FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
Jesus Fulfilled Old Testament Prophecies | Matthew 5:17
What if the centuries-old prophecies of the Old Testament could be linked directly to the life of Jesus, offering us profound insights into our modern faith journey? Join us as we explore this fascinating connection, discussing how the long wait for the Messiah echoes the patience we require in our daily lives, whether it be in traffic or at a bustling restaurant. We'll unpack the Hebrew concept of "nevuah" and reflect on how Jesus' life fulfills these ancient prophecies, with references like Matthew 5:17 guiding our conversation.
Our community has so much to celebrate! Thanks to the inspiring leadership of Nita Anderson, our recent community Christmas event was a resounding success, supporting 29 families and bringing new friends back into our congregation. Our PJs and pancakes gathering for kids and students drew in 185 participants, filling our space with joy and laughter. As we look forward, we eagerly anticipate our Christmas Eve services and a special visit from Jonathan and Melissa DeMont on December 29th, as well as exciting activities in 2025 like the Big Game Show event.
This episode is a heartfelt invitation to deepen your spiritual journey. We encourage you to engage in meaningful reflection, trust in God's presence, and embrace the transformative power of prayer. Whether you're new to the faith or wish to reaffirm your devotion, we celebrate those who choose to accept Jesus' gift of salvation. With open hearts, we welcome you into our community and invite you to a special night of prayer on January 8th, setting the stage for a year of strengthened faith and fellowship.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
If you're excited to be in church here this morning. It is good to see each and every one of you. I just want to say thank you to you who are here. I want to say thank you to all of our first-time guests. You could be a lot of different places, but God led you here today. As he led all of us here today for a very specific reason, a very specific purpose. I want to say thank you to all of our group leaders this morning. I want to say thank you to all of our worship team, our production team. Maybe you teach a Sunday school. Maybe you have already been leading volunteering in kids and students and young adults. Maybe you are one of our hospitality volunteers that you welcome people in from the streets to the seats. Maybe you invited people to come just over the week to come here today, and maybe they came. Maybe they didn't, maybe they'll come next time, but I just wanna say thank you. Can we put your hands together right now just for everything that everybody has done and all that God is doing?
Speaker 1:I wanna give a special shout out this morning to Nita Anderson. I don't think she's in the room, but, nita, she was over our community Christmas. God put this event in her heart and she's done it over the years. I'm not even sure for how long, but it was two weeks ago and we had 29 different families from the community representing 92 children, where you gave and we got to in order to give them Christmas gifts. We know that at least three adults, three parents, were saved from it. We know seven families came back last week. Lord willing, many of you even come back this week or here today from our community Christmas. We just want to say thank you to Nita for doing all of that, putting all that together and leading that. Put your hands together for Nita Anderson this morning. What a great job that she has done. I want you to know, as I always love for you to know everything that God is doing here in our church, so that you know that we are living in a little bit of a revival right now in our church. Last week we had PJs and pancakes in our kids and student ministry. I'm here to tell you this morning we had 127 kids and students combined with another 58 volunteers. That's 185 last Sunday in our Next Generation Ministries. Put your hands together for all that God is doing.
Speaker 1:Also, just as a reminder Christmas Eve. As Pastor James mentioned, christmas Eve is this Tuesday, three o'clock service, choir and orchestra in the sanctuary, five o'clock service in here, the COC, and we have Christmas Eve invites at all of our exits. Make sure to grab Christmas Eve invites. They are no good on Christmas Day because Christmas Eve will have passed. So you make sure and grab some. Give those to your family, give them to your friends, give them to your neighbors, give them to people in the community, because we believe that God wants to bring people here so they can hear the gospel and be saved. If you believe that, say amen.
Speaker 1:The Sunday after Christmas Eve I have some special guests that are coming in just to bless you, just cause, man, I love these people. I know you'll love these people Jonathan DeMont, his wife, melissa, their kids. They're gonna be here on Sunday the 29th. Michelle and I will still be here, but I've asked Jonathan to preach. Melissa's gonna sing for us. They're gonna bless you. It's gonna be an amazing Sunday. So you make sure and come back the 29th.
Speaker 1:I want to remind you about January the 8th, a very special Wednesday night. We're going to meet together, everybody up in the sanctuary, all of our services coming together and we're going to have a special night of prayer. We're going to pray, we're going to worship, we're going to ask God here at the beginning of 2025, as we pray over our life, as we pray over our families, as we pray over our church, as we pray over our country, as we pray over our church, as we pray over our country, as we pray over the world, that God would bless 2025 like no other year before. I want you to be there. I want you to invite people to be there. I would love to fill the sanctuary up and let's start 2025 strong. If you believe that, say yeah, let's go. And then one more thing before we jump into our sermon we've got another big Wednesday night coming up. The next Wednesday is gonna be January the 15th and we're calling it the Big Game Show, and so it is for families to come or for individuals to come. We'd love to have you. We're just gonna have a lot of fun on that Wednesday night. We'll have a dinner that Wednesday night. A lot of fun. We want you to come.
Speaker 1:But the purpose is what a great opportunity to invite the community, because God did not put us in this community just to be a church in the community. He put us in this community to be a church for this community, to reach this community, because that's what God has called us to do. Let me pray for us, heavenly Father, as we dive into your word this morning. God, we pray that you would speak. God, we pray that you would act. God, we pray that you would move. God, this is your word. We are your people, this is your church. God, we are living lives for you. So, father, I pray in Jesus' name that you would speak to us this morning like never before. May your voice be so clear in our lives. God is who you are, who Jesus is, all that he's done and how we're called to live for him. God, we love you and we pray that in Jesus' name. And all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:Right now, we are in a big mega series that we're calling the Jesus Series. We're looking at all of the doctrine of Jesus, the life of Jesus, the teachings of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, even the Passion Week of Jesus. We're looking at that from here, christmas time, all the way through, and even a little past Easter, as we'll look at his resurrection and then on after that, and so we're looking at all these different parts of Jesus his life, his teachings, his miracles, his Passion Week and his mission Right now in December. We've talked about how Jesus is before all things. We've looked at his eternity past. Last week we looked at his Christophanies, when he appeared in the Old Testament. This morning we're going to look at how Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. So we see here Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies.
Speaker 1:Can you imagine what it would have been like to wait for that coming Messiah? To wait for Jesus for hundreds and even thousands of years as God's people, as he promised Jesus Christ as early as 1,500 years before he came? Waiting is hard. Does anybody in here, are you in here and you struggle to wait, like I struggle to wait? Anybody else impatient? Raise your hand. Raise your hand right now. Raise them high. If you're not raising your hand, you are lying and you shouldn't lie in church. It's hard for all of us. It's human nature, it's sin nature. It's hard to wait. You know what they say never pray for patience. God will take you through something that will require it. So it's hard.
Speaker 1:Just a few scenarios I was thinking about this week. It's hard to wait for a table at a restaurant when you are hungry. You ever waited over an hour before just to get a table at a restaurant. You are no longer hungry, you are hangry. You know what I'm saying, and it just gets worse. It's hard to wait at the doctor's office in the waiting room for an appointment that you made months before that they've been emailing you every day to be at, but yet the doctor's late right and you feel like that you are getting every sickness in the waiting room from everybody else as you're waiting. It's hard to wait in traffic.
Speaker 1:Anybody here suffer from road rage and have confession session this morning? Yep, go see a counselor. We're here to help you out. Whatever it is we can do for you. Anybody get a little impatient in the grocery store aisle Anybody at all. The grocery store aisle? You are in that. You picked it out. You have 12 items or less. You are in that lane, but the person in front of you has 13 items and you know they do because you counted every single one of them in their cart and then they have the audacity to pull out coupons. So you just walk up and hand them a tin. This should cover it. Here you go. Let's just keep things moving people.
Speaker 1:I remember how hard it was to wait to marry my wife and as we dated, as we were engaged, I just could not wait to marry Michelle. I remember how hard it was to wait, as we were in the adoption process for two years, for our little girl, brooklyn Rose. I remember how hard it was to wait to have our first son, cruz Richard. I remember when Michelle was pregnant with our third, our baby girl, eliana. I remember all we wanted to do was wait. We tried to drag it out as long as we could before we had that third kid.
Speaker 1:It is hard to wait, isn't it crazy even just to think not for 15 minutes, not for a few hours? But we're talking weeks, we're talking months, we're talking years, we're talking decades, we're talking even millennia that the people of God waited for, the coming Messiah that we get to know today is Jesus Christ. They went through floods, they went through slavery, they went through wilderness wanderings, they went through wars, they went through rebellion and even being conquered and carted off into national exile, all the while they were waiting for God to bring about the promised Messiah that had been prophesied. So we're looking at. Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. Let's just all get on the same page.
Speaker 1:What exactly is an Old Testament prophecy? Prophecy? In Hebrew is the word nevuah. Everyone say nevuah. Very good, you know Hebrew. That is the word. Prophecy in Hebrew is the word nevuah. Everyone say nevuah. Very good, you know Hebrew. That is the word prophecy in Hebrew.
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament the word prophecy means a divine message communicated through a prophet to reveal God's coming will, or the word fulfill to fulfill the prophecy. The Greek word is plerao. Everyone say plerao, plerao. The word fulfill means to make full, it means to complete, it means to bring to realization. That's why Matthew, chapter five, verse 17, says Jesus said do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. Jesus said I have not come to abolish the law or the prophets. Jesus said I have not come to abolish them, I have come to fulfill them. Jesus loves to fulfill and be the fulfillment of the promises of God. Jesus is the fulfillment of your life. Nothing else will fulfill you, nothing else will fill you, nothing else will satisfy you, nothing else will complete you other than Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:So we're looking at these prophecies Now. It's interesting. There's actually a mathematician, a scientist we're gonna nerd out for a second here. And he did the probability of what is even the chance, what is the probability of Jesus fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies. And he did the math and just a probability of eight specific messianic prophecies. Even if he only fulfilled eight of them, the chances were one in 10 to the 17th power, which is one in 100 quadrillion. And that is the number right now.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, they say, the human brain can't even comprehend a billion. You couldn't even comprehend a billion dollars. I would love to try, amen, I would love to try, but we can't even comprehend a billion. This is the number, even if Jesus had just fulfilled eight. Well, guess what? Jesus didn't just fulfill eight. Jesus fulfilled over 300. Put your hands together right now.
Speaker 1:These are all of the prophecies of Jesus that we know about in the Bible and these are each my sermon points right now, that I'm going to go through each of them very carefully. Just kidding, just kidding. And so here's what we see that Jesus is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. What they were waiting on, what they were promised, what they were eager to appear in their life, the coming Messiah. And they were told over and over and over and over again, somewhere between 300 and 400 different prophecies and only eight is unfathomable to the human brain, and Jesus fulfilled between three and 400. What are some of those prophecies? I want to show you the Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled about Jesus' ministry. In Isaiah it said that there would be one, john the Baptist, who would come before Jesus. In Psalm 78, it said that Jesus was going to teach using parables. In Isaiah, chapter 53, jesus would heal people. In Zechariah 9.9, jesus would ride on a donkey. In Zechariah, he also said that Jesus would be portrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
Speaker 1:Jesus the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled about his death, not just his life, his ministry, but also his death. These are only some. In Numbers, it said that none of Jesus' bones would be broken. Leviticus said that Jesus would pour out all of his blood. Psalm 41 said that Jesus would be betrayed by a close friend. Psalm 22 said he'd be forsaken, he'd be mocked, he'd be pierced and even that lots would be cast for his clothes. This is actually crazy. Psalm 22 prophesied about the crucifixion of Jesus, and crucifixion had not even been invented yet. Isaiah chapter 53 said that he would be buried in a rich man's tomb. Here are the Old Testament prophecies about his resurrection Psalm 68, jesus would ascend to heaven. Ezekiel 37, dead bones would come back to life. Isaiah 53, jesus' days prolonged after death. Hosea, chapter 6, verse 2, he'd be raised to life on the third day. In Jonah 2.6, jesus raised from death to life. Put your hands together right now for the way that Jesus fulfills all Old Testament prophecy.
Speaker 1:Now there are some people who think that Jesus just fabricated or he forced his life into fulfilling all of those, and so I've actually come up with a little conversation of what it would be like for Jesus and his disciples to actually have that conversation and how nonsense or how impossible it would be in order for Jesus to be able to fabricate all of these fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. Imagine Jesus and his disciples gathered around a table to fabricate the Old Testament prophecies to fit into Jesus' life. It would be like this Jesus would say something like all right, team, here's the plan. We need to fulfill over 300 prophecies. That means I need to be born in Bethlehem but somehow come out of Egypt while still being called a Nazarene. You got it, guys. And Peter would say wait, you wanna be born in Bethlehem, jesus, you don't. You're alive. You don't even get to choose where you were born.
Speaker 1:Jesus says details, peter, details, I'll handle it. I got this. Matthew says oh, and Jesus, don't forget, you have to ride into Jerusalem on a donkey. Jesus says right, and make sure to borrow donkey, because prophecy says that I've got to be humble and riding on a donkey. So no luxurious stallions, disciples.
Speaker 1:And then Judas pops in and he says so, I'm supposed to betray you for 30 pieces of silver. Like, can we negotiate that? What about inflation? I mean, that's worth a lot more today than what was prophesied. Then Jesus said no, judas, it's 30 pieces. Zechariah already called it, john speaks up and Jesus, by the way, you're gonna have to die, not just any death.
Speaker 1:You're gonna have to be crucified with no broken bones while people gamble away your clothes, and then you're gonna have to get buried in a rich man's tomb. Sound good? Jesus says wait what I've got a? All right, I'll take one for the team, but let's make sure the Romans are in on it too, all right. So just a little bit of a ridiculous conversation when people start to think well, maybe it's not all true.
Speaker 1:Number one we're going to see from God's word that it is all true. Number two it is absolutely humanly impossible for one person to fulfill all of these prophecies. Did you know those? Some 350, some different prophecies. They were made over a thousand years, even as much as 1,500 years, and it all came together in one man, in one time, in one lifetime, in one event.
Speaker 1:So the question is what is the purpose? And, by the way, I would even venture to say that I think today it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a Christian. Can I get an amen? Because of all of the proof, because of all of the evidence? But why would God do this? Why would God plan all of these prophecies in Scripture? Why would God speak through prophets and predictcies in scripture? Why would God speak through prophets and predict the life of his son Jesus?
Speaker 1:I see four reasons. Number one that you would have faith in the sovereignty of God, that you would know that God is in complete control over your life and he loves you so much that even when you go through suffering, even when you go through hard times, god is working out every single little detail of his will for his glory and for your good. If you believe that, say yeah. Number two, so that you can trust in his word, that there are 350, some different prophecies in God's word, and every single one of them came true. In other words, every single promise that God has made you will come true, because God can only tell the truth. God cannot be a liar, he cannot tell a lie. The Bible says in Hebrews, number three, that there's always hope for the future, that while God has made his promises, often his promises don't become fulfilled until later in the future. And it reminds you that you have hope, that you can continue to trust, that you can continue to have faith that, even though he hasn't fulfilled his promise for you today, that he has promised to do that in your life. Number four you can have courage in witnessing that the Bible is true, that Jesus has come, that God does change lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ and that God has done it in you and that God can do it in them too. It gives us boldness and it gives us courage when we are spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:But here's where I want to camp out for a second, because it's Christmas, it's the most wonderful time of year and it's flying by, and we've talked about Jesus all throughout the month of December and I want us to look at this morning the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled about Jesus' birth. I only picked out a few Genesis 3, jesus would be born to defeat Satan. Genesis 49, jesus was from the tribe of Judah. Jeremiah 23, that Jesus would also be from the lineage of David. Numbers 24, there would be a star to mark his birth. Jeremiah 31, that Herod would attempt to kill Jesus. Micah 5.2, jesus was born in Bethlehem.
Speaker 1:Isaiah 7.14, jesus was born of a virgin. In Psalm 72, that kings would come to worship him and kings would give him gifts. Let me break this down very quickly. Isaiah 7.14,. I'm only gonna read three of these. Isaiah 7.14 says says therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold the virgin. Everyone say virgin. Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel.
Speaker 1:So some 700 years before Jesus was born, some prophet came on the scene by the name of Isaiah and, to go along with every other prophecy that had been made, isaiah said oh, and by the way, not only will he be born a man, but he will also be born of a virgin. We see 700 years later Luke 1, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a everyone say it together virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. What a significant sign that God gave humanity to know who the Messiah would be that there would be one man in human history born of a virgin. Now listen, why was it so significant that Jesus was born of a virgin? Now listen, why was it so significant that Jesus was born of a virgin? It wasn't just for the sign, it was for the theological implication. You ever thought about this?
Speaker 1:Jesus had to be born of a virgin. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary and she became pregnant with child. In other words, the heavenly father, god himself we know, is Jesus' father. Mary is Jesus' mother. Here's what we understand that God had to be his father in order for Jesus to have a divine nature. Mary had to be his mother in order for Jesus to have a divine nature. Mary had to be his mother in order for Jesus to have a human nature. Joseph could not be his father, or else Jesus would have had a sinful nature. So God is his father, mary is his mother, which means that Jesus remains fully God, he becomes fully man. He's born of a virgin. He lives a perfect life, sinless life, so that he could go as a human being and he could go to the cross and he could suffer and he could bleed and he could die. For you and for me, that is the importance that Jesus was born of a virgin. And not only that, but also we see in Micah, chapter 5, verse 2. In Micah 5 too, it says but you, o Bethlehem this is also about 700 years before this was written in the Gospels but you, o Bethlehem, ephratah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from old, from ancient of days, bethlehem. Did you know that Bethlehem was probably a tiny town of maybe even as little as 300 people? Could you imagine someone saying something is going to happen in a tiny little town of 300 people some 700 years from today? That is the power and the sovereignty and the providence of God. So Matthew, chapter two, verse five, some 700 years later, and assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea. So it is written by the prophet.
Speaker 1:Why was it important that Jesus was born in Bethlehem? First of all, jesus was born in a humble place. It shows the humility of Jesus, that he was coming not to live his life for himself, but his life for us. Also, bethlehem was known as the city of David, and Jesus was born from the lineage of David. And Jesus was born from the lineage of David, so he's born in the city of David. And Bethlehem is known. What the name actually means is house of bread, and Jesus came to be the bread of life. He came to be our daily bread. He came to be our spiritual sustenance, or what makes you, who makes you, spiritually healthy. But also, did you know that Bethlehem was the little town just miles away from the temple in Jerusalem? Bethlehem is where they raised the sacrificial lambs for the temple and Bethlehem was where our final sacrificial lamb, our Passover lamb, jesus Christ, was born. Prophesied in Bethlehem and it was fulfilled. Put your hands together for Jesus being born exactly where God had ordained him to be born.
Speaker 1:And lastly, our last Old Testament prophecy about his birth. Here is going to be Psalm 7210. It says may kings, may kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba bring gifts. Now, just for a minute, I'm going to just focus on the gifts. Now, just for a minute, I'm gonna just focus on the gifts. This prophecy wasn't 700 years before its fulfillment. The Psalms were written 1,000 years before its fulfillment. Matthew, chapter two, verse one and 11.
Speaker 1:Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and, going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and these wise men, these kings. What did they do? They fell down and they worshiped him. Have you ever seen someone come into the room of a baby, where Jesus may have been as much as two years old at this point, and people bow down to a toddler? I believe that even last week, you heard about how people, throughout scripture, would, involuntarily, when they come into the presence of Jesus, they would fall on their face and they would bow down. I think that's exactly what is happening here that they fell down, they worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts there's the word gifts Gold and frankincense and myrrh. What is the point? The point is is that Jesus is not just the Lord of Lords, jesus is the king of kings, and even when kings come into his presence, they can't help but bow down and worship him, even if he is a two-year-old toddler. They did not have a choice.
Speaker 1:We believe that Jesus wasn't just a baby born of a virgin. Jesus was a baby born of a virgin coming down from heaven, from God, his Father. Jesus is God, the Son. Jesus is the Lord of Lords, he is the King of Kings and Jesus is the promised Messiah. If you believe that, say amen. That's what we see, and so I want you to understand this morning that because of Jesus' birth, because of Jesus' birth, his birth makes your birth matter. The reason Jesus came is because you are here.
Speaker 1:I think about our daughter, brooklyn Rose, who was born at the age of five. We got to adopt her. We actually got to be in the delivery room when her birth mom, who was in middle school, gave birth to her. Our backs were to her during the time curtain behind us, and it was one of the most peaceful moments we had ever been through. The room was silent during the 15-minute birth process and the first noise we heard was Brooklyn crying. I think about our little boy heard was Brooklyn crying.
Speaker 1:I think about our little boy Cruz, our fifth and final fertility attempt, our last embryo, frozen as an embryo for a year. If he was a boy, I want to name him Olaf. If he was a girl, I want to name her Elsa, but my wife wouldn't let me. I'll never forget the day he was born, when they lifted him in the air like Simba from Lion King. He was a big boy. I remember the nurse looking at me saying, yeah, your wife would have never had him, naturally. I remember the other nurse looking at me saying, yep, take back all of his newborn clothes, he won't be wearing them. I remember our little girl, eliana, being born and almost didn't make it.
Speaker 1:I just wanna say in this room I know that some of you have gone through that far more tragically in your life or in your family and I just wanna remind you that often Christmas can be a difficult time for people. I wanna remind you that the word of God says that the Lord is near the brokenhearted, that God sees your hurt, and that's why Jesus came, so he could be present in your life, and King David, who lost a baby. King David said, under the inspiration of scripture I will see my son again one day, speaking of heaven. But let's just remember for a moment that God said for you formed. David said to the Lord for you form my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I'm fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well.
Speaker 1:Some of you in this room don't even know why you were born. Some of you question why you are here. Some of you wonder why you are the way that you are. Please hear me when I say that God, speaking of everyone that he has created, that he did so purposefully and he created you fearfully. And he created you wonderfully. And the whole purpose that he made you was so that you could know him, jeremiah 1.5. You could know him, jeremiah 1.5,.
Speaker 1:God told Jeremiah before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. In other words, the purpose of every birth is to know God, because God already knows us to believe in him. He said, and before you were born, I consecrated you. He set him apart, which means the most important part of our life is not our birth but our rebirth. When we give our life to Jesus, the Bible says that it's like we're being reborn. We're finding eternal, not just physical but spiritual life in Jesus Christ. And if you don't yet have spiritual life in Jesus, you haven't even begun to live, you haven't even experienced the life that God is offering to you. That Jesus came and he died for you. He says I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations, which means God created you to know him. God created you to be saved by him. And God created you because he has a purpose for your life. And God's purpose for your life is greater than any other purpose that you can have for your life. His purpose is greater than any amount of money that you can ever make. His purpose is greater than any success that you could ever achieve. His purpose is greater than any joy that you could ever experience or any happiness that you could give yourself or any pleasure that you could ever search or seek. His purpose for you is that you would know him and that others would know him because of the way that you are able to speak, into their life too.
Speaker 1:I want to end on the very first prophecy of the Bible, genesis 3.15, 1,500 years before Jesus, god told the serpent this is in the Garden of Eden. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring, meaning Jesus. He, meaning Jesus, shall bruise or crush your head and you shall only bruise his heel. In other words, the first prophecy in the entire Bible is the first mention of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's fulfilled in Hebrews 2.14, 1,500 years later. Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, jesus, likewise, partook of the same things that through death, he might destroy. The one who has the power over death, that is the devil. In other words, why was Jesus born? Why do we celebrate Christmas? Why did Jesus come? He came to take on flesh and blood, just like you. He came to live in your place and to obey every single law of God, because I cannot and you cannot. He came to bear all of our sins on the cross and to physically die and to be buried in a grave and to raise from the dead so you can find salvation in him. Why was Jesus born? He was born for you. Why were you born? You were born for him.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna ask every head to be bowed, every eye to be closed. Maybe you're here in this room this morning and you just need to think to yourself and you need to pray to the Lord right now and you just need to say God, I just need to trust you more. You can tell him right now God, you are working all things out in my life. God, help me to trust you. God, you are true God out in my life. God, help me to trust you. God, you are true God, I love you. You might be here this morning and you just need to tell the Lord God, I'm born for you. I wanna live my life for you. I wanna do a better job of that. Thank you for the reminder. Maybe you're here this morning and you finally need to give your life over to him. Today is your day of salvation and I would just encourage you right here, right now.
Speaker 1:I can't pray this prayer for you.
Speaker 1:I can't save you, but you can pray this to God and he has promised to save you.
Speaker 1:Right here, right now, you can pray a prayer like this and you can say dear God, I believe in you, god, I need you.
Speaker 1:You can say, god, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin and I ask you to forgive me of all of my sin, past, present and future. And you can say God, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead. He's alive, he's real. I turn away from my sin and I'm going to turn and live my life for him. I call on him to be the Lord of my life, to be my Lord, to be my God, to be my Savior. And the Bible promises if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Call on Jesus to be the Lord of your life, god, we believe that, god, we thank you for that. We pray that in Jesus' name. And all God's people said put your hands together for anybody that gave their life to Jesus. This morning we just want to say welcome to the family. We're here for you.