2022 Online Christmas Special

Thank you for joining us on the CCW podcast.

Make sure you connect with us on social media to stay up to date on ministries and events happening at CCW.

We hope you're encouraged, inspired, and motivated by today's message.

To find out how to connect with us, keep listening after the message ends.

And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

And this taxing was first made when Cerenius was governor of Syria, and all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was that while they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

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.

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

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

What a great time of worship, and thank you, Heather.

I just wanted to have a time where we start with reading the Christmas story.

Felt like that was so important today of all days that we read that.

And I want to say Merry Christmas and thank you for being with us online this morning.

And I'm so glad to be able to spend this time with you.

If you would turn a Bible this morning to John chapter 12, and we're gonna be looking at Jesus, the gift of life.

John 12 · chapter mention

And so as we do there, turn John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

Jesus is the light of life, is the first thing I want to tell you about.

And I don't know how many of you do this, but often me and my children will play hide and seek.

And uh I know that you're looking at me and you're saying, you're a little old for that.

Well, recently we've even gotten some of my friends involved, and uh a friend of mine came and brought his family.

And here's the thing though, when we play hide and seek, we play completely in the dark.

And so walking around the house to find somebody without any glimmer of light is really hard.

In fact, my friend who's also a pastor sat down right on the side of my refrigerator, right in the middle of my kitchen, and I walked past him five, six, seven times.

I never saw him sitting there because it was pitch black.

I just couldn't navigate without light to find what was right there.

Well, I want to read to you John 12, 35, and I want to explain to you that Jesus is the light of life.

It says this, then Jesus said to them, A little while longer, the light is with you.

Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you.

He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.

And so we understand that Jesus is this light for us.

Light represents two things.

Light, number one, represents hope.

Sometimes it seems like that the world we live in is so dark.

Words come to mind like gloomy and sullen and gray and depression and heaviness.

It was dark in times when Isaiah the prophet announced that there was a coming Messiah.

Listen to what Isaiah said.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and his name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

He shared this nearly 740 years before Jesus would ever be born in that manger.

What he was was sharing a message of hope, of light that was to come in this darkness.

You know, I've been playing that game of hide and seek before, and maybe accidentally bumped into my phone or grabbed my phone, and just a little glimmer of light would come out of my phone.

And when that happened, focus began to illuminate the room.

And suddenly I'm able to find people and things that are hidden because I just have a glimmer of light.

It gives me focus and vision.

In John 8:12, Jesus said, I am the light of the world.

John 8:12

Whoever follows me, he will not walk in darkness.

In a dark world, Jesus is that glimmer in a world full of sin and tension and struggle and trial.

Jesus was born that Christmas morning to be that glimmer of light.

God sent a Savior, the light of hope.

Well, it represents hope, but it also represents our help.

Let me read to you John chapter 12, verse 36.

John 12:36

While you have the light, it says, believe in the light, that you may become sons of the light.

God sent the light into the world so that you and I would also become children of that light, so that it would produce children of light.

From the apostles all the way down to you and me today.

The hope was that we would in turn be a light carrier to a world in darkness, that we would take God's image of light to a world that needs to be able to see like you and I do.

Matthew 5, 16 says, Let your light so shine before men that the world would see our Father through our good works.

And so we are image bearers.

You know, recently my wife sent me a video of Callie running, and I started to watch that video and watch her effort and how hard she was trying.

And I couldn't help I'm watching the video and I begin to tear up.

Just seeing my child on video running as hard as she could brought to me emotion.

And I got thinking about that.

She is a bearer of my image.

I've got uh two sons, Wyatt and Weston.

Those boys bear my image, and when I see them do things, I can't help but be proud of them and love them.

You are God made.

You were made in the image of God Almighty.

You are to be a light bearer of him and to a world that's dark.

The Bible says not only you're a light bearer and you're in his image, but you were made wonderfully.

And God has a plan for your life to reflect him and to be a difference maker, to be a glimmer of that hope.

Well, let me tell you something else since we're talking about Jesus being the light.

Well, all the way back to how did they ever find the child Jesus in Matthew chapter 2?

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

I want you to see it says this, chapter 2, verse 9 and 10.

When they heard the king, they departed, and behold, listen to this, the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

And so we see even in the finding of the child of light, that it was a glowing ball of light that led them to Jesus.

You know, when I think about Christmas and all the symbols and the way that we decorate and all the fun of the season, one of the things that I think about often is the lights.

You could probably go take your family over this season and you can go see millions of Christmas lights.

And I brought out this morning just a picture of that.

We have a candle.

And so if you have this candle in a completely dark room, if you just have that little glimmer from that candle, you'll be able to see.

And I want you to be reminded today that Jesus is that light that came to bring you out of darkness.

So this Christmas, when you think about the meaning of all that's going on today, remember Jesus is the light.

The second and last thing that I want to tell you is this Jesus is the gift of life.

He's the gift of life.

And we were talking about those wise men, and it says in the scripture that they came to bring Jesus gifts.

They brought gifts to revere Jesus.

In verse 10, it said that they saw this star, and what did they do?

It said they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

I mean, they can't believe that this is it.

This is the Christ child.

And what they saw was called the Shekinah Glory Star.

This great bright star.

They had a great rejoicing time.

They rejoiced.

Have you ever been so happy that you just couldn't keep it in?

And you just had to have a touchdown dance, an excitement moment.

Well, that's what happened with these wise men.

They shouted, they rejoiced in exceeding joy, it says.

They had a party right there.

Yes, Jesus has been born.

And so we see that the Bible says in Romans 8 that those in the flesh cannot please God.

That is to say, this listen.

A person who has not entered a relationship with Jesus Christ cannot please God.

God condemned the flesh by sending Jesus Christ to come and be a propitiation for those who are lost.

The gift of Jesus today comes.

So we are to worship him now with gifts.

The Holy Spirit came to give us gifts so that now we can worship the one who gifted us.

And so we see the scene where the wise men came and brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And as I was thinking through this and studying this message, I began to in worship hear over and over a song.

And I wanted to share with you these words that came from a song lyric, just of how we can revere him.

It says this the stars were made to worship, and so will I.

If the mountains bow in reverence, so will I.

If the oceans roar your greatness, so will I.

For if everything exists to lift you high, so will I.

If the wind goes where you send it, then so will I.

If the rocks cry out in silence, so will I.

If the sum of all your praises still fall shy, then we'll sing a hundred billion times.

And then when I listen to that song, they hit this bridge and it says, God of salvation, you chase down my heart through all of my failures and pride.

On a hill you created the light of the world, abandoned in darkness to die.

That baby that came, born in a manger, he lost all the glory of heaven and came to live in the flesh.

Abandon all that glory to take on the darkness that I deserved.

He came to give us life.

I want to read to you two more scriptures.

In John 12, 46 and 50, it says this I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness.

And I know that his command is everlasting life.

Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak to you.

Jesus brought a gift that rescues man.

You see, the wise man brought a gift that revered him, but Jesus brought a gift that would rescue men.

And so when I think about this gift of salvation as shared in John 12, he came to a light as a light to eliminate darkness.

There's a few more symbols that I think about with Christmas.

And a couple of those symbols, when you look around, you're going to see these things during this season.

One of them is a Christmas tree and the Christmas wreath.

You know that the Christmas tree and the wreath, their colors, evergreen, are representative of something.

It's not just something you hang out or put up in the corner.

The reason for the choosing of those colors or that evergreen represents eternal life.

So Jesus came to make this life better in this sin sick world, but also for everlasting eternity.

John 10 10 says that he came to make this life better.

So we see that evergreen representing eternal life.

The hollyaf is another thing that we see.

When you look at a holly leaf at Christmas time, did you know that the thorns on the holly leaf is representative of Christ's payment for our sin?

Romans 6 23 says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see that last part through Jesus Christ our Lord?

It took a death on a cross.

That baby came to be born in a manger, and we're celebrating, but he came that in fruition he would die on a cross for you and me today.

And so we have so much to celebrate in that.

Do you know this?

That one day you and I have an appointment with death.

We have a death date.

Eternal life came at the cross of Jesus.

And so when you look at these traditions and you see these things, I want you to remember there's so much more.

He's a savior who came.

Last thing I want to show you is this.

We've seen this before, but you know, the Christmas candy cane.

There's a great story behind this Christmas candy cane.

It's shaped as a shepherd's staff, but the red and white, I want you to notice the red and white and the candy cane represent the final thing we'll talk about.

It represents the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary's cross.

He came as that child, but he came with a purpose to shed blood for you and me.

And that blood represents this red stripe, and then we see the white and the candy cane.

When that blood covers your and my sin, it makes us white and pure like snow.

And so when you see the symbols of Christmas, don't forget these things.

What Jesus did.

You don't have to leave today not knowing Jesus.

When you see the colors of Christmas, when you see the symbols of Christmas, consider what Jesus did when he brought you into existence.

Listen to me.

We will see a lot of gifts today, but the greatest gift is eternal life that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I hope today that you know him.

If you don't know him, listen, you can say a prayer with me right here, right now, like this, and I'll lead you in it.

You can say, Dear Lord, I know that I'm a sinner and I'm sorry for my sins.

I believe that Jesus died on a cross, that he was buried and rose again for me.

Today, I want to give my life, my awe to Jesus Christ.

This Christmas day, I want to exalt you as my Savior.

Amen.

Well, I hope that you did that if you hadn't before.

And I hope for all of you and I want to wish to you a Merry Christmas.

It's been so good to be with you this morning, and I hope that you and your family celebrate well.

Have a Merry Christmas.

We love you.

We're excited you joined us for today's message.

Our heart is to connect with others in our community, to grow with one another, and build a bigger kingdom.

If you accepted Jesus today, we want to hear about it.

Take a moment and text CCW Connect to 94000.

Thank you again for joining us on the CCW podcast.

We hope you'll make plans to join us in person on Sundays.