WEBVTT 00:00:05.599 --> 00:00:07.440 Hey, I'm Pastor Steve Hole. 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.759 I want to empower you today to walk in your true identity as a worshiper and warrior. 00:00:11.919 --> 00:00:15.839 Today, embrace the power of God's Word and the Holy Spirit. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.120 Welcome to the Born for War podcast. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:31.600 Now, during Christmas, I think more than any other time of year, statistics would bear this out. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:47.039 Lots of people have nostalgic feelings and memories of their past that aren't the reality of what they're living right now, and despair sets in. 00:00:47.520 --> 00:00:57.439 So I think I'd be I think I would be fair to say that a number of you in this room are struggling with despair, maybe feel a little depressed this time of year. 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:01.920 And I want you to know that you're here. 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:05.200 And that says something about who you are. 00:01:05.439 --> 00:01:17.840 And the fact that you're here, I pray that before you leave, you'll get a glimpse of Christmas in a deeper way through the worship, through the music, through the message, and through the love of others around you. 00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:20.400 But we love you and we're there for you. 00:01:20.719 --> 00:01:24.799 And everybody in this life goes through despair. 00:01:25.040 --> 00:01:28.480 Everybody in this life goes through hard times and difficult times. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:34.560 And I want to encourage you to have some, we say blood-stained allies at our church, but have some friends. 00:01:34.719 --> 00:01:35.359 You need friends. 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:36.959 Stay close to people. 00:01:37.200 --> 00:01:41.920 And if you don't have a lot of close friends, just stay close to the ones that you do have. 00:01:42.239 --> 00:01:45.840 But God is closer than a brother. 00:01:46.159 --> 00:01:48.640 He's always with you and he's there for you. 00:01:49.519 --> 00:01:55.359 Well, men and women, the nations of our world right now are on edge. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:02:01.040 As of August, over 500,000 young men, women, and children have been killed in the Ukraine war. 00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:06.319 The injured is over 2 million, with most of these being women and children. 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:13.520 On October 7th, 1,400 Israeli men, women, and children were killed by Hamas terrorists. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:25.599 Israel then launched a retaliatory strike against the Gaza Strip with over 18,000 kills and 50,000 injured, most of whom women and children. 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:30.719 We as humans continually figure out new ways to destroy ourselves. 00:02:31.039 --> 00:02:39.199 No other species created by God is so adept at creating new wars and killing its own. 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:45.280 In the U.S., we have aborted over 63 million of our babies since 1973. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:51.280 There are over 16,000 homicides each year due to domestic violence. 00:02:51.599 --> 00:02:56.960 There are 85,000 migrant children missing from the border. 00:02:57.199 --> 00:02:59.360 We don't know where they are. 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:04.000 The greatest threat to civil society is humankind. 00:03:04.319 --> 00:03:10.000 We keep thinking up new ways to kidnap and steal and destroy ourselves. 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:11.599 Now grab your Bible. 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.240 If you brought your Bible, grab your Bible. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:16.479 And I want you to hold it up. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:29.199 Now this is a book written by God to man to give us revelation about truth and how to live in the abundant life. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:32.080 So repeat after me, Bill, this is the Bible. 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:36.719 In the Bible, we read about Satan. 00:03:37.919 --> 00:03:44.400 Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. 00:03:45.039 --> 00:03:52.560 But Jesus came to bring life and bring life that's more abundantly. 00:03:54.479 --> 00:03:56.080 Christmas changes everything. 00:03:59.199 --> 00:04:12.240 Father God, right now, in the name of the blood of Jesus, I pray that those who haven't discovered Christmas would, and we that have discovered Christmas would discover it and experience it in a deeper way. 00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:13.199 Amen. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:33.439 The French philosopher Blaise Pascal once said, What else does this craving and this helplessness proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty and the print and trace. 00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:47.279 This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things to help which cannot, those things that are, the things that are not, though none can help. 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:56.480 Since this infinite obvious can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object, in other words, by God Himself. 00:04:57.279 --> 00:05:23.040 So no matter how well your new computer works, or how beautiful your Christmas tree is, or how many lights you have on your house or on your bushes or on your car, or how wonderful and cool is your Samsung or Sony or Panasonic 98-inch flat screen TV. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:26.720 If there's no electricity, it doesn't work. 00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:29.839 You need his power. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:32.560 Christmas is about the power of God. 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.600 Christmas is about plugging into God. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:37.920 Christmas changes everything. 00:05:38.160 --> 00:05:40.639 Without Jesus, there's no power. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:46.879 It doesn't matter how many things we have if our heart isn't engaged by the power of God. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:50.399 You see, man makes a lousy God. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:53.279 And the earth needs Christmas. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:55.920 Christmas changes everything. 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:00.319 And the first announcement at Christmas was not to Mary. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:04.000 The first announcement of Christmas was not to Joseph. 00:06:04.160 --> 00:06:08.240 The first announcement of Christmas was not to some wise men. 00:06:08.480 --> 00:06:12.399 The announcement of Christmas was not to the angels. 00:06:12.879 --> 00:06:22.160 The announcement of Christmas was not to Micah and Isaiah 900 years before. 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:26.160 The first announcement of Christmas was to Satan. 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.439 So turn in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 3. 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:35.519 Genesis chapter 3 is the most important chapter, arguably, in the Bible. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.600 In Genesis chapter 3, we learn about the serpent. 00:06:39.839 --> 00:06:40.959 We learn about Satan. 00:06:41.120 --> 00:06:47.759 Satan kind of enters in for the first time in the Bible, in the form of a serpent. 00:06:48.079 --> 00:06:53.920 He tempts Eve, Eve sins, then Eve tempts Adam, Adam sins. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:59.439 Then God shows up, and he goes to Adam, and Adam says, Eve did it. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:03.199 And then Eve says that the serpent did it. 00:07:04.160 --> 00:07:09.120 And then God comes to the serpent, he curses him. 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:11.920 So look at Genesis 3, 14. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:19.600 So the Lord said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:25.199 On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:26.800 Now look at verse 15. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:31.199 This is the first announcement of Christmas. 00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:38.560 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:46.879 Listen, he, this one that's gonna come, he shall bruise your head. 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:54.000 And then right in the margin, R-O-S-H. 00:07:54.560 --> 00:08:08.000 Right in the margin, the Hebrew phonetic spelling, rosh, which is the word for head, it means authority, it means power, it can mean kingdom, it can mean dominion. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:27.759 God's saying, there's a day coming where I'm sending someone through a seed, a virgin, he didn't know it then, but a seed is gonna come, it's gonna be my seed, not gonna be man's DNA, it's gonna be my DNA. 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:33.200 And he is going to crush your head. 00:08:34.000 --> 00:08:37.360 He is going to crush your authority. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.480 He is going to crush your kingdom. 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:51.039 He's going to crush your power and dominion because a new kingdom's coming, because a new king is coming, and he's taking it all back. 00:08:51.200 --> 00:08:52.399 I'm coming back. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.080 I'm coming back. 00:08:55.039 --> 00:08:57.200 Christmas changes everything. 00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:15.519 Christmas is about a king being sent from heaven to earth as a child, as a man, from a virgin, a seed, one seed, her seed, not seeds, not plural, seed, singular seed, that's going to crush the authority and the power of Satan. 00:09:15.679 --> 00:09:29.840 And every person that invites Jesus Christ into their heart, that begins to walk with Christ, begins to read this book, believe this book, walk in the promises of God, crushes Satan's head. 00:09:31.919 --> 00:09:33.600 Because the kingdom has come. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:38.320 That's why we pray, our Father, who art in hell and hallowed be thy name. 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:40.399 Thy kingdom come. 00:09:41.279 --> 00:09:46.000 Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.840 Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses. 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:53.039 As you forgive and trespass, and you forgive us. 00:09:53.360 --> 00:09:58.720 For thine is the kingdom and the glory. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:00.480 Amen. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.320 So Christ comes and changes everything. 00:10:04.559 --> 00:10:07.200 And the announcement is to Satan. 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:09.840 So that's where Christmas begins. 00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:11.919 It all begins right here. 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:13.919 Crushing the head of Satan. 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:28.960 Now, Isaiah 9, they don't have to turn there, but Isaiah 9, 900 years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah says, the people who walked in darkness are going to see a great light. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:39.200 And those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined, predicting that the Messiah would come to those in darkness who are in the shadow of death. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:41.840 Men and women, we are living in darkness. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:45.360 Does anybody here know we're living in darkness? 00:10:46.080 --> 00:11:01.360 A new national poll of America's 18 to 29-year-olds by Harvard's Institute of Politics has found that nearly two-thirds, that's 64% of young Americans, have more fear than hope about the future. 00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:07.519 American health has the worst outcomes of any industrialized nation in the world. 00:11:07.919 --> 00:11:10.960 We were number one in the world in 1986. 00:11:11.200 --> 00:11:18.000 We're 40th out of 40 industrialized nations in the world today through our health care. 00:11:19.519 --> 00:11:28.000 We developed drugs to take for every ailment and sickness, and those pills create a dozen other side effects. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:35.600 I keep wondering if I'm going to see somebody come in, they got a nose on the net, got another ear. 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:44.559 I went to the FDA website, preparing for this message, and here's what it reads: Quote, Drugs approved by the U.S. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:56.320 Food and Drug Administration, FDA, for sale in the United States must be safe and effective, which means that the benefits of the drug must be greater than the known risk. 00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:58.799 Same paragraph. 00:11:59.200 --> 00:12:12.480 Same paragraph, three sentences later says, quote, side effects can vary from minor problems like runny nose to life-threatening events such as heart attack or liver damage. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:18.879 I don't know, I just, I'm not real smart, but seems like death's not a benefit. 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:23.759 We're all living in darkness. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:26.720 But a great light has come. 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:29.279 That's the story of Christmas. 00:12:29.519 --> 00:12:31.440 Christmas changes everything. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:42.080 Isaiah 9:6, same chapter, a few verses later, for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. 00:12:42.399 --> 00:12:49.360 His name will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:54.000 Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:58.879 At Christmas, Jesus has come to bring his kingdom. 00:12:59.200 --> 00:13:00.720 He came with his kingdom. 00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:09.039 That government, that rulership, that dominion over the enemy and over all of the earth comes through Christ. 00:13:09.279 --> 00:13:11.840 Christmas changes everything. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:21.759 So when I was a freshman at the University of Georgia and I'd injured my knee, I was an athlete there, and God shared with me about a relationship with God. 00:13:21.840 --> 00:13:25.360 And I was long on religion, short on relationship. 00:13:25.600 --> 00:13:27.360 I grew up Lutheran. 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.440 I was in the church nine months before I was born. 00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:34.720 I was baptized in a dress. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:37.840 At six weeks old, that's not right. 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:40.240 But that's what they did. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:43.279 And then I was confirmed at 16. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:47.759 I mean, I had, I was, I had a PhD in being Lutheran. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:54.559 And if you give me the green hymnal, the red hymnal, I can memorize, I've got that liturgy memorized, man. 00:13:54.720 --> 00:13:56.000 18 years of that. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.080 I just didn't know Jesus. 00:13:58.480 --> 00:14:09.360 And so a guy shared with me, and one night, coming back from a party, I went into a little chapel, and back in those days, they didn't lock churches at night. 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:11.679 And so the church door, the church doors were open. 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:14.480 I went in, it wasn't much bigger than this stage. 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:19.200 And there was a neon cross, and I knelt there and I invited Christ to come into my life. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:21.200 I discovered Christmas. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:29.360 Christmas changed everything, it changed the trajectory of my life, it changed the vision for my life, it changed my purpose for living. 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:30.799 It changed everything. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:32.240 Christ changes everything. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:34.000 Christmas changes everything. 00:14:34.559 --> 00:14:39.360 A new government was established in my heart. 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:42.960 So now turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 1. 00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:50.320 And we pick up the Christmas story in Matthew 1 18. 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:54.639 See, I needed a new government in my life. 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:58.639 I needed a new king in my life. 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:01.120 I needed fulfillment. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:02.080 I needed peace. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:03.120 I needed joy. 00:15:03.279 --> 00:15:04.639 I needed forgiveness. 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:10.240 And by surrendering everything to Christ, he came in with the government of the kingdom. 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:14.960 And many women, that government of the kingdom is growing. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:18.960 It's increasing all over the globe. 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:21.840 Don't let the media tell you otherwise. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:23.840 They're fearful of it. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:32.720 And we're going to see in our story that there's one guy, there's one guy that really gets what's about to happen at Christmas. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:35.840 And he's he's he's not a good guy. 00:15:36.240 --> 00:15:38.960 But he understands what Christmas is all about. 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:40.320 But let's start at verse 18. 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:43.679 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows. 00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:51.840 After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:52.240 --> 00:15:55.120 Underline of the Holy Spirit. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:04.159 And then put right on the side, not our DNA. 00:16:04.720 --> 00:16:07.279 Not our DNA. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:10.720 God doesn't want your DNA. 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:12.559 God doesn't want my DNA. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.240 He doesn't want human DNA. 00:16:14.399 --> 00:16:17.039 He wants divine DNA. 00:16:18.639 --> 00:16:20.559 We destroy ourselves. 00:16:20.879 --> 00:16:22.559 We mess it all up. 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:24.240 We're sinners. 00:16:25.279 --> 00:16:26.960 We're selfish. 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:28.960 Anybody here selfish? 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:31.600 Ooh, a lot of hands went up. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:33.200 I didn't even ask for a show of hands. 00:16:33.360 --> 00:16:35.759 There's some really honest people in here. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:38.240 I'm selfish. 00:16:38.879 --> 00:16:40.080 That's my wife. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:42.639 God's saying, I don't want your DNA. 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:44.480 I've got heavenly DNA. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:46.000 I've got kingdom of God DNA. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:47.120 He's going to come. 00:16:47.279 --> 00:16:49.440 And it's the great mystery of the universe. 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:59.679 It's the greatest mystery, scientifically, theologically, ever known to man, and that is that God became man. 00:17:00.879 --> 00:17:03.759 Fully man, fully God. 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:06.720 To save us from our sins. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:12.079 So without our DNA, Christ came through that seed. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:13.680 Remember the announcement? 00:17:14.000 --> 00:17:15.839 So there's that one seed, Mary. 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:17.279 Now he comes. 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:22.160 He sends his son of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:29.920 Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:47.359 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her, here it is again, is of the Holy Spirit. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:54.000 And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 00:17:54.160 --> 00:17:56.720 Now in my Bible, I circle Jesus. 00:17:57.039 --> 00:18:03.359 For he will, and I underline, for he will save his people from their sins. 00:18:04.079 --> 00:18:08.400 So Jesus means Jehovah is salvation. 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:21.279 So he's named first of all Jesus because he's going to save us from ourselves, from our selfishness, from our tendency to kill ourselves. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:22.880 We're out of control. 00:18:23.599 --> 00:18:26.000 We're the only species that does that. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:31.759 And yet God loves us so much he sends his son to save us. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:33.599 Verse 22. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:44.319 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:46.880 Remember Genesis 3.15, what we just read. 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:57.200 Behold, the virgin, the seed, shall be with child, the woman with the seed shall be with child, and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:19:02.559 So a new name, Jesus, Emmanuel, which is translated, God with us. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:15.519 So God, Jehovah, is sending his son to be just like us, Emmanuel, God with us, to save us from our sins. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:17.039 That's Christmas. 00:19:17.279 --> 00:19:19.359 So let's put it all together. 00:19:20.240 --> 00:19:47.599 Satan gets the announcement that his head's going to get crushed through a seed, a singular seed, which now in Matthew, Matthew is prophesying what we've already known 900 years before with Isaiah and Micah and over a hundred prophecies in the Old Testament, that this seed's going to come and crush the head of Satan, bring the kingdom of God that's going to continually increase. 00:19:47.759 --> 00:19:52.559 Now, we can look at that corporately or we can look at that singularly. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:57.839 That when you put your faith in Christ, he forgives you of your sins. 00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:00.000 But that, man, that's just the beginning. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:02.400 That's like the wedding ceremony. 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.880 It's like just because you've had a wedding ceremony, in a sense, doesn't mean you're married. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:17.200 I mean it means technically you're married, but you ask anybody five years later or ten years later, they'll tell you, man, I didn't know anything when I had that wedding ceremony. 00:20:17.680 --> 00:20:20.720 So first putting our faith in Christ is just the beginning. 00:20:20.880 --> 00:20:24.720 It's the start of a journey of a road less traveled in our lives. 00:20:25.599 --> 00:20:27.839 A new government takes over. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:31.039 A new king takes over the throne of our life. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:38.000 And then here's what's exciting: the increase of that government never ends. 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:45.680 It just keeps, the more we keep surrendering to Christ, the more the kingdom of God increases our life. 00:20:45.839 --> 00:20:48.799 That's why Christmas changes everything. 00:20:49.119 --> 00:21:03.039 That's why Christmas in our heart sets you free, not just to be saved, but for the chains to be broken, and the increase of his government can increase in our lives. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:04.640 That's pretty exciting. 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:07.119 So six reasons. 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:11.839 I want to give you six reasons why Christmas changes everything. 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.519 There could be 20. 00:21:14.079 --> 00:21:15.119 I thought that was too many. 00:21:15.279 --> 00:21:22.799 I started off and then I then I got to 15, and then I was at 14, and then seven sounded good, and then I cut one of those. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:24.480 So now we're at six reasons. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:28.880 Six reasons why Christmas changes everything, or we'll be here all afternoon. 00:21:28.960 --> 00:21:30.960 And I'll just empty this place. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:31.519 Okay. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:42.160 Number one, Christmas changes everything because earth keeps attempting to destroy itself and it needs help from another place. 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:45.680 Have you ever been in a situation where you need help? 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:47.599 Some of you have been to counseling. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:49.119 I've been to counseling. 00:21:49.519 --> 00:21:52.559 And when I went to counseling, I needed help from another place. 00:21:53.039 --> 00:21:55.680 Well, our earth needs help from another place. 00:21:55.839 --> 00:21:59.759 We need help because we're not too good at figuring it out. 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:01.759 On our own. 00:22:02.000 --> 00:22:06.160 That's why I still appreciate that at Congress they open with prayer. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:16.960 Now it may not mean be more than a formality, but it makes a statement, it makes a declaration that we need help in the decisions that we're going to make that day. 00:22:17.119 --> 00:22:25.839 I'm so proud and encouraged that if you go to any city council meeting here in Colorado Springs, they always open in prayer. 00:22:26.799 --> 00:22:32.880 That many of our congressional meetings that we have open in prayer. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:34.799 We're saying, I need help. 00:22:35.200 --> 00:22:39.599 I hope you pray as a family because you need help. 00:22:40.000 --> 00:22:44.400 I hope you, husbands and wives, pray together because you need help. 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:46.640 It's help from another place. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:23:00.160 It's quite interesting that the statistics show that men and women, husbands and wives, that read the Bible together and pray together every day, the chance of divorce is one in 1,019. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:01.599 You heard that from me. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:10.319 You're not going to hear that on any of these websites because it would mean that you're acknowledging that we need help from a higher power. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:12.559 We need help from a king. 00:23:13.759 --> 00:23:15.920 We need help from the kingdom of God. 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:22.400 Number two, Christmas changes everything because humanity needs a savior. 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:24.640 We got plenty of killers. 00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.000 We got plenty of people who will pillage us. 00:23:28.240 --> 00:23:31.359 We have plenty of people who will tax us. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:36.720 We have plenty of people that will come and put us in slavery of some sort. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:38.720 But Christ comes to save us. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:42.160 He comes to set us free. 00:23:42.880 --> 00:23:47.759 He comes and he says, I came to set the captives free. 00:23:48.319 --> 00:23:49.680 We need a savior. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:58.240 Christmas is a statement, you're here with a statement that changes everything that you need a savior. 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:03.599 That Christ, the Jesus, the Savior of the world, has come. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:08.480 Now look at Matthew chapter 2, verse 1. 00:24:08.720 --> 00:24:10.720 And this is what I was meaning earlier. 00:24:10.880 --> 00:24:15.599 There's one guy in this story that really, really gets what's going on. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.400 And he's like the bad guy in all the stories. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:25.759 All the stories is like if you're in a Christmas play and you get the part of Herod, nobody wants that. 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:27.759 Nobody wants to be Herod. 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:29.920 He's really bad, right? 00:24:30.160 --> 00:24:33.119 But Herod might be the smartest one in the whole group. 00:24:33.200 --> 00:24:35.039 He really gets what's going on. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:47.519 Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:51.680 For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. 00:24:52.319 --> 00:25:02.000 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:11.119 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ, the Messiah, was to be born. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:18.960 Number three, Christmas changes everything because earth needs a new government. 00:25:19.599 --> 00:25:22.079 Herod was troubled because Herod got it. 00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:29.920 There's something, there's a new king, there's a new kingdom, there's a new government coming. 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:32.720 And I don't think I'm gonna like that government. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:35.839 And I don't want anybody else to be king. 00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:45.039 But when Christ comes into our lives and more increasingly in our nation's lives, he will bring the kingdom government. 00:25:45.200 --> 00:25:50.559 Number four, Christmas changes everything because earth needs new leadership. 00:25:50.880 --> 00:25:54.400 Does anybody here think that maybe the earth needs new leadership? 00:25:55.680 --> 00:26:02.000 If you don't, you need to get out more often because there's a real quandary in leadership. 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:06.799 But when Christ comes and begins to take over things, he brings a new leadership. 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:12.400 He brings the kingdom of God, he brings the reign and the rule of God over our lives. 00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:16.400 Wherever true Christianity goes, it changes things. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:20.880 The Kingdom Empowered Church ended slavery in England and America. 00:26:21.200 --> 00:26:25.759 The Kingdom Empowered Church led the civil rights movement in the 1960s. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:30.240 The Kingdom Empowered Church builds hospitals all over the world. 00:26:30.400 --> 00:26:33.279 The Kingdom Empowered Church feeds the poor. 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:35.440 Locally, that's more than a meal. 00:26:35.680 --> 00:26:41.680 Care and share, overcome poverty, Mercy's Gate, Crossfire Ministries, and Catholic charities. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:48.799 You can't go hungry in this city because of Christians, because of believers that are feeding the poor. 00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:53.039 The Kingdom Empowered Church is working to fight sex trafficking. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:58.319 The Kingdom Empowered Church is working tirelessly to save the lives of unborn children. 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:04.960 Locally save the storks and life network, which we so adamantly support. 00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:17.920 The kingdom empowered church sent 10 young people last week into one of the most dangerous cities in the world to help an orphanage and to help kids on the border. 00:27:18.319 --> 00:27:20.559 That takes courage. 00:27:21.359 --> 00:27:27.519 That's what happens in a kingdom-empowered life and a kingdom-empowered church. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:35.119 Number five, Christmas changes everything because peace cannot come from the earth but to the earth. 00:27:35.680 --> 00:27:37.839 There's no peace on earth. 00:27:38.079 --> 00:27:39.279 You know what I mean? 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:43.680 There's no peace on earth unless there's a Prince of Peace. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:48.000 And when the Prince of Peace comes, we have a chance of peace on the earth. 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:53.200 And wherever the Prince of Peace is announced, peace breaks out. 00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:59.519 Because the Prince of Peace brings peace not from the earth but to the earth. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:07.359 Sixthly, lastly, Christmas changes everything because the creator pursues the created. 00:28:08.400 --> 00:28:13.680 In Hinduism, the created pursue the creator. 00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:17.839 In Islam, the created pursue the creator. 00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:20.960 In Buddhism, the created pursue the creator. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:29.279 But only in Christianity does the creator pursue the created by coming down in the form of a man and loving us here. 00:28:29.839 --> 00:28:38.559 Not calling us up to some nirvana or some eternal peace that we can't even understand, but peace came to us and he pursues you. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:40.480 And he's pursuing you right now. 00:28:40.559 --> 00:28:42.720 And he loves you right where you're at. 00:28:42.960 --> 00:28:52.400 Whatever your background, wherever you slept last night, whatever you're looking at on the internet, God's pursuing you. 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:54.160 That's Christmas. 00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:56.000 Christmas changes everything. 00:28:56.319 --> 00:29:00.480 Christmas is Christ pursuing you and me. 00:29:01.519 --> 00:29:05.039 And Christmas can change everything in your life. 00:29:05.599 --> 00:29:07.599 Have you given yourself to Him? 00:29:07.839 --> 00:29:09.599 Have you made Him king? 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:13.839 Man, 2024 is going to be interesting, gang. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:15.119 You know that? 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:18.480 That's why our theme at the road is bring it on. 00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:20.880 Because I'm not walking in fear. 00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:31.279 I'm walking in courage because I got a king on the throne of my heart, and we have a king on the throne of our hearts at this church, and we're going to walk with courage and hope. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:34.720 I hope you will too. 00:29:36.720 --> 00:29:38.319 Changes everything. 00:29:38.640 --> 00:29:40.079 And Christmas can change you. 00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:41.440 Have you given your heart to Christ? 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:44.160 Have you fully embraced Christ? 00:29:44.400 --> 00:29:45.599 Why not do that? 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:47.039 It's really smart. 00:29:47.279 --> 00:29:49.519 It's really smart to follow Jesus. 00:29:49.839 --> 00:29:51.839 It's really not smart not to. 00:29:52.319 --> 00:29:56.240 You see what the world does with itself? 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:58.400 Plug into the power. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:00.640 Light up your life. 00:30:00.960 --> 00:30:05.039 Let the light of the world light you up. 00:30:09.359 --> 00:30:12.160 Thank you for listening to the Born for War podcast. 00:30:12.319 --> 00:30:15.839 We hope today's message has empowered you to make a difference in your world. 00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:21.759 To connect with Pastor Steve's sermons, books, and blog, visit Steveholtonline.org. 00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:22.880 God bless.