Sermon

Justin Todd Herod

Cross Power Church Sermons

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  1. Welcome to the Cross Power Church podcast.

  2. You're listening to a service from our church in Campbell, TX.

  3. We pray this message strengthens your faith and points you to the

  4. cross. Now let's join the service.

  5. For me, I'm just kind of clumsy like that.

  6. Yes, Sir. Whatever you got that might go

  7. on my head or face. Thank you.

  8. So I need all the help I can get, man.

  9. I'm not very ambidexterious. Oh, thank you, Sir.

  10. Thank you. Thank you.

  11. Is this, is this this the one you have in my handheld?

  12. That's all you got. OK, that's fine.

  13. I'll just do the best I can with it, do the best I can.

  14. We just came out of a very busy holiday.

  15. And you know, The thing is with with Christmas time, I mean, I'm

  16. kind of at the point now where I'm not real Bah humbug like I

  17. used to be. I'm just kind of getting used to

  18. the understanding that once we get through it, Pastor Lance, it

  19. is what it is. You know, folks are mostly like,

  20. I'm glad that's over with. I understand that.

  21. I understand that. But it's funny to me though, in

  22. America, especially around here in Texas, you know, man, about

  23. September, everybody starts putting up the Christmas stuff.

  24. When we start getting all Christmasy, there's 80 foot

  25. snowman out there, 120° weather and all kind of stuff around

  26. here. But it's funny, the closer you

  27. get to Christmas, you'll see all these people that kind of

  28. celebrate 2 holidays per year. One would be Christmas, one

  29. would be Easter. We call them creasters.

  30. You know, it's their big time because they get all about Jesus

  31. when Christmas comes around. They get all about Jesus when

  32. Easter comes around. We'll see in the Old Testament

  33. time, there was a holiday for the Jewish people that was

  34. bigger actually than Christmas was.

  35. But it's kind of representative of what we would celebrate

  36. Christmas about because Christmas is supposed to be the

  37. birth of Christ. December 25th really debatable.

  38. Could have been in the spring, might not even been a holiday to

  39. begin with. All kind.

  40. I don't care. It's still when we do it,

  41. supposed to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

  42. Now, in the Old Testament, they celebrated a thing called

  43. Passover. Passover being, of course, what

  44. happened in through the Israelites over in Goshen during

  45. the 10th plague, put the lamb's blood on the door and the death

  46. Angel passed over them. So they were commanded in the

  47. book of Leviticus, Deuteronomy and Exodus to celebrate the

  48. Passover every year. And then on top of that, that's

  49. one day. Then they had the Feast of

  50. Unleavened Bread. That was seven days, so 8 days

  51. every year. The funny part about it is

  52. Pastor Lance, they couldn't opt out of it.

  53. They couldn't buy humbucker. They had to do it.

  54. It was a law. They had to go and celebrate the

  55. Passover. So the story I'm about to read

  56. to you occurs after Mary, the Virgin Mary, Luke chapter 2 has

    Luke 2 chapter mention

  57. already given birth to the baby Christ child and man.

  58. The reason I'm bringing this up because every year we read out

  59. of Luke the Christmas story, we read out of Luke the Magnificat.

  60. Mary saved, blessed is me, for my womb is going to bear the

  61. Christ child. We read all these Christmas

  62. stories, but we never really read much further when we go to

  63. when Jesus has already now grown up a little bit.

  64. In other words, the Christmas story's over.

  65. So I'm going to pick it up right at verse 41.

  66. If you don't mind Luke chapter 2.

    Luke 2 chapter mention

  67. Stay with me. Now.

  68. His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the

  69. Passover, and when he was 12 years old they went up to

  70. Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast.

  71. And when they had finished the days, as they returned, the boy

  72. Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem.

  73. And Joseph and his mother did not know it, but supposing him

  74. to have been in the company, I like that word, the company,

  75. they went a day's journey and sought Him among the relatives

  76. and acquaintances. And when they did not find in

  77. their return of Jerusalem, seeking Him.

  78. And it came to pass that after three days they found him in the

  79. Temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to

  80. them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were

  81. astonished at his understanding and his answers.

  82. And when they saw him, they were amazed.

  83. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you done this to us?

  84. Look, your father and I have sought you anxiously.

  85. Please pay attention to these next two verses.

  86. And he said to them, how is it that you sought me?

  87. Why are you seeking me? What y'all wanting to know here?

  88. Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?

  89. And they did not understand the statement which he spoke to

  90. them. See Passover.

  91. Now to the Jew was the Old Testament way of the finger

  92. pointing to the blood that was shed at Calvary.

  93. That would be the grown up 33 1/2 year old of the baby who's

  94. in the Manger that we celebrate every year.

  95. But it's funny to me, Pastor Lance, when people Christmas

  96. time, it don't matter what's going on.

  97. I know we're glad it's over with, but it's funny how the

  98. peak and the enhightenment of a Jesus, Oh my God Jesus, Jesus

  99. every word out they mouth is Jesus during Christmas.

  100. But for some reason when Christmas is over and we wiping

  101. the spread off our brow and we finally done with all the trees

  102. and the gifts and grandkids tearing stuff up and getting fat

  103. and eating all the stuff. When we finally done with it, we

  104. don't really want to think about Jesus much anymore.

  105. Notice what happened. They were going every year to

  106. the Passover. Now here's some similarities.

  107. The Passover like Christmas, it was crowded.

  108. There was people everywhere coming in from what they call

  109. the diasporia, which was all around the places where all the

  110. Jewish people have been exiled. And some of them decided to stay

  111. there. They would come in to the

  112. Passover. And also because of the Feast of

  113. Unleavened Bread, it was long. Have you ever been out shopping

  114. on Christmas Eve, driving down it's Central Expressway in

  115. Dallas and it's crowded and it's long.

  116. So I'm telling you that probably I can't find you chapter and

  117. verse, but I'm about to prove it pretty much through a narrative

  118. right here. Probably what's going on is

  119. these folks, man, as we see right here, it says they started

  120. going to Jerusalem every year. What in your mind that we just

  121. got out of happens every year? What is it?

  122. Christmas every year it happens and we go to it every year and

  123. sometimes it gets to be like this.

  124. Look at the next verse. Sometimes when they became 12,

  125. when Jesus got to be 12 years old, they went up there

  126. according to the custom of the feast.

  127. The word custom here in the Greek is the word ethos.

  128. And it simply means something that could be a ritual,

  129. something that can be something we do that becomes mundane.

  130. It becomes now patterned, it becomes organized.

  131. It becomes something that if we're not careful, we will get

  132. in the fathom pattern of Christmas every year.

  133. And we'll do music, we'll do gifts, we'll do food, we'll do

  134. grandkids, we'll do Christmas trees.

  135. We'll do all this stuff, maxing out credit cards, cussing people

  136. out over parking places, all this kind of stuff, and we

  137. forget about what the real meat is supposed to be.

  138. See, they were going to Passover and it said they went according

  139. to the custom, which is not a bad thing.

  140. But I'm pretty sure somewhere along the line, Mary and Joseph,

  141. they had done it so much that it got to be kind of habitual deal.

  142. And they kind of probably secretly, but maybe even just

  143. unintentionally forgot about what the whole Passover thing

  144. supposed to be about, the blood passing over them.

  145. It goes on. Look at it now.

  146. It says that they went up according to the custom and as

  147. they were returning after spending the full number of

  148. days, look at that, the full number of days.

  149. You couldn't leave. No day early.

  150. Folks can get up out of church and leave early.

  151. Don't like what the preacher's saying?

  152. It's getting hot in here. Oh my God, I'm getting hungry.

  153. But these folks had to stay 8 days after the full number of

  154. days. The boy Jesus, what?

  155. Wait, He stayed behind, but his parents were unaware of it.

  156. Who won't challenge you with I believe in my mind and I can't

  157. give you no chapter or verse other than this narrative right

  158. here, but I can tell you, I believe you can get so

  159. ritualistic, so customary, so mundane, so unaware of what the

  160. real reason for the season is that Jesus just stand over here

  161. and say, hey, if y'all want to cut me out of it, I'll just stay

  162. back here and let y'all have it. Anybody with me?

  163. I'll just stay back here and let y'all have it.

  164. See, a lot of people think that Jesus is being disobedient.

  165. He wasn't he wasn't disobeying his parents.

  166. The Bible says as he grew in stature, he grew in obedience.

  167. He grew. He was obeying his parents went

  168. exactly to what we're supposed to be going.

  169. See, Jesus really understood what the Passover was because

  170. Jesus is the Passover. He didn't have nobody tell him

  171. all these things about Jesus was born, Jesus died.

  172. Oh, read the Bible. No, he just went there because

  173. he was more interested in what was really going on than all the

  174. festivities that was going on around it.

  175. So notice what it says here. It says that he lingered behind.

  176. But look at this thing, Brother Lance, it said, but the parents

  177. were unaware of it. Now listen, just a few chapters

  178. back, I mean just a few verses back.

  179. Now, I ain't never had no baby. I'm a dude, but I've been in the

  180. doggone a medical field for a little bit.

  181. I worked in the medical field and I remember women would come

  182. in there and be pregnant and we'd have to rush them up for

  183. like an emergency C-section or something.

  184. And the daddy would say, I want to come in there, I want to be

  185. with you, honey. I'm going to be there about 30

  186. seconds, punk. That's £250 Billy Joel to knock

  187. that on the floor. But here's what I'm saying.

  188. It was pretty evident that Billy Joel probably got that girl

  189. pregnant. She's having a baby.

  190. Here's what I'm trying to say. Mary of all people should have

  191. been aware that my son is not with me here anymore.

  192. He's not just an average boy. See, sometimes we try to make

  193. Jesus average when he is the Passover, He is the Christmas

  194. season, He is the reason for the Christmas season.

  195. But it goes on, Brother Lance and it said they weren't aware

  196. of it. So what happened?

  197. Here's what happened. Here's what the trappings are

  198. right here, guys. Stay with me.

  199. So they begin looking for him amongst their relatives and

  200. acquaintances. They supposed him to be in the

  201. caravan and they went a day's journey and begin looking for

  202. him among their relatives and acquaintances.

  203. Here's what I think happens to some people.

  204. Maybe it's happened to y'all. It might not happen till March.

  205. It might not happen till June. It might not happen till, you

  206. know, way up into September. But it's going to happen

  207. sometimes. I'm not saying you can lose your

  208. salvation. A lot of people believe you can.

  209. I believe if you really saved, God's got you.

  210. I believe you're going to hang in there.

  211. And I'm not trying to say that, you know, there's some people

  212. that ain't really saved and then but I'm talking about here's the

  213. deal. I want to prove to you.

  214. I think sometimes in our life, saved or not, but let me talk to

  215. saved folks today. That got Jesus in your heart,

  216. got Jesus in your life. We can go along through the

  217. year. We all jacked up on Jesus

  218. because Christmas was so great. The baby in the Manger, all the

  219. songs that we singing, going to church because Brother Lance

  220. gonna have a special Christmas program and all the kids up

  221. there singing with their little candles and all the beautiful

  222. Christmas stuff. Pretty soon when Christmas is

  223. over, we start feeling something ain't right.

  224. There's something kind of missing here.

  225. I don't know what's going on, but I ain't feeling all that joy

  226. anymore. I ain't feeling all that peace

  227. anymore. After a day's journey.

  228. They started realizing something's out of place here.

  229. So what do they do? They started looking for Jesus.

  230. But like, oh, Johnny Lee used to say they were looking for love

  231. in all the wrong places. They started popping in this

  232. caravan. Is he in here?

  233. They go to the next one. Hey, Brother Goldstein, y'all

  234. got him in here. Missus Bernstein, y'all got him

  235. in here. It's almost like y'all when the

  236. joy goes away and the peace goes away, you come over to Brother

  237. Lance or Sister Candy. Sister Candy, and you're trying

  238. to say, hey, can I find? Yeah, you can find a lot of

  239. Jesus in Lance. But let me tell you, you got to

  240. find him for yourself. You can look for him in all kind

  241. of ways. You can look for him in church

  242. and you can find him in church. But church attendance and just

  243. coming to church and just being somebody who's like, I'm a

  244. Christian and you come to church, that's not going to find

  245. the kind of Jesus that's going to pull you out of that sorrow

  246. and that despair and that depression that might hit around

  247. May, June, July, or September. You can find him in all kind of

  248. things, people looking for him in all kind of things, drugs,

  249. alcohol, sexual relationships, pornography, trying to find

  250. something, not really Jesus, but something to fill up that void.

  251. See they had a void. They had all the family there

  252. except the most important person wasn't with them no more.

  253. So they started looking for in all the wrong places and they

  254. looking around and he wasn't there.

  255. So here's what I want to prove to you real quick and I'm going

  256. to shut her down. Then after three days they did

  257. find him. Y'all never lost y'all's kids in

  258. Walmart or something like that. Man, my boys like you just man,

  259. I've taken my boys in Walmart. I swear man, the next thing

  260. you're going to hear about 30 minutes later, is there a guy in

  261. here that's got two kids that's got BB guns running around the

  262. Walmart store or something like that?

  263. You know, one's hitting one with a fishing pole in there.

  264. Somebody's already got hooked with a spinner bait.

  265. Y'all get them up here. You know something like that

  266. Brother Lance, you know panic sets in but these cats done gone

  267. 3 days and ain't really figured it out yet.

  268. So you know what we need to do when we go through the year

  269. after Christmas. When we say Christmas is over

  270. and we're going through the year after Christmas and all of a

  271. sudden all that jacked up on Jesus stuff starts going away.

  272. My God I was so happy. I was so full of joy.

  273. Silent night man Rudolph Frosty was jumping around the house and

  274. I was eating food and I was happy.

  275. Family and I went to church and man it was all about Jesus.

  276. But now what's going on? Something don't feel right.

  277. You know, when you lose something, what you got to do,

  278. you go back where you left it. What'd they do?

  279. They went back to Jerusalem. If you lose your keys, your cell

  280. phone, my God, don't let nobody lose their phone.

  281. They're going to lose their mind when they lose their phone, man,

  282. lose their mind. But you're going to go right

  283. back. Well, honey, what you left

  284. Habitat, I don't know, but you go back to where you lost it.

  285. Here's what they did. They went back to Jerusalem.

  286. And look what it says. Pastor Lance, I love it, says

  287. after three days they found him. But where'd they find him?

  288. At in the temple. You would think Jesus being a

  289. boy that got left by his mom and daddy.

  290. I'll be over in the corner somewhere going.

  291. Oh, Mabel. Mabel, why'd you leave me?

  292. No, Jesus over fully composed, fully right where he need to be

  293. in the temple. You know why?

  294. Because he is the Passover, He is the Christmas, He is the

  295. holiday, He is the meaning. And he was standing in what?

  296. Well before the cross, the temple was made out of stone,

  297. made out of mortar, made out of gold, made out of silver.

  298. But guess after the cross where the temple is, it's right here.

  299. And guess what he wants to do? He wants to stand in that.

  300. Yes, He does. But I will promise you.

  301. I will promise you. Please listen, this crazy

  302. preacher, some of us, we're all guilty.

  303. Jesus is all up in the temple during Christmas.

  304. Jesus, I'm mad. Jesus, fix it.

  305. Jesus, is that mad? Jesus, I'm a hero.

  306. I love me some Jesus. Oh, come on, Jesus, Jesus.

  307. And as soon as Christmas is over, finally, we just get on

  308. back to business as usual. And Jesus says, well, if you

  309. ain't going to think about the Passover the way you're supposed

  310. to, I'll just hang around over here in my temple place in my

  311. rightful position where I'm supposed to be until you finally

  312. figure out that my rightful position is supposed to be in

  313. this temple. Come on now, I got to be in this

  314. one. And so they went back and they

  315. found Him in the temple. And guess what he was doing?

  316. This is what gets me. They found Him in the temple

  317. amidst the teachers. They were listening to them and

  318. instant to him, and they were asking, He was asking them

  319. questions. So look what it says.

  320. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and

  321. his answers. This is why I'm just going to

  322. get on the soapbox for a little bit.

  323. Please don't take offense to this guy.

  324. I know what don't happen here at cross power.

  325. But here's a bunch of self-righteous people that Jesus

  326. later called white Wash tombs Vipers.

  327. You're of your father the devil. And they're amazed at Jesus.

  328. And sometimes the best you can get out of Christian people is

  329. like, OK, his lost folks and Jesus up there rolling through

  330. the book of Isaiah like a scholar.

  331. Why? Because he is the word.

  332. He is the Passover. He is the word John one, one

  333. through 3. He is that.

  334. And these lost self-righteous people were amazed.

  335. Here's what gets me, Pastor Lance.

  336. They were amazed, but look at Mary's reaction.

  337. Look at it closely and see if this don't shoot, don't fit.

  338. They were amazed. And so all of a sudden they were

  339. astonished. But his mother came up instead

  340. of being amazed that this boy that the Holy Spirit had

  341. impregnated her with Don't mean to be crass.

  342. I'm just being real. If anybody should have known

  343. this was Jesus and not some ordinary kid, it should have

  344. been Mama. I'm giving her some grace

  345. because it was 12 years. She might have got a little used

  346. to it. Business as usual.

  347. He's just a kid. But I'm sure by now if you see

  348. him standing in the temple and he's ripping through Isaiah and

  349. all these rabbis are going Bo, Oh my God, I'm pretty sure

  350. flashback, flashback to you. This was the kid that the Holy

  351. Spirit told me Abril Gabriel, when he came, I'm going to give

  352. birth to the Son of God. I'm pretty sure it would have

  353. come back to her. But instead, here's what she

  354. says. Son, why have you treated us

  355. this way? That's humanity right there bro.

  356. That is humanity. Christmas is over and peace is

  357. gone. Christmas is over.

  358. The joy done left the building. I'm not saying it's happened to

  359. y'all, but it's going to. That's why we have pastors and

  360. why we have church. That's why we have the Lord, the

  361. Holy Spirit. That's why we have the Bible.

  362. Because if we go for so long without making Jesus rightfully

  363. standing in this temple where he's supposed to be, I will tell

  364. you what will happen. You'll finally turn around and

  365. say, God, why you treat me this way?

  366. Anybody women today? Why you doing this to me?

  367. God? Mary, just come up there.

  368. I'm talking about this sister come up straight up out of

  369. nowhere and instead of saying, Oh my God, this is the Son of

  370. God. I should have known that man he

  371. was going to be at the Passover and I should have been right

  372. there at the temple watching him and seeing him instead of

  373. leaving off and letting him stay behind.

  374. I should have known this. But instead she comes up and

  375. says, son, why are you treating us like this?

  376. But look what Jesus says and stay, stay with us.

  377. I'm just dodging a bunch of my notes, guys.

  378. I'm trying to condense. Why did you treat us this way?

  379. Your father and I, who wasn't his real father by the way, but

  380. I mean, he's a stepfather, great for him.

  381. I've been, we've been actually looking for you.

  382. Look at what Jesus says and I'm going to close it down here in

  383. just a second. And he said to them, why is it

  384. that you're looking for me? A lot of people look for Jesus

  385. for all kind of ways. We live in a culture right now

  386. where some of these teachers teach that you look for Jesus.

  387. He going to be like a genie in a bottle or a slot machine in Las

  388. Vegas. You come to Jesus, he going to

  389. give you everything you want. I ain't going to tell you

  390. there's nowhere to bottle. It says it going to happen like

  391. that, but it's done in the Bible 30 something years.

  392. It don't say that. Some people look for Jesus

  393. because they they look for him like we would look for a 911

  394. button when somebody breaking into your house.

  395. I don't look for I look for a Glock, but I don't look for 911.

  396. I'm just looking for the right thing.

  397. I'm going to tell y'all right now.

  398. I don't need 911. I don't want it.

  399. Sorry y'all, I didn't mean to offend y'all.

  400. I'm sorry about that y'all man. I want me.

  401. I'm going to call the cops. I promise you I will.

  402. I'll call them probably after, but I'll call him though.

  403. I promise you I will man. Y'all, don't throw me out here

  404. please. Now.

  405. Come on now. I'm sorry Lance.

  406. I'm sorry man. Forgive me.

  407. I'm going to take all that back. Forgive me y'all.

  408. Some people look at Jesus by 911, and they why why are we

  409. searching for him? Because he's my emergency call.

  410. I'm gonna call him up when my life's fall apart.

  411. My wife's about to leave. I can't believe one of my kids.

  412. They're going astray, man. And I got back on alcohol again.

  413. Oh, man. My money's all gone.

  414. Something happened. It just.

  415. I just lost all my peace and joy.

  416. So I'm searching for him because if I hit 911, I'm gonna call him

  417. up. He gonna fix it.

  418. Jesus. But you know why?

  419. We really should look for him. He gives the answer, Why are you

  420. searching for me? We don't know.

  421. But didn't you know the reason you should be searching for me?

  422. Because I'm about my father's business.

  423. See, I want to say something's going to hurt some folks

  424. feelings. I don't mean to because I love

  425. y'all. I love to preach.

  426. I'm a revival preacher by the way, I'm really not a Sunday

  427. morning preacher. My wife always tries to temper

  428. me a lot before I come into a church and preach.

  429. I'm more of a revival preacher. I'll be honest with you.

  430. The reason that he's saying this because listen, Jesus is not as

  431. concerned about your business as He is about His Father's

  432. business, but He wants to be concerned about your business.

  433. He wants to fix addictions. He wants to fix marriages.

  434. He wants to fix broken hearts. He wants to fix broken lies.

  435. But first, if you get concerned about the Father's business,

  436. he'll get concerned about your business.

  437. Come on now, why are you searching for me?

  438. Well, I need you. I need you back in my life.

  439. I went three days and you ain't been around and I feel terrible,

  440. OK? Why were you searching for me,

  441. Mama? Well, 'cause you supposed to be

  442. here and I need you with me because it brings me comfort,

  443. joy and peace. I want you with me.

  444. OK, Well, why you search for me, Dad?

  445. Well, I'm just doing what Mama said.

  446. I'm doing whatever she said I do.

  447. But here's what he said. Why are you seeking for me?

  448. Didn't you not know? Shouldn't you have known Mary,

  449. the one who gave birth to me in that Manger that night as the

  450. shepherd showed up and the wise men showed up and the Angel was

  451. out in the field showing them follow the star in the East, and

  452. you know that, that the Holy Spirit came and impregnated you.

  453. Didn't you know that I would be about not just Joseph's business

  454. or your business? I'm about my father's business,

  455. which means when you get on God's agenda, God will start

  456. doing things about your business, buddy.

  457. All right, somebody looking long faces up in there, man.

  458. You know why I know this is true?

  459. Because I've done this before, been in ministry 31 dadgum

  460. years, y'all. And my wife will tell you

  461. there's probably 2 times per year when I start looking for

  462. job applications on the Internet.

  463. Man, I'm getting out of this mess.

  464. You ever been there, brother? I have, man.

  465. There's about two times every year I'll start saying, man, you

  466. can have the guitars, I'll give them to people, you can burn

  467. them. I don't want to preach to

  468. nobody. I'm going to give me a job.

  469. I don't care if I got to greet people at Walmart.

  470. I'm done, man. Lost my peace, my joy.

  471. Most of the time it's because I have somehow got very mundane

  472. about the very central message of why I'm even doing this.

  473. For 31 years I ain't never made no millions of dollars.

  474. I ain't. I've got pretty decent songs,

  475. ain't never seen none of them out there make me no big time

  476. money. And sometimes I let that get in

  477. my head, like why, man? Ain't nobody else.

  478. Everybody ain't doing nothing, man.

  479. We just had a song cut by a guy just got signed to Sony Records

  480. the other day. I don't know if he's going to do

  481. anything, whether or not my wife said when's the money going to

  482. come? I said oh baby, it just don't

  483. work. She said with some money gonna

  484. come in, I said man, oh you get .9 cents a penny on streaming.

  485. So if I get a two or three billion streams, I'll buy that

  486. house in broken Bowl you've been wanting all your life man.

  487. You know. But what I'm saying is when I

  488. get that stuff, get a hold to me, here's what happens.

  489. I get mundane, I get down and then I come and say God why, why

  490. is this happening? He said, didn't you know, if you

  491. just get about my business and I'll get about your business.

  492. Anybody feeling that today? But look at the last verse that

  493. said, look at this now. And I'm going to give the altar

  494. call real quick, if you don't mind.

  495. We're right at 12:10 or 12, something like that.

  496. I'll give a real quick altar call.

  497. Look at this right quick, Pastor Lance that said, how did you

  498. know? Why are you seeking me?

  499. Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?

  500. And look at verse 50. And they did not understand the

  501. statement which he spoke to them.

  502. Let me tell you what that's equivalent to in my mind.

  503. And I may be misquoting. I'm not trying to, but I think

  504. it's appropriate. You can get anybody up here and

  505. preach a message, man. I'm talking about it clear as a

  506. bell and convicting here would be the conviction point today.

  507. I know Christmas is over. I'll join you.

  508. I'm glad my wife got 95 Christmas trees in our house at

  509. one time, and I'm talking about two or three.

  510. I'm still up, man. I bet this is 95.

  511. Someone probably tiny like at his hidden places, man can't

  512. even can't even see them. They get drawers just over

  513. there, man. Just stuck in there.

  514. I know, man. You go in there, man.

  515. Like open a drawer trying to find a screwdriver with a

  516. Christmas tree in there, man. I swear, man.

  517. I swear it is. That's right.

  518. Dog got a Santa Claus suit on year round man, don't care

  519. rolling the mud come in and look like a dirty but still got a

  520. Santa hat on. That's the way it is at our

  521. house man. But here's what I'm saying.

  522. I know y'all are glad to get it over with, but here's what I'm

  523. trying to say. Here's what I think the

  524. conviction point would be. It said Jesus said, hey, I'm

  525. about my father's business, which is the Passover.

  526. I'm the Passover get about my business.

  527. Make sure you understand Christmas is what it's supposed

  528. to be. Don't let this whole year go

  529. around and you get one day a year.

  530. We all about Jesus get back on track with me.

  531. And here's what they said. We don't really understand

  532. that's equivalent to this. Well, I know what you're saying

  533. is true, but I don't going to do nothing about it.

  534. Here's what we do about that. We go back exactly to where we

  535. know we need to be and we start letting Jesus be the one

  536. standing in this temple. I'm not saying y'all ain't

  537. letting him do that. I'm just saying right now before

  538. we get out of January, it'd be a good idea.

  539. I'm going to get my guitar. I'm going to play a song.

  540. It'd be a good idea if somebody says today before I let the

  541. devil get a foothold today before I let depression fear

  542. anything. Come on me.

  543. I'm not saying it's going to happen to you.

  544. Hope it don't. I pray it don't.

  545. But I'm going to tell you what. Make this man's job a little

  546. easier and his wife's job a little easier.

  547. If you weren't running around from caravan to caravan going.

  548. I can't say Jesus in here, Brother Lance.

  549. No, because he needs to be in here running the show.

  550. Anybody with me? Y'all all right today?

  551. Y'all ain't mad at me. Are you all right?

  552. I'm going to get my guitar and I'm going to play a song.

  553. Here's what I'd like to ask you guys to do.

  554. If you just need prayer, you say man, I'm going to come up today

  555. and I'm going to make a fresh, beautiful after post Christmas

  556. commitment because it's over, but it really ain't over.

  557. Christmas is over, but it ain't over.

  558. If you want to know what Passover is, I'm going to give

  559. you a real quick insight to it in about 8 seconds.

  560. Those guys could have suffered the same fate that the Egyptians

  561. did because all of their first born kids got killed.

  562. But he said put the blood on the door and the death Angel which

  563. was real came through and passed over.

  564. Why? Because they saw the blood.

  565. That little baby in that Manger that don't bother nobody.

  566. Oh Jesus, so sweet. He grew up to be 33 1/2 year old

  567. man who was beaten so severely, spit on strip naked, humiliated

  568. and then carried a 200 LB cross about half a mile up a hill and

  569. then asphyxiated and died of hemorrhaging to death.

  570. So you could have the punishment of hell and separation from God.

  571. Passover you should. We never, ever, ever let that

  572. get customary, never, ever let that get to a place.

  573. You say, man, I wonder why I ain't feeling so passionate

  574. about Jesus. Well, here's why.

  575. Because you've done gone 364 days through the year and Jesus

  576. said if you're going to lead me out of it, I'll just stick

  577. around over here till you finally come back and start

  578. seeking me and being about my father's business.

  579. I'm gonna grab this guitar, y'all.

  580. The altar is open. I hope somebody will come today.

  581. If you need to pray, if you need Brother Lance to pray for you, I

  582. know that he would. My job, I believe as a preacher

  583. is just to get people's hearts moving.

  584. Here's what I'm asking. I've seen altar calls before go

  585. one or two ways. Some people, well, I don't

  586. really understand what he's talking about.

  587. That's what Mary said. Jesus, I know you just laid it

  588. out, but I don't really get it knowing what that really means.

  589. Most of you guys do understand and some of y'all today may say,

  590. well you know what man, even 18 days after Christmas and I'm

  591. already feeling that way. Well, here's the time to come

  592. and take care of it today. Amen.

  593. Anybody going to do that today? Y'all ready?

  594. This first note hits. This often needs to be full in

  595. Jesus name, Amen. Thanks for listening to the

  596. Cross Power Church podcast. May you know that true hope,

  597. peace, and salvation can only be found in Jesus.

  598. If you're near Campbell, TX, we would love for you to join us in

  599. person. You can find service times at

  600. crosspowerchurch.com.