Christmas Eve - Audio
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It's Christmas Eve, and it's hard to remember all those years ago when I was still a child. But when I think about it, I do remember the best part of Christmas for me. In retrospect, at the time I didn't know this, but now looking back, I realize it. And so if you're younger than, say, the age of, like, I don't know, 15, this is probably the case for you. But maybe not. I don't know. This is just me. But I remember that for me, the best moment at Christmas was the moment just after I'd woken up, because, you know, it's like 4 or 30 in the morning, and I'm zoomed, ready to go. And I know that my parents are going to send me back to bed. So that part's a little rough. But then sitting there for the two hours until they decide to get up and get their coffee. That was really hard. But then going downstairs and seeing the tree with all the presents. That moment, that moment was the best part of Christmas. And for me, that's because I'm an only child, so like 94% of those presents were for me. And so it was a great moment. And you know, you remember it like the, you'll see it tomorrow morning and maybe tonight for some of you. The sparkling, you know, and the light hits the presents and some of the wrapping papers golden and it's like shines, and it's just this, it's a magical moment. And the reason it's a magical moment is because right then, at least for me as a kid, anything is possible. Like anything. Anything can happen. I mean, Lord knows what's inside of those boxes, now a lot of bags with tissue paper on top. But no, you don't know, but you know that because they're there, anything can happen. We've been looking a lot at the way Luke tells the story of Jesus' birth and what leads up to it. And I love this part. So the angel is talking to Mary, and the angel has told Mary, Mary, you're going to have a baby, he's going to be the Messiah. And she's like, that's impossible, I haven't been together with my husband. How could that be? And the angel replied, this verse 35, "The Holy Spirit will come over you in the power of the Most High, will overshadow you. Therefore the one who is to be born will be holy, he'll be called God's Son." Now, look, if you're having trouble to leave this, check this out. The angel says, "Even in her old age, your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son. This woman who was labeled unable to conceive is now as we speak six months pregnant." Verse 37, "The angel ends, nothing is impossible for God." And that's the moment. That's the moment when faith and life and all of the dreams and desires, they all meet on Christmas morning, and for adults, for those of us who have to deal with all kinds of disappointments and excitement and questions throughout our lives, that's the moment where we get to forget all about it for a second, and just enjoy how cool it is for our kids. We called this series, "Where Your World Rejoices," long lay the world in sin and error pining. So sin and misunderstanding and going the wrong way and yet crying out, hoping, pining for
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Coast Bible Church, PastorTom Bennett, San Juan Capistrano, CA, www.coastbible.org