SUNDAY MORNING SERMON NOTE SHEET Dec. 15, 2019 Bethel Baptist Church

Current sermon series: “Celebrating a family-focused Christmas”

IS THERE TIME FOR JESUS? Luke 10.38-42

The Christmas season is a time of parties, gift shopping, decorating, and spending time with friends and relatives. The Christmas season can also be a time of stress and busyness because of the parties, gift shopping and decorating, and time with friends and family gets pushed to the side. The most important time we can spend is with Jesus, remembering why we celebrate the Christmas season. Luke 10 records the story of two sisters, Martha and Mary, and how a visit from Jesus and His disciples caused them to spend their time with Him differently. Martha and Mary give us two distinct pictures of how we spend our time at Christmas.

I. The picture of : the of Martha.

II. The picture of : the of Mary.

Here are some suggestions on helping you make sure you are spending devoted time and not distracted time over this Christmas season:

1. . On Christmas eve, make it priority to have your whole family together to read the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke 2.1-20;

2. UNDERSTAND THE . Use the decorations of the season to remind you of why Christmas is so special:  Lights – Jesus is the light of the world;  Evergreen tree – Jesus came to give us life and life everlasting;  Gifts – the greatest gift is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord;  Ornaments – we have been given gifts of the Holy Spirit, each of them unique to us, to serve the Lord for His glory;  Garland – the love of God that binds us together as brothers and sisters in Christ;  Nativity – a visual reminder that God came in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life and died for our sins;  Food (the best part): Jesus is the bread of life

3. . In other words, spend your time wisely, don’t let the opportunities to spend quality with friends and relative be overtaken by the busyness of the season.

4. FOCUS ON THE . We will either complicate the time or simplify the time. The gospel itself is a simple story and yet we often complicate it.

5. REMEMBER THE