The Christmas List (2)
Notes
Transcript
Who is on your Christmas list?
Why are they on?
Who isn’t on the list?
Why aren’t they on?
Look around in this church? Who is on and who isn’t?
What would it take for someone off the list to make it on?
If you are waiting for someone else to change, I doubt that day will come. Not because people can’t change, but rather you typically aren’t able to see when they do because if you are choosing not to talk to the person or listen to the person or spend anytime with the person, how would you ever know?
You must initiate the contact while there still may be conflict.
I know someone who can help because He has had some experience with this already.
For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway. We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.
But you dont understand! My family or church family have serious issues!
Let’s look at Christ’s family a bit in Matthew 1
Abraham ask his wife to lie about their marriage and go live with another man, so did Isaac
Jacob lied to his own father on his deathbed so he could steal his blessing
Judah got his daughter in law pregnant thinking she was a lady of the evening
David was a sexual predator who killed a man for his wife
Solomon had a 1000 women in his house. 700 he married and 300 were concubines. If he got married every weekend, it would take roughly 14 years to marry that many weekend. Thats a lot of wedding cake.
Asa had bad feet, just thought I d through that in for any of you sitting in the pews today or watching that have a petty issue with someone else. God is calling you to fix that too!
Then there’s Manasseh, who because this is a family show we cant even talk about how messed up he was.
Can you see how these people I just mentioned, not only would have been kicked out of church, most of them would have been locked up for years and years or even given the death penalty for their life choices.
SO, tell me again about how bad you got it because someone else in your family or church disagrees with you one the election or whether or not you should wear a mask?
I was at Costco this week and started talking to a man on the other side of the gas pump. I dont remember how we got to this topic, but he told me that his mother stopped talking to him because he didnt vote the same way as her in the last election.
Christmas is going to be tough for that guy for sure.
You know when I was a kid, if you were to ask me about my Christmas List, I would have told you about everything I wanted. But when you grow up that changes right? Now when you ask me about my Christmas List it contains all the presents I want to get for others. Maybe that is why Paul said
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
What kind of present do you think Jesus wants this year?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
In this text we see the perfect present for Jesus.
Giving yourself completely to Him for His service.
Can you imagine what that would do for a church if we did just that?
Something happened to me recently that really shocked me and caused me to question how sincere of a Christian I really was. Tell story of bad news I realized that I had no right to take the name of Christ if I was going to continue with that way of thinking. Tell them the text.
Maybe he doesn’t think I am jerk anymore either? Maybe the first step is the hardest, but I can tell you that with each successive step it gets easier.
Union is strength; division is weakness. When those who believe present truth are united, they exert a telling influence. Satan well understands this. Never was he more determined than now to make of none effect the truth of God by causing bitterness and dissension among the Lord’s people.
The world is against us, the popular churches are against us, the laws of the land will soon be against us. If there was ever a time when the people of God should press together, it is now. God has committed to us the special truths for this time to make known to the world. The last message of mercy is now going forth. We are dealing with men and women who are judgment bound. How careful should we be in every word and act to follow closely the Pattern, that our example may lead men to Christ. With what care should we seek so to present the truth that others by beholding its beauty and simplicity may be led to receive it. If our characters testify of its sanctifying power, we shall be a continual light to others—living epistles, known and read of all men. We cannot afford now to give place to Satan by cherishing disunion, discord, and strife.1
1 Testimonies for the Church. (1855). (Vol. 5, p. 236). Pacific Press Publishing Association.
You know, Just before that first Christmas, the church was ready to present or give the PRESENT of facts to the world but because they did not have Christ in their hearts and their lives were contrary to the truth they proclaimed, the Church was empty of the Holy Spirit and they led the charge to kill the one they were waiting for.
This Christmas, as we are living in the end times, just before Jesus comes the second time, may God’s church not only PRESENT the truth of His soon coming, but be so filled with the Holy Spirit that we are able to give the PRESENT of our lives as living sacrifices to God and each other.