MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

Our Christmas and New Year greetings to you from Nancy and I and our family.  May the Lord bless your celebrations as we end one year and begin another. 

We are reminded that Christ came as a baby to fulfill prophecy, show humility and identify with our humanity. He died on a cross in payment for sin for all who turn to him in repentance and faith.  Praise the Lord He promised to come again for all who eagerly await Him.

Blessing at Christmas and in the New Year

Mark & Nancy Suko

Mat 1:22,23  

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."
 

CAN YOU REJECT THE VIRGIN BIRTH AND BE A CHRISTIAN?

The virgin birth refers to the miracle of the Holy Spirit causing Mary to conceive without knowing her husband Joseph. A more proper name for this is the "virgin conception." However, it has come to be known as the "virgin birth." 

Recently I've been thinking about this as Christmas is upon us. Is it possible for a person who says they are a Christian to deny the virgin birth? One teacher a few years ago said that the miracles Christ did verified who he was as God. Therefore, "I don't care how He got here. But how Christ got here is essential.

Someone who accepts the Gospel but has not yet heard of the virgin birth is still saved.  But if that person knowingly rejects the virgin birth they can't truly be saved. Why?  

To reject the virgin birth means Jesus had to have a human father. A man has to be introduced into the equation. Some think Joseph may have had relations with her and then suggested the virgin birth idea to cover his tracks. Others posit that a Roman soldier impregnated her and the idea of the "virgin birth" somehow grew out of that. But the text of the Old and New Testament clearly supports the virgin birth (cf. Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; 9:6; Jer. 31:22; Mat. 1; Lu. 1;).  

If Jesus was not born of a virgin then He was not the sinless savior who came to die for our sin. It would mean that the sin nature of man, that is passed from the human father (Rom. 5:12), was also within Jesus.  If Jesus had a sin nature then he was also a sinner by nature like all who are the sons of Adam.  The sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament was to be unblemished or perfect so it would be acceptable to God as a sin Sacrifice  (Ex. 12:5; I Pet. 1:29). That was a picture of Christ's perfect and sinless sacrifice for us.  He can only be our perfect sacrifice by being virgin born with no sin nature (Heb. 9:12-14). 

It is good for us to think this through and to teach them to our children at Christmas. The virgin birth and the resurrection of Christ are bookend miracles affirming Christ as God but also are essential in the very work of salvation.  

I like the little the way the Irish pastor, Dr. Ian Paisley, put it in this short poem.

          A Virgin unspotted the prophets foretold,
      Should bring forth a Savior which now we behold.
            To be our Redeemer from death, hell and sin
      Which Adam's transgression had wrapped us up in.

Join us Christmas Eve morning at 10:30 for our special Christmas Eve service celebrating the birth of our savior. Our choir and musicians have put together much Christmas music as Adria illustrates in chalk the Christmas message I will bring. One service only.

Nancy and I would like to wish you all a blessed Christmas as you celebrate the birth of the Savior. 

Pastor Mark

Writing to you from LA, CA

A BABY OR THE HAWKS

Nancy said to our friend, "I want to show you something."  She headed to the left, not the usual way to church, and then turned to come down Wollochet Dr. toward the church. Maria gasped at  the sight. "No words could describe it," she said later. A block or two from the church there was a solid line of cars parked on both sides of Wollochet to the turn off and beyond for another block or two. A Sheriff's cruiser with blue flashing lights idled as an officer waved cars and people on to Gustafson Dr..  Many were also trudging in the dark toward our church.  Some pushed strollers while other cars in the street idled for their turn to get to parking.

Meanwhile the same scene played out on the other end of Gustafson where more double lines of cars were parked as an officer waved walkers and drivers toward our church.  Meanwhile a host of helpers from Harbor Covenant, our neighboring church, helped direct cars into their parking lot that held about 200. They then walked across the street to enter our little village of Bethlehem to experience what it might have been like the night Christ was born of a virgin in a stinking animal shelter.  

We really didn't think we'd have much of a turn out due to the heavy rain the night and that we had not advertised in the papers and there was a Seahawks game; but we were wrong. This was our 19th Living Nativity. It has grown from a couple of hundred people to a record 5,676 people who came to walk through in the cold night air under a super moon. Many others tried to come but turned back when they saw the lines. It was like a sea of people waiting to cross the street to get in. Many waited nearly hour to park and shivered in the cold to see this event.  

How is it that a tiny Jewish baby born 2,000 years ago can draw multiple thousands here and  around the world? It’s amazing that this baby makes the Hawks play second string. The only reasonable answer is that this is no myth. It is a real story about ancient prophecy fulfilled when God chose to reveal Himself as the Christ, the Son of God.  No other explanation works or even comes close.  God became man to come and die for our sin on the cross so those who repent can be forgiven eternally by His grace.  

One of the guests who came sent us this wonderful video he took on his phone.  Thanks, Jason, for doing that.  Click here. https://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryBC/videos/1934229749950458/

Watch the Discovery Baptist Facebook page for it as well as an album of pictures coming soon that were taken this year at the Living Nativity. Your photo may be there. 

Sat. Dec. 10th 9AM help is needed to put away Nativity Structures.

Our Thanksgiving Offering for the year is open through Dec. 31 and will go to the Choose Life Center run by Holly Friesen in Odessa, Ukraine.