The Gift of Peace - Christmas at Saddleback

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace, there will be no end. Merry Christmas! Welcome to Saddleback Church. Why don't you stand on your feet and let's clap our hands as we celebrate the birth of Jesus today. Come on, let's sing together. Come and behold him, born the King of kings. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Let it rise. Lord. Well all together, sing choirs of angels. Sing choirs of angels. Sing in exultation. Sing all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God. Glory in the highest. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Oh come let us adore him. Christ the Lord. Oh come let us adore him.

Christ the Lord. Over 2,000 years ago, angels filled the skies with a song announcing the birth of our Savior. Well tonight we join that song and we say glory to God in the highest. Angels we have heard on high. Sweetly singing o'er the plains. And the mountains in reply. Echoing their joyous strains. Gloria. In excelsis Deo. Gloria. In excelsis Deo. Come to Bethlehem and see. Him whose birth the angels sing. Come adore on bended knee. Christ the Lord, the newborn King. Gloria. In excelsis Deo. Gloria. In excelsis Deo. In excelsis Deo. Everybody, let's clap our hands like this. Come on, real high, come on. Come, they told me, fa-rum-pum-pum-pum. A newborn came to see, fa-rum-pum-pum-pum. Our finest gifts we bring, fa-rum-pum-pum-pum. To lay before the king, fa-rum-pum-pum-pum. Rum-pum-pum-pum, rum-pum-pum-pum. So to honor him, fa-rum-pum-pum-pum. When we come. Fa-rum-pum-pum-pum, fa-rum-pum-pum-pum.

Come on, real high. Fa-rum-pum-pum-pum. Shall I play for you, fa-rum-pum-pum-pum? On my drum. Oh-oh-oh-oh. Oh-oh-oh-oh. Oh-oh-oh-oh. Oh-oh-oh-oh. While people sing songs of good cheer, Christmas is here. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. Merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. I ask you, merry gentlemen, ain't nothing you dismay. Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day. To save us all from Satan's plow and we were gone astray. Oh-oh, tidings of comfort and joy. Comfort and joy. Oh-oh, tidings of comfort and joy. Joy, joy. Joyful, joyful Lord, we adore Thee. God of glory, Lord of love. Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee. Fearless with the light. Oh-oh-oh-oh. Fearless with the light. Oh-oh-oh-oh. Fearless. Fearless with the light. With the light of day. Everybody, if you've got joy, come on, clap your hands like this.

Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven and nature sing. And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing. He rules the world with truth and grace. And makes the nations prove the glory of His love. His words... His relationship... His wonders of... His love... Joy to the world! Welcome to Christmas at Saddleback! Merry Christmas everybody! We are so glad that you are here to join us for this special Christmas service. If we haven't met yet, my name is Karissa. My name is Nicholas. And we are part of our online community team here at Saddleback. If you're watching with us for the very first time, we are so excited that you decided to spend Christmas with us. We would love to get to know you more and to help you get more connected with our church community. Yes, if it's your first time, we would love to know about it. So you can click on the link in the description if you're watching on YouTube. Or you can download our Saddleback Church app, set your campus to online community, and then open the notes section to access our program. And someone from our team would love to personally reach out to you and help you get connected. That's right. And our Saddleback app is a great tool for you to get the most out of your experience today during service. Through the app, you'll be able to stay connected with all the things that are happening here at our church. You'll also be able to follow along with the message notes as Pastor Andy is preaching today. And you'll get access to our digital program, which will allow you to have access to next steps, which we'll talk about later in the service today.

Yes, yes. And we know that Christmas can be filled with a lot of exciting things. Some people go see lights, maybe open presents, or spend time with friends and family. So fun. But the most exciting thing is that we get to celebrate the birth of Christ. We get to celebrate the birth of our Savior. And so in just a moment, we're going to watch the nativity together. And we just want to invite you to let it sink in and to really reflect on what this season means, to fix your eyes back on Jesus, the Savior of our world coming to this earth. And so we just want to invite you to pray with us as we step into that moment together. So let's pray. God, we are so grateful for this season. A time to relax, a time to pause and celebrate and to focus our eyes on Jesus. God, this Christmas, we remember the gift that is Jesus. He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. And so in a season that can be so hard and busy for many of us, Lord, would you help us to refix our eyes on the hope and the joy that is Jesus coming to be with us. God, we are so thankful for this time that we get to spend together as a church family. We love you and we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Who will shepherd my people, Israel. Yet in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light. The hopes and fears of all the years were met in thee tonight. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. And Joseph also went up to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. For an angel of the Lord had appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Joseph, I am your father. Son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save people from their sins. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary, who told her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. Lord, help us! And Mary gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guest room. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited us and redeemed his people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born! O night divine! Fall on your knees! Hear the angel voices! O night divine! O night when Christ was born! O night divine! O night! O night divine! O night divine! But when Jesus was born, the Prince of Peace was delivered. The King of Kings was delivered. Our healer, our Messiah, entered the world. And I don't know about you, but I believe that is some good news. Do you believe that? And so can we right now welcome the Saddleback Kids Choir? They've got good news to share with you, and what do we do with good news? We have to go and tell it on the mountain. Come on. Come on, all over the room, everybody. Clap those hands.

Come on. Let's sing it together. Go tell it on the mountain. Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. That Jesus Christ is born. Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. That Jesus Christ is born. While shepherds stand there watching, O'er silent flocks by night, People throughout the heavens There show the Holy Light. Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. That Jesus Christ is born. While shepherds fear and tremble, They glow above the earth. Rain down the angels' chorus That hails our Savior's birth. Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. That Jesus Christ is born. Down in the lowly manger The humble Christ was born. And God sent us salvation

That blessed Christmas morn. Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. That Jesus Christ is born. Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it. Go tell it on the mountain. Over the hills and everywhere. Go tell it on the mountain. That Jesus Christ is born. That Jesus Christ is born. That Jesus Christ is born. Jesus Christ is born. Born. Born. Born. Woo! Great job, guys! Way to go! One more time, can we give it up for Saddleback Kids Choir? These guys are awesome! You know, we are so blessed to be able to celebrate together the birth of Jesus. You guys can grab a seat.

And every year as we plan and prepare, months on end, there's so much that goes into this moment. And I do want to take an opportunity to say thank you to the team that pulled our whole event off tonight. Can we thank worship, production crew? And then also, you know, we have thousands of volunteers across all of our campuses. And there are some of you that are joining us online. But we're so grateful for literally thousands of people that sacrifice time and energy in parking lots welcoming us, making hot chocolate, holding babies, investing in kids during the services. And all of that happens because of our volunteers. So I want together, if we can, just to say thank you, our volunteers, all of our campuses. I want to pray for us, and then we'll jump into the message. Father, thank you today for your goodness. to us, thank you that you are good and kind and faithful. And I pray today that as we're looking at these few verses of the Christmas story that you'd open our eyes and our hearts, our hearts truly are thankful today. In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, I do wanna say one more time for us as a church family, from Stacey and I to you, how thankful we are during Christmas. We're reminded of how much we love you guys. We've been praying for months on end for you this weekend that God would bless you and move in your heart. And also for those of you who are new to Saddleback that you're coming for the very first time. You know, maybe you're coming back to church for the first time in a long time. Maybe this is your first time here. One of the things that happens in our hearts is just this longing for more. And I think that longing for more, God places it there

so that we would reach out, so that we would seek him. And if there's something inside of you that's starting to say, like, I want answers to the deeper questions of life. We pray that you'll go on a journey with us, that you would say, I'll make Saddleback a place where I'll just explore what I believe about Jesus. God made you to know him, to grow, to be a part of a community like this, for your life to make a difference. And we wanna help you with that. And so one way that we can really help with that, and if you're saying, I wanna go on that journey, is next year, we're gonna start off the new year, right? We're actually gonna start a whole new message series in January called Back on Track, because everybody knows in January, we need to get back on track, right? And there are so many areas of our life, from finances to fitness to relationships. So I wanna invite you to come back for that in January to get back on track. I'll talk about relationships with one another. I'll talk about relationship with God. I'll talk about fitness, getting back on track physically, financially. Now, some of you are like, I don't wanna think about that. Eat your cookies, you're off track already, and then come back and get back on track in January. But for my message today,

I wanna talk about a subject that shows up a whole lot during Christmas, and it's a subject of peace. And you hear it in Christmas songs. You probably have seen it on Christmas cards. And here's a phrase that shows up so often on Christmas cards, it's peace on earth. I want you to see these cards. Maybe you've sent one of them before to a friend. And I think actually for us, we've had some family Christmas cards where we had peace on earth written on the card. And so this week, I wanted to do like a little bit of research on that phrase, peace on earth, to figure out where that phrase actually comes from, from the teachings of Jesus. And I found it to be very interesting where it shows up. So in Luke chapter 12, verse 51, and you have some notes if you wanna pull them out. Luke chapter 12, verse 51 says this, this is Jesus speaking, and he says this, do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No. Now that's a little bit confusing, isn't it? Like I thought Jesus came to bring peace on earth. It might even be a shocker to you that Jesus would actually say that. Well, Jesus in the context is making a very important statement that many people thought his whole mission

was to make earth a peaceful place. And that's not what he came to do. Now, Jesus did come to bring peace, but his goal was not to bring peace on earth. In fact, there's a whole lot of problems that we face on earth. And Jesus would tell us about that when he would teach. In John chapter 16, verse 33, it says this, Jesus is speaking, and he's trying to help them understand that the peace they're looking for is not found in their circumstances. And he says this, I told you these things so that in me, you might have peace. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I've overcome the world. What Jesus is saying is that you might look around you for peace in the world, but that peace you're looking for, you're not going to find it. The peace you're looking for is found in him. He's saying it's found in me. Now, when I think about the problems of the world, isn't it true that the holidays have a way of bringing those problems to the surface? Like maybe sometimes when you're with family members during Christmas, there are old fights that come back. And perhaps when you like go to your extended family, there's always that uncle that gets drunk and tries to kiss your wife on the lips when you come through the front door.

True story, I had one uncle like that. And, you know, you deal with people during Christmas that maybe you don't like and you don't want to be around them. Or maybe during this time of year, there are problems that come to the surface. And there are things that have happened this year, whether it was a doctor's report, or maybe you just walked through a divorce, or your spouse cheated on you, or something happened that was really significant this year. And you feel like you lack peace. Where do you get that peace? In fact, how do you find that peace in Jesus? Well, if we go to the original Christmas story, the moment where Jesus would come, when he would be born and placed into a manger, right before that, an angel would show up. And this angel would pronounce good news. of great joy and then there would be this chorus of angels that break out into song. And I want you to notice their song from Luke chapter two, verse 13 and 14, the original Christmas story. It says, suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. Now in this moment, these angels are bursting into their song

and they're saying in the heavens, there's glory to God, there's a rejoicing in his presence and his greatness, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom God's favor rests. Now notice that, there's this picture of heaven of God's glory and the angels when they say, they don't say peace on earth, they actually say on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. So what does that mean? What it means is that the object of God's peace is not the world, the object of God's peace is your heart, it's on the inside. So the gift of peace that God is wanting to give to us is not something that is circumstantial that we can somehow construct a life without problems, but there's a peace that God wants to give on the inside. So on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. But if I'm honest with you, I sometimes lack peace and the peace that I'm looking for seems really hard to find. Well, the angel right before this gives us a clue of where that peace comes from. And watch how the angel describes the coming of Jesus. The angel says to the shepherds, do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy that will be for all of the people. Now there's three things right there. He says there good news, there's great joy for all people.

Meaning one day, thousands of years later in Southern California at Saddleback Church, there would be people singing songs like joy to the world. And the reason why is because when Jesus came, a savior was born that was good news of great joy for all people. And the invitation from the angel is today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He's the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you, you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. So the coming of Jesus, the savior of the world is good news of great joy for all people that God wants to give peace to those on whom his favor rests. So how do I get that peace? How do I live with that when I find myself in chaotic circumstances or things at my work are not going the way I hoped it would or relationships are struggling, where do I get that peace? Well, the truth is that peace is not found in a meditation app, that peace is not found in just sitting around drinking chamomile tea, that peace is not found in constructing perfect circumstances. The path to peace that we're looking for is through trusting in Jesus. That ultimately the peace that you're looking for, that I'm looking for, only comes through the conduit of Jesus and his grace into our lives.

And God wants you to have that gift of peace today. God wants you to experience right now in this moment, his peace on the inside of your heart. So how do you experience and receive it? Well, in the Old Testament, in Isaiah chapter nine, going all the way back 700 years before Jesus would come, there was a prophecy about his coming. And I want you to see how the prophecy describes the coming of Jesus. It says this, for to us, a child is born. To us, a son is given. And the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called for things. Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. Now notice those descriptions of who Jesus is. And that statement that says the government will be on his shoulders, well, what does that mean? It's not necessarily that Jesus would be a physical ruler of a kingdom here on earth and that the government would rest on his shoulders. It's meaning that there's a kind of leadership of his kingdom in our hearts that he's establishing where he's the prince of peace and the government of our lives and the government of our problems is placed on his shoulders. And it says he'll reign on David's throne over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.

The zeal of Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Now, when my kids were little, we would often find ourselves, when we were getting out the door, we'd find ourselves, that was the moment of greatest stress. Those of you who are parents with little kids, you know what I'm talking about. And it always seems that you have less time when you're going out the door and they're always more worked up when you're trying to get out the door and you're trying to do for them the very thing that's gonna take 45 minutes to do if they do it themselves. Put the shoes on, put the jacket on. And my kids. There was a phrase that they used to say when they were little, and the phrase was, do it self. I'm gonna do it myself. That means out of the way, dad, out of the way, mom, I can handle it. And what I've noticed about myself is it's almost like at times I say to God, do it self. Do it self, God, I can figure it out. I've got what it takes to do it self. Now, it's not that God doesn't want us to have agency or responsibility for our lives, but at the end of the day, our shoulders are not big enough to carry the weight of the world the way that Jesus carries the weight of the world.

And our shoulders are not big enough to carry, there's two things I wanna highlight. One, the worries of our future. And some of us live in this place where we're constantly thinking about the future and we're weighed down. You might even be trying to solve problems in next year. How are you gonna pay that credit card bill when it comes for all the Christmas presents? How are you gonna deal with the problems at work or relationships? And the worries of the future, what they have a way of doing is weighing down our shoulders. God never intended you to carry the worries of your future. He invites you to transfer them to Him. In Philippians 4, verse six, there's a verse where the apostle Paul writes from a prison and he says this. While he's in prison for his faith in Jesus, he says this, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your request to God and the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. So what Paul is saying is there's a way to take your problem and put it into God's hand, to take your worry and transfer it over to God. So if I were to ask you right now, like if you were to give yourself a peace number, like zero is no peace, 10 is a lot,

and you can't do that because it's a peace sign. What's the number that you would give yourself right now? And the invitation, some middle schoolers said six or seven, the invitation is to give to God and to experience His peace and the more that I trust Him, the more of His peace that I experience, the more I trust in myself, the less of His peace I experience. So today I wanna invite you to transfer over the worries of your future to God. And I love doing something that has been so helpful throughout the years. I'll pick out a piece of paper and I'll write a line down the middle of that piece of paper. And on one side of the line, I'll write at the top, God, and on the other side, I'll write me. And sometimes what happens is I get all of my responsibilities mixed up and I can relegate and not do them and then I'll take all of God's responsibilities on myself and get really stressed out. And it's when I put them in the right box and the right container that there's peace. So my encouragement to you is to figure out what is it that's God's that you're carrying and let Him give you His peace as you transfer the worry of your future to Him. I'm gonna give you an opportunity to do that in our time together today. But there's one other weight that we weren't intended to carry.

You were not intended to carry the weight of your sin. You were not designed by God to carry the guilt, the shame, the reality of the brokenness of our world and moments in your life that you deeply regret. See, all of us as humans, we have on the inside of our hearts what the Bible calls sin. And sin is our propensity to go away from the ways of God. We wanna do it ourself, we wanna do it our way. And that includes pride and selfishness and arrogance and lying and all these things that all of us struggle with. And what the Bible teaches us is that all of that sin that you and I as human beings, the choices that we make, all of that sin should separate us from God. And in Romans chapter 6, 23, there's a verse that speaks of the consequence of sin for our lives. It says this, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And what that means is that God wants to give you a gift in exchange for your sin, which is such a hard thing to think about. The reality that God would take our sin to a cross and that when Jesus would be crucified, as he's hanging there all of our sin and he's paying the price for our sin so that we can be restored to the heart of God. And then God gives us the gift of forgiveness,

the gift of salvation. So one more time, let me read it. The wages of sin is death, separation from God, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And there are some of you today that you're listening to my voice. You're not certain that you've received that gift of eternal life. And today I wanna give you an invitation, an offer from God to receive the gift of eternal life, the gift of his peace in your heart. And I think the reality of this is that for so many of us, we move through the busyness of life and there are. deeper questions that we just ignore. And sometimes we gotta slow down long enough to say that ache on the inside, there's a solution for it. That confusion deep within your soul, God has provided a way that you can have peace and live with the fullness of God's peace in your life. In John 14, 27, Jesus says this, peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. You look at the news, there's a lot of taking our peace that the world is all about, the chaos and confusion. I don't give as the world gives. Jesus says, do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.

He's saying, I wanna give you the gift of peace. And today that invitation, that gift of peace from God to you is available. And I wanna ask you to receive that gift of God's peace into your heart, into your life today. Now you might notice in my voice, a little bit of passion over this subject. And I just gotta share with you why I care so much about this. See, when I was in middle school, my parents, they divorced and I was being raised by a single dad. And when my parents divorced, both of them kind of stopped going to church for a period of time. And then my dad made a decision that he was gonna start taking us back to church. And there was a moment very much like this moment where there was a preacher who was up front. He didn't have a checker jacket on, but he's standing up front and he starts making an invitation to receive the gift of God's peace, the gift of grace into my life. And I remember sitting there, deep within my soul was this stirring that now I know is the Holy Spirit working in my heart. And I could just sense the love of God in a way that I never had before. And at the end of his message, he looked at all of us

and he said, hey, if you wanna receive the gift of God's grace, if you wanna believe in Jesus and receive the gift of eternal life, you can do that right now in this moment. Now he called all of us forward. I'm not gonna do that with you today, but I'm gonna ask you to receive this gift of eternal life. And right now, there's some of you that there's a stirring on the inside of your heart. And that's the Holy Spirit. He's drawing you to God. He's saying, I wanna give you the gift of relationship with God. Your whole life, your creator has been pursuing you. And the Bible says that he pursues us with goodness and mercy. He is a good God who's loving and kind. He's merciful and gracious. He sees you, he knows you. He knows every hair on your head. He knows every worry in your heart. He knows every day that you will live. He saw you in your mother's womb and his greatest purpose for your life is that you would know him, that you would be in relationship with him. See the problem of sin is that no religion ever solved the problem of our brokenness and our sin. And that's the whole meaning of Christmas. There had to be an intervention

and God wrote himself into the story of humanity so that we might receive God's gift of eternal life. He lived among us for 33 years, never sinned, never made a mistake. And at the end of his life, he was nailed to a Roman cross, placed into a grave. And on the third day he rose again and now he is crowned king of glory. He is the king of all kings and Lord of all lords. And he wants you to know his heart and to know his peace. So I'm gonna give an invitation in just a moment for you to receive that gift of peace into your life. But I've asked the band to come now and they're gonna sing a song over you that is just a song that has been sung for ages. It's straight from the Bible. It's a blessing that's thousands of years old that is about the peace of God. And as you hear this song, I'm gonna invite you just to stay seated to receive and let this prayer as it's being prayed be a prayer that you would receive the peace of God into your heart. Let's listen to this song together. Amen. ♪ Lord bless you and keep you ♪ ♪ Make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you ♪ ♪ Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace ♪ ♪ Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen ♪ ♪ Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen, amen ♪

Amen, amen, amen, amen, amen. Lord bless you and keep you. Make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Lord, turn his face toward you and give you peace. And give you peace. I know he will. And give you peace. There's no gift on planet Earth like the gift of God's peace in our heart. You could be walking through the most chaotic circumstances in your life, not know what the future holds, be walking through great loss, and by the grace of God have peace inside your heart and your mind that could only come as a gift from God. And I want to invite you to receive that gift of God's peace into your heart. God sent Jesus in human flesh, God in human flesh, so that his peace might rule and reign in our hearts. In the Bible, in Romans chapter 10, verse 9 and 10, the Bible so clearly states, how do you receive this gift of eternal life into your heart? And it says this, if you declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it's with your heart that you believe and are justified. And it's with your mouth that you profess your faith and you are saved. So the favor of God that we need so deeply in our life comes when we receive that gift by faith in Jesus. It's not through religion. It's not through earning. It's entrusting your life into the hands of Jesus. And I want to invite you to do that right now. I want to give a couple of invitations. Some of you, maybe you're in this like do-it-yourself mode with your life, and you're a follower of Jesus, and you've just been working hard.

You've been going hard all Christmas season, getting the presents, worried about problems. And God is saying to you today, just give your worries to me and place them into my hands. Today, you can do that in just a moment when we pray together. Others of you, maybe you've been straying from God. Like at one point in your journey, you were walking with God, and you're saying, I want to come home to God today. I'm done doing it my way. I want to return to the heart of God. And in just a moment, you can respond to that invitation to come home back to the heart of God. And for those of you that have never put your trust in Jesus, right now, in this moment, can be the moment of your salvation that you choose to believe in Him, and you open your heart to Him. Not by religion, not by human performance, but by faith in Jesus, the Son of God who died on a cross for your sins, you can receive that gift of eternal life. So for all of those invitations I want to invite you to receive right now, if you'll close your eyes and pray with me for just a moment. Some of you right now, you just need to say, God, I'm bringing the pieces of my life to you. And just to acknowledge to Him, Lord, I'm putting my life, all my problems into your hands. This is an invitation for those who follow Jesus, for all of us, just to say, God, my life is yours. I'm done trying to do it with my own power. Others of you, maybe today you need to come home to God. And this invitation is just for you to say, God, I'm ready to be back home with you. If that's you, it'd be an honor just to lead you in a short prayer. You can say to God, I want to come back home to you right now. I'm returning. I want to choose to recommit my life back to you in this moment and live in your peace. And as you pray, God is, He's moving in your heart. Others of you, maybe the invitation for you right now in this moment

as the Spirit of God is stirring on the inside, is for you to receive that gift of eternal life. This is the most important decision you'll ever make. And right now is that moment for you to open your heart to Jesus. You can say a very simple prayer from your heart to God that goes something like this. Just say, dear Jesus, I believe you came. I believe you died on a cross for my sin. And I believe that you rose again from the dead. And I'm putting my trust in you the best I know how right in this moment. Just put your life into his hands. He makes you new on the inside. Eternal life is now. your destiny, and just tell them the best I know how, God, I want to follow you as I surrender my life to you now. And Jesus, we thank you for the gift of salvation. We pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen, amen. I want to celebrate if you just prayed that prayer with me to put your trust in Jesus. Now I want for just a moment before we go into our candlelight part of the service, I want to invite everybody to pull out this card. It says next steps on it. And on that card, there's a couple of things that you'll notice. There are some next steps that we can all take for all of us. There's some next steps that we can take today. Some of you today, you prayed with me to begin to follow Jesus for the very first time,

and you can just mark that box that said today, I decided to follow Jesus. It's really important you let somebody know about that decision. We have some resources we want to send to you, and we'll drop those in the mail to you. And we're just, we're not going to call you or bother you. We just want to help you on that journey. And I would love to know that you made that decision today so that I can be praying for you. Now, if you're saying today, I want to come home, recommit my life to Jesus, you can do that. We'll also send you some resources. And then finally, for all of us to say, I'm coming back to Saddleback to get back on track in January, you can come back. You can just say, I'm going to make a commitment in January to come back to church and be a part of starting the new year right. You can make that commitment. Now, on the back, there's one part that says, how can we pray for you? We would love to pray for you in the coming days. And if you'll just write down some way that our church family can come alongside and pray for you. Now, in just a moment, there are going to be some buckets that go by. You can drop this card in as the buckets go by. I'm going to ask everybody to drop the card in. Now, you might be saying, I didn't write anything down.

That's okay. We'll recycle the cards. We don't want to waste paper. So you can put it in. That was funny. That was a pastor joke. Nobody laughed. But if you didn't write anything down, just put it in as the buckets go by. Also, this is our opportunity to give back to God. Those of us who call Saddleback Church our home. So if you want to participate, you can use that envelope that you received. If you're a guest with us, you're new here, we just want this card. We want to know that you're with us. And we want to go on a journey with you to help you explore relationship with God. Now, let me say one other thing before we sing again. It's really important. Underneath your chair, there is a candle. And after the buckets pass, you can grab the candle. So the buckets are going to come, drop the card in, then you can grab the candle. Now, every year, there's somebody who brings their cigarette lighter to church with them and lights everybody's candle prematurely. So I just want to say, please don't light any candles during this song. This is not the song for candlelight.

But as the buckets go by, you can place your card in and then grab your candle afterwards. That's a good, clear explanation, right? There are crazy things that happen with candles, folks. People's hair gets burned. I mean, there's all kinds of crazy stuff. So let me pray for us. And then the buckets will pass and you can drop these cards in. Jesus, thank you today for the gift of salvation, the gift of eternal life and those who've made that decision today. Thank you, Noel, that you've come, Lord Jesus, the one born among us so that we might have life. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. I invite you to drop the card in as the buckets go by. ♪ The first Noel the angels did say ♪ ♪ Was to certain poor shepherds in fetes as they lay ♪ ♪ As they lay in fields where they lay keeping their sheep ♪ ♪ On a cold winter's night that was so deep ♪ ♪ That was so deep ♪ ♪ Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel ♪ ♪ Born is the King of Israel ♪ ♪ Born is the King of Israel ♪ ♪ Then he led us all with one accord ♪ ♪ Singing praises to the Lord God Almighty ♪ To our heavenly Lord, that hath made heaven and earth whole, and with His blood mankind has borne, Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,

Born is the King of Israel He is born, He is born, the Son of God He has come to dwell in the Kings and Lord of Lords, Emmanuel He is born, He is born, hope for all, love, hope and death He has come to save the world, we sing Noel Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel, The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Emmanuel Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel He has come to save the world, we sing Noel Noel Amazing! So beautiful, the gifts that God has given to our church with our worship team, the way they lead us into God's presence. Thank you again for leading us, worship team. So thankful for you guys. Now I want to invite you to go ahead and pull out your candle. And we're reminded of the silent night, the holy night, where Jesus, the light of the world, would come to bring light to the darkness. All of creation longed for this moment where God would split time in two and Jesus would come. I'd like to invite you as you grab your candle to stand with us. And we're going to begin to just sing this song as we remember silent night, holy night, the moment that Jesus would come. So Jesus, we thank you for that silent night that you would come from heaven to earth, the light of the world in our midst, Lord. And I pray that you would be honored even as we remember and celebrate that moment. In Jesus' name, amen. 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 ♪ ♪ Glory streams from the right hand of God ♪ ♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory streams from heaven afar ♪ ♪ Heavenly hosts sing alleluia ♪ ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ ♪ Christ the Savior is born ♪ ♪ Savior is born ♪ ♪ Silent night, holy night ♪ ♪ Son of God, love's pure light ♪ ♪ Radiant beams from thy holy face ♪ ♪ With the dawn of redeeming grace ♪ ♪ With the dawn of redeeming grace ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord at thy birth ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord at thy birth ♪ Well, let's lift our voice to Jesus as we remember the light of the world, our Savior has come. ♪ 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 ♪ Well, what a beautiful service and time of worship we had together today. We are so grateful that you joined us for this special Christmas service,

and it was so encouraging to hear of the hope and the peace that Jesus brings. That's right, and if you watch with us for the very first time, we hope that you felt so welcomed and that you enjoyed your time with us. We would love to personally connect with you, so if you would, please let us know that if it was your first time watching with us today, you can download the Saddleback app, you can scan the QR code, or you can also hit the link in the description down below. Yes, and before you go, if there was a decision that you made during the service to take a next step, whether it was accepting Jesus for the first time or joining us, committing to join us for Back on Track in January, we would love to know about it, so make sure you fill out a Next Steps card. And also, if there's anything that you need prayer for, we know that the holidays aren't always easy for people. We would love to be praying for you during the season as well. That's right, well, next week, we are holding Saddleback at Home, and this is something that's very familiar for us on the online community. We watch church online all the time, but next week will be particularly special because our entire church family, every single campus, will be joining us for an online service together.

So we hope that you guys will come back next week and watch that with us. We're super excited for it, and we also wanna encourage you to be thinking about who you're gonna share this service with. Maybe there was one or two people that came to mind during the message, and you text them the link to watch the service right after this, or maybe you invite them to watch the service with you. Be thinking about who. needs to hear the peace and the hope that Jesus brings this Christmas season. So be thinking about that and share the service with others. Church family, we love you so much. We're so glad that you joined us today and we hope you have a Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone. Merry Christmas. Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of heart. Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad.

Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Navidad.