Sermon: Hear the Joy ("Season of Joy" series)

So many of us are filled with ideas that the "reason for the season" is a baby in a manger; it's not. The significance of Jesus at Christmas isn't that he was born, but that He came at all. The Messiah had been long awaited for millennia since the fall of Eden. Prophets spoke for centuries prior about the coming of our Savior, God with us, who would show us God's compassion and power. The coming of this Messiah is the REAL meaning for the season. The question for us is "are you listening for the reason?" Are we prepared to hear the truth God has for us or are we too busy reading our own meaning into cultural holidays? If we're receptive to what God is showing us, we're destined to be blown away by the sheer Joy of knowing a God bigger than ourselves.