Church Of The Lost Sheep

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!” -heavenly hosts Luke 2:14 in the Berean Study Bible Version Christmas On Christmas Day, believers come together for fun, food and gifts. On the birth of Christ, there was a celebration in heaven and on earth. Nine months prior, with the Holy Spirit coming upon Mary, heaven came down gift-wrapped in human flesh. His Name is Jesus. Gift In Him was the Word who spoke the universe into existence. In Him was the Light who is the Way. In Him is the Truth which the human mind cannot completely wrap itself around, unless through the guidance of the Spirit of God.  Love In Him is the Fruit of God's Love. Jesus is Love in human form. He is The Christmas Gift who we need to receive. Angels from heaven came down to announce to the lowliest of men -- shepherds, out in a field that a great and joyful event meant for everybody for all time has occured -- The Savior has just been born in the City of David, The

The family tree of Jesus Christ, David’s son, Abraham’s son: Abraham had Isaac, Isaac had Jacob, Jacob had Judah and his brothers, ... Eleazar had Matthan, Matthan had Jacob, Jacob had Joseph, Mary’s husband, the Mary who gave birth to Jesus, the Jesus who was called Christ. There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, another fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and yet another fourteen from the Babylonian exile to Christ." From the Book of Matthew, 1st century There are millions of people all around the world who are into geneologies and family trees and their numbers seem to be growing more rapidly than they use to.  If there is anything we can say about the ancient Jews, it is that they are into geneologies and meticulous information and record keeping. Family Trees Today people use geneology websites and databases and even DNA testing. With all the latest in technology, many have joined in into the study of their family trees. Yet there are som

  "Now thanks be to God for His indescribable gift [which is precious beyond words]!" 2 Corinthians 9:15 in the Amplified Version During christmastime, Christians and non-Christians alike busy themselves with the business of giving and receiving gifts. Through the centuries when this birthday (Christmas) was first celebrated, people have lost the real message why this day is being celebrated in the first place. Mind you, nothing in Scriptures is telling us to commemorate the birthday of Christ. Yet it isn't really a bad idea. Celebrating birthdays have been a thing long before Christianity. The Gift Now what is not good is people celebrating gift giving and receiving without having first received The Gift which started this Christmas celebrations to begin with. For hundreds of years, God gave humankind the good news of a Heavenly Gift. Prophets have long prophesied and wrote about this -- the coming of Christ. Foretold The angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him

  "For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.  For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him."  -John the Apostle, circa 1st century So this year's Advent Season has reached its height, today -- Christmas Day, when Christians the world over commemorated the birth of the Savior of the world. The short story is that Our heavenly Father gave to us His Son, to be born as one of us, to live among us so as to regain or bring us (back) everlasting life. He came not to point to us our faults, our mistakes, miscues and hard headedness but instead show us the way and light our path to come back to Him who gave us life. To all who believe, merry Christmas and to all the rest may we take time to read or watch the story of the Light of the world -- Jesus of Nazareth. The History Channel: The Nativity Advent Series

  "From the very first day, we were there, taking it all in—we heard it with our own ears, saw it with our own eyes, verified it with our own hands. The Word of Life appeared right before our eyes; we saw it happen! And now we’re telling you in most sober prose that what we witnessed was, incredibly, this: The infinite Life of God himself took shape before us. We saw it, we heard it, and now we’re telling you so you can experience it along with us, this experience of communion with the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Our motive for writing is simply this: We want you to enjoy this, too. Your joy will double our joy!" -John the Apostle, circa 1st century Before there were live streaming and internet (up to the second) news, there was cable TV. Before that news were broadcasted on air, transmitted to our televisions and radios. Prior to that it was printed on paper, posters or periodicals or a person would yell them out to people gathered around a public or private plac

  "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers—everything has been created through him and for him." Colossians 1:15-16 In the previous message , we touched on how that bright light in the heavens was pointing to the True Light who came down to live among us. On that day this was apparent only to those who were seeking this Light. Today we will continue to dwell on this point that the light from the heavens pointed to the newborn King, the Savior of the world, who is that light that opens up our eyes. Christmas Star, December 21, 2020 In the Beginning The opening line of the first book of the Old Testament bible reads: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." [Genesis 1:1] The opening line of the Gospel According to John says: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,

  "The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son." -John the Apostle circa 1st Century John 1:9-14 Last night Jupiter and Saturn appeared as a bright star, visible to the naked eye for a few hours to those who were anticipating and looking for it. This became possible when in their race around the sun the paths of these two giant planets crossed, the closest it had been and last visible on earth in the year 1226. Christmas Star

  "Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” -Jesus of Nazareth, 1st Century Luke 24:44-49 This is fifth part of this mini series ( Prophesied Messiah ) within a series (Advent). From the previous messages, we have read just a handful of these prophecies fulfilled in the life of one person. The odds of these happening by chance were infinitesimally small. And there were hundreds

  "Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: behold, the young woman shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (meaning God is with us)." -Prophet Isaiah circa 740 BC Isaiah 7:14 From the previous messages of this series, we have read about some of the lesser known prophets foretelling future events regarding the Messiah that were fulfilled after they were long gone. Prophesied Messiah These prophets have one more contemporary, the Prophet Isaiah who have spoken more prophecies that were written about the long awaited Christ. One of the most quoted is Isaiah 7:14, the passage we read above. Gospel writers have alluded to this and several other prophesies of Isaiah that were all fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Staggering Amount of Prophecies And there were hundreds of prophesies that have been written about the Savior of the world that was fulfilled with the coming and going of Jesus Christ. The

  "Sending orders, he (Herod) put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.” Matthew 2:16b-17 So we continue from the previous message , as we read through Matthew's narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ. Here he stated that Jesus fulfilled another old Messianic Prophecy. This one is of the prophet Jeremiah, who lived about a hundred years after those two lesser known prophets we have talked about in the two previous messages in this series. This is about 600 years before Jesus was born. Magi The story of the birth of Jesus is that He was born in the little town of Bethlehem and that unknown wise men or magi (mysterious visitors from the east) came to visit Him

Out of Egypt "When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and His mother by night, and withdrew to Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” Matthew 2:13-15 Continuing from the previous message - Prophesied Messiah , today we will look at how Matthew, the gospel writer and one of the early followers of Jesus stated that Jesus fulfilled another old messianic "prophecy". This one was of another lesser known prophet named Hosea, who prophesied about 750 years before Jesus was born "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son." Hosea 11:1 Scholars have stated that Matthew have taken liberty in saying that Jesus fulfi

  "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity." Micah 5:2 - Prophet Micah circa 700 BC Aside from keeping meticulous records (as we have read in the previous message ), the Jews of old had people who prophesied future events and they kept records of those as well. One of those prophets was the lesser known Micah, who lived around 700 years before Jesus. He foretold that out of Bethlehem, a tiny insignificant town, will come out the Messiah. One whose origins are from the days of old (from the ancient of days). Longshot Bethlehem was a little village where shepherds tend their flock. In fact, it is still a place where shepherds can be seen caring for their sheep to this day. The small town of Bethlehem is just south of Jerusalem where the temple is located, a mere 5 miles away. Back in Jesus time, it was the place wher

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,..." "...and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations." Matthew 1:1-2, ... 16-17 The bible mentions lists of genealogies and people normally skip through them, we all do. We even cut off a big portion from the excerpt above. Genealogy The Jews of old were meticulous in their record keeping. They were probably the original inspiration for genealogy websites and DNA tracing businesses. The Jewish people always had a thing for looking into who begot who and who were the parents of

  "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” -Jesus of Nazareth Luke 19:10 Jesus has been called out for hanging out with immoral (or sinful) people. And in one of these instances (as we read in the passage above), He responded by saying because He came to find and save the lost -- like you and me. This is what advent is all about. First Advent Jesus was born quite like a normal person as He would be in that place and time, except with a little more scandal than an ordinary newborn. So some people were already biased against Him, calling Him out whenever there seems to be something off about Him. And there will always be something off about Him anyway as He is nothing but ordinary. He is out of this world, to say the least.  Jesus and Scriptures refer to Him(self) as the Son of Man and also the Son of God. And that is because He is both -- fully human, fully divine.  After He had fulfilled what He had come to do (to seek and save the lost), we who He had

  "Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” John 9:39 If you have been following the Jesus story, you probably would have heard stories that tell Jesus made the blind see. Now what we might not know of is that conversely, He also made those who could see, blind. In the preceding message in this series, we have read that the Good Shepherd (Jesus) went after the single lost sheep (you) -- the ones who needed rescuing. In doing so, He was not only going after the ones who have lost their way but also the ones who are blind and could not see the Christ for who He really is -- their only ticket back. The 99 Meanwhile, those who the Good Shepherd left behind were all busy keeping their own kind company, playing their reindeer games and whatever else games that they play. They were not blind. They could see (or claim they see). They know about the long prophesied and Promised Messiah. They know

  "Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Luke 15:3-7 Selfless Love came down on Christmas Day to look for us, His lost sheep. Jesus of Nazareth is Our Good Shepherd who (recklessly) will leave the flock who does not require rescuing, to go after you even if you are the only one lost and needing rescuing in the world. We All Need Rescuing But the reality though is that everyone needs rescuing, for we all have lost our way. There may be those who feel they do not need to be

  “I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own sheep and my own sheep know me. In the same way, the Father knows me and I know the Father. I put the sheep before myself, sacrificing myself if necessary. You need to know that I have other sheep in addition to those in this pen. I need to gather and bring them, too. They’ll also recognize my voice. Then it will be one flock, one Shepherd." - Jesus of Nazareth John 10:14-16 This church is called The Church of the Lost Sheep for this very passage of Scripture. According to Christians, the Promised Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the Jews is Jesus of Nazareth, who was born in Bethlehem -- He whose birthday is the one we commemorate this Advent Season. He is the Good Shepherd who was prophesied by several prophets for over a thousand years to save His people (Israel) -- those sheep in the original pen. But as Jesus Himself stated that there are other sheep in addition to the original sheep. And those would be us, those who live fa

  "But God was merciful! We were dead because of our sins, but God loved us so much that he made us alive with Christ, and God’s wonderful kindness is what saves you. God raised us from death to life with Christ Jesus, and he has given us a place beside Christ in heaven. God did this so that in the future world he could show how truly good and kind he is to us because of what Christ Jesus has done." Ephesians 2:4-7 The first Christmas was the appointed time when our heavenly Father showed us how He loves us. This (Advent) season is the time we remember that in His great mercy at the time He appointed, the Promised Messiah, the Child who would save the world was born. Happy Holidays/Season's Greetings Humankind have long tried to take out "Christ" from this season and they came up with other commemorative greetings. This is mostly to appease those who do not believe in Christmas or those who choose not to believe in Christ. Or because we just have to be

  "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption." Galatians 4:4-5 At the proper time, Jesus was born through Mary. He was born subject to the law so that He can pay the penalty/the punishment as mandated/required by the law. At the Cross Once He had paid the price/the wages of sin, humanity was redeemed/ransomed for eternity. And thus, once again humankind can be worthy to be called children (sons and daughters) of God. The sacrifice at the cross, signed our adoption papers into God's eternal family. This is the endgame of Christmas. (Christmas was the opening move -- the King's Gambit. Resurrection Sunday was the checkmate move). Love, mercy and justice came down, so that hope, peace and joy may reign in our hearts through one man -- Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem. He brought about our redemption, purchased our freedom. He is the Savior of th

The Return to Nazareth "When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee. There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him." Luke 2:39-40 Advent is about the coming of the promised Savior of the world. Christians believe that to be Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, and He grew up in his mother's hometown of Nazareth (a village in Galilee). Although Jesus was prophesied over a thousand years before He was born, a big part of His life is unknown. What We Know What we do know is that He was born in Bethlehem, presented to the temple in Jerusalem as a baby. Visited by the Magi as a toddler. After which, went into hiding in Egypt. And went back and spent His life in Nazareth. He visited the temple in Jerusalem with His family, each year for Passover. For about 18 years, there was nothing about Him until John baptizes Him in the Jordan River