Hey everyone. I'm Mallory. Thank you so much for worshiping with
us at Refuge Church Online. If this is your first time visiting
with us, we would love to reach out to you this week. To thank you
for being our guests. Please fill out a digital connect card at
findrefugehere.com/connect. We are hosting an online Christmas Eve
service this year on Thursday, December 24th. And we've got
something very special planned. Please tune in on Facebook or our
website. Find refuge here.com to find the good news, just a
reminder refuge. We will not be meeting in person on Sunday,
December 27th. Please connect with us on Facebook or find refuge
here.com to view service online. We can't wait to start the new
year with you. Face-to-face again on January 3rd, refuge church is
social. Check us out on Facebook, Vimeo or Instagram. Thank you
for choosing to worship with us today at refuge church, where
everyone is welcome in anything as possible.
Good morning refuge church online. It is so good to see you again
this morning. I love you so much. And listen, I have been praying
for you all week long. I'm just still so pumped up about all God
is doing in our church. All God has been doing in people's lives
since last Sunday morning, and I believe that he has not done yet.
I believe as we go into this season of hope, he wants to encourage
us so that we can be an encouragement to other people. And I'm
praying that he will do just that today. Let's pray together
before we jump into God's word. God, thank you for today. Thank
you for the hope of this. Thank
You for the hope of your son. God, thank you that you are a
manual. God has come to live with us. We claim that over our
lives, God, that you are a God that loves us. You are a God that
knows us. You are a God that cares about us in Jesus. We want you
to know that we love you and we worship you in this moment. Jesus,
we're so thankful for God's word. We are thankful God that you
have revealed yourself to us and father. Today. I pray that you
would speak to us and God, I pray that we would not only hear, but
God, we would listen to what you have to say. Father moved me out
of the way. Me the words that come from my mouth, come from you.
Oh God, it is in Jesus name, pray. And everyone said a minute,
Hey, I feel like God is truly leading us to lead in to his hope
this season.
And to see that there are many more benefits fits to Christmas
than just presence. We're looking at the Christmas story this
month. But my prayer is that we see this familiar story from a new
perspective, through a new lens and with a new hunger. As we seek
God with all of our hearts, if you'll remember last week, we
looked at a powerful interaction between an angel and Mary Jesus's
mother. We saw that God has given us the gift of purpose and we
have a role to play. If we want to be used by God to make a
difference. And today what I want us to do is I want us to look at
four more Christmas gifts that God gives us Christmas miracles,
really, that we see in this Christmas story. We're going to start
Luke chapter two beginning in verse one. If you have your Bibles
with you, you can turn to Luke chapter two, but if you don't have
a Bible, you can always go one line to bible.com or Bible
gateway.com.
Listen, all of the verses are going to be on the screen for you,
Luke chapter two, starting in verse one. At that time, the Roman
emperor Augustus decreed that a census should be taken throughout
the Roman empire. This was the first census taken when Quirinius
was governor of Syria, all return to their own ancestral towns to
register for this census. And because Joseph was a descendant of
King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea David's ancient
home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee.
He took with him, Mary whom he was engaged, who is now expecting a
child. And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be
born.
She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in
strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no
lodging available for them. I know what you're thinking. Okay,
Jason, I've heard this story for years and years who what's the
big deal? Well, I'm glad you ask. If you're taking notes, gift
number one, God came to earth. Did you hear me? God came to earth.
This is the first gift of Christmas. God
Came to earth. Now I know what some of you may be thinking, Jason,
I thought Christmas was Jesus's birthday. What's all this talk
about God, listen to him.
What co Washington's one 15 through 16
Says it says, Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible
God. He existed before anything was created and is Supreme over
all creation for through him. God created everything in the
heavenly realm
And on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we
can't see such as Thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in
the unseen world, everything was created through him and for him,
you see friends. The Bible says that Jesus is God and Encore
Christmas. We're not celebrating the beginning of Jesus. Jesus has
been here throughout time. We're celebrating that God would come
to earth to live among us, to be with us. You see, there are many
people in this world right now. They believe in Jesus. They
believe he was a good man. They believe Jesus was a good moral
example. Hey, they even believe he was a good teacher, but not
everyone believes that Jesus
Is God. When Jesus was a good man. And he was a good example.
He was a great teacher. He has all of those things, but Jesus has
so much more
Because this
Friends is the most significant event in all of human history.
This event sets our faith apart from every faith in the world.
When we could not get to God,
God came to us. The second gift we see this Christmas isn't that
only did God come to earth. God became a being.
God became a man. And he was 100% God and a hundred percent man
simultaneously Philippians chapter two verses six through eight,
say though, he was God talking about Jesus though. He was, God,
Jesus did not think of equality with God.
As something to cling to
Stead, he gave up his divine privileges. He took the humble
position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he
appeared in human form, he humbled himself in
to God. And he died a criminal's death on a cross. See God could
have chosen any way. He wanted to, to communicate with us, to show
his love to us. And for us,
God could have come and thunder and lightening. God could have
written a message in the sky. God could have come in an earthquake
or in the wind or in the fire. He could have been proceeded by
angelic trumpets. God could have come as a warrior. He could have
come as a conqueror, but he didn't. He came to Choco. He chose to
come as a baby. He chose to become one of us. The Bible says that
Jesus was just like us. He was born like us. The way that we were
all born, the Bible says that Jesus grew up. Like we did
physically socially, spiritually.
The Bible says that Jesus was tempted. Just like we are. He had
the same needs and the same drives and the same desires
Had the same problems and the same pressures. And Jesus went
through all of those things. Why? So that he could relate to us?
Yes. And
No matter what you're going through in your life,
You have to understand that God understands because he has been
there and done that God came and lived a human life. Not only was
it
God tempted, but he experienced real pain.
There are times when Jesus was lonely.
Tom's when Jesus was tired and worn out and overwhelmed. There
were times where he was under tremendous pressure.
He was disappointed,
Misunderstood Jesus, even wept. He understands everything that
you're going through.
Let's go back to Luke two for a moment, because I think this is
important while they were there. The time came for her baby to be
born.
She gave birth to her firstborn. She him snugly in strips of cloth
and laid him in a manger because there was no room available for
him. You see to be laid in a manger that was a feeding
Trough. There weren't ends that they could stay out and they were
all full because of the census.
And so most scholars believe that Jesus was either born underneath
someone's house or in a cave. And they laid him in a feeding
trough for animals. What does that mean? That shows this gift.
Number three, Jesus. He came for all of us.
He came for all of us.
The Bible is clear when Jesus was born, he was not born in a
palace or a hospital or even a nice home. He was born in a cave.
He was laid to rest in a feeding trough. He was born to ordinary
people and he was born for ordinary people. Jesus didn't come for
just a privileged few or just for the royalty or just for the
religious Jesus came for anyone and everyone who would believe in
him. And what I love the most about the Christmas story is that
the first people that came to see Jesus were the shepherds. We
make them the heroes of the story, but in the area that they lived
in, the Tom that they live shepherds were considered nobodies.
They were the outcasts of society because they did a job that
nobody else wanted to do. But they were the first ones invited to
Jesus's birth. Later on, the Bible says that wealthy wise men came
again. A reminder that anyone from the lowliest of the low to the
most privileged position you can think of anyone can come to
Jesus. Listen, John one 14 says, so the word Jesus became human
and made his home among us. I love the way that the message
paraphrase, puts it. The word became flesh and blood and moved
into the neighborhood. Jesus was simultaneously a regular guy and
he was, God, I don't understand it. But I believe it with all of
my heart. You see today, there's still a lot of controversy about
Jesus, who he was, what he was doing, why he came to earth. But as
Jesus got older, as he began traveling and teaching and ministry,
Jesus told us why he was here. Jesus gave us his purpose. And in
John 10, 10, Jesus said, I came so that everyone would have a life
and have it in its fullest.
Gift. Number four is that Jesus
Came to save you. Jesus,
What's you to have a full, abundant, blessed life while you're on
this earth. And he wants you to have eternal life in heaven
With him when you die, the truth is you.
You matter to God, you really matter to God. You matter to God. So
much that he left his home in heaven and came to earth in the form
of a baby. And he grew up and he lived a perfect life and he died
on a cross and he was resurrected and he went back to heaven and
he says, come be with me. I love you, my child. I want you to be
with me for eternity.
I came so that everyone would have,
I have life. Why did Jesus say that? Because most of us are not
truly living. We're just existing.
And as I was studying
This week, I came across the saying, you're going to recognize it.
I've seen it on websites. I've seen it on Christmas cards. I've
seen it on social media over the years, but I think it has so much
truth to it. It says if our greatest need had been information,
God
Would have sent us an educator.
If our greatest need on earth had been technology, God would have
sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God
would've sent us
An accountant. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would
have sent us an entertainer, but our greatest need was
forgiveness. So God sent us a savior after Jesus was born. Angels
appear to the shepherds out, working in the fields. And as they
celebrated, they said, behold, a savior is born and bet Maya,
this, and maybe you're watching or listening this morning. And
there has never been a time in your life where you've trusted
Jesus, Jesus, can't save you until you stop trying to save
yourself. This is a gift. Salvation is a gift from God. You will
never earn it. You can never deserve it. Send to what? Romans
three 23 through 25 says everyone has sinned and fallen. Short of
God's glorious standard
And all need to be made right with God
By his grace, which is a free gift.
They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. God sent
him to die in our place to take away our sins. We receive
forgiveness through faith
And the blood of Jesus's death. Salvation is a free gift. Let me
ask you a question. Will you accept this gift today? You've heard
the story. You've heard the good news that God loved you so much
that you,
You mattered so much to God that he left heaven. He came to earth
as a man. He grew up, he healed, he ministered. He taught, but
most importantly, he never sinned so that he could be the perfect
sacrifice
For you. And for me, he died on a cross. His blood was spilt so
that you and I could be forgiven. He died, but he Rose
Again. He was resurrected and he is still alive today in Jesus is
calling you
To himself, but we have to believe it. We have to accept that
Jesus has already done the hard work for us. Will you accept the
gift of salvation? And will you accept this gift from Jesus today?
If you say Jason, I will. This is what I want to ask you to do. I
want to ask you to pray this with me, Lord Jesus. I believe that
you are God in the flesh. I believe you lived a perfect life. I
believe you died on a cross and you Rose again from the grave. I
believe that God sent you to be our savior. Jesus, would you save
me today? I'm asking for your forgiveness. I'm asking you to set
me free
Jesus. I'm asking for our brand new life today. Jesus, you are my
Lord. And I want to follow you for the rest of my life and Jesus,
it's in your name. I pray. Amen. If that was you, I want to
celebrate with you today because that is the greatest decision
that you could ever make with your life. Look at me, listen to me.
You are forgiven and there is a home in heaven waiting for you
when you die. But while you're here on this earth, the Bible says
that Jesus is going to send his spirit to live inside of you, to
lead you and guide you and direct you. You are never alone. Again.
I want to ask you, please do not change the channel. Do not click
off of this video until you let me know, because I want to pray
for you by name. And I want to send you some resources to help you
grow, to help you become more like the Jesus that we talked about
today. You can fill out our connect card in the post above, or
it's going to be posted in the comments below. Or if you're
watching on TV, you can go to our website right now, give us a
name and email address. Let us know you gave your life to Jesus
today. And we're going to be praying for you and celebrating with
you. And we're going to reach out this week to help you become
everything that God has created you to be. Now at the end of every
service, we set aside time for prayer and worship because we
believe with all of our hearts. Prayer is important.
The next few moments we're going to worship together. We're going
to sing one last song together. It may be, you just need to
worship. Maybe you just need to cry out to God and sing to him and
celebrate him. If that's what you need to do. That is incredible.
But maybe you're saying Jason, I need prayer. I've got some stuff
going on. I don't know how to handle. Maybe you're confused. Maybe
you're discouraged. Maybe you're having downs. Jason. I need
somebody to pray for me. This is what I want to ask you to do. If
you're online, I want to ask you if you're comfortable, please
take your prayer requests and post them in the comments below. And
we have a team that's going to be praying for you right now,
Jason, my prayer request is, listen, I get it. If it's private,
you can send it in through our website. You can email it to us.
We'll just pray with our staff, with our pastors. And we'll take
that confidential prayer request and we will lift it up to Jesus
with you, whatever you, this is a time to be ministered to let's
pray and let's walk
Jesus,
Dan. And again we say, thank you. Thank you for coming to earth.
Thank you for becoming a human being. God, thank you for being our
savior for living with us and among us for relating to us for
knowing us God we say, thank you and father. I pray. I pray for
the prayer requests that are being posted below God. I pray for
those prayer requests. God, even as people's type right now is
they send those prayer requests in God. I pray in agreement with
them. God, I lift them up to you. I intercede on their behalf. God
father, we ask you
Joy
For divine faith. God we ask you for encouragement. God, we ask
you for provision God, for those that need healing God in jesus'
name, I ask you for healing. God, for those who are dealing with
worry and anxiety and fear, father, I ask for peace. Your word
says you are the Prince of peace.
Jesus, would you move powerfully in people's lives right now?
Jesus,
It's in your name. We pray

Hey everyone. I'm Mallory. Thank you so much for worshiping with
us at refuge church online. If this is your first time visiting
with us, we would love to reach out to you this week. To thank you
for being our guests. Please fill out a digital connect card at
find refuge here. Dot com slash connect.
Hey refuge, family, pastor Jason. Here. I am so excited about our
online Christmas Eve service coming up on December 24th. You'll be
able to check it out on our refuge church, Facebook page,
or@bondrefugehere.com. This will be online only so you can spend
the evening with your family. We're going to laugh. We're going to
have some fun and we're going to make much of Jesus Christ. I also
want to remind you that our service on Sunday, December 27th is
online only as well. I invite everybody to join us for refuge
church online on December 27th at 10:00 AM. It's going to be an
incredible day with one of my pastors, pastor Frankie Powell. I
love you. And remember refuge church, everyone is welcome and
anything is possible.
Refuge church is social. Check us out on Facebook, Vimeo or
Instagram. Thank you for choosing to worship with us today at
wreckage church, where everyone is welcome and anything is
possible. I can see everything. You've every burning stars. your,
you don't speak in. Once you have spoke nature and science, follow
the sound. you speak creatures, cashier, Whoa, pursue. I can see
your heart, everything you say if the stars to shift. So well with
everything access to too high. So if it goes away, your sin savvy.
You chase down my heart through all of my abandon darkness, 2
billion failures. I could find it. If you left the gray you behind
you so I can see everything you've done. throw me, scare me when
it came
Hey church, pastor Mark. Here. We're going to give pastor the day
off today, we're going to finish up our sermon series called the
Christmas gifts. You know, in our first week of this sermon
series, we looked at the interaction and the importance of the
Christmas story talking about, uh, Jesus's mother Mary. And then
last week we talked about Jesus's birth and who God really says
that he is.
And today we're going to take a new, fresh
Look at what the Bible says, the gifts given to us through the
eyes of the shepherds and how the shepherd saw the Christmas
story.
And there's a lot that, uh, God gives us some amazing things that
we don't think about. We always think about Christmases, the birth
of baby Jesus, but really Christmas is when God came to earth and
there were so many more gifts. If you want to read along with me,
uh, this morning, Luke chapter two, verses eight through 14, that
night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding
their flocks of sheep. Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared
among them and the radiance of the Lord's glory, surrounded them.
They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. Don't be
afraid. He said, I bring you good news, that you will bring great
joy to all people. The savior. Yes, the Messiah. The Lord has been
born today in Bethlehem, the city of David. And you will recognize
him by this son. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of
cloth, lying in a manger.
Suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others. The armies
of heaven, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest
heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased. See,
I want you to take notes this morning, because from that passage,
that interaction between the angel and the shepherds, there are
some Christmas gifts given to us, given to Christ's people. And
that's what we're going to look at is the four gifts that God has
given us through his son. Jesus, that first gift that we get is
courage. We need courage. You know, oftentimes we have
interactions, uh, with, uh, the Lord and the Bible, or you have
interactions with angels. They say, don't be afraid because fear
is human nature, but God gives us courage. What are you worried
about today? Are you worried about your bills? Are you worried
about your health, your job, your kids, your marriage, what is it?
Are you worried about your future? Look at the first thing that
happened in this story, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared
among them and the radiance of the Lord's glory, surrounded them.
They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. Don't be
afraid. He said, you know, it's interesting that line don't be
afraid
When I was studying. That's what I, uh, hung up on was that idea
of don't
Be afraid. If you think about it, I've read the back of the book
and we win. God is victorious. And that's enough to give us
courage because one of the major themes of the Bible is that God
did not create you so that you would have to live in fear. There
is no need to live in fear. If you have fear about any of those
things, your job, your marriage, your children, uh, hunger, your
health, whatever it is, God will take care of it. We are given
courage through Jesus Christ. We are victorious. We will win
because of him. And just like that. When the angels told the
shepherds, don't be afraid. We have that same promise to not be
afraid because we we'll win. Let's keep going. Luke, two verse 10
says, I bring you good news. That will bring great joy to all the
people.
See the second gift that we get with the birth of Jesus is we get
the good news. We get the good news. It's not just the gospel.
It's the good news of hope while desserts and decorations and, and
presence are part of the fun of Christmas. Christmas really is
about Jesus. That is the good news. You know, this morning I was
walking around singing Christmas songs. Why? Just because of the
time of the year, I woke my daughter up this morning, singing a
Christmas Carol. And she was like, dad, stop. But it's just
something about this time of year that makes us happy and gives us
joy while our world is full of bad news and frightening news and
fake news, we have the good news. We have the good news of Jesus
Christ. Really. It's more than just good news. It's great. News is
the best news in the world.
People won't, they hear it and we need to take it all over the
world. You don't need just to sit on the good news. You need to
spread the good news because that's one of the best gifts that you
were given. You may ask yourself. Well, what is the good news? I'm
confused about that gift. Pastor Mark. The good news is you matter
to guide. It's that simple. The news is you matter to God so much.
God knows everything about you. He knows the good. He knows the
bad. He knows the ugly and he still loves you. Why you say, well,
I'm not lying. Lovable. God loves you. No matter what, that's the
good news. No matter how good, no matter how bad or no matter how
ugly you are. God who loves it. God and loves you. He created you.
You were made for a purpose and God knows that purpose.
You are not an accident. You may think why I'm just messing too
much for God to love me. I can't even walk in a church. I
shouldn't even be watching it online right now or watching it on
TV. And that's so wrong. And so far from the truth, I don't care
what the circumstances are of your birth. I don't care about your
accidents. You know, God knows, and God has a purpose for your
life. That is the good news. You just don't know him maybe. And
maybe that's what you're worried about. He wants you to know him.
So he sent his son, Jesus Christ. So you could know him like he's.
He knows you. I was reading a story this week and it was kind of a
special story of a father and a son. And it's the story of the sun
lays down at night and he in his Bay and he goes, daddy, daddy, I
need you in.
The dad says, now, son, you got your Teddy bear, just hug yet. And
he says, no, no, daddy. I need something with skin. I love that
story because that's us here on earth. We're the children of God.
And we're crying out to God, but yet it wasn't just hugged that
Teddy bear, God said, he gave us something with skin. He gave us
himself with skin. He gave us his own son. Jesus Christ God in the
flesh, 100% man, 100% God to come down to earth. I love that the
angel said this was what's happening for all the people. The angel
told the shepherd. This is for everybody. Doesn't matter who you
are, what you've done. God wants to have a relationship with you.
That's the good news. And that's probably one of the greatest
gifts that we have. And we can't hide that good news.
We have to be willing to share that gift. So let's keep going.
We've talked about the gift of courage that you're promised
because we know that God's in control and we have the gift of the
good news. We have Jesus in the flesh, the son of God, walking
here on earth. But the third gift is probably the most powerful
gift that we see here in this story. The third Christmas gift is
forgiveness. It doesn't say that God's sent us a salesman because
we didn't need a product. It says in Luke two 11, the savior, yes,
the Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city
of David, we didn't need a politician. We didn't need a soldier.
We didn't need a scientist. We needed a savior. We needed
forgiveness. Say, I think God could have sent us down anything. He
could've sent us down an educator to teach us.
He could have sent us down a salesman to show us how to get what
we need and buy it. He could have sit down a soldier to fight for
us, but he sitting on a little baby because he knew we needed
forgiveness. The best gift he ever gave us was forgiveness and the
form of a savior because God knew that we needed a savior. He knew
that God sent us to his savior so we could receive forgiveness.
The Bible says that heaven is the perfect place. And you know,
when, when you read in the book of revelation, it sometimes is
exciting to see the streets of gold or the Gates of Pearl. Or you
talk about all the stones and you think about how beautiful it is.
But I think the, the most interesting part of heaven that I'm so
excited about is in heaven.
There is no sin and sin is something that's pretty simple. It
basically comes in two forms. Seeing is when you don't do what God
told you to do, or you do something that God told you not to do,
but in heaven that doesn't exist because sin was not in God's
original plan in the garden. There was no idea of seeing God did
not create sin. Sin is that complete disobedience, but in heaven,
there is no sin. There's obviously no suffering. The Bible
promises made that there'll be no more pain. One day, the Bible
promises me that there'll be no more death, no more crying, no
more tears. I love that verse in the book of revelation. That
promises me that obviously, if imperfect people live there, that
it wouldn't be perfect. That means I don't stand a chance. And you
don't either of getting into hell heaven on your own merit.
I don't stand a chance on my own merit because I'm not perfect.
And I still fall short of the glory of God, but yet me a sinner, a
man, God still sent his son down so that I can get forgiveness
through his ultimate sacrifice. What a Christmas gift, you know,
it's exciting. And I love to watch my kids open presents, but does
I think about the best gift that anybody ever received, including
me, you, my children, my grandchildren one day is that idea of
forgiveness. So we all have a big problem. Here's the perfect
place. And yet none of us are perfect. That poses a problem. So
God comes to earth in the form of Jesus who was perfect. And he
says, you can get to heaven. Oh my ticket, God says, I'll be yours
savior, man. What a blessing is that for God to say, I won't be
your savior.
I will give you that forgiveness. Forgiveness is a gift, but we
have to choose to receive, save it. It's a free gift. It's the
best gift. You just have to be willing to receive it. You don't
deserve it. You can't earn it, but you can't accept that gift. And
the last gift that I want to look at today from this story out of
the eyes of the shepherds that we receive on Christmas gift,
number four is the gift of relationship. See, Luke two 14 says
glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to those
whom God is pleased. I love how it reads in the King James version
of the Bible. It translates glory to God in the highest and on
earth, peace Goodwill toward men. What a great, powerful
translation that he is. God wants you to not only have peace with
him, but he wants you to have peace with other people too.
He wants it to be a time of peace and hope this time of year. I
mean, there should be peace. And I know that, but there's so much
stress associated with the holidays. You may be experiencing
family drama. Uh, there may be jealousy, grudges, resentment,
misunderstanding, maybe it's conflict with a sibling. Maybe, maybe
it's a spouse or an ex spouse or our extended family. And there's
fighting going on, especially on social media. You know, sometimes
social media, listen, it's a great thing for churches. We can
advertise, but sometimes families can really get at each other in
call stress. Who do you need to reach out to this Christmas?
Because it's a time of relationships and a relational. God God
said that he was glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace
Goodwill towards men. That's what the angels declared peace on
earth and Goodwill.
It's time to restore those relationships. This time a year, you
need to take the gift that we were given the relationship with
God, and you need to restore the relationships in your family.
Maybe it's a friend that you've you've crossed paths with is that
you had some crosswords with, or our sibling or children. Life is
too short. The angels declared peace on earth and good wheel. It's
time for you to take a hold of that because for receiving
forgiveness is just as important as giving forgiveness and having
a relationship who do you need to reach out to? Who do you need to
ask forgiveness from? Who do you need to restore relationship
with? Say restoring a broken relationship may be one of the
greatest gifts you give yourself this Christmas and you know what?
You had a broken relationship restored by Christ because
ultimately through the great gift you could receive this
Christmas, the most ultimate gift you could receive is Jesus
Christ.
I love this verse out of Hosea has a, a 10, 12 says it is time for
you to turn to me your Lord and I will come and pour out blessings
upon you. It's time for you to turn to your Lord. It's time for
you to turn to your God. It's time for you to receive that
forgiveness. We pray with me, God, heavenly father, thank you for
your work or today, God, God, thank you for the gifts of
Christmas. God, if I was able to translate nothing else today, my
prayer is that God it's so much more than just the birth of baby
Jesus. It's about God coming in the flesh and giving us the gift
of courage and giving us the gift of forgiveness and
relationships. God, God, it's an opportunity to have hope because
the good news of Jesus Christ on earth, God, in the flesh, God,
God, we pour out this to you right now.
God, we praise you. We command our soul to bless you, Lord Lord.
Right now there's friends out there that I'm praying for watching
this and that are struggling. They're struggling with being locked
in and they ask their self and they need to forgive. And, and how
do they forgive in a pandemic when they're afraid to leave their
house or they can't leave? God, I find a way, find a way to
translate through the telephone or, or through FaceTime or
whatever it is. God, where people need to reach out to families
and restore God. I just pray your blessings on, on those that are
listening today. And God, I just pray. There's people out there
that know that they know that they need you. God, because you are
amazing. Lord, Lord, we praise you. It's in your name. I pray.
Amen. Listen church. I think there are some of you out there that
need so much more than just a restored relationship.
I think there's some of you out there that need forgiveness that
need a savior that need forgiveness and a savior and a promise of
heaven. If you're out there right now and you say, pastor, that's
me. That's me. I need Jesus because I've been good, but I need
forgiveness because listen, being good. Won't get you to heaven.
It's about being with God. It's about receiving that free gift,
that relationship having the good news. It's one thing to hear the
good news. You've heard the Christmas story over and over and over
again. But receiving that Christmas story. Listen, if that's you
right now, what I want you to do is I want you to bow your head
and I want you to cry out to God, God heavenly father save me.
God, forgive me of my sins. Forgive me of my failures. I admit
that I'm a sinner.
God, I admit that I'm lost without you. God. I believe Jesus was
your son that lived a perfect life and died for me on that cross.
I confess him Lord of my life. I know I'm not worthy, but God you
love me. Anyway. God saved me. It's in your name. I pray. Amen.
Listen for, and if that was you, there's a digital connect card.
If you see that and you're watching online, click on the digital
connect card and tell us, let us reach out to you and help you
connect. And, and so that you can learn more. Or if you're
watching on TV right now, Hey, call the church, email the church.
We want to send you a gift this morning. That'll just help you
connect with God and understand what it means to make him your
Lord and savior
Church. I love you
This year. And I'm so excited about the Christmas season and I was
gonna sing you a Christmas Carol, but they said
That I couldn't because you might all turn the TV off, but you
know what church it is, the time that I want to bless you. And I
want to thank you for watching this morning and I want to wish you
a Merry Christmas now go and be the truth.