Gospel

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Christmas Sunday 12/23/12 Pastor Michael = Good News: The Perfect Gift that Keeps On Giving Luke 2:4-11
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Christmas is a time of giving and receiving gifts. America is obsessed with the giving and receiving of gifts. On Black Friday, Americans spent $209 billion dollars on Christmas gifts. On Cyber Monday, they spent $469 billions dollars on gifts. The average shopper will spend $400.00 more than they can afford. We are going into debt. We are obsessed with buying gifts at Christmas.

There is no such thing as Santa Clause. Tell the truth to your children. You are the one who slaved and worked to buy their gifts. Santa Claus in the 300’s was a man named St Nicholas who was wealthy. He gave gifts to the poor families and children during Christmas time. St Nicholas of Myra…..nowadays Myra is Turkey. He was a believer of Jesus Christ. He was a giver.
St Nicholas and Santa are two different people. Santa is commercialized to get the business of Christmas shopping.

Luke tells us the story of Christmas that it is about Jesus Christ. Not getting gifts.
If you have a relationship with Jesus, you have the gift that keeps on giving. Jesus is just as meaningful and real today as he was 2000 years ago. Jesus will be bread when you are hungry, water when you are thirsty, Peace, a lawyer in the court room and a healer in the sick room. As long as you have KING JESUS, you don’t need anybody else!!!! The Good News is for All People!!

1) Jesus gave up his position in Heaven for us:
Jesus was prince/king in Heaven. There was peace in heaven but there was a disturbance on earth. So Jesus left Heaven to be born a child in a manger in the barn. He left the glory/majesty in Heaven to come down to be born in a barn! The ghetto! That is like Prince Charles in England, 2nd to the throne, leaving his palace and moving to the ghetto!! We should say thank you to Jesus and thank you for the grace of God. Jesus changed places and became sin so we could be saved!

2) Jesus had us in mind when he came to earth and was born in a barn:
Because of man’s rebellion, the disturbance in the earth, God gave his only son. God so loved the world that he gave Jesus so we could be saved. He would die and we could live forever!!! Very few will die for people that they know, never mind people they don’t know! When we die as Christians, we don’t die. Our bodies die and we go to a greater life. It’s a celebration of a greater life when our body dies. Jesus is our perfect gift! The gift of Jesus doesn’t stop!

3) Jesus gave up his omnipresent power to have limited power when he was down her on earth:
Jesus gave us Power! He gave us authority over sin, selfishness and our impulses. We all have a sinful history. Some of us were enslaved to sin. When we met Jesus, we got power/authority over these issues (drugs, sex, alcohol, low self esteem, depression). Thanks be to God that he got ahold of us!!
Aren’t you glad you have the Holy Spirit that gives you power to break away from some stuff and some people too? Salvation makes us new on the inside. Our outsides haven’t caught up with it yet. Power on the Inside!! The new you on the inside has to tell the old you on the outside not to do stuff you used to do. The Holy Spirit will convict you and make you conscious of your mistake. The Holy Spirit will also tell you that you will get it right next time!
Power on the Inside!! We met Jesus and now we have Power to do right and Power to think right!! Hallelujah! Thank you Jesus!

AMEN

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