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Location: 6425 Jefferson Rd.
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A GATEWAY SERMON SUMMARY


AUDIO


Christmas: Behind the scenes

Jerry Varnado, pastor
Gateway Church, Athens GA

December 18, 2005
(The Fourth Sunday in Advent)
  • Main Scripture text: Luke 2:1-20.
  • Everywhere around us we see scenes of Christmas -- images of sleigh rides and family gatherings and beautiful manger scenes. These images create warm feelings and help us "get the Christmas spirit."

  • But, in a sense, these pleasing images are deceptive. They don't give us the full picture of what Christmas is really all about.

  • In his book, Wild at Heart, John Eldredge encourages us to take a look "behind the scenes" of Christmas.

  • To learn what's really going on, we must turn to Revelation 12:

    A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth.

    The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days.

    And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down -- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

  • Author Philip Yancey characterizes the birth of Jesus Christ as "a daring raid by the ruler of the forces of good into the universe's seat of evil." This is the key to understanding Christmas.

  • The Bible paints a picture of parallel worlds. One consists of shepherds and wise men and political rulers. The other consists of angels and demons engaged in a fight to the death.

  • The child is born, the woman escapes, and the story continues in Revelation 12:17:
    • Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring -- those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
  • Behind the scenes of Christmas we discover we live on the front lines of a fierce spiritual war -- and that we have a deadly enemy.

  • I'm not contending that we scrap our present ways of celebrating Christmas. We don't need to give up singing Away in a Manger and Silent Night and start marching to martial music.

  • But as we enjoy the scenes of Christmas, we must be aware what's going behind those scenes.

  • Indeed, recognizing the reality behind the scenes of Christmas should only serve to increase our joy and our celebration.

  • We are no match against the powers of hell on our own. On that first Christmas, God sent us a champion! In Him we are declared to be more than conquerors over all the problems and pain of living in a fallen world. In Him we can do the impossible.

  • Let us be soberly aware of the spiritual battle that we are in -- and be spiritually alert for the actions of the enemy. And let us keep our eyes fixed on our warrior king, our champion, our victor: Jesus the Christ.


Supporting texts: Isaiah 11:1-9 | Revelation 12:1-9 | Matthew 2:16-18 | Revelation 12:17 | Judges 7:1-8 | 1 Corinthians 1:30 | Luke 10:19


A mp3 audio file of this sermon is here (26 min.).
(Download to a PC by right clicking on the link and choosing "Save Target As." Mac users: click, hold, and choose "Download Link to Disk." Depending on your connection speed, the file may take several minutes to download.)

An audio tape of the sermon summarized above is available free of charge (U.S. requests only).


Request a tape by calling or writing the Gateway Church office.
Please specify tape number 051218a: Christmas: Behind the Scenes.

© 2005 Gerald R. Varnado

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