← Red Rocks Church Weekend Messages
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Red Rocks Church. How you feel? Merry Christmas. Can you guys help me? Say hi to everybody. To all the Denver locations. We love you so much. Merry Christmas. Austin, Texas. Brussels, Belgium. And men and women at all of our correctional facilities, we love you so much, your family. Merry Christmas. And a huge round of applause for everybody joining us online. We love you so much. We say all the time we're just a bunch of messed up, imperfect people, and it's true, but we love to get together like this and pursue a perfect God. So no matter what you're carrying, no matter what's going on in your life, no matter what you came in here with, no matter what you've been through, no matter what you're battling, no matter what you believe right now, we want you to know in this place, you're going to be loved and welcomed and valued. We've been praying for you like crazy. Crazy. Welcome home. Welcome to Red Rocks Church. Babe, talk to these people.
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Merry Christmas. Red Rocks Church. Goodness, we love you so much. And what a joy it is to be together. Whether you're in a room or you're in an overflow space, we are here celebrating Jesus, who came as Emmanuel, which means God, with us. So no matter where we're sitting, we can trust that the Lord is with us. And the beauty of that is this. For the first time, when Jesus came, for the first time, humanity, people like us, got to hear his voice, the voice of God, and. And see the face of God. And you know what? That is such an inspiring and encouraging thing. Because I guarantee you, I promise you this, God, when he created each one of us, he had a plan and a purpose. He has a plan and a purpose for each one of us. But he knew and he knows how difficult this life can be. And so he came as Emmanuel, God with us, and said, forever, I walk with you to fulfill the plan and the purpose through you.
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Amen.
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Wherever you are in this place, in this space, whether you're carrying something hard, hurtful, heavy, the Lord is with you. He will not leave you. And he will carry you through to the end. Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you for coming as Emmanuel, God with us. You are our hope today, tomorrow, forever. And we're grateful. I thank you, Lord Jesus, for your presence. I thank you that because of your presence, we can, we can do life to the best of our ability, knowing that you will never leave us, you will never forsake us. And, Lord Jesus, our heart's desire today is to just be able to hear your voice a little more.
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Clearly. Clearly.
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To experience your presence a little more richly. And I pray, God, that you would speak. I pray that you would lift the hopes and the burdens of the people in this place. We honor you. We celebrate you. We love you. In Jesus name, amen. Merry Christmas.
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All right, high five somebody and have a seat. Tell somebody how good they look. Say you look good. Well, ready or not, it's here. Anybody? Anybody gonna be traveling in the next few days, raise your hand. Yep. Yep. You wanna talk about some stressed out people? Anybody have family coming over? You're gonna be hosting. Yep. Talk about some stressed out people. Anybody still have presents to wrap? Does anybody not have presents to wrap? I don't know if I can trust you people. Planners. Okay. I'm afraid to ask, hoping for your benefit. I don't see a lot of hands, but we're in church. You gotta tell the truth. Anybody still have presents to buy? Mm. You're my people right there. Hey, don't you sweat it. Nothing gets things done like a deadline. We got this. Before I start reading scripture today, I just have two things I want to cover. Right up top. Number one is this don't let this be a one stop and done kind of thing for you or you and your family. If you're visiting with us or just back and haven't been here for a while, can I just invite you to come back in January next. This coming weekend? We're shutting the whole deal down. So don't come to any of the buildings unless you want to preach because we won't be here. All right? We're shutting the whole thing down for our whole staff to have a little bit of time off and for us to just rest and get ready for 2026. Can you believe that? So come back in January, in 2026, because we're starting a brand new teaching series called Miracle Mindset. And we're going to start. We're going to. We're going to start believing God for the impossible. We're going to pray together for 21 days. We're going to pray for each other. We're going to allow other people to pray with us and. And we're just gonna start diving into God's word and being reminded that what we are going through right now, though it might feel impossible to us, with our God, all things are possible, and we're gonna start believing for the impossible. So don't miss January. You gotta be back for that. And then the second thing is this. And it doesn't have a whole lot, I guess, to do with the message, other than it feels cathartic to talk to you about it. Any of you. I know we're in the hap. Hap. Happiest time of the year. I know, I know, I know. Any of you, Again, we're in church. You feel honest enough to share? Any of you feel just a little bit stressed out right about now? Prayer room right over there. It's going to be flooded afterwards. I read some stats. I read some stats this week, and it's sad, and I think very true for us, but it says this. The American Psychological association estimated that nearly nine in 10Americans were. Will report feeling stressed and. Or overwhelmed this holiday season. And this one's sad and kind of funny. American heart association said 61% of Americans think the holiday season is more stressful than tax season. I was talking to a friend a couple days ago, and he's like, hey. I go, hey, how you doing? You ready for Christmas? You know, it's a question we've been asking and getting asked for the last two weeks. How you doing? How you doing? You ready? And. And for the most part, we all say the same thing, right? We go, good. Yeah, good. Oh, great. Blessed. Yeah, fine. Good. And then when it's someone you trust, you're like, hold on a sec, bro. I'm trying to. My chest is tight. I'm doing good. Yeah, yeah, good. We got the lights and the trees and the gifts and the family's coming over, and my friend was like, we're decorating for Christmas and our family's coming over, and then we have a family member who got sick, and I haven't got my presents bought yet, and I haven't got them wrapped, and I'm so busy at work, and I'm trying to get stuff done. He goes, bro, I'm just feeling overwhelmed because I. I just try to make it to Christmas and. And I'm a pastor, right? So I'm supposed to feel some sort of sympathy for him, but in my heart, I was like, yes, I'm not the only one. And. And isn't it true that we're trying to do all the things right, the lights and the trees and the gifts and the stockings and the travel and the food and the family and all the things. And. And I don't know about you, but I get to a point where I'm trying to do all these things at once, and if, like, one more little bitty thing goes wrong, I might snap. You know what that feels like? You know what I'm talking about? And we had that at our house, and I feel led to talk to you about it. Guys, we had a Christmas card crisis at the Johnson house this year. Some of you already know about this. Now, my wife gave me permission, in fact, encouraged me to share this story. And to her credit, like, dude, she does everything at the house getting ready for Christmas so I can have panic attacks all week to do a message on peace. And so, fine. And so she's also doing the Christmas card. And so she picks the picture and does the thing and puts it in the program. I don't even know what she uses. And prints them out and puts them in the envelopes and licks the stand, the whole deal. And I walked out in the kitchen, though, and I saw a stack of Christmas cards. I'm like, I don't even know that many people. Like, how do we send out this many Christmas cards? And there's cards going to people in other states. We have friends in Europe. We're sending Christmas cards to other countries. Like, it's a deal. Well, my friend Jordan McCaslin, because he loves me. Thank you, Jordan. Jordan texts me the other day, and he goes, hey, bro, got your Christmas card. I saw it. And I go, well, you know what? Don't even thank me. Merry Christmas to you and yours, huh? And he goes, have you seen it? And I went, ah. I mean, Jill asked me to look at it, and I gave her a glance from across the room. I don't know. It's a Christmas card, bro. That's kind of rude. He goes, okay. And he texted it to me, and this is the Christmas card that he texted me that we sent out. So I don't know if you see anything wrong just yet. This is our family at Red Rocks Amphitheater when we all got to celebrate our 20 years there in November. If you don't notice anything wrong with it quite yet, allow me to zoom in. If you can't see it yet, allow me to zoom in one time more. Oh, that's real. The person who took that picture took about 15 pictures. I remember, because I was there, and they said, there's a good one in there. You'll love it. So Jill finds out that I found out, and she goes, oh, babe, I am so sorry. I don't know how that happened. And I go, I know how it happened. I know exactly how it happened. Because when you put the picture right there, you went like this on your face, and you went, yep, that's a great picture. And that's how that happened. I know exactly how this happened. She goes, no, no, no. Maybe a little. And she goes, is it okay to still send them out? And I go, no, it's not okay to send them out. We have friends who put their Christmas cards on the refrigerator for the whole year. I'm gonna be in multiple countries with my eyes closed for all of 2026. Like, no, do not send those out. She goes, oopsie. I said, oopsie. She goes, hey, Santa. Yeah? I said, well, Christmas is canceled. You know what she said to me? She goes, you could text all our friends and family and. And tell them that your eyes are closed cause you're praying for them. I said, I think I'll text my counselor. Babe, we're done here, so Merry Christmas. Let's close in prayer. It's crazy to me, the stats and people I talk to and just the way I've been feeling that we feel so stressed out this time of year. And I don't know about you, but if you are feeling that, if you are, you know, like those statistics say, I feel that way sometimes. And then I get. I feel guilty because I feel that way. So I'm like, I'm celebrating Jesus. I'm supposed to have peace and joy and hope, and I feel all this angst and worry and anxiety, and I start feeling guilty that I feel those things. And this week I had this weird thought. It's super jacked up that we get the most anxious around celebrating Christmas, because watch what was said about Jesus 700 years before the very first Christmas. Isaiah 9, 6, and he will be called wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And it hit me, this week, I allow celebrating the Prince of Peace to bring me crazy anxiety that's jacked up, right? 700 years before Jesus came, the message was, peace is on the way. The night that Jesus was born, the very first Christmas, the message from the angels to the shepherds was suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth. Let me give you another shot. That's my bad. Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth. Peace to those on whom his favor rests. 700 years before the first Christmas, the message to us was, peace is coming on the very first Christmas, the message to us is peace has arrived in Red Rocks Church. I just want you to know that whether you're doing amazing today or life is really hard, whether you've never felt more peaceful or anxiety couldn't be worse. Jesus came to be with Us. And he brought peace with us. And it can change everything about our lives. If you're taking notes, the title of this year's Christmas Talk is Peace Changes Everything. I want to read some context of the Christmas story, and then I'm really going to focus in on this one line. We just read it from the angels to the shepherds, and now, because God put it in his word, it's from him to us. And I just want to make sure we have a good understanding of this, because I think, as you're going to find out, it's iffy. It's iffy. Okay, so you ready? Luke, chapter two, probably the most famous passage of scripture read worldwide this week. An angel of the Lord appeared to them. Jesus had just been born. Most of you know the story. No room in the inn, put him in the manger. Joseph's freaking out. Angels come and talk to the shepherds. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them. And the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy. And it's for all the people. This, this idea that Jesus is bringing us peace. Make sure we understand this first. It's available to everyone, right? Available no matter what, no matter who, no matter where, no matter how. Available to everyone. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord, and this will be assigned to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths, lying in a manger. Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angels, praising God and saying, and here's maybe the most famous verse of the whole passage. Glory to God in the highest heaven. And here it is. And on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. Would you pray with me real quick, God, as we dive into your word, I pray that you would speak to every single one of us right now. I pray you would speak to us about what we've been through, about what we're going through, and more importantly, what you want to do in and through us moving forward from this point. We invite your presence to be with us. We love you and we thank you that we have Christmas to celebrate in Jesus name. And everybody said, can we put that. That phrase up here on the. On the big screen? So this was the last bit of that passage, one of the more famous verses in the whole Bible that'll be read, you know, this week on earth. Peace to those on whom his favor rests. It's interesting. I was talking to. There's two men in my life that I call pastor. And I talked with both of them this week, and both of them gave input into this message, and I'm so grateful for them. And. And I was talking to one of them and he said, there's something I talked about last year they said you should think about. He said, put that back up. Give me that wide shot again. He said, this is that verse where a lot of our Christmas decorations come from that say peace on earth. He said, but notice they switched the words around. The verse doesn't actually say peace on earth. The verse actually says, on earth, peace. He said, there's a world of difference. We're talking about it. And it's interesting because for me, I've read this passage a gazillion times. I've seen all the Christmas decorations and the Christmas cards and the Christmas songs and the Christmas ornaments that say peace on earth. And because I've seen that and I've read the verse and I've read it fast and didn't really try to process what it was actually saying. It almost feels like it's like the holiday season version of I just want world peace, just peace on earth. And if we're not careful, what we think we just read is the angels showed up to the shepherds and said, hey, guys, Jesus is here, so there's going to be peace on earth. And everybody everywhere automatically gets it. It feels good, it feels inclusive, it feels seasonal. Peace on earth. And I want to dive into this phrase because I want us to know exactly what it says, because when we know what it says, we'll know what it means. And if we can understand what this phrase means, it can change the eternity of our lives. I'm just telling you right now. Church. All right, so one more time, put it up there for me, if you would. On earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. Does that mean that Jesus came and the peace he was bringing is world peace? And I want you to know right up front, the answer is no. And we're going to see it here in the words of Jesus here in a second. He did not come to bring political peace. He did not come to bring international peace. The angels weren't saying that because he showed up. The peace he came with, although it's available to everyone. He was not saying that everyone everywhere automatically gets it because he's here. But we know for sure that he was not saying, I'm bringing political peace. I'm bringing international peace. In fact, if you've Been in church for a while. You may have heard this before, but that was a. That was a big hang up for his own followers. Like his disciples were dealing with that. Like they thought. He's surely going to settle the disputes between Israel and Rome and he's going to get rid of Rome, he's going to elevate Israel, there's going to be world peace. Jesus goes, no, no, no, don't get this twisted, guys. Luke 12:51. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you. But division, that doesn't make for a good Christmas card right there, does it? Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? He says, I did not. Now, he's not saying that he came to bring wars. That's not what he's saying. If you read that whole chapter, what you'll understand he's saying is he's talking about relationships. He says, I came to bring peace between you and God. I came to seek and save those who are lost. That's why I came. But when you put your faith in me, there might be people in your family that don't like that. When you put your faith in me, there might be people in your friendship circle that don't like that. And there might be some division. But he said, don't get it twisted. I didn't come here to provide and international or political peace. I came here to bring you at peace with God, your Creator, so you could be restored and renewed and redeemed and forgiven and ultimately go to heaven forever. I don't know. It feels good, though. I just want world peace. It kind of feels right. Jesus said this in Luke 21. When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be frightened. These things must happen first. But the end will not come right away. Then he said to them, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Now we know that he will come back. He's coming back. There will be a new heaven and a new earth, and then there will be world peace. But for now, he said, make sure you understand that in this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I'm with you. I. I came to be with you. God with you. Emmanuel, I'm with you. Take heart. I've overcome the world. He says, I came to bring you peace between you and your Father. Put that verse back up. I want to make sure that we read it one more time. Here's what it's saying. On earth, you can have peace and notice it's on earth because we have to decide while we're on Earth because once we're no longer on Earth, it's too late to decide. He says, on Earth, you can have peace. Does this automatically go to everyone, everywhere? Because Jesus came and brought this game. Changing eternity, changing peace. Who. Who is he talking to? There's a specific group of people. Notice this. On Earth, you can have peace. Who gets peace? To those on whom his favor rests. Not everybody. Everywhere, automatically to those on whom his favor rests. So that got me going. Okay, I got to look more into this. And so I learned this week that that phrase, on whom his favor rests, that's actually a Greek word called eudokia. I practice saying that for you guys. Merry Christmas. Eudokia. Here's what it says. It's God's gracious favor. His gracious favor. That's his mercy. That's his grace. That's his forgiveness of sins. That's his sacrifice. That's what his gracious favor is. Salvation. God's gracious favor. The term eudokia expresses delight, good pleasure, favor, or benevolent intention. In Scripture, it speaks of God's gracious disposition toward his redemptive purposes. And here it is. Listen. Toward those who are objects of his saving love. So what that verse is saying is, on earth you can have peace if you are one of those who, because of your faith in Jesus, have chosen to. To allow his favor to rest on you. On Earth you can have peace. If you choose Jesus, you then become one on whom his gracious love, his favor, his salvation rests. Romans 5:1 puts it together beautifully. But why would we go straight to that? It's Christmas. We got to look at Luke. You know what I mean? Romans 5:1. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, justified is, I'm made perfect. Me and God are perfect because of what Jesus did. Because I put my faith in Jesus, I'm justified. I'm perfect before God and I'm forgiven of my sins. That's what that is. Since we have been made perfect before God and given salvation through faith because we decided to put our faith in Jesus, what do we get? We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. It's saying the exact same thing. And what I wanted to point out this year at Christmas is, and although the ornaments and the phrase is super popular, the angel's announcement wasn't, God came to bring peace on earth. The announcement was, to every single one of us. The opportunity is here. He came to bring you peace while you're here on earth in the middle of a troubled world. And if you decide to Take him up on his gift of salvation. You will be one of those who on his favor. His favor on you will rest. That's it. That's what the angels were saying. And like I said, there's just too much here to miss it. Jesus himself talks about this John 3:16, probably the most famous verse in the Bible. And some of you will go, I've heard this one before. And you'll be like, I didn't know Jesus said that. Jesus said this one. For God so loved the world that he gave. He gave this gift right, his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Jesus said, I'm not playing games. God's real, Satan's real. Heaven's real, Hell's real. God sent me here to die for your sins on a cross, and I'm going to pay the price for those sins. And if you'll put your faith in me, you'll get my spirit in you. You'll be forgiven of your sins. You'll live with my. With God's spirit, and you'll be on your way to heaven forever. But then he. But then he gets real serious here and he goes, but if you don't, you got to understand what you'd be missing out on. Because we read John 3:16, but the two following verses are less popular. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Here it is. Whoever believes in him is not condemned. Whoever believes in him, you are the one that his favor rests with because you put your faith in Him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed. In the name of God's one and only Son, the angels didn't say, and God doesn't say to us, if you've heard of God's favorite, you receive the peace that Jesus brought if you know somebody who's got God's favor, if you know somebody who's received the gift, if you've heard of the gift. No, he says, if you are the person who has received the gift and now God's favor rests on you. That's where the peace with God is. And that starts now. And it goes for the rest of eternity. If you haven't made that decision. I want to do one thing. I thought we'd have some fun here with a little gift exchange. And I'm not trying to brag, you know, I got my present wrapped already. I know some of you don't. No Big deal. Let's see. Andrew Zagic. Andrew, would you come up here now? Andrew. Andrew, you've been 10 years. Is that right? Come here, guys. You give it up for Andrew Zadjic. Andrew interned here and was a youth pastor here, was my boy's pastor, and is now the campus pastor here at Littleton. And would you say you're the best of the campus pastors? For sure. So. So, Andrew, I have a gift for you. You know, I love to give gifts, and I really do love to get them, too, if you know what I'm saying. So I love to give gifts. And before I give you this, Andrew, why don't you just give it a little. Give it a little shake. Give it a little. Listen, tell me if you think. You know what this could be. A fantasy football trophy. Andrew just put us out of the playoffs. He's fired. Don't worry. What do you think? Maybe a Bible or a journal? Yep. It could be. It could be. It's not. Andrew, in this. In this, and this is true. In this box that Kristen so beautifully wrapped is a can of corn and a pair of socks. I thought you'd be excited. See, I wanted you to. This is kind of a little sick and twisted, but growing up, my parents, that's what they would do to me. They would wrap a big box like this, see, and I would shake it, and I'd be like, oh, that feels like a. Oh, that's definitely a pair of shoes. Oh, that's a Nintendo. And then I would open it up, Andrew, and it would be a can of corn and socks. And the can of corn was to throw me off the scent that they got me socks for Christmas. And so, Andrew, that's. That's what I got you. I got you a can of corn and socks. And so. Merry Christmas, man. Yeah. Yeah. Let's close in prayer. No, no. So truthfully, that is. That's true. There's a can of corn and socks in there, but there's also a gift certificate. We talked with your wife, Kimberly, and she told us about a pair of Nikes that you've been really, really wanting. And there's a gift certificate in here from me to you and to get that exact pair of shoes. I love you, brother. Merry Christmas. Now, hold on now, Andrew. You're going to want that pair of shoes right now in our little skit. Who's this gift belong to? Currently you. Mm. Would you like it? Yes. Guys, you're never gonna forget this. You would like to receive this. This gift. Put your arms out for me, Andrew, this is. This is. This is my gracious favor to you. That's what this is. This is my I love shoes. And so this is my gracious favor to you. And so, Andrew, Merry Christmas and Red Rocks Church. I want you to see that now that he has chosen to receive the gift, my gracious favor now rests with him. And now he gets the benefit from what I paid for. I love you, bro. Enjoy those shoes. See, Jesus knew I'm gonna come here, and I'm gonna die to pay the price for your sins. So God says, angels, go tell the shepherds, Luke, write this down so everybody gets it. I didn't come for political peace or international peace. I came so that you could have peace with your Creator. A peace that you could never get on your own. A peace that will change you in the here and now and change your eternity. And if you'll just reach out your arms and say, I don't know how this is going to turn out, and I'll never be perfect, I. But I choose to put my faith in you, Jesus. I choose to accept that gift. He gladly. He can't wait to give it to you. Jesus has already paid for it. And when you receive it now on you, his favor rests and it changes the game forever. I'll never, never forget the day I made that decision. I came to a church service like this, and I remember sitting in a service like this going, man, I don't know if I'm, like, wearing the right clothes. I kind of don't fit in. I think I'm the only one who smells like smoke. I wonder if these people knew last week I sat down to take my own life, if they'd even want me here. I wonder if these people knew about my drug habits and alcohol usage and the womanizer that I had become and all the stuff. I wonder if they'd even want me in this building. That's the kind of stuff I was thinking, and I heard somebody on a stage go, hey, if you want to receive the gift that God has for you, Jesus died on a cross to pay the price for your sins so that you could be at peace with God. And if you'll accept this gift of salvation, you'll experience his presence. You'll get his spirit. You'll get heaven forever. It'll change your life. And in a service just like this, I went, I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how this is going to turn out. I'm scared to death. I won't add up. But Jesus, if you're real, I need you. And I raised my hand and I experienced the presence of God for the first time. And I'm telling you, it changed my. My life forever. And that's what's available to each and every one of you that are here today or wherever you're watching this from. See, the angels announcement to the shepherds wasn't about world peace. It was about our eternal life. And it was, you can have that. You can be the one on whom his favor rests if you just receive the gift. Because peace will change everything. Peace changes your eternity. Peace changes your today. Jesus said this to his disciples right before he went back to heaven, after he had come back to life, been raised from the grave. He said, guys, I know. He'd already had the talk with him about, I know in this world you'll have troubles. He said, I know it's real. And they just experienced this miracle of him coming up out of the grave. And he said, guys, life is real and it's going to be hard, and some days are going to be harder than others. There really are wars and there really are tragedies, and there really are going to be deaths and heartbreak and financial issues, relational issues, mental health issues. Said, make no mistake, though, I'm leaving you something. Peace. Peace. I leave with you. My peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. Jesus said, I have a piece for you that you can't get anywhere else. So once you've put your faith in me, don't let that be the last time you keep coming back and spending time with me because I have something for you that the world can't give you. I have a peace that the world can't take. A diagnosis, can't take this peace. Cancer. Can't take this peace. Anxiety, can't take this piece. I. Depression. Can't take this peace. Marriage issues, can't take this peace. I have a peace that supersedes anything this world can throw at you. In Red Rocks Church, we celebrate Christmas today because Jesus came down from heaven to be with us and he brought peace with him. We get to have eternal peace between us and God. And then when life gets chaotic, we get to come to him and say, God, I need your supernatural peace, peace that passes all understanding. And that's exactly what. What we're promised. Philippians 4 says this. Rejoice in the Lord always. God says, if you want my peace, just start with some praise, not because of what you've been through or because of what you're going through, but in spite of it. Because I'm still God and I'm still with you and I still care and I still have a plan and I'm still working. So start with some praise. Rejoice in the Lord always. I'll say it again, rejoice. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by prayer and petition and thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts, your minds in Christ Jesus. I love the advice there that God says he gives to all of us. He says, look, I know that you'll go through hard things, difficult things, trying things, scary things. I know that sometimes the career next steps won't make sense. I know sometimes that the diagnosis won't make sense. I know sometimes that the way you feel and think won't make sense. He says, he says, just do these three things. Praise God, Talk to God. Thank God. I love that in this passage of scripture, our problems don't even get to take like front row. He doesn't even say, like, make that the most important thing you come and talk to me about. He goes, you know what? First just worship a little bit. Just throw in some praise and then come talk to me and be real and tell me what you want, tell me what you need, tell me what hurts, tell me what feels broken, tell me what I can do as your heavenly father. And then he says, and then wrap up our time together just saying thank you, thank you God, that your son died on a cross for us. Thank you that we have salvation. Thank you that I can come to you with anything. Thank you that peace is accessible. I'll praise him, I'm going to talk to him, I'm just going to thank him. And his promise is to every single one of us that peace will come from him in a supernatural way. Peace that passes all understanding, peace that doesn't even make sense. If this is your church, this won't be a total shock to you. I felt like I've struggled to find peace for a big part of my life. Been to a lot of counseling and therapy, trying to unwind some stuff. Never experienced peace like I had before when I gave my life to God. Like I wish, I wish that place had like camera surveillance footage that I could show you today and you could see the difference of that 24 year old kid walking in with no peace, no joy, no hope. And me walking out of church that day, I remember telling the people I was with, I was like, I've never felt this good in my life. I felt light and free in this sense of peace that I never had. But even after that, often I just struggled to find peace. And if I'm real, real. I asked my wife today if she would pray for me, because I felt like I was having anxiety about this service. Because I just want it to be really good for you. I want you to have a memorable experience at church. I want you to want to come back because I believe God has plans to change your life. I want you to experience his peace. I want you to experience his spirit being a part of your life. I want you to be on your way to heaven. And I get worried that I won't do a good enough job of communicating that. And so I had to do this very thing today. I literally went, I can't keep looking at notes and just dealing with anxiety. I'm gonna go do what God's word says. And I just went and sat in my room and I listened to the song that you're about to hear. I just praised God. I said, God, thank you that you're with me. Thank you that you love me. Thank you that you're working. Thank you that you got a plan. And in the middle, I asked him if he'd help me with my anxiety. Sometimes I'll do that, and I'll experience peace instantly. Sometimes I gotta stay at it for a while. But I just want you to know, God's promise to you is you can go to him anytime, anywhere. You can step into his throne, room of grace with confidence, no matter what you're fighting against. And his promise is, my son came to this world and he brought peace, and it's accessible to you. And you can have a peace that doesn't even make sense. You shouldn't even have. People will be looking at you, going, how you have peace in that situation. You go, because I'm walking with my Creator. Because Emmanuel, God with us. He came down. He brought peace. I've taken advantage of it. Because greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. That peace is accessible to every single one of us. And I'm telling you, church, this is the time. There's no greater time than right now to go, God, I need your peace. I need peace with you for the first time, or I just need peace with you again this time. But, God, I need you. And his promise is, I got you and I bring A peace that doesn't even make sense. And church peace changes everything. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Pray. God, I thank you that you're with us right now. You know what every single person in here has been through. You know what every single person in here right now is going through. And most importantly, you know the plans you have for us. God, I pray for those who have never had a personal relationship with you. I pray that this would be the moment that they would take that step of faith, that they would say yes to you, that they would put your faith in you. And from this point on, they would know that they are one of those people, that your favor rests on their life. And so they have peace with you. They have salvation with you. They have forgiveness with you. They are perfect in God's sight. They are on their way to heaven.
- [41:13]
B
And.
- [41:13]
A
And I pray that that would change everything for them. And, God, I pray for those who are struggling, in fact, with everyone's eyes closed. Let me just ask a couple questions. The first one is this. We're celebrating Christmas, and we want peace, hope and joy more than anything. And we want to be grateful to God more than anything. And we're having a hard time celebrating because something in life feels broken. Maybe it's someone who's not gonna be there this year. Maybe it's because a relationship has changed, a tragedy has happened. Maybe for you it's finances. Maybe it's anxiety or depression. Whatever it is, you just go, God, I need your supernatural peace that doesn't even make sense right now, to be a part of my life and my family's life. If that's you right now, raise your hand. I'm gonna say a prayer for you. We're gonna claim this peace and you. Jesus name. Yeah, a whole bunch of us. Second question is this. You may not have had any idea why you were coming here today or watching or listening to this, but God did. And you felt something going on in your heart. And that's not me talking. That's the creator of the universe. That's God himself tapping you on the shoulder, going, my son died for you. You can right now on earth have peace. You can have my favor, rest on you. You can be forgiven. You can have my spirit. You can be on your way to heaven. And you just know, man, this is my moment. I need to take advantage of this. This is my time. God, I'm not saying I'll be perfect, but today I want to say yes to you. I want that peace you bring. I want that Forgiveness of sins. I want your salvation. I want to make sure I'm on my way to heaven. And today I say yes to you. If that's you, raise your hand. Today I say yes, Jesus. I want that. Yes, Jesus. I receive that. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. God, I thank you for what you're doing right now. I thank you for the eternal lives that are being changed right now. I thank you that your supernatural peace is available to us. And I pray God, that you give us the courage to stand up in the middle of whatever we're dealing with until your supernatural peace takes over. And I thank you that it's real. I thank you that it's available. And I thank you that it's your promise to every single one of us. In Jesus name. Everybody said, okay, stay seated, if you would, for just a second. And then we'll get up and go crazy. They're gonna sing a two and a half minute song. And this is, this is our prayer over you and your family. And as you're listening to the words of this song, would you just either in your mind or can whisper to yourself, whisper to God, or just in your mind say over and over, I receive this. I receive it. Yes, God, I receive it. I need your peace and I receive it. Just let these words speak to you not as lyrics from a song, but the God of the universe speaking to you about your life and just receive his peace. Red Rocks Church I love you so much. Merry Christmas. Take these words in.