"Christmas Eve" 2022

Hi, this is John O'Zanting, lead pastor of Evolve Church, and this is the Evolved Church Podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

I've been uh known to be a pretty spontaneous guy.

Sometimes that stresses my wife out.

I remember a time I was like, hey, I'd love to have this family over for dinner.

She was like, Yeah, let's talk about it.

And I was like, yeah, like like tonight.

She's like, like tonight?

I'm like, yeah, like they're gonna be here in 10 minutes.

And uh I love spontaneity and I've I've learned um when you're married to somebody who's maybe not as spontaneous as you are, there's there's a gift in learning how to like go with a good plan.

Any good planners in the room?

Yeah, there's a there's a few.

Don't be ashamed.

Come on, this is you don't don't withhold.

It's all good.

Benjamin Franklin was quoted as saying, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.

Have you heard that quote before?

That if you're if you fail to plan, you're planning to fail.

Lots of planning goes into Christmas.

Lots of planning goes into moments like this.

You probably had to plan to get here on time today.

Lots of planning.

This week I I phoned my favorite breakfast restaurant, OEB, and I made a reservation because I wanted to take my sons out on a breakfast date and then take them to West Edmonton Mall.

We wanted to get there before the mall opened, and we made a plan.

And here's what I've learned about a good plan.

Right in the middle of a good plan is this like there's confidence, there's anticipation, there's satisfaction, and there's joy.

Nicole, you were right.

Planning is better.

Just want to go on record publicly to say, for the first time in 22 years of marriage, Nicole, you were right.

Scheduling plans to share a meal together or open up gifts with loved ones, just in the simple anticipation of that.

There's confidence in that, there's satisfaction in that, there's joy in a well-executed plan.

Making plans to gather together with your family for worship.

I know some of you got here early today to save enough seats for your whole family.

And in that is sort of this anticipation.

There's confidence, there's satisfaction, and there's joy.

I see you, Richards Klan.

For the well-thought-out, predetermined moments that are life-giving for you.

Wouldn't you agree that there's a certain confidence or satisfaction or anticipation or joy that comes from knowing you've got something in the calendar that you can't wait for?

I'm not talking about a family gathering that you're dreading.

I'm talking about the life-giving things.

I'm talking about the stuff that you're excited about.

Did you know that God Almighty, creator of heavens and earth, made a calendar appointment?

Put something in the book.

My big question for us on Christmas Eve is did you know that God had a predetermined time filled with confidence, anticipation, satisfaction, and joy, and that his plan involved you.

And I say involved past tense on purpose, because in making this plan, he had you in mind.

Every life represented in this room, every daughter, every son.

You're involved in this plan.

In the Bible, in the book of Galatians, chapter 4, verse 4, it says it this way when the right time came.

Galatians 4:4

When the right time came, not a random time, not an accidental time, the right time.

When the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

When the right time came, not just any time, but the right, right time.

I love Eugene Peterson's spin on this verse in the message translation.

But when the time arrived that was set by God the Father, he set the time, he put it in the book.

When the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, Jesus.

And when the time arrived that was seen by God the Father, he made a plan.

But why?

Why did God Almighty, in his beautiful, creative, and infinite wisdom, why did he establish a set time to send Jesus?

We make plans for lots of different reasons.

We have a lot of whys why we make plans.

We make a plan so that we can wake up on time.

We make a plan so that we can exercise.

We can make a plan so that we can talk with somebody who matters to us.

We establish plans so that we can learn and grow.

We make a plan to spend time with a good friend.

It's all the kids in the room.

Come on, where are you, kids?

I see you, Max.

Where's the kids at?

There you are.

What plans uh in the next week are you really, really excited about?

Come on, shut it out.

Christmas.

That's pretty vague.

Get specific.

Presents, sure.

I mean, that wasn't a kid, but uh one of the adults sneaking in on this.

I like it.

Come on, kids.

Have you has your family made any plans that you're really excited about?

Yeah.

Santa.

I mean, there's a plan.

It's tonight, isn't it?

Oh yeah.

You better watch out.

You better not cry.

God made a plan.

But why?

When the time arrived that was seen ahead by God the Father, he put it in the book, he made a plan.

And here's why.

Galatians 4, reading on.

When the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, subject to the law.

God sent Jesus to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.

And because we're his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, prompting us to call out Abba, Father.

Now you are no longer a slave, but God's own child.

And since you're his child, God's made you his heir.

To buy our freedom, to adopt us as his very own kids, and to send the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.

These three things, three points, and then I'm done.

Sound good?

We want to light some candles, don't we?

Number one, God planned Christmas.

Why?

To buy your freedom.

To buy your freedom.

You might be in this room today because Evolved Church is home.

I know in the service is families that have been with us since we launched four years ago, but this is the first Christmas Eve service they've been able to make it to.

Maybe that's why you're here, because this is this is your tribe, and you couldn't wait to be in this room to worship and celebrate Jesus with your family.

You also might be in the room just out of some kind of weird religious obligation.

After all, doesn't everybody go to church at Christmas time?

Christmas and Easter.

I call those creasers.

This is what we do, it's tradition.

And so some sense of religious duty, you're like, hey, let's find a church to go to on Christmas Day.

And I see you.

I love that you're here.

That's okay.

And then there's all these other stories somewhere in between.

But what unites us is that in the past, God made a plan, fulfilled the plan, executed the plan, and all along He had you in mind.

His plan involved you.

Right here in this moment, involved you.

So that you could know and walk in and experience what it truly means to be free.

No longer captive to anxiety.

No longer held captive to the hurts and the wounds of your past.

No longer held captive to the fear that grips your heart.

No longer held captive to the lie that you're not enough.

God planned freedom so that you could be free.

God planned Christmas so that you could be free.

Romans 3 puts it this way: the God setting things right that we read about has become Jesus setting things right for us.

And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him.

For there's no difference between us and them in this.

This is for every daughter and every son.

Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners, both us and them, you and me, and we've proved that we're utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us.

He knows that you don't have what it takes.

That's the point.

That's why God planned Christmas.

Out of sheer generosity, he put us in right standing with himself.

A pure gift.

He got us out of the mess we're in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be.

And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

God planned Christmas to buy your freedom.

Would you receive that tonight?

Receive that freedom.

Number two, God planned Christmas to adopt you as his very own son and daughter.

I love that a part of our Evolved Church family are biological families who have opened up their home to adopt children.

I think adoption is maybe one of the most profoundly kingdom things we could do.

To say, I see you, your life is valuable.

We want to establish you, root you in family.

And if I were to pull this room today, when it comes to all of the pain that we feel at Christmas time, it's probably connected in some kind of way to family mess all along the years.

That's why the lie of the enemy that you don't belong to family or you don't deserve healthy family or you don't qualify for real life in family is such a lie.

Because God planned Christmas to adopt you as a daughter, as a son.

John 1.12, to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

Galatians 3.26, for you are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3.26 in the message translation, but now you have arrived at your destination.

By faith in Christ, you are in direct relationship with God.

See, religion would have you believe that God is somewhere out there, and I'm way down here, and there the two shall meet.

But if that's how I walked in relationship with my biological daughter and my biological sons, they sure wouldn't love me very much.

It's for proximity, up close, real relationship.

God planned Christmas to adopt you as a daughter, as a son.

And third and final, God planned Christmas to fill you up with his presence.

To not leave you alone, to not leave you struggling, wondering.

God desires a confident rest, that his voice is always the loudest in the room.

His words and his authority mean more to you than anybody else's.

Galatians 4 again, because we're his children, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.

And when you make a decision to surrender your life to the gift and the truth of Christmas, Jesus, God was skin on, who lived and sacrificed his life and gave up his life so that anyone who believes could be restored to relationship with our good God.

That was so that God could fill you up with his presence.

Not just to save you from some eternal, fiery place that we're we might be afraid of.

It was to actually empower you and equip you to do life in his name here and now, to fill you up with his presence.

Romans 8, for all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So we have not received a spirit that makes us fearful slaves.

No, instead, you received God's spirit when he adopted you.

And now we call him Abba Father.

You're not missing anything.

And so our big question did you know that God had a predetermined time, a time filled with confidence and anticipation, satisfaction and joy, and that his plan involved you.

It involved you.

From the youngest of us in the room to the oldest of us in the room, God had a plan.

A well-executed, well-thought out, redemptive, healing, restorative plan.

So that's what I want to leave with your hearts tonight.

That God planned Christmas.

Why?

To buy your freedom, to adopt you as his very own and to fill you up with his presence.

Would you close your eyes with me?

Come on, kids.

We're just going to pray for a moment.

All across this room, if you would close your eyes and just in a quiet way, just ask God to center your heart, center your thoughts on his voice, on his presence.

Father, thank you.

Thank you that you planned out Christmas, that you sent your son to be born.

So that you could buy our freedom.

You could adopt us as your very own sons and daughters.

And that you could pour out your spirit in a way that fills us up, makes all things new.

God in this room tonight are beautiful families, lives, many who have been changed.

Their narrative has been altered by the power of Jesus, by the truth of Jesus.

And yet some of us still struggle to see ourselves as your daughter, as your son.

Would the truth of Christmas break through that lie today?

Some here in this woman in this room have just stayed stuck.

It's like you're handcuffed or held back somehow.

And it's the freedom that God planned that you need more than anything.

As you breathe in his presence tonight, that it would be marked with the freedom that only God can bring.

And others in this room here are still striving, still working, still trying to intuitively think your way through this faith life.

When the Father's whisper says, I've poured out my spirit, and that's all that you need.

The presence of my spirit brings a fullness of joy.

The presence of my spirit brings wisdom that you need.

The presence of my spirit brings life and courage and hope.

Receive the fullness of the Holy Spirit tonight.

You've grown up believing that God was far removed.

That he was exclusive with his love.

That you had to earn it somehow.

Or that the narrative of Christmas in a God born in a manger is a fairy tale.

But I want to invite you as we close today to consider this truth.

Before you were born, God knew you, saw you, and invited you in.

God planned Christmas to buy your freedom, to adopt you as his son, as his daughter, and to pour out his Holy Spirit on your heart so that you could carry his presence with you everywhere you go.

In a moment, we're all going to pray a simple prayer together: a prayer of faith, a prayer of invitation.

And if your heart is stirred in this room today for the first time, or maybe you're watching from home, watching with your family in a living room, gathered around a table, and your heart has been stirred, drawn in.

You're considering the implication and the truth for the very first time that God planned Christmas so that you could be free and you could call him Father and that you could be full of his presence everywhere you go.

This redemptive whole healing work that Christmas started is for you.

And all you have to do is believe.

That's it.

Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ, God's Son, paid the price once and for all.

If that's you here or watching from home, I just want to ask you to pray out loud with us, everybody in the room, as we close.

Just repeat after me, dear God, thank you that you plan Christmas to buy my freedom, to adopt me as your kid, and to fill me up with your presence.

Today I choose to surrender my life to the leadership of Jesus Christ.

Every part, I'm yours, God.

Forgive me for all I've done wrong.

Mark me with your love, fill me with your presence.

In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.

Amen.

Beautiful.

Church family, if you prayed that prayer for the first time today, on that connect card in the seat pocket in front of you is a little box that says, Today I choose to commit my life to Jesus.

I just want to encourage you as we continue to sing and close out our service.

Would you take some time before you leave here?

If you're watching from home, um put it in the chats there.

One of our team would love to just follow up with you.

Hey, I prayed that prayer for the first time.

Today, God's making all things new.

And in all of your planning, in all of your celebrating, and all of your executing this Christmas, I would love for you to just hold on to this truth.

God planned and he planned well.

He planned Christmas to buy our freedom, to adopt us as his own, and to fill us up with his spirit.

That's good news for somebody tonight.

Yeah?

Come on.

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.

We hope to see you soon.