Joy of Christmas
Notes
Transcript
What do I believe God wants us to know? There is joy in Christmas over our past, present, and future
Why? We are looking for JOY and JOY that continues
What do I believe God wants us to do? Have our JOY grounded in Him
Why? Jesus is the only person who can provide ever lasting JOY
ME/WE
One the things we all look forward to this time of year no matter if you are young or old, believer or non-believer, male or female any walk of life is that we look forward to receiving presents or a gift.
We look forward to receiving gifts and receiving BLESSINGS…they don’t have to be large or expensive gifts…parents received gifts from kids that are Handmade, the value of it monetarily is minor but the value of it is priceless
Maybe you feel like by sons Ben and Caleb?
SHOW VIDEO
Anybody have one of these experiences?
Here is the deal though....
BUT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED AMAZING GIFTS, BLESSINGS (anybody?) that bring us JOY, HAPPINESS…
I have reality to share with all of us the gift doesn’t last, the JOY doesn’t remain...
Eventually the becomes outdated, breaks, fails, get replaced....HOW MANY OF US HAVE AN ELECTONIC BOX AND looked in their and said why are we keeping this?
But the joy eventually fades. It doesn’t last forever.
I know that this is not the story for some of us…we grew up in a family that was not good at GIFT giving or friends with someone who doesn’t give good gifts or married to someone who doesn’t give good GIFTS…can we get a sermon on that
BUT COULD THERE BE A GIFT THAT BRINGS JOY THAT DOESN’T FADE? A GIFT THAT LAST FOREVER AND PERPUTUAL JOY!!
YES
What is that gift? It is the gift of God’s Son Jesus?
How is Jesus a JOYFUL gift that keeps on giving?
We talked about this last week…Jesus is Immanual God with us
The first GIFT is HIS PRESENCE
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us).
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus left heaven to come to earth to be with US, with YOU
This statement brings for some people hope and joy because God has come to be with us.
- I am never alone…God is with me! he is my advocator, defender, savior....
Others of us might have the reaction like some of the people in the Old Testament…God with us?
This is scary and fearful becuase how God often shows up in the Old Testament is how?
In a Pillar of Fire.... Lighting…Thunder...
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Maybe you fell like the people of God in Exodus: 20:18-21
Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Moses you go to talk to God....
ANYBODY BE THERE???
I can’t talk to God yet! I NEED TO CLEAR UP MY SPIRITUAL HOUSE FIRST…ANYBODY WITH ME....WE ARE NOT SING
“Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he, he climbed up in a sycamore tree, FOR THE LORD HE WANTED TO SEE!
And when the Savior passed that way
He looked up in the tree
And said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down!
For I'm going to your house today!
For I'm going to your house today!
I AM here to tell you God came to be with YOU in LOVE, GRACE, and TRUTH....
HE KNOWS YOUR FLAWS
HE KNOWS YOUR WEAKNESSESS
HE KNOWS YOUR SINS
IN FACT
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
JESUS DIDN’T GO ALRIGHT! THEY ARE CLEANED UP AND NOW I CAN BE WITH THEM…IF HE DID WE WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO BE WITH HIM....NO ONE WOULD
GOD SAID I CAME TO BE WITH YOU! IN ALL THE GOOD AND BAD OF YOUR LIFE.
WHAT AMAZING JOY…NO OTHER THING OR PERSON OR GOD HAS DONE SOMETHING SO AMAZING…ALL OTHER RELIGIONS SAY YOU HAVE TO OBEY TO BE WITH GOD....JESUS SAYS I COME TO BE WITH YOU NO STRINGS ATTACHED…THE ONLY THING YOU NEED TO DO IS BELIEVE.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
AND I LOVE THE ANDS OF SCRITPURE I LOVE THE BUTS BUT ANDS SEEMED TO BE OVERLOOKED...
GOD CAME TO BE WITH US AND ALSO SET US FREE! TO REDEEM US, TO SAVE US SET THE CAPTIVES FREE
LOOK WHAT JESUS SAYS IN LUKE 4:17-21 (and Isaiah 61)
And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
I have come to do this
THIS IS ALSO IN LUKE 4:12-17
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
You have multiplied the nation;
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
Jesus has come to set the captives free
WHY ARE THEY IN ANGUISH BECASUE THEY DIDN’T FOLLOW GOD’S WAYS
LIGHT IS JOY
JESUS SAYS I HAVE COME TO SET THE CAPTIVES FREE...
Let’s remember Israel is all captive at this point in history.....JESUS IS NOT JUST TALKING ABOUT A PHYSCIAL FREEDOM THAT WILL EVENTUALLY COME...…HE IS TALKING ABOUT FREEDOM FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF SIN, SIN BRINGS DEATH
THIS IS WE FIT IN
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
AND IT IS NOT JUST TO BRING FREEDOM IN YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE, BUT IN ALL OF YOUR LIFE, EMOTOINALLY, PHYSICALLY, RELATIONALLY,
MANY OF US KNOW THIS?
HOW MANY OF US HAVE BEEN HELD CAPTIVE TO A BAD HABIT, OR NEGATIVE THINKING, OR OPPRESSIVE RELATIONSHIP
THE MESSAGE I WANT TO SHARE TODAY IS GOD HAS COME TO SET YOUR FREE
FREE FROM THE BAD HABIT
RELATIONSHIP
OPPRESSION
DEPRESSION
ANXIETY
WORRY
FEAR
HOW? BY FOLLOWING THE LIGHT... GIVING YOUR ALLEGIANCE TO THE LIGHT
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
COMMITMENT
COMMUNITY …I WANT THE BLESSINGS OF JESUS WITH OUT BEING IN COMMUNITY…BUT GOD WIRED US TO BE A FAMILY
CONFESSION
PRAYER
JESUS CAME TO SET YOU FREE FROM SIN ETERNALLY AND PRESENTLY
I FEEL THE MESSAGE TODAY FOR SOME PEOPLE IS NOT THAT GOD CAME TO SET YOU FREE FROM SIN TODAY
IF THAT IS YOU TODAY
COME FOR US TO PRAY OVER YOU
YOU ARE BEING CAPTIVATED BY SINFUL THOUGHTS, HABITS, OR YOU ARE BE HELD CAPTIVE BY OTHERS
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
