IMMANUEL: Hope - Christmas Eve Service

Welcome to the Celebration Church Orlando podcast.

Thank you so much for listening today.

We hope it encourages you and inspires you.

Here's today's message.

I want us all to kind of stay in this attitude of worship and appreciation and admiration for what this moment has brought us all together here for.

You know, I'm very well aware that in this year things have not shaken out the way that probably many of us had anticipated or expected.

We probably have a laundry list of things that we wish would have gone a little bit differently.

And quite honestly, for some of us, it's probably put a little bit of a damper on our ability to praise.

It's maybe put a put a little bit of a damper on our ability to celebrate, as maybe this would have been a season where we're able to travel and spend time with family.

But it's moments when we come together like this that it almost allows us to have a quick reset.

See, the the thing is that 2,000 years ago, Christ was manifested in the flesh, and that's something worth celebrating.

About 2,000 years ago, God decided that he wanted to dwell amongst his people, and that is something worth celebrating.

2,000 years ago, the thing that separated mankind from God as a result of our sin was all resolved because of the life of Jesus Christ.

You see, we don't celebrate because of how we feel, we celebrate because when Jesus said it is finished, it counted for us as well.

So before we take a seat, before we take another step, I want to just give God the praise that He deserves.

Can we just give God praise for the next 10 seconds?

Can we give God praise even at home if you're joining us for the next 10 seconds?

Lord, we thank you that over 2,000 years ago that you manifested yourself in the flesh, that you lived amongst your people, that you came amongst the messiness God that allowed us to have the hope and living life that we have right now.

So, Father, in the name of Jesus, we give you all the praise, we give you all the glory and all the honor, and it's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

God bless you all.

You can go ahead and take your seats at this time.

We are we're so, so glad that you were here with us today.

We're so honored that you will create some space um in this holiday season to come and worship with us today.

Today we have a very special service, as you can see, but in addition to that, we also have our community in DC that is joining us online.

So, church, can we put our hands together and honor and welcome our DC family and team with us today?

We're so, so glad that you guys are joining us today.

If this is your first time here, I want to introduce myself to you.

My name is Keith, my wife, Megan, and our family.

We we love you and thank you so much for coming to worship with us.

And we want to make sure that you know if there's anything that we can do to serve you or your family, that you don't hesitate to let us know.

We believe it's it's when the community of God comes together, believing together that we believe that anything can happen.

I have strong expectations for what I believe God is going to do and speak to us today.

We've heard uh a series of incredibly powerful songs that have meant to be encouragement for us in this season, this reminder that, oh night divine, that night when Christ was born.

If you have your Bibles, I want to invite you to join me in the Gospel of Luke, chapter two.

If you don't have it, it's quite okay.

It'll come up on the screen in just a moment.

But I want to read a couple of passages of scriptures to us that can that can encourage us, remind us, and inspire us of what this season is really all about.

Looking at the gospel of Luke, starting at verse number seven, the Bible says this.

It says, Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in the manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock.

Then the angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said unto them, Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people.

Today in the city of David a Savior is born, who is the Messiah the Lord, and this will be a sign for you.

You will find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.

Suddenly there was a multitude of heavenly hosts with the angel praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth and his people that he favors.

When the angels had left them and they returned to heaven, the shepherds had said to one another, Let us go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

They hurried off and they found both Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger.

After seeing them, they reported the message to that they what they had saw about the child.

Verse 18, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds had said to them.

Today I want to spend just a few moments talking to us a little bit about what Christmas really is.

I want to talk a little bit about this idea that we've been building towards in our entire series, and I simply entitled this message, Hope is with us.

Let's pray.

God, we thank you so much.

We thank you that over 2,000 years ago your redemptive plan took another step forward as you allow Christ to be made manifest in the flesh, Lord God, that that you dwelled amongst your people.

So, Lord, I just pray over the next few moments that you give us open eyes that we can see you, open ears to hear you, and open hearts to receive everything that you have for us.

It's in Jesus' name.

With a great expectation, we want to hear from you.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen and amen.

If we hadn't had an opportunity to spend any time together, I want to kind of introduce myself to you and some of the things that that I enjoy doing.

Many of you guys know that I'm I'm a little bit of a movie buff.

I love I love movies.

I love sitting back and watching movies.

It's something that's that brings me joy, something that I love to do with my family.

Um favorite movie, The Matrix, if you're asking.

And so I would love to have a Matrix gift set if the Lord leads you to do it.

It's whatever, no pressure.

Um, but that's just kind of one of the things that I'm into.

But in addition to that, I got a I got another thing that I want to kind of expose you guys to as it relates to to me and my family and our dynamic.

You'll be very surprised to know that my entire family, this is inclusive of Megan, my wife, my son Keith Jr., uh, my daughter Daniera, and Caleb, that we are all gamers.

You heard that right.

Your your pastor is a video game dude.

Like I was raised on.

In fact, Megan and I, we are in our early stages.

We dated each other through gaming.

We would compete with one another.

Now, honestly, she doesn't play as much as she used to.

However, she does enjoy watching us play the video game.

So that's just a part of our culture.

It's a part of what we do as our family.

My my son Um Keith Jr.

at one point thought that he could beat me in Madden, never was able to do it.

Uh my son Caleb now believes that he can beat me in NBA 2K.

He can't do it.

And I would like to issue this challenge to any of our people that are here.

Come get at your boy.

I got gamer tags on both game systems.

PS5, Xbox, whatever you want, you can catch it.

We'll talk about it a little bit later.

But but I but I remember this idea of how much of we enjoy this time.

And so you can imagine that if you are in the whole gaming world, that that last month was a pretty big month.

Let me let me bring you guys on this journey because last month was the month that two major consoles released their gaming systems at the same time, within two days of one another.

There was great expectation that as the PlayStation 5 came out and that the Xbox Series X came out, there was this great anticipation on which does the console to get.

Now, some people are looking at me and saying, okay, Keith, like which which one do you endorse?

Here's the thing neither one of them pay me, so I'm not gonna give them my endorsement.

I like both of them equally.

So that's that's how we're gonna play it.

But but I remember that process of of wanting to get it, and it was so hard to find, and it still very much is.

But then there was this one day when it became very clear that they were going to release the console with these timed releases.

And we knew that it was gonna be released at 12 o'clock, at 3 o'clock, at 6 o'clock, and at 9 o'clock at night.

So I knew that I was gonna be a good shepherd to my family and get them as many, is get them as many computers and laptops and digital devices open at the same time, and that we were gonna bombard the servers in hopes that one of us was gonna be able to secure the bag.

That was my hope, that was my prayer.

I didn't really think through if all of our orders went through at the same time, how we would have been bankrupt.

But that I didn't think that far.

I just figured if if one of us can get through, then we'll be successful.

So at 12 o'clock we gave it a shot, missed it.

3 o'clock we gave it a shot, all of us missed it.

6 o'clock gave it a shot, all of us missed it.

So now we're at the 9 o'clock one.

That's the last window, and what they had projected was gonna be the last release for the rest of the year.

So we're sitting there with a little bit of concern, with a little bit of frustration.

I just remember the energy in our in our dining room as we're all sitting there with all of our devices out, looking like a bunch of hackers, and we're sitting there with all these devices there, and I'm thinking to myself, like, man, like I all day I've oriented my life around the idea that I'm gonna get this.

Like I'm a grown man, and I decided not to go out and take my family to get something to eat because I didn't want to miss the six o'clock release.

Now here we are ordering food that's not good for us, but I knew that if we could just get this breakthrough, it would all be worth it.

So here it is, it's about 8 52.

I'm looking around at the energy in the room.

My family seems a little bit dejected, deflated.

I'm trying to see if I got if I got anything in me.

So I look over at my son and like, hey man, are you ready?

As if we're like getting in a game or something.

All you gotta do is hit a button, like, man, you ready?

You excited?

And he just looks at me and he's like, That, man, I don't know.

I hope we get it.

I just I just hope we get it.

Just just casual hope we get it.

Now, when when he said that, well, let me close the story out.

Yes, the Lord moved, he prevailed, and we did get one.

God is faithful.

He is faithful, he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

That means sometimes you gotta go above and beyond, not feed your family, and try four times in that day.

But if you keep trying, Jesus says that you gotta keep on asking, gotta keep on knocking, gotta keep on seeking.

But but but here's the thing that stood out to me, because I remember this moment.

When when my son said, Man, I I just I just hope it goes through, the words that he said didn't match his body language.

In fact, it was like, Man, I I hope so.

It occurred to me that when I think about that word hope, how we often use it as like this this Hail Mary of just hoping that things work out.

But but hope is not a strategy that that hope is something that has texture.

That a lot of times we use that word so loosely that I think we forget the true meaning of it.

Man, I hope that the hope that the weather turns out pretty good.

Man, I I man, I I I I hope, I hope that the Philadelphia Eagles will somehow put Jalen Hurts and let him continue to start that we can get some good.

Somebody's with me.

Somebody's over there with me.

God's with you over there, God's gonna bless you this year.

I hope that we can get the proper draft picks and that we can make it back to our rightful place as the Super Bowl champions.

I I hope so.

I I I hope that when I go to the store that they're gonna have this outfit or this shirt and my size, we tend to use that word so loosely that I believe that sometimes it can you lose its true meaning.

But I want to give us a little bit of a true definition of what this word hope really means.

It's not this Hail Mary effort, but it's something that has so much more to it.

By definition, the word hope means it means a feeling of expectation that something is going to happen.

It's being filled with anticipation, it's believing that something is going to be fulfilled.

Biblical hope is defined as this it's believing that God is trustworthy and he will fulfill what he said he's going to do.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the definition of having hope.

This idea of believing that God is going to do what he said he's going to do.

And I hope, I have anticipation, I have expectation that what God says in his word is something that I can absolutely prepare to experience.

You see, for the for the people of God, this is why that word carries so much weight.

We have to understand that ever since man had fallen into sin and was separated from God as a result of partaking of the thing that God told him not to, in Genesis 3, from that moment forward, there had been this massive divide between God and his creation.

But in that moment, God had spoken his redemptive plan, and his redemptive plan included this idea of defeating the enemy and making sure that his people are covered.

He said that I'm going to crush the enemy and that there's going to be a day where you're going to be fully covered.

That sparked this idea of hope.

From that moment forward, God began to move through different people in order to bring fulfillment the words that he said.

He would work through people like King David in an effort to establish a kingdom that would be mimicked in the way that he rules and the way that he reigns, this idea of hoping in that.

So the idea was they were supposed to be people that were expecting an anticipation that God was going to fulfill and do the very thing that he said that he's going to do.

I think for some of us, sometimes we we have hope.

We have hope at times.

We we lose sight of some things sometimes.

We actually can lose perspective of things sometimes and we can begin to lose hope.

What I love about this idea of what hope really means is that hope gives you permission to move forward.

Hope gives you permission to hold on.

And what I've learned in this season when I consider all the conversations that I've had is I've looked recognized is that people have, in some instances, have begun to lose hope.

I've had conversations with people and they've been very reluctant to even begin to consider this idea of planning for 2021 because 2020 had filled them with so much disappointment that they don't have any expectation or any anticipation of what next year can be.

That means that there's a there's a hope deficit.

But when you consider the purpose of the Messiah, that the birth of Jesus was meant to be the fulfillment of God's promise, so we can be people of hope.

We can be people of expectation.

You have permission to dream and move forward because Christ was born.

You have permission to plan for the future because Christ was born.

You have permission to believe for the best because Christ indeed was born.

You see, I want to make sure that we walk away today with some basic principles that can that can anchor us through the rest of this year, but also propel us as we go into the next year, these idea of what hope is really supposed to look like.

I want you to write this down.

That hope, it has substance.

There's there's texture to it, there's actually something to it that hope has substance.

The angels appeared before the shepherds, as we read earlier, while they were working.

They were working the night shift, they were out in the desolate location for the time that they were working in the profession that they had, the job that they had was not necessarily the most ideal job.

They were working the night shift and them in an obscure location, but but that's the place that God met them at to deliver a word to them.

I I wanna I want to zero in for a moment.

That they were in a place of desolation working the night shift, but God met them exactly where they were.

I think sometimes we can feel like we're working in a hopeless situation, and we feel like we need to maneuver ourselves to get closer to where the action is.

But if God has planted you to be where you are, then he's gonna send reinforcements and he's gonna send a word exactly where you are.

I think that sometimes we feel like we're in a hopeless situation, so we need to move from where we are.

But God is saying, I planted you here for a reason, and I often wonder what would have happened if the shepherds would have called in sick that day.

I wonder what would have happened if the shepherds didn't feel as if their job had any value, but God was thinking of people that he knew that were faithfully stewarding where they were, and that is the people that he sent his message to.

The scripture says that when he appears to them while they're at work, he spoke to them while they were at work, and he told them that uh that there will be a sign, a virgin will give birth to a son, and you can go and check it out.

See, hope in Jesus is not this mystical thing that doesn't have any substance or texture.

The reality of it is that when the angel appeared before the shepherds, they said that, hey, the the Messiah is born, and here's the proof of it.

You can go and check it out.

There's signs, there's there's ways that you can go and verify what we're saying.

I think a lot of times we believe that our faith is this abstract thing that we gotta believe for the unseen and there's no substance to it.

But hope has substance.

What I've learned in this season is that that many of us think that we've been having a crisis of faith, but that's not true.

We've actually just begin to start to lose hope.

See, there's a distinction between faith and hope.

Faith is having a firm belief, but hope is having joyful expectation.

It's possible to have faith and marriage, but not have any hope that you'll ever be the one that gets married.

It's possible to have faith and knowing that God is a healer but not have any hope or any expectation that God is going to heal you.

It's possible to even have faith that God is able to do it, but we can lose hope and not believe that God will do it for us.

It's many times that we find ourselves listening to the wrong sources and they end up causing us to lose a little bit of hope.

This is why we have to reposition ourselves in the place where we can actually be inspired by things that can actually fill our hope tank.

I I know I'm not the only one that that at different points this year, you would just constantly hear information that at some point you're like, good Lord, this is depressing.

It seems like nothing is going right.

If you watch the, if you watch the news long enough, you will wonder, like, man, it it the next step is aliens have got to be coming.

Like it doesn't get any, it doesn't get any worse than this.

It just seems like thing after thing after thing, and I know for me, as I as I found myself in this season of of leading teams and and leading a church and all the things that we're used to and the benefit of us gathering together, that very component was removed from us.

And so all you get the chance to hear about is all the things that aren't working and the things that aren't going well, and you can find yourself beginning to lose hope.

Still got faith, but you start losing a little bit of hope because things look a little bit differently, but then at some point you have to reposition yourself so that you can be inspired by the activity of God.

What I love that the text says, it says that you will find the Messiah in the place where animals are.

You will find the Messiah actually in the feeding trough.

This was a very messy location.

What he was saying is where you are right now, you're not going to see Jesus.

You're going to have to see Jesus amongst the messed.

Because sometimes sitting on the ivory tower, you'll often be so far away from the activity of God because things seem to be so worked out that you don't see them.

But if you can reposition yourself into the place where it gets a little bit messy, those are moments that can inspire hope.

The thing that has been so encouraging for me over the past nine, ten months that we've been in this predicament that we find ourselves in is I've been blown away at looking at the generosity that is in our church.

I've been blown away by hearing the stories of what God has been doing amongst our community in spite of the things that are trying to deplete our hope.

I've been blown away when I've heard stories about husbands and wives that are praying together for the first time in their home as a result of them being in their home.

I've been blown away by seeing the stories of how families are coming together at the table and they're experiencing the presence of God because they haven't been so busy scattered everywhere else that because they were now in the home, they were functioning as a family unit and God brought strength and stability to their home.

I've been blown away at seeing how people have been able to manage their resources because they haven't had the opportunity to go out and spend them.

And so now I just talked to someone today and they said that they're debt-free as a result of the pandemic.

Imagine that.

I've been blown away at hearing these moments of how God is moving amongst the messiness, and it's been so inspiring to hear because it begins to fill us with hope.

I've been blown away at looking at what God has been doing in our churches, talking to our DC family and hearing the stories about how they were able to take people who didn't have ride or transportation to the doctor's office and cutting the yards of elderly folks that are not able to care for themselves.

Our church stepped up and did that.

I've been blown away at seeing how right here in Orlando, how we've been able to partner with local organizations and do our best to help to eradicate homelessness by providing people with their identification, which helps them to move forward with dignity.

I've been blown away at seeing how we've been able to rally together as a church and provide food and shelter and clothing for those who are the least fortunate, the messy place that sometimes we can remove ourselves from.

But because of the pause of our lives, you can see these stories of the activity of God.

I've been blown away that even in this Christmas season, that we literally collected hundreds and hundreds of toys, both here in Orlando and in DC.

And as a result of our church's generosity, we're seeing people that are experiencing God through the benefit of other people, and that should inspire hope.

See, a lot of times we'll find that when we feel like there's a deficit, that we have to reposition ourselves to see that hope has substance.

And whenever we get a chance to hear stories about what God is doing, that's evidence of the activity of God in our lives, even if it looks a little bit differently than we expected.

I assure you that there have probably been enough things in our world that has caused us to pause and to reflect on our lives and take and take inventory on our peace.

But I assure you there's also going to be places where we can see that hope has had some substance, where we've seen the activity of God, where God has made things clear to you, where he's provided revelation to you, where he's given you opportunities to draw closer to him.

I want you to be encouraged and understanding that hope has substance.

There's texture to it.

You can go and see it, and when we hear testimonies about what God is doing, no matter what the circumstance may be, no matter how messy it is, that's where God is, and that we have something that we can fill our hope tank with.

Another thing that can inspire us in these seasons is understanding that hope is a bridge.

That hope is a bridge, that hope has substance.

It's not this, it's not this theoretical belief, but hope is also a bridge.

The beautiful thing about bridges is that they they carry weight, but they also connect two things that should be separate.

You see, when the angels appear before the shepherds, they said, I bring you good news for all men.

For all men.

That statement is such a loaded statement.

Because back in those days it wasn't good news for all men.

It was only good news for some people.

But when they said that we're bringing you good news for all men, they were saying that the divide between man and God was.

Being eradicated because of the birth of Jesus, that hope is this bridge that allows things that once were separate to now to be connected together with unity and with peace.

See, the shepherds would have understood that back in those days, that women were not viewed as equals as men, that children were not viewed as valuable, and that there was this racial division that existed all throughout the land.

So when they come with this message that we have good news for everybody, that means that there's not a single person that's excluded from the birth of Christ.

See, if it's not good news for all, then it's not good news at all.

Jesus didn't come for just some, but he came for all of us.

He's a bridge that connects things at once.

We're separate.

This is why we're able to sit at the table together and experience wholeness together because of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.

The arrival of Christ, it brings things together.

It also allows heaven's resources to meet us here on earth.

That Jesus is the bridge that allows the things from heaven to meet us here on earth.

There's a lot of things that we didn't have access to prior to the arrival of Christ.

We didn't have arrival, we didn't have access to peace.

We didn't have access to salvation.

We didn't have access to true, enduring hope.

But when Jesus came, he allowed us to really begin to experience the hope that he really has for us.

I think about my life prior to surrendering my life to Jesus.

And I lived a fairly decent life.

Wasn't too much out in the streets, but I remembered that there were moments where no matter how much I thought things were going well, there was still this emptiness, this void that just didn't seem as if it was filled.

But then there was that moment when I had my encounter with God that radically changed my life.

The chasm between God's best for me and what I wanted for myself, that divide was now narrowed, and I began to begin to be the beneficiaries of the love, of the hope, and the joy and the salvation that God truly has for me.

I think many of us have stories like that because I've heard your testimonies of those moments where I thought I had things in order, but there was still something missing.

But then when I surrendered my life to Christ, that all of a sudden I began to experience peace.

That when I got Christ involved in my marriage, then we began to experience wholeness.

That when I began to pray over my children, that then we began to recognize unity in our home.

You see, that hope is a bridge that allows heaven's resources to meet us exactly where we are, that when Jesus was born, that he brought heaven's resources to us, he can carry the weight of our brokenness and messiness, but we can be inspired, we can have expectation, we can be filled with hope because hope can carry the weight.

Hope allows us to be connected to God and back to one another.

It's good news for all.

The third and final thing that I want to share with us is hope has a name.

Hope has a name.

Isaiah chapter 7, verse number 14.

Isaiah 7 · chapter mention

Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.

See, the virgin will conceive and have a son and name him Emmanuel.

God with us.

It's such a significant statement.

It's such a significant thing when we consider there was a moment when God wasn't with us.

When we, by definition, were away from God, having to do things in our own strength.

But God is with us.

The shepherds were able to go and see Jesus amongst the messiness.

And there was this concert that broke out.

These angels showed up and they began to sing.

They said, this is something worth celebrating because now God is dwelling amongst his people, amongst the chaos, amongst the confusion, amongst the brokenness, amongst the struggle.

And his name is Jesus.

If you're anything like me, there have been moments where hope had a different name.

We place hope in our jobs.

We place hope in our degree.

We place hope in our in our tenure plan.

We place hope in a lot of different things.

There's a powerful story in the Gospels where Jesus is doing ministry as he always does, and he begins to have this very weighty teaching about sacrifice, about communion, but they didn't understand it at the time.

And so what scripture says is that many people began to walk away as a result of this profound teaching that Jesus had taught.

He turned to his remaining disciples and he said, Are you going to leave as well?

And they responded with these words, Where else shall we go?

For you alone are the one who has the words of life.

You alone are the one that can bring salvation.

You alone are the only one that can truly give us sustaining hope.

I suspect for some of us that this shift for us in this season has been trying to get our attention to make sure that our hope is anchored in the right things.

That our hope is anchored in the person of Jesus.

There's salvation in no other name.

There's healing in no other name.

But it's when we find ourselves anchored in the person of Jesus that we can then be inspired because we know we have access to heaven's best on our behalf.

Hope.

It has a name, and his name is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.

That's what this season is all about.

Inspiring us to be hopeful that even in spite of the messiness, and maybe you're like the shepherd that's out there in a field and you don't even know if you're being seen.

Maybe, maybe you're like the innkeeper that when Jesus showed up, you didn't even recognize what was in front of you.

Maybe, maybe you've seen some messy situations and you don't know where Jesus is right now, but hope has a name.

You have permission to move forward with your life.

You have permission to dream.

You have permission to believe God for the best.

You have the permission to have expectation for the future.

Jeremiah 29, 11 says, I know the plans that I have for you.

Plans to prosper you, not to bring you harm.

That God is watching over that word in your life, and you can have honest, hopeful expectation that God is going to fulfill it.

We don't just hope that things work out.

We have joyful expectation because we know that God is with us.

I want to pray for us.

So with every head bowed and with every eye closed, I believe that there's some among us, maybe with our DC community, maybe here at our online community in Orlando, maybe even some that are in this room right now, that you can recognize that, man, that you're you're in a little bit of a hope deficit.

You still got your faith, but you've but you've begun to lose some hope.

I have faith in God, but I've I've lost hope with where I am.

I believe that God wants to nudge you and let you know that He is with you so you can have hope.

Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for everyone amongst us, those who are watching online, those who are in this room with us, God, both here in Orlando and in DC.

I pray, Father, in the name of Jesus, for those of us that have been struggling with having hope.

We have faith, we have belief, but we stop having expectation that we're going to see any change in our lives.

Father, I pray right now in the name of Jesus, Lord, that we recognize that you are indeed with us.

You're with us in our marriages, you're with us in our workplace, you're with us in our careers, you're with us with our families, you're with us in our minds.

God, you're with every aspect of who we are, God.

We can have hope because you are with us.

Lord, I pray for those who feel hopeless, who are struggling with despair, that the voice of the enemy is silenced, and that they can hear your voice and your love more loud than they ever have in times past.

Lord, we recognize that hope has substance.

There's texture, there's meaning to it.

We can see the activity of God amongst his people, and we can anchor our faith in saying that if God did it for them, then I can have hope that he's going to do it for me.

Hope has substance.

We can anchor ourselves in it.

So, Lord, I pray that you encourage your people, strengthen them, bless them in Jesus' name.

I want to talk to another group of people.

And they may be exclusively online or they may be in this room as well.

But maybe as I use terms such as despair or that void that maybe you've tried to fill on your own in your own measures in times past, that you begin to recognize that that's you.

That you have yet to really accept and allow Jesus to be the hope of glory in your life.

You have yet to really allow Jesus to be the Lord of your life.

We want to create the space and time to do that now because that is the good news that the angels shared with the shepherds.

That is why we're celebrating tomorrow.

That's why we go out and spend all the money to demonstrate what giving and generosity looks like.

That's why we spend time around our family is to celebrate the birth of Christ.

I want to create space right now and allow those that know that today is the day that I need to forsake the other things that I've placed hope in and create this space and allow Jesus to be my Lord.

If that's you, with every head bowed, I want to create a sacred space.

And with every eye closed, if that's you, and you know that your next step is simply to receive Jesus as your Savior, to receive Jesus as your Messiah, to receive Jesus as the personification of your hope.

On account of three, I want to pray for you and include you in a very simple prayer.

One, two, three.

Simply want to commit or recommit your life to Christ.

Amen.

Church, we put our hands together for everyone that is making that decision to step into this new season.

We truly believe that that this posture of your faith and that this that this next step for you is the most important step that you can take.

In a few moments, we're going to give you some instructions on what your next steps will be if you're making that decision.

But I'm going to ask all of us to stand on our feet as we prepare to go back into a song of worship.

I want to pray for those who are making that decision to allow Jesus to be the hope of glory for all of us.

Would you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, you see your people that are surrendering their lives to you, both here online, and those who are even listening to this, maybe even months from now.

Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that they recognize that you are indeed their living hope.

God, I pray that they recognize that you died on the cross for their sins, that your birth gives us permission to have to hold on and to have hope.

I pray that you strengthen your people.

I pray that you fill them with your spirit, and I pray that you order their steps.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Amen and amen.

God bless you, church.

Before we leave, let's worship together one more time as a family.

Thanks again for listening.

We hope you enjoyed today's message.

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If you'd like more content like this, or you'd like to connect with us, go to celebration at orl.org.

We hope you join us next time.