Sermon
Help Is Here
Theme
Help sent from heaven.
Object
A toy helicopter -- (preferably a Med-a-vac helicopter.)
Scripture
The Christmas Story from the Gospels
"Do you know what this is? It's a Med-Evac helicopter! When someone is hurt far away from the hospital, and there is no time to get an ambulance to them, 911 will sometimes send a Med-Evac helicopter. A Med-Evac helicopter can land almost anywhere and when it does, the paramedics load the injured person up and fly them off to the hospital as quick as can be!
"My friend Matthew was in a car accident in the mountains this week, and a Med-Evac helicopter came to pick him up. He was lying on the ground, and when he heard that helicopter noise and looked up into the sky, he knew that HELP WAS COMING! And the helicopter crew picked him up and flew him to the hospital and here he is in church today!
"This little toy Med-Evac helicopter I have here actually makes me think about Christmas, and not because it is a toy! It reminds me of all those people in the Christmas story who discovered that HELP WAS COMING!
"One night shepherds were out in the field with their sheep. They looked up into the sky when they heard a strange, new noise, and there were angels in the sky! The angels sang and said to the shepherds, "A child is born to you this day, a savior who is Christ the Lord!" When the shepherds looked up into that night sky and saw those angels, they knew, HELP WAS COMING!
"And there were also three wise men who looked up into a night sky, and they saw a big star, and they knew this star meant a special king was to be born who would save his people. And when those three wise men looked up and saw that big star, they knew, HELP WAS COMING!
"And when Mary was lying on the floor of that dirty stable where she had just given birth, and she looked up and saw Baby Jesus, she knew, HELP WAS COMING!
"God loves you so much, that he wanted to save you from sin and sorry and so he sent help from heaven -- he sent Baby Jesus, who grew up to take all our sins to the cross with him. When Jesus came, help came and hope came and salvation came.
"At Christmas, when you look up at the manger scene on the altar here, or look above it to that big empty cross, you can remember, not only is HELP COMING, HELP CAME! All the help we'll ever need came to each of us at Christmas as Baby Jesus -- our King, our Lord, our Savior. HELP IS HERE.
