A (13:57)
So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. He said, go get all the shepherds. And the servant said, master, it is done as you commanded and still there is room. Then the master said to the servant, go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be filled. It's five o' clock somewhere. He says, go find some people to get in here. They'll do nothing. They'll receive everything for it. For I say to you that none of those men that were originally invited shall taste my supper. Now, for context, Jesus here is at dinner at the home of a Pharisee. And the Pharisee invited all the who's who, all the VIPs, all the bigwigs, they were all sitting around the table also. And what Jesus is doing is he's revealing the reversal of order. That's how his kingdom operates. That's the exact opposite of how the world operates. Because in his kingdom, it's the first who are last. It's the last who are first that many are called, but few are chosen. That greatness is serving, that holding onto your life is how you lose it, that laying down is how you have it, that giving, not hoarding, is the key to receiving. Go figure that out. I give, yet I have more than I need. I hold onto it, yet I find that my money goes into a bag that has holes in it. And while he sits here at feast and I do Love, by the way, because we always talk about, and make a big point of addressing when Jesus goes to the home of a sinner. But did you know that he's also willing to go to the home of a Pharisee? I love that when a Pharisee would approach him with purity and sincerity, like Nicodemus, and ask him to have a meal with him, he was willing to eat with the Pharisee as well. But the shocking, scandalous nature of the kingdom is who's left outside of it and who's celebrated on the inside of it at the end of the day. And it's not always what you think it would be, because remember, the parable of the prodigal son ends with the good Son outside the house and the sinful Son on the inside of the house. And Jesus said, oftentimes it's going to be what's going to blow our minds about heaven is who's not there that we were sure were going to be there, and who's there that we said would never be able to be there. Don't forget this is the kingdom, he said, tax collectors and profit tax collectors and prostitutes are going to sit at the head table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, while religious leaders who prided themselves on their holiness are left outside where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. And at this meal, he's been teaching in this manner. And at one point, one of the Pharisees lifted up his glass and said, isn't it going to be so great in heaven? Isn't heaven going to be so awesome when all of us are there? He was saying to them, isn't it going to be rad to be in. In the holy place with the man upstairs? And Jesus told this story to reveal that not everything is what they think it's going to be. Because push. When push came to shove, many of these people who prided themselves on how religious they were actually loved money, loved power and the praise of people and didn't think they actually needed God's grace because they thought they were good enough on their own. And so what Jesus is trying to show them is the way that our towers that reach to the heavens are actually the Tower of Babel that get pulled down. And those who know that they're the shepherds, who know that they don't deserve it, who know that only by the grace of God can any of us actually get in, are the ones who will end up at the head table. So there's a few things I would love to just pull out and extract from this, this passage or these passages from the shepherds there invited as VIPs and, and here, Jesus teaching, helping us understand why. And the first is jot this down. The kingdom of God is a feast, not a funeral. I just love that it's a party. I love, I love that it's a party because I believe that church and God's kingdom, it should be enjoyed and not endured. Some of us grew up. You're not supposed to have fun. This is church, right? That's not how it's supposed to be. You see the shepherds ecstatic with joy to come and see the newborn king. You see, you see the people here. As Jesus describes it, it's a feast, It's a party. He would talk about the kingdom of God as a wedding where the wine never runs dry, where the laughter happens until you cry. This is what God's kingdom is meant to be. Full of joy, abundant life. Yes, we're exhausted because we're giving it our all to serve him, but we're serving the Lord with gladness, not a crushing, grudging sense of obligation. Well, I guess I got to do. Well, I guess I got to give. You know, you're supposed to. And we have this idea that sins were all the fault. Fun is in God's kingdom. We should do it, because if we don't, we're going to be in big trouble. And no one wants to go to the place of H E double hockey sticks, right? But. But even though it's lame and boring and worse, we have to just. This, this, this. This is what we're supposed to pretend is actually fun. And it's the exact opposite. That fullness of life, eternal life, abundant life, true life on the outside, on the inside, peace and wholeness without regret, without shame, without condemnation. That's where we find these things. It's in the kingdom of God. And there's nothing so fulfilling as living a life of mission. It's been well said that the two most important days of your life are, number one, the day that you were born, and two, the day that you figured out why. And to wake up every day aware that there is meaning, there is purpose, there's. There's satisfaction, there's life to be found in the name of Jesus. And then to. To live a life where, yeah, we get to enjoy the blessings of God in this earth that we live in, but we're not holding on to them as our identity. If your job is what gives you meaning, if your money is what gives you meaning, if Your sex appeal, if last night's party, if that's what life's all about. Listen to me. We're all moving towards a moment where we're saying goodbye to all those things, right? We can't stay on this earth. We can't live forever on this life. And so to have death pry these things that were your identity from you, to have age pull them from you, is to inevitably give in to despair. And yet, in the kingdom of God, we get to enjoy this life but not be defined by it. And we're moving towards our true home, which is heaven. And so nothing. What can any of these the things that come against us in this world actually do to us? They can't kill us. They can't take our life from us. They can only make us stronger. And to leave this world is to head to our true home and not leave what we mistakenly made our home, even though it's temporary and fleeting. So the Kingdom of God, it's to be viewed as a feast, not a funeral. It's to be enjoyed, not endured. And then, secondly, not everyone will be willing, but everybody is welcome. Not everyone's going to be willing. This story tells us that very clearly. None of those men who are invited shall taste my supper. There will be people in hell, but God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever would believe in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Some people talk about like, well, you can't make me believe, preacher. You know, like, all hostile. Why you gotta be so hostile? I wouldn't try to make you believe. All I'm trying to do is tell you where I found eternal life. To tell you where I found joy, to tell you where I found forgiveness of sins, to tell you where I found hope. Like an anchor that can hold us up in the storms of this world. No one can make you believe. And believe it or not, God won't even violate that. He's given you that honor, that choice, that power of free will. You can go to hell if you want to. You'll have to practically crawl over the cross of Jesus Christ to get there, which God planted in your path on the way to destruction. God's waving his arm, saying, I don't delight in the death of the wicked. Be converted, be saved, be set free. He's saying, be born again. I've taken everything out of the way necessary for you to be saved. But you must choose to come to the living water and drink, and no one can make that choice for you. Parents who pray for your grandparents who beg God for you, your husband or wife, your children who are interceding before the throne for you. No one, no one can make that choice. The tickets to heaven, they admit just one. Not everyone will be willing, but everybody is welcome at this table. There is in my Father's house, Jesus said, many mansions. I've gone to prepare a place for you. There's room for you. There might not be room for you on the nice list, but there's room for you in heaven. All right, all right, number three, jot this down. This text teaches us that you can miss out by being bad or just by being busy. You'll notice that the men who ended up not in heaven, the men who ended up not at the table, it didn't say that they were shooting up heroin. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's not like, well, yeah, these women didn't come, but they were also, you know, like, just downloading porn. You know, it's like, no, it just says, I'm going to. I'm going to get around to it. And you have to understand something about the mechanics of how party invitations went out in that day where we would send an invitation and you would RSVP yes or no and then just simply come. Is different from this culture. There was two rounds of invitations. The first round would go, you're invited. Are you coming? They would say, yes. Then the second invitation would come and it would say, it's actually ready now. Here's the day, here's when it's coming, so please do come now. So the insinuation here is that everybody who's getting the invitation in the parable had actually already said, yes, I'm coming. And now the invitation is, okay, let's. Now here's when it's actually happening, please come. And they go, oh, that's a problem. I wanted to, but as it turns out, right, I bought a field. Now I gotta go walk around and make sure it's good field that I bought. And if you don't like it, what are you gonna do? You can't get a refund on it, right? You already bought it, right? So they're all making excuses. Here's what they're saying. My business means more to me at the end of the day, when push comes to shove, my relationships matter more to me at the end of the day. God. And my possessions, these actually, now that I. Now that I actually count the cost, I realize I'm going to hold on to some of these things. I'M not giving you. I'm not willing to give you everything. Again, they're not bad. They're just busy. And the devil doesn't quite care whichever one you fall into. Because both of these can keep you back from the kingdom of God. Yes, Prodigal living, partying, the whole, you know, eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow. That can keep, to be clear, can keep you back from God's kingdom, but so can other things that just mean more to you than God. That's why Jesus said, you cannot come to me unless you hate father, mother, sister, brother, your wife, your parent. You cannot come to me unless you hate everything compared to me. Now, he's not saying because that feels very off brand for Jesus, right? Every time I quote that verse, I can feel your response. You're like, that's not my Jesus. Well, it is Jesus. He's saying, you have to love me so supremely that every other love in your life looks like hate compared to me. That you are willing to say, I turn back from everything to follow you, Jesus, though none go with me, still I will follow. And these people at the end of the day, their car, their job, their spouse actually meant more functionally to them than following Jesus and counting the cost. And so they were not willing to come. And you can miss out on heaven by being bad or by being busy. Number four, self emptying is the prerequisite for entrance. How does the kingdom of God work? It's not like you think, because you'll invite people to church, you'll hear it all here, you should come to church. And they'll go, oh, if I went that plate, the roof would fall in on me. And my response is always, well, it hasn't fallen in on me yet, you know, Right? Not, not yet. But you have to understand that insinuates that you have to clean yourself up and then you can come to God. It's the exact opposite. I've always said it like this. God cleans his fish after he catches them. So you come to him as you are, and he loves you so much, he won't leave you that way. You come to him dirty, you come to him broken, you come to him poor, or you can't come to him at all. The prerequisite for entrance is self emptying. You'll notice the text says it's a feast, not a potluck. It's not like you bring your casserole to God and he's like, ooh, that looks tasty. You can come in, right? You come in, empty Handed you say nothing. In my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling. I'm coming to you poor. I'm coming to you naked. I'm coming to you destitute. If you think you're a 6am higher and you've worked all day, then you'll always feel like God should be in your debt. And when your life falls into pain, you'll be confused, why would this happen with all I've done? Where is God, right? But when you come to him knowing I don't deserve it. It was five o', clock, he brought me in. And then the whistle blew simultaneously. And I got into. And he goes, all right, it's over. Let's go into the house. You're just like, well, this is a great deal. I like this place, right? That's salvation. That's the gospel. That's Christmas. And it's. Listen, you can clap for it. But it's offensive. It's offensive. That's why the Bible says the gospel is offensive, because it's a lovely thought to clap for it. But what it's saying is you can't save yourself. It's saying, poor unfortunate souls, right? Too bad you cannot. There's nothing you can do. And our nature loves to do something. We love to be the hero. You're not the hero. Jesus is the hero. You were so screwed. He had to send Jesus. That's the gospel, right? You had no, you. You were so messed up. It took the son of God coming as a baby and then dying on the cross. That was the only way you could get into heaven and out of hell. You realize that it's Christmas is not a compliment. He's not saying, you're so great, I'm going to send my son down there to get brutally murdered. He's saying, this is the only way. That's how messed up you are. And he can satisfy the wrath of God that would be poured out on each of us had it not been poured out on Jesus on the cross. And only us, self emptying, laying down our pride laying. Because we love to be that Pharisee. Oh, Lord, I fast three times a week. I pray four times a day. I give alms to the poor, right? We love to be that guy. And we think God's like, Gabriel put a gold star on her chart. She's so good. She didn't say any bad words this week. You know, like, but that when you empty yourself of all accomplishments, when you empty yourself of all that, you think that should give you status in God's eyes. And you, you are hardly able to even raise your eyes to heaven, but you beat your breasts like the tax collector who said, God, would you please show me mercy because I'm just a sinner. And God says, come on into my house. Come on into my house. There's room for shepherds at the table. So what I'm saying is we're recruiting for a Christmas play and all the spots are shepherds. That's it. None of us are Mary, none of us are Joseph, none of us are even wise men. We're just shepherds. We're just unclean. We're unwanted, right? And we're loved, fiercely loved by Jesus who says, come on in, there's always room for one more shepherd. If you're willing to self empty, I'm willing to bring you to dad's party. And that's Christmas. All right, so what do we see? If we're going to let Jesus cook, right? You got to let him cook. That's what they say. If we're going to let him cook, what are the ingredients he loves to cook with? There are three ingredients, as I see it, that God loves to cook with. They are humility, hospitality, and holy urgency. Now, humility I get. And hospitality in our homes and lives should be an extension of kingdom hospitality, right? But what do I mean by holy urgency? I fear, and there's pendulums that swing back and forth, I fear in Christianity in the church today, there has been an unnecessary casting aside as something not to be sought after. Anything to do with hustle or hurry, right? Hustle and hurry have been just like the bad right? Now, to be clear, the enemy can work through a life that's just so busy, where you're frantic, where you doing so much, where you're distracted, right? And that's not what we're praising here. But to altogether say hurry is bad and hustle is bad, to take those sorts of elements of like, let's get after it, let's have some grit, let's go for it, let's have some drive, right? Let's. Actually, the kingdom of God is worth burning the candle a little bit, right? See what I'm saying? I'm gonna give my life for. I'm gonna give my all for. This is worth building, right? And to kind of like thumb your nose at those sorts of things just do not to me square with shepherds who saw something that blew them away and what sauntered off at a leisure pace. No, it says they made haste to spread widely to everybody what they had Seen and heard. And everybody who heard the shepherds talking, their hearts were moved and they marveled because of what the shepherds said. They made haste. What is making haste? It's holy urgency. It's some pep in your step, right? I think about how the Bible says that there's still room. There's still room at the table, right? We got all the poor, we got all the lame, we got all sick, we got all the wounded. All right? There's still room. Make haste highways, you Byways, you. We got to go. There's still room in my house, right? What does that mean? There's some urgency to it. So this la di da, you know, kind of approach to God, that's just not. Let's not be so excited. I need more me time. I don't know. I just. Feeling a little burnt out, right? I just. To me, that doesn't square with Jesus, who said, night is coming when no one can work. Night is coming when no one can work, right? Think about the disciples after Jesus had ascended to heaven, and they're just gazing into the, you know, stars. Like, almost like, treating like the calling. Like it was just this big monastery. Let's just go and be in a monastery and just reflect and think and feel. And. And the angels were like, hey, guys, what are you doing? We're just looking in, you know? And he's like. They're like, he's coming back. Don't you have a great commission to accomplish? Don't you have a world to reach? Well, I'm making a case for kingdom urgency I'm making a case for some holy hurry I'm making a case for. Let's get after it we got a world to reach we got a gospel to preach we got, we got. We got. We got lives to touch let's. It's worthy of being tired for there's something to be said for giving it our all six days a week and then, yes, take a day of rest. But I think there's almost like a weird flipping of it where Sabbath becomes like the six days a week. And maybe. Maybe I can, if it's. If it just works out just right, give a little bit of one day a week to God But God wants us to be giving our all that his house hello may be filled. Are you hearing me preach a Christmas case for urgency today? Not frantic but faithful as though we were gonna. We're gonna give an account. And so we're prioritizing. Fruitful. Okay, not frantic, but faithful and hopefully fruitful that when we stand before him, he'll, he'll say, good, well done, my good and faithful servant. He gave us one commission and it was great. Only one commission. Go to the whole world, preach the gospel to every creature. So that's worthy of getting our heart rate above zone two a little bit right to get the news out, to give it all for him. This is not, this is not being received well, I can tell. I can tell it's not the one you wanted. You wanted just, you know, oh, yes, it's very good and all that. And I'm like, cattle prod time, get after it. But that's how God gave it to me. So I'm gonna give it to you whether you like it or not. All right, all right. So where are our application steps going to be? If those are the ingredients he likes, then we're going to have some application. All right? So for humility, our application is go low. If humility matters, we're not going to pick the high seats. Jesus will tell that in Luke 14. We're going to pick the low seat. We're going to let God give us recognition. That's not our goal. We're just going to be faithful and we're going to go low. And I just merely did what you said. I'm willing to do whatever needs to be done. I always say to our team, nothing that we do is not my job. So if I see a need, I'm willing to do it. I'm willing to do anything. I don't need some position. I'm willing to do what God wants me to do. I'm gonna go low then for hospitality, I'm gonna aim high. Right? If church is a reflection of the kingdom of God, then I'm gonna aim high. The details will be done well with excellence and creativity and the intentionality that everybody coming in and experiencing the ministry in our lives would feel like, man, you really thought this out. This doesn't feel like you just winged it and bought me a gift card. You know what I'm saying? Like, you really put some thought and some care into this. Not even just what gift it is, but how it's wrapped, how it's presented. The way I live and respond as a reflection of worship to God in my day to day lives to be kingdom hospitality agents would just feel just. Man, you thought through every deal. I'm going to aim. That's what, that's the church. I see that we would be a reflection of the kingdom of God, which is like an incredible wedding feast where the table is set, it's not, you know, Big Macs on paper plates. Right. I'm saying we want to be Ruth Chris a little bit here is what I'm trying to say. And then for holy urgency, we're going to go big. We're going to think big. Rather, we're going to aim high, we're going to go low and we're going to think big. Meaning it's not, like I said, a small commission. So we're going to ask the question, who have I proximity to that? I haven't cashed in on that. To either get them to church or to share the gospel with or to share my story with. And we're going to. What if they don't want to come? Well, that's okay. They can say that. But I'm going to keep asking. I'm going to keep inviting because listen to me, Christmas Eve and the next week and the next, I want the house to be full. I want people to hear, I want people to know. I'm going to not think small. I'm going to think big. I want God to touch this world. I want to end with a story I really could have began with because it's the origin story of this series. This message series has been called this is the Kingdom. I'm going to tell you the day God gave it to me, I was in Nauvoo, Alabama. And my family and I, along with a few others who are a part of our podcast family, the Lescotiers, we call them. Our podcast is called hey Sales Cos. And then we have people who list and we invited them to come on a mission trip with us and then some people from the church community as well. Fresh life came as well. And we were serving at a camp for families with special needs called Hope Heels. People in the Hope Heals community might have a child with down syndrome or a parent with some sort of maybe a stroke that has left them unable to walk or move. It's heartbreaking, the reality day to day. And yet at Hope Heals, they want to make an environment where in a world where they feel excluded, like they live in a world that's not built for them in many ways, in this community, they're included and everybody is carrying some sort of thing that holds them back. And it's the only camp of its kind because it's completely free. Nobody's allowed to pay a cent to come and be a camper for a week at Hope Heels. And of course, there are massive costs to doing that. Right? The gospel's free. It cost Jesus, everything. Church is free, and yet there's a cost to it. All right? The Hope Heals experience is free, and yet it takes resources. And so it requires people believing in it who are willing to say, hey, put that on my bill. Put that on my bill. And so we, as a church community this past summer, you guys may not even be aware of this if you give here. We paid for 13 families to be a part of the Hope Heals Experience this year, and you did that every cost necessary for 13 families to come for a week and be treated like kings. And the whole thing ends. It was one of the most touching things I've ever experienced in my entire life. The whole thing ends with a dance party. And they call it their Luke 14 banquet, where maimed and wounded shepherds get celebrated like VIPs. And then they. They have a dance off at the end. And I just. I took one little clip I wanted to show you because this is literally, you're going to meet these people in heaven and they're going to want to thank you for what they experienced there. Check this out. We can't show the music. Listen. Listen to the music. Because we'd get sued. But the. The conga line. Joy and celebration. And after we feast and dance, everyone comes in and this text that we just focus on gets read. And it was so full in the chapel that not everyone could sit in chairs. And I was sitting off to the side and I was watching. And a part of our church, a man of our. From our church, he attends in the Whitefish location. His name is Josh Drees, who was assigned for the week to be a cc, which. A CC is a compassionate. What is it? Companion. Compassionate companion. He was assigned to this little boy named Otto all week long. Josh was Otto's compassionate companion. And I just meant he was with him from sun up to sundown so his parents could have a little bit of a break and enjoy the camp programming themselves. And I was the pastor, preaching to the parents of the campers. And I was watching Josh and Otto, and I have a photo I snapped because it took my breath away, because I know a little bit about Josh. I know he graduated from the University of Georgia. He's got a degree in international finance with a minor in Mandarin Chinese. So if he ever invites you to Chinese, go with him. He'll know what to order. He works for Nissan remotely and literally, you know, is a part of our church, but is able to work for this major company in the world. And he took vacation time to sit on his knees that's not comfortable. And to be Otto's friend all week long. And when I took this photo, I heard God's whisper to me. And he said, this is the kingdom, because the world is awed by celebrities. What movies have you been to? What have you done in this world? But heaven thunderously applauses for exactly this kind of greatness. And this is what God is calling us to, inviting us to step into each day, each moment. And Josh becomes in this moment a picture of Jesus, who was willing, though he lived in heaven, in the highest heavens, to come down and suffer, to come down and take on our sin, to take on our pain, to take on our shame. Now I want to close here with. With this. You might look at yourself when you think about a great commission, the world being reached, and you go, who am I? I'm so ordinary. I'm so normal. I feel so common. Because you don't see what God sees. The world looks at the outward appearance. But what does God look at? He looks at the heart. Do you have a heart that would say, I want to serve you, God. I want to do something for you, God. And God says, listen to me. God says, let's go. God says, let's go. So, so, so, so where you might be looking at yourself going, how could God use me? God's going, this must be the place. I love to use common. I love to use ordinary. I also recognize that for some of you, the thought, the very thought of serving God in some way feels foreign or even baffling to you because you're hurting so badly today. And you go, I'm barely keeping it together myself. I'm barely just keeping the lights on myself. I'm hurting so bad, I can't even think about serving someone else. And I think back to that photo of Otto. Otto's parents serve at Hope Heels. Many people come in as campers, end up serving there, end up even on staff there, right? They come in just needing to receive. But then eventually they're like, I want to do something for someone else, right? I think about, that's the kingdom of God, that even when we're hurting, God can minister to the places of our lives that are in pain. And then, weirdly, we become even more qualified to serve God because of our pain. So if you've got a spot in your heart that is on fire today, I say to you, this must be the place where God wants to work, right? Where you're at your weakest, where you admit you're maimed, you're wounded, you're a shepherd in need. And then he. He floods in with his power. He floods in with his peace. He floods him with his healing and comforts you that you might be able to comfort others. And the world is full of other hurting people. Someone said, well, that if you can be good at ministering to people in pain, you will never be without opportunity in this world. And so this, I pray, would always be what we would prioritize and seek out and see as valuable that we would be putting these things together in our lives. And God would say, this must be the place. What if, as you look at your life, you see just common and ordinary? I would say that you see exactly what God loves to champion, what God loves to use. The world looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. And if your life today is full of pain, if you would say, I would. I would think about serving, I would think about reaching out, but I'm just keeping it, barely keeping it together here, Levi. And I would say to you that you are perfectly and uniquely positioned to watch God work in your life this Christmas. Because remember, in an upside down kingdom, blessed is the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst. Blessed are those who are reviled and forgotten and excluded and not included. For theirs is the kingdom of God. For they shall see God, for they shall be comforted, for they shall be filled. And so if you're tempted to sort of even push back on Christmas, I welcome you to push back on the saccharine, artificial marketing aspects of it all day long. But don't push past Christmas on the basis of pain and darkness and death and dread in your life and disability and difficulty that perfectly positions you this Christmas to experience the wonder and the power of Almighty God who condescended and came down and his death was surrounded by his life was. Was surrounded by death. Prophecy said wailing and mourning and sorrow would break out. And indeed, there were children who were slaughtered as Jesus came. Kings tried to hold onto their thrones. But the darkness can't prevail against the light. I find it uniquely significant that today, as I preach this message to you, we sit in the darkest, shortest day of the year. Starting tomorrow gets a little bit lighter. Starting tomorrow, it gets a little bit brighter. Not all at once, a little bit at a time, A little bit at a time. And let me tell you, if your life is hurting today, it's time to shine some light. And it can get a little brighter. Not in a day, but daily, day by day. You'll watch God begin to move. And as you choose to accept that he's going to use you in the midst of your pain, you will watch God do more through your life than you ever could imagine or think or ask. So what we're going to do is we're going to sing a song. And if there's grief in your heart today, I specifically feel called to include someone who. Who it's hard for you to celebrate because of an empty seat at your Christmas table. Someone who died, someone who's not there, someone who abandoned you. And for you, that makes you feel like you're excluded from Christmas. And what we're going to ask you to do as we sing this next song. And if you're watching a church online, you can go find a candle and some matches in your house somewhere. But for those in our locations, we're going to give you space to come up to and light a candle at one of these places that are an altar to meet with God. And as you light this candle, you're saying, this person's not here anymore, but God, I remember them. There's space for them in my heart. This Christmas and God, I give you this pain, I give you this loss. And as you do that shining that light, it will overcome darkness and you will watch God. This can be a victory moment for you. We talked to a man once at a moment just like this, and he said that his mom had been murdered on Christmas Day and he hadn't been able to celebrate since. And his act of hope filled defiance in lighting this candle. And choosing to light a Christmas light as a beacon of hope and trust and surrender was his way of saying, God, invade these associations that I only connect to hard loss and pain. And I choose to light a candle. I choose to light. I love that lights go up on homes in the darkest time of the year. They wouldn't hit the same in July. Right? It's because of darkness that light means so much. You watch as you light this candle as a declaration of I believe you anyway, you can watch what is the most painful association in your life become one filled with hope one layer at a time. And I'm living proof of that. Yesterday was 13 years for us from when Lynnya went home to be with Jesus five days before Christmas that next year. The decision to put lights on the house and go out in any of it was really nauseating and really difficult. But we've come to a place where we love the light. We love it because it doesn't just remind us of what we lost, it reminds us of what we can't lose. And I dare you to take that step, even if you're trembling. So, as you come to one of these stations, light this candle. The rest of us are going to be praying for you. And if you need someone to your left or right to come with you, ask them to come with you. They can be strong where you're weak. And then I'll come and pray for us and just moment. But God, do what only you can do. In our hearts as we shine this light that turns off the dark, we pray in Jesus name you come light a candle.
