Improve your own sermons by reviewing some of the best from the Preaching Today collection. The information below provides a brief synopsis of what you can expect from the downloadable transcript.
Download the transcript as a Word file to receive access to the full outline and complete sermon.
Hark! The Herald Angels
by Bruce W. Thielemann
Text: Luke 2:8-14
Topic: How the angels welcomed baby Jesus
Big Idea: Those who accept the Christ child have Christmas forever in their hearts.
Keywords: Advent; Angels; Music; Christmas
Introduction
- Christianity is unique in being a singing faith.
- Christmas carols belong to the praise of Jesus Christ.
The first Christmas carol was sung by angels.
- Because the angels were spiritual beings, they were entitled to sing at the first Christmas.
- The angels beheld Christ in heaven, so when they saw Christ enter the world as a baby, they could sing, "Glory to God in the Highest."
The angels sang of peace on earth.
- When people say they have experienced God in their hearts, they have heard the song about peace on earth.
- Illustration: In this brief illustration, Thielemann tells of places in Europe where the same soil is known to contain both ancient hatchets and bits of shrapnel from mere decades ago, evidencing the absence of peace in our world.
- Illustration: Thielemann describes an Ann Landers column, depicting the earth after a nuclear war, which Landers asked her readers to send to the White House. The president at the time wrote Landers that she should have sent them to the Kremlin, since the problem originated there.
- When someone has "been to Bethlehem," that person becomes peacemaking and peaceful.
- Illlustration: Here Thielemann tells the story of a woman in Poland during the Nazi persecutions who gives birth to her baby in an empty grave, and dies shortly thereafter. The Jewish cemetery keeper finds the baby, and reasons that this must be the Messiah, since he had chosen such a place to be born, but the babe dies. The story illustrates that God's love for us is so strong that he chose to come to our wretched earth to save us and to give us the way to peace.
The angels sang of peace among "those with whom he is well-pleased."
- For those who have been to Bethlehem and have missed the message, Christmas will just disappear.
- But for those who welcome the Christ child into their lives, and "with whom he is well-pleased," Christmas is forever.
- Illustration: Thielemann tells Bret Harte's story of The Luck of Roaring Camp, in which the one woman in a rough Western mining town of corrupt men gives birth to a baby and dies. Left with the responsibility of taking care of the baby, the men slowly learn how to look after her best interests: how to make her comfortable, to clean her quarters and themselves, and how to be civilized human beings. The baby changes everything.
Conclusion
- Is Christmas forever for you?
For additional information on how to order downloadable sermon transcripts, click here.
100% GUARANTEE - If you are not completely satisfied with the downloadable transcript you purchase, please e-mail us and we'll provide your next one completely free!
|
