Hey Folks, God blessed us with a beautiful Christmas Eve Candlielight service. It was wonderful! Shannon gave a great sermon. I forgot to turn off the recorder so I tried to edit it. Hope I did it right. If you have a half hour to listen to a sermon, this one would be a good one to listen to!
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Hey Folks, God blessed us with a beautiful Christmas Eve Candlielight service. It was wonderful! Shannon gave a great sermon. I forgot to turn off the recorder so I tried to edit it. Hope I did it right. If you have a half hour to listen to a sermon, this one would be a good one to listen to!
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The peace the world offers is temporary. True, lasting peace originates in God. “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14 First time there was a heavenly host seen all at once by humans. Many still miss Jesus' birth, His arrival. I. Peace on earth cannot originate with man. Not peace from war -- although we all want that. Not "let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me." Not "I'd like to teach the world to sing" eiher. As humans, we can't even love the ones we love well: **Every 9 seconds in the USA a woman is beaten. **Worldwide 1 in 3 women will be beaten or raped by a known loved one. **10 million children witness abuse every day. We live in a fallen world. They wanted a political messiah, one who would stop the hardship in life, without understanding that we are the ones creating the strife. All have sinned and fall short, there will never be peace on earth until Christ returns the second time. There would have been no salvation if Jesus came as a political messiah first. Here is the peace the angels talked about: II. Real Peace "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." John 14:27 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7 The arrival of Jesus marked the beginning of God's reconciliation with man. The means of peace between God and man has entered the world. Jesus, born as a baby, fully God, fully man. Born to bear our sins, born to die as the Lamb of God. God's provision to bring the only possible way to lasting peace -- reunification with God Himself. Peace provided is peace within. "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people." Titus 2:11 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:14 If you accept Him, You will have peace. Jesus and our relationship with Him is our true peace. "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him," and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5 "For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility," Ephesians 2:14 The return of the King is the end: "In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3 Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord." Isaiah 2:2-5 The Christmas story is only the beginning. "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13-14 A great host in Revelation too! Love, Joy, Hope and Peace. We are living in the advent of the 2nd Coming of Christ!! Time is short. Act like it. Be prepared. Have your bags packed waiting for heaven. "In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you,and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God.36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. Luke 1:26-38 Jesus was born in very obscure circumstances. No one at the time grasped the concept of how lowly is birth woul be. At the time Bethlehem wasn't even on the map. Oftentimes God chooses the least, the weak, the ordinary, the unremarkable to do His work. He chose a young teenage girl who was unmarried. God chooses things peoplee typically don't. "But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong." 1 Corinthians 1:27 Favor=graced. Don't worry what the Word says. God picked her. God told Mary -- I've got a job for you. Jesus was a common name (like Jimmy or Bob or Mike now). Jesus means "Jehovah is salvation." "For you, Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods." Psalm 97:9 This clicked with Mary (see Luke 1:32) 400 years since there's been a king on the throne. Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. We can't make something out of nothing. But God can and He does it all the time! God doesn't give Mary all the details (He rarely does this with us). The Greatest Miracle is John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 The biggest miracle is how much God loves us!! There are three responses to this miracle: 1. People can deny it. 2. People can twist it. 3. People can accept it. Mary did this and said, "Your will be done." Jesus will be reinstalled on the throne! "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first." 1 Thessalonians 4:16 The King is coming!! My notes are not good this week. I'll just post the recording. Text is taken from Matthew 2:1-12. What do we know? Herod recognized them as being important people. The East meant Persia (Modern-Day Iran and Afghanistan). Magi means wisemen, magistrate. Daniel was a magi, the head magi. Magi were also scholars, legal minds, scientists. The ones in Matthew were wise enough to seek Jesus. They were gentiles. They followed through on their seeking of Jesus even though the journey was fraught with danger and expense. "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod,Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." Matthew 12:1-2 Star means something in the sky that was extraordinary. Possibly it appeared as a pillar of light over the house where Jesus was when the wisemen got to Bethlehem. The journey the wisemen took was anywhere from 500 to 1000 miles. Dangerous journey: bandits, desert conditions. They would have had lots of people with them. They had to wholly believe Jesus was the promised king to take such a journey! In Jerusalem they enountered hostility toward Jesus from Herod and indifference from the religious leaders. They still continued on. Herod was a tyrant. He killed his mother-in-law, a brother-in-law, his wife and three of his own sons! Magi were probably expecting a celebration of the king's birth. Instead they saw indifference. 3 "When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born." Matthew 2:3-4 It was six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. The chief priests didn't even bother to go check out the wisemen's story. Three gifts: GOLD -- symbolizes royalty FRANKINCENSE -- symbolizes worship. It is the incense used in worship. MYRRH -- used to embalm bodies. Symbolizes death. All three pertained to Jesus! These were expensive and special gifts. The wisemen followed through: -- on going -- on worshipping -- on giving. "And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." Matthew 2:12 This was no small thing to do. As desert dwellers they would have planned their trip out specifically to get access to water and safety regularly along the way. To change that plan was a dangerous thing. But they did it to protect Jesus. There are 3 different types of people: The Herods -- hostile to Jesus The religious leaders -- indifferent to Jesus The Magi -- true followers of Jesus Which one are you? We are on a journey ourselves. Jesus is either Lord of all in your life or Lord of nothing in your life. We are either for or against HIm. The Silence of Mercy "18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,[c] because he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”[d](which means “God with us”). 24 When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25 But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus." Matthew 1:18-25 Joseph is there from the beginning. Joseph is a silent support, a silent protector. No quote from Joseph in the Bible. It was no accident that Joseph was Jesus's stepdad. #1 Joseph was a faithful man. The "and yet" in verse 19 was pretty important. No one would have been surprised if Mary had been stoned. #2 He doesn't want Mary to suffer. He loved Mary. It never says Mary told him. Possibly he found out through town gossip. Joseph was very likely ashamed and embarrassed. Yet, Joseph dealt with Mary kindly. This is a man with a gentle heart. #3 Joseph has mercy on Mary. It's not his fault (it isn't hers either, but that's a different story). "17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving,considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." James 3:17 James was another son of Joseph's. This verse is a great description of Joseph. His dreams were ripped away but he still had mercy. He willingly let go of his dreams for God's plan. In verse 20 it says that Joseph considered this. This could mean pondered or fumed over or angered over. Joseph was hurt. He was broken-hearted. Since the angel said not to be afraid and go ahead and marry Mary it meant Joseph was afraid to marry her. The townfolk would think negatively of him. He wouldn't be seen as an honorable man even though he was. Some think he took her along with him to Bethlehem to protect her. He couldn't leave her alone at home. What would the people do to her? I don't think he ever looked for perfect again. Instead he looked for God. As he protected Mary he protected Jesus, God's son. He leaves everything behind. He threw all his dreams away. The dream from God was enough for himt o throw away all his own personal dreams. He redeems Mary like Jesus redeems all mankind. Joseph was gentle and peaceful -- just like Jesus. Joseph didn't hesitate once God speaks to him. His understanding was followed by service. God's the needle. I'm the thread. He dove off the deep end cause God said so.  Following is a recording of the Christmas Eve Service at our church. Let me warn you -- it is a bit chaotic but if you dare to listen you'll hear lots of laughter, a bit of off-key singing (that's me); some great hymns and Shannon preaching. I didn't take any notes this time. Hope you all had a lovely Christmas. |
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