It's A Boy -- a Life-Changing Announcement - by Pastor Allan

Following the birth of Jesus, God the Father was excited. Like all excited fathers, he told everybody – it’s a boy! And people reacted the same way they always do to that kind of announcement.

The Archangel Gabriel announced the birth of Jesus and to the shepherds (Luke 2:11). The shepherds told everybody in town (Luke 2:17) and recounted the announcement to each other in the fields (Luke 2:20).

The wise men received the announcement through a special star in the east (Mt. 2:2) and told everybody they met in Jerusalem (Mt. 2:1, 2), including Herod. Herod made everybody aware of this birth (Mt. 2:4, 16), albeit in a horrific way.

The priests and teachers of the law repeated the prophetic announcements (Mt. 2:5). Joseph and Mary made public announcements (Luke 2:21, 23). Simeon declared Jesus the Messiah in the Temple (Luke 2:25) and Anna talked about Jesus to everyone in the Temple (Luke 2:38).
God wanted the whole world to know. With these announcements God expected that everybody would understand the significance of the moment.

But, after the brief excitement, everybody went back to their routines of life. Nothing changed for them. After all, Jesus was somebody else’s baby; somebody else’s responsibility; an interesting occurrence (not a life-changing event).

That’s the sad part about Christmas . . .  it meant so much to God but so little to everybody else!
So why would Jesus come as a baby… especially knowing how people view somebody else’s baby?

Think about what having a baby means to us as parents. Our schedule revolves around them. They rule our finances – their needs are first. They rearrange our house – every room must be child proofed. They turn your choices of entertainment upside down. And they change our focus of what is really important in life.

God’s intention was that Jesus would move into our lives and homes to take over like babies always do.