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Sermon - Rev Hap Arnold
Church of the Faithful Centurion -
Descanso, California
Today’s sermon is the
message of Christmas. “He came unto His
own and they received Him not.” Christ came unto His own, the people he
created, to show them the Word which He is the living embodiment of, the Living
and True Scripture. They received Neither the written Word that his Apostles
wrote, nor the spoken Word from His Mouth that He spake unto them. “But as many
as received Him, to them he gave the power to become the sons of God.” He has
adopted us unto his family, through His Word, which he has spoken unto us, that
we may fulfill it and live in harmony with others in this word.
“And the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” This speaks to the living incarnate nature
of the Word, (Christ) who dwelt among us 2,000 years ago, that He might
understand our nature more, so that He could teach us with more understanding.
If He lived in our conditions, it would be easier for Him to relate to us when
He taught and spake the Word of His Father.
“And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth.” In That Word, He spake both full of grace and
of truth as John talked about in the last Gospel. Through His grace and truth
that we accept, only can we do things for His Glory. Without the Word, we
cannot do anything for Him, as imperfect creatures, now having been accounted
and spoken for by Christ. With the Word, we are empowered to do things for Him.
The birth of Christ would foreshadow his death, which would bring about the
ultimate freedom, that from sin and death.
That
is such an important point. 16 For
God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16) Not just that God, the Almighty Creator of
Heaven and Earth, would send His only begotten Son, but that the Son came
knowing not only that He, King of Kings, would be born in a manger, live a life
of relative poverty, but that He would die a horrible horrible death that we
might have eternal life. He came to this
miserable planet for us, to give us life eternal! He knew when He came here precisely how He
would leave, yet He came anyway. Think
of that on this Christmas Day!
Today we
recall the birth of our Lord and Savior, the only means by which we, imperfect
creatures with free will, might be accounted as perfect before God when our day
of judgment comes. Born, not in a
palace, but in a stable, He is all that we have been promised. Taking the substance of Man, all Man and all
God, He knows our temptations, He knows our failures, He knows our failings, He
knows our sorrow; He also knows our happiness, our small triumphs, our hopes
and our dreams. He is the only one in
this world who will never fail us in the slightest. He gives us His example to follow. If we will but follow Him, we will draw
closer to God. He made the world, He
knows the world. He defeated the Prince
of this World, thus with His Help, so will we.
This is a day of joy, foreshadowing a day of sorrow, leading to the
greatest joy of all.
Let us
joyfully receive Him into our hearts and homes, that we might do what He asks
and spread the Joy of His Arrival on Earth that we might prepare for His Second
Coming. If we do this and what he asks, which is a common theme that stays the
same throughout the Christian Year, we shall be Blessed with good things, as a
result of doing what He asks. On the Christmas Day, let us Rejoice in His
Coming and begin our preparations for His Second Coming
Let this be
a blessed and happy Christmas. He has
come to us!
Be of God - Live of God - Act of God
