It All Began In A Manger

Fear Not! Good News! We can sum up the other response of the shepherds in four more words: Having Seen, Made Known! “So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child…” They just couldn’t keep quiet, the news was so good! *This coming Saturday night, New Year’s Eve, my wife and I will be at the Grand Finale Restaurant in Cincinnati,

Ohio. It’ll be the 3-year anniversary of our engagement. On New Year’s Eve 2002, in the same restaurant, at the same table where we’re going to sit, I asked Donna to marry me. After she said yes, I stood up and said to everybody in the restaurant, “Hey, everybody - guess what? We just got engaged!” I couldn’t contain myself - I had to tell somebody!

That’s how the shepherds felt after they saw Jesus in the manger. That’s how the disciples felt after they saw the resurrected Jesus 33 years later! They couldn’t keep quiet, no matter what happened to them! They knew the Easter Story was real - everything the women had told them was true, because they had seen Jesus for themselves! That’s how Christians for 2,000 have felt, and that’s how we feel when we take the time to stop and stand in the presence of Christ and hear the angels in their double forte voices singing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rest!” It all began in a manger-and it didn’t stop there. The story of Jesus is more than a fairy tale-it’s all real. You can trust Him with your life, on this earth, and your eternal life in Heaven. Merry Christmas! Amen.