{"id":26342,"date":"2021-09-10T12:30:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-10T12:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2021\/09\/10\/christmas-sermon-ideas\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T18:58:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T18:58:05","slug":"christmas-sermon-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/christmas-sermon-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Sermon Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Steve Carter, editor for Preaching Today, and Gary Burge, New Testament scholar, tells us what he hopes to hear in Christmas sermons and also what he would preach on this Christmas season.<\/p>\n\n<p>Have you always wanted to know what &ldquo;swaddling clothes&rdquo; are? Be sure to watch for Gary&rsquo;s explanation.<\/p>\n\n<p>What is the message that Gary hopes to hear? Gary tries to put himself into the Christmas story. So listen as he explains what character he sees himself as in this story. And this leads to the Christmas sermon he would love to hear! Teaser, the title of the sermon would be &ldquo;Park the Star in the Right Place.&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>Then stay tuned to the second half of the video where three pastors&mdash;Alison Gerber, Lee Eclov, and Joel Thomas&mdash;discuss how to apply Gary&rsquo;s revelations to our Christmas sermons.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading is-style-article-subhead1\">Other Videos in this Series<\/h2>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ct wp-block-ct-related-embedded-articles single small no-heading\">\n\n\n\t\n\t\n<section class=\"article\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/historical-and-cultural-setting-of-christmas\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"162\" height=\"88\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125864.jpg?w=162&amp;h=88&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-article-card-small size-article-card-small\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125864.jpg?resize=162,88 162w, https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125864.jpg?resize=82,46 82w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 162px) 100vw, 162px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"post-kicker\"><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/search\/?format=Video&#038;ctp_search=1\">Video<\/a><\/span><\/div>\t\t\t<h3 class=\"article-title\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/historical-and-cultural-setting-of-christmas\/\" class=\"article-title-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\tHistorical and Cultural Setting of Christmas\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t<p class=\"ct-article-card-author vcard\">\n\t\t\t\tSteve Carter and Gary Burge\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ct wp-block-ct-related-embedded-articles single small no-heading\">\n\n\n\t\n\t\n<section class=\"article\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/prophetic-hope-for-messiah\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"162\" height=\"88\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125863.jpg?w=162&amp;h=88&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-article-card-small size-article-card-small\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125863.jpg?resize=162,88 162w, https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125863.jpg?resize=82,46 82w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 162px) 100vw, 162px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"post-kicker\"><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/search\/?format=Video&#038;ctp_search=1\">Video<\/a><\/span><\/div>\t\t\t<h3 class=\"article-title\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/prophetic-hope-for-messiah\/\" class=\"article-title-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\tThe Prophetic Hope for a Messiah\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t<p class=\"ct-article-card-author vcard\">\n\t\t\t\tSteve Carter and Gary Burge\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ct wp-block-ct-related-embedded-articles single small no-heading\">\n\n\n\t\n\t\n<section class=\"article\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"thumbnail\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/historical-and-cultural-setting-of-christmas\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"162\" height=\"88\" src=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125864.jpg?w=162&amp;h=88&amp;crop=1\" class=\"attachment-article-card-small size-article-card-small\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125864.jpg?resize=162,88 162w, https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2021\/09\/125864.jpg?resize=82,46 82w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 162px) 100vw, 162px\" \/>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"post-kicker\"><span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/search\/?format=Video&#038;ctp_search=1\">Video<\/a><\/span><\/div>\t\t\t<h3 class=\"article-title\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/historical-and-cultural-setting-of-christmas\/\" class=\"article-title-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\tHistorical and Cultural Setting of Christmas\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/h3>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t<p class=\"ct-article-card-author vcard\">\n\t\t\t\tSteve Carter and Gary Burge\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve Carter, editor for Preaching Today, and Gary Burge, New Testament scholar, tells us what he hopes to hear in Christmas sermons and also what he would preach on this Christmas season. Have you always wanted to know what &ldquo;swaddling clothes&rdquo; are? Be sure to watch for Gary&rsquo;s explanation. What is the message that Gary <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/christmas-sermon-ideas\/\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":128,"featured_media":26345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[1600,3055],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[174],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[413],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3387,3497,3600,4153,4966,5072],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-26342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-gary-burge","tax_ctp_authors-steve-carter","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-advent","tax_ctp_tags-birth-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-holidays","tax_ctp_tags-shepherd","tax_ctp_tags-stars"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is 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