Cradle to the Cross in Five Days
First B Jackson
2018-12-23

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Amen. That's awesome. Thank thank you very much. We've got a few announcements, to do, and then we're thankful for having the children's choir leading us this morning with song. And so Monday nights at first bead, every Monday night we have a service down in the fellowship hall, but it's off for Christmas Eve tomorrow night.

So we'll be gathering in this room, and hopefully there'll be overflow in the other room down there. But Monday nights are off for Christmas Eve. Awana also off for Christmas Eve. These are the Christmas services here. We're having today, obviously, here's the nine, and we're doing eleven.

We've got a 04:30 and six tomorrow night. So 04:30 in the evening, six in the evening tomorrow night. No services on Christmas day, but that's that's when we're doing. 04:30 and six, and I'd say, get here early. This this is something that usually fills up.

If you wanna if you want a seat, then come on early and squeeze to the middle. And if you can today, squeeze to the middle and leave the outsides open because there are people that may want to do that when we sit back down after we greet each other. There's a congregational meeting coming up on January 13. So, if you're a member here, please feel free. Don't just feel free.

You're invited. Come on and be here for the congregational meeting, January 13. That's between services at 10:15. We have a trip that is we're planning to go to Israel in 2019. We have been planning it to be during spring break this whole time, but we're looking to gain 20 people to make it happen at that time.

We have about 16 or 18 that are wanting to go right now. If you have any interest that you think you might wanna go during spring break, Israel 2019, would you come to the meeting today in my office at 10:15, so between these services? And we're meeting regardless whether you wanna go or not. The folks who know that they're they're going, come on into the office. We've got some questions that we think we might be able to answer.

Nick, would you stand for a second? Not only is he photographer, he is a travel agent, at least for this trip. Yep. So that's right. So many things when you're in ministry.

That's the way that goes. We have a men's winter retreat, and I'm gonna hand off the mic to Kyle Knutson for that one. It's on. Yep. January 25 to the

twenty seventh is an annual men's winter retreat this year. For those of you who are not familiar with it, it's an island park at Old Faithful Christian Ranch. It's a very unique spot. It's one of the best times of the year for the men to really get together, spend time fellowshipping, getting to know each other outside of the one or two hours we spent here on Sundays and really just glorifying the Lord. Unique aspect of it is it's a three mile snowmobile trip in.

If you don't have a snowmobile, we have a Old Faithful Christian Ranch has one or two snow cats that we catch a ride in. I'd love to see all men come at a possible and children. We usually say about age six or older or so. $100 for men, that includes food. And if you don't have a snowmobile to trip in, every that includes everything for boys 12 and under, $50.

So we're doing everything we can to make it affordable and just a great opportunity. So more details to come, but that's where we're at right now.

Thank you very much. That is a great time too. Snowmobiles, skate skiing, cross country, all of that sort of wintertime fun stuff, and just hanging around in the lodge by the fire, if not. So it's a good time, men's winter retreat. You said the twenty fifth through the January 27.

Okay. Cool. I'm gonna invite up the Findlay's. If you would, come forward, and they're going to do our advent reading for this fourth Sunday in Advent.

Thank you. Hello. We're the Findlay's. I'm Aaron. This is Alicia.

Our children, Ben, Hazel, and Evelyn.

We're honored to be able to read the

advent for today and to light the fourth purple candle, which represents love. So today, we light that fourth candle on our advent wreath. This candle represents love. God's inexpressible love was demonstrated in the sending of his son. His love has led to our salvation, and we respond by loving and living for him.

John three sixteen says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. We're gonna get back to basics with some matches. Thank

you. Merry Christmas to y'all. And Merry Christmas to all y'all. If you would, stand up and greet one another. Find somebody you haven't seen.

Say howdy, and we'll have the kids bring us back together. Baptist preacher forgot the offering. We're gonna we're gonna take up an offering right now. And would you pray with me as we prepare for that? God, I thank you for these children.

I'm moved lord to hear them singing your praises and pointing towards you and the fact that you stepped into this time and space that you created. In Jesus name, lord, we pray that you would bring a blessing through us to this community and to this world. I pray that you'd do it for both locally and globally. And Lord, I pray that you would multiply the gifts given to do your kingdom's work. May your good gospel of love and forgiveness advance because of, what you do through your obedient service.

In Jesus name, would you bless this offering that we're about to receive. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Now, we are, you know, every every Sunday at this time like when we have the offering right after that and it's about time for me to start preaching.

We have children's church and there is still children's church downstairs this week but it's for preschool, kindergarten, first grade. So, if you have preschool, kindergarten, first grade kids and they want to go down and you want them to go down, send them on down. It's time but the rest of the kids are staying up this Sunday. So, I need something to hide behind. I'm a little big to try to hide behind this, but Good morning.

I'm glad that you all are here this morning, and I'm glad to be here. I've got this Sunday, I'm doing selected passages from Luke. So it's Christmas time. Right? Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and we're gonna hit the Luke passage that everybody's gonna hit this morning.

But I've I've got some others in there. As I finished up the sermon last Sunday, had an idea, and it just felt like it had to happen. So this is hopefully that idea happening. But would you all stand with me before we start? I'll give you a chance.

You didn't get to sing this morning. You didn't get to do anything. So, we don't usually do the Lord's prayer every Sunday. We don't do it. We're not a liturgical tradition church.

So, here we go though. Would you all recite the Lord's prayer here with me? Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Amen. Y'all can be seated. Thank you. So selected passages from the gospel of Luke. We're gonna go from the cradle, the manger cradle, to the cross in five days.

Five days in the life of Jesus. Okay? Cradle to the cross in five days. And if I'm gonna get this done, it's gotta happen fast. So day one is this, the cradle.

And there were Luke two eight through 14 and there were in the same country, shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night and low, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shown round about them and they were sore afraid and the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. It's important that it shall be to all people. This is a little backwater town in Judea, Israel and not a lot of people saw this happen. In fact, it was those shepherds for unto you, the angel said, is born this day. And this day, that's King James.

I actually use the King James. It's so poetic and it's something that's traditional Christmas. This is the KJV. We're not a KJV only type church but for unto you is born this day in the city of David, that means today. For unto you is born today in the city of David which is Christ the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you.

You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly, there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly host, other angels praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. It's toward men. It's godward. God started it and he is directing it.

Peace towards men. Those who had been at enmity with God. Let me just clear that up. We're all sinners. We all fall short of the glory of God but glory to God in the highest because he is making a move of love and forgiveness toward men right there.

Peace and it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one or let it one another, let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which has come to pass which the Lord hath made known to us and they came with haste. So, immediately, they got up and did just as angels direct. They came with haste and they found Mary and they found Joseph and the babe lying in a manger and when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. Should be a capital C there. And all that they heard, and all that they they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and she pondered them in her heart. Now, Luke had set out to write a detailed history of the life of Jesus and Mary had pondered these things in her heart and Luke got to interview her and talk to her about these things. Mary kept all these things, pondered them in her heart, and the shepherds returned and what were they doing? Glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen just as it was told unto them. Amen.

So, glorifying God is a part of this first day. What happened on day one? A savior is born which is Christ the Lord. Amen. The anointed one, the Messiah, the chosen one.

If you've been here for the past few weeks, we've been talking about the servant passages of Isaiah that are forecasting. They're forecasting. We went through Isaiah 42 that the spirit of God is upon the Lord's servant. We went through 49, the coastlands. He's making this for the uttermost parts.

We went through 50. It's getting into some conflict and 53 was the passion of Christ. Broadcast seven hundred years before it came to pass. And then this week, day one, a savior is born which is Christ the Lord. This is the hope of the latter half of the book of Isaiah.

This is the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. This is that. A savior is born. That's day one. What happened?

Day two. This is day two. This is from Luke chapter four and Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee and there went out a fame of him, a fame of him. He was getting to be famous. Now, when it says, he returned in the power of the spirit in the Galilee.

This is just after he had gone into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. This is the beginning of his ministry that it's talking about. Jesus returned in the power of the spirit into Galilee and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about and he taught in their synagogues being glorified. There's the the word again, glorified. So, what is to glorify something?

When we lived in Mexico, we had a roundabout right in the middle of town. You could drive from one end of town, but you had to go around that roundabout. And when you hit the roundabout, it was go around this enormous statue of Benito Juarez. And that that was called he's the president of Mexico a long time ago. Good guy.

It's called a Glorieta. It's something that glorifies that person. It brings fame to that individual whoever that is and to glorify God is to give him more fame. Does that make sense? He deserves it.

Don't get me wrong. He absolutely deserves it but he to glorify God is to lift him up and to to make him more famous basically and he taught in their synagogues and he was glorified by all made more famous by all and he came to Nazareth. Now, Nazareth is where Jesus grew up. Bethlehem was where he was born. Nazareth is

where he grew up.

He came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and that is his custom was. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He had been in that synagogue many, many, many, many, many times throughout the last nearly thirty years. He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up for to read. Good old KJV and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah and when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written.

Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me. Can you imagine Jesus standing up? This is Isaiah 61 by the way. He stands up in the temple and he in the synagogue and he starts reading.

The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He had sent me to heal up the brokenhearted and to preach deliverance to the captives and the recovery of sight to the blind and to set at liberty them that are bruised and to preach the acceptable time or year of the Lord, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. That's Isaiah sixty one one and two, but it's only part of verse two that he quotes. And then the next thing says, and he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. So in modern parlance, this is what happened.

Okay? Jesus said what he had to say and dropped the mic. And all the eyes of all of them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day or today, is this scripture fulfilled in your ears? I'm I'm the fulfillment of this scripture.

It happened right here today and all bear him witness and wondered at the gracious words which preceded out of his mouth. And they said, is this not Joseph's son? So, it's been thirty years since Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Mary, and the Holy Spirit are his parents. Joseph, yeah, they know Joseph. They remember him.

They grew up around him. He's a builder in Nazareth, right? Isn't this Joseph's son? But the things that he's saying are pretty amazing. So, day two, what happened?

Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 61 and Isaiah 61 is one of those servant passages. It doesn't say servant specifically but all the others 42, 49, fifty, fifty three, and then 61 is kind of the culmination of it and Jesus claimed to be it. Amen. So, here is that but where did he stop? He stopped right there proclaiming the favorable year, a favorable time of the Lord.

He's opening up this age of grace. This is the favorable time for this to be accepted by you. It's acceptable time is happening. It was right at the beginning of Jesus ministry. When he's preaching in his church that he grew up in, right?

He read only part of that prophecy. This is what he didn't read. He stopped before he got to this and it would have been in the normal reading but he stopped right there and it says, so he went through to bring good news to the poor and to bind up the brokenhearted and proclaim liberty to captives and opening the prison to those who are bound and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor but he didn't say and the day of the vengeance of our God. He didn't say that. He stopped before he got to that.

Well, the typical the typical synagogue reading of this would have been a time where this stuff right here would have just been building up to the vengeance of our God. And then after that, it talks about how Israel was going to be lifted up. It talks about how we, our, us, we, instead, what he did, what Jesus said was, this is wide open. Now, it's wide open for everybody. All the servant passages say, it's a light to the world, a light to the Gentiles, a light to all peoples and Jesus says that and he leaves out the part about vengeance of our God because he's opening a new time period where it's the acceptable time of the Lord.

He leaves that out and so the aftermath is this, then he said, you will undoubtedly quote me this proverb, physician heal yourself. Meaning, you do miracles here in your hometown like you did in Capernaum but I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. Certainly, there will be many needy certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah's time when the heavens were closed up for three and a half years and a severe famine devastated the land. Yet, Elijah was not sent to any of these Israelites, your people, right? He's speaking in the synagogue.

He's speaking to the hometown base, right? Of Judaism at the time. And he says, he wasn't sent to any of those Israelites, those good ones of God's chosen people, right? He was sent instead to a foreigner, a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon and many in Israel had leprosy in the time of the prophet Elisha but only one who was healed was Naaman, Assyrian and so instead of saying the rest of Isaiah 61 which is about the lifting up of Israel and the lifting up of the chosen people of God, Jewish nation. He said, God is more or just as interested in everyone else too.

Does that make sense? He's opened the door and that made the base angry. Can you imagine? The aftermath of that was this. When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.

So they mobbed him. They jumped him. They mobbed him, and they forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built, and they intended to push him over the cliff, but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way. Now, Nazareth Ridge, this is this is Nazareth Ridge right here. This is Mount Tabor in the background, but it is higher than Snow King by just a little bit, and it's a sharp cliff on the other side.

If you go on the Israel study tour, March 23, you can stand up on top of that and look out. But there's a little bit of shameless commercial plug there. That's the aftermath though, is they're gonna throw him off a cliff and it says and he slipped out from among them and he got away. Day three. Okay.

Day two. Day three. We're we're making pretty good time. Day three, on one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there and they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem and the power of the Lord was with him, Jesus to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed, a man who was paralyzed and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.

Pretty good friend, right? This guy's paralyzed. And just think about this, we know modern medicine and we know modern doctors and we know cortisone shots and we know all of that stuff that we could have. But if you're somebody that's just got your back out of whack in the first century, there's just not a whole lot you can do about it and this guy had been paralyzed and his friends, we don't know what they were, we don't know what he was doing. We don't know how he got paralyzed.

We don't know how long. We don't know much about this guy except for his friends loved him and his friends believe Jesus could do something about it. They were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd. So, his glory, his fame has grown to where wherever he goes and this is only in chapter five, right? We got a lot more of Luke to go but finding no way in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and they let him down with his bed, threw the tiles into the midst before Jesus and when Jesus, he saw their faith.

He said, man, your sins are forgiven you. And the scribes and the Pharisees, religious folk, began to question that saying, who is this who speaks blasphemies? Because they knew that that to say your sins are forgiven in general was category three blasphemy. You were it was a I don't mean to be fancy, but it was an arrogation of the divine prerogative. Okay?

They were taken upon himself. He was taken upon himself that something that only God can do and the Pharisees and scribes were going to recognize every infraction and when they did, they said, who is this? Who speaks blasphemies and then they followed it up. Who can forgive sins but God alone? So, it got em thinking.

And then Jesus perceived their thoughts and he answered them, why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven, you are to say, rise and walk. Which is easier by the way? Your sins are forgiven you.

Your sins are forgiven you. Rise and walk. It's actually easier to say rise and walk, isn't it? But if you say rise and walk and the God doesn't do it, you're an idiot. You're a fool.

But if you say, man, your sins are forgiven you, who can tell? Right? Which is easier to say your sins are forgiven you or say rise and walk? But so that you may know that the son of man has the authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who is paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.

And immediately, he rose up just like the shepherds. Immediately after receiving the message that this was gonna happen, this is a sign. So, you go find this baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and they immediately got up and then the result after they saw him was they worshiped and then they glorified God and all were amazed by what they had said. This is immediately, he rose up and before them and he picked up what he had been lying on and he went home. What?

Glorifying God. Making him more famous. I imagine so. If you had been suffering and paralyzed and then you had up under your arm, the mat that you had been laying on for who knows how long. And you're carrying it and people are seeing you and they've been seeing you begging or they've been seeing you walking by you and you're carrying that mat around with you.

Wow. Glorifying God. You've got a story to tell. In amazement seized who? All of em and they glorified God.

They made him even more famous and we and they were filled with awe and saying, we have seen extraordinary things here today. We've got it. Today is born in the city of David, a savior. Amen. And we've got today, the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing about a servant passage from Isaiah and now, we have seen extraordinary things here today.

What happened on day three is a desperate man's friends found a way to get him to Jesus. They carried him. And Jesus claimed to be able to forgive sin and then he proved it with a very compassionate miracle. That's what happened on day three. Day four, and this one because there was a children's choir, I felt like I had throw this one in there.

There are about seven or eight times that the word today is used in Luke. I'm using five of em. There are couple others in sayings. You know, today, something grows but tomorrow, it's thrown into the fire is another one but that didn't have a specific day but this one does. Jesus entered into Jericho.

It's about 3,500 feet below Jerusalem. It's down near the River Jordan down here, so it's like being in Wilson and then the pass up. It's about the same distance from the top of the pass to Wilson as from Jericho to Jerusalem. Actually, the distance is about from here to the top of the path. But Jesus centered, if you go.

No, I'm just kidding. Jesus centered into Jericho and made his way through the town and there was a man there named Zacchaeus. Y'all know Zacchaeus? Children know Zacchaeus? What was he?

A wee little man. Yeah. A wee a wee little man was he. Yeah. There was a man there named Zacchaeus, and he was the chief tax collector in the region.

And he had become very rich and he tried to get a look at Jesus but he was too short to see over the crowd. So, he ran ahead and he climbed up a sycamore fig tree beside the road where Jesus was going to pass that way. He was anticipating Jesus' arrival and when Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and he called him out by name. Zacchaeus, he said, quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today and so Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house and in great excitement and joy but the people were displeased.

You know, the people being displeased seems to be a fairly common pattern. They were displeased in Nazareth. They want to throw him off of a ridge. They were displeased when he he when he was about to heal that guy. They're upset about the things he had said.

Zacchaeus quickly climbed down, took Jesus to his house in great excitement, joy, but the people were displeased and he has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner. They grumbled. Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, I will give half of my wealth to the poor. Lord, and if I've cheated anyone on their taxes, I will give em back four times as much. Does that sound like a heart that has been changed and transformed?

Yeah. And then Jesus responded saying, salvation has come to this home today. Amen. Salvation has come to this home today. When I said earlier in the prayer that that he was born into time and space.

Now, he created the whole concept of time and the whole concept of space and we have to live in its confines but he has said eternity on our hearts. Jesus came and stepped into that so that things happen in time and space. Salvation has come to this home today. Actually, if you back up, it says, quick, come down. I must be a guest in your home today.

For this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. Now, we don't have his lineage there but he was a tax collector. That's all we know about him. He was short. We know that.

We don't know if he was a an Israelite. We don't really know that but he shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. Meaning, he is one of God's chosen people. The blessing of God has rested on him. For the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost and he did that in time.

Amen. So, day four, what happened? Zacchaeus himself undertook effort to get to see Jesus. It wasn't like his friends dragged him there. He climbed a tree to get to see him and Jesus recognized him, called him by name, and invited himself in and then, saved him and it uses the word salvation.

That's why I said, it saved him. We sometimes get lost in the terminology of church and we say, is he saved? I don't know. I'm not even sure they're saved. We say it all the time.

Sort of stuff like that but we are all in the same boat. We all start out as sinners and we all are in need of salvation and that day, that man was saved and it was by Jesus. He put his faith in him just like that. So, day five. Man, this is going faster than I thought.

Day five is Luke 23. So, the scene here is Calvary. It's not but just a few miles from Bethlehem. It's really close actually. Two others who were criminals were led away to be put to death with him, Jesus.

And when they came to the place that is called the skull, Golgotha, Calvary. There, they crucified him and the criminals. One on his right and one on his left and Jesus said, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. So, this is for the people who had been beating him for a day. This is for the people who were mocking him from the gallery below.

This is for the two guys that are on either side of him and Jesus is praying, forgive them for they know not what they do as he's hanging on a cross. Innocent and hanging on a cross. Not having committed any sin nor any deceit in his mouth. He didn't defend himself though he was right and righteous and now he's hanging up between two criminals. He was numbered with the transgressors.

And he prays, father, forgive them for they know not what they do and they then cast lots to divide his garments and that actually is another one of those prophecies from the Old Testament fulfilled. And Jesus said, for father, forgive them for they know not what they do. They cast lots, stood by his garments, and the people stood by watching. But the rulers scoffed at him, saying, he saved others. Let him save himself.

If he is the Christ of God, his chosen one. So, they're they're now quoting Isaiah. If this is this servant, if this is the chosen one that is introduced in Isaiah 42, if it is, let him save himself. He's saved others. They recognize that Jesus has offered salvation and people have accepted it and been saved.

Even if they're mocking, they're saying it, right? And the soldiers also mocked him coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, if you are the king of the Jews, then save yourself. Now, for a Roman soldier, under the Pax Romana, this piece of Rome that was enforced by the tip of a sword and the army of Rome. All of these soldiers having the power and then this subjugated foe, you know, this under under them are the Jews and they kind of made fun of the Jews a lot anyway. If you are the king of the Jews, they've already placed a crown of thorns on his head.

They've already covered him up in a purple robe and pretended mockingly to worship. If you are the king of the Jews and it's written on his head right here, king of the Jews. Then save yourself. Voluntarily though, Jesus did not save himself. There was also an inscription over him that this is the king of the Jews.

What I've written, I've written. Pilate says, even though the chief priest wanted him to take that sign down. He's not the king of Jews. Just make it say he said he was the king of the Jews and Pilate said, I've written what I've written. I find no fault in this man.

You're the ones. This is the king of the Jews. Indeed, it was. And one of the criminals who were hanged railed at him saying, are you not the Christ? Then save yourself and us.

But the other rebuked that one saying, do you not fear God since you're under the same sentence of condemnation? We're all three hanging here till we die. And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds. You do the crime, you do the time, and this is the penalty for what they had done. But this man has done nothing wrong.

He recognized the innocence of Jesus. And he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And he said to him, truly I say to you that today, you'll be with me in paradise. What had that guy done to deserve that? Had he been in synagogue every Sunday?

Was he was he dressed appropriately? Most commonly, they hung criminals naked. It's modesty sake of artists that cover Jesus and the other guys. Truly, I say to you, today, you'll be with me in paradise. So, what happened on day five?

Jesus promised paradise to a criminal for one reason because he trusted him. He believed him. He reached out. He recognized that Jesus had done no wrong and he said, just remember me now. If you're going through any kind of evangelistic training, you know, and you try to figure things out, a lot of times you have to get people to recognize their condition of lost nest before they can be found.

That you gotta know that you're lost before you're found but you also have to trust in Jesus and Jesus is a sinless savior. He has the account of perfection that can be freely given to anyone who will receive it. Now, if you're holding on to, I'm a pretty good guy. I'm better than them at least. I think I'll do.

I'll take my chances. Then, you will lie down in torment, the Bible says. But if you trust in the one that God has provided, that's the way. So, today, what's happening? Jesus at work.

He's at work. He's at work right here today. He's still working today and so, I don't know your condition. I don't know if you were dragged here by your friends. That's quite possible.

Your family, it's Christmas. Come on. All right, whatever. Kicking and screaming, I came along. I don't know if you are climbing a tree to get to see Jesus.

You're making an extra extra effort to get to see him if this is real. This is a heightened time of year. I'm going to go today and see what's going on. This is the time where Jesus is at work. Because he's always at work.

But I will say this, you might not ever be any closer to him than you are right now. And I would beg of you not to quench the spirit. When it says the spirit of God was present with him to heal or the spirit of God was moving among them or when it says that I will give you my spirit. He says that to his disciples. When he says that I will send to you a comforter of the Holy Spirit.

That is for those who put their trust in Christ. And I can testify that it it is a good gift. Very, very good gift and to be received at Christmas is a great, great thing. So, today, what's happening? He's at work.

Right here today. So, today, what's happening with you? I'm going turn it to you individually. What's happening? This is what happened in Luke two.

The shepherds haven't received this message and immediately getting up and going and seeing exactly what God had said to them, the message, you know. Angels by the way, the word angel means messenger. It's someone who carries a message. So, in that sense, I don't have wings but I'm carrying a message. So, I'm an angel in that sense.

Okay. And that's straight up what the word means. So, the angel of the Lord broadcast a message and the shepherds heard it and they went and they followed it out. It was a huge blessing for them and they returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen just as it had been told to them. As long as I stay close to scripture and broadcast that, it will come to pass as scripture says, not based on my opinion, just based on what it says because it's going to be here.

It's going to be here. It has been here. It's going to be here. Luke four and all bore witness and they wondered at the gracious words. Gracious words.

Grace is a leaning towards. Grace is unmerited favor and so all the people who had heard Jesus say these things, they wondered at these gracious words because he stopped before he got to vengeance because he stopped before he got to your team's going to win and that's great. If you're on God's side, your team is going to win and that is great but Jesus said, this is a news that shall be for all people. So, we've got a stake in this to carry it forward into all the world. These same folks though were the ones who tried to throw him off the ridge a few minutes later.

They were wondering at the gracious words that were coming out of his mouth. In Luke five, immediately, he rose up. Jesus told him, arise and take up your pallet and go home and immediately, he rose up and how did he go home? He went home glorifying God, making him more famous. And then, what did the people do after he got up and left?

Amazement seized them all and they glorified God. They made him more famous. They had good things to say about God and they were filled with all saying, we have seen extraordinary things here today and then Luke 19, when the wee little man, the wee little man was he climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see. Salvation has come to this house today and what is it? The son of man, that's Jesus's favorite name for himself.

It's Daniel's favorite name for Jesus too. One of Isaiah's, the son of man came to seek and to save those who are lost. Salvation is what it is about. It does come down to that. It's great that you can be nice to people.

Grace, great that we can help people out but really, everyone is in peril and needs a savior and Jesus is the only one that he is. Luke 23, all he did was turn to him and this is by all accounts, a bad guy. You know, he's a bad dude, insurrectionist, one translation says, thief, malefactor, evildoer, and he recognized Jesus' innocence and his guilt and he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom and today, he was with that day. He was with Jesus in paradise. Amen?

So, today, I say, what is happening? In your life Would y'all pray with me? God, I pray that we would be sensitive to what you are doing in our hearts and in our minds and in this season and I pray lord that we would act when you speak and that we do so immediately. Lord, that we wouldn't hold back. And that lord, the result would be that we would glorify you.

In Jesus name, lord, I pray or bless them for each soul here in the room. Lord, whether they know you or whether they don't. I pray that you would reveal who you are and that you'd speak a word through us lord who are the continuing body of Christ. Those who have already put their faith in you. I pray that you would give us deep and profound understanding of your gospel of love and forgiveness.

And lord that we'd be able to help people see where we have found the bread of life. At Jesus. In Jesus name

we pray.

Amen. I want to invite the Judy to the piano and the kids back up front. Nancy. Yes. I will.

I got a note right before I started that that said, I'm paying my children a dollar to ring the bells every time you say the word Jesus. I'm glad you didn't do that because that would have been kind of distracted. Good morning. Okay. We're going to be singing Silent Night and Holy Night, the first song and so we're singing three verses.

On the last verse, we like to invite you to join us. The words will be on the screen and you need to remain seated if you would. Thank you. Amen. Thank you.

Thank you kids for doing that. That was great to lead us in song. I enjoyed that immensely. If if this morning you get here, almost always at the nine, we do participatory worship only, and it's with the band. If you're looking for that tomorrow night, 04:30 and six, the band will be leading and we'll have a few extra and augmented band kinda.

We have a violinist coming in. We have a few others, but we're gonna have fun and just sing praise to Jesus in the Christmas season tomorrow. But I'm gonna have a benediction here from second Thessalonians three sixteen. And now, may the Lord of peace himself continually grant you peace in every circumstances, and may the Lord be with you all. In Jesus name, amen.