Great Joy

You're listening to a message to go from at church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

And the difference between just joy and great joy is

that great joy involves rejoicing.

You and I are oneting you.

And I are owing, and we will never be able

to pay this debt. Yes, we wish each other merry Christmas,

but what is Christmas. Christmas is Jesus. Christmas is a

gift from God, who loves you and me and said, I.

Know that without me you are in debt.

Let the angels say to them, do not be afraid,

for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy

which will be all people. For there is born to

you this day in the city of David, a savior

who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the

sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in

swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was

with the Angel a multitude of the heavily host, praising

God and saying glory to God in the highest and

on earth peace goodwill toward men. Now I want to

say a few things about what.

We just read.

The Angel was here telling the people on earth not

to be afraid. Do not be afraid, is what the

Angel wants to say to all of us in this room.

Fear can be very crippling, and I don't know what

you are afraid about as the year closest. For some parents,

you could be afraid about the future for your children,

some marriages here, you know, you could be struggling and

afraid you know whether.

The future will hold for you.

Some of you could be afraid because maybe your parents

are not well in hospital and you're wondering, you know,

how will twenty twenty six be, will they be healthy,

will they even be alive? Others are afraid because your

finances are not as healthy as it should be. Maybe

the economy is not doing well for you, whatever it is.

Students could be afraid. Maybe a big exam year is coming.

Maybe you've just finished USPM and you're gonna wait for

your results, so you're a little bit anxious. But the

Angel says, do not be afraid. Why because there is

good news, and the word here says good tidings, good

news of great joy. I don't know when it was

the last time any of you receive good news.

It's wonderful to receive good news. You know.

For example, you know, you go to the doctors and

you get your medical checkup and the doctors tell you that,

you know, your report, your medical report is showing really

good signs, and you you went worried. In fact, some

of us go to the hospital and our blood pressure

is usually higher when we go to the hospital.

At home, it.

Was lower in the hospital, you know, is higher because

we're anxious. We're anxious about the medical report. We're anxious

about our health, and the doctor might say to you, hey,

your cholesterol levels are really good. That's exactly what happened

to me two days ago when I went for my

medical checkup. It was not really good one year ago,

but by the grace of God, two days ago, it

was all all good. And I did expect it, and

you know, I expected my sugar level to be higher

because from September to just last week, I've been having

a lot of sugary stuff. I have sweet tooth and

I love cakes and cookies and sweet stuff, you know,

and I've been celebrating, you know, since my thirtieth wedding

anniversary in September, my fifty fifth birth day in September,

celebrating the church has been so good to me, giving

me cakes everywhere I go, and I had.

To say to them, please stop, please stop.

Me the cakes, because you know, my father was diabetic, and.

So you know, I get a bit worried.

But then you know, the health report came out good

and with good news, you know, you think, number one,

you don't deserve it.

Number two, you think, thank God, thank God.

And I think many of you have received good news

whatever it is in your life, and it makes you

feel good. But there's good tidings or good news that

the Angel brought was a different kind of good news.

It was a good news that.

The Bible says gives us great joy, not just joy,

not just some joy, not just good joy, but great joy.

And the difference between just.

Joy and great joy is that great joy involves rejoicing,

meaning to.

Say that great joy is whoa who. Great joy is celebration.

So you're watching your favorite team playing you know, either

it's football or whatever it is, right and you know

they're playing well, they're winning or looks like they're winning, and.

It gives you joy.

But until they score, you will not be, as you know,

rejoicing as much as as they score.

That's why you have people jumping from their.

Seat and saying yes, you know, and you know, and

then towards the end when your team wins, you know,

you're giving high fives and you're hugging even people you

don't know. And that's what happens because great joy is wooho,

yay celebration. Come on, you know, high fives, hugs, Yes,

we want, we want. And Christmas is a message to

all of us that because of Jesus we win. Somebody say, amen,

that's something to celebrate. There's something to say, whoa whoao

for that's something to rejoice. It's not just joy. It's

not just a little bit of happiness that you know.

Maybe you ate your favorite dish or drank your favorite

milkshake and it gives you that rush, but it closes

by the night, it ends.

By the morning.

This joy that the angel said, it's great joy, is

a joy from within you. You just want to leap.

That's why they say leap for joy. When was the

last time you felt like that? Maybe when your favorite

team won and you just couldn't hold your joy inside,

you couldn't hold your joy back. You just leapt and rejoice.

That is the kind of joy God wants to give you.

Can I hear good?

Amen?

And the Angel said, this is the good news that

will give you great joy. It's not just any good news.

It's not just a good health report. It's not just

a good result for SPM. It's not just that, and

even that already we celebrate. But this kind of good

news is the good news that will cause all of

you to say, yes, yes, thank you God. This is

what I need and what I have been waiting for.

Now.

To be able to understand good news, you've got to

remember there's the bad news, and what is the bad news.

The bad news is that God, being so holy as

he is, hates sin.

He hates sin.

And yet the Bible says that all of us, all

of us, including myself, yes the pastor too, all of

us have sin and fallen shot of the glory of God.

Fallen shot is an accounting term.

It means you awe big time and you cannot balance

the budget no matter how you try. You and I

are wanting. You and I are owing, and we will

never be able to pay this debt. We have sin.

So is our sin, so deep is the stain we

can never be cleared or cleansed. Never so bad is

the debt we will never be able to pay.

And this is the bad news.

The bad news is that we will never be able

to work ourselves to heaven. We will never be able

to work ourselves to please God. So God himself had

to pay this debt. God himself is the only one

that can pay this debt.

Can I hear? Good? Amen? His name is Jesus.

And I'm telling you when you are in a mess,

when you are owing, when.

There is the debt in your life you can never pay.

When there's a mistake you made, you can never repay,

you can never reverse the clock, and you live in

regret when you live like the two men here.

You know who could have gone on and while they.

Achieve their stars, they would have lost their family.

And would that have been worth it?

No, every man and every woman here would know what

is really valuable. But sometimes it's too late. And yet

I want to say to you there is good news.

Somebody say, Amen, of great joy?

Why?

Because with God all things are possible. Because with God

there is never a dead end, there is always a

u turn, there is always a second chance.

So you're here.

This morning on Christmas Day. Yes, we reach each other.

Merry Christmas. But what is Christmas. Christmas is Jesus. Christmas

is a gift from God, who loves you and me

and said, I know.

That without me you are in debt.

You cannot pay, you cannot reverse the time, you cannot

return back to that place where you.

Regret and wish that you never regretted.

You will never be able to do that. But with God,

he can restore, He can make all things new, He

can make.

The impossible possible. And this is for all people. The

Bible says, for.

There is born to you this day in the City

of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit as Church Org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week, a

heait for you. God bless