Fruit isn't just for Christmas!

Introduction (5m)

Fruit isn’t just for Christmas! What fruit do you associate with Christmas?

Me - Satsumas!

Christmas is a time when almost everyone displays what Christians call spiritual fruit

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, etc.

We shame those who don’t display them at this time of year - Scrooge or The Grinch!

We celebrate these virtues. They’re at the forefront of our minds.

Suddenly, during Christmas the space between heaven and earth gets smaller, as many people become more like Christ in the way they treat each other

Explanation (5m)

That’s exactly what God was aiming for in sending his Son Jesus to earth as a human baby

Luke 2:10 NLT

but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.

God’s good news - peace on earth and outbreak of heavenly love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness - is for all the world, for all people, for you, me and everyone you know and come into contact with.

On that first Christmas Day, and every day since, including Christmas Day today, that good news is no longer a promise, but a reality

Jesus Christ, God’s Son - God the Son, becomes a human being. Takes on our nature. Perfectly identifies with us, so he could save us. Suffered temptation like we do and showed that the tempter can be overcome in his power. Took our sins - our wrongdoing, our mistakes, our failures - on himself and died an atoning death for us. Then he rose again and delivered us from ourselves.

Application (5m)

That’s great news - but it should make a difference in our lives

That’s the story of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. The good news of Christmas works on Scrooge’s heart until ...

Video: The Muppet Christmas Carol - The Transformation | 3:00

When we encounter God’s good news of Christmas - whether for the first time or again - we want to act differently

To show love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness - the fruit of the Holy Spirit in our hearts - to those around us.

For Christians, Christmas Day is every day. Fruit isn’t just for Christmas! Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness aren’t just for Christmas. They are to live out - in Christ’s power - every day:

Christmas can be every day for you!

And this year be the best you ever knew!

If the love this child imparts

Can be held within your heart,

Then Christmas can be every day for you! (Joy Webb)

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness throughout the year, telling everyone of God’s good news for them not just with our words, but with our actions too.

Fruit isn’t just for Christmas!

Mixing metaphors now, but ...

Next Steps

Video: The Candle of the Lord

Video: The Candle of the Lord | 4:00

How great the darkness, how deep the need! How vast the problems of indifference, hate and greed. A world rejecting, the truth once known, And slipping down into a nightmare of its own. Is there a light that’s strong enough to go, And metamorphosise the darkness that we know?

I am, the candle of the Lord And truth and love more powerful than sword! O fan the flame, its single gleam diffuse And let my spirit be the light that you can use I am, the candle of the Lord Light me

How bright the light is, from soul to soul, A myriad tiny flames expanding to a whole, How strong the truth it, when joined as one, And what a miracle this shining could become, It could transform the darkness that we know, And clearly light the way mankind must try to go.

I am, the candle of the Lord And truth and love more powerful than sword! O fan the flame, its single gleam diffuse And let my spirit be the light that you can use I am, the candle of the Lord

Light me, o light me