The text of today’s message is the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 1. For now, we’ll focus on Verses 1-17, the genealogy of Jesus.
Thinking about the holiday season, and keeping our focus on where it should be, many of us have heard the recent stories of suppression of Christian ideals and promoting of Muslim ideals in our nation’s schools. In reality, what we’re seeing is the insanity that has been a normal part of the life of Christians in an ungodly world in previous centuries. We are only now returning to that world. In our case, Americans have historically benefited from a residual effect of the Great Awakening and the Reformation. Until now, our culture has been a relatively pleasant atmosphere. People generally thought from a Biblical worldview, even if they weren’t believers. Recent events show us that this is, in fact, the normal Christian experience: to live in a world that is so darkened that it is insane. This should be comforting to us, as we know how God was at work in our predecessors in such a world. The Word of God is still the same and we the same message, the message that the world desperately needs to hear: that Jesus is the Christ, God’s Anointed One, the Savior.
Our examination of how the genealogies in Matthew are presented will focus on why, who, and how, and what the Lord is showing us in this passage.
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