Tabor Baptist Church

• Has there ever been an evening like this?
• The Angels said they brought 'Good news of great joy'
• Angels had previously appeared to Abraham, Jacob and Manoah
• Never had a whole host of angels appeared to men
• The Christmas story is full of the supernatural
• Zechariah the priest
• Mary the Virgin
• Joseph has a dream
• A supernatural star pointing to the place of the Messiah's birth

The Hillside

• The shepherds - uneducated men, taking it in turns to look after the sheep
• The Angels appeared about them
• The Angels bring the majesty of heaven
• No wonder the men feared!
• Why did God appear to such simple and poor men?
• He did not appear to the religious elite, to a political figure or man of influence
• In these days shepherds were often despised
• The whole message of Christmas is about glory and simplicity
• God is not the God of the above but the ordinary man
• God delights to choose the poor of this world and make them rich in faith, to take the lowly things of the world and exalt them
• God chooses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise
• The message is for all people, none are excluded
• The disciples were simple uneducated fisherman
• They followed Christ and turned the world upside down
• Jesus mixed with the prostitutes, with the tax collectors and with the sinners
• Have you ever had a sense of the presence of God
• A Saviour has been born
• He is the Christ, the Lord
• God was not leaving humanity in its sin but God sent His Son into the world
• He was without sin
• He was born of a virgin - pure and spotless
• With God nothing is impossible
• God made the world and individuals
• We are amazing beings
• It is nothing for God to send His Son into the world
• The heavenly host of angels saw the Lord Jesus
• Now they could truly cry 'peace to the earth'
• Do we believe this message?

The Stable

• They find a young couple
• We are not sure exactly what the stable was
• There was no room for them in the inn
• Maybe an annex, maybe a cave
• It was a simple basic place
• Jesus was born to simple parents from a despised town in Galilee
• Mary:
• Mary was exalted and she understood this
• Mary was staggered that she should be chosen
• Mary knew she was a sinner, she called out 'my Saviour'
• Joseph:
• Joseph was a man of tremendous integrity
• Was minded to put Mary away secretly but wanted to protect her
• The angel speaks to him and reassures him
• There was no halo on the Lord Jesus
• He was a normal human baby
• Yet He was God
• The shepherds must have had some sense this was God as they tell everyone afterwards
• How do you view Jesus today?
• Christ came for all people
• He came to die on a cross
• The stable was important speaking of Jesus' simplicity, of the fact He had 'no where to lay His head'
• 'There is no room at the inn'
• People cry out there is no room for You in our hearts and lives
• Still people reject Jesus
• Have you come to the stable and bowed?

• The shepherds told everybody
• There was a power with their message and all men marvelled
• There was no mocking, laughing or back talking
• It is not enough to marvel, to be touched and moved
• The message must sink down into your heart and change you life

Into the World

• Started with the shepherds
• Went out to the fisherman
• Went out across the world
• Many are responding
• God is working in the hearts of men and women
• Wales has forgotten God and many in other countries are worshipping Him
• May God turn hearts back to Him