In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! "
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. "Don't be frightened, Mary," the angel told her, "for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!"
Mary asked the angel, "But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin."
The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. What's more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she's already in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." And then the angel left.
Luke1:26-38 NLT
Mary Visits Elizabeth
A few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town where Zechariah lived. She entered the house and greeted Elizabeth. At the sound of Mary's greeting, Elizabeth's child leaped within her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, "You are blessed by God above all other women, and your child is blessed. What an honor this is, that the mother of my Lord should visit me! When you came in and greeted me, my baby jumped for joy the instant I heard your voice! You are blessed, because you believed that the Lord would do what he said."
Luke 1:35-39 NLT
The Birth of Jesus the Messiah, Angel appears to Joseph
Now this is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her fiance, being a just man, decided to break the engagement quietly, so as not to disgrace her publicly.
As he considered this, he fell asleep, and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. "Joseph, son of David," the angel said, "do not be afraid to go ahead with your marriage to Mary. For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." All of this happened to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet:
"Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
She will give birth to a son,
and he will be called Immanuel
(meaning, God is with us)."
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded. He brought Mary home to be his wife, but she remained a virgin until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.
Matt.1:18-25 NLT
Magnificat-Mary's Song
And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me--
holy is his name.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
Luke 1:46-56 NIV
The Birth of Jesus
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.
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. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
Luke 2:1-7NIV
The Shepherds and the Angels
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."
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."
So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
Luke2:8-20 NIV
The Visit of the Magi, or Wise Men
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' "
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."
After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Matt. 2:1-12 NIV
The Escape to Egypt
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Matt.2:13-16 NIV
Good evening from the Church Ministries, It is evening, the night before Christmas, we are all here to express our love to the Father for sending His own son Jesus Christ, to be born on earth and to live with us, and grow with us, and to learn and experience the pains and the joys of us all. Then to take the sins of the world upon Himself, so we would be accepted , saved and sanctified to face the one true God. He was born on an unregistered time but through the years as man has revolved this day of December 25th was made to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. No one knows the actual date of His birth, and the as the story’s go there appears to be a mixture of paganism mixed with other different kinds of worship. As time evolved through the traditions of men, not God or the bible, as the centuries have turned and changed tracks, and people have been altered, and we adopted a time period of Christmas. The bible itself does not speak of any day, of Christmas. So many vast scholars have not been able to pinpoint a proper date at all, the astrology and the timing, and the setting of the stars and the moon all point to a different time frame other than what we celebrate. But what have we all done, gone against God? Have we followed the traditions of men to far? Are we running around to get presents and give, and expect to receive gifts from others, or are we just supposed to give and never expect anything in return. There isn’t Christmas anywhere in the bible or even the celebration basically at all. God wants us to honor the Sabbath to keep it holy. Have we done even any of that? Or are we just kind, loving and considerate for the month of December? Shouldn’t we love our brothers and sisters and friends and family all the time, with a special love at all periods? So as the centuries have gone by, it moved like a child’s game of telephone, where one person would whisper in to another person’s ear, and then to another, and by the end of the line of the children, the whisper that originally began changed from one aspect of clarity to another. So today we celebrate the birth of Christ, through shifting traditions of men. When mans thought and theory is involved and not God’s we like all men make mistakes, we all do this, that is why we need the Lord Jesus, because without Him we are nothing and we would still be in our sins. We would not have the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Also we could not come boldly to God for prayer, or ask for His help, God most of the time will not even listen. But through the birth of His Son and His death, Jesus made it all possible to have all three. Now if you have accepted Christ as your Lord and savior, you will have Jesus in you, the fellowship and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the full grace and worship with the Father.
We also have these trees that we adore in our homes, and decorate, light up, and a quantity of of us pay more attention to these trees, then the whole basis for the celebration of Christ. We light up our houses, and we put things in our yard, and even the mystical Santa Claus has pushed the meaning of the birth of Christ away from many, many children. We should not adore a tree, we should adore Christ. We should not tell our children that Santa is the giver, but God the Father and the Son are the givers of life, and of all things. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth, not a tree, or presents, or Christmas lights. What about who can by the better present? Or who can buy the nicest thing, with the least amount of money? Or who can spend the most amount of money, to show off there expensive gift with pride? And in turn all expect to receive something in return. Like receiving a card in the mail from a neighbor you forgot, or didn’t think would send you one, then we rush around to send them a gift or a card in return. All of this, is not why we celebrate Christmas, it is for the Birth of Christ our Savior of the world.
The good parts of Christmas are the gatherings of families together, and that is a major factor of this season. It is so beautiful to see family members get together and share there love and joys with themselves as a group, and to have a special meeting place which all can be together, to exchange not only gifts, but there love and there feelings, and a lot of times giving gifts is a way to share your feelings for each other. The travels, the time frames and all of the schedules get to be sometime hectic, but things all seem to work out for large families. Then we question the ones that don’t have large families or don’t have families at all, to them Christmas can and is a very lonely time, and a very hurtful time. Being alone and looking out your window and seeing all the other neighbors and friends coming and going, bearing smiles, gifts and listening to laughter and joys, and you are all alone as you sit, by yourself, on your own, and most of us just cry. The people on the streets that are homeless all stick together. They might not have a roof or a house, or even food, but they share with each other, with what they have. They seem to have each other and a lot times that overpowers the loneness. People in houses or apartments that have everything they need, but no family or friends, those are the ones I feel for. Don’t forget I have been there, and in all circumstances and conditions both good and bad...I guess that is another reason for the meeting of the church, we are all here, and we all love one another, and we can share the Love of God even if we are sitting next to people we don’t even know. We still can have fellowship. I guess it really doesn’t matter when the time of Christ was born, as long as we celebrate it all together, with the proper meaning, and to be conscience of what Christmas is all about, the birth of Jesus Christ the king, our King of Kings. Good night all, think on the things of God always, and when Christmas is over, and someone asks for your help, make believe that Christmas is everyday, and it should be, in our hearts forever. Rev. Paul
