Christmas Preaching

We are blessed at Trinity Church of the Nazarene to have many gifted writers who share their gifts with us throughout the Advent season with daily devotionals. We invite you to reflect on these insightful readings and prepare your heart for celebrating this special season.

Romans 15:14-16

¹⁴I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. ¹⁵Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me ¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. ¹⁸I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— ¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. ²⁰It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. ²¹Rather, as it is written:

“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”

Christmas Preaching

The Apostle Paul wrote a mighty treatise and passionate document to a group of Roman Christians. In this letter, most likely read in public in many house churches, he addressed his passion for preaching Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. In Romans 15:14-21 we see how he explains his understanding of God’s mission for him. In verse 16, he stated that his purpose was bound up in, “the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” The Apostle Paul was very sure of his mission.

He was also very sure that God’s grace extended far beyond the boundaries of the Jewish world. In the book of Acts and in further letters written by Paul, we see his commitment to preach the Gospel in places others had not yet gone and some that others would not dare to go. And yet go he did while preaching the Gospel.

What drove Paul was his own conversion experience—a direct encounter with the Person of Jesus Christ. (Acts 9:1-19, 22:6-21, 26:12-18, Galatians 1:11-24, 1 Corinthians 9:1, 15:8) How old Paul, formerly Saul, was when Jesus Christ was born can only be estimated. But just over thirty years after the Bethlehem shepherds bowed before the infant Christ, the voice of the resurrected Christ stopped him in his tracks, reframed his Jewish experience into the New Covenant light, and set him on the trajectory to be part of the distribution of the Gospel message until the whole world would know.

Paul was planted in the estimated middle-story of the earthly kingdom of God. Whether or not his time was the actual middle we cannot know (Mark 13:32), but what we do recognize is that Paul and his companions, and the many who have come after them, are an essential part of the Gospel reaching all peoples.

You and I may not know the joys of our deeply spiritual Christmas experiences today if someone had not to preached or presented the Gospel to us. Take time today to thank God for those who shared the Gospel with you.

Author: ReeAnn Hyde

Other Scriptures for today:

Psalm 21
Isaiah 41:14-20

More Advent Devotionals

The Branch Made Strong

“Look down from heaven and see the branch that You made strong for yourself.” (vss.14-15 NKJV)

Psalm 42

I have been thirsty–long hikes, limited water, and miles before the next source. I read the map, looking for the blue water drops printed next to the known sources of water.

Jude 1:17-25

Advent keeps us mindful that we are a people of waiting. This season mirrors the time God’s people endured waiting for the promise of redemption and reconciliation to be fulfilled. We wait, but we do not wait passively.

I Will Yet Praise Him

Near my home is a trench drain that collects water during the rainy season. If you live in Colorado, you well know that an abundance of collected water is not typical.

Isaiah 35:1-10

God is at work around us, the smells from the heavenly kitchen are wafting our way like the aromas from grandmother’s kitchen. God is calling us this advent to start setting the table.

1 Samuel 2:1-10

This is the Messiah for whom we eagerly await at Advent. This is the one we celebrate each Christmas as God’s gift to the world: the Messiah whose kingdom is established for eternity! God’s power, concern for the needy, justice, and eternal reign are manifest in the Christ child, our Lord and Savior.