{"id":38,"date":"2018-11-06T16:18:02","date_gmt":"2018-11-07T00:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrate.bettersermons.org\/?p=38"},"modified":"2020-06-01T11:41:33","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T18:41:33","slug":"christmas-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/christmas-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"
Christmas Unity<\/span><\/div>\n

\".\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Key Passage<\/strong>:\u00a0Matthew 1:21:\u00a0You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.<\/em><\/p>\n

Key Thought:\u00a0<\/strong>The Christmas story should bring believers to a point of intense, focused commitment.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Joke:<\/strong>\u00a0A woman visits a fortune-teller around the holidays. She looks into her crystal ball and predicts: \u201cAh, yes, I see that you\u2019re going to be visited by a jolly man with a beard and a big bag over his shoulder.\u201d The woman sags. \u201cYes, that\u2019ll be my son coming home from college with all of his laundry!\u201d<\/p>\n

Crises:<\/strong>\u00a0On December 7, 1941, America was united in purpose after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Political differences faded away; divisions melted after the \u201cday which will live in infamy.\u201d Churchill confessed that it was actually a day of joy and relief for him; he knew that America would now enter the war and the unified efforts of the Allies were guaranteed to defeat Hitlerism.<\/p>\n

After 9\/11, all 100 U.S. Senators stood en masse and sang \u201cGod Bless America.\u201d There are times when we set aside our petty grievances and embrace unity.<\/p>\n

Irony:<\/strong>\u00a0Christmas too often softens the core reality of our faith. Christmas is a \u201ctwinkly\u201d time of gentle music and lights and easy platitudes. We are tempted to have our faith in Christ blend into the \u201cmist of folklore.\u201d Jesus joins Santa Claus & Easter Bunny.<\/p>\n

Frantic:<\/strong>\u00a0Our dedication is also swallowed up by being busy.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0shopping
\n2.\u00a0financial concerns<\/p>\n

Christmas Carols:<\/strong>\u00a0They actually affirm the core truths of our Christian faith<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0The virgin birth (Silent Night)
\n2.\u00a0The Lordship of Jesus and our need to obediently follow Him (Joy to the World)
\n3.\u00a0Christ\u2019s sinless nature (Away in a Manger)
\n4.\u00a0Jesus\u2019 atonement and ransom on the cross (O Come, O Come Immanuel)<\/p>\n

Challenge:
\n<\/strong>
\n\u201cBlack Monday,\u201d the day after Thanksgiving, is when stores want to move into profitability.
\nIt\u2019s the pinnacle of financial activity. Shouldn\u2019t Christmas be the PINNACLE of our spiritual commitment, our devotion? Don\u2019t be a C & E Christian (Christmas & Easter).<\/p>\n

JOKE:<\/strong>\u00a0A cartoon shows a man coming out of church; he only attends each Easter. He complains to the preacher: \u201cYou are really in a sermon rut; it\u2019s always about the Resurrection!\u201d<\/p>\n

Four Goals:
\n<\/strong>
\n1.\u00a0Reaffirm your faith; embrace the reality that choosing Jesus is a life or death decision
\n2.\u00a0Do something tangible for God\u2019s church; step up your efforts for the Body of Christ
\n3.\u00a0Seek one opportunity to explicitly share Jesus and heaven with someone new
\n4.\u00a0Allow the Christ Child to create unity among you and all other believers<\/p>\n

Christmas brings a very soft unity. The cross and its salvation should bring rock-solid, unshakeable unity.<\/p>\n

Story:<\/strong>\u00a0Noble Alexander was an Adventist pastor in Cuba during the height of Castro\u2019s Stalinist persecutions. He was arrested one day and sent to prison for 22 years. While there, all believers\u2014Adventists, Baptists, Catholics\u2014banded together to minister and serve. They still held to their distinctive doctrines, but the hope of heaven and the salvation that only Jesus brings reigned supreme. They took turns preaching, and found a way to resolve the Sabbath\/Sunday issue.<\/p>\n

We Affirm:<\/strong>\u00a0teachings and study are important. The reality is that we\u2019re not saved by the teachings of our unique church, but by what Jesus did at Calvary. Jesus came at Christmas to get to Easter.<\/p>\n

Story:<\/strong>\u00a0An Adventist pastor found himself attending a funeral service at a neighborhood mortuary; it turned out to be a Catholic mass done entirely in Spanish. He felt alienated at first, not understanding the liturgy or the language. There seemed to be a barrier. Then he noticed a painting on the wall of the faded building; it was Jesus on the cross. He realized that for every single person in the building\u2014the deceased, the relatives, the visitors, the Catholics and the Protestants alike, Jesus was their only hope. Their common hope. Having Jesus triumph over Satan at Calvary was the core, the everything, of their lives.<\/p>\n

Envision:<\/strong>\u00a0the first Christmas in heaven, as a unified mass of redeemed people sing carols to Jesus with perfect and intense unity.
\n______________________________<\/p>\n

Submitted by David B. Smith. Better Sermons \u00a9 2005-2007. Click here for\u00a0<\/span>usage guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Christmas Unity Key Passage:\u00a0Matthew 1:21:\u00a0You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Key Thought:\u00a0The Christmas story should bring believers to a point of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bettersermons.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}