A blessed Christmas to all!

I pray that the miracle of the birth of our Saviour will present each of us with joy and blessing for the year ahead!

Below is an Advent sermon that I preached at Bryanston Methodist Church some weeks ago. It is an exegetical approach to John 1, seeking to highlight some lesser focussed upon implications of the miracle surruonding the Christ event.

It states that the coming of Christ shows us:

1. Christ, the first and powerful Word of God, is the source of all that is.

2. That the Christ event helps us to face what we choose to deny.

3. That truly engaging life requires some re-definition, sacrifice and courage.

The following quote from the sermon inspired me a great deal:

The spirit of Christmas needs to be superseded by the Spirit of Christ. The spirit of Christmas is annual; the Spirit of Christ is eternal. The spirit of Christmas is sentimental; the Spirit of Christ is supernatural. The spirit of Christmas is a human product; the Spirit of Christ is a divine person. That makes all the difference in the world. -- Stuart Briscoe in Meet Him at the Manger. Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 14.

Click here to download the full text of the Sermon in MS Word format:

Sermon.doc