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 Third Sunday of Advent  December 4 , 2006 |
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 Now is the Time to Prepareby Timm Meyer Luke 3:7-3:14 From day to day we don’t always get things accomplished. It might even be week-to-week, month-to-month, or year-to-year before we do the projects we were planning. We can’t always ‘get it done tomorrow’ because tomorrow turns into today. It is you and I who live in the present. We live in what is called more »   The Promised One is Coming!by Maurice Schaus Luke 3:7-3:18 Well, there are only 11 more shopping days until Christmas. Are you prepared? When many people talk about preparing for the holidays, this is the line of questioning that follows. And with good reason. If buying Christmas presents was the only thing that had to be done to prepare for Christmas, then many folks more »  Make Way!by A. Todd Coget John 1:6-1:34 One Sunday, the Minister was giving a sermon on baptism and in the course of his sermon he was illustrating the fact that baptism should take place by sprinkling and not by immersion. He pointed out some instances in the Bible. He said that when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the River Jordan, it didn’t mean in - more »  The King is Comingby James May Isaiah 40:1-40:11 In recent days we have been inundated with bad news. The cable news networks, AP and UPI have been humming with news of terrorism and of the war in Afghanistan with the promise that much more of the same bad news is yet to come. As I read this passage of scripture it seemed that God was telling me that more »  Prepare the Way for the Lordby Wesley Bishop Isaiah 40:1-40:11 “I think my water broke!” “Your what did what?” I replied. “I think my water broke!” “Not now. We’re at church.” “No, this is it. We gotta go to the hospital.” “Uh, okay. Let me ask mom to take Victoria.” We were off to the hospital. It wasn’t supposed to be for six more weeks. We stayed overnight in the hospital. more » |
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A Christmas Gift Several years ago a Washington D.C. television reporter was working on an assignment called “The Spirit of Christmas.” He telephoned the British Embassy and asked to speak to the British ambassador. “Ambassador,” the reporter said, “you have been very kind to us through the year and we would like to include you in a special Christmas news segment we’re going to run. Tell me, what would you like for Christmas?” The ambassador replied, “I am very touched by your offer, but I must decline to accept any gift.” “Oh please,” said the reporter, “you really have been very helpful to us, so won’t you please tell me what you would especially like for Christmas?” Again the ambassador refused, but the reporter persisted, and the ambassador finally gave in. “All right then, if you insist. This Christmas I would like a jar of mint jelly.” Having forgotten about the conversation, the ambassador was surprised when several weeks later, on Christmas Eve, he turned on the evening news and heard the same reporter introducing a segment on “The Spirit of Christmas.” "We recently interviewed three visiting ambassadors and asked them what they would like for Christmas. These three diplomats each gave revealing answers when they pondered what they would most like during this Christmas season of goodwill. "The German ambassador said: “I would like to see a peaceful and prosperous decade ahead for the newly liberated German people, and all citizens of the planet. May God bless us all during this historic period of change.” "The Swiss ambassador responded: “May the Spirit of Christmas last throughout the year. It is my dream that our world leaders will be guided toward a common goal of peaceful coexistence. This is my wish this Christmas season.” And then we asked the British ambassador who said, “I would like a jar of mint jelly.”" Contributed by: Ritch Grimes Under the LambIn his book "Eternity In Their Hearts," Don Richardson tells of how God implants His plan for mankind’s eternity into their culture. In one section, he wrote about the difficulty missionaries had in communicating the good news of Jesus Christ to the Chinese people. But one day, there was a breakthrough. Richardson, writing about a missionary, said, "He was studying a particular Chinese ideograph, the one which means "righteous." He noticed that it contained an upper and lower part. The upper part was simply the Chinese symbol for a "Lamb." Directly under was simply a second symbol, the first person pronoun, "I" or "me." "Suddenly, the missionary discerned an amazingly well-coded message hidden within the ideograph: "I under the lamb am righteous!" "This startled the Chinese people. They never noticed it, but once the missionary pointed this out, they saw it clearly. The asked, "Which lamb must we be under to be righteous?" [The missionary] replied with John 1:29, which is a description of Jesus Christ by John the Baptist, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!"" "I under the Lamb of God am righteous." That is God’s solution to mankind’s sin problem. SOURCE: Don Richardson's "Eternity In Their Hearts" Contributed by: Dana Chau It Came Without Packages, Boxes or Bags "Fa-who-for-ay; da-who-dor-ay; welcome, Christmas, come this way; Fa-who-for-ay; da-who-dor-ay; welcome, Christmas, Christmas day." They continue, singing, "Christmas day is in our grasp so long as we have hands to clasp." The Grinch can hardly believe his ears. He begins to get furious, but then something happens. He suddenly puzzles how Christmas came. "It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes, or bags." Suddenly the Grinch realizes that Christmas is about more than presents, or decorations, or a feast. He has a thought he’s never thought before: "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn’t come from a store; Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more." SOURCE: "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Suess Contributed by: Carla Powell Ford of the PartridgeThe Jordan River flows from the top of Mount Herman where the snow melts and travels down to the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea. For the most part the Jordan River is neither beautiful nor peaceful. It is 25 percent mud and plunges downhill at a furious pace, falling nine feet per mile. It was in this river that an event occurred that influenced the course of history. This river Jordan where, as the Bible tells us, Jesus was baptized, is now a border between the two hostile nations of Israel and Syria for thirty miles. Amid the not-so-beautiful, sometimes furious river east of Jericho, there is a peaceful and beautiful bend called the ‘Ford of the Partridge.’ It’s a place of great beauty, shaded by willows and eucalyptus trees, much as it was in New Testament times. According to tradition, Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in this very place. SOURCE: Jack Gulledge, Ideas and Illustrations for Inspirational Talks, (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1986), 10-11 Contributed by: Roy Fowler
The Significance of Christmas to Americans The Barna Research Group poll, conducted for the Lutheran Hour Ministries found that: 37% of adults in the national survey (88% of whom identified themselves as Christian) said the birth of Jesus is the most important aspect of Christmas. More than 75% of evangelical Christians placed Jesus’ birth as of first importance on Christmas. Only 32% of those who identified themselves as fundamentalists gave that answer. Only 29% of Catholics placed Jesus’ birth first. Only 24% of theological liberals said the birth of Christ made Christmas important for them. 44% of the total respondents said that family time is the most important part of one of the three most sacred days (along with Good Friday and Easter) on the calendar. 26% of respondents ages 18 to 34 said the birth of Jesus was the most important aspect of Christmas. 39% among respondents 65 and older said the same thing. Only 3% said presents or parties were the most important part of Christmas. The same percentage that said the best thing about Christmas was getting a paid holiday. "I guess it demonstrates what preachers have been wringing their hands over for some time: Christ has been evacuated from Christmas," said the Rev. William Willimon, a theologian and Duke University chaplain. "It’s good to know where we are. Christmas has become a co-opted holiday." "Americans are more likely to correctly recall the significance of April 15 than they are to connect Christmas with the birth of Jesus. As America becomes increasingly anesthetized to Christian principles and practices, it seems only fitting that we have contracted acute amnesia regarding the spiritual significance of December 25," said pollster George Barna. Barna goes on to say, "Even with all that I know about how secularized our culture has become, I would have thought that more people would say Christmas, the birth of Jesus." SOURCE: From "Making Room For Christ At Christmas" by Mike Hays. CITATION: www.barna.org Contributed by: SermonCentral |
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