Last weekend, I spoke at a church for their Christmas service. I entitled the talk "Christmas Comes Because Christ Came."Thought it might be a blessing and encouragement to you as well. So I'm going to share the outline with you. This outline can also be used to help kids and their parents grasp and understand what Christmas is really about.
Make sure you make Christ the center of your Christmas. When we don't, it's like going to a birthday party and ignoring the person who is having the birthday.
Take time as a family to read the Christmas story (Luke 2) and share this outline before you open your presents.
1. Why did Jesus come? To seek and save us.
"The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost." I Timothy 1:5
Jesus came from heaven, was born and laid in a "king-size" bed.
"And when Jesus heard it, He said to them, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners'."
Mark 2:17
"While we were sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
Jesus was a gift that came from Heaven for us.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, so that no one can boast." Ephesians 2:8-9
2. Jesus came to take away our sins.
"And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in Him."
I John 3:5
3. Jesus came to be the light of the world.
"I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in Me may not remain in darkness."
John 12:46
We are not the light, but we are the reflection of His light. We are called to shine His light into all the world.
It's not about the presents. It's about His presence.
4. Jesus came to satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst.
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."
John 6:51
The things of the world can't fill the spiritual hunger we have. Only Jesus can satisfy the spiritual hunger we all feel.
5. Jesus came to model what it means to serve and give.
"For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many."
Mark 10:45
"Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus was in the house, He asked them, 'What were you discussing on the way?' But they were silent, for on the way they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, 'If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all'."
Normally when you arrived at someone's house there was a servant there to wash the guests' feet. When Jesus and the disciples gathered, there were no servants to wash the disciples' feet. The disciples didn't want to do this lowly job.
That's when Jesus stepped in and modeled for them what it means to be a servant. He got a basin and a towel and kneeling down He washed all of the disciples' feet.
Greatness is not about how many people serve you. Rather it's about how many people you serve.
Have a Merry CHRISTmas and spread the word. Christmas comes because Jesus came!
