OPENING ILLUSTRATION:

What do you do to prepare for Christmas to come?  Years ago we had a two-story house, our kids were young and they REALLY wanted Christmas lights on the house.  Jenni gave me the whole, “It would just mean so much if you’d put them up”.  So, I put the ladder on our back deck off the second story and started to climb up onto the roof.  I got up there and looked about 25 ft from the roof to the ground and I did what any reasonable person would do.  I sat there for about 20 minutes deliberating on if my life was worth putting lights up for the kids…  Lol.  I’m such a weenie, but I knew if I fell off that roof, it would be lights out for Kent.  I finally came off the roof and said, “I’ve got a great idea!”  Let’s put the lights in the yard.  We strung the lights all over the ground and when it would snow, it was the coolest thing to see the light coming up through the snow…

WE:

Most people have traditions for getting ready for Christmas, don’t they?  

-In our family, we do all of our Christmas decorating after Thanksgiving

-Some of you monsters out there do it after Halloween lol

What’s your tradition for getting ready for Christmas?

All along the way in the first Christma,s there was someone who was getting things ready…

Before Jesus was even born his mother Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth who was also pregnant and this happened:

Luke 1:41-44

41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.

Elizabeth’s baby, John (the Baptist), was moved in the womb when Jesus came into his presence.  

This was what John the Baptist did, he got things ready for Jesus…

Mark 1:1-4

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,[a]the Son of God,[b]2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,

    who will prepare your way”[c]—

3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

    make straight paths for him.’”

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with[e] water, but he will baptize you with[f] the Holy Spirit.”

John the Baptist was a wild guy.  He seems to be fierce and fearless in his pursuit of God and His Kingdom.

One of my favorite passages in scripture comes from Johnny B…

Listen to what he says when his disciples come to him to tell him that Jesus is getting and gaining more disciples than John…

John 3:29-30

²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. ³⁰ He must become greater; I must become less.”

Somehow, John was content to play second fiddle. He was content to become less and let Jesus become more…

Here’s my question:

What was it about John that allowed him to take a back seat?

b

I think it’s because John knew the part he played in the story.

When John was asked who he was, this is what he said about himself

John 1:23

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

John knew that his role was to make way for Jesus – so He could bring salvation to everyone.  

b

John was knocking down barriers and opening doors for the message to get out.

b

He was, all along, the one who was getting us ready for Christmas – God coming into the world to save us from our sins.

CLOSING ILLUSTRATION:

When Jenni and I got engaged we had this sweet guy in our church who had a photography studio.  He invited us to the studio and took these pictures of us for our engagement and at our wedding gave us a huge portrait of ourselves.  Now, I’m saying nothing, but we are not the kind of people to keep giant pictures of ourselves on our walls.  So, we did what anyone would do.  We started giving the picture away at Christmas parties as a white elephant gift.  What’s super funny is for years that picture would show up at different parties as a white elephant gift as someone regifted it…

lol

I was thinking about all that John did to bring the message and hope of Jesus into our world.  You know he ended up dying because of his message, don’t you?  His head got severed from his body and grossly displayed as a party favor at a birthday party.  Just sickening…

John paid a price for the message of Jesus to enter the world.  He gave us the gift of making the way for Jesus.

b

What if each of us this Christmas decided to regift the message in our own lives?  

b

In what ways could you knock down barriers and open doors for the message of Jesus to get out in your world, your family, and your workplace?

Here’s a list of just a few practical ways I thought you could do this:

Practical ways to regift the message of Jesus and prepare the way for others to know Him:

• Practice “love of their neighbor” Literally:  bake cookies for neighbors, add a note about celebrating the birth of Jesus and invite them to church this Christmas
• Do a prayer challenge at work: Tell people you are taking a prayer challenge till Christmas.  If they have something you could pray for, to text or leave you a note and you’ll pray for them.
• Do a daily devotion with your kids: Read through the gospel of John with your kids over the next month and ask questions/talk about it together.
• Start a bible study at work:
• Send encouraging texts: For the next month send a daily encouraging scripture to friends, let them know they can opt-out any time.

John made a way for Jesus’ message and it changed the world, what if we regift Christmas this year!

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