Muppets Christmas Carol
Psalm 51:12 NIV - “Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
THE WHOLE STORY IS “How SCROODGE GOT HIS JOY BACK!”
To do that he is introduced to 3 ghosts…
FIRST SPIRIT COMES IS CALLED THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST…
SCROODGE….. SMILES IMMEDIATELY being in the past.
2 Corinthians 11:3
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Beguiled (TRICKED)
Subtilty (tricks… CUNNING, CRAFTINESS)
CORRUPTED FROM SIMPLICITY…
SCROODGE USED TO HAVE JOY… BUT LOST IT… SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY life became so busy and complicated and he started focusing on the wrong things…
Jesus started a shift:
- A covenant with God and man
- A command that would act as a filter for all other commands
Matthew 22:36 - 40
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT REGAINING OUR JOY and
EMBRACING THE SIMPLICITY OF CHRIST’S COMMANDMENT:
- LOVE GOD…
- LOVE PEOPLE…
- LIVE YOUR FAITH.
John 15:12
12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
ONE COMMAND! ONE THING!
- LOVE LIKE JESUS.
SECOND SPIRIT COMES - THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT
Galatians 5:6
6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Galatians 5:14
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
FAITH will not WORK without
Luke 9:23
23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
What does that cross many times look like?
What does love require of me?
THIRD SPIRIT COMES - THE GHOST OF CHRISTMAS FUTURE
This one takes him into the future… where he realizes… NO ONE IS SAD HE IS GONE!
WHEN YOU LEAVE… HOW DO YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN?
2 Corinthians 2:14
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
God uses us as people to SHOW JESUS everywhere we go.
WHEN WE LEAVE, IT SHOULD BE MOST NOTED THAT PEOPLE KNOW A LITTLE MORE OF
- JESUS’ HEART
- HIS ATTITUDE
- HIS PRESENCE
BE KNOWN AS A PERSON WHO
- LOVES
- LOVES
- AND
THE GOOD NEWS IS A life can be changed… a life can be made right…
NO MATTER HOW BAD YOU THINK YOU ARE -
YOUR HEART CAN CHANGE… IF YOU GO BACK TO SIMPLICITY…
WITHOUT JESUS IN YOUR LIFE THERE IS…
- NO REAL HOPE
- NO REAL JOY
- NO REAL PEACE
WHAT IS EMBRACING CHRISTMAS?
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??
WHAT SHOULD THAT LASTING IMPRESSION LOOK LIKE?
Galatians 2:20
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.