{"id":1813,"date":"2013-12-15T22:42:45","date_gmt":"2013-12-16T04:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/?p=1813"},"modified":"2014-12-16T11:20:44","modified_gmt":"2014-12-16T17:20:44","slug":"who-hath-believed-our-report-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/?p=1813","title":{"rendered":"“Who Hath Believed Our Report?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 2, Isaiah 53:1-12<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we see how far the world has strayed from the true spirit of Christmas, we feel like raising our voice with Isaiah of old and ask “who hath believed our report?”<\/p>\n

I: Do We Believe the Christmas Story?
\n<\/strong>1. Do we believe that Bethlehem took its place in fulfilled prophecy?
\n2. Do we believe that there was a purpose and mission that the Christ child came to full-fill?
\n3. Does the Christ-child’s birthday give us the real hope of eternal peace & salvation?
\n4. Dare we believe the angels appeared to Zaccariah, Mary, Joseph, & the Shepherds?
\n5. Was there really a star that led Wise Men to that child’s bedside?<\/p>\n

II: “Through Thou Be Little Among the Thousands of Judah.” Micah 5:2.
\n<\/strong>1. “How far to Bethlehem?” W.M.U.
\n<\/strong>\u00a0 a.<\/strong> Five miles from Jerusalem.
\nb. <\/strong>Rich in sacred history: Jacobs Rachael, Ruth, and Boaz, David anointed King.
\nc. <\/strong>God’s chosen place for His son to be born.
\n2. Let us not measure the distance to Bethlehem by miles, but by spiritual distance.
\n3. “The lost road to Bethlehem.” W.M.U.
\n<\/strong>\u00a0 a. <\/strong>We have allowed the world to crowd in with so many things to dim our eyes, that we have lost the way to Bethlehem.
\nb. <\/strong>A spirit of Christmas parade in a Southern city (The reporter found not one that celebrated Christmas for Christ).
\nc. <\/strong>Traditions have made dim the way Christmas tree from the German’s Yule festival brought holly, mistletoe, & Yule log.
\nd. <\/strong>It is possible, here in America, for people to celebrate Christmas and never connect it with the birth of Christ (Religion in Christmas).
\nAll our decorations should not rob us of the true spirit of Christmas.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

III: Christmas Should Turn Us Back to Home & Christ.
\n<\/strong>1. The home was God’s first institution shared by His presence.
\n2. God used a virgin mother and a new born child to announce His “unspeakable gift.”
\na. <\/strong>He did not reveal himself in the royal palace of Herod.
\nb. <\/strong>He did not choose to have him appear in the temple.
\nc. <\/strong>But he chose send him to poor parents in a humble town and in a manger!
\n3. How long will we continue along the roads that do not lead to the manger?
\na. <\/strong>“The world is not held back by bad men, but by good ones who are indifferent and spiritually lazy.”
\nb. <\/strong>“There is so little of Christ in Christmas that the world does not hesitate in celebration, it with us and to our shame (Hary Owens<\/strong>).
\nc. <\/strong>Indians that sacrificed a pig to their Gods, finally offered only the head with the tail in its mouth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 2, Isaiah 53:1-12 When we see how far the world has strayed from the true spirit of Christmas, we feel like raising our voice with Isaiah of old and ask “who hath believed our report?” I: Do We Believe the Christmas Story? 1. Do we believe that Bethlehem took its place in fulfilled prophecy? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1814,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1813\/revisions\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgefindley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}