{"id":108558,"date":"2025-12-21T10:58:58","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T15:58:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=108558"},"modified":"2025-12-21T10:58:58","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T15:58:58","slug":"a-pastors-thoughts-clarity-at-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/12\/21\/a-pastors-thoughts-clarity-at-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"A Pastor\u2019s Thoughts: Clarity At Christmas\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">By Pastor Wayne Sibrava, Living Water Baptist Church &#8212;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Unfortunately, the message of God\u2019s Word has become watered down through the years. Yet, there\u2019s never been a message that has ever been&nbsp;given that is clearer than the message of the Bible. The further we get from Bible days, it\u2019s possible for the message of the Bible to become more and more encased in confusion.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">I\u2019ve heard it said that&nbsp;&nbsp;\u201cfamiliarity breeds contempt.\u201d With regard to God, we can lose sight&nbsp;of His heart for us. It\u2019s possible for a message to become watered down, and then, even if it\u2019s understood, it can be taken for granted and not appreciated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">My heart is singular with regard to God\u2019s Word. I have been reminded on multiple occasions that God is God and I am not. On Dec. 5, 1982, I&nbsp; was ordained and commissioned to preach and teach the Bible. There is an overarching message that gives clarity to it. That message is simply this:&nbsp;<b>1&nbsp; John 4:10 (NLT)&nbsp;<\/b><\/span><span class=\"s2\"><b><sup>10<\/sup><\/b><\/span><span class=\"s1\"><b>&nbsp;This is real love\u2014not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.&nbsp;<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">At age 18, I realized that, in spite of the fact that I attended church all my life, I was not born again, which is to say I was not right with God. I was not saved. I began a journey that ended the day I accepted the free gift of God, who was and is and forever shall be the Lord Jesus Christ. It wasn\u2019t&nbsp; anything that I DID physically. I simply received, by faith, Jesus as my Lord and Savior. In the fall of 1974 I made this decision, and I am forever grateful.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Alcoholism, suicide, abuse, religion, and prejudice were all part ofmy upbringing. Yet, now I\u2019m enjoying life and am blessed by the goodness of God. God is the architect of everything in this world, from marriage, sexuality, government, and salvation. When all else fails, consult the owner&#8217;s manual, the Bible.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">With clarity, I submit that salvation (being born again, being right with God)&nbsp;and knowing for sure that when a person dies, they go to heaven is forever vested and only found in Jesus Christ. A person must admit that they are a sinner, believe that Jesus died, was buried, and that He rose again.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Finally, a person must confess that Jesus is their Lord. Then, eternal salvation is theirs. This is my hope and prayer for all who read this article.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Merry Christmas!&nbsp;<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Pastor Wayne Sibrava, Living Water Baptist Church &#8212;&nbsp; Unfortunately, the message of God\u2019s Word has become watered down through the years. Yet, there\u2019s never&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":102496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Pastor\u2019s Thoughts: Clarity At Christmas\u00a0 - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/12\/21\/a-pastors-thoughts-clarity-at-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Pastor\u2019s Thoughts: Clarity At Christmas\u00a0 - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Pastor Wayne Sibrava, Living Water Baptist Church &#8212;&nbsp; Unfortunately, the message of God\u2019s Word has become watered down through the years. 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