Christmas Lights (Week 3)

Merry Christmas.

So happy to see each of you here tonight.

Welcome.

If you're new with us this evening, welcome.

My name is Forrest Lead Pastor here at Multiply.

And so glad that you joined us tonight.

Maybe you received an invite from someone and you came along.

And we are thankful that you are here tonight.

And uh want to invite you to join back with us not this Sunday, but on the 31st, we'll be back at the movie theater we've been meeting at.

And then uh several weeks from then, into the new year, we'll be moving into our brand new future home of Multiply.

Yes.

In the Frankfurt Plaza across from Jared Hills Park, and we're excited for all that God is doing in our midst.

And uh isn't this a beautiful night tonight to be in this space and get to be together and worship the king and celebrate Christmas.

There's a family in New Hampshire, a man, uh Bill DeRoche, who was setting up his Christmas lights on his house the same way that he had done for the last 30 years.

And as he was setting up his Christmas lights, the pole that he was using to put the lights in the tree arched from the power line next to his house, and 20,000 volts went through his body, burning holes in his socks.

Thankfully, he survived and went to the hospital, and the the doctor said it was a miracle that he lived.

His wife said of the event, she said that there was a ground-shattering explosion.

His wife Karen said, and there was all smoke, and it came running, flying out of the house.

She went on to say it was a shocking experience.

Come on, Karen! You can't say that when your husband gets struck by 20,000 volts.

You can't say it's a shocking experience.

You gotta say something else than that.

My goodness.

All I know is this.

Um, do not Google electrocution by Christmas lights.

That is a sad rabbit hole to go down.

I did it this week.

Don't do it.

This is your warning.

Don't do that.

It did remind me, though, of a uh a Christmas story as old as time, Home Alone.

Uh with the research for this message this week, I got to watch Home Alone 1 and 2.

Reminded me of uh the wet bandits and the sticky bandits uh followed around uh Kevin McAllister.

Uh you all have seen the movie, you know that they endure blunt frost trauma uh to many of their body parts, along with being burned with fire.

And in uh Home Alone 2, they somehow uh meet Kevin again on the street of New York, and it is there that uh chasing after Kevin that Marv has the unfortunate uh has the unfortunate fate of also being electrocuted at one point in the movie.

Um and I wonder this, I wonder, I wonder this Christmas season, even in the next few days, are some of you walking into a family dynamic that's electric?

Are some of you over the next few days, as you prepare and all the hustle and bustle of Christmas and heading all the different places that you have to go to?

Are there some dynamics that are there with family that you may not right now be looking forward to?

Is there something maybe even right now that you're already stressed out about?

You're already not looking forward to the craziness of the schedule, or maybe when you get to wherever you go you're going, you know that there's some family strife that's waiting for you.

You know, I know this time of the holidays, it can bring up some things from our past and maybe even our family dynamics of frustration, maybe even unforgiveness.

In this electric environment, sometimes we are tempted to be more focused on the complication of Christmas than the compassion of Christmas.

Sometimes we're more we're tempted to focus more on the stress of Christmas than the significance of Christmas.

I don't know if I'm talking to anybody here tonight, but I know this.

That for some 30 million Americans that are going to celebrate Christmas this Christmas season and over this weekend into next week, millions of those will also have a Christeless Christmas.

With all the trappings and the traditions that come along with Christmas and all the things that we know and love, but just with leaving out one part, one important part, and in doing so have Christmas lights on houses, but not the light of Christ in hearts.

So we're gonna look at somebody in the scripture who had a bit of a shock, and we talked last Sunday about the shepherds who were in the field, and the angels came to them and the report of the good news that baby Jesus is born in Bethlehem, and they went and celebrated with the all that were there and celebrated the coming of the Christ child.

And then just a few days later, Mary and Joseph take a 10-mile trek to go to the temple to dedicate Jesus, which was required by Jewish law.

And we've seen over the last few weeks that in the just beginnings of the story of Christmas that it was foretold and prophesied of the child Jesus, the Christ, that Zechariah said of him, that the Messiah that was coming, this baby that would give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death and guide us to a path of peace.

And then the first chapter of John talks of Jesus and mentions Jesus as the light five different times.

And then Jesus goes on and he instructs us that we're the light.

And when Mary and Joseph are bringing Jesus to the temple, they don't realize that they're going to run into someone who has been preparing to meet the Christ, but was very shocked that it was a child and this was an older man and his wife, both prophets, Simeon and Anna.

See, God had told Simeon, this older prophet, that he would not die until he would see the Messiah, the coming Christ.

And so for his whole life, he was waiting of who is this Christ that was to come?

Who is this Messiah that would one day appear?

And he probably thought that he was gonna come on the back of a large horse as a military leader, or thought that the Messiah would be some political figure that would raise up, but he probably didn't expect a small, innocent baby that was king.

Simeon turns to Mary and Joseph after he's led to the temple.

This is verse 27 in Luke 2.

That day the Spirit led him to the temple.

So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there, and he took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace as you have promised.

I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people.

He is a what?

Light.

He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people, Israel.

And then he says something even more intense, even more shocking as he turns to Mary and Joseph.

Jesus' parents were amazed at what was being said about him, about the child.

And then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby's mother, This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall and many others to rise.

He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him.

As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed, and a sword will pierce your very soul.

Shocking words from the prophet.

I remember it was the summer after this my senior year of high school.

I was had graduated, and some several shocking things happened during that time.

One, I was not anticipating that God was going to call me into ministry, but the Lord called me into ministry at that time, and so I was heading to move forward and pursue to head into the ministry.

Also, at that time, we were uh not anticipating, nor was my brother anticipating his need to join the military.

And so my brother joined the Navy and was not too long after that shipped off to Korea.

And then my dad had a widowmaker heart attack and almost died.

I'll never forget being at the hospital and seeing him post-surgery after they'd cracked his chest to save his life.

They saved his life with a scalpel.

They cut him and they exposed his heart in order to save him.

Not much unlike what happens when you go to see a counselor at times, and maybe you've gone through something very traumatic, and that counselor, what do they do?

They sit you down and they ask you uncomfortable questions and reveal things that are inside your mind and your heart so that you then can see healing.

Jesus does the same thing.

The eternal turmoil needs to be exposed and needs to be revealed so Jesus can step in and heal it.

And in doing so, the light of the world pierces into our very soul.

Into our very heart.

And tonight, I'm sure of it, there are many of us in the room, if not all of us, that need to right now, we need to let the light of Christ pierce us and pierce your heart.

You have the chance and you have the opportunity to turn away from the light and move towards the darkness.

See, just a few verses after the famous verse of John 3 16.

How God gave that he loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son.

And whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life.

And just a few verses later, it says this, and the judgment is based on this fact.

God's light came into the world, but people love the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.

All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.

As we let the light of Christ expose us, open us up, cut into us, pierce our hearts, pierce our very souls.

We then get to join Jesus as we step forward with now obtaining and having the light inside of us to light up the darkness together.

Don't you want to light up a room?

Or do you want to be one of these crusty Christians that grumpy Christians that are nobody ever wants to talk to and it's just against everything, and nobody even wants to talk to them when they come around?

Or do you want to light up somebody's life because you have the hope of the gospel inside of you?

Do you want to light up your family?

Do you want to light up your children?

Do you want to light up the future generations that you have the opportunity to share the light of Christ with and the light that's inside of you and let it pour out and extinguish the darkness and push it back, light it up.

You know, darkness is simply the absence of light.

You don't turn off the darkness, you walk in a room and you turn on the light, and we have to turn on our light.

Jesus is the light of the world.

It's prophesied over and over again over the span of thousands of years that this Christ child would come.

And Simeon sees the baby Jesus and recognizes it's the Messiah and speaks over him that he is the light.

But Jesus didn't stay a baby.

He grew up.

For 33 years, he walked this earth.

Why did he have to grow up?

Why did God even do all this?

Why did he set it up the way that he did?

Well, the scripture says that Jesus was tempted in every way that was common to man.

And so Jesus, from the time of a small child and a baby, all through adult and through growing up in adult life, that entire time, in every single circumstance that you and I experienced, he was sinless and without sin.

He was tempted in every single way.

And he grew up and began his public ministry and invited people to follow him, to believe in him, to have faith in him, to turn and to repent of their sins and to receive the light that he had.

And he didn't just keep it there.

Then he said this in Matthew chapter 5.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Jesus looks at his followers and he says, You are the light of the world.

Like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.

No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket.

Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house in the same way.

Everybody say same way.

Let your good deeds, everybody say, good deeds, shine out, everybody say shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

You've got to shine your light.

Jesus not only is the light of the world, then he now gives you the chance that you can also be the light of the world.

But you have to choose it.

And how do you choose it?

Well, this passage says, by letting your good deeds shine before all people.

That we actually have to do something.

You have been around Multiply for the last few weeks, you know that heading into this Christmas season, that we step forward and said, you know what, we're going to come alongside and we're going to show some light to some folks that are in some challenging and desperate places.

And you know, and if you don't know, our church got to come alongside the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation that serves kids and teens who are impacted by incarceration.

They have a parent or a guardian that is currently incarcerated.

And we got to come alongside over the last few weeks, and we got to sponsor Christmas, full Christmas gifts for over 50 of the children who are connected in with Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation.

That was because of the generosity, your generosity, and the generosity of our church.

In the coming weeks, we're going to be able to give a gift to Avenues Clinic that's our Crisis Pregnancy Center here in our community because we want to support the work that they're doing, pushing back darkness and people who are in desperate places.

Mothers, fathers, who are in desperate need of the light of Christ, and in a challenging time, they're there to be a light.

I talked to the director of the Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation, Amy Snow.

She let me know that a set of boys of the some 50 that we got to sponsor Christmas for.

Two of those boys, this is their first Christmas without their father.

Because their father was murdered by another family member this year.

And in just a couple of days, they're gonna have Christmas, and they're gonna be gifts under the tree.

And one of the darkest moments for them we get to be a light.

You have gotten to be a light.

It's right here in our community.

It's right here.

And Jesus looks at us and says, You go be the light.

You go be the light.

You go be the light.

You step into the gap for those that are in their darkest times.

I wonder for you over the next few days, what's going on in your family?

What darkness is creeping in?

What challenges are happening?

Is it depression?

Is it anxiety?

Is it greed?

Is it worry?

Is it suicidal thoughts?

Is it unforgiveness?

Is it holding on to grudges from the past that are not able to be let go?

See, I know coming into the room tonight that somebody among us that already heading into this week has received word from their family that somebody said, I just wish that somebody would apologize.

And I wonder, being the light of Christ this Christmas, is there somebody in the room that they need to extend an apology?

They need to forgive.

See, because we get to be carriers of the light and we get to forgive fully.

Because we have been forgiven fully.

We've been fully forgiven.

It was Jesus on the cross who beat back the darkness.

Jesus' words in Matthew 4.

He said, The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light.

And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.

For then on Jesus began to preach, Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

And then Ephesians reminds us, for the light makes everything visible.

This is why it said, Awake, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will give you what?

Light.

Awake, O sleeper.

As you walk out the door tonight, you're going to receive a candy cane.

Everybody loves some candy.

Christmas.

In 1670, in Cologne, Germany, there was a choir master at the Cologne Cathedral that was trying to remedy the fact that all the kids in the choir were going to be noisy during this Christmas Mass.

And so he asked the candy maker if the candymaker would make a candy stick.

But in order to make it okay to have candy in church, he asked the candy maker if he would put a crook on the candy stick so that it would look like the shepherd staff and remind all the kids of the shepherds in the field.

And you can imagine all those kids with the candy cane in the middle of that service.

That original candy cane, it didn't look like this, it was completely white, it was completely white, no stripes to be a symbol of the sinless life of Jesus.

I wonder tonight, who in this room needs to receive the word that says, Awake, O sleeper.

Come alive, rise up from the dead.

Let Christ give you his light.

He wants to submit it.

He wants to submit it two thousand years ago.

A sinless Christ went to the cross.

Not just the cute little baby Jesus, but the Savior King who rules the world, who hung the stars, who set the planets in motion, that put on flesh and dwelt among us with all our crazy mess.

And he loved us so much that two thousand years ago he put a cross on his back and he climbed Calvary's Hill.

And he allowed himself to be murdered, taking the wages of sin, which is death, the death that you and I that we deserved, so that we can wake up, arise, come to life, and have the light of Christmas seated deep in our soul.

Is there anybody here tonight that needs to receive that light?

The darkness has been creeping in.

Hopelessness, fear crept into your soul and kept you from giving over your heart and your life to the Savior Jesus, who wants nothing more than to receive you, to forgive you so that you can not be separated in death in a place called hell, but instead you'll walk into eternal light and life in heaven with him.

Would you bow your heads all across the room?

Father, I pray right now over every single person who's in this place tonight.

God, I thank you, Jesus, for the light of Christmas.

I thank you, Jesus, that you loved us so much that you lit us up, that you died for us, that you forgave us, that if we would receive it, that we would walk in eternal life.

Jesus, thank you.

Thank you for what you've done for us.

Thank you for what you've done for so many in this place.

Head bowed if you're in the room tonight, and you need to receive the light of Christ.

You need to receive the forgiveness that Jesus purchased for you on the cross.

I ask you tonight not to wait, but instead to receive that gift this Christmas.

Pray to Jesus.

In your heart and mind, say something like this: Jesus, save me.

A genuine place in your heart and mind.

Jesus, save me.

I believe that you are the Son of God.

That you are alive.

Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins.

Forgive me.

Cleanse me so that I can be in heaven with you one day.

I give you my life as you gave your life for mine.

Thank you for the light.

In Jesus' name.

No one looking around.

Tonight you prayed that to receive forgiveness, to receive what Jesus did for you on the cross, to receive the light.

In just a moment, I'm gonna ask you with every head bowed for you to just raise your hand into the air so I can see you, so I can pray for you.

At the count of three, if you prayed to receive that salvation from Jesus tonight, you did that from a genuine place at the count of three.

I just want you to raise your hand up and you can put it back down.

One, two, three.

Yes, yes, yes, I see you, and I see you at the front, I see you in the middle, I see you in the back.

Jesus, for every single person who just raised their hand.

God, they weren't doing that for anybody else except for their relationship with you and for God, you to come into their life and forgive them.

So, Father, I pray right now for each person who raised their hand, God, you saw it.

I pray that you seal it.

That God, right now, Father, this work of salvation, that Lord, as they ask for your forgiveness, that God, you would forgive them fully.

That from this moment forward, they would have a new destination in eternity in heaven with you.

Father, I pray, Lord, that each person who prayed that and raised their hand, that that came from a genuine place, that give their life and their heart over to you.

We thank you, Jesus, for the light of the cross, for the light of your work.

We thank you this Christmas.

In the strong name of Jesus, amen.