It’s Beginning to Sound A Lot Like Christmas (Sermonette)
December 16, 2001 FBC, Chester, Illinois Mike Fogerson, Speaker
Introduction:
A I have never seen a Christmas like were in right now.
a Usama Bin Laden gloating about killing thousands of innocent Americans...Economy in Recession....
b Reminded of what John said "So this is Christmas" -John (The Beatle) not John the Disciple.
B We will look once again at "It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas"
a Matt. 2:13-18
b The first Christmas happened at very troubled time. (ETS)
C God is in the middle of our darkness with us. (ESS)
a I hope you’ll know that there is a caring God in a chaotic Christmas. (Obj.)
b Where do you think God is during tough times? (Probing Question)
T.S. Lets look at a reason God gives us to trust Him in troubled times.
God has come into our darkness to deliver us.
A The Bible tells us how grim the world was at the time of Jesus Birth.
a King Harod had every baby boy under the age of 2 massacred.
(Can you imagine the terror of the parents as the soldiers yelled orders as they came to their door, walked in the door, snatched up the little boy(s) and then killed the baby. Parents crying, babies crying.....bad!)
b Joseph & Mary fled in the middle of the night to Egypt.
*What happens when you wake a baby up from a good sleep? They cry.
*This is a long journey, bumpy roads, a crying baby...and a dangerous as they fleeing for their lives.
*This little baby would grow up to face the dark world and all of its suffering.
B Christmas reminds us that God understands our suffering.
a He came to the world to help us not to run away or run around our problems. He came to help us go through our problems.
b Christmas, like the cross, tells us that we don’t need to fear the darkness.
*We don’t have any reason to be overwhelmed by it. Why? God is in our darkness with us.
C Dietrich Ritschl told a story about a bombing in a German city, killed thousands of people. He was lying in a railroad station, looking up at the fires burning all around the city, he catches a glimpse of an inscription on the top of the Railroad station, "Beyond the stars, there must live a gracious Father."
a He said, "I do not want such a God." Either do I.
I don’t want a God who dwells beyond the star...I want a God who dwells in me!
*Who understands what is to face what I face, understand my pain/suffering.
b Christmas tells us, "He is that kind of a God."
*He goes through our darkness with us and helps us share it, face it and conquer it."
Conclusion:
A This is a very dark Christmas for many Americans. It’s a dark Christmas every year. God is in the middle of our darkness with us. (ESS)
a We can face a chaotic Christmas this year because.......
b God has come into our darkness to deliver us.
B I hope you’ll know that there is a caring God in a chaotic Christmas.
a You can wonder and ask where God is in times like these....or
b You put your trust in God.
C Where do you think God is during tough times? (Probing Question)
a A little boy was helping his daddy put up the manger scene in the living room. (Wise men, Shepherds, cows, sheep...and a Tyrannosaurus Rex.)
*The man was tempted to stop the boy,...it didn’t look right.
b Christmas happened so we could face the dinosaurs of life.
Those menacing, story terrors of life....Christmas came so we could defeat them.
