{"id":32394,"date":"2022-09-10T16:07:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/are-your-christmas-sermons-predictable\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T16:07:52","modified_gmt":"2022-09-10T21:07:52","slug":"are-your-christmas-sermons-predictable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/are-your-christmas-sermons-predictable\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Your Christmas Sermons Predictable?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><\/div>\n<p><em>By Mark Dance<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve grown to hate pretzels in recent years. Practically every airline serves them now in an obvious conspiracy against frequent travelers like me. This summer, Southwest Airlines permanently stopped serving honey roasted peanuts (or any peanuts) because of potential allergy concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, bother.<\/p>\n<p>Is it possible your preaching has become as predictable as airline pretzels? Your first step in getting out of a rut is to admit you&#8217;re in one.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here are six ways to help you recognize whether you&#8217;re in a predictable preaching rut:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-size:21px\">\n<li>Every sermon has to be part of a promoted series.<\/li>\n<li>All of your outlines are numbered or alphabetized.<\/li>\n<li>Alliteration finds its way into every point and subpoint.<\/li>\n<li>You always, or never, use fill in the blanks.<\/li>\n<li>Sermon slides are the only thing keeping the media guy awake.<\/li>\n<li>Preaching less than your allotted time makes you feel guilty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I remember when I first realized my preaching rut a few years ago as I was preparing for yet another Christmas sermon series. Since my last tenure was 14 years, I was struggling to say something new or creative about Christmas\u2014especially for a series of four sermons.<\/p>\n<div class='code-block code-block-1' style='margin: 8px 0;clear: both'> <\/div>\n<p>You&#8217;re now on the cusp of another Christmas, so I want to offer a little Christmas cheer for my preacher friends. Here are a couple of ideas that may help keep your Christmas messages from getting predictably stale.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>A series on the \u201csupporting role\u201d characters.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>I once preached on Jesus\u2019 reception by senior saints Anna and Simeon (Luke 2:25-38). Another year, I focused on Jesus\u2019 family: Elizabeth, Zechariah, and John. You can also do a sermon or series on Jesus\u2019 foils: Herod, the innkeeper, and priests.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>A series on angels.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Be careful not to ruin every song and ornament your congregation loves in the process! You might be surprised at how much of what they believe about angels actually comes from Hallmark stores or movies.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Preach from unconventional passages.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Consider tackling passages like Genesis 3, Isaiah 9, Philippians 2, Colossians 1, or John 1. People struggle to put together the grand narrative of the gospel from Genesis to Revelation. Christmas is a great time to overview the Bible as one story with one hero.<\/p>\n<div style=\"clear:both;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:1em\">\n<div class=\"centered-text-area\">\n<div class=\"centered-text\" style=\"float: left\">\n<div class=\"u004f6906ca56fa6ce39d042c7b33e4c6-content\">See also&nbsp; 4 Changes I&#8217;d Make If I Could Start Ministry Over<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"ctaButton\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Highlight the call of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Why did God choose to send them? You can easily add the Magi and shepherds here. Everyone will identify with someone in the original Christmas story.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Preach a topical series on Christmas gifts.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>If you&#8217;re consistently preaching through books of the Bible, perhaps a brief break would be good for both you and your people. Jesus often used various texts to support a singular message.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A series about Christmas gifts can point to some of the familiar Christmas themes of love, joy, peace, truth\u2014while also addressing the heavier topics of sin, death, and hell.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"has-large-font-size\"><strong>Start a series in one of the Gospels.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Christmas is a great time to start a longer sermon series through Matthew and Luke particularly that continues into January.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of your text or series direction, Jesus needs to be the focus of every message. Also, you should anticipate that a truckload of unbelievers will show up at your December 23 (Sunday) and\/or December 24 services, so make sure the gospel is clearly preached in those services on their level. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now is a great time to grab your favorite Christmas coffee, put on some Christmas music, and revisit Bethlehem with fresh eyes. Ask the Holy Spirit for fresh wisdom as you bring people the &#8220;good news of great joy&#8221; with fresh messages this December.<\/p>\n<div style=\"background-color:#f2f2f2;color:#32373c\" class=\"wp-block-genesis-blocks-gb-profile-box square gb-has-avatar gb-font-size-18 gb-block-profile gb-profile-columns\">\n<div class=\"gb-profile-column gb-profile-avatar-wrap\">\n<div class=\"gb-profile-image-wrap\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"gb-profile-column gb-profile-content-wrap\">\n<h2 class=\"gb-profile-name\" style=\"color:#32373c\">Mark Dance<\/h2>\n<p class=\"gb-profile-title\" style=\"color:#32373c\"><strong>@markdance<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"gb-profile-text\">\n<p>After serving as a pastor for 28 years, Mark is now the director of pastoral wellness for Guidestone Financial Resources. He frequently speaks at churches, conferences, and retreats\u2014often with his wife Janet. Read more from him at\u00a0MarkDance.net.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<ul class=\"gb-social-links\"><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-box su-box-style-default\" id=\"\" style=\"border-color:#000000;border-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"su-box-title\" style=\"background-color:#333333;color:#FFFFFF;border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px\">Dig Deeper at Lifeway.com<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-box-content su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"border-bottom-left-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px\">\n<div class=\"one-third first\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"two-thirds\">\n<h3>The Expected One<br \/> Anticipating All of Jesus in the Advent<\/h3>\n<p>Scott James<\/p>\n<p>  FIND OUT MORE <\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class='yarpp yarpp-related yarpp-related-website yarpp-template-thumbnails'>\n<h3>Related posts:<\/h3>\n<div class=\"yarpp-thumbnails-horizontal\">  Few Americans Confident They Could Tell Biblical Christmas Story  What Do Pastors Believe About the End Times?  What Do Pastors Believe About the Book of Revelation?  3 Ways to Reach Non-Religious People in Your Community <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mark Dance I&#8217;ve grown to hate pretzels in recent years. Practically every airline serves them now in an obvious conspiracy against frequent travelers like me. This summer, Southwest Airlines permanently stopped serving honey roasted peanuts (or any peanuts) because of potential allergy concerns. Oh, bother. Is it possible your preaching has become as predictable &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/are-your-christmas-sermons-predictable\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Are Your Christmas Sermons Predictable?&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}