Five Advent Sermon Series Ideas to Help You Preach Christ this December

[00:00:00] Hey, welcome to the Expositors Collective, episode 457. I'm your host, Mike Neglia. This is an Advent Preaching-themed episode. So, for myself, I often do a series of December sermons leading up to Christmas. Some of you would just do a Christmas Eve service.

[00:00:24] But regardless of if you do four Christmas-themed sermons a year, or even only one, there is the reality that sometimes, year after year, it is tough to keep things fresh. And sometimes we're looking for ideas or inspiration.

[00:00:43] So, to that end, I have asked five pastors and Bible teachers to share Advent series that they've preached or are preparing to preach and to tell us how they choose their text and their themes. So, you're going to hear some different approaches, but the aim is the same. To help people see more clearly who Jesus is and why His coming matters.

[00:01:08] I hope that these contributions give you ideas to consider and to adapt as you prepare to teach God's Word this Christmas. We're going to begin with Cody King, a church planter and currently serving as assistant pastor at Reliance Church in Temecula, California.

[00:01:34] Hey, my name is Cody King, and I've been teaching the Bible and serving in a variety of ministry capacities for about 28 years now. I'm currently an assistant pastor at Reliance Church in Temecula, California. Now, I'll be honest, I was a bit of a late adopter when it comes to preaching an Advent series. Because of my background in theological camp, I tend to have a little bit of an allergic reaction to overly religious language and tradition. So, even the word Advent made me not really like it.

[00:02:01] And that mentality kept me from even considering preaching an entire series for this religious thing, Advent. But what changed my mind was my experience when I preached Christmas Eve services. You know, those services, they tend to be a little shorter, and that means the sermon's shorter, and I can cover even less than I normally would on a regular Sunday. And that, combined with the fact that I was only able to focus on one tiny piece of the story of Jesus' first coming, made me start thinking that there should be a way to focus on this for a longer period of time.

[00:02:31] And you know what? It turns out there was. It's called Advent. And so, I had to ask myself, if I believe the two most significant events in human history are, number one, the birth of Jesus, and number two, his death, burial, and resurrection, then why would I give them such limited attention in the life of our church? Not that we never talked about these events at other times, but Christmas and Easter should provide opportunities to spend more time on those events.

[00:02:55] What really changed my perspective was that I began to see Advent less like a religious word and religious tradition that I needed to avoid, but more as an opportunity to invest strategically in times of teaching for our church that Jesus would be celebrated and his coming would be commemorated. And so, when it comes to organizing an Advent series, I think there's at least three approaches that you could take. First, you could preach the traditional Advent themes of hope, peace, joy, and love.

[00:03:23] And that can give you the feeling of being rooted in an ancient practice and give clear themes to work through. The second way you can approach it is by taking a more theological approach that you explore doctrines that are connected to the Incarnation, like the Trinity. You know, how is the Trinity involved within this whole idea from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Or the mystery of the hypostatic union, the humanity and the deity of Jesus? Or the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy? Things like that.

[00:03:52] Now, this can feel a little more abstract, but it gives an opportunity to develop some theological perspectives in a little bit deeper way. But my personal favorite, and the one I advocate for, is this third approach. Simply tell the story of Jesus. I like to keep the focus primarily in the Gospels, especially Matthew and Luke, while bringing the Old Testament prophecies in where they can foreshadow or give a supernatural underpinning to Jesus' miraculous coming. I typically organize the season around a four-part series.

[00:04:21] The first three Sundays in December would be the first three parts of the series, and then Christmas Eve would be the fourth. A series that I liked and I've done a couple of times, one of them I called A Weary World Rejoices. Obviously, that's lyrics taken out of O Holy Night. Now, the first week was titled Prophecy of Jesus, teaching through Isaiah 9, 1-7. A weary world is uniquely positioned to receive what was prophesied of Jesus.

[00:04:48] We focused on how Jesus' coming wasn't accidental. It was pre-planned and pre-orchestrated, that Isaiah has detailed things to say about Jesus 700 years before he's even born. The second week we titled it Preparation for Jesus, teaching through Matthew 1, 18-25, that a weary world is uniquely prepared to receive salvation from Jesus. Joseph and Mary, they get this shocking and unexpected news that she's pregnant, and it's by the Holy Spirit,

[00:05:18] that Jesus isn't just another child, but he's the one who will save his people from their sins. That's what his name and his mission are all about. The third week was titled Provision for Jesus, teaching through Luke 2, 1-7. A weary world is uniquely positioned as God makes provision for Jesus. God uses the circumstances of the day. This overbearing government orchestrates the need for Jesus' birth to be at the right time and in the right place.

[00:05:47] Think about it like this, that making a 100-mile trip by foot is probably not on Mary's bingo card for things to do while being pregnant, right? The fourth message was on Christmas Eve, and that was titled Proclamation of Jesus, teaching through Luke 2, 8-20, kind of the rest of that piece. A weary world is uniquely positioned to hear the proclamation of Jesus. The angels declared the birth of Jesus to some unlikely recipients, the shepherds, and they were given good news that will bring great joy because this baby is the Savior.

[00:06:17] He's the Messiah. The people can finally be free from the crushing weight of sin through this baby born on this night. Now, one of the reasons I love telling this story at Christmastime is because Christmas is already filled with a lot of nostalgia and tradition. My family puts up a lot of the same decorations every year. We listen to the same Christmas music every year, and we watch the same Christmas movies every year. There's a rhythm to this season that we have, and this is a real common thing for a lot of people.

[00:06:47] And I would argue that many people who show up to church, especially on Christmas Eve, are coming at least in part because of that same sense of tradition and nostalgia. So why not let the telling of Jesus' story become part of that rhythm? Preaching familiar passages isn't a problem. In fact, I think it's a perfect opportunity. People love familiarity, and there's something powerful about returning to the story of Jesus year after year. But it doesn't mean our preaching needs to be boring, predictable, or repetitive

[00:07:15] just because we're coming back to the same story. There's nothing boring about telling the story of Jesus. If it's boring, that's our fault as preachers. I think about it like this. It's like a precious stone or a gem, that as you turn it, the light hits it from a different angle, and you begin to see new layers of beauty unfold with each turn. The stone hasn't changed. You're simply seeing more of what was there all along. That's how I think preaching the story of Jesus at Christmas should be, that we can focus on different characters,

[00:07:44] examine different details that are easily overlooked, explore Old Testament promises that are being fulfilled, and show people different angles of the beauty and glory of Jesus. But I think the most important thing is that we, as preachers, must first be captured by the story ourselves. If you're not amazed by Jesus, it's going to be really difficult to convince anybody else that they should be. So I'd encourage you to consider reserving the Advent season

[00:08:12] as a deliberate time to remember Jesus and celebrate His coming. Don't feel like you have to invent something new every year. You don't have to. You can return to the same passages and still show people something fresh. Because the beauty of Jesus is inexhaustible. We celebrate His birth because the Son of God came into our world to save sinners like you and me. And that event deserves more than a few minutes squeezed into a Christmas Eve service. It deserves a place in the annual rhythm of our churches.

[00:08:42] After all, the one who came into humanity at His first coming is coming as the King of Kings, who will return in glory at His second coming. And that's a story worth telling again and again. All right. So I appreciate Cody's encouragement, not just to feel that we have to invent a new Christmas story every year. If you would like to hear more from Cody on keeping Jesus central in our preaching, well, then I'd recommend that you start at episode 449.

[00:09:10] Next is Bruce Zachary. Bruce is the lead pastor at Calvary Nexus in Camarillo, California. Bruce and I serve together on the leadership team of the Calvary Chapel Cooperative. And Bruce has preached Christmas messages for more than 30 years, three decades. And he offers a helpful way to think about the tension between freshness and familiarity.

[00:09:39] Hi, guys. Bruce Zachary here. I am the founding and one of the teaching pastors at Calvary Nexus, a Calvary Chapel located in Southern California, halfway between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles in the lovely city of Camarillo. I've been teaching Christmas messages for over 30 years, and I actually find them to be one of the most challenging times of season. And part of that, I think, is the inherent tension that we're looking for something that's fresh,

[00:10:07] original, profound, or provocative. And oftentimes the people coming to our local churches are looking for something that is very familiar and very traditional. And so one of the tips I'd pass along, I've kept a teaching log of all the Christmas messages that I've taught the text, as well as keeping the teaching notes. And for about the last 10 to 15 years,

[00:10:31] I've just developed a rotation of about six different series texts to use. And every six years, I go back to the same set of teachings. And so one of the things that I've observed in doing this for 10 to 15 years, no one has approached me and said, hey, didn't you teach that six years ago? And so that was somewhat to my surprise. But I think for whatever value that might have, I'll pass that along.

[00:10:59] And that's made it easier for me as I pray about a text to teach from. I know also that earlier in my teaching ministry, I would be much more anthrocentric. In other words, man's response, as opposed to Christ-centric or gospel-centered in terms of perspective of what God is doing for us. And so, for example, in Matthew chapter 2, an anthrocentric look might be contrasting the adoration of the Magi

[00:11:28] versus the anger of Herod versus the apathy of the religious leaders, where a more Christ-centered message, for example, in 2026, I'll be teaching from John chapter 1, 1 to 3, in the Gospel of John chapter 1, 1 to 3, and 12 to 14, the message title is, Jesus is God with us. The subject is the incarnation or God with us. The object is experience life with God.

[00:11:57] And the message points are, Jesus is God, verses 1 to 3. Jesus is God with us, verse 14. Jesus is the revelation of God to man, coming from verse 14, that Jesus reveals God's glory. Jesus reveals God's grace and truth. And then how to experience life with God, looking back at verses 12 and 13, receiving and becoming a child of God. And so, as I contemplate Christmas

[00:12:26] in the local church where I serve, we typically have a Christmas Sunday and a Christmas-focused message, the Sunday before, and then Christmas Eve. And for example, the Christmas Eve message in 2026 is flowing from, again, the Gospel of John chapter 1, verses 4 through 9. And the theme is that Jesus is the true Christmas light. So, at the conclusion of the Christmas Eve message,

[00:12:55] we do a candle lighting ceremony with battery-operated candles. And so, after giving an invitation to receive Christ, I will encourage people to illuminate their candle. And they're battery-operated, and it has a little switch on the bottom. And encouraging people, if they have received Christ, either this evening or at any time in their life, to illuminate the candle, and we hold it up. And so, as we typically would sing

[00:13:25] some Christmas carol, like Holy Night. And one of the things that I found that people respond and tell me that they've invited their family members and loved ones and friends to come, and they're not only responding to the evangelical invitation, but many are comforted seeing their family members illuminate the candle, and they have the sense of comfort and assurance that their loved one has received Christ.

[00:13:54] Something that's different that maybe would be unfamiliar. I've taught from John chapter 10 at the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, and had the outline of Stand the Maccabean Fight for Independence. And then the second point in the message would be Sanctify the Cleansing of the Temple and Rededication of the Temple. And then a third point to that message of Shine and Letting Us Reflect

[00:14:24] the Light of Christ as the Menorah. So that's what I've got for you this Christmas. Hope it's a Merry Christmas for you all. God bless. All right. So thanks, Bruce. Bruce's approach is a reminder that even returning to familiar passages doesn't mean preaching it carelessly. And Bruce is intentional and thoughtful in all that he does. And if you want to hear more from him, you can scroll all the way back to episode 16, an interview I did with him

[00:14:53] called Learning to Preach with a Trial Attorney Turned Pastor. And so now we're going to hear from Miles DeBenedictis. He is the senior pastor of Cross Connection Church in Escondido, California. Miles shares several ways that his church has planned Advent series over the years. And for him, while returning to important themes can be good for both the preacher and for the congregation.

[00:15:22] Hello, Mike and the Expositors Collective audience. My name is Miles DeBenedictis. I'm the senior pastor of Cross Connection Church in North San Diego County, California in a town called Escondido. Been pastoring here for nearly 19 years. And for most of those 19 years, we have done what we would call an Advent series. This actually started a few years after I became the pastor of the church in 2008. We started doing an Advent series in 2011 and we've done it

[00:15:51] every single year since that time. We've done it in different ways. But there are approaches that we have that I found to be really helpful with this. You know, I grew up from the time that I was about 11 in a Calvary Chapel church, which Cross Connection Church is connected to the Calvary Chapel family of churches. But before we started attending Cross Connection or Calvary Chapel, I grew up in the Episcopal church and was even an altar boy in the Episcopal church. So there, in that environment,

[00:16:21] I kind of knew the liturgical calendar, if you will, of things like Lent and Advent. So I understood that perspective and we started, as I said, when I took over Cross Connection in 2011, we started doing an Advent series. The first time we did it, we called it The Key to Unlocking Joy. And then after that, we got into more of a rhythm with doing Advent. And we've had different approaches each time when we get to those four Sundays leading up to Christmas.

[00:16:51] And I'll talk about that a little bit in just a moment. But before I talk about the specifics of what we do, I just wanted to throw out one practical consideration that may not be brought up by some of the other voices on this subject. And that is the fact that having a time of the year where you do something like Advent, where you are doing a series of messages that are going to be kind of a standard series. For us, they have become something of a standard series. So a lot of the content

[00:17:19] is already basically developed in the same way that when I do a wedding as a pastor and I've done a lot of weddings, my basic wedding message is done. There's just minor little tweaks and edits and details that are specific to the couple or the ceremony. So the same is true for this Advent series that we do every single year. The series is effectively already planned, which means that when we get to the end of November, early December, I don't have to be putting together

[00:17:48] a new message every single year leading up to Christmas, which there's a certain side to that that makes it a little bit easier, which is helpful because I'm serving as the pastor of a church, but I also serve on two nonprofit boards and all three of those organizations. They follow the calendar year for their fiscal year, which means that in November and December, we're doing a lot of planning for the new year, including budgets. So there's a lot of other things that I have to do that all fall right at a very busy time of year.

[00:18:18] And we have a lot of events as a family and we have a lot of events as a church in November and December. So just having the series already planned and already done and the messages, I would say, like 90% done, it does free up a certain level of mental bandwidth that is really helpful. So that's just one side point to why I think this could be really helpful. But all that to say, there's been kind of three major ways that we've approached those four Sundays of Advent leading up to Christmas. Years ago, we did a series called Why Christmas

[00:18:47] and it was more apologetic. Like what is the reason for Christmas? And this started with myself and one of our other pastors when Black Friday was a big deal. Now with Amazon.com, it's not. We would go to a local mall with a video camera and I would ask people, I have a stack of Starbucks cards and I say, can I have five minutes of your time and I'll give you a $5 gift card to Starbucks and they would come and talk with me and we would record on video the conversation. I would say to them, you know, it's Black Friday or you're doing some Christmas shopping and they'd say, yeah, we're doing Christmas shopping and I say, or I would say, you celebrate Christmas

[00:19:17] and they say, yeah, we celebrate Christmas. I say, why? And then I would just let them talk and we would capture the responses of people which were often very funny because a lot of people didn't have a good biblical answer for why they celebrated Christmas and then we would use it as an opportunity to share, you know, the answer but then we'd invite them to come to our church where we were going to talk about the answer to the question, why is Christmas important? So that series, Why Christmas, which we did for several years, was kind of an apologetic answer to why do we need

[00:19:47] the coming of Christ? What's the whole point of that? So we would take the four Sundays of Advent to talk about that but then we did another series called The Gift Giving God and we would talk about the greatest gift giver in the world as God, our Father and the greatest gift that He ever gave is John 3, 16. He gave His only begotten Son. So we would spend the four weeks leading up to Christmas answering the question or answering that whole discussion of, you know, God is the greatest gift giver and Christ is that gift and, you know, this is what His coming

[00:20:17] brings to us and then that leads to the third major service or series that we do and this is the one we do probably most of all and it follows kind of the traditional calendar, if you will, of Advent and the themes of those four Sundays which, you know, kind of drawing on memory, hope, peace, joy, and love. Those are the four themes of the Sundays leading up to Christmas and Advent and so we would take each of those weeks and sometimes they would be in different orders but basically we would talk

[00:20:46] about a hope that does not disappoint from Romans chapter 5, a peace that surpasses understanding from Philippians chapter 4. We would talk about a joy that is increasing unto abundance for eternity from John's gospel when Jesus says that my joy will be in you and your joy might be full and so we talk about how Christ in his Advent in his arrival. He is the one who not only loves

[00:21:15] or gives joy or brings peace or hope but he is the embodiment of hope, peace, joy, and love so his Advent is the arrival of a hope that does not disappoint, a peace that surpasses understanding, a joy that is increasing unto abundance for eternity and the embodiment of love demonstrated so Christ came to demonstrate love for us, Romans chapter 5, verse 8. So every single year when we get to

[00:21:44] this time of the year and we're talking about Advent, we kind of make a decision as a leadership team or I make a decision maybe sometimes, are we going to talk about the gift-giving God or are we going to go into why Christmas, why is it important and why we need Christ or are we going to talk about hope, peace, love, and joy. This year we're going to talk about hope, peace, love, and joy and those messages, like I said, they're mostly done and ready to go and it is kind of nice to have certain times of the year

[00:22:13] where I'm not spending a huge segment of my week preparing for the Sunday message trying to come up with something new. We're just coming back to well-rehearsed, if you will, themes that are really important for the church. So I hope this is helpful. This is kind of how we approach it at Cross Connection Church and if you're not observing Advent in that way, I'd encourage you to at least think about it. All right, thank you, Miles. I like the freedom that's there, like that thoughtful planning can actually make room for better preparation rather than

[00:22:43] insisting or demanding on novelty or freshness for its own sake. There's something about these high holidays of ours where we're just telling the same story over and over again and to some degree that's okay. So for more from Miles to Benedictus, including his thoughts on AI, preaching, pastoral responsibility, he was on the show just recently, episode 448, AI Ethics,

[00:23:12] Christian Ministry, and Ambient Automation. Our next contributor is Steve Mathewson. He is the teaching pastor at the Evangelical Free Church of De Plaines near Chicago, Illinois, Illinois, and he teaches preaching both at Western Seminary and then also Moody Theological Seminary. Steve's going to take us into Isaiah for a four-part Christmas series. Hi, this is Steve

[00:23:42] Mathewson, and I've been a pastor for almost 40 years in the United States. I spent 20 years in Montana and in the last two decades in the Chicago, Illinois area in the north suburbs. Currently, I'm teaching pastor at the Evangelical Free Church of De Plaines, and I also serve as a professor of preaching at both Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and then Moody Theological Seminary here in the Chicago area.

[00:24:12] A lot of people know me for my book, The Art of Preaching Old Testament Narrative. Now, as far as a sermon series, one of my favorites is a four-part series that I preached a couple of times from the book of Isaiah, and I either call it The Wonder of Christmas because these passages really do help us recapture the wonder of God's great plan to rescue people in a broken world,

[00:24:42] and so you could go with that title. I sometimes just call it Christmas in Isaiah, but there are four passages. I begin with Isaiah chapter 1. You could go through chapter 2, verse 4, but often I just do Isaiah 1, which is 31 verses, and this really focuses on why we need Christmas. The reason we need Christmas is because of human rebellion. That rebellion results in ruin, and we see that

[00:25:11] in Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 1. God has a lot of harsh things to say about his people, that they're dumber than oxen or donkeys, and their corruption has simply led to devastation, but the good news is that God rescues rebels from ruin when they repent and obey, and so it's not difficult to make a connection from that to the Gospels where Jesus' message was to repent and believe

[00:25:41] the good news. So that really helps to set up the need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's a great way to begin a Christmas series. And then the second passage would be Isaiah 7, and this is where we get into the Emmanuel prophecy, the prophecy of Emmanuel, God with us, and that would be Isaiah 7. You could

[00:26:11] preach simply Isaiah 7, or you could go on into chapter 8 all the way through verse 10 because Emmanuel shows up again again. And that's of course a well-known key Christmas prophecy because in Matthew chapter 1 verse 23 we read that the angel told Joseph that this child who would be named Jesus would also be called Emmanuel, God with us, and he quotes the prophet.

[00:26:41] By the way, some think that that is a case of dual fulfillment. I side with Alec Mateer, spelled M-O-T-Y-E-R if you're not familiar with him, but Alec Mateer, who believes that that's a direct prophecy of Jesus, and I think that's the case. In other words, it wasn't fulfilled through, partially fulfilled through the birth of a child in Isaiah's day, but it was strictly a prophecy of the coming of the Messiah.

[00:27:11] But anyway, you can, whatever your view on that, that's a great obvious Christmas text. The next one would be another obvious Christmas text, and that is Isaiah 9, 1-7, although if you wanted to, you could back up a little bit and, you know, back into chapter 8 because there's a real setup. This is that amazing passage of from gloom to glory. How is God going to bring

[00:27:40] darkness out of light? And you'll find so much help and encouragement for people when they realize that God's going to defeat the enemy. How is he going to do that? By ending war. Well, how is he going to do that through the birth of a child? And that child is none other than the Messiah, Son of David, Jesus, the wonder of a counselor, Prince of Peace, the God of Might,

[00:28:09] the Everlasting Father. You're familiar with that passage. Then the final passage would be Isaiah 11, 1-16. And my title for that was Branch Man and the Greatest Christmas Ever.

[00:28:45] Branch Man will bring about a new creation. Branch Man He's going to restore our world. He is a future Davidic king. You see that in verses 1-9. And then in verses 10-16, Branch Man will bring about a new exodus. He's going to rescue broken people. And that new exodus theme is really prominent. You see that at the end

[00:29:15] of the passage in verses 15-16 where the Lord is going to create a highway for a second exodus from slavery in the land. And that deliverance is likened to a new exodus or is likened to the first exodus. And of course, Mark picks that up in the early chapters of his gospel. So that is a great sermon series, Christmas in Isaiah or the wonder

[00:29:45] of Christmas looking at four prophecies from the book of Isaiah. Thank you so much, Steve. Steve's given us a way to let the Old Testament enlarge our vision of Christmas and Christ. And you can hear more from Steve in episode 338 where we talk about sermon introductions, illustrations, and lessons that he learned from his former professor Haddon Robinson. And finally,

[00:30:15] here is Danny Keating, senior pastor of Calgary Waterford here in the south of Ireland. Danny takes us to three songs in Luke's gospel and shows how they help a congregation look back to Christ's first coming and also look forward to his return. Hi everyone, my name is Danny Keating, I am the senior pastor of Calgary Waterford, a Calgary chapel church in the southeast of Ireland. And I want to share with you a

[00:30:44] three-week Advent series we preached last year in December 2025 that we called the songs of Christmas. I preached the first two messages and Daniel, one of the elders in our church, preached the third message. Now, when we think about Christmas, we sometimes think about music. We hear the same Christmas songs every year and often we know them off by heart and that's really where the idea for this series came from because music has this wonderful ability to shape our thinking,

[00:31:14] to help us remember things and to stir our affections. And in Luke chapter one and two we find three beautiful poems or songs of praise from Mary, from Zechariah and Simeon as they encounter the unfolding fulfillment of God's promises concerning the Messiah Jesus. And here's what struck me as I studied these passages. They are packed, I mean like absolutely packed full of scripture. They're full of Old Testament

[00:31:44] imagery and prophecy and promise. And it shows us these people knew the word of God. It shaped their thinking, their understanding of God and their expectation of what he would do. And in Luke as God is beginning to fulfill his promises, their response was praise. And so our hope in teaching those three songs was that the truths contained in them would shape our own hearts and minds. As we look back at the

[00:32:14] first advent of Christ and look forward to his second coming as well. In the first week we looked at Mary's song, the Magnificat in Luke 1, 46-55. Now we began setting the context, you know, we looked at Gabriel's announcement of the virgin birth, we looked at Mary's wonderful response of faith and surrender to the Lord. Then we worked our way through the song. And when you read the passage you notice that Mary doesn't make much of herself, she makes

[00:32:43] much of God. You know, my soul magnifies the Lord as a saviour. She praises him for his mercy towards the lowly, for his justice in bringing down the proud and exalting the humble, and for his faithfulness in his covenant with Abraham. And the encouragement for us is to see God as Mary sees him, to recognise his greatness, his mercy, his faithfulness, and let those truths shape how we worship him and how we live before him. The second week we looked at

[00:33:13] Zechariah's song, that's often known as the Benedictus in Luke 1, 67-79. Now, the story of Zechariah is so different to the story of Mary. We have a man who begins the story doubting God's word, and as a result he's unable to speak. The angel makes him silent. But when his son John is born, his mouth is open, and what comes out of his mouth is this incredible poem or song of praise. And what's interesting is that although Zechariah has just become like a father in Luke,

[00:33:43] most of the song isn't about John the Baptist, it's actually about Jesus. He praises God because he has visited and redeemed his people, that he's raising up the promised king through the line of David, that he's remembering his covenant of Abraham, that he's bringing salvation to his people. But in that passage we also notice this, Zechariah tells us why God is redeeming his people, so that they might serve him without fear, in holiness, and in righteousness.

[00:34:13] And his son John, the Baptist, is going to prepare the way for the Messiah, pointing people towards his forgiveness of their sins. So it teaches us that Christmas isn't simply about God coming near to us, it's God coming to redeem us, to bring us into a life of worship and service to him. And finally, in our third week of the series, our elder Daniel took us through Simeon's poem or song in Luke chapter 2, particularly we focused it on

[00:34:43] verses 29 to 32. Now you'll know Simeon was a man who had been waiting for the consolation of Israel, he says. And when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple, he takes this little baby in his arms and what does he do? He begins to praise God. And Daniel our elder made a beautiful observation in the sermon. Simeon doesn't say my eyes have seen the one who will bring salvation, rather he says my eyes God has seen your salvation and he is looking at a baby.

[00:35:12] But Simeon recognizes that God's promised salvation has arrived in the person of Jesus Christ, that he is a light for the Gentiles and he is the glory of Israel. And I think it was that final sermon that brought the whole series together. Because Mary praises the God who saves, Zechariah celebrates the salvation God has promised and Simeon holds that salvation in his arms. And here's what I love about these passages. All three of these

[00:35:42] people, they are praising God for his salvation before Jesus has gone to the cross, before his resurrection, before the full accomplishment of the work he came to do. They are rejoicing because God keeps his word. They know he keeps his promises. And for us as a church today, we stand on the other side of the cross and the resurrection. We know what Jesus has accomplished for us, and yet, like them, we're still waiting the fulfillment of God's promises

[00:36:11] concerning Christ's return. And so my encouragement to you would be to consider these three passages this Advent. They gave us a wonderful opportunity to teach expositionly through the Christmas story, to show how deeply rooted it is in the Old Testament, and most importantly, to point people to Jesus Christ. Because, you know, Advent isn't simply about looking back and remembering that Jesus came. It's also about looking forward with confidence and expectation, knowing that

[00:36:40] the God who kept his promise concerning Jesus' first coming will keep his promise concerning his second coming as well. And until that day comes, may we be a people who know his word, who trust his promises, and who, like Mary, magnifies his name. God bless. All right, so thanks to Danny and Cody and Bruce and Miles and Steve for taking time to share these ideas. I hope that maybe you found something that might

[00:37:10] help you plan to faithfully preach Christ with fresh joy this Advent. If you want to hear more from Danny, well, you could scroll all the way back to episode 32 and I interviewed him on how you should never start a sermon with an apology. And you'll find that episode along with other conversations that I've mentioned in the show notes. And a couple of years ago, I did another episode just like this,

[00:37:40] where former guests on the show sent in ideas for preaching Christmas series. So if you've made it all the way to this episode and you still haven't found an idea that you like, well then find the show notes and then you're going to have a whole other spread of options or suggestions or advice on that episode from a few Christmases ago. I know that the end of the year is often feels like the end

[00:38:09] of a marathon and pastor, preacher, you're doing a good work and it is tiring but you certainly know that there is a reward that's awaiting us. Whether that reward is in heaven itself as we receive a crown from our multi-crowned King Jesus or sometimes it even is standing in the pulpit looking out at the faces and seeing people light candles and just thinking man, I'm glad I put in the work and I'm glad that I

[00:38:39] can serve these people. So, happy Christmas and I hope that this episode and all the Widow at Expositors Collective helps you to grow in your personal study and your public proclamation of God's word. I will see you next Tuesday for a cool conversation that I had with Nick Cady about big idea preaching and the importance of having a thesis that serves as an outline. It is one of the more practical episodes that we've done recently. So, make sure that you're

[00:39:09] subscribed for some more non-Christmas related content that's coming your way next Tuesday.