Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction:
Opening Illustration: It is amazing the mess that my children can make.
Sometimes, I wrongly think that if I can just keep them in the house, they’ll be fine, but the minute I turn my back and things get quiet.
Like a spidey sense that all parents have, I know they are up to no good.
Show a picture of Emily covered in markers.
I would love to say, “Go clean yourself up, but it is impossible for her to clean herself up.
But she looks at Amanda or me and asks us to fix it.
So we step in, throw her in the bath, get her dressed in jammies and then cuddle a little.
Putting the markers a drawer higher doesn’t work....she will get into them somehow.
And sometimes I comfort myself with these words, “She won’t still be doing this stuff once she goes off to college.”
And sometimes I comfort myself with these words, “She won’t still be doing this stuff once she goes off to college.”
This is a lot like our relationship with God and gets to the heart of the question, “What is the true meaning of Christmas?”
There are answers to your questions that aren’t, “Just have more faith!”
Who was the baby born in Bethlehem?
Why is He important?
There are answers to your questions that aren’t, “Just have more faith!”
Christmas isn’t just a baby, but the fulfillment of a promise by God to rescue His people from a tragic mistake because they (we) can’t do it themselves (ourselves).
Christmas is about a thread that weaves all of God’s promises for a savior into a beautiful tapestry of His love and grace.
For thousands of year’s God’s people waited for the Messiah who would save His people from their sins.
God repeats this promise nearly 400 times in the Old Testament.
Each promise weaves a picture of who the Messiah would be and and what He would be like.
So
So as we enter this Christmas season, we begin at the beginning…and we see a glimmer of hope in the midst of a tragic mess.
So as we enter this Christmas season, we begin at the beginning…and we see a glimmer of hope in the midst of a tragic mess.
So as we enter this Christmas season, we begin at the beginning…and we see a glimmer of hope in the midst of a tragic mess.
So as we enter this Christmas season, we begin at the beginning…and we see a glimmer of hope in the midst of a tragic mess.
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So as we enter this Christmas season, we begin at the beginning…and we see a glimmer of hope in the midst of a tragic mess.
Scripture:
God created Adam and Eve to be in relationship with Him and with each other.
He had only one rule, don’t eat from that tree over there.
Why that rule?
No idea.
A serpent (possessed by Satan) targeted that relationship between God and man and attempted to sow doubt in the mind of Eve to the goodness of God.
And we know that both Adam and Eve sinned.
The promise of the serpent demise takes place first.
The promise of a Messiah is first and foremost about God's rule and not man's redemption.
The gospel of Christ's Glory and man's redemption is the gospel of Satan's destruction.
The promise of the serpent demise takes place first.
The promise of a Messiah is first and foremost about God's rule and not man's redemption.
While Adam and Even sinned, there were consequences.
A separation did occur between God and man.
And life would be a lot harder for them going forward.
God cursed the world he created, but in the middle of it all, for Adam and Eve, there was hope.
For the serpent there would be no hope.
The serpent may have thought he won, but God said that his destruction was certain and God would rescue His people.
While Adam and Even sinned, there were consequences.
A separation did occur between God and man.
And life would be a lot harder for them going forward.
God cursed the world he created, but the biggest condemnation was on the serpent.
God made a declaration that the serpent may have thought he won, but his destruction was certain and God would rescue His people.
The promise of the serpent demise takes place first.
The promise of a Messiah is first and foremost about God's rule and not man's redemption.
The gospel of Christ's Glory and man's redemption is the gospel of Satan's destruction.
Transition to Big Idea: In the middle of monumental failure, God gives Adam and Eve a glimmer of hope by giving them a picture of the cross.
Big Idea: The Cross lights our darkest hour.
The Cross=HOPE.
Big Idea: When Hope is all you have, you realized that hope is all you need.
Transition to First Point.
Transition to First Point.
As Adam and Eve left the garden, my guess is they didn’t feel hopeful.
“What will we do now?”
probably ran through their minds.
Had God really turned His back on them.
I don’t know if you’ve ever felt abandoned, but it’s not fun.
Even the case of a friend who no longer wants to be your friend, there is a hopeless feeling.
Or that boyfriend or girlfriend who broke our hearts in between recess and English.
In many cases, we often consider what we had done to cause this.
Sometimes it truly is our fault and we have to deal with the consequences.
In those times, all you can do is cling to any hope.
1. Jesus came first and foremost to declare VICTORY over the serpent and his work.
The world that we live in is broken.
From crooked politicians to poverty and famine.
From racism to indifference, it would be hard to argue that things aren’t getting worse.
All of this is the result of the the first sin.
And for several thousand years, it appears that Satan has been ruling.
In , Jesus called Satan the ruler of this world.
So in order to save the world, Jesus had to crush the one who made it this way.
And as we’ll see, God chose to take His time.
2. God has never left His people without HOPE.
When I was a kid my parents got divorced.
And I’m fairly confident that any young child of divorced parents clings to the hope that one day they will be a whole family again.
But as the years go on that hope fades away.
And your hope shifts from fixing the past to shaping the future: to breaking the cycle of divorce in your own marriage.
But how in the world can you accomplish what you’ve never seen modeled?
Where is our hope?
In our lives, many of us particularly the younger generation have not been modeled well how to follow Jesus.
We haven’t been led to the cross of Jesus.
Where is our hope?
3. Our hope is born out of the promise, not of a baby, but of the CROSS that awaited Him.
In the shame and grief of her mistake; in the weight of their punishment, God in his grace gave them a glimpse of hope…a glimpse of the cross.
This is the message of the cross: I carry around the shame and guilt of my sin and the cross says stop.
I try to make up for the past, the cross says done.
I beg for forgiveness, the cross says accepted.
The world is broken, the cross says fixed.
The cross is the place where our screw ups, mess ups, sinful shame, and guilt and our depravity meets God’s overwhelming love and grace.
Transition to Conclusion:
They waiting a long time for God’s promise to be fulfilled.
He reminded them nearly 400 times that he hadn’t forgotten them and that no, mankind had gone too far away God.
But God was patiently waiting.
Maybe even for things to get so bad that people would cry out to Him for a savior.
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