LC3 Sermon Notes
December 7 & 8, 2024 – David Pritchard
How the Grinch Steals Christmas… and How We Get it Back

Stolen Love

Matthew 1:18-25

Stolen Christmas:

Our love can be stolen by

in our

Reveal Answer

.

Mary’s Response (Luke 1:26-38):

1. Mary

   Reveal Answer
   from the
   Reveal Answer

2. Mary

   Reveal Answer
   (vs. 37-38)
   

Joseph’s Response (Matthew 1:18-25)

His

:

1. Publicly

   Reveal Answer
   her.

2. Reveal Answer
   it. Pretend it didn’t happen.

3. Reveal Answer
   her quietly.
   a. The only way to end betrothment is
   Reveal Answer
   
   b. Joseph is a
   Reveal Answer
   man
   

Jesus: Yahweh

or Yahweh is

Reveal Answer

Joseph links Jesus to the

(vs. 20)

Our Response:

1. Publicly
   Reveal Answer
   the person.
2. Just
   Reveal Answer
   them from our lives.
3. Just
   Reveal Answer
   .
   

Recovering Christmas Love starts by remembering that God is

and at Christmas we celebrate when Love

Reveal Answer

. (1 John 4:9-12)

Recovering Christmas Love:

Our Response for

:

1. Reveal Answer
   from the Lord. (Acts 26:18)

2. Think the

   Reveal Answer
   of each other. (Philippians 2:3-4)

   “Thinking the worst of our loved ones or our neighbors is unjust and often unreliable, and it passes too easily unnoticed. Yet if our sins have been (unimaginably) forgiven by God — and in Christ, they have been — then we have been set free to lay down our subtle suspicions, our default distrust, and to assume the best of others.” —Greg Morse, Author

“It would be better to be deceived a hundred times, than to live a life of suspicion” —Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students 327

1. Speak the

   Reveal Answer
   in love. (Matthew 18:15)

2. Reveal Answer
   one another. (Matthew 18:21-22; Romans 12:18)

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” —Lewis Smedes, author and theologian

Stolen Christmas:

Love can feel stolen when we are

of a loved one.

Recovering Christmas Love:

Remembering that Christmas is about

coming down, that we might enjoy

Reveal Answer

with those we love.

The Grinch doesn’t get the last word… Death doesn’t get the last word… God is Love… Love came down and Love gets the last word!