The angelic faces in your Nativity scene are masking the gut-wrenching fear these people felt in real life. If you can relate, stay tuned to Turning Point as Dr. David Jeremiah shares their stories. You'll discover what happened when these people trusted God through their season of fear. and why you should too.
From Why the Nativity? Here's David with the conclusion of Why the Fear Nots of Christmas. And thank you for joining us as we celebrate Christmas Eve together. We're going to do what we've been doing every day, and that is go to the Word of God for instruction, encouragement, and help. And today is the second part of the message: The Fear Nots of Christmas.
Friends, if you are listening to us every day, you know I have really been telling you a lot about our devotional book for the new year. It's devotional readings for each day in the coming year and scripture references that correlate with each devotional. And listen, it's only available through Turning Point. You can't get this in any stores.
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We are very excited to be learning so much about Christmas. We've asked so many questions and tried to answer them from the scripture. We have a study guide for this series that might be of interest to you if you've been following along. It's filled with Christmas information from the Bible. It's a great resource if you have to give devotions at Christmas time or maybe you're teaching a class.
This is available at our website as well, at davidjeremiah.org.
Now here's part two of the Fair Nots of Christmas on this Christmas Eve. Looking forward to the celebration of our Lord's birthday tomorrow. One of the blessings of studying prophecy in the Bible is to see the prophecy and then, in many cases, to be able to read history and see the fulfillment. And to be aware of the fact that the same God who prophesied here and fulfilled it here is the God who has prophesied here and is going to fulfill it in the unknown future for all of us. But to bring this back to our experience as individuals, When we read a story like this and we see it, that the God of ages maintained his integrity and his truth over seven centuries, do you think he's gonna break his integrity?
In your account? Do you think if you've claimed a promise from God that's legitimately from Him, that God isn't going to keep that promise? You say, well, where do I get these promises?
Well, you get them from the Word of God, don't you? The Word of God is filled with the promises of the Lord. If you don't read the Bible, you don't have many promises. And I thought I'd just share two or three of the best ones I know for this time of the year, at least. that you can count on.
Let these be in your promise box during the Christmas holidays. Psalm 27.1 says, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
Isaiah 41:10 is one of my most favorite ones. Fear not, I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Here's one you may need during the holidays.
When my father and mother forsake me, then the Lord will take care of me. Or Hebrews 13, 5 and 6. For he himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you.
So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? And I've only touched on the surface of this whole book full of promises to God's people. There's a promise in here for you if you just read far enough. Whatever it is you're going through, whatever kind of experience you may be having right now, if you just open this book.
And you just pray this simple prayer, Lord. I'm going to keep reading and keep studying until you tell me what you want me to know, and I'll know it in my heart when you do. I don't know how long you read or how many chapters or verses. But God has a word for you in His book. and his promises are true.
And he never fails. God still answers prayer. God still keeps his promise. And now we go even a little bit further. Into the story, and in the second chapter of Luke, verses 8 through 16, we see the third fear not.
And here we're going to learn that God still has a purpose. Let's say that out loud: God still has a purpose. Read with me as I read from the Bible. Luke chapter 2. And beginning at verse 8 and concluding with verse 16, follow along.
Now there were in the same country Shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. And the angel said to them, here's the third one. Do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior. Who is Christ the Lord? And this will be the sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men.
And so it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass. which the LORD has made known to us. And they came with haste. and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. God still answers prayer.
God still keeps his promises. and God still has a purpose. In this account of the shepherds, we are reminded that God's purpose is central to the entire story of Christmas. It has been his purpose from before the world began. And his purpose and his plan involves a savior, and it involves you.
It involves you and the Saviour. God's plan and God's purpose, no matter how distant you may feel from Him today, is still. going on throughout all of the earth. God is still calling people to Himself. God is still allowing the Savior's sacrifice on the cross.
To cleanse hearts. and forgives sin. Since the beginning of time, God has had His love focused on you. He knows just what you need, and the angel's message to the shepherd lays it all out. The angel said, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. What is the purpose of God? What is his mission statement? His mission statement is you and me. and our fulfillment In him.
Someone has written these words that if our greatest need had been information. God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us the scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness. And so God sent us a Savior. And that's what Christmas is all about. And when you're afraid, and when fear begins to creep into your life, just remember: God loves you. It's the most fundamental truth about God that there is.
God loves you, and He loves me. And in the midst of that love, If you want to isolate yourself in a cocoon of fear, you're choice is up to you. Or you can just relax. in the knowledge. That is hard as life is sometimes, and disconnected as it can be.
God loves you. His purpose has never changed. since the gospel was announced for the very first time to the shepherds. outside of Bethlehem. And notice.
When God deals with your fear, He replaces it with joy. He doesn't just take away your fear and leave you kind of with nothing there. He takes away your fear. And he puts joy in its place. In every single one of these instances that we've looked at today, that's the pattern.
When the shepherds heard the angel say, do not be afraid. They also heard the angel say, for I bring you good tidings of what? Great joy. When Zacharias' heart was calmed with the fear not of Gabriel, his faith was strengthened with the joy of the message. Gabriel said to him, Your prayer is heard, and you will have joy and gladness.
As the result of the message that Gabriel gave to Mary, we are told that she said to her cousin Elizabeth. My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. Luke 1:46 and 47. When God takes away your fear, He puts joy in its place.
Now, that's a pretty good trade, if you ask me. I'd do that deal any day, wouldn't you? But let's take it one step further. The response to the angel's message was joy in the heart of Zacharias and Mary and the shepherds. But if you keep following the trail at all of these stories, you'll discover that the Bible also says that when Zacharias, Mary, and the shepherds understood the message of the angel, They not only had joy in themselves, they couldn't keep it to themselves.
And that joy went with them wherever they went. And they would continue to express that joy. Watch this: Zacharias, when his speech returned after the birth of John the Baptist. As soon as his mouth was open, he spoke Praising God, it says in Luke 1.64. Mary's heart was filled with praise as the result of the angel's visit.
After her visit to Elizabeth, she said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. She's given testimony. When the shepherds heard the message of the gospel, they went to see the Christ child lying in the manger. We are told that they returned.
Now, watch this. glorifying and praising God. for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told them.
Now watch what happens. When we remember that God still answers prayer and God still keeps his promises. And God still has a purpose. And we come to him with our fears. He takes our fears.
And he turns them into joy.
so unspeakable that we can't keep it to ourselves. And instead of walking around talking about how stressful things are and how fearful we are. We have now rediscovered the joy of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ, and everywhere we go. We are all bubbly about Jesus and what he's done in our life. You say, Pastor, that's just unrealistic.
Those kind of things don't happen.
Some of you are saying Well, all these examples you're using, preacher, they're all from the Bible. These are all plastic saints. These are all perfect people. I'm not like that.
Well, they weren't like that either. They were just ordinary people like you and me. Think of this for a moment. All of these people, Mary, Zacharias. The shepherds.
They were all in the will of God. Yet they were afraid. They were all going about their daily duties. We aren't told exactly what Mary was up to at the time, but Zacharias was a priest. And what does a priest do?
He goes to the temple and he does priestly things. The shepherds were shepherding, they were out on the field. They weren't in church. They weren't at some session. God just intersected with them in their normal lives.
They were going about their daily duties when they were confronted by God. They all lived through their fear and they all ultimately experienced joy. And they all experienced, now watch this, they all experienced their greatest fear before God's greatest miracle in their life. Wow. Mary was totally afraid.
And then God told her she's going to be the mother of Jesus. Zacharias was afraid. And then Gabriel said, Zacharias, Your prayers have been heard, and I know you and Elizabeth are way too old to have any kids, but you're going to have one.
Now that's a miracle. And the shepherds were allowed to be the first ones to come and worship the miracle child. I thought about this this week. When you're the most afraid, just hang on. God's got the greatest thing in the world planned for you just around the next corner.
if you'll just give him your fears. If you determine to live on and You know, we do have a choice, don't we? We have a choice about a lot of this. I know that sounds a little bit rough, and I don't mean to be rough because I'm a compassionate person.
Sometimes you just got to sit up and say, Look, I can choose to live in this sphere. And Pity of myself. for the rest of my time. Or I can start taking advantage of all the things God has left me with. You know, sometimes when we lose, we get so caught up in what we've lost, we forget what we have left.
Sometimes we just need to sit down and say, Lord, I feel really bad about some stuff I lost this last year, but. I'm going to concentrate on what you left me. And I'm going to fill my heart with the joy of the Holy Spirit. I want to conclude this Christmas message this morning. with something that was written many years ago.
By a Scottish preacher. By the name of George Morrison. I've not talked much about him over the years. I don't have many of his books. They're hard to come by.
But he must have been a wonderful pastor in his day. And in my mind's eye, when I'm reading his book, I can almost hear his Scottish brogue. And sometimes, even they write in a way that makes you think of that, you know what I mean? George Morrison had a wonderful capacity to see things in the Bible that most people didn't see. Here's an illustration of that insight into the story of the shepherds.
Listen carefully. We do not associate fear with Bethlehem. We associate Bethlehem with joy and singing. and with the springing up of glad and glorious hope. Our Christmas hymns are among the gladdest hymns to be found in the whole range of Christian music.
Even desolate, lonely people are conscious of a kind of inward warmth. at Christmastime. And yet these shepherds out on the hillside were terrified and terribly afraid. He writes, They were not careless or irreligious men. Eastern shepherds were very rarely that.
Yet, when the angel of the Lord appeared, these hardy men were terribly afraid. And though their trust as simple, faithful shepherds was in the God of Abraham and Isaac. An awful dread fell upon their hearts. Then Morrison says, Think about the shepherds and put them over here for a moment. And let's go visit another occasion when an angel appeared to someone.
Let's go to the grave of Jesus. where an angel came to visit Mary Magdalene. And he writes: Now, the interesting thing is that when we come to Mary Magdalene, there is not a trace of that commanding terror. And yet, if it struck into the shepherds' hearts, we should expect it to be intensified with her. They were hardy and courageous men.
She was a delicate and shrinking woman. They were together in strengthening companionship. She was All by herself. In the dim light of the dawn, They were out on the hills. She was in the presence of a grave.
I mean, how more fearful could you be than in a cemetery? Yet there is not a trace of Mary Ever feeling or expressing any fear when the angel. confronted her. She did not flee. She did not faint.
The angel spoke to Mary. And Mary answered those angels as if she were talking with some friend from the village. One could not imagine the shepherds doing that. Terror held their eyes. What made the difference between Mary and the shepherds?
The difference lies in Mary's love for Jesus. a love of which the shepherds were quite ignorant. We all know how love can banish fear. The Apostle Paul tells us there is no fear in love. And the love of Jesus had so mastered Mary That fear took itself to wings and flew away.
It was a fearful thing to be out in the dawn beside a grave near those Roman soldiers. It was a fearful thing within the sepulcher to be confronted with angels. But just as mother love will drive out fear when a beloved baby is in peril.
So the love of Jesus drove out fear from Mary. You see, the difference between Mary and the shepherds was. Mary knew Jesus. And to have known him, and to have loved him, and to have been certain of his love for her. had slain a hundred terrors.
A woman with a woman's heart. She was stronger than these hardy shepherds. because Christ had come in to her life. To banish haunting and mysterious fears takes more than the natural courage of the heart. No one would charge these shepherds with being cowards.
They would have laid down their lives for their sheep in a moment. But amid familiar and expected dangers, they were equal to the problem. but let unseen and mysterious things happen to them, and sudden pangs of fear. began to take over their stout hearts. No natural courage can ever keep fear at bay at such a moment.
They haunt and darken every human heart. And then he finishes this little sp Feat with these words: We all move through a mysterious universe. and from fears we are never safe. But one thing we do know. That neither height nor depth.
nor life nor death. can separate us from the love of Christ. in that love given and returned. lies the dismissal of a thousand fears. Yeah.
Sometimes in my study, when I read something like that, I just want to get up and dance around and praise the Lord. Do you understand that message? You know We often think that the opposite of fear is courage. But the opposite of fear is not courage. The opposite of fear is love.
When you truly know someone and you truly love someone, you don't fear that person. And if you are one of those people who get a little fearful, at this time of the year. Let me give you the anecdote of the scripture. Just fall in love with your Savior. all that much more.
Read about him, learn about him, come to grips with him, feel his love in you, and express your love to him. Write him a love letter and thank him for all that he has done for you. Bask your whole presence in the love of Jesus. And watch what happens as the fears in your life begin to just seep away. because you're caught up in the majesty.
of the Savior whose birth we celebrate at this season of the year.
Now we can understand these verses that we read. like 1 John 4.18. There is no fear in love. But perfect love casts out Fear. Or Second Timothy 1:7, God has not given us a spirit of fear.
but of power And of course Love and of a strong mind. The answer to fear is not courage. The answer to fear is love. This Christmas when the fingers of fear start to clutch at your heart, Remember three things. God still answers prayer.
God still keeps his promise, and God still has a purpose, and his purpose for you is wrapped up in the greatest Christmas verse of all the world. For God so loved the world. that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish. but have everlasting life. I've told you before that's the greatest Christmas passage in the Bible, and I believe it to be true.
Friends, I hope you're all ready for your celebration. We're thankful to have you with us today, and we'll be here on Christmas Day. You can count on us right here, the same place, same time. And we hope you'll join us as we celebrate the birthday of the one who came to give us life everlasting, who lives every day to make meaningful life available to you and me, and who's promised that our future will be bright because we'll be with him forever and ever in eternity. Thank you for listening on this special day.
God bless you. Merry Christmas to you. We'll see you tomorrow. Today's message came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church and senior pastor Dr. David Jeremiah.
We love hearing how God is using this ministry in your life.
So please write to us at TurningPoint, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163. Visit our website at davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's helpful new 365-day devotional for 2026, A Closer Walk with Jesus. Yours for a gift of any amount. You can also stream more than 1,200 of Dr.
Jeremiah's messages on demand on any screen with our streaming service Turning Point Plus for a monthly gift of any amount. Visit turningpointplus.org for details. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow for a special Christmas message right here on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
