Christ Church (Moscow, ID)

Having heard the Christmas story many times, it stirs up familiar images in our mind’s eye. The Lord Jesus is welcomed into the world by his mother and father. A young couple, just getting started, stare down at the baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes. They smile with delight and have all of the normal reactions that come with being a first time parent, “He has your nose. Look at all that hair.” But in addition to the delight one experiences in taking the child in, finally being able to see after nine months what this kid looks like, they have other thoughts to contend with, thoughts that none of us as parents have ever had to deal with, thoughts like, “What is to become of this child? I hold the messiah in my hands. I am a virgin mother. The angel said to me, ‘He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ And it is my job to raise Him. God help me.”

What we are going to do in this season of Advent is take a closer look at a number of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the bith of the Messiah. We are going to look first at the geographical predictions. What places are involved? After that, we will take up other aspects of His nativity, week to week. Remember that all of God’s promises were wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in the manger.

The incarnation of Christ was indeed the most wonderful of God’s wondrous works. But it was the most unsurprising surprise. God’s hand had guided the story of redemption to this culmination. Like a lovely symphony the OT introduces certain motifs, which are picked up and expanded in the Incarnation of Christ. So, it would be wise for us to listen to those themes from the OT that anticipated the events surrounding Christ’s birth in order to better sing the Gospel song.

As we have all enjoyed the blessings of a Thanksgiving holiday just a few days ago, I thought it appropriate to spend some time on a little understood aspect of gratitude or thanksgiving. We of course understand how pleasant gratitude is. In addition, we readily grasp the duty of expressing our thanksgiving to God. We grasp that gratitude is something that is critical in keeping our faith renewing and constantly growing. The spiritual food we partake of every Lord’s Day is called the Eucharist, from the Greek word for giving thanks, which is eucharisto. But what I want to focus on this morning is what might be called the authority of gratitude.

Prayer is a tricky thing. You know that God is sovereign, that He has predestined all things, and knows the words that you will speak even before you speak them. In light of this truth, you may develop an attitude that thinks prayer is irrelevant. Then, when a trial arises and you begin to fear, and prayer will become an exercise in worrying before God. Both of these attitudes are disobedient and result in disobedience because they flow from doubt and unbelief. The reality is that believing, fervent prayer is potent and necessary for obedience. It is a wonderful privilege. 

The Text: 2 Chronicles 36

THE TEXT: 1 Timothy 3:14-16

The Text: Judges 9

The Text: Judges 8

If you ask a muslim, “Who is Jesus?” he will say, “Jesus, peace be upon him, is a prophet of Allah.” And while Christians will agree, He is a prophet of God, He is not merely a prophet of God. And of course when they use the term Allah (God) they mean a very different thing than we do. If you ask a Latter-Day Saint, “Who is Jesus?” they will say, “He is God the Father’s firstborn spirit-child in heaven and the spirit brother of lucifer. He was begotten on earth by God the Father by natural means, not by the Holy Ghost and is now one amongst many millions of other gods.” If you ask a Jehovah’s witness, they will say, “Jesus is not God almighty, he is God’s son. Jesus is God’s first creation, inferior to God the Father. And Jesus is actually Michael the archangel.” Like any lie, satan prefers to sprinkle truth in amongst falsehood so as to feign authenticity. Jesus is the son of God. Jesus is a prophet of God, but He is not created. His origin is one of eternity, begotten of the Father. He is the firstborn of all creation, but this is a title of preeminence, not descriptive of a point of time where he came into being. Like the person of the Father, the son has eternally existed. And so when Christians are asked who is Jesus, we recite the Athanasian creed.