Sermon Title: Christmas Time Is For Hope
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
Pastor Lloyd Ogilvie writes the following about the story of Christ’s birth: “John Lennon once said of the Beatles, the phenomenal group of musicians of the sixties and seventies of which he was a part, that they were more popular than Jesus. That may have been so, but they were not and are not better-known. Hundreds of millions of people, even those in non-Christian lands, know the events and details of Jesus’ life and death and Resurrection. The details are universal.”
We will talk about this universally known story that has been retold countless of times over the centuries on Sunday, focusing on the hope that it provides our world and, in particular, our own personal lives, as we continue our sermon series, “Good Times.” Hope to see you then!
