Dear Father in Heaven: I love You, and I give thanks to You for all things. Thanks for carrying us forth for another Christmas Eve. Please be with pastors, priests, and all who have Christmas Eve services, helping them to remember that Christmas is not just about the birth of Jesus but also about Salvation. Please help me with the message and then please help me to get it dispatched. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, it is Christmas Eve, and I want to get right to the message. It is a special Christmas Eve. Do you know why? It is also Wednesday, meaning it is Salvation Wednesday Christmas Eve. It is also a very hard time Christmas Eve. Please pray for peace. Please pray for police and first responders, and please pray for our military. Also please pray for those who are unsaved, and if you are not sure about them, pray for them anyway as if they were not saved. And please pray for our son Matthew, wherever he may be. Let me get to the message.
Salvation Wednesday: Christmas Eve, December 24, 2014: The Big Trip (Day Fourteen)
The Birth of Jesus
Luke 2:1 - In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register. 4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a Child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the Baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a Baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests."
15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."
16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this Child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. (NIV)
Brothers and sisters, let's get this bus up and running. Old 36 is working well. Settle in now, things happen fast. As we left yesterday, Joseph had just settled in the stable with Mary. I will be pulling scripture down as we go. All the scripture will be from the NIV as shown above unless I quote it differently.
Luke 2:6 - While they were there, the time came for the Baby to be born, 7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Look, brothers and sisters, Mary is giving birth, and Joseph is helping her, but more so she has a stronger Helper, for we just know with this Child being delivered, the Power of the Holy Spirit will be right in there helping. As we watch I am so impressed with the way Joseph is handling all of this. Remember, Joseph is the earthly father of Jesus, and until this time he has not had any contact with Mary other than to help and take care of her and this Special Child. Let's watch some more. Joseph now has Jesus in his arms. Now brothers and sisters, turn your heads for a minute as Joseph hands Mary her Baby Son, whom she is about to feed. Think about it, brothers and sisters, I want to point out to all of you men right now, and yes, you women also. God built women like He did so they could feed their little ones. Don't you really think that before Jesus was placed in the manger Mary would have fed this Special Child? I think so.
Okay, Mary has now handed Jesus back to Joseph and he has placed Jesus into the manger. AND THE WORLD BECAME CHANGED FOREVER!! The sky got bright with a Holy Light, for indeed it was the Birthday of our King. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS!! The Baby was wrapped in cloths and placed in the manger. Where would they get clothes in a barn? More than likely Joseph and Mary packed these things, knowing the time was near, or maybe the innkeeper gave them some things to take to the stable. For me, I want to think of it this way. "Every need supplied." "Every need supplied." That still goes on today if we love our Lord God, he will supply every need. Someone say Amen.
Luke 2:8 - And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
The shepherds were located near and watching their flocks, and we know here it was night. An angel of the Lord. More than likely it was Gabriel since he has been dispatched by God throughout all the announcements. It is neat also to see how bright it got, for the GLORY OF THE LORD SHONE around them, and they got terrified, they were afraid. Here are shepherds, who stand watch at night, protecting their sheep from robbers and other animals, and they were not afraid of that, but let the Lord show up and light the place up and they get afraid. While we are to be in reverent fear of our Lord we surely want to be ready for when Jesus does return, for He will return in "a cloud of light" and since that will happen fast, if you see that light, you might not have made the cut. More on that after Christmas.
Luke 2:10 - But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a Baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Once again we see the angel tells them not to be afraid. Also we see here the angel telling them that he brings the GOOD NEWS. Do you remember Jesus talking about the good news?
Mark 16:15 - He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the GOOD NEWS to all creation."
Then the angel told them it would bring great joy to all the people and that the Savior was born to YOU, meaning us, brothers and sisters, it is very clear the Baby Jesus was born for us. Also said by the angel who is the messenger here, that he was just relaying words from God. "He is the Messiah, the Lord." And it was a sign to them, again meaning us this day. The sign, a BABY. So we find out the GOOD NEWS IS THE MESSIAH, THE LORD, AND IT IS A BABY. Oh my gosh, it is great. Let's look in some more. Anyone want a break? I didn't think so!
Luke 2:13 - Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests." 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this Child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them.
And Gabriel came with friends. As soon as the shepherds were told a great company of heavenly hosts appeared with the angel. Heavenly Hosts, what does that mean? More angels, (look above in verse 15) the group, the great company were also standing by to rescue Jesus from the cross if He were to have changed His mind. Of course we know He did not change His mind. He was sent to do a job, save us from our sins, and He did just that. Once again here I want to tell you that this BIRTH OF A CHILD IS ABOUT SALVATION. Let's move on.
After the angels left, the shepherd said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem." I wonder if one or two of the shepherds stayed back to keep watch over the flock? I would think that they would have left someone back. Why do I think that? Let's look at it this way. Do you think our Shepherd, our Lord Jesus, would ever leave us unprotected? Now the Bible tells us that as soon as they saw this Child they did what? Come on, say it. Come on, say it, you know it. As soon as they saw what was going on, they went and told others. YES, THEY WENT RIGHT OUT AND STARTED TELLING THE GOOD NEWS.
"GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN"
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere,
go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.
The shepherds did as they were told to do and they went right away and started to tell that Good News. And all who heard them were amazed at what the shepherds told them. Amazed, they have seen nothing yet, nothing, let's put that to a song.
Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound that SAVED a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found; was blind, but now I see.
Brothers and sisters, does that fit you? I know it does me. Yes indeed, once WAS lost, but now "I" am found. Yes, brothers and sisters, I was also blind, but God's Amazing Grace let me see the Light, the Light of Salvation through Jesus Christ who is indeed the LIGHT OF THE WORLD.
1 John 1:5 - This is the message we have heard from Him and declared to you; GOD IS LIGHT; in Him there is no darkness at all.
Now you see where the Light comes from! Hold on, no breaks now.
Luke 2:19 - But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
As we see in the scripture, Mary really was not talking, as we look in and see that she just treasured these things and thought about them. Please, she was "pondering them in her heart." Brothers and sisters, as we think about things, we should always take this from our Dear Blessed Virgin Mary, and we should be thinking things over not just in our brain, but we really should run all things through our heart. Yes, we should.
Luke 2:20 - The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
According to the scriptures, after the shepherds left and told all they could find, they returned back to the manger, the BIRTHPLACE OF OUR KING and there they were glorifying and praising God and for what? FOR ALL THINGS!
So as I close out this part of the Big Trip, I want to point this out, as you go out and tell others the Good News. Keep Jesus in your heat, for that is our way today of returning back to Him. I want to join in now with what the shepherds did when they came back, back to the manger. Come on and join me.
Praise You, Jesus, Glory to God, I love You, Jesus, I love You, Lord, I love You, Lord, I Worship You, Lord, and I sing praise to You this day. Well, glory! I lift my arms in Praise, Hallelujah!
Brothers and sisters, as I leave you for this Christmas Eve, I want to leave you with a few things.
Hebrews 13:8 - Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever.
Jesus does not change, but we do, and I pray today that You will grow in Jesus, day after day after day. Today we park our ride, Dave's bus number 36, and say goodnight to his dear wife and mother. Beverly and Linda, someday we will join Dave in Heaven. Until then he would want us all to keep going forward. We send you both our love, saying this. Jesus loves you and so do we.
And so as I go I must say this. Go forth now and share your many, many blessings, enjoy your Christmas, and love each other. Yes, I love ya, and I would really appreciate your sharing the love with others.
Pastor Dan
Silent Night, Holy Night, all is calm, all is bright.
'Round yon virgin, mother and Child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild.
Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
Silent Night, Holy Night, Son of God, Love's pure LIGHT.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face,
with the dawn of redeeming grace.
Jesus Lord at thy birth, JESUS LORD AT THY BIRTH.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A BLESSED, BLESSED CHRISTMAS!!
Blessings from our home to yours: Dolores and I love you.
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