Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

This morning, we are beginning a new four-week series entitled Unwrapping Christmas, where we are going to look at the promises, plans, presence, and praise revealed in the birth of Jesus.

What I love most about this story is that it is the unveiling moment of God’s foretold promise. The holiday we celebrate isn’t the start of God’s plan. It’s the proof He always had one.

The plan of God began with the promise of a savior long before the world saw its fulfillment. If we go all the way back to the Genesis account of man’s fall in the garden in Genesis 3:15. We will see that God’s response to the temptation and fall of man holds the moment the promise of a savior was given.

Not only is he exactly who He claims to be, but He also does not change. The hope that was revealed in the Garden of Eden was also later declared by two prophets roughly 700-800 years before the promise would be fulfilled.

A few things I want you to understand:

1. What God declares will be realized in His timing.
The initial declaration of the promise was in the Garden roughly 4,000 years before Christ’s birth, and the prophetic words were given 700-800 years before Christ’s birth.

It would serve us well to recognize that we are not in control of when promises are fulfilled, but to get it deep into our spirit that they will be fulfilled.

Consider this thought in reference to the second coming of Christ. It can seem once again that the promise will not be fulfilled, but just as God proved faithful the first time He came, He will once again prove faithful to His word the second time.

2. What God speaks, He will do. The words of Genesis and the Prophets shifted from prophetic proclamation to reality at the Birth of Christ because God does not lie, and He is faithful to His word.

The reality of these passages is that we can take courage in every situation we face because we know that God is faithful to His word.

In our moments of failure, His promises remain. Psalm 119:90“Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides.”

When we fall short, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

He is faithful to complete his good work in us. Philippians 1:6“being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;”

He is faithful to watch over His word to perform it. Jeremiah 1:12 “Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.”

God’s promises to the believer have not changed. He will do what He said He would do. Simply remember, the fulfillment of His promises may not always happen the way we expect, but God is indeed faithful.

Hide His promises in your heart, learn to trust His timing, and you too will see the faithfulness of God in your life.