All I Want For Christmas Is Jesus

This past Sunday we began new series. It was unable to be recorded. Below are some of the sermon notes from the first sermon in this exciting series.

I often find it odd that We spend a season celebrating what we are most thankful for and then we immediately follow it with a season concentrating on what else we want - what else we still need.

“What do you want for Christmas?” This is, perhaps, the most frequently asked question at Christmastime.

Personally, I never have a good answer for this question, ether because I don’t know what I want or because I don’t want to ask someone for it. And it is frustrating to hear “I don’t know”

“What do you want for Christmas?” My mother-in-law asked me this question, to which I responded “I don’t know”.

“What do you want for Christmas?” Children ask their parents this question. To this day when we ask mom she will say “to have all of my family to be healthy and to be together”. This answer is even more frustrating than “I don’t know” because I can't provide this for my mom.

But it is sometimes that things that we want – and need – the most that we don’t ask for, we won’t ask for, we don’t even talk about them. Most of us have a need that we rarely recognize. Most of us have a need that we seldom express - a need we would never state on our Christmas list - even though it’s all that we really want and all that we really desire

What do you want for Christmas? What do you really need? Joy?  Peace?  Love? Hope?

Over the next month we will take part in a series together; "All I Want For Christmas Is…" Throughout this series we will continue to ask the question: "What do you want for Christmas?” And we will continue to come back to Isaiah 61 - the mission statement of Jesus - the purpose of why He came to earth.

Isaiah 61:1-3a: The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

All I want for Christmas is Jesus.

·       Jesus is our Joy

o   Good news for the poor and the afflicted

·       Jesus is our Peace

o   Healing for the brokenhearted and troubled

·       Jesus is our Love and our Salvation

o   Freedom for the captives and a pardon for all prisoners

·       Jesus is our Hope

o   The time of the Lord’s favor has come for us

Where all other gifts fall short, Jesus fulfills. This year He can bring you joy, peace, love, and peace

It’s time that we take our focus off of the hurry, the greed, the chaos, and the rush of Christmas – that’s not Christmas anyway! It’s time we stop asking and wishing for gifts that break down, spoil, rust, and disappoint us. It’s time we focus on the true gift of Christmas – Jesus Christ. Who reigns eternally and fulfills our every desire and need.

All I want for Christmas is Jesus. Jesus is our peace. Jesus is our love. Jesus is our salvation. Jesus is our hope. Now and for all of eternity

This Christmas let us look for opportunities to speak Jesus into lives - to speak Jesus into our own life and to speak Jesus into the lives of others.