Petaluma Valley Baptist Church

One of the sure and certain convictions of my life is that having a personal relationship with Jesus is a life changing experience. You can know about Jesus and be unchanged by that knowledge, but you can’t know Him and be unchanged by that relationship. A personal relationship with Jesus changes us in real and substantive ways. And Christmas has a way of revealing either the presence or absence of those changes. People who know Jesus approach Christmas differently than people who only know about Jesus. You can see the difference in their Christmas priorities and you can hear the difference in the way they talk about Christmas.

A couple of days ago I spent some time reading some of the Christmas cards a local store had on display and after a few moments I didn’t know whether to laugh at the silliness of the comments or cry over the spiritual emptiness of them. Here’s an example:

Each light in the window grows brighter, it seems.

The air’s filled with promise and sugarplum dreams.

It’s Christmas, again, that most wonderful season.

You find yourself smiling for no special reason.

Isn’t that sweet. Christmas is the season of groundless, warm, fuzzy feelings. There’s nothing of substance happening. There’s nothing particularly noteworthy going on. We just find ourselves smiling from time for “no special reason.” Now, folks, Hallmark wouldn’t be distributing those cards if people weren’t buying them and people wouldn’t be buying those cards if they didn’t express the essence of their vision of Christmas.

Well, let me give you a different vision of Christmas. “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’” (Luke 2:8-11)

How about that for a “special reason” to smile this Christmas? “A Savior has been born to you.” And not just you individually. This isn’t “good news” for some. This is “good news of great joy…for all the people.” “A Savior has been born to you (spread arms); he is Christ the Lord.”

Now, folks, I’d call that a very special reason to smile this Christmas. And if you agree, I’m guessing it’s because you know Him. You don’t just know about Him, you know Him. And that’s why Christmas is special to you.

This morning, I want to tell you about something that we can do together to make this particular Christmas even more special still. And my plan grows out of this reality: this Christmas we are going to be celebrating what we know! And we’re going to celebrating what we know in the midst of people who are celebrating what they only know about. While our faces are going to radiate the joy of knowing Jesus, we’re going to be surrounded by people who are smiling for “no special reason”…because they don’t know Jesus.

But, what if we could help them get to know Him? What if we could actually do…some very simple things…that would help some people who, right now, only know about Jesus actually get to know Jesus? If we could do that, do you suppose this Christmas would become even more special than it already is? I think it would. And I also think I know how we can do it.

I’ve got a plan.

But before we actually begin to implement the plan, we need to identify the people who are going to be the focus of our attention. I’m talking about our neighbors. I’m going to focus my attention on my neighbors and I want to encourage you to focus your attention on your neighbors. And, you can define your particular “neighborhood” in whatever way you want to do so.

–It could be the 10 households to your left and the 10 households to your right.

–It could be all the households on your particular side of your street or it could be all the households on both sides of your street.

–It could be all of the people in your office or all the students your class.
The key is to have a clear vision of your “neighbors” in your mind because this is what makes the plan exciting, personal and very doable.

Now, to help you see what this might look like, I want you to meet my neighbors. (show slide) I’ve decided that everyone who lives on Dandelion Way…that’s 38 households…is my neighbor. You can see Stirling and me up at the top of the map and as I discover the names of my neighbors I’m going to write them on my neighborhood map. As I engaged in this process earlier this week I have to admit that I was embarrassed to realize that I don’t even know most of my neighbors. I’m hoping to change that.

So, once we’ve laid the foundation for our plan for a very special Christmas by identifying those whom we will see as our neighbors, we can begin to implement our plan. It’s a very simple 3-step plan built around these words: prayer, care, share. This morning, I just want to talk about the first of those steps.

Every day between now and Christmas…that’s just 19 days…we’re going to pray for our neighbors, we’re going care for our neighbors by looking for opportunities to demonstrate the love of Christ in some simple, tangible ways and, finally, we’re going to be alert for God-given opportunities to share the gospel.

We’re not going to do anything weird or odd or hard or forced. We’re not going to anything that would make either us or our neighbors feel in any way uncomfortable. We’re just going to pray for them…care for them and…be alert for God-given opportunities to share the gospel.

Now, this morning, I want to focus most of our attention on Step One, which is prayer. Every day between now and Christmas…that’s just 19 days…I’m going to pray for the people in my neighborhood and I’m hoping that you’ll pray daily for the people in your neighborhood.

–We’re going to pray that God will bless them and keep them safe through the Christmas Season.

–We’re going to pray that God will restore broken family relationships and strengthen the love they have for one another.

–And because many of our neighbors know about Jesus but don’t yet know Jesus, we’re going to pray that something will happen during the Christmas Season that will help them see their need for Jesus and we’re going to pray that God will bring someone into their path who can point them to Jesus.

–And, most importantly, we’re going to ask God how He wants us to pray for our neighbors and we know that if we ask Him, He will tell us how He wants us to pray for our neighbors because God’s word promises that He’ll do so.

James 1:5 says this: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” So, let’s ask Him.

“God, this Christmas, I want to give my neighbors the gift of praying for them but I don’t really know how to pray for them because I don’t even know most of them. But You not only know every one of them, You love every one of them and You know every one of their needs. Father, show me how You want me to pray for them.” And then, listen. Just listen.

Now, I need to tell you that I’ve got a one week jump on you because I started praying daily for my neighbors on Monday of this past week. I’ve prayer walked my neighborhood every day this week. I’ve walk down the street on one side and then I’ve come back up the street on the other side quietly praying as I’ve walked. And I’ve begun every walk asking God to show me how He wants me to pray. And He’s answered my prayer every day.

–On Monday I felt strongly led to pray this prayer as I walked, “Father, this neighborhood for Your glory! Father, let Your glory be known in this neighborhood.”

–On Tuesday night, I prayer walked my neighborhood when I got home from Men’s Group. And as I waited for God to show me how He wanted me to pray, He tweaked the previous days’ prayer just a bit and I began to pray, “Father, this neighbor for Your glory! Father, let Your glory be known in this house.”

–Then a very interesting thing happened on Wednesday morning when I stopped at Starbuck’s. As I waited in line and looked around at all these people who would soon be fanning out all across Petaluma, I felt God prompting me to pray: “Father, this city for Your glory! One person at a time, Father, let Your glory be known in Petaluma!”

As I left Starbuck’s, coffee in hand, and walked through the parking lot toward my truck. still praying, I suddenly heard someone calling, “Excuse me! Excuse me!”

I looked around and saw a young man waving at me and he said, “Excuse me, could you give me a ride to the bus stop downtown? I just got out of the hospital because I injured my foot yesterday and I don’t think I can walk that far.” Normally, I probably would have employed my, “No hitchhikers” rule but because I was prayerfully focused on God revealing His glory one person at a time, I said, “Sure.”

His name was Brian and he told me that he was leaving for Costa Rica in the morning in the hope of getting a fresh start in life because the last couple of years he’d just kind of bounced from one calamity another. Then he looked at me with great earnestness in his face and he said, “Actually, what I’m mostly trying to do is to run away from God because my life has kind of fallen apart ever since I renounced God and became an atheist a couple of years ago.” Then he paused and asked, “Do you think that could have anything to do with all the trouble I’ve had these last couple of years?”

I said, “Brian, I don’t know what’s caused your troubles but I know God loves you; and I know He only wants what’s best for you; and I know He’s going to be waiting for you when you get to Costa Rica; and I know He’s watching over you right now because He’s brought us together; and I know the only way to be happy is to welcome God into your life rather than trying to keep him out of your life.”

By that time we’d reached the bus stop so I said, “Brian, can I pray with you before you go?” He said, “Sure.” And I put my hand out and he put his hand in mine and I held it while I prayed: “God, keep Brian safe as he travels. Provide for all of his needs in such a way that He knows You still love him even as he struggles to believe in you. Guide him to some people who can help him find his way to You. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

When I opened my eyes and looked at Brian I was amazed at the change that I saw in his face. All of the anxiety and the heaviness that was previously there was gone, replaced by a palpable sense of peace. Then he thanked me for praying for him and he was gone.

As I’ve reflected on that experience I have sensed 3 lessons confirmed:

#1 When we ask God how He wants to pray, He’ll tell us.

#2 When we pray the way God wants us to pray, He’ll answer us.

#3 When we pray on the site where we’re expecting God’s answer, God will use the things we are seeing to guide us in our prayers. God used the crowd at Starbuck’s to show me how He wanted me to pray in that location, and that’s what led to my wonderful encounter with Brian. And the same thing will happen as we prayer walk our neighborhoods. God will use the things we see as we walk through our neighborhood to teach us how to pray for our neighbors.

I think God wants our neighbors to know Him rather than just know about Him. Let’s help them get there. And let’s start here: let’s pray for them. Every day between now and Christmas, I’m going to pray for my neighbors and I’m hoping that you’ll pray daily for your neighbors, as well. Then, let’s just see what God does!