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Christmas can be a little weird, can it? A little dysfunctional, a little strange. It's it's kind of a weird season because it's a busy season. It's a chaotic season. It's a crazy season. And and it's funny how we we take all this chaos,
and then we add chaos with some of the stuff we do at Christmas, financial chaos, all these things. And then we take all that chaos, and we decorate it. And then we celebrate, and we call it a holly jolly season of great festivities.
No wonder people struggle with depression this time of year. It's it's it's it's kind of weird. That's why they make comedies about it and movies all the time, and about how Christmas is supposed to be about one thing, but really we're experiencing a whole bunch of other things. It's like we decorate the chaos
and call it something. And we'll do that literally. We'll put lights on anything at Christmas time, and we just call it now it's Christmas y. It's got the Christmas spirit. Have you seen some of the stuff we'll put lights on? I got a few pictures here. Here's one, a dump truck. It's just a dump truck.
Now it's a Christmas dump truck. I mean, you throw the lights on it, now it's Merry Trashmas. Or how about this one? This one's a little more disturbing,
especially because they put too much in the area where you probably need to use it. But a toilet is gonna have Christmas seats Christmas, like, is this? Deck the stalls? I I don't I don't know. And then what about let's do this oh, wait. This is a bad example. The problem with this one is the lights themselves.
The lights are the problem. That that should be red and white. That would be a much better more Christmas y too anyways. So no. No. No. No. No. No. No Pete Carrolling around here. So let's get rid of that. Been waiting for that joke all year. Now this last one here, this is interesting.
It's a holly jolly porta potty, I suppose. And but this is actually a local story that happened. This is this is a local what happened was this guy that that decorated this,
this isn't the original one, but a couple years ago, was remodeling his house, and they had a porta potty out there. And it was Christmas time, so he's decorated. He's like, oh, this porta potty is an eyesore. I hate it. So he put lights on it. Well, then he came out the next day, and there was more lights and more stuff on it. And every day, people had already realized his neighbors kept adding stuff because they all thought it was ugly. And so they're like, let's just make it Christmas y. And so it became a thing. So then the next year,
he went ahead and didn't have the porta potty anymore, so he rented one. And now that's what they do in this neighborhood. They rent a porta potty and they decorate it.
And that's somehow this great idea. Like, look, we're celebrating the porta potty. But this is my point. This is why Christmas can be weird. I think this is what we do with our lives. I think that's what we do with our lives.
We take the porta potty moments, the darkness, the craziness of our moments, and we just put lights on it. We decorate it to maybe distract. The problem is the lights don't actually do anything about what's underneath. The lights don't change it.
So what happens when you take the lights down? You know, what happens when that somewhere between the first week of January and the first week of June that you take your lights down?
You just go back. And
I think that's what a lot of us think church is all about, and having a relationship with God is all about, and understanding what Christmas is all about. As you think, hey, I gotta take my life, the darkness and the pieces, and I gotta get festive. I gotta get in the mood. No. God, I gotta act like, you know, say, hey, I believe in God. And I put all these lights up. I do the good things. I try to be a better person. I try to shine this light, and I make it okay. The problem is that doesn't change what's below.
It all it does is distract us. Where the real Christmas isn't about distraction. It's about direction. The real Christmas isn't about Christmas lights. It's about the light of Christmas. It's about the light of the world coming into the world to do something about what's underneath the lights,
to save us and rescue us right where we're at.
And let me show you in the in the in the original Christmas story in the book of Luke.
There's a story about these shepherds that are sitting out in the fields at night, and the shepherds were kinda outcast. They're sitting out in the dark. People didn't like them. They smelled funny. You know, probably rooted for the seahawks. They were weird. And and
they get treated to an incredible Christmas light show. Kinda terrifying when some angels show up. But the point of the lights is not the angels. It's what they're pointing unto.
So where it says, is that night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of Lord's glory surrounded them. They were terrified. Pretty good light show. 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. So what he's saying is, no. No. No. Wait. Don't worry. And don't get distracted by us. This isn't the light that's gonna change your life.
The light that's gonna change your life is the Lord himself, the savior that's promised to save you from yourself, to save you from the darkness, to rescue you, and and to be hope. He is born today in Bethlehem. Like, alright, cool. And they said, and this is the sign.
You will recognize him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth lying in a manger. What? So these angels show up, and they're so powerful. The radiance of God's glory, the the light, the brightness, the power is so amazing.
But they say, no. No. No. That's not the point. You need to go find this. And you know what you're gonna find? A snuggle baby sitting in a feeding trough. That means poor parents.
They're in a barn. They're they're they're sitting there, and they had to wrap baby Jesus, the Lord, the savior, and put them in a manger, which is what you put hay in to feed animals. That doesn't sound as impressive as the light show. But why?
Well, then it says they went back to this incredible show. Suddenly, 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 with whom God is pleased.
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. They hurried to the villages and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby lying in the manger.
After seeing them, you'd think they'd say that wasn't that impressive. Says the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherd's story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.
The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.
Why would they be excited? Why does everyone else get excited? Why would they go back to their flag? Now they're back into the darkness and all that. No more lights. No more lights showing on. Why are they glorifying God and praising him even though they're going right back to the life they had?
Because they understood what it meant for God to be amongst them. Emmanuel, God with us. They understood what God was doing. They were looking forward to it. You see, Christmas lights just try to cover the chaos. The light of Christmas came into the chaos and joined us.
See, it shows that God loves us so much that he knew we had a problem. He didn't need to shine light from above to say, hey, here's the problem or or have us distract ourselves. He says, you need help. You can't get out of this. So I'm gonna come into it with you.
God chose to to take on humanity and be born, humble himself to grow up as a baby and grow into a man, and then go die for us. He lived a life we could never live and died and was resurrected so we can have a life we could never earn.
That's the meaning of Christmas. That's the important part. That's the only way to be made right with God. See, that's what gets confusing because I think we mix tradition. We mix our world. We mix bible stories with all of that. And a lot of us, even if you come to church all the time, even if you're only here because you've heard that Christmas and Easter are double point weekends.
It it it doesn't matter. You think that this game is played by this. I fix myself up, and I live a certain way,
and I live for God's love. And then he'll give me what I want, and he'll bless me and all that when we're really supposed to live from God's love. And part of it is we've mixed our our stories. We take we we think of God like Santa. He's like Santa Christ or or or, you know, you know, whatever.
What do I mean by that? Well, Santa has a naughty list and a nice list. Right? And you better watch out because, you know, he knows and he's coming to town.
And so you think that, okay, there's a God and and the way Christian churches and these guys that preach, what you think we're saying is you you you better you better watch out and and and you better get it right.
And and and you think that you better do good stuff. You better be nice because then you'll be on the nice list. You don't wanna be on the naughty list. That's not what the Bible says. There is a nice list. There is a naughty list. But guess who's on the naughty list? All of us. All of us.
Says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So guess what I need to do to get on the nice list. There's nothing I can do to get on the nice list. Because it says for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What does that mean? The glory of God is God is perfect.
So you want on God's nice list, you better be perfect. Perfect or you can't be in his presence. That's a problem because none of us are perfect. And sometimes I get up here and I'm preaching like, you're these pastors tell me I'm bad. The whole world will say this. Just my dad used to say this. Let's
put a dot, draw a circle around it. The dot, here's where I'm at, here's how I live, here's what I believe. I'm gonna draw a circle and call that a bull's eye. I'm fine just the way I am.
And then you get mad when you hear that there's a holy God that says, we do not trust him. We do not live according to way he made us. But here's what's weird. And so you think, how am I a sinner? Just honestly ask yourself. If you reject that, think about this. You can't even live up to your own standards for yourself.
Don't believe me? Go to a gym on January 5, and then go back two months later.
You know in your heart you have set standards for yourself, and you have failed yourself. And you're shocked to find out that you can't live up to God's standards when you can't even live up to your own.
The truth is we are all sinners, and we just don't want to admit it. You know why? Because if we are and we're separated from a holy God and there is no way to get to him, we got a problem. And that's what Christmas is about. It's not about putting lights on your chaos and trying to look better and be better. It's about the fact that the light of the world, God Himself
chose to dive into the chaos to save us. To not to distract us, but to give us direction to light the way out.
Because
he was born on Christmas, but Jesus came for Easter. He went to the cross where he took our sin and our darkness and he paid for it. That's God's workaround for us. He stays consistent within himself. I will be fully just and righteous and holy, and I will judge sin. But I took the penalty
because none of us could earn it. And all we need to do is to turn to him in faith. Admit that we're sinners and turn to him. That's what it means to be a Christian. And many of us are gonna miss that. Even when we go to church, we're gonna miss Jesus so many times in our life because we're so focused on our present.
It's funny. Christmas present. We're focused on our present. What's my present problem? What's my present scenario? What's my present need, want, fear, insecurity, struggle, pain, joy, even our joy. Our joys will distract us too.
Let me show you what I mean, and then we're gonna reflect for a minute during the song. I'm gonna show you another picture. This picture was like one of the original pictures taken in the eighteen hundreds. No. I'm not that old. This is the night early nineteen seventies.
I'm the cute kid behind the grizzled old guy there, which is funny. That grizzled old guy, my father is about four, five years younger than I am right now. So I've aged better than him.
Fighting in three wars will do that to a man, I suppose. But this is a classic Christmas picture, isn't it? Just as it's classic. It's like we're sitting around, we're opening presents. My dad got socks.
I got them for him. Actually, my mom bought them for him, wrapped them, paid for it, did all that. I just signed my name to it. So I was so happy about what I did for him. And
and and then I'm sitting behind him, and the problem is where his head if you look up over the lip of his neck, can you see I'm looking at something. I am intently looking at something. You know what that is, kids? It's a present. You excited to be able to do that here pretty soon?
Look at some presents? Yeah. Well, if you look at that, I'm looking at it. My dad rolled in the way. My mom was trying to get a picture of this moment, but then my dad rolled over and go, look, I got socks. But because, you know, because he's old. And I'm like I understand now. I like getting socks. But but he he
blocked the shot. My mom would get because apparently, that was the present I wanted the most. I wanted the most. Hey, kids. Any of you guys got the present you really, really, really want?
You know what it is? Yeah. You you know you want that. You've bugged mom and dad about it. That present that's like, if I don't get this, Christmas is ruined. If I don't get that b b gun, I don't care if it'll shoot my eye out. I Christmas will be for naught.
That one that you could get a ton of other stuff, but you need that. And if you get that, nothing else matters. That was that present for me. I was so so excited about it. I just I wanted it so bad because you know what it was?
Your guess is as good as mine. I don't remember.
For the life of me, I have no idea what it was. All I know is remembering is life would be over. I tried so hard. I would be so distraught if I didn't get it. I'd I'd probably be mad at my parents. They failed me. I wanted it so bad, and now all these years later, I can't even remember what it was. But
you know what I do miss? Not that present. You know what I long for? Is be able to be sitting in the presence of my dad again.
Now that I'm older, my dad died twenty years ago,
I look back with a very different perspective. I'm staring, kneeling in front of this tree and the lights, staring at this present.
And the most important thing in that picture was right to my side. All I had to do was turn my head. That's it. But I was fixated on the present. How about you this Christmas? What's in your box? What's what's your present right now?
Because you might be distracted. Either way, you can be distracted by good or bad. Your present might now be be good. You're getting everything you always wanted. You're getting that wonderful whatever it is. And I'm telling you, in God's economy, you look back in in the end of time, it won't even matter what it was.
But you don't have time for God because you're too busy enjoying your best life now. Or maybe you don't wanna look to God because your present box is filled with nothing. It seems empty. Your life seems hopeless. Maybe your life's filled with pain or fear or financial crisis or relationships just imploding.
Maybe you don't know what tomorrow holds and it's freaking you out. And you're sitting here looking at it, like, would I even care about God? Look what I got. This is the present I got. But the present doesn't matter. It's the presence of Jesus that matters.
That's what Christmas is. He dove into our world. You don't have to worry about the darkness. You don't have to worry about the valleys of the shadow of death, for thou art with me. When you look to Jesus, it doesn't matter what's in the box. Because he came to bring us life.
So where are you at on that? We're gonna sing a song right now, and I want you to reflect on that. And what are you looking at right now? And for some of you, when I come back out, some of you have never met Jesus. And I'm gonna show you how. I'm gonna pray with you when I come back.
But just be thinking about maybe God's talking to you, it's time to turn from this and look to him. Look to the light of the world. So just take a moment.
The glory, lowest glory that shines when nothing seems to shine at all. The glory in
Remind me, Lord. Remember what Christmas is is really about. It's not about the lights. It's about the light of Christmas, the light of the world. So like I said, I I I as we reflect on this, I think some of you are probably in this situation where maybe you've never actually met Jesus like those shepherds did.
It's simple. Like I've already said, it's it's it's you just confess and profess. You just confess that, hey, I can't do this. I can't make myself good enough. I can't earn this. I can't write that. I can't even and and I'm gonna confess that I've sinned. That just means I've missed what God had for me.
And then you profess that Jesus is Lord. He's the answer. He's the way. He's the truth. And you put your faith on what he did on the cross for you, that he died so you can live.
That's where it all starts. That's what it's all about. And I would love to have a lot of you to join the almost 400 people already that can now claim that when they go to remember what Christmas is about, they can remember that was at Christmas is when they met Jesus
and put their faith in him. So I wanna invite you, somebody in this room, to do that right now with me. We're gonna pray, and and it's a simple prayer. Just pray with me, make it your own words in your heart to God. It's not a magic incantation. Simply confessing and professing,
and and and it's just a simple thing to do. So would you just close your eyes and bow your heads? And I'm gonna ask you to do one thing in an act of faith for you to just say, hey, this is real for me.
I'm gonna ask you that if you wanna pray with me right now that you just lift your head and no one else looking around, just me. I'm the only one staring here. And just hold it. I see those hands. Just hold them up while we pray. It's as if you're reaching up to God and say, Lord, take my hand, please.
Take my life. Take my hand. I'm all yours. I'm sick of trying to do this on my own. I'm sick of, you know, sticking lights on a porta potty. I want the light of the world from within. Just hold that hand up. That's good. And just pray something like this. Dear Jesus, thank you.
Thank you that that even though I've gone my own way, I am a sinner. I've I've tried to make life work on my own. Sometimes I've even been angry at you if you even exist because I don't like what's happening. I've been in the darkness. I've been in the chaos. But right now, I turn to you,
and I ask you for your forgiveness, and I thank you for it because you promised it. And in the best way I know how, I'm turning to you and by faith declaring that I believe that you are the Lord. You are my savior. You are the way. You are the light.
I believe that you came for me. I believe that that you died on the cross, but you resurrected to give me life. And that is what I am turning to now by faith. And help me to go from here the same way that the shepherds left on that first Christmas,
praising you and bringing glory to you with thankful hearts because I know that my eternity has been changed now because of your love. So thank you. And I just pray this in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.
Hey, we're gonna sing a couple more songs worshiping the light of the the world. But can we just say, yeah, for all the hands that went up in this room? Praise God.
Amen. Praise God. Emmanuel, God is with us. As we conclude our services, let's sing Silent Night together.
Amen. Rock Point. Can we give it up for everyone who said yes to Jesus today for the first time? Amen. If that's you and you made that first time decision saying yes to Jesus, congratulations. We wanna partner with you in your newfound faith. The best way to connect with us and connect with you is to go to rockpoint.io
and click on the say yes to Jesus tab. Also, we have people over in the prayer room. If you said yes or you just need to pray with someone today, we have people willing and ready to pray with you tonight. Guys, thank you so much for joining us. Make sure to stick around for our outside experience,
and we will see you back here January sixth and seventh as we return and jump into our new series. We love you guys. Merry Christmas.