
Christmas…Cover to Cover
Skeletons in the Closet
Matthew Chapter 1, The Genealogy of Christ:
*This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4 Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, 7 Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8 Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9 Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12 After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud,
15 Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan,Matthan the father of Jacob,16 and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.
17 Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.*
Three types of people hanging from the branches in Christ’s family tree–
the faithful, the failures, and the forgotten.
1. THE FAITHFUL
Isaac. Hebrews 11:20: “By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.”
Jacob. Hebrews 11:21: “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.”
Ruth. Ruth 1:16: “Where you go, I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
David. 1 Samuel 13:14: “The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart…”
Solomon. 1 Kings 13:12: “I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.”
Asa. 1 Kings 15:11: “Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done.”
Jehoshaphat. 2 Chronicles 17:3: “The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because in his early years he walked in the ways his father David had followed.”
Josiah. 2 Kings 23:25: “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did-with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.”
Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:5: “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel.”
2. THE FAILURES
• “Families are like fudge. Mostly sweet with a few nuts.”
• Judah (Genesis 38)
He married a Canaanite woman. Sleeps with his daughter in law.
• Rahab
Rahab is mentioned eight times in Scripture, and six of those times, she’s referred to as “Rahab the prostitute.”
• Bathsheba
Committed adultery with David
• Rehoboam
Love of pride and lust for power, was responsible for the dividing of the kingdom (1 Kings 12:19).
• Ahaz
Worshipped pagan gods and eventually self-destructed.
• Manasseh
Judah’s most wicked ruler
3. THE FORGOTTEN
• Hezron, Ram, Abiud, Azor, and Akim
• This is the story of Christmas! That we all have a place in the story! The faithful, the feeble, the failures, the forgotten and the finaglers!
“We often spend more time trying to write ourselves out of the story,
when Christ gave everything to include us in the story!!”
TAKE AWAYS:
God brings forth the BEST from the MESS!!!
• It does not matter if you are faithful, a failure or feel forgotten!
• You have a destiny, and you are part of God’s Christmas Story!!- Through the broken, God breaks through!
• God needs the broken to perform His breakthroughs!
• The plan of God is wrapped around the imperfect to reveal the perfect!
- Through the broken, God breaks through!
You can jump in the “tree” today!
• You can be part of this bloodline and add your own skeletons to the Christmas Story!
• Make Jesus the Lord of your life today and allow him to redeem you with His grace.