Prelude
Hymn #212 Go Tell It on the Mountain
Hymn #218 How Great Our Joy
Prayer Announcements
Hymn #193 Angels, from the Realms of Glory
Hymn #226 While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
Bible Message Pastor Dan Cleghorn
Closing Hymn #210 Gentle Mary Laid Her Child
Postlude
9:15 a.m. --- Prayer Time & Bible Lesson
10:00 a.m. --- Fellowship Time
10:30 a.m. --- Worship Service
Wednesday
Bible Study & Prayer Time, 7:00 p.m.
January 8
Men’s Prayer Breakfast, 8:00 a.m.
January 9
Communion Service, 10:30 a.m.
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Monthly general fund budget need - $9,608
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The Christmas Story #5 December 26, 2021
I. God’s Scheduled Appointment–Galatians 4:4-5; Luke 2:6-7
Archaeologists have excavated first century homes from the Judean hill country. They have discovered that the upper level served as a guest chamber while the lower level served as the living and dining rooms. Oftentimes, the more vulnerable animals would be brought in at night to protect them from the cold and theft. This sounds strange to many of us, since we wouldn’t dream of bringing some of our cattle into the house at night, but even today in some countries of Europe (e.g., Germany and Austria), the farmhouse and the animal quarters are often different parts of the same building. This is where the manger comes into play. Mary likely gave birth to Jesus in the lower level of a crowded house, in which some of the animals had been brought in for the night. She then wrapped Jesus in swaddling cloths and laid Him in the manger (feeding trough). (Born in a Barn (Stable)? (Tim Chaffey; Answers in Genesis; 11/30/2010)
II. God’s Special Invitation–Luke 2:8–14
It may be significant that the ancient church in Britain observed a date called Michaelmas (i.e., “Michael sent”), known as the feast of Michael and all the angels. This date (still recognized in England’s legal system) is September 29—a date when it is reasonable that Jewish shepherds would be in the fields with their flocks. Now, if that just might be the date of Christ’s birth, then December 25 (nine months earlier) could well be the real date of the incarnation, when the eternal Creator God left heaven to take up residence as a special “seed” in a virgin’s womb! (Days of Praise, ICR; 12/22/06)
glory = brightness or splendor, (1) supernatural, emanating from God (as in the shekinah “glory,” in the pillar of cloud and in the Holy of Holies (Vine, Unger, and White Jr., in Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, 268)
glory = splendor, brightness, radiance, dazzling lustre
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary - Saviour = One that saves or preserves; but properly applied only to Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who has opened the way to everlasting salvation by his obedience and death, and who is therefore called the Savior, by way of distinction, the Savior of men, the Savior of the world. (Noah Webster’s First Edition of An American Dictionary of the English Language. (Anaheim, CA: Foundation for American Christian Education, 2006).
Christ = Jesus is identified as the “Christ” (Χριστός) no less than 569 times in the New Testament in some 530 verses. The title means “anointed” and is the Greek equivalent of Messiah, the One who came to be “with us.”
the Lord = A title of honor, respect, reverence
III. God’s Selected Visitors–Luke 2:15–20
kept = One of the obsolete senses of the verb keep is “To take in with the eyes, ears, or mind; to take note of, mark, behold, observe.” This may be what the KJV translators meant when they said “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” (blog.logos.com/christmas-story-luke-2)
