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32. A Sign Unto You - Monday Evening · Family Prayer Podcast

• 0:00
  Good evening, Grace Harbor.
• 0:02
  It’s Dan. How was your Monday?
• 0:05
  I had a pretty good day, though Christmas week is always a little hectic for me.
• 0:10
  Perhaps some of you are planning on going to a special Christmas Eve church
• 0:13
  service on Wednesday.
• 0:15
  That’s actually my favorite church service of the whole year!
• 0:18
  It’s also usually one
• 0:19
  of the biggest services of the year with lots of extra guests.
• 0:23
  For pastors like me, it can feel a little bit like the Super Bowl!
• 0:27
  Today was errands day, driving around town
• 0:30
  to pick up the last few things we need for the service.
• 0:33
  I went to the plant nursery to pick up poin-sett-ahs
• 0:36
  or poin-sett-ias - however you say it.
• 0:39
  They’re those beautiful bright red plants you see all over the place
• 0:42
  this time of year.
• 0:43
  I also picked up a big order of Christmas cookies from Auden
• 0:48
  and Brookie’s Ice Cream & Cookies that we put out for after the services.
• 0:51
  I really wanted to get one of their world famous chocolate chip cookie
• 0:54
  milkshakes that I love so much, but it was only 27 degrees out today,
• 0:59
  and I was kind of in a hurry, so I skipped it this time.
• 1:04
  I then headed back to the church and got the poinsettias all set up.
• 1:07
  And let me tell you, this morning we talked about signs
• 1:11
  that Christmas is coming, and seeing all those bright red plants beaming up
• 1:15
  front is one of those signs for me that it really is time for Christmas.
• 1:21
  I told you this morning that we would talk about
• 1:23
  how how God used signs to let people know that Christmas was coming.
• 1:27
  Christmas is the first story in the part of the Bible we call the New Testament,
• 1:31
  but that’s about three-quarters of the way through the whole Bible!
• 1:35
  And while the people in that story sure seemed surprised,
• 1:38
  God had been making promises about Jesus coming
• 1:41
  from the very beginning of the whole Bible.
• 1:44
  Pretty early on, the first human beings started to mess things up.
• 1:48
  They stopped listening to God and started doing what they wanted.
• 1:52
  I’ll bet that’s something you can relate to.
• 1:54
  I know I have done that with both God and my parents when I was growing up.
• 1:58
  And like when we mess up, there were consequences.
• 2:02
  But even as God was sharing the consequences, God also promised
• 2:07
  that eventually someone would come who would rescue us from our mistakes
• 2:11
  and make it like we were brand new all over again.
• 2:15
  And throughout the first three-quarters of the Bible, God continues
• 2:18
  to make this promise and even shares hints about this special someone.
• 2:23
  Hundreds of years before Jesus was born,
• 2:25
  we got one of the most famous hints: “A child is born to us,
• 2:30
  a son is given to us, and authority will be on his shoulders.
• 2:35
  He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
• 2:39
  Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
• 2:42
  We talked about Jesus as the Prince of Peace
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  during our week on peace earlier this month.
• 2:47
  Do you remember that?
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  Well, when it finally came time for Jesus
• 2:51
  to come, God pulled out all the stops.
• 2:54
  God put a big ‘ol bright star in the sky and sent a whole bunch of angels
• 2:58
  to sing out the news to a bunch of sleepy shepherds.
• 3:02
  My favorite Christmas movie is “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, and my favorite scene
• 3:06
  is where Linus recites what the angels said: “Fear not: for, behold,
• 3:11
  I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
• 3:16
  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,
• 3:21
  which is Christ the Lord.
• 3:22
  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe
• 3:26
  wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
• 3:30
  This morning, we talked about what signs we could see that Christmas is coming.
• 3:35
  Now, I want you to use your imagination.
• 3:38
  Let’s say God has put you and your family in charge
• 3:41
  of letting the world know that Christmas is coming in just a few days.
• 3:45
  How would *you* do it?
• 3:47
  What signs would you give everyone?
• 3:50
  Would you use music?
• 3:51
  Lights?
• 3:53
  Maybe send some special messengers?
• 3:55
  What do you think would make people stop and pay attention?
• 3:59
  If you need more time, you can pause the podcast, and I’ll be
• 4:02
  right here when you get back.
• 4:23
  I think what
• 4:24
  I would want to do most is find ways to help
• 4:27
  people feel loved - maybe through acts of kindness,
• 4:31
  or special meals shared together, or making sure no one feels alone.
• 4:36
  Because that's a huge part of what Christmas is all about -
• 4:39
  God's love coming to earth.
• 4:41
  For now, let’s pray and then get some sleep.
• 4:45
  If you want to, you can close your eyes and fold your hands.
• 4:49
  Dear God, we thank you for this day
• 4:52
  and for all of your blessings - especially the blessing of Christmas.
• 4:56
  It seems that, since you dropped so many hints
• 4:59
  about Christmas for thousands of years before it happened, you must have been
• 5:03
  even more excited about it than we are today.
• 5:07
  May we rest tonight knowing that you’re still excited
• 5:10
  for us to get to know your son, Jesus.
• 5:13
  Amen.
• 5:14
  Ok, Grace Harbor.
• 5:15
  Get some sleep, and I’ll see you in the morning.