Christmas at The Saenger

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. O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come, ye, O come, ye to Bethlehem. Come and behold Him, born the King of angels, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. Sing, choirs of angels, sing in exultation, Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God, glory in the highest, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. The Lord, the Lord, the Lord. Well, Lord, we greet Thee, born this happy morning, Jesus, to Thee be all glory given. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord. The Lord, the Lord, His name shall be wonderful Counselor, His name shall be everlasting Father, His name shall be Prince of Peace, Mighty God, His name shall be Emmanuel, We'll praise Your name forever, we'll praise Your name forever, we'll praise Your name forever, Christ the Lord. We'll praise Your name forever, we'll praise Your name forever, we'll praise Your name forever, Christ the Lord. ♪ Heaven will praise your name forever ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord, the Lord ♪ ♪ His name shall be wonderful forever ♪ ♪ Counselor, His name shall be everlasting ♪ ♪ Father, His name shall be Prince of Peace ♪ ♪ Mighty God, His name shall be Emmanuel ♪ Thank you. ♪ Away in a manger, no crib for a bed ♪ ♪ The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head ♪ ♪ The stars in the sky looked down where He lay ♪ ♪ The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay ♪ ♪ The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes ♪ ♪ But the little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes ♪ ♪ I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky ♪

♪ And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh ♪ ♪ And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay close by ♪ ♪ Be near me forever and love me, I pray ♪ ♪ Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care ♪ ♪ And take us to heaven to live with Thee there ♪ ♪ Worthy is Your name, Jesus, You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is Your name, worthy is Your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is Your name ♪ Sing with us, worthy. ♪ Worthy is Your name, Jesus, You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is Your name, worthy is Your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is Your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ Worthy is Your name, Jesus, You deserve the praise ♪ ♪ Worthy is Your name, worthy is Your name, Jesus ♪ ♪ You deserve the praise, worthy is Your name, Jesus ♪ Worthy is your name, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise. You deserve the praise, worthy is your name, worthy is your name, Jesus, you deserve the praise, worthy is your name. I love this song, it really describes what the angels know, what we have not yet seen. Some of us have experienced times in our life where we're like, man, God felt so close. But God came close. That's what Christmas is about. Christmas is about Christ. So when we sing this song, I just want you to know that the angels in heaven, they know, that they know.

They are singing from experience. They've seen him. They've beheld his glory, the glory as of the only one, right? That means the unique one. That means the unique son of God. Like no one else is like Jesus. And so angels to this day still worship him. And some of them, all they can say is holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty who was and is and is to come. The alpha, the omega, everything in between. And they worship in his presence. And I just, I love this song. And you guys sounded so good. Tell your neighbor, whoever you're standing next to, say, I didn't know you could sing. I didn't know you sounded like that. Would you tell them Merry Christmas real quick? I know it's Christmas Eve, but would you just say Merry Christmas to someone sitting next to you? And then you guys, y'all can be seated. So glad that you came. Thank you for being here. Thank you so much, man. This is better. Last gathering was so packed out. I didn't know if anyone was coming to this gathering. And you guys came. So glad that you're here. Say Merry Christmas to you. And I just want to welcome everybody online. We have people watching all over. And thank you for those of you that came here physically to the Sanger. We're glad that you are here.

And can you believe Christmas is tomorrow? Is that, I mean, every year it just seems to go quicker and quicker at least. That's what it seems like to me. It's so fast. And here we are. I love this time of the year. unusually warm here in Florida but I love this time of the year and I'm so thankful that that we have the freedom to worship Christ at Christmas. I have to say thank you because we have an amazing dream team and before I bring a talk before I bring the message I just got to say thank you. We have amazing volunteers that they got here a long time ago and they've been working like crazy so that it's a great experience for you and I'm just thankful for every volunteer, every dream teamer that made today possible. We couldn't do it without them. I'm thankful. It's always good to start with gratitude right and that the best attitude is gratitude and I'm thankful for our text. You have the Gospels, you have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and out of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John each each man is is not making up the story. Through the inspiration the Holy Spirit they are writing down so that you and I could have God's breath on a page and I have my Bible I'm gonna read from my phone because my glasses are back there but you know what's what's incredible is Matthew is writing to a Jewish crowd. Matthew was Jewish and he is writing to a Jewish crowd and he wants to make sure that they understand that Jesus is the Messiah. Are you with me? And so he's he's writing and it's like four friends going to a ballgame and they're sitting in different seats and you got someone behind home plate you got someone on the right field baseline and left field baseline got someone out the outfield and they're telling the same story but they're sitting at different places they're kind of giving it a unique yet accurate perspective and what's really cool is though Matthew is writing to the Jews and and that's why Matthew chapter 1 how many ever read Matthew chapter 1 how many know what Matthew chapter 1 says it says a bunch of names you and I can't pronounce it's the genealogy of

Christ and he's trying to prove to his people hey he's the real deal you can start with Adam and there's all the way to Abraham there's all the way to David and here's all the way to Jesus and he's trying to connect with his people that Jesus is the real deal that Jesus is who he says he is and and then you got Mark and Mark's gospel starts out and he starts talking about John the Baptist and John the baptizer was a guy who came he was actually the cousin of Jesus and Mark says we're gonna start right there and he was pointing to the ministry of Jesus so Mark doesn't start at the beginning Matthew does and by the way Matthew includes some names in there that if man had wrote the Bible man probably would have left out because Jesus family tree was messy how many know that and how many know maybe your family tree is messy and it's okay I'm thankful that Jesus came even in the middle of a mess are you with me in the middle of a mess he had a messy family in fact I don't have time but if we picked out just three people we could tell stories and you'd be like oh my goodness I didn't know that's in the Bible it is and then Mark goes straight to John and then Luke is gonna write later and he's a doctor he's extremely detailed and Matthew starts out Matthew chapter 1 genealogy Matthew chapter 2 and here's how it happened but Luke gives us the best insight into hey there were shepherds and there were angels and all this happened and Luke gives us incredible incredible detail so you got Matthew Mark Luke and then you got the gospel of John and John gives us a totally different perspective John gives us a backstage pass John gives us a look behind the curtain John takes us to 35,000 foot view and he lets us see a bigger picture he lets us see the bigger story for though Matthew and Luke would tell us that Jesus was born John is going to really emphasize not just that the Savior was born John wants us to know that a son was given you have children I wouldn't give my children for anything most the time you probably wouldn't either and John says hey I want to I want to introduce you to something so powerful so I want to look at John chapter 1 and that's the fourth book in the New Testament John chapter 1 and I want to draw out just a couple truths that will really help us get

Christmas is about Christ tell your neighbor that would you look at your neighbor right now say Christmas is about Christ and John's gonna give us a special insight to the unique character of God and and he's gonna let us know that the birth of Christ is really about the incarnation of Christ that's what the birth of Christ means the incarnation of Christ so when we talk about Christmas we're talking about Jesus coming now let's look at John 1 verse 1 John 1 verse 1 in the beginning now here's what's really cool you probably heard that before you ever read the Bible if you ever started with the first book in the Old Testament that's the book Genesis which means beginnings and chapter 1 verse 1 says in the beginning God created the heavens and God created the earth and then it goes on to tell us how he created in what order he created everything in John 1 1 we read the same words John starts out the beginning with taking us to the beginning he says in the beginning was the word now this is really cool John when he is writing there's a lot of philosophers in fact we couldn't mention their names and and the truth is they understood the word the Greek term logo say they understood what the word represented in fact in John's day I want to look at this the word was actually who the philosophers would describe as the person who was divine and the exact source that brings order to everything so now John is saying hey in the beginning look at it in the beginning same phrase the word already existed so when we're talking about the word we're talking about Jesus we're talking about Jesus who came and was in a manger did you know that the manger has a message and you and I use words to communicate how many of you how many of you ever you've used words and they've got you in trouble I mean you've ever used words that they got you in trouble right like if you're married there have been times where you said what you were thinking uh-huh how many ever use your words to get you out of trouble right yeah yeah that's all of us God is gonna use his word to communicate his love to you and I and so in literally in the beginning the word already existed what does that mean that means that Jesus already existed I want

you to think of a triangle a triangle has three sides right God is like that he's God the Father God the Son Jesus or the Word and God the Holy Spirit and so here's what's cool about Jesus Jesus is a distinct person that is different than God the Father Jesus is a distinct person that is different than God the Spirit and yet though he is a distinct person he is just as much God as God the Father is and Jesus is just as much God as God the Holy Spirit is are y'all with me if we don't get this first verse we'll miss the whole story and I don't want you to miss I don't want to miss Christmas so the word already existed what does that speak of it speaks of the eternality of Jesus that Jesus existed before he was born he's God God is like a circle you don't say the circle started there even though you started there God has always existed and God said if I'm gonna reach man then I've got to come down to man so I can reach him I literally have to come down and become a man and his name is anyone know a man you well which means God with us and aren't you thankful I'm so thankful aren't you thankful that it's not just like God ahead of us I'm thankful it's not God against us I love in the Bible where it says God is for us and maybe you're hearing you're like I don't really feel like God's for me or maybe I know someone religious and they don't seem to think God is for me or maybe you really messed up and you're carrying sin and you're carrying guilt and you're carrying shame and you feel the weight of your shame and guilt and you're like no I don't feel like God is for me but he is for you and the proof is that God came to us and so now God not just came to us, but Emmanuel means God with us. And so Christmas is about the Christ, the God man who came so he could be with us, so he could communicate to us the love that God has for you and the love that God has for me. John 1,1, the word already existed is eternality. The word was with God.

This shows us that the word Jesus was literally facing God, the Father. He was facing God, the Holy Spirit. This reminds us of equality, that Jesus equals God. But then it doesn't stop there. The verse goes on and it says, and the word was God. Let there be no doubt the word Jesus is God. This speaks of his deity. Do you know there's over 300 promises or prophecies? That's what a prophecy is. It was a promise given hundreds of years before Jesus ever came and it described how he would be born, to whom he would be born, where he would be born. So if you're scientific, if you're mathematic, you would love the probability. You say, that's crazy. And Jesus fulfilled every promise. Jesus fulfilled every single prophecy. So Jesus came to us. He existed before he was born from Mary, but he came to us through Virgin Mary. Look at verse three. God created everything through him and nothing was created except through him. Verse four, the word gave life to everything that was created and his life brought light to everyone. So here's what I know. What I know is a crowd this size, that there are people here and you are searching for life.

And there's so many places in this world that offer life. And maybe you've been disappointed. Maybe you thought, man, if I got that job, that would, I'd be living. And man, if I made that much, I would really be living. And if I lived in that house or bought that boat or drove that car or married that person, I'd really be living. And maybe you've been searching for life and at the end of it, you're like, I still feel empty. Well, that's because only Jesus can give you lasting life. In fact, he can give you everlasting life. And Jesus, it's true. And Jesus not only came, he was not only born so that you and I could have life. Jesus was born, number two, so you and I could have light. I'm thankful for light. Now, I had Christmas lights. I was putting up my Christmas lights this year and a fuse kept blowing. It kept frustrating me. Then I read the directions and it said, you can plug only three of these together and maybe four if you're lucky. And I had like five or six. And so I'm like, okay, I gotta fix it. So then I ran an extension cord over here and hooked that one up. And man, we got that taken care of. But then a couple, I don't know, two weeks later,

this whole strand went out. Another blown fuse. And I'll be honest with you, I came into the house at one point and I told Steph, I was like, I'm hiring someone next year. I'm done. It was consuming so much of my life trying to get the lights right. Maybe right now you're looking for light. We could use the word hope. We could use the word love. We could use the word joy. But you seem to just be striking out. There's something about light. So I said, okay, I'll run another extension cord. Run it up through the top. And so now I walk outside and I turn my light on. I literally turn on my light going outside to get to the lights so I can, because in the dark, I couldn't see well. Let's hit the lights real quick. Would you turn them off? It's difficult to see clearly when there's no light. In fact, the Bible says that, that God came to us to give us light. God left heaven, who is the God of lights. The Bible says. God, another name for God, is He is the Father of lights. And so, the Father allowed His one and only unique Son, who is God, to become man, so He could bring down the light of heaven, so that you and I would not have to stumble in

the darkness. Go ahead and turn the lights back on. Light makes a difference. There's only so many times before you and I get up in the middle of the night, maybe we need a drink of water, we gotta use the restroom. It's only a matter of time before we hit the same toe, at the same place in the room, before we're like, I'm gonna get a light on next time, or leave a light on. There's something about light. And the truth is, the truth is, when it's really, really dark, it can be scary. I learned this hunting. I took some friends out, some other guys coming out hunting, and when you go out, it is dark. You put a tough man in the woods, when it's real dark, and they begin to think thoughts they never thought before. Darkness is scary, darkness will mess you up, and God said, I know that, and that's why I'm going to come, so they can not only have life, and life abundantly, but they can have light abundantly. That's why I came. And if you're wondering what Christmas is really all about, maybe you're wrestling with like, what is the real deal about this Jesus? He came for you, and that's why He came to you, because He's for you. And the truth is, He wants to be with you the rest of your life, and throughout all of eternity. People have often said, Pastor, I got a question for you. Here's my question, if God is good, why, why, why do bad things happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad things just happen in general? If God is so good, why did that storm take out these young girls? If God is so good, why, why, why? Listen, here's why. Because in Genesis 1, God, in the beginning, God created the creator, created His creation,

and His creation messed it up. God said, knock yourself out, just don't mess with that one thing. It will kill you. That's the very thing they ran to. Adam and Eve, you know. But you and I have messed up too, haven't we? In fact, not only did they sin, but when they sinned, death entered the world. And so, Jesus said, I will be born to die so that you don't die, but you can live. Jesus' birth, the message of the manger, it reminds us that Jesus' birth was significant because it was the ultimate expression of the love of God. And His birth signaled that He would come to die. We don't say, man, we were born to die. No, we're born to live. Basketball is life. Soccer is life. Motorcycles are life. Shopping is life, as Amazon keeps coming. And all the angels would say, no, no, no, Jesus is life. And He is light, and He came to us because we could not reach Him. Religion says if you do enough things, you can get to God. Religion leaves us empty. If you study all the religions in the world, all the religions in the world, tell us you've got to do something different. That's why when people say, well, I just believe all roads lead to heaven. We all kind of believe the same thing. That's an ignorant statement because we all believe different. Religion says this religion says you've got to do that. That religion says you've got to do that. This other religion says you've got to do that. And it's not about religion.

Jesus didn't come for religion. Jesus came for a relationship. God gave us His word. He gave us His word. He gave us His word. He gave us His expression. He gave us Himself. He gave us His love in the form of His Son, the God Son, the God Man, Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. And John says, I'm going to let you know that Jesus is special. He existed forever. He is equal with God because He is God, and He was born so you could have life and life abundantly. And it's not just about going to heaven one day. See, when you say yes to Jesus, when you put your belief in Christ, He goes with you because He lives in you. And life is not easy without Him. Life is not necessarily even easier with Him. It's just better because He's in you. It's better because He is with you. Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's love. And if you ever doubted that God loves you, because you know you, other people know you, other people could tell about you. There is a message in the manger that says God is for you, and Jesus came to give us life, and Jesus came to give us life, but Jesus was born so you and I could be reborn. Look at, look at the rest of this passage, and we're through. I love this. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. No matter how bad you've been, no matter how dark your darkness is, Jesus is the light. And Jesus' light, just like in Genesis chapter 1, the light invaded and took over the darkness.

God said, let there be light. John's gospel now, God is saying, let there be light again. Genesis 1 was about the creation. John chapter 1 is about the recreation, that Jesus would be born so you and I could be reborn. Why? Because watch this, watch this. It says, God sent a man, John the Baptist, to tell about the light, so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light. People ask him, are you the prophet? Are you the Messiah? Who are you? And he's like, I'm not the one. But the one coming after me, he's greater than me. I'm just the one to tell y'all I'm not the one, but you need to understand that the one who is not the one is here to point to the one who is the one because the one who is the one really is the one who is the one. That's why I'm here. Thank you very much. That's my life's purpose. I'm not the one. I'm not the guy. He's the guy. John himself was not the light, but simply a witness to tell about the light. Hey, if you're here and you believe in the light, you've received the life of Christ, the light of Christ, hey, it's really good for us to tell other people we're not the ones. We're not perfect. You look at me, you're going to mess up at some point, you're going to see me mess up.

But I just want to tell you, my life is reflecting, Lord willing, the one who is the light. I'm here to tell you I'm not the one, he's the one. I'm not the man, but I know the man. I spoke with the man today, the God man, the Christ who came, that's what Christmas is all about. And then we see, watch this, in verse nine, we see the rejection of Christ, the one who is the true light, verse nine, who gives light to everyone. He was coming into the world. And how did he come? He came through the Virgin Mary. Keep reading. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn't recognize him. It's one thing to not recognize somebody, but look at the next verse, he came to his own people, and even they rejected him. See, if you didn't recognize someone, that's one thing, but to reject someone means you recognized and said, nah, no thanks, not subscribing. He came to his own, and his own received him not. They didn't recognize him, and then when they did, they rejected him, they said, no, thank you. You're not who we think you should be. And I wonder how many people, maybe you've been living your life, and your description of what God should be like is not exactly lining up with who Jesus is. But I want to tell you something, he came for us, and we don't get to shape him, he shapes us. We don't get to change him, he changes us. And his own people said, no, no, we're going to reject you. Keep reading verse 12. Verse 12 does not speak of the rejection of Christ, it now speaks of the acceptance of Christ. Look at it.

But to all who believe him, and accept him, he gave the right. right to become the children of God. You know, not everyone living and breathing are God's children, right? Like we say, we're all God's children. Through Adam, God made us all. But you know, not everyone on the planet belongs to God. You with me? To be a child of God, you have to be born from the life, from the light of God, that's Jesus. That's why he came. That's why we have Christmas. But to all who believed him, accepted him, he gave the right to become the children of God. See, Jesus was born so you and I could be reborn. Look at verse 13, they are not reborn. Excuse me, I said that wrong. They are reborn, not with a physical birth, resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God. So just like Jesus didn't come to this world because Mary and Joseph consummated the marriage. That was the final phase of the Jewish wedding. No, an angel appeared to Joseph and he said, hey, I'm just gonna put it in our language, all right? He said, hey, I know you're tripping. I know you think Mary's lost her mind because she said, I'm pregnant. You're like, oh boy. And then it got harder.

She says, I didn't mess up. I'm not cheating on you. There's not another dude out there, Joe. Joe, you're the one. You're still the one, baby. I love you. And not only am I pregnant, not only are you still the one, but God did this to me. And he is wrestling with this and he's gonna put her away. And the angel of God standing in his presence, he comes to Joseph in a dream and he says, hey, Mary told you everything right. And now you gotta step up because God has chosen you to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins and you will name him Joseph. He is not your son. He's Mary's son. He is God's unique one and only son of a kind is who he is. You'll be the stepfather, but don't put her away. Take her to be your wife. And so Jesus didn't come because of one night passion and night. No, no, no, he, no, no. Jesus came because the Holy Spirit did it. And you and I, we don't come to God

because of anything we've done. We get to come to God because Christ came to us. He came, Jesus came so we could be reborn. And we have nothing to do with it. Going to church won't do it. Being baptized won't do it. We have nothing to do with it. God does it. God does it. Religion says, do this, do that. Don't do this, don't do that. And on the cross, some of the final words of Jesus is this, it is finished. It's done. It's done. It's already done. It's already been won. All you have to do is believe and receive that Christ came because Jesus is a unique expression of the love of God. That's what Christmas is about. That's the story. That's why you can't take Christ out of Christmas. You can't spell Christmas without starting it out with Christ. Even if someone says X-mas, you do the study and you go back, that the X was actually pointing to Jesus back in the day. I don't have time to unpack that, but you can't take Christ out of Christmas

because Christmas is all about Christ. It's all about him. But then look at verse 14. It says, so the word became human this Christmas. This is Jesus being born. The word, God in the flesh, Jesus became human and he made his home among us and he was full of love and faithfulness. Some translations say he was full of grace and truth. And I'm so thankful because in God's economy, grace goes first. In religion's economy, truth goes first. You've seen it before. In God's economy, grace comes first. The proof, Jesus is on the cross, two guys, two probably murders. They're cursing Jesus. And the Bible says, for the son of man, Luke 19, 10, for the son of man came to seek and to save the lost. If you haven't come to Christ yet, you're still lost. But here's the good news. There's still time. There's still hope because Christ came. So he came to seek the lost. And these two murders. are they're saying things about him they're cursing him and then one of them one of them has a moment he's like wait a second and he says we deserve this he doesn't what was that confession that he was a sinner that they were sinners and confession that he was the Lord because the next words out of his mouth is he's remember me Lord you come into your kingdom

and God doesn't give him truth you're horrible you never went to Sunday school or church except for Christmas you never were baptized you didn't say your prayers before bedtime or breakfast now you give some grace he says the sinner says remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus says today you will be with me in paradise this is why Christ came and the incarnation or the birth of Christ leads everyone to a decision as the same decision that's in John chapter 1 it's either the rejection of Christ or it's the acceptance of Christ the incarnation of Christ the birth of Christ leads every human being to the point of decision no matter what tongue what tribe what nation it leads us all to either a choice of the rejection of Christ or the choice of the acceptance of Christ that's why Christ came was to save us but we have a decision you have a decision and I love John 316 for God so loved the world father God so loved the world that he gave his only son is only begotten son again with John 1 John 3 couple chapters later the unique one-of-a-kind only son of God like this like I'm a son of God and I'm a child of God but Jesus is the one unique son of the Living God he is fully God and yet he became fully man so that man could see God fully in the expression of his son God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever would believe in him which is what John 1 says John 1 reminds us in verse 12 but to all who believe him and accept him he gives us the right to become the children of God Jesus is the ultimate expression of God's love verse 17 of John chapter 3 not only does it say for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son whoever believes in him would not perish that means be separated eternally from God's love but would have everlasting life but John 3 17 says God didn't send his one-of-a-kind unique son into the world to condemn the world and do you know why Jesus didn't come to condemn you you know why Jesus didn't come to condemn me because we're sinners we were already condemned God could have sent a judge but he didn't he sent us a Savior a Messiah who was born as a baby gentle Jesus so that you and I could be rescued for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him Jesus the

Word the logos could be saved have you received the hope of Christmas have you received the message of Christmas that Christ came because Jesus is the unique expression of God's love the ultimate expression of God's love or like when Jesus was getting ready to be born people had no room you know what's crazy is people still sometimes decide that they have no room and Christmas is about God saying I'm coming to you because I love you and I've chosen to forgive and I want to be with you and and and the only way I know to to finish this to fully express the love of God would be if you have a dog because your dog wakes up loving you no matter what and you come home even when you're in a hurry or irritated or get the suitcase out your dog loves you and there's nothing that you and I could do to keep God from loving us. It's why Christ came, the ultimate expression of God's love. What will you do with it? Will you tell others? Will you point to others like John, the baptizer did? Will you reject it or will you accept it? Can't spell Christmas without the Christ. And I hope if you're here today, I hope those of you watching online, that you've been like, man, Christmas is just, you know, I kind of felt like I should go and it'd probably be bad if I didn't go to church, you know, it's Christmas, you know. But inside there's no relationship, there's just been religion, which is why you have a void. No matter how good you are, you still don't feel good enough because you and I could never get good enough.

We couldn't earn it, we don't deserve it. That's why he came for you, because he loves you. No wonder we call him the Savior. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? I just wanna invite you if you're here and you're like, Pastor Tim, I've never received the Christ of Christmas, I've not had room, I've been too busy, been too distracted, maybe I've been too stubborn. I've not realized that Christmas is about God coming to me because I need him desperately. Then I would encourage you to believe tonight so you can receive tonight. John 1, verse 12, but as many as received him, to those he gives the right to be called, the sons and the daughters of God. Well, how do I do it, Pastor Tim? I'm so glad you asked. How you do it, you call on Jesus, just like that criminal on the cross, he said a prayer the best he could, remember me when you come into your kingdom. So you just confess that you're a sinner and you would confess that he is Lord and you would receive him because you have room, because you have recognized you're not gonna reject, but you're gonna receive him. And if you wanna do that right now, I'm gonna lead you in a prayer, you say your own prayer and you don't have to pray through me to get to Jesus,

that's not how it works. According to the Bible, the God's word, it's not how it works, you just go straight to God. I met Jelly Roll a couple of weeks ago in Nashville and I told him, I said, Jelly Roll, I'm so proud of you, man, I'm so proud of what Jesus is doing in your life. And the moment I said that, he looked at me, he took a step back, he smiled real big, he said, I am too. And then he said, from your lips to God's ears, I'll never forget that. See, the moment you call on Jesus, it goes from your lips to God's ears. Romans 10, 13 says, for whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved, or reborn, and that's why Jesus was born. So you and I could be reborn. And if you wanna do that right now, let's just pray together, let's pray together. After the prayer, I'm gonna ask you if you prayed it to be like the first crowd, I asked them at the end, if you prayed and you put your trust in Christ, the best Christmas of your life, I asked them to raise their hand and we clap for them and celebrate it, because that's what heaven does, every time a sinner crosses the line of faith. And so would you pray this with me? And our church, we pray it out loud, so no one prays it alone. Just pray with me right now, would you say,

Jesus, I am a sinner, and you know it. Come on, pray it out loud, Jesus, I am a sinner, and I know it, and you know it, but I thank you for coming for me, to me. Thank you for loving me and bleeding for me and dying for me, I believe you rose again. I confess that Jesus is Lord, and I ask you to be my Lord and my Savior. I give you my life, I receive your life, now teach me how to live, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen, y'all look up, look up, you're watching online. Hey, would you let us know, you're watching on YouTube, you're watching on Facebook, let us know, we wanna celebrate with you, and we wanna help you, however we can decipher, minister to you, we wanna serve you, and if you're here, and you prayed that prayer, and you said yes to Christ, the Christ of Christmas. I'm going to ask you on the count of three, just hold that hand up. We're not going to embarrass you. It's not going to get weird. Just hold that hand up. We're going to clap, celebrate you. Have a gift for you. On the count of three, would you just put that hand in the air? Here we go. Don't be shy. I want you to hold it up high. 1, 2, 3. Right now, hold it up.

I see you. I see you. I see you. Come on, hold it up. Hold it up. Let's go. Come on, let's celebrate. Let's celebrate. Come on. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. It's been so great to get to worship with you. We're going to continue to worship right now as we receive an offering. Then after that, we're going to sing Silent Night. What I'd love for you to do is we'll be singing Silent Night. If you take out your cell phone, turn on your flashlight, and shine your light in the building. Silent night, holy night. All is calm, all is bright. Round yon virgin, mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild. Sleep in heavenly peace. Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night. Shepherds quake at the sight. Glories stream from heaven afar. Heavenly hosts sing alleluia. Christ the Savior is born. Christ the Savior is born.

Christ the Savior is born. Silent night, holy night. Son of God, bless your light. Radiant beams from thy holy face. With the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Jesus, Lord, at thy birth. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. Hey, from our family to your family, from our house to your house, Merry Christmas. And may the light and the love of Christ, may it be with you. Not just through Christmas, but this next year. God bless y'all. Merry Christmas. Thanks for coming. Great job, guys. Thanks for watching. See you next time. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. ... ...

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