[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for Christmas - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

God's Timing Is Perfect

Christopher Columbus, discouraged one day, walked by a monastery. He was thirsty, so he went in for a drink of water. An old monk sat with him and listened to how he wanted to go on an expedition to find another land. Bad timing? When the story was over, Christopher Columbus went on, but the old monk was a personal friend of Queen Isabella, and he was the one who convinced her to finance Columbus' expedition. Europe's discovery of America started with a drink of water in a monastery.

Abraham Lincoln was out in the back of his store one day, rummaging through an old barrel. As he finished, he reached down and felt a couple books in his hand. And he pulled them up and saw they were Blackstone's Commentaries. Something happened to Abraham Lincoln as he read those. He became a lawyer, and it totally changed his direction. He got into politics and became the President of the United States and healer of the wound of the Civil War. It all started with him rummaging in a barrel.

John Calvin was going down to Italy. War broke out and the road he was going to take was blockaded, so he went to Geneva. Bad timing? His time in Geneva made a change in his life that has changed many lives since.

George Whitfield was a bartender in England and couldn't get along with his sister-in-law, who owned the bar, so he left. Bad timing? Out of that experience he turned to God, went to Oxford, became part of the Holy Club with John Wesley and helped change England.

What I'm saying is this: God's timing is perfect and purposeful. We can trust Him and make the most of the opportunities He has given to us in His time.

Dwight Gunter, Time 
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Gloria! Christ Is Our Own
 
It doesn't seem that long ago.  It is as clear as yesterday.  It was in the morning, 6:30, a Sunday morning, and I heard the patter of little feet.  And the patter of the feet came into the kitchen, and it was dark in our kitchen except for the light above the kitchen table.  I was putting the finishing touches on the Sunday sermon, and the little child came in half asleep, and he said to me, "Where's the scissors, Dad?"  I gave him the scissors and he went over to where there was a chain which was made of paper, a paper chain link for each of the days of Advent, and he went and cut off the chain and he said, "Dad, one more day to Christmas!"  And then that little boy got up into my lap, and he put his arms around my neck, and he just sat there and hugged me, for what seemed like five minutes of stillness and five minutes of love.  And I put my arms around his little body and that child was my very own, my very own child, belonging to the world, belonging to my wife, belonging to his family, belonging to God, but also, belonging to me, my very own. And there was an inner glow of satisfaction deep within me.

And when you finally realize that Christ is your very own, not only for all the world, not only for all the shepherds, not only for all the angels, but when you realize that Christ is your very own, then there becomes a glow in your heart, and you begin to sing the Gloria.

Edward F. Markquart, Gloria! 
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A Grown Up Christmas
 
Recently, I was in a department store doing some Christmas shopping. Christmas music was playing and I was getting into the spirit of it all... when suddenly I realized that I was singing along with Natalie Cole. Natalie and I were singing her new Christmas song. It's a big hit. It's called "My Grown-up Christmas List." Have you heard this? In the song, Natalie Cole reminisces about how when she was young, she sat on Santa's knee and told him about her childhood fantasies. And then she sings about how she's all grown up now, but she still has dreams... things she would like for Christmas, not just for herself but for our needy world. Then she sings her "Grown-up Christmas List." Here are the things she wants for Christmas now: 

"No more lives torn apart 
And wars will never start, 
And time will heal all hearts. 
Everyone will have a friend 
And right will always win, 
And love will never end. 
This is my lifelong dream, 
My Grown-up Christmas List." 

Do you know what Natalie Cole is longing for in that song? She is longing for the peace of Christmas... and the place to find that is in the miracle of Bethlehem. When we go back to Bethlehem, we discover that real peace means being set right in all our relationships. It means being... right with God, right with ourselves, and right with other people.
 
James W. Moore, Collected Sermons, Sermons.com
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The Antidote to Fear
 
In a Peanuts cartoon, Linus tells Charlie Brown, "When I hear those coyotes howling at night, it totally depresses me. I start to feel lonely ... Then I get scared."

Charlie Brown says, "I thought holding onto that blanket made you secure."

Linus replies, "I think the warranty has run out."

Isn't that true for us? We fear life, we fear death, and everything in between. We are afraid of little things like a black cat crossing our path or spilled salt. Or, leaving our home at night lest we become a victim of crime. Or, the fear that floods our hearts as we wait for the doctor to
tell us if we have cancer. Or, the fear that startles us when the shrill sound of the telephone jolts us awake in the middle of the night.

The antidote to our fears is found in the coming of Christ into the world. The first words of Adam are "I was afraid." But the first words at the birth of Jesus are, "Don't be afraid."

 Ian Chapman, Don't Be Afraid
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Christmas Turns Everything Upside Down
 
A preacher tells of the time when a woman, her arms filled with Christmas presents, came out of a department store and bumped right into him. It was a good, solid bump, and all of her parcels dropped on the sidewalk. As he bent down to help her pick them up, she said, more to herself than anyone else, "Oh, I hate Christmas. It turns everything upside down." And so it
does. Christmas turns the world topsy-turvy because it is centered in a baby, and babies change everything! Just watch a doting grandmother or grandfather and you'll see how life is changed!

The Christ child is no exception. This child will change the world! This child is God's son, the one foretold by the prophets. As the gospel writer put it: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."

Ian Chapman, Don't Be Afraid 
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A Gold Filled Box of Love
 
We often learn the most from our children. There is an old story about a man who punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."  
 
The father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction once he realized the gift was for him. He opened the gift, but his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty. He yelled at her, "Don't you know that when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside of it?"  
 
The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy it's not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy." The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness. He kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.  
 
In a very real sense, each of us has been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from God. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, God's "one and only Son," we have the access to eternal life. 
 
While there are those times when it seems as if He has left us to make it on our own, and there are those times when it appears as if we cannot go any further in life, there is no more precious possession anyone could hold than the gold box filled with the love of God. 
 
Don Emmitte
 


 
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