Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
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Conscientiousness
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INTRODUCTION
Have you ever wondered what you were going to get for Christmas?
That wonder
That curiosity
That awestruck feeling that flooded our hearts when we found out that even though we were naughty all year, Santa was still going to come through?
Do we still have those feelings about Christmas
Or has our Christmas list robbed us of that wonder?
Has the predictability of our grandparents stolen that curiosity?
Or has enablement robbed us of the joy of getting what we don’t deserve?
Did we come to church today expecting the same old sermon out of the same old bible?
Or are we excited to crack open to Luke once again and allow the word of God to stir an awe and wonder in our hearts
Are we excited to finish this year with expectation that God is not done with us
Are we looking forward to what God wants to do in our lives in 2018?
Do we feel that 2018 has the potential to spark a curiosity that leads us to wonder what God will do in the new year
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT IN MY POCKET I HAD SOMETHING GOD CREATED, THAT NOBODY ON THIS EARTH HAS EVER SEEN BEFORE?
What if I told you that this thing, is a picture of the Bible and its promises for our lives.
What if I told you that this Book and its promises are not just for us to read
But for us to unwrap, unpack, and unravel
For us to experience for our selves,
For us to review, rant, and rave about
But most importantly for us to distribute
This is the Christmas Story
So lets take a deeper look at it
READ
PRAY THAT WE WOULD HAVE AN AWE AND WONDER FOR WHAT CHRIST WANTS TO DO IN AND THROUGH US.
PRAY THAT PEOPLE WOULD KNOW HOW UNIQUE THE PLANS OF GOD ARE.
LUKE 2:
LET’S PUT OURSELVES IN THE SHOES OF MARY:
For over 400 years, the God of Mary had been silent
She was a teenage girl
A girl who might have
A girl who was surrounded by woman who were so excited about the Messiah that they began to call their babies Yeshua, in hopes that they would be the channel through which Messiah came.
This young girl, would one day be proposed to by a just man named Joseph
He would prepare a place for her
He would be working hard to give her the perfect wedding day
It was while Joseph was working hard to prepare himself for this day
That God was preparing his heart for a deeper work
A work that would paint an umpteenth draft of what Christ would do.
What am I talking about?
The fact that Joseph’ had every reason to just bail on Mary in light of her so called -unfaithful-pregnancy
He would be encouraged to bail
He would desire to divorce her under the table
But instead of giving up on a so-called idolatrous woman
Instead of listening to the critics
He is interrupted once again, but this time by an Angel
He is told to not be afraid of the circumstance
But to take Mary as a wife
For she was not to be blamed for what God had allowed
“For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit”
After receiving Biblical Council, Joseph goes all in on what God had in store for him.
We know what was going through Joseph’s head, but how hard would it have been to be Mary?
In her society, she had no voice
She was expendable
She was viewed as unfaithful
She had no value
Except for what God the Father was doing in her
This was her only Hope
This was all she had to look forward to
This was her only expectation.
But it was also all she needed.
By now, everyone had unfollowed, blocked, and spread rumors about this couple.
But it wasn’t going to stop them from believing
The world and what it values was not going to prevent them from believing what God was going to do with their lives.
For them, all they could bank on is what the Angel had said to both of them.
I love how Joseph responds in Matthews Narrative
"Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife,"
BACK TO THE TEXT
As the couple arrived in Bethlehem
It was time for the baby to be born
And she brought forth her firstborn son
She wrapped him in swaddling cloths
Laid him in a manger for there was no room in the inn.
THINK ABOUT IT FOR A SECOND
NOW,
Jesus could have been born into any family he wanted to
He could have been born into a rich community
He could have been born into a comfortable setting
At least a crib with some lambies
But instead, He comes into a volatile situation
This was their idea
That challenges every part of his divine nature.
Think about it:
The First Miracle that Jesus was a part of, His birth, was the paradigm shift that would mark his life:
From Rich to Poor
From a sinless atmosphere to the place where sin abounds
From Not knowing Sin, to becoming Sin for us
From Son of God to the Sacrificial Lamb
AFTER BEING BORN, CHECK OUT WHAT GOD DOES:
Luke 2:8
In the same country, there were some Shepherds Living out in the fields
Keeping watch over the flock at night
Now, God the Father could have chosen anyone to experience the first reveal
Ceasar Agustus
Quirinius
The Pharisees and Saducees
The Scribes
Anyone
Instead of choosing high class individuals with a influential voice
He chooses to go to the lowest of the low
In fact, a Shepherds Testimony had no value
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