Sermon Tone Analysis
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*A Right Relationship*
Luke 2:1-2:20 \\ \\ Introduction: Did you get everything you wanted for Christmas?
\\ Was there a new X-Box 360 or iPod under your tree, Maybe it was a new outfit or some jewelry.
Everyone wants something for Christmas \\ \\
Our society is conditioned to getting at Christmas.
The other day I read an article entitled Christmas is… \\ • Christmas is everybody wants his past forgotten and his "presents" remembered.
\\ • Christmas is when Santa comes down the chimney and your savings go down the drain.
\\ • Christmas is the time when mothers have to separate men from their toys.
\\ \\
There is a lot of truth in those statements \\ I am reminded of a boy named Brian.
For weeks, he bugged his parents about getting a watch for Christmas.
Finally, his dad told him, “Brian, if you mention the watch again, you are not going to get it.
Now stop bugging us!” Brian stopped mentioning the watch \\ One night Brian’s parents asked him to say grace before dinner.
\\ Brian said, “I’d like to quote a Scripture verse before I pray.
His parents were thrilled he was showing such spirituality.
Then he said - Mark 13:37: “What I say to you, I say to everyone: ’Watch!’" \\ \\
Now that is appropriate use of Scripture!
\\ \\
You know, we spend most of our Christmas season SEARCHING: searching for the perfect gift, the huge bargain, the ideal decoration, and the last parking spot.
\\ At the first Christmas, many people missed it because they were too busy looking for other things.
\\ • The politicians missed the first Christmas.
\\ • The business community missed the first Christmas.
\\ • The innkeeper missed the first Christmas.
\\ • Even the religious establishment missed the first Christmas, because they were looking at other things.
\\ \\
The only people, who enjoyed the first Christmas, were the people who were looking for it.
\\ Angels: “You’ll find the baby ... lying in a manger.”
\\ Shepherds: “Let’s go and see!” (See Luke 2:12, 15) \\ \\
The shepherds found Jesus because they were searching.
They were seeking Him.
And later on, another group, the wise men, found Jesus because they were looking for Him, too.
\\ Wise men came from the East, asking, “Where is the baby...? We have come to worship Him.” (Matt.
2:1-2) \\ \\
Now let me ask you: What are you going to find this Christmas?
I will tell you what you are going to find: You will find what you are looking for.
\\ \\
I don’t know if you’ve caught it or not, but in our society today there’s a new emphasis on seeking spiritual truth.
The media have caught it.
Over the past few years Time, Life, Newsweek, and U.S. News and World Report have all run articles on spirituality.
For instance, one had “Life after Death” as the cover story.
Another offered a “Clear View of Heaven.”
Life magazine asked, “Who Was He?” with a picture of Jesus on the cover.
U.S. News covered the question of “Who Wrote the Bible?”
One magazine even boldly implied that it could answer the question “Who Is God?” ABC ran a special this week regarding heaven \\ \\
Clearly, the media don’t cover these topics unless they make money.
This means there is an intense interest in spiritual things in our society.
\\ \\
A Newsweek article “The Search for the Sacred” said this: “Maybe it’s just a critical mass of Baby Boomers in the contemplative afternoon of life.
Maybe it is anxiety over the war and uncertain economic conditions, or maybe it is a general dissatisfaction with the materialism of the modern world.
For these reasons and more, millions of Americans are embarking on a search for the sacred in their lives.”
\\ \\
In essence, people have a gaping hole in their souls, and this is a seeker’s quest – to fill the hole with a new source of meaning.
\\ While we seek out a meaning to this life, I want you to know it can only come by having a right relationship with God \\ \\
God knows all about you; He wants you to know Him.
Moreover, there is no better time than Christmas to become the kind of seeker the wise men embodied.
Wise people will seek Christ.
\\ \\
This Christmas God wants to give you three Christmas gifts that you will find if you seek them.
Because whatever you are looking for is what you will find.
\\ The Key to Christmas is finding a Right Relationship with God \\ \\
The miracle of Christmas is not on 34th street; it is in Bethlehem.
Through Jesus, God offers you a relationship that provides forgiveness for your past, peace of mind in the present, and a solid future in eternity.
\\ \\
1.
This Christmas, You Can Find Forgiveness from your Past \\ “Today your Savior was born...
He is Christ, the Lord.”
(Luke 2:11 NCV) \\ Note that word Savior.
That is the significance of Christmas.
Why do we need a Savior anyway?
Well, let me just cut to the chase.
The Bible says that heaven is a perfect place.
There are no mistakes or inconsistencies; it is perfect.
Because of that, only perfect people get to go there.
If God let imperfect people into heaven, it would not be perfect anymore.
That means I do not stand a chance in a million of getting into heaven on my own effort, and neither do you.
I lost my chance at perfection a long time ago.
\\ \\
God had to come up with “Plan B.” He sent us a Savior so we could get in on somebody else’s ticket.
That is the good news: A Savior has been born!
\\ A little boy wrote a letter to Santa Claus that said, “Dear Santa: There are three boys living at my house.
Jeffrey is two, David is four, and Norman is seven.
Jeffrey is good some of the time, David is good some of the time, and Norman is good all of the time.
I am Norman.”
\\ You know the problem with that?
Not one of us is a Norman.
None of us bats a 1000.
None of us are always perfect or right.
In fact, if we had a giant screen up behind us and were able to view everything we’ve ever thought, said, or done, most of us would be extremely embarrassed.
We all live with a sense of regret because none of us are perfect.
That is why we need a Savior.
\\ \\
Not long ago, I saw a little Christmas card that said, \\ “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent an educator.
\\ If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist.
\\ If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent an economist.
\\ If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.
But our greatest need was forgiveness, so He sent us a Savior.”
\\ \\
“Unto you is born a Savior.”
Yes, you can be forgiven.
Friend, that is the most priceless gift you can receive, the gift of a clear conscience one you cannot buy at Nieman-Marcus; because it is priceless.
Yet at Christmastime God offers you the chance to have your past forgiven and wiped clean, so you can start over, brand new.
\\ Isaiah 1:18, "Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD.
"Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
\\ \\
Now, how do I let Christ save me?
Simple; It begins with a right relationship between Jesus Christ and me.
Listen to the most famous passage of scripture in all the world \\ "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 \\ \\
We have the declaration (God loves the world – us) and then we have the explanation \\ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:17-18 \\ \\
Living around water, we understand the need for lifeguards.
Fast currents can make the river a dangerous place.
One of the things that all lifeguards know is that you cannot save anybody as long as they are trying to save themselves, because they will take you under the water with them.
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