Luke 15 The Christmas Story

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I want to jump straight into things. You good? Let's go. This is Luke chapter 15. We're starting in verse 1. Buckle up, buttercup. We're reading the whole chapter today. Could you believe it? That much Bible all in one service. How will we stand it? All right. Tax collectors and other notorious sinners. Listen, I really wonder if there's like a list somewhere of like the notorious sinners, right? And would I have been on that list? I feel like probably so. Oh, he's one. Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. Man, that blows my mind. That there was something in the love of Jesus that people that are rejected by society and don't have things figured out and failed in their community, those are the people that want to show up and spend time with Jesus. And yet, when we come into church, we feel like we got to have things perfect. Come on. Verse 2, this made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people, even eating with them. Now we talked about this before that when you eat with somebody in that culture, Jewish custom, and you eat, you are becoming like each other as you eat the same thing. So if you're eating with a sinner, you're becoming a sinner. But we know in kingdom that when we spend time with Jesus, we become more like him. He doesn't become more like us. Right? So, verse 3, so Jesus told them this story. If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won't he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. On his shoulders, that's highlightable. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep. In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns. Whew, I don't have it all memorized, and returns to God than over 99 others who are righteous and haven't strayed away. Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one, won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, Rejoice with me. I have found my lost coin. I won't find my water bottle. In the same way, there is joy and the presence. No, no, no, I'm good. I remember the Sunday I had a cough drop, it was pandelium. That thing was like falling everywhere. That's what we need is just a laugh for a minute. Yeah. All right. 2026, I give up smoking, I promise. This is the year, this is the one. Only vaping from here on out. Oh man. A pastoral staff that knows about Zen, yeah. Okay. To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story. A man had two sons, and the younger son told his father, I want my share of your estate now before you die. So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. A few days later, this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into the fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, At home even the hired servants have enough food to spare, and here I am dying of hunger. I will go home to my father and say, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant. So he returned home to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. But his father said to the servants, Quick, bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet, and kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast. For this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is sound. So let the party begin. Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, and he asked one of the servants what was going on. Your brother is back, he was told, and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return. The older brother was angry and wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged him, but he replied, All these years I've slaved for you, and never once refused to do a single thing you told me, excuse me, and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrated by killing the fattened calf. His father said to him, Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. We had to celebrate this happy day, for your brother was dead and has come back to life. He was lost, but now he is found. I'm telling you, chapter 15 in its entirety is the Christmas story. In its entirety, it is the Christmas story. It starts off like, listen, he he understands what people are saying. He understands that people are throwing shade at him for who he's spending time with. And he's wanting to make it abundantly clear that those are the ones he came to spend time with. And he uses these three different stories to drive the point home. When a man has a hundred sheep and one goes missing, won't he leave the 99 and go get the one? And for the longest time that felt absurd to me because it's like, why would you leave 99? They didn't do anything wrong, right? Go the one that's dumb and just left and rolled out and did whatever he wanted. Let me just clear you on something. All sheep are dumb. That's why Jesus uses the illustration of sheep, because he's wanting to drive on the point that we as people aren't always the brightest bulbs. And I just want to say this really quickly: the 99 sheep were symbolic, representing the Pharisees who thought they didn't need any help, never realizing they were lost the whole time. And the one sheep represents the people that know they have failed, know they have messed up, know they have not done the best with their life, and don't feel worthy of any love, any compassion. Right? That's who the one represents. And I just want to share something with you really quickly. All of us are the one. There are no 99. All of us are the one that he came for, right? Like Joey, this is awesome, but what is that? I wanted a Christmas sermon. I wanted like Christmas, let me give you a Christmas sermon. Because when you look at this and you see that he's using a man who's going after his sheep, that many, many uh Bibles will have titled over this, The Good Shepherd, right? And when you see this, you see a man that's intimately familiar with sheep. The Good Shepherd. If you look back at Luke chapter 2 and verse 8, it's not gonna be on your screen, but let me read this to you. That night, the night Jesus was born, 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, and they were terrified. But the angel reassured them, Don't be afraid, he said, I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord, has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David, exclamation point. And you will recognize him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. And 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 whom with God is pleased. The shepherd that came to find the 90, the one that was lost, the shepherd that came to find the one that was lost, he started his birthnight by celebrating with shepherds. You with me on that? So the shepherd that was coming, being born onto earth to find the one that's missing, his arrival, his announcement, his celebration party, his welcoming committee is shepherds. And I love that you look through scripture and you see that God never misses connecting dots. He never ever, you look through scripture and you're like, man, God, you you never cease to amaze me. If you will study scripture in its entirety, it is so connected it would just blow your mind, right? So the journey to find the lost sheep started with a celebration among shepherds. Verse 5 of our chapter 15 says, and when he has found it, and when he has found it, it says before that in verse 4, he will search until he finds the lost sheep. Like, there's not like a timeline where God gives up on you. We kind of really feel like that sometimes. Like, man, I've done too much or I've gone too long. Listen, let me put it to you like this. I don't encourage anybody to wait till 2026 to make changes when you can make changes today. Don't ever wait another day to say, let me just do my thing today, and tomorrow I'll get it right with God, because the Bible says no man's promise tomorrow. And his love is here for you today, it's here for you right now. But I'll tell you something, if you make it to tomorrow, his love's gonna be there for you tomorrow as well. And I don't want to be reckless about that, but I do want to acknowledge that his love is gonna find me and pursue me every day of my life, whether I'm worthy of it or not. And just to clue you in, we were never worthy of it. We never deserved it. And so if you're here and you're like, man, I don't deserve the love of Jesus, no, good, we're in good company because neither do I. But he loves me regardless. And it says he will search and until he finds the lost sheep. And it says, and when he has found it, he's a determined God, he is a loving father, he is the good shepherd, he's our Christmas king, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders, on his shoulders. I said that was highlightable, that's worth writing down, it's worth making a note. On his shoulders, around 800 years before this, there was a prophet by the name of Isaiah, about 800 years beforehand. And Isaiah writes prophecy about the Messiah that would come. And he writes something extremely interesting. Isaiah writes this Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6 says, For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Eight hundred years before Jesus is born in Bethlehem, the city of David, Isaiah makes this proclamation. And I always thought it was interesting, the government will rest on his shoulders. 2025 eyes, you read that and you're like, man, the government, you're thinking like the Democrats, Republicans, all the government system. And Isaiah is really not using that word. He's using sort of like a little bit of an obscure Hebrew word for government. It's misra. Mizrah, meaning dominion, rule, or authority. Isaiah is saying, unto us a child is born, and on his shoulders is dominion, rule, and authority. Now, what does on his shoulders mean? On his shoulders means the responsibility of. It's the image, it's that view of like when it's on my shoulders, I carry that responsibility. Then Isaiah is saying, there's going to be a child born to us, and upon his shoulders it will be his responsibility, a new rule, a new reign, a new dominion. And now you fast forward and you read chapter five, uh chapter 15, verse 5, and when he has found the sheep, he will joyfully carry it home, what? On his shoulders. Joy, what does that have? Anything, how does that the dots connect on that? That culture was based on shame and honor. Everything in the Jewish culture at that time was shame and honor. And you see that by how the Pharisees are interacting with Jesus by who he is interacting with. So what are you doing eating with tax collectors and notorious sinners? And religion is throwing shame at all the failures. But Jesus came, fulfilled the law, and instituted a new rule and a new reign. And literally, when you see the sheep on his shoulders, he's saying, I've taken the responsibility to put redemption, the weight, the authority, the capacity, the rule of redemption on my shoulders. So when you are in his presence and he comes and finds you, you don't have to say, and you don't get to say, you don't have the ability to say, Yeah, I've done too much. No, you don't have the authority to say that because the authority is his to say whether you do or don't. He has the authority, rule of reign, he has the misrah to put you on his shoulders and change the whole system. Come on, like when you get into Christmas time, there should be something as you approach a tree or twinkling lights, or something in your heart where hope is found, joy is found, peace is found. There should be something there because what it reminds you of is that you were so broken that somebody had to die for you, but you were so loved that somebody did, and his name's Jesus. Right? And that he stepped out of heaven onto earth and he was born a baby to a virgin in a miraculous moment. Can I just take a side note and talk about miraculous moments still happen today? Like it's not it's not like over, it's not done. It's it's it had listen, can I tell you something? In our church family, it happened this last seven days. Aaron's sitting in the house this morning. Last week he wasn't sitting in the house. He was in a hospital, a UVA. Complications from Crohn's was leading him to surgery. It was like it was it was it was pain on top of pain from what he's communicating. And we're praying and they're gonna take him into surgery. And we're just like, just God, would you heal? Would you give the doctors wisdom? Like, Lord, would you move? But Lord, I'm praying right now that you would heal. And we came together as family and said, Lord, we're gonna commit to pray on this. As they took him back to surgery and did the pre-surgery scan. I'm not a doctor, so maybe I said that wrong. The pre-surgical screening scanning thing. Does that sound more medical? Dr. Nate said, no, it doesn't. Just move on. Move on. What they were looking for to have surgery on was gone. It's like, man, this is like, it's there's nothing to have surgery on. We're gonna send you back to the room. So how he comes in today, how you feeling? I'm great. Last week, not great. Heading to surgery. This week, great. Probably coincidence. Man, when Hebrews 13.8 says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, it's not blowing smoke. It means that he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. That he was healing then, he's healing now, and he'll be healing tomorrow. And maybe you're contending for healing, but you haven't seen it yet. Don't stop contending. Don't stop contending. Don't listen, hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfills the tree of life. Like, don't give up on hope. Don't, don't, don't, don't stop. And listen, if you get weary having hope, find a brother or sister of the Lord that can stand in the gap and hold your arms up for you while you can't hold your arms up yourself. Listen, why is church family so important? Because there's there's seasons, there's times where you get so fatigued with life, it's hard to have hope. Can I tell you something? There's been times when I've borrowed my wife's hope. I've needed to tap into the resource that she had because I didn't have it. There's been times I had to borrow Adam's hope, Sheila's hope, and vice versa. Listen, not standing up here like it like hopelessness never hits. It hits and it comes for all of us. But you better know who's around you because who's around you is going to determine a lot of the fate and course of your life if you're not careful. So shepherd picks up the sheep, puts them on the shoulder. Now the Mizrah, the rule, the reign is on display. I'm the one that has the authority to redeem how I want to redeem. Right? Let me ask you this. Had he given the sheep a shearing or a bath before throwing it on his shoulders? Like, can we get a little bit like National Geographic? You ever smelled like a sheep that's just been out there for a while? Like, nature is not kind to the aroma. You put a sheep over your shoulder, it's not its back against you, it's its stomach and all the things over your shoulder. Are you catching the picture? Because these people are catching the picture. Sometimes you think, oh, that's really pretty. No, that's full gross. That's full on ooh, right? Oh, my sheep. Listen, this is the heart of God. In the middle of your mess, in the middle of your stink, in the middle of everything, he's not saying, change this, change that, fix this, fix that. Then I'll come embrace you. He's saying, No, I finally found you and I've been looking for you. In the middle of your mess, in the middle of your stench, I'm picking you up because the Mizrah, the authority is on my shoulders to change how redemption looks. He picks you up and he carries you home, celebrating you before you ever have the chance to change. Before you ever could get anything right. Before you ever could, he's calling his friends. Listen, come join me. The one that was missing has been found. Celebrate with me.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

This is the Christmas story. He came to restore relationship.

SPEAKER_01 19:32

There's the missing coin. The woman searches and she lights up the night. So she finds, she celebrates, calls her friends the coin that was missing I found. I want to tell you something. We find relationship in redemption. We find value in redemption. I want to say this. The prodigal son went and did his thing. He asked for his father's money, he wanted his inheritance. Jewish terminology, I wish you were already dead so I could go ahead and start spending. So dad's like, cool, I'll give it to you. Now, in the Talmud, it was like a Jewish religious writings. If somebody had sold their family's inheritance or property to somebody who was not Jewish, that person would be cut off from the family. So this son gets the inheritance. He spends it. The brother says, they obviously get reports, the brother's like, he's spending on prostitutes. We know that he's probably not in a Jewish location. Why? Because the only job he can get is with pigs. Pigs are unclean. Right? So now he's having to spend time with that which is unclean. The lowest, most base job you could get in society. He's eating the pig food, comes to his senses, and he's like, Well, if I can go back and be a servant, because why does it why does he know he can't be part of the family? Because he gave away his inheritance to those who were not Jewish. By like cultural standards, no, he's done for in the family. But maybe I can go be a slave, maybe I can go be a servant, because even the servants are eating better than what I'm getting food. He makes his way back and it says the father sees him a long ways off, and he's got this weak sauce speech prepared to give his dad. And the dad's like, I don't even want to hear it. I'm just gonna hug you. I just he tells the servant, go right now, get the best robe in the house and bring it out because the son was dead and he's back to life. He said, In fact, don't just get the robe, but go get the ring. Why is that important that Luke includes that in the parable that Jesus is sharing? I love that Luke is so detailed in these eyewitness accounts. Jesus shares, hey, this man says, Go get a coat and go get a ring. The ring is like a family signet ring, it means that everything the family has, you If daddy's got it, you've got it. And listen, what it does in that moment is it it extinguishes a spirit of orphan. I've always got to, I've always got it's on me to look out for me. It's on me to get everything accomplished in life. It's on me. And listen, there's so many Christians that are exhausted because you feel like it's on you to make your life right. It's on you to be responsible for everything of like how life works out. Listen, if you just come and just say, Lord, all I am is yours. You lead me, you guide me, you direct me, he will take the misrah, the full responsibility, the full weight, the full authority to walk you through whatever's going on in your life. Does not mean it won't be hard times. Doesn't mean it's all gonna be cakewalk. I kept reading this when he just found the sheep and throw it on his shoulders. When he arrived and called together his friends and neighbors saying, Rejoice with me, I found my lost sheep. It seems like I bet the party had to cost more than the sheep, right? It was about the existence of that sheep. The lady, she finds the coin, she's calling people, she's celebrating. The prodigal son comes home, and what does the dad do? Kill the fat calf? We're about to eat, and we're gonna eat good, and we're gonna celebrate. And it's not like a 15-minute celebration. This is like days, right? It's like full-on party. Big brother's mad because he's like, I've been doing all this, and I want to tell you something. Religious activity does not equal relationship. You can be religiously active in your life, you can religiously go to church, religiously read your Bible, religiously know scripture, do all the right things. But if you don't know Jesus, what do I mean by that? If you don't know his heartbeat, then when we come into this season, we better remember look after the poor, look after the orphan, look after the immigrant, look after the people that are not having anybody speak up for them in society. There's something that we're called to as believers, as followers of Jesus, to do what he did. Listen, he didn't get crucified because he was popular. Right? So I look at this and it's like, okay, there's a party for the sheep, there's a party for the coin, and there's a party for the sun. What insight does that give you into God? If this is a parable about who Jesus is, it seems that he's a fan of redemption. Yo, that hit me way harder when I was studying than what y'all just reacted to right now. Yo, I mean, I got I got amped up. Like, listen, like, we have this like button up. Listen, wait a minute. I don't know if I can get the top button. I've been I've been eating the right things for the last month. I got the top button. We like buttoned up, Jesus. We think that it's like all formal.

SPEAKER_00 25:25

How are they? Church. Right? It's like we have it.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

He's like, You read scripture, and he's like, no. I threw a party for the sheep, I threw a party for the coin, I threw a party for the sun. And scripture says, when a person says yes to Jesus, heaven throws a party. It's all it says, all the angels rejoice. What does this show you about God? He is so in love with you that when relationship is restored, his creation praises. The angels see the heart of God and say, if it's worth worshiping and worth it, getting excited about and worth celebrating, like, listen, if God is celebrating, then I'm celebrating. Like, and listen, we we look at ourselves and we're like, yeah, but God, I know all the mess and I know all the ooh, I'm just nasty sheep if I just really look at all of me. He said, Stop seeing what you're seeing and see what I see. I see relationship restored. I don't get all that other stuff right. Just see the relationship restored. Keep your eyes on me and off of your mess. Why is it that Christians will say yes to Jesus, but focus on our mess? We'll just focus on everything we got wrong. No, my eyes are on Jesus. The government will rest on his shoulders, the rule, the reign. Like this authority is God, or authority is mine. If I entertain shame shame, what I've done wrong is more sorry than what he did wrong. But it's really rejection of the authority of the Christ. The anointed one. You know that's what the Christ means the anointed one. Jesus the anointed one. I kept thinking about his shoulders. So you know, you start thinking about the description like shoulders where he's carrying the shoulders. He was paying the price in that moment as the cross was on his shoulders. He was paying the price for the Mizrah. To be able to have the authority over death, hell, and the grave. Right? What do I have to fear when the end of my life comes? I don't have anything to fear. Death for the believer is promotion. Life for the believer is to follow Jesus. That's why Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Is Paul making up stuff or did he believe it? Man, listen, I have to think when I read the writings of Paul and how much he was beaten, how many times he was flogged with sticks, how many times this guy got shipwrecked. Like, Paul, stay off boats. Keep to land, bro. He just went through all this stuff that just like over and over and over again. He's like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, beat me with sticks to live as Christ, to die as again. The worst thing you can do to me is give me a promotion. That's the worst you can do to me. Because I won't deny my Jesus. Why? Because he put them as rod, he put the weight of the cross on his shoulders and carried it till he could carry it no more. And then when he's crucified, the sin of the world gets placed on his shoulders. Your sin and my sin. This is Christmas. Man, as a baby born to a virgin, what a we we we celebrate the nativity. And we should, because how incredible that moment is that God stepped in to humanity. But we can never look at the manger and not think about the cross. Because the manger wasn't the end point. Praise God that he stepped in, but praise God that he didn't stop and that he went there. And so listen, I just felt like saying today there's a couple things we need to do. We need to recognize that every sheep gets lost. So if you're in here today and you feel any sense of shame or guilt or anything about your life of like, man, I've gotten too much wrong. Could y'all do me a favor and give me like four minutes, just lock in with me and I'll land the plane. I promise. Don't don't let what the rest of the day has keep you from this moment. So, Holy Spirit, I pray against any spirit of distraction right now. Now, Lord, I thank you, God, that these words be anointed by you and not me. In Jesus' name. So, so we need to recognize that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that we are all the one, and that he came for us. We need to recognize that Jesus rejoices in redemption. And so, what that means for us is that every time you experience shame or guilt, you know that's not from Jesus. Come on. Every time shame or guilt, shame or guilt knocks on the door of your heart, that's not from Jesus. Whispers in your ear, you shouldn't go to church today. Because of your Saturday. You shouldn't open the Bible today. Because what you did yesterday. That's not Jesus talking. The words of God are, no, run boldly to my throne of grace. You screwed up, run boldly to my throne of grace and mercy. You got it wrong again, run boldly to my throne of grace and mercy. Your addiction got the better of you, I'm going to break it, but run bold to my throne of grace and mercy. Jesus rejoices in redemption. I just want to say really lovingly to circle back and hit this last time. That while we're all the lost sheep, and we can all remember that He celebrates us in relationship with Him, I cannot substitute religious activity for relationship with Jesus. Being a pastor does not make me close with Jesus. Are you with me on that? Like, anybody ever seen stories of like pastors that fall? It's not like they started off with the intentionality to. It's not like they say, you know what I want to do with my life? I want to get the affections of hundreds of people or thousands of people and then have a massive public failure. That sounds awesome. Nobody starts off with that intentionality. It can begin with relationship and shift to activity. But I need to have relationship. And listen, you need to have relationship. What does that mean? I said it a couple weeks ago. I'll say it again in case you weren't here. It means spiritual disciplines. Joey, that's not sexy. Talk about Christmas. I'm telling you, the Christmas story is relationship. The Bible is relational. This is not some kind of manual like how I try to break open when I have to change the oil on my van. Oh my God. This isn't some kind of manual. This is relational communication from God to you. Some people say, well, how can we trust it? Can I just say without getting deep into it? This was written over thousands of years on different continents in different languages by over 40 different authors. And there's one theme. You know the odds of 40 different authors? You could give Pastor Sheila, Pastor Adam, and myself the same passage of scripture, and we're going to give you three different sermons. Right? Because people are different. All those different authors, there's one theme. The odds are astronomical that that could happen over thousands of years, over different continents, and the result is always the same. There's one who came for you. His name is Jesus. He loves you fiercely. He calls you to himself. He wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to forgive you of your sins. He wants to walk you into purpose and plans that he has for your life. He wants to redeem that which has been broken. He wants to restore that which has been lost. And he is fiercely in love with you. And he's asking, will you respond to me today? Not out of religious activity, but out of relationship. He doesn't need you to be a church attendee. He needs you to be a disciple. It might bring you to the same place, but you'll have the different heart when you get there. Yeah? Because I'll just give you a quick insight and I'm going to say this out of love real fast. So it doesn't sting as bad. My wife knew it when I said I'm going to say it real fast so it doesn't sting as bad. A disciple comes to church, and when music starts, they're going to clap, they're going to sing, they're going to raise their hands. I should have said it faster. A disciple comes to church with the expectation that God's going to move. Not just checking it off the list. What if there was this realization that every week there could be an errand moment? That you would share a story with a friend, like, listen, it happened to him. Why couldn't it happen to him? Why don't you come with me this week? Or why don't we stop and pray right now? Can I tell you something real quick? I just want to feel like I say this because relationship in the body is a big deal to the heart of God. Don't forsake the gathering together of the fellowship. But listen, your goal, your mission is not just to be recruiting people so we can have a lot of numbers. The goal of the believer is to make disciples. Yeah? If they end up here, cool. If it's another church, fine. As long as they're in relationship and community, that's all I care about. But what I want to say, listen, is family, there's an expectation we need to raise up as disciples and not just religious activity goers. I wish I could have said that a cooler way. Oh, Pharisees. That's better. Y'all rolling with me today? Is there anybody in this room right now that you need to let Jesus put you on his shoulders? Man, what what did what did Isaiah do? Did he have a picture in his mind when he's writing this? As the Holy Spirit's giving him these words to write? And the government will rest on his shoulders. Did he have a mental image of what that would look like? The Mizrah would rest on his shoulders. Man, could he have pictured a sheep on the back of a shepherd? This morning I want to ask you, do you need to have him throw you on his shoulders? Because he wants to. What do I mean by that? If you don't have a relationship with Jesus, today's the day. Don't wait on tomorrow. Don't wait on 2026. Don't worry about, hey, I might miss out on this or that. Listen, right now the Holy Spirit's gonna stir in your heart and you're gonna feel something. You're like, man, what is that? It's the Holy Spirit calling you home. It's the Holy Spirit, it's like when the son, the prodigal son, was out in the field eating the pig slop and he came to his senses. There is something better than this. May this moment by the Holy Spirit, the grace of the Holy Spirit be a moment where he said, man, there's something more. There's the love of Jesus and to be embraced by it. Would you go ahead and close your eyes for a moment? The Christmas message is this. I've said it before, I'll say it again, is that you were so broken that somebody had to die for you, but you're so loved that somebody did, and his name is Jesus. We have all messed up. We are all the lost sheep. We all have to come to the Father the same way, and that's through Jesus Christ his son. There's only one way to heaven, and that is through Jesus Christ his son. Not your religious activity, not your religious answers, not your religious words, but a relationship with Jesus where you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that He is Lord. You can't work for it. You just choose, not with your emotions, but with your will. God, I choose to believe that you are who you say you are. And when you pray that prayer, your eternity is shifted from hell to heaven. But your journey as a disciple has just begun. Because you choose to say, now, God, I want you to lead my life. I want you to guide my life. There's anybody in this room right now, you need to say, Man, I want to give my heart to Jesus. I want today to be the day for the good shepherd to throw me on his shoulders. I want today to be the day that heaven can celebrate. I want today to be the day that he carries me home. I have a relationship with him. If that's you, I just want you to be bold and raise your hand right now. I don't want you stress out about who's around you. I want you worry about who's next to you. Listen, if that's you, don't let anybody hold you back. If you need to raise your hand, I want you just to raise it right now. Don't wait on tomorrow. Don't white knuckle it. I'm just gonna wait one more minute because I just sense in my heart as I was preparing. I'm not gonna rush this. Will it be the last chance you ever get? I don't know. I can't say for sure. No man knows tomorrow. You just need to know that you're loved by God. I want to ask one more time. If you need to get things right with Jesus, just raise your hand up. Because everybody, listen, everybody has to come the same way. There's no shame or shade in the kingdom. Yeah. I see your hand. Yeah, I see your hand. Yeah, I see your hand. Anybody else? You said, man, I need I need to. I sense something stern in my heart. Let me ask you, is anybody in this place and you're like, man, I have not given him the authority in my life. I've not given him the Mizrah in my life. I call myself a Christian, but nothing about my life follows him. And I really want to be like the prodigal. I want to come home today. I want to have the Father run towards me and throw the new coat on me and put the ring on my finger and sandals on my feet. If there's anybody in this room, you're like, man, I have not been living for him. I've called myself Christian, but my religious activity has not equaled relationship. And you want to come home, right now is the moment. I want you to raise your hand. I want to pray with you. I want to join in with you on that journey. Yeah. I see that hand. Yeah. I see that hand. Yep. Yep.

unknown 43:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 43:41

Praise God. Lord. Family, we're going to pray this together. Anyone else? Just I want to give one last minute. I don't want to rush this. Church family, let's pray this together. The word says, if we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth, we're choosing to believe. You might fill a moment. Emotional, you might not feel emotional, but emotions are not the goal. That's why God's given us a will. So would you just repeat this after me? Jesus, come on out loud, family. Jesus, I choose to believe that you are the Son of God and that you died for me, paying the price for all the times I've missed the mark, that I've made mistakes, that I have sinned. I ask for your forgiveness. I ask that you would be the Lord and the King of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen. I just need you to imagine right now. If you could, with your ears, just try to strain to hear that heaven is erupting. The one that was lost has been found. The Father in heaven is like my child is home. It's time to celebrate. It's time that the relationship is restored. We thank you, God, for sending your son. You so love the world that you sent Jesus, your only son, that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. Jesus, we thank you that you are the good shepherd and that you have come for the one. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your grace. Thank you for your mercy. Lord, I take a moment right now and I pray over sickness in this room. Lord, I just command any illness to be gone in Jesus' name. Whatever form, whatever shape it takes, regardless of if it's been there since birth or it just got here last week, Lord, that every infirmity, every illness, every sickness be healed in Jesus' name. By your stripes be healed. I command it in Jesus' name. I pray that over joints and bones and elbows and knees and wrists and necks right now in Jesus' name. Back pain be healed in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Come on, don't don't ever think like, listen, don't be praying weak sauce prayers over healing. When you know that Jesus, listen, the miracle that he was born in a virgin birth, the miracle that he was crucified, died, and raised again on the third day, and we're going to get iffy on prayers for healing. Lord, we thank you right now. Jesus, by your stripes, we are healed. Thank you for that. Lord, I honor and bless what you did in Aaron. We thank you for that, Lord. And we pray that that would be an epicenter right now. And that the ripples would just flow, Lord. I thank you, God. I just even pray over him right now. Lord, I thank you, God, a healing anointing be on Aaron's life. That as he prays for the sick, he would see them recover miraculously, Lord. I thank you, God, right now that your healing crohnes in Jesus' name. Thank you, Lord. Touch his body. Thank you for the calling on his life. Lord, I pray blessing over these, your sons and daughters. I pray that you bless them as we're in this Christmas season as we approach the day we celebrate your birthday. We thank you that hope would just fill our hearts. And Lord, I pray that anybody who's feeling hopeless would have the courage to reach out to a brother or sister, Lord, and that we would stand in the gap for them. For those that are grieving in this season, grieving loss. Pray, Lord, that your word says that you're close to the brokenhearted. Thank you, Lord, for an encouragement that we don't grieve as those who have no hope. Lord, I ask your grace upon those as well. Pray your face shine upon us. That you guard and guide us. That you give us the mind of Christ and wisdom of God. That you would bless the works of our hands. And that you would give us favor in finding opportunities this week to share your love, your hope, your life with this world, with our community. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Can we give