remember the promise - christmas eve - 2013-12-24

8/13/2019 Remember the Promise - Christmas Eve - 2013-12-24

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“Remember the Promise - Christmas Eve”December 24, 2013

Reading #1

saiah !"14

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the prophet Isaiah brought this message to Ahaz, the king ofJudah:

“14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and willcall him Immanuel .”

And then, after hundreds of years, the Spirit of God suddeny breaks out upon the and of his peope and !eread these !ords in "uke #:$%&'(:

26 In the sixth month of li!abeth"s #regnancy, $od sent the angel $abriel to %a!areth, a town in $alilee, 2& to

a virgin #ledged to be married to a man named 'ose#h, a descendant of (avid) The virgin"s name was *ary)2+ The angel went to her and said, $reetings, you who are highly favored- The Lord is with you).2/ *ary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what 0ind of greeting this might be) 3ut the angel

said to her, (o not be afraid, *ary you have found favor with $od) 1 5ou will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him 'esus) 2 e will be great and will be called the 7on of the *ost igh) The Lord

$od will give him the throne of his father (avid, and he will reign over 'acob"s descendants forever his

0ingdom will never end).4 ow will this be,. *ary as0ed the angel, since I am a virgin8.9 The angel answered, The oly 7#irit will come on you, and the #ower of the *ost igh will overshadow

you) 7o the holy one to be born will be called the 7on of $od)

Reading #2

Aso iving about the same time as Isaiah !as the prophet )i*ah !ho tod of the *oming )essiah and !here he

!oud be born, again, more than seven hundred years before his arriva. +icah $"2

3ut you, 3ethlehem #hrathah,

though you are small among the clans of 'udah,

out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel,

whose origins are from of old,

from ancient times).

And -ust before the baby Jesus is to be born, aesar, far a!ay in /ome, issues a *ommand that insures that

God0s prophe*y !i *ome to pass. 1e read these !ords in %&'e 2"1-!"

In those days aesar ;ugustus issued a decree that a census should be ta0en of the entire <oman world)2 =This was the first census that too0 #lace while >uirinius was governor of 7yria)? ;nd everyone went to their

own town to register)4 7o 'ose#h also went u# from the town of %a!areth in $alilee to 'udea, to 3ethlehem the town of (avid,

because he belonged to the house and line of (avid) 9 e went there to register with *ary, who was #ledged to

#



be married to him and was ex#ecting a child) 6 @hile they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,& and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son) 7he wra##ed him in cloths and #laced him in a manger, because

there was no guest room available for them)

Reading #3

In Genesis 23, !ritten appro4imatey fourteen hundred years before the birth of Jesus, God promises that theres*uer of God0s peope !oud *ome from the tribe of Judah:

(enesis 4)"10

The sce#ter will not de#art from 'udah,

nor the ruler"s staff from between his feet,until he to whom it belongs shall come

and the obedience of the nations shall be his)

And bet!een %$% 5. and (6% 5.. the prophet Jeremiah pro*aimed that the )essiah !oud *ome from the

famiy ine of 7ing 8avid, saying:

*eremiah 23"$

The days are coming,. declares the Lord,

when I will raise u# for (avid a righteous 3ranch,

a Aing who will reign wisely and do what is Bust and right in the land)

atthe+ 1"1-

This is the genealogy of 'esus the *essiah the son of (avid, the son of ;braham:2 ;braham was the father of Isaac,

Isaac the father of 'acob, 'acob the father of 'udah and his brothers, 'udah the father of Cere! and Derah, whose mother was Tamar,

Cere! the father of e!ron, e!ron the father of <am,4 <am the father of ;mminadab,

;mminadab the father of %ahshon, %ahshon the father of 7almon,9 7almon the father of 3oa!, whose mother was <ahab,

3oa! the father of Ebed, whose mother was <uth,Ebed the father of 'esse,6 and 'esse the father of Aing (avid)

And so Jesus !as born into the tribe of Judah and into the famiy of 8avid, -ust as God had promised so ong before.

Reading #4

9he prophet Jeremiah aso tod of the horror that !oud foo! the arriva of the )essiah as the *hidren of his

hometo!n !ere murdered.

$



*eremiah 31"1$

This is what the Lord says:

; voice is heard in <amah,

mourning and great wee#ing, <achel wee#ing for her children

and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more).

5e*ause both /amah and /a*he are asso*iated !ith the same pa*e, !e kno! that this passage speaks aboutthe sma to!n of 5ethehem.

5e*ause 7ing erod !as paranoid and sought to preserve his po!er at a *osts, he !as kno!n to stop at

nothing to prote*t and maintain his position as king. erod had one of his favorite !ives and at east t!o of

his o!n sons put to death be*ause he feared they might try to overthro! him and stea his po!er. And then in

atthe+ 2"1-1, after the !ise men have visited Jesus and fai to report ba*k to erod, !e read this:

16

@hen erod reali!ed that he had been outwitted by the *agi, he was furious, and he gave orders to 0ill allthe boys in 3ethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had

learned from the *agi) 1& Then what was said through the #ro#het 'eremiah was fulfilled:

1+ ; voice is heard in <amah,

wee#ing and great mourning,

<achel wee#ing for her children and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more).

Reading #$

In order to save their son, Jesus, from the madman !ho !anted to ki him, Joseph and )ary fee to ;gypt unti

after erod0s death. 9his too !as foretod by the prophet osea eight hundred years earier saying:

.osea 11"1

@hen Israel was a child, I loved him,

and out of gy#t I called my son)

5ut even as he for*es )ary and Joseph and their son Jesus to run for their ives, erod *auses yet another

prophe*y to be fufied. In atthe+ 2"1-1$, !e hear more of the story.

;fter 'esus was born in 3ethlehem in 'udea, during the time of Aing erod, *agi from the east came to

'erusalem 2 and as0ed, @here is the one who has been born 0ing of the 'ews8 @e saw his star when it rose

and have come to worshi# him).

@hen Aing erod heard this he was disturbed, and all 'erusalem with him) 4 @hen he had called together allthe #eo#le"s chief #riests and teachers of the law, he as0ed them where the *essiah was to be born) 9 In

3ethlehem in 'udea,. they re#lied, for this is what the #ro#het has written:

'



6 F3ut you, 3ethlehem, in the land of 'udah,

are by no means least among the rulers of 'udah

for out of you will come a ruler who will she#herd my #eo#le Israel)".

& Then erod called the *agi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had a##eared) + e sent

them to 3ethlehem and said, $o and search carefully for the child) ;s soon as you find him, re#ort to me, so

that I too may go and worshi# him).

/ ;fter they had heard the 0ing, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of

them until it sto##ed over the #lace where the child was) 1 @hen they saw the star, they were overBoyed) 11 En

coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother *ary, and they bowed down and worshi#ed him) Then

they o#ened their treasures and #resented him with gifts of gold, fran0incense and myrrh) 12 ;nd having beenwarned in a dream not to go bac0 to erod, they returned to their country by another route)

1 @hen they had gone, an angel of the Lord a##eared to 'ose#h in a dream) $et u#,. he said, ta0e the child

and his mother and esca#e to gy#t) 7tay there until I tell you, for erod is going to search for the child to 0ill

him).

14 7o he got u#, too0 the child and his mother during the night and left for gy#t, 19 where he stayed until the

death of erod) ;nd so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the #ro#het: Eut of gy#t I called my

son).

Pastor/s editation

9his evening !e read -ust and handfu, but in a, there !ere more than '%< prophe*ies !ritten about the

messiah, res*uer, redeemer, and king that !oud *ome. 9hese promises !ere !ritten over a span of neary a

thousand years and a !ere fufied by the birth, ife, death, and resurre*tion of Jesus hrist. =ver a hundred

of them *oud have been fufied ony by Jesus and a great many, su*h as his famiy0s fight to ;gypt, !ere

entirey beyond his *ontro. In a these stories !e are reminded that God is in *ontro, that God a!ays keepshis promises, and that God is a!ays faithfu and trust!orthy. A aong, God has promised that he !oud send

a res*uer, !ho !oud save his peope, not -ust for a day, but for a time, a redeemer !ho !oud pay the pri*efor a of the sin of God0s peope, not -ust for a year, but for a time.

;ight hundred years before Jesus !as born, Isaiah des*ribed the messiah this !ay:

saiah )"2

The #eo#le wal0ing in dar0ness

have seen a great light

on those living in the land of dee# dar0ness a light has dawned)

And then, after Jesus0 death, the Aposte John, one of Jesus0 *onstant *ompanions and *osest friends des*ribed

him this !ay *ohn 1"1-$"

In the beginning was the @ord, and the @ord was with $od, and the @ord was $od) 2 e was with $od in the

beginning) Through him all things were made without him nothing was made that has been made) 4 In him

was life, and that life was the light of all man0ind) 9 The light shines in the dar0ness, and the dar0ness has not

overcome it)

2



9oday !e have gathered together to !orship and ift praises to God as !e *eebrate the birth of our king, Jesus.

/egardess of !hat gifts !e might find under the tree this evening or tomorro! morning, these are the greatest

gifts that !e !i ever re*eive, faith, hope, trust, mer*y, *ompassion and ove. =n this day, God !ants a of usto remember that his ove for us never fais, that God a!ays keeps his promises, and that he desires nothing

more than for us to trust in his son so that !e *an ive !ith him forever.

As !e go, et us remember this ast promise from God found in saiah )"-!"

6 Gor to us a child is born,

to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders)

;nd he will be called @onderful ounselor, *ighty $od,

verlasting Gather, Crince of Ceace)& Ef the greatness of his government and #eace there will be no end)

e will reign on (avid"s throne

and over his 0ingdom,establishing and u#holding it

with Bustice and righteousness

from that time on and forever)

=n this day, may ea*h of you fee the presen*e of the >rin*e of >ea*e.

)erry hristmas.

(



?ou have been reading a message presented at 9rinity @nited )ethodist hur*h on the date noted at the top of the first

page. /ev. John >artridge is the pastor at 9rinity of >erry heights in )assion, =hio. 8upi*ation of this message is a part

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S*ripture referen*es are from the Fe! Internationa ersion uness other!ise noted.

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remember the promise - christmas eve - 2013-12-24

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