Joy to the World.

Steve Gentry

[0:09] We’ll go ahead and have a seat. [0:10] Welcome to Village Church. [0:12] I got confused as to how many songs they’d sing. [0:14] But if you have a Bible, go ahead and open it up to Revelation chapter 21. [0:19] We’re going to be in a little, maybe a little bit of a different text than you would normally [0:22] expect for a Christmas service.

[0:26] But Christmas is upon us. [0:28] Today is December the 23rd. [0:30] That means that you can go to Coles and Target at all ungodly hours of the night, apparently [0:36] right now. [0:37] And I would love, I don’t want enough to actually do this, but I just want to see who’s there [0:42] at these weird times that they’re open now.

[0:45] And if it’s some of you, wow, you might want to rethink the choices you’ve made. [0:51] But Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. [0:54] I love Christmas. [0:55] It’s my favorite holiday last night. [0:57] We watch a lot of Christmas movies. [0:59] We watch all the Christmas shows.

[1:01] And last night I watched one that I know I had watched when I was a kid, but I hadn’t [1:06] seen it in so many years. [1:07] I forgot everything about it. [1:08] It was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. [1:10] That is a weird show. [1:12] I got about 10 minutes in and I was like, this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever watched

[1:16] in my life. [1:17] I did not remember any aspect of that show. [1:20] And then elves are wanting to be dentists and there’s guys with toboggans and there’s [1:24] weird snowmen and they pull all their teeth out. [1:27] And I was like, this is for children.

[1:30] The world was much worse in the 1950s, apparently, than it is today. [1:35] But tomorrow’s Christmas Eve and at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. tomorrow night, we’re going to [1:39] be having our Christmas Eve services and they’re going to be a lot of fun. [1:44] I like to be a little more lighthearted this time of year. [1:47] So it’s not going to be a somber candle lit vigil. [1:52] Instead, we’re going to act like a baby was born and people typically rejoice rather

[1:56] than mourn during that type of occasion. [1:58] And electricity was invented and we don’t want to burn the building down. [2:02] So we will not do it by candle light. [2:04] I know for some of you, you’re very traditional and you want to have a candle light service [2:09] and you are welcome to go home and light as many as you want. [2:12] But I would prefer not to do that.

[2:15] And I say that in love. [2:17] But we’re going to have a lot of fun. [2:18] We’re going to sing a lot of Christmas carols. [2:20] There will be people wearing weird outfits. [2:22] Nobody knows what I’m going to wear. [2:25] But it usually is going to be a very formal suit.

[2:31] So it’s going to be a good time. [2:33] So we’re going to do the same thing at four and six. [2:35] So it’s four or six. [2:38] But if you want to stay for both, you can because I can’t guarantee you we’re going [2:41] to do the same thing twice, even though I think we’re going to do the same thing twice. [2:44] But you never know with us.

[2:46] So four p.m. or six p.m. tomorrow, it’s going to be a really good time. [2:50] You won’t regret coming out. [2:52] We will give you refreshments at the end of the service as well. [2:57] But Christmas is this thing that I believe and this is kind of the point I’ve tried [3:01] to make for the past three Sundays that you should if no other time of the year is going [3:05] to give you joy, I believe this time of year should give you joy.

[3:08] Now I’m the type of person that I find a lot of happiness in every aspect of Christmas. [3:13] I love cheesy Christmas movies. [3:15] I love the critically acclaimed Christmas movies. [3:17] I love bad Christmas lights. [3:19] I love classy Christmas lights. [3:22] I love Santa Claus.

[3:23] I love everything that there is to love about Christmas. [3:27] I’ve almost eaten myself into diabetes at this point. [3:30] So it’s just a wonderful time of the year for me that I will spend the next few months [3:35] promising that I’m going to change my life because of some of the decisions that I’ve [3:38] made this time of year. [3:39] But it’s all in fun.

[3:41] I’ve got three kids and so they have a blast this time of the year because they’re still [3:46] young enough to not be jaded by a bad Christmas here or there. [3:50] But I never got jaded by a bad Christmas. [3:53] I’ve had how many 37 great Christmases so far and this one’s going to see fit to be [3:58] a 38th great Christmas. [4:00] But I remember a few years ago I was poor.

[4:04] I mean we were poor. [4:05] My wife and I had just moved to this area to plant the church and I don’t know if any [4:10] of you have ever planted a church before. [4:12] If you’re here that means it didn’t go well. [4:14] But if you’ve never planted a church before it’s difficult and there’s no money. [4:21] And so my wife and I were poor and we had this kitchen table and it was solid wood.

[4:29] I loved that kitchen table. [4:31] I mean it was probably the most valuable thing that we owned even though it was really cheap [4:34] and I think I got it for free. [4:35] And so we loved it. [4:37] And a lot of times for the team of guys, most of whom are still here, we would gather around [4:42] that kitchen table and we would meet and I would try to cast vision and I would try

[4:47] to keep everybody inspired and I would try to keep everybody excited about what was [4:50] coming and some strategic decisions that we were making and I’m casting vision about the [4:55] future and I remember this one specific night I was casting vision. [4:59] I mean oh man I even had a whiteboard out and you know when someone introduces a whiteboard [5:04] into the occasion that that is a vision night. [5:07] OK.

[5:08] The vision is coming and I sat down in one of those chairs after I had given what I thought [5:14] was this spectacular moment of vision and the chair literally broke under me. [5:18] Now I don’t know if any of you have ever had that happen to you but there’s two ways that [5:23] that can happen to you. [5:24] You can be a very skinny person in which you’re like clearly it wasn’t my weight or you can [5:29] be me.

[5:32] And it’s really embarrassing. [5:34] All right. [5:34] And you’re like I promise I’m not that fat. [5:38] But the key for some of you is that this year has been the type of year where you started [5:44] out strong and you were casting vision about how this was going to be the best year of [5:48] your life and then you sat in a broken chair and everything fell out under you and it turned

[5:53] out that this is not the best year of your life. [5:57] This is maybe even is what you think at this point is the worst year of your life. [6:03] And so you’re not heading with vision into Tuesday. [6:07] You are limping into Tuesday. [6:10] You’re not heading into 2019 saying 2018 was the best year of my life. [6:15] You’re heading into 2019 saying I just can’t wait till 2018 is over because it’s been

[6:20] so bad. [6:21] Excuse me so bad. [6:23] And so what I want to talk about this morning is really continuing the argument that I’ve [6:27] had for the past few weeks. [6:29] And that argument is that if you root your joy and the circumstances of your life and [6:38] how things are going for you at any point in time whether good or bad you can’t root

[6:46] yourself down in that because your joy will not last. [6:50] You must root your joy even in this which I think is the most wonderful time of the [6:55] year into the objective truth of who God not just says he is for us but proves he is for [7:05] us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. [7:09] And I want to talk this morning specifically about the song joy to the world. [7:15] The joy to the world actually has four verses.

[7:17] We usually don’t sing all four of them but the song is actually a song that takes what [7:23] Jesus has done but equates it to future promises that we have not yet realized. [7:30] And the verses of that song and all four of them actually run fairly parallel to what [7:37] Revelation 21 promises is coming in the future. [7:41] Here’s what it says in Revelation 21 starting in verse one.

[8:11] People and God himself will be with them as their God. [8:16] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. [8:22] Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have [8:27] passed away and he who was seated on the throne said behold I am making all things new. [8:33] Also he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true. [8:38] And he said to me it is done.

[8:43] I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning and the end to the thirsty. [8:49] I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. [8:56] Number one this morning Christmas is the season of our King. [9:01] The song tells us that joy is to the world and let us receive our King or let the world [9:10] receive her King. [9:13] And it’s a fascinating thought because the circumstances around the birth of Jesus Christ

[9:18] do not scream out the birth of a King. [9:22] It just screams out the birth of a person who’s born to parents who are down on their [9:28] luck. [9:29] That’s what the objective facts about the circumstances surrounding the way that Jesus [9:34] was born scream out. [9:37] But the future that is dependent on that birth is what Revelation 21 says and it tells

[9:44] us that this baby that was born in this way in those circumstances on that day is the [9:51] King of the universe the King of all that is the King of all that ever will be and the [9:56] King of your life. [9:59] But the struggle that many of us have is that in those promises we are not experiencing [10:05] presently what we believe those promises should entail for our lives. [10:11] And for many of us we are holding God responsible for our lack of joy.

[10:20] And what I mean by that is that your present circumstances are not meeting your expectations. [10:29] That your expectation is here and what you believe you are experiencing is down here. [10:35] You believe that you deserve to be at this level yet your every day is about at this [10:42] level. [10:43] You think that you should be the happiest person on earth but no matter how hard you [10:48] try to muster up that level of happiness your happy level is down here and everywhere

[10:55] that you look in your life reminds you just how few of the expectations you had maybe [11:02] not even just on this year. [11:05] Maybe the expectations are about the past five years the past 10 years the past 20 years [11:10] maybe it is a lifetime of the world not meeting your expectations and you look at the promises [11:18] of God and you say but what about my present circumstances.

[11:24] What you need to understand is that God has made a history of not living up to expectations.

[11:33] God has written for us a history in which he defies human expectation. [11:44] If you had asked anyone in Israel what the coming of the Messiah the Savior the King [11:53] of Israel was going to look like. [11:58] Surely they would have said glorious.

[12:02] He will appear as a great triumphant military leader and he will destroy all of the forces [12:12] that would take Israel into captivity that would hold Israel under bondage that would [12:17] oppress the people of God and we will rise to glory. [12:25] That’s what Israel expected but what God delivered was a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths laying [12:37] in a manger in a stable to a girl who was of zero esteem in this world and to a carpenter [12:45] who was of zero esteem in this world.

[12:50] If you do not believe God has delivered up to your expectations what I want you to understand [12:59] is not only is that the way God normally works but he has the authority to do it. [13:10] The problem that our expectations expose in us is that our expectations actually reveal [13:15] who is the real king of our lives because you cannot be disappointed with God and him [13:24] be the king of your life. [13:27] What you show through the disappointment and the refusal to have joy in the midst of any

[13:33] circumstance of what’s going on in your life is that you are your own king holding God [13:39] accountable to do for you that which you believe he should do for you and while we may not [13:47] admit it with our words we have to admit that often times we treat God as though we deserve [13:54] better from him. [13:58] See the reason that God gives us visions like Revelation 21 is because he wants us to know [14:05] what the future that he is going to deliver on looks like.

[14:09] He wants us to know what it is that Jesus has given us promises for so that we can walk [14:16] through this world and step into a future that is not dependent on our expectations [14:22] but instead redefines our expectation based on the revealed promises that God has given [14:28] us so that we will step into the future that God has designed for each and every one of us. [14:35] But so many of us are so anchored into what we believe we deserve we are so anchored into [14:42] our unrealized expectations that we have an inability to live by faith because our present

[14:49] is keeping us from walking into our future.

[14:55] You must have your future submitted to the King of Revelation 21. [15:04] In Luke chapter 2 the angels reveal to these shepherds the most unlikely of recipients [15:13] of this that a savior had been born and he would be Christ the Lord. [15:21] Now Christ the Lord is two different titles that Jesus had. [15:28] I know some of us believe that Christ is his last name but he was not Mr. Christ. [15:34] Christ is a title and so is Lord.

[15:38] Lord is a title that speaks of his reign. [15:43] Christ is a title that speaks of the identity of the one who has that reign. [15:49] And in this verse we have three different titles we have Savior we have Christ we have Lord. [15:54] And Savior and Christ are the ways in which he lives out that reign of Lord. [16:02] I have three children and when they were infants I never once walked into their room [16:09] or looked in their crib and said man what great ability what great power what great

[16:19] authority what amazing lordship you have. [16:24] No I saw someone who was helpless. [16:28] I saw someone who was continuously in need. [16:32] I saw someone that could not feed clean clothes or bathe themselves without someone else doing [16:40] it for them. [16:42] Now at 3 a.m. when they would cry that was them exhibiting their lordship but that’s

[16:48] a conversation for another day. [16:51] But when you look at a baby you do not see this picture of glory power. [17:00] You see a cute little needy baby.

[17:04] But those shepherds when they walked in to see the baby the angels wanted them to be [17:10] certain that God has dictated that this is the king. [17:17] And this king shall reign. [17:20] This king does reign. [17:22] This king will reign forevermore. [17:26] When God does not meet your expectation sometimes it is because God wants to use a different

[17:33] set of circumstances to conform you to his expectations which should always rule and [17:40] reign over top of your expectations.

[17:45] Number two Christmas is a season of preparation. [17:52] Christmas is a season of preparation. [17:56] What’s interesting to me is a couple of different facets. [18:00] First is that in the song it says let the nations prove the glories of his righteousness. [18:07] And that’s an amazing line because it speaks to what we see at the beginning of Luke 2 [18:12] because we see that God literally bends the empire of Roman to his will so that Jesus

[18:19] would be born at a specific time in a specific city. [18:23] And so he can bend the nations to his will. [18:26] In Revelation chapter 21 what we see is a vision of the future in which he will simply [18:32] And in the verbiage of Revelation 21 it says that he will just lower his city on top of [18:38] whatever city we have going on. [18:40] He’s not going to ask our permission.

[18:42] He’s not going to kneel to our authority. [18:45] He’s just going to do what he wants to do. [18:48] And so no matter who’s in charge no matter what military power is the greatest this is [18:54] where history is going and there’s nothing that anyone can do to stop him because he [18:59] is the king. [19:00] He is the God of the entire universe and we see that and we wonder of the power that

[19:07] God has. [19:08] But let me pose this to you. [19:10] If God has the power to bend nations to his will and if you trust him for that do you [19:18] also trust him to bend your will?

[19:22] Do you also trust him to the extent where you enjoy the authority that he has to move [19:30] where he wants you to do with you what he wants to do with you so that he can bring [19:35] himself glory through every circumstance that you ever go through in your life because [19:41] you have never endured a circumstance in which God has been surprised.

[19:49] Rather God has ruled. [19:50] God has reigned. [19:51] God has had authority. [19:52] God has sovereignly appointed every single circumstance that you have ever and will ever [20:02] endure which leads us to verse 3. [20:08] Verse 3 he is this interesting language to describe us.

[20:13] It says it this way. [20:15] It says and I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God but then [20:20] what he said prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [20:28] This is where the song Joy to the World really parallels with the song and with Revelation [20:35] 21 rather. [20:37] It says in the song it says let every heart prepare him room.

[20:44] That begs the question what are you preparing for? [20:46] The interesting thing about this analogy that he uses is that it’s talking about God [20:52] in his kingdom being delivered into this world but then he intersperses with that an analogy [20:57] about marriage and if there’s any analogy that we could possibly get wrong based on [21:03] our circumstances in the way that we treat something it’s an analogy about marriage because [21:09] we’ve done great damage to our vision of marriage because we have abused it so much and we need

[21:15] to readily admit to that is that when he talks about a bride preparing herself for [21:23] her groom that’s almost like I don’t understand that because the way that we treat marriage [21:28] so often is we treat it as two individuals on an individualistic journey looking to the [21:35] other to fill every need that you have and blaming the other when those needs are not [21:42] met. [21:42] And I will tell you when you live like that that is preparation for separation because

[21:48] that is not what marriage exists for. [21:51] See the way that it is described here is in light of what Jesus has done and so he’s [21:58] talking about the bride of Christ he’s talking about the church he’s talking about me he’s [22:02] talking about you and he’s saying that we are preparing ourselves for a groom why would [22:07] we do that? [22:08] Because of what the groom has done for us because Jesus is a groom who lowered himself

[22:16] into the depths of humanity into the depths of suffering became part of his creation [22:23] for his bride he humiliated himself throughout his life being the god of the universe who [22:31] has the power to speak and the universe exists yet he lived among us he lowered himself [22:42] to sacrificially substitute himself to live the perfect life that I cannot live so that [22:51] he could die a substitutionary death so that he wouldn’t have sin to die for so he could [22:56] die for my sin and then he rose from the dead and he didn’t even do that necessarily

[23:01] for himself he did that to show me that he is the god who has power over sin and death [23:07] so that I could have a new life he is the groom who gives of himself over into my life [23:15] over and over and over again putting my needs in his purview and it says that we are to [23:26] be a bride prepared for the groom and I love that vision of preparation because really [23:34] we’re prepared in two ways and we love the first one but we often neglect the second [23:41] because it’s difficult is he everything that I said that Jesus did for us he did it to

[23:50] prepare me he did it so that by faith his righteousness could be my righteousness so [23:58] that if I trust in him God will be pleased in me as if he was me and I was him he prepares [24:08] me for this future by faith but have you ever wondered why it is that at the moment [24:16] that you come to faith in Jesus you aren’t just immediately translated into heaven to [24:21] have wondered that in my life what’s the point because for many of us our faith is only as [24:26] powerful as our death and so we come to faith in Jesus then we just live for death but that’s

[24:35] not accurate that’s not real faith see there’s a second way that we are prepared see every [24:42] moment of my life after coming to faith in Jesus Christ is to prepare me for my eternity [24:49] with Christ in his grace God graciously gives me the time on this earth to unlearn a lot [25:00] of bad habits I mean and I’ve got some bad habits that’s why God brought me to faith [25:07] when I was 12 years old he said I needed more time and we unlearned some really bad [25:15] habits but here’s the key he also gives us time to learn some new ones no one likes learning

[25:21] new habits no one and we think but no no but they’re good habits oh yeah well why haven’t [25:28] you done them before if they’re so good we’re coming into January which is the season of new [25:34] habits and I’m gonna ask you on January 20th how those new habits are going since they’re [25:40] so much better than your old ones you see we love our bad habits that’s why they’re habitual [25:47] that’s why they’re a rhythm our bad habits act like the most comfortable bed that you have ever [25:55] in your life we do them because we want to do them we know the damage that’s being inflicted

[26:02] on us we might even know the damage that we’re inflicting on others through our bad habits but [26:05] we love our bad habits that’s why we do them and in his grace God wants to prepare us to unlearn [26:14] those and to learn some good ones the Christian life is not one of arbitrary actions just because [26:23] we are supposed to do those actions but that’s often how we treat them and that’s why you see [26:30] so little success in the spiritual disciplines that’s why you see so little success in those [26:36] new habits and it’s because there’s nothing on the other end of those habits because you’re

[26:42] not preparing for something new you’re just doing something because the Bible or God or [26:49] whoever says that you are supposed to do them and so you serve but the minimum because you’re [27:00] supposed to because there’s nothing better on the other side of serving it’s just an end because [27:07] you’re supposed to it’s not about serving people it’s about meeting a quota checking it off a list [27:15] you love but not really sacrificially because you’re supposed to love people and as soon as you [27:21] think that you’ve loved them to the point where nobody’s gonna hassle you anymore well that’s the

[27:26] level that you’ve reached I’ve checked that off the list but there’s nothing on the other side of [27:29] it so you’re done on January 1st you’re gonna start that Bible reading plan and somehow on [27:37] day three you’re gonna find yourself ten days behind oh I see some of you have tried a yearly [27:43] Bible reading plan before and the guilt that goes along with it your prayer life is dead because [27:53] you know you’re supposed to but there’s no life on the other side of it see the things that God [28:00] calls us into when we’re submitting to his kingship for our lives they are not arbitrary supposed

[28:06] they are preparing us for what Revelation 21 says our life should be all about God is preparing us [28:17] for his kingdom Christmas number three is a season of blessing Christmas is a season of blessing

[28:28] most every Sunday when I pray I thank God for sharing his goodness with us and this season [28:37] especially is a season in which we look and we see the way in which God delivered his goodness [28:44] into our lives and that is Jesus Jesus has made God known to us and at that point in history that [28:54] God entered into the frame of this world in order to bring about redemption and to give us the greatest [29:02] blessing that anyone could ever have and that blessing is the eternal presence of our Creator [29:09] God in our lives but so often you take that for granted because you equate blessings to expectations

[29:20] you equate blessings to materials you equate blessings to what you think you want or what you [29:29] think you need you equate blessings to the temporal of this world rather than looking [29:37] to the king of this world to say how do you define blessings and verse 3 here’s what the text says

[29:49] and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man he [29:56] will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God and [30:05] I want to stop there before we go into verse 4 because this is a restatement of Isaiah 25 a [30:14] promise that came hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus Christ where he says he will wipe [30:21] away tears from all faces and this is our God we have waited for him there is that that expectation [30:29] that anticipation that the greatest gift that we could ever receive is the presence of God the

[30:36] greatest anticipation that we have in this world is meeting God face to face

[30:46] I don’t know if you grew up the way that I did many of you didn’t but [30:50] we used to sing Baptist hymns and if you spend any time in a more traditional Baptist church [30:56] you know that hymns are to be sung one two four chorus all right in other words you sing verse [31:02] one chorus verse two chorus you never sing verse three it’s the unsung verse

[31:10] chorus verse four all right and you’re pretty much done after that I’ve always wondered though as I [31:15] was growing up why did they ever write that verse it must be the worst verse but that’s not always [31:22] the case such as in joy to the world see because in joy to the world verse three is about the [31:29] blessings of God and it runs completely parallel to what Isaiah 25 and Revelation 21 say it talks [31:37] about the curses of this world being vanquished it talks about the thorns of this earth fleeing [31:44] the presence of God it talks about tears going away and it says that we will receive his blessings

[31:50] but he comes to make his blessings flow but so often I am caught up with what I think I should have [32:03] that I lose my focus on what God has promised I do and will have

[32:11] see I want to be honest with you because so often I find myself exactly where so many people are I [32:17] treasure verse four love verse four I get to verse four and I say this is the good stuff [32:25] here’s what verse four says

[32:28] it says he will wipe away every tear from their eyes have you cried this year [32:37] maybe this year has been a season of tears for you it says and death shall be no more [32:48] maybe it’s been a season of loss for you neither shall there be mourning [32:57] could you imagine a world where you never mourn

[33:02] nor crying nor pain anymore see some of you you’re enduring emotional pain some of you are enduring [33:12] mental pain some of you have endured physical pain this year there’s coming a day where it won’t [33:21] if you trust Christ for the former things have passed away [33:31] and here’s where I catch myself sometimes I read verse four and I’m just like you [33:37] oh I’m looking forward to that because there have been tears this year there’s been loss this year [33:44] there’s been crying there’s been pain this year in my life

[33:49] and I look and I say I can’t wait for that but here’s what I want you to understand [33:55] verse four is fundamentally impossible without verse three

[34:04] verse three is the guarantee of verse four and I am so easily sidetracked by what I want God to [34:14] put in my life and what I want God to take out of my life that I lose sight

[34:23] of the basis of every blessing I can ever will ever experience in my life [34:32] is verse three that it’s all about delighting in God more than I delight in any other thing [34:43] and if and only if I delight in God can I mourn with hope that there will be no more mourning someday [34:53] that I can weep with hope that there will be no weeping someday that I can suffer with hope [35:00] that there will be no suffering one day but if I do not root myself in the objective joy and [35:08] expectation of the presence of God being delivered into my life as the great gift that it is through

[35:18] the life of Jesus Christ then I will not know the sweetness of verse four I won’t so I ask you

[35:30] what blessings are you depending on for your life what blessings have you rooted your joy in [35:39] have you rooted your happiness are you banking your future on

[35:46] because for many of us we want verse four but our lives do not display any faith in verse three [35:52] whatsoever

[35:55] it’s an amazing thing what delighting in God can give you [36:00] because it’s delighting in God that really sets your life right where your expectations [36:05] are submitted to him in his glory where your faith in his trustworthiness and his truth [36:15] will root you down in your life to hold everything that he has given you in an open hand [36:22] where you can honestly say God even if you take what I am enjoying so long as I have you I will [36:31] have joy and that’s a peculiar thing to have in this world and it’s one that if you don’t have it

[36:36] I’ll be frank and I’ll be blunt with you if you do not have that faith it is very difficult to [36:41] describe what it’s like so because in my life I look to God and I don’t ever look to him and say [36:52] I deserve better because I know I deserve less in every season of my life I have deserved less [37:00] than he has graciously given me and I have him and it’s wonderful I have his favor and it’s [37:09] wonderful because Jesus has given me his favor he looks to my life and because I trust in the [37:22] It’s hard to believe but it’s true

[37:26] but what I’m always amazed by is that over the years [37:31] I have had such an abundance of friends in my life that I’ve never needed one

[37:40] I have not known a life without Christian community I’ve never known that life

[37:48] and I don’t deserve that I have never had a single human being that I have deserved [37:55] to look my way and say you’re my friend but I’ve had such wonderful friendships in my life [38:03] and God has just given that to me so graciously it was cold last night I mean it was cold now [38:10] anything below 40 I think that’s cold all right but what’s fascinating for me is I’ve never had [38:16] I wasn’t cold because I was in a warm house I don’t deserve that but God graciously gave it [38:25] to me anyway it was raining the other day and I stayed dry because I have a roof

[38:34] I didn’t deserve any of that God graciously gave it anyway I am by no means wealthy [38:44] I mean I told you about the table he’s done right that was like five years all right

[38:50] but I’m not going to go hungry today obviously

[38:56] I could not eat I probably wouldn’t go hungry but but I don’t deserve that but God graciously [39:03] gives it anyway see my point is that when you root your joy down in God you do not look at [39:11] the circumstances of your life and say I deserve better I expect better you look at the circumstances [39:19] of your life and you just see blessing after blessing after blessing because at the end of [39:24] the day when you look at your life you look in your hand of all that you have and you say [39:29] I’m going to lose all of it but I will never lose God how do I know that

[39:39] I am going to lose God because revelation 21 is a promise that is rooted in the birth of Jesus Christ [39:52] who loved me came for me lived for me died for me and rose from the dead for me [40:03] and he did that for you Christmas is a season where our king came and he’s preparing his church [40:15] and he has blessed his people and will forever more

[40:23] right now I want to transition into a time of what we call the Lord’s Supper now if [40:30] you don’t come here regularly the bread represents the broken body of Jesus the cup [40:37] represents his shed blood and what I don’t want to be missed in this season [40:44] is that Jesus was born with a mission to die for my sin and for your sin and when we eat and drink [40:58] it’s it’s a picture of the cost the price that Jesus paid so that we could have [41:06] a reconciled relationship with God so that he could forgive me of my sin and so that he could

[41:12] reign in my life friend if you have trusted in Jesus as your savior in just a moment there’s [41:18] tables in the back tables in the front Jesus has taken the barriers away through your faith

[41:26] I don’t welcome you to this table I don’t have that authority Jesus does [41:32] and when you eat and when you drink of this table you are professing to everyone in this room [41:37] I have trusted in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and so if you have not done that [41:43] I don’t want to put you in a position where you feel like you need to lie I want you to feel [41:50] the freedom to be totally honest this morning that if you have not put your faith in Jesus [41:55] Christ I want you to do something a little different I’m going to ask you to take a step

[41:58] of faith and walk out into the foyer not because that’s going to be any redemption for you at all [42:05] but rather I want to give you an opportunity to talk with someone about what it means to have [42:09] faith in Jesus I want you to give an audience for someone to be able to pray for you to answer [42:15] any questions that you might have about what faith in Jesus is all about [42:21] but if you have put your faith in Christ come celebrate the death of our King

[42:45]