Sermon Tone Analysis

Discovering the Light of Christmas Love

 

*Discover the light of Christmas love by…*

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*L** ooking to Christ*

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/Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,  that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

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/John 3:14-15 NIV/

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*O** pening your heart to Christ*

 

/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.

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/John 3:16 NIV/

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* Satan’s biggest lie: *God doesn’t love you.*

* God’s greatest truth: *God deeply loves you.*

/This is real love.

It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

/

/1 John 4:10 NLT/

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*V** oluntarily turning to Christ*

/ /

/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.

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/John 3:16 NIV/

/ /

* God’s part:/ /For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…

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* Our part: that whoever believes in him…

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*E** xperiening Christ’s love*

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/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 NIV/

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*/ /*

/We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-they help us learn to be patient.

And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady.

Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love everywhere within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

/

/Rom 5:3-5 TLB/

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*Point to ponder: *Life is about learning to love.

* *

*Verse to remember:* This is real love.

It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

1 John 4:10 NLT

 

*Question to consider: *With which part of LOVE are you struggling?

What are you going to do about it?

\\ ·    Show portion of trailer

 

What a wonderful love story.

Elaborate…

 

The parallel is unmistakable.

As Thomas Williams writes…

 

/“During an endless winter, his name brought hope./

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/His roar terrified a cruel witch./

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/His love led him to a cold stone to save a foolish boy./

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/He is the great Lion, Aslan./

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/And his story is more real than you can imagine./

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/What you would like from God is what Aslan offers the Narnians - real concern, tender care, unconditional love, and deep joy.”/

/ /

~* Excerpt from /Knowing Aslan/ Thomas Williams

 

Beneath the surface of the LWW is the greatest love story of all.

The story of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is so powerful because it is the story of mankind.

It’s the story of Christmas.

It’s your story.

It’s my story.

It’s the story of a God who so loved the world, that He came, on Christmas, to pave the way for a personal love relationship with Him.

\\ This Christmas we need to be reminded of this greatest of love stories…and discover (or rediscover) the light of Christmas love.

For some of us today…we have never embraced this story.

For some of us today…we have embraced the story…but our love has grown cold.

It feels like it is /always winter and never Christmas/.

Today I want to encourage you to consider the greatest love story again…and discover or rediscover the love that is missing for your life.

How can we *Discover the light of Christmas love?*

The word LOVE shows us how.

First of all we…*Discover the light of Christmas love by…*

* *

*L** ooking to Christ*

* *

There has been a lot of attention this Christmas on the trend of many people and businesses shying away from saying */Merry Christmas/* and instead saying */Happy Holidays/*.

Have you heard about this debate?

JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST,” of SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY’: said on His show last week:

 

/“Is there a war against Christmas?

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/The ACLU and a lot of other people have been trying to take Christ out of Christmas for years.

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/At this time of year, many people will believe that that's a real concern.

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/Friday night, in Newport News, Va., 8,000 people are expected to show up for the town's Christmas celebration, except they are not calling it that.

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/They're calling it Hollydazzle.

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/And instead of lighting the 40-foot Christmas tree, Newport News officials are going to be lighting, get this, the tree of illumination.”

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/ /

“Hollydazzle” and “ the tree of illumination”…Give me a break!

Ridiculous as this may seem…it is one more example of our cultures attempt to take Christ out of Christmas….to take the focus off of Christ.

/Hollydazzle /is a feeble and absurd attempt to satisfy less than 20% of Americans who want to take the focus off of Christ this Christmas.

/Hollydazzle  /just/ /doesn’t capture the true meaning of Christmas.

In Charlie Brown's annual Christmas special he asks an important question, "Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?"

/"Sure, I can,"/ says his friend Linus, who proceeds to recite the story of the birth of Jesus from the book of Luke in the King James Version of the Bible.

And says,

/"And that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."/

Christmas is all about Christ.

In the Bible there was a man named Nicodemus…who was also having a hard time making the connection to Christ.

I want you to notice what Jesus said to him…as we pick up the story in John 3:14.

In John 3:14 and 15 we see these words:

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

John 3:14-15 NIV

 

Jesus used the example of the Israelites who were wandering in the desert.

God sent a plague of snakes to punish the people for their rebellious attitudes.

Those condemned to die from snakebite could be healed by obeying God’s command to look up at the elevated bronze snake and by believing that God would heal them if they did (see Numbers 21:8-9).

Likewise, we need to Jesus, believing he will save us.

God has provided this way for us to be healed of sin’s deadly bite.

We must look to him for healing and hope.

The focus this Christmas should be Christ…He is the one who came to this world to die for our sins.

He is the only one who brings forgiveness, love and eternal life.

Just as the Pevensie children needed to focus on Aslan…we need to focus on Christ.

*We need to look to Christ.*

How can we Discover the light of Christmas love?

The word LOVE shows us how.

First of all we

Discover the light of Christmas love by…

* *

*L ooking to Christ*

* *

*And secondly, the O in LOVE stands for open.*

You can discover the light of Christmas love by…

 

 

*O** pening your heart to Christ*

Until he was 30 years old, C.S Lewis, the author of LWW, was an avowed atheist.