CHRISTMAS FULL

This week I had an amazing experience! Wed morning I was running the sound for my wife’s Christmas concert at the school she teaches. On the stage was a group of kids from a Christian school singing about NOEL - which is a french word taken from the Latin word Natalis - or nativity.

The story was about a family who gets stuck in a snow storm and encounters a “miraculous hotel” that appears - Hotel Noel - there are no decorations inside, which the family thought at first was quite empty, but the reality was they would be reminded of the TRUTH of Christmas - Jesus came to save the world - they realized how empty their lives were without Jesus, but this Christmas it would be full!

My heart was so happy hearing kids singing about waking up to Jesus Christmas morning! This whole season and last year I felt such emptiness all around because our world spends an entire month celebrating nothing!

The reality is Christmas is meant to be full!!! Not empty!

This morning is our last Sunday in the house together!

Back in October/November when I was praying for a theme for Christmas I felt impressed to remember our theme for the year and how the Christmas story relates...

The Lord placed on my heart a Word for our church for 2022 - His desire for our congregation to be:

Faithful

Spirit Full

Fruitful

These are not random ideas in the Word of God, but align with the stories of every hero we see in God’s Word - including the Christmas story!

So this morning, as we prepare our hearts for the real meaning of Christmas celebration this week, I want us to take a few cues from the people of the Christmas story and see just how FULL the first Christmas really was.

1. Spirit Full

Christmas is SPIRIT FULL!!! In so many ways we the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christmas story - it is not just about Jesus...

The Father had a planned and used the Holy Spirit for the conception of Christ.

But one of the most prominent moments of the fullness of the Spirit is when Mary greets Elizabeth - two expecting mothers who both conceived miraculously!

Luke 1:39–49 NLT

39 A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.” 46 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. 47 How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! 48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. 49 For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.

Backstory:

Elizabeth and Zechariah were OLD, far beyond childbearing years - and while ministering in the temple God tells him they will have a child who will be the forerunner for the Messiah - John the Baptist

Several months into this miraculous pregnancy Mary comes to visit Elizabeth - also pregnant miraculously as she was a virgin.

Two miraculous pregnancies both designed to fulfill the plan of God to save the world --- just ordinary woman, who were woman of faith and obedience - used by God and full of the Holy Spirit.

In this moment - the Holy Spirit comes upon Elizabeth and she begins to prophesy over the Christ child, and the child within her leaps in the womb - it must have been a powerful stirring - as this anointed baby responded to the baby in the womb Mary was carrying - the Spirit of God on the babies in the womb supernaturally respond to each other and both mothers prophesy!

We gloss over this moment of confirmation of God’s plan to both woman and their role and purpose in His plan - but fail to see how powerful the ANOINTING of the SPIRIT OF GOD was in this moment.

Oh that we would desire the anointing of God upon our lives CONFIRMING our obedience and surrender to the LORD’s PLANS in our lives!!!

The fullness of the Holy Spirit rests on those still today who are YIELDED to the Lord’s desires for their lives and are not living for themselves but for God’s plans to be fulfilled!

Will you allow - - will you desire the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?

God wants you to have the fullness of the Spirit - thus the promise Jesus makes in Acts 1 and fulfilled in Acts 2 to the church.

We can be full as we desire to be...

Galatians 5:25 NLT

25 Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

2. Faith Full

My man Joseph! WOW - faithful to the Lord, faithful to the plan, faithful to Mary!

Matthew 1:18–24 NLT

18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ” 24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife.

If anyone was in his full rights as a man by the law given by God it was Joseph...

to put away Mary or even have her stoned

to walk away from an embarrassing and humiliating situation

to say this is unfair

Yet we see his faithfulness

- to NOT take the loophole out

- to hold fast in the most uncomfortable of situations

- to listen to the voice of God and obey

How often do we find the loopholes today to get out of uncomfortable moments and do our own thing instead of listening to what God is speaking to us?

I see and hear it all the time --- we justify our choices to put the Lord on the back burner of our lives so we can do what feels comfortable to us and what we think will make us happy - ignoring what the Lord is calling us to do...

Joseph has a profound example of FAITHFULNESS to the LORD in his obedience in this situation.

Even down to the discipline of keeping himself from consummating his marriage to Mary until after Christ was born.

His faithfulness produced self denial, self discipline, humbling of himself, and putting others before His own ambitions.

OUCH - that example stings a little when we reflect our lives in its mirror!

What kind of faithfulness do our lives reflect to the Lord?

Are we more faithful to our jobs, our hobbies, a sport, or personal interest than we are to the Lord?

Hebrews 3:14 NLT

14 For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

God is faithful even when we are not --- but make no mistakes - He desires our faithfulness!

3. Fruit Full

The most obvious of all - FRUITFUL!!!

Fruitfulness is about reproducing life, the life of Christ in us and others --

MARY WAS CERTAINLY FRUITFUL!!!

The fruit of her womb bringing salvation to ALL!

Luke 2:1–20 NLT

1 At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child. 6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them. 8 That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” 13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” 15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.

Yes - I read the whole account of Jesus coming to earth.

Christ mass — is nothing but when the church decided to celebrate the first advent of Christ. His arrival on earth as the WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US!!!

It required a very integral component:

The obedience of a young woman to be yielded to and used by God

That obedience produced the LIGHT OF THE WORLD and SALVATION FOR ALL MANKIND

You can be stubborn, you can be willful, you can be selfish and not yielded to God --

But in our yielding to the Lord’s plans do we find the greatest FRUITFULNESS for the kingdom of God — we find our lives bearing FRUIT!

In our fruitfulness is our PURPOSE fulfilled!

The Lord has a plan for each of our lives and wants to complete that plan in us - if we would yield ourselves to Him even as Mary yielded her whole self to the plan of God.

Philippians 1:6 NLT

6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

God is not done with you but wants to work in your life fully if you will let Him use you to be fruitful!

CONCLUSION

What will you take away from the heroes in the Christmas story???

The anointing of the Spirit on Elizabeth to prophesy at the arrival of the Christ

The faithfulness of Joseph who could have used every loophole to get out of marriage and foil God’s plan

The fruitfulness of Mary bringing the Savior of mankind to the world

After a year of focusing on being FULL

Faith FULL

Spirit FULL

Fruit FULL

Will you yield and obey for the Lord to be glorified through your life?

It is never to late to start!