FBC Daily Devotional – December 24, 2021

Faith Baptist Church

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Well, Merry Christmas Eve to you today. I trust God has given you a good week this week and today

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I'm assuming you're probably off work if you have to go out and do a job somewhere and have a holiday today

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Celebrating Christmas and I hope it's going to be a wonderful Christmas celebration for you and your family your loved ones

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And all this week in keeping with a Christmas theme We've departed from our routine of looking at devotionals based on our daily

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Bible readings And instead looked at the miracle women in the genealogy of Jesus, you know

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This passage Matthew 1 verses 1 to 15 is it's probably one of the most neglected portions of the

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Christmas story I mean after all it's just a Genealogical list of names and how boring is that isn't that one of the things that the

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Bible gets criticized for it's just there's this Begot so -and -so begot so -and -so begot so -and -so and so -and -so on as this is boring stuff those genealogical records.

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Oh, yeah Well, the thing of it is behind each of those names in a genealogical record

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There's a story and some we know the story but all of them have some kind of a story

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And in this genealogical record, it kind of reminds me of that famous Norman Rockwell painting

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You remember it is called the family tree and in that painting Rockwell illustrates the ancestral imperfections of a little boy

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He's got the little boys down at the bottom of this tree and in the family tree. There's all of these different Imperfections, I guess he's at the top of it.

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Anyway Anyway, there's all these different imperfections. There is a There's a

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Union soldier on one side and a Confederate soldier on the other side somewhere along the trail the tree

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There is a frontiersman who is married a Native American woman somewhere there's a

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Pirate and so on and so forth and it it just it just illustrates how in that family tree

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There are some people who seem to be look to be squeaky clean There are others who are rather nefarious characters.

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And yet here's this little boy who's the product of them all that Painting if you will is rich in stories and so is the so is the case here in Matthew chapter 1

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We haven't looked at the men in the story. We really just focus this week on The names the four women who are named in this genealogical record and we've noticed all this week different aspects about the character of God that are illustrated in the lives of these

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Women whom God uses and just by way of review the first woman named in this story is the woman

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Tamar and Tamar represents the miracle of God's mercy and then the next one is

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Rahab Rahab the harlot not only did she receive mercy, but she experienced the

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Miracle of God's grace here a pagan woman who had no claim on the things of God and the people of God she ends up marrying a marrying an

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Israelite man and entering into the genealogy of Jesus and then the next woman is

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Ruth a likewise a non -israelite woman a Moabite and and yet God graciously intervenes in her life and uses negative circumstances and positive circumstances to to Bring her together in marriage to Boaz.

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They have a child Obed the grandfather of King David and Ruth's life illustrates the the the miracle of God's sovereignty to take the circumstances of life and bring about his his glorious purposes for his people and What he wants to accomplish to bring glory to himself and then it all culminates in verse 16 with Mary with Mary Jacob begat

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Joseph the husband of Mary of Mary Was born Jesus who is called

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Christ and Mary Illustrates for us the miracle of God's power that a child was conceived in her womb

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With no man involved whatsoever solely the fruit of the power the miraculous power of God So these women are interesting in what they illustrate for us in the

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Intervention of God his miraculous intervention to accomplish his purposes

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Think about it in this genealogy of Jesus. He used his power

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His power in the life of Mary his sovereignty in the life of Ruth his grace in the life of Rahab his mercy in the life of Tamar Through Mary he overcame the problem of nature the barrier of nature in Ruth he overcame the terrible circumstances that this young impoverished woman found herself sent herself in With Rahab he overcame the death sentence with Tamar he overcame terrible sin the story of Jesus birth has behind it a whole background of human history and in that human history

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God has been working little by little year by year

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Sovereignly Powerfully graciously Mercifully to bring us to this point that we're celebrating tomorrow the birth of the

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Savior the birth of the Messiah you know

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Really when you think about it, there's nothing that's too big standing between you and God That he can't overcome to accomplish his purpose for your life nothing

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Perhaps Perhaps you've never come to that place of faith Where you've trusted in Jesus the

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Messiah born in that manger born to die

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To be buried and to rise again To die to pay the penalty for your sins to be raised that you might stand justified in the sight of God Perhaps you have never come to faith in Jesus and put all of your trust and dependence upon him and His work to save you from your sin.

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That is after all why Messiah came Won't you trust him this

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Christmas and receive God's Christmas gift? Our Father and our God we thank you so much for the way you've expressed your purposes and your power

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Through these different women this week Bless us with a wonderful Christmas celebration of the birth of the

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Lord Jesus We pray and we ask it in Jesus name. Amen All right.

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Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and a very merry Christ honoring