Boldly Proclaim Christmas

Intro

Christmas is favorite time of year for many Christians. What’s your favorite part of Christmas? Parties, gifts, family, food, and most importantly humanism and good cheer!

This is our Super Bowl! Easter is most popular, but Christmas is most recognized and accepted.

This is the time of year where we can openly talk about Jesus, talk about the need to treat each other with kindness, and show the love of God to the world… and yet we often try to “hedge our bets” by talking about Christmas in vague terms.

Happy Holidays

Secular Christmas Songs - No problem, but just part of the puzzle

Why do we miss our opportunity to be bold and proclaim Jesus and the Gospel during this season when the world not only will allow it, but expects it?

What can we do to be more bold this Christmas and Christmases to come?

Let’s look at what the bible says...

#1: To be bold, we must be sure!

To be able to “pound the table” in regards to our faith and the Gospel, we must be sure in our beliefs.

Bucharest trivia example!

God tells us that

We have been made to be confident in God

2 Timothy 1:7 CSB

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment.

He is with us

Joshua 1:9 CSB

9 Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Surety is important to our development as Christians

Philippians 1:6 CSB

6 I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

In fact, confidence is required for salvation:

Romans 10:9–10 CSB

9 If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.

I am told that I am a decent speaker, and I think it’s because I alway believe what I say. It’s the reason I cry so much. Conviction is something that people are drawn to and react to, because it’s not seen today as much as it used to be.

So how can we be sure? (How are you sure about what you believe?)

Pray

Pray

Read Your Bible - STUDY YOUR BIBLE!

Non-Christians are looking for holes in our arguments, so it’s important that we know the material. Is that something that scares you? I know it is for me...

Look back to see what He’s done.

#2: To be bold, we must be available!

It is not possible to be bold if you do not make yourself available for God to use.

Bill Parcells - “The best ability is availability”

There is a camera called the Nikon D6. It has [list features]. The only problem is that I don’t have one!

We can be the best at anything, but if we don’t make ourselves available for God’s use, we are like the camera is to me.... useless.

So how can we make ourselves available?

We must invite God to work through us. Philippians 2:13

Philippians 2:13 CSB

13 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

While God can work on His own, He has (since the Holy Spirit came into the world) used His people to do His works

He’s not going to force His way in. We must invite God to use us (Free Will). Isaiah 6:8

Isaiah 6:8 CSB

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who will I send? Who will go for us? I said: Here I am. Send me.

Allowing God in and to use us increases our confidence in Him and our usefulness to Him:

Isaiah 43:10 CSB

10 “You are my witnesses”— this is the Lord’s declaration— “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me.

What obstacles are there in making you available for God’s use? How can we overcome those obstacles?

Mentally Inventory Your Blessings and Interactions

We only remember what went badly. How many times has it gone well?

We’re scared to look silly or ignorant?

Look back on all he’s done for you!

If we invite God in, and make ourselves available for His use, He will give us a platform from which to evangelize. But to do this, we must… be brave!

#3 To be bold, we must be brave!

O Holy Night Lyrics

“Christ is the Lord! O Praise His name forever! His pow’r and glory evermore proclaim!”

Not used in MOST commercial renditions of the song, even by Christian artists. Why?

Making a bold proclamation opens you up to persecution and it’s a risk many are not willing to take.

Acts 4:1–3 CSB

1 While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them, 2 because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they seized them and took them into custody until the next day since it was already evening.

The bible says that if you do what God tells you to, you may be persecuted. Acts - Peter and John siezed, put on trial for healing a lame man, told not to preach anymore, rebutted, and released

They persecute you because they cannot persecute God.

John 15:18–19 CSB

18 “If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you.

But good news! God will bless you and protect you when you make yourself vulnerable.

Deuteronomy 28:1–7 CSB

1 “Now if you faithfully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow all his commands I am giving you today, the Lord your God will put you far above all the nations of the earth. 2 All these blessings will come and overtake you, because you obey the Lord your God: 3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country. 4 Your offspring will be blessed, and your land’s produce, and the offspring of your livestock, including the young of your herds and the newborn of your flocks. 5 Your basket and kneading bowl will be blessed. 6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. 7 “The Lord will cause the enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you. They will march out against you from one direction but flee from you in seven directions.

(It goes on… but in the interest of time)

However, if you do not do what God is calling you to do, the opposite is true:

Deuteronomy 28:15–20 CSB

15 “But if you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all his commands and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. 17 Your basket and kneading bowl will be cursed. 18 Your offspring will be cursed, and your land’s produce, the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks. 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 20 The Lord will send against you curses, confusion, and rebuke in everything you do until you are destroyed and quickly perish, because of the wickedness of your actions in abandoning me.

(It goes on… :-))

Wrap Up

Jaguars Motto - So What? What Now? How can we be bold this Christmas?

Let’s talk to the world about Jesus this Christmas. Let’s speak with specificity. Even if you don’t feel an individual calling, we are ALL called to make disciples if we are Christian. (Great Commission)

Matthew 28:19–20 CSB

19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Let’s use the window that we have to meet the requirements of the Great Commission. How can you do this?

Let’s show the love of Jesus to the world this Christmas. How can you do this? How can we as a church do this?

Matthew 25:40 CSB

40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

- Support community initiatives, invite a neighbor to join you for a meal, or speak with the disenfranchised.

Let’s grow in our faith, and in our fellowship. We spend so much time with shopping, events, and obligations that we fail to take time to read our bibles, connect with fellow Christians, and keep our focus on God. This will help us keep Christ in Christmas.