A Choice and A Chance // The Light of the World (part 4) // Pastor Drew

Heat. Heat. [music]

[music]

Merry Christmas Collective Church. How

we doing,

[cheering]

>> man? I I love getting to do a Christmas

Eve service together. getting to come

together here. And I just want to say, I

don't know about you guys, I don't know

what Christmas traditions that your

family has. Anybody got like family

Christmas traditions that are like a

hill you die on that you're like, we are

doing this every single year. It is

happening. And uh I know I know we do.

We got my my family actually uh with all

of the all of my siblings being married,

we do our Christmas at Thanksgiving and

then our in-laws at Christmas time. And

and I actually I love it. We got fun

things that we do with my uh with with

Morgan's family on Christmas Eve tonight

and uh then six different houses that we

go to on Christmas Day, it is crazy, but

I wouldn't trade it for anything. And I

want to say with all the Christmas

traditions in this room,

all the the plans that you have of like,

man, I just want to we want to open up

some presents and then we want to rest

and we want to relax. We want to watch

some football, some basketball, we want

to watch like just enjoy ourselves,

right? Whatever your traditions may be,

I want to thank you

for injecting Christ into this.

you are here and that didn't happen by

accident.

And there's a reason that we are

celebrating all of this. And it's so

easy to get distracted in the chaos of

all the traditions and all the havetos

and all the parties and all the cookies

to make and all the presents to buy and

then to wrap and all the things that we

need to do. It's easy to forget what are

we even doing all this for?

And you're here today

remembering the real reason that we're

here.

That God sent his son down in the flesh.

Not just as a king to descend from the

clouds, but as a baby to be born. And

and his first bed is a manger, a feeding

trough. And it's not just the what

happened, but it's the how that God was

able to make the creator of the universe

now approachable to be not just

father, not just savior,

but friend.

And to be someone that says, "I get it.

I'm with you. I've experienced all of

it. I've been walking through all of it

because I got the skin. I've got the

flesh. I've got the pains. I've walked

through all of it. I've seen the

rejection a thousand times over. Isn't

that incredible that we've got a God

that gets us? Amen.

>> Amen. So I want to what I want to do is

I just want as we are here

to take a second

take a deep breath

and focus on what's actually happening

right now. Can we do that? Can we close

our eyes? I want to take a deep breath

and I want to I want to just say a quick

prayer of peace over us. Heavenly

Father,

we are here right now.

There's so much to be done. so much that

has been done, but we choose to be in

this moment right now.

We choose to be right here. God, I know.

I know that there's so many stories in

here that I don't get, but I do know

that you have a message that you want to

speak to every heart in this room. I do

know that you are preparing something

that you are readying each individual

for. That you want to speak, that you

want to have echo into our hearts and

our minds as we walk out of here. that

we would not just come to attend and

check the box of tradition but would

allow God I know that there's some

people in here

that you are preparing

to walk away never the same

that they cannot come with the same

expectation that they have but it must

shift right now. Would you begin to do

that? Would you begin to open up minds?

Would you begin to open up eyes? Would

you begin to open up hearts to what you

have to say? We submit ourselves to you.

In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray.

>> Amen. Let's go. Hallelujah. Come on. Can

I hear for the kids in the room?

>> Let's go.

I actually got something for us. So,

we've been going through uh the light of

the world has been the name of the

series. we've been going through and

we've been talking about John chapter 1

John 1 · chapter mention

1-5 and we can pull that up here real

quick and it says real real quick here

at the bottom here it says if we walk in

the oh this is 1 John 1 5-7 do we got

John 1 John chapter 1 1-5 if we don't

1 John 1 · chapter mention

that's totally fine it says that Jesus

in the beginning there it is let's go

crew let's go all right in the beginning

was the word and the word was with God

and the word was God and then it says

Verse four it says in him was life and

the life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness

darkness and the darkness has not

overcome it. This is what this season is

all about. We've been talking over the

last few weeks about what this passage

means. I encourage you guys to go back

and watch that. I'm not covering that

cuz I want to keep it short. get us home

and get us uh get us opening some

presents, snacking on some sweets, and

enjoying some of those fresh baked

cookies. Amen. Let's go. That's it. So,

uh but there has been when we talk about

this, there's been light as a part of

the gospel story and the story of the

birth of Jesus injected all over. We

talked on Sunday about how light, this

passage actually calls to a prophecy

that was given 700 years prior that

talks about a light being injected in

the very place where Jesus does his

ministry. where Bethlehem is a light,

where there is a star that shows up that

the wise men follow the light, where you

see that the shepherds on the night of

Jesus' birth as they're doing nothing,

suddenly an angel shows up and then a

bright light shines and a chorus of

angels shows up and they're all singing,

"Glory to God in the highest." And then

they go and they see Jesus and and it's

this they they meet him in a in in a

dirty area of the of the of the house of

the inn. And it's just like this messed

up weird like there's all this light.

There's all this glory. And yet when I

look at it, it looks kind of dark. It

looks kind of normal. It looks very I

was expecting this baby to glow. I was

expecting the the the house to be lit

up. I was expecting it to be the palace.

I was expecting not not the messengers

to come from a pastor.

And this is this is the story. We see

this light shining in the darkness

throughout this whole story. And I

believe that this is one of the greatest

messages of the birth of Christ that we

all have. That there is a light that he

wants to give to you in this moment

where you're at. I don't care how great

your life seems right now or how

impossibly

difficult,

unbearable it may feel.

He's got a light

in the midst of this darkness

that if we look to him, we're going to

see that there is still life and hope in

this.

As you walked in, you should have got a

little baggie of stained glass pieces.

Did you guys get that?

If you didn't get that, if you didn't

get that, see if you can, especially if

you're a kid. What I don't want to do is

these can potentially be a choking

hazard. These can be a throwing hazard,

and we don't want any of that. But if

you're a kid, if you can find what I

want to do is I want I I I want to give

us an opportunity here for the kids in

the room. If you can find maybe your

parents or someone next to you has some

of this and if you can find one that's

red and one that's blue. Can you find a

stained glass piece that's red and

that's blue? Because what I want to talk

about today is is that when you see the

light of Christ, it suddenly changes

your perspective.

Just like the wise men, just like the

shepherds, when you see the light of

Christ, it cannot you cannot help but

have it change your perspective. And

we've got Did we get that? Did we get

that funky little smiley face picture in

the back? Do we got that? Let's go. Can

we pull that up? What I've got here is

we've got a weird looking picture here.

And what I want to see us do is if

you've got a red If you've got a red

stained glass piece, hold it real close.

These are super small. See if you can

hold it real close up to your eye and

look at the picture. Look at the picture

real close. And what do you see? It's a

smiley face. YOU SEE THE MESSAGE IN THE

TOP CORNER?

Happy to see you here. NOW, GRAB YOUR

blue one. If you got a blue one, hold it

right up close to your eye. See if you

can see it. And what do you see?

You see the frowny face. I'm sad to see

you go. I guess sad to see you go. This

is a little illusion that you that you

can find with with these little pieces

of glass where it filters out one of the

lights. And but what what this shows is

just like when we see the light of

Christ, it's going to change our

perspective

that I cannot see things the same way

that Christ is like this this new lens

that I've been given. And now these are

really small, but uh the the idea of

Christ is this new lens that I've begun

that helps me to see things in ways that

I never thought that they could be. That

I can see things in ways that I did not

see them before. And it changes my

perspective. I think about the light in

the darkness. I've had many people

describe what it's like to follow Jesus

for the first time. And they describe

things like it's almost like a light

turned on in my life. Everything is

different. Everything has changed. I in

fact I've I I have stories multiple

stories of people that I've talked to

that when when they're in darkness.

First time I saw this was a a friend of

my sisters that she was just she was

getting into uh the occult and

witchcraft and and scary dark stuff and

and and she was told just say Jesus is

Lord. Just why would I say that? I'm not

going to say that. Just say it. Just say

it. Just say it. And it took probably

five minutes of convincing and then she

says fine, whatever. Jesus is Lord.

Did it just get brighter in here? were

her first words.

Who just turned on the lights? What just

changed? The light of Christ changes the

perspective of the way that you see

everything around you. And this we see

this specifically. What I want to

highlight is actually in Matthew chapter

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

2. Matthew chapter 2. If you've got a

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

digital Bible, you can open that up. If

you've got a paper Bible, please you can

open that up. In Matthew chapter 2, can

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

we pull that up on the screen here?

Matthew chapter 2:es 1 through3.

And this is where we're talking about

Jesus right after his birth. A little

while. It's about it's probably uh about

a year, maybe a year and a half. So he's

not he's not an infant anymore. He's

pretty close to it, but he's he's young.

But Jesus was born in Bethlehem. And

during the reign of King Herod. About

that time, some wise men from the

eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem,

which is like right by Bethlehem. And

so, it's the main city that's right

there, and it's not too far away from

Bethlehem. It says, uh, and they asked,

"Where is the newborn king of the Jews?"

What did we talk about last week? Who

did, if you remember, what did Herod

like to call himself?

King of the Jews.

Where is the newborn king of the Jews?

We saw his star as it rose, and we've

come to worship him. King Herod, when he

heard this, was deeply distressed, as

was everyone in Jerusalem.

Verse N, let's keep it going. In verse

9, if if you skip past a couple verses,

then it says, "After King Herod goes and

he interviews some of his uh religious

leaders, and then he goes and interviews

the wise men." And in after this

interview, the wise men went on their

way. He's like, "Please tell me where he

is so that I can come and worship him."

They went on their way and the star they

had seen in the east guided them to

Bethlehem and went ahead of them and

stopped over the place where the child

was.

When they saw the star, they were filled

with joy.

Totally different perspective, totally

different response than Herod when he

hears about the star. When they entered

the house, they saw the child with his

mother Mary, and they bowed down and

worshiped him. Then they opened up their

treasure chest and gave him gifts of

gold, frankincense, and myrr.

This

is a revelation. What I want to talk

about today,

the message is called a choice and a

chance.

When you're presented with the light,

you are given a choice and a chance. And

just in the same way that we see with

King Herod and how we see with the wise

men or the kings, these were rulers.

These were magi. These were guys who had

serious authority as dignitaries in

their eastern world. And they were given

a choice.

And the first choice that we we actually

see is a choice to come to him.

You can choose like the wise men to come

to him when they see the star and they

begin to follow the star. Now, here's

something interesting that around the

same exact time in history about 5 BC as

we see the birth of Christ was uh within

within history. Maybe we can nerd out

about that later. But about 5 BC, you

see the birth of Christ. There's ancient

Chinese documents that talk about this

broom star is what it calls it, a comet

that appeared in the sky and began to

move across the sky. And based off how

they liked to read the stars and the

astrology and stuff that they would do,

the way that they read where this thing

went is the map of the sky. would land

right on Bethlehem of what they see.

That's how come it's not literally a

star like directly 12 feet ahead of them

and they're like, "Okay, keep going. I

guess I'm going right." Like that's not

how they were following it. It's this

it's this sky map idea that they have

and and this this comet. Now, here's

what's interesting about this. There's a

couple different theories as to what

this star of Bethlehem, the star of

David exactly was. I think this is this

is most convincing to me because not

only do we see it in other materials

outside of scripture as well to confirm

it, but also here's something

interesting. As you dive into what a

comet means according to the ancient

east

and the ancient Greco Roman culture in

the east, a comet meant a leader, a good

thing, a rising up of a of a oftentimes

a deity. And this picture of like how

this star came and all this stuff, the

way that they would see that is like

this is a great thing happening. So of

course they come to Jerusalem and they

go, I see this star. I see where it's

going. I SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING. THIS

TELLS ME THERE'S a new king of the Jews.

Now, comets

in Roman culture were always a bad omen

is how they received it.

King Herod hears about a new king of the

Jews. And this superstitious, this man

that is always looking for someone to

come that's trying to take over his

throne. This man is suddenly

filled with fear

and he goes, "There's this is a bad omen

and I've got to look." And they see the

light of the world totally differently.

You can either use this light as a

chance, a choice to come to him or to

oppose him.

To come to him, you can write this down.

You You got a choice, two ways to

respond to the light. You can either

come to him like the wise men, like the

the magi, the rulers, these kings THAT

CAME. THEY SAW THE LIGHTS. THEY HAD THIS

PERSPECTIVE of joy and in love and hope.

And they were excited. And as rulers, as

kings, as authorities, as wise men, they

come with generous gifts. THEY BOW DOWN

TO A baby that's in a manger.

by this couple that maybe they're

married now, but they weren't. And it

was this shameful situation and this

they're in this they're in this homely

setup and this like this isn't this

isn't it. And you see these wise men

dressed in the nicest garb and the

nicest robes coming with the nicest

gifts and they see the light and bow.

I want to invite you into this

opportunity when you see this moment

with Christ. What's going to be your

heart response

to look

look at the look at the light and go,

"Oh, that's cool." I think that's most

of our response, man. How cool it is

that we get to do all this stuff for

Christmas. How are you going to see the

light? There is no pride so big that it

is too big to bow down before the baby

Messiah.

We need to lay down our pride. We need

to lay down our gifts. We need to give

our best when we see the light because

the other option and the more natural,

the more typical option is actually the

response that Herod has. Why? Because if

I look at the light and I see a king,

then that makes me not the king. If I

look at the light and I see a savior,

that means that the saving is not in my

control.

I am not my own hero. Now suddenly IT'S

NOT ABOUT me and I can't handle that. I

don't know what to do with that because

it's about me proving that I'm right.

It's about me proving that I can. It's

about me being good enough, being

lovable, being kind, being accepted,

being whatever it may be. Whatever the

lie is in your head that says you MUST

BE, IT'S ABOUT YOU. This is broken down.

When I see the light and I see that my

life is actually so much more than just

about me. There's hope in this. It's not

just about me. It's about me living in a

way that goes beyond me, that stretches

past my life, that stretches beyond my

own abilities, that stretches beyond my

own reach of my lifetime. And actually,

I IF I FOLLOW AND I SUBMIT to this

light, I can have a life that stretches

not just around me, but all the way into

eternity.

a life filled with purpose, but it only

comes when I'm willing to bow down to

the true light.

See, this is

that's the choice that we have.

But in John 12, Jesus reveals the

chance.

John chapter 12, I'm going to start in

John 12 · chapter mention

verse 35. We can pull that up. John

John 12:35

12:35

says, "So Jesus said to them, "The light

is among you for a little while longer."

This is his last week before he's about

to be crucified.

So there's some depth to this. He is

giving his this this John 12 and really

John 13 through17 is kind of his eulogy

to his disciples and how would he live

out his last evening in the last supper.

And he says the light himself is among

you for only a little while longer. Walk

while you have the light.

Walk while you have the light or else

darkness will overtake you. The one who

walks in the darkness does not know

where he's going.

I'm chasing after the next thing. I'm

looking at the after the next hope. I

think this is the next promotion that I

need. I think this is the next high that

I need. I think this is the next

chemical. I think this is the next

relationship I need. I think this is the

next person I need. I think this is the

next the the next experience I need. I

think this is the next fun I need. I

think this is the next escape I need. I

think this is the next video I need. I

think this is the next thing I need to

purchase. Whatever it may be, it's

constantly this reaching for something

else. It's always looking for a hope

that's never actually there, a

fulfillment that will never be

satisfied.

The one who walks in darkness does not

know where he is going.

While you have the light,

while you have the light, believe in the

light that you may become sons of light.

This reflects back to the same picture

that we talked about in week two of this

series where you don't just get to

reflect the light, you become the light

of Christ himself. And then verse 46,

Jesus finishes off and says, "I have

come into the world as light so that

whoever believes in me will not remain

in darkness."

Oh,

do you feel that hope that I don't have

to grope around in darkness my whole

life wondering where I'm supposed to go?

Wondering who I'm supposed to be.

Wondering how I'm supposed to respond.

No, wondering if this is the hope that I

actually was waiting for. If this is

going to be the right relationship, if

this is going to be the degree, if this

is going to be the job, whatever it may

be, I now get to he have the light. He

is my light. And when I come, when I

believe in him, I'm no longer I'm freed.

I'm freed from that darkness.

I lean into the light. And so this is

what I want to say. We we have

we have a choice

and you have a chance.

Jesus says in verse 36, he says, "While

you have the light,

while you have the light," this is right

here. This is right now.

You're in a high school in Omaha,

Nebraska,

and you have the light right in front of

you.

If the band if we can get the keys to

come up here. What I want to There's

I think if if Oh, let's go, bro. How did

you

Jeez.

That was amazing.

I think if Jesus was to put it in words

for today,

I think he would say it something like,

"Look,

if you had one shot,

one opportunity

to seize everything you ever wanted

with in in just one moment,

would you capture it or just let it

slip?" Yo. Right. Okay. Okay.

BUT I THINK THIS IS THAT MOMENT. THIS IS

THAT ONE MOMENT.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S COMING AFTER. BUT WE

SAID, I'M NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO THAT.

I'VE I'VE GOT THAT BEHIND ME THAT'S

SITTING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THOSE

DOORS. I DON'T KNOW ALL THE THINGS. I

DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU GUYS. I'M NOT EVEN

DONE WRAPPING my presents. I AM LIKE I

still got things TO DO. BUT RIGHT NOW,

THIS IS THAT CHANCE.

YOU'VE GOT A CHOICE.

YOU'VE got a chance right now. There is

hope.

There is life.

There is purpose. Guys, can I tell you

there is truth?

I believe if you are if you genuinely

unbiased [music]

seek truth with your whole entire heart

with your vulnerable broken self,

[music] you will always find yourself

back at the manger scene of Jesus Christ

of who he is and the moment and the

opportunity that you have right here.

You need to know where to go. You need

to figure out your purpose. You need to

figure out your plan. You need to figure

out your life. If you've been following

Jesus your whole life, guess what? You

still have an opportunity, a choice, and

a chance right now to draw in nearer

still to say, "Yes, I'm not just going

to take this opportunity and go, "Yeah,

and baby Jesus."

But to truly take this moment and to

recognize

the insane, unfathomable humility it

takes for the one who was with God at

creation. The one who is God and who all

things were made through him and without

nothing that has been made that has been

made. There is this is this is him who

came

to live like us

to live among us.

I don't get it. It doesn't make sense to

me. There's a part of me that doesn't

even like it because it confronts me

with something that I have to do. I have

to do something with it. What are you

going to do with it right now?

I want to invite you into this. We can

stand up here. I want to invite us right

here right now to look at what's in

front of you.

Look at this moment. Look at this

opportunity to look into this light and

not to ignore the things that God is

doing in you. To not ignore the things

that he is speaking to your heart, but

to take a moment. And here's here's what

here's what I believe that this moment

right now, how you [music] respond to it

can shape and direct the rest of your

life. I know it.

I know that God has the greatest

decision that you could ever make

presented before some of you in this

room [music] on a silver platter. It's

right here. And it's up to you.

It's up to you to do something with.

What do I do with it? Well, here's the

thing. Here's the amazing thing about

the gospel [music] of Jesus. He came. He

was born. He lived a perfect life. He

was sinless. He walked. He ministered.

He died for you. He was in buried in the

grave for three days. He rose again on

the third day showing that not even

death can defeat him. And guess what? HE

DID IT ALL.

THE ONLY thing I have is what I get to

do. It's like Christmas morning when I

receive A GIFT. ALL I DO IS HOLD MY

hands out and say, "Okay, I'll take the

gift." That's it. Would you say yes to

him? Would you take an opportunity? What

I want to do is I want to I want to ask

for all of us to close our eyes. If

you're one of our point people, team

[music] leads, board members here,

I want to give you the opportunity. You

can you can you can keep your eyes open.

But just but the rest of us, I want us

to keep our eyes closed because I want

to give an opportunity right here, right

now, so that some of our spiritual

leaders here at Collective Church can

respond here. [music] If you go, man, I

know that I've got the choice. I know

that I've got a chance right now [music]

and I'm going to take advantage of that

and I'm going to say yes to Jesus. I'm

going to recommmit my life to him or

commit my life to him for the first

time. I'm going to just figure out what

this yes looks like as I go. And I want

to I I want to make the decision right

now. [music] And I want the rest of my

life to be different. If that's you, go

ahead and throw your hand up right now.

Go ahead and throw your hand up. I see

you. Come on. I see [music] you. I see

you. These are amazing. Can we get some

of our leaders? If you see someone,

spiritual leaders, point people, team

leads, board members, [music] find some

of these people, they're going to what

they're going to do is I'm just going to

ask them to put a hand on your shoulder

if that's all right. [music] They're

going to come, they're going to come by

your side, and you don't have to do this

alone. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever do

this alone. If you haven't raised your

hand up, keep your hand up until someone

comes finds you, puts a hand on your

shoulder. [music] What they're going to

do, they're just going to pray with you.

They're going to have a conversation,

and they're going to help you figure out

what the heck am I supposed to do with

this? How am I supposed [music] to

respond after December 24th at 5:00

p.m.? What am I supposed to do?

You've got a choice. You've got a

chance. Let's take it. Heavenly Father,

I pray in the mighty name of Jesus,

would you do something today as we're

just going through the motions, as we're

doing the next thing, as we're getting

ready for all the other things, would

you actually take a moment right now

that changes eternity,

that changes lives, that changes

perspective, that gives hope in the

mighty name of Jesus, would you?

We give you our lives. [music] We come

to you as sinners. We come to you

imperfect. And we all we ask is for your

spirit. Would you change us? We submit

ourselves to you again. Maybe for the

10,000th time, maybe for the first time

ever, we give ourselves to you. We

submit to you. In the mighty name of

Jesus, we pray. Amen. Amen. Come on, can

we give a hand for the word of the Lord?

Amen.