The King Is Coming!

THE KING IS COMING

Isaiah 9:6-7

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

Another Christmas is almost here! There are many things that I like about this time of year. Listening to Christmas carols, looking at all the decorated houses while driving, buying gifts for friends and family, slowing down, rekindling relationships and best of all I love all that amazing home cooked food! Just thinking about an entire week of all you can eat buffets of turkey, ham, potatoes, carrots, dressing, pies, cakes and cookies of all kinds; makes my mouth water and stomach grown with delight. Even though there is much I enjoy about Christmas there are certainly many things that I would rather do without. Who really likes wall to wall traffic, trying to find gifts to purchase for those who have everything and schedules that make one run around 24/7? When I think about the good and bad I can’t help but think that the true meaning of Christmas has somehow escaped even us Christians!

How does offering trinkets and toys to a world where war, pestilence, disease, hatred and injustice are an everyday occurrence do them any good? Will presents, pretty homes, taking time off work or even food heal their brokenness and give them hope for the other 51 weeks of the year? While a week break from one’s circumstances is a welcoming sight, are not we as Christ’s ambassadors obligated to tell this fallen world that God’s gifts to them are far superior to anything they could ever ask or imagine. Christmas is not just about sharing our love for one another through gifts, parties and food but is to be about proclaiming the message: THE KING IS COMING! In today’s sermon I am going to begin by reviewing statistics concerning the brokenness of this world and the testimony of the wise men, John the Baptist, the man possessed with a legion of demons, the centurion, Peter’s restoration and the witnesses of the curtain of the temple being torn into two; to help remind us that what his world truly needs is He who is the Mighty Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.

This is a Fallen World

Until one comes to realize how far the people of this world have fallen from grace one simply cannot know how urgent it is that Christians stop offering our usual “stones” of traditional, temporary gifts! While we know we live in the fallen world of Genesis 3:19, do we truly know how wicked this world has become? With one person every 40 seconds committing suicide, one every 60 seconds being murdered and one every 100 seconds dying in armed combat; we must confess that this world has become one of hatred not only of self but those around us. Obviously we are not so good at following the second Great Command to love each other but what about the first: to love God? With the mention of God being outlawed in any government facility, people shopping and working on the Sabbath, weekly church attendance declining to a mere 16%, and those with “no religion” growing at a whopping 63% per year; can we truly say we are still a nation that recognizes the supremacy of but one God?

This lost generation does not need more money, fame or power; they need a relationship with their Saviour! While I would like to think that God could find more than one righteous family today, the wickedness of this generation is certainly getting much closer to that of Noah’s time! Some years ago, Ruth Graham said, “if God doesn’t punish America, He’ll soon have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” How long will God put up with this perverse? Having the end times rapidly approaching certainly accentuates our need to reach out to others YES, but so should our desire to see mercy fall upon those who have lost hope. Having fallen into the pit of their own sins, the people of this world are living with souls that ache and groan to be close to their Creator! Nothing will fill their emptiness, soften and heal their stone, broken hearts but the blood of Christ, their Kinsman Redeemer! Since the Gospel message of reconciliation is the best gift a Christian could ever offer those dead in their sins, why are we not shouting from the mountain top: THE KING IS COMING?

The Miracle of Jesus

To prove to the blind but broken world that Jesus is the way, truth and life (John 14:6) is no easy task. The “ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2) has filled their minds with so many false gods that they have simply become confused, blinded and highly skeptical that anyone can know who God is. The cross will remain foolishness to them (1 Corinthians 1:18) until someone through the power of the Spirit shows them the Way (Romans 10:14)! The Old Testament of which was written over 450 years before the birth of Jesus contains over 300 prophesies that Jesus fulfilled through His life, death and resurrection. While most people will accept the ample historical evidence that Christ lived over 2,000 years ago, they have a hard time accepting that Jesus Christ is God! To combat this kind of skepticism quote them the undisputable facts. The chances of a single person fulfilling eight of the Old Testament prophecies are 1 chance in 100,000,000,000,000,000 or even 48 of these prophecies is 1 chance in 10 to the 157th power. Since it is an impossibility of anyone fulfilling every single prophecy it happened in the life of Christ because He is God! Tell them the facts for before their heart can open to truth the head must first accept it!