Welcome to the weekend sermon. I am sorry about posting the sermon a little later than usual. I am still having a lot of health problems, and I really need your prayers right now. I hope that you all are doing very well.
For the past few weeks we've been studying the names and titles given to Jesus in the Bible. Last week, we saw that Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. In the message for today, I want us to focus on the fact that Jesus is the Messiah.
As we begin, let us look at what the term Messiah means. The word Messiah means "the Anointed One". Christ is a Greek word that means the same thing. So, when we say Jesus Christ, we are saying that Jesus is the Messiah or the Anointed One.
Where did the concept of the Messiah begin in the Bible? The first proclamation that God would send a redeemer to His people is found in Genesis 3:15. God promised that one born of the woman would crush the power of the serpent. As we read on in the Bible, we see that the Messiah was one who would bring justice to the nations and would have the Spirit of the Lord upon Him. We see this in verses such as Isaiah 42:1. We also read about the Anointed One in Daniel 9 as well as other passages.
What was the Messiah supposed to do? Zechariah 9:9 tells us that He will bring salvation. We also read about the salvation the Messiah will bring through His sacrifice in passages like Isaiah 53. In addition to bringing salvation, the Bible says in passages including Jeremiah 23:5 that the Messiah will reign as king. He will rule in righteousness and bring justice to the entire earth.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah. One of the reasons that Christians believe this is that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the coming Messiah in the Old Testament. For instance, in Micah, we are told that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. That was the place of Jesus' birth. Isaiah tells us that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. Jesus was born of the virgin Mary. Isaiah 53 tells us about the suffering Servant of God the Messiah. Jesus who suffered and died for us fulfilled this completely. There are many, many more prophecies concerning the Messiah that Jesus fulfilled. I urge you to study these.
Now, some will say that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies about the Messiah ruling and reigning. Jesus will fulfill all of these when He comes again. Since the prophecies of His first coming having all been fulfilled, we can have confidence that Jesus will fulfill all of the remaining prophecies as well.
The main reasons that we as Christians believe that Jesus is the promised Messiah is that He said that He was the Messiah, and God confirmed His word when Jesus was raised from the dead. In John 4:25-26 we read, "The woman said to Him I know that the Messiah is coming(He who is called Christ.) When He comes, He will tell us all things, Jesus said to her, I who speak to you am He." Right here, Jesus claimed to be the Messiah. When Jesus was raised to life after His crucifixion, that was the sign that the Father confirmed all that the Son had said and done. Jesus is who He said He was.
Jesus is the Anointed One. He has come to save us from our sin. If we accept Him as Savior and Lord, we will one day rule and reign with Him when He returns to establish His kingdom that will have no end. I hope that you will come to faith in Jesus Christ today. Amen.
Prayer Requests
In addition to my health concerns, I would ask that you pray in regard to my job. There is a lot of turmoil at work right now, and it is hard to keep going in to work everyday.
Please continue to pray for those who are dealing with natural disasters around the world. Pray that they will receive that aid that they need.
I believe that we should all thank the Lord that the coronavirus is not as much of problem as it was. Here in my country, the emergency order regarding covid has been lifted. I know that there are still people catching the virus, so we still need to pray that the sick will recover. Let us all pray for those dealing with long covid that they will get better soon.
Continue to pray for peace in Ukraine, Sudan, Yemen and the other troubles areas of this world.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in the nations of Maldives and Mauritius. Pray that many will come to know Jesus as Lord.
Next week, we will continue with our current series. I will post the verses on Monday, and I may have a midweek post. May God bless you all.
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