FHCC
20251221 Children Christmas Special
December 21, 2025

            • Hebrews 10:12–14ESV

                          • Genesis 3:7–11NKJV

                        • Introduction

                          Some of our children were shy or embarrassed this morning. But didn’t they do a great job?
                          For the benefit of our guests, since Thanksgiving we have been looking at ways our world got messes up after our original parents disobeyed God. Sin brought upon us what the Bible calls a Curse. But rather than just moan about how bad things are, we’ve been considering ways that the coming (or Advent) of Jesus reverses that curse.
                          Today we look at how we fell into shame or embarrassment, ways we deal with that shame, and THE way that God covers us.
                          TRANSITION: I think we could all honestly admit that we have felt shame or embarrassment. There has been that one time, or those many times, that we...

                          Feeling exposed (Gen 3:7-8)

                          I read once of a pastor who was visiting a member of the community. He heart the Television on so he knew someone was home. After ringing the doorbell 5 times, he finally wrote on the back of his business card “Rev.3:20” and wedged it in the door jam.
                          For those who may not know, that verse says
                          Revelation 3:20 ESV:2016
                          Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in...
                          The following Sunday as she was leaving church she shook his hand and returned his card, with Rev 3:20 scratched out and she wrote Gen 3:10.
                          Genesis 3:10 ESV:2016
                          “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
                          On a hook on the back of our bathroom door I have a piece of clothing ready in case the doorbell rings while I am in the shower.
                          Hopefully you will never see me in this unless I am playing a bible character in a drama. If you do see me in this, I GUARANTEE I will not be in Adam and Eve’s condition!! A truth for which both you AND I can be grateful.

                          One response to exposure is sewing. (Gen 3:7b)

                          If you are anything like me, I learned some basic sewing techniques when I was taught to put my own patches on my cub scout uniform. But there are not enough fig leaves in the world for me to sew adequate cover on a windy or cold day!
                          Knowing their embarrassment and feeling the inadequacy of their loincloths, Adam and Eve took a 2nd response when they heard someone else was near.

                          One response to exposure, is hiding. (Gen 3:8)

                          Some of us have fond memories of playing “ding dong ditch” to prank our neighbors.
                          But the invention of doorbell cameras have decreased the effectiveness of hiding.
                          I even saw a video this week of one porch pirate who brazenly looked into the doorbell camera and exclaimed “you may see me, but you can’t stop me, and you’ll never catch me.”
                          At just that moment, the package exploded, covering the thief in paint. The next scene is a police officer handcuffing a woman covered head to toe in bright paint.
                          Who wants to crawl under the table when Texas Roadhouse brings out the saddle on the sawhorse, or Casa Ramos brings out the sombreros someone’s birthday? Just this week was the anniversary of my wife’s birth. I suggested taking her to Emporia to be serenaded by the rubber chicken. If you have avoided the restaurant I am describing, you may take comfort that I learned this week that the rubber chicken has been retired.
                          TRANSITION: Every one of us has felt shame or embarrassment at one time or another. Every human on earth has felt exposed in a way that people see what we would rather keep hidden. Every one of us…

                          Needing Cover

                          From the very beginning, God’s provision has always exceeded the minimum of need and the maximum of our efforts.

                          Animal Skin (Gen 3:21)

                          While PETA may throw paint on your jacket or your stole, God started the trend of being clothed in animal skins.
                          Geico commercials always portrayed cavemen in fur tunics and a unibrow, but the biblical record of people who lived in caves is much more recent than the prehistoric dating of common natural history. When Europeans first came to this continent they encountered people covered with tanned buckskins.
                          we don’t know if God’s first fashion line included fur or leather, but there is no doubt it would wear longer and protect better than any fig-leaf quilt.
                          TRANSITION: An animal giving its life for the benefit of a human’s need gets more attention between the 9th and 10th plagues of Egypt.

                          Passover Lambs (Ex 12:3 & Ex 12.7)

                          The skin of the lamb was not expressly used in Exodus 12, but the flesh (more than a family could eat comfortably in one meal) was abundantly consumed by each family and the blood of the lamb was ceremonially placed on the doorway of each home as an indication of faith in Yahweh’s promise.
                          Some see the lintel and posts of the doorway as a hint toward the head that would wear a crown of thorns and the hands that would be pierced by the final Lamb of God.
                          from that time forward each family was to sacrifice a lamb without defect in the Temple as a temporary covering for the sins of the family.
                          TRANSITION: Some thirty years after the events portrayed in today’s pageant, Jesus’ cousin John notices Jesus approaching him and says...
                          John 1:29 ESV:2016
                          The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
                          TRANSITION: Since Jesus doesn’t just cover sin temporarily for a year, but permanently take is away, I call him the...

                          the ultimate Lamb of God (Jn 1:29)

                          His sacrifice (Heb 9:12-14)

                          Hebrews 9:12–14 ESV:2016
                          he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
                          Notice those 3 words purify our conscience! A clean conscience means that the shame and the embarrassment are taken away so that we can stand boldly in the presence of God as described in Heb 4:16
                          Hebrews 4:16 ESV:2016
                          Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
                          2. This looks to me like the exact opposite of the hiding in shame we see in Genesis 3!
                          3. Jesus reverses the curse by taking away any hint of shame and giving us the authority to stand forgiven.

                          His authority (Rev 22:1-3)

                          1. After the world is remade; after the final judgement, the final chapter of the Bible describes a future that is completely opposite of the verses we’ve seen in Genesis 3.
                          Revelation 22:1–3 ESV:2016
                          Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.
                          2. A harmless babe wrapped in strips of cloth did not stay little. He grew and was identified as the one who takes away sin and shame. His sacrifice cleanses our conscience, and His future is a throne where nothing remains under a curse.

                          Conclusion:

                          There is a remedy for all the shame and embarrassment that we feel, and the remedy is spelled J-E-S-U-S.
                          His remedy is available to you this morning, right now. All that is needed is to Admit you need a Savior. Believe that Jesus’ death is sufficient to pay for all your sins. and Call out to Him for forgiveness.

                          Light & Lamp Application:

                          Light for my Path

                          When sin leaves us hiding in shame, Jesus takes away the sin that shames.

                          Lamps for my Steps

                          Hold your head high! shame has been handled.
                          Receive God’s covering (While baby Jesus was covered in swaddling cloths, Savior Jesus offers his own death as a covering for any who will receive it.
                          Invite someone else to put on God’s covering. This gift is one that doesn’t require a trip to Emporia, a debit card or a delivery from Amazon. There is NO WORRY that this gift won’t arrive on time. Salvation has already been fully paid, all we need to do is to act like the simple shepherds and tell it to people.
                          Response Song #625.......................................................................... “Doxology”

                          Benediction: (1 Tim 4:4) - 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

                            • Genesis 3:7–8NKJV

                            • Revelation 3:20NKJV

                            • Genesis 3:10NKJV

                            • Genesis 3:7bNKJV

                            • Genesis 3:8NKJV

                            • Genesis 3:21NKJV

                            • Exodus 12:3NKJV

                            • Exodus 12:7NKJV

                            • Genesis 3:21NKJV

                            • Exodus 12:3NKJV

                            • Exodus 12:7NKJV

                            • John 1:29NKJV

                            • Genesis 3:21NKJV

                            • Exodus 12:3NKJV

                            • Exodus 12:7NKJV

                            • John 1:29NKJV

                            • Hebrews 9:12–14NKJV

                            • Hebrews 4:16NKJV

                            • Revelation 22:1–3NKJV

                              • Doxology

                                  • 1 Timothy 4:4NKJV

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