Christmas at the Crossing

Well, good morning, welcome to Church of the Crossing. My name is

Andrew. I'm the associate teaching pastor here and I want to wish everyone merry

Christmas. I'm so glad that you decided to be here. And I don't

know what your spiritual background has been, Like, I don't know what your

faith journey has been, But today we are celebrating that more than two thousand

years ago, that day when God became a human, when Jesus was born

into the world, and he changed the world. And I know that there

are many of us in this room whose lives have been changed to transform because

of Jesus. And like I said, I don't know what your background is.

When you think about Jesus and the birth of him and the Christmas story,

for you, it might just mean something like it's more legendary part of

the Christmas theme, kind of like a fairy tale. And you may even

wonder, like, what does that have to do with me today in twenty

twenty three, What do I have a common with this baby born in Israel

two thousand years ago? Well, I got to tell you for myself personally,

I have a lot in common with the Christmas story. My wife and

I especially have a lot in common this year, more than any other Christmas

in our lives, because just like Mary and Joseph were waiting for their baby

to be born, Lauren and I are waiting for our baby to be born,

and it could happen any day now. I want to draw your attention

to the Christmas story in Luke chapter two, starting in verse four. So

Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to Bethlehem,

the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of

David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be

married to him, and she was expecting a child. How many of you

are traveling this holiday season? Anybody traveling? Maybe you've traveled to get here

today, or you're traveling this week. I know there are some families that

as soon as this church service ends, you are traveling. The car is

loaded, the gas tank is full, kids got their tablets and off to

Grandma's house. You go. Well, Mary and Joseph are traveling. Does

anybody have you ever heard of a baby moon? May know what I'm talking

about when I talk about a baby moon. So a baby moon is something

that a married couple that's expecting a baby, they will take a baby moon,

a trip, a getaway, their last vacation before they have to hunker

down and wait for the baby to arrive. So Mary and Joseph, they're

pregnant, expecting baby Jesus, and so they take a sort of like a

baby moon, and they travel from Nazareth where they live, to Bethlehem,

the town of David, which is Joseph's hometown, his family town. And

this journey is about ninety miles. They're in Israel. Now, ninety miles

isn't too far. You know, Cincinnati, Ohio's one hundred miles from here.

I've got family there. It's pretty easy drive. But Mary and Joseph

didn't have a car, and they didn't have I seventy. Most likely they

either walked or rode on animals to get to Bethlehem. And Mary was pregnant.

Traveling like this is not comfortable for a pregnant lady. Believe me,

I know I've traveled with a pregnant lady. A few weeks ago, Lauren

and I took a trip to visit some friends and family in Pennsylvania and It's

about a six hour drive to get there. And our doctor told us that

this was going to be our last trip before we needed to stay local just

in case baby decided to come. We need to be near our doctor in

the hospital. So this was our last trip. It's about a six hour

drive. And the doctor told us that we need to stop on the drive,

let Lauren get out walk stretch every thirty minutes. And I said,

excuse me, every thirty minutes. It's a six hour drive. This will

be the longest drive of my life. Well, we made it safely,

and yes, we stopped frequently, not every thirty minutes, but we did

stop for Lauren and we made it there safely. So pregnant Mary is traveling

to Bethlehem. She arrives in Bethlehem, but her trip was a one way

trip because the baby decides to be born in Bethlehem. Look at our text

in verse six. While they were there, the time came for the baby

to be born, and she gave birth to her first born, a son.

She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger because there was

no guest room available for them. This was a big surprise. I believe

Mary had a birth plan. You know what a birth plan is. I'm

learning all about a birth plan. You gotta have a birth plan, and

I'm learning new words like prenatal and postpartum and people who are called midwife and

doulah and all these things. You gotta have a birth plan for the baby.

And I'm sure that Mary carrying the Son of God had a birth plan.

But surprise, it doesn't go according to plan. The baby's born while

they're on a road trip. While they're traveling. This would be like me

and Lauren traveling and Lauren going into labor, and we deliver the baby at

a rest stop on the side of the highway, and then the birth certificate

of the baby would say place of birth BUCkies, the largest stress stop in

the US. So Jesus is born that night in Bethelheim, and they place

him in the manger. And after Jesus's birth, God announces to the world.

He sends messengers to announce the birth of his son. Verse eight in

our text says, and there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,

keeping watch over their flocks at night, and an angel of the Lord appeared

to them, and the glory of the Lord's showing around them, and they

were terrified. But the Angel said to them, notice this. The Angel

said to them, do not be afraid. Do not be afraid. I

bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people today in

the town of David. A savior has been born to you. He is

the Messiah, the Lord. The Angel says to the shepherds, do not

be afraid. And this is the message that I want to share today.

This is the message for us today. Do not be afraid. I don't

know what your faith background has been like, I don't know what your belief

or opinion of God is. For many of us, Christmas Eve at church

is a part of our tradition. This is what we do, this is

what we celebrate. For others, you're here because you're invited. Maybe you're

a guest of someone, or you're visiting friends and relatives and you've come at

their invitation, or maybe Christmas Eve for you is an obligation, just something

out of duty that you need to do. But whatever you believe and whatever

your background is, we are all different. We all have different contexts.

There's one thing that we all share in common. There's one thing that you

have in common with me, And there's one thing that the person sitting next

to you has in common with you. For every single one of us,

this life on earth is temporary. We share that in common. At one

point, there will come a time where each one of us will die,

and that can be unsettling to think about. It can be scary to think

about death, and some of us are afraid of where we stand with God

when we die. I'll tell you, when I was a little boy,

I often traveled with my family on vacations and trips, and we would fly

on airplanes. And just as a little boy, I assumed that it was

inevitable I was going to be in a plane crash at some point point.

And here's why, because every plane ride I took as a little boy,

it was the same beginning. The flight attendant or the pilot would come on

and give us instructions in the event of a crash. Put on the life

jacket, inflate the life jacket, put on the oxygen masks. Like every

flight that were preparing us to crash. So as a little boy, I

just assumed it's inevitable I'm gonna crash. And so while they're going over the

safety instructions. I'd be sitting in my little airplane seat, having my own

private confessional because I wanted to go to heaven, and so I would pray,

God forgive me for telling that lie, God for taking for forgive me

for taking that thing without asking God forgive me for being mean to my brother.

I want to go to heaven. Please forgive me for all my wrong

and all the bad things in my life. Because I was insecure about where

I stood with God, I also had this strange thought as a little boy

that when I died, and if I went to heaven, then God would

welcome me into heaven. And then God would take me to a movie theater

and me and God would sit in the front row of this movie theater in

front of this big screen, and then together, me sitting next to God,

we would watch my whole life on the movie screen. This is what

I thought heaven was, and all the good things and all the bad things

in my life, all the sins, all the mistakes, all the secrets

that I don't want God to know about, and I don't want anybody else

to know about all that stuff. It So as a boy, I thought

I gotta make some good scenes to make up for my bad scenes in my

movie. Now, I don't believe that's what heaven's gonna be like, because

Heaven's not about me, It's not about you. It's gonna be all about

Jesus. But I was insecure about where I stood with God. Some of

us are afraid of where you stand with God. And you may wonder,

am I gonna go to heaven? Well? I be good enough for heaven?

Will I be good enough for God to accept me? What can I

do here to make sure that I get to Heaven? Today, I want

to tell you that you can be confident that you will be in heaven when

you die. You do not have to be insecure about where you stand with

God. Why, because Jesus was born to make us right with God.

This is the good news, the angel said to the shepherds. I bring

good news. A savior has been born. Back in this time period in

first century Israel, sometimes families or parents, when they gave birth to a

baby, would hire a herald to announce the birth of their child. They

would send the herald to relatives and neighbors and announce, we have a baby,

especially if this baby was a boy, that meant the family's name would

live on, so they'd hire this herald to announce it. Well, nowadays,

we don't hire heralds to make birth announcements. What do we do nowadays?

We just posted on social media. We post the birth announcement, we

post gender reveal, and then there's the monthly obligate update photo, the cute

little photos. Here's how much I weigh, Here's how tall I am.

And so if you and I are Facebook friends, just stay tuned for an

announcement coming soon. So you would think that if God's going to announce the

birth of his son, who would he send this announcement to. Logically,

maybe like the king of the land, or the Roman emperor or powerful people,

or at the very least send this announcement to the religious leaders, pharisees,

the Bible scholars who are waiting for the Messiah. But what does God

do? Instead? God sends his angels, his messengers, to some shepherds.

We don't even know their names, just some shepherds. The rest of

our text says in verse thirteen, 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.

I wonder if you desire more peace in your life. I wonder if there

are things circumstances that have troubled you, that have kept you awake at night,

that have kept you restless, maybe even made you angry. And I

wonder if you want peace. The good news is that there is peace for

you because of Jesus. This angel says peace on earth to those on whom

his favorite rests Verse sixteen. They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and

the baby who was lying in the manger. And when the shepherds had seen

him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child.

The shepherds became the first messengers to tell the world about Jesus. Now

that may not surprise you, because, after all, if you have a

Nativity scene at home, you've got the characters Mary, Joseph, Jesus,

and probably some shepherds. It's not surprising. But we should remember that in

this first century Middle Eastern culture, shepherds were not held in high regard.

In fact, shepherding was a menial job. It was a low class job.

In this shepherd Shepherding in this culture was not a resume builder. For

many, it was the last option they had at making a living. For

many, it was hired out to servants or given to slaves of sheep owners.

It was grueling work, long days, long nights out in elements.

Often, if there was a family who owned sheep, the father would assign

shepherding to the youngest son or the smallest son and give them that responsibility.

Remember, Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the town of King David, but

before David became a king, he was the youngest son in his family keeping

watch over the sheep before he became king. For some, shepherding was just

the last option they had. And additionally, according to the Jewish religious system,

shepherds were not accepted in religious circles. I mean they were too dirty,

too smelly to be welcome into the temple. They were religiously unclean.

Shepherds were kept at a distance. Just even in our text it says they

were out in the fields. They weren't in the city, they weren't in

the community. They were outside. They were kept at a social distance,

a religious distance, an economic distance. Do you ever feel distant from God?

Do you ever feel separated from God because there's something in your past that

you're ashamed of, or there's some mistakes you wish you could take back,

or there's a secret in your life that makes you feel like you're distant from

God. Or you've experienced incredible loss and grief and disappointment and you doubt God

and you feel separated from him. Do you ever fear where you stand with

God? You may be surprised to hear that even pastors like me sometimes feel

distant from God. In my past, I've had addiction issues. I've carried

shame that has made me feel distant from God. I've held bitterness and unforgiveness

in my heart against people that's made me feel distant from God. And there's

been moments where I have suffered severe loss and grief where I've doubted God and

I have felt distant from Him. Today, I want to address some of

the things that make us feel distant from God. Today, I want to

talk about three things that make us feel distant from God, and you may

relate with a couple of these. What makes us feel distant from God?

I think for some of us it's believing I am unworthy, I'm unworthy of

God, I'm unworthy of him accepting me. You know, these shepherds in

the first century, they were religiously unworthy because shepherds were nomadic, which means

they moved around, They traveled around. They didn't really have a permanent home,

which meant that they couldn't travel back to Jerusalem to worship at the temple.

They were kind of like truck drivers, out on the road for a

week or more at a time. Shepherds would have to take their sheep through

the wilderness looking for good pastures, looking for fresh water, and this would

keep them away so they couldn't fulfill religious obligations. In addition to that,

shepherds spent a lot of time with sheep, so they were pretty smelly,

probably pretty dirty, and there wasn't a truck stop for them to shower at.

And so many of the religious elite in that culture would keep shepherds away

and they wouldn't want to come in contact with a shepherd because maybe they'd become

spiritually unclean. Shepherds were unworthy. Many of us may feel unworthy. You

come to church and have a smile, and you act like everything's fine,

everything's fine, everything's fine, it's all fine. But inside there's brokenness.

Inside, there's pain, inside, there's hurt, and you feel unworthy because

of what you've been through or what's been done to you. You feel less

than and you know the sinful things in your life, you know the failures,

the wrong things, and you think God can't accept me. I'm unworthy.

I know a time when I felt unworthy. When I came to put

my faith in Jesus and start following Jesus, I believed in my mind that

God had forgiven me, but in my heart, I still carried a lot

of guilt. I still felt unworthy, and I wanted to prove to God

that he made the right choice. And I wanted to make sure I didn't

mess up or didn't let him down. I wanted to prove to him that

I was worthy. Some of us are distant from God because we feel unworthy.

Some of us are distant from God because you're believing I'm unqualified. I

don't measure up, I don't meet the qualifications, I don't meet the standard.

Do you remember thinking about what you wanted to be when you grow up?

How about for our kids and our children here listening. What do you

want to be when you grow up? Have you thought about what you want

to be when you grow up? Or do you remember when you a college

or picked a major, or do you remember deciding on a career path and

pursuing the training or apprenticeship for that career. I highly doubt that in first

century Israel there were a lot of young boys and girls writing college entrance essays

about their hopes and dreams of becoming a shepherd. It wasn't an aspirational career.

Shepherds lacked education, they lacked qualifications. For many, it was just

the only option that they had. I gotta tell you, I never feel

more unqualified in my life than when I'm facing a home repair project. Me

and DIY just don't get along. There was a time I was invited by

a group of volunteers who were doing a construction project at a church. They

asked me to come help. They obviously didn't know my poor resume with DIY,

and so when I showed up, the leader of the project handed me

some nails and a hammer. That's right, I borrowed a hammer. I

didn't have my own tools, and so I started hammering this nail, and

I did a poor job, and I bent the nail and I got stuck.

And then I tried pulling it out with the other side of the hammer,

but it was stuck. And then another volunteer came by and in one

motion pulled it right out. And so I felt pretty embarrassed, felt pretty

low. And so I lined up another nail and I told myself, don't

mess this up. And so I started hammering again, and this time I

hit the nail, but I hit the wrong nail. I hit my finger

nail, and then I started bleeding, and I was so embarrassed. I

put my finger my hand in my pocket to hide that I was injured,

and I was hammering on with one hand. It was obvious to everyone that

I had messed up. And so the leader of the project came and put

his hand out and said, Andrew, for your own safety, I'm confiscating

your hammer. I'm unqualified to use certain tools. The Shepherds were unqualified to

meet religious requirements in their culture. See the Jewish tradition was all about following

the commands and the laws given by God, and one of the prominent rules

in the Jewish tradition is keeping the Sabbath. It's a practice that we Christians

also follow. And the Sabbath is one day a week, twenty four hours,

no work, only rest and worship. Good faithful Jewish people observe the

Sabbath, but shepherds. Shepherds had a twenty four to seven job. They

couldn't take time off, They couldn't rest. They had sheep to look after.

They had to take care of the six sheep. They had to feed

the sheep, they had to look for the lost sheep, and had to

always be on guard against predators and threats. They couldn't keep the Sabbath.

They were religiously unqualified. Sometimes we feel unqualified spiritually because we compare ourselves to

other people. Actually, around Christmas time, it's easy to compare ourselves to

others. We come to church and everybody's dressed up, and we see other

families, you know, those families that were the matching pajamas for their Christmas

picture, and don't they look so happy and they get along and they're united

and their family so peaceful, And we're comparing ourselves to others, and you

see, oh, look at that family. Their kid didn't spill any of

the candle wax at Christmas Eve. Meanwhile, you have to stop your kid

from eating the candle wax. And we can compare ourselves to others spiritually,

like, oh, that person, they know so much about the Bible.

They're so knowledgeable. I'm not knowledgeable like that, or this person. They'd

have a Bible verse for every situation. And when they pray they sound so

eloquent. I'm unqualified, I'm not good enough. We can feel unqualified,

and that keeps us distant from God. Some of us feel distant from God

because you believe I am unworthy, and some of us believe I am unqualified.

And there are many of us who are separated and distant from God because

you believe I am unloved. I'm unloved. Many of these shepherds in the

first century probably felt unloved, unwanted, unvalued, not trusted because in this

culture, shepherds were not considered trustworthy. Many of them had criminal records.

A lot of them were considered thieves or liars or swindlers. This reputation haunted

shepherds so much that they were not even allowed to give reliable witness testimony in

a court of law. Sometimes a father would not give his blessing to his

daughter to be married to a shepherd because of their reputation. They were unloved,

they were unwanted. I have a very dear friend of mine who grew

up without knowing his birth father very well. Eventually, his foster family adopted

him, and during his high school years, my friend had sporadic contact with

his birth father, a message here, or a Facebook reach out there,

but nothing substantial. And then when my friend graduated from high school, he

had a graduation party and his birth father made him a promise. He promised

that he would come to the party and that he would take care of the

catered food for the party. And so the day of the party came and

friends and family were invited. The party was outside of a park under a

pavilion, and my friend's birth father didn't show up. He didn't come through,

and so my friend I'd make a plan be for food, and he

was let down and disappointed. I can only imagine how unloved he felt.

Many people in our world feel unloved. You feel in love because somebody hurt

you in your past, somebody lets you down, a parent abandons you,

a spouse cheated on you, or you raised your children, but your children,

now they're an adult, they've cut you off, and you feel unloved.

And there may be a single person listening to this, and you see

your friends getting married, you see other starting families, and you wonder,

what's wrong with me? Why am I unloved? And I gotta imagine there

are some of us that when you look in the mirror, you do not

like what you see. When you lay your head down at night, you're

fighting off thoughts of self hate, you're fighting off thoughts of self harm.

You might be stuck in hurting yourself in an eating disorder. And there are

some of us where your greatest struggle in life is that you think this world

would be better off if you ended your life. Some of us feel unloved,

and we feel far away and distant from God. Whether it's feeling unworthy

or unqualified or unloved, every single one of us is separated from God and

distant from Him. And whether we realize it or not, all of us

respond to this separation from God. And there are two major categories that we

find ourselves in. Whether you do this consciously or unconsciously, we respond to

the separation there's one category some of us. We run to autonomy to prove

you don't need God. You run to autonomy to prove I don't need God.

I don't need religion to prove I'm good on my own. I'm gonna

take care of myself. Look out for me. I'm good. And there's

another group of us. We're in a category where we run to religion to

prove something to God, to say, God, look at me. God,

I'm trying God, accept me, look at me. These are the

two categories. But Jesus came to prove something to you. Jesus came to

restore a relationship with you, not establish a religion. Jesus came to prove

to you the love of God, to prove to you the grace of God,

to prove to you that you can have a relationship with God, so

you don't have to fear where you stand with God. The Angel says in

Luke two, I bring you good news, good news glory to God in

the highest and on earth, peace to those on whom His favor rests.

This word his favor means God's grace. This is the good news that God

wants to give you more grace that God wants to cover you in grace.

There is more grace, there is more favor for you. This is good

news. And so now in this message, I want to answer the question

what does this good news mean for me? What does this good news mean

for you? Here Christmas Eve twenty twenty three, what does this good news

mean for you? I want to read one verse from the New Testament Romans

three twenty says, for no one can ever be made right with God by

doing what the law commands. We started this message by saying, some of

us fear where we stand with God? Am I right with God? Am

I out of step with God? This verse says no one can be right

with God by doing what the law commands? So what does the good news

mean for you? First, you cannot earn God's grace by obeying the law.

No matter how hard you tried, no matter how many commands you keep,

you will not earn God's grace. God did not send his son or

the world to establish more religion in the world. He came for something more

than that. See, religion keeps us stuck separated from God. Religion keeps

us trapped in rules of do and don't trying to perform trying to prove ourselves

to God. God did not give us Christianity as a religion of rules.

He came to give us a relationship. That's why he sent a person.

That's why he sent his son Romans three twenty, and you'se on. No

one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands.

The law simply shows us how sinful we are. What does the good news

mean for us? Secondly, the law shows you your need for a savior.

I think most of us, deep down probably think that you're basically a

good person. If I were to ask you, are you basically a good

person or a bad person, I think most of us would say, Yeah,

I'm confident I'm basically a good person. I know some really bad people,

but I'm a good person basically. Now, I want to do an

exercise here, because it's not about comparing ourselves to other people. It's about

comparing ourselves to God. And so I want to ask for some participation.

I'm gonna ask us a couple questions, and we're gonna raise our hands,

and we're all gonna do this, so no one's gonna be singled out.

But raise your hand, if you have ever said something that was not one

hundred percent true, I've done that. Now raise your hand. If you

have taken something that didn't belong to you, Yep, I've done that.

Now raise your hand. If you have ever held unforgiveness or anger or bitterness

toward anybody, a grudge. You know, Jesus says that unforgiveness and hate

is as bad as murder. I've done that. So, by our own

admission, this makes us a group of liars, thieves, and murderers,

not the group of people you'd expect to see in church on Christmas. Now

that's a simplistic exercise, but here's why we did that. Until you see

yourself as a sinner, you will never see your need for a savior.

You'll always be in that category of autonomy, trying to prove that you don't

need God because you're good enough on your own. Your merit is good enough,

your work is good enough, your bank account is good enough. The

way you've raised your family is good enough. But all of us have failed.

All of us are imperfect. We need a savior. Until you see

yourself as a sinner, you will not see yourself as a savior. So

what does the good news mean for us? Thirdly, grace. God's grace

comes by faith in Jesus alone. This is the good news. It's not

faith plus good works. It's not faith plus serving volunteering. It's not faith

plus giving money. It's in Jesus alone. Romans three twenty one says,

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without

keeping the requirements of the law. We are made right with God by placing

our faith in Jesus. And this is true for everyone who believes, no

matter who we are. It's faith in Jesus. It's trusting Jesus. And

who is this for? It's for everyone. Is it for Christian people?

No, it's for everyone. Is it for righteous people, No, it's

for everyone. Is it for white people, black people? No, it's

for everyone. The goodness of Jesus, the grace of God is for everyone,

no matter what your background is, no matter what your sin is,

no matter what family you come from. This is faith and salvation for everyone.

It comes by faith in Jesus alone. Romans three twenty three says,

everyone has sin, We all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God,

in his grace everyone say grace, grace. God, in his grace,

freely makes us right in his sight. Are you afraid of where you

stand with God? Are you afraid of what you're gonna say? When you

meet God? You can stand right before God because of his grace. He

did this through Christ, Jesus, when he freed us from the penalty of

our sins. Notice the word grace. There's more grace for you because of

what Jesus did. There's more grace for your failures. There's more grace for

your sin. There's more grace for every addict, for every alcoholic. There's

more grace for every liar, and every thief and every cheater. There is

more grace for everyone who is suffering and hurting. There's more grace for the

broken hearted and for the hard hearted. If you receive God's grace, would

you give him praise today? Because He's been faithful, Because he loves you,

there's more grace. Earlier, I told you about my friend whose father

let him down. I want to tell you about a second friend that I

have. And this second friend, when he graduated from high school, he

wanted to go to college and he had dreams of starting a successful career and

getting the education for that, and he would be the first person in his

family to go to college and to graduate from college. But he couldn't afford

college, and so he needed a loan like many of us do to pay

for college. And so my friend and his father went to a financial advisor

to look at options, and the financial advisor laid off the options, and

they learned that the loan he needed was so large and substantial that it would

require significant collateral. You know what collateral is. It's property or possessions that

you put up. And if you can't pay back the loan, the bank

or the lender can take your property or your possessions because you didn't pay the

loan. And so they needed collateral for this big loan, and without hesitation,

my friend's dad offered to put his home as collateral. That's an earthly

parent loving their child. How much more does your heavenly father love you?

How much more does your heavenly father want to give you grace that we do

not deserve? Because every single one of us has a debt for our sin,

and that debt is not a loan that we can pay back that debt,

that payment we pay with our life. It's death that we pay.

But God is made away by his grace to set us free from that penalty.

And God did not put up a home as collateral. God didn't write

a check. God didn't make a deposit. God gave us his son,

Jesus Christ Romans three twenty five says God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for sin.

People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life

shedding his blood. Jesus is the payment for our sin, because when Jesus

died on the cross, he took everything that separates you from God. He

took all of my sin, all of your sin, and he paid for

it on the cross. Jesus absorbed all of my shame, all my regret,

every time I've lied, every time I've cheated, every time I've treated

other people selfishly. He absorbed all of that. He paid my price because

Jesus is my substitute. And when he rose from the dead, Jesus conquered

death. He conquered the power of sin so that we can be forgiven,

so that you can have grace. Have you received that grace? Have you

trusted Jesus by faith? As your substitute, as your sacrifice, because we

started today by asking are you afraid of where you stand with God? And

the truth is that every single one of us will die, and one day

we will give an account to God. Romans fourteen twelve says, yes,

everyone will give a personal account to God one day. What will your personal

account sound like? Will you stand before God and say, God, I

tried God, I tried to be a good person. God. I tried

to be religious. God, I tried to go to church. I tried

to be good. Or will your personal account sound like I'm a sinner?

I have fail, But Jesus is my substitute. I claim the grace of

the blood of Jesus. I'm washed clean because Jesus is my substitute. Friends,

you don't need to wait until death to make that decision. You can

trust Jesus today because when we receive that grace, then we get to join

with the shepherds. The shepherds who hurried off and told the world about this

good news. We get to tell the world about the good news of Jesus.

Have you received that grace? I want to end by drawing your attention

one more thing about the shepherds. Remember Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the

town of King David, because Jesus was a descendant of King David. And

before King David was a king, he was a little shepherd boy. And

this shepherd boy who became a king wrote the words of Psalm twenty three,

which say, the Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me besides still waters.

He restores my soul. I wonder if your soul needs restored today.

I wonder if you are separated from God, if you feel broken, if

you feel isolated, you need restored today. He restores my soul. He

leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. And even though I

walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,

for you are with me. When you put your faith in Jesus,

God becomes your shepherd, and he walks with you even through death. And

so I want to invite all of us to respond to the message that we've

heard today. Would you join me in a moment of prayer. We're going

to bow our heads and close our eyes together, and in this personal moment

of prayer. I want to extend an invitation to anyone who is listening.

And if you are not right with God, if you are far from God,

if you are living stuck in sin, in addiction, or if you're

living in rebellion and you want to be made right with God, you can

receive his grace. And then so I invite you to pray this prayer after

me, say Dear God, I admit that I'm a sinner, and then

in this silent moment, confess whatever that sin is. Confess that sin to

Him, and then say, I believe Jesus died for my sins and rose

from the dead to save me. Today I confess Jesus's Lord of my life.

God, come and be my shepherd. And as we continue in this

posture of prayer with our eyes closed and head and bowed, I wonder today

if you prayed, and you made a decision to receive God's grace, I

wonder if you would be brave enough just to raise your hand only because I

want to encourage you. I just want to pray for you. If you

prayed that prayer, would you just slip your hand up in the air,

just to say yes? Yes, I've received God's grace. God bless you,

God bless you. Anyone else