INTRODUCTION
• What is today supposed to be about? Is it supposed to be about spending more money than we have and seeing weeks worth of shopping and wrapping get destroyed in 10 minutes of fast and furious gift opening? Is it about the trees and decorations we set up in our homes? Is it about the family we will get to see?
• This holiday is supposed to be about Jesus.
• It is Christmas time, a traditional time set aside where celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ!
• Most people take time to celebrate the birthday of the ones you love.
• What is it about Jesus that would make us want to have a holiday to celebrate His birth?
• Wasn’t Jesus just another famous person who has a birthday that we celebrate?
• We celebrate the birth of Presidents and other famous people like Martin Luther King Jr. What is it about Jesus that would deserve our time and effort to celebrate?
• Maybe it is because Jesus is considered a religious leader? Why don’t we have birthdays for other religious leaders? Why don’t we have Buddhamas, Mohammedmas?
• I am sure in the countries where these men are revered their must be some kind of recognition.
• What is so different about Jesus, so different that you are taking the time to be here today?
• Jesus was born just like the rest of us wasn’t He? SLIDE #1
• Today I want us to see that the reason we should celebrate the birth of Jesus is because He was no ordinary child!
• We are going to look at some things about Him that shows us He is no ordinary child and that because of whom He is; He has earned to right to be worshipped by us!
SLIDE #2
SERMON
The Christ-Child had:
I. NO ORDINARY BIRTH
One of the reasons we should celebrate the birth of Jesus is because His birth was no ordinary birth. Let us look at a few things that made His birth one that was not your ordinary run of the mill birth. SLIDE #3
1. The announcement of his birth was not ordinary.
• When we announce the birth of a new child, we usually pass our cigars or candy, we take an ad out in the paper among other things.
• One thing we do not do is have our great-great-great-great Grandparents announce the birth of our child several hundred years before the event happens.
• I did not announce the birth of Rachel when I was in 4th grade.
• SLIDE #4 Isaiah 7:14
• Look at just one of the passages in the Old Testament that was written by Isaiah some 700 plus years BEFORE Jesus was born. Isaiah saw Jesus more clearly than any of the other Old Testament Prophets. That is an impressive announcement!
• We can also se that God used some other impressive ways to let the world know about the birth of His Son! SLIDE #5
• Turn to Luke 1 with me. I will read verses 26-34 and then we will go to Luke 2:8-12
• God is using the Angels to announce the birth of His Son. I know my daughters and grandchildren are VERY special to me, but God did not send the angels down to announce any of their births!
• God used a star to guide the Magi as they looked for the Son of God.
• If God is going to all this trouble to announce the birth of Jesus, He was definitely no ordinary child!
SLIDE #6
2. A virgin birth is was not ordinary.
• Let us look at Luke 1:26-27 for a moment. SLIDE #7
• The Bible tells us that Mary was still a virgin. This is not a normal way human reproduction works. I do not think that one will work if tried today!
• SLIDE #8 We will look more at the significance of this later, but suffice to say, the means of conception was not an ordinary one. Even in the passage in Isaiah that we looked at it stresses the same thing.
• I wonder what Joseph was thinking. Hey Mary, eating too many Crispy Cream Doughnuts! SLIDE #9
• Look with me at Matthew 1:18-20. Joseph must have been wondering what was happening with the wife-to-be that he had not touched! READ PASSAGE
• Suffice to say, a virgin birth was not normal or ordinary.
SLIDE #10
3. The circumstances surrounding His birth were not ordinary.
TIMING
• I want you to think for a moment, you are God and you want to send your Son to the world to save the world. What time period would you choose? I think I would choose to send Him during the reign of David or even early in Solomon’s reign. What about now! Think if the Television and press coverage it would get?
• When you look at the timing, it was good because the world was fairly peaceful and the Roman’s had provided a great transportation system, there was a common language and if He were born today, the press coverage would end as quickly as it began.
PARENTS
• Think of the parents He chooses to raise His Son. If you were going to give you child to another to raise, you most likely have chosen this young poor, common couple. God knew what He was doing. He could have chosen some rich influential family to raise Him.
CITY OF BIRTH
• SLIDE #11Think about the city of His birth. Bethlehem was a small ordinary town of no significance. Why not have Him be born in Jerusalem? I think Mary and Joseph would have liked Nazareth where they were living so they did not have to make the 60 plus mile trip to Bethlehem!
• When you think about who was being born, these circumstances do not seem to be what you would expect!
SLIDE #12
The Christ-Child had:
II. NO ORDINARY HERITAGE
Every human that I know and have ever heard of has an ordinary heritage. We may have some exciting people who were a part of our past, maybe we were related to George Washington or something, but we are all ordinary in the fact that we have a HUMAN mother and father! Let’s look at Jesus for a minute.
SLIDE #13
1. One of His parents was human.
SLIDE #14
• In Matthew 1:18 among other places we see that Mary was the mother of Jesus.
• This passage tells us that Mary is the mother of Jesus. She is human and she is an ordinary young virgin girl.
• Let us look at Luke 1:26-30 READ
• SLIDE #15 Luke 1:28-29
• When you look at the account in Luke 1, Mary was VERY PERPLEXED. She could not figure out why SHE had found favor with God. Notice she did not run from the job, she did not try to bargain her way out of it. Mary accepted her chosen role from God.
SLIDE #16
2. One of His parents was God.
• Let us look at Matthew 1:18 again. SLIDE #17
• She was pregnant before the normal way of human reproduction happened. The passage tells us that her conception was by the Holy Spirit. SLIDE #18 Matthew 1:20. READ
• This is not ordinary OR normal!
• What is the implication of this?
SLIDE #19
3. This makes Him to be God.
• I am an Anselmi because my father and mother are. Jesus is God because His Father is God! SLIDE #20
• John 1:1 (NASB) 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
SLIDE #21
The Christ-Child had:
III. NO ORDINARY MISSION
Jesus was born for a special purpose, it was no ordinary purpose or mission!
SLIDE #22
1. His mission was to save us from our sins.
• Jesus did not just come to be adored. He did not come just so He could see what it was like to live as a man; He came so we could have salvation!
• SLIDE #23 Matthew 1:21 says: “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
• This is so important because as long as you are still a slave to sin, you cannot be in the presence of God.
• When you come to Jesus, He cleanses you from your sins, and then His grace covers your shortcomings.
• SLIDE #24 John 8:34 says: John 8:34 (NASB) 34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
• SLIDE #25 Romans 6:23 says: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SLIDE #26
2. He is the door we must go through to be a part of the family of God.
• SLIDE #27 John 14:6 says: Jesus said* to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
• If you want to go to heaven, you will not do it without Jesus! His mission was to adopt people into God’s family!
• SLIDE #28 Galatians 4:4-5 says: 4But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
SLIDE #29
3. He is the Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God!
• Jesus is the wonderful counselor!
• SLIDE #30 Isaiah 9:6-7 says: For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
• What is your child going to be when they grow up? A Doctor, Lawyer, construction worker? How about savior of the world! That is not ordinary mission!
SLIDE #31
The Christ-Child invokes:
IV. NO ORDINARY RESPONSE
SLIDE #32
1. When He was in the manger, He was cute.
• When a person is a baby, they are all cute. Puppies are cute, dogs are not.
• Many of us can come to the manger and behold the baby Jesus because a baby does not pose a threat to us!
• But there is something that we all need to realize.
SLIDE #33
2. He grew up; we are faced with a choice to make that has eternal ramifications!
• You must choose who you are going to serve. Jesus came to give you life, Satan came to lie. Steal and destroy you.
• Jesus was born, He grew up, He died on the cross for your sins.
• Do you really think that God will let someone into heaven who rejects the Lordship of His Son whom He sent to die for you?
• The response that Jesus demands is one of total dedication. You are for Him or against Him; there is no middle ground with Jesus!
• Who are you going to rely on to get to heaven? How you chose has an eternal ramification!
CONCLUSION
• As you celebrate the birth of Jesus, just remember, He was no ordinary child. He desires and deserves our worship and devotion!
