Mirsori Sermon

‌Hello! Suvo boro din! I want to give greetings from my family and from AOB. Today is a very joyful day. A day that we as Christians can be thankful (creetogota) and we can have confidence (attobishash). I am glad that I have this opportunity we can celebrate (ujappon) together and I have the opportunity to share God’s Word with you today. I am also happy to be at your beautiful church. This is my and my family’s first time to visit with you. I want to thank you and to give you encouragement as you are the light of Jesus to this area of Bangladesh. This is your special responsibility.

‌

This Christmas time is one where we remember Jesus coming to Earth. He came as a child. I want to share three things with you today for Christmas. The first one is to understand who Jesus is as God, but He also came as a person in the form of a baby.

‌

You saw my son Evan. Evan is 13 months old now and he is completely dependent on us to take care of him. He is able to walk and eat himself a little bit but, he still needs his diaper changed and to get dressed and fed. Now think about Jesus coming to Earth as a baby (এখন যীশুর একটি শিশু হিসাবে পৃথিবীতে আসার কথা চিন্তা করুন।). Jesus being God, How humiliating (apoman jannoc) it must have been for him. He was there at the creation of mankind to come to Earth as a human baby himself! The same God (ishor jee nee) who spoke the world into existence and knows every grain of sand (balee) on the seashore (shamuddro teer). The God who feeds every living thing needed to be fed (তাকে খাওয়ানো দরকার chilo). The strong hand that helped the Israelites to win their wars was now inside cloth. The God who formed every person, now has the weaknesses of being a physical person (jagoteec manush). Jesus came as a baby, needed parents and others to care for him. He lived a life of ridicule (uppohash), shame, and hardship. Then He died one of the most humiliating (Appoman jannoc) deaths possible on the cross by crucifixion. If anybody deserved to be revered (srodda cora uchit) and respected and deserved a place of honor, it was Jesus! Yet, He lived a life of humiliation and humbleness. Why did Jesus do this? For two reasons, to be obedient (manbay) to the will of God the Father and for the love of mankind that they might be reconciled to God. Only in and through Jesus is this possible.

‌Let me read a passage of scripture related to this which illustrates all of this very well:

‌Phl 2:1-11 (NIV)

‌ Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.5In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature a God,

‌did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;

‌7rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature b of a servant,

‌being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man,

‌he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

‌9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,

‌in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

‌

Christmas is a time for celebration (ujappon) and annondo, but it is also a time to remember our Savior (poretran data) Jesus who was born at this time. I want you to understand is that Jesus should have received all praise and honor. He could have come with light and loud sound and commanded that all people praise Him, but instead (porebortay) how did He come to our world? He came to our Earth with humbleness as a child and as a servant. For this reason, just like Jesus, we as a disciple of Jesus should have a lifestyle of humbleness and as a servant of others. Jesus even was willing to die on the cross for us that we can be set free from our sin. We cannot give our life to save others from sin, but we can give what we have, our time, our money, our attention to others and to God so that we show our love for others and our love and obedience to God.

The next thing I want you to understand is that that Jesus is God 100% but he was also man 100%. That means that He was there at the creation of the world and is God. Yet, he was also a person while He was on Earth. He felt happiness, sadness, pain, and laughter. But in all of these feelings (annubutee), He did not sin even one time. Our God is not one who is very far away, He is close to us. Other gods (deybota) cannot be understood, our God wants a relationship with us.

Is 7:14

Our God is Immanuel, God WITH us. The other gods (deybota) which the nations and other religions follow are far away and they do not love people or have a relationship with them. Jesus is our God who is near to us. We can go to Him in prayer and He intercedes (shupareesh cortetesen) for us. Only a God with no sin , and he who understands our neoms and our weakness can intercede for us in a good way.

‌ Jesus lived on Earth with us. He was born in a humble way. Then He lived the perfect (neekoot) life. His teaching helps us to understand how we as people can know God and how to please God. He understands your problems and He understand your Joy. When your life gets hard, Satan wants you to believe that you are alone and have no hope. He whispers lies in your ears. Satan says, “you cannot know God” “God does not love you”. “You have special trouble, and nobody can help you with your trouble. God cannot help you with your trouble”

But these things which Satan says are all lies. When you are a child of God, you are never alone. God is always with you and even better, Jesus understands you. He understands what makes you happy and what makes you sad. Jesus had friends, family, laughter, sadness, trouble and joy. No matter the problem, you can go to Jesus because He loves you and understands your life. So, when you have a problem, go to Jesus through prayer. When you are happy and thankful, give praise to God for giving you that gift from His hand.

‌ Finally, it is important to know that Jesus is humble and that He understands our lives but, I want you to understand the real important reason that Jesus came to this Earth. In the Bible, Jesus has been given many names: bread of life, water of life, the word (bacco), savior (poretran Datta). Hundreds of years before (শত শত বছর আগে) Jesus was born on the Earth, a prophet named Isiah (jeeshioo) prophecies that there would be a future king that would come and would bring light, hope, and peace.

Read Is. 9:6

‌One of the important names that is listed in this verse is Prince of Peace (shanti raj). How do we get peace? What does it really mean to have peace? Is it a quiet place in the jungle? Is it no war? It is hard to find peace here in Bangladesh. There are buses making noise on the road. Neighbors who are shouting and fighting. Children or friends who are asking you for things all the time. You are thinking, “I just want some peace!” Then, The war in Ukraine has been going on for about one year now causing trouble to the whole world. We all need peace, but how with so much turmoil (awe shanti) can we actually get peace?

‌ Jesus came to this Earth to bring true peace. His disciples and many who listened to Him thought that Jesus would bring freedom from the Roman government who was causing the people of Israel so much trouble. Some people think that Jesus would bring them wealth (don) and that would bring an end to their trouble and peace in their lives. These were not the reasons that Jesus came to this Earth, but He did bring true peace.

‌ We must understand that every person who ever lived has a problem, a disease that brings problems and awe shanti. That is sin. The Bible says that all people have sinned (Rom 3:23). God is holy and cannot have any sin or evil with Him. Our sin breaks the relationship between God and man and causes awe shanti. God does not wish that we would be separated from Him, but all people gave this condition because of our sin. Not only is our relationship broken but also, the payment for sin is death of our earthly life and eternal death. We as sinners are under the wrath of God! (আমরা ঈশ্বরের ক্রোধের অধীন।) How can we be saved from this condition? How can we have true and lasting peace?? THIS is the reason Jesus came as a baby to Earth. When Jesus gave His life on the cross, our sin debt was paid and we were forgiven. If we put our faith upon Him, we have salvation and we have peace with God! The God who created the world and who made you can now have a relationship with Him. When we put our faith in Jesus, our relationship with God is restored and we have peace. True peace does not come from no noise or no problems. Peace comes through a right relationship with God. We can only get that in and through Jesus Christ.

‌ Even when there is trouble and hard things in our lives, we can still have peace knowing that God loves us and that God, our Imannauel, is with us. This is how Jesus is our Prince of Peace.

To finish, I wanted to remind shokolay what we talked about today.

1. Jesus is God and has all power (তার সব ক্ষমতা আছে।) but He came to our world humbly as a baby. Jesus lived a humble life as a servent with love and service. We as Jesus’ disciples ought to live with humility (nomrota) as a servent with love for God and love for others.

2. Jesus is 100% God and He was also 100% man when He was here on Earth. Remember that Jesus knows your joy and your problems. You can go to God through prayer because He loves you and understands your life.

3. Finally, Jesus is our prince of peace because He made the way for people to have peace with God and a relationship restored. This happens when we put our faith and trust upon Him.

This is our boro din message (barta). For all of these reasons and more, this is a day of annondo and celebration (ujappon). May God bless you all and fill you with joy.

‌Let’s pray