Sermon Tone Analysis

(S1) — The WONDER of CHRISTmas

Ever gaze in WONDER at the beauty of…stars, creation...?

Slow down…Look even more intently at the WONDER of Christmas…?

SILENT NIGHT — Christmas Eve — Candlelight

I need Christmas more than ever this year!

How about you?

Advent — The wonder of PEACE, JOY, LOVE, GIFT...

The PROPHETS — The wonder of the first Christmas — HOPE

Isaiah 9:6 “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

For 100’’s of years, people waited in Hope...

Mark 1:3 “He is a voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord’s coming!.

Like a gift READY to be opened, Jesus was the greatest gift God gave to the world...

A child’s anticipation of Christmas

(S2) —

The WONDER of Christmas is how God chose to give HOPE to the world.

How do we find this HOPE when it seems lost in the weeds of violence, fear, political unrest, unfaithfulness, worry, uncertainty...

We LISTEN in wonder to the promises of God — We ANTICIPATE in wonder by looking for the signs — We SEEK out the greatest gift in a little town called Bethlehem — We WAIT in wonder for that most Holy Night to happen again in our hearts.

How do we find this HOPE — We look to JESUS!

Will you open your HEART to the GIFT of HOPE this Christmas?

PRAY

Who is good at keeping secrets?

Trouble waiting for Christmas to give that one gift?

Who likes to guess?

3 Packages — Easy — Harder — Difficult

GOOD NEWS of Advent — There is no guessing with God — The package and its contents are clearly given to us through the VOICE of the prophets, that a savior would come

(S3) — But still, we have to open the gift...

As we seek out the wonder of Christmas, we begin advent with the end in mind

Revelation 22:20 (NLT)

20 He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

Jesus speaks — 3X in this chapter, saying “I am coming soon!”

Maranatha — Two words, Maran'athah, meaning, "our Lord comes," or is "coming."

1 Corinthians 16:22 “If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed.

(Maranatha) Our Lord, come!”

Jesus words as plain as they were, were both words of WARNING and HOPE

“The early church faced persecution.

Life for a Christian under Rome was not easy.

The Romans required everyone to declare that Caesar was god.

The early Christians knew that there is only one God and one Lord—Jesus Christ—and in all good conscience they could not call Caesar “Lord,” so the Romans looked upon them as traitors, persecuted them...

Yet, the believers’ morale was lifted by the HOPE of the coming of the Lord.

“Maranatha!” became their common greeting.

Like a gift READY to be opened, the WONDER of Christmas is found HOPE that Jesus HAS come…and that Jesus WILL come again.

HOPE is where we find the wonder of Christmas in a world that seems lost in its brokenness...

(S4) — Hope is...

The assurance in BELIEVING that Jesus has come, with the anticipation of FAITH, that Jesus is to come again.

HOPE in the savior who HAS come — HOPE in Jesus who IS to come

“Years before Jesus ever fulfilled the hundreds of prophecies that pointed to His arrival that first Christmas, God had HOPE in His heart for His people.”

300+ prophecies by God of Jesus’ first advent — Each one was a promise of hope that God had not forgotten them.

Isaiah 7:14 (NLT) Look!

The virgin will conceive a child!

She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

All who believed WAITED in ANTICIPATION of God’s presence on earth

Luke 1:28 “ Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman!

The Lord is with you!

Don’t be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God!

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus

(S5) —

The words of God through the prophets gave them HOPE — Hope in Jesus who was to come and is to come again.

When we unwrap this gift of hope, 3 truth’s that come to light, about this gift — The focus of our wonder this first week of advent.

I. Jesus is the FULFILLMENT of things to come!

One thing is very clear in all of God’s word — Jesus’ advent was always in the picture

Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah.

Yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.”

Jesus was the fulfillment of things to come by his own admission...

Luke 4:20 “He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down.

All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.

21 Then he began to speak to them.

“The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!””

(S6) —

Jesus by his coming FULFILLED God’s PURPOSE.

Yet his plan to save us is not finished...

Revelation 22:12–13 (NLT)

12 “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds.

13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Jesus was always God’s plan — He was a part of God’s first creation…and will be a part of God’ new creation.

He is over what is happening now and what is going to happen.

“Look, I am coming soon,

Hope says, Jesus will have the final say! It’s a gift yet to be opened.

One that will make all things right one day...

The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Volume 35: 1, 2 & 3 John / Revelation.

“Biblical History moves us towards the decisive fulfillment.

The same Jesus Christ who stands at its beginning and at its center also stands to greet us at its end.”

The wonder of HOPE in Jesus who has come and is to come, helps us find our purpose, in God’s greater plan.

(S7) — Hope shows us that Jesus is the fulfillment of things to come.

The HOPE and wonder of Christmas is found in....

II.

Jesus is the FORGIVENESS we need!

God’s presence with the faithful was clear...

GARDEN (Walked with them) — Creation of a nation (Abraham) — DELIVERANCE — COMMANDS — Wilderness JOURNEY (Cloud by day, fire by night) (Num.

14:14) — PROVISION (Manna ) (Deut.

8:16) — PROTECTION

And yet, there was brokenness — Defiance, Infidelity, Ignorance, lack of trust…SIN — Need for a SAVIOR to REDEEM HUMANITY

Genesis 3 depicts the initial moment when the works of the devil personified in the form of the serpent were let loose on God’s creation through human disobedience.

From that instant forward, we needed a Savior.

From that minute forward, people needed hope.

“

Genesis 3:15 “I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

In the Garden of Gethsemane, for a moment, even Jesus needed the hope of his father in heaven — Lord take this cup from me...

Jesus is the FORGIVENESS we need…not only because of his birth, but because of what he accomplished on the cross.