Recorded December 22, 2024, with Rhonda Harrison.

It's time for the Champions in Christ broadcast

with Rhonda Harrison on 1017 Bay FM We're so

glad you joined us today. We're going to continue

talking about the amazing miracle of Christ's

birth. It is the Christmas season and that is

the reason we celebrate is because of him. Gift

-giving is a wonderful thing to do every day

but especially at this time because it was God's

greatest gift when he gave Jesus for us. So let's

turn in our Bibles. We're going to go again to

Luke and we're going to start in verse 26 and

it says in the sixth month the angel Gabriel

was sent from God unto a city Galilee named Nazareth

to a virgin a spouse to a man whose name was

Joseph of the house of David and the virgin's

name was Mary the angel came unto her and said

hail thou art highly favored the Lord is with

you blessed are you among women we have to stop

here and this is Mary a 14 year old girl and

a giant angel appears to her who is Gabriel and

he gives her this amazing salutation when he

says you are highly favored blessed are you among

women I'm sure her mind was like what and then

it says and when she saw him she was troubled

you know when she saw this angel her heart was

nervous and cast in her mind what manner of salutation

would this be but the angel of the lord said

to her, fear not, Mary, for you have found favor

with God. Do you know that you also have found

favor of God? Not to carry the Son of God as

our savior, of course. That's already been done

once and done and done. But you have favor round

about you like a shield is what our Bible tells

us. So that same favor that came on Mary, you

have. You have favor with both God and man when

you are pleasing to the Lord when you are loving

him and loving others right and so it's it continues

in 31 says behold you will conceive in your womb

and bring forth a son and he shall be named Jesus.

He shall be great and shall be the son of the

highest. The Lord God shall give unto him the

throne of his father David and he will reign

over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom

there will be no end. Then Mary said unto the

angel, How can this be, saying, I know no man,

which means I have not slept with a man? First

of all, let's talk about how great he's declaring

God is and that he is the son of the highest

and that the Lord God will give him the throne

of King David. Well, he's in the lineage of David.

and so and how he will rule in his kingdom there

is no end why heaven and life with Jesus Christ

is for all eternity glory to God and so here's

Mary and she's like well how am I supposed to

get pregnant I've never even been with a man

but the angel said to her the Holy Ghost shall

come upon you and the power of the highest will

overshadow you and therefore also the holy thing

which will be born of you will be called the

Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus the

Father and the Holy Spirit, those three are one.

It's the Trinity. But in verse 37, it declares

also for with God nothing shall be impossible

so an immaculate conception a conception without

male and female on the earth you know by the

power of the Holy Ghost overshadowing is a supernatural

act of God a visitation from an angel is a supernatural

act of God so Mary had to be just picture her

just 14 going wow you know what is happening

now is this a dream you know so it says Mary

arose and went to the hills of the country with

haste in the city of Judah and entered the house

of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth you know Jesus

I skipped a little section it talks about he

also the angel shared that Elizabeth pregnant

also and it was just a glorious time both for

her for Elizabeth and so she runs to Elizabeth's

house to have that conversation with Elizabeth

well as soon as she well let's read it in verse

43 it says And once this is to me that the mother

of my Lord should come to me, you know, it came

to pass when Elizabeth heard Mary's salutation,

the baby within Elizabeth leaped and was filled

with the Holy Ghost, which we know later is John

the Baptist. and she spake with a loud voice

this is Elizabeth saying blessed are you among

women and blessed is the fruit of the womb you

know the angel the lord told her she was blessed

among among women and then here here elizabeth

prophetically confirms that word you know anytime

god speaks something to you whether it's your

mission or something to do or something to say

you know something about your life for the future

God will confirm it either through his word,

he'll always confirm it and he did with Mary

as well. And then she continues and says, and

blessed is she that believes for there shall

be a performance of those things which were told

to her from the Lord. And then Mary responds,

In verse 46, my soul magnifies the Lord and my

spirit rejoices in God my savior for he has regarded

the humble state of his handmaiden and behold

from now on generations will call me blessed.

She's not saying this out of pride or being braggadocious.

She's saying this prophetically out of her mouth.

and then she continues for he is mighty who has

done this to me great things and holy is his

name and his mercy is on them that fear him from

generation to generation and he has put down

the mighty from their seats and exalted them

of humble status. He has filled the hungry with

good things and the rich he has sent away." He's

talking about people who are prideful. He has

sent them away. God hates pride, but he loves

humility. You know, he that exalts himself will

be put down, the scripture says, and he that

humbles himself will be lifted up. You know God

has a plan and a purpose for you the same way

He had a plan and a purpose for Mary the same

way He had a plan and a purpose for Jesus they

God has a plan for you and Maybe you say well

my life seems empty my life. Well, you just need

Jesus in your life Maybe you go. Well, I've got

him as my Savior will start digging in the word

start praying He will speak to your heart. He

will come he loves when people seek his face.

He said if you seek him you will find him if

you knock the door will be opened if you ask

you will receive that's a promise but we have

to get alone with him and get in that time with

him praise the Lord there's no greater time than

the time you spend with the Lord Jesus Christ

why because he is the very life in us. He is

the life we breathe. We are nothing without him,

but through him, the Bible says, through Christ,

we can do all things, all things. Now, Mary and

being at Elizabeth's house, she stayed with her

about three months, and then she returned to

her own house. You know, this was beginning.

This was the beginning. all that was going to

happen, and it was such a glorious time, such

an exciting, wonderful time. She went through

all the normal things of pregnancy, you know,

all the feelings. She gave birth to him, and

we're going to go ahead and we're going to read

about this, and it's in chapter 2. We're in Luke

Luke 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, and we're going to start in verse

4. It says, Joseph went up from Galilee out of

the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city

of David which is called Bethlehem because he

was of the house of the lineage of David to be

taxed with Mary that his espoused wife or promised

wife being great with child. So she was you know

full term and so it was that while they were

there the days were accomplished that she should

give birth. So she was coming to the end of her

pregnancy to give birth to Jesus but that's not

why they went there. They went there of course

it was prophesied they would go she would she

would have Jesus there but they went there because

of the taxing and that's we can read about in

verse one and two but we skipped over that to

get to the this part and it says, and she brought

forth verse seven her firstborn son and wrapped

him in swaddling clothing and laid him in a manger

because there was no room for them in the inn

and they were in the same country shepherds abiding

in the field keeping watch over their flock and

lo the angel of the lord came upon them upon

some shepherds out in the in the field watching

over their flock and the glory of the lord shown

round about them, and they were so afraid. And

the angel said unto them, fear not. That's what

God says to you today about the circumstances

in your life that may be fearful. Fear not, for

God is with you. Immanuel means God with us.

The Bible says he will never leave you, he will

never forsake you. So we have nothing to fear.

And so he's telling them, fear not, I bring you

good news of great joy, which shall be to all

people. The good news of Jesus Christ is for

everyone, not for a select few, not for those

who you think don't do anything wrong, which

by the way, the Bible says all have and short

of the glory of God. You know, the Bible also

encourages us not to compare ourselves one with

another. We are all uniquely individually made.

We all have our own fingerprint. None of us look

identical to the point of every cell in our body,

but God knows us. He called us by name. He knew

you and me before we were in our mother's womb.

and he still brought us forth for purpose. Your

life counts. You want it to count while you're

on this side of heaven because when you get to

the other side, we're gonna be training for another

assignment. It's not gonna be like here on earth.

So you wanna get in the word. We want to continually

feed on the word of God, the truth. He is the

way, the truth, and the life. That's who Jesus

is. and so we will continue. He's talking to

the shepherds and he says, for unto you this

day in the city of David a savior which is Christ

the Lord and this shall be a sign to you. You

shall find him wrapped in swaddling clothes laying

in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel

a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and

saying so while the angel sharing the good news

of Jesus Christ has come into the earth a whole

heavenly host joins him so these shepherds are

probably blown away out in the field the sky

is lit up with these angels and they're all saying

and praising God glory to God in the highest

and on earth good will towards men This is the

most fantastic, miraculous thing that could have

ever happened. Everybody shouting, hallelujah,

glory to God. And it came to pass as the angels

were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds

said to one another, let's go even unto Bethlehem

and see this thing which the Lord has made known

unto us. And they came with haste and found Mary

and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger, exactly

as was spoken to them. and all that they had

heard wondered at those things which were told

them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these

things and pondered them deeply in her heart

and the shepherds returned glorifying and praising

God for all that they had heard and seen and

all that was told of them." Wow! Hallelujah!

And then it says, and when eight days were accomplished

for the circumcising of the child, his name was

called Jesus. which was so named for the of the

angel before he was conceived in the womb. And

so here again, another prophetic word from the

angels that supernaturally happened at this time

when the day after his circumcising and he was

called Jesus. Hallelujah. God is such a glorious

God. He loves you and I so very much that he

would send his only begotten son. that whosoever

believes on him will not perish but have eternal

life. So forever we get to spend eternity with

Jesus if we know him, if we believe on him, if

we've received him as our Savior. Excuse me.

So right now, I just want you to, if you're not

excited already, you should be. Yes, Christmas

is a great time with friends and family. Let

the love of God be poured out amongst everyone.

Share with one another, love one another. Because

guess what? Our life is but a vapor here and

it's over. So we need to be excited. about life

and people and no one's perfect and things happen

in relationships and anger can happen and strife

and envy and all those things that we don't want

to happen let's this year let's lay all that

down and come together loving one another forgiving

one another you know the bible says jesus said

if you forgive others i'll forgive you You know,

we have to forgive others. It's so important.

You know, and unforgiveness binds the person

holding the unforgiveness, not the person. Whether

they deserved it or not, it's not worth your

torment. Unforgiveness brings torment. Just let

it go. Give it to God. God says, revenge is mine.

He will make sure. He sees everything. bare naked

before his eyes nothing gets past God and he

loves you so much he will take those the that

that terrible situation those ashes and he will

give you beauty for it whether it's a breakup

whether it's a bankruptcy whether it's a divorce

whether it's a a death of a loved one he will

turn it around for you he will continue to bless

you he's got great future and fortune and love

and peace and joy ahead of you. I want to read

you just for a minute, just some of the names

of God. He's Jehovah Rohi, the Lord our shepherd

Jehovah Jireh, the one who will provide. Jehovah

Rafa, the Lord, our healer. Do you need healing

today? He'll heal you. Jehovah Makedish, the

Lord who sanctifies Jehovah Shalom. He's your

peace. He will give you peace that passes all

understanding. He is the Almighty God. He is

the first and the last, the faithful witness,

the image of the invisible God, the Lord who

heals you, the heir of all things, the sanctuary,

the intercessor, the author and finisher of our

faith. He's the one who gives us our faith and

he's the one who finishes our faith. and blesses

us. He's our teacher. He's the resurrection and

the life, the wisdom of God. He's Yahweh, the

son of God, the beloved son, the Messiah, the

Alpha, the Omega, the Savior, the Redeemer, the

light of the world, the lamb of God, the creator

of all things, the master, bread of life. Hallelujah.

It's exciting. We get excited when we talk about

the goodness of God and how great he is. But

you know, did you know he was going to be the

deliverer? Did you have any idea he was coming

to set you free, to love you, to bless you, to

heal you, to give sight to the blind? Well listen

to these couple of songs and worship God and

I'll be right back. Mary, did you know that your

baby boy would one day walk on water? Mary, did

you know that your baby boy would save our sons

and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy

has come to make you new? This child that you

delivered will soon deliver you Mary, did you

know that your baby boy will give sight to all?

The child is you glory to God glory to God I

just thank God for his goodness I thank God for

the greatest gift he could ever give the Lord

Jesus Christ don't you if you haven't received

him as your Savior if you're listening today

and you you've just walked away from God and

it's been a long time since how about let's pray

and let's renew that right relationship and let's

start out the new year with a a glorious, a glorious

relationship with God and something that you

can lean on Him and love on Him. And guess what?

He already loves you. He's already blessing you.

So pray this prayer with me. Dear Jesus, I repent

of my sin. I believe in my heart you died and

rose again. I believe you came to earth to be

our savior and I receive you now and I renounce

the things of the world. I renounce the desires

of the world. And I thank you. You are my healer,

my deliverer, my strength, and my God. In Jesus'

name, amen. If you prayed that prayer today,

you've received the Lord Jesus Christ or renewed

that relationship. I want to tell you, you are

forgiven. And I want to extend to you an offer.

If you'd like a free Bible, contact me at championsinchrist3

at gmail .com. Go out and make it a wonderful

day. Have a very Merry Christmas. God bless you.

Remember, He loves you. We love you and you are

a champion in Christ.