thing we’ve done in it!
Since our last newsletter, we welcomed home Theo Cochrun! He’s already growing into such a wonderful little baby! And even smiling already!
Our house work has slowed down some, but we have a mudroom all put together now!
Josiah, Luke, and Ty loved putting Christmas up earlier! They all just love staring at the tree and our new Christmas village! We only had 2 ornaments break this year, which now that I think about it, is probably more than before, but we are happy with how much joy they have with it all!
Remember that you can help by donating here! We love how God provides so we can serve this community!!