Getting Ready For Christmas Series

THE CHRISTMAS STORY: GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

A. Did everybody have a good THANKSGIVING?

1. Now since THANKSGIVING is OVER, it’s time to GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS.

a. But the reality is, the STORES have been getting ready for Christmas since the first of October.

COMMENT:

You could have bought a Halloween Costume and a Christmas Tree on the very same day. You just WALK a few ISLES past the WITCHES and VAMPIRES and there’s SANTA CLAUSE and his REINDEER.

b. By the time December 25th gets here, many already have their fill of Christmas MUSIC, Christmas MOVIES, Christmas COMMERCIALS, Christmas SHOPPING.

2. There are so many distractions this time of year that take us away from the true meaning of Christmas.

a. The COMMERCIAL SIDE of Christmas just takes its TOLL on many of us.

COMMENT:

The weeks leading up to Christmas become so HECTIC in trying to get everything done from SHOPPING for everyone on your list, DECORATING your house, BAKING the Christmas cookies, GOING to all the PARTIES and GET-TOGETHERS you feel obligated to attend, CLEANING the house for family who will be coming over, ATTENDING all the Christmas functions and programs at church, PREPARING the Christmas dinner, and on and on it goes.

b. Having weeks and weeks of Christmas often DESENSITIZES us to the WONDER of almighty God coming to this earth in the form of tiny, helpless BABY.

B. It is the SPIRITUAL SIDE of Christmas that is most IMPORTANT, and often gets LOST in the HUSTLE

and BUSTLE of the HOLIDAY.

1. For the next few weeks, we will be looking at different aspects of THE CHRISTMAS STORY from

the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.

a. Today we start at the beginning when an ANGEL named Gabriel was sent by God to a TEENAGE

GIRL named Mary who lived in the small insignificant village of Nazareth- Luke 1:30-33 (READ).

COMMENT:

At first Mary PROTESTED because, although she was ENGAGED to be married, she had not

been with a man—she was a VIRGIN.

But Gabriel told her that “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God”- Luke 1:35.

Humbly, Mary consented, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to be as you have said”- v. 38.

b. “Gabriel also told Mary that her cousin Elizabeth was with child in her OLD AGE”- Luke 1:36.

COMMENT:

Two MIRACLES! A VIRGIN and an ELDERLY WOMAN, both expecting a BABY. But as the Angel Gabriel said, “Nothing is impossible with God”- Luke 1:37.

Mary will give birth to Jesus, the Son of God, and Elizabeth will give birth also to a son who will be known as John the Baptist, the one who was sent by God to INTRODUCE His Son to the Jews as the Promised Messiah who will SAVE the WORLD.

2. I want us to pick up the story where Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-45 (READ)

a. Can you imagine an UNBORN BABY leaping with JOY in his mother’s WOMB at the news that

Jesus, the Son of God, was coming?

COMMENT:

Last Sunday evening during our Night of Worship, there was a lot of REJOICING and CLAPPING and LEAPING going on as we were WORSHIPPING Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

b. Here’s baby John in his mother’s WOMB having a PRE-NATAL worship service just Praising God.

3. Mary’s VISIT with Elizabeth prompted her to SING a Song of Praise to God, known as “The Magnificat” a Latin word for “GLORIFIES”, as she GETS READY for the Christ Child to be BORN-

Luke 1:46-55 (READ)

COMMENT:

What can we learn from Mary’s Song that PREPARES our HEARTS as we GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS?

MESSAGE:

I. WE ARE TO APPROACH CHRISTMAS WITH “JOY”

A. Mary sang, “My soul glorified the Lord and my spirit REJOICES with God my Savior…”.

1. Here’s a teenage girl who, undoubtedly, was OVERWHELMED by the news that she received from

the Angel of the Lord.

a. From all the women in Judea, God chose her to give birth to His Son.

b. And Mary’s visit with her cousin Elizabeth put everything in greater perspective.

COMMENT:

When Elizabeth said to her, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear”, I am sure that it all began to SINK in that she was going to be the MOTHER of God in the flesh.

2. What started out as APPREHENSION and ANXIETY, is now an exuberant JOY that God found

FAVOR in her, and that the CHILD she will bear will be the SAVIOR of the WORLD.

COMMENT:

The JOY that Mary felt is the same JOY that Elizabeth’s UNBORN BABY experienced when “he leaped in his mother’s womb.” It’s the same JOY that a chorus of Angels SANG about NINE months later at the BIRTH of Jesus when they appeared to the Shepherds tending their sheep and said, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”- Luke 2:10.