This Advent and Christmas season, up the octane of your family worship with these inspiring Christmas sermons — not so much beautiful reflections or meditations on the Christmas story, but challenging, practical sermons about how Christ's coming to earth should change our lives.
Sent Into the World With a Mission
The Father sent Jesus to earth with a mission and purpose. Then Jesus said, "As the Father has sent Me, I am also sending you." This sermon compares the Father's purpose for sending Christ into the world with the Father's purpose for us, and gives a call to be more and more driven by the Father's mission for our lives. Jesus knew exactly what His mission on earth was. Do you know His? Do you know yours?
Putting Christ Back into Christian (or, Herod's First Christmas)
If Jesus had been the bland, politically-correct Jesus of Christmas cards, Herod's first Christmas would probably have been jolly. But the true Christ of the Incarnation was a Christ who troubled Herod and continues to trouble all who refuse to bow in unconditional surrender to Him. When we put the real Christ back into Christmas (and into the rest of our lives) we may find other religious people around us similarly troubled. Herod believed in a real historical Jesus, he believed in the supernatural, and he believed the Messiah had been born — but he was not saved, and he did not rejoice in the the challenge to his will that the real Jesus presented. This sermon is a challenge to make sure you don't believe in Jesus the way Herod did, and a call to rejoice in the very things that trouble the Herods of this world.
Showing the Spirit at Christmas
The role of the Holy Spirit in the First Advent, and the importance of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives. This sermon shows the ways that God poured out His Spirit into the key players of the Christmas story, and how the same spirit of adoration, of preparation, of joy, of giving, of empowerment, of prophecy, of guidance, and more, can be poured out on us as well.
Five Gifts That The Wise Men Brought
Most sermons on the wise men only address the three tangible gifts that they brought, but when we look also at their sacrifice to be in His presence and their zeal to worship Him, we see an example of how believers should respond to Christ. This sermon looks at five gifts the wise men brought, including a discussion of the symbolic and prophetic significance of the gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
The Advent teaches the Grace of Receiving
At Christmas we're often reminded that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," but a much neglected aspect of Christmas is the grace to be able to humbly receive. This sermon expounds on God's incredible generosity to undeserving people, but also shows how it even takes grace for us to be willing to receive His indescribable gift.
Are We Seeking Christ With All Our Heart?
The Wise Men dropped everything to search for the Christ. They faced distance, inconvenience, opposition, and danger, and didn't stop until they had seen and worshiped Him face to face. Is this how you seek Christ?
Born in the Fullness of Time
The timing of every detail in the Christmas story was miraculously planned to culminate in the incredible story that it did. But this is true in our lives, too. May this sermon inspire awe and worship over the amazing details in the greatest story ever told, as well as in the mundane, yet perfectly-orchestrated events of your own life.
The Nazarene
This sermon untangles the controversies over the prophecy of Jesus being from Nazareth, the prophetic significance of being a Nazarene, the connection to all the passages describing the coming Messiah as "the branch," and more.