WEBVTT 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:09.599 So uh I'm Jim Thomas. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:10.400 I'm the pastor here. 00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:12.720 So so good to be together uh this Christmas Eve. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:15.039 I don't know how many some of you may be visitors. 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:20.559 I see some faces that seem new to me, and uh I'm really, really glad we could be together tonight. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:24.239 It's just uh so awesome to hear you sing, as Kim said earlier. 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:33.439 Uh during Advent and especially at the Christmas season, I I don't know if you've ever uh wondered yourself uh what's so special about Jesus? 00:00:33.600 --> 00:00:38.079 What's so special about a baby being born a couple thousand years ago? 00:00:38.159 --> 00:00:41.679 And and why is why is it that we've we've talked about this person? 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:57.759 He's the most talked-about individual ever lived, he's the most scrutinized individual that has ever lived, and why are we still 2,000 or so years later, why are we still taking time to focus in on this baby's birth? 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:22.640 Um, when it comes to finding out the truth about Jesus, uh I like to go back to the sources that were eyewitnesses or ear witnesses, those who might have seen Jesus, known Jesus, walked with Jesus, sat around the campfire with Jesus, perhaps saw him perform some of his miracles, heard some of his teachings, uh, some of what we call the Sermon on the Mount, which I'm looking forward to studying uh next month together here at the Village Chapel. 00:01:22.719 --> 00:01:26.879 We begin a brand new study of the book, the Gospel of Matthew uh on the first Sunday of the year. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:39.439 But I like going back to those uh those sources because I feel like we'll get the most accurate uh uh sort of research that way to find out who Jesus is and why he's so important. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:45.200 Um, John was quite clear, the Gospel of John, very clear about the three reasons for his writing. 00:01:45.439 --> 00:01:51.040 He wrote about Jesus because he wanted us to know something, to believe something, to receive something. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:52.719 It's that simple. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:58.319 And even in an ancient book like the Gospel of John, he tells us so. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:01.920 Toward the end of the Gospel of John, it says it this way in John 20. 00:02:02.239 --> 00:02:08.960 Therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. 00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:18.159 But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in his name. 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:22.639 So John wrote about Jesus because he wanted us to know something. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:30.240 He wanted us to know about the evidence for Jesus and the reality of what happened in his miracles and his teachings. 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:34.319 He wanted us to believe something that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:35.840 He told us that. 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:39.280 That he wanted us to receive something too. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:48.159 John is writing not just so he can be a number one New York Times bestseller, not just so he can, you know, create a big crowd or whatever for himself. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:57.039 He actually wants you and I, as we read so many years later about Jesus, to know this life that is on offer through Jesus Christ. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.680 So pretty clear there when you look up on the screen. 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:02.400 Um, there's your subject, Jesus, there's your strategy. 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:10.240 Present the evidence, there's the purpose that you might believe, and there's the intended result that you might find life in his name. 00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.120 That's refreshing clarity, isn't it? 00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:19.599 Uh, in a day and age of concealed manipulative messages, misleading headlines. 00:03:19.840 --> 00:03:25.680 That's also wonderful news for those of us who are longing for more of God in our lives. 00:03:25.919 --> 00:03:33.680 Um, the holiday we call Christmas is right upon us, just a matter of hours, as we as we typically uh celebrate on the 25th. 00:03:33.840 --> 00:03:34.479 We have no clue. 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:38.639 I hope I'm not dashing anyone's uh dream, you know, images or dreams here. 00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:44.960 We're not really sure exactly what day he was born, but uh we have just chosen to celebrate it on the 25th of December. 00:03:45.120 --> 00:03:49.840 There are other church traditions that actually celebrate uh his arrival on a different day. 00:03:50.000 --> 00:04:03.120 But what we've been talking about here at the village chapel throughout the Advent season is that because of the love of God for sinners, he sent Christ to bring us the joy of salvation, the hope of eternal life, and the peace of God to rule our hearts. 00:04:03.280 --> 00:04:08.159 And all of that is found and fulfilled in this person, Jesus. 00:04:08.240 --> 00:04:17.519 And so that's the reason we give so much attention to this thing we call the incarnation that we celebrate here in the Christmas season. 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:23.040 Now, um, the four different gospel records, you you may know there are four: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.600 They're the first four books of the New Testament. 00:04:25.759 --> 00:04:31.360 Matthew and uh and John in particular, these are two people that are eyewitnesses. 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:36.160 Um Mark, we think, was informed by Peter, who was an eyewitness. 00:04:36.399 --> 00:04:41.759 Luke is a Gentile writer and came along later and researched everything really, really carefully. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:47.600 And he interviewed a bunch of eyewitnesses and ear witnesses to the life and teachings of Jesus. 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:51.360 But I'm gonna jump to the very beginning of the Gospel of John. 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:58.879 There's a really important uh text that I think answers my original questions, which is what's so special about Jesus? 00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:10.800 Why is he so significant that we would even think about that baby born so many years ago in that pass-through nation to a peasant couple in a tiny little village like it was? 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:19.120 Well, you're familiar with the text, some of you, and it I'm just gonna read through it and make a couple comments as I go, but it goes like this in the beginning was the word. 00:05:19.759 --> 00:05:23.120 And the word was with God, and the word was God. 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:25.519 He was in the beginning with God. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:33.680 All things came into being through him, and apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.160 Think about that for just a second. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:42.959 In him was life, and the life was the light of man. 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:49.600 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend it. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:58.879 There came a man sent from God, his name was John, and this is John writing about John the Baptist, not John writing about himself. 00:05:59.199 --> 00:06:05.439 Matter of fact, John the disciple hardly ever references, references his own name in the Gospel of John. 00:06:05.600 --> 00:06:07.120 Here he's writing about John the Baptist. 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:10.319 He says there came a man sent from God, his name was John. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:14.560 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:16.480 Again, that's his purpose. 00:06:16.639 --> 00:06:17.920 He wants us to believe, right? 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:23.839 He was not the light, this man John, but he came to testify about the light. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:28.000 There was the true light which coming into the world enlightens every man. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:30.959 He was in the world, and the world was made through him. 00:06:31.120 --> 00:06:34.319 Remember, apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being, right? 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:36.480 And the world did not know him, though. 00:06:36.560 --> 00:06:40.480 He came to his own, and those who were his own did not receive him. 00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:50.319 But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God. 00:06:50.959 --> 00:07:02.959 Even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but born of God. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:04.639 Interesting. 00:07:04.800 --> 00:07:08.639 And the word became flesh, and it dwelt among us. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:10.160 He dwelt among us. 00:07:10.319 --> 00:07:15.199 And we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. 00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:24.000 John testified about him and cried out, saying, This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has a higher rank than I. 00:07:24.639 --> 00:07:27.839 For he existed before me. 00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:33.519 For of his fullness we've all received, and grace upon grace. 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:45.680 For the love was given through Moses, but grace and truth were realized, not just given, but realized through Jesus Christ. 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:47.759 No one has seen God at any time. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:57.600 The only begotten God who's in the bosom of the Father, he has explained him or revealed him, some of the English texts will say. 00:07:57.759 --> 00:08:04.959 So here we have this amazing, this amazing testimony of John, who was a close friend of Jesus. 00:08:05.199 --> 00:08:06.639 And he's so poetic. 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:10.879 He's not telling us just the, you know, here's the place he was born, and here's the people that came to. 00:08:11.279 --> 00:08:15.360 And I'm glad we have those, that data in other accounts. 00:08:15.439 --> 00:08:26.399 I really am, but I'm also really fascinated by some of the images that John uses when he talks about this one Jesus who came. 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:35.519 And it's fascinating to me that John's gospel starts with an old beginning and then leads us to a new beginning. 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.159 What's the old beginning it started with? 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:47.919 Well, back in verse 1, in the beginning, somebody tell me what book that starts the same way as that. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.879 We just finished studying the book of Genesis. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:54.639 The entire Bible starts that way, in the beginning. 00:08:54.879 --> 00:09:04.159 And here's John, the disciple of Jesus, saying, This whole thing that started all the way back then in the beginning is about Jesus. 00:09:04.879 --> 00:09:16.399 And I'm really fascinated because I'm not much of a poet myself, but I like the images again that John uses here in this little, this what we call the prologue of his gospel here. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:26.000 He talks about Jesus in several different ways, and it's fascinating because they all really reveal what's so special about Jesus. 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:27.360 Right in verse one. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:35.200 He's the word, it says, versus the empty silence or the quandary of speculation. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:40.799 I don't know if you're hungry at some point for a word from God. 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:42.159 Maybe you're there now. 00:09:42.320 --> 00:09:48.720 Maybe you wish God would speak to you in some way about something, or just reveal himself to you in general. 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:53.679 I grew up with a lot of people saying, well, if God's really real, why doesn't he just show himself to us? 00:09:53.919 --> 00:10:01.759 And the Bible says to us, he actually came here to the planet in the flesh, and some of us just pushed him away. 00:10:02.879 --> 00:10:04.720 Some of us believe, though. 00:10:04.879 --> 00:10:05.840 That's kind of cool. 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:06.639 That's good. 00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:20.720 And I think we're actually sitting here today because of those ones that believed and continued to tell the story about that old beginning that leads to a new beginning in Christ. 00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:27.440 And it begins with words, just like the entire creation event began with words. 00:10:27.600 --> 00:10:35.120 When God said, Let there be light, and there was light. 00:10:35.679 --> 00:10:42.240 So just by the power of God's word, he speaks, and things come into being. 00:10:42.399 --> 00:10:44.639 That's an amazing thing when you think about that. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:48.879 And now you think about John saying, that's all about Jesus. 00:10:49.120 --> 00:10:51.440 What's so special about Jesus? 00:10:51.679 --> 00:10:54.559 He's the living word of God. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:57.279 Contrast that with, let's just toss it all. 00:10:57.440 --> 00:11:02.480 Let's just say it's only about reindeer and gifts and all that sort of thing, which is fine. 00:11:02.720 --> 00:11:04.159 I'm all right with all of that stuff. 00:11:04.320 --> 00:11:06.000 But what if it was only about all of that? 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:07.360 What if there was no Jesus? 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:09.440 We just have the empty silence. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:21.519 We just have the quandary, the problem, the difficulty of our own speculation about what does it mean to be a human being and to live in this world in which we live. 00:11:21.600 --> 00:11:28.159 I don't know if you're hungry for a word from God, but he has come and he's the word of God. 00:11:28.559 --> 00:11:33.600 May I recommend you turn your appetite toward Jesus first and foremost. 00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:35.440 He's the living word of God. 00:11:35.600 --> 00:11:41.120 You can read what he said, some of it, in this book we call the Bible. 00:11:41.360 --> 00:11:45.440 And we study through it because we want to know the mind and the heart of God. 00:11:45.600 --> 00:11:53.200 Secondly, through the incarnation of Christ, God's taken the initiative to make known to us the source, and Jesus is revealed here that way as well. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:55.600 Verse 3, all things came into being by him. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.480 Apart from him, nothing came into being that has come into being. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:00.399 Nothing came into being that's come into being. 00:12:00.559 --> 00:12:04.720 Kim read this story about the shepherds out in the fields. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:08.879 Nothing of that story came into being apart from Christ. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:10.320 That's the claim here. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:12.240 You may think it rubbish. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:35.360 You may think it doesn't really matter, it's not significant, but you still have to at least acknowledge that the claim here is that there would have been no sheep, no shepherds, no grass, no fields, no starry night, no angels, no night, frosty night air, nothing that has come into being, came into being apart from him, John says. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:38.639 That's what's so special about Jesus. 00:12:38.799 --> 00:12:40.960 He's the personal, eternal creator. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:48.639 The uh versus your other option is if he doesn't exist, if there is no personal infinite creator, well, how about impersonal cosmic accident? 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:51.120 Do you want to believe that's all you are? 00:12:51.840 --> 00:12:56.240 There are eight billion of us, nearly eight billion of us here on the planet right now. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:13:01.120 What blows my mind is that each one of us are a sentient creature. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:04.320 Each one of us actually have a unique mind. 00:13:05.200 --> 00:13:08.559 And all other minds are not my mind. 00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:13.039 Now, if that's frying your circuits, I'm not trying to. 00:13:13.200 --> 00:13:17.120 I just I just want you to think about that for just a second. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:28.799 There are eight billion other minds, just like yours on this planet right now, thinking stuff, talking to one another, doing stuff, creating. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:32.159 That's mind-boggling, isn't it? 00:13:32.320 --> 00:13:34.000 That there would be that many. 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:35.679 And yet it's because of him. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:36.879 He's the source. 00:13:37.039 --> 00:13:41.519 In him was life, and his life was the light of men. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:52.639 And so that's the next thing I want to say is that through the incarnation of Christ, God's taken the initiative to make known to us the life versus the death or the hopeless nothingness. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:14:12.799 See, if this is all just a product of the random chance co-location of atoms and chemicals, uh, sort of the naturalistic atheist model, and there's nothing except for what the physical world has to offer, then there's a whole lot of stuff that you have to eject if you're going to be consistent with that viewpoint. 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:14.320 Honor, love. 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:18.080 These things can't be found under a microscope. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:21.360 Um, nobility, truth. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:24.480 These things, they're immaterial. 00:14:24.639 --> 00:14:28.960 And yet God has come in the person of Jesus and offered us life. 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:32.559 So is there a purpose for your life, something greater than yourself? 00:14:32.960 --> 00:14:34.879 If so, what is it? 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:36.639 And we point to Jesus. 00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:45.600 Through the incarnation of Christ, God's taken the initiative to make known to us also the light versus the darkness or the shifting shadows. 00:14:45.679 --> 00:14:49.519 And sometimes in the world in which we live, I know you feel it, I feel it as well. 00:14:49.679 --> 00:14:55.840 It feels like we're being smothered and covered, and we're not even working at, you know, Waffle House. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:01.279 It feels to me like we're being smothered and covered in darkness, doesn't it, sometimes? 00:15:01.600 --> 00:15:04.960 In lies, in falsehoods. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:07.360 Where's true north anymore? 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:08.320 You know? 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:11.440 And here comes Jesus, and he's the light. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:21.919 From time to time, I've made the claim here at the church that our modern culture is intellectually confusing, morally bankrupt. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:27.759 An incessant, ever-increasing, encroaching cloud of darkness coming over us. 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:32.639 And into that blazes the light of Christ. 00:15:33.200 --> 00:15:38.480 And so we'll continue to point to him and um and talk about him. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:40.080 Also through the incarnation of Christ. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.960 God's taking the initiative to make known to us the grace of God. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:50.000 See, it said later in the text here that grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ in verse 17. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:50.960 I love that. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:55.440 Grace and truth versus the guilt and shame of our sin. 00:15:55.679 --> 00:16:00.240 See, religion is about behavior modification that none of us can live up to. 00:16:00.320 --> 00:16:04.159 And so we're all guilty all the time, shamed all the time. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:06.240 But that's not the gospel. 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:12.639 The gospel is grace on offer to people who are guilty and undeserving. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:14.240 As a gift. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:22.720 Not as something you got to balance out the moral scales and hope you make it, but as something God has done for you. 00:16:23.120 --> 00:16:24.720 It's something you can't do for yourself. 00:16:24.799 --> 00:16:27.600 You can't buy it, you can't earn it. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:33.440 But Jesus came to pay the price for my sin, for your sin. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:44.240 So we connect throughout John's gospel, we connect the baby in the cradle to the man on the cross and to the king who is returning one day to set all things right. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:46.960 They are all one in the same. 00:16:47.120 --> 00:16:52.080 Through the incarnation of Christ, God's taking the initiative to make known to us grace, but also truth. 00:16:52.480 --> 00:16:58.080 And in a day and age, again, where we're sort of drowning in lies and uncertainties that are all over us. 00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:00.480 I mean, raise your hand if you've been lied to by a politician. 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:02.320 Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it, don't, don't do it. 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:03.279 How about a preacher? 00:17:03.440 --> 00:17:04.960 No, please don't do that. 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:06.160 Don't do that. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:11.920 Somebody in your family, some friend, somebody that you thought you could trust. 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:13.279 And you know what? 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:16.960 All of our hands would be up if we were honest, wouldn't we? 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:18.960 And here comes Jesus. 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:25.119 To the souls that are weary of trying to say to themselves, where am I going to find any truth? 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:28.160 Where is there any sense of true north anymore? 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.279 And here comes John telling us, it's Jesus. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:33.119 You need look no further. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:37.519 And we continue to say that here at the village chapel as well. 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:40.880 That's one of the reasons why we keep celebrating his birth. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:50.960 It's one of the reasons why I'm stoked that this is our 20th time as a church to celebrate the incarnation of Christ. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:52.880 That's an amazing thing for me. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:56.240 A lot of preachers come around to the holidays and they're like all nervous. 00:17:56.319 --> 00:17:56.960 What am I gonna say? 00:17:57.039 --> 00:17:57.759 I don't know what to say. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.839 I kind of talked about it already. 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.279 And I think we're just starting to scratch the surface on this. 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.640 What does it mean that God became one of us? 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:07.920 It means so much. 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:10.880 I don't have time to tell you, and I'm actually out of time. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:15.440 But I'm gonna take just a little more time. 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:25.599 Believing in Jesus, we find the freedom of his forgiveness for our past, the power of his presence with us now, and the hope of that great day when he returns again to set the world arights. 00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:27.680 Who wouldn't want that? 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:32.319 Somebody here might say, or somebody watching online, you might say, I'm just not ready. 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:41.680 And I've been around long enough to have heard that enough times to know that you'll probably never be ready if you're waiting until you're ready. 00:18:41.839 --> 00:18:44.799 And I don't know what you mean by I'm not ready. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:51.039 Because if you're waiting for you to get your act together thinking you're gonna impress God, that's never gonna happen. 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:58.319 You dress up nice, you seem to be a nice person and all that sort of thing, but you're never gonna be ready in that way. 00:18:58.559 --> 00:19:03.519 Somebody would say, Well, I've got intellectual questions and it's complicated. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:12.720 And I would say, actually, I've been running at a lot of those intellectual questions myself for a long, long time, and it's not that complicated. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:18.319 It ends up becoming something where my pride just gets in the way. 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:31.759 And I just don't want to acknowledge that he's the king, that he's the Lord, that he's my savior, that I need a savior, that I love darkness more than I love light, and I need him to rescue me. 00:19:32.160 --> 00:19:38.079 Some would say, Well, I'm not interested in this because of the hypocrisy in the church. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:42.640 And I I say it over and over again, we we we talk about it all the time here. 00:19:42.880 --> 00:19:46.160 If you're trying to get away from hypocrisy, you gotta leave the planet. 00:19:47.039 --> 00:19:49.039 But then you're still stuck with you. 00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:51.680 And that's a problem. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:54.480 Because hypocrisy is there as well. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:56.799 All of us are hypocrites. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:20:01.839 Every single one of us says one thing and does another. 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:08.400 So if you're waiting for hypocrisy to end, that's not ever gonna happen. 00:20:08.640 --> 00:20:13.839 And as a matter of fact, my problem with hypocrisy is actually the reason he came. 00:20:14.880 --> 00:20:19.039 See, because I can't live up to even what I believe to be true. 00:20:19.359 --> 00:20:27.599 He came to save me from my failing self and my attempt at self-salvation. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:31.200 This year is not just another Christmas. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:34.000 It's kind of different in a lot of ways, isn't it? 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:38.799 And I don't mean to disparage anyone, but Santa? 00:20:40.240 --> 00:20:43.759 He's watching to see who's been naughty or nice. 00:20:44.160 --> 00:20:47.440 Santa is going to bring gifts to those who are nice. 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:53.599 Jesus came for all of us. 00:20:54.400 --> 00:20:58.799 And he's bringing us all the gift of himself. 00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:10.960 And those of you that are humble enough and have your eyes open enough and are ready to acknowledge that you're naughty. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:18.319 I just want, you know, Jesus is so much better than Santa for that reason. 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:23.519 And uh whatever's going on in your family with Santa and all that stuff, that's fine. 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:25.440 I'm I got no problem with that. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:31.920 All I'm saying is, whether you're naughty or nice, Jesus has come for you. 00:21:32.319 --> 00:21:33.680 And he's come for me. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:36.079 I love the way Dietrich Bonhoeffer said it. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:37.680 This is the one quote I'm gonna put on the screen. 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:39.440 Abd creates new men and women. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:42.160 Look up, you whose eyes are fixed on this earth. 00:21:42.559 --> 00:21:46.480 You who are captivated by the events and changes in the surface of this earth, look up. 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:51.440 You who turned away from heaven to this ground because you had become disillusioned. 00:21:51.599 --> 00:22:02.160 Look up, you whose eyes are laden with tears, you who mourn the loss of all that the earth has snatched away from you. 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:10.079 Look up, you who cannot lift your eyes, because you are so laden with guilt. 00:22:10.960 --> 00:22:15.680 Look up, your redemption draws near. 00:22:16.640 --> 00:22:19.039 It's in the person and work of Jesus. 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:21.839 John wrote about Jesus because he wanted us to know something. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:24.240 Here's the evidence Jesus did. 00:22:24.400 --> 00:22:26.400 Here's what he said, here's what he did. 00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:30.799 If you haven't read it before, I want you to read the gospel of John. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:31.839 Read the rest of it. 00:22:32.480 --> 00:22:35.680 Here's what he wants you to believe: that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:40.880 And here's what he wants you to receive: life in his name. 00:22:41.119 --> 00:22:42.960 There's your new beginning. 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:47.440 He began with an old beginning and he wanted to lead us to this new beginning. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:50.079 I hope that you've come to believe that Jesus is the Christ. 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:51.759 I hope you found life in his name. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:58.240 If you're curious about this, or you'd like to talk with someone about it, come up and introduce yourself afterwards. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:23:01.039 Some of us up front will be glad to talk to you to you. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:05.440 You can send an email if you prefer to do it that way to info at the village chapel.com. 00:23:05.519 --> 00:23:08.559 And we'll be glad to set up a coffee with you and one of our staff. 00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:16.160 Happy to do that to talk about how Jesus is the word, how Jesus is the source. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:22.240 How Jesus is the life, the light, the grace, and the truth. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:28.720 He is all that you may never even know you've been looking for. 00:23:29.359 --> 00:23:30.720 You need look no further. 00:23:30.960 --> 00:23:33.440 He truly is the one. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:34.720 Amen. 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:36.400 Amen.