The Promise of Christmas

Parents & adults, I will be talking to the kids, but you can listen in. You may learn something.

All the kids in the room, wave at me. I want to see where you are.

God is a promise-making God.

God has a plan to keep all his promises.

You ever made a promise and you didn’t keep it? Did you ever say you are going to do something and then you didn’t do it? Can I let you in on a secret? Pastor Steven tries really hard, but he doesn’t always keep his promises/

But God is a promise making God. Who keeps his promises.

Younger kids. I am going to make you a promise. I have a gift bag for you kids. Full of fun Christmassy stuff. And I promise at the end of church, you will get one of these gift bags. But you gotta come up here at the end and get them from me. OK?

I just made a promise, How do you know I am going to keep my promise?

God is a promise making God?

How do we know God is going to keep his promises?

God’s ability to keep his promises is based on two things:

God’s Power - Is God strong enough?

God’s Strength

How strong is God? God is the strongest, most capable, most competent being in the universe

Jeremiah 32:17 ESV

17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

Job 42:2 ESV

2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

God’s Omnipotence - God is all powerful. He is stronger everything.

Song Our God greater, stronger, higher than any other

Matthew 19:26 ESV

26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Do you ever get tired? God never does? Do you ever get sick? God never does?

Isaiah 40:28–31 ESV

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

God has so much strength that he shares it with those who trust in him.

God’s Goodness - Can I trust Him?

Is God Good?

God is perfect - part of being perfect is that you always do the right thing.

Psalm 86:5 ESV

5 For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.

When God is faced with the choice, do I do the right thing or the wrong thing? He always always every time does the right thing.

We don’t always do the right thing Are there times when you don’t do the right thing? But God always does the right thing.

Does God ever lie?

Numbers 23:19 ESV

19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Malachi 3:6 ESV

6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Christmas is all about God keeping his promises.

Jesus being born is God keeping his promise.

God with us - Jesus with us - Emmanuel is God fulfilling the promise

When he created the world God promised to be with us

Christmas reminds us that Jesus came to bring us back to God

When we disobeyed him, God promised to redeem us

Christmas reminds us that Jesus came to pay the price of our sin for us

When we were trapped by our sin, God promised to rescue us

Christmas reminds us that Jesus is the one that sets us free from sin

When we longed for a king, God Promised the King of Kings

Christmas reminds us that Jesus was born to be the best king, to be our king and Lord forever.

When we tried to go our own way, God promised the good shepherd

Christmas reminds us that Jesus leads and guides us and we should listen to our shepherd

When the world needed a miracle God promised a Messiah

Christmas reminds us that Jesus is the one God promised who will one day make all the sad things untrue.

When the world was filled with darkness God promised the light

Christmas reminds us that Jesus came into this dark and sinful world to give light and hope.

When the world needed saving and God promised a Savior

Christmas reminsd us that Jesus Christ is that Savior that God promised to us.

When we think of Christmas we remember that God Makes promises and keeps them

Jesus is the one that makes all of God’s promises Yes & Amen & forever.

Application

Is God Strong enough to keep his promises? Yes!

Will God ever lie to us? No!

Can we trust God to always do what he says? Yes!

Who came into this world to make all of God’s promises true? Jesus!

When you choose to believe (trust) a promise of God it changes you because you are holding on to the truest thing there is.

When you trust and believe that Jesus came into this world to rescue you from your sins, God promises to give you eternal life forever.

Jesus is God’s promise coming true.

So I ask all the boys and girls in this room. whether you are 5 or 95. -

Is God Strong enough to keep his promises?

Will God ever lie to us?

Can we trust God to always do what he says?

Who came into this world to make all of God’s promises true? Jesus.

Will you trust him? ______________

And if you do, what are you going to do about it?