The Christmas Option

4 Weeks

Big Idea of the Series

This four-week Christmas sermon series on the Nativity is meant to help us replace our romanticized version of that night’s events with a real-life account of the Christmas Story. The series guide is compiled and created by Jonathan Malm, author of The Christmas Option: The Hidden Options Found in the Christmas Story along with the Ministry Pass team.

We often do the Christmas story a disservice due to its familiarity. We romanticize the events of the Nativity as we put them on postcards, in children’s plays, and sing about them in cute Christmas carols. But living through the events of the Christmas story would have, at times, felt dreadful.

The Christmas Option series is a real life consideration of the actual events that took place.

A teenage girl with her future ahead of her was rocked by scandal—even though she didn’t do anything wrong.
A newlywed couple was uprooted from their home, their family, and their support system during the most inconvenient time of their lives.
A king who was already losing his power to a Roman occupation discovered a new king was born that would be an even greater threat to his authority.

It seems every life that was touched by the events of Christmas experienced inconvenience and hardship. Yet, through those inconveniences, the greatest opportunities presented themselves. Opportunities for peace in the midst of chaos, for powerful influence, and ultimately for the salvation of all humanity.

Based on the book The Christmas Option: The Hidden Options Found in the Christmas Story by Jonathan Malm, this Christmas series tells the Nativity story in a unique and powerful way. Cover artwork is limited to use with the sermon series The Christmas Option and may not be edited without the expressed written permission of Jonathan Malm.

What is the Series Guide?

Included in each guide is:

A sermon series outline that breaks up the teaching set into a specific number of weeks.
A "big idea" of the series.
A passage, "big idea" of the sermon, topic list, and a number of illustrations and talking point ideas are included in each weekly section. The "Sermon Ideas and Talking Points" area is filled with observations about the text, relevant applications, creative ideas, and illustrations.
A small group discussion (located in a separate document in this bundle).

What is the Series Guide Not?

This guide isn't a set of sermon manuscripts. While sermon manuscripts can be both useful and a powerful training tool, our sermon series guides are different. Rather than tell you what to say, our aim is for this material to spark your imagination, assist you in planning your sermon, and offer a boost to your study time.
This guide isn't ironclad. While we hope you use our material, the pieces of this document are designed to be moved, tweaked, and altered. As you study the suggested passages, and pray through your message, this guide will hopefully be a launching pad, rather than a landing net.

How Do I Use this Series Guide?

Plan ahead. Our guides are best utilized in advance versus the day or night before. Read over the ideas and illustrations provided, thinking through how you can possibly utilize them in your message. We've purposely kept our guides simple so as to give you the best opportunity to create your own, unique message.
While we give you a passage and "big idea" of the message, take time to study the text.
Utilize the media contained in this bundle to promote and communicate your series message.