Christmas 2021 Series 1  Jesus: A MISSIONARY for All Seasons

You have seen the bumper stickers, yard signs and Christmas cards that show the message: “Jesus is the Real reason for the Season.” And that is certainly true! But that makes Jesus seem seasonal the way our decorations are seasonal. There, lies trouble!

So, I have developed a sermon series entitled “Jesus is the Reason for All Seasons.”

            Today’s message is “Jesus, a MISSIONARY for All Seasons.”

            Sunday, Dec. 5th  is “Jesus, a PROPHET for ALL seasons.”

            Sunday, Dec. 12th is “Jesus, a PRIEST for ALL seasons.”

            Sunday, Dec. 19th is “Jesus, a SAVIOR for ALL seasons.”

            Sunday, Dec. 26th is “Jesus, a KING for ALL seasons.”

I believe what we love most about this season of the year is the expectation, the excitement, the build-up, the thrill of getting ready for Christmas, the decorating the tree, lights on the house, and of course, the decorating of the Sanctuary, the great music of Christmas, the great sacred songs of Christmas and a lot of the fun songs that we sing. How can you help but love the smiles on kid’s faces as they’re opening their presents? And, of course, there’s the amazing food that we eat at the Christmas season.

And then December 25th comes and Christmas happens and you turn off the lights on that evening and then comes the big let-down. What happened? Reality sets in: you’ve maxed out credit cards. Now our clothes don’t fit because we’ve eaten so much. Maybe we didn’t get what we wanted under the tree. Our expectations were set TOO HIGH on a season being able to bring peace, hope, love and joy. So, we go back to work worn out and exhausted! It’s all tied to a season of busyness, not the true meaning of Christmas.

But wouldn’t it be great if we could live ALL YEAR LONG with the excitement, the expectation, the joy, the blessedness and that sense wonder and anticipation INSTEAD OF PACKING IT ALL AWAY LIKE A BOX OF ORNAMENTS! I mean WE SHOULD REALLY know this all year long? It’s what I want to talk to you about. JESUS IS THE REASON FOR ALL SEASONS. He is the One who is the present and the promise of Christmas. It is a promise of a life at its best… a life full of abundance, and life that is yet to come. But if you celebrate the life of Jesus… if you commit to DAILY enjoying the presence of Jesus in your life… if you worship Him, you will experience a merry and blessed season because of the Savior all year through. And this is what can happen to us when we discover the real meaning of Christmas.

Since today we start our Week of Prayer for Foreign Missions, I felt that it appropriate to start this Christmas Sermon Series with Jesus: a MISSIONARY for ALL seasons.

Our theme for this year is “Together We reach the Nations.”

            Together we TRANSFORM lives through PRAYER, SERVICE and GIVING.

Our monetary goal for First Baptist is $2,700.

Our spiritual goal for First Baptist is to commit to praying for our missionaries daily.

Southern Baptist have been supporting missionary work at home and abroad for many years thru donations especially around Easter and Christmas. 

Results for the 2020 year in Foreign Missions included 144,322 new believers; 18,380 new churches planted; 422 new missionaries commissioned; 247 new people groups and places engaged; and 769,492 people heard the gospel witnessed to them. All this was accomplished with just under 4,000 missionaries abroad during the worst of pandemics.

A “missionary” is defined as someone who goes to convert others to a particular doctrine

                                                 As someone who goes to render aid to those in need.

Jesus gave us the perfect example of how to be a daily missionary:

             Meet people daily at their point of need.

            Share our faith by telling our story and then telling Jesus’ story.

1 Chronicles 16: 8 “Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name;
Make known His deeds among the peoples!”

Romans 10: 14 “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?”

Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

THE MISSION FIELDS THAT WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN:

                        FOREIGN MISSION FIELDS                                  FAMILY MISSION FIELDS

                        UNITED STATES MISSION FIELDS                      FRIEND MISSION FIELDS

                        MISSISSIPPI MISSION FIELDS                             WORKPLACE MISSION FIELDS

                        TALLAHATCHIE COUNTY MISSION FIELDS            SCHOOLPLACE MISSION FIELDS

                        CITY OF CHARLESTON MISSION FIELDS            RECREATIONAL MISSION FIELDS

THE MISSIONARY TASKS THAT WE MUST ACCEPT:

                        The task of REACHING the whole WORLD.

                        The task of PREACHING the whole WORD.

THE MISSIONARY TERMS THAT WE MUST ANNOUNCE:

                        The terms of CONFESSION of Christ.              

                        The terms of COMMITMENT to Christ.

THE MISSIONARY TESTS THAT WE MUST APPLY:

                        The test of OBEDIENCE to the Lord’s COMMANDS.

                        The test of CONFIRMATION of the Lord’s PRESENCE.

                        The test of DEMONSTRATION of the Lord’s POWER.

“God is not looking for PEOPLE of great faith, He is looking for common PEOPLE to trust His great faithfulness.”

“The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.”

“Carrying the cross does mean following in Jesus’ footsteps. And in His footsteps are rejection, broken-heartedness, persecution and death. There are not two Christs – an easy going one for easy going Christians, and a suffering one for exceptional believers. There is only one Christ. Are we willing to follow His lead?”

“Many Christians estimate difficulties in the light of their own resources, and thus attempt little and often fail in the little they attempt. All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His power and presence with them.”

“An easy, non-self-denying life will never be one of power.”

“The missionary spirit is the spirit of Jesus, the spirit of the incarnation and the cross.”