December 3, 2023 / Amazing Messengers

Welcome to Walk in the Truth podcast. How do we know where to find answers to the toughest

questions in life? While the simplest answer is the Bible, where do we start this search

and how do we discover this truth? Today, in this teaching podcast, John Meador, lead

pastor of Cross City Church, takes a specific text of the Bible and helps us find truth

for the life we're searching for. Please take your Bibles and turn to the second chapter

of the book of Luke today, Luke chapter 2. On our journey all the way to Christmas, we're

Luke 2 · chapter mention

going to be looking at Luke 1 and Luke 2, a Christmas story that most people know best.

Luke chapter 1, Luke chapter 2, although several gospels give accounts of the different events

Luke 1 · chapter mention Luke 2 · chapter mention

leading up to Christ's birth, this one is the one we know the most. And today's characters

of Christmas has to do with amazing messengers. We're going to talk about angels today. Angels

is the subject of our message. Angels is the subject of the text. Luke chapter 2, beginning

Luke 2 · chapter mention

in verse 8, and we're going to find these supernatural, non-human creatures that God

has created and exactly how He uses angels and certainly how He used it in this Christmas

story. Let's stand together as we read God's word. Luke chapter 2, beginning in verse number

Luke 2 · chapter mention

8. Luke chapter 2, verse 8, all this very familiar to you. The Bible says in the same

Luke 2:8

region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their

flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord

shone around them and they were terribly frightened. Have you ever paused to think what that sight

must have looked like? What those shepherds must have seen and how they must have felt?

That was a pretty powerful image we have here. Verse 10, but the angel said to them, do not

be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people.

For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior who is Christ the

Lord. This will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in

a manger. And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts.

Now this would be myriads upon myriads more angels with him, praising God and saying,

glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased. And when

the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another,

let us go straight to Bethlehem then and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord

has made known to us. So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and

the baby as he lay in the manger. How many times have you heard this story and not maybe

thought through who this angel was and exactly what he looked like and exactly why they were

so afraid when they saw him. And by the way, what are angels anyway? And what does God

do with angels and are they still around? We're going to answer those questions this

morning. Father in Jesus name today we continue to ask that you illuminate the scripture,

just shine light on the truth that we might know and live by it. Father speak to us and

speak to us regarding our relationship with you. We ask this in Jesus name and everybody

said amen. Please be seated if you would. Angels. Well no matter what mental image you

may have in your mind, angels are real and powerful and supernatural beings that are

in the universe today. And as you read through the Bible, you'll notice over and over in

the Bible encounters with angel. They're more powerful than anything that you and I can

possibly imagine. This is one of those things that God has done that we don't know so much

about, but we do discover that they are exceedingly and abundantly above anything that we can ask

or think. More powerful than the Marvel or the DC comic kind of movies that are out there

of superheroes that have incredible amazing abilities and power beyond anything humans

have. These angels are above and beyond all those except they're real and everything else

is just fantasy that we make up in our minds. They existed before humans were created, before

the world was actually created and they're mentioned 300 times in the scripture. Did

you know that? 25 different people have encounters and have had conversations with angels that

are recorded in the Bible. And you read about them and learn about them. David, while he

was out in the fields, you read about this in Psalm chapter 68 verse 17 where he looked

Psalms 68:17

up and he saw chariots of fire, chariots of light streaking across in the heavenlies and

he named them in the thousands and multiplied thousands. He saw these angels in these chariots.

Now I don't believe in UFOs, but I believe in angels and their chariots across the skies.

I don't believe in Superman and Batman and Spiderman or even Captain America, but I do

believe in Gabriel and Michael and all the other angels that are revealed in the Bible

as being real. And when you open the Gospel of Luke, you'll find that Luke's Gospel

explodes with the stories of angels. I mean, in the first two chapters of the Book of Luke,

you have three divine encounters detailing 14 different mentions of angels in just those

first two chapters. So I'm going to ask the question today, who are angels? What do they

look like? What do they do? Who interacts with them? How do they affect us? And you

have angels probably, how they look in your own minds and what you think they might be

like. We looked for some pictures for angels for you to be able to look at today just to

see what mankind has thought about angels based on what they know. And there are Renaissance

artists that draw about angels. There are computer generated, artificial information,

artificial intelligence that give us pictures as well. You see warrior angels, you see shepherd

kinds of angels, you see all kinds of angels out there that people have in their mind that

they think may be real. But the Bible is the only real source to help us know about angels

today. And I want you to see something about angels because angels are a big part of the

Christmas story. That's why Luke is so adamant about including them in the encounters that

you have in Luke chapter one, Mary and the angel Gabriel, Zacharias and Elizabeth and

the encounter with the angel. Now these shepherds who have this encounter with the angel, the

will of the Lord, why are we supposed to make of that? And so we need to know something

about angels today. If you're taking notes, I'm going to give you five things about angels

that are unforgettable. Are you ready for them? Number one, angels are the creation

of an infinite God. That is angels have not always been around. They are not gods, they

are not eternal in that sense of eternity path, but they are creations of an infinite

God. In verse nine, we are introduced to this angel that comes to the shepherd and it says,

and specifies an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them. Now we know from the scripture

that everything that exists was created by God, except God who is eternal in every way.

So angels are created beings. If you read the Bible in the book of Colossians, you'll

find the statement that is really comprehensive when it comes to God and his creative powers

and how we know whatever is here, God here. In Colossians chapter one, verse 16, you'll

read this. It says, for by him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth,

visible and invisible, whether thrones or dimensions or rulers or authorities, all things

have been created through him and for him. That's in the book of Colossians. Actually,

we place the creation of angels by God at a time before Adam and Eve were created and

at a time before the heavens and the earth were actually defined in the way we see in

Genesis chapter one and Genesis chapter two. If you read the book of Job, you're going

to find an incredible conversations between God and Job. Most of you know that Job is

the man that went through so much affliction. The first chapter of Job talks about why in

the last few chapters of Job, containing encounters between God and Job where God is revealing

himself and he gives us lots of information about angels. I want you to notice what it

says in Job chapter 38, verse four and then verse seven, where God says to Job, where

Job 38 · chapter mention

were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? When the morning stars sang together

and all the sons of God, a reference to angels, shouted for joy. Now when you first look at

this idea of God creating the universe and then creating angels before he created the

heavens and the earth, before he created man and woman, you got this idea that before you

know that, that we are really the center of the universe. We think we are the center of

all of the universe, that everything exists for us. But in reality, God has a whole universe,

a whole existence, including angels, including the solar system and everything else before

he placed man and woman, after the creation of man and woman, placed them into his world.

We're not the big deal on this world. He is the big deal on this world. And when I read

about angels and I read about all of God's creation, it helps me remind myself that this

world does not revolve around me, it revolves around him. And it reminds me that I am privileged,

just like you are, to be placed into this amazing world that God created, filled with

angels and humans and everything else. We are privileged to be in this place. First

of all, angels are created by an infinite God. Secondly, you need to know that angels

are supernatural, powerful, spiritual beings. While they can take on the form of a man,

they are spiritual beings. We know this from a number of different passages, but just notice

what we see here in Luke chapter two, verse nine. It says, and an angel of the Lord suddenly

stood before them. Now, Luke is a very technical writer. The Gospel of Luke and the Book of

Acts written by this doctor, Luke, this medical physician, Luke, is written with incredible

detail. He pays lots of attention to sequences and timeframes and lots of attention to individual

words to help us know the most we can possibly know about what he's writing. And he lets

us know that the angel wasn't there at one moment and then suddenly stood before them

the next. In other words, he simply appeared at that moment where he wasn't before. These

angels are doing things that no human can do. One moment the angel is not present, the

next he stood beside them. And he didn't walk in, he didn't come from a distance that they

saw him, but he simply moved supernaturally to be right in the spot where the shepherds

were and they were stunned by what they saw. Now I want you to think of the others in this

picture, in this scene, the shepherds who stay awake watchfully protecting their flocks

at night. These guys have not been roused out of a deep sleep. No one has knocked on

the door to their tent. They don't just suddenly just look around and they haven't been looking

around. They are always vigilant, always watching, always aware of danger. And all of a sudden

this angel supernaturally appears in front of them and they are stunned by what they

saw. One of the best books on angels was written by Billy Graham a long time ago. But in this

book it details so many different aspects of angels. And one of the statements that

Billy Graham writes is this one. He says, angels speak, they appear and reappear. They

are emotional creatures. In other words, they feel. They become visible by choice when they

want to reveal themselves to others. I began to ask the question of myself and of the scriptures,

what else can angels do? I mean if angels can appear suddenly, what else can they do?

If there are these supernatural, powerful, spiritual beings that God in His infinite

wisdom created, what can they do? And I want to tell you a few things that I learned. First

of all, they have knowledge that mankind doesn't have. They have knowledge that you and I don't

have. They have knowledge that the shepherds didn't have. They have knowledge that Zacharias

and Elizabeth didn't have. They have knowledge that Joseph didn't have, that Mary didn't

have. They know things that God has shown them and they often appear in order to give

guidance in order to shed light on whatever situation or whatever person's life needs

to be enlightened. Not only this, but they warn us and guide us about the things to come.

Part of the Christmas story is Matthew chapter 2 and verse 13. And I want you to look at

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

what the angel said to Joseph. The old the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in his

dream and said, get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there

until I tell you for Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him. So here is a

supernatural powerful spiritual being that God created coming and giving this message

of guidance to Joseph in order to protect Mary and to protect the baby from this murderous

intent of Herod. They have knowledge that we don't have. They also have power that mankind

doesn't have. When Jesus returns for the battle of Armageddon, if you read the book of Revelation,

how many of you read the book of Revelation very often at all? If you read the book of

Revelation, there's a great battle that's going to take place and it's called the battle

of Armageddon. Now at the battle of Armageddon, this vast valley in Israel is going to be

covered in blood. In fact, up to the bridle of horses, how deep the blood will be. But

the Bible says that Jesus, when he comes back, will be followed by armies of angels who bring

about all the destruction that needs to happen in this last great battle. The Bible also

shows us the picture of one angel who slew all the first born Egyptians that led to the

release of the Israelites in the book of Exodus. Maybe you remember that, the angel of death.

Angels protect Israel from the armies that did come out of Egypt, chasing them once they

were set free. And as a approach to sea before it parted, the angel of the Lord protected

all of the soldiers, protected the Israelites from all the soldiers coming their way. If

you look in the book of second Kings, one angel slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who were

intent on killing the Israelites. That's pretty powerful. There was an angel that struck with

blindness the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah when they wanted to give ill treatment and

violate the visitors in that city. It was an angel that struck and made Zacharias mute

when he did not believe the angels word. Angels are more powerful than military weapons and

missiles and bombs and all kinds of speed and all kinds of brilliance. They defy explanation

when you begin to look at all the things that angels have done. But angels not only have

knowledge and not only do they have power, they fight battles we can't fight. Read the

book of Daniel. Where there is war in the heavenly places, Daniel is awaiting an answer

of a prayer that he has prayed to God that he needs the answer to. And Michael is doing

battle in the heavenly places against the demons that would keep that answer from coming.

Daniel was in the lion's den and the Bible says that even though those hungry lions would

normally have eaten him alive literally the next morning after being placed in the lion's

den, the king comes out and calls out and there's Daniel in the lion's den just fine.

Someone asked how did this happen? Daniel gave this answer, my God sent his angel and

shut the lion's mouths and they have not harmed me. Now that's sensational stuff. Amen? That's

sensational stuff. I mean I normally wouldn't want to sign up for the lion's den shift,

but I would do that if I knew the angel was in there. Daniel could have said a lot of

different things in answer to the king. The lions weren't hungry, they just didn't touch

me. I don't know why, but he said no, the angels shut the mouths of the lions. For people

that have encounters with angels, and people that write about them, there's no doubt in

their mind the existence of these angels that are there fighting battles we can't fight.

Imagine the battles that you cannot fight that angels actually fight on your behalf

and you may never know about them. But God said we're protecting you in some way just

like he did Daniel. Angels also show up when we're not aware. Have you ever heard of entertaining

angels unawares? Well since they can take on the appearance of a human they often surprise

us. They look like another person and in reality they're an angel in disguise. The book of

Hebrews tells us that they come without us realizing who they are sometimes. It says

in Hebrews chapter 13 verse 2, do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by this

Hebrews 13:2

some have entertained angels without knowing it. Billy Graham tells the story of a missionary

in the Hebride Islands near Great Britain and the United Kingdom. And at the time the

Hebrides were filled with the savages that were murderers. They didn't want anybody other

than themselves to be in this place they lived in, these jungles that they lived in, these

missionaries named Patton. John Patton and his wife were there. And he told them how

difficult the ministry, he talked about how difficult the ministry of sharing the gospel

was with those natives and how angry they were that they were even there. And one night

John Patton and his wife were in their hut in their place that they built there to live

in and they were surrounded by the natives who clearly had intent to kill them. They

had their spears, they had their swords all at the ready and they were talking in a murderous

way. So John Patton and his wife simply kneeled down in prayer and said you know if our lives

are going to have to be spent bringing the gospel to these people we're going to spend

it right here but we're trusting God to protect us and so they prayed all night long. If your

life was threatened by a tribe of people with spears and swords you'd pray all night long

too. And when they woke up the next morning or looked out the next morning rather there

was no one there. And they rejoiced in the fact that God had somehow protected them.

Within a few months they had led the chief of that tribe, that village to Christ and

they began a relationship with him. They began to converse with him about all that was going

on in his life and one day they ventured the question you know some time back your village,

your people surrounded us with swords and spears and we knew our lives were being threatened.

What happened? Why did you never attack? And I quote this out of Billy Graham's book in

this description of what was said. The chief said who were all those men you had there

with you? We saw hundreds of big men in shining armor with swords drawn and we were afraid

to attack. Angels. Angels were there protecting John Patton and later the Hebrew gods became

known as a great place of revival as the gospel had great inroads there. Angels exist today.

Some of you may have had encounters with angels that you cannot explain. I realize when I

tell this story it's easy for someone else to write off the story but I can remember

an encounter with someone more than 20 years ago that left my wife and I wondering did

we just meet an angel? We were coming back on vacation with our six kids in the back

of our suburban and all of a sudden I heard an explosion as I was going down the highway

and smoke was coming outside the hood and so we pulled over to an abandoned gas station

and I opened the hood and all of a sudden the flames just began to blow up in a huge

way and all my thoughts were getting the kids out of the car so I began to call out to Kim

get the kids out as fast as you can and we were working to get the kids out of the car

and all of a sudden a man drove up in an old white and I know this is true Ford pickup

truck and he got out he was a bearded man kind of heavy set never said a word reached

into the back of his pickup bed got two large one gallon jugs full of water came and poured

the jugs on the fire in the engine bay put them back in the back of his truck and I just

walked around the side of the car to tell Kim I think the fire is out and I came back

around and there was no one there at all. Now I have a Ford pickup truck I know they

don't go that fast. Just enough of maybe to make me think I saw an angel and I was

unaware. God often visits His people in various ways clearly 300 different accounts in the

scripture of angels 25 conversations of people who are otherwise reputable in every way regarding

angels and they often show up when we're not aware. Well if you could see what angels

did what would you see? If you could see what you can't see what would it look like? Might

you be able to see angelic answers when you pray and God sends an answer by an angel might

you see extraordinary encouragement and strength like the angel gave Elijah strength and the

angel gave Jesus encouragement while he was in the wilderness during the 40 days of fasting

and prayer. You might see demonic attacks that stopped and they're tracked because of

the power of an angel that stands between you and yourself and the demonic world just

like he did in Daniel's life. You might see messages sent by God and delivered by angels

just like Gabriel delivered the message to Mary and to Zacharias and ultimately to Joseph.

You might see angels stopping you at times from doing things that you otherwise would

do that would complicate and mess up your life but for some unexplainable reason you

couldn't bring it about maybe angels have stepped in in that case as well. It's possible

that physical rescue operations that defy any explanation have happened in your life

because of angelic beings. Now that makes me think this I love the fact that God is

not limited as to how he can rescue us how he can help us how he can encourage us all

of creation is at his disposal including the creative supernatural powerful spiritual beings

that we know as angels. I want you to notice the third thing about this text that tells

us angels reflect the glory and the majesty of God. Look at what the words say as the

angel appeared it said and the glory of the Lord shone around them that's in verse nine.

Now everything that an angel does ultimately will continuously bring glory and honor to

God they frequently travel according to the scripture from heaven's throne room to earth

the dirt of earth to do whatever work they need to to minister to those of us who are

the saints of God. They're able to mask their brilliance so that they can appear in human

form but in this case they were brilliantly glorious lit up with the glory of God. That's

what the text says the glory of the Lord not their glory but the glory of God himself was

all around them. This angel was reflecting God's brilliance God's brightness to this

very dark corner of the earth where these shepherds were there in the middle of the

night and that's what angels do. As a matter of fact the purpose of and the mission of

angels is always to serve and to worship God always to reflect God's character and God's

glory. If you read the book of Revelation some of the greatest scenes of worship in

the heaven are found in Revelation chapter four and chapter five and in chapter four

of Revelation verse eight the Bible talks about living creatures surrounding the throne.

If you've ever read that before you know that throne room worship is what we call it. Those

great moments where God is in every uninhibited way being worshiped by those that are there.

The scripture says in day and night they do not cease to say holy holy holy is the Lord

God the Almighty who was and who is and who is to come. Angels always reflect the glory

and the majesty of God. What a picture of that and here in the darkness of the hill

country of Israel in the middle of the night these shepherds are brought to the light of

the glory of God. These are tough men these shepherds. They could not be afraid of the

lions and the bears and the wolves and the thieves they'd seen it all. Read the stories

of David the young shepherd boy how he and his slingshot were always prepared against

lions and bears. You and I don't think about that often in the fields of Israel being lions

and bears but that's what David dealt with that's what shepherds dealt with. And that's

seen it all they were courageous men but here the Bible says they were so terribly frightened

that the angel had to say do not be afraid. Well that must be a pretty powerful sighting

if you're not afraid of a bear and you're not afraid of a lion you're not afraid of

a wolf the angel has to say calm down don't run off I know what you've seen. It's something

bigger than you've ever seen before. I was digging into the original language of this

this line here in verse 9 here about them being terribly frightened and it's really

interesting there are three words to describe terribly frightened. One is a verb it means

to be fearful the other is a noun which is the fear itself and the last word is an adjective

that describes them both that's the word mega in the Greek in other words phobos and mega

which means frightened with mega fear. It's not enough just to say they were afraid they

were frightened with mega fear they were paralyzed what they saw was so mesmerizing so overwhelming

that they did not know what to do these strong fearless men had to do everything they could

to keep from running and hiding so great was this visitation and the angel said do not

be afraid. Matter of fact that's what angels usually say when they reveal themselves to

mankind don't run away I'm here for you I've been sent by God for you. These shepherds

are looking at the glory and the majesty of God as we are and these shepherds knew at

some point they were going to see something amazing because God has sent his angels and

that brings us to point number four about angels. That's maybe one of the clearest

points of this whole text and that is that angels are messengers as well as ministers

to us. I've talked to you about how angels have ministered to God's people but angels

are messengers look at what it says in verse 10 it says for behold I bring you good news

of great joy. Obviously the Christmas message is that Christ coming but the angel says I

bring you good news of great joy it's the angel of the Lord who brings the most important

news of Jesus to us the most important news of all. He's not even leaving that to prophets

he's leaving that to angels who are coming straight from heaven's throne room and saying

I'm bringing you good news of great joy which is for everyone. Max Lucado in his book called

an angel story creatively thinks through what those scenes must have looked like when God

commissioned the angels to go with this message and I love thinking about what that must have

looked like. Can you imagine those angels who were called by God to bring the message

of good news to a very quiet dark sinful broken confused hopeless world. Can you imagine how

excited those angels were to be able to say you're going to ask me to bring this message

to this dark cold world. Unlike mankind angels are ageless that is they see mankind they

see us committing the same sin over and over making the same mistakes over and over and

over unlike us they see the outcomes of our decisions the outcomes of our desires and

our governments and our theories and our lies and our temptation they've watched mankind

for years and years and millennium after millennium they know how badly we need a savior how badly

we need someone to intervene on our behalf they know we desperately need a solution and

that's why I'm sure the angels were thrilled to come and bring God's answer. Emmanuel

is coming a savior is coming an anointed one I'm sending you to announce this good news

to dark mankind. It's a big moment huge moment. So the angel comes and in verse 10 and 11

in your text do not be afraid for behold which is a word that means stop look behold I bring

you good news of great joy which shall be for all the people for today in the city of

David there has been born for you a savior who is Christ the Lord and those shepherds

did not wait according to the text immediately they went to Bethlehem the message that the

savior was so important that God sent these amazing created beings to make a clear impression

on the shepherds only this kind of thing would make them leave their flocks at night out

in the field but they did because the angel said go. God is amazing and that he brings

the right messenger for the right moment at the right time. Gabriel spoke to Zechariah

about John the Baptist he spoke with Mary and even explained how she as a virgin would

conceive it was the angel that actually said these words some of the greatest words in

the Bible in Luke chapter 1 verse 35 when she said how can this be how can I have a

Luke 1:35

child because I have never known a man and the angel said to her the Holy Spirit will

come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you and for that reason the

holy child shall be called the son of God. Can you imagine this mighty angel coming to

earth with such an incredible message so there would be no doubt so no one would wonder if

this was an imposter that was coming there would be no mistake there is no other explanation

this was announced by angels. In Hebrews chapter 2 verses 2 and 3 there is a verse of scripture

Hebrews 2:2

that is very interesting it says for if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable

and every transgression and disobedience received is just a penalty how will we escape if we

neglect so great a salvation? How could we miss out on the Messiah? It was prophesied

then announced by angels in unmistakable ways how should we escape if we neglect such a great

salvation? These are the messages of the greatest news telling us of the greatest savior and

the greatest salvation you and I can possibly imagine how can we ignore this? I want you

to know finally angels rejoice in revealing their creator. You see what we don't fully

know the angels fully know and that is this Messiah and our God is a creator and the one

that we all need to bow to. Notice what it says in verse 13 and 14 of the same text that

we were working with suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts

that would be many many angels praising God and saying glory to God in the highest. Their

greatest joy their greatest mission is to reveal their creator to the rest of the universe.

They have seen God in all his glory. They watched as he created the heavens and the

earth. They saw him create Adam and Eve. They saw the fall. They saw death come into the

world. They saw the futility of mankind. The futility of religion. They see the senselessness

of death and cruelty in humanity one against the other. They see all the problems and all

the pain and all the heartbreak. They were overjoyed to come and say we have the answer

is Christ the Messiah. In that little book I mentioned a moment ago the book where Dr.

Cato describes from an angelic perspective what their role was. He writes this about

having seen the birth of Jesus and now making the news known to everyone. Glory to God in

the highest and I'm quoting this glory to God in the highest and gradually the chorus

grew louder and louder and faster and faster. Our praise as the angelic praise rose into

the realms of the universe and in the most distant galaxy the dust and the oldest star

danced with our praise. In the depths of the ocean the water rippled with adoration. The

tiniest microbe turned and the mightiest constellation spun around. All of nature joined with us

as we worshiped Emmanuel the God who had become flesh. I love that description because it

says rightly so, biblically so, all of creation was aware that Christ came as the Messiah

and it stands in stark contrast to humans the most stubborn species in the universe

to say but did he really? But is he real? My dear friend nobody that saw the scenes

of that day doubted. Neither did you. All of creation acknowledges and worships God.

The angels delight in revealing himself to us. When will we acknowledge and accept and

surrender to this Savior? He's a master and the Lord of the universe. Go watch your movies,

be entertained by the fantastic depictions of power but just remember those are fantasies

but our Lord and our God is not a fantasy. He's real. He demonstrates that day in and

day out. I wonder today if you've been more mesmerized by Hollywood's version of power

and might and fantastic creatures and you haven't remembered and thought of just one

little species that God has created the angelic beings who is far mightier than anything that

ever can be depicted in a book or on a screen or any other way. I wonder if maybe you've

been a little bit too distracted by everything we come up with and I wonder if maybe you've

been a little bit too neglectful of what God has come up with for you. Don't neglect so

great of a salvation. In just a few moments we're going to close in prayer. We have decision

stations that I want to invite you to. You know the only way you can neglect so great

a salvation is to refuse it. To refuse it. To say not for me. To say I'm going to find

some other way to heaven or I'm going to find some other way to God and yet God himself

has said there's no way to the Father except through me. You can neglect salvation by simply

turning it off. Tuning it out. Or you can say you know I see all the evidence for what

God has done in Jesus with the people that responded, the prophecies that came to pass,

with the angels that announced it, with the fact that there was no doubt in those that

responded and saw. I'm going to put my faith in that same one that they put their faith

in. Today we want to talk with you and help you with that decision. I invite you to our

decision station. Maybe you're here for the first time. I would love to invite you to

our guest reception room right outside the center exit doors and across the hallway.

It's a glassed in room. I'll be in that room in just a few moments. I'd love to tell you

something about our church and things coming up. We're really glad you're here today. I

also want to invite you to bring others with you next week as we continue the characters

of Christmas and as we move towards Christmas Eve. Phenomenal time of celebration that we'll

have this year. Would you stand with me for a closing word of prayer? Father, I'm so grateful

today that you have revealed yourself in so many ways, including through the angels. Father,

I would ask that you help us not neglect so great a salvation that each of us would grapple

with and ultimately decide to trust you, the divine creator and savior of all. We ask this

in Jesus name. Amen. God bless.