HCBC 12-24-06 AM
Christmas Message:
Good News of Great Joy
Well, it’s Christmas!
It’s Christmas and everything is set for the celebration of the birth of our Savior.
Tonight we will come together for our Candlelight Service.
We will sing about the night of our dear Savior’s birth.
We will remember the coming of the Light into the world.
We will sing of the manger and the birth of a baby.
But, before we do that, this morning let’s think for a few minutes about the announcement
of the angel!
In Luke 2:10 the angel said: “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that
will be for all the people.”
Do not be afraid
They were just shepherds, those who first heard the announcement!
They were just minding their own business and doing their job.
They were living out in the fields watching their flocks at night.
But an angel of the Lord appeared to them!
The glory of the Lord shone around them!
And they were terrified!
These circumstances, the appearance of an angel and the glory of the Lord,
struck fear into their hearts!
They were alarmed, worried, concerned and full of fear!
They were terrified!
When have you been terrified?
Most of us have experienced some various difficult circumstances in which
we may have been terrified?
Perhaps something is causing you to be terrified right now?
Some grave physical condition that you or a loved one may be experiencing!
Some drastic financial circumstances that you can see no way out of!
Some devastated relationship you fear may never be restored!
In the same way that God said: “Do not be afraid” in the Bible,
I believe He would say “Do not be afraid” to you right now!
In the same way that the angel said to the shepherds: “Do not be afraid”
I believe He would say “Do not be afraid” to you right now!
God said to the Israelites about the Promised Land: Go up and take
possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
To those same people God said: When you go to war against your enemies
and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be
afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out
of Egypt, will be with you.
To Joshua God said: "Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged…”
To Jeremiah God said: “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will
rescue you,"
To Daniel God said: "Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed," he said.
"Peace! Be strong now; be strong."
To the shepherds an angel said: “Do not be afraid!”
To the women who sought Jesus at the empty tomb the angel said: “Do not
be afraid…”
To those same women Jesus said: "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my
brothers…”
To His disciples Jesus said: “Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be
afraid.”
To Paul one night in a vision the Lord said: "Do not be afraid; keep on
speaking, do not be silent.
To you and me He says “Do not be afraid, I will never leave you or forsake
you!”
The beginning of the Message of Christmas is: “Do not be afraid!”
Do not be afraid
I bring you good news
It was the angel, Gabriel, who said: “I stand in the presence of God, and I
have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” (Lk 1:19)
Later, it was John the Baptist who “exhorted the people and preached the
good news to them.” (Lk 3:18)
When He had grown up and begun His ministry, “Jesus went throughout
Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the
kingdom,…” (Mt 4:23)
Still later, “…Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another,
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with
him,” (Lk 8:1)
It was Jesus who said to the Eleven: "Go into all the world and preach the
good news to all creation. (Mk 16:15)
Scripture says of the Apostles that: “Day after day, in the temple courts
and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the
good news that Jesus is the Christ. (Acts 5:42)
It was Philip who explained this same good news to the Ethiopian eunuch.
(Acts 8:12, 35)
Scripture tells how the Apostle Paul went from place to place, even being beaten for
it, but continued to proclaim the good news to people everywhere.
And it was Paul who proclaimed: "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!" (Rom 10:15)
What is the Good News?
Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord.
He is Savior:
The One who frees us from the penalty of sin!
The One who frees us from the power of sin.
He is Christ:
The One who fulfills the prophecies!
The things that God foretold in the Old Testament are
fulfilled in Jesus Christ!
The One who fulfills His promises!
The things that God has promised in the New Testament
will be fulfilled in Jesus Christ!
He is Lord:
The One who rules in our hearts!
The One who directs our steps!
The One who has our allegiance!
The One who has our devotion!
The One we choose to obey!
The One who is the Lord of our lives!
Do not be afraid
I bring you good news
of great joy
The good news gives us a joy that would cause us to sell all that we have to get it.
Mt 13:44
This good news gave the followers of Jesus a joy that caused them to tell others.
(Mt 28:8)
When neighbors and relatives hear the good news, they share in our joy. (Lk 1:58)
Jesus desires that His joy would be in us and that our joy would be complete!
John 15:11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that
your joy may be complete.
Jesus says that though we experience grief, our grief will turn to joy! (Jn 16:20)
And that no one will take away our joy! (Jn 16:22)
The Apostle Peter said: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even
though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an
inexpressible and glorious joy,” (1 Pet 1:8)
Jude closed his brief letter with these words: “To him who is able to keep you from
falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with
great joy-- (Jude 1:24)
If the birth of the Savior isn’t about joy, what is Christmas about anyway?
If you and I don’t have joy, it must have been bad news that we heard!
The birth of the Savior is good news that produces great joy!
Do not be afraid
I bring you good news
of great joy
that will be for all the people
The good news is for everyone!
We know that everyone won’t receive it with joy -- and maybe not everyone who
seems to receive it with joy won’t truly accept it!
But the good news is meant to be given to all the people.
From the beginning at the announcement to the shepherds,
To the proclamations by John the Baptist, Jesus and the Apostles,
To the spreading of the gospel to the uttermost parts of the world down
through the centuries,
the good news was and is for all the people!
In Paul’s teaching about the way we should live our lives, he says that God will use
us to draw others to the truth.
1 Tim 2:3-4 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all men to
be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
God is patiently waiting for people to respond to the good news, but first they must
hear that the good news is for them, it’s for everyone!
We come to celebrate this good news of great joy, and rightly so!
But there are so many that have not heard, and it is for them too!
An Apologia For My Life
by
Samuel Moor Shoemaker
I stand by the door.
I neither go too far in, nor stay too far out,
The door is the most important door in the world--
It is the door through which men walk when they find God.
There's no use my going way inside, and staying there,
When so many are still outside and they, as much as I,
Crave to know where the door is.
And all that so many ever find
Is only the wall where a door ought to be.
They creep along the wall like blind men,
With outstretched, groping hands.
Feeling for a door, knowing there must be a door,
Yet they never find it...
So I stand by the door.
The most tremendous thing in the world
Is for men to find that door--the door to God.
The most important thing any man can do
Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands,
And put it on the latch--the latch that only clicks
And opens to the man's own touch.
Men die outside that door, as starving beggars die
On cold nights in cruel cities in the dead of winter--
Die for want of what is within their grasp.
They live, on the other side of it--live because they have not found it.
Nothing else matters compared to helping them find it,
And open it, and walk in, and find Him...
So I stand by the door.
Go in, great saints, go all the way in--
Go way down into the cavernous cellars,
and way up into the spacious attics--
It is a vast, roomy house, this house where God is.
Go into the deepest of hidden casements,
Of withdrawal, of silence, of sainthood.
Some must inhabit those inner rooms,
And know the depths and heights of God,
And call outside to the rest of us how wonderful it is.
Sometimes I take a deeper look in,
Sometimes venture in a little farther;
But my place seems closer to the opening...
So I stand by the door.
There is another reason why I stand there.
Some people get part way in and become afraid
Lest God and the zeal of His house devour them;
For God is so very great, and asks all of us.
And these people feel a cosmic claustrophobia,
And want to get out. "Let me out!" they cry.
And the people way inside only terrify them more.
Somebody must be by the door to tell them that they are spoiling
For the old life, that they have seen too much:
Once taste God, and nothing but God will do anymore.
Somebody must be watching for the frightened
Who seek to sneak out just where they came in,
To tell them how much better it is inside.
The people too far in do not see how near these are
To leaving--preoccupied with the wonder of it all.
Somebody must watch for those who have entered the door,
But would like to run away. So for them, too,
I stand by the door.
I admire the people who go way in.
But I wish they would not forget how it was
Before they got in. Then they would be able to help
The people who have not yet even found the door,
Or the people who want to run away again from God.
You can go in too deeply, and stay in too long,
And forget the people outside the door.
As for me, I shall take my old accustomed place,
Near enough to God to hear Him, and know He is there,
But not so far from men as not to hear them,
And remember they are there, too.
Where? Outside the door--
Thousands of them, millions of them.
But--more important for me--
One of them, two of them, ten of them,
Whose hands I am intended to put on the latch.
So I shall stand by the door and wait
For those who seek it.
"I had rather be a door-keeper..."
So I stand by the door.
Yes, come and celebrate the birth of the Savior!
Hear the angel say: Do not be afraid - I bring you good news - of great joy
But don’t forget that it will be for all the people!