Colors of Christmas - Blue - Nate Grella

We're gonna sing some carols this morning, we're gonna work it for a while, why don't you sing this with me. O 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. Emmanuel, God with us on earth, Christ the Lord, the Saviour's holy birth. Come, Messiah, be lifted higher, let all creation declare your worth. Emmanuel, God with us on earth. O silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth. Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth. Emmanuel, God with us on earth, Christ the Lord, the Saviour's holy birth. Come, Messiah, be lifted higher, let all creation declare your worth. Emmanuel, God with us on earth. Hallelujah, the greatest blessing, the Son of Heaven living here with us. Hallelujah, we can't stop singing, O Jesus Christ, the miracle of love. Hallelujah, the greatest blessing, the Son of Heaven living here with us. Hallelujah, we can't stop singing, O Jesus Christ, the miracle of love. Emmanuel, God with us on earth, Christ the Lord, the Saviour's holy birth. Come, Messiah, be lifted higher, let all creation declare your worth. Come, Messiah, be lifted higher, let all creation declare your worth. Emmanuel, God with us on earth. Good morning and welcome to Compass. Where our mission is navigating people to God. My name is Marshall. I'm one of the pastors here. Listen, if you are new to Compass, or if you've been here for a while, man, we are just so grateful that you are spending time with us. If you are online, welcome here as well.

Listen, I, I love Christmas. I didn't use to love Christmas, but I love Christmas now because I have some little ones that I'm just seeing all of this, all of this new stuff through their eyes. One of the coolest things that I'm seeing is their love for Jesus, their understanding that Christ came from heaven down to this earth in this season, that we get to celebrate that because that led to our salvation through him. So we're going to continue to worship. We're going to continue to sing some carols, but before that, can I just pray for us? Heavenly father, we love you. God, we adore you. We give you our full attention right now. Father, as we sing these old songs, father, may they be made fresh and new in our hearts and in our minds this season. God, may you meet us here. May you move powerfully. We pray this all in your name, amen. God, we adore you. We give you our full attention right now. Father, as we sing these old songs, father, may they be made fresh and new in our We give you our full attention right now. We pray this all in your name, amen. We pray this all in your name, amen. Let's shout his name. We sing your praise. We sing your praise. We sing your praise. The Lord is my shepherd, and He is everything I need, and I will not worry, and I will not fear the end of it. He says that He loves me, and He said that He's with me even though I walk through the valley of shadow and ditch, there I know He has good will, He has good will for me.

So I will take all your deserts and gardens, and He has good will, He has good will for me. If I know my Father, I know my Father has good will. Yeah. Yeah. The Lord is my Savior, so why should I doubt my victory, and why would I question the Lord and the staff that comforts me? He quiets the waters, and He quiets the storms inside of me, so what could be better? Walking with Him when I am weak, He has good will, He has good will for me. So I will take all your deserts and gardens, and He has good will, He has good will for me. If I know my Father, I know my Father has good will, He has good will for me. So I will take all your deserts and gardens, and He has good will, He has good will for me. If I know my Father, I know my Father has good will. Yeah. Yeah. Begging for your help, so grateful to God. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan, He has a good plan for me In deserts and gardens, and He has good plans, He has good plans for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me If I know my Father, if I know my Father He has a good plan for me You know, this year we're looking at, it's probably going to be about 1,000 people that get baptized here at Compass across all of our campuses. And so, incredible, your generosity is playing a part in that. For Thanksgiving, we had over 1,500 Thanksgiving boxes brought back in across all of our campuses. And so, we were able to give Thanksgiving meals to so many people in our community. We've got our Christmas gift drive that's happening right now. And we've had to just keep moving gifts to the back because there's so many gifts that have been brought in. And so, we're helping families to have a great Christmas this year.

And it's because of your generosity. And we're just seeing God move and work in NOFO students and Compass kids and so many other ways. And your generosity is such a huge part of that. So, thank you for your generosity as your pastor. It means a lot to me. And I want to challenge you as we head towards the end of the year. You know, we always see people want to give year-end gifts and help us reach the goals that we have as a church. And so, one of the goals that we have as a church this year is just to pay off as much debt as we possibly can. as we possibly can on this building so we can do more ministry, so we can feed more families, so we can go in the schools and help supply teachers and the schools with the things that they need. And your generosity is a part of that. And so if you are considering, I wanna encourage you to consider a year-end gift to help us pay off as much of that debt as we possibly can this year, and every little bit helps. And so I wanna encourage you with that. What is it that God might be laying on your heart as you think about the end of the year here, what you could do to help us navigate more people to God here in DFW and beyond. And you know, Christmas at Compass, Anthony just shared it, is just two weeks away. It's my favorite time of the year. I love this time of year. As you leave today, make sure you take some of these cards and invite someone that you know to Christmas here at Compass. Take multiple, we've got plenty of cards.

You can bake cookies. You can deliver them to your neighbor or coworker and say, hey, I'd love for you to join us at one of our six or seven, as Anthony said, all right, all right, I know. Actually, seven services. That last service, why are we doing a 10 p.m. service? Well, one of the things that I love about Christmas is all the different memories. And when I was growing up as a kid, I remember going to the really late night candlelight service. And so we wanted to do something a little bit special this year. And so we're gonna have that. You can come, your kids can come in their pajamas. You can come in your pajamas as well, as long as they're approved by Santa, all right. But we would love for that to be a part of your tradition. Maybe come to one of our other services and then come back and bring somebody who's like, I don't like loud rock music or things like that at Christmas. It's gonna be a really special time. So I'd encourage you to come to those services, serve at some of those services as well. And then, and Compass Kids, if you've got kids in Compass Kids, what we want you to know is that during this series that we're in, starting today,

we wanted this to be a family series where you can go home and you can talk about this. So your kids, over the next few weeks, are gonna get these magnets. They're puzzle pieces. And you can put these on the fridge. You can talk about the very thing we're talking about in this room, Compass Kids is talking about. And so it's a great way to talk about the Christmas season at the dinner table and just really celebrate what the true meaning of Christmas is all about. So I'm excited, I'm grateful for our Compass Kids team who's always thinking about how we can navigate our kids to God as well. Well, as we kick off this new series today, I love this time of year. Christmas is my favorite time of year, so much so that when November 1st happens, actually, as soon as Halloween, the last trick-or-treaters were gone, I started getting the Christmas decorations out of my attic. And by November 3rd, the Grilla household was completely decorated for Christmas. Now, that's all me. My wife, Amanda, she loves Christmas, but she could stand if I waited a few weeks to decorate for the Christmas season.

But I feel like Christmas and Thanksgiving, they all go together. Can I get an amen from anybody else who feels the way I do, right? Now, the reason is is because I love everything about Christmas. I love the trees and the decorations. I love looking at the lights. I love giving gifts. I love watching my grown kids still open the Advent calendars to get the little pieces of chocolate out. I love watching all of our favorite Christmas movies, Christmas Vacation, Elf, Home Alone 1 and 2, and then the classic White Christmas. And I love a good, ugly Christmas sweater party. Who doesn't love that, right? Those are some of the things that I love about Christmas. But I also love that Christmas is a time where we've started some traditions as our kids have gotten older. Like, one of the things that we started doing several years ago is we go and get pizza together as a family, and then we go and we look at all the houses that are decorated and the lights and the colors of the season. But Christmas is actually so much more than all the things that I just mentioned. There's something deeper and truer behind this time of year,

and that's what we're gonna discover as we kick off this new series today called The Colors of Christmas. And it's through The Colors of Christmas that we maybe see the Christmas season in a way that I believe is maybe different than how you've ever looked at it before. And so today, we're gonna start with a color that honestly isn't talked about much, but is always present this time of year. And look, if you think about Christmas and the season of Christmas, when you listen to the Christmas songs that we sing, a lot of them about hope, joy, love, and peace. Like, when we think about celebrating Christmas, that we should be like Buddy the Elf when he finds out that Santa's coming, right? Like, that's what Christmas should be. Because it's the most wonderful time of the year, as the song says. Or it's the happiest time since Bing Crosby tap-danced on, well, I'm not gonna go any further. Some of you know what I'm referencing there. But for some, Christmas is anything but filled with joy. It's not the most wonderful time of the year, but instead, it's a season that doesn't have you. feeling very hopeful, instead it feels hopeless. Maybe this is a season where joy seems to be gone for you, that hope is diminished, that peace, it just doesn't seem to be present.

Maybe for someone here in this room or someone watching online, this Christmas season honestly has you feeling a little blue. Now here's the thing, while that first Christmas was the good news of great joy as proclaimed by some angels to some shepherds who were watching over their sheep on these nearby hills outside of Bethlehem, when you think about the first Christmas, the story of that first Christmas was actually pretty troublesome. And I think I knew this about Christmas, like I've preached many Christmas sermons before and I've read through the Christmas story hundreds of times, but I think when I think about the story of Christmas, I guess what comes to my mind is I actually think about like the nativity scene at my house. And it's just this silent night in Bethlehem where all is calm and bright. It's almost as though it's this perfect and serene setting, but that first Christmas was anything but calm and bright. That very first Christmas was actually pretty blue. And for Mary and Joseph, they faced some pretty real challenges similar to maybe what you find yourself facing this Christmas season as well. And for Mary and Joseph, I wanna just talk about some of the challenges. One of the challenges was financial challenges. I mean, they were forced to travel to Bethlehem

for this census because Caesar Augustus at this time, he wanted to raise taxes. And you know, Joseph, he was a self-employed carpenter. He probably had very little savings. There were no social security benefits coming in, no PTO or sick days that could help to use to cover the expenses for this travel. And so for some of you, maybe you can relate to Christmas being blue because financially this season can be hard. Like we're having to purchase things with money that we don't have, or even we're having to purchase things to impress someone we really don't like that well, but all the while incurring more debt because of it. Christmas can be blue because of financial challenges. Or maybe Christmas has you feeling blue because of physical challenges. I mean, think about Mary for a minute. She was traveling while being nine months pregnant, some 80 miles from where she lived back to her hometown. And she definitely wasn't riding in luxury. I mean, she was on a donkey sometimes, maybe had to walk the rest of the time. And for those who have experienced pregnancy, you know that you are definitely not traveling at nine months pregnant, right? Like you're staying at home. That travel probably took a toll on Mary. And let's face it, like travel during the holiday seasons,

it can take a toll on us as well. It can be really challenging because that over the river and through the woods, the grandmother's house, that can be super stressful, right? Or some of you, you know this, you've had to do the four Christmases in one day, just like Vince Vaughn, right? And Reese Witherspoon. Or it's just the traffic and the shopping around the Christmas season that has you exhausted. Or maybe for some of you even here or watching at home, it's a physical condition that you find yourself experiencing this year. You know, this season can be exhausting physically in a lot of different ways which can have you feeling blue. Or maybe it's emotional challenges. Imagine being Mary and Joseph and finding out that you're gonna be the parents to God's son and you're gonna have to tell everyone that this is some kind of immaculate conception, right? Or think about being Joseph and knowing that this son isn't actually your son and you're trying to think about how to divorce Mary quietly. There were definitely emotional challenges that they experienced. And maybe you've got your own emotional challenges because maybe you're not gonna be with family for the first time in a long time.

Maybe they moved halfway across the country or maybe they live in another part of the world and the thought of not being with them has this Christmas seeming unbearable. Or maybe you've dreamed about having that child to celebrate Christmas with but because of infertility or a miscarriage or even the adoption that fell through, it's left you with grief. Or maybe there will be that empty chair at the table that'll be present during your Christmas celebrations because someone you love dearly left this earth this year or maybe it's been a few years and the grief is still real. You see, there's emotional challenges around the Christmas season as well that can cause us to feel blue. Or maybe it's relational challenges. Like you've got your own version of Cousin Eddie who just shows up unannounced and you have to deal with him too, right? Or maybe you're going through a divorce. You've not spoken to your family in years. There's the friend. that you always used to celebrate the holidays with, you had these traditions, but there's some relational strain and those celebrations aren't happening this year. I mean, those relational challenges can cause Christmas to feel blue as well. You know, that first Christmas was anything

but the hap, hap, happiest time of the year in a lot of ways. Whether it was emotional or relational or physical or even financial challenges that existed then, well, those things still exist today. And my guess is that some of the things that Mary and Joseph experienced had them feeling blue just like you feel today. But even despite the fact that that first Christmas maybe had Mary and Joseph feeling a little down or even this Christmas has you feeling blue, what I wanna do is I wanna give you some hope today and it actually comes from the words of this prophet named Isaiah. If you have a Bible or if you've got a Bible app, Isaiah chapter nine in verses six and seven, Isaiah who is a messenger from God foretells the story of what's gonna happen on that first Christmas and this is what he says starting in verse six. He says, for a child is born to us, a son is given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counsel, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. His government and his peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord's heavens armies will make this happen. And so listen, if this season has you feeling blue,

what I wanna do is I wanna focus on these words of Isaiah today to help us to know that in spite of what it is that maybe we're feeling or maybe what it is that we're going through in this season that we find ourselves in, there's a wonderful counselor, a mighty God, an everlasting father and a prince of peace who wants to help you through the Christmas season. And I get what maybe you're thinking even as I say those words. Like you're thinking, well, that sounds great, Pastor Nate, but I'm not sure that I have access to that in my life and even if I do, like, how do I even attain that? And if that's you, I wanna share with you some words from Jesus's very own brother, James, that can help us to understand this during this year because he wrestled with this in his own life. In fact, what I wanna do is I want you to read these words with me. In James chapter four, verse eight, this is what James says. Would you read this with me? Draw close to God and God will draw close to you. Let's read that again. Draw close to God and God will draw close to you. You see, it's in these words of James here that gives us the answer to overcoming the blue that this time of year can have in our lives. And so if you find yourself dealing with a blue Christmas right now,

what James says is this. Don't ignore it, don't fake joy, don't slap a bow on your grief and call it festive. Instead, he says, draw close. Because here's what I know about God. Psalm 34, verse 18 says this. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. You see, the good news is is when you draw close to God, what you'll find is that God is already close to you. And so whatever it is that you're facing or you're experiencing right now that maybe has you feeling blue this Christmas, when you draw close to God, then he will be there. And as the psalmist reminds us, he can rescue us from a spirit that has been crushed from the darkness and the bitterness that you find yourself facing in this world. And as you draw close to God, what you'll find is, number one, as Isaiah says, he's a wonderful counselor. That he's someone you can go to at any time of the day or night. His office is always open. You don't have to book an appointment. And he's a trusted advisor. And so whatever it is that you're facing right now that Jesus says, you can come to me with those things. And I wanna guide you and I wanna direct you through the difficulties you find yourself in.

That he's someone who's there to listen and help you figure out how you can get over this hurdle that you find yourself up against. That he's a wonderful counselor, as 1 Peter 5, 7 says, that you can give all your worries and your cares to God, for he cares about you. And listen, I want you to hear this today. There are some great counselors out there. In fact, I know several here in our congregation who, when people come to me and they're like, I'm going through a difficult season, and I make sure to suggest that that's the person that they go and see. Because I think that sometimes we need to go and we need to seek out help. And it's good to do that. And I know counseling can seem like this taboo thing that we shouldn't do. But for me, there's been times in my life, and there's times where I still, to this day, just have to go and seek counsel from someone else. And what I want you to hear today. today is this, is that sometimes in the midst of what we're facing, what we forget though is that we've got a wonderful counselor in Jesus that we can go to. We can cast all our anxieties and our cares and our worries on him because he cares for you and for me. And he wants us to draw near to him when we're hurting and when we're broken.

And listen, what I'm about to say to you, I wanna say as gently as I can as though I'm one of the closest friends that you have and I hope that you know that I do really care about you. And that's why I'm saying this and that I love you and that's why I want you to hear this today. And I'm actually praying and I've been praying that this message would help some of you find the hope that you need this season. And so I want you to hear this. The reason I believe that many of us feel the way that we do or are in the situations that we find ourselves in is because we didn't listen to God in the first place. We tried to do it by ourselves or we just listened to somebody else's advice. And I know this isn't true across the board but there have been times in my life where I've had to learn this the hard way that I didn't go to the wonderful counselor first to get the advice that I needed. That I tried to do it in my own strength or my own power, my own might or I listened to someone else and I wish I would have learned to trust his advice first because I know that in him, his advice is good 100% of the time. That he always has your and my best interests in mind and he has never steered me wrong and he won't steer you wrong. And so I really wanna encourage you that whatever you're struggling with, bring to him.

Because when you draw close to the wonderful counselor, well his promises, he will draw close to you. Now, if you're here today and you're thinking, well, this is a great message, Pastor Nate, for those who are feeling down and out but I'm actually feeling really good this Christmas season. Actually, I love this time of year and I'm feeling great. Well, this message is for you as well and I want you to understand that you have a responsibility this Christmas season and what I'm about to save might be the best present that you could give someone this Christmas and it's this. Listen, if you know someone who finds themselves in a season feeling blue, I wanna encourage you to invite someone into his presence and give them the chance to draw near to him. I mean, we've already talked about this, right? We know people in our lives who are down, who are hurting, who are feeling hopeless during this time of year and Jesus doesn't need us to be his backup counselor and give them a solution for everything that they're going through. He just needs us to invite them into his presence where they can draw near to him and they can find the healing that they need. You know, there's a statement that I heard several years ago from one of my favorite pastors, Pastor Andy Stanley. He said this and I've taken this to heart. He said, we can't make people fall in love with Jesus, but we can set up the first date.

I love that because our job as Christ followers is simply to set up the appointment with Jesus and allow him to do the rest of the work, to help the hurting to find the healing, which is why I wanna challenge each and every one of us over the next couple of weeks to take this challenge seriously. Like when we talk about these invites and we say take these invites, that's not just like an idea that you should maybe do. Like this is something we want you to do. If you have found the love of Jesus in your life, you should want everyone you know to have that same love in their life. And so I wanna encourage you, like take this seriously, to take these invites and invite someone to Christmas here at Compass to help set up the first date with Jesus for someone you know in your office who's going through a difficult divorce or the neighbor who's just lost a loved one or a family member who's going through a season of searching. Invite them into the presence of Jesus and then watch what God will do in their lives. Because not only is Jesus the wonderful counselor, but the second thing that Isaiah tells us is this, that he's our mighty God. And look, he's not just some eight pound, six ounce, sweet baby Jesus that Ricky Bobby prays to in the manger, right?

Like he's the all powerful, mighty God of the universe. The one who doesn't just counsel and advise, but he carries the weight of our weakness without breaking a sweat. And when Isaiah refers to him as mighty God, that comes from the Hebrew word that means this, warrior, champion, or hero. He's not a passive observer. He's a heavyweight champion and he's a God who fights for you. And if you look at story after story in scripture, what you see is that these people that draw close to Jesus, what they discovered is that he had the power to overcome their sicknesses and their diseases. that spiritual oppression and demonic influences, they would flee in the presence of Jesus, that the broken and hurting found healing in Him, that struggles, sins, and addictions, they lost their grip in the face of His power, that He was mighty when He calmed the storm, that He was mighty when He fed the hungry, that He was mighty when He wept with the grieving, that He was mighty when He carried the cross, and He's still mighty today. And so, listen, whatever it is that you walked in here carrying today, whatever has you feeling like, maybe you're a little powerless this Christmas, you need to know that you've got a mighty God who has the power over whatever it is

that you're up against. When you're overwhelmed, He's over all. When you feel like you're drowning, He walks on water to rescue you. When you feel like you can't hold it together, He holds it all together. You don't have to find strength in this season, you don't have to muscle through, you just have to lean into His strength because He's a mighty God who doesn't wait for you to be strong, He meets you right in your weakness. And so, Jesus is the counselor that you can go to for advice, He's the mighty God who you can go to in your weakness to find strength. Isaiah also reminds us that He's our everlasting Father. And I know when I say that, some of you go, wait, I thought God was the Father and Jesus is the Son. Well, the reason that Isaiah refers to Jesus as everlasting Father is He's helping us to understand that just like a good father wants to give their kids good gifts, that's what Jesus wants to do for you and for me. Now, it doesn't mean that He'll give us everything that we ask for. He's not some spiritual Santa. I mean, this is not a transactional thing, He's relational. He's not making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty and nice,

that's not who Jesus is. He's holding your heart, and He wants to give you exactly what you need this season. I think about it like this, like, I remember when my kids, Blake and McKenna, were just learning to ride their bikes. And there came that time where it was time to take the training wheels off of the bikes. And they were to learn how to pedal and balance at the same time. And so, the first few times that I took off the training wheels, like, what my kids didn't know is that I was still kind of holding onto the back of the seat, helping them to stay balanced so that they could learn what it felt like to pedal and stay balanced at the same time. But then there came that point where I felt confident that they were ready to pedal on their own. And as they were going off on their own, like, I let them kind of pedal a few steps ahead of me. And I would hear them say, Daddy, don't let me fall. And what they didn't know is the whole time I was chasing right behind them, making sure that if they started to wobble a little bit, that I was gonna be right there to catch them and make sure that they didn't get hurt. And you see, that's the heart of Jesus. That's what it means to call Him our everlasting Father, that He's not distant, that He's not watching from the sidelines,

that He's right behind you, steadying you, cheering for you, ready to catch you if you fall. And even when you feel like you're pedaling all alone, well, Jesus is always closer than you think. So this Christmas, if you're feeling unsteady, uncertain, or afraid, remember, you have an everlasting Father. And He's never more than a few steps away. He gives good gifts. He has steady hands. And He gives Himself. You see, in Jesus, we have a wonderful counselor, we have a mighty God, we have an everlasting Father, and Isaiah reminds us that He's also our Prince of Peace. Which might feel a little bit like a contradiction in today's world, because honestly, there's things that can cause anything today to feel anything but peaceful, right? Because when you're in a season of feeling blue, where grief or anxiety or uncertainty are pressing in, peace can honestly feel a little bit out of reach. But here's the good news. Jesus didn't just come to bring peace to perfect circumstances. He brings peace into broken ones. He's not the Prince of Comfort Zones. He's the Prince of Peace, who walks in the chaos, who sits with you in your silence, and speaks calm over the storms in your life. Because the peace referenced here

isn't referring to the absence of conflict, but instead, what it's referring to is the goodness and the wholeness of who God is. It's the kind of peace, as Scripture says, that people can live in peace. passes all of our understanding. You know, I'll never forget the Christmas season of 2016. At that time, I was pastoring as a teaching pastor and executive pastor at a church in just outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Our lead pastor and his wife had served that church faithfully for some 30 years and they were working towards retirement together. I'll never forget though, on Saturday morning, December 17, 2016, my phone rang. It was our lead pastor. I answered the phone. I said, hey, Don, what's up? And through the tears and the emotions, I could barely make out what he was saying, but I heard these few words, Gail has cancer. For a few weeks, Gail hadn't been feeling well leading up to this diagnosis. And so they had run these tests and the results came back that she had stage four pancreatic cancer. With no treatment, the prognosis was that she had three weeks, three months to live. With treatment, she was given maybe nine months to live. And so that Saturday, as I spoke on the phone with Don,

Don told me that he was gonna need to take an extended leave of absence and that I was gonna need to fill in the next several weeks so that he could be with Gail. And that Christmas was definitely a blue Christmas in many ways for me. As I sat in my office later that Saturday afternoon, trying to figure out what it was that I was gonna share with our church family after receiving this difficult news, it was these words of Isaiah chapter nine that rung out. You see, in the midst of the hurt and the grief and the pain and the confusion, it's Jesus that we can turn to as our wonderful counselor, our mighty God, our everlasting Father and our Prince of Peace in those moments. And I believe that God used that difficult season to remind me, to remind our church, to remind the Hamilton family that in times of chaos and hardship, we need to, as James says in James 4.8, draw close to God because God will draw close to you. Because the reminder from James is this, is that Jesus, He's never more than a few steps away. And so today as we close, here's what I wanna do. I wanna take some time as we wrap up this message to spend some time drawing close to God in this season that maybe has you feeling blue. And so we're gonna worship together in a moment. But before we do that,

I wanna talk to a few groups of people here today that I realize are going through a really hard season. For some of you here today, you've experienced a loss this year that has made this season tough. You know, at the beginning of this year, my grandma passed away. This will be the first Christmas that she won't be around. It's gonna be hard for my family. And maybe you have experienced a loss like that as well. Maybe a parent, a sibling, a friend, a spouse, or maybe even sadly, a child. Maybe even one that didn't make it to this earth. Today, I wanna acknowledge that there are some in this room or even some of you who are watching online who are feeling blue from that loss. And if that's you, in just a minute, I'm gonna ask you to just be bold and stand where you're at. And I promise it won't be weird, but we wanna pray for you. I also believe there's another group that I wanna invite to stand as well here in a minute. And that's someone who maybe lost someone who's dear to you in a previous year or even a long time ago. And the pain of that loss is still deep today. And Christmas, you particularly feel it. And so if either of those describes you today, what we wanna do is we wanna pray for you. I wanna pray over you. And so what I want you to do right now, if that's you,

would you just stand where you're at? And I wanna thank you for being bold, for those of you who that describes for being bold and taking the courage to stand. Listen, sometimes the hardest thing that we do is we admit our need before others. Now, listen, here at Compass, nobody ever stands alone. And God is close and we're close to each other. And so Compass family, I'm gonna invite you to stand as well right now. And if there was someone who was already standing close to where you're at, here's what I want you to do. I want you to put a hand on a shoulder or a hand on an arm, not in a creepy or weird kind of way, all right? But just to show them that we care about them and that God cares about them. And we're gonna pray. And then after we pray, our staff's gonna be up front. And maybe there's some of you who are going through a hard season right now and you just need some prayer for something in your life. Our team's gonna be available and we're gonna worship together. We wanna stay in this moment and we wanna... use this time to heal and remind ourselves that we've got a God who loves us, who cares about us, who is for us. And he sees us in our brokenness and he's with us. So Father God, we come to you right now.

We thank you that you are the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And so Father, right now I ask that you would just allow Jesus to give those who feel weak the power that they need in this season. For those who don't know what's good in their life, God, would you just show them that you are good? God, for those who are dealing with a season where they're not feeling very peaceful, would you give them this peace? And God, would you just be that counselor to them, that they know that they can go to in this moment, that they can come to and they can bring their worries and their cares to you because you care about them. And so Father, my prayer is that over the next few minutes, as we worship together, there would be healing that would take place in this room. God, that you would begin to speak to those who are hurting, who are broken, and may this blue Christmas turn to another color because they trust in you. That they give it over to you, Father. And Father, we thank you for the hope that Jesus brings to each and every one of us. God, I pray for healing. I pray for peace. I pray for comfort and joy this Christmas for those who maybe walked in today feeling down and out, feeling as though there was no hope

and knowing that there is hope in you now. And so Father, we thank you that you are our wonderful counselor, our mighty God, our everlasting Father, and that Prince of Peace that we can always look to. We pray this in the powerful and the mighty name of Jesus, I pray, amen. Amen. As we respond with worship, I wanna invite you again to come and get prayer. When we deal with our hurt, our pain, our confusion, like Nate said, Jesus is our source. He is our wonderful counselor, our mighty God, our everlasting Father, our Prince of Peace. Let's worship. ♪ Oh oh oh oh yeah yeah yeah oh oh oh oh yeah oh oh oh ♪ ♪ You were the medicine the only cure for everything I feared ♪ ♪ But a demon one was lost in overflowing ♪ ♪ Oh this is a healing kind of love ♪ ♪ Oh yeah you are the truth to me ♪ ♪ Stayed through the night and when I woke I felt you ♪ ♪ Come from between my heart to make one for life ♪ ♪ Oh this is a fainting kind of love ♪ ♪ You're terrible as your father, a prisoner in his knees ♪ ♪ Emmanuel come and heal me ♪ ♪ Wonderful counselor, the God that is resting on his shoulders ♪ ♪ You are the final one, you alone decides when every pain will turn ♪ ♪ So trust your time and I will rescue you from this pain ♪ ♪ Oh this is a saving kind of love ♪ ♪ You're terrible as your father, my prisoner in his knees ♪

♪ Emmanuel come and heal me ♪ ♪ If the government is resting on your shoulders ♪ ♪ Oh on your shoulders, we call your love, you are our friend ♪ He made you wear a crown You healed me Oh, love of God The God of my being is resting on your shoulder Oh, oh, oh And I am too I am too I'm resting on you I'm resting on you You reign forever You reign forever Oh, oh, oh And your name is saying Oh, baby, say it Oh, I'll stand in awe of you And your name's saying Oh, baby, say it Oh, I'll stand in awe of you Say your name Your name, say it They say it Oh, they say it They say it Oh, I say it Oh, I'll stand in awe of you Oh, oh, I'll stand in awe of you Oh, I'll stand in awe of you

Oh, I'll stand in awe of you Oh, I'll stand in awe of you Oh, I'll stand in awe of you Oh, I'll stand in awe of you If you're afraid, will you hear me now? Will you hear me now? I'll stand in awe of you Oh, I'll stand in awe of you With courage in my voice With hope in my soul I'll stand in awe of you Oh, I'll stand in awe of you With hope in my soul With courage in my soul I'll stand in awe of you I'll stand in awe of you I'll stand in awe of you Yes, Lord, your name sits in all The one that we can run to, the refuge The one that we can rely on, our good and wonderful counsel And our Prince of Peace So, God, as we go this week Father, may you be all of that, may you invade our situations May you invade the things that we are grasping so tightly Father, may we be so bold to hand them over to you And welcome you into those situations Meet us this week, Lord We pray this all in your name Amen Amen, friends, don't run away

If you still need prayer, we would love to pray with you But if you need to go, bless you guys as you go Have a great week