The Miracle of Christmas Part 1

Scripture. It says, for to us, a child is born to us, a son is given and the.

Government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor,

mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.

I love that. I'm just gonna read that part one more time because it's so powerful

and his name is a promise and his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty.

That's a promise from the scripture today. And, you know, promises are important.

God gives us these promises, not just so that we can look back,

but God gives us promises so that we can stand on them and look forward to what

he wants to do in our life.

And so we're starting on our Christmas series, The Miracle of Christmas today.

And the first sermon in this series, I want to preach on this subject.

I want to preach on the promise of a Savior.

The promise of a Savior. Let's pray this morning.

Father, we come before you in the name of Jesus. We just thank you.

Thank you for your Holy Spirit.

God, we pray right now, God, that you would be with us, that you would speak

to us, that, God, as we read your word, we get a reality of what you're wanting

to do in our world, what you're wanting to do in our lives individually.

So father speak a word that only you could speak that speaks something unique

something special something personal to every person in this building and we

thank you for your word in the name of jesus we pray and the church said amen

amen as i get started this morning,

I may pace myself a little bit because it's not smart after you've preached and sweated a lot.

If you go stand back behind that door, I didn't do it this morning,

but a couple of weeks ago, I did that and I stood beside that pneumonia hole

back there that the cold air was blowing in and I was sweaty.

And so the last five nights, is that what it is? I've been sitting up,

sitting up and sleeping at night.

So it just happens, you know, guys, it happens when you, when you do this and

you learn your lesson and I'll say, I'm not going to do it again.

And then I do it again. So this just kind of happens this morning.

We're looking at all of this, and here's kind of the thought that I want you guys to hold on to.

We'll refer back to it, but I want you to hold on to this thought as we progress

through this sermon today.

And this is our key thought today.

God's promises are not just words, but they are anchors of hope that carry us

through the storms of life and into his divine plan.

So they're not just words, because sometimes we read the word of God and we treat this.

We hear a minister, we hear a believer, that speaks the promises of God,

something that God has spoken into our lives, and we treat them as if they are

just words, and they are not words.

They are not just words. They are anchors of hope. They're more powerful than mere words.

They're more powerful than just something you listen to on the radio,

on the ride to church today.

They're more powerful than just something you heard in a college lecture somewhere.

They're more powerful than something you heard on the news network that was

telling you about the latest political news.

More powerful, more powerful than the announcement of the college football brackets

that are going to be announced.

More powerful than any of that are the promises of God because they are anchors

of hope that carry us through the storms of life and into the promises that God has for us.

And so when we look at this, our world is in turmoil.

Let's go ahead and be honest, all right? We live in a world of need.

When you look out there, we see that there's a problem that needs to be related to our promise.

With every single new news cycle, we see that there's a new challenge.

There's a new, I stopped watching news a number of years ago because my examples are outdated.

Because used to, when you watched Christian television, how many of you guys

remember Christian television in the 90s? It was amazing in the 90s.

And there used to be on TBN, there was a show called Praise the Lord.

You might remember that.

Well, I used to say that the news is the devil's version of Praise the Lord.

Because every bad thing, every evil thing, every problem, everything that's

going on in the world, we turn on the news.

If you're not feeling depressed, turn on the news. You'll get there soon, all right?

And so that's kind of the way it is. So I stopped watching the news a number

of years ago. I will read it from time to time to stay up to current events,

but I try to, you know, stay away as much.

But if you watch it, you see there's more division, there's more devastation,

There's more chaos. People search for answers.

Man, we're searching for answers in science, and we're searching for answers

in politics, and we're searching for answers in the legal system everywhere that you go.

But there's a problem, and this problem is not a new problem.

It's not a problem that developed in the last 15 and 20 years.

It's not a problem that's developed just in the last election cycle.

As a matter of fact, thousands of years ago, Israel found themselves.

We're preaching about this today.

Israel found themselves in the same type of scenario.

We got to realize that in the Old Testament, the Bible says there's no new thing under the sun.

A lot of times we say, oh, you know, there's never been a day more evil than

this. And I think, well, go back and read the Old Testament.

You're going to find some crazy days that we read about that they're doing some

crazy things under every grove and green tree.

And so you just take my word for it if you don't know what I'm talking about.

But thousands of years ago, Israel finds themselves in a similar circumstance.

It was a time of oppression and confusion and devastation and terrible things that were going on.

And the reality was that the world needed hope and God responded with a promise.

In the day that we're living in, the world needs hope, and God is responding with a promise.

And the promise is a Savior would come. And our promise today is a Savior has come.

The world is in need of hope, and the promise is still real today.

So today we're talking about this promise, the promise that has been given.

So we look at this. As we begin this Christmas series, we're going to talk about

how important this promise is. The promise is the answer to our deepest longings.

The promise is the answer to our deepest need.

The promise is the answer to the darkest problem in our world.

And I want to say this right now.

The problem in our world today is no different than 2,000 years ago's promise,

no different than 2,500 years ago's promise, no different than 500 years ago's

promise. Our problem is sin.

We've got a sin problem in our world today.

And there is no medical cure for sin and there is no political solution for

sin and there is no legal mechanism for sin.

The world has a sin problem and the only answer is the promise of Jesus Christ. Amen, I believe that.

See, when we look at this, one of the core doctrines that we have to focus on

is the doctrine of the faithfulness of God.

Man, that's an old-fashioned doctrine right there. And I love preaching on it

because we sing the songs, Great is thy faithfulness, but sometimes we live

like God's not faithful.

No, we are serving a faithful God.

The Bible teaches us that God is unchanging and that He is always true to His

Word. and that truth that we're preaching about this morning is absolutely essential

to understanding the promise of the Savior.

And it's foundational for putting our hope in Christ. And it's absolutely essential

when it comes to showing humanity that God has a plan for them.

See, God's faithfulness is absolutely essential because it reassures us that

His promises are not temporary and they're not circumstantial.

See, I say that because I speak to people at times, and I will tell them about

the promises of God, and they'll say,

well, I understand that that's probably true for you, but see,

I did this when I was 16 years old, or this happened to me when I was 5 years old.

And they'll say that, you know, I'm sure that that's true for some people,

and maybe Jesus did do that, but in my first marriage this happened,

or the doctor told me that this happened or when I was only this point.

No, my father did this. And I'm not belittling anybody's circumstance.

I'm not belittling anybody's trauma in their lives.

But what I am doing is I'm exalting Jesus Christ above every trauma,

above every circumstance, above every diagnosis, above everything the world has tried to proclaim.

I'm speaking to somebody right now saying that the world is trying to give you

a prognosis that is not the will of God.

That there is a faithfulness that we live on and stand upon and believe in.

I believe that. If you believe that, give the Lord a hand clap of praise.

I believe that this morning.

I believe there's promises that we can stand on because God is a faithful God.

What faithfulness means is if he's done it before, he will do it again.

The Bible teaches that God is no respecter of persons, which means that if he

did it for Jesus, if he did it for the apostles,

if he did it for your great-grandmother, if he did it for the preacher,

then he will do it for you in his life because great is the faithfulness of God. Amen.

See, unlike human intentions, whose intentions can waver.

I'll make you promises. Sometimes I'm not able to deliver even despite my best efforts.

God's character is steadfast and it's reliable. You can depend upon God.

That means that when He promises salvation, when He promises redemption,

when He promises eternal life, we can trust in His promises completely.

See, throughout the Bible we see this. There's history here that we can rely

upon. God's faithfulness was demonstrated in his covenant with people,

his agreements with people, those covenant promises that he made.

The Abrahamic covenant in Genesis chapter 12, God promised Abraham that all

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

nations would be blessed through Abraham's descendants.

The fulfillment of that promise came through Jesus Christ that we see that the

blessing of all of Abraham's descendants,

all of his seed as God promised him are blessed through Jesus Christ according

to Galatians chapter 3 and verse 8.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

The Mosaic Covenant, God's faithfulness in giving a system, a system of law

and a system of sacrifice that would make atonement for the people's sins and their errors.

We see the fulfillment of that once again in Jesus Christ.

Jesus said, I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill the law.

The fulfillment of all of that law is in Jesus Christ.

Once again, Jesus came, said that no longer do we need to sacrifice bull and

oxen and turtle doves, but Jesus became the absolute supreme sacrifice for sin,

for humanity, when he laid his life down on that cross. I gotta say it one more time.

They did not take his life. He laid his life down.

The Bible says that he had the power to lay his life down, and the power to take it back up again.

When he laid himself down on that cross, he became the eternal sacrifice for

the sin of humanity for all that believe on him. Do you believe that this morning?

Amen my voice is feeling better all of a

sudden hallelujah even during times of babylonian

exile god promised the the coming messiah and

it sustained hope for his people jeremiah chapter 31 speaks of a new covenant

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

where god's law would be written on the hearts of man and it would be fulfilled

in the ministry of jesus christ psalm chapter 119 says it this way It says,

Psalms 119 · chapter mention

your faithfulness endures to all generations.

You have established the earth and it stands fast. It shows us that as long

as time stands, as long as creation is in order, then the promises of God are

just as eternal as God is.

Isaiah chapter 55 says, for as the rain and as the snow comes down from heaven

Isaiah 55 · chapter mention

and do not return there but water the earth, so shall my word be that goes out

from my mouth, and it shall not return to me empty.

In other words, just as real as the natural laws here are on this earth.

You know what? I feel a little more excited about this, I think, than you are.

So as just as real as the natural laws here on this earth, just as real as I'm

walking on this ground right now because gravity is holding me down.

It's more real than gravity.

There's a promises of God that's not going to return to him void.

And so when he said, whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,

that's more real than gravity. When he says that if any two would agree touching

one thing, it shall be done to my Father in heaven, that's more real than gravity.

When he says that the elders of the church can lay hands on the sick and they

shall recover, it's more real than natural elements because it's the promises of God.

It's the promises of god god's promises are

certain and god's promises are are effective

see the doctrine of god's faithfulness is

not just a theological concept it's a daily assurance i love that right there

it's a daily assurance that every promise he made that he makes is backed up

by his unchanging nature he said i am the lord and i change not see what they're

leading up to They have these promises in the Old Testament.

It was 700 years that it was leading up to the birth of Christ that they were waiting on the Messiah.

700 years the people found, the people of Israel, found themselves in a cycle

of oppression, a cycle of captivity, a cycle of being just beaten down mentally and physically.

Isaiah's prophecy was written around 740 B.C. and Isaiah told them about the

Messiah's birth, told them about his divine nature, told them about his messianic right and rule.

Micah's prophecy around the same time period, specifically named Bethlehem as

the birthplace that the Messiah would come from.

Up until that time, there was no other predictions, but Micah said Bethlehem

is that place that he's going to be born.

See, the longing for Savior, was woven into the lives of the people of Israel.

They knew they needed the deliverance. They knew that everything they had tried

up to that point wasn't good enough. Can anybody relate to that?

Everything you've tried to get your life on track and you just can't get it on track.

Everything that you've done to try to get your family in order and you just

can't get it in order. You're in need of a Messiah, in need of a Savior.

For 700 years, every festival, every temple sacrifice, every psalmist's cry

echoed the need for a Savior.

David echoed this longing for a Savior when he penned the words.

I didn't put it in the slideshow. He penned the words in Psalms 22.

Verse 1 says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Those words were also spoken by Jesus on the cross, echoing what the psalmist

had already longed for and prophesied in the book of Psalms 22.

They were wondering, God, when are you going to send us that Savior?

But that Savior, he was being foretold.

See, there's three things that we need to hold to this morning as we think about this promise.

Three things I want to talk to you about. Number one is that that Savior was foretold.

See, God's promises give us the hope in the waiting period because we know that

these things sometimes don't happen overnight, right?

You know, when I first to ask my wife out, then of course she was overjoyed

and exuberant, she probably started dreaming of the wedding right there, you know, I'm sure.

She was probably thinking, I want her to be my bridesmaid and I'm sure,

after the first date, it was probably history, right?

No, no, it took, I knew, at some point I knew that she was the love of my life

and I wanted to be with her forever, but it still took time.

It still took time for me to convince Pastor Rob that I was the one.

It didn't matter if Ashley believed that or not. As a matter of fact,

it was incredible. Pastor Rob got a case of temporary amnesia when we started dating.

He had known me for all my life. He remembered when I was brought home from

the hospital, you know. But all of a sudden, when I started dating Ashley, he forgot my name.

Isn't that amazing? Yes. He no longer referred to me as Scott.

He referred to me as that boy.

And every time he would talk about me, he called me that boy.

I didn't have a name anymore. I just had a label. That boy, that amnesia had

came in, and he couldn't remember my name. It took time.

It took time for me to work my way into the place.

Pastor Rob, am I telling the truth right there? I'm absolutely telling the truth.

Look, he's back there smiling right now. Amen.

Yeah, I love him. I still fear him from all of that experience.

He's talking about trauma woven in there. But anyway, no, it took time. I had to work my way.

I had to earn. I had to work situations out, it didn't occur overnight.

Even when it comes to the promises of God, even though they're paid for,

there are things that we're going to have to go through at times to get to those

promises, but the foretelling of a promise, it gives us hope in the waiting period.

See, there was something about the waiting period. I knew that I loved her,

but there was a waiting period before we could get married.

But because of my love, there was a promise there that helped me in the waiting, right?

I'm getting brownie points today. Hallelujah.

I didn't do this the first service. The Lord's helping me right here in the

second service, JR. All right.

No, it's the same way in our lives. See, Abraham, if you look at the life of Abraham,

it was decades that he waited for the promise of Isaac, his son,

yet God fulfilled his word and the promise gave Abraham, even though Abraham

messed up, even though Abraham became impatient.

The promise gave Abraham hope in the waiting.

See, the same way God sustained Israel with the promise of a savior.

Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11 says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 29 · chapter mention

Plans for welfare. That's hope right there. Plans for welfare and not for evil.

To give you a future and a hope.

We read that. I've got that scripture right there on my office wall.

I've got it up there hanging in two big pictures on my office wall.

We claim that promise. But you know what that promise was originally?

That promise was originally in the book of Jeremiah pointing the people of Israel

to the coming of the Savior.

See, we think that's just for us. No, that was for Israel pointing them to the Savior.

The hope, the plans that he was talking about was the promise of this Messiah

that was coming to the people of Israel.

The future and the hope that he's talking about is the future and the hope that

came through Jesus Christ.

And so even though that was to the people of Israel, now that the promise is

there, we've got that promise. We've got that promise to stand upon.

No wonder we can look at it and say, I know the thoughts I think towards you, says God.

Thoughts of good and not of evil to give us a future and a hope.

It's because that hope is in Jesus Christ.

Once again, these promises are not just words.

They're the anchors of hope to carry us through the storms of life and lead us into his divine plan.

It's not just words. It's an anchor to us.

No wonder we read then in the book of Isaiah. For unto us a child is born,

and unto us a son is given.

I read it in King James English once again, even though it's written the other way right there.

Isaiah's prophecy was delivered during a time of national turmoil.

People were divided. People were faithless at this time, yet God proclaimed

to them that he would give them a Savior.

I told you about it, but Micah's prophecy got even more specific and even told

them that the Savior, the Messiah, was going to come out of Bethlehem. See, people need hope.

According to research that's been done that in our world today,

84% of people worldwide hope for a better future.

Yet only 30% of people worldwide believe that any kind of lasting peace and

hope will ever be achieved. Think about that.

That's how hopeless people are right now. Is that 84% of people,

they want something better, but really only 30% of people believe that anything's

going to show up to make any kind of difference.

I want to say this right now. our promise is to give us a hope to stand upon

while we're waiting for God to move in our lives.

But it's not just the hope that was promised.

What we can stand on is a Savior that was born to fulfill. I love this part right here.

This is the part where I told Ashley yesterday, I'd put a bunch of stuff into this section all week.

And yesterday I was cutting out a bunch of material because I knew I only had

about 35 minutes to present this in.

And I told Ashley, I said, I got rid of about three pages of notes.

And just so you know, three pages of notes is about 25 minutes.

All right. So I said, I told Ashley, I said, I got rid of three pages of notes. She said, thank God.

And so she realized it. No, she didn't really say that. She didn't say that.

But we read this. We read this in Galatians chapter four.

It says this. It says, when the fullness of time, everybody say fullness of time.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of woman,

born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might

receive adoption as sons. Gosh, there's a lot of great stuff in there, isn't it?

But what I want to focus on is that phrase where it says the fullness of time.

See, when you realize what God did in bringing this promise to fruition,

the birth of Jesus, it shows us that God is working all things together for our good.

That even the world, even the political system, even the legal system.

Every system in this world is working for the good of the believers. Let me prove it to you.

That phrase, the fullness of time

there, it comes from a Greek word that's translated pleroma tal chronos.

And the word plorama there, it conveys a sense of being full or filled to capacity.

And one definition is filled until it overflows.

I love that. We know the Greek word chronos is just time in sequence.

It's a way to measure time.

And so when we read this here and this phrase that means in the fullness of time,

what it says is it's not just happening at random,

but everything is happening for a purpose that at the right time God brought

it to pass let me show it to you let me show it to you in the Old Testament

prophecies were coming forth about the Messiah's coming and

They're scattered from the book of Genesis all the way through more detailed

accounts in the book of Daniel, but all throughout the Old Testament.

The prophecies about Jesus were written.

Those prophecies were talking about God's redemptive plan. But look at this.

By the time that Christ was born, the fullness of time had come.

How did God work it together? Well, let me show you three main ways that God had worked it together.

First of all, he used the Roman Empire. And the Roman Empire provided the perfect political structure.

They had made an extensive road system that led throughout their vast empire

where they could spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The relative time of peace known as the Pax Romana, where there was a time where

they could travel freely across borders and mingle with other people from other

nations and other cultures, gave the perfect political climate.

Number two, he used the Greek culture because Greek culture and language had

infiltrated the world and it had offered a common linguistic system,

making communication across different nations and different religions possible.

But not only that, he had planted Jewish synagogues all throughout the Roman world.

They served as that initial platform where they could begin to preach the gospel.

Do you see what God was doing right there? He used the Romans,

and he used the Greeks, and he used the Jews, and he brought them all together. You know why?

Because the Bible says the heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord,

and as the rivers of water, he turns them wherever he wants to.

He brought everything in this world together. So at the perfect time,

at the right time is what the Bible says.

At just the right time, that's when he brought together the birth of Jesus Christ

to be spread abroad in the fullness of time.

Ecclesiastes, we read this. Ecclesiastes says it this way, for everything there is a season.

We talk about that and just, you know, we say, well, you know,

it's going to snow for everything. There's a, no, you know what that writer's talking about?

He's talking about in the fullness of time for everything. There's a season,

a time and matter under heaven in the fullness of time.

God brought all the right cultures and all the right laws and all the right

spiritual environment together.

And the birth of Jesus Christ happened. Think of it this way.

It's like a symphony coming together.

Has anybody ever listened to an orchestra? Anybody listen to an orchestra?

Yeah, yeah, I know. Some of you guys, you're like me. I've been to more football

games than have orchestras.

But I remember I went to an orchestra one time at Northern Kentucky University

when I was up there and listened to an orchestra.

And I thought, man, this is beautiful. I heard some instruments playing.

But then all of a sudden, right in the middle of them playing,

when I thought it couldn't get any better, that conductor, he would point that stick over there.

I don't know what it's called. He would point that stick over there.

Brad, you know what I'm talking about. that stick that those conductors use.

He would point that stick over there and this whole different layer of strings

would come in. I would think, man, that is perfect.

It doesn't get any better than that. And then he would point it somewhere else

and then a whole nother layer of instruments would come in.

And at just the right time, everybody came in to the crescendo of the piece and it was incredible.

If they were just playing separate, it would have been a mess.

But at just the right time, they came in and it produced them.

See, that's what Christ did. That's what God did with the coming of Christ,

that all of the chaos leading up to that time, all of the political turmoil

leading up to that time, all of the spiritual turmoil leading up to that time,

all of the cultural chaos, all of a sudden God brought it all together to the

perfect place for Jesus to come in.

Can I say something right now that you never know when your fullness of time

is going to be in your life?

I felt a witness of the Holy Spirit right there, that you might think it looks

like chaos in your life right now.

You might feel like, man, when it rains, it pours. How many people have heard

of that before? And it rains, it pours.

Sometimes God is just opening up every avenue to where he can open up the fullness

of time, just like he did with the, see, the Bible declares in the book Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and verse 11, he has made everything beautiful in its time.

And it may not look beautiful because it may not be the time right now,

but when the fullness of time comes and God gets through doing the work that

he's doing in your life, he will make things beautiful in its times.

Why do I believe that? Because the promises of God are not just words.

They are anchors of hope that carries us through the storms of life and into

the destiny that God has for us.

I believe it. And then finally, not just that promise, not just do we have that

perfect time when it's coming, but also we have a Savior who redeems.

See, God's promises are not just for the past. I'm going to say that.

God's promises are not just for the past. What kind of father would we have

if he told us about healing but didn't make it available to us?

What kind of father would we have that told us about provision but wouldn't provide for us?

But he says that he's not a father like us earthly fathers.

He said, if we know how to do good as our earthly fathers, then how much more,

he said, would he give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?

He knows how to give us good things. That's what he's saying.

So we see this. Paul reminds us that if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature.

The old has passed away, and behold, the new has come. I want to tell you that

there is newness. There is transformation in your life.

And this transformation is not just a church transformation.

Man, I've heard people say, man, you know, I gave my heart to the Lord,

and now my Sundays are so good.

Well, if your Mondays are bad, then you really didn't get Jesus. You just got a church.

Amen. I got to say that because some people, they try to add church to their

lives, and church makes their Sundays better, and it makes their Wednesdays

a little more tolerable.

But Mondays and Tuesdays and Thursdays through Saturdays absolutely stink,

And the reality is, is a church can make you a little more tolerable on Sunday,

but a church cannot transform your life without Jesus.

Oh, there we go. Yeah, there we go.

Yeah the ones who've experienced that's clapping and some of

you are like what's he talking about i'm talking about jesus i'm

talking about jesus we said it there's not

just words we're talking about here these are anchors of our souls these are

anchors that lead us through the storms of life see john tells us in john 3

16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever soever

believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life eternal life is what

we're talking about this morning.

This is not just a make you feel better on Sunday news that we had delivered to you.

Jesus came. The promise came. The promise was fulfilled so that you could have

salvation, so that you could have redemption, so that you could have transformation.

I'm telling you right now, if you deal with addiction, Jesus didn't come so

that you could stay addicted. He came so that you could be transformed.

I'm telling you, if you're dealing with sickness right now, Jesus didn't come

so that you could feel better ill. He came so that you could be healed.

If you're dealing with turmoil in your marriage right now, He didn't come so

that maybe you could come and get counseling and be tolerable.

He came so you could see transformation in your marriage and your life and live

a life in the fullness of God's promises.

Amen. Amen. The Savior's purpose was to redeem humanity from sin,

to restore us to relationship with God.

And that is still what the reality is.

He doesn't want us to stay where we are, but he wants to give us newness of

life. Hope if you'll come help me this morning.

See, I look at this, and I know that on this Christmas season that we're talking

about right now, that people need hope. People need hope.

As a matter of fact, what studies will tell you is that right now,

this Christmas season, that people are more likely to be depressed and people

are more likely to commit suicide.

During the Christmas holiday, depression and suicide.

For some of you, you were like, but it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Not for some people. See, the reality is we have hope that this world needs.

According to research, people, what research shows is that 60% of people in

our world that don't know Jesus say they are more likely to make a spiritual

decision during the Christmas holiday than any other time of year.

Okay so let's think about this church we're talking about a promise,

a promise foretold a promise fulfilled that's what we're talking about we're

talking about this promise we've said that the holiday season is the most there's

a increase in depression and suicide,

yet at the same time people are 60 percent more likely to make spiritual decisions

you know why because there's a reality right now this time of year that we need

hope that we don't have in ourselves.

Church what's our mission this holiday season listen it's

beautiful i love the trees i love the decorations i

love you know me me and ashley the other night we watched we watched them light

up the uh i was telling it during the first service i said we watched the christmas

tree lighting in new york city and she said on tv and i'm thinking well that

was a stab at me you know had to watch it on tv yeah we watched it on tv okay

and it was beautiful it was beautiful,

and they were singing, what song were they singing? It was a song about Jesus.

It was a holy night. Yes, it was a holy night. And they were singing it.

It was on, was it NBC? One of those networks?

And I thought, well, praise the Lord.

But this time of year, people are more open to the message of hope.

They're not going to sing a song about Jesus on

on november 15th on nbc but when

they light that tree up they may not even be fully aware of what the true

meaning is but they'll sing that song all because it's a part of this holiday

and people all of a sudden for those of us who are believers we say this is

the hope that we're living but for those who don't know him they're saying what's

our hope this is when we as believers This first,

the promise of a Savior.

This first sermon that we're preaching. This is marching orders to the church.

That our job this holiday season is to show people the hope of Jesus.

To show them. I had a prison, someone who worked in the prison that walked out

of the first service at the end.

He told me, he said, when I worked there at that prison, we had more suicides

during Christmas holiday than any other time of year. Why? Because people want hope.

And this time of year, people either realize who the hope is or they realize they're void of hope.

It's our job as the church to point them to Jesus Christ, a Savior foretold,

a Savior born to fulfill the promise. But it wasn't just history.

He's a Savior who redeems today. He is our hope.

Jesus is our hope. Let's all stand all over this building.

And i'm saying this and as i say this maybe you're here today and you don't have that hope,

maybe you don't you don't have a relationship with jesus

i'm talking about a personal relationship with jesus that you have given your

life to jesus christ we said this a few weeks ago that we preach jesus like

he's a vitamin that makes us feel better and jesus is not a vitamin that makes

you feel better. A relationship with Jesus is not like a vitamin.

I heard someone say one time that a relationship with Jesus is more like a heart

transplant and a blood transfusion. Yeah, that's what I needed.

That's what I needed when I was lost in sin, when I didn't have a way,

I needed a heart transplant.

Take out this heart of stone and put it in a heart of flesh.

I needed the blood of Jesus to cover my life.

I needed him. If you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ,

you need him but also if you're here today and you've not been sharing jesus with people,

that's our job church is to share jesus with people to tell people of this hope,

and so it's our job this christmas season to go out and tell somebody about

this hope okay every head bowed every eye closed i got two calls this morning.

First of all, we're not going to pull you out and embarrass you on these calls,

but our first call is this.

If you don't know Jesus for yourself, maybe you've got a relationship with church,

church people, but you've never given your heart to Jesus Christ.

Today's your day. The Bible says today is the day of salvation.

Today's your day. So if you don't know Jesus for yourself, but you'd like to

know him today, I just want you

to slip your hand up. You can put it right back down and say, that's me.

I want to know Jesus today. I want to know Jesus.

That's me. Come on, if you're here, say, that's me. We're not going to pull

you out. I'm not going to embarrass you.

But there is an acknowledgment that you need Jesus, that you need to acknowledge, I need him. I need him.

The Bible says that if you're ashamed of him here on earth, he'll be ashamed

of you in heaven before his Father. We need to acknowledge Jesus.

So one last time, if you're here today and you say, I need Jesus,

you can slip that hand up. You can put it right back down and say, that's me. That's me.

Here's my second call. God bless that hand. Here's my second call.

Here's what I want you if you're here today and we're believers,

sometimes we say we're believers, but we're not sharing what we believe.

If you're here today and the Holy Spirit has pricked your heart and let you

know that we got to do a better job of letting people know about this hope.

And we're going to this Christmas season share the message of hope more than we ever have before.

And the Holy Spirit's impressed that upon you. If that's you,

I want you to raise your hand. That's me. I'm raising my hand. Yeah.

Yeah. So if you raise your hand on either one of those calls if you need special

prayer for anything else I want I want to have a time of prayer at this altar

before we dismiss this morning Can we do that if you raise your hand in those

calls if you need special prayer if you want to come pray this altar About something

step step out on the count of three one two three step on down.

That's right. Come on down Come on down. This altar is open. This altar is open.

Music.

Upon still standing upon the promise of our savior listen

we want everybody to join us uh we are about 45 minutes.

Music.

Out from starting our our christmas meal and you

can go on up there if you want to hey parents just a a

note for the cafeteria up there we have rented out

the cafeteria but we can't be out in the school okay so keep the kids in the

cafeteria there uh so uh but we're looking plenty of room in there ton of room

in there and so we want to see you there god bless you guys we love you guys

also just one one praise the Lord note we served over a hundred and twenty children at the diaper men.

Music.