A Way in a Manger | Week 1
- December 3, 2017
- Steve DeNeff
- Sermons, Unexpected Jesus
Isaiah 42:1-4; John 1:1-5, 10-13
Every Christmas we sing, “Come thou long expected Jesus,” but has anyone wondered what kind of Jesus we expect? Has anyone wondered if we miss him today, perhaps for the same reason they missed him then: he came in a way unexpected. If what is lying in a manger is truly a savior, a Christ and a Lord, then we need to re-think what salvation means and how, exactly, it occurs. The manger is not what we hope for, nor how things get done in our world, yet Jesus is still the savior of the world and he is able be this from a minority position. Perhaps he always enters through a manger because there is never room for him in the inn. This sermon will stress the importance of simplicity and call us to be different, because in the foolishness of Christmas is the wisdom of God.
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Sermon Summary |
Present Promises | Week 5
A problem with this impatient rushing to the next is that we might end up forgetting the promises of God. We might even miss “new life” that God has been giving us along the way.
Your God is Too Big | Week 4
What if God became small because this is how things get done? This sermon will stress the importance of humility because it’s in the ordinary, common routines that we subvert the order of things.
A Different Kind of Power | Week 3
Even now we are tempted to fall for the way of Herod, the promise of power. But in the manger, God calls us to the way of Jesus, the power of promise. This sermon will stress the importance of vulnerability, for God has “lifted up the lowly…just as he promised.”