December 23, 2020 Christmas Unwrapped

Week 3 “When Christmas comes in a CRISIS”

From Isaiah 53-54

“Christmas Unwrapped” Message Series: “Lost in the rush and madness of our annual holiday season is the meaning of the entire event. The Christmas season tends to act like a last-minute cram session for the year’s final exam as we seek the perfect gift, attend the right events, and observe the proper attitudes toward one another at the close of the year. But as with everything in 2020, this Christmas is going to be much different. You may not have the Christmas you wanted this year, but by God’s grace we hope and pray you will have the Christmas you should – a Christmas connected to Jesus.”

📖 Isaiah 9:2 (ESV) The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.

📖 Isaiah 53:2 (ESV) For He grew up before Him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him.

Embrace the in every of life:

1. My is Jesus’ in Suffering.

📖 Isaiah 53:11 (ESV) Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

📖 Hebrews 12:2 (NLT) Because of the joy awaiting Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

2. My comes through Jesus’ .

📖 Isaiah 53:12 (ESV) Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Not only does Jesus save people from , He gives people .

📖 2 Corinthians 2:14 (ESV) But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

a. We have over the and .

📖 Luke 10:19 (ESV) Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

b. We have over .

📖 Romans 7:6 (ESV) now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

c. We have over the .

📖 1 John 5:4-5 (ESV) For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. 5 Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

d. We have in our .

📖 John 16:33 (ESV) In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

e. We have over and .

📖 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 (ESV) Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

3. My is achieved through Jesus’ .

📖 Isaiah 54:1 (ESV) “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor! For the children of the desolate one will be more than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.”

📖 Isaiah 54:2-3 (ESV) “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. 3 For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities.