The Miracle Of Christmas

12/20/2009

The miracle of Christmas

Matthew 2:1-12

Introduction-

Here we are 5 days before Christmas. People are excited to open presents, spend time together with family, eat a lot.

Take a nap That is Christmas today.

The day that Jesus was born was not quite that way.

Last week we looked at John 3:16- “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The week before, it was about making room for Jesus in your life, not being like the mean inn keeper that told the mother of Jesus that there was no room at the inn for the Son of God.

Matthew 2:1-12 read from Bible.

Christmas is about miracles

The miracle that God would come to earth to redeem man . Even by man’s selfish ways, that is a miracle

The miracle that God spoke to Joseph and Mary separately to tell the story and plan of God.

Joseph-

Matthew 1- “Do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from their sins.”

Mary-

Luke 1- “Do not be afraid Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you will give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high.”

I would call that miracles

I would say that their attitudes towards God was a miracle . “I am the Lord’s servant, Mary answered, may it be to me as you have said”

The miracle that God protected the birth of Jesus.

The miracle that God kept King Herod from stopping the plan of God.

That is where we are this morning

The Bible says that:

“All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophets. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, God with us - and the next line is where God tells Joseph to give him the name Jesus.”

Josh and I were talking this week, if you are buying gifts, buying Christmas cards, and wrapping paper, putting up a tree, you are celebrating Christmas. You may not be doing it for Christ child that came to this earth for you, but it is celebrating Christmas

Christmas is about miracles

Christmas is about hope.

Christmas is about faith.

Christ-mas doesn’t change because of your lack of any of these three things. Hope, faith, and the miracle of Jesus Christ.

You can go to faith.com. On that site, they claim to be your spiritual resource on the internet. They instruct you to click on one of these links. Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim. Choose your faith according to your beliefs.

Well, lets take a look at the human nativity scene here in Matthew.

The Magi were wealthy astrologers that studied the stars. They believed the movements of the heavenly bodies and the destiny of man were linked together. They observed the rising of the star that they could not account for. To little is written why they linked it with the birth of the Messiah. The star seemed to guide them to the birth of Jesus.

In the process, the clear prophetic word of God was lived out. Gold, Incense, Myrr were the way that they funded their trip and were the expensive gifts left for the Christ child.

I can picture that moment in time. People, animals, manger, full inn, packed stable- there the Christ child came to mankind.

Matt. 1:23- “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, they will call Him Immanuel, which means God with us.”

Immanuel given for the significance of the event, not his name. You will give him the name Jesus.

We think we can love the outcast.

We think that we can love the poor person, the one maybe don’t smell good, we think because we help at a soup kitchen...Jesus loved the outcast. That is each and every one of us. Weather we sit here with a Botony 500 suit on or a pair of jeans with holes in them. We are the outcasts. The ones with the broken relationship with God. God choose to bridge that gap, by being born in that dirty stinky stable. A king, responding to mankind’s cry fo help

Illustration:

Like- Dr. Suess “How the Grinch stole Christmas”, Satan had stole and broken the relationship between God and man by sin in the world.

“Every Who down in Who-ville like Christmas a lot,