Luke 1:5 - 2:15 - Christmas reminds us of God, the Father who lives in us

We are going to talk about Jesus and as the world is celebrating Christmas, for us Christians, it is a matter of remembering the birth not only of the child that is born but the birth of our saviour in our world.

Luke 1:5- 2:15

For Jesus to be born, for me personally and for the Christian community, it was a symbol of God’s love to send His only Son to come to earth to live among us and save us.  It was a way of teaching us human beings that we can’t complain because He knows what we live and has experienced what we go through and He understands pain, problems and challenges.  Therefore, all your problems will find a solution in Jesus

There are similarities in the birth of Jesus and John.  The parents of John were an old couple, Zechariah and Elizabeth, who had fought for years to have a child but couldn’t have one.  Then the angel Gabriel came to Zechariah, “Your wife will conceive and you will name the child John and this boy will bring Israelites to God but John should never drink alcohol or live this type of life”.

Gabriel was sent to Mary to bring the same message, “You will conceive and get pregnant and have a child and his name shall be Emmanuel”.  Mary was a virgin and was told she will conceive with the power of the Holy Spirit. They both gave birth to boys. 

If we look carefully, the Bible is trying to teach us the resemblance between the birth of these two.  They were both miraculous births but on one side, a human being as a servant of God was born and on the other side, God himself was born.

As we celebrate Christmas, many celebrate the birth of John the Baptist and not Jesus.  The angel Gabriel came to Zechariah, a servant of God who had worked for many years in the temple.  Zechariah couldn’t speak from that day on.  When Elizabeth became pregnant, the Holy Spirit was with Elizabeth and living with John.  When Mary and Elizabeth met, the power could be felt between the two babies. 

John came to preach the gospel to Israel and bring them to God while Jesus came to preach the gospel and bring the entire earth to God’s Kingdom.  Many people go to church and they experience the Word of God, they listen and they take it as physical only.  The message enters their lives but is limited to only what their ears and minds can receive and does not allow the Holy Spirit to act in them.  Therefore, they can also tell you, I have read the Bible and heard that message but they don’t change their lives. 

John was in the womb and connected to Jesus but he was not Jesus.  When you receive a message, do you connect that message to Jesus who lives in you?  When you read the Bible, do you understand that it is the Word of God and you respect it as the Word of Go?  Children respect the word of their parents.  We must respect our parents.

For John who was preaching the gospel, he reached a point where he said, “it is not me, follow Him”.  He told all them, “Don’t follow me, follow Him, he is the Lamb of God, go to Jesus”.  Many of us will stop where we are in our church, in our knowledge, and stories we hear and don’t have the courage to move forward to follow Jesus.

John was a good preacher and a good guy and was baptising people but he was sending them to Jesus.  Do you send yourself to Jesus sometimes?  When your thoughts go too far away, do you tell your mind, the solution is with Jesus.  “My thoughts, I cannot respond to that, Jesus is the answer”.  I try to do something, and I can’t do it, turn to Jesus, He is the answer.  Some on the earth will see servants of God when they have problems, “Support me, pray for me,” which is good but the last word is to go to Jesus.

When we celebrate Christmas, we remember the birth of Jesus.  What is a birthday?  Is it about their birth?  We can eat and drink or should we stop and praise God for having the privilege to have that child among us.  Usually when we celebrate birthdays, we have cake, food, singing, and we want to look nice.

How old were you last year Anna? 12 and now you are 13.  Can you go back to 12?  No, we must remember that Jesus was born in us last year and He should not be treated as a baby in our lives as we did yesterday.  We can’t say we are spiritual babies forever.  When we are 20 years living with Jesus in us, should we continue to treat Him as a child?

God has never been a child but people treat Him as one, “I don’t care what God thinks”.  We do what we want when and how we want, we don’t fear Him to be a father and because of lack of respect and fear we celebrate year after year that Jesus was born and is a child in us but we should celebrate the Father in us. 

Christmas should be the remembrance of God living in us (Emmanuel) rather than a baby born in Bethlehem.  We should think of him as Emmanuel in our lives.  Where is he living now?  If Bethlehem is my body, is Jesus really living in me? For the past 20 years, you have been experiencing living with Jesus. 

If you ask Colleen, who is Keith, she will know him very well. She know what he likes and doesn’t like, “Honey what do you want for dinner,” and it will be up to Colleen to cook for him.  Keith knows who is Colleen.  Jesus knows who we are and we know who Jesus is.  What is our duty to this God?  He gave us salvation and we have been living together for years but we still continue to act foolishly against God who gave His life for us.

When a husband and wife live together and there is a misunderstanding, they may end up deciding not to continue and to fix the problem but if one doesn’t want to fix the problem, there will not be stability in the family. 

Today Jesus is 2020 years old.  He is very old isn’t he.  We can glorify him on Christmas day but after the celebration we are mean to Jesus with our actions and words.  In the morning, “We love you Jesus,” and by the evening, do I even care.  I only care about my own life.  “I had a lot of problems today and God you did nothing”.

Keith can be there reading his book but Colleen knows what to do for her husband.  In his heart Keith is glorifying God for such a woman.  Jesus is the husband of the church.  When it is the birthday of a dad in the family, what happens?  The whole family will celebrate.  Who are we going to celebrate with this Christmas?  The angels came down when Jesus was born and celebrated and informed the shepherds.  Who are you going to inform about Emmanuel in your life?

One time in my dream, I became a santa and I had a big bag and I was going door after door and if you open, I give you something and I was giving small boxes with Bible verses.  They would open it and throw it away.  I’m giving those Bible verses but they don’t accept them.  Another santa was offering chocolates and everyone was receiving those chocolates with joy.

When it is time to inform the world about who Emmanuel is among us they do not want to receive it.  You can invite people for food and BBQ and they will come but they won’t want to listen to the Word of God. 

The angels celebrated but many people did not go to Bethlehem.  Don’t stop to remember that you have someone who was born several years ago.  When others are not singing, sing for your Lord, don’t be ashamed, He loves worship.  If you put all your mind in someone who can perform miracles or is anointed, you can learn from that person but if you want the true salvation, go to Jesus.  Don’t stick with John but move to follow Jesus and be his disciple.

Put all in Jesus not in your church or denomination.  Jesus only had 12 disciples.  Please come in and join those 12.  John will never say no to his disciples to move to Jesus.  Be with Jesus and be a disciple of Jesus and it is up to you to decide how to become one and when and what is your role as a disciple.

Christmas is not a word from the Bible but it encourages us to be near Jesus.  The wise men brought their gifts and no one else brought gifts.  The entire world was expecting the baby to be born, how many prepared gifts for Jesus?  When was the last time you gave to Jesus and what type of gift was it?

One gave perfume that smelt good and one gave gold which was full of value.  They tried to find something special to give to God. What is the most important and special thing in your life that you can offer to Jesus?  They didn’t fear the darkness (it was night time).  I have lots of problems and challenges, I can’t offer my life to Jesus.  Darkness can’t stop you from offering your life to Jesus.

After the wise men left, the angels told the parents of Jesus to leave.  They left for Egypt.  It might be late for you if you delay and you don’t offer your life and something special for Jesus, you might find He is gone.  Life is short.  If you want to enjoy life, don’t enjoy it here on earth but prepare to enjoy heaven which is eternity. 

I wish you all a wonderful, peaceful year and a year of change and things that didn’t work previously will work this year,  pray 2021 will be a year of victory as we prepare for Jesus coming back.