December 24, 2022
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Luke 2:1-14
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christmas
Everyone loves a story. And the best stories are worth telling over and over again.
What story are you telling yourself this Christmas. Is it a story about your past? Past mistakes you’ve made? Past hurts you’ve experienced? Or maybe it’s today’s story? So many of us get discouraged and even depressed at this time of year. Maybe there’ll be an empty seat at the Christmas dinner table this year? You’ve lost a loved one and Christmas won’t be the same? Or maybe it’s because we’re telling ourselves the wrong story. What if there’s a better story? In Luke’s gospel, an angel of the Lord invited the shepherds to come and be part of Christ’s story. The Lord still invites us to be part of Christ’s story.
December 19, 2021
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Luke 2:1-20
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christmas
Don’t you feel the tug towards something more simple? The Christmas season has become so chaotic and busy. Don’t you long for less chaos and more meaning? Something less fleeting and more lasting? Don’t you think Christians ought to know how to celebrate Christmas best? It seems that the world should be at our door at this season, but we’ve lost our distinctiveness. We’ve joined the world’s celebration instead of inviting them to ours.
Let’s go against the consumer Christmas culture this year by focusing less on giving presents and more on being present. Let’s get back to the simple story about Jesus.
December 20, 2020
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Luke 2:1-20
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christmas
Like Charlie Brown, when we make Christmas about something other than the coming of Christ, we’ll always be disappointed. If we make it about spending money and giving and receiving gifts, sure we might be happy for a day. But the bill for the gifts we put on our credit cards in December, come due in January. After the gifts, the food and the fun, there’s the cleanup and the packing away of Christmas decorations and lights. Our holiday festivities that we looked so forward to, always quickly come to end. Where’s the meaning? Where’s the joy that lasts for more than a day?
The answer is only found in understanding the true meaning of Christmas, by seeing the Genuine Light of Christmas found in the coming of Jesus Christ.
December 22, 2019
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Luke 2:1-20
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christmas
God invited total strangers (the shepherds) to his son’s first birthday party. But did you know you were on the guest list too? The Christ was born for all of us, “unto you” is for me and you. Have you accepted His invitation? You’re on the guest list.
In the gospel of Luke, he recorded the story of Jesus’ birth which an angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds, inviting them to come and see the promised Savior, who is Christ the Lord. We too are on God’s guest list. We are invited to come to the Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
December 23, 2018
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Luke 2:1-20
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christmas
Have you unwrapped the story? Have you joined the shepherds by seeing and hearing it for yourselves, believing the good news about Jesus? A gift isn’t really yours until you unwrap it. In the gospel of Luke, he recorded the story of the good news of Jesus’ birth which an angel of the Lord announced, revealing the true identity of Jesus to the shepherds. We can unwrap the story of Jesus’ birth that reveals the good news of His true identity.
December 3, 2017
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Luke 2:25-35
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christmas
Let’s be honest. While many are singing “Joy to the World” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” some are humming the blues. While houses and stores are all aglow with Christmas lights, some of us see only darkness and gloom. While the Christmas season beckons us to see everything in green and red, some of us see only blue.
Maybe a loved one has died and there’s an empty seat at the table this year. Maybe there’s been a divorce and Christmas brings back too many painful memories. Maybe your family is a dysfunctional mess and Christmas just reminds you of it. Maybe you’re feeling homesick for a home that’s too far away or maybe no longer there. Maybe you’re out of work and you don’t know how you’re going to pay for groceries, much less for Christmas gifts. Maybe there’s just something about the shorter days and the longer nights and the ongoing struggle you have with depression just seems worse at this time of year. Maybe, just as the song says, some of you will be “doing alright with your Christmas of white,” but others are looking at having “a blue, blue blue blue Christmas.”
Would you like to get some real help with the blues this Christmas? I think a fresh look at the Christmas story could help us all. Let’s look at Christmas through the eyes of an old man named Simeon. He waited his whole life to see the Messiah.
December 24, 2016
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Luke 2:1-20
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children, christmas
“This shall be a sign to you”…
Why was a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes a sign of Christmas?
December 13, 2015
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Luke 2:1-14
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christmas
What would move you to “fall on your knees” in worship today? Many of us have lost the wonder and worship of Christ’s coming. For some the holidays are a reminder of the empty chairs at the supper table this year. Or of the trials that challenge us to fall short of our expectations for the perfect Christmas season. But the carol, “O Holy Night”, inspired by Luke’s gospel, invites us to contemplate the story of Christmas anew
December 22, 2013
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Luke 2:1-14
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advent conspiracy, christmas
In the third sermon in our Advent Conspiracy series, Pastor Gary challenges us to give like God gives. He gave us Jesus as a sacrificial gift, a relational gift, and an incarnational gift.
January 13, 2013
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Luke 2:52
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discipleship
Pastor Gary Combs begins a 5-week sermon series about discipleship entitled “Healthy for Life.” This series is based on Luke 2:52 which says that Jesus grew in four areas. These four areas might be described as the four ways or “B”s of how we can grow more like Jesus. These four “B”s of discipleship are: believing, behaving, becoming, and belonging.