Luke 1 shows us the critical role of the Holy Spirit in creating Christmas for Mary, Jesus, John the Baptist and his parents. Let's thank the Holy Spirit for His role in the birth of Jesus! Let's let the Holy Spirit make us "pregnant" with the character and works of Jesus this Christmas just as He made Mary pregnant with Jesus to save the world. Listen to the audio recording of this message at: http://www.john10-10.org/john10-10/Sermon_Audios/Entries/2014/12/7_Getting_to_Know_the_Holy_Spirit%2C_Part_4__How_He_Brought_Us_Christmas.html

1. Getting to Know the Holy Spirit: Part 4!
The Birth of the Messiah!
December 7, 2014! !
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A medical doctor named Luke wrote two research papers 2000 years ago which
document the beginnings of three major events.! !
His first research paper called The Gospel of Luke tells the story of the how the birth
of two cousins came about. These two cousins changed the world forever. In Dr.
Luke’s second research paper, he describes the beginnings of the Christian Church
in what is now called The Acts of the Apostles. ! !
Being a medical doctor who had probably helped deliver many babies, it is not an
accident that God chose Dr. Luke to describe the birth of these two incredible men and
the birth of the Church which Jesus founded before He returned to heaven. ! !
Today’s message will be taken from Luke’s first research paper, chapter one. ! !
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things
accomplished among us 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from
the beginning [were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, 3 it seemed fitting for
me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to
write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; 4 so that you
may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.
!
Note the words here: investigated everything carefully..so we would know the
exact truth—just like a scientist would do, a medical investigator in this case. !
Luke shows the precision and orderliness we would expect of a doctor. His
writings are excellent history even from a secular viewpoint. !
Even secular historians will tell you that Dr. Luke is one of the best historians of
the ancient world. For example, Luke’s description of how the crew handled the
sinking ship in the storm in Acts 27 is said to be the best description of such an
event in all of ancient literature. !!!
Today’s message is the fourth in our series on the Holy Spirit.
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We now live in the Age of the Holy Spirit.
!

2. The OT revealed God the Father to mankind. The New Testament revealed Jesus to
the world.
!
After Jesus returned to heaven, Jesus and the Father fully revealed the Holy Spirit to
the followers of Jesus. They sent the Holy Spirit to finish what they started.
!
We now live in the last days before Jesus returns. The job of the Holy Spirit is to
prepare a glorious, global Bride for Jesus who will rule and reign with Him,
sharing for eternity the inheritance Jesus received from the Father! !
Can you imagine how the Holy spirit felt when it was time for Jesus to be born? !
The Holy Spirit had been prompting dozens of men to write about the coming of
the Messiah for 1200 years. !
Now the time has come! !
Now the offspring of Eve would crush the head of the serpent as the Spirit had
Moses write in Genesis. !
Now the virgin would conceive and birth a son called Emmanuel as the Spirit had
Isaiah write. !
Now the Son would be born to us who would be called Eternal Father, Mighty
God, Wonderful Counselor! !
Now the mighty One was to be born in Bethlehem as the Spirit had Micah write. !
The Holy Spirit had been working for over 1000 years to prepare the way for this
day and it was finally about to happen!
He must have been so excited He could jump out of His skin—if He had skin! :) !!
Remember: Since God is One God in three Persons, all three members of the
Godhead do everything together, but they assign one Member of the Trinity for
certain purposes and times of history. God is the Initiator, Jesus the Liberator and
the Spirit is the Facilitator. !
The purpose of this series on the Holy Spirit is to help us all to know Him better. The
Holy Spirit is God, He is Lord and He lives inside every true follower of Jesus.
!
But He is so humble, so meek that He always points us to Jesus and the Father. He
is a complete Person, just as Jesus and the Father are but His personality is to only

3. do what the Father commands and what the Son provides by His grace won on
Calvary.
!
The better we know the Holy Spirit, the more we fellowship with Him, the more
we will do the will of God and glorify Jesus. !
Today, let’s investigate the role of the Holy Spirit in creating the wonderful event we
call Christmas, the Birth of Jesus, the Incarnation of God into human flesh.
!
The Holy Spirit wants us to understand & appreciate His role in creating
Christmas! He deserves this honor!
!
Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the
division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name
was Elizabeth. 6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking
blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. 7 But they had
no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years. !
8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the
appointed order of his division, 9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was
chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.
!
12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. !
13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has
been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the
name John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
!
15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor,
and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.
!
Note that the Holy Spirit was filling the body of John even in the womb. Let no
one ever say that an unborn baby is not a full-person deserving all the
protections of any person. God saw fetus John as a person who needed to be
filled with His Presence. !!
16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. 17 It is he
who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the
hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of
the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
!

4. John had a high calling. No one else had it. He was to prepare Israel for the three
year public ministry of Jesus. !
The Holy Spirit was sent into the womb of Elizabeth by the Father and Jesus to
make sure John was spiritually ready to fulfill His calling. !!
Jesus’ Birth Foretold
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee
called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
29 But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of
salutation this was.
!
30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with
God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High;
and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign
over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
!
34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”
!
Note: this was a good question, not one of unbelief. God had never made a virgin
pregnant before. There was no biblical precedent for what the angel promised
and Mary was justly concerned about her purity as a virgin. !
35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy
Child shall be called the Son of God.
!
38 And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me
according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
!
Now John 3:16 says God the Father sent Jesus to save us, but it is the Holy Spirit
Who makes Mary pregnant with Jesus—not the Father. !
Just in in creation of the world that Gen. 1:1 records:
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and
void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was
moving over the surface of the waters.
!

5. See that: God the Father commanded a world to be born and the Holy Spirit was
hovering over the water world of earth like a hen over an egg that needs to hatch—
seemingly to birth the lands of the world and the creatures of the world. !
Here in Luke’s Gospel, God the Father commands that Jesus be born of Mary and the
Holy Spirit empowers the birth by “overshadowing” Mary and making her pregnant
with the DNA of the Father.
!
The Holy Spirit And John’s Family !
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of
Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When
Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit.
!
42 And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and
blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And how has it happened to me, that the mother
of my Lord would come to me? ( Word of knowledge proving divinity of Jesus!)
!
44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in
my womb for joy (filled with Spirit?).
!
Look how the Holy Spirit used Elizabeth to encourage this teenage girl carrying a child
that most people would think was conceived out of wedlock. She was probably
dreading what her family and neighbors would say as they noticed her belly getting
bigger with child.
!
So, the Holy Spirit lifts her spirits by this amazing prophetic word from Elizabeth. No
wonder Mary stayed there three months while Elizabeth finished her pregnancy. Three
months with this Spirit-filled woman and her Spirit-filled unborn baby strengthened
Mary as she returned to her town of Nazareth. At 3-4 months of pregnancy, she would
be showing. Now the gossip would really start. But Mary was ready now to face it after
the ministry of the Spirit through Elizabeth.
!!
After John is Born
67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:
!
“And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways; !

6. That is only part of one of most beautiful Messianic prophecies in the Bible—from
the mouth of someone whom God struck dumb due to his sin of unbelief nine
months earlier. !
This story about Zacharias reminds us that the Holy Spirit refines and corrects us, and
ultimately uses us in spite of our failures and weaknesses. We must never grow weary of
God’s discipline—because in the end, we will emerge with a message from Him.
80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the
deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
!
Why Was John & Both filled with Spirit? !
Can you imagine the bittersweet joy of old parents raising an active child? It’s
hard when you are older. Also hard to know that you won’t live to see any
grandchildren. Harder when your only child has to leave home as a teen perhaps
to go live in the deserts and prepare himself to be the great prophet who
announces the arrival of the Messiah to Israel. !
By filling them with Himself, the Holy Spirit comforted and strengthened John and
his parents for the unusual and difficult life ahead for all of them. The Spirit also
began to disciple John even in the womb for the gigantic role he was to play in
revealing the Messiah Jesus to the world. !
God wanted every Jew to be ready to receive Jesus the Messiah so He
commissioned John to get them ready by his prophetic preaching. !
The Holy Spirit did that for baby Jesus. !!
Conclusion & Applications!
At Christmas each year, all Christians celebrate the time when God the Holy Spirit and
an illiterate teenage girl formed a partnership that produced the Savior of the world,
Jesus the Messiah. ! !
That partnership has not only allowed us to become children of God but it has become a
model for all of us now who follow Jesus. ! !
The Holy Spirit made Mary pregnant with Jesus.! !
The Holy Spirit wants to make us “pregnant” with the life, character and power of Jesus
in our daily lives to others can know Jesus, too. ! !
So what is the Holy Spirit wanting to partner with you in this Christmas season?! !

7. For your family? Friends, neighbors? Others? ! !
The Holy Spirit wants an intimate partnership with us—just as He had with Mary—to
make us all pregnant with the life of Jesus. ! !
Let’s ask the Holy Spirit now what is on His mind for us this Christmas. How does
he want to birth the life and works of Jesus through us this Christmas? Talk to
Him now and then we can report back together. ! !5
minutes with music! !
Report back! !
He told me: Gifts to Muslims at Mosque. Want to help?! !