Sermon Central
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Are You Prepared For Christmas?
Contributed by Anthony Zibolski on Dec 4, 2012 (message contributor)
Summary: Are you going to allow Christmas to be overwhelming and lose the true meaning? only you can be prepared for Christ-mas!
Are you prepared for Christmas?
Like I said before, today marks the beginning of the Advent season.
Advent is the 4 weeks before Christmas.
It is for us marked by lighting of the 4 Advent candles and the Christ candle that is lit on Christmas Eve.
Advent is observed in the Western Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Christ child.
Latin word “Admentus” means “coming.”
Translating to Greek, the word is parousia which means second coming of Christ.
So as modern day believers-
We celebrate the ancient coming of the Christ child and also anticipate the second coming of the messiah.
Christmas is a great time for the church and exciting time for the lives of believers.
So as I ask you this morning, are you prepared for Christmas?
It has more meaning than are all your presents bought and wrapped and ready to be given Christmas morning.
Illustration-
A elderly women decided it was too much trouble to get all of her kids and grandkids Christmas presents, so she decided to send them a card with a check in it. A few days later, she discovered that she had forgotten to include the checks in the card. Imagine all those kids opening a card from Grandma with a note that says “Buy your own presents”
It pays to be prepared for Christmas- last minute shoppers and “rigging up the lights” kind of people miss the joy of Christmas because they are overwhelmed by their lack of preparation.
Every year they say that Christmas snuck up on them.
If it keeps sneaking up on you, prepare a little earlier.
In the next several weeks, we will look at all the familiar verses of Christmas Scriptures.
Are you going to be prepared for Christmas?
Will you be able to enjoy Christmas?
Will Christ make an impact on you this Christmas?
Will it be all about getting and giving gifts.
Will you remember it is Christ birthday and can you acknowledge and be grateful that God came to this earth for us.
Our text this morning is one verse Isaiah 40:3
“A voice of one calling in the desert prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”
Prayer-
In Isaiah 40, there are 3 voices being heard:
(v3)- voice calling us
(v6)- voice crying out to us
(v9)- voice bringing good news
All voice messages telling God’s people to prepare the way, make straight a highway for our God.
Picture of us preparing for Christ coming
Ancient Eastern culture was to send a representative ahead to prepare for a visit of a monarch.
So if you are to be ready and prepared for Christmas-
(1) You have to prepare yourself-
The way that you do that is make sure all obstacles are out of the way that would hinder you or prevent you from being ready.
Remember as a kid how much Christmas meant to you?
Gifts are good, but it was more than that. It was the cookies, the food, the decorations, and the anticipation of Christmas!
We have lost the anticipation and have replaced it with worry and stuff!
They say that Christmas is for kids. Really! Only for them?
(1) Do they mean that adults have become too old to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus?
(2) Or are they saying that we must anticipate and enjoy the excitement of Christmas like a child?
“But Jesus called the children to Him and said, “let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a child, will never enter it.”
I did not say that- red lined in my Bible-Jesus said that!
Like a little child-
Total dependence
Full trust
Frank openness
Complete sincerity
Total dependence- we know how well we do with that one.
Children total depend on their parents to do for them what they cannot do for themselves.
They do the things they can, and trust the parents to do the rest.
You don’t ask your kids to hunt for supper, or cut a tree down for heat. They trust us to do the things they cannot.
Children model the trust that all adults should have in Jesus Christ.
Our oldest granddaughter will be sweet 16 in January. She loved stories of David and Goliah, Daniel in the lion’s den, Jesus walking on the water.
Why? Because she did not lose the wonders of the story- tell it again Grandma, That was funny Grandpa!
Frank openness, with a believing spirit.
We do not need to go back to childish ways, we need to return to the faith of a child.
