A Promised Birth John Kane

Faith Bible Church

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Well, good morning, and welcome to Faith Bible Church. I'm seeing some familiar faces this morning.

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And obviously, if you're watching us online, glad you're able to join us as well.

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And praise God that we can continue to worship, gather, and to be a family of the

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Lord. So again, thank you for being here.

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And a few announcements. Last week, I can share that we were blessed by Brother Roger Oswald from Foothill Bible.

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Wonderful message from Daniel, the first six chapters. And it was talking about how to find comfort in times of chaos.

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So may I suggest, if you make it a double header, when you listen to this message, also listen to last week's as well.

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And so in these times, it's really important as a Christian to keep our sensibilities and keep our focus on where it belongs.

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Next Saturday is the ladies gathering at 10 o 'clock. And you can contact Barb or Deb, even if you need further details about that.

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There's also been a list for contributions or for items for the homeless shelter.

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So if you ladies would bring those with you to put in for that.

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So if you need more information about that or what those items could be, you can call

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Deb or Barb, even. Sound good? OK. I'm getting that blank stare. Don't know what that means.

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I'm going to find out about it later, just like John oftentimes says. So let's commit this service to the

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Lord in prayer. Lord God, we thank you for gathering us up this morning here and other places,

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Father. Lord, may our hearts be in the right place. May we be desirous of honoring you, of focusing on your goodness, on your grace and your mercy,

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Father. For it is part of our soul,

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Lord, that needs to be encouraged, that needs to be reinforced, Father. And that, Lord, may we honor you as we worship you, that you would be pleased, that the

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Holy Spirit would guide and direct us as we lift our voices, as we pray in our hearts and hear the words of the scripture that Pastor John is going to share with us,

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Father, that we would be moved to serve you in a mightier way, that we would worship you in an honorable way,

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Father. So Lord, be with us this morning. We commit our time to you. And we just look forward to this time,

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Father. We pray all these things in Christ's name. You know, as we, in these times, we continue, we need to be encouraged.

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We keep saying that over and over again. We need to be encouraged in the Lord, and in him alone, not man, not the systems around us, but in Christ alone.

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And we can get caught up. We can be anxious about all that. But how can we maintain a godly focus?

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And I wanted to share from Psalm 168. It says, I have set the Lord always before me, because he is at the right hand.

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I shall not be moved. In his devotional, that's Charles Spurgeon. He puts it this way.

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This is the way to live. With God always before us, we shall have the noblest companionship, the holiest example, the sweetest consolation, and the mightiest influence.

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This must be a resolute act of the mind, always to have an eye to the Lord's eye, an ear for the

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Lord's voice. His God is near, filling the horizon of his vision, leading the way of his life, and furnishing the theme of his meditation.

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And that's really what we ought to be doing this morning as we worship him, filling the horizon of his vision.

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And so let's stand as we begin this Christmas season and singing our favorite hymns and Christmas songs.

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And we're gonna begin that with joyful, joyful, we adore thee and it's hymn number one. So there must be some reason that it's hymn number one.

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So let's sing together. ♪

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Joyful, joyful, we adore thee ♪ ♪ God of glory,

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Lord of love ♪ ♪ Hearts unfold like flowers before thee ♪ ♪

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Opening to the sun above ♪ ♪ Melt the clouds of sin and sadness ♪ ♪

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Drive the dark of doubt away ♪ ♪ Give her all the love with the light of day ♪ ♪

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Rejoice around thee, earth and heaven reflect thy rays ♪ ♪

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Stars and angels sing around thee ♪ ♪ Center of unbroken mountains, cloudy meadows ♪ ♪

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Show us to rejoice in thee ♪ ♪

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Thou our blessing ever blessed ♪ ♪

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Wellspring of the joy of living ♪ ♪ Ocean depth of happy rest ♪ ♪

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Thou our Father Christ, our brother of our thine ♪ ♪

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Teach us how to love each other ♪ ♪ Lift us to the joy divine ♪ ♪

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All joy moving stars beget ♪ ♪

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All is ringing, chorus singing march we onward ♪ ♪

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Victors in the midst of strife ♪ ♪ Joyful music leads us onward in the triumph song of love ♪

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Next, we'll sing Joy to the World. ♪ Joy to the world is come, receive her king ♪ ♪

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Churches sing and heaven and nature sing ♪ ♪ And heaven and heaven sing ♪ ♪

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He to the Savior reigns, let men their songs sing ♪ ♪

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Symbols that flood, rocks, hills, and plains ♪ ♪

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Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy ♪ ♪

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Repeat, repeat the sounding joy ♪ ♪

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Let sin and sorrow as the ground, he comes to his blessing floor ♪ ♪

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Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found ♪ ♪

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Far as the curse is found, he rules the world with truth ♪ ♪

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And breaks the nations through wonders of his love ♪ ♪

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And wonders of his love, and wonders of his love ♪

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Great singing, a little high for me, but you're filling in the blanks, I appreciate that. Hark the

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Herald. ♪ The herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪

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Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled ♪ ♪

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Joyful all ye nations rise, join the triumph of the sky ♪ ♪

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With the angelic host, Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪ ♪

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Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪

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Christ the highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting

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King ♪ ♪ Born late in time behold he come, offspring of the virgin's womb ♪ ♪

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Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity ♪ ♪

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Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our

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Emmanuel ♪ ♪

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Hark the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪

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Hail the heaven born prince of peace, hail the son of righteousness ♪ ♪

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Born in Bethlehem, risen with healing in his wings ♪ ♪

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Mild he lays his glory by, born that man born to give to God ♪ ♪

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His second birth, all angels sing, glory to the newborn king ♪

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Great singing, please be seated. Well, praise the

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Lord. Thank you for coming out. I don't know if you know the Supreme Court recently ruled that we all churches do have a constitutional right to worship and to meet, right?

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So it is now a Supreme Court decision which we're thankful for. And I hope you had a good

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Thanksgiving. Thank you for praying for us. It's good to be back. We had an interesting time down there with my mother in Southern California.

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I just wanted to put a sign up, the French Laundry. So bad, it wasn't original to me, but somebody said they're gonna have a

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Thanksgiving, they're gonna have 25 people over and put a sign in the front yard, the French Laundry. But we didn't have time to make the sign.

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Any prayer requests, anything going on that we need to be praying about? How's your dad doing,

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Emma? Good, continuing to go down? Amen and amen.

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And if you're watching by video, David, Jack, Mr. Wayne, please, hi.

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Oh, there's the camera. Well, if there's no special prayer requests, let's go to Lord in prayer. Father, we are so thankful, so thankful indeed.

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You know, even though we can't fellowship like we're used to, you know, hug like we're used to, we need to be cautious, we understand

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God, but we're grateful that we can be here. And we are safe,

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God, safe in the arms of Jesus. We thank you that you're a sovereign

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God that knew from before the beginning of this world that our country and churches and believers would be facing the things that we're facing right now,

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God. Lord, and we're grateful for Christmas. We're grateful for the hope.

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We're grateful for these songs that we're gonna be singing all month, God. Silent night, holy night.

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Who is he in yonder stall? The herald angels sing. Angels from the realms of glory.

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Oh, come all ye faithful. God, rest ye merry gentlemen. We go through these songs, and just as we're singing them,

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God, how they're lifting our heart. We're thankful for the hope that Christmas brings.

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We do pray, Father, for our nation. We know, God, that nothing, not a bird falls to the ground, that you don't know it.

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And nothing happens in this country, whether it's the election, whether it's COVID, nothing happens,

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God. Whether it's county health orders, state health orders, health directives, doesn't matter what it is, doesn't matter where it is, you know all things.

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And we just appeal to you, Father God, on behalf of believers and Americans and people around the world,

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God, for this wonderful Christmas message this season, God, that it would go forth and bring hope and comfort and encouragement to people's hearts.

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Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to the newborn King. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen, amen.

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Good morning, everyone. Scripture reading this morning is from Matthew 1,

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Matthew chapter 1, verses 18 through 25. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.

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After his mother, Mary, was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the

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Holy Spirit. Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly.

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But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the

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Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take you,

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Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name

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Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the

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Lord through the prophet, saying, behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall call his name

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Immanuel, which is translated God with us. Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the

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Lord commanded him and took to him his wife and did not know her until she brought forth her firstborn son, and he called his name

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Jesus. May the Lord add his blessing to the reading and hearing of his holy word. What child is this?

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♪ What child is this who laid to rest on Mary's lap ♪ ♪

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Was sleeping, who reigned with anthems sweet ♪ ♪

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While shepherds watch are keeping ♪ ♪

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This, this is Christ the King ♪ ♪

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Whom shepherds guard and angels sing ♪ ♪

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Haste, haste to bring him laud ♪ ♪

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The babe, the son of Mary ♪ ♪

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Why lies he in such need ♪ ♪ A stay where hearts and hands are feeding ♪ ♪

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Good Christian, fear for sinners here ♪ ♪

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The silent word is pleading ♪ ♪

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This, this is Christ the King ♪ ♪

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Whom shepherds guard and angels sing ♪ ♪

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Haste, haste to bring him laud ♪ ♪

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The babe, the son of Mary ♪ ♪

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So bring him incense gold and myrrh come peasant king ♪ ♪

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To all the king of kings salvation brings lead loving ♪ ♪

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Hearts enthroned here, this, this is

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Christ the King ♪ ♪ Whom shepherds guard and angels sing ♪ ♪

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Haste, haste to bring him laud ♪ ♪

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The babe, the son of Mary ♪

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And Silent Night, one of my favorites. ♪

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Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪

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All is calm, virgin mother and infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪

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Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace ♪ ♪

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Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪

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Shepherds quake at the sight of the

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Lord's birth ♪ ♪ Peace stream from heaven afar, we all sing hallelujah ♪ ♪

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Christ the Savior is born, Christ the

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Savior is born ♪ ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪

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Son of pure light, comes from thy holy face ♪ ♪

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With the dawn of redeeming grace ♪ ♪

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Jesus Lord, at thy birth, at thy birth, at thy birth ♪

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Thank you, please be seated. Pastor John. I'd like you to open your

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Bibles to the book of Isaiah. And we're gonna be going to Isaiah chapter seven in just a moment.

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I asked Harold and Victor, I think a week or two before,

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I'm not sure when, but you know, in our church, many, many years ago, one of the ladies said, can we please sing more

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Christmas carols? And I mean, I don't remember when she asked it, maybe it was at a fellowship meal or something, but back in the day before computers and televisions, does anybody remember back that far?

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And before smartphones? You know, you go to people's houses today and the first thing they do is they pull out their phone.

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Right? But in the days before that, you would gather around at Christmas with families and friends and you would sing

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Christmas carols. Somebody played the piano. And there's something about that, you know, and we talked and I said, you know what, why not, right?

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So with their permission and their blessing, the next two Sundays, including today, next

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Sunday is all Christmas carols, and should the Lord tarry. And I don't know, but there's something about Christmas carols that you know.

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You know, there's something comforting and encouraging in the days in which we live, when you go to Lowe's and you hear

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It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, or Home Depot. Now, I don't know, I don't shop that much, but I don't hear that at Costco and I don't hear it at Safeway.

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But there's something about looking around at people and hearing news about the

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Savior that just does something to your heart, at least to mine. Joy to the world, you know, and oblivious people walking down the aisles, you know, as they hear the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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And I don't know if you've noticed, but this year, when

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I look at the signs where they're selling Christmas trees at the major stores like Costco, it says

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Christmas trees, not holiday trees, amen? So I don't know, are we turning in the right direction at Christmas and then the rest of the stuff is going, you know, the wrong way?

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I don't know. And you know, the past few weeks, more and more,

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I'm talking to people that are so sick of the news. They don't wanna watch the news.

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I've talked to people who say, you know, I always watch this, this, and this, and now I only watch this and I can't even take that.

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So much bad news. Luke chapter two, verse eight says, and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks by night.

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An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified.

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But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. Can you finish it? For I bring you good news.

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I bring you good news of great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you.

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He is Christ the Lord. Romans 10, 15 says, how can they preach unless they are sent?

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As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?

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What is Christmas about if it isn't about good news? Amen? Amen.

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So good news, not bad news, which is one reason why I'm so encouraged and excited over the next few weeks to be bringing some messages surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ in the town of Bethlehem, born in a stable because there was no room at the inn.

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Now we've been in a jet tour of the Old Testament and one of the truths that we've considered, if you think about the theme of the

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Old Testament, you go to work tomorrow or you get online tomorrow, one of the themes of the Old Testament is what?

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Promises made and the New Testament, promises kept, right? So the message, the overall message of the

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Old Testament, promises made, the overall message of the New Testament, promises kept. And much, if you remember some of the messages that we've looked at, much of what you read in the

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Old Testament is predominantly bad news. Especially when we get to the prophets and we see

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Israel continuing to sin and God saying, please stop sinning. And then he says, if you don't stop sinning, if you don't understand, you're gonna get,

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I'm a just God and I'm gonna have to punish you. I'm a just God, I have to judge.

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And it's just like, oh man, I can't take any more of this. So this morning, no bad news.

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And next week, no bad news, God willing. The good news of the gospel.

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And I apologize, no notes because I had a sermon that was too long and I couldn't figure out how to make it in one

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Sunday. So I just didn't have the time to put the notes together. Okay, will you forgive me now, ahead of time?

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Only two points though. But the message title, if you wanna take notes, is a promised birth.

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That is what I want to speak with you about from the word of God this morning is a promised birth.

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And before we go any further, let's pray. God, we are so thankful for your word.

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It's like there is such joy in my heart right now, just knowing we're together, being back here after missing last

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Sunday. And God, being together to worship you and to open the bread of life,

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God, your holy word. And to know that you made a promise about a savior.

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You were very specific, God, down to the very city that he would be born in.

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His genealogy, the time, I mean everything,

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God, in the fullness of time, according to Galatians, you brought forth your only begotten son to be born of a virgin, a promise made and a promise kept.

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So Lord, we commit this time in your word to you and pray for the Holy Spirit to teach us, open our eyes and strengthen us,

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God, in our inner man that we might grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

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We pray in Jesus' name, amen. So a promised birth, the promised birth of Jesus Christ was good news that the

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Jewish people living at the time of his birth had been looking forward to for hundreds of years.

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Imagine that, good news then, and guess what? Good news today, hallelujah.

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Now for many people, Christmas can be a magical and a wonderful and unique time of the year.

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My wife's family, we've always gotten together at Christmas, not gonna happen this year.

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I just wonder how many other families are not gonna be able to get together because of this virus, just for various reasons.

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But it is a magical and a wonderful, we have our lights up, there is something about that.

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You know, when you come around the corner at night and there's our house and the neighbors, we got a card the other day from a neighbor, don't hardly know him, said thank you so much for putting your lights up.

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They didn't mail it, they just stuck it in the mailbox. So this season can be a happy time for many, but the reality is it can be a very sad time for many people, even

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Christians. And this year, I think perhaps more than many in recent memory, this year is bringing on a whole new and an unknown dynamic to the

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Christmas season and spirit. So this morning, beginning today, I wanna take us through a series of messages about Christmas and call our attention to various gospel truths in the

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Bible that tell us about the real reason for the season, all of which is good news, not bad news.

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There's many things and memories that bring us together at Christmas, but the one that I wanna encourage you with today at the top of the list is that Christians should be thinking about and concentrating and reflecting on is that God makes promises and keeps those promises.

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God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Has he not said and shall he not bring it to pass?

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That is what God's word tells us. The real reason for the season is the good news of the gospel.

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The miracle of the virgin birth establishes that Jesus was born by a direct act of God.

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The virgin birth authenticates and it verifies that no human being was involved in the birth of Christ.

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The miracle of the virgin birth establishes that Jesus Christ was born fully man and fully divine, and he had to be in order for the gospel to be effective for salvation.

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The virgin birth verifies that Jesus Christ was born, lived and died, and always will be without sin.

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And the miracle of the virgin birth also validates the word of God. And this morning,

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I wanna focus on and encourage us to remember that God made a promise about that special birth.

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The promised birth of Jesus Christ was good news that the Jewish people had been looking forward to for literally hundreds of years, and it was good news then and is still good news today.

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Over the course of thousands of years, over 300 prophecies about Israel's Messiah were made in the

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Old Testament, over 300. One time I found a guy that found 365.

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Some were kind of sketchy. Over 300 promises in the

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Old Testament where God promised to send a savior for all mankind and he kept that promise.

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God keeps his promises, which reminds us that God is faithful, reminds us that God is holy, reminds us that God is good, remind us that God doesn't change.

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It reminds us that God doesn't lie. It reminds us about how wonderful and righteous

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God is. So this Christmas, let's remember that God is holy and righteous and that he makes promises and that he's in the business of keeping those promises, and the promise that I wanna call our attention to today specifically is the promise that God made about the birth of Jesus Christ.

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God promised a birth, and in the book of Isaiah, God tells us that this promised birth will bring forth a servant with a mission to be a savior.

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God promises this birth. It was foretold numerous times in numerous Bible passages, hundreds of years, and sometimes thousands of years before it ever happened, and this promise was so much on the minds of the people living in the ancient near Middle East.

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In the first century, we had an interesting science lab this past week in my science class where we dated the earth.

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So we went through the Bible and we did it genealogically, and we used the date 0 a .m.,

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a .m. Anno Mundi. You don't know that? She teaches

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Latin. I figured I could look at her and she'd, yeah. Anno Mundi means beginning year?

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Close. Anyway, I did the lab. I taught the lab. I should know it, right? Anyway, Anno Mundi means,

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I think it means the beginning year, and what we did was Genesis 1 .1, in the beginning, right,

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God. So that was date 0, and then we went through the whole, all the genealogies of Jacob and Abraham and all

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Matthew, and basically the earth, according to the Bible, is less than 8 ,000 years old, between 7 ,000 and 7 ,600 years.

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That's how old the earth is, okay, according to God's word, and where I was going with that is, oh yes, in the ancient near Middle East, at the time of Christ's birth, even

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Herod, who was a Gentile, right, a ruler under the Roman Empire, knew about this promised birth.

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They didn't have smartphones. They didn't have the internet. They didn't have Google, but most of the people,

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Gentiles and Jews, Jews especially, were looking forward to this promised birth of Israel's Messiah, this promised servant.

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So even Herod, a Gentile, a member of Roman government, knew about this birth that was promised, and in answer to his question, the chief priests and the scribes quoted prophecy because he said, where's this king gonna be born?

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And it demonstrated, that act, which we'll look at probably next week or the week after when they come to Herod, demonstrated the fact that they knew that the promised birth, these

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Jewish scribes, and these Jewish leaders, and these chief priests, knew that this promised birth, the promised servant and Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, which is exactly where he was born.

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So a promised birth. Hundreds of promises God made in the Old Testament were fulfilled and were kept when

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Jesus was born. So what are some of those promises, specifically, specifically about the promised birth of a servant

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Savior that we can be reminded of and reflect on today as we look ahead to Christmas, which is right around the corner?

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Number one, let's begin by looking at some of God's promises about Jesus Christ.

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So a promised birth will start with some of the promises specifically about Jesus Christ.

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And the first one is the promised birth itself. Look at Isaiah chapter seven, verse one.

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Isaiah chapter seven, verse one. Now it came to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezan, king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to make war against it, but could not prevail against it.

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Ahaz was the 11th king of Judah. Remember that list of kings I gave you on those notes? Kings of Israel, the northern kingdom, 10 tribes.

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Kings of Judah, southern two tribes. So the 11th out of 19 kings over the southern kingdom.

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So the southern kingdom, total of 40 kings, northern and southern kingdom. 19 in the southern kingdom.

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The 11th was Ahaz, okay? And he is the king over Judah, which is where the

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Messiah had to come. The Messiah had to trace his genealogy back to Adam, down through Abraham, through David.

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That's where Ruth fits into all this. The book of Ruth, remember that? All that fits together so that Israel would know for a fact, right, who this

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Messiah. When he said, you know, his genealogy that they list in Matthew and in Luke, you know who the

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Messiah is, there's no doubt. And look what the prophet Isaiah tells us, and this is 700 years before the birth of Christ.

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Verse two. I'm sorry, not verse two. I wanna go down to verse 10.

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"'Moreover, the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, "'Ask a sign for yourself from the

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Lord your God. "'Ask it either in the depth or in the height above.' "'But

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Ahaz said, I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord.'" Sounds kinda humble, doesn't it? The Lord just told him, test me.

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So it's not a humble statement, it's a prideful statement. I'm not gonna do that. Then he said, "'Here now,

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O house of David, "'is it a small thing for you to wear him in, "'but will you also wear him, my

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God, also?' "'I mean, I am so sick of this. "'I just told you to ask for a sign, "'and now you're saying you won't?

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"'Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. "'Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, "'and shall call his name

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Immanuel.'" God is faithful. Regarding this promised birth, first of all, there is the promise of the miracle of the virgin birth kept.

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Now go to chapter 42. Second promise regarding Jesus Christ, and this one deals with Christ -promised person, purpose.

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Many times, Isaiah refers to Jesus, to this servant that is to come as a servant.

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In fact, Jesus even referred to himself as a servant in Matthew 20, verse 28, "'Just as the

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Son of Man did not come to be served, "'but to serve and give his life a ransom for many.'"

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So look how Isaiah describes Jesus Christ, the servant, and his purpose here in chapter 42.

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Did I say 42? 42, verse one. "'Behold, my servant whom

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I uphold, "'my elect one in whom my soul delights, "'I have put my spirit upon him.

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"'He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. "'He will not cry out nor raise his voice, "'nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

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"'A bruised reed he will not break, "'and smoking flax he will not quench. "'He will bring forth justice for truth.

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"'He will not fail nor be discouraged "'till he has established justice in the earth.'"

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Why did Jesus Christ come to the earth? What was his promised purpose? To bring forth justice to the nations, and that's referring to all of mankind.

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Then look at verse six. "'I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness. "'I will hold your hand.

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"'I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, "'as a light to the

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Gentiles, to open blind eyes, "'to bring out prisoners from prison, "'those who sit in darkness, from the prison house.'"

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Why did Jesus come? What was the purpose of the promised birth? Jesus is to be a covenant to the people, and when the servant comes, 700 years or so in the future from this passage, he will open blind eyes and he will bring out prisoners.

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Chapter 49. We learn about the servant's future mission, and we don't have the time to cover it all, but 49, verse one.

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"'Listen, O coastlands, to me, "'and take heed, you peoples from afar. "'The

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Lord has called me from the womb, "'from the matrix, my mother, "'he has made mention of my name.

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"'And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword. "'In the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me, "'and made me a polished shaft.

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"'In his quiver, he has hidden me. "'And he said to me, you are my servant, O Israel, "'in whom

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I will be glorified.'" What is God's mission for Jesus? Verse three. "'To be a select arrow, and at the end of verse three, "'to show forth

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God's glory.'" Now you may, that may ring a bell if you know the

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Gospel of John, because in John chapter one, verse 14, we read, "'And the word, the servant, the promised birth, "'the word became flesh and dwelt among us, "'and we beheld his glory, "'the glory as of the only begotten of the

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Father, "'full of grace and truth.'" Look at verse five. "'And now the

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Lord says, "'who formed me from the womb to be his servant, "'to bring Jacob back to him "'so that Israel is gathered for him.

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"'For I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, "'and my God shall be my strength.

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"'Indeed, he says, it is too small a thing "'that you should be my servant, "'to raise up the tribes of Jacob, "'and to restore the preserved ones of Israel.

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"'I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles, "'that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth.'"

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Jesus's mission, to restore God's people back to him, to the Jew first, but what?

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As Romans 1, 16 says, to the Jew first, and also to the

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Greeks, also to the Gentiles, so that God's salvation will reach the ends of the earth.

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Chapter 61, a promise birth, a promise made, and a promise kept.

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This Christmas, believers can remember that God makes and keeps promises.

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Believers can be reminded at Christmas that God is faithful no matter what.

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God can be trusted no matter what. What are some of the promises that we can be reminded of and reflect on today and this

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Christmas season? For one, God promised a birth, and God kept that promise, amen?

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And second, God promised some very specific things about Jesus's message and mission, the servant's message and mission.

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The change offered to mankind and wrought in people's lives by grace through faith in this promised servant was and is good news.

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The promised birth of Jesus Christ was good news that the oppressed Jewish people were looking for for hundreds of years, and that same good news that they were looking forward to is still good news today.

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We had a meeting recently, and I was so struck by what somebody said at this meeting, and I have not stopped thinking about it, which is that he believes as a pastor, as an evangelist, he believes that there are people out there right now that God has prepared for us.

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They're waiting right now to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. They're set up.

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They might be at Costco. They might be an employee that you see all the time at the grocery store.

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They might be a coworker, but God has already has them waiting for us to hear the gospel.

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Look at Isaiah 61, verse one. "'The spirit of the

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Lord God is upon me, "'because the Lord has anointed me "'to preach good tidings to the poor.

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"'He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, "'to proclaim liberty to the captives, "'and the opening of the prison to those who are bound, "'to proclaim the acceptable year of the

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Lord "'and the day of vengeance of our God, "'to comfort all who mourn, "'to console those who mourn in Zion, "'to give them beauty for ashes, "'the oil of joy for mourning, "'the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, "'that they might be called trees of righteousness, "'the planting of the

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Lord, that he may be glorified.'" Is that not one of the most beautiful passages to read in the days in which we live?

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To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes. The promised servant that would be born because of the promised birth says here that the

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Lord has anointed him to preach, verse one, good tidings.

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Some translations have good news. And then he adds, he has sent me.

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So it's a servant himself who is bringing the good news and is the good news.

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So the servant himself is bringing good news, but he also is what?

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He is the good news. The servant isn't just delivering and the servant isn't just telling you about the news.

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The servant is the good news. The servant himself is the promise, meaning that when it comes to the good news of the gospel, the one giving the good news is the good news.

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And the good news that the servant is bringing, you see this list, right? For one, to heal the brokenhearted.

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Would you think about that for a moment? Brokenhearted, you know, maybe there are people here this morning or watching on the video and you can relate.

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Maybe there are some here this morning that have been afflicted or bound or you know people.

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You see a broken heart comes in all shapes and sizes. You know, sometimes a broken heart is a result of just the weight of life.

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Sometimes it's disappointment. Sometimes it's hardship or some shocking news or trial.

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I mean, sometimes a broken heart can be over a relationship or something at work and we can just go on and on if you look at your life and our lives and people that we love.

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The list of the sources of a broken heart can go on and on. And God says to those afflicted and brokenhearted, he says in Psalm 34, the

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Lord is near to the brokenhearted and he saves those who have a crushed spirit.

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Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord shall deliver them out of them all,

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Psalm 34. Isaiah 53, verse four says, surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried.

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Yet we ourselves esteemed him smitten. I'm sorry, stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but he was pierced through for our transgressions.

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He was bruised or crushed for our iniquities. Beloved, the promised servant was crushed for every child of God.

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The Lord was crushed to heal them. The Lord was crushed to heal any who are brokenhearted.

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The promised servant that came as a result of a promised birth came to preach a message of good news, to bind up and heal the brokenhearted.

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And notice also in verse one, he also came to proclaim liberty to the captives.

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Now, remember the people that Isaiah ministered to who were

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Jewish Israelites to whom he preached were on their way to experience captivity for their sin.

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See, the Babylonians were gonna come in in God's righteous judgment and conquer the southern kingdom.

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And guess what? Those that the Babylonians didn't kill, guess where they went?

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Off into captivity to Babylon. They left a few Israelites there to tend the land and maybe watch over some things, but they were going into captivity for their sin.

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And God was letting them know ahead of time that the promised servant will offer freedom and liberty to those who are captive.

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See, when it comes to the state of mankind, there's people who are bound up by their sin.

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There's people that are captive to addictions. They're captive to fears, especially in the day in which we live.

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They're captive to relationship problems. They cannot seem to break free.

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They've been to counselors, they've moved, they've changed jobs. I remember as a young man, you know, wanting to quit a job.

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I couldn't stand the job, right? I hate my boss, right? And then the only problem is the moment

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I went to the next job, who went with me? The boss. Me. I had the problem.

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Yeah, the boss might've been crazy. And I had some, how many have had some crazy bosses? Come on, nobody.

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Yeah, no, no. Come on. So there's all kinds of captivity.

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They can't seem to break free. So the promised birth of the promised servant who came to proclaim freedom and liberty that are captive.

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This was his message. This was his mission. This was his purpose. This is his ministry.

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And that's why Galatians 5, one says, it is for freedom that Christ set us free.

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Therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery. Not just slavery in the

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Roman empire sense where you had, you know, maybe 60 % of the population serving as slave, but slavery to these fears, slavery to these idols.

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I mean, you just name it. So the promised servant also came to proclaim a message of opening prison to those who are bound.

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The promised servant's message also involves preaching good tidings to prisoners. Those in prison have clearly done wrong and they're paying the price, but the promised servant came to change their status as well, though guilty.

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The message of the one paying the price of that guilty sentence.

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There was a man I met this week. He has a prison ministry for 25 years. He goes to five, six, seven, eight prisons all the time preaching, doing

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Bible studies. One Sunday morning, a Bible study, a Sunday school, and then preaching two sermons.

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Colossians 2 verse 13 says, when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having counseled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us, and he has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

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The promised servant changes the status of the prisoner. Greater than the president of the

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United States granting a presidential pardon because the prisoner of eternal punishment bound by sin is set free to live and serve the

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Lord. God promised a birth and a miraculous birth, and the person that was to be born would be a servant.

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Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He was the same in 2019 as he is in 2020, and he's gonna be the same in 2021.

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I don't know if everything is gonna change at 12 o 'clock midnight on December 31st.

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I'm not really looking forward to that. I don't see it happening right away, do you? But Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

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Jesus can and will, does today through the gospel proclaim liberty to the captives.

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Jesus can and will and does today through the power of the gospel open prison to those who are bound.

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Now, there's something else here, very interesting. Verse two, he also came, would come, future tense, to proclaim the acceptable year of the

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Lord. Now, I wanna take you back quickly to the book of Leviticus because in, and again, we did a jet tour of Leviticus.

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Holy priests, remember, right, for a holy God. Holy people for a holy

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God. The acceptable year of the Lord refers back to something called the year of jubilee, which you read about in Leviticus chapter 25.

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Every seven years, the Israelites were to observe what was called a sabbatical year and allow the land to rest.

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The Amish farm this way. If you ever go to Pennsylvania to an Amish community, you learn that they have fields and they will have a field that is laying fallow for one year, and they rotate that seven years based upon Leviticus 25, okay?

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And they basically give the land a Sabbath rest. So every seven years, they have a sabbatical year.

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And after seven of those years or 49 years, you come to the year 50, which they would celebrate as the year of jubilee.

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During that year, I think we would all love this. During that year, all debts were canceled.

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So you took your mortgage and you ripped it up. All your credit card debt, everything else you might have, all ripped up.

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All land was returned to the original owners. All slaves were freed.

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And basically everything started over. Everything was given a fresh new beginning.

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And this was the Lord's way of balancing the economy and keeping the rich from exploiting the poor because they knew what?

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The year of jubilee was coming. So in context, this is a direct prophecy for Judah and for Old Testament saints to proclaim the acceptable year of the

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Lord. But the provision of the promised servant's salvation falls upon the believer with the same level of excitement.

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See, like the jubilee, like the year of the jubilee, the believer experiences freedom.

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Remember that Christmas, right? This Christmas, remember that God's wonderful favor is available to anyone just like the free gifts that we give at Christmas.

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Romans 5 .15, but the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one, the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man,

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Jesus Christ, abound to the many. Isaiah is prophesying about events that will occur 700 years in the future.

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The promised servants himself will be the message and he will have a message and see whether someone is living under the tyrannical rule of the

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Roman Empire where a centurion could tap you. You're out mowing your lawn one day, right?

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Washing your car, centurion walks by, taps you on the shoulder, says, carry my load. Guess what you had to do under Roman law?

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You gotta leave the car just like it is. It's wet, it's gonna have water spots, okay? Get over it.

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And then you gotta carry his load for one mile. The lawn's not mowed, leave the lawnmower there. Carry my load under Roman law.

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So whether you're living in the Roman Empire, whether you're living in a communist country, whether you're living in the

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United States of America in 2020, the message of the servant will heal the brokenhearted.

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The servant and his message will proclaim and bring liberty to the captives. The servant and his message will open the prison of those who are bound.

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The promised servant will proclaim the acceptable year of the

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Lord. The year of Jubilee is pointing to the freedom we have in Christ.

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Everything is reset. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature.

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All things are passed away. All things have become new. The year of Jubilee.

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So fifth, one more. The one promised, there's so many here.

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I'm just touching on the high points or some points. I think this is a very powerful one.

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He's being set to comfort those who mourn. Now in context, when you see this, verse three, to console those who mourn in Zion, the context is those mourning over their sin.

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That's why it says to give them beauty for ashes and oil of joy for mourning. The Jewish people will hear the words of comfort from the

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Messiah, but more than that, they will be comforted by him, which the prophet deals with more fully back in verse 12, but it says to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called trees of righteousness, planting of the

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Lord, that he may be glorified. You see, mourning back then involved pouring ashes on yourself.

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So you dump ashes from a fire over your head. And it also involved wearing coarse burlap as clothing.

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Now, I remember when we did the potato race back, okay, and I remember if you had shorts on and you put that potato sack there and you did that jumping thing, your legs were all itchy, right?

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Can you imagine that burlap all around your body? So you're covered in ashes and you got the burlap.

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And the whole idea is that you're just devastated by your sin.

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You're mourning in a very tangible way. And the picture of mourning is replaced by the picture of a party goer with a beautiful headdress, smelling of costly oil, wearing not this rough, coarse burlap, but a garment of praise.

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So this is some of the promised servants' message to the Israelites, to those living in Isaiah's day, and to those living in the days of the

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Roman Empire, and to those living in the days of 2020.

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Christmas, carols in the store, lights on people's houses, gifts, and dear friends, a promised birth.

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Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, and the promised servant. Oh, come all ye faithful.

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Oh, let us worship and adore him. God is faithful.

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Well over 300 messianic prophecies, promises, over some 1 ,500 years of 4 ,000, just depending on how you want to count it.

01:04:51

If you want to start in Genesis three and go all the way to Malachi. Malachi, all pertaining to the

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Messiah's, Israel's Messiah, all fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ.

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Jesus Christ, there's a whole sermon here. Jesus Christ died on purpose, not by accident.

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He died by design, not by some decision of the

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Roman Empire, not by some fluke. Jesus Christ died willingly for your sins and mine.

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Jesus died to change my life and your life, and not just on Christmas day or the week before, but what, every day.

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That's why we take up our cross daily. That's why Romans 12 says that we offer our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto

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God, which is our reasonable service based upon what God did. A miraculous birth and a promised birth.

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Because of this unique and one time and one of a kind promised birth, anyone can now talk to God.

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Whosoever will can know God and pray to God and seek

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God because and by means of the death, burial, and resurrection of the promised servant by means of faith in Jesus Christ, the

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Messiah. The wonderful message of Christmas is a message of grace through faith as a free gift.

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Jesus Christ, through the power of the gospel, will change anyone's life like he changed the lives of the shepherd and the wise men.

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The promised servant, the Messiah said in John 10 .10,

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I came that you might have life and have it abundantly.

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And what a present, what a Christmas present. The promised birth of Jesus Christ was good news to the

01:07:22

Jewish people looking forward for those hundreds of years for his birth. And you know the sad thing is when he did come, many denied, right?

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No way, can't be. All that evidence and yet they still denied it.

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It was good news then, it was good news during World War I, it was good news during World War II, and guess what, it's good news today, amen?

01:07:51

So before Harold comes to lead us in our closing hymn, would you just take a few moments to reflect on this birth, this promised birth?

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Maybe it does not mean to you as much as it should. Maybe you missed something about that birth that maybe a light came on in your head just now, said, wow,

01:08:13

I didn't think of that before. Take a few moments to pray. Ask the Lord to help you to implant his word in your heart.

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Lord, I think especially this morning for those that are not here with us, just for many people,

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Father, that are so concerned about what's going on and very challenging time,

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God. So I pray for our church family here, for those with us and those not with us,

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God. Pray for those of us that heard this message, Lord, that it might truly impact our life in such a way that this

01:08:57

Christmas season is one of joy and anticipation at remembering the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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We pray in Jesus' name, amen? Harold? Okay, let's stand together.

01:09:15

What a wonderful message and what a great way of kind of shooting us out of a can at the beginning of this

01:09:23

Christmas season, is it not? And being filled with that hope of Christ, this is, we're gonna sing, go tell it on a mountain.

01:09:32

Tell it on the mountain. And we can do that in our hearts, as John shared, that every place we go, people we interact with, there are people there that need the

01:09:45

Savior, need the Savior, and we can be God's instrument in helping them to know that truth.

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So let's remember this. Go tell it on the mountain. ♪

01:10:04

Go tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ Over the hills and everywhere mountain ♪ ♪

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Jesus Christ is born ♪ ♪ While shepherds kept their watching ♪ ♪

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O 'er silent flocks by night ♪ ♪ Behold throughout the heaven ♪ ♪

01:10:33

There shone a holy light ♪ ♪

01:10:40

Go tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪

01:10:45

Over the hills and everywhere mountain ♪ ♪

01:10:52

Jesus Christ is born ♪ ♪ While the shepherds feared and trembled ♪ ♪

01:11:00

When low above the earth ♪ ♪ Rang out the angel chorus,

01:11:10

Savior's birth ♪ ♪ Go tell it on the hills and everywhere ♪ ♪

01:11:23

Go tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪ Jesus Christ is born ♪ ♪

01:11:37

Was born and God sent a salvation ♪ ♪

01:11:43

That blessed Christmas more ♪ ♪ O tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪

01:11:54

The hills and everywhere ♪ ♪ Go tell it on the mountain ♪ ♪

01:12:01

Jesus Christ is born ♪

01:12:07

Great singing. Let's go forward now and remember to evangelize the lost, to remember that there's a hurting world out there and Christians, believers can be impactful now, maybe more than ever.