WEBVTT 00:00:01.022 --> 00:00:10.067 I love Christmas for so many reasons and I could cite probably hundreds as you could but for me it's a special time. 00:00:10.067 --> 00:00:19.364 As I told the church a few weeks ago, being Jewish, i never heard the gospel until I heard it from the lips of my older brother, who had been a drug addict. 00:00:19.364 --> 00:00:24.387 My parents had removed me from Philadelphia and took me to Miami to get me away from drugs. 00:00:24.387 --> 00:00:38.573 The first person I ever heard the gospel was my Jewish brother, who had the privilege of spending a few days with this week in Philadelphia, who came, who called me and told me that Jesus was the Messiah. 00:00:38.573 --> 00:00:49.240 But actually, as I reminded the church a few weeks ago, i remembered an event in Philadelphia when I was maybe eight or nine, maybe ten, that I had forgotten It was. 00:00:49.360 --> 00:00:52.591 I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, but all my friends were Italian. 00:00:52.591 --> 00:01:14.296 I tell people we used to dip our calzone in chicken soup And I remember at that young age Christmas day or Christmas Eve I can't remember when, but I was walking down the Italian part of our neighborhood and from one of my friend's homes I heard for the first time or maybe the first time I really noticed it. 00:01:14.296 --> 00:01:22.867 I heard Noelle, noelle born as the king of Israel And, being Italian, i thought Noelle was Leon spelled backwards. 00:01:22.867 --> 00:01:43.813 But I remember being stopped in my tracks and, for the first time in my life, really hearing the words of that song Noelle, noelle, born as the king of Israel, and being confused, as a young Jewish kid, how Jesus of Nazareth would be exalted as the king of Israel. 00:01:43.813 --> 00:01:48.813 Well tonight, many years later, i stand among you. 00:01:48.813 --> 00:01:51.600 There is no Jew or Gentile, and I with you. 00:01:51.600 --> 00:02:00.990 I'm here for one reason to proclaim and glorify the name of the Lord and to declare Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 00:02:00.990 --> 00:02:01.801 He's alive. 00:02:10.240 --> 00:02:22.853 The words that Hilton read to us from Isaiah have meant so much to me over the years of all the Christmas texts, and I'm sure everybody received a card this year with those words planted on it. 00:02:22.853 --> 00:02:29.913 If you haven't, maybe you listen to Handel's Messiah, where those words are so prominently featured. 00:02:29.913 --> 00:02:35.292 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. 00:02:35.292 --> 00:02:43.849 If you read the context of those words, he took us right to the main point, which is the child that was born and the son be given. 00:02:43.849 --> 00:02:48.634 But if you look at the context in Isaiah, things are really bad. 00:02:48.634 --> 00:02:56.769 When God spoke that word, the backdrop as Israel's reached its lowest point. 00:02:56.769 --> 00:02:59.054 They have turned from the Lord. 00:02:59.054 --> 00:03:10.250 The nation is so backslidden that they're worshiping other gods and consulting mediums in order to consult the dead, because there was no direction in Israel. 00:03:10.250 --> 00:03:25.423 And suddenly, in the midst of that kind of depression and darkness, god chimes in with this incredible prophetic word of hope Unto us a child is born. 00:03:25.423 --> 00:03:29.793 Unto us a son is given. 00:03:29.793 --> 00:03:30.881 Undoubtedly. 00:03:30.961 --> 00:03:39.064 Tonight there are some in our midst, statistically, who have a bad case of holiday blues. 00:03:39.064 --> 00:03:46.572 Christmas is not, as we know in our culture, always a time of great joy and great hope. 00:03:46.572 --> 00:03:49.548 There may not be enough money to go around. 00:03:49.548 --> 00:03:58.010 Maybe this has been a difficult Christmas for you, as it has for many families that I've spoken to, because there isn't a lot in the till for extra gifts. 00:03:58.010 --> 00:04:16.670 I was at a department store in Philadelphia last night with my niece and my brother who was buying a gift for his grandson, and I watched as the mall was filled with thousands of worshipers who were grieved because they were out getting last-minute gifts shopping done. 00:04:16.670 --> 00:04:19.642 They looked so grieved I was glad I was broke. 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.466 Some of us have difficulty at this season. 00:04:24.466 --> 00:04:30.293 Maybe you're spending time with family and that might not be the greatest time. 00:04:30.293 --> 00:04:42.951 Maybe you deal with strife and difficulty, but there is reason to rejoice tonight, and Isaiah's text gives us six incredible reasons. 00:04:42.951 --> 00:04:46.488 Or should we say Isaiah was careful. 00:04:46.488 --> 00:04:57.687 I want to take a few moments tonight and unpack, like a Christmas gift, this incredible description which Isaiah gives us of the babe of Bethlehem. 00:04:57.687 --> 00:05:11.432 I want you to think tonight we don't have them on stage, but I want you to think tonight of six gifts neatly wrapped in beautiful boxes with wrapping paper and bows. 00:05:11.432 --> 00:05:21.853 We're going to unpack them tonight, but what Isaiah tells us is far better than any gift anyone in this room has ever received. 00:05:21.853 --> 00:05:28.853 They're all wrapped up, though, in one person, the person of the Lord Jesus. 00:05:28.853 --> 00:05:49.810 When Isaiah says his name shall be called, he's not telling us that that will actually be his name, but rather that this person the child born, the son given, embodies these realities in his character and person. 00:05:49.810 --> 00:06:05.122 Isaiah is telling us this is the kind of person that Jesus of Nazareth really is, and these aren't just sentiments for a Christmas card or making nice plaques over your kitchen sink. 00:06:05.122 --> 00:06:16.567 These are concrete realities that any man or woman in this room, as a true believer, knows personally and powerfully. 00:06:16.567 --> 00:06:26.528 I want to warn you at the end of this meeting, you might have a chance be given to you tonight to make these six gifts your own as well. 00:06:27.620 --> 00:06:29.005 Let's unpack them for a moment. 00:06:29.005 --> 00:06:31.889 They all start with the letter S conveniently. 00:06:31.889 --> 00:06:33.961 The first one is sympathy. 00:06:33.961 --> 00:06:36.504 Unto us a child is born. 00:06:36.504 --> 00:06:40.807 Unto us, a son is given sympathy. 00:06:40.807 --> 00:07:01.439 Jesus, the Savior, the Lord, comes as a child, as a baby, as a human being, and Hebrews says he did so for one reason not only to redeem us by his death, but so that he could be a sympathetic and understanding Savior. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:07.233 Very familiar personally with the plight of being human. 00:07:07.233 --> 00:07:31.257 This is for me Maybe it's because I'm Jewish, maybe it's just that I've studied it so much, but for me this doctrine that sets apart the Christian faith from any other religion, the doctrine of the incarnation, god becoming a baby And he didn't just become a human being for 33 years. 00:07:31.257 --> 00:07:34.319 Get rid of being human and go back to being God. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:39.266 He is tonight, 2,000 years later, as he sits at the right hand of his father. 00:07:39.266 --> 00:07:41.516 He is forever The God-man. 00:07:41.516 --> 00:07:49.324 But think with me of the amazing implications that God became a baby. 00:07:49.389 --> 00:08:05.380 I think author Max Lakuto caught it best when he said quote the omnipotent in one instant made himself breakable, he who had been spirit became piercable. 00:08:05.380 --> 00:08:10.841 He who was larger than the universe became an embryo. 00:08:10.841 --> 00:08:20.634 He who sustains the universe with a word shows to become dependent upon the nourishment of a young girl. 00:08:20.634 --> 00:08:38.360 God as a fetus, holiness sleeping in a womb, the creator of life being created, god was given eyes, eyebrows, two kidneys and a spleen. 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:47.282 In a word, god became a fertilized egg. 00:08:47.282 --> 00:08:49.734 How is that possible? 00:08:51.090 --> 00:08:56.879 As we unpack the second gift unto us, a child is born. 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:04.769 Unto us, a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders. 00:09:04.769 --> 00:09:13.316 I don't know what comes to mind when you hear the word government in America in 2011, but that's probably not a term of endearment. 00:09:13.316 --> 00:09:27.163 And in our government, in our nation, there are checks and balances, so that one branch of government supposedly have heard this, so that one branch of government cannot overextend itself. 00:09:27.163 --> 00:09:29.254 But that is not the case. 00:09:29.254 --> 00:09:43.239 Isaiah tells us in the moral universe, in the moral universe, there's government and it rests completely on one's shoulders, the shoulders of the Son of God. 00:09:43.239 --> 00:09:44.951 Unto us, a child is born. 00:09:44.951 --> 00:09:51.884 Unto us, a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulders. 00:09:51.884 --> 00:09:53.893 He rules, he reigns. 00:09:53.893 --> 00:10:11.166 In the moral government, there is one King of King, president of president, jesus Christ sits alone unchallenged, and His name shall be called as we come to this third gift to unwrap. 00:10:11.166 --> 00:10:24.182 His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, and this is, without a doubt, my favorite term for the lovely Lord Jesus Wonderful Counselor. 00:10:24.289 --> 00:10:50.980 You might have a Bible that has that term, wonderful, followed by a comma, making it two terms, but actually the two terms in Hebrew are joined together He's the Wonderful Counselor, and the Hebrew word Wonderful is really the word for that which is out of the ordinary, that which is supernatural, that which cannot be accounted for by human beings. 00:10:50.980 --> 00:10:56.078 It is the Old Testament word for miraculous. 00:10:56.078 --> 00:11:06.820 It was used throughout the Old Testament for miracles that only God could do, and men and women would stand in awe and know this is the hand of God. 00:11:06.820 --> 00:11:08.696 And He did that in Scripture. 00:11:08.696 --> 00:11:10.756 He still does miracles today. 00:11:10.756 --> 00:11:16.133 But this child, isaiah says there's only one way to account for Him. 00:11:16.133 --> 00:11:16.972 You can't. 00:11:16.972 --> 00:11:23.605 No wonder, and Israel was well acquainted with wonders. 00:11:23.605 --> 00:11:32.966 But Isaiah comes on the scene and says this child is a wonder beyond all wonders, of all that God ever did. 00:11:32.966 --> 00:11:40.807 The bringing forth of this child and the giving of this son is a true wonder. 00:11:40.807 --> 00:11:45.403 How do we account for Jesus Christ? 00:11:45.403 --> 00:11:50.182 It is impossible to do so by human terms. 00:11:50.182 --> 00:11:53.115 I mean. 00:11:53.115 --> 00:12:04.046 What Isaiah is saying is he's not just the greatest thing the world can produce, he is actually beyond this world because he comes from another realm. 00:12:06.034 --> 00:12:12.768 One author said if you really translate this word properly, you would have to read it this way. 00:12:12.768 --> 00:12:14.879 But it doesn't sound good, but I love it. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:17.980 His name shall be called Surprise. 00:12:17.980 --> 00:12:24.585 You could take that Hebrew word and translate it that way. 00:12:24.585 --> 00:12:26.097 And how many of you know that? 00:12:26.097 --> 00:12:28.985 if you know Jesus, you know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:12:28.985 --> 00:12:37.461 It's sort of like imagine getting a gift tomorrow and you already see the box and you know it's a pair of cheap gloves. 00:12:37.461 --> 00:12:41.484 You have 30 pairs from previous Christmases you've never worn. 00:12:41.484 --> 00:12:54.828 But what would happen tomorrow if you rip open the box, take off the wrapping, open the box expecting to find cheap gloves and instead you find five $100 bills? 00:12:54.828 --> 00:12:58.480 You would probably say wonderful. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:07.087 And by saying it that way, you are saying I'm utterly surprised. 00:13:07.087 --> 00:13:09.301 I didn't expect that. 00:13:09.301 --> 00:13:17.746 If you take that idea, that's exactly what Isaiah is saying about the Christ of God. 00:13:17.746 --> 00:13:21.683 He is the surprising counselor. 00:13:21.683 --> 00:13:24.720 There's the moment you think you know him. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:33.364 He opens up and unwraps himself in a new way and you are blown away and all you can say is wonderful. 00:13:33.364 --> 00:13:37.058 But he's not just wonderful. 00:13:37.058 --> 00:13:41.743 Isaiah says he's the wonderful counselor. 00:13:41.743 --> 00:13:46.503 Wonderful is an adjective describing his real nature. 00:13:46.503 --> 00:13:49.721 He is the ultimate counselor. 00:13:49.721 --> 00:14:04.942 If there's anything Isaiah says that describes who Jesus is to his people, he is a supernatural counselor, a surprising counselor. 00:14:07.195 --> 00:14:08.356 It saddens my heart to think. 00:14:08.356 --> 00:14:20.205 There are probably men and women in this room right now, if not expressing it verbally or thinking if I only had someone to help me. 00:14:20.205 --> 00:14:25.181 I'm so lonely, i'm so depressed, i'm so out of sorts. 00:14:25.181 --> 00:14:28.547 I've left a trail of broken relationships. 00:14:28.547 --> 00:14:48.400 I need help And, like the man at the pool of Bethesda, their testimony is I have no man, but I'm here this afternoon to tell you you don't need a man or a woman when you can have the wonderful counselor. 00:14:48.400 --> 00:15:01.289 How many times in my own life, to my shame, did I determine to throw in the towel and say following Jesus is too difficult or ministry is too rough a vocation? 00:15:01.289 --> 00:15:02.719 I'm going to go do something else. 00:15:02.719 --> 00:15:14.807 And one moment, in the presence of the surprising counselor, one word from the gospels, one word in my ear from the Holy Spirit of Jesus, and everything changed in a moment. 00:15:14.807 --> 00:15:16.798 He's the surprising counselor. 00:15:16.798 --> 00:15:18.519 And not only did I not quit. 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:19.682 I loved him more. 00:15:24.894 --> 00:15:33.900 We feel bad at times for those who go through life feeling like no one understands them, no one loves them, no one cares for them. 00:15:33.900 --> 00:15:39.826 But this afternoon I plead with you come to the wonderful counselor. 00:15:39.826 --> 00:15:42.703 He will supply you with friends, encouragement. 00:15:42.703 --> 00:15:43.618 He does that. 00:15:43.618 --> 00:15:48.225 But you don't need anything but the wonderful counselor to really make it. 00:15:48.225 --> 00:15:49.118 He is enough. 00:15:49.118 --> 00:15:52.162 How many that know him would say that's your testimony. 00:15:54.495 --> 00:15:58.083 And then, fourthly, sovereignty. 00:15:58.083 --> 00:16:14.361 His name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, there is one thing that I cannot do for you tonight, and you can't even do it for yourself, though the word hasn't apparently gotten out. 00:16:14.361 --> 00:16:18.183 I cannot climb into your body tonight. 00:16:18.183 --> 00:16:23.280 I wish I could And somehow mystically change your heart. 00:16:23.280 --> 00:16:38.663 But Jesus, isaiah tells us, is not only the babe from Bethlehem, he's the mighty God, the sovereign one, and we struggle with this. 00:16:38.663 --> 00:16:43.404 The babe at Bethlehem we like because he's tucked away in a manger. 00:16:43.404 --> 00:16:44.648 He's manageable. 00:16:44.648 --> 00:16:55.749 I know what to expect, but I have news for you tonight the babe of Bethlehem is no longer in Bethlehem's major manger. 00:16:55.749 --> 00:17:02.946 He is the sovereign, mighty God whose word upholds the universe. 00:17:02.946 --> 00:17:09.525 And he alone is sovereign and can move into your space and change your heart. 00:17:11.038 --> 00:17:11.982 40 years ago. 00:17:11.982 --> 00:17:18.682 Last month, i went to a Christian meeting to humor my brother with no interest in the Gospel. 00:17:18.682 --> 00:17:26.878 I tell people I walked in having never thought of Jesus Christ in God once, and I've walked out and I haven't thought of anything else since. 00:17:26.878 --> 00:17:45.753 I didn't take a seminar, i didn't decide to clean up my life, but I encountered the mighty God, the Lord Jesus, who reached in, took out a stony heart and gave me a heart of flesh. 00:17:45.753 --> 00:18:06.480 What we need today is a mighty God, a sovereign God, a God we can't control, a God who's so mighty that we fall in our faces day and night and acknowledge his sovereignty. 00:18:09.109 --> 00:18:16.976 The number five gift that we unpack tonight in Isaiah's description of the Lord Jesus is the word sensitivity. 00:18:16.976 --> 00:18:23.840 His name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father. 00:18:23.840 --> 00:18:33.000 How is it that Isaiah tells us that the Son is the everlasting Father? 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:40.622 Well, isaiah is not saying literally that Jesus is the Father. 00:18:40.622 --> 00:18:44.000 He doesn't have the persons of the Godhead confused. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:52.044 Rather, he wants us to understand that this one, who is Bethlehem's babe, is Fatherly. 00:18:52.044 --> 00:19:06.123 We are to think of Jesus as the everlasting Father in that he will do and say and speak and do nothing except express to human beings the heart of a Father. 00:19:06.123 --> 00:19:07.795 And what does a Father do? 00:19:07.795 --> 00:19:20.060 It's in the Psalms that we are told that as a Father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 00:19:21.410 --> 00:19:35.961 Those of us who are Christians in this room know powerfully what happened when the compassion of the Father through the Son, entered our lives And we encountered a God we weren't told about in religious circles. 00:19:35.961 --> 00:19:42.895 We were told in religious circles that he's constantly looking for a reason to blot you out and punish you. 00:19:42.895 --> 00:20:03.550 And instead Jesus revealed to us a God who loves passionately, who delights in mercy, who forgives freely, and when he does, he doesn't put you on probation and say, okay, i'll forgive you, but you're on probation, let me see how you walk Your life. 00:20:03.550 --> 00:20:10.893 If you're a believer is bounded within the perimeters of the mercy and love of God. 00:20:10.893 --> 00:20:22.702 And as a Father disciplines his children, we're also to understand in this title of Jesus, eternal or everlasting Father, that he also will discipline his children when necessary. 00:20:22.702 --> 00:20:32.221 But the overwhelming reality of this box, as we unpack it, is his heart of compassion. 00:20:35.009 --> 00:20:41.721 And finally, tonight, the sixth box, serenity. 00:20:41.721 --> 00:20:57.873 His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of Peace, think tonight with me. 00:20:57.873 --> 00:21:11.291 Think tonight of a nation that spends more money on barbiturates and sleeping aids than the gross national product of many lower countries. 00:21:11.291 --> 00:21:19.545 Think of what people will do tonight and are doing for a moment's peace. 00:21:19.545 --> 00:21:37.760 Isaiah concludes his description of the Christ child by saying he's the author of incredible tranquility and peace. 00:21:37.760 --> 00:21:48.349 Some of us tonight are undoubtedly and I think of our own congregation tonight and many of the needs that I'm aware of The chaos, the confusion, the suffering. 00:21:48.349 --> 00:22:07.042 But Jesus is the author of incredible peace, and those of us who are disciples of Jesus have discovered this amazing reality that, no matter what you go through, when the Prince of Peace gives his presence, it's not only bearable but you can enjoy it. 00:22:07.565 --> 00:22:09.692 I remember one of my favorite Christian albums. 00:22:09.692 --> 00:22:13.844 I can't remember the singer's name, and that's one of my favorite albums. 00:22:13.844 --> 00:22:20.057 It's not mine, but the first song. 00:22:20.057 --> 00:22:25.837 I used to dance to it and it went like this in the middle of this madness, i am dancing. 00:22:25.837 --> 00:22:28.664 There's no rhyme or reason. 00:22:28.664 --> 00:22:31.060 I shouldn't be dancing. 00:22:31.060 --> 00:22:35.001 It's like I ran into somebody in the church. 00:22:35.001 --> 00:22:35.791 I said how are you doing? 00:22:35.791 --> 00:22:37.321 He said well, under the circumstances. 00:22:37.321 --> 00:22:38.778 I said what are you doing under there? 00:22:42.842 --> 00:22:53.680 What often happens to us, though, even for Christians is we want life to be amazingly easy And without pain and confusion. 00:22:53.680 --> 00:22:55.005 How many Christians are there? 00:22:55.005 --> 00:22:59.644 When will I, when is my Christian life going to pan out the way the evangelists told me? 00:22:59.644 --> 00:23:03.795 when all the problems are going to dissipate and I'll be problem free? 00:23:03.795 --> 00:23:08.001 Well, i've got good news and bad news. 00:23:08.001 --> 00:23:11.474 The bad news is never for. 00:23:11.575 --> 00:23:14.986 Jesus says in the world, you will have trouble. 00:23:14.986 --> 00:23:16.269 How many have discovered that? 00:23:16.269 --> 00:23:23.199 But don't leave it there, but be of good cheer, be of static. 00:23:23.199 --> 00:23:27.183 I have overcome the world. 00:23:27.183 --> 00:23:35.383 The Prince of Peace's way is not to remove us from trouble and difficulty and pain and confusion. 00:23:35.383 --> 00:23:45.032 He doesn't come and say I come to make life easy, but he tells you I will give you my peace and it passes under standing. 00:23:45.032 --> 00:23:47.778 It will keep you through whatever. 00:23:47.778 --> 00:23:57.443 I would rather be in the presence of Jesus in hell for a moment than in earth, in the most palatial surroundings, without it. 00:23:57.443 --> 00:24:01.653 Listen to his words. 00:24:01.653 --> 00:24:03.636 In the world, you will have trouble. 00:24:03.636 --> 00:24:09.609 Take heart, i have overcome the world. 00:24:09.609 --> 00:24:11.961 Peace. 00:24:11.961 --> 00:24:26.162 The Savior said when He burst into the upper room after His resurrection, an 11 fearful, trembling disciples who weren't sure if they were about to be crucified with their master. 00:24:26.162 --> 00:24:35.932 He passed through the door and spoke those words Shalom, peace be unto you and all was well. 00:24:35.932 --> 00:25:03.541 Those of us who are Christians have learned that the first moment that peace entered our hearts and minds is that moment when we believed upon the Son and, as Romans 5 says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. 00:25:03.541 --> 00:25:14.250 Before we even have the peace of God, we are assured that, because of faith, we have peace with God. 00:25:17.829 --> 00:25:32.214 These six gifts, and these six gifts alone sympathy, supremacy, sagacity, sovereignty, sensitivity and serenity. 00:25:32.214 --> 00:25:48.003 No matter who you are tonight, no matter what you're going through, no matter what gifts you'll receive tomorrow or gifts you won't receive, these gifts are all yours. 00:25:48.003 --> 00:25:54.454 But here's the deal They're not distributed individually, they are a package deal. 00:25:54.454 --> 00:26:23.063 You see, all of them are descriptions of a person, and if you want these six blessings which we've unpacked tonight, you must take Christ, let Jesus Christ walk in your life and surrender your life to Him. 00:26:23.063 --> 00:26:27.480 We all did it at a moment in time and said Jesus, you are Lord. 00:26:27.480 --> 00:26:46.172 I believe that You are the ultimate, supreme one, the sovereign one, the one who has all wisdom, the one who reveals the Father, the one who has peace for my life, and you surrender yourself to a person And the rest of your life. 00:26:46.172 --> 00:26:49.340 He unpacks these six gifts forever and ever. 00:26:49.849 --> 00:26:53.960 For those of us who are Christians know you don't get peace once and then you're on your own. 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:55.806 You can have it daily. 00:26:55.806 --> 00:26:59.298 Yes, you can have it moment by moment. 00:26:59.298 --> 00:27:02.332 Would you stand with me tonight? 00:27:02.332 --> 00:27:29.980 Think about what Christmas Eve might be for you tonight, if you are here tonight and you've never turned your life over to the Son of God, i want to give you an opportunity to pray with me tonight as we come to the end of this service. 00:27:32.710 --> 00:27:34.396 You may not understand all that I've said. 00:27:34.396 --> 00:27:38.733 You may not understand how does this work, and I don't know that I could ever explain it to you. 00:27:38.733 --> 00:27:59.583 But simplifying it, you come and take God's gift, for the Bible says the wages are sin, are death, but the gift, the free, unmerited gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 00:27:59.583 --> 00:28:01.776 It's a gift and it's Christmas. 00:28:01.776 --> 00:28:04.573 Why not take Him up on it? 00:28:04.573 --> 00:28:25.223 So I'm going to ask every head to bell and I want to do this while I pray, if you want to pray tonight, if you've never turned your life over to Jesus I'm not talking about you've gone to church and maybe you've veered from church. 00:28:25.484 --> 00:28:30.461 But I'm saying you know tonight that you're not a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:28:30.461 --> 00:28:32.316 You're really not following Jesus. 00:28:32.316 --> 00:28:41.220 Maybe you even prayed a prayer when you were eight or 10 or 12, or walked an aisle, but the truth is there was no change in your life and you've been in control of your life. 00:28:41.220 --> 00:28:48.759 Tonight will you receive God's free gift of eternal life. 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:51.625 And here's what you do. 00:28:51.625 --> 00:28:54.259 The Bible says receive the gift. 00:28:54.259 --> 00:29:00.673 So if I hand you a gift tonight, you have to reach out, you take it, you make it your own. 00:29:00.673 --> 00:29:07.516 And what we are calling upon you to do in a moment is to do that very thing To reach out by faith. 00:29:07.516 --> 00:29:11.959 And the Bible says whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. 00:29:11.959 --> 00:29:14.051 We want to pray with you. 00:29:15.213 --> 00:29:21.607 If you're serious tonight about calling on the name of the Lord, let's pray, bow your heads with me. 00:29:21.607 --> 00:29:30.531 Father, i ask your spirit tonight in this room to draw many men and women to the Son of God. 00:29:30.531 --> 00:29:53.689 I pray, lord, that the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord, as you offer it now, activate people's hearts to respond to the gospel of God, while every head is bowed and eyes closed. 00:29:53.689 --> 00:29:54.913 I'm going to ask you to do something? 00:29:54.913 --> 00:29:59.182 if you would tonight, people ask why do we do this publicly? 00:29:59.182 --> 00:30:01.461 Well, jesus called people publicly. 00:30:01.461 --> 00:30:03.459 We want to pray with you, we want to counsel with you. 00:30:03.459 --> 00:30:07.124 Maybe you don't have a full understanding of what it means to come to Jesus. 00:30:07.124 --> 00:30:12.378 Whatever your condition is, would you do me a favor right now, while every head is bowed and eyes closed? 00:30:12.378 --> 00:30:14.824 if you came with people, we won't keep you long. 00:30:14.824 --> 00:30:15.846 They will wait for you. 00:30:15.846 --> 00:30:17.028 We're in no hurry. 00:30:18.397 --> 00:30:22.894 We're going to segment into the end of our service and Paul will be coming and giving you some instruction. 00:30:22.894 --> 00:30:26.699 We'll be taking up our offering, but right now, in the presence of God. 00:30:26.699 --> 00:30:38.354 If you are willing, this Christmas Eve, to say I want Jesus to come into my life, i want to turn my life over to the Son of God. 00:30:38.354 --> 00:30:50.326 This isn't just praying a prayer, this is a decision that I want to follow Jesus Christ, i want you to lift your hand and by lifting your hand, saying that's me, pray for me. 00:30:50.326 --> 00:30:52.461 I want to do that tonight. 00:30:52.461 --> 00:30:54.221 Would you do that right now, in God's presence? 00:30:54.221 --> 00:30:57.801 If there's anyone here, please don't be afraid. 00:30:57.801 --> 00:31:06.160 Okay, someone, i'd like a woman. 00:31:06.160 --> 00:31:07.143 Would you keep your hand raised? 00:31:07.143 --> 00:31:09.663 ma'am, over here, in this section, a woman over there. 00:31:09.663 --> 00:31:10.848 Would you please pray with her? 00:31:10.848 --> 00:31:13.596 Yeah, i'm not going to call her forth, anyone else. 00:31:13.596 --> 00:31:24.982 We're going to close in a moment, but let's sing before Paul comes. 00:31:24.982 --> 00:31:27.887 As we're standing in God's presence, i want to make one more. 00:31:27.887 --> 00:31:30.422 I just want to close this service. 00:31:30.954 --> 00:31:42.486 The strong sense tonight that there's a lot of storm tossed people here tonight who really need the Prince of Peace to speak a word to your troubled soul. 00:31:42.486 --> 00:31:48.057 I'm going to ask you right now if you would get out of your seat and just stand in the front here. 00:31:48.057 --> 00:31:55.647 If you are in that condition, if your soul's in turmoil, you have confusion, you just lack peace. 00:31:55.647 --> 00:31:57.580 Tonight We're going to gather at the altar. 00:31:57.580 --> 00:31:58.819 We're not going to lay hands on anybody. 00:31:58.819 --> 00:32:01.703 We're going to sing and we're going to ask God's peace to come. 00:32:01.703 --> 00:32:13.137 So as we close in song, i want you to right now begin to move out of your aisle and just come to the front if you need the Lord to be unto you This Christmas Eve. 00:32:13.137 --> 00:32:15.464 The Prince of Peace, come now. 00:32:15.464 --> 00:32:16.628 Let's sing to you Peace out.