Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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QUESTION | "What are you waiting for?"
Christmas is almost here, which means we're all waiting . . .
and waiting . . .
and waiting for the big day.
This Christmas, what are you most excited for?
What are you waiting for?
INSTRUCTIONS: Give a few students a chance to respond.
ACTIVITY | Good Moves
Whether you're waiting for presents, Christmas cookies, holiday traditions, or the moment you can finally blast some Christmas music without getting dirty looks, there's a lot to look forward to at Christmastime.
But you know the saying, "Good things come to those who wait," so let's play a game that's going to help us practice some patience.
INSTRUCTIONS: Ask students to volunteer if they're either really good or really bad at dancing.
Select two students at a time to come to the front to compete in an interpretive dance-off.
For each round, play a 30-second clip from a famous Christmas song while the students perform their interpretive dance routines, and then declare a winner for each round.
But only play with very slow Christmas songs, like . . .
"Mary Did You Know." "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
"White Christmas."
"Silent Night."
"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel."
*Title Slide*
POLL | "How good are you at waiting?"
There are some things that I'm willing to wait for, but I don't really have the patience to wait forever.
Maybe you can relate.
On a scale of "a toddler who wants a snack" to "someone who camps out for three days to get a good Black Friday deal," how good are you at waiting?
INSTRUCTIONS: Have students respond to the question by making up their own answers or by creating a scale they can respond to by running to different parts of the room.
Maybe the left side of the room represents "toddler," while the right side of the room represents "Black Friday camper."
STORY | Talk about a Christmas plan that didn't go according to plan.
Waiting is easier when we have an end in sight.
When it comes to our Christmas plans, that's easy!
We know exactly when all of our waiting and planning is going to end.
But sometimes, even when we've been waiting patiently, our plans don't go according to plan.
Buddy the Elf was a guy was excited for his boss, Santa, to come to New York and see him.
But things didn’t go as planned:
“Elf” Movie Scene
No matter how well we plan this Christmas (or anytime, really), there's always a chance our plans aren't going to go according to plan.
For the next few weeks, as we wait for Christmas to finally arrive, we're going to talk about a plan that actually did go according to plan.
It's a plan that . . .
Was created by God.
Was set in motion before time even existed.
Involved a little bit of waiting.
And is capable of changing our lives.
And that plan has a lot to do with Christmas.
SO WHAT?
Why does it matter to God and to us?
OBJECT LESSON | Headlines from The Prophetic Gazette
INSTRUCTIONS: For each piece of "breaking news" from God's plan, create your own newspaper headlines using markers and poster board, construction paper, recycled pizza boxes, or whatever you have laying around.
Try using headlines like . . .
Sneaky Snake Ruins Everything
Royal Baby on the Way!
Waiting . . .
and Waiting . . .
and Still Waiting
Christ The Savior is Born! *Show Newspaper
SCRIPTURE | Genesis 3:1-15
There's a good chance you've heard the Christmas story before.
Mary, Joseph, a manger, baby Jesus — you get the idea.
But God started making Christmas plans long before that day.
To trace the beginnings of God's plans, we actually need to go all the way back to the very beginning of the Bible, to another story that might be kind of familiar.
God's plan began where humanity's whole story began: in the Garden of Eden.
In the very beginning, God created the very first people, Adam and Eve.
Back then, God and humanity had a close relationship and everything was as it should have been.
But then a certain serpent appeared on the scene.
INSTRUCTIONS: Read or summarize Genesis 3:1-15
Title Slide
From this moment on, everything changed.
Because of sin, humanity's relationship with God was altered forever.
It might seem like God's plans had already gone wrong, but God doesn't seem surprised.
Instead, we get the first hints of God's plan.
Yes, things had gone wrong, but someday things will be made right.
One day, a child would be born who would put an end to sin and death forever.
SCRIPTURE | Jeremiah 33:14-16
That plan was still sounding pretty vague to us humans though, so over time God started to give us more hints about what was in store.
Long after Adam and Eve, God began to speak to humanity through prophets.
During the time of King David, in around 1000 BC (about 3,000 years ago), God gave humanity an update on the plan.
We were told the baby God promised was still on the way, and that the baby would be a descendant of King David.
Then God gave us another update through the prophet Jeremiah, who probably lived around 650-750 BC.
That's like 2,700 years ago.
Jeremiah had a tough job.
At one time, God's people, the Israelites, had been a powerful nation, but during Jeremiah's time, their sinful choices and disobedience to God had led to their downfall.
The nation of Israel split in two: Israel and Judah.
These nations fought wars with each other and their neighbors.
Poverty led to people going hungry and without homes.
A lethal combination of jealousy and pride left them vulnerable to attack from other nations.
The strengthening nation of Babylon became a huge threat to God's people.
If Babylon invaded the city, they thought, it wouldn't just be them who was defeated.
They believed God would be defeated too.
With that in mind, let's see what God had to say . . .
INSTRUCTIONS: Read Jeremiah 33:14-16.
No, this "righteous Branch" thing is not about Groot from GOTG or Treebeard from LOTR.
This is about the "family tree" of humanity.
From Adam and Eve, to King David, all the way to a future king who God would use to save the world.
For a long time, this was all humanity knew about God's plan.
Jeremiah had the privilege of sharing the good news that God's plan was still in the works.
But there was a catch: we still had some waiting to do!
All throughout the Old Testament, there are so many hints, pictures, and clues like this one — reassurances that God had good things in store, and that better days of God's grace and mercy were on the way.
SCRIPTURE | Matthew 1:1-17
Hundreds of years after the book of Jeremiah was written, we were given the book of Matthew, which helps us see how this family tree turned out.
INSTRUCTIONS: If you'd like, have students stand up, raise their hand, or cheer anytime they hear a name they recognize.
*Title Slide*
You might be thinking, "Wow, what a cool list of names I can't pronounce and people I can't identify.
Why is this important?"
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