SERMON NOTES

Unwrapping Christmas

He Understands 

Text: Matthew 2:1-11 (p. 807) 

There is something  about being in a friendship with someone who is where you are or who has been where you have been. 

Jesus  understands. 

Wise people do whatever it takes  as it takes to find Jesus. 

Jesus wants everyone to be in relationship with Him. He longs for us to have life. But we must come to Him on . 

Ever since that fateful moment in the garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to sin, there has really been two opposing forces. Humanity's  vs. God's holiness. 

Christmas will never be the celebration it is intended to be unless we grasp the seriousness of . 

The only way for forgiveness to happen is that the  must stand in the place of guilty. 

Through animal sacrifices God was doing the  to attempt to communicate the soberness of our reality. He is holy and just, and He must punish sin. 

The blood of animals sacrificed was never enough to really deal with sin. They were but a  of what God planned before creation. 

Through Jesus - our  - we can be made new and brought into full relationship with God. (Heb. 9: 11-12) 

Jesus, who  understands the realities of our lives like no other, offers us what no one else can offer. (Heb. 4:15) 

As THE high priest Jesus can give  for whatever need we might have. (Heb. 4:16)