Christmas Reels A Christmas Carol
Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 1:19:31
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Legacy- A legacy is what remains from a person’s life after they have gone. the impact, influence, and values they leave behind.
It can include-
How people remember you
The lives we’ve shaped and served
The values, faith, or principles we’ve modeled
The work, traditions, or relationships we have built.
Today we are examining the 1843 holiday classic “A Christmas Carol”. You might have seen this movie in its many forms – from black and white films, to Muppets, and stage plays to musicals – “A Christmas Carol” has become a staple around the holiday season for over a hundred years. The penny-pinching, loveless, ungracious, uncompassionate character by the name you all know... Ebenezer Scrooge. And his story reminds us how important our heart is – and how what’s in our hearts affects our lives.
Clip 1
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.
So here’s the question of the day – how’s your heart? What’s going on in your heart?
Maybe like Scrooge your life started with such innocence, and purity and with genuine love in your heart – but then life happened – disappointment – loss – betrayal – bad decisions – maybe even tragedy – and your heart gets broken and hard.
Well here’s what I want you to know – that no matter how bad it gets or how far you think you’ve gone – God sees – and God cares.
1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)
7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
And because God sees your heart – He’ll always send a way to reach your heart – even if it means taking a look back at the past – to see clearly – how we got to where we are.
Clip 2
I cannot bare it – Scrooge said. I think that’s the cry of a lot of people –
haunted by the past, pains, people, and problems and wish there was anything they could do to make it all go away.
You know as we watch those moments from Scrooge’s past, we all can recall things like that in our own life. And whether good or bad – our past has shaped us into the person that we are today.
So then here’s another great question –
what would it take to finally move past the past and step into the purpose and plan that God has for our lives?
I think the way we find the answer to that question is – perspective – seeing things from a different point of view. I mean whatever perspective you had when you came to church today – has you the way you are today.
But what if we could step out of our lives – and look down from above – at our present – the life we’re living right now – what would it reveal – and what would we change? And I think that’s what God wants us all to do today – take inventory of our lives.
In fact I believe that’s why you’re here today – to see your life from a different perspective.
18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can see something of the future he has called you to share.”
Seeing your life clearly – from God’s perspective – is a gift.
And as the Ghost of Christmas present says, “Not many mortals are granted a perspective of man’s world.”
clip 3
I love that the cross on the church was the sward …..
I love that the ghost of Christmas present gave Ebenezer a picture of Bob Cratchit’s life and his ill son, Tiny Tim.
( Many times we are so wrapped up on our own self that we are not paying attention to those closest to us as well.)
It softens the hearts – and that’s what the spirits were trying to do for old Ebenezer Scrooge. Tiny Tim’s statement…
I want the to see me crippled and remind them of
The One who causes the lamb to walk and the blind to see. … perspective!
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
The truth is – one day who we are and the reality of who we could have become will be clear – but perhaps – after it’s too late.
clip 4
Death always gives us the greatest perspective. It reminds us that our life on earth is short.
14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Jesus talked about a man who had no perspective of eternity – when the man said in Luke
19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
This is what what Ebenezer was realizing – and it’s what we need to understand too.
That it’s time to get past our past – to see the new perspective that God is giving us today
and begin a new life that ensure we have a hope and purpose for our future – a future that God always intended.
Ebenezer Scrooge asks the Ghost of Christmas yet to come,
“Are these the shadows of things that will be – or shadows of things that may be?”
Clip 5
Leaving a legacy starts with the heart….. it is maintained by a kingdom perspective….
8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
a legacy, a reflection of our faith and Christ. our humility, compassion, our trust in God even in hard seasons.
long after our words fade, the fruit of a life rooted in faith continues to grow in the hearts of those we have touched.
A legacy is not what you leave for people, but what you leave in people..
