Amen! Father we adore You, Father we worship You, King of glory we honor You; thank You for coming down from heaven to live with us, thank You for coming to die for our sins, thank You for this glorious day, Father in heaven we pray that You will live in us afresh this day oh Lord, and You will make Your abode with us in Jesus name.
You are Emmanuel with us, be with us oh Lord; as we go into Your word today, speak to us Yourself, speak in accent clear and still oh Lord, speak in a way that we will understand; Father let Your children hear from You, do not let them hear from any man, and Father let us be the better for what we will hear in Jesus name. Father we pray that at the end of the message we shall have cause to glorify Your name, thank You eternal Father of glory, blessed be Your name King of kings, in Jesus name we prayed. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, I want to appreciate our Pastor in Charge of Province and Assistant Pastor in Charge of Region for this opportunity, I want to also appreciate the pastorate and all his hand lifters, and I pray that God Almighty will continue to prosper his ministry, bless his home and bless the work of their hands in Jesus name.
Please let’s open our Bibles to the Book of Luke 2: 8-14, “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10And the angel said unto them, fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
12And this shall be a sign unto you; you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 13And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men”. Praise the Lord!
The theme for our December 2024 Go-A-Fishing is ‘The Good News’, and I’ll be talking briefly today about “The Good News – Our Savior is Born”; our two key words here, good and news: good, Ordinary English definition is defined as morally correct, having desirable or positive qualities or well behaved; news is defined as information about recent events, fresh interesting information; so good news is pleasant information, the birth of a baby is good news, promotion in our endeavors is good news, progress in life, completion of a house, victories in life, they are all pieces of good news, so it was good news over 2,000 years ago when the angels proclaimed the birth of Jesus Christ, but it was just not any ordinary good news, it was the good news, not a good news but the good news.
To have a Savior born that will redeem mankind was the best information the world needed back then and even now, and as we celebrate Christmas 2024, I pray that the good news proclaimed by the angels in Luke 2:10 will have new meaning in your life in Jesus name; I pray you will have a better understanding of the Savior as your Lord and Master.
Today is not just about feasting and exchange of gifts, it’s a time of reflection about what we are doing with our relationship with the reason for the season of Christmas, as we reflect today I pray that God will give us better understanding in Jesus name.
Down the ages, God has revealed Himself in different ways; He has revealed Himself through nature, Acts 14:17, but not perfectly; He has revealed Himself through prophets and teachers, 2nd Kings 17:13 but not perfectly, when He revealed Himself through His Son at Christmas, the Word became flesh, then for the first time God found a perfect way of communication with man. In Jesus, we see God as He really is, Jesus is the image of God; we see the art of God in Jesus, Jesus not only revealed God, He revealed God’s omnipotence and omniscience but revealed His art as well, He revealed the art of love and heart of caring of God, John 14:9, “Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast not known me, Phillip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father”.
So that’s what He said, ‘he that has seen me has seen the Father’, He revealed the Father to us, He made His dwelling among us, I mean our poverty, our misery, our temptations, our problems, our choices, our opposition and our disappointments; Jesus lived among us, wore our flesh, felt our pains and showed us by sustained day by day revelation what God really is like, somebody say ‘thank You Jesus’, He revealed the Father to us.
So what is Good News? It is the news that bring joy, happiness, gladness, a delightful and pleasant news, a welcoming news, good news as stated in Luke 2 is the news of the birth of the Savior of the world, and you might want to ask me or ask ourselves why does the world need a Savior, the world needed a Savior because Adam sold out his right to the devil, so there was need for a second Adam to take back the lordship of the earth from Satan, Romans 5:12 says wherefore, as by one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.
So there was a need for another person to take over the lordship of the earth from Adam who sold out and God began to speak through His prophets about the Redeemer who will come to break Satan’s dominion and restore man his lost dominion. Isaiah 7:13-14, the prophet Isaiah said behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel; Prophet Isaiah by speaking this word pointed to a daughter of David who will give birth to a promised Redeemer, Isaiah said the name of the child shall be Emmanuel which means God with us or incarnation, this is the union of deity and humanity.
So I ask us again, what is good news? Good news is the birth of a Savior, Luke 2:8-10; what is good news? Good news is redemption from sin; what is good news? Good news is a life in Christ; what is good news? Good news is forgiveness of sin, 2nd Corinthians 5:17; what is good news? Good news is justification from previous faults and becoming the children of God, John 1:12; what is good news? Good news is freedom from tyranny of Satan and sin, Luke 5: 13; what is good news? Good news is the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in us, Acts 1:8; what is good news? Good news is freedom from fear, Luke 12: 22; what is good news? Good news is trust and confidence that we will live with God in eternity, John 10:10, we will receive eternal life; what is good news? Good news is the provision of a mediator between God and man, Hebrews 9:15; what is good news? Good news is that Jesus came to declare the Father to us, John 1:18, He came to make us know the Father; lastly, what is good news? Good news is that Jesus came to reveal the glory of God, we can gaze at His glory.
One version of John 11:14 says we gaze at His glory; the KJV says we beheld His glory; Modern Translation says we gaze at His glory because Jesus revealed Him to us, so we are celebrating Christmas, the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ today because of what the Savior means to us, Isaiah 9:6 says for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be Called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace; we are celebrating today the One the scripture describes as God with us, Lord of all, Son of God, God’s beloved Son, Alpha and Omega, Son of the Highest, the Holy Child Jesus, the Lord of lords, the Lord and Savior; we are celebrating the One Bible calls the Word of God, praise the Lord!
We are celebrating our Redeemer who is divine; He occupies the divine office of Creator, Colossians 1:16; He occupies the office of mediator, 1st Timothy 2: 4 – 5; He occupies the office of Head of the church, Colossians 1:16 – 24; He is the Savior, 2nd Peter 3:2; He is a judge, 2nd Timothy 4:1; He is a Preserver, Hebrews 1: 1:3; He is a life giver, John 10:28; He is Lord and Christ, Acts 2: 36; He is the Resurrection and Life, John 11:25.
We are celebrating today the One who has many divine characters, this is not ordinary man, Jesus Christ is not an ordinary man; Bible says He is Holy by birth, Luke 1:35; He is righteous, Isaiah 53:11; He is faithful, Isaiah 11:5; He is the truth, John 14:6; He is sinless, 2nd Corinthians 5:21; Jesus is merciful, Hebrews 2:17; He is compassionate, Matthew 15:32; He is humble, Philippians 2:5-11 and He’s forgiven, He indeed is worthy of worship and celebration as our Lord; this is a Person that has existed in the form of God but He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant being made in likeness of men, Philippians 2: 6 -8.
The whole story of incarnation is a mystery, it’s a miracle; God took from the Godhead, Christ, and at Christmas through incarnation Christ became a man, this is what we are celebrating today; some people claim today is not the correct date, but it does not matter what date it is, whether it’s today or last week or next week or January 6 as some claim, or my birthday July 1, it does not matter, praise God! I think we should not bother ourselves about what date it is, what is important is that God came to earth in the form of a baby at a point in time and that’s what we are celebrating today, unto us indeed a child is given.
I don’t know how many of us saw a report on the social media recently about one post in the Lekki mosque there saying Jesus Christ is not God but the Son of God, a lot of people posted several comments but I also will not worry about such things, praise God! I have sympathy for those people, I will not bother myself about that statement, our God does not need man to defend Him in any way, all I would do is to pray that God will reveal Himself by and by to such people.
Whether man agrees or not, what we know from scripture is that this eternal being called Emmanuel, God with us or Jesus Christ, is the Word referred to in John 1:14; the Word existed in the beginning, the Word was with God, with God in fellowship, with God in purpose, He was with God and God made the worlds through the Word, Hebrews 1: 1-2, God, who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds, praise God! So God made the worlds through the Word, the Word is Jesus, praise the Lord!
So this eternal being was God, He possessed the same nature, He existed in the same form, and on equality with God, Philippians 2:6, Jesus existed the same form, He was the One that lowered Himself, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; He was in the same form of God, He was the One that thought it was not fit to be equal with God.
This Being that we’re talking about became flesh, He became like you and I on a day like this; the Word became a man and dwelt among us; the Word made His abode among us and we beheld the glory of God, Colossians 1:15. And as we celebrate the birth of Christ today, let us remember the reason for His coming as man, He came to save us from all our sins, that’s the purpose of His coming and it’s important that we get that right, it’s not about feasting, it’s not about dining alone, it’s about relationship with Him, the One who came to save us, He came to die for our sin, that’s the whole purpose of Christmas and like I said earlier, whatever date they call it, it doesn’t matter.
Some say you are celebrating the day of idol, He was born, whether it was on December 25th or January 17 or whatever date, Christ was born as man, came as man to redeem us from our sins, that is the reason for our celebration and that’s what we will celebrate forever in the mighty name of Jesus, praise the Lord!
Some religion has conceived God as weird, some even describe Him as cruel, grotesque, aloof, immoral or an impersonal energy but He was never thought of as God of love, He was never thought as a loving Father until Jesus Christ came.
I read a story about a young boy, he was drawing the picture of God and his mother told him that ah, nobody knows what God is like, why are you drawing God? He said well, after I finish drawing they will know what He’s like, by the time I finish this drawing people will know what God is like; Jesus Christ is what God is like, praise God! If you want to know what God is like then look at Jesus Christ, praise God! That’s what He told Philip in that message, he said show us the Father; He said well, you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father, that is the Father, I’m the Father, praise God!
It sounds outlandish to a lot of people in other religion and that’s why I made sure I quoted a lot of these scriptures so that you can go and check the scriptures later of all these things that they are true, praise God! I took time to look at the scriptures so that we can all go and check, praise God! Because it looks outlandish for one to say I am God, is either that you must really mad or is the truth, and I tell you today that it is the truth because the scripture says so, God came down on a day like this to abide with us and the good thing is that he’s still abiding with us, He’s Emmanuel God with us; when He was living in the flesh He gave us the Holy Spirit and if you’re a true child of God the Holy Spirit lives in you, and as we bow our heads to pray this morning, I want us to reflect on our relationship with this Jesus Christ that we’ve told you about, does the spirit live in you, are you His child?
The name Jesus means Jehovah saves, that’s the meaning of the name, is He your Lord and Savior? You will be celebrating today without understanding the meaning of Christmas, you need to have a proper understanding and when I’m saying you I’m talking to myself as well please; have you surrender to Him as your Lord and Savior or do you still operate as your lone lord?
Let this Christmas day be the day you truly submit to His Lordship, we all know Lord does not operate by force, He’s knocking at the door of your heart, I believe somebody is here today, God is knocking at the door of your heart will you open the door for Him? Revelation 3: 20-22, if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will eat with him, and he with me; are you here this morning God is knocking at the door of your heart, He is Jesus, He’s God with us, do you want to use this Christmas day as a day to reestablish your relationship with Him or to come to know Him for the first time?
[Altar call]
Let’s just pray this morning and say heavenly Father, thank You for coming to earth as a man to redeem us from our sins, we pledge our allegiance again to the Adonai God and I ask that You continually be our Lord and Savior. Let’s pledge our allegiance to Him to be our Savior, to be the Sovereign Lord over our lives; Father in heaven, we pledge our allegiance to You again this morning, be our Savior, be our Strength, be our Shield, in Jesus name we prayed.
Let us say on this Christmas Day, Father, let the good news of the birth of Christ hold a new meaning for me, help me to open my heart to the Savior for total cleansing; we are going to say Father, by the reason of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and the death on the cross, please give me a new insight onto my purpose, help me to see the reason for my existence and let me fulfill purpose. Father let me fulfill purpose, let me see the reason for my creation, reason for my redemption and let me fulfill purpose, oh Lord let me fulfill the purpose for my redemption, in this day let me reflect again and renew and fulfill my purpose oh Lord, in Jesus name we prayed.
Finally we going to say Father, please visit our nation the same way you visited Samaria and give us the desired turn around in our nation, make 2025 the year of rekindling of our hope as a nation; Father establish Your Lordship over Nigeria, establish Your Lordship over our nation, blessed be Your name King of glory, in Jesus name we prayed.
