Sunday, December 24, 2023 AM
MY CHRISTMAS CARD TO YOU: Love Come Down
Mike Teel, Pastor
FOCAL PASSAGE:
14 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 7:14
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
—Isaiah 9:6
This Christmas season we celebrate …
JESUS WAS THE
OF PROPHESY
14 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 7:14
—From the Garden of Eden until we read from the opening pages of Matthew, God continuously shared with us of the coming Messiah.
—What was spoken of and predicted in the Old Testament was fulfilled in the New Testament.
—When God gave Isaiah the prophesy of the Birth of Jesus it would be 700 years before it was fulfilled.
—When Jesus was born in Bethlehem multiple prophesies were fulfilled.
18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 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. 21 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.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). —Matthew 1:18-23
—So today at Christmas time we Celebrate Jesus was the fulfillment of Prophesy.
—The long-awaited Messiah.
This Christmas season we celebrate …
JESUS WAS
WITH US
Read with me several passages of Scripture that communicate this …
14 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 7:14
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
—Matthew 1:22-236a For to us a child is born, to us a son is given —Isaiah 9:6a
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? —John 14:8-9
—The perfect being revealed in the imperfect.
—God took on the vail of flesh in the form of the second member of the Trinity to become the infinite God-Man and the ultimate sacrifice to reconcile us back to Himself in Jesus Christ.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. —John 1:1-2, 14
—Jesus’ purpose was to reconcile us back to God through His sacrificial death! (reconcile means to make friends of an enemy)
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. —II Corinthians 5:17-19
—The innocent becoming guilty so the guilty could become innocent.
This Christmas season we celebrate …
JESUS MEETS ALL OUR
He is everything we will ever need …
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
—Isaiah 9:6
1. WONDERFUL
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” —Romans 11:33-34
—We all need advice at times in our lives.
—Jesus is our “Wonderful Counselor” the advisor in fact the designer of our lives.
—If you want to know what to do, turn to Jesus, Wonderful Counselor and ask. But don’t ask unless you are prepared to follow His instructions.
2.
GOD
67 “If you are the Messiah,” they said, “tell us.” Jesus answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me, 68 and if I asked you, you would not answer. 69 But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.” —Luke 22:67-69
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. —I Peter 5:6-7
—Many more times than we want to admit, we need a Mighty God in our lives.
—We need a Mighty God to assist us in just living for Him day after day!
—Just consider the fact that as Might God He became one of us to deliver us from ourselves and our sin.
—As Mighty God He not only died on the cross but miraculously resurrected from the dead indicating He was indeed a Mighty God.
3.
FATHER
—Human fathers come and go.
—But this passage tells us that Jesus will be to all of us a Father whose involvement and influence in our lives will never end.
—Not only is our great God and the Lord Jesus a Father to the Fatherless.
5 A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. —Psalm 68:5
—He is an Everlasting Father and will never leave us.
37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. —John 6:37-38
4. PRINCE OF
—The name “Prince of Peace” is the Hebrew “Shar Shalom”, which means “the one who removes all peace-disturbing factors and secures the peace.”
—Jesus came to bring peace to our lives that we cannot know outside of a personal relationship with Christ.
—In fact, this is what Christmas is all about. The birth of a Savior who would “save His people from their sins.”
—The peace we know is not of this world for we still have difficulties.
—But the peace we have is knowing we will spend eternity with the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!
This Christmas we celebrate because Jesus was the fulfillment of Prophesy, He was God with us, and He meets all our needs … He is Love Come Down!
LIVE IT OUT
—How will you celebrate Christmas this year?
—This Christmas do you have in your possession the true Prince of Peace?
—Jesus will meet all your needs!