Fear Not: The Promise of Christmas

Like we ought to sing Go Tell it on the Mountain now, just pick

it and let's sing it. All right. Open your Bibles, if you would,

to Matthew, chapter one. Matthew, chapter one, and then Luke,

chapter one. Just go ahead and mark both places. We'll be in both

places as well as others. Mark, chapter one. Luke, chapter

one. I wonder if you can count the number of times when fear really

gripped you. I mean, there's nobody immune to it. Maybe it doesn't

come as quickly or as easily to some, but people have been fearful

at one time or another. I mean, gripped you, really gripped

you. Might have been something you did or something that was done

to you or a dangerous situation where you envisioned the

worst possible scenario. I have been the victim of a violent

crime when I was, I think, 17, maybe 18 years old. And that was

the most frightened I've ever been in my life. I thought I was

losing my life. I really did. But fear takes many forms. So I understand.

Fear can grip you, man. I mean, grip you. And it takes many

forms, but it is real. Fear is real. It's a state of mind. And sometimes

it's an irrational fear, but it's a fear nonetheless. And when

I say irrational, here's an irrational fear. How many of you

ever heard of the fear called dendrophobia? Dendrophobia? Anybody?

You know what that is? It is a fear of trees. Dendrophobia. Fear

of trees. I mean, I've never heard of it either until I read it.

But there are some people who actually have a fear of Christmas

trees. I've never met anybody who had a fear of Christmas trees,

but that's what that is. Anybody ever. If you run into somebody

who has a fear of trees, it's dendrophobia. It's an irrational

fear as far as I'm concerned. But, you know, what do I know? So

why am I talking about fear when I should be preaching a Christmas

sermon? Well, I'm glad you asked. Go ahead and read with me.

In Matthew, chapter one. I'm going to read verse 18 through 21.

Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. Whenas mother Mary

was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found

with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph, her husband, being a

just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded

to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things,

behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying,

joseph, thou son of David, fear not. Fear not to take unto thee,

Mary, thy. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

And she shall bring forth a son. And thou shalt call his name

Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Look at Luke,

chapter one. Luke, chapter one, verse 26. Luke 1:26. And in

Luke 1:26

the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a

city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin, a spouse to

a man, whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's

name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, hail,

thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art

thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his

saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should

be. And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary, for thou hast

found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy

womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He

shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the highest. And

the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his

kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, how

shall this be, seeing I know no man? And the angel answered and

said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power

of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that

holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of

God. Turn to chapter two. Look at verse eight. And there were in

the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch

over their flock by night. Verse nine says, and lo, the angel

of the Lord came upon them. And the glory of the Lord shone round

about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them,

fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which

shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the

city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall

be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling

clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel

a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory

to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.

Did you see that? I mean, folks, what we consider to be the

most wonderful time of the year. We consider this the most wonderful

time of the year. The most festive, the most joyful time of

the year, the most. But it was to the main characters of Christmas

of the first Christmas. A fearful event, fearful so much so

that God had to say to them, fear not. Now if I'm afraid of something,

to me, if not to anybody else, it's a legitimate fear. May not be

to anybody else, but if I'm afraid of something, it's a legitimate

fear. And if somebody tells me you don't have to be afraid, don't

worry about it, don't be afraid. Okay, if you're going to

tell me not to be afraid in the midst of my circumstance, I want

to hear the follow up explanation as to why I shouldn't

be afraid. Why should I not be alarmed? This is a real situation

I'm in here and you're telling me don't be afraid. Why? Well, God

does exactly that. Because the fear that their fear might be legitimate

to them. But God tells them in the midst of their fear, fear not.

But each one of these situations was a fearful event to

them and they had to be told, don't fear. But that's not enough.

Just don't be afraid. Well, why, why shouldn't I be afraid? That's

what I want to know. Well, he tells them in the midst of their

fear, not to fear. And then he gives an explanation as to why they

shouldn't fear. And quite frankly, if you think about it, we

live in potentially fearful times. I'm not given to television,

I'm not given to the news. I don't like watching the news. If

my wife's got the news on, I'll usually walk out. I don't like

listening to the news and not like she focuses on it, but if it

happens to be on, if she's watching the headlines or whatever,

I just know, I don't even watch Fox News. I don't watch any

news because they're all liars and they'll just. And if you just

listen to them, man, it'll fill you with fear. You'll be fearful

of the economy, you'll be fear of the political scene, you'll be

fear of everything around you socially and the news. I've noticed

they always give you nothing but bad news. Nothing but bad news.

I mean the entire 30 minutes or however long, if it's not the

weather, everything else is just bad news. And then they want

to make you feel good at the very end. They want to sprinkle a

little bit of sugar on it and say here's, here's something for

us to leave you with a little nice dab of sugar at the end. I don't

like the news, but if a person watches it enough and if they listen

to talk Radio enough and if they listen to podcasts enough. Good

night, man. We just want to go, you know, find a compound somewhere.

We want to go off grid because we're afraid of the entire world.

And as we consider the birth of Christ, we too are given the message

to fear not. Remember, the word of God is written to us as well.

And all scripture is inspiration of God. It's all inspired

by God and it's written to us and it's written for us. And he said,

fear not. Now the same message is as relevant and powerful today

as it was on that first Christmas. So I want to look at why

God said to them and us, fear not. Why not? Fear. Anxious, worrisome.

And for some people, this time of year just brings nothing but heartache.

It brings nothing but sorrow, brings nothing but anxiety and worry.

And I mean, if it's not a sad time for some, it's an anxious time

for others because they want to get gifts for people and they

don't have any money and so they know they're going to put it

on their card and they're going to end up with all these just

anxious when it should be a joyful time of the year. It does

have a tendency to lend itself to some people, just anxious, worrisome

and fearful. But I want you to notice, why did God tell them and

us fear not? Well, number one, I'm going to give you three things.

Number one, because the birth of Christ shows us God's purpose.

The birth of Christ shows us God's purpose. Joseph had reasons

to be fearful and anxious. During the betrothal period, which

is about a one year engagement, Mary became pregnant.

What a shock. What a shock. I mean, by all indications, Mary had

been unfaithful to him. Shame is about to come upon him. Shame

is about to come on her. He didn't want that to happen to her.

He didn't want that to happen to her family. He didn't want to.

He didn't want it to happen to him and his family. But there it

was. There it was. What a shock. He is going to be required

to make a decision as to what would happen to her. This is a big

decision, major decision. I mean, think about it. Major decision

he was going to have to make. And while he thought on these things,

we read Matthew 20 and 21, Matthew 1, 20 and 21. While he thought

on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him

in a dream saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not. Look,

the angel didn't say that without reason. Joseph was afraid.

He was fearful for everything that was about to happen. In his

mind, he was creating worst case scenarios. Just like you would

be. Just like I would be. And the angel came and said, fear not

to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived

in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son.

And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people

from their sin. God revealed his purpose to Joseph and it centered

on this baby, that same baby that was making him fearful. God

said, this baby that you, that you're making these worst case scenarios

in your mind about, about to do something amazing with this baby.

And so I want you to take Mary to be your wife. Mary hadn't been

unfaithful after all. Praise the Lord. He was so glad about that.

In fact, it was her faithfulness to God that resulted

in her being chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Wonderful.

He could lay that burden to rest. Why? He was fearful. And God

said, don't be afraid. Why shouldn't I be afraid? Here's why.

Oh, isn't that awesome? I mean, you stop and think about it.

He had a reason to lay down that fear. Because God revealed an

amazing purpose to Joseph. But the greatest revelation and the reason

to not fear was that this child was going to save his people

from their sins. Hallelujah. I like what Spurgeon said. I wrote

this down. Christ is the central fact. Christ is the great

central fact in the world's history. Now listen to what he says.

Think about this. He is the great central fact in the world's

history. To him, everything looks forward or backward. That was

when they were still using AD and bc. Now it's BCE before the common

era and whatever. What is a common era anyway? He said this.

All the lines of history converge upon him. All the great

purposes of God culminate in him. Now listen to this line. The

greatest and most momentous fact which the history of the world

records is the fact of his birth. Now you and I would say, well,

what about the resurrection? Well, that's so argued today. They

don't even. They don't. There's so much that says, well,

we don't know that that's a fact. But one thing they don't deny

is his birth. That's a fact. The greatest fact that God ever placed

in this world is the birth of Jesus Christ. And from the very beginning,

God's purpose in sending his Son was to provide salvation for

us. That was his purpose. Joseph didn't have to be afraid he

didn't have to fear because God revealed his purpose. I feel

sad for those who don't see their need for salvation. I really

do. I mean, it breaks my heart. You know, there was a day

when I first started soul winning, you know, a wasp, a small

wasp, you know, full of stinger and no sense. I try to argue

with people and, well, okay, if that's the way you feel about

it, go ahead and go on to hell, then that's your. Your problem.

Well, I don't think that way anymore. You know, the years have

come. Wisdom, I hope, has taken in place of stupidity. And

it breaks my heart when people truly cannot see their need for a

savior, when they can't see their need for salvation. It's like

they're swimming in an ocean and sharks are converging upon them.

And because they can't see those sharks, they close their eyes

and they close their mind to anybody trying to show them or tell

them anything, and they end up destroyed. But for those of us who

did believe those warnings, and we embrace that offer of rescue,

we will be eternally grateful to the one or many who offered that,

who offered that rescue to us. And we reached, and they reached

down, and we reached up, we held, and they pulled us to safety.

For me, It's David Lofty. 1984, April 18, 1984. He's the one

that showed me, hey, look, you're on your way to hell. There

are a bunch of sharks behind you in this water, and even though

you can't see them, I'm telling you they're there. He helped

me to see that truth, and he put that hand out for me in the way

of the gospel, and I received it. I grabbed hold of that life,

that safety vest, and I got to shore, and I'm saved because of it.

Now, April 18th, and I'm telling you, most of my problems

were fixed that day. Most of my worries and fears and anxieties

all got taken away from that day. I like to tell people all the

time, if you get saved, your greatest problem's fixed. Your greatest

problem is. Your greatest problem is eternity. And if you'll

trust Jesus Christ, that's taken care of. I like what Henry

Bosch wrote. He wrote, jesus wasn't born to live. He was born

to die, to live again. Amen. That was the only way he could save

his people from their sins. What did Jesus himself say about

his purpose? He said in Matthew 20, verse 28, even as the

Matthew 20:28

Son of man came not to be. Even as the Son of Man came not to

be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom

for many. Jesus said that about himself. Luke 19:10. He said,

Luke 19:10

for the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

His purpose. John 3:17. For God sent not his Son into the world

John 3:17

to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

I think sometimes we get lost. We lose sight of the true purpose

of God in sending Jesus Christ. I mean, even in Christmas

time, we still. We lose sight of it. We lose sight of the reason

he came, the purpose of God. Paul wrote to Timothy in first Timothy

one. He said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all

acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,

of whom I am chief brother. I'm all for the songs. I like the

songs to a point, you know? And I love the festivities of Christmas.

I love the food of Christmas. I love the gift giving of Christmas,

and I love the fact that your husband's going to be back for Christmas.

Amen. I asked her today, when's her husband coming? She said

Sunday. Yay. Exciting. What a gift, right? Great Christmas. Okay,

where was I? Anyway, I love all of that. I love all the things

about Christmas. I really do. But I think that, you know, we get

around the. We get around the tree, maybe with our family and.

And we thank God. We thank God for all that he's given us. We thank

God for our family. We thank God for everything. But we have to

stop and remember again, do we thank him for the fact that I was

lost and on my way to hell? And it's easy. We can look at everything

that we have in the trees. We can look at the flowers, we can look

at the gifts. And we can make every single one of those speak to

that fact that I was lost. Look at this gift. It's God's gift.

Look at that tree and everything inside. I like trees.

Look at everything on that tree we can speak of to Christ, right?

I may not be biblical, but we can do it. And if it helps us to

look to him and point to Him, I'm for it. So this is why I don't

need to be fearful and anxious. This is why you don't need

to be fearful and anxious. This year, God, God's purpose in

sending His Son provided us with a way out. An escape from all

the sin and the social corruption that abounds, the ungodliness

that is in the world. And I feel sorry for some of you. In my

ministry, church planning, I worked a Secular job more times more

than I didn't work. And so I know I was sitting here just a little

while ago and I was looking at some of your faces and I asked God

to remind me of the fact that these folks work today. And seriously,

they worked. Because it's easy when you're full time on staff and

you're not out there working a full time job and you don't have

to rub shoulders with a lost world, with an ungodly crowd that's

putting your savior down all the time and laughing at every godly

thing there is. You forget about that. It's easy to forget about

what it's like. And I was sitting there a little while ago

and I saw some faces and I said, boy, they really look like

thee are hurting today. I wonder what's on their heart. I wonder

what's on their mind. Some of them are just, they're just tired.

They've worked all day. Well, I want to remind you that God had

a purpose in sending Jesus Christ and that was to keep you from

going to hell. And if there's. Listen, if you could clear your mind

and just focus on that fact, I think you could wipe away the drudgery

of the day just with that fact. Amen. I'm going to heaven.

I'm not going to hell. I deserve hell. I'm chief of sinners.

I'm ungodly. But in spite of it, Jesus saved me anyway. He reached

down and saved me, pulled me out of that pit and set my feet upon

a rock. God says I've got a purpose. And my purpose that through

faith in my son, Jesus Christ, you can have eternal life, you can

have abundant life, you can have all the riches in glory by Christ

Jesus. He said that in Christ you might have to be in the world

for a little while, but by faith you have victory to overcome

it. Fear not. Fear not because the birth of Christ shows us God's

purpose. You think about these guys, these people that we're talking

about in this Christmas story. They. We look at this as a joyful

time. It was fearful for them, and it might just be fearful for

you tonight, but you don't have to fear not because the birth

of Christ shows us God's purpose. Amen. What a day that will

be when my Jesus I shall see. When he takes me by the hand, right.

And leads me through the promised land. Amen. When I look

upon his face I can't remember the words now I forgot the words

but I sing it all the time. Yeah, what a day. Glorious day that

will be. How about when we all get to heaven? What a day. Do we

even think about the words when we sing these songs? What a

day of rejoicing that will be. Most of us don't sing it. Most of

us men don't sing it because we can't reach that high register.

So we just leave it alone. I throw it out there, though. I don't

have the greatest voice. But when I just throw it out there. Because

when we all get to heaven, I just try to make it mad. I try to

make it work. What a day of rejoicing that will be when we all

see. I can't reach it either. See Jesus, I'll sing and shout the

victory. I get excited about that song. I really do. One day we're

going to heaven and brother, you know, you know, sister, you know

I know it ain't far away. It's not far off. Oh, man, how can it

be far off? I mean, just. Just take just. All the signs that we

have and the knowledge. Remember, the Bible says the knowledge

is going to increase exponentially. Can you keep up with

it? I mean, they're the greatest of techies in here. I think

about Sean, who. I think about the guys in the back. Can you guys

keep up with the tech as fast as it's coming? It is amazing. It

blows me away. Of course I'm old, but I've got an iPhone 11. And.

Yeah, and some of you are like, that's a toy, man. I can't

even. I can't even maximize its potential. Jesus is coming soon.

I believe. He's got to come soon. The birth of Christ shows us

God's purpose. Let me tell you a second thing here. The birth of

Christ shows us God's promise. Look back at Luke 1, verse 26. In

Luke 1:26

the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a

city of Galilee named Nazareth. Verse 28. The angel came

in unto her and said, hail, thou that art highly favored. The

Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women. And when she saw

him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what

manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto

her, fear not, Mary. Fear not Mary. Again, she was afraid. She

was fearful. I mean, an angel came into and came into her room.

Fear not, Mary. For centuries, the Jewish people had been waiting

for the birth of the Messiah. Every Jewish mother hoped and prayed

that her son would be the Messiah. The entire Old Testament

is lit up with the preparation for Christ's birth, beginning with

Genesis 3, 15 it's in there. I love teaching the temple. I love

teaching on the tabernacle because everything in there speaks

of Christ. I love teaching on it. And I love it when God shows

me something through whatever means preaching or studying. When

I see something in the Old Testament and it's a, aha. Oh, oh,

that's awesome. And I see how it connects to the New Testament.

And I love it when God shows me something from the Old Testament

that I didn't quite understand. And I see it now in the

New Testament and God puts it together. That's amazing. I love

it when God does that. And the Old Testament is lit up with preparations

for the birth of Christ. What God's message meant to Mary was this.

Mary, I've given the world a promise that a savior would be born

of a virgin. Guess what? You are that virgin. I mean, we read

it and then we just read it. I'm a reader. I love to read. I read.

I usually have two or three or four books going at one time at home.

I love to read and I love to put myself right there. I get into

it. I love to read, think about being Mary. Mary, you remember

those Old Testament prophecies? That's you, that's you.

You are that version. Your son will be the son of the most high

God. I've promised that he would reign on David's throne forever.

You, Mary, are to be the chosen conduit of that promise. Did

Mary have reason to fear? Absolutely. Probably more than anybody

else. I mean, it was her life that would be in jeopardy. But before

her fears could get out of control and shake her faith, God

gave her a reason not to fear. Even in the midst of her fears, she

had to say she was afraid. And God said, fear not. The angel said,

fear not. Well, I would follow that up with, well, why not? This

is an incredible situation you're placing me in. Why shouldn't

I fear worst case scenarios going around in her mind? Right.

Why shouldn't I fear? He said, mary, I've got a promise to keep

and you're going to help me do it. I've got a promise to keep and

you're going to help me do it. And he spells out that promise in

three parts to her. He says, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and

bring forth a son virgin born. In verse 32 and 35, he shall be great

and shall be called the son of the highest. Verse 32 and verse 35,

he shall be called the Son of God. And again in verse 32, the Lord

shall give him unto the throne. And the Lord shall give unto

him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the

house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom, of his kingdom there

shall be no end. And Mary was no stranger to those promises. She

grew up hearing them told and retold. Isaiah 7:14. Therefore, the

Isaiah 7:14

Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive

and bear a son, and his name shall be called Immanuel. She heard

that all of her life. Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. Unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his

shoulders. And his name. I never get tired of hearing this.

Do you? His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty

God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. I never get

tired of hearing that. The Prince of Peace. Of the increase

of his government and peace. There shall be no end upon the throne

of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with

judgment and with justice, from henceforth and even forever,

the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform. She could probably

quote that she's heard that all her life. Well, that alleviated

Mary's fears. But how does the fulfillment of God's promise alleviate

our fears today? How is it that I can get through this season

without worrying, without being anxious, without being fearful

or anytime as far as that goes? Because Second Corinthians

2 Corinthians 1:19

1, verse 19, says, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached

among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not

yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God

in him are yea, and in him, amen unto the glory of God by us.

In other words, all the promises of God converge again in

Jesus Christ. All the promises converge in Jesus Christ. All the

promises of God are accessible through faith in Christ. Ours are

on this side of the cross. They're spiritual in nature, but

no less blessed. No more, no less glorious, no less marvelously

rich. Okay, so you're not going to get that 20 acres you've

been salivating over, okay? You're not going to get that new

GMC that you've been hoping for. Don't get mad at God over that.

God didn't promise that. He promised spiritual blessings. And

brethren, we in this room, if you're saved, that ought to be more

exciting to you than any gmc. Any spread of land, all that stuff

is temporal. It's going to burn up. It's gone one day. But,

brother, we live forever. We're an eternal soul. We will live

forever with God. And how short is 70 years in comparison to

eternity? I often think of that verse, prepare to meet thy God.

Sometimes I see that or I think on it and I read it and I think

on it and I wonder, have I really prepared myself? I mean, we're

going to be with him for eternity. Have I prepared myself

to meet? I. Well, let me ask. Let me see. Do I watch? How much

TV do I watch? What kind of movies do I really enjoy? What kind

of entertainment do I really. And go, what? What I really, you

know, engulf myself in. You better answer that question and then

ask the question. Have I prepared myself to meet God? The

Word says, prepare to meet thy God. Not in judgment. We know that.

But brother, I read in there somewhere where you have an opportunity

to have rewards or lose them. I don't know how I got off on that.

That's not even in here. But listen to Second Peter, chapter one,

verse two and four. He says, grace and peace be multiplied unto

you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according

as his divine power. Now we're talking this side of the cross. Now

listen to what's yours. According to. As his divine power

hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness

through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and

virtue. That means you got to read your Bible to know him whereby

are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. The

Bible says those promises are exceeding great. Not just great,

exceeding great and precious. That by these. Now, here's the kicker.

Watch. You want to think you don't have anything this side of

the cross, that by these you might be partakers of the divine

nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through

lust. Brother, do we read? Did you read what I just said? Listen.

Through faith in Christ, we can become one with God. Not saying

you can become God, but only by salvation do we become partakers

of the divine nature. You have that in you. And sometimes we don't

even. We don't even. We don't even take advantage of it. We live

in so much turmoil and worry and anxiety and we never one time

ask Jesus Christ, take care of this for me. Not like he's a genie,

but I'm telling you, he's there with us. Let me continue on.

The Holy Spirit of God. The indwelling Spirit of God. Listen.

We have the mind of Christ in spiritual matters. The Holy Spirit

of God indwells us. He guides us. He instructs us. He illuminates

our hearts and our minds regarding the things of God. And

if we as born again believers will avail ourselves to those promises,

then we would know there's no reason to fear anything that life

throws at us. No reason to get under the circumstances, no reason

to dwell in depression or despondency. There's no reason to

dwell in that. No reason to live in that. The problem is that

so many born again believers don't abide in Christ and His word.

We miss out on the benefit of embracing those promises by faith.

William Carey wrote that a young Hindu priest went to his home

in Serampori, India to ask him some questions. And in the course

of their conversation the young man said, there are many things

which Christianity contains that I can find in Hinduism, but

there's one thing which Christianity has that Hinduism does

not have. And William Carey asked him, what is that? And his

reply illustrates the point that we're making here. He said the

one thing which Christianity has that Hinduism does not have is

a savior. A savior. Jesus is the promise of God to you personally

so that by believing with all your heart that he came and died

for your sins and was buried and rose again from the dead. And

by confessing him as your Savior you can have eternal life

and, and you can have that divine. You can be partaker of the

divine nature and have the mind of Christ. How many of you like

me? I mean, listen folks. Boy, I want to take this off. It's warm.

How many of you are just tired of making dumb decisions that come

back and just bite you? And it's probably more men than women,

I'm sure. Man, I've made some bonehead choices. My ministry in

my life, dumb. I've made some real blunders. And you know the reason

for that? I did not take advantage of the mind of Christ.

Clear as that. You want to stop making dumb decisions? You want

to stop staying broke? Get God in on it. Fear not. Because the birth

of Christ shows us God's purpose. Because the birth of Christ

shows us God's promise. And then finally, let me give you this

last one. The birth of Christ shows us God's presence. Now we have

the shepherds In Luke chapter 2, the angel of the Lord, verse 9

Luke 2 · chapter mention

says the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the

Lord shone round about them. And. And they were, watch this one.

Sore afraid. Sore afraid. We just read that. Sore afraid. That

says nothing to us. Sore afraid. How about petrified? They

were terrified. They were scared out of their Wits. I mean,

you might get a better picture. I mean, think about it.

You're in the field, you're watching sheep at night, and all

of a sudden these bright angels come and reveal themselves

to you. What would you do? Oh, hey, dude. You startled me. What?

I'd be falling on my face. I'd be trembling. I might be wishing

I'd have brought a change of clothes. It would have been bad.

They were sore afraid. The Bible says they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, fear not. Just fear. Fear not. Why

not? Right. You're telling me. Don't be afraid. What? Tell you why?

Why shouldn't I be afraid? I've got man. Are you here to judge

me? Are you here to bring God's judgment? What are you here

for? I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all

people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior

which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You'll

find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly. I mean, I don't know if this alleviated their fears

or thrilled them even more. Suddenly there was with the angel

a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory

to God in the highest. And on earth, peace, good will toward men.

I mean, they're all confronted by the angel of the Lord, and they

were terrified. So give me a good reason why I shouldn't be terrified.

Because I bring you great tidings. A savior is born to you.

God has come. They know this word. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. What does

that mean? God with us. God is with us. And that was enough to alleviate

that amazing fear that. That terrific, terrible fear that they

had. They were sore afraid. We read that like they were sore afraid.

That doesn't even begin to describe it, does it? They were sore

afraid. In the Old Testament, God promised his presence to his

people. And he told them that because of that, they didn't need

to fear anymore. Listen to Isaiah 41. Fear thou not, for I am

with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen

thee. I will help thee. I will uphold thee with the right hand of

my righteousness. And now that God has come in the flesh, nothing

will be the same. Listen. It was wonderful when Jesus walked among

men and when he worked miracles and he glorified the Father.

While in the flesh it is no less wonderful now that he's with

us and in us, in the person of the Holy Spirit. He's in me. Do you

get that. He's with you. He's in you. Maybe we don't want to think

about that when we're doing something wrong. Yeah. You know,

I fear. I fear. This is what I fear. I fear God will come back.

Jesus will come back and snatch us up right while I'm in the

middle of doing something I know I shouldn't be doing. Now we

laugh, but don't you have the same fear? I mean, that is not an

irrational fear. That scares me. And I wish that that thought

would always keep me doing right, but sometimes it just doesn't.

But he's in us. So if he takes me up while I'm doing something wrong,

that's one thing, but we have to stop to consider he's actually

there. He's looking at what you're looking at. What are we exposing

him to? What are we bringing the Holy Spirit? What are we bringing

Jesus Christ into? Would Jesus Christ sit down and watch the movies

we watch? He is. We still have his presence. We have his presence

in the person of the Holy Spirit. And how much stronger. Think

about this. And you know that. I gotta quit. Good night. I'm. I

can't. That clock is mean. I'll say this, and I'll get down.

I'll just blow through everything else and stop. Listen,

how much stronger are you in Christ? How much stronger are you

spiritually when you are cognizant of his presence? I mean,

when you get up in the morning or when you pray at some point in

the day and say, lord, I just want to walk in your presence. I

want to know that you're there. I want to be aware of your

eternal presence in my life. And you know that everything you

do is Jesus is there. And when you stop to consider throughout the

day, Jesus is never not there. How much stronger are you a stronger

Christian when you are aware of the presence of God? Because you

know he's never not there. Let me get down to this. I'll finish

up with this. How many of you remember this? This comic strip,

Hagar the Horrible? You remember that? Hagar the Horrible?

One year, one of the years that Christmas fell on a Sunday,

I read this Hagar the Horrible comic strip that day featured Hagar's

son sitting on a boulder with a monk. And the son is looking at

the people celebrating the Christmas holiday. And he says this.

He says, I love this time of year. Everyone is so happy and kind

and giving. Everything is so peaceful and it's like a whole different

world. And look, the star. That star was never there. Before.

And the monk looks and he says, oh, no, no, it's there all

the time. It's just that most people can only see it at Christmas

time. Isn't that true? It's amazing how different the spirit

of people is during this time of year. Why not just continue the

spirit all the time? Why not just always sing about the star of

Bethlehem, that beautiful star of Bethlehem? I know that we only

sing the Christmas. We shouldn't just sing the Christmas

songs. I mean, I don't think we ought to sing them every week.

Find me a new church. But I think that it's okay to sing them

throughout the year. I love oh Come All Ye Faithful. I love that

song. But when the trees are put away, when the lights are taken

down, the manger scenes are put away, let's not let the awareness

of Christ's presence be put in the closet with it. Let's maintain.

Look, fear not. Because the birth of Christ shows us his presence,

shows us his purpose, shows us his promise. Let's enjoy this Christmas

and every day, really, for what it really is. Amen. Let's all

stand. Father, we come before you this evening. We just thank you

for the promise and the presence and the purpose of Christmas.

Jesus Christ. And Father, I know it is easy for us to. Once we

put. Once the holiday has gone and we've made it so. We've just

put so much. We've included so much into Christmas that we just

lose sight of it. So I pray that you would help us to focus on

that for just a little while. If nothing else, the purpose, the

promise and the presence of the birth of Jesus Christ. Lord,

we love you. And we. We only love you because we know that you

first loved us and you demonstrated it on Calvary. Thank

you. For Jesus. It's in his name that we pray.