SERMON NOTES DECEMBER 15, 2013 A Child is Born A Child is Bo rn Isaiah 9:1-7 Pastor John Sloan Intr troduc oducti tion: on: We have our own way of doing things. Whether it’s folding laundry, preparing a meal, or managing our lives, we have our preferred approach. And often, though we would never say it, we expect God to do things the way we would . But throughout history, God had shown that His ways are above our ways. He does the unexpected. And the way He brings salvation is the greatest case in point. 01. 01. 02. 02. 03. 03. God with Us [A dve nt 2013]
SERMON NOTES DECEMBER 15, 2013 1. Why were the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali “in the former time … brought into contempt” (v.1)? 2. What were some of the promises that God made hundreds of years before Christ that were fulfilled at Jesus’ birth? How do those fulfilled promises speak to the trustworthiness of God? 3. In what areas are you struggling to trust God? How will you address those concerns? 4. What does the “great light” bring (see v.2)? 5. What is the significance of the names used (v.6) to describe the One to come, the child who was to be born? 6. The fact that God came all the way to us marks the end to our “to-do-list” Christianity. What does that mean? God with Us [A dve nt 2013]
SERMON SLIDES DECEMBER 15, 2013 A Child is Born A Child is Bo rn Isaiah 9:1-7 Pastor John Sloan 1. “Jesus had none of the markers of greatness. He was a person of no consequence as far as the world was concerned. Yet, in that obscurity you had the most influential person in the history of the world. In that servility you had the greatest kingliness possible; in that weakness you had the greatest strength possible.” Timothy Keller 2. 01. God works in our lives to bring about our greatest good in ways we would least expect. 3. 02. Jesus, the Ultimate Light, brings complete peace (total shalom) to a world that is fraught with conflict. 4. “In a thousand ways God will gather what’s scattered, rebuild what’s broken, restore what has been emptied out by centuries of waste and fraud. In a thousand ways, God will put right what is wrong with his glorious creation.” Cornelius Plantinga 5. 03. Because God came to us, and didn’t require that we meet him half-way, he has put an end to our “to-do-list” Christianity. 6. “To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light and dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God’s grace means… My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to deserve it.” Brennan Manning God with Us [A dve nt 2013]
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