Glory To God In The Highest Series

Glory To God In The Highest

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it...

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. – John 1:1-5,14

Prayer

MGCC - 2000 years ago when God the Son left heaven and invaded our planet, He did not come to this earth as a mighty warrior leading an angelic army…

NOW UNDERSTAND– pleas if God the Son, wanted to come in that way… He sure could have, right?

I MEAN - after all Jesus, is as Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 9:6

• The Mighty God

• The Prince of Peace

• The Everlasting Father

• The Wonderful Counselor

• The one upon whose shoulders rest all nations and governments…

AND – He is, as Paul declared in Colossians 1…

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

– Colossians 1:15-17

AND YET – and yet, God the Son chose to enter this world in the humblest of ways, as a newborn baby boy. AND SURE – 2000 years on the other side of that birth, we have kind of gotten use to the idea.

BUT MGCC - RU you kidding me.

I MEAN – seriously think about it…

ALL - the splendor of heaven,

AND ALL - the fullness of the Godhead wrapped up in a tiny human body, covered in strips of cloth, lying in a manger, a feeding trough.

GOD… the all-powerful, all-knowing, always existing Maker and Sustainer of heaven and earth.

COMPLETELY - dependant on his mom and dad to take care of Him…

LIKE – can you even imagine what it must have been like for Joseph and Mary to know that they were holding, feeding, burping, and changing the diapers of GOD?

LIKE – come on, try putting yourself into their sandals. YEAH - being the ‘earhtly’ parents of God had to be CRAZY… With a capital ‘C’

I MEAN…

• What was it like to watch Jesus pray?

• Did they feel awkward teaching Him about how He created the world?

• When He saw a rainbow, did he mention a flood?

• When He saw a lamb being lead to slaughter did He act differently?

• Did they ever count the stars with Him… and succeed?

• How did He act at funerals?

• Did they ever accidently call Him Lord?

• Did the thought ever occur to them that the God they were praying to was sleeping underneath their own roof?

• Did He ever lead the family devotion times?

• Who was His best friend?

• Did He have any friends by the name of Judas?

• Did they ever say to Him, “Jesus, shut the door, do you think you were born in a barn...?”

YES – for a period of time ever so brief, the doors to the throne room of heaven were thrown open and GOD invaded our planet.

• He moved into our neighborhood.

• His Majesty was seen.

• Heaven touched earth.

AND – as a result, earth can now both know and touch heaven.

AND LISTEN - when that tiny baby entered the world on that Holy Night… in Bethlehem 2000 years ago,

an army of angels lite up the night sky singing a song that made it onto God’s Christmas Playlist.

AND – who was their audience on the most holy night,

A bunch of Shepherds, who were staying out in the fields guarding their flock of sheep…

OKAY – try to picture the scene... These guys just doing their Shepherd, settling down for the night after a long and hard day of herding sheep. WHEN SUDDENLY – the night sky, burst into a bright light that shined all around them, and boom their stood the Mighty Angel Gabriel!

AND LISTEN – they did what you and I would have done if we were out in those fields… they started freaking out… (Scream)

BUT GABRIEL - quickly reassured them telling them…

“Don’t be afraid!”

NOW - Interestingly…

We find that 3 word message, ‘don’t be afraid’ given 4 times in the Christmas story…