Sermon Tone Analysis

Humble Beginnings

“The only thing that can dwell in the presence of God is humility”

C.S.Lewis

We know how much God loved us because he did something complelty and utterly humbling in coming down to earth as a human…In many ways all love begins with Humility

(video)

You Know so Much?

Take a look at the Nativity set sitting right here… One of the smartest things one of the wisest things we can do is remember and realize that we are not the center of the Christmas Story...

(red rider B B Gun example)

Look at this scene everything in it points to what matters in the story of Christmas.

The Wise Men are no exception.

The Wise Men knew enough to realize that someting special was happening and so they went to the logical place where a king should be born and asked a logical question of a logical person the current king.

Herod didn’t have a clue but he found some people who did and instead of hearing the prophesy and rejoicing he had other plans...

Hit the Pause Button

The wise men did something we should all do…The hit the pause button on all that they had going on in life.

The found out what mattered more than anything and they changed direction, changed the course of their lives to focus on the most important thing.

(drill down)

Useless Facts

The wisemen were leanred men of their day and yet all that they knew paled in comparrision to what they were learning now.

They knew they had to worhship they knew they had to bring things to Jesus they knew that had to bring the best they could so they did so bringing gifts of God and Frankinsense and Myrrr not to Mary, not to Joseph but to Jesus…Christmas is about what we bring to the center of the story.

It’s easy to get this twisted in our lives.

Easy to decide that we deserve things that we should be served that we should be respected that we should be heard.

We should be recognized our rights our freedoms our wants our our our.

These things happen all year long and betray the space that our live tends to lie.

.(drill

down)

But none of that really matters.

The guy in the video was smart enough to know that all the stuff he knew wasn't nearly as important as who he knew and what he was supposed to to with that knowledge.

Humbly serve..just like Jesus did.

Paul shows us what Jesus did.

Our place in the story

The wise men worshiped…we should do the same by realizing the need to bow to the King of Kings often to serve him daily to love him daily by serving and loving others others.

The best way for us to do this is to fade into the background and push ohters forward to get to see better.

(putting a kid on your shoulders to see better)

ONe of the greatest reminders of what this is and looks like is found in a verse we’ve already talked about once in this series.

John 3:16 (CSB)

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

(light the Candle)

GOd loved and gave us to the world to save it…no that’s not what it says.

The central part the truth of the Love we have is that He gave Jesus to the world so that the world that you and I cold be returned to the realationship we were designed for.

Communion

This Week’s Challenge

Step back.

Step back this week and buy a gift and a meal for a stranger to be delivered Christmas Day.

(talk about operation hotel