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And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.(Matthew 1:21)
Long did the world await His coming. Long did the people of God pine for the promised Seed. Long did we desire the advent of the one who would bring about the kingdom of God. And He has come! And He has risen! Christ came to earth in sinless perfection, lived His life in perfect holiness, gave up perfection to become our sin, and took up perfection once more in His resurrection! Praise the Lord for His salvation all you who believe!
Silent Night, Holy Night - Andrea Bocelli
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=769IcIGWhVE
The True Story of Christmas: God with Us
By Sean Gooding
Matthew 1:18-25
“Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.
But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us.’
Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name Jesus.”
In my previous article, “God Keeps His Promises” I showed how Jesus has the legal and biblical right to sit in the throne of David. I showed how God was diligent in making sure that He kept His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob about one of their lineage being the King of Israel.
This should be a source of comfort for us; God keeps His promises and goes to great lengths to protect His reputation and integrity.
Now we will look at this text again.We have just celebrated Thanksgiving here in Canada, and I can’t think of a greater reason to be thankful than for the birth of our Savior Jesus the Christ. Often this text is associated with the Christmas story and rightly so, but it is an appropriate text for all occasions.
There is no thanksgiving without the birth of Jesus, there is no Easter without the birth of Jesus, there is no forgiveness without the birth of Jesus and there is no hope without the birth of Jesus. And so today we will explore the wonders of this account with goal of solidifying in your hearts the wonderful gift we have from God.
Pregnant without ever being sexually involved with a man, verse 18.
This is the most important fact about the birth of Jesus.Without this we are doomed and the myths that we have been sold as truth have damned us to hell forever. To understand why Jesus had to be born via a woman being impregnated by the Spirit of God we must first understand the sin nature of man.
The subject of the “depravity of man” is not preached about much in a lot of churches. This is a touchy subject that defies the “I’m okay, you’re okay” philosophies that have been either forced upon the Lord’s churches or in many cases adopted by ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing” who have traded sound doctrine for a counterfeit gospel that is not the true gospel at all.
Many people in church do not comprehend why the virgin birth was so important to all men.
Yes, Jesus had to be born without the assistance of Joseph because his bloodline had been cut off from the throne of Israel. But this was to satisfy the promise to a few men; the virgin birth was really to satisfy a promise that God had made to all men in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15:
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
This promise made to all men needed to be fulfilled.What was the promise? The promise was that God would send the “Seed” of a woman to kill Lucifer and his power, death. The “Seed” of the woman talks about a virgin birth since the seed of a child is actually in the man; his sperm is the seed of life to a baby.
So the “Seed” of the woman, Jesus, would crush the head of the serpent, it, the serpent, represented Lucifer. In the process of crushing the head of the serpent, the ‘Seed’ would get a temporary bruise on His heel. Jesus suffered death for 3 days and nights and resurrected, in the process Lucifer and his power were killed forever.
Sin is the reason that Jesus had to born of a virgin without the aid of a man. His nature would not be corrupted by being born in sin. What do I mean you ask? Do any of your have children? Did you have to teach them how to lie? How to steal? How to rebel? How to be sneaky? How to disobey?
Did you have to provide an example of how to throw a temper tantrum?The answer is no!The sin nature is in bred it is passed on from the father to the child.Moms have a sin nature as well but they get it from their dads. So anyone with a human father has a sin nature.Anyone with a sin nature will not satisfy God’s requirement for being sinless and CANNOT be the Savior.
In today’s world we have watered down what is sin and call a lot of stuff a mistake. Jesus did not have to come and die for our mistakes. When I misspell a word that is a mistake, not a sin. There is no law of God that says “Thou shalt not misspell words.” However, when I lie, steal, disrespect my parents, murder or bow to idols I have committed sin.
Since it is our NATURE, our very being that is corrupted by sin, we do not have to actually sin to go to hell. We have a spiritual disposition to be sinful and God cannot accept that defect in us. We need to be BORN AGAIN, so Jesus came to fix that. He could not allow that spiritual defect to infect Jesus either so Jesus was born via a woman and with the Seed of God. Thus He has the body of a human and the nature of God. He is 100 percent God and 100 percent man.
Jesus, He will save His people from their sins, verse 22.
What’s in a name? Today names do not have the same significance that they once did. Jewish people often did not name their children for a period of time to observe the child and then name them according to their character. Jacob of the Old Testament was a trickster and his name reflected that. Joseph and Joshua were “Christ types” of the Old Testament, the root word for their names come for same root as Jesus.
God chose not to record any of their sins.Jesus’ name told everyone who He was and what He was here to do. He was here for the sole purpose of delivering us from our sins. How is one delivered from one’s sins? Hebrews 9:22 tells us:
“And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission.”
Simply put, the only way that God’s wrath is appeased over sin is by the death of something or someone.That is what the shedding of blood means; death. In Romans 6: 23 we are told that the “wages of sin is death.”
The just payment for our sins is death. We all understand the word “wages,” We receive wages every week or two weeks based on what you have earned by working. Well in God’s economy, we have earned death after all of our “work.”
In the Old Testament God’s wrath was appeased by the regular killing, called sacrificing, of animals. Millions of animals died in man’s stead.But this kind of death could only satisfy God for so long since the animals were not the sinners, they did not deserve death, we did. Eventually we had to “man up” as they say and take responsibility for our own sins. So God sent His Son Jesus as a Man to “man up” for us:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
You and I do not have to be sacrificed for our sins as we deserve, Jesus did that for us. That is how He SAVED us from our sins. We are called to put our faith, our trust and our dependence on/in the death that Jesus died for us and in that trust God will save us from death and remove the legal charges of sins that were on our eternal record.
Immanuel, God with us, verse 23.
This is the result of what Jesus has done for us; when we put our trust in the death of Jesus for our sins. He has broken down the barrier between man and God; the barrier of sin. NOW God can be with us. He can live in us, be our friend, communicate with us and live with us. He can reveal His plans to us and we, mere men and women, frail flesh and blood can have an intimate and eternal relationship with God.
This is why we can talk about Jesus at Thanksgiving; He is our source of life and peace. He is the very center and power of all we have with God and in Him we have the power to be called the children of God.
“Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not” (1 John 3:1).
Are you a child of God?
Have you put your faith, trust and dependence in the death of Jesus for your sin debt to God?
If not, you are wasting the greatest gift ever given by the Lord—His Son, for your sins. Be saved today, call on Jesus and He will save you.
Sean Gooding Pastor Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church Mississauga, ON Canada
"Fair Use for Information & Educational Purposes"
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What a wonderful and true story of the birth of our Lord & Savior Jesus, Excellent Article above, thanks to Pastor Sean Gooding, of ON Canada. Indeed "God Is With US" Amen!
Greetings,
I wish all the Christians around the whole world especially, everyone who read here, a blessed Christmas 2015. This is the time we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, who was born of a virgin named Mary, suffered, died, and was buried, and rose again on the third day, and ascended to the God the Father in Heaven. Jesus is coming again to set up His kingdom here on Earth!.
May each and everyone have a Very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year. Let's remember this as a joyeous occasion, while Praising our Heavenly Father for His wondrous love God has for the world. God send His only begotten Son, Jesus, our Lord and Savior as a babe, born in Bethlehem to do what no one else could do, except, the One and only Son of the Living God, without sin; to die in our place for all sinners because of God's love for us . What greater gift can anyone give or receive, than the saving grace of Salvation through our Lord Jesus. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The world lay in darkness, until Jesus was born, and came to Earth to lay down His life willing, because of His love for the Father, and for us. Let us celebrate with great jubilation,with joy, love, peace, hope and Christian faith. For Jesus, the Lord of Lord's and King of Kings was born,
and He is alive, and lives forevermore and so shall we through His sacrifice. Most precious gift of all,willing laying His life down for us, so that we might have eternal life, with Jesus in Heaven.
May we never cease praising Jesus, here on earth and in heaven. For who else is truly worthy of such praise, therefore, never let us forget the Lord's first coming to Earth. We find the joy and inspiration amongst much trials, testing, strife, disasters, wars and rumors of wars to raise our voices nevertheless in song, praise and worship, give Honor and Glory to God., for sending Jesus so long ago. Jesus is the greatest gift of all; for all who will repent, and accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, will not perish, but have a blessed eternal life with Lord Jesus forevermore..Sing yea Children Sing, Sing unto the Lord your God! Amen!
In Jesus Love,
Valerie
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MARY'S BOY CHILD (Lyrics) - JOSE MARI CHAN
Boney M - Mary's Boy Child (Lyrics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHTCldo7uw4
Jesus Is the Reason for the Season
By Greg May
“For unto 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).
God announced through Isaiah He was sending His Son seven hundred years before Jesus was born. God wants us to know these four titles about His only begotten Son: Jesus is a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, an Everlasting Father and He is the Prince of Peace.
Two thousand years after His birth these titles still ring true of Jesus today. As for Wonderful Counselor, Jesus is all-knowing. He knows our hearts, our weaknesses and fears. He also knows our deepest, darkest secrets. But He can forgive us of our secret sins.
He is the Light when shined into the darkest chambers of our hearts we are forgiven and renewed. And He is Truth. The wisdom Jesus has is because He is God.
“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are His” (Job 12:13).
That baby swaddled and placed in a manger was Almighty Mighty God; Jesus parted the Red Sea and said, “Let there be light” because Jesus is God.
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
The place where Mary and Joseph laid baby Jesus was a Kingdom outpost – the pioneer of everlasting life had arrived! The broken world had long been pining for peace . Jesus is not just the Prince of Peace – He is the King of Peace.
When we submit to Jesus only then can we receive the gift of peace.
This Christmas let’s reflect upon what Jesus did in order that we can have everlasting life with God as well as have life and more abundantly here on earth as we eagerly await His return.
In this Scripture we see three powerful truths about God: He is giving, He is love and His desire is for our salvation:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
God sacrificed His only begotten Son in order to accept us as His children. God loves because it is his nature to love, but only those who respond to His love will be able to spend eternity with Him in His kingdom. Those who reject God’s invitation to salvation will not have everlasting life with Him.
Some people believe they can work their way into heaven by doing good works; only those who ask and receive the gift of everlasting life will be able to spend eternity in the kingdom of God – and that is the greatest gift of all!
Dr. Michael Youssef of Leading the Way ministries recently wrote: “Now, more than any other time in history, we need to be equipped to stand for the truth that ‘there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’” (Acts 4:12)
Standing for Jesus must be our priority in these last days as we eagerly await the return of the Son of Man.
I cannot watch “The Passion of Christ.” I cannot bear to see Jesus being whipped, beaten and nailed to that cross. Remember the song, “He Could Have Called Ten Thousand Angels?”
Jesus had the power and authority to call ten million angels to rescue Him from His predicament at Calvary. He could have sent those iron spikes that were so brutally hammered into His wrists and feet into the eyes of those Roman soldiers that were torturing Him. But He didn’t . . . He went through the pain, agony and humiliation and do you know why?
Because He couldn’t bear the thought of spending eternity without you!
http://www.raptureready.com/soap2/may16.html
http://www.raptureready.com/soap2/may16.html
