John Stanko

The only time of year I remotely miss pastoring a church is around Christmas time.  The Christmas story is so fascinating and exciting and I always enjoy talking about it. Did you realize that when you turn the page from Malachi to Matthew, you have just covered 400 years from the time of the last book of the Old Testament to the first book of the New?

God isn't always in a hurry to act, but when He does, He does so in a big way.  No part of creation was exempt from God's guiding and providential hand when it was time for Jesus to be born.  God used a star, the Roman government, angels, an inn keeper, dreams, shepherds, wise men and a host of other fascinating characters.  When I spoke last Sunday at Celebration Church in Harare, I chose to talk about Mary and entitled the message, Have a Mary Christmas.

It is easy to ignore the fact that Mary was a teenager when the angel appeared to her.  I wonder why God didn't send the angel to her parents, or to the spiritual leaders or her day, or even her husband-to-be?  God came directly to her, and she wasn't intimidated by the mighty angel Gabriel.  This young woman was truly extraordinary. 

I won't go through my entire message in this post, but I have included my PowerPoint slides with the seven main points of my message.  If you would like to understand how to have a Mary Christmas, I would urge you to access the slides below. 

Download mary_christmas.ppt

Technorati Tags: Mary the Mother of Jesus, Christmas Story