“I’ve got news for you!!” If someone comes to you with that line you had better watch out!! It can be something wonderful, or it can be just the opposite. “I’ve got news for you”, may be the words from someone that wants to catch you up on the latest gossip. “I’ve got news for you, we’re downsizing and guess who is being let go!” Not the type of news that you would want to hear!! Sometimes folks wait for the news from a doctor and after the news is spoken they wish some different news was given.

But sometimes the opening phrase, “I’ve got news for you” is the best news ever. You got the job or the promotion or the raise. The test results came out perfect. Another child is entering the world and it is yours! And the “did you hear?” brings great joy to your heart. News can be the best thing that can ever come our way.

That’s what my message tonight is about. It is about news. Good news. I am asking three things of you tonight concerning this sermon and our worship service. I want you to hear the news. I want you to believe the news. And then I want you to live the news. Hear. Believe. Live.

On that evening when Jesus Christ was born the shepherds were just minding their own business and taking care of their sheep and God interrupted their life. An angel appeared to them and the brilliance of his presence filled the sky and they were “sore afraid” - terrified. And I don’t blame them!! But, then, the angel told them the news. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)

This was the news that God’s people for many years had been waiting to hear. In the Old Testament Isaiah made this request, “Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down.” (Isaiah 64:1a) Hear the news. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, God in flesh, came here, right here, to our world, to our situations, for every moment when we receive the worst possible news. I want you to hear that Jesus actually came.

When this little baby is described He is given the work of Savior. My, they expected quite a bit out of this little guy!! Savior!! Being a Savior has to do with the payment of sin and forgiveness and the promise that our eternity would be spent not in the gloomy dungeons of hell but in the majesty of heaven. Savior. Rescuer. He is the One that can do what we cannot do. Way back in the Old Testament Cain and Abel, the first brothers of the first family didn’t get along. Before Cain took the deadly action against his own brother God confronted him about his anger and resentment. He said, “Sin is crouching at the door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:7) But he didn’t master it. It mastered him. He took the life of his brother!!

Sin too often seems to win the battle for the control of our life. We have made too many mistakes, too many wrong turns, too many choices that were foolish. So please hear what the angel said, “A Savior has been born to you.” This child is God’s answer for our sin. The hymn says that Jesus was born to given us second birth!! This morning I got up early to shovel the snow and the snow was brilliant, white and glistening. The passage from Isaiah seemed so appropriate – “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” (1:18)

Hear about the child. He is the Christ. That is His title – it means Anointed One, Chosen One, Messiah. It was no little thing for a Jewish person to state that finally, after many years of asking God to keep His promise of sending the Messiah to earth that He finally kept His word. Isaiah said, “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (9:6)

Hear the news about Him. He is Savior. He is the Christ. And He is Lord. We have one who will guide our lives into ways that are right and good. A Lord is a master and a leader. He comes to lead us all of our life.

FOX 31 was doing a segment on the worst Christmas gifts ever given or received. I bet you have a few that you remember opening or giving. One person said the worst gift that they ever received was a toilet plunger from their husband!! That might be one to re-gift!! Another got a box with two batteries inside and the box said, “Toy not included.” A couple of responses came from folks remembering disappointment of Christmas morning when they were children. One girl said that she was 10 years old she opened a present from her uncle who was an Amway Distributor and she was less than thrilled that he gave her some Amway Deodorant!! And another said they opened a box of chocolates with some joy, only to find that most of them had been eaten half-way! There are some amazingly bad gifts that people have given or received on this day!!

But this day is not a day for bad gifts but for good gifts and for thee best gift – Jesus coming for us. But the news that you have heard- Jesus who came as Savior, Christ and Lord, came to be your Savior, Christ and Lord is the news to be believed. Christ is the best gift that you could ever get on Christmas. I want you to believe this. When the shepherds heard the news the news became very personal. “Unto you is born this night in the City of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.”

The Denver Post in Wednesday’s paper said that Colorado is quite a non-religious state. A survey was taken asking questions about attendance in church, daily prayer and how important God was in daily life and 40 of the 50 States are more religious than Colorado. 71% of folks in Colorado do not attend worship services regularly. Too many folks have not heard the news, do not know the news and do not believe the news. Don’t be indifferent to this news. Every Tuesday or Wednesday a young person walks in my neighborhood delivering this newspaper (The Columbine Courier). I don’t subscribe to it. I don’t pay for it. But every week it comes. But never have I opened it. I pick it up and put it in my recycling bin.

Too many do the same with the message of Christ. Don’t be among them. This great account of God’s sending a Savior, the Christ, the Lord is designed to be received, believed, treasured and held on to. He came for you. He came to take away your sins, to bring you peace, to fill you with lasting joy, to bless your life. This night is intended by God to bring you faith in Jesus, your Savior. Faith, trust in Jesus will bring to you the assurance that you will live forever in heaven. Now, that’s news!!

And this news is also for others. The shepherds had a variety of reactions in our account in Luke 2. When the angel came it says that they were terrified. And then they were amazed. And then they spread the word that was shared with them about the child. They heard it. They believed it. They shared it.

Merrill Fie has been ringing the Salvation Army Bell for 54 years. His kettle is in downtown Denver (17^th and Tremont, I believe). He started young as a volunteer with the Kiwanis and has kept it up. In an interview he said, “Christmas is about others.” He has stood in the cold for the past 50 years during the month of December, spending countless hours, asking for contributions from others because Christmas is about others. He is right.

I want you to hear and believe the message. I want you to be a Christian. I want you to spend your life right now as a disciple, a follower of Jesus Christ and I want you to spend your eternity in heaven. There is nothing better than having the peace with God in life and the blessings of God forever in heaven because of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. But this news is not just for you. It is for the 79% of folks in Colorado who don’t come to church, who have no faith and no hope and no assurance that they have an eternity in heaven and no place for God in their lives right now.

Share the news with your words. Share the news with your life. Use every opportunity that God puts into your life to say with Merrill Fie that Christmas is about others.

One mother says that she is always sorry when Christmas is over because she knows that after her family has hung up their stockings on Christmas Eve it will be a whole year before any of them hang up anything again!! We don’t have to be sad when Christmas is over because the news stays with us. This is the good news that a Savior has been born. Hear it. Believe it. Live it. Amen!!