Ephesians 5:15-17
In few minutes we will be saying goodbye to 2015 and welcome 2016.
This is the time people tend to look back and look forward.
This is a good time for us to take inventory of our spiritual life during 2015.
This helps us to make some adjustments and improvements to do better in 2016.
So to begin with we need to ask ourselves a very simple question.
Did we give our best to the Lord in 2015? – Our time, our treasure & our talent
I. UNDERSTANDING HOW WE LIVE
15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,
A. Be very careful how we live.
The important aspect to consider is the usage of our time.
That is based on the fact that we recognize the brevity of life.
How we are to use the God’s given time in more useful ways.
It is just a matter of perception that many feel that they have got a long life to live.
“Those who are in love it looks like a blink of an eye. 
Those who are waiting outside the surgery room of it look like an eternity.”
The psalmist says, “Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Ps 90:12).
So our time on this earth is valuable & limited so live carefully.
B. Live wisely.
If we live according to the wisdom of the world we will be utter failures in God’s eyes.
The wisdom God gives to us is not the wisdom of this world.
True wisdom is based on the knowledge of the Holy One.
“Fear of the LORD is the foundation of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.” (NLT)
This reverential fear is the foundation for wisdom.
II. UNDERSTANDING THE DAYS ARE EVIL
16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
Paul is basically saying we must redeem our time.
A. Avail every opportunity
We get up early, fight traffic, go to job – survive financial responsibilities.
The mundane makes us to take our eyes off and neglect our spiritual needs.
Things of eternal are valuable and last forever.
B. The days are evil
There is absolutely no doubt that we are living in dark days – not literal darkness.
Evil is always influencing and corrupting this world – it was never this bad before.
We can feel it every day how things are getting skewed.
Definition for truth is lost – right becoming wrong – wrong becoming right.
Morality has a new meaning every day.
Biblical faith is tested, ridiculed and discarded.
We need to take every opportunity to stand up for our faith & truth in the Word of God.
III. UNDERSTANDING LORD’S WILL
17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.
“God does not want us simply to know His will; He wants us to understand His will”
A. Not to be foolish
Psalms 14:1 Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good.
Bible describes a foolish person in many ways: hates knowledge, no pleasure in understanding (Pro 18:2).
B. Seeking God’s will
Knowing what God’s in our life is important for every Christian.
We live in the light of what we have discovered God’s will for us.
That makes us wise and knowledgeable to handle life’s challenges.
For a Christian the spiritual life determines the social life.
We cannot separate them at any given time as they go together.
God’s people must understand that they are MARKED in the world. 
We are sealed by the Holy Spirit the minute we accept the Lord Jesus.
We are marked people as the world hates us for our faith in the Lord.
The days are evil and we must be cautious and careful. 
Year 2016 is unknown & uncertain.
Let us focus on the risen Lord and seek Holy Spirit’s guidance throughout 2016.
We are kingdom people – let us do kingdom business.
MAY YOU HAVE A BLESSED YEAR 2016

Romans 15:4-6
Hope is as important to us as water is to a fish, or electricity is to a light bulb. 
As oxygen is so vital to the physical body hope is absolutely necessary to the human spirit. 
Because of hopelessness many contemplate suicide to escape the misery in life.
Lot of people are putting their hope in false things rather God.
As someone put it “When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits. When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.”
“Hope is that which connects us with the future just as memories connected us with the past”
Hope mentioned in the Bible is totally different from the world view because it is essentially depends upon God.
Men in Bible such as David and Daniel completely trusted God and put their hope in Him.
Hope is always exhibited in our trust in God – without trust there is no hope.
I. Lessons of Endurance & Encouragement to Have Hope
4. For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have HOPE.
​A. Lessons of endurance & encouragement
Bible talks about people lived in different time periods teach us some valuable lessons.
These stories are recorded for us so that we might have endurance & encouragement. 
We should never forget our God is still the same God who never changes.
God does not always give us the desire of our hearts. 
We may not get what we want and when we want it. 
Those lessons encourage us to wait upon the Lord and learn endurance in our challenges. 
B. To have Hope
We focus on the written Word of God to put our hope in Him alone
Not only God’s Word teaches us endurance & encouragement but also to hope in Him.
The Word of God fills us with hope because it gives us examples of the faithfulness of God.
Teaches us the way God operates in people’s lives.
It is utmost importance for us to know His word because it is the source of our hope.
The Christian HOPE does not end with this world but extends into the life after death.
Titus 3:7 sums up our Christian faith and HOPE relate to the eternal life in Christ.
“So that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
II. Followers of Christ glorify God in all circumstances. (5-6)
We have to remember that only God gives us endurance & encouragement.
We cannot depend upon human intelligence, capabilities, physical strength or riches.
It is God who sustains us by providing the inner strength with hope.
Looking at the biblical examples we are encouraged and endure the life challenges.
Following Christ faithfully is needed for us to have spiritual strength in our life on earth.
Glorifying God is another important aspect of our hope in God.
In closing I want you to understand one important fact in our Christian walk.
Without knowing the scripture there is no knowledge of encouragement or endurance.
Without knowing Christ there is no hope in this life or the life to come. 
"Life with Christ is an endless hope; life without Christ is a hopeless end." 

John 1:14-18
In our natural world there is no room for supernatural element or occurrences.
All are born into a natural world as natural human beings.
We are confined to our little boxes and our natural world is defined by space and time.
Outside of our little box exists the supernatural world where God lives.
Apostle John makes a most profound statement referring to one significant truth.
At Christmas God became man.
At Christmas Infinity became finite where eternity squeezed into human realm.
Every person has a God consciousness and tried to poke his/her little box to find God.
The human being took the help of religion, good deeds and moral behavior to seek God.
Today’s human either has no time for God or disinterested about God or no need of God.
Added to that mindset materialism, technology and progressive thinking made it more difficult to give a thought to God Consciousness.
There is so much confusion, speculation, disbelief about the existence of God.
At Christmas God came down to the earth in the human body of Jesus with specific purpose of revealing the supernatural reality of God.
Apostle John starts with “Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us”
In the Old Testament ‘The Word of God’ went out to people on earth to guide, to instruct in various occasions so that the recipient of God’s Word carried out what God wanted.
That same Word of God became flesh at Jesus’ birth.
The invisible God became visible man Jesus.
The human nature of Jesus began on Christmas day ended with His death on the cross.
The divine nature of Christ has no beginning or no ending because He is God.
John was the eye witness for 3 ½ years of earthly dwelling of Lord Jesus.
The disciple ate with Him, walked with Him, lived with Him, had the front seat for all the Lord’s teachings & miracle performed.
Apostle John says "we have seen His glory"
John along with Peter & James witnessed the TRANSFIGURATION of Jesus before their eyes where His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as the light.
Not only Jesus had shone physical glory but also ‘moral glory where He expressed His glory as full of grace and full of truth.
Apostle John says "full of grace and full of truth"
Jesus shone God’s grace on the cross where He died for human sin.
Jesus personified the truth and He is the embodiment of truth.
Since Jesus is the expression of God’s truth – without Him there is not truth.
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known.
In this verse Jesus revealed and declared the reality of God.
The Bible says no one has ever seen God because He is a Spirit being.
The human will ever know God except Jesus Christ who declared Him to us.
Because God became a man in Jesus God is no longer unknowable and unreachable.
As one preacher puts it “We see in Jesus Christ the distant, the unknowable, the invisible, the Almighty, the transcendent, the majestic, unreachable God reaching to us and becoming a human.”
Another preacher says “And so we see the glorious Christ who reveals God, rejected by most, received by a few, witnessed by John, died on the cross, rose again and lives today, the eternal, incarnate, heralded, unrecognized, all powerful, glorious Christ.”
Most astonishing truth is that Jesus took on a human body forever.
God in Jesus was born into a human body, died in a human body, and was raised from the dead in a glorified body.
He ascended into heaven with that glorified body and now seated at the Father's right hand.
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ for revealing the invisible God to us and thank Him for His grace of salvation through His death on the cross.
That is the true meaning of Christmas.

Luke 2:8-20
Christians today lost the wonder and amazement of the Christmas story completely.
My effort is to recapture that wonder & amazement associated with the supernatural element in every Christmas story.
In the first century, shepherds were generally deemed as dishonest people.
The honesty and integrity of shepherds in those days was so questionable that they were not even allowed to testify in a court of law.
The angel of God came to the most despised of people on earth in Israel. 
He came to the people who were outcasts from all respectable society in Israel. 
That night was just an ordinary night by any stretch of imagination in and around Bethlehem.
Ordinary winter night in Bethlehem was transformed into an extra-ordinary night because of the supernatural way an angel came to announce the birth of Lord Jesus.
I. THE SUPERNATURAL MESSENGER (8-9)
The supernatural messenger came in the darkness of night.
We know that the Glory of the Lord is always associated with brilliant powerful light.
When people “see” the glory of God, they have heightened acute awareness of the presence & power, the majesty & authority of the holy God.
Manifestation of the ‘glory of God’ reflects the greatness of Almighty God.
God intentionally chose the foolish shepherds to see that Shekinah glory.
Immediate response of these shepherds was nothing but sheer terror & panic.
II. THE SUPERNATURAL MESSAGE (10-12)
In the annals of human history no religious Scriptures ever recorded a message like “good news of great joy for all people”.
First the angel calms the fears of the shepherds, which is foremost in angel’s agenda.
After calming the nerves of the poor shepherds the angel delivers the supernatural message.
It’s good news that will cause great joy for all people.
The emphasis is on the effect on hearer – such good news will have a definite affect.
So what is the good news?  (11-12)
“Savior” in Greek is soter applied to Jesus, is an extension of the Old Testament idea of God saving & delivering His people.
Salvation applies to all areas of life physical & spiritual – God saving the physical life for the eternal existence – saved from sin – fit for eternity.
As Savior Jesus is the Christ or Messiah – the anointed One designated for saving the humankind from their sin.
The supernatural message has the markings of the physical – so the message is authentic.
It’s not making us to believe- it has physical proof to support – not a myth or fairy tale.
III. THE SUPERNATURAL MOMENT (13-14)
Now we have multitude of angels surrounding them and singing.
This is even more terrifying than the first angel.
We don’t know how many angels came to join the first.
A great company of thousands of angels was making it absolutely supernatural.
Just imagine thousands of white robed angels appeared and singing praises to God.
The humble shepherds had a glimpse of heaven for a brief supernatural moment.
Again we hear the echo of “glory to God” – the authority & power of Holy God.
IV. THE SUPERNATURAL MISSION (15-17)
Angels never told them to go and see the baby.
The impact of the visit of angels and the good news was so great on their mind that they left the flock for a brief moment to run to Bethlehem to see the baby.
They found exactly as it was described to them.
The humble shepherds were the first evangelists to go on the supernatural mission to share the good news of a Savior to the whole world.
Today we are given a privilege and great opportunity to share the great news with others.
The good news whoever receives it has great joy of knowing that a Savior is born for them.
Our joy is in sharing the good news of great joy with others about a Savior in Lord Jesus Christ.
This supernatural message will have a great effect on the hearer every time they hear.

Luke 2:1-14
Angels are God’s servants to carry out His messages and do God’s errands.
They go between the humans and the divine.
They are spirit beings without any gender but always addressed in masculine gender.
So, one of the Angels of the Lord preached the first gospel sermon.
Praise & worship always has a place along with preaching and prayer. 
When Solomon dedicated the first temple in Jerusalem he and the priests praised and worshipped God – then the glory of the Lord appeared. (2 Chronicles 5:11-14)
People witnessed a spectacular display of glory of God at the dedication.
Jesus Christ’s birth had the same supernatural phenomenon with participating angels.
World famous evolutionist, Richard Dawkins says that “a world without religion would be paradise on earth.”
He thinks religion is purely based on supernatural and superstition.
The late Peter Marshall, chaplain of the United States Senate said that “Spiritual reality is a matter of perception, not proof.”
Like that of the fragrance of a bunch of roses, is a matter of perception and experience, not of proof. 
It is the same reality in the spiritual realm also.
Angels played an important role in Christmas story.
An angel tells Mary she will give birth to Jesus - An angel tells Joseph not to doubt Mary and to call His name Jesus - An angel warns Mary and Joseph to flee to Egypt - An angel tells them when it’s safe to return to Israel. 
In our text we see an angel announces the birth of Christ to the shepherds.
Everyone must realize and believe Christ’s birth is absolutely spectacular, supernatural and amazing.
PRELUDE TO ANGEL’S VISITATION (1-8)
It is an important historical event that took place during the days of Caesar Augustus. 
Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem to their home town to register for census. 
Joseph had to find a place for Mary ASAP as she was about to deliver baby Jesus.
A cattle shed with a manger was the only thing available for the Savior of the world.
Today most people seeing only the tangibles but lost sight of the supernatural in the Christmas story.
SUPERNATURAL ANGEL’S VISITATION (9-12)
The shepherds witnessed the spectacular display of supernatural phenomenon right before their eyes and they were terrified.
What happened with shepherds if it happens to us today we will definitely freak out 
What the angels said was no reason for fear but to rejoice for the glorious revelation from God.
Here we see the first Gospel sermon preached by the angel.
Angel’s announcement has character and scope. (10)
The good news is of great joy and happiness – but not fearful news.
What the angel said was not just for the shepherds, but to all people of the world.
The good news belongs to all people irrespective of race, color, class or gender.
Angel’s announcement has substance. (11)
The angel said that Jesus was the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Jesus is "Savior" because He saves humankind from sin. 
Messiah or Christ means the anointed One to heal all people from spiritual sickness.
Angel’s announcement has proof. (12)
This angelic supernatural announcement has a proof to verify.
Telling shepherds the exact location and status of the new born Savior.
PRAISE & WORSHIP MAGNIFIED THE VISITATION (13-14)
Multitude of angels joined the first angel to praise and glorify God during this spectacular and supernatural event that ever happened in the human history. 
God is to be praised for giving us such a wonderful Savior. 
Peace comes to each one when we receive the greatest gift of salvation through Jesus.
We should remember that the angels played an amazing role in Christ’s birth.
Let us focus on the wonder of the event – spectacular display of supernatural phenomenon.
Let us join in chorus with the angelic hosts praising and glorifying God and experiencing the birth of the Savior – a supernatural event which has no parallel in world history.