Ghosts Of Christmas Part 2 | Ordering Our Lives with Chris Schlotterbeck

So follow.

So we're just so thankful that you're here.

If you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your space.

Shout out to our friends at HHC.

We love you guys and appreciate you watching along with us.

So this morning we continue our December series Ghosts of Christmas by discussing the person

of Jesus, who he is and what he has come to do.

As we navigate this Christmas season every year, isn't it true that it just kind of shows

up and it permeates our very existence?

It completely intrudes upon our everyday lives, including our music, what we watch, the decorations

in our homes and the different trips of course that we have to take.

As this happens, for some it's the most wonderful time of the year.

While for others it's not.

But for all of us, it's a time for reflection.

See, it's a unique season where we pause to look at our lives uniquely.

It's not necessarily that new problems or challenges arise, although sometimes they do.

What really happens is that Christmas puts us face to face with us, with you and me.

The Christmas season functions as a magnifying glass to our lives.

All of us, regardless of what we believe about Jesus and the Bible, when we get into Christmas

with all his decorations and planning and parties, we get face to face with the good

and the bad in our lives.

We begin to reflect on the relationships in our lives, those that we love, those that

annoy us, and those who are no longer with us.

And as we look, we begin to ask, am I living from a place of plenty or a place of scarcity?

Do I like where my life is currently?

Am I living on purpose at work or at school?

Or am I currently kind of hopeless and wondering, second guessing my current direction?

Then ultimately we begin to reflect on faith, religion, and what we believe about Jesus,

the Bible, and the kingdom of God, life and death, and all those things invade our minds

when we hear someone say, Jesus is the reason for the season.

And as we navigate all of this, we realize that our lives are broken down into three

simple components, the past, the present, and the future.

And depending on how you're wired and where you currently are in life, these different

aspects of the past, the present, and the future realities, they can haunt us, almost

like ghosts that chase us down and talk to us about what we're dealing with, where we

are processing life, and where we're headed.

And for those of us that are followers of Jesus, self-reflection is very important because

there's too much at stake to be haunted by the ghosts of past, present, and future.

And last week we discussed that life is too short and your calling is too great to allow

these ghosts to paralyze you with fear, fear that ultimately steals our joy, steals our

hope and our purpose.

So we have to deal with these ghosts when they appear.

We have to hit them head on.

The ghosts of the past that haunts us from who we once were, what we did, the choices

we made, who we became after, and what is going on presently in our life because of

those actions.

In the same way that Ebenezer Scrooge had to visit with and look upon those ghosts to

process where he was in life this holiday season at HCV, we want to do the same.

Now last Sunday we were visited by the ghosts of Christmas past.

And we work through the truth that we have to believe what is true about being new.

We have to believe it.

We have to receive it.

And if you're a follower of Jesus, here's the reality.

Something has changed since you believed.

You are a new person.

You are a new creation.

And because of that, we have to live like we are forgiven.

We have to begin to think differently with discernment.

We have to recognize that we are resourced by God, filled with the Holy Spirit, to finish

the work that he has called us to do.

Now if you missed that talk, I want to encourage you to go back and listen in.

It was an incredible move of God and lives were changed.

Just subscribe to our YouTube channel and listen in.

This morning we will be dealing with the ghosts of Christmas present.

We will be thinking about the realities of our current reality.

The realities that we all face day in and day out.

And I am very confident that as we get into this conversation, follower of Jesus or not,

you will identify with what we are talking about.

So let's open in prayer this morning.

Holy Spirit come.

God we just invite your presence here.

May your peace, your love, your joy invade our lives this morning.

God open our ears, open our eyes, and more importantly, open our hearts to receive your

fullness, your kingdom.

Invade us in a special way this morning in Jesus' name.

Amen.

So Christmas shows up and it tells us that we have to do certain things.

We decorate the house.

We go out and we purchase the tree.

We make plans to bake cookies.

Then we begin to figure out what we are going to purchase for the different people that

are important in our lives.

Our kids, our spouse, and our friends.

Some of us will be traveling this season.

So we have to plan for that.

Then we attend different Christmas parties throughout the month at work, at church, with

the family.

Christmas Day comes.

We open gifts.

We go to HCV in our PJs.

We visit the different houses of our immediate family.

It's a day full of love.

Then with the end of the year, less than a week away, we plan New Year's.

We discuss resolutions, processing what we want for our lives in 2025.

In that same week, we take all the presents back that we were given.

We wait in line surrounded by rude and grumpy people that don't want to be there as much

as we don't want to be there.

Add in the traffic.

Dinners that need to be prepared.

Decorations that then have to be taken down.

Kids home from school, right on break.

When you find yourself overwhelmed and wondering, why do we do this every year?

We have all of this on top of our normal lives.

Whether it be homework, taking care of the home, going to work every day, getting the

kids ready for practice and dance and whatever it is.

I mean, if your life is anything like mine, what we find during the holidays can be summed

up in one word.

And that word is busy.

Chances are the last time you ask someone how they are doing during this season, ask

people today, their response is going to be, oh, I'm busy.

I'm busy.

I got a lot of things to do.

So if our present reality is summarized by one word, busy, that then leads us to our

first thought.

Unfortunately, busyness produces worry.

See, busyness brings with it stress, anxiety, frustration and worry.

A feeling like everything in life is caving in on us because we can't accomplish everything

on the to do list.

It leaves us feeling like life is being lived beyond the limits.

We're living life at the limits already in our everyday lives and then the holidays push

us to the end of our boundaries.

And listen, it doesn't matter who you are.

We all have limits.

It doesn't matter how old you are.

It doesn't matter how young you are.

It doesn't matter how much Pilates you do or how many CrossFit workouts you can accomplish.

It doesn't even matter if all you eat is green beans.

We all have limits.

It doesn't matter how much you sleep or how little you sleep.

You have limits.

And when we come to the end of those limits, we find ourselves dancing on the edge, tiptoeing

on the edge of a waterfall, feeling like we're going to rush over and crash.

You know what our culture says?

Our culture says, it's Christmas.

Go ahead and have another Red Bull.

Grab another energy drink and just keep pushing on.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

See, we live in a culture that says work more, sleep less, and just keep pushing on.

Now listen to this.

On average, human beings in North America sleep two and a half hours less than they

did just 100 years ago.

And unfortunately, we work drastically more.

What does God say about this lifestyle?

Well, Psalm 127 verse two says, it is useless for you to work so hard from early morning

until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat, for God gives rest to his loved

ones.

See, if we're honest with ourselves, being that the ghost of Christmas present is here

with us today, many of us find ourselves pushing our limits emotionally, relationally, spiritually,

physically, financially.

Maybe it's with our schedules.

And that takes a toll on us.

We literally feel it.

And if you're here this morning, you say, I don't feel any of that, Chris, not being

mean, but chances are you're lazy.

And there's a different talk that needs to be addressed when it comes to you.

Now listen, I'm in no way saying that you should not feel tired, that you should not

work hard.

I believe that we should go to bed tired and spent, poured out for all the right reasons.

And those reasons are living a life in pursuit of Jesus and his kingdom.

And that is why we read in 1 Peter 5, 7 through 8, give all your worries and cares to God,

for he cares about you.

We are invited to take all these worries and this feeling of being overwhelmed and throw

them on God, hand them to God.

And if we don't, now notice this verse that follows, right?

Verse 8 is quite often taken out of context in sermons, in teachings, referring to the

devil.

Stay alert.

Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.

He prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

He's looking for someone to devour that is stressed out, worried, and overwhelmed.

And we're at the end of our limits, which leads us to our next thought.

Pushing the limits leaves us with no margin and no peace.

Margin, simply put, is the space between the load of our life and the limits of our life.

Or if you want to say it differently, it's the pace that you and I are living, the limits

of our lives.

And if we're honest, it's very hard to keep driving a car at 200 miles per hour and be

safe.

It's difficult.

Many of us are throttled down now that it's the holidays and we're feeling it because

we have no margin and our bodies and our minds and our spirits can get overwhelmed.

And listen, truth is, small margins will always lead to big messes.

Small margins, where we push the limits and just keep driving, will always lead to big

messes.

For some of you, for example, you're always late because you have no margin.

You just keep pushing the envelope.

We're always finding ourselves at the end of our limits, whether it be finances or relationships

or our service here at HCV, you have nothing to give.

Nothing, you're spent.

And now that the holidays are here and they're magnifying glass upon our lives, suddenly

you realize, it's just how I'm living.

It's just where I live every single day.

I have no margin, Chris.

I have nothing to give.

I have constantly being poured out.

And when I'm constantly being poured out, I have no peace.

Yet here, think about this.

Peace is what Jesus brought to the world during this season.

From the age of two, 13 to 14, suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others,

armies of heaven, praising God, they're worshiping God and saying, glory to God in the highest

heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.

Jesus came to bring us peace and all the while our culture is telling us on social media

to push and push and push, to chase, to pursue the perfect life with the perfect house and

the perfect career and the perfect family, the perfect car, the perfect phone.

Oh, you can get a TV for $78 now.

And there's Christmas gifts to purchase, leaving all of us feeling tired, worn out and weary.

Why?

Because we're so consumed as a society about shaping our brand, our own uniqueness, whether

it be our clothes or our living rooms, about shaping the reservoir of our children and

our grandchildren, making sure all of our social media feeds look impressive so we're

well respected using the right filter.

Our culture is afraid of missing out.

And we find ourselves on this hamster wheel of life, this performance, and we just drag

our kids along for the ride.

Because of this constant comparison, we have no peace.

We can't even celebrate when anyone else is winning at life because guess what?

If they're winning, society says you're losing and you're not good enough.

To which I pose the question, if you're a follower of Jesus and you're here this morning,

why?

Why do we keep doing this?

Why are we chasing our life that our society tells us we should live?

But see, unfortunately, for so many Jesus followers in the US, we often believe the

life we want for ourselves is the life God wants for us.

So we chase that version of life.

There's this constant bombardment on social media, and we have become convinced that the

life we want is the exact same life that God wants for us in church.

It's just simply not true.

It's a lie.

Listen to the life that God wants for us and Jesus promises for those that are filled with

the Spirit, John 14, 27.

I'm leaving you with a gift.

Think about that gift under the tree on Christmas morning.

Peace of mind and heart.

I want it.

And the peace I give is a gift.

Notice the world cannot give.

So don't be troubled or afraid.

Listen, God created us to do so much more in this life.

And as we reflect on the ghost of Christmas present, I want us to realize the difference

between the life we want for ourselves and the life God wants for you and me.

Maybe we are busy, stressed out, worried and experiencing no peace because God is inviting

us to change and pursue a life committed to Him.

Maybe this is the Sunday that we say no more.

And friends, I want to challenge you.

Don't hear this invitation from the Holy Spirit this morning and then ignore it.

Embrace it and live a life that is full, which leads us to our next dolly.

You see, Jesus, He tells us, He commands us, focus on the kingdom.

Jesus preaching the Sermon on the Mount is the most famous sermon that encompasses all

aspects of our lives.

The section we're going to jump into comes right after Jesus telling the people gathered,

you can't serve two masters.

You can't serve God and stuff.

You can't serve God and money.

You can't serve God and your possessions.

You can't serve God in your career.

You can't serve two gods.

You can only serve one.

One will win, one will lose.

You can't have two masters.

And then right after that, He continues on and He says, if you're chasing after two masters,

something is going to happen deep within your spirit.

And this is what He says, Matthew 6, 25 to 27.

That is why I tell you not to worry about your everyday life.

Jesus is just brilliant.

Think about this, He says this on a hillside to people who have never thought about or

considered the idea of a car, the internet, social media, an airplane.

They haven't heard of any of those things.

And He says, stop worrying.

And He would say the same thing to you and me.

Stop worrying about your life.

Yet here's the reality, we all do it.

And Jesus is so smart that He points out those different areas.

Let's continue.

Whether you have enough food and drink or enough clothes to wear, isn't life more than

food in your body more than clothing?

Some of you just this week were stressed out about what you were going to wear.

Some of you look around, maybe not enough.

I mean, it's 2000 years later, 2000 plus years later, and it's just like He spoke those words

to us.

He could walk onto any college campus in the United States and say these words.

He could walk into any corporation, any living room.

Don't worry about your life.

Stop stressing about what you're going to eat or what your drink, what your body looks

like.

About how popular you are, about how many followers you have.

Stop caring about that stuff.

Jesus is saying, what is your priority?

What is getting the best and most of your emotions?

And then He continues, look at the birds.

They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for your heavenly Father feeds them.

Man, I don't know about you, but I've never seen two birds in their nest wondering and

worrying about how many worms they're going to eat.

They're not comparing the size of the worms in their mouths.

They're not talking about a blackbird and an oriole and which is more beautiful.

Like they just don't do it.

And then Jesus continues, and aren't you?

Now remember, you are made in the image of God.

We are created in the image of God.

Aren't you far more valuable to Him than they are?

And all your worries at a single moment to your life.

Can any one of us, no matter how stressed we get, how anxious we are, actually make

our lives better?

It doesn't matter what we do.

Even if we stopped everything and become that lazy person playing video games all day, you're

not going to add more time to your life.

You can't.

And then He continues.

And why worry about your clothing?

Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow.

They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon, now remember, Solomon had everything.

He was the richest man in the world.

Finest fabrics, nicest clothes, anything he wanted.

And all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.

And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire

tomorrow who certainly care for you, why do you have so little faith?

He's crazy.

Then Jesus pivots and He gives us an alternative to all this.

He looks right at you and me as we're reflecting on these issues of worry and anxiety during

the holiday season.

He says this in Matthew 6, 31 to 33, so don't worry about these things.

Saying what will we eat?

What will we drink?

What will we wear?

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers.

I just want to pause there just for a second.

In this culture, an unbeliever was one of two people.

Those who didn't believe in any God, a complete atheist, or people who believed in gods that

were idols or made of wood.

And he is saying people who don't believe in the truth, this is how they live.

They worry, they stress, they chase after a life that is not from God.

And he's telling his church, he's telling his people, you're different.

He continues, but your heavenly father already knows all your needs.

Now think about this.

Your heavenly father knows what you need, not what you want, what you need.

Not what our culture tells us we should have, but what we need.

Your heavenly father who takes care of the birds and the grass and the flowers knows

what we need.

And then Jesus says instead of all the worry and stress and anxiety, he says this, he says

seek, which is defined as search, chase, pursue, intentionally go after the kingdom of God.

Above all else, live righteously and he will give you everything you need.

Now some of you are sitting there and you're like, but Chris, if I do that, will I get

the scholarship?

But Chris, if I do that, will I get that new house?

But Chris, if I do that, will I ever have that family that I want?

And see this morning, God is challenging us to get the order right.

If we're going to deal with the ghost of Christmas present that haunts so many people in our

society, we have to practice, leading to our final thought, we have to practice the discipline

of ordering life.

We have to practice the discipline of ordering our order.

Ordering like bossing around or telling our life, this is what you're going to do.

This is what matters.

This is what is most important.

And what is it?

Seek the kingdom of God above all else, live righteously, he'll give you everything you

need.

See, it's a practice that those in a relationship with Jesus read the Bible.

It's a practice that we pray.

It's a practice that we attend Sunday gatherings.

It's a practice that we share our stories.

It's a practice that we give.

But Jesus says it's more than that, it's also a posture.

We can have a posture at work or at school that we are seeking first the kingdom of God.

We can have a posture while we're coaching kids that we seek first the kingdom of God.

We can have a posture of seeking God's kingdom when we're buying presents.

Everywhere we go, it's a mindset.

It's an understanding that no, we're seeking the kingdom of God.

Let's get real this morning.

Yes, we have limits.

And we are constantly pushing those limits, but no one determines your schedule but you.

No one determines your spending but you.

No one forces us to do it.

Listen, I've never met a man or a woman that wanted to watch a Steelers or Ravens game that

doesn't have time.

Never met them.

I've never met a mom who doesn't get their daughter to dance or gymnastics when they

want their daughter at dance or gymnastics.

I've never met a man or a woman who doesn't have time for their career, their workplace

when they want their careers to go forward.

How about leisure time?

I've never met a man or a woman who wants to golf who doesn't find time to golf.

True or false?

That was terrible, church.

True or false?

Darn right it's true.

And I wanted you to say true because every single time life gets short and margins begin

to bombard us and we feel like we're losing it, the first thing to go is God.

We stop praying, we stop attending, we stop giving, we stop investing, we stop sharing,

we stop serving.

Why is it that $100 looks like nothing to buy a Christmas present this season, but it

looks like the world's gonna end because I'm giving it to the church?

Oh we laugh but it's true.

The truth is we have not sought the kingdom of God first.

We have not ordered our order and we end up giving in to what our culture and everyone

else says we should do.

And Jesus says you're gonna worry about your life.

You're gonna be stressed out, overwhelmed, and full of anxiety until you make him a priority.

He says don't worry, instead seek first the kingdom of God.

Don't listen to the commercials, don't watch social media because listen to what?

They're not gonna tell you to order your order around Jesus.

They're gonna tell you what to buy, where to go, and how to think.

They're gonna tell you to put your head down and press on, have more stuff and a beautiful

dinner and a Christmas tree that is just epic.

And then we just throw it away.

And to get the order right we have to die to ourselves.

And listen if you're anything like me, when I have no margin and I have no peace it's

because Jesus has become a lesser priority of my life.

Because here's the reality, when we put Jesus first and we seek his kingdom our regrets

will shrink and God grows.

And I don't know about you, but I don't like regrets.

I want them to shrink.

But there's so many people, oh I need another present for our kids.

I gotta get them to practice.

I gotta get them home.

All the hours spent eating out, in the car, driving your kids to this practice and that

practice, you sit in your car, you wonder does it all matter?

You miss Sunday gatherings, you disconnect from people at church.

Yes their performance is improving on the athletic field, but does it really matter?

To which I say, I don't know, have a discussion with your children.

My kids all play travel sports, but they're all held accountable if it's what they want

to do they gotta be committed to it.

They gotta be all in.

Too many people live their unmet childhood goals through their kids and they're just

wasting their time.

And it just leaves them full of regret and it leaves them questioning why they didn't

prioritize God.

Think about this, we walk past people all the time during the holiday season, ringing

bells, asking for money.

They're poor, they're broke, give to this cause, give to that cause and you really want

to but you wanted the larger house, you wanted the swimming pool and you have no margin to

give and be generous.

So many people just live that way, but when we put God first, we quickly learn that when

we give to others, when we bless them, God blesses us.

When God gets bigger, our regrets get smaller.

But when we chase the things that never refresh our spirit, you're going to find yourself

worried, stressed out and full of anxiety, which leads us to three questions to ponder.

Number one, how are you currently ordering your life?

Jesus said this in Matthew 633, seek the kingdom of God above all else, live righteously, he'll

give you everything you need.

And this morning and this week, I want you to be ruthlessly honest with yourself, how

are you currently ordering your life?

What are you prioritizing?

Be honest with yourself and do an audit or a check on your life.

For example, if we were to audit your prayer life, what would it tell us?

Because if it's in your heart, it's in our prayers, what do you pray about if you pray

at all?

Or is your worry meter so high that you can't even pray?

What if we all did your bank account?

What if we looked into your finances?

Do you give way more money to Disney and Best Buy than you do the kingdom of God?

Just truth, because it's going to spell it all out.

What if we all did your calendar?

What if you honestly looked at and said, how are you ordering your life?

What is your calendar going to tell us about how much screen time you have?

How much Netflix you watch?

How many video games you play?

How much time you're spending just vegging out on some football game that means nothing?

What would you find if you audited your schedule?

What if we all did your relationships?

We sit down with your kids, your spouse, your friends.

What would they say about the level of intimacy in your relationships?

See, no peace, no margin means we're out of order when it comes to our relationship with

Jesus.

We have to quit doing or focusing on those things that actually do nothing for us or

our relationship with Jesus.

Which leads us to question number two.

Do you trust God with your life?

Do you?

Matthew 6, 31, 32 says, so don't worry about these things saying what we eat, what we drink,

what we wear.

These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers.

But notice this part, your heavenly father already knows all your needs.

So here's the crazy thing.

When you talk to God about what you need, what is going on in your life, he already

knows.

I mean, that just blows my mind.

He's already aware of everything that we're praying about.

He knows what we need.

He knows what is going on.

He even knows what we are chasing.

Do you trust God?

See, so many people trust God with their death, but they don't trust Him with their life.

See, they trust God will raise them from the dead when they die.

They don't trust Him with their money or their parenting or their time or their calendar.

Do you trust God?

It's crazy, there's this famous story of a tightrope walking family and one of the family

members was tightrope walking across Niagara Falls.

Waves crashing underneath as he went back and forth over the falls.

One time he even carried a small grill while going back and forth and cooked an omelet

while walking on the road.

Just crazy.

One time he pushed a wheelbarrow back and forth multiple times and then he took it a

step further and blindfolded himself.

He went over and back and when he got back to the other side, took the blindfold off,

looked down at the crowd saying, do you believe that you could sit in this wheelbarrow while

I push it over and back?

Check it out.

Would you get in it?

Would you get in that wheelbarrow?

The crowd in the excitement said yes.

Then he said, who wants in?

Nobody moved.

Everybody was silent.

And see, that's the difference between faith and belief.

You can believe God knows what you need, but do you trust God to walk it out?

To the point that every day you wake up, you will say, I seek first the kingdom of God

in everything I do before your feet even hit the floor.

I will order my order around God and trust that he will provide for me.

I will trust God even when it doesn't work out.

I didn't get the job.

I didn't get the scholarship.

I didn't get the promotion.

I'm not that popular.

Either I didn't need it or I don't need it right now.

See God knows what we need and we can trust him in purpose and meaning because God knows

every hair on our heads.

He knows everything about me, knows everything about you, and that's why he sent his son

to die for us.

Check yourself, do I trust God with every fabric of my life?

Leading us to our final question.

How are you defining everything you need?

See Jesus says it this way in Matthew 6 33, seek the kingdom of God above all else, live

righteously and he will give you everything you need.

And when you hear those words, everything you need, what are you importing into that

verse when it comes to everything you need?

Is it wealth?

Is it stuff?

Is it a new TV, a new car, a new house?

Is it recognition?

Is it fame?

See we almost realize when Jesus was speaking and saying these words, he was saying, I will

take care of your basic needs.

You'll be fine.

You have a shelter, you'll have food, you'll have water, I'll give you a toga.

You'll have all the things you need.

It'll be great.

You will have what you need to do life.

But see I wonder if some of us have made definitions about our wants and align them with God's

wants for us.

And quite often in the American church, that's what we do.

It's called the prosperity gospel.

A simple tool to use that will change your entire outlook.

How do you import everything you need?

Well here's the reality.

If the Bible is true, it has to be true everywhere.

If the Bible is true for you in Hagerstown, Maryland and false for the person living in

a village in Kenya, someone's got it wrong.

Make sense?

If the Bible is true and we believe to be the living word of God that's alive, inactive,

it changes our life, it's true for us as it is true for the person living in Kenya in

a village and one meal a day.

It has to be true everywhere.

So what Jesus is saying is if you seek me first and make the kingdom of God a priority,

I'll take care of your basic needs.

You'll be fine.

Dude, stop worrying.

Get over yourself and prioritize the kingdom of God in your life.

What do we do with the ghost of Christmas present and keep it from haunting us?

Church, we need to make God the starting point, not the afterthought.

That's good, isn't it?

I think I'm going to say it again.

We need to make God the starting point, not an afterthought.

Every day we wake up, we have to say God in every decision, in every word spoken, in every

thought, you will be my starting point.

In this moment, I will seek you and your kingdom.

That is my starting point, God, in everything I do.

It's not what we want.

What we want stresses us out.

But when we want what God wants, it leaves us living in abundance.

And then we become an example of Jesus to the world, which leads us to our action step.

And this is going to change your life.

Are you ready?

If you walk this out, it will change your life.

We need to commit.

That's it.

It's not rocket science here.

Seek the kingdom of God above all else, live righteously, he'll give you everything you

need.

And here's what I'm going to challenge you to, church.

I want to ask you and invite you to commit to some things this month.

Let's commit to attending our Sunday gatherings for the rest of the month.

You're not going to miss.

You're not going to make an excuse.

Some of you are already thinking, oh, man, I got a trip next week.

Damn.

Darn.

All upset.

I've already failed.

It's all right.

We'll judge you.

Don't worry.

Just kidding.

Just kidding.

But commit to it.

Don't make excuses.

Prioritize our Sunday gatherings.

You know why you say, Chris, well, that's selfish.

No, it's not.

It's a reminder to all of us that we're not the center of the universe, God is.

That's why we gather together.

I mean, this year, December is the easiest month to commit to attending all of our Sunday

gatherings.

You know why?

I'm giving you the 29th off.

We're not even meeting.

I'm giving you a Sunday off this year.

And you're like, Chris, why are you doing that?

Well, we're declaring the weekend of the 29th as the weekend of rest.

For you and your family.

And we're encouraging you to spend time resting and with one another and praying for one another.

But it's not just about attending our Sunday gatherings.

Listen, I want to challenge you.

Commit to give to our community of faith.

There's some of you that don't give to HTV.

You don't give financially to HTV.

And you'll have every excuse why you can't or if the basket gets passed, you'll throw

five bucks in.

Here's your tip, God.

I want to challenge you.

Change.

Commit to tithing the rest of the month.

You're like, whoa, that's a big step.

I know.

It's what God wants for us.

So what God wants for us.

Well, what's the tithe?

10% off the top.

10%.

Off the top, back to God, back to our church.

Well, Chris, you're being selfish.

No, I'm not.

It's what the Bible tells us to do.

And here's the reality.

You know why I'm telling you to do it?

Because if you start this Sunday and do it the next three Sundays, take the 29 off, I

believe your finances are going to be better when you started right now.

They're going to be better at the end of the month.

And you say, well, how do you know that?

Because God tells us to test them.

He's not going to let you down.

He's going to blow your mind away.

It's not me being selfish.

It's me challenging you to commit, to change, to prioritize the kingdom of God.

And then give a little more.

Every year we give away a Christmas gift, not to church.

We don't collect money to give it to HCV.

We give it away.

Last year we gave over $60,000 in one check.

We wrote it.

And I wrote that check.

I didn't write the check.

Someone wrote the check.

And they sent it away.

And I was just like, oh God, $60,000 is a lot of money.

And I'm like, are you sure, God?

And it went and it built five wells in Africa.

And it's changing communities, communities, not people.

It's changing entire communities because they have clean drinking water, something that

we just turn on and turn off.

And this year we're giving our Christmas gift to the women and children caught in the horrors

of human trafficking.

All the money we're giving away that we collect to our Christmas gift.

And you can give to it.

You can give online.

You can write it.

Put it in your envelope.

We're giving it away to women and children caught in the horrors of human trafficking.

Did you know that there's more active slaves today in 2024 than there were at the height

of the Civil War?

You know, no, there's not.

Google it.

Yes, there are.

There's more human slaves today than there was at the height of our Civil War.

And you know what God tells us to do?

Change that.

Help them.

Give them hope.

But it's not just that.

So you commit to attending Sunday gatherings or commit to giving.

Start plugging in people.

Don't just show up and sit down and high five and say it was great and leave.

Yes, our worship is great.

We have an incredible, talented team.

We love to worship.

We love to get close to God.

But listen, if you just come to sing to get close to God, you don't want to give back.

That's not the church.

The church is serving one another.

And the beautiful thing about our worship team is they want to serve you.

They want to put you into God's presence.

You say, well, Chris, I can't sing.

Good, I can't either.

I don't want you up here singing if you can't sing because then people will just be leaving.

But I want you giving out coffee and holding front doors and smiling at people.

Somebody who got a high five from me on the second layer of greeting this morning?

Put your hands up real high.

See that?

Look, see these hands.

I was the second level greeter.

And you say, well, what's that mean?

I just stood back from the door and high five more people as they're coming in and everyone

smiled.

You can do that for me because I got to talk to all those people and I got to talk to you

and guess what, my voice can only go so far.

My point is show up, meet Jess, get on a team.

Stop just being a face that I high five when you leave.

I don't know your name.

I don't know your kids.

I don't even know who you are.

Plug into the church.

Be known.

Be known.

Do something because it's going to relieve and take stress and anxiety away from you.

For example, we're wrapping angel tree gifts after our third gathering.

Go get something to bite to eat.

Come back, spend an hour wrapping gifts.

Next Sunday is our angel tree party.

Show up, serve.

Guess what?

You're going to be crying watching all these kids open gifts.

New Year's Eve, we're giving away hot chocolate at the doughnut drop.

Why?

Because we want to serve our community.

We want to smile.

We want to be the face of Jesus to our community.

Show up.

Stop being a consumer and plug in.

People say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again

and expecting a different result.

And there's too many followers of Jesus by that definition that are simply insane.

You're wondering why you're not living in abundance, why you're not experiencing all

that God has for you.

You want this peace and this joy and you want this abundance that God promises, but you

ignore and forget that he's saying, well then prioritize the kingdom of God.

You've got to prioritize the kingdom of God and put him first.

Amen?

Will you stand with me?

So I'm going to invite you, listen, real simple call this morning.

I'm not going to invite you to come forward so everyone take a deep sigh of relief.

So you're like, I'm not going up there again.

Whoa, that was crazy.

I can't believe he asked me to come forward.

Whoa.

That guy's a Jesus freak.

Geez.

But listen, this is what the Holy Spirit whispered to me this week to close our gathering.

If you're here this morning, I want you to be honest, if you're here this morning and

you walked in here and you're stressed, worried and full of anxiety, put your hand up real

high right now.

I mean as high as you can put it, way up.

I mean stretch it out, right Chris?

Chris, you're going to pray for someone, right?

All right?

Yeah, I'm talking to you.

And listen, listen, everyone see these hands up.

Oh she's got two hands up.

You can wave them in the air like you did.

There you go.

All right, you keep it up.

Now church, those of you without your hands up, those of you like this, or like this,

or like this, or like this.

He's not looking at me.

He's not looking at me.

If you don't have your hand up and you're a man, go pray for a man right now.

If you don't have your hand up and you're a woman, go pray for a woman right now.

Go.

And if you, when you pray for someone, when you get someone praying for you, put your

hand down.

And I will not move forward.

You will not leave here until every hand goes down.

You got to put your hand down now.

Go pray for a man.