The main block of the sermon elucidates in detail the time and place of the birth of The Messiah. Not in an open-air hut as shown in common Christmas cards, but in a strong, protective tower. Not lain in a rickety wooden crib, but in a sturdy, protective stone manger. Not showing lots of bare skin but carefully wrapped in cloth of from a source of highly-significant spritual nature. Not surrounded by a crowd of shepherds and Three Kings/Magi/Wise-Men, but attended by several awe-struck priest-shepherds (the Magi came later).

The time and place are deduced from several items of historical fact and various items of meterological information. There is a wealth of information about the nature of the place, the people involved and the circumstances that led to the events that unfolded. There’s the prophecy in the book of Micah tied into it all.

To conclude there is a proposed “Christmas Greeting” designed to avoid giving offence to the current crop of individuals who are reported to have started taking offence at “Happy Christmas”! (This proposal may be a little “tongue-in-cheek” )

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The transcript will be available within a few days

PS0: ::: The latest development on the “Transcript” section is that the text-file will be subject to far less preparation than before – less editing and correction. It will still be converted to sentence-column form as before, but any trimming and polishing will be left to the user. Any shortcomings in the transcription software should be pretty obvious and so not a problem in getting the meaning (and the audio file will provide the necessary clarification if required )

PS1: ::: {not-so-}NEW FORMAT of the transcript.
To ease the processing and preparation of the transcript, and we hope improve the readability of the text, a new format was been adopted in mid October. This breaks the text into sentences instead of arbitrarily-sized “paragraphs”. When the reader opens the file in a program such as Notepad (in MS Windows), then the appearance can be just like a newspaper column. The format is such that the user has many options available, depending on preferences and what software they like to use.
Any feedback on usefulness, improvement suggestions, or whatever, would be most welcome.

PS2 ::::: TRANSCRIPT OF THE SERMON
There is a “button” labelled “Save Video” (or “Download Video” sometimes). This actually links to a text-file to download. It is a transcript of the sermon. At present it is at an experimental stage: it is an aid to getting the most out of the sermon audio. There is no substitute for listening to the verbal delivery of a sermon. However, searching through an audio file lasting the best part of an hour can be somewhat difficult. When you approach the search knowing that you’re sure there is something about “redemption”, for example, then a transcript text-search can take you right there and show you the time in the recording where you will find it! The file is simple “text” rather than a more sophisticated form so that you can edit or reformat as you prefer. This transcript is in 2 forms (in the one file). One half consists of normal text arrangement. These ‘blocks’ were at purely arbitrary boundaries (boundaries were inserted at about 800 character intervals, purely to avoid having one huge unbroken deluge of text, i.e. no attempt at grammatical accuracy). The format has now been changed as described above in PS1. The other section is short bunches of words (8 to 12 nomally) beneath the TIMES at which they occur (for the whole sermon).
This facility is in development (“experimental” as mentioned above) so any feedback on usefulness, improvement suggestions, or whatever, would be most welcome.

The post Christmas 2025 – Part 2 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

Q. What do the Wise Men, Simeon and Anna all have in common? (see Luke Ch2 vs 25-26 / 36-38 / Matt 2:2)

A. The arrival of Israel’s new-born king didn’t take them by surprise! They had been patiently awaiting, and expecting, His arrival.

The Wise Men (Matthew gives them their proper title ‘Magi’ in the original Greek text), had been waiting since the time of the prophet Daniel, some 500 years earlier, for the arrival of the One who was to be King of the Jews – but who were these Magi, why had they travelled so far? Why did all Jerusalem shake at their arrival,

Join pastor Barry as we uncover more hidden truths from the Christmas story. 

May you have a blessed and Christ-Centred Christmas!

The post The Hidden Treasures of Christmas – Part 2 (2023) first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

The story of Christmas doesn’t begin 2000 years ago in a manger in Bethlehem, the origin of Christmas can be traced back to before the foundation of the world!

Join with pastor Barry in this, the first part of a two-part series, looking at the hidden treasures that can be found in the Christmas story we all think we know!

May you be blessed and encouraged by this study.

(The PowerPoint slides used in this study are available for free download – in PDF format).

The post The Hidden Treasures of Christmas – Part 1 (2023) first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this 2nd session we look at the other half of the Christmas message – Christ the King!

In our previous session we saw that the truth of Christmas has been obfuscated by tradition, and how that Jesus came as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world, born in Bethlehem, the town of sacrificial lambs, and specifically in ‘In the Tower of the Flock’ (Migdal Edar) on the outskirts of Bethlehem as prophesied by Micah. We noted how, as a lamb destined to be offered as a sacrificial offering in Jerusalem, He had to be without blemish and so was wrapped in ‘swaddling cloths’ and laid in a manger.

The Levitical shepherds were chosen by God to be the first to see this new born baby precisely because it was their job to inspect the sacrificial lambs that would later be offered in Jerusalem.

But as we now come to consider ‘Christ the King’ we jump forward around two years to the time the wise men (Magi) from the east arrived.

As with the Lamb, the story of Israel’s King begins back in the book of Genesis and is unfolded throughout the Old Testament. In Genesis 14 we see a line of kings and priests, which included  Melchizedek, that ruled and reigned in Jerusalem for a period of 1000 years – and incredible model in advance of the Millennial reign of Christ! God established the monarchy in Israel but through the prophet Hosea stated His ultimate goal that “I will be thy king: where is any other that may save thee in all thy cities? and thy judges of whom thou saidst, Give me a king and princes?” (Hosea 13:10).

The last king to sit and reign on the Throne of David in Jerusalem was Zedekiah. He was subjugated and eventually defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. The ‘crown’ was then effectively taken to Babylon , where it remained for 500 years until a group of Magi – a priestly Medo-Persian sect that the prophet Daniel had once been made ruler over – brought the crown back from Babylon intent on giving it to the rightful King of Israel!

Daniel had evidently instructed these Magi regarding the prophesied coming of the Jewish Messiah. The Magi were renowed for their wise counsel and thus they were consulted by Eastern rulers regarding affairs of state,  in particular, the appointment of a new king!

There had been a long rivalry between the Roman Empire, who had granted Herod the title ‘king of the Jews’ and the Parthian Empire, that had been far more sympathetic toward Israel.

Into the midst of this highly charged political environment come – not three kings on camels (tradition is very wide of the mark here!) – but, a great number of Magi looking to anoint and bring their homage to the rightful King of the Jews! No wonder Herod was shaken – and all Jerusalem with him!

As Dr Chuck Missler comments: “The Magi, likely traveling in force with unimaginable oriental pomp and adequate cavalry escort to insure their safe penetration of Roman territory, certainly alarmed Herod and the entire populace of Jerusalem”

Jesus was of the Jewish royal line through both Joseph (via Solomon – Matthew Ch1) and Mary (via Nathan – Luke Ch3), now the Magi ratified that fact.

Before becoming King, Jesus had to first fulfil His role as ‘Lamb of God’ to take away the sins of the world. But when Jesus returns, He will establish His throne and rule over Israel and the whole world from Jerusalem.

“He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end”. (Luke 1:32)

“The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David; he will not turn from it; Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne” (Psalm 132:10)

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever”. (Daniel 2:44)

“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2)

“And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one… And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles”. (Zechariah 14:9, 16)

–So, when you think ‘Christmas, think…

   ‘Sacrificial Lamb’!

–This has been fulfilled!”

–Then think…

The King of the Jews

–This will be fulfilled – soon!

May you know God’s richest blessings this Christmastime.

The audio recording and PowerPoint slides used in the study are available for free download.

The post Christ the King first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this, the first of two parts in our Christmas 2022 studies, we look at the subject of Christ the Lamb.

Tradition has so obfuscated the real events of the first Christmas that most are ignorant of the great truths hidden in the visit of the shepherds and the later visit of the magi.

Why did angels appear to a group of shepherds on Bethlehem’s hills?

How did those shepherds know exaclty where to go to find the newbon baby?

How is the message of Christmas sown in the book of Genesis, and grown throughout the Old Testament until angels appear to a select group of Levitical shepherds whose job it was to inspect, tend and care for Behtlehem’s sheep that were destinied to be offered as sacrifices in Jerusalem?

In this study we explore these things and make some incredible discoveries that will forecver change the way we view Christmas!

May you be blessed and encouraged by this study.

The PowerPoint slides used in this study are available for free download.

The post Christ the Lamb first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.

In this study we see Joseph and Mary circumcise their new-born baby on the 8th day, in accordance with the covenant God had established with Abraham (Gen 17).

They then travel the 8 miles from Bethlehem to Temple in Jerusalem to present the offering required by the Law of Moses after the 40 days required for Mary’s purification (as detailed in Leviticus 12). 

Whilst they are in Jerusalem, they meet Simeon and then Anna, who both overwhelm Joseph and Mary with the blessings – and warnings – they pronounce over this Child! 

Following this the family return home – to Nazareth! Please note, they did not go back to, or reside in, Bethlehem, for they lived in Nazareth! The only reason they went to Bethlehem was for the census, and because God had engineered the circumstances so that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem – the town where the sacrificial lambs came from! After this they return home, albeit via Jerusalem in accordance with the Law.

Luke then jumps forward to the time Jesus is 12 years old, and the account of how He had been left behind in Jerusalem following the family’s pilgrimage to celebrate the Passover.

Although we ae not specifically told anything else of Jesus boyhood, we seem to get a prophetic insight of what it was like for Jesus growing up in Psalm 69. It paints an interesting picture that otherwise we would be oblivious to.

The PowerPoint Slides used in this study ae available for free download.   

May you be blessed and encouraged by this study.

The post Luke Ch2:21-52 first appeared on Calvary Chapel Portsmouth.