Christmas Eve 2020
Topical Sermons • Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 9 viewsNotes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Welcome
Welcome
Good evening. I would like to tank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to gather and worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We gather tonight for a purpose.
For some it may be a tradition.
I hope to add depth to that tradition this evening.
I hope to point us towards Christ, that we would glorify Him.
I hope through our short time together that perhaps we gain some more spiritual perspective on the season.
Gifts are great, decorations are beautiful, but it is only through the true light of the world that we will be able to see clearly.
We gather together tonight to celebrate Jesus.
To celebrate the greatest gift ever given, the greatest gift that can ever be recieved.
And the fact that it can all be done freely!
We will begin this evening singing a song from the perspective of looking forward to the coming Christ.
Message
Message
This evening we sit here on the other side of Jesus birth, life, death, and resurrection, looking back.
We look back, to help us realize the longing that there was for the messiah to come.
The redeemer.
The one who would pay the price for freedom.
While Israel desired freedom from oppressive rule.
We need freedom from a greater enemy.
We need freedom from sin and death.
We celebrate Christmas.
Christmas is Jesus first coming to earth and taking on human form.
And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus lived a humble and obedient life.
This first coming to earth that we celebrate was truly glorious.
Jesus came to extend grace.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
These verse speak to the position available to all people through Jesus.
Tonight, where you are sitting, you are in one of two places.
Either you are as Paul says, redeemed, the price has been paid for your sin, you are now a part of the family of God, no longer a slave but a son and heir through God.
Or you sit under threat of judgment.
You sit alone, outside the family of God.
We cannot even begin to imagine the extent of eternity.
And yet eternity will continue in one of two ways, with or without God.
And God has granted us the choice whether or not to believe in Him.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
If you have not received Christ as Lord and Savior, you can do so tonight. Right where you sit.
because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
If you have made the decision to actively follow Christ, to trust in Him for your salvation.
To make Him a part of your daily life.
You are part of the family of God.
This is extremely important because while Jesus first coming was in grace for all mankind.
His return will only bring grace for those who are part of His family.
For the rest, it will be vengeance and judgment.
2 Thess. 1:7-8
English Standard Version Chapter 1
when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
This evening we light the Christ candle, to represent Jesus coming to earth.
As we light this, I would also ask you to light your own candle as a representation of Christ in your life.
Jay is going to come and sing a song for us, think on the words of this song.
They will be on the screen as well.
Is Christ illuminating your life?
Have you made the decision follow Jesus, to submit to Him as your Lord and Savior?
As we read and understand scripture, we know that these wild times that we live in today are but a taste of what is to come.
Our only hope, our only true preparation, is faith in Christ.
If you have not, I would love to talk to you.
Please don’t wait, we don’t know the day, the time the hour of Christ’s return.
We don’t know how much time the Lord has given us on this earth.
O come, all you unfaithful
Come, weak and unstable
Come, know you are not alone
O come, bitter and broken
Come with fears unspoken
Come, taste of His perfect love
O come, guilty and hiding ones
There is no need to run
See what your God has done
His arms are open, waiting.
Conclusion
Conclusion
The Work of Christmas”
The Work of Christmas”
When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among people,
To make music in the heart.
in The Mood of Christmas & Other Celebrations (1985)
As we leave here tonight, let us remember, God did not come for those who are well.
God came for those who are sick, God came for the unfaithful.
One of my favorite songs, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing has a line in it -
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
Interposed is not a word we use often anymore - it means to interchange one thing with another.
He used his life, his blood in place of ours.
And another verse
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
How rich, how undeserved is the grace God has shown!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
Seal it for Thy courts above.
A fetter is a type of restraint, like an ankle cuff.
God binds believers to Himself with His grace.
Because we are prone to wander, prone to distraction.
Prone too look for everything except God.
Prone to leave the God I love.
If you will give him your heart though, He will in fact take and seal it.
You will be sealed in the courts above.
As the Christmas work poem reminds though as well, that is only the beginning.
If you have trusted in Jesus for salvation, the work of Christmas has just begun!
Take your light, and go light your world.