God's Christmas Wish List

GOD’S CHRISTMAS WISH LIST

My thanks to Melvin Newland and his sermon titled Three Christmas Gifts To God for being a starting point and an inspiration for this message. – Eric Keller

I. LITTLE DRUMMER BOY VIDEO

A. Show video of drummer boy playing for Jesus (optional)

II. STORY OF LITTLE DRUMMER BOY

A. We all know the story of the little drummer boy

B. Most of us know it because of the song

C. A lovely story to help explain our relationship with the newborn king

D. A young boy has no gifts to give to the newborn Jesus

E. At least nothing of monetary value

1. No money

2. Nothing in a box

3. Nothing that came from a store

F. He simply offers what God has already given him

1. His talents

2. His heart

3. His kindness

G. Illustrations

1. An old proverb says, the only gift worth giving is yourself

2. Perhaps Paul said it best when he said:

SLIDE:

…present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. – Romans 12:1

A TIME TO GIVE

A. Solomon (King David’s son) said that there is a time for everything

B. We are in the season of giving

C. It is a time of generosity

D. It also happens to be a time of spending

E. What does it all mean?

F. Illustrations

1. Hold up Sunday adds from the paper

a. These are the ads from today’s paper

b. My wife likes to point out the amount of ads versus the amount of actual news

2. Is this what the season is really about?

a. Getting a great deal on a tv?

b. Going into debt?

c. I see more talk about shopping on the news regarding Christmas than talk about Christ Jesus being born

G. The custom of gift giving has been abused

H. The devil is smart, he is a sneaky one

1. A beautiful custom of gift giving has been transformed into:

a. The best bargain,

b. Black Friday,

c. Spending more than we can afford

I. I love a good bargain!

1. There’s a set of clamps at Home Depot that I’m buying on the 26th if I don’t unwrap them on the 25th

J. But is that what Christmas is really about?

III. THREE WISE MEN EXAMPLE

A. Imagine the following conversation between the three wise men taking place

#1 I got a great bargain on this gold. I bought it months ago when prices were really down.

#2 You don’t say? I bought my Frankincense at an awesome sale

#1 Where’d you get it?

#2 At Frank’s Incense

#1 I thought they were going out of business?

#2 Yeah, it was a clearance item

Number 3 walks up

#3 We’re bringing gifts???

#2 Here take this

#3 What is it?

#2 Myrrh

#3 Well, I guess it’s better than nothing. I’d hate to show up without any gift at all. What do I owe you?

#2 I don’t worry. It was a bogo sale. I didn’t need it but I couldn’t resist the fantastic price

IV. TRANSITION TO SCRIPTURE

A. What are we supposed to bring God on Christmas?

B. Do you think it’s possible that God has a Christmas wish list?

C. I say he does.

SLIDE:

God has a Christmas wish list

D. Let’s read it together.

E. Please turn with me to Micah 6:6-8

SLIDE:

Scripture Reading

V. SCRIPTURE READING

A. Read Micah 6:6-8

B. In this passage shares his wish list with us

C. We are to bring him three things

1. Justice

2. Mercy

3. To walk humbly with him

VI. JUSTICE

A. Justice can be hard to come by these days

B. People have been losing their homes because of corporate greed

C. Some people who have been paying their mortgage have been losing their houses

D. A recent story was in the news about foreclosures being signed without ever having been read!

1. The signers were working on commission

E. People sometimes profit by lying

F. Where’s the justice in all that?

G. What if we wrapped up a little bit of justice and handed it to God this Christmas?

H. What if we promised to bring justice to a world that desperately needs it?

I. What if we promised to stop lying, stop manipulating, to stop taking advantage of others?

J. What if we handed out justice through more social commitments?

K. What if this Christmas we promised to do justice?

SLIDE:

Offer Jesus the gift of doing justice

VII. MERCY

A. Mercy can be a tricky one

B. It’s not always the same as justice

SLIDE:

Book, Holy Sweat

C. In his book Holy Sweat, Tim Hansel talks about being late for a flight