Be Ready - December 31, 2016 - New Year’s Eve - Text: Luke 12:35-40

Do you remember what happened last week on Christmas Day? After church the family had gathered at Uncle Jim’s house. Everyone was there. You remember, it was a pot-luck meal. Everyone brought their favorite dish. It was quite a spread and everything was delicious, especially Aunt Bee’s buttermilk pie. It was a good time to sit around and catch up on what was happening in everyone’s life. A little later in the afternoon we all sat around the Christmas tree and opened presents. You do remember, don’t you? And then it happened. You opened the present from Uncle Jim. It was the keys to a new car. Do you remember what you did? You took out you wallet and offered to give him five dollars. (Pause) No, that is not what happened. And of course you are thinking, that would be so tacky and that would never happen. No, what happened was that Uncle Jim gave you one of those very thoughtful presents and you were so taken aback that you thanked him about a hundred times. You even told him that if he ever needed anything, to let you know and you would be honored to help him.
 

Now, although that story may or may not have happened at your Uncle Jim’s house, that story helps us to understand the difference between wanting to earn our salvation, trying to pay Jesus with a few good works for His paying our eternal death penalty, and wanting to respond with thanks for a gift for which we could never pay. Now, please do not label me as a doomsday naysayer, but the fact of the matter is, the end is coming. Either the Lord will return to take us out of this world, or we will die and leave this world, those are the only two ways we have of getting out of this world. It will happen. The end will come, sooner than we know and sooner than we might expect. In our text we are encouraged to be ready for when it happens and we are given an indication of how we know that we are ready.
 

We will first look at being ready and we do that by looking at the last part of our text. Jesus says, “35Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks” (v. 35-36). We are to be ready for the Lord’s return. How do we get ready for the Lord’s return? We get ready by being about His business, that is by being in the Word, by reading our Bible, by being in Divine Service, by being in Bible class. It is through these means that our Lord comes to us to get us ready and to keep us ready for His return.
 

And what happens to those who are ready? We continue with our text, “37Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them” (v. 37). The master, and here we are talking about Jesus, who finds his servants ready, will do, not the expected, but the unexpected. What normally happens when the master returns home is that he sits down and the servants wait on him. In the case of Jesus, our Master, when He returns to gather us, His faithful people from this earth, He, who humbled Himself and took on the form of a servant and gave His life for us, will serve us.
 

Our text continues, “38If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (v. 38-40). The kingdom of heaven, Judgement Day, will come. It will come whether we believe it will come or not. It will come before we know it and when we least expect it. It will come like a thief in the night. And so we are to be ready at all times. We are ready when we take our focus off our feet firmly planted in this world and move our focus heavenward. When we take our focus off our temporary surroundings and focus on our eternal life in heaven.
 

Which brings us back to the first part of our text and the question of “How do we know if we are ready?” One way we know we are ready is by our understanding, acknowledging and confessing that we are unworthy of all the good gifts and blessings our Lord so free lavishes on us. Indeed as we have just celebrated Christmas and the exchanging of presents we focus our attention on the greatest gift, the gift of God in flesh for us and our sins. Thus, our first fruits, tithes and offerings are not a guilt offering but a response of faith, a response to the gift of eternal life earned for us by Jesus and given to us by faith worked in our hearts by the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God. We respond by being good stewards of all that God has given to us and by knowing who or what is our god.
 

In the verses before our text and verse that would be fit to be a part of our text, we read, “32Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v. 32). As we end this current calendar year, and as we do every year, we are reminded that our time on this earth is fast and fleeting. Yet, here God assures us that heaven is a present reality. Heaven is ours, now. Heaven is not something we have to wait for, it is ours now. Yes, we will have to wait until, either we pass away in this world, or until Christ returns in order to move into heaven, but heaven is ours at this time.
 

Jesus goes on to tell us that there is a difference between earthly treasure and heavenly treasure. He says, “33Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys” (v. 33). Actually Jesus speaks of stewardship and giving more often that we might imagine and here He reminds us again, our treasures here on earth may last twenty, thirty, eighty, or a hundred years, but our heavenly treasures last forever, for eternity.
 

And so we are back to the question, “How do we know we are ready?” “How do we know what is truly our god?” Jesus tells us plainly in our text, “34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (v. 34). “Where your treasure is,” that is, where you spend you money, “there your heart will be also,” this is what is most important to you in your life and that truly is your god. These are not my words, I did not make this up, this is what God tells us and this is an indication of what is important in your life. Where is your treasure? Where do you spend your money? Although we may profess certain priorities in life, if we really want to know what are our priorities, they are what we live, what we do, how we speak, where we spend our time and our treasure.
 

In our Epistle lesson we are pointed back to where we are always to be pointed in order to hear the Gospel and the Good News of salvation, Indeed, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” As we end one calendar year and are on the verge of beginning a new calendar year, if the Lord is willing for that to be so, we do so with all boldness and confidence. We do so, not simply speaking with our lips that we believe that with God all things are possible, but with our actions as well.
 

As we look forward to a new year, as we do every year, we look forward to a lot of uncertainties. We do not know what the future holds. We do not know what God has in mind for us as a nation, nor as a congregation. We do not know if the Lord will tarry for another year, or two, or a thousand, all we know is that the Lord has promised to be with us and that He will return and so we live on in faith, trusting in Him and in Him alone. And in so doing, we are ready.
 

So now we take what we have been hearing and we apply it to our own lives. We do this by taking a sober look at our own lives and what we value. What is it that we value? What is truly our god? Do we look at what we have done for God, or what we think we have done for God, and reconcile our account with what He owes us, or do we acknowledge what God has done for us and give thanks for all His good gifts and blessings? And what has God done for us? God has done everything for us. He has given His Son to take on human flesh and blood. He has given His Son to live for us, perfectly in our place. He has given for His Son to take all our sins upon Himself and suffer and die, to pay the eternal death penalty for us, for each one of us. He has given His Son to earn eternal life, heaven for us.
 

After His resurrection and before His ascension, Jesus promised that He would return. And He will return, thus it is imperative that we are ready. So now, we add to all that our Lord has already done for us the fact that He also works to get us ready. And He does that as we make regular and diligent use of the means He has given to get us ready, His means of Grace, the Bible and the sacraments.
 

Finally, we are left simply to respond to all that He has done for us and given to us and we respond by praising Him for all His good gifts and blessings.
 

I urge you, be ready. I encourage you to know that you are ready as the Lord makes you ready. We will see Jesus, sooner than we know and probably sooner than we might expect. May the Lord make you and keep you ready. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

God Comes to the World - December 25, 2016 - Christmas Day - Text: Luke 2:1-20

Over the past four weeks we have been with the angels as they have worked at preparing the world for the Advent, the coming, the birth, of our King, the One promised in the Garden of Eden, the Savior of the world, the Messiah. We began the Advent season by hearing the angel, even God Himself, as we describe Jesus as the pre-incarnate Jesus appear to Abram and reiterate the promise He made in the Garden of Eden, except at this time narrowing the family line of fulfillment of the promise to the family of Abram, whose name He changed to Abraham. We moved on the hear the angel Gabriel announce to Zechariah that he and his aged, barren wife, Elizabeth would give birth to the forerunner of the Messiah. We heard the same angel, Gabriel announce to the unwed, virgin girl, Mary, that she would be the mother of the Savior of the world. We heard the words of the unidentified angel as he spoke to Joseph in a dream to assure him that it was okay to take Mary as his wife, for what was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit. And, last night we sat out in the country and heard the message of the angel to the shepherds that the Savior was born. This morning the message is to the whole world as we all together celebrate the birth of Jesus.
 

This morning as we celebrate the birth of our Savior I want to make two points from our text. The first point is about the words that “the time came for the baby to be born (v. 6).” What is it about this time? This time is first and foremost the time from the promise made in the Garden of Eden and reiterated time and again to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob on so on, until now, the time of the promise being fulfilled. The time came means that everything was ready. The world was ready, the children of Israel were back in the promised land, more or less and were ready. Everything was in order and ready according to God’s perfect plan and purpose.
 

The time came is also in reference to the time for the child to be born, that is, forty weeks, or nine months. This child was conceived and born of a woman, a human woman, and like any ordinary child this child was born after the usual nine months of pregnancy.
 

Which brings us to the second point I want to draw from this text and that is, what is it about this child that is so special? We read verses seven and eleven, “7And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.” “11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (v. 7, 11). This child was conceived and born of a woman. This child is Mary’s firstborn child and this child is truly human. That fact that the child was truly human is important, because it is only as a human that He can become a substitute for us, that is that He will be able to trade His perfect life for our imperfect life.
 

This child was born in humbleness. Although He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, He left all the glory that was His in heaven, took on human flesh and blood, and became one of us. He was born a king, indeed He was from the house and lineage of great King David and great King Solomon, yet He was not born in the usual way of nobility. He was not born with lots of money, power, fame or fortune. He was not born with a lot of pomp and circumstance. Instead, He was born to poor, humble parents. He was born in a small town, the home town of His father, Joseph. He was not born in the upper room or guest room of the house because there was no room as other relatives who had arrived earlier took those places. So, He was more than likely born in the main part of the house where the family and some animals stayed which is why His first bed was a manger, a feeding trough for the animals.
 

This child was born in the town of King David, in Bethlehem. This fact is another important fact because the prophets of old told us very distinctly that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem. If He had not been born in Bethlehem then He could not and would not be the Savior. It is important that we keep the facts straight. Luke the Gospel writer and historian, as well as all the other writers of Holy Scripture were sure to keep their facts straight, for you see, the odds of someone accidentally fulfilling more than one of the Old Testament prophecies, let alone fulfilling them all, is too great to count. Jesus did not fulfill them accidentally or coincidentally, He fulfilled them as a part of God’s plan to save His people, you and me included.
 

This child is Christ the Lord. He is the one who spoke to Moses and said, “I Am” has sent you. He is Yahweh the one and only true God. He is one hundred percent man and one hundred percent God.
 

As the world around us celebrates this day as a secular day, as a holiday or even as a Christless Christmas day, exchanging presents, getting a day off, and so on, really with no thought for the reason for the season and the reason for the celebration, we celebrate this day with an understanding that there is greater meaning to the celebration. Yes, we have the privilege of looking back and seeing that these things have already taken place, but that does not diminish our celebration, rather it heightens it as we continue to look forward to His coming again.
 

Today we celebrate the fact that God’s promise, made some 3000 to 4000 years earlier has come to pass. The perfect world and the perfect union between God and man that God had create and that Adam and Eve had broken was now set to be restored. Something we could not do was beginning to be done by the only one who could do it, God Himself.
 

Jesus birth marked that God was once more intervening in human history. Again, something we could not do, God set out to do for us. Reminding us that God is not watching us from a distance, but He is right here with us each and every day, each and every step of the way.
 

Jesus birth marked God taking on human flesh. Jesus became one of us. Jesus lived for us in our place. He struggled through all the temptations of life that we face and indeed He suffered through even more and greater temptations than we might ever imagine. He obeyed all of God’s laws perfectly. He did everything that we are unable to do. Which reminds us and gives us comfort to know that we can take all our troubles, problems, cares, worries and concerns to the Lord because He does know and understand what we are going through, because He has been there.
 

Most importantly, Jesus came to give His life for ours. The baby was born to die. That is the hard message of Christmas, but it is the message nonetheless. The reason the baby was born was because of our sins, your sins and mine. The reason the baby was born was to give His life for ours, for yours and for mine.
 

This morning we celebrate. We celebrate because our sins are forgiven. We celebrate because the greatest gift is not the gift we give to each other, it is not any gift which we bring to give to the Lord, as if there were any gift or anything we could bring to Him or give to Him. No, the greatest gift is the gift which God gives to us, the gift of Himself, the gift of forgiveness, the gift of life.
 

We celebrate because heaven is a present reality. We do not have to wonder about our future. We do not have to wonder about what will happen when we pass on from this world. Heaven is ours. It is a free gift, it is the gift given to us through the life of the child whose birth we celebrate.
 

The time has come. Today is Christmas Day. Today and for the next eleven days (the twelve days of Christmas beginning last evening) we celebrate the birth of Jesus. If you have not done so already, most of you will leave here, go home, eat and unwrap presents, or unwrap presents and then eat. You may spend time with family and friends. I pray that as you celebrate, that as you unwrap the presents that you exchange with one another, that you will remember that the most important gift is not the presents we exchange, but the gift that God gives to us, the gift of Himself in flesh, the gift of His life for ours, the gift of forgiveness of sins, the gift of new life and the gift of eternal life. May the Lord bless your Christmas celebration to His glory. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

God Comes to the Shepherds - December 24, 2016 - Christmas Eve - Text: Luke 2:1-20

Do you know what it is like to be an outcast? The shepherds knew, first hand. By no means am I hear to speak unkindly of the shepherds, but I can assure you that even in our politically correct world today we would be hard pressed to accept the shepherds as they were. For you see, shepherds spent most of their time out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks. They probably had an outdoorsy aroma to them, an odor of smoke from the camp fire, mixed with the odor of the sheep, mixed with the odor of whatever they may have come in contact. Let us just say, shepherds were not normally invited to the big social gatherings of their day.
 

As we did with Abram, as we did with Zechariah and Elizabeth, as we did with Mary and as we did with Joseph, so we do with the shepherds, we ask, What is it that is so special about these shepherds, we ask, what is it that makes them the first ones to be blessed with the Christmas news? Well, to answer that question, let us look at what we know about the shepherds, “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night” (v. 8). We know that they cared for sheep. They often risked their own lives for the life of a sheep, chasing away wolves, lions, bears and whatever that might try to kill the sheep. We know that they were keeping watch over their flock by night.
 

We know that they spent most of their lives outdoors through winter, rain, or storm. And as I said earlier, they were not the most welcomed of people. Even so, it is interesting that Jesus uses the example of the shepherd to compare Himself and how He cares for us, His sheep. Well, let us “cut to the chase.” There was nothing about the shepherds that would make them worthy of being the first to hear the good news of Christ’s birth. Just like there was nothing in and of Abram to be the one from whom the Messiah would be born, just as there was nothing in and of Zechariah and Elizabeth to be the parents of the way preparer for the Messiah, John the Baptist, just as there was nothing in and of Mary to be the mother of Jesus, and just as there was nothing in and of Joseph to be the adopted father of Jesus, so there is nothing in and of these shepherds which would make them worthy to be the first one’s to hear the message that the Savior is born. So, again, we acknowledge and confess that it was purely by God’s grace that He chose to first take the good news to the shepherds. Having said that we might reason that certainly, among the reasons God had for doing so was to show that Jesus came to earth to save all people, from the lowliest shepherd to the greatest king. Jesus came to save all.
 

So, what happened on that Christmas Eve night in the field? “9And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.’ 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!’ 15When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, ‘Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.’” (v. 9-14). Let me try to paint you a picture. Imagine if you will, a calm winter evening. It was clear and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. The sheep had all laid down for the evening rest. The camp fire was burning down. Dinner was over, the dishes were put away. It was just a perfect night. The shepherds were enjoying the rest, even to the point of almost falling asleep.
 

Suddenly and unexpectedly an angel appears in heavenly glory. I wish I could make some sort of comparison for you to help you visualize the scene, but there is nothing that would do justice to this scene. To be resting peacefully, watching the stars on a calm winter evening and then to have that peacefulness interrupted by the appearance of a bright heavenly angel would startle almost everyone. And what on earth would an angel be doing there we might ask. Well, when we understand that God is being born in human flesh as a baby, certainly the angels were there to defend this Child from whatever attacks the devil might think of bringing.
 

But even more startling than the sight of the angel was the announcement that angel came to make. The announcement of the good news of the birth of the Savior of the world. Certainly these shepherds knew of the promise of a Savior, but they were not expecting it during their life time and especially not on this particular night. They were very much like we are: We know that Jesus will come again to take us to heaven. We do not know when. And I would suggest that most of us really do not believe that it will be during our lifetime, so for it to come would very much startle us.
 

To show that the angels message was true, the angel announced the sign that the child would be in a manger. I do not know about you, but about this time I would have to say, “Right!?” The Savior of the world was born tonight and you are trying to tell us that He is laying in a manger, a feeding trough for animals.
 

Then the angel punctuates the message as he is joined by a great heavenly host praising God and saying, “14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Now, notice that this scene is described as a host of angels. A host is a description of an army of angels. Getting back to our earlier comment about God as a baby, indeed God is protecting Himself as a human child with an army of angels. Now usually we have our little girl children play the part of angels at our children’s program. I would suggest we have all the children dress in camo and wield swords. Anyway, then the angels leave. I could see people today standing around looking at each other and denying that they had seen anything for fear of being thought, “they are not in their right mind.”
 

The shepherds, however, did believe. They talked it over and they left their sheep and went to Bethlehem. They went to confirm what was told them by the angel. They went to see the new born King, the Savior of the world.
 

And when the shepherds got to Bethlehem it was just as the angel had said. They found the place as described by the angel. They saw Mary and Joseph sitting near the feed trough, the manger. And in the manger they saw the new born King.
 

The shepherds went away from that place filled with great joy. They could not contain the great joy that was in their hearts as they left telling everyone who would listen the good news of what they had seen and heard. The shepherds were uninhibited by what people might have thought of them as shepherds, or of the seeming unbelievable message they proclaimed. They simply told everyone the great good news that was in their heart.
 

Does this same excitement fill us today? We have taken the time over the last four weeks to prepare ourselves for this moment, for the celebration of the birth of our new born King. God comes to us today to tell us of the birth of His Son. He does not tell us by angels, but He does tell us through His Holy Precious Word. He does not tell us by, what we might imagine as, some great and grand demonstration as He did the shepherds, but He tells us nonetheless through His Word.
 

And, as the people of Jesus’ day were looking forward to His first coming, we too continue to look forward to the coming again of the Savior, when He will come to take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity or our passing on from this world and going to be with Him in heaven. Until that time our own passing or the Lord’s return, God continues to show us the Christ child in His Word. And it is that same Word which reminds us, yes, in the middle of our joyous celebration of birth and new life, that same Word reminds us that this baby was born for one purpose, to die, to suffer the pangs of hell on the cross, for your sins and for mine. That announcement, that the baby was born to die, may seem to put a damper on our celebration, but it makes it all the more a grand celebration, because, since that baby was born to die and since we know that baby did die, we also know that baby did not stay dead, but rose on the third day. That death and resurrection means we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life, indeed, we will never die. Our God lives.
 

As we come again this evening, to see the Christ Child in the manger through God’s Word, we know that very much like the shepherds who responded by telling everyone what they had seen and heard, so God stirs in our hearts to share that wonderful Word with others.
 

As you go home and begin and continue your Christmas celebration, as you open gifts and presents tonight or early in the morning, let those presents remind you of the greatest gift of all, the greatest gift of love, God in human flesh, that baby born in Bethlehem. “14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Amen.

God Comes to Joseph - December 21, 2016 - Advent Midweek 4 - Text: Matthew 1:18-25

This evening we come to what must be the most difficult task for the angel, maybe that is why he appeared to Joseph in a dream. Joseph had found out that his betrothed, his legal wife and yet wife to be, the young woman he loved dearly, as his plan of dealing with the situation would suggest, was pregnant, and he knew that it was not his child. Certainly he wanted to think the best, but what best is there in this situation? After all, a person cannot get pregnant by accident! Or, by herself. So, again, we have God intervening in the lives of His people to assure that things go according to His plan.
 

But first, as we have been doing, as we did with Zechariah and Elizabeth and as we did with Mary, let us get to Joseph and begin by answering the question, what do we know about Joseph? Well, we do not know very much about him. We know that he was Mary’s husband (v. 19). He was betrothed to her and that meant that they were legally married. As we said last week, they had not yet consummated the marriage, but they were legally married and so Joseph would have to file for a divorce in order to legally separate from her.
 

We also know that Joseph was a righteous man (v. 19). He shows his righteousness in that he did want to put the best construction on everything. He did want to believe the best about Mary. I believe it is obvious that he did love Mary and did not want anything bad to happen to her, like getting stoned to death according to the letter of the law. The law required that someone caught in adultery was stoned. And certainly being pregnant without being married qualifies for adultery. Our text does not tell us how Joseph knew that Mary was pregnant and our text does not say it, but there is a sense that Mary has told the story of the angel appearing to her and announcing that she would give birth to a Son, even to the Savior of the world and it might be that Joseph wants to believe it, but he just can not bring himself to do so.
 

Keeping things fair as we have the past two weeks, we must also admit that although our text tells us that Joseph is a righteous man, I believe we would still believe that he is still not worthy, in and of himself, to be a part of God’s plan of salvation. Although we may know little about Joseph’s life, history, family, etc, we do know that he too, just as you and I were, he was conceived and born in sin and we might surmise that there is nothing within himself that would make him worthy of being a part of God’s plan. Again, we see that it is by God’s grace, because the Lord chose him, that he has a part in God’s plan of salvation. And we might even say that his part in God’s plan was his part even if by his own reluctance.
 

Now let us look at what happened in his dream? We are told that the angel appeared to him in a dream (v. 20). And notice that we are not told the name of the angel who appeared to him. We might believe it to be the same angel that appeared to Zechariah and to Mary, the angel Gabriel, but we are not told in the text. We are simply told that an angel appeared to him in a dream. We are not told why the angel did not appear directly to him as he did to Zechariah and Mary, but that the angel appeared in a dream. Yet, this is the way the Lord directed the angel to come to Joseph and this is the way he came.
 

The angel explained that Mary was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit (v. 20). He does not go into as much of an explanation as he does to Mary, but he assures Joseph that what is happening is happening by a miracle of God. This is God’s will, it is God’s plan, it is His doing, Mary was chosen by God for this important roll in history. Mary is a willing participant because she is submitting to the will of God Himself. Mary has not been unfaithful, as a matter of fact she has been the most faithful of all, especially because her faithfulness has its beginning in being faithful to God.
 

The angel explained to Joseph that he was to give the child the name Jesus. This giving of the name is important because in giving Jesus His name, Joseph is made to be the adopted, human father (v. 21) of Jesus.
 

But there is more to this name than just Joseph’s adoption of Jesus as his legal, earthly son. The angel also explained that this child was to be named Jesus because the name Jesus means Savior. The name Jesus apply expresses what He will do, that is that He will be the Savior of the world. Jesus will be the fulfillment of all the Old Testament (v. 22-23) prophecies concerning the One promised in the Garden of Eden, the One reiterated in promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the One to which all the Old Testament pointed.
 

Finally our text tells us that Joseph awoke and did as the angel commanded (v. 24-25). There was now no question in his mind. There was now no doubt in his mind. And unlike Zechariah and Mary, Joseph did not ask any questions of the angel. Joseph shows his righteousness in his actions of fulfilling his plan of taking Mary for his wife, adopting Jesus as his son and providing a family for both.
 

So, now we have seen God provide a “way preparer” for the coming Savior in the person of the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, the person of John the Baptist. God also has now provided Jesus with an earthly mother and a way to be born as a human being. And He has provided Him with an earthly father. God is doing the things that He needs to do in order to save the world, His creatures, you and me, who have and who continue to rebel and sin against Him.
 

As we continue to prepare ourselves for our Christmas celebration, we are again reminded of God’s plan of salvation. God’s plan which He began when He gave His promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden immediately after they fell into sin. We continue to prepare ourselves as we see the difficulty God had in working with us sinful human beings in order to save us.
 

We again see God intervening in human history to fulfill His promise. Our text is quite clear as it reminds us that the child will be called “Immanuel” which means “God with us.” God is intervening in human history as He takes on flesh and blood. God the Creator is becoming one with His creation in order to save us from our sins and eternal destruction.
 

For the fourth week in a row we see that with God all things are possible. We say that we believe that, at least with our lips, but unfortunately, so often we act as if we do not believe it. In a very real way we act much like the righteous man, Joseph, making our own plans to get done that which we believe needs to be done without consulting God who is the one who is actually in charge and can and does do according to what He knows is best for us. Unfortunately for us, I do not believe that God will necessarily send an angel to us in a dream to make sure that our actions conform to what our lips speak.
 

Joseph may not have completely understood all that the angels was telling him, but he believed and showed he believed by acting accordingly. He took Mary as his wife. She gave birth to a Son and he called Him Jesus which means Savior.
 

This evening marks three days before Christmas Eve. Are we ready for the celebration? We have just a few days to complete our preparations. My prayer for you this week is that the Lord would continue to fill you with His Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit will continue to guide you as you review the events from the Holy Bible that lead up to and are a part of our Christmas celebration. That the Holy Spirit will continue to work through His Word to strengthen you in your faith, in your understanding of the events that are being described, and get you completely prepared for your celebration. And as He prepares you for your Christmas celebration I pray that He will also continue to prepare you for when He comes again with power and great might to take you to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.