      |
Become an annual SermonCentralPRO member for $99.50, and get the "SermonCentral Preaching Kit" ($152 value) FREE! 
The kit includes: *Thinline True Tone ESV Biblefrom Crossway Books *Video Sermon Illustrations from SermonSpice.com *Book - Finding God in the Questions - from IVP *Year Subscription to Christianity Today Magazine *Year Subscription to Outreach Magazine *The Case for a Creator 52 Minute DVD *Audio Book Download from Christianaudio.com *Training Downloads to BuildingChurchLeaders.com TOTAL PRODUCT VALUE = $152.87 Click Here to Learn More
 Give
your sermons a visual impact with the "Christmas Proclamation " Premium PowerPoint template. This custom designed template has eleven (11) slides for all aspects of your worship service. Free to SermonCentralPRO members. Click on the image to go to the download page.
Are you ready for Christmas by Richard White Matthew 1:18-25 I suppose you have heard that question many times already. What people really mean by that is Did you finish your shopping? Did you mail out all your cards? Did you make out your calendar of where you are more… 
God’s Gifts by Larry Brincefield Matthew 1:18-25 1. Many families have Christmas Traditions...drinking egg nog around the fire place, singing Christmas Carols around the piano, Doing an act of kindness for a needy family, and many others... more…
Surviving the Most Wonderful
Time of the Yearby Mike Fogerson Matthew 1:18-25 (Show clips of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation). Looks like any of your homes for Christmas? Were starting a 3 part collection of messages entitled "Christmas In The Real World." This series will offer real more…
Christmas Through the Eyes of
Mary and Joseph by Matthew Rogers Matthew 1:18-25 (Use an object lesson of our Nativity Scene from home – pull figures out of a box one at a time while talking). One of my favorite parts of Christmas preparation is putting up the Nativity set. Each year, more…
 The
Supernatural Power of Christ’s Birth by Ray Ellis Matthew 1:18-23 Everything about the birth of Jesus was supernatural. First, there was the miraculous conception. “Mary was conceived of the Holy Spirit.” It was unheard of for a virgin girl to become pregnant by the Holy more…
The Significance of Christmas
to AmericansThe 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 respondents said 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 been 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: SermonCentralPRO
Unwrapping the Christmas Present“To get ready for Christmas, God undressed. God stripped off his finery and appeared – how embarrassing – naked on the day he was born. . . God could not be God-with-us if he wasn’t flesh... As evangelicals we have focused on the saving death of Christ but thrown out the Incarnation in our Christmas wrappings. As we cover God with Christmas, we hide what is most distinctive about Christianity. And this is the tragedy: What many don’t know about Christianity is that God has chosen to identify with their pain, their humanness, their flesh. This is what we’ve lost as we’ve exchanged the Feast of the Incarnation for Christmas." SOURCE: Mary Ellen Ashcroft, “Gift Wrapping God,” Christianity Today, 12-8-97, p. 32-33. From "God in a Body" by Matthew Rogers on www.sermoncentral.com. Contributed by: SermonCentralPRO
Without ChristmasWith all the hustle and bustle, I thought we needed to be reminded why Christmas is a good idea. Without Christmas… • The candied fruit market would completely collapse! • Our boring, uneventful lives would have no stress at all! • Eggnog would just be a slimy, high cholesterol beverage. • Santa would be a strange fat man with poor fashion sense! • Three words— “No Christmas bonus!” • We wouldn’t mindlessly sing “Hope Is Just Around the Corner” (Our Christmas play) • You’d have to spend your own money buying stuff that doesn’t fit. • We would never wonder if reindeer really know how to fly. • Your cat would never know the joy of coughing up tinsel! • Number one reason—without Christmas, there could be no Easter! Contributed by: Charles Tucker
A Please
Come InMy mother, a teacher, was having a hard time settling on a suitable role for one of her students in the Grade 3 Christmas pageant. Finally, she decided he should be the innkeeper, a role she felt he could handle. All he had to do was tell Joseph, "There is no room at the inn." Everything went fine at rehearsals, but when Joseph begged for a room for his pregnant wife during the first performance, the lad didn’t have the heart to turn him down. To everyone’s surprise, he said, "If it’s so urgent, please come in." That is exactly right on the money. Christmas is God saying to us, His heart is opened to all of us, He will NOT turn us down, or turn us away. There is room at heaven’s inn. SOURCE: Alex Domokos of Winnipeg told in Readers Digest, Dec. 2004 Contributed by: Andrew Chan
Meaning of Christmas?A television interviewer was walking the streets of Tokyo at Christmas time. Much as in America, Christmas shopping is a big commercial success in Japan. The interviewer stopped one young woman on the sidewalk, and asked, "What is the meaning of Christmas?" Laughing, she responded, "I don’t know. Is that the day that Jesus died?" There was some truth in her answer. SOURCE: Donald Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations, San Jose: Resource, 1992, p. 16. http://www.sermons.org/christmas5.html Contributed by: SermonCentralPRO 
Forward this e-mail to your minister friends so they can subscribe
to the FREE SermonCentral.com newsletter, too. They just need to
click on this link to sign up:
SermonCentral.com
SermonCentral |
|