Sermon Tone Analysis

This week I had an amazing experience!

Wed morning I was running the sound for my wife’s Christmas concert at the school she teaches.

On the stage was a group of kids from a Christian school singing about NOEL - which is a french word taken from the Latin word Natalis - or nativity.

The story was about a family who gets stuck in a snow storm and encounters a “miraculous hotel” that appears - Hotel Noel - there are no decorations inside, which the family thought at first was quite empty, but the reality was they would be reminded of the TRUTH of Christmas - Jesus came to save the world - they realized how empty their lives were without Jesus, but this Christmas it would be full!

My heart was so happy hearing kids singing about waking up to Jesus Christmas morning!

This whole season and last year I felt such emptiness all around because our world spends an entire month celebrating nothing!

The reality is Christmas is meant to be full!!!

Not empty!

This morning is our last Sunday in the house together!

Back in October/November when I was praying for a theme for Christmas I felt impressed to remember our theme for the year and how the Christmas story relates...

The Lord placed on my heart a Word for our church for 2022 - His desire for our congregation to be:

Faithful

Spirit Full

Fruitful

These are not random ideas in the Word of God, but align with the stories of every hero we see in God’s Word - including the Christmas story!

So this morning, as we prepare our hearts for the real meaning of Christmas celebration this week, I want us to take a few cues from the people of the Christmas story and see just how FULL the first Christmas really was.

1. Spirit Full

Christmas is SPIRIT FULL!!!

In so many ways we the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Christmas story - it is not just about Jesus...

The Father had a planned and used the Holy Spirit for the conception of Christ.

But one of the most prominent moments of the fullness of the Spirit is when Mary greets Elizabeth - two expecting mothers who both conceived miraculously!

Backstory:

Elizabeth and Zechariah were OLD, far beyond childbearing years - and while ministering in the temple God tells him they will have a child who will be the forerunner for the Messiah - John the Baptist

Several months into this miraculous pregnancy Mary comes to visit Elizabeth - also pregnant miraculously as she was a virgin.

Two miraculous pregnancies both designed to fulfill the plan of God to save the world --- just ordinary woman, who were woman of faith and obedience - used by God and full of the Holy Spirit.

In this moment - the Holy Spirit comes upon Elizabeth and she begins to prophesy over the Christ child, and the child within her leaps in the womb - it must have been a powerful stirring - as this anointed baby responded to the baby in the womb Mary was carrying - the Spirit of God on the babies in the womb supernaturally respond to each other and both mothers prophesy!

We gloss over this moment of confirmation of God’s plan to both woman and their role and purpose in His plan - but fail to see how powerful the ANOINTING of the SPIRIT OF GOD was in this moment.

Oh that we would desire the anointing of God upon our lives CONFIRMING our obedience and surrender to the LORD’s PLANS in our lives!!!

The fullness of the Holy Spirit rests on those still today who are YIELDED to the Lord’s desires for their lives and are not living for themselves but for God’s plans to be fulfilled!

Will you allow - - will you desire the presence of the Holy Spirit in your life?

God wants you to have the fullness of the Spirit - thus the promise Jesus makes in Acts 1 and fulfilled in Acts 2 to the church.

We can be full as we desire to be...

2. Faith Full

My man Joseph!

WOW - faithful to the Lord, faithful to the plan, faithful to Mary!

If anyone was in his full rights as a man by the law given by God it was Joseph...

to put away Mary or even have her stoned

to walk away from an embarrassing and humiliating situation

to say this is unfair

Yet we see his faithfulness

- to NOT take the loophole out

- to hold fast in the most uncomfortable of situations

- to listen to the voice of God and obey

How often do we find the loopholes today to get out of uncomfortable moments and do our own thing instead of listening to what God is speaking to us?

I see and hear it all the time --- we justify our choices to put the Lord on the back burner of our lives so we can do what feels comfortable to us and what we think will make us happy - ignoring what the Lord is calling us to do...

Joseph has a profound example of FAITHFULNESS to the LORD in his obedience in this situation.

Even down to the discipline of keeping himself from consummating his marriage to Mary until after Christ was born.

His faithfulness produced self denial, self discipline, humbling of himself, and putting others before His own ambitions.

OUCH - that example stings a little when we reflect our lives in its mirror!

What kind of faithfulness do our lives reflect to the Lord?

Are we more faithful to our jobs, our hobbies, a sport, or personal interest than we are to the Lord?

God is faithful even when we are not --- but make no mistakes - He desires our faithfulness!

3. Fruit Full

The most obvious of all - FRUITFUL!!!

Fruitfulness is about reproducing life, the life of Christ in us and others --

MARY WAS CERTAINLY FRUITFUL!!!

The fruit of her womb bringing salvation to ALL!

Yes - I read the whole account of Jesus coming to earth.

Christ mass — is nothing but when the church decided to celebrate the first advent of Christ.

His arrival on earth as the WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US!!!

It required a very integral component:

The obedience of a young woman to be yielded to and used by God

That obedience produced the LIGHT OF THE WORLD and SALVATION FOR ALL MANKIND

You can be stubborn, you can be willful, you can be selfish and not yielded to God --

But in our yielding to the Lord’s plans do we find the greatest FRUITFULNESS for the kingdom of God — we find our lives bearing FRUIT!

In our fruitfulness is our PURPOSE fulfilled!

The Lord has a plan for each of our lives and wants to complete that plan in us - if we would yield ourselves to Him even as Mary yielded her whole self to the plan of God.

God is not done with you but wants to work in your life fully if you will let Him use you to be fruitful!

CONCLUSION

What will you take away from the heroes in the Christmas story???

The anointing of the Spirit on Elizabeth to prophesy at the arrival of the Christ

The faithfulness of Joseph who could have used every loophole to get out of marriage and foil God’s plan

The fruitfulness of Mary bringing the Savior of mankind to the world

After a year of focusing on being FULL

Faith FULL

Spirit FULL

Fruit FULL

Will you yield and obey for the Lord to be glorified through your life?

It is never to late to start!