Week 4 Christmas Challenge, Awestruck & Awesome.Sample

Here it is in The Passion Translation (TPT): “10 But the angel reassured them, saying, “Don’t be afraid, for I have come to bring you good news, the most joyous news the world has ever heard! And it is for everyone everywhere! 11 For today in Bethlehem a rescuer was born for you. He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah. 12 You will recognize him by this miraculous sign: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in the feeding trough!” ”

How do you move from awestruck to awesome? The angel shows the way with good news…

What is this most joyous news? A rescuer is born for you. The word ‘rescuer’ here is ‘soter’, deliverer, preserver, savior, “properly, the Savior, Jesus Christ who saves believers from their sins and delivers them into His safety” (Helps Word Studies). He has come ‘for’ ‘you’. 

Wow. Awesome! 

How does that look practically? Well, your challenges today? Jesus can preserve you through them; 

The problems you find yourself stuck in? Jesus can rescue you from them; 

The darkness and hurt and despair suffocating you? Jesus can deliver you from them;

The sins that are shaming and depressing and ruining you? Jesus can save you!

Jesus is Savior, preserver, rescuer, deliverer FOR YOU.

Hallelujah!

Here’s more: “He is the Lord Yahweh, the Messiah.” Wait! The TPT footnote reads assuringly, “translated literally from the Aramaic text. This is one of the most amazing statement found in the Gospels declaring the deity of Jesus Christ” (it’s the ‘Yahweh’ bit that is most notable in this instance).

What is the sign the angel promises? A baby wrapped in strips of cloth lying in the feeding trough! It’s almost comedic. Hollywood’s best CGI couldn’t replicate the manifest glory of God shocking the midnight black. God’s intrinsic essence is saturating the shepherds’ senses. The miraculous sign to underwrite this angelic prophecy? A baby? In cloth strips? In a feeding trough! God has a wonderful sense of humor to go with His impeccable timing. 

All of this Good News—who is it for? 

This most joyous news the world has ever heard—who is the intended audience? 

“Everyone. Everywhere.” 

That includes you. The people who feel excluded all around the world. Time to allow God’s light to shine on THEM in an inclusive invitation to behold God together.