Christmas Eve - 2018

A story of Hope. A story of Peace. A story of Joy. A story of Love. This is His story…this is our story. Is it your story?

Christ is the center of this Christmas story…Immanuel. God with us.

predicted the birth of Jesus some 700 years before his arrival.

Isaiah 7:14 NIV

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

Isaiah

In the opening chapter of the gospel of Matthew we find these words repeated..and we have already heard them read out this evening...

Matthew 1:20–23 NIV

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, 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.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Matthew

Is He at the center of your story? Whether you recognize it or not, He is is God with you. When you look over the events of your life and perhaps wonder, “Where was God?” He was present with you, by His Spirit, in the person of Jesus. The one who suffers for us and with us. The one who knows just what it is like to be us.

The writer of the Hebrews calls him our ultimate high priest .

Hebrews 4:14–15 NIV

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.