Responses to Christ: Faith, Worship, and Rejection

"Joseph's life was disturbed. All of a sudden, the news of the pregnancy, this really challenged his understanding, Joseph's understanding of his life and the new life and all the plans that he had with Mary, they were all disrupted. We read that in verses 18 and 19. Everything was disrupted. But this is exactly where God wanted him. This is exactly what God's redemption plan was. The angel came and declared that Jesus would be the savior who will save people from their sins." [00:05:34]

"This birth was the fulfillment of the prophecy this was the promise of the salvation of mankind and again we've had it read this morning through emmanuel god with us you know you could just split those three words up very easily and just first of all god the the one the one that bees you know we are we are human beings but he is the one that just bees we he lives in and of himself you could take the second word with the fact that he would come and be with us what an extraordinary thing to step into this world to join us in the suffering that we go through and then that word us the togetherness the community god with us." [00:06:13]

"You see the faithful response of joseph here he obeys the lord joseph steps into the unfolding grace and the gospel story by protecting mary and then by raising this child as his own it's an amazing thing that joseph does look at verses 24 and 25 then joseph's being raised from sleep that as the angel of the lord had told him and he took him him uh took her as his wife and he knew her not until she had brought forth the child and the son and his name was jesus." [00:07:22]

"Joseph protected mary and he also raised jesus as his child and it was because of this faith that trust in him was not lost and he was able to bring forth the child and the son and his name was christ means that we have that plan of salvation you know if you think about it this this begins with the birth of jesus but it oddly reaches its pinnacle at his death and then at his resurrection his victorious resurrection so this faith in christ it leads to submission to god's plan it at some point in our life we have to get to that point but then it also means there's going to be an active clear response we're going to respond to christ and his salvation and we're going to respond to christ and his salvation work which we know to be at the cross." [00:08:34]

"The wise men travelled from far. Travelled. They sacrificed much to honour the Lord Jesus. Showing their devotion. Of his kingship. You know it blesses my heart. Having the champion sister Pfizer. To travel down from Valley Clare. To sacrifice. And show their devotion. You know again that should challenge us. Even this morning all of us. Do you and I prioritise. Worshipping Christ." [00:14:27]

"Do we put him above our own comfort. And our own convenience. You know would we say that you and I. Are offering our best to the Lord Jesus. Do we offer our time and our talents. Here it says they offered their treasures. We even just reflect just in. Also as a challenge this morning. What acts of devotion. Did we do for the Lord in 2014. 2014." [00:14:56]

"Herod sees Jesus as a threat. Herod sees Jesus as someone that he needs to violently remove. He opposes him greatly and he plots to kill him. And if you notice in the Nativity story, Herod is always left out. Herod is always left out because he's a nasty piece of work. Herod is never in that little manger scene that you get as well. But he's a big part of the story." [00:16:57]

"Herod came to them to find out where he would be born. And they weren't even looking for him. These were the super, super religious people. The Pharisees knew the scriptures, but yet they failed to act. Showed indifference toward even their own Messiah. Their own Savior. It's almost shocking. Look at chapter 2, verses 4 to 6. And when he had gathered the chief priests and the scribes together. This is Herod. He gets all the cleverest religious people he can find." [00:18:18]

"Whether it's rebellion by Herod or passive indifference by the Pharisees, the truth is, if we reject Christ, that rejection, that rejection opens up the door to the judgment of God. And it opens it very wide. That's because this is the reason for the season. So let's challenge that. Let's think about that this morning now. Is there an area of your life where you and I are resisting Christ's authority?" [00:19:56]

"Christmas is the time to allow Christ to have authority and to surrender your life. Let him have control. Let him have control. That was the title of our message this morning. Responding to Christ at Christmas. And just a quick recap. What happened? Joseph. Joseph's faith led to the salvation of not just of Joseph and Mary, but of all mankind, the offer of all mankind. It was his faith. The wise men, their worship flowed from the joy of the Lord." [00:20:46]

"How does the Lord God Almighty, how does he bring you home? He brings you home by love. In that great carol it says, God's pure love. God's deep love, God's compassion, he says, will bring you home. He'll bring you home not by force, but by love. And I'll show you another verse. This is Hosea 11 verse 4. The context here is the children of Israel, remember God's people." [00:23:59]

"He says, I drew them with the cords of men, with the bands of love. In other words, what he's saying there, he's saying, look, they rejected me. They had apathy. They had no interest in me. But he said, you know what I'll do? I'll do like what mankind does. I'll harness them. He says, I won't harness them like a horse. I won't put reins on them. I'll draw them with my love. What an amazing verse." [00:24:36]