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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Day After Christmas 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHNNPM7pJA&feature=youtube_gdata_player

The Day After Christmas 2010

The old, old story bears repeating.

Here we are the day after Christmas.

Like the shepherds you’ve made your way to a place of worship.

Worship is the right response to Christmas

Let me explain why.

The story begins with humanity living is spiritual darkness.

Spiritual darkness is all about not having access to God.

1 John 1:5 (NIV)

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Everything you and I need to thrive,

To live our lives to the fullest,

Is only found in God.

Without God we’re just zombies.

We’re dead walking around,

Waiting for our body to catch up with our spirit.

Never satisfied, never at peace, self-absorbed.

God wants to redeem His creation from being the living dead.

Through the prophets of old God sends a message to those living in spiritual

darkness.

Isaiah 9:1-2 (NIV)

“…there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress…

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

This is a message of hope.

For those in distress Christmas is a message of hope.

Christmas promises Light and life and love and wholeness.

Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Emanuel.

Emanuel, God with us.

Emanuel, God entering His creation in the most fantastic of ways.

Emanuel, no longer “access denied.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)

And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

Emanuel will set things right.

Righteousness means rightly related.

Emanuel will make all things righteous.

You and I and all of creation redeemed from darkness,

Living the way God always intended.

If you are wondering what living the way God always intended looks like,

I can tell you in a word: Love.

A communion of love.

Here’s the fantastic way that God works out to bring righteousness to those living

in darkness.

Luke 1:26-38 (NLT)

“… God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, "Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!"

Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. "Don't be frightened, Mary," the angel told her, "for God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!"

Mary asked the angel, "But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin." The angel replied, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God … For nothing is impossible with God."

Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." And then the angel left.

On Earth all good things are the result of human obedience to God’s will.

It’s your obedience to God’s will that opens the way of redemption and

righteousness.

Obedience results in blessings.

If I told you that there have been other Emanuels it shouldn’t surprise you.

Through the history of Israel God had been with His people

Specifically through a person:

Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Esther, David.

God would choose His leader and the Holy Spirit would come upon

that person and empower that person to do what God required.

But this promise of an Emanuel is very different than those who were but a mere

foreshadowing of the One who is promised by the prophets.

John 1:14 (NIV)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This Emanuel is the Word,

The very life of God,

God Himself, not a chosen leader,

Rather God incarnate, God with flesh on.

Philippians 2:6-7 (MSG)

He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human!

In this Emanuel we see what God is like, we can behold His glory.

Recall that one way we can define glory is as a physical manifestation of

God.

This Emanuel is glory.

I can’t wrap my head around all the particulars but I

understand the testimony.

God is with us.

Luke 2:1-7 (NLT)

At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire.² (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.)³ All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census.⁴ And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.⁵ He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant.⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born.⁷ She gave birth to her first child, a son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.

The parents named their son, Jesus.

Matthew 1:21 (NIV)

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Christmas, Christ’s mass, is a holiday, a holy day, that the Christian Church

celebrates the incarnation of God, the birth of Jesus.

Christmas is a birth day celebration,

It is an inaugural celebration that looks forward in hope to a

consummation when the work begun will be completed.

{Light the Christ Candle}

The Christ Candle or Christmas Candle

The fifth candle represents Christ himself who is born to save people from their sins. It is a celebration of the fulfillment of prophecy as represented in Christ’s birth and hope in the final fulfillment when Christ comes again and Christians join him.

Jesus, God with Us, comes to save his people from their sins.

It is sin that has alienated us from God.

It is sin that has caused all the misery humanity encounters on this

earth.

There are the sins that you’ve committed and sins that others have

committed against you that have resulted in great pain and anguish

and distress.

Personally for you and I sin is anything that deters, damages or

destroys right relationships.

That includes or relationship with God.

The scripture declares that the person that sins shall surely die. (Ezekiel 18:4)

And worse we read that all have sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23.

The result is Zombies.

You’re going through the motions of being alive,

But you are spiritually dead.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate,

enters this world like everyone of His human creations.

Jesus has absolute identification with humanity.

He is everything humanity is intended to be.

He is Zombie free.

Rightly related, always and forever.

Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate

Will save you from your sins.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate

Will redeem and establish righteousness for you.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate

reestablishes access to life.

The babe in the manger is the great light dawning.

John 1:9-12 (MSG)

The Life-Light was the real thing: Every person entering Life he brings into Light. He was in the world, the world was there through him, and yet the world didn't even notice. He came to his own people, but they didn't want him. But whoever did want him, who believed he was who he claimed and would do what he said, He made to be their true selves, their child-of-God selves.

The babe is born in a barn, no electric lights, no running water, no central heat,

No soft bed, no indoor plumbing, sharing the room with sheep and goats,

And the Christmas Carols tell us ox and donkeys.

Why? No room in the inn.

I don’t think that the fact that there was no room was malicious.

People were just busy being zombies, doing what zombies do,

And just didn’t notice.

Zombies miss a lot because they are so wrapped up in

themselves.

Romans 1:21-24, 26 & 29-30 (MSG)

“…they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives. They pretended to know it all, but were illiterate regarding life. They traded the glory of God who holds the whole world in his hands for cheap figurines you can buy at any roadside stand. So God said, in effect, "If that's what you want, that's what you get." It wasn't long before they were living in a pigpen, smeared with filth, filthy inside and out. Worse followed. Refusing to know God, they soon didn't know how to be human either… And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing. They made life hell on earth with their envy, wanton killing, bickering, and cheating. Look at them: mean-spirited, venomous, fork-tongued God-bashers. Bullies, swaggerers, insufferable windbags! They keep inventing new ways of wrecking lives…

There are people in this world that want to live this way.

They want to be their own God,

Be their own authority,

live their zombie lives in the way they see fit.

Philippians 3:18-19 (NIV)

For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.

There are people in this world who get a glimpse of the light

And they move toward Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate, the Life-Light.

Like the shepherds.

Luke 2:8-17 (MSG)

There were sheepherders camping in the neighborhood. They had set night watches over their sheep. ⁹ Suddenly, God's angel stood among them and God's glory blazed around them. They were terrified. ¹⁰ The angel said, "Don't be afraid. I'm here to announce a great and joyful event that is meant for everybody, worldwide: ¹¹ A Savior has just been born in David's town, a Savior who is Messiah and Master. ¹² This is what you're to look for: a baby wrapped in a blanket and lying in a manger." ¹³ At once the angel was joined by a huge angelic choir singing God's praises:

¹⁴ Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

¹⁵ As the angel choir withdrew into heaven, the sheepherders talked it over. "Let's get over to Bethlehem as fast as we can and see for ourselves what God has revealed to us." ¹⁶ They left, running, and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. ¹⁷ Seeing was believing. They told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child.

“Let’s go as fast as we can and see for ourselves…”

See for yourself.

That’s got to be the most important thing a person needs to do.

See for themselves.

This is how I suggest you go see for yourself.

Find a nativity set.

A nativity set is a pictorial of the birth of Jesus—

We have one set up here on the platform.

Make an appointment after nightfall,

No one around to distract you.

Turn the TV, radio, ipod, and cell phone off.

Get comfortable in front of the nativity set.

You may want to dim the lights.

Take a few minutes to quiet your mind.

Breathe in deep, let it out slowly,

Do that a few times until you feel quiet.

Then look at that nativity set,

Study it for a moment,

And then simply ask God if this is real.

Is this truth

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate, the Life-Light has

he come to save me from my sins?

Take note of what you feel,

What you sense to be right.

Then act accordingly.

Matthew 2:1-2 (MSG)

“…a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, "Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We're on pilgrimage to worship him."

These magi,

These three kings,

These three wise man acted according to what their hearts told them

was truth.

Their faith was rewarded.

Balthazar, Gaspar, and Melchior

found whom they sought.

Jeremiah 29:13-14 (NIV)

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.

What is the desire of your heart?

Zombie’s desire is to do their own thing

God’s desire was to restore fellowship with humanity

Mary’s desire was obedience

Shepherd’s desire was to see for themselves

Wisemen’s desire was to worship.

Matthew 2:11 (MSG)

They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.

Worship is the action of glorifying and enjoying God.

True worship reveals the presence of God.

Have you ever sensed the presence of God in this auditorium?

If you have its because someone is worshiping in it.

That someone might even be you.

When I think about worship as enjoying God,

I think of being invited into someone’s home for a lavish fellowship

and feast, where we eat and laugh and converse.

There’s a bond of love, to be in the company of one

another makes everything right while we are

together.

God has given us so much to enjoy.

When we worship we are enjoying Him.

Put glorifying and enjoying God together and you have a worship that

attracts others.

Worship is the action of admiration and adoration

Admiration involves your feelings.

You are supposed to feel something when you worship.

Admiration describes feelings of wonder, pleasure and

approval.

Adoration involves your feelings.

You are supposed to feel something when you worship.

Reverent homage, deference, paying honor,

deep esteem, respect and I think the feeling of privilege

to be in the presence of God.

Worship is an expression of the feelings in your heart.

Joy can be the feeling that fills you when you worship

Joy is an exhilarating,

invigorating,

stimulating,

enlivening,

thrilling,

rousing,

exciting,

inspiring,

emotion of pleasure.

Worship moves you.

Because you have reached out to touch the eternal,

God touches you and you feel it.

Worship is the action of giving God His due.

What is due God is your loving devotion.

Love for God is expressed in your obedience to His will and His way.

“In view of all Christ has done on our behalf, to worship,

yielding our whole life, moment by moment,

is the only logical thing left to do.”

http://www.church-musician-jobs.com/theologyofworship.html

Romans 12:1 (NCV)

So brothers and sisters, since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to him, which is the spiritual way for you to worship.

Worship involves the mind, the will, its something we choose to do.

This is not a one time act but a continuing way of being.

Worship starts, but it is never meant to stop.

The Wisemen compelled by faith

Sought and found

And finding worshipped.

Worship is the right response to Christmas.

24/7-365

Now you know why.

John 3:16 (NIV)

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

John 1:12 (NIV)

“..to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..”

Worship is the right response to Christmas.

The old, old story bears repeating.

Here we are the day after Christmas.

Like the shepherds you’ve made your way to a place of worship.

Worship is the right response to Christmas

Let me explain why.

The story begins with humanity living is spiritual darkness.

Spiritual darkness is all about not having access to God.

1 John 1:5 (NIV)

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Everything you and I need to thrive,

To live our lives to the fullest,

Is only found in God.

Without God we’re just zombies.

We’re dead walking around,

Waiting for our body to catch up with our spirit.

Never satisfied, never at peace, self-absorbed.

God wants to redeem His creation from being the living dead.

Through the prophets of old God sends a message to those living in spiritual

darkness.

Isaiah 9:1-2 (NIV)

“…there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress…

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.

This is a message of hope.

For those in distress Christmas is a message of hope.

Christmas promises Light and life and love and wholeness.

Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Emanuel.

Emanuel, God with us.

Emanuel, God entering His creation in the most fantastic of ways.

Emanuel, no longer “access denied.”

Isaiah 9:6-7 (NIV)

Emanuel will set things right.

Righteousness means rightly related.

Emanuel will make all things righteous.

You and I and all of creation redeemed from darkness,

Living the way God always intended.

If you are wondering what living the way God always intended looks like,

I can tell you in a word: Love.

A communion of love.

Here’s the fantastic way that God works out to bring righteousness to those living

in darkness.

Luke 1:26-38 (NLT)

Mary responded, "I am the Lord's servant, and I am willing to accept whatever he wants. May everything you have said come true." And then the angel left.

On Earth all good things are the result of human obedience to God’s will.

It’s your obedience to God’s will that opens the way of redemption and

righteousness.

Obedience results in blessings.

If I told you that there have been other Emanuels it shouldn’t surprise you.

Through the history of Israel God had been with His people

Specifically through a person:

Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samson, Esther, David.

God would choose His leader and the Holy Spirit would come upon

that person and empower that person to do what God required.

But this promise of an Emanuel is very different than those who were but a mere

foreshadowing of the One who is promised by the prophets.

John 1:14 (NIV)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

This Emanuel is the Word,

The very life of God,

God Himself, not a chosen leader,

Rather God incarnate, God with flesh on.

Philippians 2:6-7 (MSG)

In this Emanuel we see what God is like, we can behold His glory.

Recall that one way we can define glory is as a physical manifestation of

God.

This Emanuel is glory.

I can’t wrap my head around all the particulars but I

understand the testimony.

God is with us.

Luke 2:1-7 (NLT)

The parents named their son, Jesus.

Matthew 1:21 (NIV)

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

Christmas, Christ’s mass, is a holiday, a holy day, that the Christian Church

celebrates the incarnation of God, the birth of Jesus.

Christmas is a birth day celebration,

It is an inaugural celebration that looks forward in hope to a

consummation when the work begun will be completed.

{Light the Christ Candle}

The Christ Candle or Christmas Candle

Jesus, God with Us, comes to save his people from their sins.

It is sin that has alienated us from God.

It is sin that has caused all the misery humanity encounters on this

earth.

There are the sins that you’ve committed and sins that others have

committed against you that have resulted in great pain and anguish

and distress.

Personally for you and I sin is anything that deters, damages or

destroys right relationships.

That includes or relationship with God.

The scripture declares that the person that sins shall surely die. (Ezekiel 18:4)

And worse we read that all have sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23.

The result is Zombies.

You’re going through the motions of being alive,

But you are spiritually dead.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate,

enters this world like everyone of His human creations.

Jesus has absolute identification with humanity.

He is everything humanity is intended to be.

He is Zombie free.

Rightly related, always and forever.

Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)

This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate

Will save you from your sins.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate

Will redeem and establish righteousness for you.

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate

reestablishes access to life.

The babe in the manger is the great light dawning.

John 1:9-12 (MSG)

The babe is born in a barn, no electric lights, no running water, no central heat,

No soft bed, no indoor plumbing, sharing the room with sheep and goats,

And the Christmas Carols tell us ox and donkeys.

Why? No room in the inn.

I don’t think that the fact that there was no room was malicious.

People were just busy being zombies, doing what zombies do,

And just didn’t notice.

Zombies miss a lot because they are so wrapped up in

themselves.

Romans 1:21-24, 26 & 29-30 (MSG)

There are people in this world that want to live this way.

They want to be their own God,

Be their own authority,

live their zombie lives in the way they see fit.

Philippians 3:18-19 (NIV)

There are people in this world who get a glimpse of the light

And they move toward Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate, the Life-Light.

Like the shepherds.

Luke 2:8-17 (MSG)

¹⁴ Glory to God in the heavenly heights, Peace to all men and women on earth who please him.

“Let’s go as fast as we can and see for ourselves…”

See for yourself.

That’s got to be the most important thing a person needs to do.

See for themselves.

This is how I suggest you go see for yourself.

Find a nativity set.

A nativity set is a pictorial of the birth of Jesus—

We have one set up here on the platform.

Make an appointment after nightfall,

No one around to distract you.

Turn the TV, radio, ipod, and cell phone off.

Get comfortable in front of the nativity set.

You may want to dim the lights.

Take a few minutes to quiet your mind.

Breathe in deep, let it out slowly,

Do that a few times until you feel quiet.

Then look at that nativity set,

Study it for a moment,

And then simply ask God if this is real.

Is this truth

Emanuel, Jesus, God incarnate, the Life-Light has

he come to save me from my sins?

Take note of what you feel,

What you sense to be right.

Then act accordingly.

Matthew 2:1-2 (MSG)

These magi,

These three kings,

These three wise man acted according to what their hearts told them

was truth.

Their faith was rewarded.

Balthazar, Gaspar, and Melchior

found whom they sought.

Jeremiah 29:13-14 (NIV)

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.

What is the desire of your heart?

Zombie’s desire is to do their own thing

God’s desire was to restore fellowship with humanity

Mary’s desire was obedience

Shepherd’s desire was to see for themselves

Wisemen’s desire was to worship.

Matthew 2:11 (MSG)

They entered the house and saw the child in the arms of Mary, his mother. Overcome, they kneeled and worshiped him. Then they opened their luggage and presented gifts: gold, frankincense, myrrh.

Worship is the action of glorifying and enjoying God.

True worship reveals the presence of God.

Have you ever sensed the presence of God in this auditorium?

If you have its because someone is worshiping in it.

That someone might even be you.

When I think about worship as enjoying God,

I think of being invited into someone’s home for a lavish fellowship

and feast, where we eat and laugh and converse.

There’s a bond of love, to be in the company of one

another makes everything right while we are

together.

God has given us so much to enjoy.

When we worship we are enjoying Him.

Put glorifying and enjoying God together and you have a worship that

attracts others.

Worship is the action of admiration and adoration

Admiration involves your feelings.

You are supposed to feel something when you worship.

Admiration describes feelings of wonder, pleasure and

approval.

Adoration involves your feelings.

You are supposed to feel something when you worship.

Reverent homage, deference, paying honor,

deep esteem, respect and I think the feeling of privilege

to be in the presence of God.

Worship is an expression of the feelings in your heart.

Joy can be the feeling that fills you when you worship

Joy is an exhilarating,

invigorating,

stimulating,

enlivening,

thrilling,

rousing,

exciting,

inspiring,

emotion of pleasure.

Worship moves you.

Because you have reached out to touch the eternal,

God touches you and you feel it.

Worship is the action of giving God His due.

What is due God is your loving devotion.

Love for God is expressed in your obedience to His will and His way.

“In view of all Christ has done on our behalf, to worship,

yielding our whole life, moment by moment,

is the only logical thing left to do.”

http://www.church-musician-jobs.com/theologyofworship.html

Romans 12:1 (NCV)

Worship involves the mind, the will, its something we choose to do.

This is not a one time act but a continuing way of being.

Worship starts, but it is never meant to stop.

The Wisemen compelled by faith

Sought and found

And finding worshipped.

Worship is the right response to Christmas.

24/7-365

Now you know why.

John 3:16 (NIV)

God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

John 1:12 (NIV)

“..to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..”

Worship is the right response to Christmas.

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