SPEAKER_00: Let's uh lift our Bibles up, wave them around, make Jesus glad, the devil mad.
SPEAKER_00: Let's just say this together.
SPEAKER_00: Say, Heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here, and I'm celebrating your birth.
SPEAKER_00: Not only on the earth, but in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is alive and well.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm his witness of these things.
SPEAKER_00: Today I'll be taught the Word of God.
SPEAKER_00: I'll receive it in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: It will build my faith.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the Holy Ghost.
SPEAKER_00: The anointing is stronger.
SPEAKER_00: I'm never the same.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: Let's turn in our Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to read a very familiar story, a testimony.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: In our household, all these years, we have the grandkids go around and from little, as soon as they could read.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe we all took turns reading this story.
SPEAKER_00: Luke chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: And I'll read it this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
SPEAKER_00: And this taxing was first made when Serenius was governor of Syria, and he was a Democrat.
SPEAKER_00: He raised the taxes.
SPEAKER_00: And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
SPEAKER_00: And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, who was great with child.
SPEAKER_00: And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
SPEAKER_00: And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
SPEAKER_00: And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
SPEAKER_00: And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
SPEAKER_00: And the angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
SPEAKER_00: For unto you is born this day, everybody shout, this day.
SPEAKER_00: Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And this shall be a sign unto you, you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
SPEAKER_00: And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
SPEAKER_00: And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had seen it, they made known the saying which was told them concerning this child.
SPEAKER_00: And so I wanted you to take note of chapter 11, where the angel said, This day, and that's what I want to preach about today, the day everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: The day everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just a random day, it wasn't just one day, it was this day, it was a particular day.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the day when everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: And it happened to be the winter solstice, which is the longest night of the year, shortest day of the year, and it was certainly typified the way the earth was at those times at that time.
SPEAKER_00: Israel lie in darkness, uh, way far from God, the God of their covenant.
SPEAKER_00: They had abandoned him.
SPEAKER_00: He hadn't abandoned them.
SPEAKER_00: But that had been 400 years since a prophet had spoken to them.
SPEAKER_00: Malachi was the last time they heard from God was Malachi, 400 years before.
SPEAKER_00: And what was Malachi's message?
SPEAKER_00: You're cursed with a curse, this whole nation.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it wasn't good news 400 years later, you know, and then 400 years later, now the whole earth lies in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus comes in the night of the longest night.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it typifies the tip, you know, how it was back then.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, I can just imagine devil saying to God, you know, the human human beings are a failed experiment.
SPEAKER_00: You're never going to be able to knock me off my throne.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's the devil.
SPEAKER_00: He's full of pride, full of confidence in his own, you know, abilities.
SPEAKER_00: But then came the day when everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad that day came?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jesus came.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, even in such darkness, you know, there were some looking for him.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, we we think it's so bad, but you know, there are people that know things that God is talking to.
SPEAKER_00: God's talking to people in the middle of darkness, and that was the same back then.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, you had the kings from the east.
SPEAKER_00: They were looking for him and they saw his star, and they followed that star all the way to Bethlehem, and they they went and they worshiped him.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, Simeon and Anna, just eight days later when he was presented in the temple, uh, you know, they were there.
SPEAKER_00: They knew that Jesus was going to be there.
SPEAKER_00: And uh the Bible says they came that instant when he showed up.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, just think if they'd come later in the day or if they'd come.
SPEAKER_00: You know, God is not random.
SPEAKER_00: God is exact.
SPEAKER_00: He set these stars in the heavens.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he set the universe in order.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, God knows what he's doing all the time.
SPEAKER_00: He's not random.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just maybe this, maybe that.
SPEAKER_00: It's always a sure thing with God.
SPEAKER_00: You get involved with the word of God, it's a sure thing.
SPEAKER_00: It's it's amen.
SPEAKER_00: And he is the word, isn't he?
SPEAKER_00: So Simeon and Emma, they greeted him in the temple, and they, I mean, they, you know, Simeon is an old man by now.
SPEAKER_00: God told him, You're not gonna die till you till you see the Christ, till you see the Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Oh, my eyes have seen him.
SPEAKER_00: Now I can go ahead and die.
SPEAKER_00: I can go ahead and die.
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, here's Anna, she's an old lady too.
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, they knew ahead of time, and they they knew by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody say, by the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And this is Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: So even in the midst of this darkness, I'm telling you, God always makes allowance.
SPEAKER_00: There are always people hungry and thirsty, no matter how dark it gets.
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, angels announced to some, he announced to Zechariah, who was John the Baptist's father before he became, you know, he said, your wife's gonna be pregnant when he's gonna make the way for the Messiah, and he didn't believe it there for a while, and the angel had to shut his mouth for until after his son was born.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, but angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him about it.
SPEAKER_00: He appeared to Mary, he appeared to Joseph, and now we see he appeared to the shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: He appeared to the shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, even as dark as it was, God made allowance.
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, it's been a dark time in America, it's been dark, but I'm telling you the light has come.
SPEAKER_00: I think people are beginning to wake up.
SPEAKER_00: People are and not only wake up, but rise up.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's one thing to wake up and you can still be laying in bed doing nothing.
SPEAKER_00: No, God wants us to rise up.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to arise and shine.
SPEAKER_00: Your light has come.
SPEAKER_00: And it's time to turn on the searchlight.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And that's beginning to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And so here the shepherds, I call them the blue-collar workers, might not be quite accurate because uh, you know, most of the time the blue-collar workers are the ones that work graveyard shift, 12 to 8.
SPEAKER_00: How many ever worked a graveyard shift?
SPEAKER_00: I did.
SPEAKER_00: I worked for three years.
SPEAKER_00: Or rotating.
SPEAKER_00: I rotated, I had a rotating shift when I worked for Reynolds Metals.
SPEAKER_00: And I remember how miserable I felt all the time because you never can't get in a rhythm.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, you go from midnight to eight, five days, and then you switch to days, and then you switch to nights, four to twelve, and and you just never can get, you know, climatized nowadays, you know, nurses and doctors and professional people work uh shift work.
SPEAKER_00: But back then, the shepherds, see, they're out there working where everybody else is asleep.
SPEAKER_00: And nothing out there but the stars and the sky.
SPEAKER_00: There were no street lights, there was no sleep number beds for them to rest on.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they had to work.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly, you know, the they they heard and they saw the glory.
SPEAKER_00: The angel of the Lord appeared to them, and and the sky lit up with a whole host.
SPEAKER_00: And the message was hey, we've got good tidings of great joy for all people.
SPEAKER_00: See, there's nobody excluded.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus came for everybody.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just come for the Jew, he came for all people.
SPEAKER_00: And and what, you know, when I was meditating on these verses, what stood out to me in verse 11, for unto you is born this day.
SPEAKER_00: For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior.
SPEAKER_00: See, that was the message.
SPEAKER_00: For unto you.
SPEAKER_00: See, he didn't come for the high holy ones.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't come for the ones that didn't need him.
SPEAKER_00: He came for you.
SPEAKER_00: And he came for me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad he did.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad he came.
SPEAKER_00: And so glory to God and the highest, and and oh, and peace to the people on earth.
SPEAKER_00: See, the glory was locked up in heaven up until that time, and now it's unleashed.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, now heaven has come down to earth.
SPEAKER_00: Now we are getting to partake of what they have in heaven on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I tell you, God is a given God.
SPEAKER_00: He's he just couldn't wait to give the gift.
SPEAKER_00: And he gave that gift to us, to all people.
SPEAKER_00: Shalom and goodwill toward mankind.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, All right, now you I've told you the good news.
SPEAKER_00: Now this will be a sign to you.
SPEAKER_00: Go find, you know, he's he's a baby and he's he's in a cave and he's he's wrapped in in swaddling clothes and lying in a feeding trough.
SPEAKER_00: On a tour to Israel back in 2003, Gladys and I went all over Israel.
SPEAKER_00: It was a wonderful tour.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, it's common there for them to use natural things for uh uh, you know, what they need, you know.
SPEAKER_00: They didn't bother building a barn a lot of times.
SPEAKER_00: If they found a hole in the side of a cliff, it looked like a cave, they would use it uh, you know, to keep the sheep and to birth the babies and all of that and feed the animals, get them out of the hot sun and get them out of the cold wind in the winter time.
SPEAKER_00: And we came across a likely scene.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it was the scene, but it was a kind of a cliff.
SPEAKER_00: It was about the size of maybe 30 foot tall and was a sheer rock face, and it was hollowed out, and it went down underneath, and so it was only about this tall.
SPEAKER_00: You had to bend over and you look in there, and it was big enough to stand up in, and the bottom is very small, about as wide as the center section.
SPEAKER_00: But I just, you know, you could see how that could be where Jesus was laid in a in a feeding trough, you know, in this place, this little, you know, it wasn't really a cave, it's just kind of an excavation in the side of a cliff.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, and they went and they they they believed the word that was spoken, and they they these these shepherds, you know, they're not in temple, they're not, they're not necessarily serving God, they're not reading their Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: They, but the angel appeared to them and they went looking for the Savior and they found him.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad they went looking for him?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wins and the devil loses.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the devil, I mean, he just was proven to be a liar and proven to be wrong.
SPEAKER_00: No, I tell you, all your efforts to stop this failed, devil, and now the Son of God is on the earth to do his job.
SPEAKER_00: And he did his job, didn't he?
SPEAKER_00: This is the day that everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: Just think about it.
SPEAKER_00: Everything changed this day.
SPEAKER_00: It looked so bad, and yet things that already changed, a lot of people didn't know.
SPEAKER_00: A few people knew, but not a lot of people knew yet.
SPEAKER_00: And so we have the same good tidings and we have the same great joy today.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is available to each of us, every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: No one is excluded, everyone is qualified.
SPEAKER_00: Aren't you glad?
SPEAKER_00: Are you hungry?
SPEAKER_00: He's your bread of life.
SPEAKER_00: Are you sitting in darkness?
SPEAKER_00: He's the light of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Are you rejected?
SPEAKER_00: Are you scorned?
SPEAKER_00: Are you are you an outcast?
SPEAKER_00: He is love.
SPEAKER_00: Life, light, and love have come down in the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't just die on the cross, he rose from the dead, and he's still doing the same things he's always done.
SPEAKER_00: He's always looking and searching for people whose hearts are hungry.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody with a hungry heart this morning?
SPEAKER_00: You know, Christmas is a wonderful time of the year.
SPEAKER_00: It's also kind of dangerous because it's become so commercialized.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's wanting your dollar, everybody's wanting your business.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, everywhere you look is people trying to, you know, I felt sorry for the merchants there in Tombaugh.
SPEAKER_00: They uh, Center Point Energy woke up one morning and decided to turn all the power off, right?
SPEAKER_00: The week before Christmas.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I just want to go and thump somebody inside of the head.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you people are so pathetic.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there we have such dysfunction not only in the government, but all across corporate entities.
SPEAKER_00: They don't think at all except for their own interests.
SPEAKER_00: They don't care.
SPEAKER_00: And here you got these, the I was I was listening to this one lady.
SPEAKER_00: She said, we depend on the business between Thanksgiving and New Year's for our living.
SPEAKER_00: It's 80% of our total business.
SPEAKER_00: It's right now, and you guys are gonna close and shut the electricity off on the 17th of December.
SPEAKER_00: Are you kidding me?
SPEAKER_00: You didn't tell us, you didn't talk to us, you didn't let us know, so we could try to get make some kind of plan, maybe rent generators or something.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they need they need our business in that sense, but but I felt sorry, and I prayed for them, and of course it wound up being shorter.
SPEAKER_00: They did they got behind it and they got they got the power turned back on earlier than they said, but what the damage had been done.
SPEAKER_00: But my point is that we can get distracted.
SPEAKER_00: That's my point.
SPEAKER_00: The point is you can get distracted about Christmas and about all the peripheral things, and you can lose the main thing, the main message.
SPEAKER_00: And so there's three things I want to leave with you today.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna preach a long time because we've got a wonderful uh program that uh our children church and altitude are have put together, and we want them to have plenty of time to present it.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to give you three things that Jesus desires to do today.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, Jesus wants to be born in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he came for us, unto us this day.
SPEAKER_00: Unto us this day.
SPEAKER_00: There might be some of you that never got saved.
SPEAKER_00: I was in church from a little kid.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, my mother was Catholic and my dad was not going to church in those days, and the rest of the family, we'd go to church on Sunday and leave my dad at home.
SPEAKER_00: And uh we even went Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_00: I we went to Wednesday night benediction.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, we, you know, that's we were church going, but you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I didn't, I mean, I went, I spent a lot of time in church, but Jesus wasn't born in my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus didn't get born in my heart until I was 33.
SPEAKER_00: And uh and I I invited him in.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God I I finally, I mean, it didn't just come automatically.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it didn't just osmosis or something, just hang out in church and I got saved.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: No, I had to make a decision.
SPEAKER_00: I had to hear.
SPEAKER_00: God had to open my hearing to hear the good news, and I had to say yes.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so glad I did.
SPEAKER_00: And when he came into my heart, everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: I kind of laughed because I went and emptied my bar.
SPEAKER_00: I had a wet bar in my den.
SPEAKER_00: And uh it was really wet in that wet bar.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I had every kind of booze you could think of.
SPEAKER_00: I had vodka, I had tequila, I had bourbon, I had uh scotch, I had, you know, just name it all.
SPEAKER_00: And uh amaretta, and I had all the other kind of booze too.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, all this fancy booze, the banana flavored stuff, and all, I mean, there's a whole, and I mean, when I got saved, I dumped all that down the sink.
SPEAKER_00: And I filled the garbage can full of empty bottles, and I just wondered what the garbage men must have thought when they came to our house.
SPEAKER_00: This guy must have gone on a bench.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's he's on a bender, man.
SPEAKER_00: Look at this garbage can full of empty, empty booze bottles.
SPEAKER_00: You mean you didn't give it away?
SPEAKER_00: Of course not, I didn't give it away.
SPEAKER_00: Why would I give poison away?
SPEAKER_00: I got rid of all my beer making equipment.
SPEAKER_00: Five gallon.
SPEAKER_00: I used to make beer by the five gallons.
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't you give it away?
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna give it away.
SPEAKER_00: I threw it away, I threw it away, every bit of it.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you, when he comes in, everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: Everything.
SPEAKER_00: And Gladys says, Amen, amen.
SPEAKER_00: I think she says some things changed.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe some things didn't change.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to be, Jesus wants to be born in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, Jesus wants to grow in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't just want to be a baby in our hearts, he wants to grow.
SPEAKER_00: And in Luke 2, 40, and the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what Jesus wants for you, every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: That's one of the purposes of a local church is to grow you up in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: To grow you up and make you strong, to mature you, to strengthen you, to increase in wisdom and stature.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, God wants you to have a big footprint.
SPEAKER_00: What do you mean by that?
SPEAKER_00: God will exalt you.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he wants people drawn to you.
SPEAKER_00: That's why.
SPEAKER_00: You've got something to offer to people that no one else has, that I don't have, that your neighbor doesn't have.
SPEAKER_00: You're unique.
SPEAKER_00: You have a unique presence on the earth that God wants to be able to utilize.
SPEAKER_00: And so that's why you need to grow up.
SPEAKER_00: And which leads me to the third thing he wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to do great things for us and in us and through us.
SPEAKER_00: Luke 1 49.
SPEAKER_00: Mary said this.
SPEAKER_00: She said, for he that is Mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name.
SPEAKER_00: What did he do to Mary?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the Holy Ghost came upon her and and implanted her with this holy seed, the virgin birth.
SPEAKER_00: She was a virgin, she had never known man, but the Holy Ghost, she said originally when the angel said she was going to have a child, how can I have a child?
SPEAKER_00: I don't have a man.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Ghost will come upon you.
SPEAKER_00: The power of the Most High shall overshadow you.
SPEAKER_00: And that holy thing that shall be born of you shall be called the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: So God did to her great things.
SPEAKER_00: He's done to us great things and for us great things.
SPEAKER_00: And he's done in us great things.
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever been saved and born again, it's the greatest thing that can ever happen.
SPEAKER_00: Everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: And then through us, he wants us to grow up to where he can use our lives because he wants to reach everybody on the planet earth.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to see everybody.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to see everybody, at least with a knowledge that Jesus Christ is real, that God loves them, that God has a plan for them.
SPEAKER_00: He can't make their choices.
SPEAKER_00: God's not a robot manufacturer.
SPEAKER_00: We're not robots.
SPEAKER_00: We have a free will.
SPEAKER_00: But every person on earth has a right to hear the gospel at least once.
SPEAKER_00: And it might and it might not be through some preacher on the radio or on television.
SPEAKER_00: It might be through you.
SPEAKER_00: It might be through your life.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus wants to be born in our hearts, grow in our hearts, and do great things for us, in us.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, John chapter 14, Jesus told the disciples, he said, The works that I do shall you do also, and greater works than these shall you do, because I go to my Father.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus wins and the devil loses.
SPEAKER_00: The day everything changed.
SPEAKER_00: Come on, let's lift our hand right now.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you for this day.
SPEAKER_00: We celebrate it.
SPEAKER_00: We hold it to our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we thank you that we're a peculiar people.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you that there's nobody like us, Lord, because we have been born again, born of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We're filled with the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And we thank you, Father, that we're able to do great things that you've done and talk about the great things you've done for us.
SPEAKER_00: Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Jesus.