Sunday, December 6, 2009   

     Sunday morning was a wonderful time in the presence of the Lord.  We began our service with a time of praise and worship led by Andy Hoffecker.  We then had a time of special recognition for our Junior Bible Quizzers.  Two of our teams came home with first place in their divisions and several quizzers placed in the top ten as individual scorers.  We are proud of all our JBQ teams and all of their hard work.  We also welcomed all of our children as they collected money for their missions program.  Todd Bell ministered to us in song as he sang “Mary Did You Know.”    

     Pastor Roger shared with us from Isaiah 9:6-7 and “The Christ of Christmas.”  God coming to earth is what makes Christmas significant.  The world can try to ignore the truth of Christmas, but that does not change what happened.  Jesus came to earth as He did so we know that He can sympathize with our struggles.  He loves us so much that He gave up everything.  He came so that we can know Him personally.  Jesus went from the manger to the cross to identify with our sin and He then proved His divinity by rising from the grave.  Jesus is the joy of Christmas.  There are four things we should do in recognizing the Christ of Christmas.  First, we should respond to His wonderful counsel.  Jesus has the answer to every question we may have.  He can bring restoration to every situation in our lives.  Second, we need to remember His mighty power.  Jesus was not just a great man; He is God.  He gave up everything and then by His mighty power rose from the grave.  Third, we should respect Him as our eternal Father.  There is something each one of us can do for Him.  Fourth, we should recognize His prophetic position.  There will be no end to His kingdom.  Jesus will come again and establish His kingdom on the earth.  He will then reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.  This Christmas let us not forget the Christ of Christmas.