Impossible, Meet Unstoppable

All right, everybody. We’ll go ahead and start finding our seats. Once again, everybody that’s got some young disciples in the room, I got extra grace for you. But for those of us that aren’t bringing young disciples into the worship service, I will start calling out names.

Awesome. I see some migration back to our seats. This is great, >> man. If Tucker can do it, anybody can do it. That’s what Lauren said. What do we think so far about having kids in the sanctuary? Is this fun? I like this. This is great. I do want to say all the kids. Thank you so much for being here. Y’all are so welcome. For all the parents that have brought their kids in for family worship, I want to say your children are welcome. We have prayed for years for the squirms and the the wriggles and the wiggling and all the noises. We’ve prayed for years and God has more than answered our prayers. So, we are so grateful for y’all. You need to know for me, I will not be bothered if a child gets up and walks around. I will not be bothered.

If it bothers somebody else around you, I will address that later. You as a parent do not need to worry. This is a time for some positive peer pressure. By the way, kids are welcome. As Jesus said, let the little kids come to me. So that’s totally fine. But kids, I want to say we do not view y’all as later followers of Jesus. You are a right now follower of Jesus as a 10-year-old or a 5-year-old or a 12-year-old or a two-year-old. Okay? So, I expect you to be fully engaged in today’s worship service. If you haven’t been with us in a worship service yet, kids, you need to know we don’t just sing songs. I’ve got one really excited child and I love that. That’s great. We don’t just sing songs. Yeah, Luke. We also pray and we listen to the Bible being taught. Okay, Michael. That’s great. I love that. You’re going to give me more talk back than any of these adults do. Thank you so much. This is wonderful. So kids, we have come to the normal part of our worship service where we pray. We’re going to pray for our Lottie Moon Christmas offering which if you are new to Southern Baptist life or new to a church that does this every year we as a Southern Baptist church we collect money Lottie Moon that’s a seasonal giving thing where we collect money that goes 100% just to the missionaries that the Southern Baptist Convention sends around the world which means for years y’all supported me and Becca when we were overseas in Southeast Asia without y’all ever knowing us. So, thank you so much for that. You supported the Simmons, Eddie and Amanda, for years before we ever got to know them or Seth and Rachel and their boys, their kids rather. So, there we go. So, what I’m going to invite you to do is grab a neighbor and just pray for a moment that God would bless the offering that we’re going to take up for Lottie Moon Christmas offering as well bless God’s work to start churches around the world and make disciples. So, y’all take that away and I’ll put a bow on it.

Thank you guys. Thank you for Holy Spirit. Ah, thank you for bringing us here today. God, thank you for gathering us as your family. Thank you for bringing us together to worship you and to declare, “Great are you, Lord, and to revel in this truth that Jesus loves me.” Thank you, God. Thank you for all these kids that are in here, Lord. I pray for a little extra grace for the parents, God, that they would not feel embarrassed or frustrated with their kids as we’re all sitting together for family worship. I pray for extra grace for our members that aren’t used to this that you would help them to embrace these wriggles and squirms and shrieks and noises. I pray for all of us, God, that we would set aside our own hopes and our own preferences and that we would just set our eyes on you and say, “God, what do you want in this world?” Lord, you have called out missionaries in churches and you have by your grace sent them to the nations, Lord, so that your name would be cherished and that more and more people would fill heaven later. I pray for every missionary that the Southern Baptist Convention has sent out that you would protect them. God, they are going to spend Christmas away from their family back home as they are in their home, away from home. Lord, I pray that You would help them, God. Help them as they feel homesick. Help them as they are dealing with all the emotions that come with that. I pray that You give them a really sweet time celebrating the birth of Jesus while they are overseas in their assignments. Father, I pray for our church as we raise money to support them. God, we’ve set a goal of $3,500 and I know that we can blow that out of the water. Lord, our goal for the shoe box, the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes, we only set a goal, Father, of was it three or 400 and 400 and we God, it’s over 500 boxes. I know that You can surpass that goal of $3,500 for the Christmas offering. So Lord, I pray that You would help us to be generous in that way. Lord, we love You. I I pray that You would meet with us right now, that You would help all of us to love You most. That You would use Your word, Holy Spirit, to change our hearts just a little bit more. It’s in Your great name that we pray. Amen. Amen.

Well, if you do have a copy of your Bible, I want to invite you to go ahead and open up to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. We’re going to camp out in Luke chapter 1 and two over the next few weeks as we are going through the Advent season. Advent is the church calendar term to refer to Christmas. So we are going through Advent right now and that’s why we are in this series looking at the birth story of Jesus Christ. As you are turning there, I’m curious what the past few days was like for you. For most of us at least, we just gathered with family celebrating Thanksgiving. For some of us, Thanksgiving is like a springboard or a launching board into an even better sweeter season of Christmas. You know, we just kind of got this appetizer of time with our family gathering and celebrating, being grateful, and we got to see people. We got to hug others. But for others in the room, Thanksgiving was not a launching pad in like into a even sweeter season. Thanksgiving could have been the first the first step down into a really hard dark season. Some of us just celebrated Thanksgiving and there was somebody missing from the table. Some of us just celebrated Thanksgiving and we were reminded of how hard family can be. Some of us just went through Thanksgiving and we are just reminded of how life hasn’t met expectations. We’ve all gone through unmet expectations. And I think about as a when I was growing up as a kid going into Christmas, some of those unmet expectations. Anybody ever given their parents a list of Christmas gifts that you expect to open up on December 25th? Man, for me that thing was 30 or 40 items long. And socks and undershirts and underwear was not on the list, right, man? It was all the coolest stuff that I saw on the commercials and that we saw in the malls. And man, you get up on Christmas morning and of course you’re grateful for some of the gifts you do get, but you’re also like, man, where’s the Red Rider BB gun? You know what I mean?

Others of us have unmet Christmas expectations of like family. Like, man, why do I still have tension with my parents? Or, why do me and my siblings not get along? Or, man, I really don’t like that person. I keep having to see them. Others of us have unmet Christmas expectations because we are about to set some New Year’s resolutions, and we’re just now being reminded of the resolutions we set 12 months ago that we didn’t keep. Man, if you’re a nerd like me, you said, “I’m going to read this many books this year,” and you lost track back in January, not because you read so many, but because you gave up. Or maybe you said, “I’m going to lose this many pounds this year, or I’m going to accomplish this this year, and you kind of given up.” And honestly, for some of us, Christmas, this season, is kind of just this marathon you’re ready to get through. My prayer over the next few weeks as we gather on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights is that your eyes would lift off of your unmet expectations onto something so much better. That your eyes would go off of the gifts you didn’t get, the resolutions you didn’t keep, or the family members you don’t like. And your eyes would rest on Jesus Christ, as we reflect on what He did in the past and how that can ground our hope going into the future. That’s my prayer for us over the next few weeks.

Now, it made so much sense as we begin this Advent season where we reflect on the birth of a child for us to bring all the children in for this morning’s worship service. Kids, if you are like 15 or younger, I need your eyes. This service, I’m going to need some help. The passage we’re going to look at, it’s got some clues and some hidden mystery for us. And I believe that there are some clues hidden around the sanctuary this morning. So, there’s going to be a couple times where I’m going to ask for some help to find something that’s going to help us understand what’s going on.

Raise your hands, kids. Can you give me some help? Okay, I’m not so inspired. Can you give me some help, kids? There we go. All right. Luke chapter 1, verses 1-4. Let’s read it together. This is Luke the author writing. Many have undertaken to compile a narrative about the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as the original eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us. So it also seemed good to me, Luke, since I have carefully investigated everything from the very first, to write to you in an orderly sequence, most honorable Theophilos, so that you may know the certainty of the things about which you have been instructed.

The author Luke, and my son just realized he’s got the same name. The author Luke wants to give us a strong foundation. If you’re a notetaker, you got a bulletin this morning. That’s the first little line. Luke wants to give us a strong foundation. Parents, if you are building a house and you want to build on a strong foundation, what do you need? Say it again.

Rock.

You need a rock. I think we’ve got a rock somewhere hidden in this room. Maybe somewhere on this side over here, there’s a rock on the ground. I need folks looking on the ground. Is there a rock hidden under a pew somewhere over there? Maybe in the form of like a block. Anybody got one?

No, that’s not it. That’s not it.

This could be a little… Yes, I see it. All right, Mr. Mulaney, can you bring that forward for me?

Yes.

Let’s go, bud.

[cheering]

Good. You fulfilled it. It’s a brick. Yes. Okay.

This is what the author wants to give us. He’s got a sure, strong foundation the author wants to give us. Look at what Luke said in verses 1-4. He said, “Hey, there are some events that have been fulfilled.” He’s pointing us to Jesus. He’s saying, “Hey, Jesus came and fulfilled some things among us.” You need to know this. The way you read your Bible is to take Jesus and say, “How does Jesus help complete what the Old Testament is promising?” If you were to read the story of Luke, and next year we’re going to look at the story of John, John’s Gospel, if you were to look at it, you would see how Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. The whole time, God was making promises to His people that were fulfilled a little bit right there, but were fulfilled totally in Jesus later. Jesus does that. He fulfills those things.

So, Luke, the author, carefully investigated what Jesus did. He digs through all the details to present what we could see as an orderly sequence of what’s going on, that we may know the certainty of Christ. Verse four, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been instructed. Here’s the deal. Christianity, faith in Christ, is not a blind leap into the dark.

Christianity is not just a passing hope. It’s not just something you inherit from your parents. Christianity is a sure faith with a strong foundation upon which you can build your life.

But the story of this strong foundation begins in an unlikely home. Tell me, if you were God and you wanted to give devoted followers and doubting skeptics rock-solid confidence, wouldn’t you want to enter the world with some pomp and circumstance? Wouldn’t you want to enter the world with some importance and some greatness? Wouldn’t you want to enter the world with some noise and some attention? But God’s ways aren’t like our ways. God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts. The way God does things is better than the way we do things. God chose an unlikely home for all of this to start in. Look at verses 26 through 29. This is later in chapter 1. In the sixth month, that would refer to Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman. The Lord is with you.” But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be.

Jesus is sent to an unlikely home. And this is an unlikely home for multiple reasons. The first is the place. It’s just the town of Nazareth. What you need to know about Nazareth is that it’s just an outskirts town in northern Galilee. There is nothing famous in Nazareth. There’s no reason you would go to Nazareth. It’s not particularly bad. It’s just this out of the way sort of place. It’s kind of hard to get to. There’s no real restaurants or hotels. There’s no real tourist tourist destinations. There’s no reason you would go there. It’s this this kind of place Nazareth.

But also the parents of this home, Mary and Joseph, they’re just engaged. Imagine the social stigma. The savior of the world born to unwed parents. Man, that’s so weird. Why would God do this? It’s so unlikely. They’re they’re not even married. They haven’t been married a long time. They’re just engaged. And look at who the angel Gabriel is talking to. He’s talking to the Virgin Mary. Now, we’ve come a long way as a society and culture in general, especially here in America, but there’s still places in the world today that reflect the culture then where a woman just doesn’t have the social standing that a man has. So, Mary’s got multiple tallies against her, multiple strikes against her. She’s a woman and not a man. She’s only engaged. She’s not married. She doesn’t have sons that can vouch for her. In fact, she doesn’t have any kids. This is an extremely unlikely audience to give this message to.

Once again, if you were God and you wanted as many people as possible to believe in your plan, you would be sh you’d be riding it on the sky. You’d be shouting it from the top of the temple. Instead, God is having a through Gabriel, a one-on-one conversation in the middle of nowhere with a virgin woman. And yet, this virgin woman and her husband Joseph, it descendants of the house of David.

Now, for that to make sense, you got to turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 7. It’ll be on the screen. 2 Samuel chapter 7. This is what we know about the house of David. The Lord declares to you, David, the Lord Himself will make a house for you. When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I God, I will raise up after you your descendant who will come from your body and I will establish His kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my name and I will establish a throne of His kingdom forever. I will be His father and He will be my son. When He does wrong, I will discipline Him with the rod of men and blows from mortals. But my faithful love will never leave Him as it did when I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure before me forever, and your throne will be established forever.” Nathan reported all these words in this entire vision to David.

The thing about Joseph, though he lived in a far-flung town and was not yet married, is that he came from greatness, too many greats to count, we’ll just say his great great great grandpa is David. The king of Israel, the one that the Bible describes, was a man with a heart after God’s own heart. All of this importance is resting on the line of David. Yet again, if you had to pick a successor for your throne, you’re probably going to Jerusalem. You’re going to the spiritual hotbed of the Holy Land. You’re not going to little nephew David’s house. That’s not where you’re going.

But even then, you know how I mentioned Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament? These words that were offered to David were partially fulfilled in Solomon, his son. Solomon did build a temple for God. God did establish Solomon’s temple or the temple through Him.

God did establish the kingdom through Solomon. However, what we also know is that through Jesus, the ultimate son of David, the ultimate king to come, God would establish a different type of kingdom and a different type of throne, one that can never be overthrown. That’s what God’s whole plan was. So all of this importance, all of this waiting, all of this wrestling with promise is coming to bear on this guy and this girl that he’s engaged to. A king born to unwed parents in the middle of nowhere’sville. Man, that’s not inspiring to me. Is it really all that inspiring to you? Picture in your mind, what’s the most insignificant place you could be from in the state of South Carolina?

For real. >> You don’t have to answer me, but okay, we’re doing this now. Okay. What are some other places? What are some other places? The most insignificant place you could be from Europe. >> Europe’s not in South Carolina, but there is a Denmark in South Carolina. There is that what? That’s not South Carolina either. Okay. That that that place doesn’t even capture where Joseph and Mary live. Where Joseph and Mary live is so far out of state, so far out of mind. It’s a place you’ve never heard of, >> man. It’s just a little intersection out somewhere that doesn’t have a a a traffic light. Doesn’t have a stop sign. Yet, it was God’s plan to give us a strong foundation in that unlikely home. In that home, God was going to place someone to rule, someone to lead His people, a king who would rule a kingdom unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. Kids, what does a king wear?

A crown. >> There’s a crown somewhere in this sanctuary. I don’t know where it is. Does anybody know where my crown is? Anybody find the crown for me? All right. Do I have a volunteer to walk that crown up for me? Oh, Anna Walls. >> Sweetheart, can I have that crown from you? Good job. Good job. All right, let’s go back to mom and dad. Okay, let’s go. Yeah, you go back. You go back to mom and dad. Yeah, this is Yeah. Awesome. Let’s hear it for Anna Wilds. Now that she’s back to mom and dad. It is so fitting that a girl picked up the queen’s crown. You can start to see where I’ve gathered these supplies from. God was going to send a king just as incredible as the home He was going to come from. What makes this king so incredible? Look at it with me. Verses 30 and following. The angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Now listen. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name Him Jesus. He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” Look at what makes this king incredible. His own name. His own name is Jesus. Y’all understand Jesus is not just a first name that Jewish parents would pick for their boys. Now, it was that they did name their sons Jesus. However, Jesus, the name means the Lord is salvation. This king would sit on a throne and to even address Him, you would say, “Hey, King, the Lord is salvation. I’ve got a favor for you.” “Hey, Lord is salvation.” There’s some grumbling over in the districts. Hey, Lord of Salvation, we’ve got a problem with taxes and invasions. We need You to handle. Hey, Lord of Salvation, what’s Your what’s Your plan for us next year? Jesus, His own name would remind people what God was going to do. He was going to save His people. And He’s able to do that because He is the Son of the Most High. This king will be fathered by God Himself. Some pretty serious accolades. And His kingdom will have no end. It will never come to a close. Man, don’t you hate when a good thing comes to an end? At the bottom of every ice cream cone, a little part of me dies inside. When I get to the end of a good movie and the credits roll, I’m frustrated. When a a friendship comes to a close because we’ve moved away yet again or something has happened, I get sad. Every good thing comes to an end. But God’s incredible king will rule forever. His good reign will never end. And that’s good news for you today because some of you are going through a situation that feels like it will never end. The tension you have with your spouse or your child feels never ending. The financial burden and the debt you are living under feels like it will never come to a close. The darkness and the sin that you are finding and can’t get a grip on feels like it is going to dominate you forever. The unmet expectation of wanting children or feeling like you’ve been blessed with too many responsibilities in the home feels like it will never let up. Yet there is a King and He has a kingdom and His goodness is what will never end. That’s the one we hope in. Not a new year, not in a family celebration. Certainly not in a pastor or in a local church to solve all the problems. Our hope is in a good King who lives forever and whose kingdom will never end.

But for this incredible King to be born, it would take more than just a difficult plan. It would take an impossible plan. But here’s what you need to know. Christmas is where impossible meets unstoppable. Christmas is where impossible meets unstoppable. You know what it means to be impossible, right? You can’t do it. I would love to see one of our children or one of our adults stand flatfooted and jump and touch the ceiling. It’s impossible. You can’t do it. I would love to see someone snap their fingers and double themselves. Can’t do it. But there are other things in life that are nearly unstoppable. Go stand in front of a train coming down the tracks and put your hand out and make it stop. That train’s unstoppable. Go stand on the beach whenever a hurricane rolls in and make it stop with the sound of your voice. Say, “Stop.” It’s unstoppable. Christmas though is where impossible meets unstoppable.

When I think about things that are impossible, I think about doing a puzzle but not having the pieces. I think that there are one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine puzzle pieces hidden in this sanctuary. Can I got can I get nine helpers to bring some puzzle pieces forward for me? All right, look around for them. Just look around for them.

I didn’t put one right there.

Kids, as soon as you find a puzzle piece, you just bring it forward for me. All right.

All right.

You match it into the spot. I think that goes there. All right. Good job, Nolo. Right there.

All right.

You can you keep the There you go. Good job, bud.

Yes.

All right.

Take Take the sticker off. Take the sticker off.

Yeah. Good job. Good job.

Yeah, I got the sticker.

Awesome.

Cut the sticker off.

Good job. All right. You slide it in right there. Yeah. Spin it. Spin it for me. Oh, you spun it too hard. All right. Just a little spin. Let me help you out. Let me Let me Let me help you spin. You’re forcing it. There you go. Good job, guys. All right, y’all. Go back to your seats. Let’s hear it one more time for our kids. [applause and cheering]

Christmas is where impossible meets unstoppable. Now, there’s part of this with this Christmas story that’s actually impossible. You’ve got a mom, you got a baby, where’s the dad? kids at the at the risk of spoiling too much. You need to know for every baby you got a mommy and a daddy. All right? People will try to tell you that a baby could be born from a mommy and a mommy or a daddy and a daddy or a mommy by herself or a daddy by himself. That’s not true. Every baby is a mommy and a daddy. This story seems impossible. You got this incredible baby, this King who will reign forever. You got this mom in the middle of nowhere’s will. Where’s dad? Look at it with me. Verse 34. Mary asked the angel, “Uh, how can this be? I’ve not had relations with a man.” The angel replies to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. And consider your relative Elizabeth, even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who is called childless. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And then Mary responds, “Oh, see, I am the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.” And then the angel leaves her. Let’s be honest, this pregnancy is impossible. How can this be? It goes against everything we understand about biology and nature and how it all works. But yet, God’s plans are unstoppable. You need to hear me say, there is nothing that can stop God’s plans from coming to pass. There is nothing in this world ultimately that can get in between the train of God’s plans and the destination of where He’s taken this world and cause it to stop. There is nothing that can stand between the hurricane of God’s love and His grace and His rule and His kindness and the coastline of humanity. God will have His way in this world. His unstoppable plans will go through any means necessary to come to pass, even impossible details.

There are things you are going through right now that feel impossible for God to work in. Can you just be real with me? You are going through something that feels impossible for God to work in. What is it? What feels impossible for God to do in your life? Kids, does it feel imposs— Well, hold on. Thanks, bud. Does it feel impossible, kids, to share your toys with your siblings?

Yes.

Yes.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. THE MOST HONEST ones here. Good job. Five gold stars for each of y’all. Adults, does it feel impossible for you to finally have the relationship with your kid that you’ve been yearning for that your friend has? Kids, does it feel impossible to just feel strong and beautiful and cool like your friends at school?

Yeah.

Thank you, kids.

Adults, does it feel impossible for God to deal with that medical diagnosis or this undiagnosed medical situation? And you’re like, God, what in the world are you doing? 20 years, no answer. 20 years, no relief. God, what are you up to? This is impossible. However, if God can send the perfect king to be born in an unlikely home with impossible circumstances, then God surely can do the impossible in your life, too.

Now, here’s the deal. I don’t want you for a second to set the hope of your soul on a yes from God with your finances or with your health or with your family. The eternal yes of God is in Jesus Christ who came to make a way to save you from your sin and to bring you into an eternal kingdom where the evidence of sin, i.e., your diagnosis, your medical situation, your family strife, a place where all that is done away with. But in the here and now, God can do anything He wants that’s in alignment with His will.

There is nothing that’s impossible for God. Which means your medical situation, your family drama, whatever it is, God can absolutely work inside of and smooth out for your benefit. Absolutely can. For what’s impossible with God, if God can birth the Savior of the world to unwed parents in the middle of nowhere, God can surely work in your life. Man, we know God can do this. We know God can do whatever He wants. We know He can do the impossible because He’s already done it. He’s already done it in Jesus.

Did you catch something in 2 Samuel chapter 7? This promise about a king to come that I said is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. Man, when I was reading this, it struck me. It hit me in the face. Let me read it again for you. The Lord declares to you, the Lord Himself will make a house for you. When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up after you your descendant, who will come from your body and will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father. Listen, he will be My son. really listen. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and blows from mortals. Did Jesus ever do wrong, >> kids? Did Jesus ever do anything wrong?

No.

Did he obey his mommy and daddy all the time?

Did he always follow the rules?

So, why would he be disciplined?

Here’s the thing. You can. There is a reason Jesus was disciplined though He did nothing wrong.

We heard it already. Isaiah 53 says this about Christ. Who has believed what we have heard? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Kids, listen. He grew up. Kids, Jesus knew what it was like to be your age. He knew what it was Like to deal with parents. He didn’t understand. He even had some half brothers. He knew what it was like to have to share his toys. Jesus grew up like a young plant and like a root out of the dry ground. He didn’t have an impressive form. He didn’t have any majesty that we should look on Him. No appearance that we should desire Him. In other words, He wasn’t beautiful. He wasn’t big. He wasn’t tall, dark, and handsome. He’s just a regular guy.

Yet, He was despised and rejected by men. He was a man of suffering who knew what sickness was. He was like someone people turned away from. He was despised and we did not value Him. Yet He Himself bore our sicknesses. He carried our pains. We in turn regarded Him stricken, struck down by God and afflicted. Listen, He was pierced because of our rebellion. He was crushed because of our sin. Punishment for our peace was on Jesus. And we are healed by His wounds. We all went astray like sheep. We have all turned our own way and the Lord punished Him for our sin.

Kids, Jesus never did anything wrong. Adults, Jesus never did anything wrong. Yet Jesus took the discipline and the punishment for our wrong on Himself. This King did not come looking to slay all of His foes with a sword the first time. No, the King came for Him to be slain for us and for the stuff that we do. All of the times that we go against God, Jesus has already paid for on the cross. Every single time, kids, that you disobey mom and dad, Jesus paid for that on the cross. Every time we tell a white lie, we look at the thing on the internet you know you’re not supposed to. Every time you are greedy or covetous, every time you do the wrong thing, Jesus has already paid for that in Himself.

Does mean see my care? This is the point of Christmas. It’s not about the stuff you’re going to wrap up for your kids. It’s not about the lights. It’s not about the stuff you put on the stove top that makes your house smell really good. Though, Miss Donna, it smells great. It’s not about that, man. Christmas is about a King who came to die for you, kids. Kids, Christmas is about Jesus dying for you. Christmas is about God so loving you He would send His little buddy, His Son, to die for you.

Man, over the next few weeks, can we just for a moment take seriously and personally this truth that Christmas is so much more important than any gift you are worrying about? It’s so much more important than any decoration you’re arguing with somebody about. Christmas is so much more weighty than the problem that’s sitting on your shoulders. The point of Christmas is that the unstoppable plan of a Savior from God was born through an impossible means to create a kingdom for you to live in. That’s what we’re going to spend the next few weeks looking at.

Let’s pray. Jesus, I try to be faithful to what You have. God, thank You for these kids and how they remind us of the wonder and the joy of God Himself. God, I pray that You capture every single one of these little hearts, that from an early age they would trust in the name Jesus Christ for their salvation. That they would know that God is salvation and He has anointed a promised Savior to come. I pray for all the adults in the room, God, that for a few weeks, we would just kind of forget ourselves and we would let go of all the weight we’re putting on ourselves to make Christmas perfect for somebody. And that we would recognize that the perfect God has already made Christmas meaningful for us. God, we need You. We need You to transform and change us. We need You. Please change us, God. Thank You. Amen.