Believe It or Not

On Wednesday, the church that I am with, for another week, had their Candlelight Service and I was asked to preach at it. This is what I talked about. From Luke 2:1-20.

Believe it or not the space shuttle weighs 4 million pounds on the launch pad. When it lands it weighs 230,000 pounds. Most of that weight is lost in the first 10 minutes of flight.

Believe it or not 17 tons of gold are used each year in the U.S. to make wedding rings.

Believe it or not Jesus Christ is the Son of God, born of a virgin, in Bethlehem.

Believe it or not the most overdue library book in the world was borrowed from Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, England and returned 288 years later.

We have no problem being able to verify facts. We can use scientific or mathematical or logical methods to arrive at facts.

The birth of Jesus is something that is factual, but sometimes we do not want to believe it. The narrative from Luke begins with a fact and ends with a fact--A decree went out (v.1); The shepherds left rejoicing (v.20). In between these we are faced with other facts. Facts of census, room, shepherds, and angels; all working in their humbleness which only adds to the story. At the end of the day we all have to decide whether or not we are going to believe this story or not, but then again this is just the beginning!