Sermon Tone Analysis

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Engage: I wonder how many Hermey's we will meet this Christmas season.

Christians who have become disappointed with their Church, or discontented with other Christians, Bible reading, praying, the whole business of following Jesus.

This month and this year it is my goal to teach you why faith is so important, why you should have it, and if you have become discontented--refocus and reinvigorate your faith.

Expand: More than 3/4 of my preaching in 2022 will be from the works of the Apostle John; his Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse.

That you may believe.

My plan is to preach Jesus...

That you may believe.

I will tell you the truth...

That you may believe.

I will try and draw you into the greatest story of them all...

That you may believe.

If you still want to go all Hermey on Jesus it will be on your own hook.

Excite: Like our movement from Thanksgiving to Christmas, life is a journey.

Upon that journey we can relish the opportunities for growth that we experience or we can resent them.

Faith sustains us every step of the way.

Not just during this long Christmas season but every moment of every day from the very first moment we begin to follow Jesus.

If you become dissatisfied with the Christian life like Hermey got dissatisfied with Elvery I cannot offer you any other alternative.

In John's Gospel one of His boys will say

"where else would we go?

Only you have the words of life."

Entice: I never intend to use the characters of Christmas cartoons as illustrations in Christmas sermons, but what a treasure we find there!

Let's talk a little bit about Hermey, whom you know, the elf who became discontented with Elvery and decided to become a dentist.

He lost faith in all things elfy.

Faith and belief are the same essential thing (if you want the noun ”faith” to name you, if you want the adjective ”faithful” to describe you then you need to practice the verb=believing! ) To keep the faith means keeping our focus on Jesus.

John in every book he wrote keeps his eyes and invites us to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Explore:

Jesus came to save us and Scripture fully instructs us in order that we may believe in Him.

Explain: Christmas faith is a more compact version of the full faith disclosed in the NT it is all about Jesus!

So today in Gospel, Epistle, and Apocalypse John's teaches us to believe in Jesus the source of faith He teaches us that...

1. Christmas faith is about Believing in Jesus.

1.1 Quality not quantity.

1.2 Purpose in the proclamation.

He teaches us that

2. Christmas faith is about Joy in Jesus.

Much of what we read in this the opening verses of 1 John will remind us of what we read in the Gospel of John.

That is because in it we find the same guy writing the same thing to a more targeted audience.

The emphasis is largely the same he only adds one element.

We will have the word Joy on our lips all month.

John reminds us who is the source of true joy.

2.1.

True joy requires accurate understanding.

Jesus is the word of life

2.2 True joy requires community.

John bears witness to Jesus.

2.3 True Joy requires attention.

Joy is the outcome of fellowship creating with fully accepting this message.

John also teaches us that

3. Christmas faith is about Obeying Jesus.

John begins the book of revelation by giving some guidance about obeying Jesus durring difficult times.

Obedience is wholistic.

It involves the full person.

So John tells us that Obedience means

3.1 Accepting the testimony offered.

3.2 Understanding the message taught.

3.3 Keeping the words we hear.

Shut Down:

No one really knows why Hermey wanted to be a dentist.

In the time before the internet, how did Hermey even know about dentistry?

He wanted to turn to dentistry because he lost his faith in elving.

He lost his joy in elving.

He could no longer be an obedient elf.

There are a lot of people who slide into the holidays like that confused elf.

Vainly looking for something other than Jesus, something else than Jesus.

Something different than Jesus--even during the season we celebrate His birth.

Don't be Hermey!

Don't lose your perspective on Elvery.

Don’t los Faith!

John wrote what I will preach, what I will encourage you to accept

That you may believe and believing have life in Jesus’ name

For the next several months we will be exploring the Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse of John.

Today I've given you the big picture.

An obedient, joyful, and faithful life is possible when Jesus is the object of our faith, the source of our joy, and commands our obedience.

Yes, It is good to remember each of these emphases as we enter the Christmas season.

It is more important to make this kind of faith Christmas faith, easter faith, Thanksgiving, Birthday faith.

Baseball season faith, the true faith, your faith year round.

If you do not yet call Him Lord, what a great season for seeking Him.

We will help you find Him.

We will help you to come to know Him.

We will help you take those first steps toward following Him.

That you may believe..Today, in His Word, God has spoken.