Sermon Tone Analysis

*Date:*      23rd December 2007                                                              (Sunday AM)                                                                       *Ref:* A0352

*Place:     Kambah P.S.*

*Title: Come Let Us Adore Him*

*Text:        *& Matthew 2:1-12

 

*Illust:     *Tiny fragments of bone believed to be remains of the three wise men who visited the newborn Jesus will be on display in Tucson for two days this week.

The Catholic relics tour, titled "Come Let Us Adore Him," will be at the Northwest Side's St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church today, and at Downtown's St. Augustine Cathedral on Tuesday.

"This is the closest I'm going to get to God in my physical lifetime," said John Garcia the spokesman for a Catholic men's group, the Arizona Knights of Columbus.

"And since this is a time of Christmas, it puts us closer in touch with the birth of Christ."

!

I.                   War on Christmas

!! A.               Happy Holidays

i.

We need to understand that there is a continuing war on “Christmas” we are not seeing much of it yet but in America & England it is political correctness run amuck and Christmas is being constantly attacked:

      At Southwestern Oklahoma State University the director of human resources recently visited various departments and said that decorations featuring the word 'Christmas' in any areas of the university must be immediately removed," "He also instructed the employees not to say 'Christmas' while on the job.

As a result the employees cannot respond 'Merry Christmas' to other employees or visitors to the University."

ii.

Only one example of the global assault on Christmas, the world trying to remove “Christ” from Christmas.

– Go to Woden the Nativity is discreetly hidden away behind Santa

!! B.               Material Assault

i.

What does the world replace the real meaning of Christmas with?

ii.

Rampant materialism; From 8:00am this morning Chadstone Shopping centre opened & will not close until 6:00pm tomorrow night (Christmas Eve).

They are expecting up to 7000 people per hour to pass through the centre ... between 2am & 3am.

Don’t forget the Boxing Day sales – they start at 7:00am

     The Australian Retailers Association is expecting a fruitful Christmas season with sales of more than $35 billion nationally.

iii.