GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS
HUMOUR: A politically correct holiday greeting
Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most joyous traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, but with respect for the religious persuasion of others who choose to practice their own religion as well as those who choose not to practice a religion at all.
OPENING:
I love Christmas. To me, it really is, “The most wonderful time of the year!” Share personal stories of being a child growing up in Saskatchewan, driving with my family to go spend Christmas with my grandparents. My desire to make Christmas special for my kids.
JOKE: I try to be creative at disguising obvious gifts when wrapping Christmas presents. One year I bought a video for my four-year-old son, and not wanting him to guess what it was, I put it in a cereal box, wrapped it and put it under the tree. Christmas morning he tore off the paper, let out a whoop and exclaimed, "Look, Mom, I got breakfast!"
THE HEROES OF THE CHRISTMAS STORY:
Who are some of the heroes of the Christmas story? We often think of Mary and Joseph – baby Jesus of course – and then the shepherds or the wise men. But what about John the Baptist?
THE BIG IDEA: John the Baptist was a prophet who came to prepare the people for the First Advent of Christ. His story teaches us how we can get ready for Christmas, so that we can receive Christ into our hearts and our homes.
GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS:
In the natural realm, there are many things we do to get ready for Christmas:
• Shopping (I’m a Dec. 24th shopper myself!), Christmas baking, decorating, etc.
In the spiritual realm, we need to get ready for Christmas as well!
TEXT: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ’Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’
• The beginning of the Gospel – the Good News about Jesus – started with John.
• John the Baptist was a messenger who came to prepare the way before Jesus.
• The church of his day was experiencing a wilderness – they were far away from God.
John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 6:1-8).
• How did John prepare the people? He baptized them, and preached repentance.
• Then He pointed people to Jesus – “One who is mightier than I!”
WHAT SHOULD WE DO TO GET READY FOR CHRISTMAS?
I. CHANGE YOUR LIFE:
“And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Luke 3:3-9).
• The first thing John said was that the people who bear fruits of repentance
• John said: “It’s not good enough to have parents who were believers. You need to have a personal relationship with the Lord for yourself!”
• John was telling them that they needed to change their lives. Quote Matt. 1:21 - Jesus came to save His people FROM their sins.
• Last week we talked about how Christianity is about experiencing New Life in Christ.
II. BE GENEROUS:
“So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?" He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you." Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?" So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” (Luke 3:10-14).
• Getting ready for Christmas means we need to learn to be generous and share.
• Nearly 3 billion people – half the world’s population– live on less than $2 a day.
• How can we complain about what we have here in Canada? We are blessed!
• “We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian brothers and sisters. But if anyone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need and refuses to help – how can God’s love be in that person? Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.” (1 John 3:16-18).
• This is one of the reasons we do Christmas hampers – to share Christ’s generosity!
• Look for opportunities around you to be a blessing to others.
• Remember, Jesus said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35).
• The joy of Christmas comes from giving, not from the gifts we receive.
III. BE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT:
“Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:15-16).
• John said we need to bear fruits worthy of repentance, but how can we change our lives?
• Look at what happened to Mary: “And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35).
• As believers, we need the Holy Spirit to come upon us so Christ is formed in us.
• Let’s keep Christ in Christmas, yes, but let’s keep Christ in US, too!
CHALLENGE: Let’s get ready for Christmas:
• What do you need to change your life?
• How can you be generous to those around you?
• Be daily filled with the Holy Spirit!
Beausejour Community Church Website: www.beausejourchurch.ca
Pastor Chris Jordan’s Blog: http://thelandofpromise.blogspot.com/
