Rev. David Holwick Christmas Eve
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
Christmas Eve, 1996
Matthew 2:1-2
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I. Christmas journeys.
A. Many travel long distances on Christmas.
1) My folks just came from Florida, and are on way to brother.
2) Relatives coming from a distance.
a) Some here tonight? [show of hands...]
3) Past in Chicago - thousands stranded due to snow at O'Hare.
B. Magi went on a long journey to see Jesus.
1) Sparse info.
a) "from east." Probably Iran/Iraq.
b) "Saw his star." How did they know? (unknown)
c) No camels mentioned, but much of journey is across desert.
2) Goal of their journey was spiritual - worship Jesus.
a) This has often been lost in modern Christmases.
1> We travel to see relatives.
2> We travel to buy scarce toys.
b) But how far will we travel for Jesus?
II. Others have journeyed to see Jesus.
A. Greeks brought by Andrew. John 12:20-21
1) Almost a tourist curiosity.
2) "We would like to see Jesus."
B. Middle Age pilgrimages.
1) One hundred thousand went to Jerusalem.
2) Danger from bandits, starvation.
3) Also a lot of sinful actions along the way.
III. All of life is a pilgrimage.
A. We have to decide what our goal will be.
1) Are you just along for the ride?
2) Do you have goals?
3) What are your spiritual goals?
B. We have to decide how much effort we will expend to reach it.
C. Others will judge if we are on the right path.
1) Our children assess us.
2) Our friends compare themselves with us.
D. Like most journeys, it is where we end up that counts.
1) God is our ultimate judge.
2) Will he say we have done well?
IV. Have you journeyed to Jesus?
A. The journey of a little boy.
When Wendy Zoba's son, Ben, was much younger, he had heard more
than one sermon about the importance of surrendering his life
to Jesus.
And Ben seemed well-attuned to the heart of God; he exhibited the
selfless and kind tendencies that would take some -- like his
mother -- a lifetime of sanctification to acquire.
So it disturbed the Zobas when Ben stubbornly resisted their
invitations for him to give his life to Christ.
He would offer no explanations; he would simply tell them in his
preschool English that he wasn't ready.
He resisted for several months.
Then, one morning as they sat around the kitchen table eating
their Cheerios, little Ben announced that he was ready to
give his life to Christ.
He then got up from the table and went upstairs.
Wendy and her husband looked at each other and followed him.
They expected to find Ben on his knees in prayer.
They didn't.
Instead, they found him folding his Star Wars pajamas into his
Sesame Street suitcase.
They said, "Ben, what are you doing?"
He answered, "Packing."
"Why?" they asked.
"To go to heaven," he said.
They then understood why their child hesitated to give his life
to Christ.
He thought that, in so doing, he would have to leave his family
and take up residence, literally, with Christ in heaven.
We should all possess the faith of little Benjamin: we should
have our hearts so fixed on Christ's appearance that the
attachments of our earthly life pale in comparison.
For we are "aliens and strangers on earth...longing for a better
country -- a heavenly one" (Heb. 11:13).
#3710
B. God can put you on the right path to him.
It was just another normal day at work for Doug Cone.
Then a young man 31 years of age, he was his usual ill-tempered,
angry self.
He says the anger was like a hot coal in his stomach that never
cooled down.
A troubled person most of his life, he held no job for longer
than two years and was about to be fired from his present one.
His wife had just left him, taking their only child -- a son he
thought the world of.
That day, a co-worker named Jim came up to him, looked into his
eyes, then stated, "Doug Cone, God has a better way for you."
At first, this encounter had no impact on Cone.
But he started going over and over the statement in his mind
for about a year.
It was the first step in a long journey.
Eventually God led Cone to a group of people who shared the Word
of God with him and he was ready to listen.
Once he had thought he knew it all; now he realized he didn't.
Lying on his bed one night about 10:30, he kept having troubling
thoughts.
Then he began to remember Scripture from when he was 12 years old,
when for a six-month period his mother had made him attend
Sunday school.
Thoughts of Jesus and Bible verses he didn't even know he
remembered kept coming back to him.
Cone told God then he wanted to accept Jesus as his Savior, but
he didn't want to just become "saved."
He wanted to live the life.
At the moment he was forgiven, he says it was as if God poured
cool water over burning coals of anger.
He began to understand some of the Scripture, and he recounted a
yearning to learn more of the Bible and to share it with
everyone he came in contact with.
Cone went back to school, first Georgia Tech, then Georgia State.
Realizing after a year that secular knowledge was not what he was
thirsting for, he enrolled in a Bible college.
A year later he began to teach Sunday school and feel a call to
the ministry.
After much searching and a weekend at a camp meeting in north
Georgia, he could not sleep.
The tug was so strong, he was exhausted.
The moment he gave in and gave it to God, he felt the pressure
lift.
After talking to his pastor and congregation at the time, he
started a ministry in a nursing home in south Fulton County.
Later, with his wife and two children -- in a restored marriage --
he moved to McDonough, Ga.
There he joined Friendship Baptist Church, was ordained a deacon
and served two years as associate pastor.
Soon after that, Doug began a mission church in a mobile home
park.
It was 1992. His first service had nine people.
This year they moved into a building of their own.
#3557
C. Where do we stand with Jesus right now?
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