4th Sunday in Advent

Luke 1:26-38

Illustrations

 
From a sermon by Martin Luther:

"If I had only been there! How quick I would hove been to help the baby! I would have washed his linen. How happy I would have been to go with the shepherd to see the Lord lying in the manger!"

Yes, you would! You say that because you know how great Christ is, but if you had been there at the time you would hove done no better than the people of Bethlehem. Childish and silly thoughts ore these! Why don't you do it now? You hove Christ in your neighbor. You ought to serve him, for what you do to your neighbor you do to the Lord Christ himself.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Can you truly keep Christmas?

Henry Van Dyke asks, "Are you willing to stoop down and consider the needs and the desires of little children: to remember the weakness and loneliness of people who are growing old; to stop asking how much your friends love you and ask yourself whether you love them enough: to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front 50 that your shadow will fall behind you, to make a grove for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings. with gate open? Are you willing to do these things even for a day? Then you can keep Christmas."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I remember reading some years back about a Christmas card that was very unique. I don't remember exactly who the author was or the exact description of the card, but I do remember that as you looked that the picture of the manger scene, as you saw the beauty of Mary holding the baby Jesus, as you saw the quietness of the animals gazing at these humans, as you felt the warmth, the peace, and glory of God, you could see in the rafters of that manger a cross, and the shadow of that cross falling across the Baby Jesus as he was being held by his mother.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was a man who didn't wan to go to Christmas Eve services with his wife. He had decided not to go because he couldn't believe the whole jest of the gospel story. It just didn't make much sense to him. As he settled into his comfortable chair, and picked up the evening newspaper, he noticed that it was beginning to snow. Later as he glanced over the top of the paper, he noticed that the wind had picked up and the snow was coming down even harder. He went back to his reading, when he was suddenly brought back to reality by a large noise at the large front picture window. The noise happened again and again, so he decided he better check it out. When he got to the window, he noticed a couple of small sparrow had flown into the glass pane and were fluttering in the snow drift below. He could see through the snow, a larger group of birds perched in the bushes and shivering. He thought about their plight, so he slowly went to the hall closet, put on his overcoat, and boots and went out the front door.

He had decided to open the barn door so the birds could roost in the shelter for the night. He picked up the wounded sparrows and brought them to the barn hoping that the other birds would hear their chirping and follow.

But they didn't. So he thought of using the Hansel and Gretel trick of placing bread crumbs on the path to the barn. Certainly, he thought, the hungry little birds would follow. But they didn't. The man didn't know what to do next, so decided to get a broom and chase the birds into the bar. But this proved futile also, for the waving of the broom just scared the birds even more.

Finally in a state of exhaustion he sat down on the barn step and and thought: If only I could talk to them. Let them know I wanted to help them and save them from the cold winter storm. But I can't unless I could become one of them... become one of them." Then the church bells began to ring and the man knelt in the deep show and said, " Thank you God for becoming man".

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
There once was a woman named Soul who was walking in a garden. She was humming a real sweet tune for she was saved and had the joy of the Lord. But she was a "baby Christian". As she was walking a handsome and charming man came out from behind a tree. Soul was very startled. She said, "Hello, I'm Soul, what is your name?"

He replied, "I am Temptation, I have what you want."

"What do I want?" replied Soul.

"You want to do all things which are of the flesh," said Temptation.

Soul replied, "All right then, lead me."

So she and Temptation went off and fulfilled the desires of the flesh. When Soul returned to the garden, she met a woman named Condemnation. Condemnation said, "Hey, I see you have met my friend, Temptation."

Soul said, "Yes, who are you?"

"I am Condemnation, I come after Temptation... we work hand-in-hand. And for the time that you have spent with Temptation you now have a debt that you must repay."

Then Condemnation jumped on Soul's back and began to beat her. She hit her in the face and kicked her when she was down. This went on for several days. On about the third day a man named Mercy came running and said, "I command you, Condemnation, to stop beating Soul."

Condemnation snickered, "Make me."

So Mercy unsheathed his sword and cut Condemnation in two. As Soul watched in astonished pain, she was overwhelmed by the power of, Mercy. Mercy walked up to Soul and said, "I have dealt with Condemnation before. She should not show up around you anymore."

Soul replied, "How can I ever thank you?"

"Well," replied Mercy, "I was sent here by God, and He told me to introduce you to a dear friend of mine. His name is Redemption."

Redemption walked up and said, "Hello, Soul, I see that you are not doing well."

Soul replied, "Not until Mercy came along. It is a pleasure to meet you Redemption."

"Well", said Redemption, "I am glad to meet you ... but are you ready to accept me?"

"What do you mean?" asked Soul.

Redemption said, "Well, when you accepted Jesus and decided to walk with Him, you chose to accept the things of Him and His love. I am a part of Jesus' love. I help you feel forgiven. You will never have to deal with Condemnation again. Temptation may come around, but I have someone I would like for you to meet that can help you with that. Her name is Grace."

Grace walked up to Soul and said, "Hello Soul, I have been waiting for you. As a matter of fact all three of us have been waiting to meet you. I will help take you out of the way of Temptation whenever he comes around. There is one more person we want you to meet... her name is Faith."

"Hi, Soul, I am Faith, and I will help you stay strong and keep your beliefs strong," said Faith.

Soul began to cry. When she began to cry, Redemption said, "It's going to be ok... this is what we are here for, Soul. Jesus gives you his Mercy to redeem you, and keeps you saved by Grace through Faith. Jesus loves you, Soul."

Soul said, "And I love you Jesus."

- Author Unknown

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is redemption?

The term literally refers to purchasing something.

Dr. O. S. Hawkins told about the time when he saw the word "redeemption" for the very first time. He said that every afternoon his mother would go to the store to buy groceries for their supper because they did not have a refrigerator. He said that when she would walk in the door, it didn't matter what he was doing, he made a beeline for the grocery bags. He would dig through them looking for a treasure that most folks today have no concept of what I am about to say. He looked in those bags fot S & H Greenstamps. He had been collecting those stamps for months. He had an S & H Greenstamp catalog and in that catalog was a ball glove he could get if he could collect enough stamps.

Well finally one day he collected the final stamp that he needed. He took the catalog to his father and showed him the ball glove he had been saving stamps for and asked his father if they could go down to the S & H Greenstamp store and get the glove. His father agreed to take him and off they went. Dr. Hawkins said that when they walked into the store, on the back wall was a huge sign that said, "REDEMPTION". He opened the catalog and showed the lady at the counter the glove and he handed her the needed books of stamps. She opened each book and examined their pages carefully making sure that all of the stamps were there. Without a word she turned and went to a storage room and returned with a box that held the glove. She sat the box on the counter and pushed it his way. And he left... having redeemed that ball glove. He purchased it and made it his own.