Welcome to this Advent season edition of the Weekend Sermon. It is good to be with you today, and I hope that everyone is enjoying the holiday season so far.
I finally got all of my Christmas cards out, and I have completed my holiday shopping. At my place of work, they are having many activities for the holiday season, so that has been interesting. I would ask that you keep me in your prayers about the work situation. I would like to find a new job as soon as possible.
In prayer this week, please pray for those who are feeling depressed and down during this holiday season. I know from first hand experience that the holidays can be a difficult time. I am glad that during this Thanksgiving that I was able to go out to dinner with my brother and his family. I was getting kind of down too.
There are many other things to pray about this week. I heard this morning that Burundi is on the brink of a civil war. Let us pray for peace there and pray for peace in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are so many countries where there is warfare that it is hard to remember all of them. During this time when we celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, let us pray for peace around the world.
We have been praying for nations around the world where there aren't that many Christians. Let us pray this week for Taiwan, Japan, Bahrain and Turkey.
I want to say thank you to the Lord for an answer to prayer. We have been praying about the Ebola crisis in Africa for sometime. I heard a report on the radio a couple of days ago that there haven't been any new cases in quite sometime. This is something to be very thankful for.
In today's message, we continue with our series of messages centering around the Advent season. In last week's message, we discussed why Jesus came to this earth in the first place. In this week's sermon, I want to focus on how Jesus' birth fulfilled two of the covenants God made with two men in the Old Testament.
The whole idea of covenant is important in the Bible. Our Bible is divided into the Old and New Testament or the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In addition to these larger covenants, God made a covenant with people in the Bible. He made them promises that He was bound to keep. One of the first covenants was the covenant God made with Noah. God promised that He would not flood the earth again as He had in Noah's time.
God made two other covenants with those in the Old Testament that were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The first of these is known as the Abrahamic Covenant. In Genesis 12:1-3, God called Abraham out of Ur. God told Abraham that He would bless him and make from him a great nation. God said that all the nations of the world would be blessed through Abraham.
The story of the Old Testament reveals to us how God was faithful to keep His promise to Abraham. In spite of the fact that the Israelites often turned away from God, God was faithful to them. He kept them as a nation, and He kept His message of truth alive through them.
Then, on that first Christmas Day, the Abrahamic Covenant received its ultimate fulfillment. Jesus, a descendant of Abraham was born in Bethlehem. Because Jesus came to this earth, all of the nations of the world have been blessed just as God said in Genesis 12.
Because of Jesus' life, death and resurrection, people from all over the world have been freed from sin and have come into a right relationship with the God of all creation. The final fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant will occur at the Second Advent when Jesus reigns. All the nations of the world will known peace, goodness and prosperity because Jesus is on the throne.
God also made another important covenant with someone that had its fulfillment in Jesus. The Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. Unlike many of the other kings mentioned in the Bible, David never turned his back on the Lord and worshiped idols. David was far from perfect. He actually did some pretty horrendous things. However, David always repented and asked the Lord to forgive him.
II Chronicles 6:16 records the promise that God made with David. God told David that he would always have a successor to sit on the throne of Israel. On Christmas Day, this promise received its ultimate fulfillment. The Bible tells us that Jesus was born in the line of David. He was a literal descendant of David.
While He was here on this earth, Jesus did not establish a physical kingdom. His kingdom was established in the hearts and minds of all those who believed in Him and made Him the sovereign Lord of their lives. However, the Davidic Covenant will have a complete fulfillment when the Second Advent comes.
When Jesus returns to this earth to rule and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus will sit on the throne of David as ruler of all the nations. God's promise to David is completely fulfilled in Jesus.
When I study the way the God honors His word and keeps His covenants, it thrills my heart. I know that I can take God at His word. I can trust what Jesus, who is God come in the flesh, tells me. Jesus promised that He would give eternal life to all who would call upon His name and believe in Him as Savior and Lord.
Jesus said that He has gone to prepare a place for us who are His followers. If we trust in Him, Jesus has promised that we will be with Him forever and forever.
Jesus also promised that He is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Jesus though he were dead, yet shall he live. Whoever believes in Jesus will never die. Jesus said that those who die in the faith will be with Him for all eternity.
I can believe these things because I have seen it clearly revealed in Scripture that God keeps His word. He kept His word to Noah and Abraham and David. He will keep His word to us.
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Since Jesus was trustworthy when He was on earth, we can trust each and everything that He has revealed to us in His word.
I hope that during this Christmas season that you will reflect on the ways that God has kept His promises. Think of the ways that God has kept His promises to you.
Next week, I will post the verses on Monday. On Wednesday, I will reveal my picks for the best dog and cat books of 2015. On Friday, we will continue with our series of Advent messages. May God bless you all . Amen.
P.S. -- I would like to ask you all to pray for a writer that I know. His good cat was savaged by a dog and is in a bad way. Please pray for this man's pet that she will fully recover. Thank you.
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