The Christmas spirit we see in this text is joy. We are commanded in scripture to rejoice always, and God’s desire is that we live a life full of joy. How can we live a life full of joy when we are so often consumed by busyness, stress, worry, doubts, loneliness, brokenness, and overwhelming burdens? We learn our joy is made complete in Jesus through fellowship with God and fellowship with other followers of Christ.

The Christmas spirit we see in this important text is humility. Even though He was equal with God, Jesus willingly humbled Himself. We explore what it means that He “emptied” Himself, and we discover the true wonder of Christmas. The main point of this text is that we practice this spirit of humility. We learn what true humility involves and how to get motivated to reflect the humility we see in the Christmas story.

As we see God’s patience toward Jonah, we are reminded that God is patient with His people. We are motivated to faithfulness and to be patient with one another. As we see God’s patience toward Nineveh, we are reminded that God is patient with all people. While the cross reveals God is willing to forgive the most undeserving people, we also discover that God’s patience won’t last forever.

This sermon was preached on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. How should Christians think about politics? Some think there are certain controversial issues such as politics that Christians should avoid. On the other hand, some think the solution to all our problems is found through political involvement. To help answer these difficult issues, we go to God’s Word and discover several timeless principles for how Christians should think about the relationship between the church and the state.

Matthew 22:15-22