WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:02.720 to pretend you're paying attention to me right now. 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:08.560 Um man, what a great job these children did. 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:11.279 Can you give up give it up for them one more time? 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:19.519 The faith of a child. 00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:21.440 The faith of a child. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:29.440 You know, we two weeks ago we looked at the Christmas story through the eyes of Mary. 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:34.320 Last week Nathan preached through the eyes of Joseph. 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:38.159 And so the gospel of John is quite different. 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:54.000 And one reason it's so interesting to me is because when John was looking up at Jesus on the cross, Jesus spoke to him and he said, John, and he looked to his mom and he said, this woman is now your mother. 00:00:54.479 --> 00:01:01.439 And then he looked at his mother Mary and he pointed to John and he said this is your son. 00:01:02.479 --> 00:01:08.560 And so John was given the responsibility of taking care of Jesus' mom. 00:01:09.599 --> 00:01:28.000 Which is so interesting because if that's true then John would have had the best stories from the Christmas story and the details that could have gone way beyond what Matthew and Luke and Mark shared. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:32.000 But John shares this about Jesus. 00:01:32.159 --> 00:01:35.200 This is very simple and direct. 00:01:35.920 --> 00:01:52.560 Here's what he says he doesn't go into all the great details but he says this John 14 and the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory glory as of the only son from the Father full of grace and truth. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:56.879 I love how Eugene Peterson says translates this verse. 00:01:56.959 --> 00:02:02.000 He says the word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. 00:02:02.319 --> 00:02:11.680 We saw the glory with our own eyes the one of a kind glory like father and son and generous inside and out true from start to finish. 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:24.400 And what we believe about that baby matters. 00:02:24.639 --> 00:02:34.000 It matters AW Tozier said the most important thing that goes through your mind is what you think about when you think about God. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:03:04.560 And so that baby was fully God and fully manhuman being at the same time that matters because if it's if he's God he can live a perfect life in your place if he is God he will one day have the power to forgive your sins and to give you new life new hope and eternal life forever. 00:03:04.960 --> 00:03:15.360 If he is God he has the ability to walk with you and give you his presence every day of your life it matters. 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:23.759 In the early church there was a lot of disputing over how Jesus was viewed. 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:37.599 Matter of fact in the fourth century they had a they had a big meeting called the Council of Nicaea because there's this man named Arius that was teaching false truths saying that Jesus was not born God. 00:03:37.759 --> 00:04:03.439 He was just born as a man as a regular human being and then later he became God and and they had this council of Nicaea and they they got so heated and so upset about it that one of the bishops walked across the room and punched Arius right in the face you know what the name of that bishop was Saint Nicholas. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:17.759 So there was a nice and naughty list before we learned how to celebrate Christmas as we do today. 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:22.879 God became man and moved in with us. 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:55.040 And just as you just heard from these children he has the power to change our life have you ever put your faith completely in Jesus the baby in the manger all the way to the man that hung on the cross because the man that hung on the cross and the significance of what he did is directly related to how we believe the baby in the manger is God. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:05.920 And you can put your faith in him we come to the end of this year and I've had a couple of conversations with people and they said man this year can't end fast enough. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:09.279 It's been a tough year it's been a tough couple of years. 00:05:09.600 --> 00:07:21.439 But I can tell you this you can begin to look at 2022 we don't know what holds uh we don't know what the future holds but we know who holds the future and this year can carry hope and significance for you regardless of the circumstances that we're about to step into and so would you just bow your heads with me and let's just spend a moment in prayer and if you have never taken a step to put your faith in Jesus I want you to just imagine that yourself like one of these children and their ability to believe their ability to have faith and and to take what the story tells them and and to step into it and to see Jesus as he truly is God wants us to have that same kind of faith and Jesus said repent and believe the good news so I want to give you a chance this morning just to put your faith in Jesus there's there's not a magical prayer there's not a a formula it's just simply you saying yes God I need you Jesus would you save me I want you to be my Lord and I want to follow you and your way and if you've never put your faith in Jesus maybe today would be the day that you put your faith in Jesus let me ask for those of you that are believers already you have already put your faith in Christ and maybe this is the first time you've been in a church in a while it's the first time you've been with other believers and maybe the Holy Spirit is speaking to you drawing you back asking for you to follow him and renew and refresh your relationship with him maybe your heart has been gripped by fear and anxiety as we've gone through a couple of tough years and you need the Lord to remove that fear and replace it with faith. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:08:02.879 So Father would you work in our hearts would you change our perspective would you give us the faith of a child God thank you for the simplicity of the gospel and the hope that we have in Christ that even though we are sinners and we have no possibility of following the will and the law of God perfectly but we have hope that Jesus followed it in our place and he died in our place and he rose from the grave in our place and he gives us hope for the present and hope for the future. 00:08:03.120 --> 00:08:27.360 So Father we love you we thank you I pray that you would continue to lead us lead those that are taking steps of faith this morning to share their good news with some family members or friends and look to this new year as an opportunity to connect with the body of Christ and the church family and renew their walk. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:31.360 It's in Jesus' name that we pray amen. 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:57.519 Amen well thank you for being here we're going to move into our time of giving it's an opportunity for us to give we're we're not passing buckets or plates and you can give through our Church at the Grove app or give online if you wanted to at home when you get home if you want to give cash or a check you can drop it in the box that is out in the lobby. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:06.960 As you can see even in the midst of everything we've been going through the last couple of years we've been growing in the last part of this year. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:15.200 And we've got some space issues and um so I want you to pray about what we can do as a church moving forward. 00:09:15.360 --> 00:09:28.960 We're trying to come up with some remedies that are going to be short term but also want to pray about the long term because I think God has his hand on our church and I can't wait to see what's in store for this next year. 00:09:29.200 --> 00:10:08.879 And we're going to be celebrating Christmas Eve on two nights on the 23rd at 5 p.m we'll have a service and we love doing this because there's a lot of people that work odd schedules people in law enforcement people in first responders and people that are in the medical field and it gives people an opportunity to come on the 23rd or the 24th and so the 23rd at 5 o'clock the 24th at 3 p.m and 5 p.m we'd love to have you and your family back to celebrate Christmas with us we will not gather in person next Sunday on the 26th. 00:10:08.960 --> 00:10:23.360 It'll be online we'll gather online we'd love for you to join us that morning as you celebrate um maybe with your family and then we'll come back together on January 2nd in person for 915 and 11. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:26.960 Let me just pray a prayer blessing over you. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:57.679 Father would you bless these families Lord I pray for them as they celebrate Christmas this season that in the midst of exchanging gifts and eating and fellowshipping Lord that in the midst of all that they would sense your presence and God that you would bless them open their hearts in a way that they have never experienced so they can know the Jesus that we celebrate this morning. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:01.919 That you would change our lives in Jesus' name we pray. 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:02.799 Amen. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:05.120 God bless you y'all have a great day