Forever Christmas
Winnie and I wish you all a Merry Christmas. Thank you for being with us today, as we celebrate this special season. This has been a blessed year for us. We were able to be with all the children for our anniversary. Karen was here for my birthday. Chris and Christy were here for Winnie’s birthday and Thanksgiving, and now, David and Vickie will be with us for Christmas. So it’s been an unusually special year for us.
Let me begin today, with the proclamation of the angels on that First Christmas which made this celebration the greatest event on earth since creation....God reinvented Himself and took on flesh.....
It begins with Luke 2:8 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watching over their flocks at night. v9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. The angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior is born to you, He Christ, the Lord.”
I think I would be safe to say that there are many, when Christmas has come and gone that would say they’re glad Christmas is overand things can settle down to normal. They’ve had it with putting it all up and taking it all down and putting it all away for another year. It's done and you’re glad we are all moving on. Unless you’re a Christmas junkie....
I know it takes me several days to get up the will power to put it all up and take it all down again... But most children would love for Christmas to last forever because they don’t have to do the work of Christmas. I am reminded of the family that had a great Christmas morning diving into the presents with squeals of joy, and laughter filling up the room. Tommy was really happy. He got the new drum set he wanted so much and immediately began to pound away on his wonderful gift. As a matter of fact, he spent most of the day banging on those drums. He was one happy camper, but the family was glad that Christmas was almost overand they could put Tommy in a sound proof room.....
As I was writing this sermon for today, and as I began, I was inspired to write a poem I’ve titled it “Christmas Has Found Us”
Christmas has come once again
All efforts to stall are only in vain
So persistent so deliberate it comes
until it has found us...
Quietly at first, in store and main street,
Traces here and there, now entreat
But other things are on our minds
Until it finds us
Christmas anthems with familiar strains,
Workmen and merchant in tandem again,
The countdown begins.
Christmas has found us
We were here all along, busy with living,
So much taking, and so little giving,
Busy with the business of life.
Till Christmas found us
Then comes the awakenings of Yuletide cheer,
The spirit of giving, of folks drawing near.
The season has shifted us, lifted us,
Christmas has found us.
Oh, that what is found here, might last for all time,
Family, and neighbor, and friend would all find
We can live here and stay here, truly we can
And keep this season around us
When Christmas has found us
A lot of folks need to learn how to spell Christmas. Because without Christ, there is no Christmas. It is the “Christ mass”, the time when we give thanks as we acknowledge God’s gift of (the Christ) the Savior of the world. The Mass means, to come before Christ with faith, devotion and worship. He came gift wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. This offends a lot of folks, who have tried to brainwash others into saying “Happy Holidays”, in order to avoid the real message of the season, which would cause them to confront the Christ of Christmas. In order to say Christmas, the name of Christ must come from your lips!
All of you have or will, wrap your gifts that you place under the tree at Christmas. Everyone that the gift is for, will look at it and even see that their name is on it. They may pick it up and feel it and shake it, but it’s not time to unwrap it yet. It’s theirs, but theyhaven’t unwrapped it yet. Oh my, God has so many amazing gifts which He has prepared for us. And they’re wrapped with our name on them. Some folks are still checking it out, sizing it up, butthe time of unwrapping is coming. Habakkuk 2:3-4 “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.”
So God wrapped His gift up and it took 30 years unwrapping the gift as he grew under Mary and Joseph’s guidance and nurturing. Remember that Jesus was 2 years old by the time the wise men arrived to worship Him. And this gift unfolded and unwrapped as He went from baby to child, to manhood. At 30 years old, Jesus is baptized by John and God announced and began to unwrap his gift from heaven. The wrapping is coming off and the word begins to go outwith those who were witness. Let’s read it... Matthew 3:11 John said “Truly, I give baptism with water to those of you whose hearts are changed; but he who comes after me is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to lace up, he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire, 12 In whose hand is the instrument with which he will sift the grain, he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned up in the fire which will never be put out.
13 At that moment, Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be given baptism by him. 14 But John would have prevented him, saying, It is I who have need of baptism from you, and do you come to me? 15 But Jesus made answer, saying to him, Let it be so now, because it is necessary for us to make righteousness complete. Then he baptized Him. 16 And Jesus, having been baptized, came up from the water and the heavens opened, and those standing there saw the Spirit of God coming down on him as a dove; 17 And a voice came out of heaven, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to Him”. Matthew 4: 17 “From that time Jesus went about preaching and saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin, for the kingdom of heaven is near”.
Howard Thurman wrote....
When the song of the angels is stilled,
And the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and the princes are home,
And the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart
Two men were walking along a beach where hundreds of starfish had been washed up by the tide. They came across a little boy who was picking up starfish and throwing them back into the water. As he tossed one back to the sea, one of the men said, “What’s the point of doing that? There are too many starfish on the beach to save them all. What difference can you possibly make?” As the boy threw another starfish back into the sea, he said “It makes a difference to that one!”
The work of Christmas continues, long after the tree and all the decorations are put away and the gifts are in the toybox or the closet.
We must keep on unwrapping the great gift of Christ-Mass to all that will be willing to take a look beyond the wrapping... It was 2000 years ago, that Jesus gave us theincredible gift that would change the world forever, and we are still trying to unwrap it, because in this one gift, everything we need is supplied, everything we desire is offered and simply needs to be unwrapped and received.
A mother was Christmas shopping at the mall with her twotoddlers in tow. All day long they had been pestering her to buy everything in the store. They’d been running around like maniacs, touching everything, and knocking over displays. Then they wanted to go see Santa AGAIN!.
Finally she was at her wits end. She crammed herself, all her shopping bags, and the toddlers into a crowded elevator.
As the doors closed she said out loud, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should receive a sound beating.”
From somewhere behind her she heard, “I believe they already beat Him and then crucified Him.” WOAH... Wake up call!
Mark 8:36 “For what does it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul, or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
There is a commercial that says “Diamonds are forever”, it’salso a 007 movie, and a Santana album, but a lot of folks are giving diamonds this Christmas, but my friends this gift that God has given us, will outlast all the diamonds. (even though I’m sure the ladies would still like one) Another commercial says “Diamonds are a girls best friend” but there’s a friendship in Christ that is far more valuable and longer than diamonds.
Winnie told me, forget the diamond, just tell Santa to get me a real good electric razor for my legs.... But I’m sure Santa could force a diamond on her!
Someone said that men in stage One: believe in Santa. In Stage Two: they stop believing in Santa. In Stage Three: They look like Santa and in stage 4 they are Santa.
We didn’t plan on it, it just happened!
There will be some folks who will take a good look at the gift of Christmas, they will handle it. They will shake it. They will guess at what’s inside. They will ask questions about it. But, if you tell them that the gift will require something of them, and It will cause them to live different, act different, speak different, even think different, they will never unwrap the gift, even if it is the thing they need the most and will let them live the life they desire, with peace, joy, and fulfillment.
But, praise the Lord! There will always be some who will unwrap this great Christmas gift and will experience the power of God in and upon their lives and they will want to share it with everyone they know.
I watched a movie once about a mom and dad who gave their child a very humanoid robot when it was born. (One of these is a robot, and one is the real deal. Can you tell which one is the robot?) They actually have these now. Anyway, The robot would be there whatever the child did and wherever it went, for the rest of it’s life, from cradle to grave. To keep it safe, to make sure it was provided for, to give it the benefit of it’s vast store of knowledge. What a gift to be able to give! And yet, that’s exactly what God did at Christmas, and it’s the gift everyone has available to them if they will just unwrap it and receive it.
Matthew 28:20 He said, “I will be with you always, even until the end of the age.”
Isaiah 58:8 “The glory of the LORD will surround you. v9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer you will cry out, and He will say, “Here I am”.
Someone has said “What we see will clash with what we know unless what we know expands so we can see."
I’m thinking here of how Mary and Joseph had to be willing to have what they knew transformed, in order to unwrap their Christmas miracle.
We are inspired with Mary’s words about what she has been told by the angel, because it blew her ever loving mind. And she says “Let it be unto me according to your words.”
Some of you are like me sometimes, “Ready, fire, aim”.... You do or say something, and then you have to deal with what you just said...
Well, after Mary has given this answer to the angel, it goes on to say, that Mary was "greatly troubled". Other translations describe her as "deeply confused", "perplexed", and even "thoroughly shaken". If I wrote a translation it might say, "Mary was freaking out."
Sometimes we must process places we’ve never been....Mary was trying to unwrap Christmas, because she had never been there before. Little could she know how many she would affect as she processed all that was crashing into her world. And the whole world waited with anticipation, as she walked through this mind blowing adventure! Our Lord has promised to go before us and prepare the way before we ever get there....
Our Lord has been where we’re going, that’s the beauty and power of the incarnation....Mary had to unwrap a lot of stuff, but God was there with the answers as she stayed open and receptiveand Gave God the benefit of the doubt.
Are there some things you’re struggling to unwrap about life, about the twists and turns you’ve experienced that were not on your “to do” list?
When there is uncertainty and challenge in our lives, we can choose to play out the worst case scenarios in our heads. We can let all the fear and anxiety take hold of us and allow those emotions to undermine what we know deep down to be true of God and His plan for us.
Or we can ponder and consider what we know to be true. We can ponder all the ways He has loved us, protected us, and comforted us when we didn’t even know or realize it, over the entire length of our lives. But for the grace and mercy of the Lord, where would we be?
Christmas isn’t about our search for Him, but His search for us.God sent His answer for our here and now and for our tomorrowsat this Christmas season, with this gift that He laid in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, in the village of Bethlehem, 2000 years ago.
Many folks identify too much with the wise men of Christmas who set out in search for the Lord, when the truth is, that Christmas is about the reality that God has come all the way from heaven, in search of us.
Christmas finds us, every year, throughout the year it finds us—in good years and bad years and all the in between. Christ comes into the world where we live, to bridge once and forever the great void between God, and us.
He comes to us again and again and He delights in our being found and He wants us to live in a forever Christmas, as the people of eternal hope.
I remember when Karen was just a wee thing (that’s her little bald self In the middle) and she wandered out the door, down the street, trying to get to the church, where she knew we were. We went into full search mode. The police and everyone we knew were out searching. And when the police called and told us a neighbor had saw her in the street and took her into their house. We had a lot of rejoicing, as we hugged and kissed on her. We weren’t going to stop until that which was lost was found!
How much more is our Heavenly Father doing the same. He came all the way from to heaven to a silent, holy night, in Bethlehem, to put on flesh, experience life as we know it, then give His very life, to show us how much He loves us and wants to bring us home to Himself. That baby in a manger is declaring that He has found us, and saying MERRY CHRISTMAS, is asking the question, have weaccepted the gift!
My kids have bought me clothes for Christmas that was a waste of money... didn’t fit, not my style, or the last thing I needed.... Wouldn’t it be great to just pick out one gift that fits everyone, or is exactly what they need and that they will appreciate......
Well, we have found the universal Christmas gift..... We give them money for them and their family... They have never brought it back and said it didn’t fit..... I’m glad that I can report to you, that God has chosen the universal gift to give at Christmas..... It has something for everyone... A Savior, (for all have sinned); A Provider, (we all have needs); A Healer, (you can live a long time if you just stay healthy); As a matter of fact when He called Himself the “I Am, that I Am”...He was telling us, I am what you need when you need it.
His gift never wears out, (it’s eternal). It’s never out of style, (it’s always up to date), and it’s always new....(it’s new every morning, great is His faithfulness) But it does no one any good unless you unwrap it and receive it.....
I want to take this time, to lead us all in a prayer, to unwrap the greatest gift of Christmas. .....(Would you pray with me)
Father God, I have come to this moment, where I am ready to unwrap Your gift to me. Thank you Jesus for your gift of salvation that you offer to me. I receive your forgiveness, and I reach out and take you as my savior.
You said If I believe and receive, my sins would be forgiven and wiped clean. Come into my life. Thank you for saving me and forgiving me, In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
He’s the gift that keeps on giving, and He doesn’t mind if you regift what He’s given to you, as a matter of fact He insists on it!!
Give and it shall be given unto you, full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.....shall others give, (or regift) unto you....
Merry Christmas means “He has found us”.....
