Rev. David Holwick ZM What We Bring To Christmas, #1
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 2, 2007
Luke 2:1,4-7
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I. Preparing for Christmas.
A. The annual shopping preparations.
1) (anyone shop on Thanksgiving day? Sinners!)
(how about the next day?)
"Black Friday"
5 a.m. --
Customers at a Kohl's in Ohio stood in lines that
stretched halfway around the store.
Samantha Childress said, "I went to buy a shirt, and the
line was back to the towels. It was really bad."
6:00 a.m. --
Over a thousand people were lined up outside a Toys "R" Us
in Yonkers, New York.
The excitement was generated by a BMX bicycle at half-
price.
7:00 a.m. --
More than 2,000 people waited outside a Sears store in
Phoenix for a Craftsman tool set that was 50% off. [1]
2) Shopping isn't the preparation God had in mind.
B. Christmas involved many characters.
1) Good guys and bad guys.
a) I am focusing on the good guys.
2) The good guys were chosen for a reason.
a) God hand-picked them.
b) These people had spiritual attributes that God used.
3) If you really want to be ready for Christmas, you must be
ready for God.
II. How God prepared for Christmas.
A. He began before creation itself.
1) Jesus was not an after-thought.
2) Jesus himself knew that God had chosen him before God
even made the world.
3) God spent literally centuries preparing for the world's
ultimate king.
B. Prophets and their message.
1) The first prophecy of a Messiah occurs in the early
chapters of Genesis.
2) Later, Moses predicted God would raise up a leader for
Israel that was just like him.
3) Isaiah predicted that a small child would come who would
one day rule the world.
a) He would die for the world's sins, too.
4) Micah predicted that the Messiah would be born in the tiny
town of Bethlehem.
C. Political environment of the first century was ready.
1) Jesus was born in a time of political unity throughout the
Mediterranean.
2) The peace of Rome, and the highways of Rome, allowed Jesus'
message to travel far and wide.
III. How Mary and Joseph prepared for Christmas.
A. God prefers to work through humble people.
1) Big political movements and international conditions have
their place, but in the end it comes down to individuals.
2) For Christmas, God picked some very unlikely ones.
B. Mary and Joseph didn't know there would be a Christmas.
1) Birth of Jesus was a shock to them.
2) Probably to their neighborhood too!
C. God chose them for a special reason.
1) It wasn't because they were rich and famous.
a) Only the local people had ever heard of them.
b) They seem to have had no qualifications except for
their quiet devotion to God.
2) Both were deeply spiritual.
a) They loved God.
b) They were preparing themselves, though they did not
know it.
1> Mary had a deep appreciation for God's goals in
history. Luke 1:46
2> Joseph was righteous but also compassionate.
He wasn't one of those hard-eyed fanatics.
Matt 1:19
3) Both were obedient to their visions.
a) They did what God told them to do.
1> They did this in spite of deep embarrassment.
2> They did this even though they understood very
little of the ultimate plan.
b) The best attribute you can have is usability.
IV. God uses those who are available for him.
A. The tale of a lowly shoe salesman.
In 1837 in the little town of Northfield, Massachusetts, a boy
was born named Dwight Layman Moody.
They called him D.L. for short.
His father died at an early age of 41, leaving his widow in
poverty, with a large mortgage on the home.
The creditors grabbed everything they could, including firewood.
Mrs. Moody tried to keep her family of nine children not only
together, but together in Sunday School.
By the time Dwight was 17, he had become a successful shoe
salesman for Holton's Shoe Store.
He accepted Christ in the back room of the shoe store through
the guidance of his Sunday School teacher.
One day he heard a Bible teacher say, "The world has yet to see
what God can do with a man who is totally surrendered to Him."
Moody said to himself, "I want to be that man."
He became actively involved in a Congregational Church in
Chicago.
Back then the Congregationalists raised money by renting their
pews.
You would say, "I want the third pew," and you paid for it.
Moody rented a bunch of pews and filled them with people he
invited to church.
He went on to become one of the greatest evangelists America
has known.
There would probably never have been a Billy Graham if there
had not first been a D.L. Moody.
But Moody never got away from his simple commitment to Christ.
He also never forgot the lesson of his first experience speaking
in church as a young man.
One of the deacons told him that, in his opinion, Moody would
serve God best by keeping still.
Another critic praised Moody for his zeal but pleaded with him
not to preach publicly because he made too many mistakes in
grammar.
Moody courteously replied: "I know I make mistakes, and I lack
many things, but I'm doing the best I can with what I've got."
He then quietly looked at the man and asked, "Friend, you've
got grammar enough.
What are you doing with it for the Master?"
D.L. Moody may not have had much ability, but he had lots of
availability.
God is looking for people, even today, who will decide to take
what they have and totally commit it to be used for the
Master.
Perhaps a future Dwight L. Moody is hearing this right now.
#29008
V. How you can be prepared for Christmas.
A. Believe in the Lord Jesus.
1) A lonely tract.
During the Youth Group trip to NYC yesterday, a man and
woman handed us a Chick gospel tract. [hold it up]
I had not even looked them in the eye, but Celeste took
one.
As I reflect on it, they were about the only people in the
city who were trying to say something about Jesus.
Vendors passed out sales flyers and we were invited to
several comedy clubs.
The Salvation Army rang their bells for the needy.
But only these people pointed us to Jesus.
2) Without a relationship with Jesus, you can't have a real
Christmas.
a) Believe God's message in the Bible.
b) Submit to Jesus as your Savior and King.
B. Use this holiday to glorify him.
1) Gift-giving can be part of it.
2) Your Christmas cards can tell others you believe in the Lord.
3) Even your home decorations can point to Jesus.
C. Christmas is just one day, really.
1) It seems a lot longer, doesn't it?
a) FM 106.7 was already on a full-Christmas format in
November!
2) But even a whole month cannot compare with the entire life
you must live for God.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Examples of Black Friday shopping came from http://retailindustry~
.about.com/od/sales_holiday/l/aa112699a.htm and
http://media.www.kentnewsnet.com/media/storage/paper867/news/~
2006/11/21/News/Shoppers.Endure.Long.Lines.For.Black.~
Friday-2507283.shtml
#29008 "God Used Dwight L. Moody's Inabilities," by Dr. Bill Bright,
Abe Kudra Illustration Collection.
These and 30,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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