The After Life

Gtcotr/ss122621 

Luke 2 NKJV

8 ¶  Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9  And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

10  Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.

11  “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

12  “And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

13  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14  “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

15  So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

16  And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.

17  Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.

18  And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

19  But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

20  Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

21 ¶  And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called JESUS, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

22  Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

23  (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD”),

24  and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

It’s Sunday, the 26^th day of December 2021, the day after Christmas. Christmas celebrates such an exciting event. Christmas is the quintessential holiday of the year. Christ is what all of creation waited for ever since the Garden of Eden. Christmas changed everything!

Christmas is the day we choose to celebrate the birthday of Jesus.

It’s not always easy to remember that Jesus was born into an Old Testament world that was still subject to the Laws of Moses and the traditions of the elders of Israel. It was a time when animal sacrifices for sin and purification were still required by God and the Temple was the one and only Holy Place on earth.

Jesus came to change things. The world into which He was born did not understand Him. The world into which Jesus was born was unaware things were changing. They did not realize that Jesus was to be the fulfillment of all they had been taught to observe and all they had been declaring since the days of Abraham.

Jesus came to change everything … only the people were unaware, and many were even without hope that anything substantiative would ever change. Yet, Christmas changed everything.

The Bible teaches that life begins at conception and that God knows us before we are born. The Bible teaches that life begins at conception and that once it begins, it never ends. That’s the nature of life … existence … the birth of a soul.

·        The birth of a soul does not begin with the birth of a baby from a mother’s womb, but rather …

·        The birth of a soul begins at conception.

·        Once life begins … it never ends …

·        That’s the nature of life.

o   God knew you before you were fully formed in your mother’s  womb.

·        Just as the life of the soul begins at conception, so also eternal life in Christ begins at conception.

·        Life begins at conception and life does not depend on this world.

·        Life begins at conception and life never ends.

This morning I want to survey this passage left to us by the Holy Spirit which we read in Luke 2 and shed some light on what happens after Christmas. What happens after the day Jesus comes into your life. What happens after life begins.

You know what happens after Christmas? The same thing that happened after Jesus was born … More Life! If you will allow me, I’d like to call it “The After Life”.

Describe the passage in Luke 2:8-24

·        Jesus was born in Bethlehem, presumably in a stable, wrapped in cloths, and laid in an animal’s feeding trough which was used as His cradle.

·        A little time went by … with the birth and the swaddling …

·        That night angels appeared to shepherds in the field and announced the birth of the Messiah, Christ the Lord.

·        Then the angels directed the shepherds to go into town and see the babe.

·        The shepherds arrived and saw the babe and Mary and Joseph just like they had been told.

·        The shepherds went out and made it widely known.

o   They glorified God and told everybody.

o   Probably not all that same night but reasonably over the next few days.

·        Then the account jumps to 8 days later …

o   Jesus is circumcised …

§  Do you think it hurt?

§  Do you think He cried?

§  Of course He did …

§  It’s life … and life can hurt … even if your name is Jesus!

§  And that’s what they named Him at His circumcision … Yeshua – Jehovah is Salvation … even when it hurts!

o   Then, with the next breath, the Holy Spirit jumps forward to 40 days after Christmas …

Luke 2:22  Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord

·        Under the Jewish Law it took 40 days after the birth of a male child for a woman to be purified. She could not leave her dwelling until that time then she has to present herself and the child before the Lord and offer the prescribed sacrifices and offerings.

·        Every firstborn male child had to be dedicated to the Lord as a continuing priest over the family for the next generation. They were responsible for keeping the family covenant and for teaching and guiding the family to worship and serve Jehovah.

o   This is what happened in the life of Jesus after Christmas.

·        If we continue to follow the Christmas story, we find that there were wise men who most likely came months, maybe even up to two years, later, after Christmas …

·        Then there was that journey to Egypt when Joseph took his family on an extended self-imposed exile for perhaps a year or two.

·        Then the family along with the young child Jesus returned to Bethlehem for a season.

·        Then the family moved to Nazareth in the Galilee where Joseph worked as a carpenter and Jesus grew as a boy and learned to read and write and work with His hands.

·        Then we catch another glimpse of Jesus when He was about 12 years old on an annual pilgrimage with His family and friends to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover.

·        Then years later, perhaps 30 years after that first Christmas, we see Jesus leave home and begin His ministry which finally took Him to Calvary.

You know what happens after Christmas … more life … Life and destiny … one day, one event at a time … Life happens … even if your name is Jesus.

Christmas is wonderful. The day when you accept Jesus into your heart and are born-again by the Holy Spirit is wonderful and an exciting day.

You know what happens after Christ comes into your life? More life!

·        Sometimes it hurts …

·        Sometimes you’re the hero in the eyes of others, and

·        Sometimes you’re the zero

Christmas is exciting, but it leads to life which often is not so exciting. However, life is still necessary for us just like it was for Jesus.

Jesus could have been born of a virgin, died a martyr’s death in that manger in Bethlehem and He would have still been the perfect sacrifice as God’s only begotten Son. Why did life have to unfold and Why did Jesus endure such contradiction? For others … so you could have a Christmas.

That’s the reason why we were also chosen to endure such contradiction as we live this mortal existence is this world of sin … it’s all about others … so that others might experience their very own personal Christmas and be Born-again by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There was a time when Jesus was God’s only promise of Immanuel … God with the people. Now, we are that promise. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Savior of all mankind, lives in you. And it is Christ in you that is the hope of God in the world today. Colossians 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of Glory.

God hopes you will let the light of Christ so shine in your life that others will see that light and glorify Him by making Yeshua their salvation.

This is the day after Christmas, and it should remind us that we have a lot of life to live for Christ so that others can experience their Christmas. The best life is the after life … life after the birth of Christ in our hearts. Real life begins the day after Christmas.

Only Believe

Gtcotr/ss121921

 

The Christmas story is the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s a story of redemption … a story of salvation, a story of a loving, forgiving, and gracious God. Jesus, the Son of God, was born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago. Why? Let’s read:

 

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

Jesus came to the world to save the world, one sinner, one soul at a time. 

 

John 1:14  The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

John 1:10  He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.

 

John 1:12  But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.

 

There was a man who lived in the days of Jesus who was a member of the religious group known as the Pharisees. His name was Nicodemus. He was a prominent and well-known religious leader of the Jews. Nicodemus did not want to get caught up in the controversies concerning Jesus and cause himself problems, so he came to Jesus during the nighttime, after dark when no one else could recognize him. Nicodemus had a genuine respect for Jesus. He said, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." 

 

Jesus answered Nicodemus and said, "You’re right, and unless a person is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus replied to Jesus in earnest, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?"

 

Jesus answered: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don’t be surprised or confused when I tell you that “You must be born again.”

 

The continuing Christmas story shows us a loving Creator whose greatest desire is to be our Heavenly Father. The salvation He offers is not based on what we have done or what we will yet do, but rather on what Jesus did. We are saved by God’s grace through our own faith in Jesus.

 

Salvation is accompanied by a true conversion of the soul. That person who was bound by fear, sin, and death, is gone. We become a new person.

 

This morning I want to make certain that I am clear about the wonderful and true Christmas message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 

1. Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

2. Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. Romans 10:13 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

a. Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

b. Romans 10:10 For with the heart a personbelieves unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

 

The Christmas story began in a stable in the town of Bethlehem a little over 2000 years ago. Since then, the Christmas story has continued in the hearts and lives of hundreds and hundreds of millions of men, women, boys, and girls, from every custom, culture, language, and ethnicity. 

 

Have you been saved by Jesus? Have you allowed the message of Christmas to change your life? It can and it will today if you only believe. Take time to call upon the name of Jesus right now and invite Him to live in your heart. You will be born-again, just like Nicodemus was.

 

May God bless you and your family and give you a very Merry Christmas!

Life Shape Prayer & Discipleship ​Block Nine – Salvation

gtoctr/fs121921 

• There is only One God – Jehovah, the God of the Bible.

• He created the heavens and the earth and made man like Him

• Adam and Eve sinned through their disobedience and were separated

o From each other

o From God

o From God’s purpose and provision on planet earth

o From eternal life 

▪ Sin brought birth to death and eternal separation from God

• Sin claimed the souls of all man and demanded sacrifice

o The blood of animals could only temporarily cover man’s sin

o The blood of man was impure and unacceptable

o The sin debt required the perfect sacrifice of a sinless man

• Jesus, Son of God and Son of man, willingly offered Himself

o Not because He had to but because He wanted to – love 

o In death He destroyed him who had the power over death

o He triumphed over principalities and the powers of darkness

o He took the keys of death, hell and the grave

• Jesus, the promised Messiah, victoriously rose to life again on the 3rd day

• God willingly opened a door through Jesus and extended an invitation to all mankind to be saved by His grace

• There is only one way to receive this free gift of salvation - it comes through faith. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

 

Key Scripture: 

Ephesians 2

8  For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9  Not of works, lest any man should boast.

 

Commentary:

There was a man who lived in the day of Jesus who was a member of the religious group known as the Pharisees. His name was Nicodemus and he was a prominent and well known religious leader of the Jews.This man, not wanting to stir up controversy or cause himself problems, came to Jesus during the nighttime, after dark when no one else could recognize him. Nicodemus had a genuine respect for Jesus and said,"Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."

Jesus answered Nicodemus and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus replied to Jesus in earnest, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?"

Jesus answered, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ’You must be born again.’”

The continuing Christmas story reveals a loving Creator whose greatest desire is to be your Heavenly Father. The salvation He offers is not based on what you have done or what you will yet do, but rather on what Jesus did. We access God’s grace by trusting Him. 

 

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

 

Salvation comes only with a true conversion of the soul. Salvation is offered by grace, through faith in Jesus, and not by works.

 

Important Points:

1. Romans 3:23 All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

2. Romans 6:23 The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

3. Romans 10:13 Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

a. Romans 10:9 If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

b. Romans 10:10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

The Continuing Christmas Story

Gtcotr/ws121521 

This past Sunday we discussed God’s plan for mankind and how He entrusted the most important part of His plan to a young unproven girl named Mary from the town of Nazareth. We talked about how once Mary offered her life to God and agreed to trust Him with her future, God fully invested Himself in her. They became partners in the greatest story ever told.

The Christmas account gives only a few details of how God interacted with both Mary and Joseph. It seems they were not given every answer in a way they could fully understand but were rather both encouraged to trust the Lord. We concluded that:

Our future cannot rest on all of the things we do not understand but rather on the one thing we do understand.

What do we understand? We can trust God with our future.

We must not allow the things we do not know to overshadow the things we do know. Like it or not, we live in a world and under a world system that does not acknowledge God. So many men and women strive to gain the things this world has to offer without any consideration of just how temporary and empty those worldly treasures will be in the end.

Many men spend a lifetime denying the vulnerability into which they were born. No one can save themselves. We are all at the mercy of the eternal Creator. Thankfully He is a kind and loving God who sees the end from the beginning and who has made a way for us to live forever with Him.

The Christmas season also reminds us of the birth of Jesus in the town of Bethlehem. How that on that night God sent angels to announce the Good News to shepherds who were watching over their flocks of sheep in the fields. The Good News they announced revealed the will of God for all mankind. The angels and a multitude of heavenly host declared:

“Peace on earth and good will towards men.”

This world may be cruel and filled with empty promises however God is good, and His promises will last forever.

About 1450 years before Jesus was born, a prophet named Balaam was hired by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites who were camped on the eastern bank of the Jordan River, across from the city of Jericho. You can read this account in Numbers 22, 23, and 24. Balaam was not a good prophet … he was selfish and greedy but still he was afraid of God.

King Balak, the king of Moab, was not afraid of God but rather he was afraid of Moses and the children of Israel. Partly because there were so many of them and because they had defeated every enemy they had encountered during the past 40 years. Moab represents this current world and the system of this world. A world that feels and acts like they are above the hand of God and not subject to anyone but themselves … a system that believes they can override God’s will with their money and power and never be held to account. A world that does not fear God.

The prophet Balaam was brought to three different vantage points overlooking the Israelites from where the king expected his bribed prophet to perform a curse. However, Balaam was warned by an angel of the Lord to not speak anything except what the Spirit of the Lord told him. Balaam obeyed God even though it enraged the king of Moab. Here are a few things Balaam said during those three encounters.

Numbers 23:8  “How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how shall I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?”

Numbers 23

19  “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

20  Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it.”

Numbers 24

15  So he took up his oracle and said: “The utterance of Balaam the son of Beor, And the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened;

16  The utterance of him who hears the words of God, And has the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Who falls down, with eyes wide open:”

17  “I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.”

Many may not realize it and some vehemently deny it however, We are a creation in need …

·        We are born to need

·        We live in need and

·        We die with yet the greatest need.

Even the greedy prophet Balaam saw Jesus as the only answer and realized that he would one day defeat this world and destroy His enemies. This too is a part of the continuing Christmas Story.

There are so many things we do not know and cannot understand. However there is one thing we do know and can understand. We can trust God with our future.

The one common thread running through the characters we see in the Christmas Story is trust.

·        Mary was encouraged to trust God …

·        Joseph was told to trust God …

·        The shepherds were asked to trust God …

·        The wise men from the east did not trust Herod but trusted God …

·        Even Balaam the prophet was told to not put his trust in money, this world, or the promises of those in power, but rather to trust God.

This is all God is asking of us today … Trust Him!

We must not allow the things we do not understand to overshadow the trust we have in Jesus.

Trust Him! And do not be afraid!