Christmas Eve 2025

Merry Christmas! We say that for about a month, don’t we? I love Thanksgiving but, man, I also love the fact that the day after Thanksgiving—in some cases even sooner—a lot of the radio stations start playing Christmas music. I love it. I listen to it all month. I have a friend who decorated her house for Christmas before Thanksgiving. I was giving her a hard time about that and she said, “Thanksgiving is a day. Christmas is a season.”

Some of y’all feel that way, don’t you? There is no other holiday like Christmas. I mean…it’s got its own songs. People decorate their homes, neighborhoods, even their vehicles. Cities transform.

And, then, there’s the whole movie industry. So many movies…there are genres within the Christmas genre. And, by the way…Die Hard is a Christmas movie.

NEED TO WORK OUT THE TRANSITION

Scandalous family line—prostitute, royalty, adulterers, murderers…

Teenage pregnancy // extreme poverty

Refugees fleeing from a genocidal tyrant king

CHAOS//CHAOTIC

Galatians 4:4–5 “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

THE LINEAGE OF HIS BIRTH

Matthew 1:1 “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

THE LEGITIMACY OF HIS BIRTH

Matthew 1:22–23 “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).”

THE LOCATION OF HIS BIRTH

Matthew 2:5–6 “They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ””

THE LORDSHIP OF HIS BIRTH

Matthew 2:14–15 “And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.””

Matthew 2:17–18 “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.””

Matthew 2:21–23 “And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.”