“Who is Jesus?” For the longest time, people thought the answer to that question was, “Mary and Joseph’s son” or “a carpenter from Nazareth.” While true enough, those answers do not adequately describe Jesus. But when Jesus was baptized, God the Father spoke, declaring Jesus true identity. Jesus was the dearly loved Son of God, chosen to be the Savior of the world. “Who are you?” someone asks. Perhaps you would answer by providing your name. Maybe you would add additional information—where you are from or what you do for a living. Perhaps, in some dark corner of your mind, you would answer negatively. “I’m no one.” We need to understand that none of those things really describes who we are. To answer that question—Who are you?—we must look to our baptism. Baptism is the cure for an identity crisis. There, just like he did with Jesus, our Father declares us to be his dearly loved child. Moreover, in baptism God anointed us with power for a life of selfless service. May God grant us this epiphany moment!

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

It is always hard to wait, but particularly if what you are waiting for is extremely important. If you must wait an hour for the waiter to bring your food, it is not a huge deal. But if you need to wait a week for an electrician to restore power to your home, that is more painful. Waiting is harder when we badly need what we’re waiting for. After the fall into sin, people of faith waited for God to provide the gift they needed most—a Savior. Century after century passed. “Where is he?” they wondered. People were powerless to save themselves from sin and death and hell. So, there was nothing to do but patiently wait. At the perfect time in history, the first Christmas occurred. The faithful rejoiced! This week, we see that God works on the timetable he knows to be best for us. We also see that those who wait for God to act are never disappointed. For God gives satisfaction to those who patiently wait.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

The Son of God took on flesh for two reasons: to be our substitute and our sacrifice. You see, when God created mankind in his image, his desire was that we would live holy lives, full of love for him and our fellow man. When mankind fell into sin, that became impossible. So, the heavenly Father sent Jesus. He is the only human being to keep all of God’s law perfectly. He did that as our substitute. Through faith, we claim his perfection as our own. But we needed another gift—one who could pay for the sin we had committed. And so, the Son of God became human for another reason—so that he might die as the sacrifice for our sins, removing that barrier between us and a holy God. Understanding we needed both—substitute and sacrifice—helps us better understand Jesus’ saving work. That work includes more than Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus saving work began the moment he was born under the law and obeyed it. This week, we thank God that Jesus served us in both these much-needed ways!

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

If you could choose one word to describe the feeling you have at Christmas, what word would you choose?  I imagine many would choose a word like joyful or happy.  Others may use a word like nostalgic especially if they have seen dramatic change in their lives this year.  If you are spending the first Christmas without one you love the word sad might come to mind.  How many of you would answer with the word afraid?  Christmas doesn’t really come across to us as a time of great fear, does it?  But that was not always the case. 
 
Have you ever noticed how many times the words, “do not fear,” are recorded in the account of our Savior’s birth?  The angel Gabriel spoke those words to Zechariah who was filled with fear at the sight of an angel in the temple, to Mary who was being asked to take on such a blessed but burdensome role, to Joseph who was afraid of what people would think and say about him and Mary, and to the shepherds who saw the glorious sight of angels as they tended their flocks.  The angel brought them a message from God himself that removed that fear from their hearts. 
 
That message is also spoken to us.  God came to live among sinners.  He came not in judgment but in mercy.  He came not to destroy but to save.  He came that we might have nothing to fear.  That is the message of Christmas.  We need fear nothing.  Jesus came to remove the fear of death, the devil and the world.  He came that we might know true peace with God through the forgiveness of sins.  Because Jesus came to Bethlehem, this time of year is filled with joy, peace and happiness.  At Christmas we, too, hear the message of the angels that there is nothing to fear for a Savior is born to us who is Christ the Lord.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

To find out more about King of Kings...

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

Multiple studies have proven that the holiday season exacerbates mental health issues. For some, the pressure to have “a perfect Christmas” can be overwhelming. For others, their loneliness is amplified. Such people need a real Christmas, one that results in great joy. But joy is not the same thing as happiness. It is infinitely better. Happiness is an emotion. Joyfulness is a condition. Happiness comes from your circumstances. Joyfulness comes from Christ assuring you of his abiding love and your glorious future. Therefore, happiness—“holiday cheer”—is fleeting. Joyfulness is enduring. The historic Christian Church gave Latin titles to each Sunday. They titled the Third Sunday in Advent “Gaudete,” which means “Rejoice!” As we reach the midway point of Advent, we ask Christ to empower us to do just that.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

The closer we get to Christmas, the greater the pressure. There is so much work to be done! We want our houses to look good for out-of-town guests. We want to impress people with the thoughtfulness of our gifts. What a welcome relief, therefore, to hear what is required to really be ready for Christmas: only repentance. You see, repentance is the opposite of work. It is the candid and honest admission of our sin combined with the joyful trust that everything needed to bring us close to God has already been done by Christ. At this frenetic time of year, the call to repent is not another demand to do something more. It is gracious invitation to set down our work to make way for Christ’s work. Rooted in that repentant rest, we can fully enjoy a real Christmas.

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Messages from the King is produced by King of Kings Lutheran Church in Maitland, FL.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!

It is easy to get so caught up in the imagery—a tiny newborn baby, lying in the straw filled manger under a star-filled sky—that we forget the why. Why did the Son of God come into our world and take on human flesh? So that he might die as the sacrifice for our sins. One Christmas carol puts it this way. “Neither crib nor cross refuses, all he suffers for your good to redeem you by his blood.” Advent marks the start of a new Church Year. We begin at the end, watching Jesus ride into Jerusalem on a donkey colt, knowing full well that he would be killed before the end of the week. The events of Palm Sunday serve as a microcosm for all Jesus’ work, proving the Son of God was willing to humble himself and endure anything for our salvation. That is precisely why Christ came. And a real Christmas requires remembering why Christ came.

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Remember your Savior Jesus loves you! May he bless you with his grace!