Good News Christmas Eve Free Written Sermon

If you are a pastor or lay person who wants to use this to preach in church – that is why I posted it.  I don’t care about credit, I only care that God’s word is preached and Christ is glorified.  I pray He uses this sermon in a mighty way through you.  You have my permission to alter it and use it however God leads you.  God bless you in your ministry.

Opening Prayer:

 

O God of love, you have brought us together tonight and blessed us with your very self. Open our eyes to the light of Christ which glows in the darkness of a world overwhelmed with apathy, pain and loss; a world separated from you. Speak to us now that we may hear the good news of your salvation. We ask that you bring us into the wonder of your presence on this evening by sending Your Holy Spirit to dwell among and within us. May this be a night worthy of a King, and not just a king, but the King of Kings, Jesus Christ in whose name we pray. Amen

 

 

I got some bad news yesterday about someone in the church. Already, I’ve been preaching with a heavy heart the last few weeks with all the health issues several in our church are facing. Plus we’ve had some milestones with birthdays and anniversaries of some who remember loved ones. Yet tonight is Good News, even to those who struggle. It’s not that we forget the bad news and the pain and sorrow, but we meet tonight to proclaim the bad news does not have the final say.

 

 

And it’s not that I decided tonight would be Good News. It was an angel who said

 

I bring you Good news of Great Joy, which will be to all people.

 

 

It’s not just good news to those who are wealthy, healthy, and not going through trials, it is Good News to all people.

 

Chris Rice Song – It’s water for the thirsty.  Comfort for the weary.

 

 

Sermon: The Angel Brings Good News

 

So what is the Good News? And what’s an Angel?

 

 

We get the term Good News from the word Gospel which literally means Good News.

 

We have the four Gospels – Matthew, mark, Luke, John.

 

The GOSPEL according to John, The GOSPEL according to Mark. The GOOD NEWS according to Matthew. The GOOD NEWS according to Luke.

 

 

The Good News is Set into motion by Christmas, by the birth of Jesus the Messiah.

 

Before Jesus, all there was was the law. The “Thou Shalt’s”. In the 1500’s Martin Luther said, At the root, the Law demanded Perfect Love. Yet Luther also said just because the Law demanded perfect love did not mean that sinful people could meet that demand. As a matter of fact, they couldn’t.

 

Luther said, The Law exposes sin in all people, but does nothing to cure it.

 

It would be like if you went out to eat at a really expensive restaurant and you didn’t have the money for the bill and they wouldn’t let you wash dishes to pay off the tab. You knew what was owed, but there was simply no way on earth you could pay that.

 

 

So the angel comes and says, I bring you Good News of Great Joy. You see, before there was no hope for anyone, because even though you knew what was required, you did not have it to give. But now, the Good News. There is born a Savior that will save you from your sins. It had to be something very valuable. What could be valuable enough? God said, My Only Son. While we often give God the leftovers of our lives, God gave what He cherished most. And Jesus was God. So in sending His only son, God actually came himself. And at the time he came as a baby, nobody really could foresee the Cross just over 30 years later.

 

 

The Good News was costly.

 

The Good News, or the Gospel, can be summed up by 1 Corinthians 15:3-4:

 

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day.

 

 

That’s the Good News. That’s the Gospel. At the time, The apostles probably thought that was Bad news. Mary, Mother of the Baby Jesus probably thought it was bad news. As she held the baby Jesus, she never could have imagined all of this.

 

 

Do you know what the word angel means? Messenger. Some define it heavenly messenger, but basically it means messenger.

 

 

The Angel brings Good News. You know the Good news. Are you willing to be an Angel? What is an angel? A messenger. By being a messenger delivering the Good News

 

 

We have church every Sunday. We gather to worship God, to seek God, to hear the Good News, but to hear the relevant word of God through music and through the message. We don’t just come to hear the Bible read, but to hear the inspiring word of God and what it means to our lives today.

 

 

It’s a message of Hope: It’s water for the thirsty. Comfort for the weary. Freedom for the captive. Hope for the Hopeless. A light for those in darkness. Grace and Forgiveness for the undeserving, which is all of us. A Savior is born to us, for us.

 

 

Do you hear the Good News in that? Do you know someone who needs to hear the Good News? Do you know someone who is thirsty for Good News?

 

Will you be the messenger that tells them the Good News?

 

 

And unless we’re a radical follower of Jesus Christ, most of us would have to honestly answer no. I can’t tell people the Good News of Jesus Christ. I understand. Let’s compromise.

 

 

If you can’t do it, can you at least tell them where they can find it?

 

Do you notice the Angel told them where to find it? You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. It was when the Angel told them where to find the Good News that the multitude of the Heavenly host joined the Angel, praising God and saying Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.”

 

 

The angel told them of the Good News, but also told them where to find the good news. If you normally go to another church, invite people to your church. Don’t invite people from our church, but people who don’t go to church anywhere, people who long to hear Good News. And I have the same message to you who go here to the Mason Church.

 

Can you invite the unchurched to church? Or Invite them to dinner on Wednesday night? Can you invite them to a New Year’s Eve party?

 

The Good News is so needed in our world and by people you know.

 

 

The bad news that we hear and experience every day does not have the final say. The power of death and hopelessness was broken by a baby that was born a King, but Satan would have you believe that Jesus was never born, Satan would have you sleeping in every Sunday morning. If he can get you missing church, that’s the foot in the door he’s looking for. YOU HAVE HEARD THE GOOD NEWS, how can that not change your outlook? How can that not change you?

 

 

There is a Baby born in Bethlehem who is Christ the Lord.

 

Closing Prayer:  God, If we were to be completely honest, we confess it makes no sense that you would send your son as a baby as a down payment for our wrongs, to be paid in full on the cross of Calvary. It would make more sense to us if there was something we could do to earn it. Yet that’s your offer to us. It has nothing to do with our worthiness, but only if we will believe in Him. Believe that He was born as a baby and sacrificed himself for us. Lord tonight, whether for first time or the hundredth time, I tell you I believe, help my unbelief. And for those who are convinced for the first time, Hear this prayer: Lord I accept your gift this Christmas. I am sorry for my wrongs, Come into my heart and help me all at once or little by little to be transformed into the person you can help me to be. We celebrate and remember Christ as a baby, and as our Redeemer. We pray in his name, Amen.