You're Not Alone in This | Christmas Message for the Broken

Hey y'all, welcome to Flatirons Church Online and Merry Christmas. One thing that I love about Christmas here at Flatirons is that it never gets old. Whether it's worship or an incredible message or everyone's favorite part, candles, it always feels so special. So I don't know how Christmas is feeling for you this season, but regardless of where you're at, I just hope that whatever you hear today meets you exactly where you are and it's exactly what you need to hear. So let's get into it and worship together. Merry Christmas. 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵 🎵

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🎵 The one and two, the birth of Jesus. God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth. The virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. Her name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, Greetings, you are the highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled, but the angel said to her, Do not be afraid. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son. You will call him Jesus. In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went to from the town of Nazareth and Galilee to Judea, the Bethlehem, the town of David. He went there to register with Mary. She was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born. And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloth and placed him in a manger because there was no guest room available for them. And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. They were terrified, but the angel said to them, Do not be afraid.

I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, the Savior has been born. He is the Messiah. This will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger. Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests. And the shepherds hurried in a bed for him. They found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger, just as the angel had said. They went and told everyone what had happened. The God had come to be with us. Our Savior Jesus, the light of the world, had been born. Come, let us adore him. Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing. Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him. Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord. The Lord. His name shall be wonderful counselor. His name shall be everlasting father.

His name shall be prince of peace, mighty God. His name shall be Emmanuel. We'll praise your name. ♪ Forever, we'll praise your name ♪ ♪ Forever, we'll praise your name ♪ ♪ Forever, all he is Christ the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, we'll praise your name ♪ ♪ Oh, we'll praise your name forever ♪ ♪ We'll praise your name forever ♪ ♪ We'll praise your name forever ♪ ♪ Christ the Lord, all he is Christ the Lord ♪ ♪ Oh, his name shall be wonderful counselor ♪ ♪ His name shall be everlasting father ♪ ♪ His name shall be prince of peace, mighty God ♪ ♪ His name shall be Emmanuel, Emmanuel, Emmanuel ♪ Merry Christmas, welcome to Flatirons. We would love for you to join us and sing. ♪ Joy to the world, the Lord is come ♪ ♪ Let earth receive her king ♪ ♪ Let every heart prepare him room ♪ ♪ Heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing ♪ ♪ And heaven and heaven and nature sing ♪ ♪ And heaven and heaven and nature sing ♪ ♪ And heaven and heaven and nature sing ♪ We sing joy to the world. ♪ Joy to the world, the Savior reigns ♪ ♪ Let men their songs employ ♪ ♪ While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains ♪ ♪ Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy ♪ ♪ Repeat, repeat the sounding joy ♪

♪ Joy to the world ♪ ♪ He rules the world with truth and grace ♪ ♪ And makes the nations prove the glories of His righteousness ♪ ♪ And wonders of His love, and wonders of His love ♪ ♪ And wonders, wonders of His love ♪ ♪ Joy to the world, the Savior reigns ♪ We sing joy to the world. ♪ Joy to the world, the Savior reigns ♪ ♪ Joy to the world ♪ ♪ Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come ♪ ♪ Seated on the throne above, holy is your name ♪ Holy, holy, righteous one, who shed his blood, to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, be lifted up. Holy, holy, Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come, be seated on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one, who shed his blood, to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, be lifted up. Holy, holy, Lamb of God, anointed one, who was and is and is to come, be seated on the throne above. Holy, holy, righteous one, who shed his blood, to prove to us the Father's love, Jesus Christ, be lifted up. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. There is no one, only you, Jesus. There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Who else is worthy? Who else is worthy? There is no one, only you, Jesus. Fall on your knees. Oh, hear the angel voices. Oh, night divine. Oh, night when Christ was born. Oh, night divine. Oh, night when Christ was born. Truly He taught us to love one another. His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother And in His name all oppression shall cease

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we Let all within us praise His holy name Christ is the Lord Praise His name forever His power and glory evermore proclaim His power and glory evermore proclaim His power and glory evermore proclaim Christ is Almighty, Divine O night when Christ was born O night divine, O night divine O come let us adore Him Christ the Lord O come let us adore Him Christ the Lord O come let us adore Him Christ the Lord O come let us adore Him Christ the Lord O Christ the Lord Flatirons, let's pray together this morning. God, thank you so much for the reminder of your son in this season of Christmas. God, thank you for sending him as a sweet baby, a picture of love and of joy and hope and peace. Lord God, we thank you for this season. Lord, I pray today that we would be so aware of your presence in this place. God, I pray that we would make room for you. That we would intentionally create space to just sit and to rest in your presence to let you speak. Speak to us to let you move. God, we know that you're moving. I just pray that we're aware of it and that we see it today.

God, we love you. You are so worthy of all of the praise and all of the honor and all of the glory. Thank you, Lord, for this time together. God, we love you and we trust you. It's in Jesus' holy and almighty name that I pray and all God's people said together, amen. Amen, Flatirons. If you're grateful to be here, would you put your hands together with me? Merry Christmas. We are so glad that you guys joined us today. Thank you for being here. Would you say hi to the people that you sat by today? Shake somebody's hand, tell them your name. Tell somebody Merry Christmas and you guys can go ahead and have a seat this morning. All right, Flatirons. Hey, real quick. Can we give it up one more time for the worship leaders, for the band, for the orchestra, I mean. Man, so good. We're here to celebrate how God gave us his best and so we're gonna bring him our very best. That's why they made me dress up today. They said, Jesse, you can't be up here looking like you normally look. I was offended by that, okay? That hurt my feelings a little bit. But here's the thing.

We love Christmas around Flatirons. We love celebrating together and if you're new, I just wanna say we're so glad you're here. I don't know how you got here. Maybe you saw us online, maybe this is kind of a family tradition for your extended family. Maybe you lost a bet, okay? I don't know. Whatever the reason that you're here, we are so glad that you joined us today. We would love to stay connected. And so two great ways to connect if you're new. The first one's this. Right after our services, you can meet us out at the New Here booth. Our team of staff and volunteers, they love meeting new people. We've got a free gift we would love to get in your hands. We can answer any questions you have about the church. So you can head out after services at the New Here booth. A second way that you can connect, it is super simple. All you do is you text the word NEXT to 80857. And if you text NEXT to 80857, we'll send you a couple text messages a week of hope and encouragement and scripture straight to your device. The coolest thing about Text NEXT is you can actually text back.

So if you got questions, if you wanna know something, or if you actually need prayer for something. We've had people going into surgery, nobody to pray with them. They text in and we're able to call and pray for them right before surgery. And you can do all of that through Text NEXT. All you do, text NEXT to 80857. Flatirons, I don't know if you know this. Right now we're gathering all of our campuses together. We've got online with us. But one of our campuses across the Front Range, the West Campus, is without power, been without power for the whole weekend. So they're actually here celebrating with us at Lafayette. Lafayette, can you give them a welcome, West Campus? We love you, we're so glad you're here. I'd love to say hi to you out in the lobby after services. And Flatirons, I want you to know, next weekend we do not have services at any of our campuses. So this is a 20-year-old tradition where we take the last weekend in December off. This is our gift to staff and to volunteers, because you might not know this, but it takes thousands of volunteer and staff hours to pull together church every single weekend. And so we wanna honor our volunteers and our staff, give them one weekend off so that they can get some much-needed rest. That'll happen next weekend.

Then we'll be back on January 3rd and 4th for a brand new series. And I'm really excited about this series. It's going all throughout the Gospel of John. So here's what we've heard from you all. You guys have been saying, hey, we actually wanna grow deeper in our biblical understanding. We wanna be able to read the Bible and understand what it says. So as a church, we're gonna invest the first three months of the year to go in chapter by chapter, verse by verse, through the Book of John. That's why I've got this guide right here. This guide is a study guide to the Book of John. So what it's got is it's got places for during the sermons you can take notes, you can read the scripture. But then every day of the week, there's gonna be a daily devotional in there around the life of John. So you can read it, you can pray about it. It's actually got some information to help you understand it a little bit more. And so I don't know where you are, how you came in here. Maybe you're very new to faith, but you are curious, okay, what does God's word say? This is the perfect opportunity

to dive into God's word on your own. Or maybe you've been a part of church for a while, but you've kind of gotten out of the habit of reading the Bible. You're like, I wanna start a New Year's resolution to get in God's word on a regular basis. This is the perfect opportunity. So guys, we got a limited amount of these books. We're giving them away for free, but there's a limited amount. And so make sure you're here on January 3rd and 4th to make sure you get your copy. We start that series in two weeks. Well guys, today. Very excited, if you've been around Flatirons for the last five or six weeks, you know that Jim, our lead pastor, underwent a major back surgery, and he has been rehabbing and fighting his way back for this very moment, and he has dressed his best for you, so would you guys give it up for our lead pastor, Jim Bergen. Let's go, man. Yeah, yeah, come on. Let's go, man. Thanks, brother. All right, sit down. Merry Christmas. Hey, it's really glad, gosh, I just look at myself in a suit up there,

and I'm like, what's wrong with the universe right now? And like, my mom's in heaven going like, finally, finally, he grew up. For anybody who's offended by this, I had a lady email the church last night going she can't come to this church anymore, because I wore a suit. Yeah, well, anyway, so come back, lady. Or not, anyway, it doesn't matter. But hey, so a few weeks ago, I had some back surgery, put me on the sidelines, but I wouldn't miss this for the world. This is my favorite weekend of the year. I mean, Easter's maybe a tie, but Easter's like over the top, but this is, Christmas is just, for me, it's just like family. It's like me and 4,000 of my friends, all this, you know. It's just warm. I wouldn't miss this for anything. We're gonna get to Christmas in a minute, but hey, before I get into this, I wanna back up, because a lot of you are here for the first time, or you've been here a long time, or you're in town for the holidays. I want you to kind of know what kind of church you've landed in. About six weeks ago, our entire church came together for kind of the culmination

of what we spent the last year on, called this Be Free, right? And we had Commitment Weekend. Our goal was 100% participation from those who say Flatirons is my church. Across the world, online, whatever that is, this is my church, this is where God feeds me. And we saw thousands of individuals and families make financial commitments, faith commitments of generosity and sacrifice to bring freedom of Christ to the front range and beyond. And we based the whole series out of Galatians on this key verse that goes back to why we have Christmas in the first place. Jesus was born, he died, he resurrected so that this could happen. A very familiar verse, it goes like this. It's for freedom Christ has set us free. This is why Jesus came. He wants you to be free. It's for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and don't go back to the old life. Do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. And so based on that, we added up all of the current things that God's doing in this church and the things that we think God wants to do over the next two years, and we took a calculator and added all that up, like how much is that gonna cost? And it came up to about like $100 million that we need to spend over the next two years,

which we all go, we don't know what that means. I can't get my mind, my heart around that. We agreed this, it would require an increase not just in giving but in faith. The question we've been asking ourselves for the last several months around here as a church, do I believe that God is moving and about to do great things through this church, in this world, in this community, and do I wanna be a part of it? Or do I just wanna be one more thing that I see God use other people, or do I wanna jump in, don't wanna be a part of it? And in typical Flatirons mind-blowing, like here am I, God, do something in me and through me. I don't wanna be a spectator, I'm leaving the bleachers. I wanna get into the battle. Typical Flatirons fashion. It's my honor to report we didn't hit 100 million. Our goal, right now it stands at 115 million dollars that's been pledged, which is just awesome. But let me kind of unpack that with you because some of you are going like, oh, look at all that. It's like, some of you are going like, well, they don't need my money now. That's not true. You should repent of that. Here's what I mean by that, okay? It means that we're able to do more sooner in the world. See, freedom happens at the speed of our generosity and obedience.

Let me tell you what that 115 million's gonna be spent on. We're gonna launch more campuses sooner. We're gonna call them Freedom Outposts. Strategically located up and down the front range so that nobody's more than a short drive from a place where they can go to and find out that God does not hate you, no matter who you are and what you've done. Where you can gather together and you can grow in your walk with God. You can experience grace and freedom. We wanna see more marriages healed and more families healed. We're gonna provide a place where students can find their identities in Christ, not in culture. We're gonna open up Loveland this spring. We have two more campuses coming in the next year in the hopper I'll be bringing to you very, very, very soon. It means this, is we're gonna develop and deploy an army of spiritual warriors through the expansion of Flatirons Academy. We're gonna prepare hundreds of leaders through our college, Flatirons College, and through the launching of Flatirons Institute, we're gonna equip anybody in this room, anybody on our campus, anybody online. You wanna put on the full armor of God, we're gonna be able to teach you to handle the word of God. And wherever God takes you in your corporate position,

here's a prophecy, all right? Some of you are gonna leave your jobs one day and you're gonna be pastors. You're gonna be missionaries. You're gonna be counselors. And you have no idea, you're gonna have a wrestling match with God, you're gonna lose, and you're gonna go change the world. God's gonna use you. to change the world. God is gonna develop you and then deploy you as an army of God to attack the gates of hell and take back what belongs to God. He wanna take back our children from culture, spiritually, emotionally, sexual health, their identities. We're gonna go after all of that. We wanna see marriages reformed. We wanna go after our schools. We wanna go after our whole state. If Jesus is Lord, he's Lord of Colorado. Can I get an amen? All right, let's go. And he wants to use us. That's not political, it's spiritual, right? Because of your overwhelming generosity, it makes it all possible. But here's the other thing. This third initiative, because of your faithfulness, your generosity, people are gonna be freed through this thing called Rescue to Restore.

As a church, all right, this is the church you find yourself in today. Rescue to Restore is, Flatirons, we're gonna take a deep, deep, deep, deep, deep dive into the dark world of human trafficking, where we have already been involved in raids. We've actually trained SWAT teams in vehicles. We've gone to other countries. We have literally knocked down doors and we've rescued over 500 women and little boys and little girls from literal cages and brothels. And now they're in a safe place. They're finding healing. Right now, this morning, they're safe. But here's the thing, okay? We're gonna keep on doing that, but I'm not talking about the other side of the world. We're gonna jump into what's happening in our backyard right here in Colorado. We're gonna throw a disproportionate amount of human and financial resources. We're gonna partner with new and existing partners and law enforcement to rescue and restore women and children, little boys and little girls. Right now, this morning, they are locked in a sexual prison right here in Colorado. And because of your generosity, it's not someday we're gonna do it. We're already doing it.

We're already in it, but we're gonna keep on going. Let me tell you, I wanna introduce you to somebody, all right? Her name's Shannon Carpenter. Here's her story. In 2016, a friend said, hey, Shannon, why don't you try online dating? A lot of us have, I haven't. That wasn't invented when I was dating. But anyway, but, and go ahead and do that, but be careful because when she did that, she caught the attention of an online groomer. And they met and he romanticized her and he deceived her into a prison of deceit and addiction and control called human trafficking. She tried to escape several times, jumped out windows, ran away, but she kept coming back to it. This prison lasted for over seven years, passed her way around from person to person, city to city, state to state, until she finally found herself on the floor of a shady motel in Dallas, Texas, crying out, God, save me, I don't belong here, save me. And about six hours later, her groomer walked into, her captor walked into that room and looked at her and says, I don't think you belong here. And he lets her go. She ended up in several shelters, passed around. Then she ended up in a hospital. Then she was picked up by an organization

called Rescue America. They sent her to a faith-based shelter in Denver, Colorado called Safe Places for Women in February of 2024, which is led by Flatirons member Ted and Michelle Frank. They run it. They go to the Denver campus. She found, I'll use her words, I found peace. I found quiet. I found compassion. I found grace. I began to walk with Jesus and I began a journey into the unknown territory of who I am and who Jesus says I am. In November, Shannon was baptized at our Denver campus and today, Shannon is free, right? Amen, all right? Let's hear from Shannon in her own words. Take a look at this. Because it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery, Galatians 5.1. I've discovered that mental clarity can only be found in the most powerful and vital book ever written, the Bible. I was baptized and introduced to an amazing church community that I am still active with today. This program has introduced me to not only a great church community at Flatirons, but it's also played a part in the current connections with the Denver Seminary, Wild Goose Coffee, Soulful Recovery, Chronic Hope and Healing,

The Refinery, Beautiful Feet, Live Different Recovery, Arapahoe Community College, where I made the Dean's List, Beauty to Ashes, and Bridgeway Church. I'm a dedicated member of the Safe Places for Women alumni and a loyal networker for life. I am now in long-term recovery and stabilized in my own home and car. I can do all things through Christ, who gives me strength, Philippians 4.13. I continue to grow in my identity and freedom in Christ and have discovered a passion for telling my story to integrity-guided connections that are God-guided into my path. So let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, Hebrews 10.24. Thank you for your dedication and commitment to prayer as you support my journey from the dark into the light. I am the fountain. Ladies and gentlemen, will you welcome Shannon Carpenter, your sister in Christ. Give it up, come on. Yeah. So good, I'm proud of you, yeah, come on. Dean's List, come on, Dean's List member right there. Yeah, so good, yeah, I just wanna go ahead and grab a seat. Listen, Shannon, thank you. Thank you for sharing your story, your be free story from slavery, darkness. And then you reached out to God, he came in your direction, now you're free.

But I also wanna say this, so we have a saying around here over the last several months is that free people, free people, which means what Shannon's doing is like, now that she's free, she's going back into the darkness. She's jumping back into the same mess. You're continuing to, this is Kayla from Safe Places for Women. She's partnering with them to bring freedom for more and more and more women still trapped in trafficking. That's what we do, that's your heart, right? He set me free, right? We're not gonna quit till they're all free. See, we're a longtime partner with Safe Places for Women. There's a huge need, they have a very, very limited amount of bed space for women and a long list of women seeking refuge. And so it's my honor today to present a check for $30,000 to Safe Places for Women, which will double their bed space in the next year. Come on, let's go. So good, so good. Here's the other thing before they leave. Keep them in your prayers, all right? And Safe Places for Women is gonna now expand down into the East Colfax area of Denver, which is the spot for trafficking in Denver. They're gonna go to the darkest place. Will you just give them some encouragement and love right now?

Thanks so much. Let's go, let's go, thanks. Man, I love her. Don't you? You just met her. Hey, listen, they're gonna be out here at Lafayette, they're gonna be out in the lobby of the Be Free area out there. Because here's what I know what's happening, Raul, right now, there's a lot of, especially some women in this room going, I wanna be a part of that. I wanna come alongside of some women. I wanna put my arm around them, my heart around them, and tell them that they are a daughter of Christ, especially some of us who have some of the same nicks and bruises and pain in our past. That's how God uses us. So if you wanna meet with them, they're gonna be out in the lobby, and if you're watching online, you can contact them through their website. Now, I think, some of you are going like, what's this have to do with baby Jesus? Shut up, we'll get there, all right? So, see, I think we could all agree to this. I think Shannon's life could be described as, man, she's been on a journey, and it's been a tough one. Some of us going like, yeah, me too. And some of you going like, yeah, again, but I don't know what that has to do with Christmas.

I came here for Christmas. Besides the entire reason that Jesus came to earth in the first place was to bring freedom to Shannon and you and me, right? For freedom, Christ has set us free. That one's pretty obvious. But something else, here's what I wanna talk about today. Something else stuck out to me over the past few weeks is I've been stuck at home, watching church online, and listening to our teachers unpack what had to be going through Joseph in the Christmas story, what had to be going through his mind when he finds out that his fiancee is pregnant with the Son of God. Explain that to the family, right? And Joseph's been charged with the job of, you're gonna raise this little boy, it's not yours, he's the Son of God. You're gonna protect him, you're gonna lead him. Three times in the story of Joseph, we see this phrase, Matthew chapter one, and the angel told Joseph to get up and take the baby and his mother and go, followed by, and Joseph got up and took the baby and his mother and went. Three times. And this journey that this angel says you're gonna go on, it's not Christmas night, it's not a one-night event in Bethlehem that we all think about at Christmas.

His journey's gonna go on for years and years and years, like the rest of his life. That's our journeys. I love last week when Ben, our teacher, reminded us that Mary and Joseph are not those super spiritual, like, I got it all figured out, I got a halo around my head, nativity set people that we have on our mantles, no. Mary's a teenage mom. And some of us have been there, right? And it's just scary. You feel so alone. Joseph is a new father. He doesn't know what he's doing. He's surrounded by rumors and shame that will last for the rest of his life. They're ordinary people like you and me. If you were a 15-year-old girl or a 20-year-old guy and all this landed in your lap, how would you feel? That's how they felt. So how'd they do it? What do you do when you just get, this lands in your lap? You didn't vote for it, you didn't ask for it. This is now my life. And the only thing that I can point to that Joseph had to hold onto was what the angel promised them at the beginning of the journey.

Matthew chapter one, very, very famous, familiar, right? So this is the angel speaking. He says, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. It's true. She, Mary, will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. And a couple weeks ago, Jesse unpacked this for us, is that Jesus translates actually God saved. So his name's gonna be called God saves, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. and they shall call his name Emmanuel. And last week, Ben explained to us, Emmanuel means God with us. So his name shall be called God with us. We just sang that. So the only thing, the only phrase, the only promise that Joseph has to hold onto is this. As I'm about to go on this journey that I did not see coming, I don't have a plan for it, I have no idea how to do this, I've never done it before, I've never been here before, I've never felt this way before,

I never thought this would happen to me. Has anybody been in that place in your life? The only thing that's gonna get me through every step of this way, and I don't know how long it's gonna last, I'm gonna hold onto this, God's gonna be with me, and wherever this journey goes, God's gonna save me. And if either of those things are not true, if God does not deliver on that, Joseph will not make it. So I'm studying all that really familiar stuff, and I go back to those last two verses. Look at it again, verse 22 says this. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive, bear a son, and they shall call his name, God with us. And so what the angel just said to, and promised to Joseph would happen to him is actually referring to a promise that was given many, many, like hundreds of years before Joseph or Mary were even born through a prophet whose name was Isaiah. So we don't have to go there right now, but Isaiah chapter seven, let me kinda set up this story that you go like, what does that have to do with this or Christmas?

So much, all right? So Isaiah chapter seven, the king's name is Ahaz, and he's about to be attacked by two neighboring kings who are much bigger and stronger than Ahaz, and Ahaz is scared to death. Look, verse two says this. At the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind. Anybody experience wind the last few days? My house almost blew down, okay? So God sends the prophet Isaiah to Ahaz and goes, hey, Ahaz, don't be afraid. God's gonna give you the victory. Here's what you need to do, show up. Keep going, don't quit, don't give up, stand firm. And then Isaiah says this, and have you ever read your Bible? I hope you have. Have you ever read the Bible going, I've read that before, but then you read it again and you go like, that verse was not there last time? Anybody? Like somebody wrote my Bible, right? So this is, I've never, I've read this 100 times, and I promise, it wasn't there last week. But God wrote it. Look at this verse, it's crazy. This guy says this, he says, if you're not firm in your faith, you will not be firm at all.

I'm gonna have that tattooed somewhere. There's not a lot left, but I'm going, right? If you're not gonna be firm in your faith, then you're not gonna be firm in anything. In other words, Ahaz, this battle that's headed your way is so big, so unwinnable, so on your own, it's gonna roll over you and crush you. So if you don't hold firm to your faith, you're not gonna make it, right? The application's coming our way, you feel it? And Ahaz keeps worrying about, well, yeah, but what about this, what about this? So Ahaz, in the next few verses, asks everybody, what do you think I ought to do? He's asking everything, everybody except God. So finally, through Isaiah, God's getting frustrated. And so he says, hey, Isaiah, how about this? Ask a sign of the Lord your God. Just ask me for a sign. How big can it be? As deep as death and as high as heaven. That's everything. And Ahaz says, and Jesus quotes this later, I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test. And now Isaiah's just like, you're thick, man. All right, listen, all right? He said, hear then, O house of Israel. Is it too little that you weary men and now you're wearying my God? So then, this is what God says to him.

Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Here it is. Behold, the virgin's self-conceived and bearer's son and shall call his name God with us. There it is. Hey, this is Jim's translation. Hey, Ahaz, stop whining. I think God says that to me so many times. Hey, buddy, knock it off, right, right? Quit your, you're facing a battle that, listen, if you try to face this on your own, if you try to go into it based on what everybody tells you to do, you're asking your mom, you're asking your dad, you're asking your neighbors, you're asking your friends, you're asking your coach, you're asking your this, you're asking your that, right? Why do I, how should I do this based on how I feel? Listen, if you have any hope to experience victory, Ahaz, listen, here it is. God's gonna send someone in your direction. His name's gonna be called Emmanuel and it means you're not alone. You'll never fight alone, you'll never be alone because God will be right there with you. And I nerded out and I did a word study on with you because that's what you pay me to do, all right? So I did a word study on that. And word study, like with you is not how I often picture God.

He's on my side and he's in heaven looking at me, trying to work it out and goes like, good luck. Go, buddy. You know, try to, that's not it. I mean, here's what God is with us means. He is right up with me. Like we side by side, like holding, here we go. Holding you up and holding you together, you're never alone. Ahaz, don't give up, keep on fighting because God is with you. In the battle, you gotta have faith. Joseph, don't give up, keep going, one more step at a time, because God is with you in every step of the way. He's gonna save you, you gotta keep on going. Shannon, keep going, because if you don't stand firm in your faith, you won't stand firm at all, and so you'll fail. Hey, Ahaz, hey, Joseph, hey, Shannon, hey, Jim, hey, you. Hey, we're all on a journey. It's called faith. Now, I'm gonna switch gears here, because that's what I do, all right? I wanna tell you about the last five weeks of my life, okay? Not so you'll feel sorry for me, although if you do, send cookies, that's all I'll say, all right? So, Christmas cookies. Anyway, but if you're around Flatirons a lot,

you're gonna go, yeah, this is what he does. But if you're new to Flatirons, the only way that I stand up here, or sit up here today, and teach you anything at all, is out of the overflow of what God is teaching me in my current journey with God, all right? I'm not reading books, and like, somebody told me I oughta say this, all right? It's just me and God working stuff out, and then I do, I'm an outside processor in front of you all. And hopefully, like a metaphor, or Jesus is a parable, you can reach into what's something, it's not really about me, you can reach into the story, and go, actually, I felt like that too. Does that make sense? And so, that's, so what I'm talking about today is really not about my story, but maybe you can connect with it. So, anyway, here's what my life has been like. So, over the past couple years, I have these four vertebrae in my lower back, and three discs that have been slowly deteriorating, and then collapsing on themselves. I have 23 degrees of scoliosis, which is a twisting curvature of my spine, and then stenosis, which is all collapsing on itself, and putting pressure on the nerves that serve the lower half of my body, which I'm very fond of.

I want this part to work, and it's doing fine, just wanted to let you know, right? And, can I get an amen? I mean, you're with me, right? So, anyway, okay, right, grow up, kids. So, anyway, anyway, so for several years, more and more, I've been in constant pain in my back, which causes me to walk like this, and like, oh, you're a cowboy. No, I just hurt, okay? And my feet hurt, my legs hurt, and my hips hurt. All right, so on November 13th, and I told them, you can do the surgery, I gotta be back for Christmas. So, I had an eight-hour surgery down at Anschutz, where basically, they rebuilt the structure of the lower half of my spine. They screwed a metal cage around it to keep it in place for the next several months. As it grew back together, it's gonna take about a year. I had the best surgeon ever, Dr. Peter Lenderson down at Anschutz, who, when I first met him, I found out that he and his wife, and their sons, five sons, all go to Flatirons. It's like, that's gotta be on my, good, all right? I had the best care. I had amazing drugs. I get it. They're amazing, all right?

So, anyway, get back to this. So, I had a lifetime goal to never experience a catheter. That went away, twice. Wow, nurse was a liar. One, she was gonna say three. She went on two. One, two, boom, right? And then, I didn't share this earlier this weekend, but I feel like I'm supposed to. It's like, so, as she's putting the catheter in, she sees my tattoos, and she goes, talk about your tattoos. Then, they're all about Jesus. I don't really wanna talk about Jesus while you're doing that. And so, I wanted to say to her, I'll tell you what the next tattoo is. This is how I killed a nurse. So, get on with it, all right? So. Anyway. I mean, there's something, never mind. Anyway, so, I had one set, I got home, I had a setback, I got a fever. I had to go back to the hospital again, get it all figured out. Then, eventually, I made it home right before Thanksgiving. And now, it's just me and a recliner, and I can't move.

Some of you have been there, okay? I can't do anything on my own. I have to say this, all right? Because she's watching from home, right? I have the best wife in the world. I really do. She is right there with me. She's held me together. She hasn't complained in one time, until yesterday, she found her voice. But, I'll let Grace. All right, anyway, so. I'll give you one. This is how good she is, all right? So, on Thanksgiving night, I try, so, she's sleeping on the couch, and I'm sleeping in my recliner, because I can't lay flat, right? And so, she says, hey, will you wake me up if you need anything? I went, I will, but I'm lying. So, anyway, so, in the middle of the night, I have to go to the bathroom. So, I get out of my chair, I got my walker, and I get over to the bathroom, and I'm going, this is not good. I'm going down. Like, I'm gonna pass out, like, here in the bathroom. I don't even remember if I went to the bathroom or not. But, it's somewhere in there.

It was like, and so, I go, Robin, Robin. And, finally, she goes running across the house. She goes, what, what? I said, I'm going down, babe, I'm going down. She goes, what do you want me to do? I'm like, I don't know. So, hug me. And so, she hugged me, and then we just slumped to the bathroom floor together, all right? Then, I banged my head on the door, and she goes, are you okay? I went, I don't know. I don't know, all right? And, she goes, do you think you can get to the chair? I'm like, let's try. And so, Robin and I crawl, crawl across our house, we get in the chair, and flop down in that chair. And, that's where I've been for the last five weeks. And, Robin's been sleeping right there on the couch until I convinced her, you've gotta go to bed, because you're worn out. So, besides the meds, she's just awesome, by the way. But, besides the meds that I have to take, and when I have to take them, really, my only assignment from my doctor, when you get home, he says, Jim, the best thing you can do is get up and walk. I'm like, really? I can't get out of a chair. I can't get out of a bed.

I can't go get off a toilet by myself. I can't take a shower. by myself, not in the good way. Anyway, come on, come on, kids. Are we adults here or not, right? I mean, I'm a pretty active guy. I mean, I go to the gym almost every day. I ride horses, I throw hay, I muck stalls, I go hunting with my dog, Gus, and today my greatest victory at that point was today I walked all the way to the front door and back with a walker, and I didn't fall down, and I didn't mess my pants. I mean, this has been a good day, all right? Now listen, all right, that's where you are. Some of you have been there, because the story's a metaphor, right? Here's where we go. I know the doctors are right. Let's go back two or three weeks ago. I have to get out of that chair and walk, and eventually I do. I graduate to a couple laps around the Kitchen Island, and then I walk down the driveway once or twice, then with Robin holding onto me with a walker, then a cane and a walking stick, and now I can get out there and I can make it about a half mile a day. So I'm progressing, but here's the application. I know if I keep going, and again,

right now I'm feeling pretty good, but I go back a few weeks, all right? I know if I keep going, it will get better, but where I was in that moment, where I am right now in pain, and I'm feeling weak, and I'm embarrassed, and I'm feeling ashamed, I'm falling apart, I've let everybody down that depended on me, I have a look at Robin, I caught in her eye, and she's looking at me going, like, are you gonna die on me? And she shouldn't have to worry about that. And I also know that any time I have the option to say, this sucks, this is too painful, this is too much, they've promised me I can get better, see if you can relate to this, but I don't see how I can get there from where I am right now. I know where I need to be. I also know this, if I quit and sit down in that chair and say, that's it, then that's it, that's my life. And some of you know what I'm talking about. And I'm not talking about surgical pain, it's your pain. Here, let me give you, see if you can relate to this. It's the pain and the panic that you feel when you find out or you think, I think this marriage is over. It's that thing going on with your son and your daughter and you go like, this is never gonna end, this is unfixable. I did my best and they're not coming home, all right.

It's looking at your pile of debt versus your income and you're out of juggling tricks and your wife has no idea how broke you are and you're drowning in debt. It's the moment that the person in your life that you love the most looks you in the eye and says, you can't live here anymore unless you get sober, go. Someone's been there, right? Here's one recent for me. It's that pain, it's that panic, it's the skin crawling, it's that claustrophobic feeling that says, one, oxy and it'll get better. Two, it'll get really better and three, it's a new day. It's that one more drink. You know, it's that moment when you know, I know what needs to happen, I know what I need to do but from where I am right now, it seems so hard, so impossible to keep going, to get back to where I need to be. Here it is, I don't know if I can do this anymore. Has anybody found themselves in, I don't know if I can do this anymore moment? Because it's a really dark moment. And there are two deals on the table, I can keep going or the darkest moment, that's when I'm in a possibility. The only thing still, I'm giving, I quit. So I've had a lot of time to myself for the past five weeks. Either in a hospital bed or in a chair wide awake

in the middle of the night or walk around my barn or something like that and I'm having these internal conversations with myself. Does anybody have a lot of internal conversations with themselves? Like I'm on meds for it and it's like nuts in here, all right, but I'm walking the other day and I'm talking to myself and I realize I'm not really talking to myself. I'm actually having a conversation with God. You call it prayer or whatever, I just call it, I don't know, I'm just having a conversation with God as I'm taking a walk. And what I wanna leave you with, it's gonna sound so simplistic. You're gonna get in your car or your truck after a while and look at it and go like, that wasn't deep, I know. It almost sounds cliche but it's my aha moment this Christmas. The reason that I can talk to God is because he is with me. Like right here with me. Like when I have to grab the armrest of my chair, when I have to try to lasso my foot with my sock, it's very manly, all right, right? When I grab my coat and my walking stick to go for a walk and I'm just saying, I don't know if I wanna do this. Jesus is with me and I have heard, I don't hear voices but I've heard Jesus say to me, come on, get up,

let's go for a walk. And I'll go with you. You know what Jesus doesn't do? He doesn't send me on a walk. He doesn't sit on the porch and go, hey, walk better. Come on, do, you know, come on, let's go faster. No, he walks with me. This is a metaphor. This is what kind of God we have. This is what God always does. This is what Christmas is all about. Here's what Christmas is all about. I'm here, you're here, we're right here, we're a mess, amen? I'm not strong enough to do what I know needs to be done, to fix what needs to be fixed and then there's what we were raised with. There's God way up there, unreachable and like so holy and I think to myself, why even try to get to him? It's too hard, I can't do it. I've tried before and I will fail. So when I can't get to God, God comes to me. When I'm not with God, God is still with me. And we forgot that, he's with you right now. I don't know, I don't know if I can do this any more moment is, and if you're sitting here right now and going, I don't even think I have one, good for you. File this away, it's on the way. It's a matter of time. So if you're there, or when you're there and you find yourself in that place

where you're going, I don't know if I can do this marriage anymore. When you're betrayed by the person, they swore they would never do that and they did it. When your body falls apart and you have no dignity left. When you did the very best parenting that you could do and it just didn't work and they walked away. When your finances are such that they're in the trash, when your addiction is going, just one more oxy, just one more drink, just one more, whatever that is. I wanna remind you of something, hold on to this. And honestly, it's gonna be a big step of faith for some of us. But if you're not firm in your faith, what else do you have to hold on to? Then what I wanna give you right now, it goes like this. On a day in history, we call it Christmas. Because God knew what you were gonna have to face in this life and carry what you were gonna have to carry in this life and the hurt that you'd have to carry because of who hurt you, right? On the brink of I can't do this anymore at just the right time, God came in your direction. God with us, let go of heaven, took on flesh, was born in a manger, they call his name Jesus, which means he'll save ya. I know. They're gonna call him Emmanuel, which means God is with us. I know, don't you? I know.

He's right here. John, Jesus' best friend, right? Says, hey, look at him, he's the light of the world. And he shined light into our darkness. And darkness fights back. But I'm gonna have you repeat this, so listen. Light always overcomes darkness. Let's say that with me, one, two, three. Light always overcomes darkness. I don't know where your darkness is. I don't know where your hotel room floor is. I don't know what your pit is. I don't know if I can do this anymore is. And it's dark, and in this moment, Jesus is coming to you. All right, get your candles out, my favorite time of the year right here. Here's all of our campuses, let's stand up together. I want you to think about this candle, candlelight and silent night a little bit different. I'm gonna ask some of you to silently, like in your heart, I wanna challenge you to pray the same prayer that Shannon prayed on that hotel floor a few years ago. Hey, God, I'm in a place, and I don't belong here, and I don't know if I can do this anymore. Will you be with me? I need you with me, because if you're with me, then I know I can keep going. So the light's gonna start coming in your direction, and as it comes in your direction, could it be a metaphor for like, here he comes,

my direction? I'm gonna give you one more verse. So in the book of Acts, and this is gonna sound weird, so just go with it, but the book of Acts, chapter 17, a guy named Luke writes this, he says that God, God has, he runs the universe, he's put the planets and the mountains and all creation in a certain order, and I think you can pick that over and go like, if God runs everything, that means God runs our world, and God controls everything in such a way that he can make the weather do this, and the lights go out over here, and your travel plans end up here in Denver at Christmas, so that eventually you land in this seat right here today. God has brought you to this moment in time for this time right now, and why might God invite you to this moment right now, how about this? So that maybe you should seek God, and perhaps, you can't see him, but maybe you could feel your way towards him and find him, and I love this, and yet he is actually not far off from each one of us. Here's what's about to happen, you're gonna go, hey God, will you come my direction? And he's not far off, he's been right here the whole time. You just forgot, because it's dark. But Jesus is the light of the world, and he's about to light up your world. I'm gonna pray, we're gonna sing Silent Night, and then I'll come back and we'll close this out.

God, right now, in this moment, I just ask for us just to do two things. First of all, if we feel on our own in that, I don't know if I can do that, this anymore spot in our life, that we pray, God, come near, because I need saving, I need help. I don't know how to get out of this place that I know I'm not supposed to be in, so I'm asking you to help me. And for some of us, God, we're just gonna worship you, because we remember a day in time when we were in that spot, and the only thing, the only reason we're alive is we prayed a prayer and you came our direction and you held us together, you were with us. So on this moment, on this Christmas weekend, remind us, you're Emmanuel, you're Jesus. In your name I pray, 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. Son of God, most pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face. With the dawn of redeeming grace. Jesus, Lord at Thy birth. Jesus, Lord at Thy birth.

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. Put them up. Look around. This is the best moment of my year right here. The only time it got better is when a lady's hair caught on fire right up there three years ago. She's fine, but hairspray, be careful. I love this. Jesus was teaching one time, and he said, I am the light of the world. And some of us have experienced that light. But another time, he's talking to a group of people very much like us, and he says, you're the light of the world. And if I would've been in that crowd, I would've gone like, not a lot of light here. I can't manufacture light. I can't manufacture goodness. I can't help anybody, heal anybody. I can't save anybody. I can't fix anybody. I can't do it myself. So if Jesus is the light of the world, and then he looks at me and says, now you're the light of the world,

the only explanation is he's put his light into me. And you. Now, be careful with this, but here's what I wanna do. Everybody take him down low, down low, all right. He goes on to say, but what good is it if you have a light, and then you put it under a bowl or a bushel? It does no good. I got my light, sorry for everybody else, right? He says, no, no, no, no, that's not how you do his light. You take that light, and you put it on a light stand up high, and it gives light to everyone in the house. and say, this is better, right? He says, now in the same way, let your light, what light, the light I put in you, shine before other people so that they may see, not you, but may see your Father and give praise to your Father. So here's my challenge. Flatterers, you're the light of the world. And it's a dark world, can I get an amen? And the world needs some more light. And so God says, then you take it. You, I put myself in you. Now you can leave this room and walk into the darkness and bring Jesus with you. Here's my challenge over the next four or five days. Would you make an intentional effort to come up alongside, to be with somebody? You can't save anybody, but you can whisper

your safe story. Yeah, me too, I've been there, I felt that. I've been that, I don't know if I can do this anymore. And God sent me your direction for some reason. I don't have any advice for you, I'm just with ya. I'll walk with ya, I'm not going anywhere. Could you do that for somebody? Because if that's not what Christmas is all about, then I don't know what is. If he came our direction and says, now you go be the light of the world, then we have to go somebody's direction. Christmas is not about just presents and trees and food and lights, it's gotta be about more. He's the light of the world, you're the light of the world. We got a dark world, let's go make a difference. Right? I'm gonna pray. I don't still want it to be over, I'm sorry. I'm gonna pray, then on the count of three, we're gonna blow out the candles, because I know some of you are pyros, all right? And then we're all gonna say Merry Christmas together, and then flat out, you're the light of the world, and the world's waiting on you. So God, in this moment, some of us are already feeling something different in our heart, like maybe I'm not alone, maybe I'm gonna make it, maybe I'm not a lost cause, maybe I can keep going, and the answer is absolutely, that's why Jesus came your way.

This is what Christmas is all about. God, you're still with us. And the amazing thing is, you've been close to us the whole time, we just didn't realize it. But if we'll just reach out to you, we'll find that you're right there. You're not yelling at us, you're not throwing Bible verses at us, you're just saying right here, let's just do this together, this is Christmas. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. One, two, three. Merry Christmas, Flatirons, all right, all right. ♪ Have yourself a merry little Christmas ♪ ♪ Let your heart be light ♪ ♪ From now on our troubles will be out of sight ♪ ♪ Have yourself a merry little Christmas ♪ ♪ Make the yuletide gay ♪ ♪ From now on our troubles will be miles away ♪ ♪ Here we are as in olden days, happy golden days ♪ ♪ We're your faithful friends who are dear to us ♪ ♪ They gather near to us once more ♪ ♪ Through the years we all will be together ♪ ♪ If the fates allow ♪ ♪ So hang a shining star upon the highest bough ♪ ♪ And have yourself a merry little Christmas now ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ Faithful friends who are dear to us, they gather near to us once more. Through the years we all will be together. If the fates allow, so hang a shining star upon the highest bough. And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Amen. Merry Christmas!