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Sunday Morning Sermon Summary 

SERIES: “Grinchmas”

(Part Three) “There’s Hope for the Grinch!” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)

Sunday, December 14, 2008

STORY:    (In order to stop Christmas from coming, the Grinch dressed up like Santa, took all the Who's gifts, the food for the feast, even the tree; loaded it in his sleigh and left)

Three thousand feet up! Up the side of Mt. Crumpit, he rode with his load to the tip top to dump it! “Pooh-pooh to the Whos!” he was grinchishly humming. “They’re finding out now that no Christmas is coming! They’re just waking up! I know just what they’ll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two Then the Who’s down in Who-ville will all cry BOO-HOO! That’s a noise,” grinned the Grinch, “that I simply MUST hear! So he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.  And he did hear a sound rising over the snow. It started in low. Then it started to grow.  But the sound wasn’t sad! Why, this sound was merry! It couldn’t be so! But it WAS merry! VERY! He stared down at Who-ville! The Grinch popped his eyes! Then he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise! Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing!  Without any presents at all!  He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME! Somehow or other, it came just the same! And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! I came without packages, boxes or bags!” And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.  Maybe Christmas…perhaps… means a little bit more!” And what happened then…? Well…in Who-ville they say That the Grinch’s small heart Grew three sizes that day! And the minute his heart didn’t feel quite so tight, He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light And he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast! And he…HE HIMSELF…! The Grinch carved the roast-beast!

 From “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss

ME: Grew up with controversies about commercialism; new issue in the last 10 years or so: get Christ out of Christmas.

“Christmas isn’t a religious holiday!” (True – check notes on the Web page?). Our culture is living with the growing consequences of materialism and God-less philosophy. Taking the “props” doesn’t change the “plot”

WE:   Actually, sounds great: Absolute truth is a myth: truth is what you want it to be. There’s no right or wrong, what’s right for you isn’t necessarily right for me. “Live and let live.” Belief in God is a crutch to get you through life.  “An opiate for the masses.” Life begins and ends – that’s it! No God to answer to, certainly no God who cares. IF THERE IS A GOD, IT’S YOU!

         Neale Donald Walsch. Conversation with God. “Feeling is the language of the soul…thoughts are more effective than mere words…experience (is) the grand communicator. Finally, when feelings and thoughts and experiences all fail, I use words. I do not communicate by words alone. In fact, I rarely do so.”

         But then comes the problem:  “eternity is (built into) our hearts”

Creation: “very good” – just the way it’s supposed to be, PERFECT (with a “God-shaped vacuum” built in)

Fall: man chooses to go his own way and God says, “Okay!  But life will change.” NOT the way it’s supposed to be!

Redemption:  From the start, God (who knew in advance what man would do) devised a plan to fix it, a way for the relationship between a perfect God and His fallen creation could be re-connected (RECONCILED).

The GRINCH is real!  The GRINCH is messing up (the) Christmas (message). You and I (the Whos down in Who-ville) are the tools God wants to use to fix it!

THERE’S HOPE FOR THE GRINCH!(all the Grinches…including us!)

GOD: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (See 1 Corinthians 1:30)

      1.   In Christ – Metaphor for our relationship with Jesus

                  “There is now no condemnation to those who are IN CHRIST” (Rom 8:1)

                  “IN CHRIST, we who are many form one body…” (Rom12:5)

                  “It is because of Him (God the Father) that you are IN CHRIST who has become for us wisdom from God…”

                  (1 Cor 1;30)

                  “For as in Adam all die, so IN CHRIST will all be made alive…” (1 Cor 15:22)

                  “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave or free, male or female…you are all one IN CHRIST” (Gal 3:28)

                  “…we are God’s workmanship (“masterpiece”) created IN CHRIST Jesus to do good works…” (Eph 2:10)

                  John 17:20-21 20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of them may be one, Father, just as  you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

                  THERE’S HOPE FOR THE GRINCH!

      2.   New creation: new has come, old is gone!

                  Imagine one of our old, broken-down buildings: broken windows, graffiti everywhere, trash, weeds, sagging roof, fences down…OWNER/SELLER promises to fix everything for the BUYER. BUYER says “don’t fix anything; I just want the site so I can build something entirely NEW – and then MOVE IN!)

                  Wouldn’t it be great if we could scrap everything and start over?

                  JUST WHAT FAITH OFFERS! (All Christ wants is a site and permission to build) CULTURE?

                  Rom 6:4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was                       raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

THE GRINCH GOT A HEART 3 SIZES BIGGER – THERE’S HOPE FOR THE GRINCH!

3.   Reconciled to be reconcilers (All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation)

                  GPS: Where do we want to go? “My Lord knows the way through the wilderness!” When we make a  wrong turn: “Recalculating”! Get’s us back on track. RECONCILES us!

                  Something in the GPS!  The GPS in the car!  The car guided by the GPS (I don’t always do what it tells me!) ITS’ NOT AUTO-PILOT!

                  I RECOMMEND A GPS TO YOU (it’ll get you back on track!)

            Col 1:25-27 I have become its (the church’s) servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now  disclosed to the saints (THAT’S US!). 27 To them (US) God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

                  THERE’S HOPE FOR THE GRINCH!

SO WHAT?       He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

                  2 Corinthians 5:20 “We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us”

                  Col 1:28-29 “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ…”

THE GRINCH IS REAL-THE GRINCH IS MESSING UP CHRISTMAS-THERE’S HOPE FOR THE GRINCH

WHAT NOW?     

                  Col 1:22-23 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm,   not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. STAY WITH THE GPS AND PASS IT ON

Passion Bucket -- a place to collect tasks or commitments that fulfill your life mission and ambition.
                  The Whos down in Who-ville had a passion about Christmas that the Grinch couldn’t take away. The PLOT was more important than the PROPS.

                  Two questions: 

                  1)   What’s your personal mission?: All true mission is really God on His mission… (reconcile the world                                                                to Himself)

                  2)   What tasks or commitments serve that mission?

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” (George Carlin)

                  What has taken your breath away lately?

Legend:

Green: Mission and Vision
Blue: Illustrations and quotes
Red: Scripture

Note to the visitor:  These are Pastor Paul’s sermon notes from Sunday Morning.  They probably won’t make much sense if you weren’t in the service.  Feel free to contact Pastor Paul if you’d like more detailed information.
For past sermons, please visit the Sermon Archive. 

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