The Season of Hope (1 of 3)
Series: A Christmas Series
Jeff Ecklund
Matthew 1:1
It's interesting the way we approach our birthdays, birthdays of our children, spouses, friends etc.
Consider the first birthday of your child, or grandchild...HUGE! All the trappings, gifts, invitations, photos...(and the baby has NO idea what's going on!)
Seems as though the celebration is really for us! To remind us of the gift of life that has been given to us as family...
And then later as they grow, it dawns on them...they begin to anticipate the attention, the gifts etc.
Even later, as you age...they can be a reminder of your age...30 was hard, 40 was interesting and 50? Half a century....wow!
My wife likes to use the term birth month now. She has expanded the celebration!
So, the season of Christmas is upon us. The celebration, the memories...and most of all...the hope!
1 Timothy 1:1 (NIV84)
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
I want to take the story from the narrative of Matthew and some truths in the recounting of the birth of Jesus that are still alive and full of hope today for us...
Matthew 1:1 (NIV84)
1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Matthew 1:17 (NIV84)
17Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
First of all, the genealogy...I'm not going to go into detail on that, it's pretty well laid out...but I do want to point out something that struck me as I was praying and considering it.
In the study of biblical numerology, the number 14, means a double measure of spiritual perfection...look it up....7 is perfection x 2....double...you get it...
It also represents deliverance/salvation...
Point?
It speaks of God's character @ the perfect time/place of God's intersection into humanity to bring abou ...
Series: A Christmas Series
Jeff Ecklund
Matthew 1:1
It's interesting the way we approach our birthdays, birthdays of our children, spouses, friends etc.
Consider the first birthday of your child, or grandchild...HUGE! All the trappings, gifts, invitations, photos...(and the baby has NO idea what's going on!)
Seems as though the celebration is really for us! To remind us of the gift of life that has been given to us as family...
And then later as they grow, it dawns on them...they begin to anticipate the attention, the gifts etc.
Even later, as you age...they can be a reminder of your age...30 was hard, 40 was interesting and 50? Half a century....wow!
My wife likes to use the term birth month now. She has expanded the celebration!
So, the season of Christmas is upon us. The celebration, the memories...and most of all...the hope!
1 Timothy 1:1 (NIV84)
1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
I want to take the story from the narrative of Matthew and some truths in the recounting of the birth of Jesus that are still alive and full of hope today for us...
Matthew 1:1 (NIV84)
1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Matthew 1:17 (NIV84)
17Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
First of all, the genealogy...I'm not going to go into detail on that, it's pretty well laid out...but I do want to point out something that struck me as I was praying and considering it.
In the study of biblical numerology, the number 14, means a double measure of spiritual perfection...look it up....7 is perfection x 2....double...you get it...
It also represents deliverance/salvation...
Point?
It speaks of God's character @ the perfect time/place of God's intersection into humanity to bring abou ...
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