Frankie Mazzapica - It's Christmas
All right, let’s dive right into it. The title of my message this morning is… This took a lot of creativity. «It’s Christmas», it’s Christmas! What a cool graphic! We even got a rooster in it! Pastor Chiago, wherever you are, that was awesome! Hey, there he is! Look at that, he’s the director of media, and he’s on a camera this morning. Give him a big round of applause; he has his leather jacket on.
When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, the entire world was in complete shock that a human being went into outer space and landed on a planet. If we could see God with our physical eyes without dying, we would look at this eternal, never-ending being. There is nowhere you can go and see the end of Him; He is eternal. Imagine Him coming out—not landing like Neil Armstrong on the moon. That was a man landing on a planet; we’re talking about God landing on the earth. Think about how, not to say the word humiliating, it is for a God, a spirit, to put on flesh and come in the form of a baby.
I’m going to present three reasons why Jesus, the Son of God, is exactly like you and me—no different at all. Then, I’ll share three reasons why He is completely different. The first similarity I want to share is how He was born. He was a tiny heartbeat. Raise your hand if you’re a mom in this room. When you got an ultrasound (if you’re young enough to have gotten one), the only thing you saw was a flicker. Nod your head if you know what I’m talking about. Even the dads in this room know; that’s all you saw! The doctor said, «You’re pregnant,» and you were looking at this. The heart existed before the brain; the heart did not need a brain to exist and beat. The heart is the spark of God. People can have cancer in their brain, cancer in their skin, cancer in their bones, or cancer in their mind, but nobody has ever had cancer inside their heart. You cannot put cancer in the spark of God; you can’t do it.
In fact, scientists figured out how to put cancer in a Petri dish. If you take a human heart and put it in the dish, not only can the cancer not get into the heart, but the heart kills the cancer around it. You can’t get in there; cancer cannot wrap itself around a heart—it can go around the heart, but it can’t hang onto it. That little tiny heartbeat was God’s heart; He was born just like us. In Philippians 2:7, it says that He made Himself of no reputation. He didn’t come out of nowhere, walking around with a crown; He made Himself of no reputation; He just showed up. That’s how He is like us: He was born like us.
Number two, and this is crazy: while He was walking in human flesh, He was tempted. All of us experience temptation—the temptation to do what we know we should not do. We are tempted daily. I shouldn’t say this, I shouldn’t think this, I shouldn’t do this. To think that the Son of God came down onto this earth and was tempted just like us! He was tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane when He told the Lord, «Let this cup pass from me. I know I came down here to suffer; I came to hang on the cross, but let this cup pass from me.» He was tempted to step away from His entire assignment.
But here’s the temptation I want to spend just a few seconds on. In Matthew 4:8, it says that He fasted and meditated on His Father and prayed for 40 days and 40 nights. Now, I have always been astounded by that. I’ve met a couple people who have fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Raise your hand if you did it or if you know somebody who did. Just kind of wave your hand. If you ever looked at the person or looked at yourself in the mirror after that fast, you’d see skin wrapped around a skeleton! Now, if that’s not difficult enough, I went to Israel and saw the Mount of Temptation. Here’s a picture of it. Let me get out of everybody’s way. That’s where Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights.
When I looked at that, my first thought was, «There are no trees up there.» Now, when people fast, they want to spend as much time sleeping as possible. Can you imagine sleeping there? You can clearly see that it’s hot most of the year. Now, when I visited, it was winter, and it was very cold. But look at this: If it was very cold, what was He cuddling up with? Maybe He brought Himself a little blanket. But if it was hot, He was starving and had nowhere to go. Somehow or another, He said in Matthew 4:4, «Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word spoken from God.» This is how He was staying alive.
But in Matthew 4:8, it talks about how the devil tempted Him. If you ever want to read a book that will blow your mind, find the book *The Arco Volumes* (A-R-C-H-O). The Bible is not the only book of history that talks about Jesus; it’s just the only book in history that’s the inspired word of God. But other people wrote about Jesus and what was taking place. There was a man named Gel who was the leader of the Sanhedrin; he was the leading priest among priests. When that star went in the air, he saw it. In *The Arco Volumes*, it talks about how when that mass of angels showed up, the entire countryside saw those angels. It wasn’t just the three wise men, and it wasn’t just Mary and Joseph; everyone saw it. But it was only the three wise men who knew and had the revelation of what it meant.
Everyone else’s minds were blown away. Gel went on the hunt some 20 years later. Gel knew the Scriptures written in Isaiah that there was going to be a Savior who would come down—Isaiah was written far earlier. He went on the hunt; he wondered if the angels were announcing what Isaiah wrote. He went among the locals, and they said, «The rumor is there’s a young girl named Mary who was impregnated by the Holy Spirit. None of us even believe that, but that’s the rumor.» Gel was like, «That’s what the Scriptures say.» So he went to the family of Mary and Joseph and interviewed them. Mary said it’s true, Joseph said it’s true, and obviously the brothers and sisters born afterward didn’t even believe it either.
So Gel said, «I’d like to interview Jesus.» He was in his mid-20s, and Mary and Joseph said he always wanders off by himself. They don’t know where he is; he wanders off and then comes home. So he heard word, and this is not in my message, but I’ll try to get through the other points quickly. He found his best friend, Lazarus. You know the guy—Lazarus, come forth—and he came back to life. That was his best friend. He spent a lot of time with Lazarus’s sisters, Mary and Martha. He found Mary and Martha, but Lazarus went with him. They said, «Where’s Jesus? I want to interview him.» They said, «He’s off with Lazarus; they always wander off together.»
So he found Lazarus, but Jesus wasn’t with him. He interviewed Lazarus and asked, «What’s it like walking around with Him?» He goes, «When we walk into the wilderness together, you feel this sense of peace. You’re not afraid of anything; you just know He’s taking care of you. Wild beasts like tigers and lions will just walk right up to you, and they’ll lean against Jesus like a dog leans against you or a cat leans against you, and you just pet them. You have no fear.»
See, not only was He born like us, He was tempted like us. He was not only tempted, but He also experienced rejection like us. But here’s the God part, which I kind of already jumped into: He was God. Jesus is God. Even though the Triune being fully exists—there’s God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—in John 10:30, Jesus says, «I and the Father are one.» So the way He is nothing like us is that He is God. This is beyond our imagination. The only parallel I can come up with is that you yourself are a triune being: you have skin, you have a spirit, and you have a soul. They are like air; there’s oxygen and then there’s carbon. How do you say it: monoxide or dioxide? It’s a dioxide. Boy, was I off! All of that is bundled together in front of us, and we can’t see it. It’s the same; so He’s God.
Number two, He’s a Savior. In Ephesians 2:8 and 9, it says, «For we are saved by grace through faith. It is not of ourselves, like we are super good; we can’t brag about it. It’s a gift from God.» He is a Savior.
Not only is Jesus God, not only is He a Savior, but my last and final point is He is Emmanuel—He’s among us. In Matthew 1:23, it says that He is Emmanuel, which means He is among us. What that means is not only is He God, not only is He a Savior, but He’s also here; He’s among us. But to take it even further, not only is He around us, but He’s within us. He’s with us in a way that I am not with you in this room. There’s a whole other level, and this is what Christmas is all about.
Can we give Jesus a round of applause? Come on, let’s give it to Him! Go ahead and stand up on your feet. Let’s give Him a standing ovation! Come on, He deserves a standing ovation! We love you, Jesus! We love you, Jesus! Our worship team is coming up here, and we’re going to close in a moment of praise.
I don’t think we need to bring the blinds down for this part of the service, but thank you for going there. Before I walk off the platform, I want to give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to minister to you. I’m going to pray, and I’ll take a few breaks in the middle of the prayer—about 10 seconds between each break—to give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to minister to you.
What I’d like for you to do is lift your chin, close your eyes, and try to visualize Jesus’s face to the very best of your ability because that’s how we should pray; that’s how we should worship. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, it says, «If my people humble themselves and pray and seek my face.» That’s what He wants us to do; there are moments where we come before Him humbly, but He wants us to seek His face.
So I’d like for you to just raise your hands where you are, lift your chin, close your eyes, seek His face, and I just want you to whisper to Him what you would like for Him to do in your life right now. You don’t have to put voice to your whisper because the person next to you doesn’t need to know your business, but at least move your lips, move your mouth, and ask your Savior, Emmanuel, what you want.
In the name of Jesus, by the authority of the King, begin to bless your people now. Holy Spirit, our great comforter, begin to comfort and bless your people now, right now, in the name of Jesus. Holy Spirit, make yourself known to them. Make yourself known to them; let them be aware of your presence right now in Jesus’s name.
I don’t want anyone to pray; just allow me to pray over you. Holy Spirit, begin to make yourself known to them right now. We honor You, and we love You. I’d like for everyone to say this out loud as we just make our intentions clear: «Jesus, I’m so sorry for my sins.» Come on, say it like you mean it. «I’m so sorry for my sins. I renounce them all in Your name right now.» Go ahead and say, «I renounce them all, and I’m sorry for them all. I belong to You. I belong to You, and I want to live for You.» I want to live in Jesus’s name.