Second Sunday in Christmas

Gifts--God gives us gifts all the time, not the wrapped up kind in paper, ribbon and bows, but gifts like Jesus. He gives us gifts all the time, like life, light, nature and all creation. With every heartbeat and every breath, within in each nanosecond, God gives us gifts. 1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus: 2Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory. The apostle talked about predestination--to the praise of his glory he says we are destined and chosen. The predestination of which the apostle speaks is not Double Pres destination where the elect go to heaven and the reprobate go to hell; the truth is revealed as to who is what and everyone is sorted at death. He is saying that being predestined is receiving an inheritance, mainly, our inheritance. He is speaking of ourselves only; this was planned for us before we knew we were saved. At some point we realize that God's love is so right that is t was planned for us. nec⋅ro⋅man⋅cy   /ˈnɛkrəˌmænsi/ [nek-ruh-man-see] 1.a method of divination through alleged communication with the dead; black art. 2.magic in general, esp. that practiced by a witch or sorcerer; sorcery; witchcraft; conjuration. King Saul used necromancy to conjure the spirit of the Samuel the prophet to find out what would happen in the future. He died for it. Foretelling the future if all souls comes close to engaging in necromancy. Since God created all humans all humans have the possibility of being redeemed by God, even after they died. In 1 Peter we read that Jesus descended into hell and preached there and some souls were saved. The concept of going to heaven or hell after death comes from Islam. During the Crusades in the Middle Ages the Christians encountered this understanding. The Roman Church (Latin West) developed the teaching of Purgatory form the Islamic influence. Later, John Calvin who liked his theology neat and orderly came up with Double Predestination. We are predestined. The plan was already in place. The mystery of God's saving love can be opened to all people at anytime, even those who are already dead. After All Saint's Day we have All Souls Day where we pray for all those are departed. We don't know what will happen to those who are dead. I was asked recently by Baptist evangelist if I knew whether or not I was going to heaven. It was good that they asked, but they asked the wrong question. The story we have, the only story we have, is the story of God's Grace. We don't have to cone out with the implied threat of hell. There is a Hell but it is for those who chose to be there; they reject God's Love. God's decision is the liberation in Jesus Christ.