Heaven Came Down/ Christmas Eve Service Series

Heaven came down

Yesterday, we read the Christmas story as recorded in Luke 2 as part of the service. I spoke of God’s love for “all people”.

That God would send His Son Jesus to redeem mankind. (God’s love blows my mind)

We saw God’s love was unconditionally for all and God’s love does not go by where we are in life and if we have all our ducks in a row and if all our circumstances are under control.

Tonight, for a moment, let’s look at a paraphrased version of the story as the Angel of the Lord assures Joseph that Mary is being called upon to divinely be the Mother of Jesus the Christ.

Matthew 1:18-24 Read from bible

Introduction-

Can you believe it, another year has gone by.

Here we are looking at another Christmas, another year coming to an end.

If this has not been the greatest of year for you, I know a God that specializes in miracles and changing our circumstances.

God has recently been doing some amazing things in the life of the church and the people of Rosedale. It brings excitement and anticipation when God begins to move in our lives.

If you took a moment and had a flashback of things that happened to you this year- you would experience sadness, gladness and a large chuck of oh yea, I forgot about that because time just flies by, not moment by moment but day by day and month by month.

Time is precious and we don’t always get a second chance to retrieve a moment.

I can imagine Peter remembering the words Jesus said about denying him and Peter emphatically saying I would never do that and at the moment he denied him three times, the rooster crowed and he was reminded of what Jesus had said he would do.

Time flies by, moments get away, procrastination usually wins out in our lives, and we are left with voids in our lives. It does not have to be that way-

Jesus who by choice left the portals of heaven came to fill the void we could not fill without Him.

1 John 1:1-10 Read from Bible

We have “heard” Jesus,

We have “seen” Jesus,

We have been touched and walked the very road with Jesus and so we proclaim to you that He is who He says He is and that all eternity Is waiting for Him to complete what God the Father has sent Him to do and that is be the redeemer of the world to a world that so desperately need one.

He says they proclaim it because now that they met him He has changed their life and they would never be the same.

They now have fellowship with Jesus because He first reached out to them.

They fellowshipped with each other because they have the love of Christ dwelling in them.

That baby in a manger was now going to be the savior of the world.

He was going to fulfill scripture, prophecy, and the command of God to do what we cannot do for ourselves.

(V5) The Christian message we heard, we proclaim and declare unto others because we now have not only heard but apply his teaching and His life in ours.

John wanted his readers to experience what he has experienced and to have fellowship with His God.

“Koinonia” the Greek word for fellowship. To have a common faith to enjoy God’s grace and share and participate in Christ’s goodness to us.

To receive the spiritual blessing of being in the family of God.

Gentiles, each one of us who are not Jewish to receive all that God desired for all people.

Such a rich relationship was to belong to the community of God.

Christ does not only want you to come to church, he wants you to belong to the family of God and participate in relationship, first to Christ and then to other believers.

To experience the Lord and celebrate with the family of God

To fellowship with each other and share the love of Christ to all those you come into contact with.

Apostle John was troubled that some were not having fellowship with the Lord.

He says to fellowship “with us” as opposed to the world that did not hear Him, make room for him.

He wanted all to fellowship closely so that they would not be swayed by the erring teachers that were bring false prophecy, bad teachings, and taking them away from the true Christ and what He wanted to do for them and in them.

Here is the message of Christmas that often gets diluted and overlooked-

“God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin.”