No Room in the Inn!

                                            3^rd Sunday of Advent!

Introduction:

A.   Have you ever stopped in a town to stay overnight only to find that you couldn't get a room because of some  convention or a ball game?

 

B.   This kind-of happened to Christ one time!

 

C.   Does in still happen to Christ today?

 

D.   Let's look this morning at the time it happened to Him and ask ourselves whether or not it can still happen  today.

                            Prayer

                          Luke 2:1-7

 

I.   This is the time it happened to Christ!

 

A.   Joseph and Mary had gone to Bethlehem to be taxed.

 

B.   As ordered by Caesar Augustus everyone was to return to their hometown to be taxed, so Bethlehem was very  crowded!

 

C.   There wasn't any room in the Inn because there were  already other people there that had come for the taxing!

 

D.   So Jesus came into this world in a stable.  He was

          given second best because all the best places were

taken!

 

II.  Can or does this still happen to Christ today?  Is Christ ever turned away because there is no room?

 

A.   You wouldn't think so would you?  You would think that if Jesus came today (since we know who he is) He would be given the best place possible!

 

B.   But Christ "is" here today in the form of His spirit.

 

C.   And Yes, I believe this still happens to Him today!

 

D.   Today the Inn may not be crowded with people, but it

is still crowded where Christ can't get in!

E.   The "Inn" I'm talking about is people's hearts!

Christ is here, and Christ will only take the place we

give Him! Christ isn't pushy! Like the famous painting

with Christ standing at the door knocking and no door

knob on the outside of the door, we have to let him

in.

 

III. Let's look at some things the heart can be crowded with and not leave any room for Christ!

 

A.   The heart can be crowded with making money!

1.   Making money isn't wrong; we all need some to  live!  Right?

2.   But making money is exciting, and it can be fun to plan ways to make money.  We can get so absorbed in it that we stay up at night to plan our next move! This isn't necessarily wrong, but it does illustrate how absorbed we can get with it and whether it is wrong or not is determined by how making money ranks in comparison to Jesus!

3.   Because it is exciting, we can become so possessed with making money we don't leave any room for Christ!

4.   I'm not saying you shouldn't ever stay up to make financial plans, but do we ever stay up for Christ?

Does Christ get more room in our hearts?

1.      When is the last time you stayed awake thinking about Christ or the Church?

4.   Also, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." I Tim. 6:10a NRSV

a.   We can get so absorbed in money that we start justifying sin!  It's alright to cheat a  little here!  It's alright to misrepresent  here a little to sell something!

b.   The next thing we know how much money we will  make is our guideline as to whether or not something is wrong instead of the teachings of Christ!  After all, I give Christ His part!

c.   But do we?  Or has Christ been shut out of our hearts altogether?

 

B.   The heart can become crowded with pleasure!

1.   It's not wrong for Christians to have fun; we should!

2.   But we can become so possessed with an activity (ex. sports, fishing, hunting, watching T.V., playing the computer) that we don't leave room for Jesus!

3.   A good indication we are in this shape is when these activities become more important to us than people & God!

4.   Another indicator would be a comparison between time spent in these activities and time spent:

a.   Reading and Studying the Bible.

b.   Attending "all" the services of the church

c.   Helping people.

d.   With our family.

5.   After we've given our heart to Christ, pleasure

              will still be enjoyable to us, but it will come in

second to caring and helping people and our

relationship with Christ!

6.   Pleasure may even become a tool by which we

              can minister!

ex.  Christians plan sporting activities,

fellowship dinners, camp trips, and many times those outside the church are brought into the church through these activities who normally wouldn't have ever been reached through the regular church services.

 

IV.  What happens when a heart is too crowded for Christ?

A.   Christ will not come in!

Matt 6:24 NRSV "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

 

B.   Christ is not pushy!

Rev 3:20 NRSV  “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”

 

C.   Christ will not stay where He is not wanted!

1.   II Peter 2:20-22    The scriptures are plain that people can willfully turn against God after they have accepted Christ!

2.   I hasten to say!!

Romans 8:38&39

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor  powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Nothing can make us turn from God; God is able to  keep us!  Nothing can separate us from that Love!

3.   But God doesn't take away our choice; if we

willfully turn our backs on God, we are "lost!"

4.   "the latter end is worse with them than the

beginning"  II Peter 2 v.20b

a.   Some interpret this to mean that once we  turn from God we can't turn back!

b.   I don't know about that.  I have a little  trouble with that!

c.   The point being, Christ will not stay where

Christ is not wanted!  We have to make room for

Christ!  We have to open our hearts and keep our

hearts open to Christ’s leading in our lives!

Conclusion:

 

A.   Is the spirit speaking to your heart this morning?

 

B.   The Inns were so crowded with people at the time of  Christ's birth that he had to go somewhere else to be  born!

 

C.   Is there room for Christ to be born in your heart this morning or are you letting something crowd him out?

 

D.   Christian, are you yielding the proper place to Christ in your heart?

 

E.   As we encounter Christ at the table this morning, do you need to make a commitment to Christ? What better way to prepare for the coming of the Christ into the world?

 

                      Prayer of Confession

Service of Communion

Preparing for His Coming!

                                                 2^nd Sunday of Advent!

  

Focus Statement:    This scripture is Zechariah's prophecy of what John the Baptist would be and do in preparing the way for the Lord; he will give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of sin.

 

Function Statement: The congregation will prepare for the second coming of the Lord by realizing that we can't do it ourselves and therefore by making a total surrender to God, through God all things are possible.

 

 

Introduction, scripture, and prayer

 

     This is the second Sunday of Advent:  watch this clip:

 

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DHbUkmEEnc

 

Prayer

Luke 1:68-79

 

1st Movement

On January 16th, 1991, the United States and other allied countries began an air attack on Iraq that was called Desert Storm.  Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, had attacked and taken control of a little neighboring country called Kuwait.  Kuwait was a very oil-rich country, and Saddam wanted to control their oil.  Oil was probably part if not the main reason that the allied forces got involved; they didn't want Saddam to control that much of the world's oil supply.  But another factor that was involved was the way he had raped and plundered the people of Kuwait.  This was the one that was played up by our leaders and the media to get the support of the American people; yet, this wasn't even mentioned in the historical account to which I looked for a refresher on this event in history.  But this is what for many people justified such actions.  As a new pastor two years into my first full time ministry, I fully supported what we were doing and talked about it to my congregation.  I’ve learned since then, to be more careful about this.  I’ve learned to ask my congregation to pray for our leaders, no matter who they are or what political persuasion.  I’ve learned to not always believe the media reports and to try to get my news from an assortment of media providers to try to get as unbiased report as possible.  I’ve learned to be careful about jumping on a political band wagon!  Back to Dessert Storm, To think of going in for money would be wrong to many, but to go in like some modern day messiah and right the wrongs that had been done to these people seemed heroic and justified.  The Air Attacks were a huge success, and when ground troops were finally sent in, Iraqi soldiers surrendered by the groves, and the Kuwaiti people were given back their land.

 

 2nd movement

When I tried to put myself into the situation of our scripture, the story I have just shared came to mind.  The Jewish people had been conquered and taken into foreign lands many years before and had since returned to their homeland, but now, they were under domination and oppression by the Romans.  They were looking for a Messiah:  one who would right the wrongs that had been done to them, one who would take them out of oppression, one who would return them to the good old days when they were a United Kingdom.  They would have seen the emperors who were currently in power with about as much animosity as the Kuwaiti people had against Saddam Hussein.  Abraham had been promised by God that he would be the father of a mighty nation, and they were ready for that promise to be fulfilled.  After a long time of waiting, Zechariah was prophesying that the time had come, and John was the one to prepare the way for this Messiah.  John preached that the way to prepare for the coming of the Messiah was to repent and be forgiven of sins through Baptism.  To a great extent, John's message and that of Jesus was the same:  forgiveness.  John would preach it; Jesus would bring it into being in his Kingdom. (Mercer Dict. of the Bible, p. 97)

 

3rd Movement

Again today, the call goes out for us to prepare for the coming of the Lord, or the Messiah.  We aren=t under oppression like the Kuwaiti people or the people of Judah at the time of Christ, so it is hard for us to get into the mind set of longing and looking for the Messiah.  This time the Messiah will still come to right the wrongs, to overcome oppression once and for all, and to overcome sin once and for all.  Are we on the side of right?  Or as the Messiah overcomes sin, will we be overcome?  This time, we are called to prepare for Christ=s second coming,  that is the coming I am speaking of.  How can we do that?  The message is still that we must repent and be forgiven!  The forgiveness is taken care of by God, and the repentance is our part.  I am more and more convinced that what we often understand as being repentance is a made up mind on our part to turn and do good, which when you think about it is a type of works salvation.  What we really need to do is to come to the realization that "we can't do it!"  We have a habit that we have tried to get a handle on for years, but we keep messing up!  Maybe it's a bad temper.  Maybe it's something else.  We think if we can just find the right thing to do we can lick this thing, but we still haven't found it.  Maybe our trouble is in the turning and doing good.  We fully intend to really get active in church; we want to be regular in our attendance; we want to read our Bible regularly; we want to take a job in the church and be faithful doing it.  But we keep messing up; we think we need to make one more attempt to turn our lives around and do good!  What we really need to do is realize that we can't do it!  Remember from the video, the call to let Jesus in was to the church!  As Christians, do we need to turn and face God, giving God our full devotion?   As long as we try to run our lives ourselves, we are going to continue messing up.  We need to unconditionally surrender our lives to a God who can do it!  Repentance is not a made up mind but a Aturning to face God!@  Then and only then will we be able through the Lord to stop doing those things that we know we shouldn't do; then and only then will we be able to do the things we know we should do, and then and only then will we really be ready for the second coming of the Lord.  Then and only then will we really be ready to celebrate Christmas!  Thanks be to God!  Do you need to make that surrender this morning?  As we encounter Christ at the table today, we believe you can repent and turn and face God.  Won’t you do that this morning?  If you turn to face God for the first time, let me know so I can help you with your new journey with God.

 

Service of Communion

Don't Get Caught in a Trap!

                           1^st Sunday of Advent!

 (1)  Focus statement:

 This sermon focuses on Jesus' warning to be on guard so we will be ready and so that day won't catch us unexpectedly, like a trap, when he comes in the clouds with power and great glory.

 

(2)  Function statement:

This sermon will challenge the congregation to prepare for Christ's second coming by committing to a more consistent prayer life and Bible study.

 

Introduction:

What is Advent?  Watch this clip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8_lah83UY0&index=2&list=PLpeHYvMPWtf0GRTSYWD9-MUcZjoXVYS3-

 

     Advent is a time of waiting, hope, and expectation for the celebration of his first coming, Christmas, and for His coming again.  The colors are purple or blue (the video said blue but purple is also appropriate).  Purple reminds us of the getting ready nature of Advent.  During Advent this year, the first two Sundays will be about getting ready for His second coming, the third Sunday we will look at the theme of no room in the inn and think of the implications of that as get ready to celebrate Christ’s birth, and the fourth Sunday we will devote to how to Celebrate Christmas since that will be the day before Christmas, so with that in mind, let us pray.

 

Prayer

Luke 21:25-36

1st Movement

When I was young, we didn't go fishing very much because we lived in St. Louis and only went when we were on vacation.  We were not very professional at it.  We didn't use lures and things like that.  We were always getting our strings hung up in tree limbs and all; we being my brother, my sister, and myself.  Yes, sometimes the tree limbs were still hanging from the trees.  My dad had grown up doing some fishing and pretty well knew what he was doing, so he spent most of his time trying to salvage sinkers and floats from the trees, getting our fishing poles ready, and every once in a while taking a fish off of our lines while my mom, my brother and sister, and myself fished.  I have fond memories of these family outings even though we didn't always know what we were doing. 

 

We usually used worms or minnows for bait.  We were instructed to thread the hook up through the worm so that the hook could not be seen.  I can remember trying different things to make the bait appealing so that the fish would bite.  Sometimes the fish would very cautiously nibble on the bait and you could see the float bob up and down very little.  You would wait for the fish to finally go for it, but after some time, you would take the line up to find the worm either stripped completely off of the hook or everything gone down to the part of the worm that contained the hook.  The fish or sometimes a turtle had gotten away with a free meal.  Other times, you put the line in the water and all of a sudden your float goes under.  You jerk the line and reel the fish in.  This one did not get away; it fell for the patiently set trap.  The fish thought this was just another worm floating by and was caught unexpectedly by a hook in the mouth.

 

2nd Movement

Jesus cautions us to "Be on guard" so we aren't caught "unexpectedly, like a trap."  He has just been asked by his disciples in the earlier part of this chapter, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?"  What we have here is part of his answer to their question.  By the time of Luke’s writing, the signs that he gives them have all taken place except His coming in the clouds!  That is the point!  It could be anytime!  He uses the fig tree as an example; when we see the trees sprout leaves we know summer is near.  The signs of his coming are here, so his coming is near!  Like the fish that is caught unexpectedly by a hook in a would-be meal floating by, we do not want to be caught unexpectedly by Christ's second coming.  We need to be ready.

 

3rd Movement

To be ready for his coming, we need to first receive what Christ has already done for us to make us right with God.  Accept Christ!  You can do that at the end of this service as we encounter Christ at the table or talk to me afterward, but make your commitment to Christ; that is the first thing we can do to be ready!  Also, as we're entering into this season of Advent, for all of us, let's try to establish some habits that will help us be prepared for Christ's second coming.  There are a couple things that we can do to help us do that.  We can set aside a time each day for Bible reading.  It is in the Bible that we can see God's revelation of himself in Christ.  We can know who God is!  We can learn the love of God.  We can see how God would have us to live out that love in our lives.  We can begin to grasp the “Hope” that we really do have in Christ to make a difference in our world.  I would suggest reading one of the gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  If you read a chapter a day, you could probably complete one of these during Advent.  Secondly, we can get serious about and establish a better prayer life.  We can be sure to set aside time to pray each day, really pray.  When we pray, it should be a two way conversation.  Many times we just tell God what we want and say Amen.  Let's not forget to give God time to speak to our hearts. To help you to remember to do these things, you could make a home Advent Candle; take a long candle and mark it for every day between now and Christmas (either with a marker or notch it with a knife).  Each day, when you do these read and pray, burn the candle down to the next line.  You could do this as a family for family devotions or individually.  When we do these things, we won't be caught unexpected by Christ's second coming because we will be prepared.  Thanks be to God!  Amen!