Sermon - Are You Ready for Christmas? - Littleby Baptist Church - December 15, 2019
When someone asks us if we are ready for Christmas, most of
us start thinking about the food we are going to make, the cards that need to
be mailed, gifts that need to be bought, and that list that needs to be checked
so that no one is forgot. Can’t forget about those Christmas programs at school
or your secret Santa at work.
While all those things are part of what we do to celebrate Christmas, they are only a small part of what it means to be ready for Christmas.
When we talk about being ready for Christmas in the context of being a Bible believing child of God, what does it mean?
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.”
A child will be born, and He will be named Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’
The first part of knowing if we are ready for Christmas, would be to answer the question, ‘is God with us?’ My hope is everyone here knows that God is with them without a shadow of doubt. If you have repented of your sins and are following Jesus, you should have absolute confidence in knowing that God is with you.
Matthew 28:20b
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
While talking to His followers after His resurrection, Jesus made it clear. He was going to be with them until the end of the age, and that means He is with each one of us that are following Him. Not just some of the time, not just when we are at church, or only when we are praying. He is with us ALWAYS. Our Lord and Savior will never leave us, He will never forsake us. No matter what is going on in our lives, Jesus is with us.
Romans 8:38-39
“38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Let’s read that again.
Is there any doubt in these verses? I think they are perfectly clear. There is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the Love of our Lord Jesus.
As a follower of Jesus there should never have even an inkling of doubt about whether God is with us or not. We are ready for Christmas, we are ready to celebrate the birth of a little innocent child that grows into the ultimate sacrifice, because Our God Loves us and is with Us Always!
If you are following Jesus, you are ready for Christmas. At one point in our lives, we were not following Jesus and we were not truly ready for Christmas. Which is exactly why we have Christmas to celebrate, without Christmas their would be no Good Friday or Easter. We celebrate Christmas to celebrate the amazing gift our Lord Jesus has given us when He left His heavenly throne and came down to earth as a simple little innocent child. A precious child who came to earth for all humankind, so that one day we would have the cross and the empty tomb.
If you are not ready for Christmas, embrace this sweet little child. Repent of your sins and choose to follow Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2
“12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
If Jesus is the source of our faith, we cannot have faith in Him without Him. That is not some sci-fi show paradox, it is simpler than I think we realize. Colossians tells us that everything was created through Jesus, that would include our faith. What faith we have comes from Him.
Philippians 1:6
“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”
If Jesus is the perfecter of our faith, we can have confidence in the fact that our faith will grow. Jesus will continue to work in us day by day and help our faith grow from the smallest amount that helped us repent of our sins to a faith that carries us through the toughest us struggles.
If we are ready for Christmas, we have faith. Faith in the One and Only King of Kings and Faith that He loves us and is at work in us.
Isaiah 28:16
“Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.”
Ephesians 2:19-21
“19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
Jesus is the cornerstone which gives us a firm foundation. He is the firm foundation that our faith is built on. He gives us a firm foundation to lean on every day of our lives. He is not a crutch; He is THE Cornerstone that is stronger than anything we will ever face.
If I were to ask you for your favorite verse that you go to when things are going rough, we would hear verses about not being afraid, about casting our fears or anxieties on Him, maybe you would point to a verse that talks about the Lord being our Helper or that God will supply all of our needs. You might remind that His yoke is easy and burden is light…. I am sure some of us have some of these verses memorized. Every single one of these verses are true. They are written in the Good Book and I for one believe every word in it.
These are great verses to remind us that God is with us always, but it all starts with having faith and building our lives on the foundation we have in our Lord Jesus.
Take Abraham as an example. Here is a man who was faithful to God, even to the point of being willing to sacrifice his son. Abraham passed the test due to the faith He had in God, but it did not start with an extreme test like that. It started with something much simpler. God asked Abraham to leave his homeland, and in faith he left. In faith he wandered the land that was promised to him. He believed that his wife would have a son, even in their advanced age. Each step of his life, each time he trusted in God his faith grew.
Abraham’s faith was built on a foundation that was built by God. Bit by bit, day by day, God built up Abraham’s faith. If we are following Jesus, He is our cornerstone and He will grow our faith. It requires us to talk to our God. It requires us to read His Word, but the more time we spend with Him, the more we look to promises found in His Word, the more our faith will grow. If Jesus is the source and perfecter of our faith, if He is the cornerstone that we build on, our faith will grow stronger as we trust in Him.
The more we trust in our God for the little things, the more we see Him at work in our lives, the more of our troubles we give Him, the more our faith will grow.
If we are ready for Christmas, we are building our faith on our Cornerstone Jesus.
John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”
If God is with us always, if He is the source and perfecter of our faith, if we are trusting in Him as the cornerstone of our faith, then His peace is with us.
With all the craziness in the news, the challenges at work, medical issues, loss of loved ones, the unknown future, even the craziness of the Christmas season, it can be hard to find Peace.
Peace is a lot like faith. The day we accept Jesus we do not have all the faith or peace we need; it takes time to develop. We will not get there overnight or from a single prayer. The more we learn to put our faith in Jesus, the more we see Him work in the little things, the more Peace will grow in our lives as we remember that God is with us.
Philippians 4:6-7
“6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
The Peace of God is there for all who believe. How? The more we talk to God, the more we read His Word, the more we put our faith in Him, the more we will see His Peace manifest in our time of need. It is available to us, but it takes time to grow and if we are honest it takes time for us to accept it.
The Peace which surpasses all understanding is found by putting our faith in Jesus. The stronger our faith grows, the greater the peace we feel.
If we are ready for Christmas, wherever we are in our walk with Jesus we are letting the Peace of God guard our hearts and minds.
John 11:25-26
“25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?””
John 14:6
“6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Being ready for Christmas begins with realizing that Jesus is God. It means understanding that we need to repent of all the sins in our lives and that the only way to really live our lives is by following Him. Being ready for Christmas means that we know that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life and that we need Him.
There is only one path to an eternity with our Lord and Savior and that is through a life of faith that has been built on the only Cornerstone that matters.
Next week we celebrate the birth of a child, a gift to all humankind given out of Love so that all can receive eternal life.
Are you ready for Christmas?
Merry Christmas!
Robert
While all those things are part of what we do to celebrate Christmas, they are only a small part of what it means to be ready for Christmas.
When we talk about being ready for Christmas in the context of being a Bible believing child of God, what does it mean?
Isaiah 7:14
“Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: See, the virgin will conceive, have a son, and name him Immanuel.”
A child will be born, and He will be named Immanuel, which means ‘God with us.’
The first part of knowing if we are ready for Christmas, would be to answer the question, ‘is God with us?’ My hope is everyone here knows that God is with them without a shadow of doubt. If you have repented of your sins and are following Jesus, you should have absolute confidence in knowing that God is with you.
Matthew 28:20b
“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
While talking to His followers after His resurrection, Jesus made it clear. He was going to be with them until the end of the age, and that means He is with each one of us that are following Him. Not just some of the time, not just when we are at church, or only when we are praying. He is with us ALWAYS. Our Lord and Savior will never leave us, He will never forsake us. No matter what is going on in our lives, Jesus is with us.
Romans 8:38-39
“38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Let’s read that again.
Is there any doubt in these verses? I think they are perfectly clear. There is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the Love of our Lord Jesus.
As a follower of Jesus there should never have even an inkling of doubt about whether God is with us or not. We are ready for Christmas, we are ready to celebrate the birth of a little innocent child that grows into the ultimate sacrifice, because Our God Loves us and is with Us Always!
If you are following Jesus, you are ready for Christmas. At one point in our lives, we were not following Jesus and we were not truly ready for Christmas. Which is exactly why we have Christmas to celebrate, without Christmas their would be no Good Friday or Easter. We celebrate Christmas to celebrate the amazing gift our Lord Jesus has given us when He left His heavenly throne and came down to earth as a simple little innocent child. A precious child who came to earth for all humankind, so that one day we would have the cross and the empty tomb.
If you are not ready for Christmas, embrace this sweet little child. Repent of your sins and choose to follow Jesus.
Hebrews 12:1-2
“12 Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, 2 keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
If Jesus is the source of our faith, we cannot have faith in Him without Him. That is not some sci-fi show paradox, it is simpler than I think we realize. Colossians tells us that everything was created through Jesus, that would include our faith. What faith we have comes from Him.
Philippians 1:6
“I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ.”
If Jesus is the perfecter of our faith, we can have confidence in the fact that our faith will grow. Jesus will continue to work in us day by day and help our faith grow from the smallest amount that helped us repent of our sins to a faith that carries us through the toughest us struggles.
If we are ready for Christmas, we have faith. Faith in the One and Only King of Kings and Faith that He loves us and is at work in us.
Isaiah 28:16
“Therefore the Lord God said: “Look, I have laid a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will be unshakable.”
Ephesians 2:19-21
“19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
Jesus is the cornerstone which gives us a firm foundation. He is the firm foundation that our faith is built on. He gives us a firm foundation to lean on every day of our lives. He is not a crutch; He is THE Cornerstone that is stronger than anything we will ever face.
If I were to ask you for your favorite verse that you go to when things are going rough, we would hear verses about not being afraid, about casting our fears or anxieties on Him, maybe you would point to a verse that talks about the Lord being our Helper or that God will supply all of our needs. You might remind that His yoke is easy and burden is light…. I am sure some of us have some of these verses memorized. Every single one of these verses are true. They are written in the Good Book and I for one believe every word in it.
These are great verses to remind us that God is with us always, but it all starts with having faith and building our lives on the foundation we have in our Lord Jesus.
Take Abraham as an example. Here is a man who was faithful to God, even to the point of being willing to sacrifice his son. Abraham passed the test due to the faith He had in God, but it did not start with an extreme test like that. It started with something much simpler. God asked Abraham to leave his homeland, and in faith he left. In faith he wandered the land that was promised to him. He believed that his wife would have a son, even in their advanced age. Each step of his life, each time he trusted in God his faith grew.
Abraham’s faith was built on a foundation that was built by God. Bit by bit, day by day, God built up Abraham’s faith. If we are following Jesus, He is our cornerstone and He will grow our faith. It requires us to talk to our God. It requires us to read His Word, but the more time we spend with Him, the more we look to promises found in His Word, the more our faith will grow. If Jesus is the source and perfecter of our faith, if He is the cornerstone that we build on, our faith will grow stronger as we trust in Him.
The more we trust in our God for the little things, the more we see Him at work in our lives, the more of our troubles we give Him, the more our faith will grow.
If we are ready for Christmas, we are building our faith on our Cornerstone Jesus.
John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Don’t let your heart be troubled or fearful.”
If God is with us always, if He is the source and perfecter of our faith, if we are trusting in Him as the cornerstone of our faith, then His peace is with us.
With all the craziness in the news, the challenges at work, medical issues, loss of loved ones, the unknown future, even the craziness of the Christmas season, it can be hard to find Peace.
Peace is a lot like faith. The day we accept Jesus we do not have all the faith or peace we need; it takes time to develop. We will not get there overnight or from a single prayer. The more we learn to put our faith in Jesus, the more we see Him work in the little things, the more Peace will grow in our lives as we remember that God is with us.
Philippians 4:6-7
“6 Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
The Peace of God is there for all who believe. How? The more we talk to God, the more we read His Word, the more we put our faith in Him, the more we will see His Peace manifest in our time of need. It is available to us, but it takes time to grow and if we are honest it takes time for us to accept it.
The Peace which surpasses all understanding is found by putting our faith in Jesus. The stronger our faith grows, the greater the peace we feel.
If we are ready for Christmas, wherever we are in our walk with Jesus we are letting the Peace of God guard our hearts and minds.
John 11:25-26
“25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live. 26 Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?””
John 14:6
“6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Being ready for Christmas begins with realizing that Jesus is God. It means understanding that we need to repent of all the sins in our lives and that the only way to really live our lives is by following Him. Being ready for Christmas means that we know that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life and that we need Him.
There is only one path to an eternity with our Lord and Savior and that is through a life of faith that has been built on the only Cornerstone that matters.
Next week we celebrate the birth of a child, a gift to all humankind given out of Love so that all can receive eternal life.
Are you ready for Christmas?
Merry Christmas!
Robert
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