Happy Birthday JESUS!
“Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. (Luke 2:…10)
The Birth of Jesus.
Luke 2:1-20
It’s a familiar story. A young Hebrew teenager is told by an angel that she has been chosen by God to bear a very special child.
Her fiancé threatens to cancel the wedding.
The same angel interrupts his plan. She visits her relative Elizabeth, who is much older and also pregnant.
She returns to Nazareth to wait for her child’s birth, only to be required to make the ninety-mile journey to Bethlehem close to her due date.
With no room in the inn, she gives birth in a manger and uses an animal feeding trough as a bassinet.
*A strange story? Yes.
*A story full of surprises? Yes.
*A story that affects us today? Another yes!
This little baby – JESUS – was a gift to all humankind. Our Healer. Our Savior. Our Lord.
**No story is more beautiful, more astounding, more life-changing. The little baby born in a stable was God’s Son!!!
The birth of Jesus on Christmas is the fulfillment of a prophecy that God promised throughout scripture.
*The Miracle:
1. Born of a virgin named Mary, Jesus was fully God and fully human.
2. God becoming flesh. Matthew 1:22-23. It’s amazing to know that the God of the universe came to us in the form of baby born in a manger (Luke 2:5-7).
*The Meaning:
1. Peace on Earth – John 14:27. If you want peace, you need to receive God’s greatest gift.
*The peace Jesus brings is inside of us, in spite of or circumstances not because of them. Christmas is about Hope
Where do you put your hope, job, career, people, family, money? The only place where our hope should be put is in Jesus. Everything else will let you down.
2 God’s Favor – “…goodwill towards men on whom his favor rests.” All have sinned and fallen short of God’s Glory. But his greatest gift is SALVATION through his Son, Jesus.
*The Message:
***Receiving IT – Unless we receive “GOD’S GREATEST GIFT”, it does us no good!
Although Jesus was fully human, He never sinned. His death on the cross, as a perfect sacrifice, bought OUR freedom so WE could become the sons and daughters of God the Father.
** As followers of Christ, we are heirs of God’s glory (Romans 8:15-17).
“The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” Luke 2:11
*The angels used 3 words to describe the New Born that will bring Great Joy to ALL people!!
*The Savior: Roman term that referred to an emperor who delivered his people from oppression and harm.
*The Messiah: Reference to O. T. Promises of a God. A given Leader and deliverer, translated “Anointed One”.
*The Lord: Title meaning “master” or “ruler” used of God from the very beginning of Hebrew Bible (150 times in Genesis alone).
If you know the Lord Jesus, YOU HAVE the greatest gift God can give to a person. Out of the richness of your life you will find yourself gladly sharing from all that you have with those who have less, that there may be the ringing out of joy and thanksgiving in a season like this.
***What are you giving Jesus this year for his birthday?
“Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:14
THANK YOU GOD, FOR THE WONDERFUL GIFT OF YOUR SON, JESUS CHRIST.
AMEN
Merry CHRISTmas everyone!
“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17