Recently, my dad, who is a pastor has been looking and preaching at different churches. This past Sunday, though, instead of preaching at a church, he went to the nearby YMCA to give a sermon on Sunday morning. His sermon was on the wise men that went to see baby Jesus. He started out by making the point that they were supernaturally led, they searched for Jesus thoroughly. After that he spent a few minutes talking about how the rich wise men humbly bowed down to Jesus and gave him treasures. They didn’t give him baby toys or something for him to play with, but they gave him things with a lot of value that they would normally give to a king.
The next few points that he made were about what we can learn from the magi (wise men). The first point went over the fact that the wise men left their home. My dad then asked the question “What do we need to leave?” The answer is that we need to leave anything that might damage our relationships with Christ.
The next point was about how the magi looked for Jesus. They looked tirelessly for him. This brought up the question “What is blocking my view of his presence at Christmas time?” the answer is simple. The thing that distracts us is all of the presents, the music, the decorations, and even the manger scene can block my view of the true meaning of Christmas, the salvation God sent to earth.
A third point that my dad made was how the wise men lowered themselves to worship Jesus. They bowed to him. The question that came from this is “How does my pride hinder my worship?” this is a personal question that can be answered differently between people. But there is another question; “Do I seek to surrender my life to God daily?” This is also a personal question that each individual person must answer for themselves.
While at the movie theaters to see The Maze Runner , I saw a commercial that featured rhetoric. The commercial begins with a young woman named Jess purchasing two Coca Cola drinks in a convenience store. One has her own name on it, and one has the name of her friend Alisha on it. The cashier watches her forlornly as she leaves, hinting that he has a crush on his customer. Jess gives the Coke with Alisha’s name on it to her friend, and together the two friends drink them. Later, Jess, Alisha and two other friends come back into the store to buy more Coke, then leave and have a good time together. Jess keeps coming back to the store with more and more friends, each time purchasing Coca Cola with their names printed on the labels. The cashier smiles and watches, but it is clear that he wishes he was with Jess. Finally, as the cashier is closing the store for the night, Jess shows up at the door with a Coke that has the name Chris on it. She smiles and hands the drink to the ...
Those are some very deep questions. I like how your dad gave the story and then made relatable questions for the listeners to think about. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI liked your illustration you mentioned that Jesus was not given toys once he was born but kingly gifts, well because he was one.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the idea that we need to leave things affecting our relationship with christ, and i struggle with that sometimes.
ReplyDeleteMason