[0:00] Well, it's Christmas. There simply is no other time of the year like Christmas. And that's because there simply is no other message like the message we hear and announce at Christmas.
[0:15] Oh, how I wish the whole world could hear the message of Christmas. Sadly, part of the reason why the world is in the condition is right now is because the majority of the world have not heard this good news.
[0:31] And if we were to hear the good news and live the good news, it would be a very different world, a very different world. It dawned on me a little while ago that the message that the angels give to the shepherds on Christmas Eve can be tweeted.
[0:47] And I thought since tweeting is very popular right now, it would be good for the world to have the Christmas proclamation tweeted. It fits within the hundred and forty character limit of Twitter.
[1:02] It goes like this. You know it well. I have good news of great joy for you, which will should be for all the people. For today there has been born for you in the city of David, a savior who is Christ Messiah, the Lord.
[1:20] And this will be a sign for you. You'll find a baby lying in a manger. Like many of you, I have the privilege of being able to preach this Christmas.
[1:34] I'm preaching both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day for the historic First Baptist Church right in the center of Vancouver. Christmas Eve, I'm going to be preaching on the stunning proclamation of Christmas, working with the text I just cited.
[1:49] And then on Christmas morning with that wonderful text in Isaiah 9. And the title I'm going to use is The Gift and His Gifts. The manuscripts for both of those sermons are going to be available on preachersworkshop.ca.
[2:05] And my assistant, Oliver Hong, is going to live stream both of those. And then he'll place them at that website if you'd like to see them and use them. What an opportunity we have to tell good news at this time of the year.
[2:22] Although I'm excited about preaching the text I referred to, this Christmas I've been gripped by another dimension of the story.
[2:36] And I haven't been able to figure out just how to put it. So I'm trusting that this is something that will brew for Christmas 2017.
[2:47] But here's what I've been thinking about. It's in question form. When in the Christian story does it become clear that the world is really going to be saved?
[3:04] Some will say it really won't become clear until Jesus Christ comes again with the new heaven and the new earth. Others would say, well it became clear when he poured out the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.
[3:17] Others will say, well it became clear when he ascended to the throne. He now sits at the right hand of the Father on the throne of the universe. Certainly the world's going to be saved.
[3:29] Others would say it's Easter morning when he emerges from the grave having conquered the power of death. Others of course would say Good Friday when he takes on sin and evil and wins.
[3:43] Certainly that's the day we know that the world is going to be saved. But I've been thinking this year, it's actually earlier.
[3:54] Is it not Christmas Eve? When the child is born and when we realize that humanity and divinity have come together in one person.
[4:10] Is that not the moment we know we're going to be saved? Because the divine and human have now joined together forever, never to be separated.
[4:25] I'm leaning that way. That's why Christmas is so wonderful. We know at that point it's going to happen.
[4:40] There's no turning back. God is going to save us. Wow. Merry Christmas to you and to all those you love.
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