Song —
I’ll be home for Christmas,
You can count on me.
Please have snow and mistletoe
And presents under the tree.
Christmas Eve will find me,
Where the love light gleams.
I’ll be home for Christmas,
If only in my dreams.
Christmas Eve will find me,
Where the love light gleams.
I’ll be home for Christmas,
If only in my dreams.
In 1943, Bing Crosby, was the first to perform the song During World War II, many Americans spent Christmas away from their loved ones, and the song addressed wishes for reunion.
Lk 2:3 KJV And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
Lk 2:3 ISV So all the people went to their hometowns to be registered.
A couple of questions
- So where is home?
- Why away from home?
- Pliny writing AD 100-109
“Home is where the heart is”
Mary & Joseph reasons to have a heart far from Christmas
• Poor
• Far from home
• Pregnant
• No room anywhere in their home town
• Giving birth alone in a barn
- Focus changes everything
- Others turned their hearts to God
- Lk 2:17-20 Shepherds found .... Praise
- What takes us from home?
❶ Selfishness takes us far from home
Lk 15:11-24
12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
All because of Attitude: (12-16)
The phrase “give me”
Mt 14:4 - Herodias daughter “give me - John’s head”
Mt 26:15 - Judas What will you give me and I will deliver him unto you
Jn 4:15 Samaritan Women “Give me this water so I will never be thirsty again
- Self-centeredness leads to depression
- Over 50% of Americans struggle with
some type of depression.
- WHO estimates that by 2020,
depression will be the second largest cause of death and disability in the world.
- Selfishness takes us far from home
- Staying there leads to:
❷ Skepticism, Unbelief
takes us far from home
- Skepticism Unbelief is hardening our
heart toward the Love of Christ
Num 13:31-33
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
- Israel wandered 40 years because of
unbelief
Cause of Skepticism
1. Neglect of the Word
2. Love of sin
3. Indifference to God’s mercy & grace
❸ Stubbornness, Rebellion
takes us far from home
- Rebellion - Resistance to authority
- Ends in Separation from Christ
Mt 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
- Israel for 70 years in captivity
Amos 4:11-12
11 I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
Jer.7:28
But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
- Not going home is already like death.
E. Catherine Tobler “Vanishing Act”
- The cry of the heart Songs
- “O Give Me a Home”
- Country Roads – John Denver
Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West virginia, mountain momma
Take me home, country roads
- Dorothy - Wizard of Oz
- “There is no place like home”
- No matter how far you have roamed
there is a welcome
I’ll Be Home For Christmas was the first request intentionally broadcast to outer space. Exactly one week before Christmas 1965, finishing a Gemini VII mission of 206 orbits, astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell instantly named the record when mission control asked what music they would especially like to hear on their return to the Earth.
Coming Home (Lk 15:22-24)
- Son received the fathers gifts
- Robe - Covering up his scars
- Ring - Identifying with the father
- Restoration - Only sons wore sandals
- Rewards - The calf was for special events
A national Omnibus survey in September 2003 focused on gratitude. The random national sample of more than 1,000 adults gives details on how grateful America feels today, and how Americans express that gratitude.
Through that survey here are some of the benefits that people identified of gratitude:
More happiness and Joy 90%
Less stress or depression 84%
Better health 84%
More energy 78%
The ability to help others more 88%
More optimistic 84%
- Get a fresh view of God
- Philip 4:4-9
- Will you come home for Christmas?
- Come home to Christ?
