Luke 2:11 Reasone, the saviour of the world , is born.
Romans 5:8 Yet God gave us His gift when we were His enemies.
John 3:16 God have us to save
What a Gift?
What a Gift
Applay:-
Because of this great gift that God has given to us, the world stands in awe the church rises up in praise in rendition God celebrating the gift that God has given us through jesus Christ.
Without him coming into the world and without him taking up the human form, coming as a kin to me he could not have redeemed me as a kinsman redeemer from the ills of humanity, and the sins of the world is all eradicated in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Luke 19:10
"For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."
Explain:
Isiah 59:20, To redeem
Luke1:68, To redeem
1 cori 1:30 Jesus christ is our redeemer
Reason:
God says in the bible:
2 cori 3:17 wherever the Spirit of the lord there is freedom.
Psalm 16:11 in his presence there is fullness of joy.
Applay:
Wherever Jesus is, its heaven there, wherever Jesus shows up, deliverance is bound to happen.we celebrate his entrance into the world.
Explain the Christ was not same as today :
But be careful in all of the splendor, the glitter and the pagentry, beautiful lights and gift giving and all of the wonderful things we do to "commemorate" the birth of our Lord, the beautiful arrangement of the manger and the Christmas scenes, but remember the first Christmas was not as beautiful as the ones we see today.
Aplay:
The first Christmas was not filled with all the splendor and all the wonder and all the merriment, the first Christmas was not even filled with all the joy and all the praise all the wonder we feel right now, particularly in the lives of some people who were directly affected by Christ coming into the world.
You would think there would have been joy.
--Same way:
Generally most gifts god gives us we have joy in "retrospect", as we look back and see that his plan was better than ours.
Therefore Bible says
Jeremiah 29:11 my plan for you to prosper.
Explain:
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Application :
I want to warn you church that initially when God gives you a gift, it does not always evoke joy and praise and splendor, it often causes confusion, mayhem and chaos.
you wonder in your own mind whether this is a gift from God or a plot from the enemy to destroy your very life.
Illustration :
Mat 1:19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
You would think Joseph would be filled with joy and happiness with the birth of jesus and that God had chosen the woman joseph had chosen, God had set her aside even as joseph had set her aside. That God had selected her should have eased all things in his mind whether she was a virtuous woman.
Application :
Sometimes being selected of God, chosen of God and receiving from God leaves a person in disarray.
So when we see joseph we don’t see him dancing, celebrating and opening up gifts with joy, no, we see joseph worried and upset.
"Whenever god gives you a gift it first worries you before it blesses you."
Reason
Gods plans and ways are different in our lives.
Isa 55:8,9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
Explain:
1.
The time when Joseph leaps on this text, he is not trying to get closer to baby Jesus or mary who is pregnant with the child, no, he is trying to figure out how can I get out of this. Just as quietly and as calmly as possible, without drawing any attention, just show me the exit where I can get away from this gift,
Application :
I have to warn you that many times when God gives you a gift we generally don’t run towards it but our "propensity" ichhe) is to run from it. afterall who knows what gift is given until its unwrapped.
Perhaps its not the gift that I have to warn you about, as God’s gift will always pay off in the end, perhaps it is the wrapping paper.
Applay:
God’s greatest gifts are often wrapped in problems, worry, chaos, God’s amazing gifts come "camouflaged" in an array of unsurmountable issues. God’s great gift can come wrapped being fired from a job, sometimes God can give you a gift and you might not feel gifted at all.
Infact gifted can be a problem because people are not happy for you.they don’t celebrate the gift that God has given you, they don’t come to celebrate the gift, they often come to kill the gift, to destroy the gift, we have to move away from the jolly good times of a historical story and grasp from it the contemporary wisdom that we can use to face the challenges we find in contemporary times.
Imp to keep in mind .
We are not just "commemorating" historial God with a story that happened two thousand years ago, we came to recognize a relevant God who is still effecting change in our contemporary times.
1.The very first thing that the angel said to Joseph is FEAR NOT.
Mathew 1:20 angels said to Joseph fear not .
2 Timothy 1:7 God has given power not fear.
Why did the angel say fear not to joseph?
because:- fear kills faith, fear limits your perspectives, fear intimidates growth, fear can make you give up on something prematurely not recognizing that God is not through working in your life. Fear can make you give up something that God has made to bless you.fear can make you to try to put away as
Application :
joseph did with the only redemption that was available to him, he was about to give it away because of fear.
Be careful fear can rob you of God’s gifts.
I want to this morning share with you some perspectives on joseph’s thoughts on the birth of Christ.
Applay: I hope it will help you as you receive God’s gifts and use them to face new job, new things in your lives, new enemies, new obstacles.
I know you are used to the traditional gifts that come wrapped in beautiful paper, not God, he dosent wrap his gifts.
1. Fear of perception:
What will people think?
Explain:
Often when god gives you a gift, he gives you a gift that causes you to become controversial in the eyes of people, infact if you were not so gifted you would not be so hated. If you notice our society, we seldom waste hate on people who are not gifted. If you understand it correctly, it is a privilege to be hated for his name’s sake. It is an honor to be so chosen and so selected and so gifted that somebody had to set out to hate you and decrease you, I want to tell you this morning that a lot of you are on the "hitlist" of hell
Application :-
because:
you are gifted. Even if you don’t receive anything for Christmas, you are gifted with ideas and concepts and creative potential. YOU ARE GIFTED.
What will they think? What will they say? What will they do? How will they feel about me?
2. The fear of misperceptions
3. often robs us of what God came to give us. ---This morning I am asking you to shake off the fear of perception. If you can shake of the fear of perception in December then you will be ready to receive the abundance in the new year, there is something coming for you in the new year that will justify everything you went through in this year. You wont be able to receive it if you are more concerned about the perception than the power that God wants to give you.
Conclusion:
Psalm 23:4
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”
Bible says
Psalm 27:1
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
Applay:
In the water, wind in all the circumstance God is with Fear not:
