Joseph Prince — Your Reason For A Fear Free Life
Praise the Lord. Lift your voices and give him praise, church. Hallelujah to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We give you praise, Lord. With one heart, one voice, Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus, and a blessed Christmas to every one of you, amen, amen. Feliz Navidad, amen.
Look at one another and now learn one Hebrew word. Say this word, al tirah. Say it again. You said it right, well done. Al tirah, what does that mean? You'll get to know in a while's time. You may be seated. At least greet three or four persons around you. Tell them, "Blessed Christmas. Have a great new year.
"You're seated by a cool guy, a wonderful woman, don't worry, I won't sleep and slobber on you, it's Christmastime." Praise God. Give him all a wonderful, wonderful thank you and God bless you, every one of you. Praise the Lord. It's Christmas again, Hallelujah.
And every time, you know, for me it's the best celebration of the year as far as I'm concerned. Birthday, no, nowadays especially even though the Lord renews my youth like the eagles but for me, it's Christmas. Christmas, although Christmas celebrates the birth of our Savior, it is not his birth that saved us, it is his death, amen?
And the Bible says that the gospel of Luke when Jesus about years old at this time, he was in the Pharisee's house and a woman came with the alabaster box of ointment and she wept beside his feet.
In those days, they would recline as they eat. So Jesus was facing his guest, a Pharisee, and the woman came behind and she wept. The Bible used a very beautiful word. She bedews, the English word is like dew, drops of dew falling on his feet.
Her tears washed his feet and then she bent down and took her her hair. And then she broke the alabaster box of ointment. I forgot to tell you that every Jewish girl would save the alabaster box of ointment for the one that she loves.
On the day that she marries, she but she broke hers and poured it on Jesus. She poured it on his feet. And Jesus looked at the Pharisee and say--and said this--because the Pharisee was saying this, you know, this religious man who knows all the laws and the commandments. He said in his heart, "If this Jesus is truly a man of God, he will know what kind of woman this is."
So, Jesus answered his thoughts and Jesus says, "Simon, I want to ask you something. There was once two people that owed money from a landlord, from a creditor, and one of them owed a thousand, the other owed hundred thousand. When they both can't pay him, he forgave them both. Which of the two do you think will love him more?"
Now Jesus was now speaking his language, money. And the Pharisee said, "I guess the one who was forgiven more." "I came to your house, you gave me no customary greeting. You didn't kiss me. You didn't wash my feet with water," because in those days in Israel, it gets dusty as they walk the streets. And it's only polite that you have a pail of water to wash your guest's feet.
Well, he gave Jesus no such honor, neither did he prepare an ointment, because it was hot, to anoint his head. Usually it's olive oil, cheap oil. Jesus said, "You didn't give me cheap oil, but this woman has not ceased to bedew my feet with her tears. She has not ceased to wipe my feet with her hair and she gave me the most costly ointment.
Do you know why she's doing this, Simon? Because she knows she's forgiven much. Those who love much are those who know they're forgiven much." So, somewhere along the way that woman knew that Jesus has forgiven her, maybe they had an encounter somewhere, maybe she was the woman that Jesus saved from that stoning and now she's showing her appreciation.
What is interesting to me was this that when Jesus spoke to the Pharisee, he talked about her works but when Jesus turned to her and looked at her directly, Jesus says, "Woman, your faith," he spoke to her of her faith. I think that's beautiful. It's not your works that saved you, it's your faith.
By as far as the Word is concerned, Jesus talked about her works 'cause that's how the world understands. Before Christ came as a baby be born in Bethlehem, you must understand one thing, his existence didn't start in Bethlehem or in the virgin's womb. He existed.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, In Hebrew, hesed ve-emet, full of grace and truth, full of grace and truth.
Jesus existed with the Father but one God, triune God, There are no three God, there's only one God. Even among the Jewish people when they prayed the Shema, they say, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God." They call this the Shema, but in the Hebrew language, it says the Lord, our God is one. One can be single one, it can be united one and in the Hebrew it's united one, echad, one, triune God.
God gave his Son. As the Son he was given but as a child, he was born. So, in Isaiah, chapter , the prophet Isaiah prophesied these words... For unto us a child is born unto us a Son is given And the government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty God The everlasting Father and the Prince of peace is he If you are troubled, and you are anxious, and you are worried, listen, he's the Prince of peace.
Isaiah will say it like this, Sar Shalom, the Captain of peace, the Prince of peace, and the peace that Jesus gives is an aggressive peace. It's not dependent on things outside being peaceful but even in the midst of your difficulty, in the midst of your problem, in the midst of going through the fire, deep down there's a peace that's aggressive.
Jesus said it like this on the night before he was crucified, I mean one would have thought that you'll be anticipating the pain, the agony, the separation from the Father, exposed to shame and all kinds of suffering on that cross but the night before he was crucified he looked at his disciples and he said,
Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, not as the world gives. The world gives peace but a false kind that goes away when things and circumstances fail to line up but not as the world Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Now here is where I want to tell you what you said just now in Hebrew, al tirah is the message from heaven.
Al tirah means fear not. If somebody comes from heaven and somebody comes fresh from there, a citizen of heaven, a heavenly being, an angel, and he comes fresh from heaven where he comes from a place where there is no chaos, where there is no disease and sickness, where is there no death, there is no decay, what would he say to a world that is fallen because of man's sin, that a world that's rebellious, a world that doesn't care about God and they don't care, they don't care about God, but God still loves them?
But if a heavenly being comes from heaven, what will his message be? And the Christmas story tells us that when the angel appeared to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist because his son John the Baptist will prepare the way the message is don't be afraid.
"Do not be afraid, Zechariah. Do not be afraid. Your prayer is heard." I love the way Zechariah means God remembers. Don't be afraid, God remembers what you prayed. Don't be afraid, God remembers. Don't be afraid, your prayer is heard. So, the message from a heavenly being is this, they see us creatures in this earth here so full of stress, worry, anxiety.