2020 Advent & Christmas Season Sermons at LifeWay
What comes to mind when you think about Jesus? What picture or image or even famous painting comes into your head?
Images are extremely powerful and lasting. In every one of our lives there will be a few powerful images that emerge from our past experiences that we can never shake—some of them extremely positive, and some, in the opposite way, highly terrifying.
What is the image that you see when I say the name Jesus?
It might be a painted image of Jesus knocking at a door—illustrating the passage, “I stand at the door and knock.”
For others, it is an image of a long-haired, robed Jewish man surrounded by small children—illustrating Jesus saying, “Let the children come to me.”
For some of us, it is the image of an infant asleep on a bed of hay while in a manger, with his mother, father, wise men, and shepherds around him. Most of us have this manger scene in our house somewhere.
But did you know that he—Jesus—is all this, but so very much more?
Many years ago I heard the song, “Mary Did You Know,” for the first time. I was moved deeply. I highly recommend that you find the song again on the internet, and listen to it carefully. The lyrics are powerful, the image is so real, and the theological truths painted in the song jump out of the storyline of the life of Jesus.
This imagery launches us into our Advent study this Christmas month. We might all have an image in our minds about Jesus, but did you know that there is so much more? Did you know that “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15—the sermon that launched our entire year of teaching)? Did you know that he—Jesus—is the “Great I Am”? If you do, this will change everything.
We are taking the 5 weeks of the Christmas season to continue what we have called, “The Book of Jesus,” using the foundation of everything we have learned this fall in our Old Testament overview—which brings us to why God’s plan of rescuing mankind takes us to the birth of Jesus in this world.
Read ahead
This Sunday, November 29, we will begin with Isaiah 9. Concentrate especially on…
Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. 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. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
This Sunday we will begin this chapter in the Book of Jesus for the Christmas month. You must know this part of the story if you are ever going to know the real picture and story of Jesus.
Did you know this? Well, let’s learn this together.
See you Sunday morning at 10 a.m., through one of our 3 doors to LifeWay Church, for the first Sunday of this Christmas Advent season. Bring your Bible. Bring something to take notes with. Read ahead. Come prepared to worship together as a family.
