Jesus Is Coming: To Bring Blessing Series

Jesus is Coming…To Bring Blessing

December 11th, 2005

Have you ever come up with the perfect plan for something? A plan that was going to accomplish for you something that you really wanted and everyone else was going to benefit too. In fact, the world would be a happier place once the wheels of your plan were in motion. I don’t have many good plans, in fact, the majority of my grand plans and ideas end in disaster and result in the opposite of what I was looking to do. I did, however, have a goof plan once. See, there was this girl. Oh, she was not just any girl, she was beautiful. And for all my bluster and bravado, I was actually pretty shy and awkward around girls, I know, it’s hard to picture. So, I had my eye on this girl and I began to plan just how I could make this girl mine. I would lie awake at night and try to figure out ways to impress her and to get her to notice me. I began to make friends with her friends and get them to subtly deliver hints and ideas about me. I would arrange events and invite all of her friends and casually say, “you can invite this girl if you want to.” I planned every little detail of those times to ensure that I would have time with this girl and could convince her that I was a catch. The final part of this plan, what it was all working up to, was that I was going to ask her out. I wanted the time to be perfect. I waited and waited for just the right moment so that I would have the best chance of getting the answer I wanted. And on Christmas Eve that moment came. I had arranged to walk her and a friend home, but the plan was (this is brilliant) to pick the friend whose house was half a block before hers so I would get to walk her the rest of the way alone. And in that time I would ask her to be my girlfriend. Well, I wimped out. I dropped her off and ran the half mile home, jumped on the phone, and asked her the safe way on the phone. That was 1991 and I was 15. 14 years later, the plan was definitely worth it because that little girl is still with me and I can certainly say that its the best plan I ever had.

I knew what had to happen, I wanted a relationship and I was certain my idea was going to work and I couldn’t wait for the right time to finally put my plan in to motion.

Well, God wanted a relationship with us and He had a plan for the salvation of man. He had to wait for the perfect time, when that plan could be most successful, like we talked about last week. But, from the moment our relationship with God was broken in the Garden, God set into motion a series of events that would push the world towards the perfect time when His plan could be revealed and the salvation that man was waiting for would come. Everything we talk about this in this Christmas story is God’s plan finally being put into action. God’s plan was to send His son and to send Him as a human, born of a woman. This morning we’re going to continue our look at the theme “Jesus is Coming.” We’re looking at this plan and the people that were involved and how the story unfolds in the lives of those involved. We’re looking at how the birth of this baby boy to a non-important family, in an out of the way town affected those involved and how it has effected us, both now and for eternity.

The time has finally come for the plan to begin on Earth and the first two chapters of Luke is where we have the story of this. The next three sermons are going to be looking at the Christmas story that’s found in these two chapters. This morning we’re going to look at the fact that “Jesus is Coming, to Bring Blessing.” One of the primary reasons that God sent his son to Earth was to bless the world through him and we’ll look at the blessing that came from His birth a little later, but first I want to start at the beginning and look at Luke Chapter 1 and the beginning of the plan.

The Beginning of the Plan

The plan began with the selection of the people who would be involved. Each of these people would be instrumental in the birth of two children who would play key roles in the salvation ad redemption of mankind. One would be the Redeemer and provide the sacrifice and the other would come first and prepare the way. He would point people to the Christ that was to come after him.