The Lord himself will give you a sign

How nice that verse from Isaiah 9, which read at the beginning: "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the principality is on his shoulder", in other words the authority is on him, and his admirable name will be called Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That is Christmas. Christmas of Jesus. Christmas also talks about new beginnings, how many believe that this is also an opportunity for new beginnings?

It is very interesting because when one looks at the way in which society looks at Christmas today, it can be said that this is the time, it is the time of the year most anticipated by the vast majority of the population of the entire world, around the world. Christmas is celebrated in different ways, in different languages, in different cultures, it can be said that this is one of the most anticipated moments for every living being, and with every living being I dare to say the world of animals, the world that is under the sea, because everyone knows about this story, the arrival of Jesus.

For many, it is one of the best seasons to get together with the family, it is a time of joy, it is a time to eat rice with pigeon peas, to eat pork, to eat cakes, and I can continue to bring out the menu, is there anyone up there? what are you saying amen?, for others it is a time of a lot of stress, trying to get special gifts, the latest gadgets in technology, we stand in long lines, and we fight a little package with a person, no, I found it first! , this is for my blessed baby, no yes, this is also for my baby, and we crashed in the gondolas and everything. For consumerism they are obviously looking for large markets, they are looking for how to take our money in one way or another and we often fall into these traps, and just as I also said for other people this can also be a very sad time, either because they have lost a loved one, or because you live in a country that is not yours and the rest of your family is in your country of origin, either because of your immigration status and you cannot travel and be with your family, and then, You have to depend on the family of faith and you can be here celebrating Christmas, ringing in a new year and yes, that's cool, that's good, but you still feel the lack of family.

I speak from experience too, I love being here with my brothers and sisters, but when I call my mom there on the other side, mommy, congratulations, how are you?, oh my son, missing you, oh, don't break my heart woman, but that's how it is. It is a time that incites many emotions for many people, depending on how a whole year has been, it will be the experience, the meaning and the intention that we give to Christmas. And in the midst of all these things my brothers, interwoven so to speak in all these things is the story of the birth of Jesus, and how that event not only transformed the existence of those people who saw the birth of Jesus in a tangible way , but throughout all of history, that event continues to transform our existence to this day, because to this day we continue to recognize what he did and will continue to do, we continue to recognize the person of Jesus.

Now, whenever this moment comes, I like to reflect on the context in which the Christmas story took place, and the Christmas story is not always as beautiful as it is painted, oh, one sees those images de, you have an image out there of Mary with Joseph in the manger, and it looks like such a beautiful image, so delicate, such a postcard type, look at that cute little baby with that curly hair and the mother praying, it's a very beautiful image but no, behind all that there was a whole plot, behind all that there was a conspiracy to try to prevent that moment from happening. It was a time when society was under a shadow of darkness and chaos, there was a lot of religiosity and little move from God, little word from God, I really like it because the Gospel of Matthew tells that it was also a time of a lot of violence, I don't know if You remember in Matthew chapter 2, which speaks of these wise men who came from the East and first obviously the first place they arrive to see this new king who has been born, they arrive at Herod's palace, and when they call him Herod, oh king we find out that a new king has been born, and we have come to adore him, obviously Herod says like, hm, my replacement has arrived, ah ah!, so he starts conspiring and manipulating the system, and he says to the kings, let me know when find him so I can go too and adore him, what he wanted was to do something else.

And it relates that the man began to send an edict that all the children in the Bethlehem area be ordered to be completely killed, not only in Bethlehem but also in the surrounding cities, if it was a moment of great loss, it was a moment of great suffering and pain, last week I was sharing with a group of young people, many of these young people I know have suffered loss of friends or family members due to violence, and I have been sharing a lot with these boys, and the week Last time when I met with them, the meeting had a Christmas tonality, of celebrating with each other, and in the middle of all this I said to myself, how can I talk to these guys about Christmas, but talk to them in a way that Does it make sense to what they are living, what they are experiencing?

And I spoke to them precisely about this, that Christmas was not only a beautiful moment of gifts, that the context of Christmas occurred precisely in a dark context, but the most beautiful thing was that in that same context God gave himself to put his hand. As that passage from Isaiah says, "the people who were in darkness saw a great light, and those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, light shone upon them." That was what God decided to do, in the midst of all that darkness and all that darkness, He decided to send his son Jesus. It was in the midst of this panorama that a new ray of hope began to emerge, it was in this panorama that supernatural revelations began to appear in heaven, on earth, and even in the dreams of people who never thought they would receive something from God. .

Look how interesting all these signs were intentional from God, I want to take you to another story in the book of Isaiah, sorry before the book of Isaiah, what is one of the names that Jesus identifies with at Christmas? , Emanuel, what does it mean?, God with us, ok, just in case you didn't know, tell the person yours, Emanuel means God with us, so that the person finds out, take discipleship in case they don't know, Do you know where this expression comes from? Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 7, look at how verse 14 says: "Therefore the Lord himself will give them a sign, and behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth, and will call his name Immanuel." I want to focus your attention on something, how does the beginning of this verse say? "The Lord himself will give you a sign." Why does he say that?

If you read that whole story in chapter 7, this story is talking about when King Ahaz was in Judah, and other nations were wanting to come besiege and conquer it, you know that Judah suffered from one nation after another that wanted to take over Judah and like someone who claims to govern and overthrow all that was Judah, and here was this king, and the city was filled with panic, it was filled with terror, and the king did not know what to do, and here comes the Lord and Isaiah and tells This king tells him: tell him to ask for a sign, as if to confirm that I am in the midst of him, I can read them to him.

Verse 10 says: "The Lord also spoke to Ahaz saying: Also ask for a sign from the Lord your God, asking for it either from the depths or from above." In other words, God gave Ahaz a blank check, he told him to ask what you want me to do so that you know that I am there in your midst. If you want me to do something in the middle of the sea, I'll dive, I know about scuba diving, I can go down there and do whatever you want there under the sea. Do you want me to do something in the sky, in the firmament, do you want me to bring the moon closer to the earth or move it away, do you want three comets to pass next to each other, something that you want me to do, let me know and I I do.

Who does that remind you of? Who was a character in the old testament who asked for a sign before going to war? Gideon, Gideon asked for a sign, and not just one, he dared to ask God for a sign as if to say I want to confirm that you are with me before making a decision. So, Gideon was one of the people who took advantage of that check, not Ahaz, what did Ahaz do that verse 12 says? "And Ahaz replied: I will not ask and I will not tempt the Lord." That answer is based on the book of Deuteronomy chapter 6, I think it says something about not tempting Jehovah your God, and that is seen in the person of Jesus when the devil appeared to him in the desert who began to tempt him and one of the ways in which Jesus responded by saying, you shall not tempt Jehovah your God, He was saying the same as Ahaz, what happens is that Ahaz does not even say that it was God who was giving him the opportunity for him to ask for what he He wanted, that God wanted in his favor, but he did not do it. He wanted to play the game of being politically correct as it were and play another game.

And what did God say to him then? What is in verse 14, there then he says: "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign." And what was the signal? The arrival of Jesus. It is true that it happened thousands of years later, hundreds of years later, rather, hundreds of years later, the person of Jesus arrived. That's Christmas my brothers. It is God, of his personal intention, to intervene in his story. Christmas is God addressing a simple young lady and making her the bearer of the most precious legacy in all of history. Christmas is God speaking in a dream to a man who at one point did not want to do honor for fear of being misunderstood, I am talking about Joseph, however he accepted God's call to protect a child that was not his. Christmas is God highlighting a star in the heavens so that foreigners would come to offer gifts to the king, without them getting caught in the traps of a system full of deceit, jealousy and violence. That was Christmas, and this is Christmas today.

It is God's continual desire to want to come into your life. Let me say it again. That is Christmas, it is God's continuous desire to want to enter your life. Of wanting to enter your existence, of wanting to enter your reality, of wanting to enter your situation. Of wanting to enter your panoramas, in your chaos, and bring a new order, bring a new system, bring a new way of thinking. Christmas is God, listen well, surprising you with news that will transform your perspective on life, that is what I see in Mary, when He appeared to Mary, she was surprised and took her unnoticed, and brought her a news that she never in her life expected that this was going to happen to her. I think that this is Christmas, that at some point you are surprised with news that you did not expect.

Look how interesting because, one tends to think because it could be good news, but the news that Mary received had both good and bad, because you are seeing God, the creator of heaven and earth, the greatest being, the most exalted being that is letting this girl know, you are going to be the bearer of my son, he took her out of anonymity and put her in the spotlight, but just as he put her in the spotlight, he also put her at a disadvantage with the system of the generation in which she was living, because then without having been married they were going to say look at her, he took her to the altar, already with the little ball.

As we think when we go to a wedding like this, the girl ate the cake before its time. Just as we tend to judge so quickly, that was what happened to María, so who knows if Christmas is that, it is news that on the one hand will have an aspect of expectation, of emotion, but on the other hand It's going to be like, ish, and now, how am I going to get along with this? Christmas is God bringing you back to his plans and purposes when you already thought of giving up everything around you. Wake up, listen, Christmas is God bringing you back to his plans and purposes when you were already thinking of giving up everything around you. That was what happened with José, when they gave him the news that María is going to give birth and she is not from me, and you want me to marry her, the story sounds very beautiful but for a story, I am not going to assume that responsibility so, well, I'm leaving, and through dreams that he didn't expect, an angel had to come and tell Joseph, don't do what you're thinking of doing, you're in God's plan, you have to be with Mary, that child needs your coverage, how interesting because Joseph is not talked about much in the story of the Bible, Jesus was going to need a man as his father too.

So I can see that this was part of the purpose of why God wanted Joseph to remain in history. If God hadn't wanted Joseph, if God had wanted Mary to deal with Jesus alone, he would have said well, Joseph, go away, I'll take care of Mary, but no, God wanted him to be there too. How interesting my brothers, that many times, when God begins to make noise, when God begins to stir up the dust a little bit, it may seem very exciting, but there are times that if we cannot understand the whole picture, we prefer not with me, bye, I don't know anything, I arrived right now, if something happened I wasn't here. More, however, that is Christmas, when you were thinking of going out, God tells you, ah ah, you are part of my plans, of my purposes, I need you to be there to protect, because you have a sensitivity that other people They don't have and I need you there.

Look how interesting, Christmas is God rescuing you from life's conspiracies against you. Do you want me to say it again? Christmas is God rescuing you from life's conspiracies against you. Who conspired? Herod conspiring against the wise men of the East, saying, ah, when I find him, let me know that then I'll go and adore him too, ah ah, what he wanted was to destroy the systems of life, Herod represented a system that was there to care for and watch over the future of the people, but that system had been damaged, there was something corrupt in itself, and it wanted to try to damage the plan, the history, the purpose of God, but nevertheless God did not allow For that to happen, God rescued that part of history, when the system could have used all its resources to conspire against God, conspire against Jesus, God said ah ah, not with my son, I'm going to do something else , God rescued that side of history, took care of it, took it from one place to another, who knows if God has to do that with you, I am saying this and I am being very aware of what I am saying but only you know how These words will reach your heart.

But who knows if God has to do just that, rescue you from a conspiracy against you, I am not saying a curse, it may be that you are living right now, it may be that you are being a victim of a system that is supposed to be in your favor, but you feel that the table is upside down and everything is elsewhere, and God has to rescue you from that, and maybe for a moment God has to take you out of Bethlehem and take you to Egypt as he did with Joseph, Mary and Jesus for a while and then, come back, the system that was causing danger was fulfilled, it's already dead, it's already broken, I can bring you back now, and He does it. Who knows if God has to do that with us, one way or another, don't think God is speaking to me, I have to go from Boston to another, no no no, please don't think so literally.

Then you go to Springfield and God's will was not for you to go to Springfield, God's will was for you to stay here in Boston. Think, okay? But that's Christmas, the second part of that point, God conspiring in your favor, and directing your nation with his eternal light, that's why the star was there, to direct these foreigners from the East so they could get to where Jesus . And if God has to rescue you from those conspiracies, he will put a star in front of you, it could be a star, it could be a person, it could be a billboard you see on the street, it could be a message you hear on the radio, It may be an advertisement that you see on television, but God will use anything to put that north in front of you and that you can go in that direction.

Christmas is God providing you with the necessary things that you need through the things that you never expected. Many times through people you don't even know, God can provide you with gold and myrrh, that's another aspect of Christmas that I see there. As Pastor Jonathan said, these three wise men, who were as they say, were neither kings nor wizards, but our history has painted them as such, three people who came to bring gifts to Jesus, symbolically they were speaking of Him as king , preparing him for how his death was going to be, blessed, poor boy had just been born and they were already talking about his death, and what I see there is that, resources that may be strange to you, that you don't know, that you don't You know where they are going to come from, but nevertheless God, dad!, is going to provide for them. That is Christmas.

I'm not telling you oh, I'm going to wait for someone to bring me a Best Buy gift card to buy me the television that I want, no, I'm not saying that, I'm saying something deeper than anything material that we can have. God can answer your material needs without a doubt, but God wants to provide for much deeper things than that. Christmas is God transforming your life from a life of chaos to a life of order, from a life of darkness to a life of light, from a life of anxiety to a life of hope, from a life of foolishness to a life of revelation of knowledge. of his will.

Look at all the signs that God painted around this whole scene. Angels in heaven singing glory to God in the highest, angels that revealed themselves to the shepherds when they were taking care of the sheep, an angel revealed itself to Mary and told her a message, another angel that revealed itself to Joseph in a a dream, a star for the wise men who came from the East, the birth of a John the Baptist, or the conception of John the Baptist because he had not yet been born, although if he was born before Jesus, of course, of course, six months before Jesus, but that was another sign. Centuries ago a prophet said that the virgin will conceive, there you had another sign, and where will you find it? You will not find it in a palace, you will find it there in a little thing lying there covered with sheepskin or cow or whatever.

There were signs everywhere, and God wants to bring that revelation to my brothers. You know, I want to remember that I brought these same words last year, and it's not that I want to sound like a broken record, but rather I say it because I like to emphasize this, I think it's a time of new revelations, Christmas is that, is a time where God can open our minds and awaken new neurons in there for us to know new things from Him. God does not want us to be in the monotony living and doing, and thinking, and doing the same things as always we do, God wants us to understand something more of that multiformity that is in Him. God wants our lives to be different, God wants our lives to be lives of impact, God does not want you to be there an old curmudgeon hm hm hm hm, God doesn't want that, look in the mirror and if you see yourself in the mirror, God doesn't want you to see yourself like that. I'm not talking to anyone in particular, everyone here is smiling, as I always say to those who get the droplet to get wet. My last point, and if the musicians can come up, Christmas is God making himself present in your life through his most precious possession, through his Emmanuel, his only Son Jesus, that is Christmas, look how interesting, a brother from church, we were talking about the service that comes from Christmas, he tells me oh I'm there debating if I come, I don't come, I have to open presents with the children, but you know what? What better day than going to church that this, if that is the day that we celebrate day after day in the church that Jesus came and became flesh, became real in our midst, the gifts can wait, I am going to be there to celebrate Jesus. That's Christmas, that's Christmas.

Christmas is that even though my environment may be a little chaotic, but the reality is that in the midst of that Jesus can become real, Jesus can transform my reality, Jesus can transform my circumstances around that, and He wants to do that, He has the desire to do that. I want to finish with this sentence, listen well. If you want this Christmas to be different, the only way it will be different is if Jesus is there in the midst of your life. It will not be the gifts that you can have or that you cannot have, it will not be that you can have your family around you or not, although that may be very nice, I wish it, I am longing to share that time with my family But that's not Christmas. Christmas is not going to be that you can come here and share with your church, it is part of it but it is not everything. Christmas is when you are aware of all these things that we have talked about, how God wants to intervene in your life, how God wants to make it a reality in you and yours.

How God wants to transform your environment, how God wants to make his light shine in your darkness, how God wants you to be able to meet that admirable being, how God wants you to be able to receive the advice of that good counselor, how how God longs for you to receive strength from that God who is stronger than any other, that you can feel that you are in the presence of the best relative of all who is the eternal God, that you can feel his peace in the midst of any circumstance that you may be going through. I look here, I can mention many circumstances, and I have said it, we are in the midst of losses, we are in the midst of family members, we are in the midst of problems with work, we do not know where the next check will come from to cover the things, uh, I can keep saying many things, my son is getting me out of trouble that I can't anymore, I've gotten into trouble with drugs because of alcohol, I've disrespected a person, I made a mistake that I shouldn't have, I can keep mentioning many things, but in the midst of that, God wants to bring Christmas into your life. God wants to shine his light, God wants to come to dwell in you.

Do you want Christmas to make that sense? I invite you to stand up and pray: Lord Jesus, You are our Christmas, You are the one who gives meaning to this time, to this season, You are the one who gives meaning to each of the days of our lives, and Lord Jesus, after having heard these words, after having meditated and reflected on them, we say to you, come into our life, interrupt our routine and bring your light to our darkness, bring your peace to our chaos, bring your revelation to our foolishness, bring your presence in our midst, we need you Lord, we need you this Christmas.

Father, that You rescue us from the conspiracies of the systems of this life, Lord, of this society, that we fall victim to these things, many times on purpose, many times unconsciously, but we need You to rescue us, we need You to bring good news of salvation , we need you to bring news that enlightens our life, that gives a new direction to our steps, and although this news may bring moments of difficulty, but we have you as our north, we need you to make revelations in heaven, in the earth, in our dreams, in all the environments of our life Lord, for us to know the direction in which You take us.

Father, make this Christmas a different one, be You that being that is worthy of admiration, be You that being that fills our eyes, be You that counselor who speaks to the depths of the intimacy of our hearts, be You that strong God , who lifts us up every morning with new strength, with new vigor, with new courage my God to face everything that life brings, be You that eternal Father who can hug us when we fall, who can encourage us when we need it, be You that prince of peace, who fills our hearts despite the circumstances we live.

Father, we rest our whole life in you, to you we give all the glory and all the honor, allow this word that we have heard to continue to echo in our hearts and help us to listen to you even better, we ask all this in the name of Jesus, amen and amen.