Well, good morning, everyone, and let's just go ahead and practice because we've got weeks before Christmas. But I want to make sure you remember how to say Merry Christmas already. One, two, three. Merry Christmas. So take that, take that.

And everywhere you go this week and next week and all the way up to Christmas, go in and greet people with that. It's okay. You won't get in trouble. We're not there yet where we're getting arrested for saying Merry Christmas. So say it.

You'll never. It'll blow your mind. Like, a few weeks ago, I walked into a store that I frequent a lot, and young lady at the. At the front, you tell she was a little bit, like, exacerbated. She had been running around the store, and she came back to the register, and I said, hey, has anybody told you lately, Jesus loves you?

And I'm telling you, she didn't come over the counter and punch me in the face or anything like that, but she said, hey, you know the girl that I mean, she just, like, kind of pivoted and said, you know the girl that works over here? Well, she was in a bad car wreck. Can you pray for her? I'm telling you guys, it opens doors. It opens doors.

The simplest of statements. And so what if today you made a decision from now to the day of Christmas, to live jolly, to live happy, to live joy filled. And wherever you go, just take a chance to greet somebody. Merry Christmas. How you doing?

Do you know that Jesus loves you? It will make a world of difference. So I'm just gonna go ahead and get myself in trouble. Is that okay? Our friend Joe Boyd has been in the hospital for over a week since he got back from New Orleans fighting pneumonia.

Tammy texted me just a little while ago, and he's resting again. They attempted this weekend to get him off the ventilator. It didn't go so well. They had to put him back on. He's fighting, but we want to pray.

Can we pray for our friend Joe today? I miss him. He sits right there every Sunday in the aisle, but he listen. That young man loves Jesus and he loves the ministry, and I think it would be very fitting for us to pray for him. Can we do that?

Father, in Jesus name, we pray for Joe right now. We ask God that you bring healing to his body and strength. And that, God, that as the next days come, that we can hear good reports as. As they're doing transitions and changing medicines and all the things they're doing to try to get him better. Thank you for him.

Lord, he challenges us. For those people that have never talked to him, they don't know. He keeps us on our toes. And Lord, when he's not here, he's missed. So I pray, Father, this morning, be with him and the voids as they're traveling back and forth, provide for them, keep them safe in Jesus name.

And everybody said, and I would just add to that, if you've got Tammy's number, just drop him a text and say, hey, we're praying for you. I'd love for her phone to just be inundated with well wishes. So I got a couple of things I want to get out of the way first. First of all, in two Sundays on December 14th will be our last Discover Ebenezer for this year. Some of you have been asking, hey, what's my next step toward becoming a member of Ebenezer?

Well, that is it is coming to discover. So if you go to on our church app to events, you will find discovery and you will sign up there for that. It's just a one morning right now. Next year it's going to be different. So right now you sign up, you come to that class and there's some things that are done there.

We talk about what we do, why we exist and all those things. So if you've been thinking about it, praying about it, and you know that's a next step you need to take, go online and sign up for that. Weren't you thankful for the pictures of New Orleans and Nicaragua? How many of you didn't realize that? Yeah.

What excites me is this year because of your generosity. And I want you to hear that, your generosity. We were able to do 200 food boxes. We did 100 in Michoud with the church at Michoud, who we've been partnering with now for over two years. And we were able to help his dad at a church.

It's a namm replant on the other side of New Orleans with another hundred boxes given to people. And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, please, somebody from the team correct me, 100 contacts were gathered that the church can now follow up with in Michoud. So that excites me in Nicaragua to go down there and build that house. How many? 100.

150. I'm sorry. So they've got a lot of work to do is what JT is saying. So. But it's good work.

It is good, good work. That is a hard area. Unless you've been. You just don't know. Like, we take for Granted.

Well, we'll go into Dollar General, invite somebody to church, and they'll show up. That ain't how it works down there. And so be praying for them as that goes. And also, let me just kind of. Let me just kind of lay out the way the rest of the year's going.

So next Sunday, December 7, we will be voting on our budget, new admin leadership for the year. But that's just a snippet of what's going to go on next Sunday. I'm going to talk about 2025 and celebrate some things and talk about how good God's been to us. But then I also want to take a moment to talk about 2026 and where we believe God is leading us next year. So I personally don't think you want to miss that and so be here for that.

And then the next Sunday is our discover. And then the 21st is our Christmas celebration. Our Christmas celebration. We're going to have. We're going to sing Silent Night and light candles, but we're going to have communion and it's going to be a great time.

That day will be a family worship day. Everyone in the room, no life groups. And so we want you to use it as a day to invite. Y' all remember these cards. How many of you still have your card?

Maybe it's under your seat. That's okay. Just get it out from under your seat in the car and bring it back out. This is my second one and I love just looking over my list at the names of people that I've invited to different things. That's what this card was to be for, not for you to turn it in.

So we go, all right, there's 20 and there's 20. I believe 10,000 invites went out this year. I just believe that through all the various things that we've done and encountered, and I believe even next year it's going to increase more. So if you still have that card, I want to challenge you to one thing. Who could you invite for our Christmas Service on the 21st?

Last year we had a full room, both services. Who? And it's not about filling the room. It's about bringing them in so that we can engage with them relationally to see how we can come alongside and help them in their faith journey. And I hope that you would want that same thing.

So if you don't have, you don't even have to have this card. You can still invite somebody to come to Christmas services. Now, what about Wednesday nights? Well, we're trying something New on Wednesday night, this Wednesday night, this first Wednesday night, the 3rd and the 10th, we're going to have a family gathering instead of having our elective group. Students will be in here, kids will be in here, and it's okay.

I even verified with Fred. He actually likes kids. If your kid comes in here and runs up on stage with us, we don't care. I'm a former children's pastor. Y' all know that doesn't bother me.

It actually excites me. So we want you to come like you normally would come for those two Wednesday nights. And we're going to talk about thinking biblically about Christmas. But more. We've got a little bit of a drama each week.

We're going to do. We're going to have some singing. I mean, it's going to be fun, but you don't want to miss it. And that'll build us up to the 17th. And on the 17th, the kids are going to have their Christmas party.

The students are going to have their Christmas party, and adults. Why can't we have a party? So we're going to come in the room and we're going to share Christmas stories. It'll be a night of testimony and encouragement you don't want to miss. I want to challenge you.

I know parents. Sometimes you're like, well, my kids can't go to their environment. What am I going to do? Bring them in here. We're not scared.

Just come on, bring them. You know what? We'll bring dum dums. I'll go buy a big old bag of dum dums, and we'll have them on hand. So if the kids are good, they and get a dum dum before they leave.

And I won't be the only dum dum in the room at that point. So there you go. So let's get started today. I got a lot of things I want to share with you from our message, and this actually might help you in your inviting of others. We're starting a new series today called Christmas Unwrapped.

And we're going to begin in Matthew, chapter one. If you want to go ahead and turn there. See, I thought it would be very fitting that we could talk about the very facets of what God has given and promised and told us in the Christmas narrative. So today I'm going to talk about the promise of God and how that affects us as it gives us confidence that we've been forgiven. Next Sunday, when I talk about the vision for the church for the next year, we're going to look at Mary and Gabriel and how that pronouncement gives us confidence that God has a plan.

And then the next week, we're going to unpack the plan of God. We're going to look when Zechariah gets his voice back, he makes some declarations, and he reveals that the plan of salvation is vested in the mercy of God. And then in our Christmas service. Come on, guys. We're going to come to Christmas service and we're going to express the joy that we have.

God has given us such great joy in the present Jesus Christ. And then that last Sunday between New Year's and Christmas, when we usually have the one service at 10:30, I'm going to talk about how that we find purpose for our lives, seeing how Jesus suffered. But there's more. On that Sunday, we have it scheduled. Instead of us doing deacon ordinations on a Sunday afternoon in January, we're going to do them in that service.

And so I don't want you to. You'll want to be here. That one service, you're going to want to be here. There's so much that we're going to do and that heads us into the new year. And you'll have to be here next Sunday to find out what's going to happen in January.

But I want us to start in Matthew 1, because when somebody makes a promise to you, it means something unless they break that promise. I think all of us in this room, if I ask you to raise your hands, if you can remember promises made, you might remember those. But I bet every one of you can remember a promise that was broken. Am I right or wrong? Because we are fleshly people and we protect ourselves.

So if somebody breaks a promise, we will remember it the next time. So, you know, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. We don't want to be there, but I can guarantee you, all of us can sit here and think in this room about a time that somebody made a promise if we think hard enough and kept it. And somebody makes a promise to us because they care for us.

Now I'm gonna go ahead and tell you, every week from now till the end of the year, I will be quoting movies. When I was a youth pastor, I had a volunteer named Sherry. She might even be watching online. Yes, I still remember this. It hurts a little bit.

I'm just kidding. It doesn't. She would keep score on her notebook of how many references I made in a youth service to a movie. I've been pretty good the last three years to not quote movies every service. But movies, in my mind, they tell story.

And they. And I do. I look in movies to find meaning. I look in stories to find God moments. And I can't think of a better one than when I think about the 2000 version, live action of the Grinch who Stole Christmas.

Boo. Wow. Were you booing Ron Howard or the movie? But, I mean, you know, a lot of us remember the 1966 animated version, which, by the way, do y' all know who. Who did that?

It was Chuck Jones. Y' all know who Chuck Jones is? Looney Tunes. Thank you. Somebody knew that.

So when you watch the Grinch, the original cartoon, it does look like Bugs Bunny, because it was the same guy. That's all you get out of today. But I want you to think about a very, like, overlooked character in the cartoon. The Grinch is stealing everything. And Cindy Lou, who makes her way down the steps for a cup of water.

Now, in the cartoon version, she makes an appearance, and she's gone. But in the live action, she actually has a little bit more of an active role. In fact, what we see is a young girl who's looking at all of the commercialization in Whoville of Christmas, and she's searching for something deeper. She's surrounded and trapped by the hustle and bustle of the seizing, the decorating, the buying, the wrapping. But she doesn't seem to find any purpose in it at all.

And then she meets the Grinch. And this drives her to curiosity. She wants to know who he is. And rather than like her brother, who runs scared to death of him, she's not afraid of him. But she begins to realize that there's somebody sitting up on a mountaintop who's lonely and rejected and disconnected, somebody who needs hope.

Folks, we're surrounded daily by thousands of people who are hopeless. A recent survey showed that over half of Americans consider themselves hopeless, hopeless. In fact, Gallup released an article recently saying, like, what do people need most from leadership? I mean, a lot of these have to be politically based on. But what it found was that 56% of these people said they need hope from their leadership.

In a society right now where that's very, very slim. In fact, it beat out trust, compassion, and stability. But what I would argue is that finding hope in their leaders gives them security, it gives them stability, it gives them the opportunity to thrive. If you don't live in hope, the expectation that something better is coming, then when bad times come, you give up. But it gives you purpose to Strive and go forward.

We believe, as Ebenezer, that we are a place of hope, a people of hope. When you walk in our doors and you look to your left, you see the words of Romans 15:13 that says, now may the God of hope fill you with joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And the only reason and the only way that we can have that hope today is because of one fact. One fact. And when I share this fact with you, you'll never forget it.

It's like my two words that I gave you a few weeks ago. God keeps his promises. He keeps the promise and he keeps it in full. Numbers 23:19. Balaam testified to Balak saying, God is not a man that he can lie, nor a son of man that he should have to repent.

He has said it, and he will do it. Has he spoken and will he not make it good? Joshua 21:45 says, not one of the good promises which the Lord made to the house of Israel failed. And here they are in the promised land. First Kings 8:56.

Solomon is praying at the dedication of the temple and he says, blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people, Israel, according to his promise, not word. One word has failed of all of his good promise. Second Corinthians 1, verse number 20 says, for as many as are the promises of God in him, they are yes and amen in Hebrews 1023 reads, Let us hold fast and our confession of hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. God keeps his promise. And in a day and time when promises are meaningless, words are spoken with no return, we need to have confidence that there's some promise that we can believe in.

And that promise is embodied in the son of God, Jesus Christ, the greatest promise ever made. So would you stand with me as we read a few verses out of Matthew chapter 1, starting with verse number 21. An angel has appeared to Joseph and is giving him these words about Mary. She will bear a son and you will call his name, Jesus. Mary didn't go to an ultrasound.

Mary didn't have a blood test. It was affirmed by the word of God. You will have a son and you will call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now look at this. Now, this took place to fulfill or bring to the full what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son. And my nod to Dr. Fred Lodge today, because this is his favorite Name for God, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated, means God with us. Father, let our words, the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in your sight, O God, who is our rock and our redeemer in Jesus name. Amen. I want you to look very quickly as I kind of set the context up for this at verse number 22.

This formula that's given happens 10 times throughout the book of Matthew. Why is that? Well, aren't you glad we have four Gospels and not just one? There's Matthew, there's Mark, there's Luke, and there's John. And each of these four authors bring a different reason why they wrote and a different perspective.

So here's some teaching. Students. Kids, y' all take some notes here. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are what are called the Synoptic Gospels. They're called that because a lot of what appears in those three books are repeated.

The acts of Jesus, some of his teaching is similar. Now, the book of John is very unique. About 90% of what you read in John does not appear in Matthew, Mark, or Luke. And that's important to note because in the book of Matthew, Matthew, remember, was a tax collector and he was a Jew, and he's writing his Gospel to a Jewish audience. And so therefore, he uses this formula to show and argue that Jesus is the Messiah.

So he says this took place to fulfill. Fulfill either means to do what it said or to bring fullness to it. What was spoken by the Lord, not man, not by anybody. Remember, God is not a liar. So the prophecy is attributed back to the right source, which is God.

And the medium was the prophets. And so he does this 10 times in the book of Matthew. Four of those times, say four. Four of those times are specifically in the birth narrative. So if you're wondering, here's something else for you kids to take note of.

The story of Joseph the magi and Herod is found in the book of Matthew.

The story of Mary and Gabriel, the journey to Bethlehem, and the Shepherds are in the book of Luke. Mark and John do not have a birth narrative. Did y' all know that? Well, if you didn't, now you know. And so if they quiz you, if John, Mark, and them quiz you in Sunday school, you'll be able to answer that question.

Matthew and Luke have the birth narratives. And this idea that Matthew is wanting to say, look, I want you to see what God said and how it's coming to fruition gives us hope. Why? Because God said it, and it's come to pass. And that means that we can trust, as Dr. Osborne said, that God sovereignly controls all events in conformity with with his plan.

It was revealed in the Old Testament, and now it's coming to fruition in the appearance of Jesus Christ. So I want to take a few moments. Maybe this is more of a teaching than a preaching, but I want to look at those four texts as we flow through this birth narrative to reveal to us how God keeps his promise. I want you to look at verse number one of chapter one. It says, the genealogy, the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Why, there is so much just in that first verse. Well, let me tell you the three things. First of all, he calls Jesus Messiah, another title of God. We're introduced to this title in Daniel, chapter nine by a man named Daniel, who is talking about how that when the plan of God begins to unfold, that Messiah, the prince, would come in week 62, and he would be cut off. Messiah, the prince.

What do princes become? They become kings. The word Messiah, Mashiach means. Means anointed one. They're the ones who are anointed to be kings.

But that's why it's important to look at the two other names that's in that first verse. The son of whom? David. In 2nd Samuel, chapter 7, verses 13 through 14, God makes a promise to David. We call it the Davidic covenant, where he says, there will never cease to be one on your throne.

Well, how is that possible unless you have an eternal king? The promise that he made to Abraham, that I will give you descendants and I will give you a land, and those things coming to fruition in the person of Jesus Christ. And so what you see after this is a genealogy. 14. 14 and 14, they're broken up.

Not all the names are listed there, but the point was to make and trace all the way to Joseph. Now, let me ask you a question. Is Joseph Jesus biological father? You just set yourself apart from every cult and religion on the face of this planet because Jesus was born to a virgin Mary. Let me say that again.

Jesus was born to a virgin Mary. It was a supernatural conception. We're going to see that in the text in just a few moments. Joseph is not his biological father, but he served as his earthly father, and he had Davidic lineage. Well, guess who else had Davidic lineage.

His mama, Mary. He got it from both sides, so to speak. In fact, if you want to study something really neat, you can study Joseph's lineage and see where God promised to Cut that line off. He cut it off. His Davidic lineage is traced through Mary.

It's very interesting because he is a son of David. He's not the one the world would have picked, but he's the one that God sent. And so, as we dig into this text, I want you to look with me at verse 18. Cause he says now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. When his mother Mary had had been betrothed to Joseph before they came together.

You notice that? What does that mean? Sorry for the kids in the room. This means they were not together relationally. She was not with him.

So therefore, she did not conceive from Joseph. She was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. More than likely, she was around 13 to 14 years of age at this time.

Now, Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, meaning that he followed the law. He had three decisions to make. He had three choices to make. He had a decision to make. She's found to be with child.

The first thing that he could have done is he could have gone to the priest. And although it wasn't being commonly practiced at this time, he could have had her stoned to death. Y' all know that, right? Well, maybe you didn't. Now, you know, the other thing that he could have done is that he could have went ahead and divorced her quietly, even though they hadn't been married yet.

He could have broken the contract, divorced her quietly on two witnesses and kind of swept it under the rug, and she probably would have been sent off and had her child. The third thing is that, like, he will do is take her to be his wife, but in doing so, pay the dowry for having been with her before marriage.

Any of those scenarios brought disgrace. But you realize Joseph, afterward. Now, listen, he had already decided, I'm going to divorce her quietly. He had chosen option number two, he said. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph.

And what does he say there? Son of David. He reminds Joseph of his lineage. And when you heard that Son of David, you thought, Mashiach, anointed one, promised one, who's coming. Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

Again, the second reference here, that she was Jesus came of a virgin, one who had not known a man.

Wouldn't you like it if God helped you with hard decisions this way? Like you're trying to choose which job to take or which school to go to, and God just sends Gabriel in a dream and says, hey, listen, you need to go to this school, help me out. I mean, if I look back at my life, it helped me out a lot. But listen to how he couches this. He says, she will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he saved his people from their sins.

Now, we just spent the two months studying names of God, right? Jesus, Yeshua is the same word we have, Joshua. And it has meaning. Do you know what it means? The Lord is salvation.

The Lord saves. And that's exactly how the context bears it out. For he will save his people from their sins. His very name communicates salvation. And there is salvation in no other name, no other name than the name of Jesus.

But then he qualifies it, and it's almost like Matthew takes a step out and he says, now this. What, what's the this here? That she would bear a son and call him Jesus was to fulfill the word spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall be with child. Bear a son and they will call his name.

Immanuel. This is a quotation from Isaiah 7:14. So if you're following this study guide, let me give you these kind of quickly. Number one, Isaiah 7:14 or Matthew 1:23, the promise of God with us, the very first promise we revealed by this quotation is that God would be with us. Where do we get that from?

Well, if you look back at Isaiah 7:14, it says this. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, I, a virgin, will be with child, bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel. All right, what's happening in Isaiah 7:14? Well, there was a king by the name of Ahaz, King of Judah, and he scared.

S K E E R D We've talked about this already. He's skeered and he's scared because the king of the Arameans has gotten together with the king of the northern tribes of Israel, and. And they're trying to come and combat Judah. And he's frightened. In fact, if you read in the Book of Kings, he's not a good king.

He's one of those evil kings. And so Isaiah comes to him to try to give him confidence that God's got this under his control. Is he an evil king or a good king? He's an evil king. So he's probably not trusting God's word anyway.

He says, no, no, no, no, no. It's almost like he takes this self righteous piety moments as I can't ask God for a Sign. So Isaiah says, well, you know what, buddy? God will give you a sign. And either one of two things is true.

Either he looks down in the courtyard and there's a young maiden there, or it could possibly be Isaiah's wife herself. And he says, this woman right here is going to get pregnant and have a child. And by the time that child grows up to know right and wrong, the those two kings that you're worried about will be no more.

So the prophecy is this maiden in the day of Isaiah will have a child. And before he's about preteen age, those kings will be gone. And guess what happened in 722 B.C. the Assyrians come in, and the Arameans were gone, and the Northern tribe was gone. God kept his promise.

Now, how does that bear into the future? Well, was that kid divinity back then? He may have gone around with the name Immanuel. It could have been Isaiah's son who's mentioned in the next chapter. Whatever the case is, there was a fulfillment then, but the fulfillment came fuller when Jesus entered the world.

That this son, the son of God, brought God into the world. That by being here, God with us, we have no fear. J. Vernon McGee says this. How can Jesus be a savior? Because he is, Emmanuel.

He is God with us. How did he get with us? By being virgin born? I say again, he says he will be called Jesus. He was never.

Jesus didn't go around with the name Emmanuel. He. He lived out what Immanuel meant. He was God in their midst. We have promise today and we have hope today.

Because Jesus Christ was God made in the flesh.

God in the flesh, who came to be just like his people. So, yes, all of us who grew up with 90s music, Joan Osborne, some of y' all snickered when she sang the song. One of us asked the question, what if God was one of us? Well, Jesus was. He did come near.

He did walk where we walk. He did experience what we experienced. And unfortunately, some didn't recognize him. Some ignored him, and some rejected him. And here's the hope that God came to us.

We didn't go to him. If you're here today and you feel lonely and you feel disconnected, and you feel beat down and you feel rejected, I'm telling you, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came to bring God to you. Do you know that? And that's the first promise that we have God with us. But here's the second one.

The second one is the promise of the Messiah coming. He came as king. He came as king. Look, with Me in chapter two. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, Herod was a madman.

More than likely. He killed three to four of his own sons and his wife and others because he was afraid they would take his throne. So how do you think he felt when these magi show up from the east saying, hey, we've come to worship the king of the Jews? And Herod was an Edomite. He wasn't even a Jew.

He was installed by the Romans.

He was a faux king. Now somebody's coming and saying, hey, we've come to worship the king of the Jews. He thought they meant him, but he didn't. He said, we've seen his star and we've come to him. They knew that a king had been born.

Well, where'd they come from? They came from the east, most likely influenced by Babylonian ideas. The word magi is a Persian word that means astronomer or astronomy. Now, you know why they came after a what? A star.

Because the star is never mentioned in the Old Testament prophecy. It's not there. That's why y' all need to be here on Wednesday night. And Kevin helps us unpack some of these. Thinking biblically about Christmas.

They showed up, but you know who influenced them? Most likely there was a man by the name of Daniel. And Daniel went away in that first deportation, and he became the head of the magicians in Babylon.

He was witnessing to Jesus Christ in a pagan culture. Don't you love that? Don't ever doubt that the words you speak in a pagan culture can't have its fruit speak, because it does have an effect. And so you go on down through there. Then he calls the chief priests and scribes together, and they say, well, hey, where's he supposed to be born?

And he says, in Bethlehem of Judea. For this is what has been written by the prophets. And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah. For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd the my people. If you go back to Micah 5 2, Micah 5 2, that's where you get this verse, and it says there literally, but as for you, Bethlehem, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you one will go forth for me to be ruler of Israel.

His going forths are from long ago, from days of eternity. So it's a little bit of a different quote because he combined two prophecies together in what he said was, for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people. That comes from 2nd Samuel 5:2. Write that down. 2nd Samuel 5:2.

When David is being coronated as king, he says, previously, when Saul was king over us, you, David, were the one who led Israel in and out of battles. And the Lord said to you, you will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel. And now you know why that David, after he was anointed to be king, went out and sat on the side of a hill watching sheep. He was being prepared to shepherd his people. And now Jesus has come.

And the emphasis here is that Jesus would shepherd his people as a good king, not like Herod, not like the evil kings of Israel, not like the evil kings of Judah. And this made. This actually probably scared Herod. In fact, Herod wouldn't live much longer. Herod's gonna die a horrible death, most likely consumed by worms, just like his son would be in the future in the book of Acts, horrible judgment.

And when you put these two things together, we see that because he fulfilled literally this idea of being born in Bethlehem, he is the promised king. He is our king. He is the king who sits at the right hand of God, According to Psalm 110, verse number two, waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool. That is our king. And he came to live among us, God with us, and he's our king.

Number three. Number three. The promise of God for a new exodus. The promise of God for a new exodus. Because after the magi come, they visit with Mary.

And they go, Mary and Joseph and Jesus, they go away. And in verse 13, it says, now, when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Second time this happens with Joseph and said, get up. Take the child and his mother. Notice the priority of Jesus in that sentence construction.

The child and his mother should say, the mother and his child. But Jesus has prominence here and flee to Egypt. Why? Because Herod had no jurisdiction there. And remain there till I tell you.

For Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him. He predicted that to Joseph. And so they leave in the night. And it says he remained there until the death of Herod. Just a few years.

It wasn't long. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Again, there's that formula. Out of Egypt I called my son. Out of Egypt I called my son.

Hosea 11:1 reads, When Israel was a youth, I loved him. And out of Egypt I called my son. Well, that's not a prophecy, that's a statement. When he called Israel out of Egypt. What was he referring to?

The Exodus. Egypt has always been, was literally, and then spiritually, a place of bondage. Now, ready for this? Get ready. Get your, get your catcher's mitt ready to catch this one.

The reason this is important and why he said, out of Egypt I have called my son. It's no different than God calling Moses. See, Moses fled Pharaoh for his life. Jesus fled Herod for his life. And as Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt, so now Jesus is leading us spiritually out of our bondage, our bondage of sin.

He is the only sole son of God who can take us from our spiritual bondage and lead us into freedom. Matthew, one scholar notes, looks back carefully and drew analogies between the events of the nation's history, Israel's history, and the historical incidences in Jesus life. Why? To bring promise that you and I, we may not feel it, we may not sense it, but God has led us out in a new exodus. We're no longer in the land of slavery.

When you were saved of your sins, forgiven of your sins, Satan was fired as the taskmaster and he no longer has any control over you. So let me ask you a question. In this Christmas season, reflecting on the forgiveness of God, what if today one of you needs to hear this? It's time to stop letting sin have the better day. It's time to stop going back to the trough and eating after the hogs and the swine.

You, it's time to stop putting yourself in places of being, living in debauchery and being abused. You are a child of the king and we can live in freedom because he's led us out of Egypt, spiritually out of Egypt he called his son, and now he's calling us to follow him. Last one, look down at Matthew, chapter 2, verse 18. He said. Then when Herod saw that he'd been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged.

That's probably an understatement. If you kill your own family, you can imagine what you do to strangers. And he slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem in all its vicinity, from 2 years old and under. Which is why, more than likely, the magi didn't come to the manger. And more than likely, Jesus was 1 to 2 years old by this point, according to the time which he had determined by the magi, then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled.

Matthew's the only one who quotes Jeremiah in the Gospels, and he says a voice was heard in Ramah weeping in Great mourning Rachel weeping for her children. And she refused to be comforted because they were no more. Amen to that. Amen to that. I don't know any worse sorrow than a parent who has to bury a baby or bury a child.

That's hard. Rachel. You know about Rachel, right? Rachel was the wife Jacob wanted. That's hard to say that.

And here she's being seen as the mother of all Israel. Because out of Rachel came Joseph and came Benjamin. That was her two sons. Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, represented the northern kingdom. And Benjamin stuck with Judah.

But do y' all remember what happened to Rachel? She was near this little town called Bethlehem when she gave birth to Benjamin and died in childbirth. And she was buried near Bethlehem, Weeping for her children.

By the time you get to Jeremiah's prophecy, there's a place called Ramah R A M A H. And it was at that place where Jeremiah and others were being gathered to be taken in to Babylon in that last deportation. As mothers stood there crying for their young men and their children who were being taken away. Their city had been burned. And Rachel from her grave is crying. She never got to set foot in a promised land.

The only thing she got in the promised land was a grave. And now those boys were joining her in the grave. And she is being the one epitomized or represented as weeping for her children, for their bondage, for the things that had happened to them. Life taken. But wait a minute.

Out of Egypt, he's called his son, this new Moses. And this new Moses is bringing restoration to what had been lost. So it's important, see, we get to this point of the story, the narrative. We don't really read that on Christmas morning, but this was to show that Jesus had a greater purpose and in all of this, that God is sovereign over the whole process. Jesus is never taken by surprise.

These two great events, remember last week in Jeremiah 23:7, 8, we talked about no longer would you be the people who just came out of the Exodus, but the ones who God brought home. And see, not only has God led us out, he's leading us to the promised land and we're following Jesus right there. She will bear a son and you will call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. God with us, the new king, the new Moses, bringing us deliverance and bringing us to the promised land. We have the promise.

This is the second to the last point. Let me give you these and let me wrap up. We have the promise of Forgiveness. Because Jesus Christ became like us, to die for us. That's our hope.

Today you and I can have hope. Jesus Christ came, put on human flesh. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw his glory. John 1:14, Galatians 4:4.

But when the fullness of time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, under the law. Philippians 2:6 7 says that Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, something to be grasped or held onto, but emptied himself. And taking on the form of a bondservant, the likeness of man, like you and for me, Hebrews 2:17, 18. That he became like his brother in all things. And that as we are tempted, he was tempted, but never sinned and suffered like we suffered.

Why? Because that gives us hope that we can have victory over sin. And in our forgiveness. Death no longer has control over me. Sin no longer has control over me.

Satan no longer has control over me. Unless I yield to those things we have promised. This promise unwrapped. And it offers hope through forgiveness. It offers hope through forgiveness.

After a disaster at the hibilation, the city yielded and allowed the Grinch to come and have a party with him. And he had a party. He burned everything. This lonely, rejected, left out whatever he is. Let all of his anger out at once.

Y' all know the phrase, hurting people, hurt people? Well, that's the Grinch. So as he is attempting to steal Christmas, down the stairs comes Cindy Lou who. She questions him, what is he doing? And he replies, well, there's a light on this tree that won't light on one side.

So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear. I'll fix it up there and bring it back here. That wasn't too bad.

So then all of a sudden, she says, this disillusioned, questioning young child says, santa, what's Christmas really about? And that Grinchy Santa peers through the Christmas tree, says, vengeance.

I mean presents, I suppose.

She drops her head and she sighs. And she said, I was afraid of that.

She drops her head and the Grinchy claws gives her a cup of water. And she begins to go back upstairs. And she turns around and she says, santa, don't forget the Grinch. In this season of time. There's a lot of things that we have forgotten.

We've forgotten that we are born again by the blood of Jesus Christ and our sins are forgiven. We've forgotten that we have forgotten to give praise to the one who's done this for us. And you know, what else we've forgotten. We have forgotten the hurting and the lonely and the distraught who are still in bondage in their spiritual Egypt. And they need to hear about the man who can lead them out.

So I'm going to give you three, I guess call them applications. I hope they're. Kevin, you're going to love these. I didn't even send these to you before. I didn't use just three P's I used six.

I get extra credit on that one. So what do we do? I want to encourage you this morning to be persuaded by your pardon. You have been pardoned by your sin, so live as forgiven people. I want you to be purposeful in your praise of Christ.

In other words, you have been given so much and we give back to God in our tithe and offering to say, thank you, Lord. Thank you for what you've given me. But how do I praise him for every breath that I take? Do I point my praise to the one who deserves it? Or do I do this more than I realize?

And lastly, be present in others pain. Be present in others pain. There is somebody out there around you that's hurting and just needs somebody to show up. Because here's the opposite. The opposite would be to let sin win the day.

To never say thank you and to be withdrawn, uncaring and self focused. What if today is the day you decide my faith matters, my praise matters and my presence matters. Why? Because the Son of God came and put on flesh and became God with us as our king, Our new Moses who's leading us out of bondage and into the promised land. Today I want to challenge you to choose to own your faith this Christmas.

Being persuaded. Being persuaded by the power of your sins forgiven. That you can be purposeful in declaring the goodness of God to a lost and dying world. And that you can show up and. And let your presence be powerful in someone's life.

So as we open this altar this morning, I don't know what your need is. Maybe you need to come and give your life back to Jesus Christ and say, you know what? The greatest thing I can do this season is to be right with the Lord. Maybe you've strayed. Maybe you've been living in sin.

Maybe you went back to Egypt and got some melons and they may have satisfied you for a few moments, but God wants you to come to his banquet table and eat a smorgasbord. Maybe you need to come back to the Lord. Maybe you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ. Why would you not want to know him? If you're willing to wrap presents and put them under the tree, why wouldn't you want to yield your life to the one those presents represent?

Or maybe God's putting it on your heart again, somebody to invite. But this morning, maybe somebody living next to you that's had a hard time and they just need somebody to show up, not just to go over, I hear some cookie was thinking about you and run away. But to go and say, hey, can I share a cookie with you? Can I sit with you for a little bit? Cause I can tell you it'll make a difference.

Father, as we come to this time of decision and singing, with this altar open, Lord, would you speak to our hearts, show us what our needs are. Let us yield those to you today in prayer and love on us. In Jesus name, amen.