Sermon Tone Analysis

Sunday evening Joys

We are approaching Christmas, it will be here before you know it.

And Christmas bring an array of emotions.

Consider this with me…

The first time a person faces Christmas after the loss of a loved one, it is difficult, it is tough… sadness floods their heart.

The first Christmas with a new born child, Christmas is forever different.

Happiness and joy is in the heart.

When we are older and we have all of our family together, our hearts are happy because family is present and together.

And there is so much more we could list...

But I want to ask you a question.. What are you thankful for at Christmas?

What joy would you like to share as a testimony?

So this evening lets take a little time and review all that is happening in and around the events at Christmas.

God, we know has been at work through out all time, He has been working for our good.

For all eternity He knew He would send His son into the world as a gift that would change how the world understood love.

For then and then alone the world would know what God’s love truly was....

The first promise began in , and it is echoed in many other places, especially the prophet of Isaiah.

I

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And from Micah chapter 5, verse 2 which tells us of the town that the Messiah would be born in..

These are just two places that reveal to us the message of the One who was coming into this world.

The most glorious news is the fact that Jesus came into the world.

We see this on the gospel of Luke chapter 2...

And think of this..

Why did Jesus come into the world.

The one who was the ancient of days, the one who was from before this world, why would He be willing come to earth.

A. It was the will of the Father.....

Well, we understand it is the will of the Father, Jesus said this time and time again.

I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.

I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.

I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.

The glory of the Father seen in the presence of the Son who would also be the perfect sinless, lamb of God.

The Lamb would take away our sin, John reveals that from John the Baptist as he spoke about our Lord that day in the river in

And if we look at the beginning of 1 John, we see this

The son came so that our lives might not be held in sin, but instead that we might turn to the Lord seeking forgiveness.

Why.. it was the Father’s plan so that creation could have life.

And life to the fullest

B. The Coming the Son Reveals God’s greatest gift....

I have come that you might have life and have it to the fullest.

The coming of Jesus into the world at Christmas is to reveal to us the greatest gift of all, God’s love.

If we remember the most quoted verse of all…

Life is always the gift of God, to bring us out of death into the better, the real, that which matters.

To help us pull away from this world and yearn for that which is to come while we wait for him.

And along every day we remember God’s great gift to us.

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That love was seen in the message that the angel gave to the shepherds

Luke 2

The angels said the message would be one of good news of great joy…The word good news, is the meaning of the gospel.

The gospel is good news, it is the meaning of life, it is the message of His coming, His death, burial and resurrection.

This message is the truth, it is what brings life.

It tells us of the one who came, who would be a Savior.

A gift for all people.

I love that message that came to the Shepherds.

God was revealing that He loved everyone, and He is no respecter of person.

All who come can be saved, can be changed and can experience eternal life.

C.

He has brought us Salvation...

No one truly anticipated just how impactful the gift of God was to the whole world.

I think of the words of Paul as he instructed Titus

Just as it was foretold, the goodness of God, the very blessing of God has appeared to us all.

According to the text, this grace has appeared, or is proclaimed, to all men.

Christ commanded () that the Gospel be preached to all creatures throughout the whole world.

I trust each of you had a splendid day yesterday with family and friends!

At first Christ preached the Gospel and only in the land of the Jews, knowledge of the Holy Scriptures being confined to that nation, as Ps 76:2 and Ps 147:19 declare.

But afterward the Word was made free to all men; not confined to any particular section.

Psalm 19:4 declares, “Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”

This is spoken of the apostles

At first Christ preached the Gospel and only in the land of the Jews, knowledge of the Holy Scriptures being confined to that nation, as and declare.

But afterward the Word was made free to all men; not confined to any particular section.

As the Lord told the Wise men of the coming of a Messiah in the word of the Jews.

And as the star appeared to them, they heard and understood the goodness of God was coming and they went in search of Him.

The Magi or wise men are just that, they are not Kings necessarily in the sense that we know or understand it, but men of prestige, of influence who were considered both Wise men and priests, probably from the courts of Persia.

They combined astronomical observation with astrological speculation.

They played both political and religious roles there in their home land.

In truth these are powerful men and we know their temples still exist today.

They have ties all the way back to the Babylonians and Medo-Persian Kingdoms of the Old Testament.

We that even Nebuchadnezzar sought their advise when he could not interpret his dream in Daniel chapter 2.

So they have been around for a very long time...

Now there is one more piece of information I will share with you about these men..

In 600 AD we know that the Armenians listed these three Magi as

Melkon, Balthasar and Gaspar.

Three kings who brought three gifts.

This truth is certain, Wise men came from the east in search of the child born king.

You have heard me tell the story before of George Brasswell, the last IMB missionary in Iran before the govt collapsed to religious radicals in the late 70’s.

He came across a Magi temple there in Iran and inquired if the story held significant for them.

They told Him yes, their records indicated that 3 of their Preexists did go in search of a child born King.

So from our Scriptures to their records we know the story is accurate, they went in search of and found a child born King and His name is Jesus.

You know you might be here today in search of something, something that will give you peace and hope here at Christmas… Its Jesus.

Now people have used the stars to sort their locations and directions.

People have used the season and stars to know when it is time to move from one place to another..But one one has had a star lead them in this sense...Why did they know this star was special?

How did they recognize things were different?Remember these are people who astrologers, they sought answers from the heavens, from the things moving in the heavens as seasons and times passed.

But also being Wise men, they studied other sources of wisdom looking for truth.

We know that Jews themselves lived int he land of Persia, They had been in captivity for 70 years during the time of the Babylonians and the Medo-Persian kingdoms, so they had also studied the OT books of the Jews.Let me share

​ ESV17 I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.

And while people have always wondered about this star it is safe to say that God gave these Magi a special sign, a miraculous star that told them the world was changing for good.

And what did they want to do… they said they came to worship Him.

This fact is a tremendous phrase.

for considering what lies ahead, they came to worship Him.

But afterward the Word was made free to all men; not confined to any particular section.

declares, “Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”

This is spoken of the apostles

And upon finding him, they were overjoyed and blessed.

They entered they place and they worshiped him, the child born King.