Christmas at the Crossing 2024

Well, Merry Christmas.

My name is James, and I get to be the

lead pastor here.

It's so excited that you were here tonight.

And let me tell you what I'm celebrating most this Christmas.

Since August, we have.

Seen one hundred and seven people across all of our

ministries here make a commitment to.

Follow Jesus Christ as or savior.

Is that awesome? Amen?

Our Christ is active and at work.

And let me tell you something.

If you came here tonight and you're a little overwhelmed

with life, maybe you've got some addictions going on, or

you've got some hurt that's called some habits and some

hang ups in your life, I want you to hold

on because we're gonna help you. We're so excited that

this spring we're going to be starting a new service

on Tuesday nights called Celebrate Recovery. And it's going to

have a service, it's gonna have food, it's gonna have

groups childcare, of course, but it's specifically for those who

maybe struggle with things that need to be addressed.

Every single week.

And it could be a broken heart from a divorce,

it could be someone who has had an addiction, or

it has somebody who was abused as a child and

it has caused and all kinds of problems as an adult.

We're here for you and help is coming, and we

want you to know something to hear at church acrossing,

we're all about Jesus. We want to introduce Jesus, but

also after we introduce Jesus, we want to help you

become like Jesus and experience that true freedom and joy.

Well, we're so glad you're here tonight.

I just want to speak to you for a few moments.

Will you pray with me. Let's pray.

God. We just come to you tonight and we ask

you Father to speak to our hearts tonight and help

our faith grow in you even more in Jesus' name.

Amen, tonight tonight of anticipation. Think about the kiddos.

You remember what it was like to be a kiddo

on Christmas evening.

You just can't wait for old Saint Nick to figure

out how to get down that chimney.

And for a lot of us who are older, we.

Are excited about seeing some family members are friends.

That we haven't seen for a long time. For parents and.

Grandparents, for anticipating.

That moment where all the kiddos open the presence and

all that work was worth it. And for some of us,

just the anticipation of having a few days off the Lord.

Just have a few days off and recoupsel. You know,

it's a season of anticipation.

And for me, I've always loved.

Christmas, and I'm excited.

And we're gonna go home sometime tomorrow evening, back to Cincinnati,

and I'll get to sit around to kitch a table,

around the couches, it just hang out and laugh with

my family.

And that's put a little extra pep in my step

during these crazy days.

So I've always been one who's been excited about Christmas.

Now here's the problem with me.

I love Christmas, but I don't have the.

Patience for Christmas.

Okay, does that make sense?

Even as a child, I would every time mom and

Dad left, I went into their bedroom and I went

all over the play scouring for my gifts. And by

the way, they always hid them behind the backboard of

the bed, and so that was pretty easy.

They didn't know. I knew that.

But every year I just waited, all Right, I got this,

I got this, I got this, I got this. Mom

and Daddy, you sure you got this?

You know?

And then you know I've shared with this before that

one year my mom and dad went away for one nine.

I grabbed a hold of the cat and took.

Its claws and opened up my presence and mom and

dad out home.

There was a cat that was in a lot of trouble.

But James knew what he was getting for Christmas.

I've always been like that. I don't do well with waiting.

Matter of fact, I think you all know what I'm

talking about.

If you live in this area.

This is the one area where we refuse to wait.

Do you know how I know this? We are round

about center.

Of the earth.

Okay, what does the roundabout say about our society over here?

It says I'm not waiting on you.

I was here first, and.

Because I was here first, I'm not gonna wait on

a light for you. I get to go as soon

as it's my turn, because we don't like to wait.

And that's something we just don't enjoy doing, is waiting.

I get it. You know.

There's been plenty of times that I've been.

In a store and have my hands full of stuff

to buy.

I look at the line. I just put it back

and go home, come back later.

I hate a big, long line.

I'll drive by the fast food restaurant that I wont

see too long of a line. It means I'll drive

to another restaurant that I hate just because it has

no line, just to get the food.

And right now my patience is really being tried.

You know, my twenty twenty three twelve point buck was

supposed to be ready December second. Guess what I thought

about every single day since December second?

What's wrong with that guy?

Now, I've been through this before.

The same thing happened the year before.

And you would think that.

I know good things come to those of wait.

But I have a problem waiting, and I'm waiting on

my buck.

Now here's the thing. I know.

I'm not the only one in this room who has

a problem with waiting. You know one sentence that I've

never heard of my whole life. I'm forty five. I've

never heard this sentence.

You know, I love to wait.

Never heard someone say I love to wait. And one

of the hardest things to wait for is when we

desperately need something from God, or we need God to

move in our life. We need God to take action,

and then we just see nothing, not a not one

iota from God, not even a you know, a vision,

not even a sound, not even a feeling.

We get nothing from God, and we're like, God, what

are you doing?

You know that I need this?

Some of you you have been praying for that those migraines,

thats been happening and you've been praying for years and

they have not been taken away. Some of you have

been praying for that job that has real benefits so

you can actually, you know, feed your family, and you've

been praying and praying and praying for that.

You've been praying for that loved one to come to Christ.

Are you been praying for.

That depression to list? Are you been praying for that

marriage to be healed?

And the more you pray, the less you see, and

you wonders, God even listening, doesn't even care. One pastor

talked about one of his friends that he had. It

was a lady who start praying for a husband, and

so she made a list of forty three qualities that

she wanted in a husband, and she prayed and prayed

and prayed.

This is a true story.

By the way she prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed.

A few years later that list was down to two.

I want a man and I want him to have

a job. That's all God, Can you just give me that?

And you know we started this bargaining sometimes of God.

Or we're like, God, where are you doing?

Maybe you're here tonight.

You've been I've been praying, I've been begging, I've been waiting,

I've been wondering. But you're having a hard time believing

because you know that God can do something.

But God hasn't done something.

In your wonder.

Does he hear my prayers? Well?

Leads us to this.

Question, why is God making you wait?

Why is God making me wait?

And I want to show you tonight what God is

doing while we're waiting.

Okay, And we're gonna look at some.

Text from the Bible tonight. And these are people who

knew all about waiting. These are people who waited for

a savior to come, not for decades, not for years,

but for centuries upon centuries upon centuries. God said I'm

gonna send him Messiah. And then they waited, and they

waited and he waited.

How long did they wait?

Let me tell you how long they waited?

Let's go back to the third chapter of Genesis. The

very beginning, God looked at at him and he was.

Like, you are a mess. You need a woman, you

know how it is.

And so.

Adam was like, that sounds great. God gave him a

woman and it was wonderful. And they it was just

those three of God and Adam and Eve.

And he said, listen, there's only one thing I want

to do. Don't touch this fruit from this tree.

But temptation overcame them, and they took up this fruit.

He took it first, then Adam, and the next thing,

you know, they're completely ashamed and they feel the separation.

Between them and God.

And even says they were so ashamed that they hid

themselves God.

And then they long to be restored to.

That relationship they had with God.

You know what, it's in this third chapter we find

this really quirky odd verse that many scholars and theologians say,

this is the first prophecy of a coming messiah, a savior,

someone who's gonna reconcile us to God.

And let's look at this together.

In Genesis chapter three, verse fourteen, it says the Lord God,

first of all, he came after Satan the serpent, and

he says, because you have done this, you will be

the most cursed of all the animals and of all

the wild beasts. And on your belly you shall crawl,

and you shall eat dust for all the days of

your life.

And then here's the prophecy.

I will establish a hostility between you and the woman,

between your line and her line. Now, in the original

Hebrew it talks about her seed.

We'll get back to that a little bit later, but

remember her seed.

And then it says this, here's what's gonna happen. Her offspring.

The Savior will crush.

Your head in other words, gonna defeat the enemy, and

you will just bruise his heal. So so I about to

seed one day, and it's gonna come from Eve.

Who's gonna come from her.

And this seed from her lineage is gonna overcome the

kingdom of darkness in other words, is gonna destroy the

spiritual enemy. There's gonna be victory, and death will be conquered,

Hell will be conquered, Sin will be conquered, and then

we will have an opportunity to come into a relationship

with God.

So we hear this prophecy at the very beginning, and.

Guess what, nothing centuries go by, and you can look

anywhere in the Old Testament. You see where God keeps saying,

don't worry, don't worry.

I know things are bad.

Right now, but there is a savior comment.

So we can just almost pick up anywhere in the

Old Testament and we're.

Gonna find some more encouragement today.

Let's look at Isaiah, seven.

Hundred years before Jesus Christ came.

God speaks and reminds us role a savior is coming,

and it says, therefore, the Lord himself will give you

a sign the Virgin. We'll con see if you give

birth to a son, and we will call him Emanuel.

But then what.

Seven hundred more years? And it makes people go, God,

what are you doing.

While we're waiting?

What's God doing while we're praying for something, when we're

for healing, a blessing, a provision? Where is God at

What is God doing when we know he could do

something about this?

These are fair questions, what's God doing while we're waiting?

Here's how I want to proceed today. I want to

show you something that's not in the Bible. I'm not

a heretic, don't worry, it's gonna make sense. What I

want to show you is this period called the Intertestamental period.

It's a four hundred year gap where God is silent.

It is with the prophecies of Malachi and then if

he picks back up when Christ returns in the Book

of Matthew.

But for four hundred years there's silence, no word from God.

At least throughout the other centuries they were continue to

hear from God.

Don't worry.

I know it's rough, but I'm sending someone. But then

we have nothing for four hundred years. And I'm guessing

some of you tonight you feel this pain.

You've been waiting for.

Something, and at the beginning you have the faith for something,

but now you don't even know if you have the

faith for you.

You're almost just like God. I don't even know if

you're gonna do this.

You've got no sign from God. You don't even know

that He cares for you. And all you want a

feeling or anything, a word from God.

Just something that says I see you.

And we all wonder why is God so silent to us?

And here's the first thing I want to remind you

of tonight, Just because God feels silent doesn't mean he's absent. Okay,

I need you to get that tonight. Just because God

it feels like God's being silent, doesn't mean he's absent.

Here's the thing.

But we asked the question, what is God doing while

we're waiting? Well, while you were waiting, Here's what I

want you to know tonight. God is at work. The

goodness of God, the love of God, the power of God,

the grace of God, the goodness and the.

Mercy, and all these things are at work for you

during this.

Time of waiting. Why, here's what I want everyone to

know tonight.

Because you have a God that loves you, who's a good,

good father, who knows you, who created you, who cares about.

The deep things and the wants and the pains in

your life. And just because you don't see something happening

doesn't mean God's not at work. Matter of fact, I

want to show you this test, this text from the

New Testament that explains an awful lot about all those years.

Why did they have to wait all these centuries for Christ? Well,

let's look at this. In Galatians, Paul explain this. What

does he say? He says but when the fullness of

time came, God sent forth his son, born of a woman.

Pay attention to that born under the law, so that

he might redeem those who are under the law, that

we might receive.

Adoptions as sons.

I remember earlier I talked about born of a woman.

Let's get brought up again. And then we also see

this phrase at the perfect time or the fullness of time.

And again again.

God sent his son to purchase to redeem us.

This be a sacrifice for us.

But it did not happen until the right time.

And I want to talk about this.

That phrase, that perfect time or the fullness of time.

It comes from these two Greek words ploroma cronow.

Let me break those words down.

For poroma, well, it just means perfect and cronow just

means think about a clock chronology, and so together they

mean perfect time. Now, other texts say stuff like, but

when the time was right, god' said son.

But the one we're looking at today says, but.

When the fullness of time.

Pay attention to that word.

The fullness.

It gives the image of a woman who's pregnant. I

know what the scriptures talking about.

I was there in the room when my wife gave

birth to my daughter.

And here's what you learn. When you're having a child.

There is nothing you can do to make that baby

come earlier than it wants to come. And when this

baby decides to come, there is nothing that you could

do to stop this baby from coming.

And it's the same thing of God.

We want God to move, or we're looking for an

action from God.

There is nothing that we could do to make God move.

But at the same time, when God decides to move,

when God decides to take.

Action, there is no power in this universe that can.

Stop God when he decides.

To fulfill his will and to make his ways happen.

And so when we see this text that God.

Was waiting for the fullness of time, the perfect.

Time to answer this prayer, I remember it says born

of a woman or.

The seed of a woman. Now, this is fascinating.

Do you know that anywhere else in the Bible when

it talks about the biology of a seed, it's always

talked about coming from a male. This is the only

time it talks about someone coming from the seed or the.

Biology of a woman.

Why Well, because Mary was a virgin and she conceived

from the Holy spirit. Jesus' father was of divine nature.

Now why is that important?

It's important because that means that Jesus came.

Jesus was of divine nature. In other words, he did

not he was not born into this word with this

sinful nature. What does that mean? That means that he

can be the perfect, innocent, sacrificial lamb who would take

the punishment for our sins. That's the goodness of God

at work. At the perfect time.

Born of a woman, born of the seed of a woman.

The Savior came. So here's the question.

When did God fulfill the promise to send them Messiah?

Well, at just the right time. Now here's something for

those of you who've been following.

Christ for a while. A lot of you've learned this,

but I want to.

Remind you tonight.

Sometimes in hindsight you see more of the why behind

the weight.

In hindsight, we see more of the why behind the weight.

And sometimes we look at something and we're like, oh,

I'm so glad that God that I answered.

That prayer here here here or here.

God answered that prayer here and now I can see

the goodness of God in this. But I want to

remind you that again, we're in this period now and

some of you are waiting, and you're waiting, and you're waiting,

and it feels like that four hundred year into a

testamental period of silence. Let me tell you what God

was doing while everybody was waiting. Five things happened that

changed the world.

During that four hundred years of silence. While they were waiting, God.

Was working and again Galatians forces, but in the right

time came God sent his son.

And let me tell you about the five things that happened.

During that four hundred years of siluce Number one, A

guy named Alexander the Great conquered the world. And again,

if you conquer the world in twelve years, guess what

they add to your name great, Like you're pretty great.

He conquered the who world. Now why does that make

a difference today.

Well, because for.

The first time in history, the world shared a common language.

Everyone spoke a little Greek and that changed things. Second

thing to happened because the Greeks took over. A new

way of learning took over, called the Socratic method. Now

this changed the way people learn. It used to always

be one person lecturing like I am right. Now, just

just learn don't ask, don't ask questions. But it was

during this time that people were encouraged to ask questions,

so even the way people learn was different. The third

thing that took place was the Old Testament during that

time period was translated into Greek. All throughout history, no

one but the Hebrew people could read the Old Testament.

But in two eighty the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek,

so now everyone in the world can read about it

and learn about the Prophecy's number four. There a little

thing called the diaspora, and this was a movement where

there was some persecution that caused the Jewish people to

have to lead Jerusalem.

But what did this mean?

It meant that God's people who are now sent out

all over the known world.

And the fifth and final thing, what happened? Rome took

over And what did Rome do? Rome built roads?

All right?

Now, I want to bring all these things together.

So for four hundred years, and like, God, send us

a savior, where are you at, God, your signent?

God, you'd be forgotten about us? Are you gonna do something?

But during that four hundred years God changed history in

a dramatic way.

Let me say three things that happened during that time.

When we put all that together.

Number one, people started asking questions, what did God do?

God sent the answer his son Jesus Christ, who was

the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Number two God

during this time. People were at this time up to

the sun. They did not have access to survival. And

now the whole world can read the Bible. And then

number three, because Jews had been sent out all over

the world and there was a rose system.

When Jesus came for the first time.

In history, the gospel could be spread like wildfire throughout.

The whole world.

All five of those things needed to happen. All five

of those history changing, history altering events needed to happen

so that God can bring them Asiah in again. While

sometimes looks like God is doing nothing, he's being silent.

No, God is at work, and you might be still

again struggling with this.

You're asking got to enter prayer.

You've been praying for your child to come to Christ.

You've been praying for your marriage, you've.

Been praying for you're a car that runs, a house,

that works for your family.

I get this.

A couple of years ago. There's a baptismal service.

And I saw this person baptize this person who is

very close to him, and I sat in the back

of the room and I just thought about a beautiful thing.

But it takes an awful lot for me to get emotional,

But there in the back I became very emotional because

that person that I have been praying for every single

day for years and begging God, and those nights where

I sit out on my patio all alone at midnight

and just you know, you get emotional and you say, God,

are you ever going to do this? And you're so

desperate for God to hear you, so desperate for God

to answer your prayer?

Have you ever been there? And you're just like, man,

where are you God? Do you hear my prayer? So

I get that I've been there. But let me tell

you something again. Just because he's silent doesn't mean he's absolute.

And here's what I promise you that your God is good,

He loves you, and at the right time, God is

going to intercede. Now we have to ask the logical question, well, James,

what are some things that might need to happen before that. Well, one,

maybe it's not ready. Two maybe you're not ready. You

might be asking is that my lack of faith?

Is it this or that?

No?

Does God care about me?

No?

No, stop asking those questions.

Okay, I understand that this is just a part of

how God has worked throughout the centuries. Remember that if

you're waiting, remember that it took twenty eight years from

the promise of Abraham and his wife for them to

receive their child. Twenty eight years they waited. Joseph was

told that he was going to be the leader of

his people.

For thirteen years, he.

Waited both that time in prison.

This woman who had an issue of blood waited twelve years.

For twelve years, she suffered until one day she touched

to him of Jesus.

Road, and Jesus said to her, your faith has held you.

For thirty eight years. A man waited to walk.

That Jesus walks up to him and says, take up

your man and walk home on your own two feet.

Sometimes we wait a long time. But here's why I

want you to know. God's delays are not his denials. Okay.

See, sometimes it's not ready.

Sometimes you're not ready.

See, God will often do something in.

You before he does something for you. Sometimes God's got

to do some work in your life. So here's what

I want to encourage you. Don't waste the waiting. Don't

waste the waiting. And you know what, you know, God

might be calling you to depend on Him like you

have ever before. Maybe he's calling you to a new

level of seeing his faithfulness. Maybe God's teaching you patients.

Maybe God is just chipping away at you, knocking some

sin out of your life so you can become more

like Jesus.

See, sometimes it's not ready.

Sometimes we.

Are not ready, but we don't waste the waiting. In

other words, we learned to depend on Him like we

never have before.

I want to remind you of one last scripture today.

Isaiah says this.

He says, since ancient times, no one has heard, no

ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you,

who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

This Christmas.

You've been waiting, you've been struggling.

You need a movement of God.

And so tonight I want to remind you that your

God is at work for you because he's a good God,

he's a loving God, and he does things at the

right time. So those of you tonight, you came in

here and you're like, you know what, I've been waiting

for this prayer.

Just continue, continue to seek, can me continue?

Trust me? Because here's what Christmas teaches us.

Christmas teaches us that God is always faithful, always true.

To his word.

For some of you tonight, you haven't been in church

for a while, and maybe God is doing the work

in your life, and tonight it's not a time for

you to wait, but it's a time for you to respond.

So here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna do some

prayer time right now.

And for those of you who are I'm gonna give

you a few options to pray.

Okay.

One for those of you who you know you're not

waiting on some answer to prayer and you're already following Christ,

I want to just encourage you to pray for God

just to be with you.

And your family during this Christmas season.

For those of you tonight who you're struggling, you've been

waiting for God to intercede, I want you to again

commit to God. You're full trust in him, you're completely

trusting him. And then thirdly, if you walked away from

Christ or you're not in a relationship of Christ, I

want to give you an opportunity to pray a prayer

with me so you can come into a relationship with Christ.

Let's take some time to pray.

God, we come to you tonight. The first thing we

want to do with this Christmas season is we want

to put.

Our families into your hands.

Tonight.

For those who have been calling out for a long

time and you're waiting for God to intercede and do something,

will you tell him again you.

Trust in his goodness, you trust in his time.

And for those of you here tonight who maybe you

used to have a relationship with Christ but you've walked away,

or maybe you've never been in a relationship with Christ,

I want to give an opportunity to pray this prayer

with me so you can come into a relationship of

Christ and receive his forgiveness. Just pray this prayer where

you're at along with me. Father, I give you my life.

I want you to save me.

I want you to be my lord. I ask for

your forgiveness.

I want you to lead me, guide me. Jesus.

I believe that you died for my sins and that

you resurrected three days later. Holy Spirit filled me and

lead me and guide me, and again I give you

my life with no one looking. Please keep our eyes closed,

heads down. If you prayed that prayer, will you raise

your hand? If you prayed that prayer time, Please I

see that hand, see that hand anyone else?

Amen? Amen, God, We're just loving you.

We thank you for an opportunity to come together as

a family and be reminded that you are always faithful,

even when it's seems like your absent.

We trusted you in Jesus name. Amen.

At this time, we're going to end our service like

we do every year, with the traditional singing and lighting

of the candles, and because of some incidents in the past,

we have to give you a tutorial.

On how to do this.

Please pay attention.

So what you do is you take your candle, the

one that is unled, and then you take it to

the other person's candle and then you light it.

Now, the next person that comes to you should do

the same, okay.

So do not point the flame in anybody, especially those

with flammable outfits.

Most