<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">We Need John</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">When our children were small, a nice church lady named Chris made them a child-friendly crèche. All the actors in this stable drama are soft and squishy and durable - perfect to touch and rearrange - or toss across the living room in a fit of toddler frenzy. The Joseph character has always been my favorite because he looks a little wild - red yarn spiking out from his head, giving him an odd look of energy. In fact, I have renamed this character John the Baptist and in my mind substituted one of the innocuous shepherds for the more staid and solid Joseph. Why this invention? Because, over the years, I have decided that without the disconcerting presence of John lurking in the shadows of our manger scenes, the Jesus story is mush - nothing but child's play, lulling us into sleepy sentimentality. </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Susan R. Andrews, Sermons for Sundays: In Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany: The Offense of Grace, CSS Publishing Company </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">__________________________</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The King Is Coming</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Can you imagine complete silence? It's hard to in our culture today in which televisions, radios, etc. are constantly blaring. But in this morning's text a silence of 400 years is broken. Don't misunderstand me, not everyone was silent during this period. Women and men were talking.. Boys and girls were talking. But there was no prophet speaking the Word of the LORD. No one was truthfully saying, "Thus says the LORD..."</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In reality two silences are broken in this morning's text. For one, the 400 year period without a Word from God and for another, a gap of approximately 30 years in the life of Jesus. Matthew skips directly from his birth and infancy narrative to an event that occurs approximately 30 years later: the ministry of John the Baptist. Both of these silences are broken by the sound of a voice.</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The voice which breaks the silence is the voice of John the Baptist, who may rightly be called the last of the Old Testament Prophets. He is functioning as a Herald by announcing the coming of the King. In the ancient world, a herald was one who went ahead of a king's chariot to prepare the road. He would command a crew which would smooth out the usually rough roads of that day by filling potholes and removing boulders. The herald would also go before the king shouting, "Make way, the King is coming!" One commentator noted that such "efforts to make a road level and smooth were restricted to times when royalty was on its way" (Robert Mounce, Matthew NIBC, 23). </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This was the function of John the Baptist.</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Steve Weaver, The Herald of the King</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">________________________________</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Time to Prepare</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Christmas season. A time of preparation. Most Americans prepare for the holidays with lights and gifts, cards and good cheer. But the Church reminds us to prepare spiritually. What does that mean? In Matthew's gospel, John the Baptist gave us a direction.<SPAN> </SPAN>Matthew's gospel presented the Baptist in the context of prophecy about him, his arena and audience, his place in the religious pecking order, and his reason for preaching.</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Larry Broding, Spiritual Preparation</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">______________________________</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Taking the Fun Out of Christmas</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">We prepare for Christmas by repenting. Repenting in the Biblical sense is more than having a change of heart or a feeling of regret. It is more than a New Year's Eve resolution. Repentance is a turning away and a turning back. A turning away from sin and a turning back to God.</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bishop Joe Pennel of the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church, once attended a Christmas worship service in Bethlehem at a place called Shepherd's Field. As he heard the songs of the season, he thought to himself and later wrote: "I did not look to God and say: See how virtuous I am. I did not utter: God, pat me on the back for all of the good things I have done. I did not pretend by saying: God, look at all of my accomplishments, aren't you proud of me? Indeed, I found myself asking God to forgive me of my sins. That is how it works. The more we turn away from Christ the more enslaved we become to the power of sin. The more we turn to Christ, the more free we become from the bondage of sin. Turning toward Christ enables us to repent."</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Someone once said half jokingly: If we are not careful, John the Baptist can take all of the fun out of Christmas. I disagree. I think that it is John's message that puts the joy into Christmas. For it is his message that calls us not to the way that Christmas is, but that the way Christmas ought to be. Christmas ought to be free from guilt and self-absorption. For that to occur there must be repentance.</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Staff, <A target=_blank __removedLink__225297226__href="http://www.eSermons.com">www.eSermons.com</A> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">___________________</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Recognizing our Need to Repent</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">One critic said he had gone to many churches and heard the preacher say, "Don't try to impress God with your works" or "Don't attempt to please God with your merits" or "Don't try to keep the rules and regulations and thus win your way." He looked around at nearly slumbering collections of utterly casual Christians and wondered, "Who's trying?"</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Martin Marty</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">___________________</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">What the Future Holds</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Have you seen ancient maps of unexplored portions of the world? Maps that portrayed the prevailing ideas of what lay beyond, the unexplored lands and the uncrossed seas? Maps from before the adventures of Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan? How grotesquely inaccurate those maps were! How vastly they differed from what the explorer eventually found! How fantastic were the notions the ancients had about what was out there - a dropping-off-place, mammoth sea serpents to swallow up ships. But as things turned out, it wasn't that way at all. You know, if Columbus had believed half the maps and legends of his time he would never have lifted an anchor!</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Well, we are all traveling into the unexplored land, and we ought to be careful how we map it until we've traveled there. Certainly we shouldn't let the future do things to us it never meant to do. It is my faith that the future means to be friendly; and I don't think we ought to treat it as an enemy. If we do, and start in to do battle with it, I can tell you this: it's a battle we can never win. Let's not suspect it of standing over us with a club waiting for a chance to clobber us into the ground, or of lurking in the shadows to pounce upon us around the next dark corner.</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">And surely we shouldn't be afraid of the future - not if we are Christians. I am hearing Jesus say, "I am the way." And he is talking about himself, and about you, and about your future, and about your journey into it...</SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: #000000">The conclusion to this illustration and for many additional illustrations and sermons for Advent and Christmas can be accessed at </SPAN><A shape=rect target=_blank __removedLink__225297226__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aelnpceab&et=1103992053321&s=45429&e=001IE1DvoSCkNmz3c1vRl3rCamaAcC7mpk0RKQ52yKYScn0JFOGSDkH_jc7iHIIsd4ZTlUeTtPxJLEX9M1CIgUTDzYMt_1hG86HDp7MB6HPmEHhr3fCA3YS-g==">www.Sermons.com</A><SPAN style="COLOR: #000000">. </SPAN></SPAN></div>
<div style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', 'serif'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> </SPAN></div>
<br>
<br>
<div style="CLEAR: both"></div>
</font>