Peace Devotions (audio)

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Why? Why is Jesus' birthday so important? Today's Pastor: Tim Hartwig from Peace Lutheran Church in North Mankato. Transcript: Why was Jesus born? Was it to teach us about God? Was it to show us how to love one another? Was it so that we could just learn to get along? In a vision, Joseph was told why Jesus was born. He had been thinking of divorcing his fiancee Mary because he had learned she was pregnant with Jesus. God sent an angel to Joseph in a vision. And this is what the angel said to him. “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save his people from this sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) So why was Jesus born? He was born to save his people from their sins. In fact he was given the name Jesus to indicate that very thing. Jesus means ‘the Lord saves.’ Now it was a common name at that time, bu