What Jesus Wants for Christmas

Welcome to Gateway Churches Podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Well, it is that time of the year when we're beginning to think about gifts that we want to give to others.

And I want to read an open letter to all of you wives that I wrote on behalf of husbands.

You're gonna be mad at me, but I'm gonna read it anyway.

Please be patient with me.

Dear ladies, we know you mean well.

We know you think you know best, but enough is enough.

We have suffered in silence for too long.

Having shared our pain with each other, we husbands hereby step out of the shadows and we open up our hearts.

This year, as you shop for our Christmas gift, please don't buy us what we need.

We know we need to smell better and look nicer.

We know you like us in warm pajamas and new underwear.

But we do not know what to say when we open these gifts.

How can you fake enthusiasm over house slippers?

How can you look happy holding a nose hair trimmer?

We've lied long enough.

For the sake of integrity on Christmas morning, we offer this guidance.

As you look at any potential gift, ask yourself these questions.

Can he play with it?

Does it swing, bounce, shuffle, cast, or roll?

Can you find on it a trigger, grip, ripcord, or stick shift?

Does it consume oil or dog food?

Does it have a big screen and remote control?

If it does, buy it.

Does it matter that he already has one?

This is no time to be practical.

When considering an item of men's apparel, ask yourself, is it brown and green and rain resistant?

You can't lose with any garment that is.

But realizing that many women prefer to shop anywhere except the hunting department, we offer these two questions.

Does it make him look cute?

Does it make him look like a hunk?

If the clothing makes him look cute, drop it immediately.

If it makes him look like a hunk, buy two.

When all else fails, ask this.

Can he eat it?

Note, the question is not, would you eat it?

Or do other humans eat it?

Or is it edible?

Don't occupy yourself with trivialities.

The question is, can he eat it?

If the answer is affirmative, consider yourself on safe ground.

In closing, we offer, we extend this offer.

If you will buy us what we want, we will do the same for you.

And without revealing any details, we will tell you this: a large vacuum cleaner company has offered us a group discount.

And you thought we were insensitive.

No need to thank us.

Your husbands.

Christmas and gift giving.

They come together, don't they?

They're associated for a good reason.

The Magi gave Jesus the gift.

The gift of frankincense and gold and myrrh.

The shepherds gave Jesus the gift of their time and their belief.

Mary gave Jesus the gift of her womb.

These offerings seemed practical.

The wise men's gift enabled Joseph to escape to Egypt.

It financed his trip.

The shepherd's visitation would keep the family company.

Mary's womb protected the growing child.

But there is one gift.

It just seems a bit curious.

And that is the gift of the angels.

They gave Jesus the gift of worship.

Suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God.

Glory to God in the highest, they sang, and peace on earth for all those pleasing him.

When this great army of angels had returned again to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, Come, let's go to Bethlehem.

Let's see this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.

Couldn't they have done something a little more practical?

I mean, Mary could have used a bed, Joseph could have used an escort back to Nazareth.

A baby Jesus needed a bassinet.

These were angels.

Didn't they know better?

Then again, these were angels who knew Jesus better than they.

And those who knew him best and loved him most gave him the gift of worship.

They placed their love on a pillow of praise and they presented it to Jesus.

They did that night, they do so still.

Heaven at this very moment reverberates with the endless praise of the angels, day and night.

They never stop saying, holy, holy, holy.

The word worship comes from an old English word, I'm told, worth shipe, which means to ascribe worth or value.

So anytime you ascribe worth to God, you worship.

Every time you declare you are worthy, you are worshiping.

When you clear your calendar for prayer, when you turn the radio dial to praise music as you're driving, when you use your morning jog to recite or memorize Bible verses, when you take your lunch break just to meditate and to be in the presence of God, this is worship.

Worship happens in neighborhoods.

Worship happens in living rooms.

Worship happens in Texas prairies.

And yes, worship happens in churches.

When the people of God make the goodness of God their priority, to pronounce in a public and united fashion that God is good and God is alive, worship is happening, and God is on the hunt for those who will imitate the angels.

God is on the hunt for worshipers who will say, Glory to God in the highest.

Jesus said, the Father is actively seeking such people to worship him.

But you wonder, what if I don't worship?

And my answer is, oh, you will.

You will.

The question is not, will you worship, but will you direct your worship to the right person?

We all worship something.

We all worship someone.

Why, I once worshiped a bicycle.

One of my favorite Christmas memories is the time my parents gave me a fire engine red Schwin bicycle.

It came with a banana seat and high handlebars.

And I can remember to this day walking into the living room as an eight-year-old on Christmas morning, and there it was, basking in the light of the Christmas tree, inviting me to take on the world of West Texas on top of that bicycle.

We bought tassels and we dangled them from the handlebars.

I got a playing card.

Have you ever done this?

I got it.

I'm not the only one to do it.

I thought I thought this up myself.

I put a playing card on the frame with a clothespin and stuck it in the spokes so that every time I peddled, what was the sound?

I was James Dean, James Bond cool.

With my own money, I bought a reflector.

And off I went.

Every alley, every drainage ditch, every street, we explored our little West Texas town.

I loved that bike.

I loved it.

I told my brother not to touch it.

I told everyone I knew all about it.

If there had been social media, I probably would have taken a picture of it.

I, can I say it?

I worshiped that bike.

Because that bike was gonna deliver me, entertain me, fulfill me.

That bike was everything.

And guess what I did?

I wrecked it.

I wrecked it.

Somehow I pedaled right into a curb in such a way that I bent both the wheel and the frame.

And my dad and I did our very best to repair that bike, but it was never the same.

What is your version of a fire engine red schwin bicycle?

You were counting on that career to carry you, to deliver you, to entertain you, to sustain you.

But it didn't.

You were counting on that marriage to carry you, to deliver you, to entertain you, to fulfill you, but then you learned otherwise.

You were counting on retirement.

It was gonna be everything until it wasn't.

You were counting on that buff body.

Two of you were.

You were counting on that buff body to carry you, to deliver you, to entertain you, to fulfill you, and then you got old.

Worship might not be the word you use to describe your particular personal passion, but it fits.

Anytime we trust an object or activity or person to give us life, we worship it.

Anytime we trust an object or activity or person to give us life, we worship it.

And when we make good things, the ultimate things, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

When we depend on a career, when we depend on a relationship to give our lives significance and meaning, what happens when the career doesn't work, when when the relationship doesn't pan out?

There is a long list of imposter gods trying to get your attention.

They present themselves as a source of strength.

And if only you can have that, or if only you can meet her, you will find what you need.

But those red bicycles tend to break.

God-centered worship, however, rescues us from counterfeit gods.

Rescues us from imposters who never deliver on their promises.

Worship does to the soul what a spring rain does to a thirsty field.

It just soaks deep, deep down and stirs life.

Are you stressed?

Well, worship God, the one who can hold the universe in the palm of his hand, the one who can take all of the oceans and put them in an eyedropper.

You don't think he can handle your problems?

Stand in the presence of the King of Kings.

Are you bereaved?

Worship your shepherd.

He has promised to walk you through this valley of the shadow of death.

Stand before him.

Do you feel small, forgotten, marginalized, insignificant?

Then spend some time in the throne room of the Lord Jesus Christ, your King, who announced to the universe that he would rather die for you than live without you, and that he purchased you with the most precious commodity in the history of the universe, the blood of Jesus Christ.

Let worship, let worship be the way you treat the emotions that trouble you.

And one that is especially appropriate in our day and age is the way worship treats anxiety.

Anxiety is everywhere.

It's off the charts.

And we've created many skills for dealing with anxiety.

We have breathing exercises and meditation techniques and medications and seminars.

These all have their place.

But the person who has learned to worship has quarried the greatest of resources.

The next time a wave of anxiety begins to roll over you.

Could I urge you, could I beg you to go immediately to the Spirit and worship?

Here's what the Apostle Paul said.

He said, Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery.

Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit.

Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So the apostle here contrasts two ways for dealing with inner chaos: inebriation and celebration.

Many people numb themselves, if not with liquor, with long bouts of work or bouts of shopping or hours of playing, and anyone who has tried this approach knows it just doesn't work.

Happy hours do not make us happy.

We may forget our problems for a minute, but they're waiting on us as soon as we walk out of the bar.

The better option, Paul says, is celebration, not inebriation.

Fill the air with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, Paul said.

He used a verb tense that caused one translation to say, ever be filled and stimulated with the Holy Spirit.

You see, constant worship clears the debris from our hearts.

Praise is the cleansing element that flushes out all that trash of worry and anxiety.

Great example of this is found in Acts chapter 16.

Acts 16 · chapter mention

The Apostle Paul and Silas had been dragged before the magistrates of a Roman outpost called Philippi.

Authorities beat them with rods, and those rods tore the skin, and they raised welts, and they left bruises, maybe broke ribs.

Soldiers then imprisoned them, took them to the deepest part of the prison where it was damp and cold and rat-infested, and to increase security and misery, their feet were placed in stalks.

And there they lay all afternoon and into the night in foreign territory with no local advocates.

Their backs were open to infection.

They were surrounded by darkness, shivering with cold, unable to get comfort, hundreds of miles from home.

And what was their response?

About midnight, Paul and Silas were at prayer, and look at this, and singing a robust hymn to God.

Oh, to have heard that midnight song.

What were they singing?

A robust hymn to God.

The other prisoners couldn't believe their ears.

Then, without warning, a huge earthquake, the jailhouse tottered, and every door flew open, and all the prisoners were loose.

They were set free when they worshiped.

Something happened in the atmosphere when they worshiped.

Only when we get home will we see what happens when God's people stand up and declare that this is God's house, not Satan's house.

Only when we get home will you and I look back and see how our praise caused angels to come and the Spirit of God to hover.

Only when we get home will we realize that the safest place to be is in a house of worship because Satan hates worship and demons leave worship.

So the greatest thing you and I can do for our city, for our state, for our nation, and especially for our homes is worship.

Is worship.

And boy, does it tick the devil off.

Because he wants worship.

And when he finds no worshiping in this place, he goes somewhere else.

So worship, worship.

Paul and Silas did this.

Rather than panic, they praised.

Let me show you how this works.

It's midnight, and you can't get to sleep.

You've been trying to get to sleep since 10 p.m.

You've got a big presentation tomorrow, and your mind is just going in circles and circles.

Cycles.

You're envisioning every possible worst case scenario.

You'll forget your notes.

You'll forget your boss's name.

You'll get the numbers wrong.

And everybody else is asleep, but you just can't get asleep.

So you try everything, every sleep-inducing technique you've ever heard of.

You count sleep.

You breathe deeply.

You listen to a Lakato sermon.

But nothing works.

Listen, the old you would have tossed and turned all night long, but there's a new you taking place.

And this new you says, wait a second, what was it?

They said, okay, worship.

Worship works wonders.

Worship deals with anxiety.

So the new you climbs up out of bed, goes over and finds a corner in the house, and turns on a lamp, and opens up the Bible, and you read verses.

And you let the Spirit of God minister to your soul through scriptures, like here's my favorite.

God met me more than halfway.

He freed me from my anxious fears.

When I was desperate, I called out.

And God got me out of a tight spot.

God's angels set up a circle of protection around us while we pray.

And you just let that verse begin to sink deep within you.

You select a favorite song and you listen to it, or you sing it, or both.

And if one's not enough, you sing some more and you pray.

You pray in the Spirit, and the Spirit prays in you.

You surrender your cares, your anxiety of tomorrow to the hands of a loving God.

You tell him, I'm worried about this, I'm afraid of this.

And one by one you cast every single care that you have upon him.

And then as if anything else needed to be done, you declare, Satan, you have no place in this house.

This is a place of Jesus Christ.

Will he leave you?

Yes, he will.

Will you fall asleep?

Probably.

But if you don't, just keep doing it.

Just keep doing it for your own sake.

Do what the angels did and make a big deal out of worship.

I close with three practical ideas about worship.

Okay?

Number one, worship verbally.

Worship verbally.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.

In the early 1980s, Willie Nelson recorded a song that apologizes for unexpressed love.

He said, Maybe I never told you.

But you were always on my mind.

I'm not sure what the writer of those lyrics knew about women and what he understood about romance, but my wife would never let me get by with that.

Honey, I never sent you any flowers.

I never told you I loved you.

I didn't say happy birthday.

I never told you you're the greatest wife ever.

But hey, you were always on my mind.

Right, ladies.

Women won't go for that, guys.

And that doesn't get very far with God either.

God doesn't have an ego problem, but we do.

God doesn't want us to worship him because he needs to hear how great he is.

But God desires for us to worship him because he knows what happens when we give that worship to someone else.

And so, for your sake, worship verbally, out loud, with songs, with hymns, with spiritual songs, unashamed.

Do you love God?

Let him know.

Tell him in public, unashamed, let there be jubilation, celebration, dancing, and festivity.

The scripture says, shout to God with a joyful praise.

Make a joyful shout to God all the earth.

I wish you could have met my dad.

My dad was a West Texas mechanic.

He wasn't a scholar, he wasn't a preacher, but he was a worshiper.

Now, worship back in the days when many of us were growing up was a lot different.

We held hymnals, right?

And we sang hymns, and we would stop in between and then turn the pages and find.

It was completely different.

But I tell you, it was worship.

It was worship.

And I have this great memory, about the same age when I got that red bike.

I I I I I can I can remember standing next to Daddy in church.

And I can hear his voice right now singing the old rugged cross or blessed assurance.

Or when we all get to heaven, he sang.

We called him a jailhouse singer because he was always behind a few bars and he had lost the key.

But that didn't slow him down.

He belted it out.

And let me tell you something.

As a little boy, standing next to my dad and hearing him sing, made me want to sing just like him.

I think the spirit's wanting me to just say a side word to you, dads.

What are your kids hearing from you?

When do your kids see you the most excited?

Now I love shouting for the cowboys.

I do.

I love shouting even on the golf course, although usually mad and not happy.

I'm all about enthusiasm.

So let your kids see you enthusiastic about all the things that you love, but let your greatest enthusiasm be reserved for worshiping the King of Kings.

And let there be a time that your child thinks, wow, Daddy really loves Jesus.

He just sings all the time.

He doesn't sing well, but he sings all the time.

Worship verbally.

John Wesley wrote, Sing lustily and with good courage.

Be aware of singing as if you were half dead or half asleep, but lift up your voice with strength.

Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard than when you sung the songs of Satan.

Satan hates worship.

You know, Satan is not omniscient.

He cannot read your thoughts, but he can hear your words.

He can hear your words.

And when you say yes to Jesus, he leaves.

The book of James says, yell aloud, no to the devil, and watch him scamper.

Say a quiet yes to God, and he'll be there in no time.

So worship verbally.

And then number two, worship in community.

Worship in community.

When Jesus was born, there was a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.

The presence of Christ deserves an abundant chorus.

Every generation has its share of Jesus, yes, and church no Christians.

And for some reason, whatever reason, they turn away from church attendance.

I think they do so at great loss.

Something spiritual, miraculous, happens in corporate worship that cannot be replicated in private worship.

I love private worship.

But let me tell you something.

When I look out and I see your face, and you look over and you see my face, and we're both standing before the face of Jesus Christ, and two or three are gathered together in his name, something happens.

Something happens.

And when we come together and worship, and high people see us pulling off the highway, filling up a parking lot on a weekend, and they're wondering what are those people doing?

We're lifting up a testimony of praise, of public worship to our King of Kings.

I know you all never sing off-key, but other churches do.

I know you all have perfect worship, but not all churches do.

But you know what?

That's okay.

That's okay.

The sincerity of the worship matters more than the quality.

Quality matters, but sincerity matters more.

The apostle said, let us see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do, but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big day approaching.

And then lastly, worship demonstrably.

Worship demonstrably.

Let your body express what your heart is feeling, and let your heart be awakened by your body.

The scripture says, May the lifting of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.

Because your love is better than my life, my lips will glorify you, and I will praise you as long as I live in your name.

I will lift up my hands.

Yeah, I know outward expressions of worship can be used inappropriately.

Sometimes people show off, sometimes people strut, sometimes people worship to be seen, but please don't let potential abuse preclude appropriate use.

Lift your hands, clap your hands, bend your knees, bow your head, fall on your face.

Something powerful happens when we worship.

One final thought, one final story, another story about my dad growing up in West Texas.

We used to make the long trek from the Permian Basin to South Texas because our whole family loved to fish.

And we would go to a big lake.

It's called Lake Bacana.

Maybe you've been there.

It's a great place.

But any of us who grew up in Texas know that the weather can turn on a dime, especially in the spring.

One year, spring break, I was probably 12 or 13 years of age, and it was just me and Dad out in the middle of the lake in a boat that he had rented.

He had a motor attached to the rear of it.

And we were fishing and we looked up and we saw a storm blowing in.

And Dad said, We need to get out of here, but we were too late.

And man, that storm pounced on the lake like a hawk.

And all of a sudden, that calm water became a mountain range of white tops.

And we were bouncing from wave to wave to wave.

And I didn't know if we were gonna make it.

It's a big body of water.

And we were stuck out there in the middle of it trying to go against the wind.

And the more I looked at the wind, the more afraid I became.

And I turned and I looked and I looked into the face of my father.

My father's face was soaked, his clothing was soaked, his hair was blown back, but he wasn't afraid.

He wasn't afraid.

And I realized if I looked at his face, I calmed down.

But if I looked at the waves, I became afraid.

So I remember turning, and I thought, I'm just gonna look at dad the rest of the way.

And I just set my face on my father's face.

That's all I'm asking us to do.

Worship is setting our face on our father's face.

The more you stare at the waves and the wind, the more frightened you'll become.

But the more you worship, the more you set your face on your father's face, the calmer you will become.

Who receives your worship?

Who receives your worship?

To whom are you turning?

Who's receiving most of your praise?

Those who know you.

What would they say if asked the question?

Well, this is what really gets her excited.

Or this is what really gets him excited.

To whom are you turning?

To whom are you giving your praise?

Be careful.

Be careful.

You were made to worship the Almighty God.

You were made to.

And life only makes sense when you do.

I'm gonna offer a prayer, and then we're gonna spend some time receiving the ministry of the Spirit at the altar.

Bless you, Lord, for what you've done and who you are.

We pray, Heavenly Father, that you would stir within each one of us a recommitment to the privilege of just telling you how good you are.

Grant, O Heavenly Father, mercy upon all who hear these words.

Let a blessing fall upon all those who lead us in worship.

Steady their legs and make their hearts sturdy in your presence.

And we just thank you.

Forgive us.

Forgive me, Father, for I have, well, I've worshiped a lot more than a bicycle.

I've worshiped things I should never have looked at.

Father, I recommit myself to being a man who praises you.

We bless you now.

And we pray in the name of Jesus Christ and all God's people said.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.