25th December 2023

25th December 2023


Pray (ACts)


Read - John 12:46


Message Alan Burke 


It’s Christmas Day the trees up, the feasting is about to begin and maybe you’re going to brave it out there and join with others or hibernate away longing for tomorrow when you have another 365 days until December 25th again (Remember next year is a leap year). Behind everything that goes on at this time of year we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and his coming is one of the most important events in human history as God became man and dwelt among us. It is a message of light for we all know that light matters most when it is dark and this is a world of darkness as the scriptures remind us.


In John 1 we are told about John the Baptist who came to testify about the light so that everyone would believe, he wasn’t the light he only came to tell others about the light, the light that he came to testify about was Jesus. There are lots of people in this world who are trying to celebrate Christmas without the true light that of the world Jesus Christ. The nostalgia might be running high, the music might be filling our homes along with the smells that export us back to a different time and give us that warm fuzzy feeling inside but it will not give us real joy, it will always leave us wanting. The reason that Jesus came was to bring light into the world, John 12:46 tells us, “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. (Jn 12:46).” In this world of darkness there is light, that light is the light of all who would believe and not remain in darkness the Lord Jesus Christ. 


He came, the light of the world, wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger, he came into the dark world but to give himself as a  ransom for many, for those who would believe that they would become the children of God. Hidden behind the facade of the festivities, of the celebrations is an emptiness that is known only to us because even with all that is going on, as we try to bring light to the darkness we cannot. Instead we need to look to the true light who has come into the world and to all who receive him, who believe in his name he gave the right to become children of God.


The gift that God offers all is the light of the world, and because of the light Jesus Christ we can become the children of God, that is what we celebrate and that is what this world needs, the light of Jesus Christ.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC
Q24 How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?
Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation. (John 1:18, 1 Pet. 1:10–12, John 15:15, John 20:31)