Christmas With Waters Edge Church 2025

Come on church, can you give him praise today? He's worthy. Worthy are you, Lord? Well, we're so honored and so thrilled that you've joined us here today. Merry Christmas to you right here at our Yorktown campus. And I'd love it here in Yorktown if you'd help me welcome some very special folks joining us today online. That would include our online family, it would include those men that are part of our church family at the Indian Creek Correctional Center, and last but certainly not least, it would include the bravest men and women in the world serving our armed forces all over the world today. The military men and women from military bases streaming right now, we welcome you. We're so thrilled, so thrilled that you're here today, and I know God's got a message in store for you today. In fact, we've been praying, praying for these moments that we would share together, and we know this, that whatever you came to this place needing today, that Jesus Christ is the answer you need, and in him you have everything you need. And so we're praying today that he'll meet you in these moments. The Bible says where two or more are gathered in his name, he's there. And I'm not real good with math, y'all, but there are more than two of us in this place, so I know Jesus Christ is here. Can you give him praise, everybody? Come on. Let me pray for us, Father, today. We honor your name, Jesus.

We worship you. We lift your name high. You're the only one worthy. We ask that in these moments, as we celebrate Jesus, that your spirit would be among us, that you would speak to our hearts, that you would move in and among us now, and that you would meet every single need represented in this place. We love you. We worship you. It's in the strong and mighty matchless name of Jesus that we pray. Amen, amen, amen. Well, before we light our candles together and celebrate, I want to talk to you for a few moments about your response at Christmas, your response at Christmas. Because how many of you know that things happen at Christmas that can bring out some responses? Do you know what I'm talking about? Like, I know you might be a little more holy than I am, but I don't know, sometimes at Christmas, some things happen. Maybe it's an unexpected gift, one of those unique gifts. You know what I'm talking about? You're like, I don't really know how to respond. Or maybe it's things get awkward real fast at the company Christmas party, and you're not quite sure how to respond. Or maybe it's sitting down for the family dinner, and the conversation turns political. You're not quite sure how to respond. Or maybe Uncle Bob shows up, and he's more drunk than he was at Thanksgiving, all right, y'all?

You're just not quite sure how to respond. I gotta tell a story on my mom. I love my mom, but years ago, years ago, my mom received a Christmas gift in the mail from her mother-in-law, and when she opened it up, it was a food saver. Y'all know about food savers? You know, vacuum seals your food? And my mom already had a food saver, so she wasn't quite sure how to respond, but then she had a brilliant idea. She remembered that my sister-in-law actually wanted a food saver, and so my mom decides to re-gift the gift from her mother-in-law. How many of y'all are re-gifters? Come on, be proud of it. Come on. Re-gifters, they are proud of it. They are like, you don't have to tell me. I already have my hand raised, because I love re-gifting. Well, she decided to re-gift the food saver, so she wraps it back up, and she ships it off to my sister-in-law, who receives the package and is really excited about it. I mean, she's thrilled to get this food saver, and so she opens up the box, because she wants to try it out, only to discover that inside the food saver box is not a food saver. Instead, inside the food saver box is the real gift my mom was meant to receive from her mother-in-law. It was a granny nightgown and a pair of granny panties that matched everybody, all right? So, imagine the confusion now happening for my sister-in-law, who's thinking, why do I have this gift?

Who then goes to pick up the phone to call my mom, who is currently in process of thinking. thinking her mother-in-law for the food saver, which wasn't a food saver. And now she's being thanked for granny nightgown and granny panties. And my mom has no idea what's going on. She didn't know how to respond. Christmas responses can be quite challenging. They can be quite difficult. And today, I wanna help you have a better response, a better response to Christmas. I wanna teach you this from the responses that we see from Mary on that very first Christmas so long ago. Mary had a difficult time responding to Christmas. Now, I know that might surprise some of us, but before we go judging Mary, let's just get a few things straight. Mary had some plans in motion. Like Mary had some Pinterest boards saved with some great wedding ideas. Mary had already put down the deposit on the hottest little wedding chapel in Nazareth. Mary had some dreams that she had dreamed for a long, long time for her and Joseph and their first year together and the home they would set up together and the memories they would make together. Then Luke comes along in the Bible and tells us

that in the middle of these plans that Mary had, in the midst of these grand ideas that Mary had, God sends an angel. Let me show it to you. The Bible says this, that God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. And the virgin's name was, everybody come on, Mary. Her name was Mary. And Mary's about to get married. The Bible's full of these fun little puns, y'all. Mary is about to get married, but in the midst of her plans, God surprises her one night with a angel bringing a Christmas announcement and he interrupts Mary's grand plans. Mary had some plans, but she quickly discovered that God's plans were better. In fact, let me show you. Let me show you. The Bible says this. It says that the angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Now I wanna show you Mary's responses to this Christmas announcement. There are four of them. Pay attention to them as we read through them. Here's the first one.

It says that Mary was greatly troubled at his words. That was the first response. Mary was greatly troubled. And then it says the second response was this, that she wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, don't be afraid, Mary. You found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus. Jesus just means Yahweh saves or the Lord saves and he will be great. He'll be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. Now here's the third response. Mary asked, how will this be? How will this be, Mary asked, since I'm a virgin. In other words, Mary's like, hey, I know how this works and this isn't how it works. And so I don't understand, like there's a problem here. I love that Mary's trying to explain things to God. You ever find yourself doing that? Like I need to explain some things to you, God. I need you to understand God as if he doesn't already understand. Mary's confused, Mary's questioning, Mary's doubting. She says, how will this be? This doesn't seem possible.

And look, the angel answers her and the angel says this to her. The angel said, the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God, for no word from God will ever fail. Now here's Mary's fourth and it's honestly the best response. Mary says, I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May your word to me be fulfilled. And the Bible says, then the angel left her. Can we put our hands together for Mary? Come on, Mary, should get some applause. All my Catholic friends are like, pastor, I've been trying to tell you that for years. Like clap for her more often. Come on, that was funny, y'all, that was funny. Mary had a better response. The Lord showed me as I was preparing this message today, I'm so excited to show you this. The Lord showed me that every single person today within the sound of my voice, whether you're here in the room with me, whether you're one of the men at Indian Creek on Friday night streaming this service, maybe you're sitting in a prison listening on the Pando app in Missouri, maybe you're in an airport today traveling, streaming our service, or sitting with your family around the dining room table,

but every single person listening to the sound of my voice came here today with one of Mary's first three responses. I'm convinced of it, that all of us, all of us relate to Mary's story because all of us are experiencing one of Mary's first three responses this Christmas. Remember what they were? Let me remind you, Mary, the Bible said was troubled. She was troubled. Then it said that she doubted, she was wondering, she doubted. And then it said that Mary was in need. She didn't understand how this could be. She was in need, she was troubled, she was doubting, or she was in need. And I believe today that I've just described with those three words, your response this Christmas. I believe I've just described how you're feeling this Christmas. You're troubled, you're doubting, or you're in need like Mary. And if you find yourself responding this Christmas with one of those three responses, God sent me with a message for you today that if you're doubting or troubled or in need, God has a better response this Christmas. He has a better response. It's a little bit like this. If we were playing poker, and I know it's a bad example for a Christmas Eve service,

but just go with it, everybody, all right? If we were playing poker and I were to say, hey, I bet this, you might respond and you might say, I see your bet and I raise you 10, right? You'd say something like that. I think, I'm a preacher, I've never played poker, but y'all get the point, right? You'd say, I see your bet and I raise you 10. And I wanna tell you today that God sees your response and every response you bring to him this Christmas, he raises his. That he meets your response, he meets you where you are, but he raises his. Let me see if I can help you understand. The Bible said that Mary was troubled, that Mary was troubled. And many of you, I believe, have stepped into this Christmas season troubled. Today, you're troubled. There's some relational tension. There's some anxiety over your finances. There's some grief or some sadness. Maybe you have some regret or even some shame. You're troubled this Christmas. Your spirit isn't settled. It feels like things aren't at ease in your heart. Things, you wanted them to be different, but they don't feel different this year. And maybe your kids are with your ex and so you're alone. Or maybe it's the first Christmas away from family

and you're feeling lonely. Or maybe for you, there's such a stress over your finances and you feel overwhelmed. Something just doesn't feel right to you this Christmas. Like Mary, you're troubled. And if you are responding with trouble today, I just want you to know that God sees your trouble and every trouble in your life can be met with favor from God. That when your response is, I'm troubled, God's response is favor. The Bible said that Mary was greatly troubled, but God responded. Did you see it? The Bible said this, but the angel said to her, don't be afraid, Mary. Don't be afraid. Why? You have found, here's our word, favor with God. Favor just means grace. It just means God's unmerited, undeserved kindness, approval, and blessing. And if you have trouble this Christmas, God has favor for your life. Somebody needs to hear this. God loves you. Oh, come on. I said, God loves you. Don't take that for granted, everybody. God loves you.

He's not mad at you. He's not out to get you. He's not trying to punish you. He's not trying to teach you a lesson. No, there might be some trouble in your life. God didn't create that trouble. God can use it though. God can use it to get your attention. God can use it to form something in you. God can use it, the Bible says, if you'll trust him and allow him to, he'll use it for your good and for his glory. And he uses it because he loves you. Because you have the favor of God. Can I tell you exactly what that means? It means literally that you're God's favorite. Let that soak in for a minute. You're God's favorite. It's like, I've got three kids. They're all big, grown and awesome now, all right. But when they were little, they would sometimes try to trick me and they would say things like, dad, who's your favorite? Your kids ever do this? Dad, who's your favorite? And I always wanted to tell them, well, my favorites, whichever one of you is acting right, that moment, right? That's my favorite.

But I wouldn't say that. Instead I was, it would depend on who was asking me. If Brayden said, dad, who's your favorite? My answer would be, it's, you're my favorite oldest child. Dad, who's your favorite? Well, you're my favorite child. Emma, who's born in the month of February. If Taylor would ask, you're my favorite child who's first name starts with the letter T. You're my favorite. They were all my favorite. And y'all now, now I got a grandbaby and y'all all know she's really the favorite. The point is my favor was on them. And today God's favor is on your life. And favor doesn't make trouble go away. Doesn't take trouble away, but it does override trouble. So you might be dealing with some trouble this Christmas, but when you know you are favored, wanted, accepted and loved by the God of this universe, let me ask you, what can trouble do to you? What can trouble do to God's favorite kid? Nothing at all because God's favors on your life. Receive his favor today if you're troubled. Mary's second response, you remember it? Mary was, she was doubting. She was doubting. The Bible says she wondered at this greeting brought by the angel.

That word wondered literally means to grapple with or to deliberate, to be confused and to doubt. She was doubting. And maybe you are this Christmas. Doubting, doubting because of some circumstances in your life, doubting because of maybe some broken promise for this last year, doubting because perhaps some unanswered prayer from this last year. Doubting, maybe you came this Christmas and you find yourself trying to celebrate, trying to be in the spirit of Christmas, trying to sing these songs about Jesus and his birth, but down deep on the inside, you find yourself doubting. Does God know? Does God care? Is God good? You're doubting. And if you find yourself today with Mary's response of doubt, I just want you to know God sees your doubt. I need you to know today that every doubt in your life can be met with the presence of God. That if God meets our trouble with favor, he meets our doubts with his presence. Mary wondered, she doubted and God responded. Let me show you what the scripture says. It says, the angel responded and said to her, Mary, you'll be conceived and you'll give birth to a son. And look at this, you're to call him Jesus. When Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet spoke of the coming of Jesus,

he actually gave Jesus another name. He said that you will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. And that's the story of Christmas. That God favored you so much that he took on the form of a humble, lowly infant baby. And he came here to earth in spite of your doubts, among your doubts. in an attempt to try to help you overcome your doubts. And one of the things I love so much about our God is that you can bring to him this Christmas all of your doubts. And when you do, he'll bring to you all of his love, all of his righteousness, all of his divinity, all of his forgiveness. He'll bring all of himself to you this Christmas. When God sees your doubt, he responds this Christmas with himself, with his presence. And it's God's presence that brings peace. And isn't that what you really want this Christmas? Just some peace. Peace in your heart, peace because you're hurting, peace because you're struggling, peace because you're grieving, peace because you're anxious, peace because you're scared. I need you to know, God is not some far off distant being today. God came close to us at Christmas to be near to us, with us,

to bring peace with his presence. If you find yourself doubting this Christmas, receive God's presence and he'll bring you peace. And then Mary's third response that I think describes so many of us. Mary was in need. She was in need. She didn't understand how can this be naturally? I don't know how this will all work out. Mary had a need and you do too. Maybe it's a need for comfort. Maybe it's a need for provision. Maybe it's a need for healing. Maybe it's a need for a friend or maybe a need for a miracle, a need of hope. And I want you to know that God sees your need and that every need in your life can be met with the power of God. That when Mary said, how can this be? When she responded with the need, the angel replied and the angel answered and said this, the Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the most high, look at this, will overshadow you. The power of God overshadows any need in your life. So you can bring Him all of your sadness and all of your sickness and all of your brokenness and all of your shamefulness and all of your addictedness, you can bring Him every need you have in your life and He'll bring you His power to meet every single need.

I think way too many of us come to a Christmas service like this and we fancy ourselves up. We put a smile on our face. Some of you were fighting with your spouse on the way in the parking lot, but when you got to the doors of the church, you held hands and smiled. It's like I put on this sport coat and this freshly pressed shirt today. These shined up my shoes for you. But what you don't know is I got a hole in my sock, y'all. And you can't see my need. And we try to hide our needs like that when we come to church like this, but God sees your need today. He has a power to overcome it. Can I tell you that God will not resist those who humbly cry out to Him for help? If you call out to Him, His power this Christmas will meet every need in your life. So some of us like Mary, we're troubled. Some of us like Mary, we're doubting. And some of us like Mary, we're in need. Which one are you today? Which one are you? You don't need to tell me, but would you tell God? I'm troubled, I'm doubting, or I'm in need. If those are your responses today, I need you to know there's a better response this Christmas.

And Mary had it. The response that changed everything for Mary. She didn't let her trouble or her doubts or her needs keep her from a better response. Can I show it to you today? When Mary encountered the presence of Almighty God, Mary had a better response. And it was her fourth response. I hope it'll be yours this Christmas. Mary surrendered. And if you want today, the favor of God, if you want today, the friendship of God, the peace that he brings through his presence, if you want today, his power, it comes through surrender. Can I just, can I give you this Christmas off? You don't have to be in control. You don't have to know all the answers. You don't have to make it just right and just perfect. You don't have to create the most magical memories. All you have to do is surrender. Because some 2000 years ago, the Bible says that God loved you so much that he sent his one and only son, that whoever would believe in him, you won't perish, but you will have everlasting life. Thank you. ♪ Hark, the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Angels sing glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪ Peace on earth and mercy mild ♪ ♪ God and sinners reconciled ♪

♪ Joyful all ye nations rise ♪ ♪ Join the triumph of the skies ♪ ♪ With angelic host proclaim ♪ ♪ With angelic host proclaim ♪ ♪ Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪ ♪ Hark, the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Hark, the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ ♪ Hail the heaven-born prince of peace ♪ ♪ Hail the son of righteousness ♪ ♪ Light and life to all he brings ♪ ♪ Risen with healing in his wings ♪ ♪ Mild he lays his glory by ♪ ♪ For that man, oh, bore may die ♪ ♪ Born to raise the sons of earth ♪ ♪ And born to give them second birth ♪ ♪ Hark, the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ ♪ Glory to the newborn king ♪ ♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ Hallelujah, the Savior is here Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Hallelujah, Hallelujah Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Hallelujah, Hallelujah The Savior is here

Hallelujah We sing Hallelujah The Savior is here Would you stand to your feet with me? All across the room today Because we've celebrated now Jesus Christ Who loves you so much He has a plan for your life And it just wouldn't be Christmas Without giving you a chance to respond to Him You see, you do have a need today Your need is for a Savior That's why Jesus came Because God knew that you would have sin that needs to be paid for That you would be disconnected from a relationship with the God who made you So He sent His Son, Jesus And now, now it's your moment to decide Will you receive Him? To accept Him as your own I'm not asking today, do you believe in Jesus? You're here because you believe in Him But the Bible says, even the demons believe in Jesus The question is, have you accepted Him? Is He your Lord? Is He your Savior? Have you surrendered to Him? And if you have not Then this is your moment of decision So in just a moment

We're going to bow our heads and close our eyes And I'm going to lead you in a simple prayer First, a prayer of surrender for those of us who do know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior A prayer today that surrenders our plans to His, our will to His And then, if you've never said yes to a relationship with Jesus Christ I'm going to lead you in a simple prayer And I'm going to invite you today to surrender your whole life to Him And receive His gift of salvation this Christmas So would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Open your hearts Let God speak to you now Father, we surrender to You today Our plans, even our hopes and our dreams Because Your plans, Your ways are better And we receive from You today Your favor We receive Your peace that comes through Your presence And we receive the power to overcome every need in our heart and in our life today We thank You, Jesus, for Your goodness in our life And now, if you've never said yes to a relationship with Jesus Christ I'm going to lead you in a simple prayer And I'm going to invite you to pray this prayer with me You can pray it silently right where you are But if you've never given your heart and life to Jesus You've never received His free gift of salvation This is your moment And I wonder, how many of you would say, Pastor, that's me Include me in that prayer I want to give my life to Jesus today I believe there are many of you today who need to make that decision

If you've never received the free gift of eternal life And you'd say, Pastor, include me in that prayer Would you just raise your hand so I can know it's you today I'm not going to call you out or embarrass you I just want to know, Pastor, include me in that prayer I'm giving my life to Jesus today God bless you God bless you Online, just let us know over in the chat It's me, it's me, giving my life to Jesus Now pray this and really mean it from your heart Say, Jesus, I want to know you I want my sin forgiven by you I want to be made right with God in heaven through you, I wanna live my life for you. Come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen, amen. Come on church, can we thank God for those who gave their hearts and lives to Jesus today? And listen, if you did pray that prayer with me, it was the best decision you could ever make. We'd love to celebrate with you right out in the lobby at our change sign, we've got a gift, we'd love to give you, help you know how to follow Jesus over online, follow the link in the chat and we'll help you know how you can follow Jesus and live your life for him. Well, it is the most anticipated part of our entire service. Would you get those candles out? And as we prepare to light the candles,

you'll be sharing that light down the row and around the room and it's just a beautiful reflection of how God's at work in our hearts and in our lives. It's a beautiful picture that Jesus came as the light of the world and as that we share the light, we are called to share his love with others. Let's do it now together, as we sing this carol, Silent Night. ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ All is calm, all is bright ♪ ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ All is bright, round yon Virgin, Mother and Child ♪ ♪ Holy infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪ Tender and mild ♪ ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ Come on, everybody, lift your candles high as we continue to celebrate our great King. ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ Son of God, love's pure light ♪ ♪ Son of God, love's pure light ♪ ♪ Radiant beams from Thy holy face ♪ ♪ With the dawn of redeeming grace ♪ ♪ Dealing grace ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth ♪ We'll keep those candles held high for just a moment and just look around at the splendor of the moment, the glory of these lights as they illuminate the room, showing us the glory of God

that illuminates our lives this Christmas. And now you may carefully extinguish your candles.