Because there is a little bit of Scrooge in all of us.

Christmas Past – You fear too much Are you becoming more the person you wanted to be, more the person God wanted you to be and the kind of person Christmas offers. Is there still a little bit of Bah Humbug in your faith, your family and your future? Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 Christmas Present – You feel too little. Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business! “The spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach good news to the poor” Luke 4:18 Christmas future: the Hope of Redemption “Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge. "But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change.”Charles Dickens “I am not the man I once was” he says, “I will not be the man I might have been, had it not been for this. Why show me this if I am past all hope? Assure me that I may yet change these shadows you have shown me, by an altered life.” I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Jn 10:10 “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!” Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the father, but by me.” John 14:6 Just because its not what you were expecting, doesn’t mean it’s not what you were waiting for.

John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer  I am no longer my own, but thine. Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt. Put me to doing, put me to suffering. Let me be employed for thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee. Let me be full, let me be empty. Let me have all things, let me have nothing. I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine.

Sermon Notes: Sermon Notes 12.24.14 A Christmas Carol Sermon Slides: A Christmas Carol 12.24.14 PODCAST: A Christmas Carol 12.24.14