Andover Christian Church & Dr. Jim Conner

We all know some people who are like the Grinch. Maybe we are like the Grinch ourselves some times! While we avoid people who are like the Grinch - God loves them! In fact, Christmas happened so people like the Grinch can have their hearts enlarged 10X bigger!

Without a father, it's hard to know who you are? Yet none of us have perfect parents. And as parents we can't do it right all the time. The gift of Christmas is that we all have a perfect father who will always be there for us!

We've all laughed at the antics of Kevin and the "Wet Bandits." But there a two important issues behind the laughter: we can all feel alone and there's danger we can't handle in life today. Christmas is such a huge gift to us from God because He comes to help us with both of these issues through a baby born in Bethlehem!

In our FLIXMAS series on Christmas sermons, this week we look at "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Charlie asks the question most of us are feeling if we're not thinking it: Why are we doing all this? Charlie finds some answers that can help us all find the real meaning of Christmas this year.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is a painful comedy - made even more painful by the family struggles of the Griswolds. Yet Jesus Himself came from a family that was less than perfect. There's an important lesson for all of us - God is ready to love, work in, even redeem any family!

There is one final monster that we must confront - for it lives in many of our hearts. ANGER We may deny it, often with barely concealed anger, but it lurks within our hearts ready to spring upon our family and friends. This sermon looks at the danger of anger, why it lurks in our hearts, and how to get rid of it.

The other hidden monster that often secretly lurks within our hearts is greed. (Last week we looked at jealousy or envy) NO ONE wants to be thought of as greedy - but the truth is that greed comes in many shapes and sizes. We need to see it, and kill it.

We're looking at monsters that may be lurking in our hearts - we may not even be aware of them. Last week we focused on guilt. This week's sermon deals with a more elusive monster: envy or jealousy. Most deny it is even living in us, but that doesn't mean it's not there!

One of the monsters that can lurk in our heart is Guilt. Guilt is tied to a sense of failure. The problem is that it won't go away! It becomes a cancer that can destroy us - UNLESS we learn how to remove it and heal our heart!

Where does it come from when we act in ways that shock even ourselves? What is happening when a good friend strikes out at us without reason? These bizarre behaviors are like a monster lurking inside us - but how do we correct this? This sermon series begins by looking at the "source." It's not our thoughts or the world around us. Jesus says it comes from our hearts!

In the previous sermon we looked at both our problem (We're cut off from God because of our sin) and what God did to save us. (Jesus dying on the cross to pay for our sins) Now in this sermon we look at our response: how do we accept this offer of salvation from God?

We talk a lot about the "Good News," but exactly what is it? And why is it important? This sermon is the first of two sermons laying out exactly that the Good News is, why we need it, and how God provided it. This first sermon looks at the fact that we're all dying - alienated from God by the wrong things we've done - and what God did to help save us.

The final teaching of Jesus is about where we invest our lives. Just living = investing, so we cannot NOT invest our lives. The real question is WHERE? Jesus warns us that investing any where else besides Heaven is a waste. We'll probably lose it, and we sure can't keep it. Only with God will we truly provide for our future.

In the second sermon in this series we'll look at what it really means to have a life that works. What is success, really? Could we even "win" by a lot of the world's standards and yet actually lose? Who would want to hear God give the verdict on our lives of "You've been a fool!" We'll look at how to really find a life that works.

Sometimes we wish life came with an instruction manual. Well, there actually is one: the Bible. We're looking at 3 key passages where Jesus gives us some basic directions on how to make our lives work. This week we look at the foundation - are we actually following Jesus' directions?

The final sermon in this series is about showing hospitality to one another. We might not think about it, but inviting other people into our lives is a "gold mine" when it comes to relationships. In this sermon we look at what it is and some practical ideas for how to do it.

Life isn't easy, and sometimes it gets down right hard. That's why we all need encouragers. The relationship Paul gives us is to "Encourage One Another."

In looking at all the things we should do for "One Another" there are a few that stipulate what we should NOT DO. We're going to look at 5 of these. They serve as "guardrails" for our relationships, to keep us from going off the road and crashing!