24 Dec Christmas 2023 | “How God Gives Us Christmas” – All Locations

Announcements:

REMINDER: DISCOVER CLASS: For New Leaders, Leaders who have not taken the class, or Leaders who have not taken the class in the last couple of years.  It is held on the first Sunday of the month.

One of our Small Group Leaders- Crystel Hoyt had major back surgery a week ago, please share this meal train for the family, thank you!

Hoyt Family Meal Train

ALL LOCATIONS:

NEED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY CARE?  OR HAVE A GROUP MEMBER IN NEED OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY CARE?   CLICK HERE:  HELP RESOURCES PAGE 

Reminder:  Please check your planning center profiles for requests to join and also remove members from the list that no longer attend as well as add members not listed. Thank you.

LEADERS: WE HAVE CHANGED UP THE DISCOVER CLASS WHICH USED TO BE GROWTH TRACK AND ARE ASKING ALL LEADERS TO RE-TAKE THIS A SOME POINT.  BELOW IS THE CLASS SCHEDULE:

1st Sunday : Discover Waters – after 1st service

2nd Sunday: NO CLASSES

3rd Sunday: Connect Class – after 1st service

4th Sunday: Baptism Class – after 1st service

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Key Verse: Luke 2

Ice Breaker:

Q. What is a hobby you have always wanted to pick up and never did?

This coming year, 2024, is an election year.  It will be a year of power-grabbing politicians promising us things they can’t deliver.  Things will only get worse and people will be in unrest.

It is a crazy world we live in and people are more isolated and separated than ever before. 

The birth of Christ was not as peaceful as people think.  There were power-grabbers from Rome and Jerusalem.  People wanted power.  There was craziness, unrest, and a lack of peace; but, over 2000 years ago, God the Father sent His Son to be one of us.

Jesus was the only One who was good and died for us because we are not good.

Message Theme:

Worldly POWERS added to personal PRESSURES can produce God’s saving PRESENCE.

This is our world today.  We wonder ‘Who’s going to be elected’, ‘Who is going to make promises and build on those promises,’ ‘What is going to happen in Israel?’

Or, we may have problems such as loss, loneliness, and depression.

God gave us Christmas but Jesus was delivered in a dark and lonely world.

Q. How do the descriptions of political power grabs and societal unrest in the era of Christ’s birth compare to the current political and social climate as we approach the election year of 2024? Discuss similarities and differences in the challenges faced then and now.

1. Worldly POWERS operate in the PLAN of God.

There is a power that is in charge of the powers that seem to be in charge of you.

Luke 2:1(ESV)

Augustus means supreme one.  He was a powerful politician, he was a brilliant writer, a philosopher, and a builder. He was a threat to anyone who posed an obstacle to his empire.

He declared that he, himself, was the son of God.  People celebrated his birthday and called him savior, and the victorious one.  He was in charge of everything that was going down on the planet and he was getting away with this.

Luke 2:3-4 (ESV)

Joseph had a lot of interruptions in his life.  Because a decree came from Caesar Augustus, he had to travel ninety miles with Mary on foot to Bethlehem.  He had to do what Caesar said.

This is our world in some respects.  We have people above us (bosses, parents, etc.) and we have to do what they ask.

Micah 5:2 (ESV)

Although it may have looked like Caesar was in charge, and it may look like powerful people today are in charge, but it was a divine orchestration by God 600 years before Jesus showed up.

Our world may look crazy, but God is still working out His ultimate plan and purpose on this earth. 

This is how God gives us Christmas.

Q.  Can you share personal experiences where you felt compelled to follow directives that disrupted your life or plans?  Do you see any larger purpose or positive outcome from these experiences?

2. Personal PRESSURES are often the PATH to God.

Today, we may feel the financial, social, or relationship pressures.

Joseph and Mary felt pressure when they traveled ninety miles on foot.

Luke 2:5-6 (ESV)

Because Mary was Joseph’s fiancé, not his wife, maybe leaving town was a good thing.  In ancient days, being pregnant before marriage was a scandal. 

Luke 2:23-24 (ESV)

Mary was in her third trimester as they traveled on foot and they were completely broke when God brought them to the place where Jesus was born.

He brings his purposes through pressures in our lives.

When all is well, we don’t listen to God, but when we are crushed, empty, and don’t have what it takes, God shows up.

Luke 2:7 (ESV)

A manger was a rock tablet hollowed out that they put feed in for the animals.  This was God the Son’s first bed.  This is how God sent his son. 

GOD doesn’t show up in the COMFORTS of PLEASURE but in the PRESSURE of PAIN.

Isaiah 53:5 (ESV)

Worldly powers added to personal pressures can produce God’s saving presence.

Q. How do experiences of discomfort or hardship contribute to spiritual growth or transformation?

3. Have I RECEIVED His saving PRESENCE?

It is not the Church nor the pastor that saves us.

Luke 2:8-11 (ESV)

God announces Jesus’s birth to shepherds because shepherds were not loved, special, or cute.  They were outcasts.  Shepherds were literally un-redeemable people.  Those are the people God sends the first Christian greeting to.  Not the religious, but the lowly outcasts.

Our Savior came for the sick not the healthy.  He was the Perfect Sacrifice.

John 3:16

Sermon in a Sentence:

Jesus came to us under the POWERS of this WORLD and experienced the PRESSURES of our SIN so that we could know His saving PRESENCE in our LIVES.

Challenge: Following the example of Jesus’ birth announcement to the shepherds, identify a group or individual in your community who might feel marginalized, overlooked, or undervalued. Plan a way to reach out to them with kindness and inclusion, embodying the spirit of the message that Jesus came for all, especially those who are often forgotten.