What do you do when the Christmas lights come on all around you and all you want is to cry? This sermon begins with a boy sitting alone on a bunk at summer camp and leads to the fortieth chapter of Isaiah (Isaiah 40), where the prophet calls out words of comfort to people who had lost their home, their freedom and their hope. The speaker shows that God’s comfort does not stop at soothing pain but also calls us to clear away what keeps us in hopelessness, resentment, pride, unforgiveness. Listen if this year another Christmas feels more like a weight than a joy.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- Isaiah 40:1-11 speaks the words "comfort my people" to Israelites who had lost Jerusalem, their homes and their freedom. What in these verses could give them hope, when even after their release many were still sitting and weeping?
- The prophet calls for a way to be prepared for the Lord in the wilderness: valleys raised, mountains lowered, rough places made smooth. According to the sermon, what does preparing that way look like in your life today?
- The sermon says human faithfulness is like grass that withers, while God's word and His faithfulness stand forever. How does this truth change the way you see your own failures and sins?
- The man in the sermon felt unworthy of forgiveness, and the turning point came through the story of the prodigal son. What makes it hardest for you to accept that God's love does not depend on what you do?
- The speaker quotes the thought that Jesus either calms the storm around us or calms us in the middle of the storm. Where in your life are you experiencing one more than the other right now?
- What one obstacle in your heart, such as regret, anger, unforgiveness or envy, do you want to remove with God's help this week as Christmas approaches?
