Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Tonight is our last Wednesday evening together until the new year and I pray that the next 11 days are filled with fellowship, family time, and most of all praise to our God for all that He has done for us.

Christmas in ministry is arguably the busiest season of the whole year and I am looking forward to having some time with my family in Ozark because we don’t get to do that as often as we’d like to because my dad is a pastor as well.

Tonight we’re going to look at a familiar Christmas passage of Scripture, look at some data, look at next year’s emphases as a church, and conclude with some Christmas fun.

This Sunday we focus on the Advent theme of Peace and to many in our world, Peace seems like a pipe dream that is much easier to discuss than it is to actually experience.

Why do you think our world focuses so much on peace?

We don’t always like conflict and awkwardness and would prefer peace

As much as our world focuses on peace and rest, we are living in a peaceless and restless world where anxiety, depression, and other neurological conditions are skyrocketing in a post-COVID world.

The Bible does talk about Peace being available through Jesus Christ and how Jesus is the Prince of Peace and how this is really good news to our worry-filled lives.

However, many people don’t fully understand the peace that Jesus brings and how He brings us peace in the first place.

What is the peace that Jesus brings?

Peace with God through forgiving us of our sins

Redemption

Adoption

Jesus does more than simply calm your mind, He saves your soul!

He does more than heal you of your temporary problems, He heals you from your eternal punishment.

Often the peace that our world focuses on is external peace.

World peace.

Wars to cease.

Problems to be eliminated between nations and neighbors.

Jesus certainly can bring about this type of peace but usually the peace that Jesus brings to His followers at least starts internally.

Look at John 16:33

If your definition of peace means a life free from trouble and suffering then you’re in for disappointment here because Jesus never once promises that in this life!

In fact, His promise is the exact opposite - He promises that His followers WILL have suffering in this life.

But He still promises that they can and will have peace during the suffering.

So how does this work?

How can you have peace when your circumstances aren’t peaceful?

Naturally you don’t but with Christ, you know that He is in control and He is with you in your time of trouble

Luke 2:14 is one of the passages in Scripture that people love to misquote more than nearly any other passage.

How many of you have heard the song “I heard the Bells on Christmas Day”?

Good song and one that I love to listen to during the Christmas season.

We can be really nit-picky over the songs that we sing and that is a necessary thing as a pastor who leads the congregation in worshiping God through song, but there’s danger in moving from being careful to being overly legalistic.

Here’s the problem with the song, though.

If you know it, what does it continually repeat?

Peace on Earth Good-will to men.

Let’s look to God’s Word and see what it says

The debate here is with the word “eudokias” in verse 14.

Here’s the problem with the translation that stops with “goodwill to men” - the Bible tells us that if you are not a Christian, you don’t experience God’s peace.

You don’t experience His good pleasure.

You experience His mercy and grace because you’re alive and He sustains you, sure, but you don’t experience His divine peace and forgiveness.

The peace of God (forgiveness of sins) is exclusively given to His children.

So many look around the world and don’t see world peace and they assume that God has failed or they say that the reason this or that is happening is because God is waiting to give us peace… We don’t have to wait to experience God’s peace and God does not fail at anything!

God gives peace to us today - and His peace is given to the people that He favors.

Who are those people?

His children.

Those who are saved by grace through faith in Christ.

If you’re a Christian tonight - you can experience this peace of Christmas as Jesus came to the earth in order for you and I to draw near to our God.

You can experience this peace in your heart today!

As we look around our world, we see fewer and fewer people experiencing this peace because fewer and fewer people know Christ and fewer and fewer people are coming to church to worship with God’s people.

I shared some of this on Sunday night and I apologize if it’s regurgitated information for some of you, but it’s important data for us to understand and process.

I talk to many people in our community who treat Dent County as a part of the Bible belt and, therefore, a Christianized region where everyone knows God and is a Christian.

While many people do know things about God and the Bible, we are not living in a majority Christian region… We live in a community where 15-20% of people attend church on any given Sunday.

That’s not a majority, in fact that’s a distant minority.

What is the solution?

The solution is for us as Christians to realize that the Great Commission that Jesus gave before He ascended is still in effect and for us to understand that where we are at today is not acceptable because there is more work to be done!

We rejoice over the work that God has done and we are excited to see what He will do next, but we have to be responsible to play our God-given role of following Christ daily and making disciples as we proclaim the Gospel to those around us.

As we get ready to enter a new year, we have to do so prepared to share the Gospel with our community because we are living in a community that is lost.

Lots of people talk about the biggest problem in their community and they usually say one of the following:

Poverty

Drugs

Lack of jobs

No opportunities for young people

Violence

Natural disaster

Salem has some of these problems.

I’ve heard many talk about how drugs and poverty are our biggest problems and though those are real problems our biggest problem is that the majority of our community doesn’t know Jesus.

Lots in our community know about Jesus… but they don’t KNOW Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Many might have come to VBS or walked the aisle or raised the hand, but thousands haven’t actually followed Jesus.

They haven’t repented from their sins and turned to Christ.

They aren’t producing fruit.

They aren’t walking with the Lord.

They aren’t practicing meaningful church membership.

Our community is lost - but it’s not hopeless!

God loves the community of Salem, Missouri because there are 5000 people here made in His image and there are 15000 people in Dent County made in His image.

So our duty in 2023 is to share this truth with our community.

(2023 Church Theme and Emphases Logo)

Christ is our hope and He is the only hope that will truly satisfy!

Everything that we do as a church must be to glorify Christ first and foremost.

Every Church event, every program, every worship service, every community event, every song, every sermon, every kidz choir rehearsal… everything that we do must be first and foremost for the honor of Jesus because He is our hope individually and as a church.

But we all know that many don’t know Christ in our community and that’s our motivation to work today because He is the need for Dent County.

We’ll dive into this theme on January 1st - a day when I know many people will be gone and traveling, but we’ll bounce back to this throughout 2023 as we evaluate what we’re doing and why we’re doing what we’re doing and why we give and why we grow and why we go… Ultimately it’s all because of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us.

I don’t know about you all, but I’m excited for what He has in store!

Brief question time (if time allows)

Now, the moment you all have been waiting for!

Last year we did a Christmas trivia time and multiple people told me that it was too hard, so I recalibrated things for this go around and think this is more fair in this setting and everyone gets to be involved this way!

Going around right now are sheets of paper with 20 questions.

We’ll take the next few minutes to work through these questions and then go straight to the answers and see who gets the most correct because there might be a little prize for that person.

Christmas Trivia 2022

1.

Which Gospel shares the birth of Jesus with us?

2. Who gave birth to Jesus?

3.

Where did Mary and Joseph have to travel for the Roman census?

4. Who appeared to Mary and told her that she would give birth to Jesus?

5. Who was Jesus’ cousin that baptized him?

6.

What was Jesus laid in after he was born?

7. Did the angels appear to the shepherds during the day or at night?

8. What gifts did the wise men bring Jesus?

9. Which direction did the wise men travel when they came to visit Jesus?

10.

What does “Bethlehem” mean?

11.

What does the name Emmanuel mean?

12.

What other Old Testament leader was born in Bethlehem?