True focus of Christmas

Presents
 Snowman 
Santa Claus
Christmas tree

Reindeer pulling sleigh

...

"But what do these really have to do with Christmas?"

I sat and wondered.

So that I do not use any secular decorations for our church's Christmas Lunch, I decided to do a little research through sermonaudio.com. I wanted to be cautious of not conforming to the world's standard of 'Christmas decor' and steal glory from God. I knew that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus but I hungered to know more!

After a word of prayer, I listened to a sermon by Dr Greg Mazak entitled 'The True Meaning of Christmas' and took some notes:

True focus of Christmas:

1. Because of Christmas, we can see what God is like
2. Because of Christmas, we can know that God loves us
3. Because of Christmas, we can rejoice that God saves us

John 1

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

²The same was in the beginning with God.

¹⁴And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

¹⁸No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

• Before Christ came, no one really saw God. We saw what He did, we read about what He was like, but no one really saw Him.
• Jesus Christ 
• explained to us what God is like
• reveals to us what God is like
• for the first time helps us to see God.
• Christians should rejoice at Christmas time that we can see what God is actually like!
• We should be sharing with our children the wonders of Christmas is God came in the flesh
• Christmas is God in the flesh. It's Jesus Christ revealing to us what God is really like. It's hail the incarnate deity. It's God being pleased with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel!

1 John 4

⁹ In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

• God sent His only begotten Son to die for us because of the sin (moral crime) we committed against God. (Christ died so that we could live!)

Luke 2

 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

  ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

• we can rejoice that God saves us!

Sorry everybody for I chose not to refine the material into a more 'reader-friendly' format. Same old reason none the truer - busy time of the year.

Despite my unfashionable notes, the sermon was a blessing to me AND will be to anyone wishing to find out the true meaning behind Christmas. I do hope with all sincerity that you'll find these notes helpful as you listen to the sermon :)

Thank God for this sermon, because of it, I have the confirmation of the theme colours for this year's decor:
- White, symbolises purity & righteousness - God is holy¹
- Red, symbolises the blood of Christ - God's love gift to mankind.²
- Gold, symbolises majesty - God is glorious³

ps. When I can find the time I shall post a photo of the (organised) mess in my room due to bags and bags of decorations. It was rather difficult finding good Christian Christmas decorations so a lot of things will require 'manual assembly'.

Any helpers free this weekend? Email me!

:)