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Amen. And amen. And amen. Merry Christmas, church. Hope you're doing great. If you got your Bibles, and I hope you do, grab them. We're gonna be in John chapter one. And I want to welcome you to our Christmas Eve services. Those of you standing in the back, you can sit on the steps. I don't care. I think the fire marshal goes here, so if not, he ought to. Hey, listen, on your way in, you passed some Compassion packets and some Compassion tables Last weekend. We did Compassion weekend for years and years and years. Since the start of our church, we have partnered with Compassion International to release children from poverty in Jesus name. And in case you're a regular and you missed last weekend, we didn't want you to miss the opportunity, or if you're not a regular, what a great Christmas gift you could give to give hope to one of these kids to release them from poverty in Jesus name. And so please, grab one of those packets on your way out, fill out the stuff, give it back to us. Or you can text the word sponsored 83393 and you could sponsor a Compassion kid on Christmas Eve. And just to update you, last weekend, we sponsored 3,789 children. Way to go. That puts us somewhere in the, like, 28,000 sponsored kids through this church. So awesome. All right, well, we're almost there. We are one night away, one sleep away. Kids from all the world being made right. That Kevin will be reunited with his family. Clark's gonna get his bonus. Clarence gets his wings. Rudolph understands his purpose. Buddy is reconciled with his father. And Hans Gruber meets his maker. Amen. And the greatest Christmas miracle of all. The Jags are gonna win the Super Bowl. Let's go. Why not? And all of this is made possible because of Christmas. Not some kind of weird Hallmark Christmas magic, There's no such thing. But because of the Christmas miracle, which is the birth of the Messiah, that the God of the universe comes on a rescue mission for me and for you to make all things new, to make all things right between us and God. He's here to bring peace on earth and goodwill towards men. But you will never experience the peace of God until you make peace with God. Now, I know we got all kind of people here because it's Christmas Eve, and if you're not a regular, if you don't normally attend church, but you know, you're a Christmas Eve person, let me just warn you, I didn't grow up in church. We only went on Christmas Eve and Easter, and look at me now. So it might get on you. Just watch yourself. But we really are pumped that you're here. And I hesitate to call you a guest. And the reason I don't want to call you a guest is because, I mean, we love guests, Gretchen and I, we love to have guests at our house. But we have an understanding that you're gonna leave, you're gonna go home, you're not gonna join our family. And so that's not what I want for you. I want you to join this family. I want you to make this place home. And so we're super pumped that you're here. And you may be asking, okay, if you're not totally into the Jesus thing. I mean, you gotta be a little bit, you're here on Christmas Eve or maybe Nana made you or whatever. I don't know why you're here, but I'm glad you're here. And you may be like, okay, man, I mean, I'm pro Christmas. Who isn't pro Christmas? But you're like, really a virgin birth. Like, you mean to tell me you believe that a virgin named Mary gave birth to a child? And my answer is, uh huh, I do. I do. And I believe it because the Bible says it. And around here at 11:22, we are Jesus loving, Bible believing people. This is our authority. But if you're not even sure about the virgin birth, I hope you've thought about this. Everybody believes in a virgin birth. You got one or two options. Either a virgin gave birth to a baby orchestrated by an almighty creator because he loves you and has a point and purpose for your life, or you believe in the virgin birth of a universe that nothing gave rise to something which became consciousness. And even though you can't deny that you love the family that you're sitting with, you're actually miscalculating the circumstances and that's just some chemical in your mind and. And it's all pointless. So which one do you believe in now? I'm gonna quote first time ever, Joe Rogan here on this one. And he says, I think I'm gonna go with Jesus. That makes a lot more sense. Amen. We're in the fourth week of this series that we've called the Real Men of Christmas. We talked about some men that had played a significant role at Christmas. We talked about Joseph and how he lived in obscurity. We talked about the shepherds. They were kind of nobodies that put feet to their faith. We, we talked about the magi this last weekend and how you find what you're looking For. And they look for the Messiah, and they found him. And today, on Christmas Eve, we are going to talk about the real man of Christmas. And his name is Jesus. And he was really a man, and he's really God. That Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. Now, for those of you in the gifted class, you could write this down. This is called the hypostatic union. That Jesus had dual natures. He had two natures. He was fully God and fully man. It's not like yin and yang, like they were mixed together. He's not a seesaw where sometimes he kind of leaned into God and sometimes he leaned into man. That's not it. But he was fully God and fully man. And the way this is made possible, we see this at Christmas because his mom was named Mary. And he was born as a human male, a little baby. And he grew into a man. And the Bible says that he was tempted in every way that we had been tempted. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews that we do not have a great high priest that is not sympathetic with us and has not endured the same kind of circumstances that you and I have endured. That he was fully man and he was born and that man can die. And yet he was also fully God because his dad wasn't Joseph. His dad is God the Father. This means that Jesus is not from the seed of Adam and he does not inherit a sin nature, but he was born without sin, and he was born perfectly. And even though he was tempted in every way, every single time, being fully God and fully man, he chose God's will over the world's way that he was all powerful, and he had the ability and the capability to. To defeat death. Now when I think about who God is, if I'm honest, I kind of get the deal. Where God is bigger than us, where God is more powerful than us, where God is almighty. That makes sense to me. If the God of the universe spoke everything into existence, then of course he's big and mighty and all powerful. And maybe there are times in your life where you've experienced just how small you actually are. You ever done this? You ever go to, like, I don't know, you ever go to the Grand Canyon? Nobody stands at the edge of the Grand Canyon and feels big. You feel real small, don't you? You ever stand on the beach when a hurricane's coming and the waves are triple overhead? You don't, like, beat your chest out there? You ever stand at the base of the Grand Tetons? Nobody's like, I can bench £200. Well, that's adorable, cupcake. Like whatever your thing is, you know that you're really small and God is really big. All powerful, all knowing omnipresence. Cool. One of the things that's hard for us to get our minds around that Christmas helps us with is just how small God made himself. Just how the sovereign king of the universe that spoke everything into existence made himself very, very, very personal, impersonable. This is what Christmas is. We call it the Incarnation. Carne means flesh. Like if you go to a Mexican restaurant and you order it with con carne, that means with meat. Christmas is God con carne. Did you know that this is the incarnation that God became one of us? John, chapter one, verse one is going to explain not only the magnificence of God, the glory of God, but also the person God, Jesus Christ. John, chapter one, verse one. Now if you were a first century Jew, which nobody here is, but if you were the moment, you would read the first three words here, you would know, wow, these sounds like the first three words of the whole Bible, because they're the same. It starts out this way. In the beginning it's referencing Genesis 1. It says in the beginning was the Word. And if you look at your Bible like I ask you to, if you look, that word, word is capitalized. It says in the beginning was the Word. Because in Genesis 1, God is speaking all things into existence. And so this is what John is referencing. In the beginning was the Word and the Word. Here it is again. So what John is gonna do is he's gonna take a Hebrew idea of God speaking all things into existence in Genesis 1, and he's gonna take a Greek idea called the Logos. That's the Greek word for word. And it doesn't just mean like a word that comes out of your mouth. This idea of Logos or Logos was that there was this cosmic animating force behind everything that was alive. And John goes, you know what Greeks, you're actually right. There is a cosmic animating force behind all things that are alive. And I know him by name. And in the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God. And the Word was with God. To which you're going, like, wait, what? So which one is he with God? Or was he was God. And John goes, right, he's both. Actually, there's one more I'm going to throw in there in a little while called the Holy Spirit. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. One God in three persons. And so this Word, God the Son, is co eternal with God the father. And verse 2. He was in the beginning with God. Verse 3. All things were made through him. And without him was not anything made that was made. This is a big powerful God speaking all things into existence. Verse 4. And in him was life. And the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And then it seems like a little detour here. The Bible says this in verse 6. Now, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. If you're new to Bible study, it's not the same John. John the disciple, the apostle, writes this. This guy is the guy that we know as John the Baptist. And again, if you're new to Bible study, he wasn't a Baptist. It's not like there was Mark the Methodist and Pete the Presbyterian and Kathy the Catholic, and John the Baptist. That's not how it was that he baptized people in the Jordan and he gave testimony about the one that was the word, the light of life. Verse 7. And he came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. Verse 8. He was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. So 30 years after the birth of Jesus, Jesus shows up on the scene. John the baptizer is out in the Jordan baptizing people. And he says, all right, everybody stop. I've got an announcement to make. And he points to his cousin, Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter's son. And he says, behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the entire world. That was what he was bearing witness about. Behold the Lamb of God that has come to take away the sin of the entire world. That was his testimony. It'll make a lot more sense in a couple of minutes. Verse 9. And the true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him. Yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. Verse 12. But to all who did receive him. Now, I'm going to repeat this later, but I need you to know this. If you fall in the all category, you could receive him. No matter who you are, what your parents believed, or what you did on spring break three years ago, it does not disqualify you from receiving the free gift of grace offered to us by this God man, Jesus Christ, he says, but to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. I want you to see how personal this is. That the same one that speaks the stars into existence also wants you to know him as Father and him to know you as children. It's very, very personal. Verse 13. Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. Verse 14 is a very famous verse. And the Word, the cosmic source of life that speaks everything into existence. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, glory of. Of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and full of truth that the Almighty God became small enough for us to know. In fact, sometimes you'll hear people say this, that God condescended himself. Most of the time when you use the word condescending, it's not good. Like if I speak to you in a condescending way, that means I am talking down to you. When God condescended himself, that means he made himself low and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. You see, the Bible says it this way. In Philippians, chapter 2, verse 4, Paul says, Let each of you look not only at your own interests, but also the interest of others. Had this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself. You see? Jesus emptied himself. You and I are full of ourselves. I've seen your Instagram. It's all about you. You know what one of the marks that our generation, if we just lump us all into one generation. You know what one of the marks that we have left on society is? You know what we invented the selfie. Before us there were no selfies. Now there are selfies. Why? Because we're into our self. I looked it up. In 2025, over 370 people died by what is called death by selfie. You know what that means? That means people were so into themselves that they went to a place like the Grand Canyon, got right on the edge and thought, this will be a good picture, and then fell off and died. Darwin wasn't wrong about everything. Understand what I'm saying? We are into us. And while we are full of ourselves, Jesus emptied himself by taking the form of a servant. Being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death. Even death on a cross. You see? And we don't understand the severity of this. And a part of the reason we don't understand the Severity of this is because a bunch of people kind of got a Ricky Bobby Talladega Night theology. And you're like, what's the big deal about a baby in a manger? I mean, that's my favorite part of Jesus. Well, he didn't stay a baby in a manger. He grew up. But what you don't understand is how much he lowered himself to be born among us. The way one of my friends, a buddy of mine named Josh Howerton, he's a pastor in Texas, he says this. He says at Christmas, Jesus checked his dignity at the door. You ever check your dignity at the door? If you're a male over 50, you have. Hey, all the dudes 50 years and old and up. Raise your hand high. Okay? Come on, raise it. You're way older than 50. Okay. There you go. All right, look. Been to the doctor lately? Yeah. Well, that's a treat, isn't it? Whole different experience when you're in your 20s. This is like a drive through. They're like, yep, look good to me. Keep going. All right. Drink water or whatever they tell you. Well, because I'm the lead pastor of this church, I'm 52 years old, the elders make me do all of these annual physical checkup things for insurance purposes and all this stuff. And though I live a very, very blessed life and no complaints whatsoever, one of the things I cannot do is I can't go anywhere around here without somebody, either me knowing them or they knowing me. And I do all of that stuff at the Mayo Clinic, which is a driver and a pitching wedge right down the road. And apparently our evangelism strategy at Mayo is crushing it, because every other person goes there. And when you're 52 years old and you have to go in for these kind of checkups, guess what that means? Oh, boy. It is a bumper to bumper situation, if you understand what I'm saying. All right? And it's terrible. It's embarrassing. It's awful. We're talking about a colonoscopy. Hey, kids, ask your mom and dad what a colonoscopy is on the way home. It's what Santa gives to people on the naughty list. That's what it is. And it starts the day before. Oh, yeah, they give you this magical fluid. Hey, why don't you just drink this every 15 minutes? It'll be awesome. It ain't awesome. I mean, it's something else, man. That thing, I mean, it'll take the scent out of you, you know what I mean? There ain't nothing left. It Is unbelievable what is happening there. And then they need to put some brakes in it because I had to call them. My appointment was at 8. And I was like, hey, I ain't gonna be there at 8. I'm gonna be there at 9. They're like, you have to be here at 8. I mean, you're gonna get an invoice for an upholstery clinging in a gmc, like, all right, we'll see when you can get here. So I did the walk of the penguin on in there, and I'm like, hey, all right, I'm here. And you feel terrible, right? I mean, you're just dehydrated and feel terrible. It's so embarrassing. What do you do when you walk in? They're like, here, I want you to put on this gown. And you check your dignity at the door. You take off your clothes that cover everything. And then you put something on that's like a half off sale. You know what I mean? Dogging. It's a little breezy. I don't think we're all covered up here. Then they put you on a gurney and wheel you into this room. And everybody knows what's about to happen. Oh, it's not good. And you're laying there in the fetal position. And the doctor has the audacity to walk up to me and says this verbatim, sir, would you scoot your bottom this way? Dude, I'm a grown man. I don't have a bottom. You understand? We use words to describe it that I can't say in church, or I'd have to fire myself. Can we be men here? And sure enough, it's about that time. There's a lady standing over here at the desk, and she turns around and goes, pastor Joby, we go to church together. Well, of course we do. Yep. I'm hopped up on a Valium. Cause they give you drugs to help you through it. And I said something to the effect of maybe I can see parts of me I've never seen with the naked eye on that TV right now. I don't think it's the moment for fellowship. Right. You understand what I'm saying? And I'm just a nobody going to get a procedure that happens every day. And so the distance between this pulpit right now and a gurney at the Mayo is infinitely smaller than the distance between the throne of glory that Jesus was sitting on. And he stands up like my good friend Charles Martin says. He takes off his crown. He lays down his royal diadem. He takes off his royal Robe. And he swan dives in humility. And he is born as a baby in a manger. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And he checked his dignity at the door. And you may say, well, why does this matter to me at Christmas? Oh, it's the most important thing you'll ever hear in all of your life. Because if Jesus does not come on a rescue mission for you and me, then every single one of us would be lost in our own sins and our own trespasses. And we would never be able to experience the peace of God. Because without Jesus coming as a ransom for you and I, we could never have peace with God. You see, when God created this whole thing for his glory, God, out of an overflow of God's love for God's self, He speaks everything into existence. And the Bible says it's good. But God doesn't just do good. He's going to do real good, very good. And so he creates image bearers to be in a relationship with him. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And everything is awesome, man. They are in a face to face relationship with their Creator, their heavenly Father, and nothing separates them. But until, just like every human being since that moment, we begin to think, you know what? Forget you, God. I think my ways are better than your ways. And I'll do what I want with who I want, when I want. And they do the one thing he told them not to do. And that's what sin is, is when we trust the world's way, when we trust our flesh or we trust the lies of the enemy over the word of God. And we say, forget you, I got this. And they take a bite of the forbidden fruit. And when sin entered the world, it fractured everything. And primarily it fractured our relationship with the Lord. And when sin entered the world, it held the door open for all the pain and all the strife and all the guilt and all the shame and all the condemnation. And anything that has ever hurt bad in your life is because of a result of that moment. And because God is just, all sin must be paid for. For God to just overlook sin would make him an unjust judge. And God is just. But because God is gracious, God made a way for us to be reconciled with him. He gives us a picture of it right here in Genesis 3. Because of his justice, he kicks Adam and Eve out of the garden to judge them for their sin. But he sheds the blood of an animal for the very first time to make a garment to cover over their sin and shame. As you begin to leaf through the Bible, what you'll find is that God sets up what we call a sacrificial system. He calls a people unto himself to be a light to the whole world. In the middle of his people, he builds a temple so that his glory would be on display, to invite all peoples, all tribes, all tongues, all nations unto Himself. But again, how are an unholy people gonna stand before a holy God? And here's what God does. God sets up this sacrificial system to be a foreshadowing so that people could understand. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. If you get bored tomorrow, you should read through the book of Leviticus. Super fun. And what you're gonna see is the Bible says, God says, I am holy, therefore you should be holy. Be perfect as I am. Perfect. Like I can't pull it off. He said, all right, so here's what we're going to do. When you break the law, then what you're going to do is there will be a sacrifice that will be made that will cover over your sin. And so they had all kind of sacrifices all the time, but the granddaddy of them all in Leviticus 16 was called the Day of Atonement. Atonement just means payment. And one time of year, the people that believed God, that believed Yahweh was the one true God, they would all gather in Jerusalem and they would make a sacrifice. And the sacrifice that was to be made, it was actually thousands of them, is they would take a perfect spotless lamb and they would shed the blood of this lamb. And then the high priest would consecrate himself. He'd go through this kind of ritualistic washing. And then he would go into the temple and he would go into this room called the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was. It held the law of God. And he would take the blood of the Lamb and he would sprinkle it over the. The Ark of the Covenant. The idea is that when God looked down at his law, he didn't see the broken law. He saw the shed blood of the lamb. And they did this every year, year after year after year after year. And now you're asking, okay, that's neat. What does that have to do with Christmas? Do you remember in Luke chapter two, even if you're new to Bible study, you know, Luke chapter two, Charlie Brown, right. That in the days of Caesar Augustus, when Quirinius was still governor, that there was a census and everybody had to go to their own hometown. And do you remember where Joseph and Mary had to go to? They had to go to Bethlehem to be registered. And do you remember who else was from Bethlehem? It's this Old Testament guy, little guy with a slingshot. David. David was from Bethlehem. And do you remember what David's job was before he became king of Israel? He was a shepherd. You know where the majority of the shepherds and the sheep were raised in Israel? It was in Bethlehem. You see, Bethlehem is about five and a half or six miles just to the south of Jerusalem. And this was their supply chain. And so one time every year, on the day of atonement in Jerusalem, they need hundreds, if not thousands, of perfect, spotless lambs. And so this is where they were raised. This is where most of the shepherd's fields are. And then guess what? In Luke chapter two, over on the very first Christmas, the angels show up to these little shepherd boys. And I hope you remember their announcement. They say, behold, we bring you good news of great joy, for unto you this day has been born in the city of David in Bethlehem, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And then they said this. And this is gonna be a sign for you. Here's how you're gonna find him. You're gonna find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. And the shepherds would have been like a baby. Said, yeah, baby. And you know why? They would have been a little bit confused. Because guess what shepherds did at the time of year when they would stay up all night with their sheep, would be in calving time when they were having babies, and what shepherds would do as they were preparing for later that year on the day of atonement, they were looking for perfect spotless lambs to prepare them to be sacrificed in Jerusalem. And so when the mama sheep would have the babies, the ones that didn't make the cut, they would call those out. But for the perfect spotless lambs, they would grab them, and guess what they would do? They would swaddle them in clothes. You know why? You mamas know what this is about? Remember when you had a baby at the hospital, and then, you know, they put them in that little thing that keeps the fries warm enough for a while, and then when they're room temperature or whatever, they get them and what do they do? They swaddle them up. Why? Because they'll, like, scratch their face with their little crazy fingernails. Well, this is what would happen if. If you find this perfect spotless lamb, you didn't Want him to get banged up. You didn't want him to, like, chew his fur off, that kind of stuff. And so they would swaddle him, and they didn't want to put him on the ground, so he'd get stepped on or get muddy or get dirty. So what they would do is they would often put him in a feeding trough, which is called a manger. And so the shepherds would put the sacrificial lamb in swaddled clothes in a manger. And the angel says, behold, I bring you good news of great joy. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, Christ Savior the Lord. And here's how you're gonna know he's gonna be swaddled up and put in a manger. Why? Because the testimony of John was right. Behold, he is the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. He's not just another lamb of God that's gonna cover over the sin of the Jewish people until this time next year. He is the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the entire world. And he did not stay a baby in a manger. He grew up to be a man. And he taught us the word of God. But that's not primarily why he came. John didn't say, behold the teacher. That's not what he said. He didn't say, behold the miracle worker. That's not what he said. He didn't even say, behold the politician. Thank God. He said, behold the lamb. This baby was born to die for you and for me to take away the sin of the entire world. He lives a perfect life that we couldn't live. Then he's arrested, he's tried, he dies a sinner's death that every single one of us deserve. And on the cross, he pushes up on his nail pierced feet and he says, it is finished. What is finished? The price for your sin. And my sin has been paid in full. That is what he said. Tetelestai. That's what it means. You see, John the Baptist was right. He's fully man and fully God. Like he walked on water, but he also got thirsty. He could stop the issue of blood, which is the touch of the edge of his garment. But he also bled that he is the bread of life. And yet he got hungry. He is the king of kings, and yet he dressed himself as a servant that one day he'll wipe away every tear. And yet he wept at his friend Lazarus death. That he is just and the justifier and the real kicker is this. He was sinless and he was made sin. 2 Corinthians 5, 21 says, and God made him who was without sin to be sin for us, that we would be made the righteousness of God. He is the author of life. And yet he died. But I got really good news. He didn't stay dead. When he pushed up on his nail pierced feet and he said, it is finished. He didn't say he was finished because he wasn't done yet. And he was, he was dead, dead. And they put him in a tomb and it was a borrowed tomb. And you know why they used a borrowed tomb? Because he only needed it for the weekend. Because that Sunday he rolled away the stone and he came walking out of the grave. And if he comes walking out of the grave, just like him, we get to walk out of the grave and get to walk in a newness of life with him. And he was ascended to the right hand of God the Father. And on the very first Christmas, Jesus came lowly and gentle. But not anymore. Do you ever think about what Jesus is doing right now? You see again, too many of you have like a Ricky Bobby Talladega night theology. Jesus is not just 8 pounds 6 ounce swaddled in clothes anymore. He is sitting at the right hand of God the Father. And the Bible tells us what he's doing right now, that he's ruling and he's reigning. That one of the things that the resurrected Christ is doing right now is he is interceding for you and for me. That, that God, the God, son, Jesus Christ is in the right ear of his Father, praying for you and me right now. The Book of John says that he's preparing a place for those of us that call him Lord and Savior. That's what he's doing. And the Bible says that he is searching and seeking and saving and knocking. If you get to the very end of the Bible, there's this book called the Book of Revelation. Okay? Now if you're new to Bible study, I wouldn't suggest you start there. It's kind of crazy. There's locusts and scrolls and trumpets and dragons and I mean, you know, it's awesome, but I'm a pro, so we can wade in. And by the way, it's also, it's just singular. It's just Revelation. It's not Revelations. There's only one of them. Alright, but in the Book of Revelation, before all the dreams and the Revelation stuff starts, the Resurrected ascended at the right hand of God the Father writes Seven letters to seven different churches. And he gives us a clue as to what Jesus, this baby in a manger, grew up to be a man, ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and what he's doing right now. And he gives warning. He says, watch out. Sometimes he gives encouragement. By the time you get to Revelation 3, he talks to a church called the Church at Laodicea. And honest, if you read it and you're honest, I know this is church, no place for honesty, but if you give it an honest read, it sounds a lot like the American Evangelical Church. Because the way he describes it, he's like, hey, from outside, looks great, man. Parking lot's full. Your podcast is cool, your staff's doing great, okay? But this is the problem I have with you. You're just lukewarm. That's what he says. You're neither hot nor cold. You're just kind of bleh. And if I had time, I could show you the geography of Laodicea, how it was between these two cities. And one of these cities had warm springs, and one had cool springs, and one was medicinal, and one was refreshing. And he's like, you're not either of these. I wish you would either be hot or cold. But when you're lukewarm, you're kind of good for nothing. And I want to spew you out of my mouth. That's what he says to the church. He's like, you make me sick. Listen, man, you don't wanna make Jesus sick. And so he says, I wish you were one or the other. And so some of you that would say, hey, I'm a Christian. Cool. But have you been living your life with one foot in the world and one foot in the church? And you're kinda just, you know, you're not all in for Jesus, but you're not all in for the world. You're just kinda lukewarm. Listen, we know this man in Florida. You ever seen somebody try to get off of a boat onto a dock? Too slow. One foot in the boat, one foot in the dock. Can't stay there long, Jesus would say, can't stay there long. Choose for yourself this day whom you're gonna serve. And so if that's you, and you know it, I wanna invite you to do something. In fact, I wanna dare you. I wanna challenge you to do this, okay, this year, I dare you to go all in. To go all in for Jesus. For through the church of 1122, I dare you. Give me one year, 2026. I dare you to Prioritize gathering together with the saints to glorify God and worship the word and word. In other words, don't just come to church sometimes when it's convenient if you can make it. But you would prioritize this that we get in here and we make much of him. And I dare you for one year to live a life of generosity. And I dare you to to quit just showing up in the second song and leaving during the last and not even knowing who anybody is, but to develop some actual meaningful Christian community like join a disciple group. And I dare you maybe go on your first mission trip or quit being all about you and actually serve some of the least of these around here. I dare you. Give me one year. And here's the promise I will make to you by the end of 26. It probably won't even take that long, but by the end of 26, here's what I promise. Your whole life will be different. Your marriage will be different. Your relationship with your children will be different. And the legacy that you leave will be completely different. Listen, you have no idea what hangs in the balance because you will begin to walk in what Jesus called the abundant life. Now by the time you get to Revelation chapter 3, verse 20, after he yells at them about you make me sick. Then he says this. He says, behold, I, this is the resurrected, ruling, reigning Christ. He says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. Now this is not good for the church at Laodicea. Like, I don't know if you've thought about this. I'm a church planter. I'm a pastor. Okay? But listen, if you plant a church and Jesus isn't in the church but outside trying to get in, it ain't going good. You understand what I'm saying? Jesus is in this place. Cause he shows up where he's wanted and he is wanted in this place. But this isn't true just of this church. This is true of every single person hearing the sound of my voice right now. Regardless of when you hear it, Christ's word to you, the cosmic almighty, sovereign king of the universe says, behold, I stand at the door of your life and knock. And if anyone hears my voice. So I want to repeat this. If you fall into anyone category, guess what? You can have a relationship with Jesus. And if you say, yeah, but Pastor, then you don't know what I've done. First of all, I probably do. Secondly, then apparently you don't know what Christ has done for you on the cross. I mean, there is more grace in Jesus than Sin in you. And when he says it is finished. If you believe that counted for you, then guess what? You receive the right to become a child of God. And Jesus says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. And if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him. And he with me. He will come in and sit down at your table. Some of you have real fancy tables, Big old. You never use them. You know those. Big old fancy. He'll come and sit down at me. Some of you eat on a futon. It don't matter, man. Here's what's crazy. And even though he has the ability, he is not on the SWAT team. He refuses to just kick down the door and take you hostage. That's not what he does. He knocks and he knocks and he knocks. And he is waiting and wanting for you to hear the knock and hear his voice and. And for you to open the door and surrender your life to him. I think the first time I ever heard this verse, I was in high school, and they were using the King James Version. And it says, behold, I stand at the door and knock. And whoever hears my voice and answers, I will come in and sup with him and he with me. And I thought that meant Jesus walks in and was like, sup. He kind of is. It kind of is that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And he died on the cross in our place. And today, while he's ruling and reigning and waiting and preparing, he's seeking and he's searching and he's knocking. And there's this old Christmas song says, do you hear what I hear? I said, do you hear it? Do you hear it? Cause he's knocking. I mean, the empirical evidence that you are at this Christmas Eve service is that he so loves you that God sent his son Jesus to die in your place. And in this very moment, if you'll listen, it's so much louder than your ears can hear. Cause it's deep down here in the soul. Can you hear it? See, the first time I ever heard the knock of Christ on the door of my life, I was a teenager. I was in high school, and I considered myself a Christian because I was Southern. I believed in God like I believe in SEC football and the Second Amendment. I thought it was kind of a package deal. And then my coach, my football coach explained the gospel to me. And that was the first time that it occurred to me that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow it counted for me. But believing that that was true Was not enough. I had to believe in Jesus. And I heard the knock, and I welcomed him into my life as my Lord and my Savior. And so do you hear it? Because I got really good news. For anyone who would believe that when Christ died on the cross, somehow that counted for you. For anyone who would believe you received the right to become a child of God. And I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. I can't convince you of it. I can't. Following Jesus is not easy. Cost you your whole life. But it's pretty simple to start. It's as simple as A, B, C. The A is this. Is that first you got to admit it. I'm a sinner in need of a savior. And I cannot convince you of that. If you're like, I'm not a sinner, all right, then you don't think you need a savior, but you know it. And you need to be safe. You need need. And if you know this, you're like, yeah, there's a problem. The problem is me. Then you just admit it. God, I'm not a bad person that needs to do better. I'm not an irreligious person that needs to attend more religious services, But I'm actually a sinner, and I need a savior. That's the A. And the B is this. Do you believe that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for you? And the Bible says if you do, then there's a prayer that you can pray that gets answered 100% of the time. I mean, what a deal, man. We pray for all kind of stuff doesn't get answered. And the Bible says that this prayer, every single time somebody prays this, God says, yes. The Bible says in Romans 10:13, for all who call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. For anyone that hears God, here's Jesus knocking at the door of your life. And you open the door and call on Jesus as your Lord. That means I'm not the boss of me anymore. I'm gonna surrender my life to you. Then your sin is washed away. The guilt is gone. The condemnation is over. And you and I, purchased by the blood of Jesus, are adopted as children of the most high God. I want to give you. I want to give you the opportunity right now, this Christmas Eve, to believe and receive that gift from God. Would you bow your heads? Would you close your eyes, and if that's you, and for the very first time, you would say, I admit it. I admit it. I'm a sinner in need of A savior. And you would say, I hear it, I hear it, I hear, I feel, I understand the invitation of God who became a man who died on the cross. When he says, it is finished, I believe for the first time, somehow this counted for me. And today, for the very first time, I am ready to call on the name of the Lord. If that's you, I want you to lift your hand as high as you can right now. I want you to lift it up. And I just want you to say in your heart or out loud, jesus, Lord, save me. And he answers that prayer 100% of the time. Our good and gracious heavenly father, God, we love you more than anything because you first loved us. And God, I thank you that what we celebrate at Christmas as the Word became flow flesh and dwelt among us. God, that you went through the pain, you went through the suffering, you went through the cross to pay for us, that we could know you. Lord, I thank you for the truth that for all who would believe, we received the right to become children of God. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Church, I want to invite you to stand to your feet, but don't leave because we're not quite done. Okay. It's kind of a little double ending here. All right. Around here at 11:22, we respond to the gospel. We primarily respond in three ways. We're gonna bring our tithes and our offerings. Our first and our best. Just like we studied last weekend. When the wise men met Jesus, they fell on their face. And they treasured Jesus above all things with the treasures they had in their hands. That's what we do. We mostly do it online through the app. And we're gonna pray. Why? Because if you know Jesus, you're sitting at the table with him and he invites us. Cast all your cares upon me. Cause I care for you. We'd love for you to come down here and kneel before God and pray. And we're gonna sing. We're gonna make much of him. The band's gonna sing oh Holy Night. And listen, man, they're so much better than you are. Me too. But what we lack in talent may we make up for in enthusiasm. And let's make much of the world one that came on a rescue mission for us. Let's sing, let's bring, let's pray, let's respond. But don't leave, because then we got one more thing.