Top ten Christmas illustrations

We are pleased to reveal our Top 10 Christmas Illustrations, just in time for your Christmas sermon prep. As we look forward to Advent and Christmas, we wanted to point you to some of the most-viewed and most popular illustrations from our 20+ year collection. We hope that this list will inspire you as you write and develop your Christmas sermons.

Russell Moore

Russell Moore has got to take first place for some of the best sermon titles. In this week's featured sermon, he riffs off a cozy and familiar carol and titles his sermon "Round Yon Violence." We tend to look at the Christmas stories and say, "Oh, ain't that sweet." But Moore argues that when the angel came to Mary it was a declaration that we can't run from God. As Moore says, "You can crochet [God with us] all you want to. You can put that on a Christmas card all you want. But God with us is not a sweet and comforting notion to sinners. We do not want God in our presence, left to ourselves. Instead, we want to be free. We want to be left alone."

Also, check out these new resources:

• Featured Illustration: Research on the Harm of 'Small Cheaters'
• Featured Video: The Cure: don't miss out on God's gifts in life now because you're focused on tomorrow.
• Featured Sermon: Round Yon Violence
• Featured Skills Article: Top 10 Christmas Illustrations

In Christ,

Matt Woodley
Editor, PreachingToday.com
mwoodley@christianitytoday.com

Matt Woodley is the pastor of compassion ministries at Church of the Resurrection in Wheaton, Illinois.