<font color='black' size='4' face='Times New Roman, Times, serif'>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">The Wayward Bus</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">In
John Steinbeck's story "The Wayward Bus" a dilapidated old bus takes a
cross country shortcut on its journey to Los Angeles, and gets stuck in
the mud. While the drivers go for assistance, the passengers take refuge
in a cave. It is a curious company of people and it is obvious that the
author is attempting to get across the point that these people are lost
spiritually as well as literally. As they enter into this cave, the
author calls the reader’s attention to the fact that as they enter they
must pass a word that has been scrawled with paint over the entrance.
The word is repent. Although Steinbeck calls that to the reader’s
attention it is interesting that none of the passengers pay any
attention to it whatsoever.<br>
<br>
All too often this is our story. Yet, John the Baptist calls upon us to
take our sinning seriously. Why? Because God does? Repentance is not
just changing our minds, or feeling sorry for something that we have
done, or even making bold resolves that we will never participate in
certain conduct again. Instead, repentance means to turn around and go
in another direction. What John the Baptist wanted his audience to hear
was: Turn your life toward this one called Messiah. This is not negative
or down-faced. Rather, it breaks the chains of oppression and death
that hold us back.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Repent Your Way to a Merry Christmas, Brett Blair and Staff </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">________________________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Preparation</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">A
few years ago as the world watched the beginning game of the World
Series in San Francisco there was suddenly an interruption of the
opening interview. The screen blinked and went blank. When the program
resumed: A Special News Bulletin. The San Francisco metropolitan area
had experienced a serious earthquake. We all watched the live pictures
as the huge fire in the Marina area burned. A remote camera crew was
there and we saw the firemen fighting the fires. The scene I remember
the most, however, was a group of people standing around just looking at
the destruction and looking at the fire. All of a sudden a cop came up
to the crowd and yelled out to them: What are you people doing just
standing there. You must get prepared immediately. Go home and fill your
bathtubs up with water. Be prepared to live without city services for
72 hours. The sun will set in another hour and your time is runn
ing
out. Go hence and get prepared.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">A
long, long time ago a man came on the scene by the name of John the
Baptist. John's message was not told in soft monotones, but rather there
was an urgent screaming in his voice. “Why are you not getting ready?”
he yelled to the Hebrews. Why are you just standing there. Don't you see
that your time is running out on you. You need to be preparing the way.
Making the path straight. Go and get ready.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">That
message may sound very strange to our modern ears, but the simple truth
is that is Jesus were standing here in the flesh this morning and we
asked him to give a list of the preachers who were most instrumental
upon him, he would have listed the name of John the Baptist. There is
just simply no question about that. There was no single human being who
was more influential upon the life and career of Jesus than John.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Staff, <a href="http://www.eSermons.com" target="_blank">www.eSermons.com</a>.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">__________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Christian Hope Had Changed His Life</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Some
years ago a military airplane crashed at Sonderstrom Air Force Base in
Greenland. Twenty-two people were killed. The runway and the nearby
fields were strewn with bodies. It was a tragic and horrible moment.
There was only one chaplain on the base at the time… and the entire
burden was laid on him to bring comfort and the Word of Christ to a
shocked community staggered by the horrendous accident. But there was
little time to mourn that day. The grisly task of gathering up and
identifying the bodies needed to be done.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">And
so, the chaplain, along with a young lieutenant who had been assigned
the duties of a mortuary officer and a group of volunteers went about
the awful business of picking up the mutilated bodies and trying to
identify the dead, so that their families and loved ones back home could
be notified. It was a heart-breaking and exhausting task, but it had to
be done. The people worked in shocked silence well into the night until
they almost dropped from fatigue. When every last remnant of death had
been picked up, they each went silently to their individual rooms.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">That
night, after midnight, there was a knock on the chaplain’s door.
Outside stood the young lieutenant, the Mortuary Officer. He said
nothing. He just stood there and wept. After some moments, the young
lieutenant spoke through his tears and he said to the chaplain, “As we
were picking up the bodies today, I realized something. I realized that
the only other people out there with us were the people who go to church
here. I have always been an unbeliever, and I used to ridicule these
same people who were out there with us. Yet they are the only persons
who would, or perhaps could, do what we had to do today. It must have
been their Christian spirit that could help them see beyond the horror
to the hope.”</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">That
tragic day turned around the life of that young lieutenant. As he had
admitted, he had never been religious, had seldom gone to church except
for weddings and funerals, but from that time on he was a new man.
Christ was born in his heart. From that time forward, he took an active
part in the Christian ministry of that base. Then he did an unheard
thing – he extended his tour of duty in Greenland for an extra year. He
was the first person in the history of that base to do that. He did it
because he wanted to be able to tell others the story of how the power
of the Christian Hope had changed his life.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">If
you want to give your loved ones a great Christmas present this year,
give them the gift of Christian Hope. On page after page of the New
Testament we find it: the Good News that God will win, that nothing can
defeat Him; that ultimately God and goodness will have the victory and
that when we put our hope in Him, nothing, not even death, can separate
us from His watch care and His love and His triumph. Once each year,
Christmas comes along to renew our hope and to remind us that the
darkness of this world cannot overcome the light of the world.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">James W. Moore, ChristianGlobe Sermons</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">_________________________</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Blessed Are They Who Find Christmas…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small">Blessed
are they who find Christmas in the age-old story of a babe born in
Bethlehem. To them a little child will always mean hope and promise to a
troubled world.<br>
<br>
Blessed are they who find Christmas in the Christmas star. Their lives may ever reflect its beauty and light.<br>
<br>
Blessed are they who find Christmas in the joy of giving lovingly to
others. They shall share the gladness and joy of the shepherds and wise
men of old.<br>
<br>
Blessed are they who find Christmas in the fragrant greens, the cheerful
holly and soft flicker of candles. To them shall come bright memories
of love and happiness…</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"> </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">The
rest of this illustration, as well as many additional illustrations and
sermons for this week, Advent and Christmas can be accessed at </span></span><span style="color: black"><a target="_blank" href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8BCwAGDQdUD0kNAgJKDAtXUVw%3D"><span style="font-size: small"><font color="#0000ff">www.Sermons.com</font></span></a></span><span style="font-size: small"><span style="color: black">.<br>
<br>
</span></span></div>
</font>