The True Star

Okay, let's have a little prayer their heavenly Father. We're

grateful today for Jesus, the Shepherd of the Sheep, the

True Star. Help us as we live for you, to

really live for you in Jesus' name. Amen. On the

eve of this Christmas. There are lights in the sky again,

but not in the East or over the city of

Jerusalem or in Bethlehem. That is, if we exclude the

bright lights that come from bombs blowing up over the

Middle East. The bright lights in the skies are all

over New Jersey, Am I right? And they're drones, or

they say they're drones. I don't know how they can

figure out their drones. I think they got a picture

of one with some helicopter wings, but they say some

of them are big, small, and no one knows where

they're coming from. One headlight on Breitbart Read's Drone Mystery

grips USA with the question who sent them? The Drudge

Report asked the silient question, what are they? You know?

I think of that tune from this sci fi thing

in the early sixties, ed you know, the Twilight Zone tune.

Most of us are just scratching our head as these

things with lights fly over neighborhoods or military installations with

raw impunity that could care less what's considered forbidden airspace.

I could not help but think of that first Christmas

when I was thinking about these lights and stuff, when

the Magi saw a drone coming from the east toward Jerusalem,

a heavenly drone. And they followed the drone to King

Herod and finally to Bethlehem, and they were not disappointed.

Where it led them to. The True Star was in

the manger, led by the Star of Bethlehem. One of

these days, we're going to look up in the sky

rather soon and we're we're not going to see a

bird or a plane, or a drone or superman. We're

going to see King Jesus coming in all his glory,

the True Star. It will be the brightest day in

human history and to break into the darkest day of

human history and reverse it all. In the book Revelation,

there are five times Jesus self identifies himself by confessing

who he is. Jesus says, I'm this. And when Jesus

says he's something, we need to pay attention. In fact,

let us not forget that the book Revelation is the

unveiling of who Jesus is. So let's look at them

very briefly. Revelation one, seventeen and eighteen. When I saw

him Jesus, John writes, I fell at his feet, as

though dead. But he laid his right hand upon me, saying,

fear not. I am the first and the last, the

living one. I died, and behold, I'm alive for evermore.

I have the keys of death and of Hades. Here's

number two, Revelation two twenty three. Speaking of spiritual Jezebel,

Jesus says, I will strike her children dead, and all

the churches shall know that I am he who searches

mine in heart. And I will give to each of

you as your works to doay number three Revelation three,

fourteen fifteen. And to the Angel of the Church, and

lay to sea you aright the words of the Amen.

The faithful and true witness the beginning of God's creation.

I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot.

Would that you were cold or hot. Revelation twenty two thirteen.

Number four. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the

first and the last, the beginning and the end, and

the fifth and final Self declaration Revelation twenty two sixteen.

I Jesus have sent my angel to you with this

testimony for the churches. I am the root and offspring

of David, the Bright and morning Star. That's the final

statement of Jesus as to who he is as the

living Word of God. Jesus self identifies himself five times

in the book Revelation. Now what is the number five

famous for in the Bible, The five Books of Moses,

the Tarah, the Law of Moses, Genesis, Exdus, Leviticus, numbers

Deuteronomy as the living Word of God, the Great Torah

of God's Kingdom. Jesus proclaims who he is in these

five declarations. Friends, Jesus is the Law of Moses, and

much more. Jesus is the king of the fifth Kingdom

of Daniel seven number five, the Tauri Kingdom. Jesus is

the first and the last. The often the Omega titles

used only for God Almighty. Jesus is God Almighty number

two with God as one. Jesus is the one who

died and is alife forevermore. I think many of you

know that there has been ripping through the Aventist Church

in many quarters a challenge to the doctrine of the trinity.

How many of you are aware of that and your

and I don't think I've used the term directly, but

let me say this is that the triu nature of

God is essential for God to be loved. You give

up the trying nature of God and you can thank

a God of love. A God who cannot give in

a way that is not exclusive or selfish is not

a God of love. And the pioneers of this church

had to grow to get it right. They didn't come

into this movement with all the answers. It took righteousness

by faith and the great struggle in eighteen eighty eight

for the Reformation teaching of Christ our righteousness for the

essential nature of the Trinity to come into this movement,

because the Gospel demanded it. Now, what does John three

point sixteen say. For God so loved the world that

he WoT that he gave You can't give if you're alone,

if you're a monad inhabiting eternity from the distant past

and you don't have anyone to interact with. Sister White

tells us correctly that the Godhead is the hoarded love

of eternity. She describes the Father, the Son, the Holy

Spirit together the hoarded love of etern See, God didn't

create the universe out of need. God created the universe

out of love, and it takes three to love in

that circle, that is the hearted love of eternity. Why

is this teaching such a threat to God's people? Then

of time, Look, if God can convince you the Holy

Spirit is only some impersonal presence. Guess what, you will

grieve the Holy Spirit in your life. You will lose

the Holy Spirit in your life. God's Holy Spirit is

a person who can be grieved but in the hearted

love of Eternity. And if Jesus is less than Almighty God,

as he self proclaims he is in the Revelation, then

guess what. Christ does not have the credentials to save you.

He doesn't have the power to recreate you. He is

not ultimately the life giver the wisdom of God. If

you go back to the fourth century, and this is

not in my manuscript I'm sharing with you stuff here

you go to Athanasius, who his treatise on the Incarnation

and the Deity of Christ. He was fighting against the

heresy of Arius, who promoted this idea that Jesus is

not God. At the Great Council of Nicea and Constantine

five years later persecuted Athenasius, Constantine became the great anti Trinitarian,

whose son, Constantious the First, continued his policies until his death,

and it affected the Christian Church dramatically. But friends, we

owe our faith to the ancient faith. If you were

to go back to the second century AD, Athenagorus of Athens,

a convert to Christianity, gives the most simple proclamation of

the Trinity. You can imagine, long before the Council of

Nicea in three twenty five. Some people say, well, you know,

the Trinity was created by the heretics at the time

of Constantine and Constantine as part of that Corruption's nonsense.

People don't know their history, and they've really instilled in

the minds of people confusion where there need not be it. Look,

when we're baptized, we're baptized in the name, not names name.

It's the name of God is Yahweh I am who

I am, the name of the Father, the Son, and

the Holy Spirit. And so let us not lose sight

of the fact that God, in the mystery of his

holiness is the three or one, and the Gospel falls

flat on its face without the trinity. That's why God

has infused it into our baptismal valid proclamation. Sister White

says that the three heavenly beings, and she's referring to

First John five to seven, these heavenly beans that are three,

commit themselves as one in the Godhead for our salvation.

All you gotta do with the three legged stools. Cut

one leg off and what happens the stool falls. You

don't have one stool if you don't have three legs.

I got on a tangent, there, didn't I right now? Look,

Jesus is the one who holds the keys of death

and the grave. Because Jesus is God. You don't have

power over death unless you have divine credentials. Death is

not the ultimate fear for the Christian. Letting go of

Jesus' hand ought to be because he holds the keys

of death and the grave. And if you hold the

hand of the one who holds the keys, you're gonna

be okay. Jesus self identifies himself as the one who

reads our hearts and minds. In these five points, we

were looking at his self declarations. Don't think you can

fool Jesus. Jesus is the wisdom of God in Proverbs sake,

he is the knowledge of God, the mind of God

made verbal. Christ knows your thinking through the power of

the Spirit and his Father and his own omnipotence. Jesus

knows you better than you know yourself. Somebody said, well,

no one knows what I'm going through. He ever felt

like that. You know, it tis the season to be jolly.

Not a lot of holly around here, right, Look, Jesus

knows what you're going through, and Jesus understands. And Christ

didn't make you to be some tragic story that ends

up on the raw end of life. Christ made you

for his glory for all eternity. He knows you. Therefore,

it makes a huge amount of sense to get to

know Jesus for who he is, because Jesus loves you

for who you are. To the lukewarm Church of latencya

Jesus is called the Amen, and we often read read

over that amen is another word for truth and reality

in the Bible. When we say a good hearty prayer,

how do we end it? Come on, say it with me? Amen?

When we hear something from the pulpit that inspires us.

Since truth, what should we say? Amen? And we shouldn't

be afraid of saying in church because we're affirming God

and worshiping Him with a hearty what amen? Ah? That's

good practice. So amen is another way, another word for

truth and reality in the Bible. In one John one nine,

Jesus the true light that was coming into the world

that first Christmas, He's called the amen to the latesty

in church. Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth

and the life. That's a good thing because life ought

to make sense. Right should life not make sense? It

should make sense. Life should not be out of control.

If Christ is the Way, the truth, and the life,

then life and truth have a destination and a purpose

that is meaningful. Life becomes meaningful, Light becomes meaningful. The

true light is the first light and the only light

we need in life to have meaningful living. John one

nine through verse eleven. The true light that enlightens every

man was what coming into the world. And then look

at verse ten. He was in the world. So the

light is not some impersonal something. The light is the

person of Jesus. He was in the world the world

was made through him, yet the world knew him. Not

he came to his own home. It's Judaism and his

own people. What do they do that first Christmas? What

does it say they received him? Not? I mean he's

the rejected god, no god in antiquity. And you said,

what do you mean, no God? Well, the demons became

gods of the nations. No demon god of a nation

was ever rejected by its own people. But Israel rejected Jesus,

who was the God of Israel. He was assigned at

the Mount Sinai by God the Father to be the

guardian protector of the Jewish nation Nexus twenty three, twenty

twenty one. If my memory serves me correctly, he says,

this angel, who is really God, because my name is

in him, will lead you to the Promised Land. You

better obey him, arguing to his voice, because he will

not set aside your rebellion. And that became. Jesus became

the guardian protector of the Jewish nation throughout the centuries

of the Old Testament, until he came in human form

and was rejected by his people. John ten sixteen. Jesus says,

I have come that they might have life and have it.

How more abundantly, some Christians, some citizens of our country,

are considered shooting down some of those drones that shine

in the night. Have you watched the news. We're gonna

shoot one of those guys down, you know, probably from

Red State America. And I'm not a fan of any

group and can be in against another, but in Red

State America, if something's a hostile, you have the locals

taken care of it. So I don't know if they're

gonna get a drone out of the sky or not. Now,

if these are supernatural drones, you know, demons looking like propellers,

I don't know. Then it's gonna be hard to do.

Time will tell I guess nothing is new this Christmas.

They tried to do the same to the True Light

who came into the world two thousand years ago. They

tried to shoot him down, didn't they. The Bible says

Revelation twelve. The dragon was ready to devour Christ the

male child when he was born. Harod tried to kill him,

and when he ended his ministry in Jerusalem, the whole

nation condemned him, said, crucify him, crucify him. They shot

down Heaven's drone, so to speak to the lateste in church.

Jesus affirms that he is the amen. Now think about that,

he says, I'm the amen. Amen is what we often

see at the end of our prayers, as we've just affirmed,

And many of us don't even know what the word

amen is really all about. How can it be Jesus

In Proverbs eight thirty and thirty one, the amen is

called the amone. You know, we've heard in Egyptian religious

circles and so on. Hieroglyptics. I took hieroglyphics years ago

at the Seminary. It was the hardest class ever. Took

Gardner's Grammar, which is about three hundred pages. Leona Running,

who had been a student under William F. Albright, one

of the greatest semeticist of the last one hundred years.

He was called the Dean of archaeologists. She thought we

could learn that grammar in six weeks. I stayed up

all night for six weeks trying to memorize hieroglyphic symbols.

And then when she finally gave us all a's I

figured out what she was doing. If you didn't quit

her class, she gave you an a. You cannot learn

hieroglyphics in sixty seven weeks. Impossible. So Amen Rah. This

is an ancient word that kind of hangs on in

the mindset of the past. It comes from the root word,

a verb that means to connect heaven and earth. Moses

hands were amen, they were raised to heaven. And we

find it in Proverbs eight verse thirty. It's the very

center of our Bible, and it means the master workmen

or architect, who made the universe, who lived with God

as God from all eternity, the wisdom of God, who

was alive as God. Look at Proverbs eight thirty, speaking

of wisdom that is Christ. Here. Then I was beside

him like a master workman, and I was daily his delight,

rejoicing before him, always rejoicing in his inhabited world, delighting

the sons of men. The word master workman was. I

was the Amen, the ammone, the true light that came

in the world at first Christmas. Was the wisdom of God,

who was the Light of God, who was with God,

who was God. God's wisdom was alive and constantly working

and rejoicing his presence for the good of all mankind

from creation onward. The true light, friends, is smart and wise.

The true light enlightens, makes us noble. The very word

of God, who is alive, became a human being in

the incarnation, you know, in the Greek way of thanking.

In Greek philosophy, Plato in his work to May has

spoke of the intermediate agent of creation as the lagoths.

And that's the word that John uses in John one

one n r. K heyin ha Lagas in the beginning

was the word the lagoths. And Plato taught that the

lagos or the logos is that was saying it was

the intermediate agent of all creation, that whatever is God

and whatever is here, he was the go between that

got it done, that made the world as we know it,

And that part of the Greek idea was correct to

the latest. See in church. Jesus calls himself the true witness.

No perjury with Jesus, no lying about who he is.

He is the real deal. He is the truth. He

knows God because he is God. He says, he came

for testimony to bear witness to the truth. Look, Jesus

spotted the narcissists of his day who would boldly proclaim

any and everything they wanted to, and he would look

him square in the eye and he would say, you

whitewashed sepulcher. You ever read that New Testament. Yet we're

told that he did this with tears in his voice.

He was able to inject and engage the worst of

evil and bring people back to God. He saved a

few of those folks. You know Simon who was scolding

Mary when she was washing Jesus' feet. We are told

in the spirit of prophecy, he had led her into sin.

Jesus gently handled him because he could be brought back.

So Christ knows what he's doing. He's the wisdom of God.

But he came for testimony to show us how God

would act under difficult circumstances. Now, the word witness in

the Greek is martyr. Jesus was martyred on the cross

to save us. He was the true witness on Calvary's cross.

He was beaten to death, butchered, beaten badly, and then

the true light died in the darkness of a god

forsaken hill called the Skull Gogatha, crying out in the

darkness for God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Because the hoarded love of eternity was fractured on Calvary's cross.

My God, my God, my God, the Father, my God,

the Holy Spirit. Why have you because they're one forsaken me?

Because I'm broken off from you? Whatever this unity we

had that gave birth to the universe, not out of need,

but out of love, because we are the triune, one

hearted love of eternity, kind of God. Now we are

broken for the universe we have created. My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me? Look, don't tell me. God

has all the answers all the time. Somebody I preached

a sermon a while back where I mentioned that there's

some things that are a mystery that God himself cannot explain,

like the mystery of iniquity. Why is Christ asking this

question on the cross? If there's a simple and easy answer,

there isn't one. My God, my God, why have you

forsaken me? It can never be explained. In eternity, we

will never be able to figure out what they went through.

There was darkness of the cross until the ninth hour,

and yet in that darkness the true shy star shines

the brightest. In the Gospel of John, the glory is

seen in the darkness of the Cross. The Chicaina glory

is right there, shining the brightest when you can't see

a thing. There's something amazing and magnetic about the darkness.

The darkness of the cross draw to the true life

that is the glory of God, the true star of

the light of the world. Christ appealed to the lay

of Seeing Church and Revelation three to get excited about

who he is and the warm up to God because

they really do know the Son of God. Friends, do

you realize you if you go through life and you

don't know Jesus, you have nothing. You have a bankrupt existence.

Your life is meaningless, going nowhere. When you die it

doesn't matter. But if you have Christ, your life matters.

You're going somewhere. It doesn't matter what kind of trauma

you have experienced in your existence. Jesus will get you

to the Kingdom we worship by saving kind of God.

Christ appealed to Late of Seeing Church, which is our church.

There are two churches in the Book of Relation that

represent end Tine Seventh Day Adventism. One is the Church

of Philadelphia and the other is the Church of layd

Toesea Philadelphians are going to heaven. Latest Seans must repent

to become Philadelphians. And so Christ makes this love appeal

of the latesty in Church and Revelation three to get

excited about who he is, to let him come in

and sup with them. Friends. Being a lukewarm Christian makes

no sense. If you know who Jesus is, you cannot

contain your knowledge of Christ and your own sphere if

you know who Jesus is. In Revelation twenty two thirteen,

in Jesus' fourth confession of himself, he says that I

am the Alpha and the Omega. See God the Father

says that at the beginning of Revelation. Jesus says it

at the end of the revelation, and both are true.

So just like God the Father does in Revelation one eight,

Jesus self identifies himself as God, as the God Almighty

of Isaiah forty four six. Thus says the Lord, that's

Jehovah or Yahweh, the King of Israel. That's the Father

and his redeemer. And notice what he's called, the Jehovah

of hosts, the Yahweh Host, that's the Son. And together

they speak as one. I am the first, and I

am the last. Besides me, there is no gold. God

Christ is God and Yahweh. Now would you like to

know a simple test of that? How would you know

the prove that in just a very simple how many

of you keep the holy Sabbath day? You keep it?

All right? Remember the Sabbath day? To keep it holy?

Sixth days? Shall you work and do all your labor

for in it? What God rested and says, the Sabbath

is the Sabbath of the What does the commandment say,

the Lord your God Yahweh eloheen, Jehovah Yahweh God eloheen.

Now when Jesus says he's lord of the Sabbath, what

does that make him de facto he is Jehovah Yahweh

and elohem God, or he's lying because the Sabbath is

the Sabbath of Yahweh laheen the Lord God. Jesus is

the Lord God. This is a simple way to put

that heresy to rest. That will wreck here relationship with God.

It will reduce your knowledge of God to something quite

petty and a God who cannot really love. If you

look in that verse that we just read Isaiah forty

four to six. You will notice that there are two

and not one who are speaking. Is one God, the

King of Israel and his Redeemer are both Jehovah. So

don't you choose Jesus as just some wise role model

in your life or some created demi God that came

at some point in the past like four or something

like that. Friends, choose Jesus because Jesus is God and

nothing less. Jesus is Jehovah Yahweh God with us, the

one who is He's here. Why because nothing less than

God can save you in your life. You don't want

a relationship with a demi God. You need a relationship

with God. That's why Christ is the way to the Father.

Relation twenty two sixteen, Jesus self identifies himself for the

last time in the Book of Relation. Remember the book

Revelation is literally a revelation of Jesus Christ. The Greek

word apoca Loupsa's translated revelation means an unveiling. In Revelation

twenty two sixteen, Jesus alf identifies himself for the last

time as the true Star. And here we see that

Jesus is the commander of the angels, who also are

stars morning stars. Jesus sent his angel to John. He

says so in the Bible, angels are the morning stars.

In the Book of Job, who's saying for joy at

the beginning of time when our world was made, Jesus

commands the angels as the bride and morning Star. He

told Pilot that he could send his angels and take

care of him if you need to do. But Jesus

is also the root of David. David was the first

king of Judah, the first king of Israel from the

line of Judah. Judah means praise in Hebrew. The root

of David means is the source of life for David. Now,

you can't be the root of David unless you're the lifegiver,

the one who produces the future. And thus Jesus is

identified as God. The root of evil is Satan and Malachi.

For the root of all life is Jesus. Yes, the

sea of David came from Jesus, the Messiah king who

will one day sit on the throne of David in

the New Jerusalem. Uniting God, Angel and man in one

human form is the hope of the universe, not just

the world the true Star. Finally, in Revelation in twenty

to sixteen, Jesus proclaims that he is the bright and

morning Star. That's the last self identification, the last personal

confession of who Jesus is from Jesus' own mouth in

the Bible and in the Book of Relation. Let's look

at the verse together. I Jesus have sent my angel

to you with this testimony for the churches. Now, that

was the spirit of prophecy that came through John, the

testimony of Jesus. He has sent the spirit of prophecy

and the testimony of Jesus for the last days to

the remnant church as well. But he's telling John, I

Jesus have sent my angel to you with this testimony

for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David.

And what's the last Friday, the bright morning Star. France

Christ possesses three natures, not two. Number one, he is

the root of David, the lifegiver, who is surely God,

the source of all that comes from the root. Number two,

he is the offspring and seed of David, a real

human being who is the son of Man and the

son of David. Number three Jesus is the bright and

morning star, and Isaiah fourteen twelve Lucifer is called helal

ben Shakhar, the sun of the morning, the shining one,

son of the dawn. He was born on this side

of the dawn of time, but the morning of How

many astronomer fans do we have eth you watch the

stars at night, but tell you know with your monox

Venus is considered the morning star. Does it come before

the dawn or after the dawn? It precedes the dawn.

The bright and morning star heralds the dawn. You see

before the was before there was time itself. Christ was

the light before time. Hebrews One says he made the eons.

He created the fabric of what Einstein calls space time.

So before there was a was, there was Jesus. Now,

if Christ was here before all things, Christ can get

you through all things. Christ can solve the dynamic problems

of your life. Christ can meet the needs of your

heart because He has the divine credentials to save you.

He was born on Lucifer was born on this side

of the dawn. He's a creature. The morning star comes

before the dawn, and that means Jesus is an eternal

being within the hoarded love of eternity. That is the

triune godhead that gave us the universe out of love

not need. The true Light is eternal light because the

creation of the universe and time all have a beginning.

He has no beginning. Scientists tell us that light never ages.

Did you know that light never gets old? Because time

detiment in Einstein's General and Special relativity theories has been

demonstrated that time itself has no aging. It's the constant

that defines timelessness. So light is as old as the

day it start its journey, and it never gets older.

It's new and fresh. Friends, Jesus is the light of

the world, the true Star, the bright and morning Star,

the newness of God. The freshness of God is alive

for eternity in Jesus. The wicked prophet Balem predicted that

one day a star would arise that would crush the

enemies of Israel. The first installment of this star to

come was King David from the tribe of Judah. The

final installment of this promise of the stars, Jesus, the

son of David. The True Star numbers twenty four seventeen.

Balem said, I see him, but not now behold him,

but not nigh. A star shall come forth out of

Ja A scepter shall rise out of Israel. It shall

crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the

sons of Cheth. When Jesus was born in Bethlehem, God

became a human being in the womb of Mary, and

in the Manger, the good shepherd who guarded David's life

became the son and seat of David in the womb

of Mary. And finally the Manger the Angel of the Lord,

who is the Lord? Well, what do you mean, pastor Mike.

The Angel of the Lord is the Lord. You remember Abraham?

And he raised his knife to take the life of

Isaac and said, And then a voice said, Abraham, Abraham,

now I know you fear God. That means you love

God because you have not withheld your only son from me.

He doesn't say him, He says me, because the Angel

of the Lord was God. And then the Angel Lord

swears an oath by the name of Yahweh. Because he

is Yahweh. You can't miss it. Jesus was a love

in present the Old Testament. He took the form of

the Guardian Protector, the Angel of the Lord that took

care of Abraham, Hagar, the nation of Israel until they

rejected him and chose the evil angels of the nations.

And then all that is God that was in the

Angel of the Lord, God in angel form, evaporated and

became God in human form. But it was all packed

into Jesus. So what does that make Jesus out to

be as the true star of friends. Jesus is God,

Jesus is the mighty Angel of the Lord, and Jesus

is finally a human being. Jesus is the peace child

who brings heaven and Earth into God so that we

are never alone. We can connect anywhere in the universe.

All created order is brought near to God in Jesus.

That's why Ephesians one says he made peace by his blood,

reconciling heaven and earth. When Christ was born in Bethlehem's Manger,

the angels as morning stars sang at the dawn of

time with bright who had sung at the angels. When

Christ was born in Bethlehem's mangers manger, the angels who

were at the dawn of time who sang according to

Job thirty eight, showed up to sing again. When this

world was created, they sang for joy. Let's just look

at the verse Job thirty eight. Verse four. God asked

the suffering job the question verse four, Where were you

and I laid the foundation of the earth. Tell me

if you have understanding who determined its measurement? Surely you

know or who stretched the line up on it on?

What were its bases sunk? And who laid its cornerstone?

Verse seven, When the morning stars sang together and all

the sons of God shouted for joy. There was an

angel choir at the creation of the earth. When Adam

was brought into existence. When the second atom showed up

as a baby in Bethlehem's manger, the angel choir started

singing again. When the True Light came into the world

that first Christmas, the morning stars saying for joy because

the True Star was now a human being watching their

flocks by night. Shepherds were out in the fields when

the True Light was born in a stable cave around

the animals outside the inn. When Jesus was born, they

sang again to the humble of the world to join

in the music and the choir. You know, God could

have called the great theologians together to tell them what

was going on. He could have called the Chaldeans to

describe the physics of the incarnation. Instead, there were these

outcast shepherds that the religious leaders wouldn't even let come

to the feast because they considered them unclean. They went

to the people who could never go to Jerusalem for

the Passover because they were banned, and there they declared

to them the greatest truths of the Gospel. First, just

one angel appeared to the shepherds, just one, and his

glory was about all they could handle. I bet you

money was Gabriel look at Luke two verse nine, And

an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the

glory of the Lord's shone around them, and they were

filled with fear. And the Angel said to them, look,

people are getting terrified by these drones. A little thang

finds guy. You know, imagine if a mighty angel, glowing

like a you know, six thousand watt light bulb or

whatever you want to call it, fill the countryside up.

I mean, let us just melt and die on the spot,

you would feel. They were afraid. And the Angel said

to them, be not afraid, for behold, I bring you

good news. That's the word gospel. See when Jesus shows up,

good news shows up. Jesus is the gospel. I bring

you good news of a great joy. The Gospel doesn't

make us depressed. The gospel doesn't make us fearful of

the end. The Gospel brings us to Jesus so we

can have What kind of joy? What does the Angel say?

A great joy in our life, A great joy which

will be for just seventh Avenus. Just the Jews, wait

a second, for Baptist, Methodist Presbyterians. Anyone who comes to

Jesus gets that great joy. Because the Gospel doesn't belong

to a church. It belongs to the world. It's God's

gift to the human race. Christ is the Gospel. For

to you is born this day in the city of David.

For to you, you know, you shepherds, that the rabbis

won't even let come to Jerusalem, they declare it unclean.

You're raising the very lambs that we know from ancient

sources would be used in the Passover that represents the Savior.

You can't eat the Passover lamb. Guess what the Passover

Lamb has come to you this Christmas. For to you

is born this day in the city of David, a

savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be

a sign for you. You will find a babe wrapped

in swallowing clothes and lie in a manger. The sign

was the promise of the Gospel. Early Christians knew that

Jesus was born in a cave outside Bethlehem that was

a barn, and he was wrapped up by his mother

Mary and linen claws closed on the stone surface of

a manger. And that's the sign. The way Jesus enters

the world is the way he will leave it, buried

in a tomb, a stone cave tomb, lying on a

stone slab surface like the manger, wrapped up in a

linen shroud by another Mary and her friends. The way

he enters the world is the way he lives it.

If you've ever looked at ancient Jewish tombs, they look

like mangers. The sign meant that the child who was

born that first Christmas would leave the world the same

way he came into it. Luke two thirteen. And suddenly

you know, having can't hold on forever with just one angel.

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the

heavenly host, praising God and saying, and what are they saying?

Verse fourteen, Glory to God in the Highest and on earth,

peace among men, with whom he is pleased. Now this

is exactly the language of the first Angel's message in

Revelation fourteen Glory. He says, good glory to him for

the irish judgments come. What the angels proclaimed, and the

proclamation of the Gospel there will be proclaimed to the

world at the time of the end as part of

the first, second and third Angel's message proclamation, Glory to

God in the Highest and on earth Peace among men.

Are human beings with whom he is pleased, as the

morning stars and the sons of God. The angels sang

again at Jesus' birth. It wasn't Adam this time, it

was the second Adam, who was a baby, not a

grown man, And they were so happy that he had

come to be one with us, to lead us out

of the darkness of sin. The way Jesus entered the

world is the way Jesus left the world. Look at

verse thirty seven. Louke to as he was now drawing

near at the descent of the Mount of Olives. The

whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God

with a loud voice for all the mighty works that

they had seen. This is the tri entry into Jerusalem.

Notice what the angel said is set again verse thirty eight.

They saying, blessed is the King who comes in the

name of the Lord. Peace in Heaven and Glory in

the Highest. That's the angel song. It was repeated in

the triumphal entry when Jesus died. That was the angel

song that first Christmas night, when Jesus was born. Glory

to God in the Highest, and peace on earth. That

was the song of the triumphal entry in the Jerusalem.

Also they said peace in heaven, because heaven and earth

are won in Jesus Luke two fifteen and sixteen. When

the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherd

said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem

and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord

has made known to us. And they went with haste

and found Mary and Joseph and the Babe lying in

a manger. The shepherds did what we need to do

this Christmas. They started searching for Jesus until they found Jesus.

Is that fair enough? So what's our great need at Christmas?

It's too search for Jesus until we find Jesus. That

is how we prepare for the second coming of Jesus,

just like they did. Then we search for Jesus until

we find him. And the Bible friend is a good

place to start looking for Jesus because he's the living

word and this is the written word. They didn't give

up looking for him until they saw him lying in

the manger. Some people give up before they find Jesus. Oh,

I don't know if I can go to church today,

And you know you come anyway. You have to come.

I don't care what you've been through in the week.

You come to church, you seek Jesus. Jesus will be

here for you. Amen. That's right, Katie. The Bible says

they went in haste to find him. I mean, don't

deal you around. Will I'll find Jesus eventually in my life. No,

let me get him today into my heart and life.

They went in haste to find him. Dear heart, make

haste and hurry in your life journey to Jesus. Don't

fool around, be lazy in your pursuit of Jesus. They

quickly moved. Did you ever think about those shepherds. I mean,

the Angel didn't say, by the way, the mangers in

this cave barn here, they're over a hundred mangers in Bethlehem.

It was a town that was built around the idea

of raising flocks. So they had to go one by

one until they found it. You know, it may have

been number one hundred that they actually found. But when

they did, they came to Jesus. But that's not all

they did. They did more than just come to Jesus.

They also shared Jesus with others. Look at Luke two

seventeen eighteen, and when they saw it, they made known

the saying which had been told them concerning this child,

and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds

told them. Friends, those shepherds became prophets, preachers, and teachers

of a sort because they had something to say that

really mattered. They had the angels song and their heart

and their own experience, and they saw the Living Christ

that first Christmas. They found Jesus because Jesus found them first,

and they wanted everyone in the whole world to know

that they had found the true Star. Dear heart, Let's

do the same today. Let us do the same. Turn

your eyes upon Jesus. Turn your eyes upon Jesus.

Turn your eyes upon Jeesus, look full in his wonderful.

Face, and the things of earth will grow strange. Lead

them in the lie of his bory and race. God,

bless you, dear Father. We could never come to you

and be saved unless you've found a way to come

to us. And so, Father, today we have a chance

to choose ourselves. Are you. Thank you that Jesus is you.

We choose Jesus, we get you. And it could be

someone needs to say today in their own prayer life,

their own heart, by the raise of a hand, Lord,

I need to start over today. I've had troubles in

my life that have challenged me so that I've been drifting.

Thank you for not leaving me. I choose you today.

Raise your hand high to Heaven and Father. It could

be that a dear brother or sister here has never

chosen you, and they need to choose you. Maybe they

need to be baptized. They do, in fact, if they've

not been, not to be baptized, but because they choose you,

and Lord, I can't see because my eyes are closed too.

But you see. Let them raise their hand right now

and say I choose you for baptism and Father. If

they raise that hand, there, may they reach out to

me about that, or Brother Mervyn John here or any

of the elders that they see upfront. Father, Guide us

so that we choose Jesus every day of our life.

Help us to share with Jesus too. Thank you for

being Emmanuel God with us in Jesus' name. Amen.