The Gift of God :)

Text: Ephesians 2:8,9; Romans 12:1

Prop: a gift bag with a piece of paper or cardboard marked "GRACE" in it
Summary: God's gift of grace is for us to receive.  We cannot earn our way to heaven; we must trust Jesus to save us.
I know you are excited now that Christmas has come.  Did you get any gifts this year?  [listen to responses]  One of the songs we hear played this time of year is The Little Drummer Boy.  In the song we learn that the little boy did not have anything special to give to the baby Jesus.  He could only give of himself so he played on his drum for the baby Jesus.  Today I want to tell you about the gift of God.
God decided long ago that he would send us his Son Jesus.  He came as a baby in a manger.  God loves us so much that he gave us a gift.  Let's look in this gift bag and find out what he gave us.  [open the bag and pull out the paper marked "GRACE"]  What does this say?  Yes, it is GRACE.  Grace is a word we hear a lot in church but sometimes we don't know what it means.  Grace means we have been given something we don't deserve because we cannot do anything to earn it.