Skeletons In The Closet

Illus. By sermon central

The Tale of Star..."a Star is born"

Eusebius, (jusbeus) a scholarly church historian of the early fourth century, evidently made a considerable study of the literature available to him, and came to this conclusion about the star: "The star was new and a stranger among the usual lights of heaven, a strange star, not one of the many known stars, but being new and fresh."

A recent writer, Robert McIver, has spent 3 decades researching this subject. In his book, Star of Bethlehem - Star of Messiah, published 1998, he cites star records from ancient Chinese and Korean astronomers who both noted such an unusual new star about the time of Christ’s birth. He also discusses paintings in the Roman catacombs, as well as coins from various countries which depict an unusual star about this time. He even notes possible interpretations, but it is at least an interesting coincidence, if nothing else, that such indications of an unusual new star at about the time of Christ’s birth can be found all over the world.

Can everyone say Wow this morning? Can you believe it, only 3 more weeks to Christmas? How in the world, did we get to December 4th already?

It seems like only yesterday it was Labor Day right? I guess you could say the roller coaster of life sure does gain speed the older you get!

Did you ever notice while we celebrate many many holidays, only Christmas, Thanksgiving and our own birthday are the ones, (sorry Jesus) that we count down the days to them taking place.

The journey to Bethlehem, the story of Jesus miraculous birth, was one certainly full of miracles and significance. And it was one that God the Heavenly Father paid great attention to the details and knew everything that was going to happen in advance.

While Jesus birth is the greatest story ever told! God would have me tell you this morning, you also have great significance to Him, because all the days of your life. He has had a plan for you, before there ever was a you.

And not just any plan but a great plan for you, for your welfare and your future, for eternity!

I was thinking about the Christmas story this week about all the events, that had to take place for there ever to be a silent night, in the town of Bethlehem.

I thought about how, what a great planner God is, how God always plans to the Greatest Detail and how patient God is with our human nature.

TBS. God is not a respecter of persons. I believe that's probably because He has to deal with human nature in every person.

Can you imagine, all the events had to take place, just in the right order or sequence, that led right up to the birth of the Savior of the World?

We all know, how hard it is to plan something out, such as a surprise birthday party weeks and months in advance, to try as we may, to keep it a secret it's a tall order!

But the birth of the Savior, the Messiah, the redeemer of the world, took the kind of supernatural preparation that only God could have accomplished!

Take for instance Jesus lineage, full of great men and women! But were they all great?

Even Jesus lineage had a few skeletons in the closet. Remember we can't forget about the human nature, in the equation!

The Heroes of the Bible stories that we have read about, for thousands of years.

Were they perfect?, so far from it!

Would they have been the ones you and I, would have selected?

Probably not, because human nature has a tendency to see through people for what they are. Instead of seeing people through and what they can be and become!

And whether they were the ones that we would've selected, most importantly they were the ones God selected. Truth be told, if we were the ones in charge of the selection for the lineage of Jesus, we would probably still be looking for qualified participants, to this day!

The same thing could probably be said about everyone of us here this morning

of our qualifications to be in the family of God, huh? There are none of us worthy, no not one!

Thank the Lord, for the Grace that He extends to all, who are willing to respond and can still, become a part of the “Greatest Story ever Told!

Matt. 1:1-17 MSG.

The family tree of Jesus Christ, David's son, Abraham's son:

2-6. Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob,

Jacob had Judah and his brothers,

Judah had Perez and Zerah (the mother was Tamar),

Perez had Hezron,

Hezron had Aram,

Aram had Amminadab,

Amminadab had Nahshon,

Nahshon had Salmon,