What is the Christmas Spirit?

Galatians 5:22

What do people have who have Christmas spirit?  Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

What we recognize as “Christmas spirit” is actually the fruit of the Spirit. We should have love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance 12 months out of the year.

There should be something different in the way we handle our daily interactions with people as a result of having the fruit of the Spirit.

It should be obvious.  If people don’t see a difference in your life, there’s something wrong.

LOVE is an action word.  It’s not just romance.  Perfected love is when you give and expect nothing in return.  Give out of your heart.

JOY–We should have a happy countenance, and a rejoicing spirit all the time. 

We shouldn’t just remember Jesus’ birth.  We should remember His life, His death, His sacrifice, His triumph, His resurrection from the dead, His love. 

CHRIST is the main thing in Christmas.  It’s the gift that God gave to us.  We are to take the gift of Christ and share Him with the world. 

Never forget the power of the Gospel to change a life.  Life your life to show people Jesus every day of the year! 

Sermon Outline: Romans 3

Un-confessed sin will get you away from God’s plan for your life.

Nobody ever gets to the point of living in daily sinless perfection.

Call sin what it is.  It’s not “backsliding, “ “getting away from God,” or a “mistake.”  Admit that you are a sinner—even as a Christian, you still sin.

As a Christian, you have the power of God to help you not to sin.

No one expects you to be perfect.

The devil likes to make Christians feel guilty about the fact that we are still imperfect.

God doesn’t want that for us.  God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  You can’t just let a sin sit there and fester.  You’ve got to do something about it.  Confess your sins to God.

 Proverbs 28 

There’s no need to try to cover your sin.  God still sees it.  He who covers his sins will NOT prosper.  But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy!  Thank God that He promises to forgive us if we confess! 

We constantly need to confess our sins, because we’re sinning every day,  Confess them and get them out of our lives.

Don’t let your sin build up and bring you to a place where you do something really stupid.  You can easily ruin your testimony and influence if you allow that to happen.

Daniel didn’t just confess his own sin, but the sin of his nation.

Keep short accounts with God.  Don’t let things build.  Start right now.  Get it cleaned up, and get it confessed right now.

Don’t let anything block the path between you and your Savior.  All too often, we as Christians let our sin build up.

Keep your heart right.  Forgiveness is essential to salvation, but it is also important for our everyday lives.  Make confession a daily ritual in your life.  Salvation only happens ONCE, but we need to maintain open lines of communication with Jesus by confessing sin on a regular basis.  

I Kings 18:21, 19:4-8,18, Mark 6, Matthew 11:28

Everyone experiences fatigue.   

Physical fatigue can lead to spiritual weakness, and then emotional instability. 

How do you recover from or avoid this kind of fatigue?

1.   Get some sleep!

2.  Eat right and regularly!

3.  Drink water!

4. Rest spiritually!  Take your burden to the Lord, and leave it there.  Quit trying to do God’s work on your own strength.  Cease from your labor and rest.  “If it’s an emergency today, it’ll be an emergency tomorrow.”  Don’t worry or stress or get up-tight.

5.  Eat spiritually!  Read your Bible daily.  Listen to God’s voice in your life.  Feast on good news, not on the negativity of the media.  Focus on God’s Words to you.nn

6.  Drink from the Water of Life!  Spend quality time with Jesus. 

Notice the results of getting the rest and the food and the drink.  Remember that you’re not alone.  Live by specific principles.  Ask God to help you through, and He will!