Thank you for listening to this message from Life House Church.
Hey, Merry Christmas, Life House.
Turn to somebody right now, give them a high five, say it is here.
It is here.
Merry Christmas.
We've been waiting.
We've been anticipating.
There's some little kids right now.
They're just jumping up and down.
There's some big kids just jumping up and down right now.
And we are here to celebrate Jesus.
We are here to celebrate the birth of Christ.
And I know we celebrate that in all kinds of ways.
Some of you will go home and eat with family.
You'll give gifts and do all those things.
But we have been all month long, we have been talking about Jesus, the birth of Jesus, and
we've really talked about the hope that is in Jesus.
Hope for real is really what we've entitled it.
And after preaching about this whole idea of hope and the idea of Jesus Christ and really
using that phrase quite a bit, hope for real, I realized that you can say that phrase a
couple different ways and it changes the meaning.
How many know it's not always what you say, but it's how you say it?
Amen.
Come on, say it to your neighbor right now.
It's not always about what you say.
It's how you say it.
Some of you need to say that to someone right now.
It's not about what you say all the time.
It's how you say it.
And you can do that with hope for real.
And you can say that enthusiastically.
You can say, man, it is about the hope of Jesus Christ.
It is hope for real.
And that's exciting.
Or you can even say that kind of in a question form.
You can say, well, that's hope for real.
Come on, you can do that.
You can say it in different ways.
You can even do it with a sarcastic twist.
Now look at a teenager right now.
You can do it with an eye roll.
You can say hope for real.
Come on, roll your eyes.
I can't even do it as good as a teenager can.
It comes natural for them.
I don't know what it is.
You can say it a lot of different ways.
But I'm here to tell you enthusiastically and without reservation that Jesus is the
hope.
He is the light of the world.
This time of year, really this Christmas season when we celebrate the birth of Jesus
Christ, it is hope.
And I'm going to preach out of Luke chapter two and those couple paragraphs, honestly,
when I read Luke chapter two, sometimes I almost feel like it doesn't do it enough justice.
It tells the simple story of Jesus' birth.
But there are miracles wrapped up in Luke chapter two.
There is hope wrapped up in Luke chapter two.
And if you read through it too quickly and if you go by too fast, you will miss the incredible
story of Jesus Christ.
And it is hope for real.
And when you read Luke chapter two, there's no exaggeration.
There's no drama.
There's no big effects.
But it is no joke.
It is complete hope in Christ.
So if you got your Bibles, I want you to go ahead and head to Luke chapter two.
If you don't have your Bibles, you can look up at the screens and we're going to put those
up there.
I was just looking to make sure nothing's catching on fire.
We're all good.
And we're going to pray a little bit.
I like to pray over God's word before we read it.
And I want to pray over the word of God.
You ready to pray with me?
Amen.
Let's just pray in bow our heads.
Father, we thank you for this time.
I thank you for your word.
God, it is life and it is light to us.
Now, Lord, I pray that you would just guide us, direct us tonight.
Lord, God, may your word penetrate our hearts and our minds and speak to us as we hear about
the greatest story ever told.
And that's about Jesus.
And we just give you glory in Jesus' name.
And everybody said together.
Amen.
Luke chapter two, verse one, and it says this.
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the
world should be registered.
This census first took place while Serenius was governing Syria.
So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth unto Judea to the city of
David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and the lineage of David
to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was witch out.
And so it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid
him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end.
One paragraph, Joseph, Mary, right?
Jesus, Joseph, Mary and Jesus.
Now Mary's still pregnant with Jesus, travel 80 plus miles by foot or by donkey.
The word of God doesn't tell us to this little nowhere town called Bethlehem.
And after a long, tough journey, they find that there's not a decent place to rest.
There's not a decent place to sleep.
There's no motels, there's no hotels, there's no Airbnbs that are available.
There's no heated living spaces of any kind.
There's not a room.
There's not even a corner of a room where they can rest, let alone have a baby.
And in this humble place, all there is is just a cold and probably very overcrowded stable
where animals are eating or they're sleeping and how many know they're doing some other
smelly things in that stable, right?
That's where they're at.
And it is in this humble place that Jesus, the savior of the world is born.
No parades, no fanfare, no public announcements, right?
It didn't even make the local news right that evening.
It's just this quiet, lowly stable in a silent night.
And the only big announcement on that quiet night is to a group of very unlikely people,
some shepherds that are nearby in a field and they're watching sheep by night and they're
unlikely but somehow fitting in all this because Jesus would be known as the good shepherd
and we would be known as his sheep and the good shepherd would speak and we would hear
his voice, but that was it.
That was the announcement.
It was to a group of couple shepherds out in a nearby field.
And it says this in Luke chapter two, verse eight.
Now there were in the same country, shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch of
their flock by night and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory
of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid.
Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy which shall be to all people for there is born to you this day in the city of David
the Savior who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be the sign to you.
You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
And suddenly, say suddenly, and suddenly there was an angel with a multitude of heavenly
hosts praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill
towards men.
So it was when the angel had gone away from them into heaven that the shepherd said to
one another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that's come to pass, which
the Lord has made known to us.
This small group of shepherds witness a grand heavenly announcement that Jesus is born,
that the Messiah is here, that the Savior of all mankind has come.
And it starts off with one angel.
It starts with one angel standing before them.
And I want you to really get this picture this evening.
I don't want to just gloss over this.
So I'm getting how many of you have ever worked as a shepherd before?
That's what I thought.
Okay, zero, zip, none of you.
Okay, one, I saw a hand in the back.
Awesome, I want to talk to you afterwards.
But most of us haven't.
So you're going to have to use your imagination.
And I really want you to see this.
So work with me on this.
I can't see some of you in the back.
I'm just going to take your word for it, my word for it and your word for it that you're
going to close your eyes.
But I'm going to ask you to do something unusual.
I want you just to close your eyes.
And I want you to picture what's taking place here.
I want you to picture these shepherds in the field and your field, you can make it any
way you want.
And it's night and one angel shows up.
The word of God says he comes to announce and the glory of the Lord, it begins to light
up, right?
The angel lights it up.
And honestly, it freaks out the shepherds.
Just keep your eyes closed.
It freaks them out.
They get scared.
They don't know if it's a ghost.
They don't know if it's an aberration of some kind.
They don't know if it's their imagination gone wild.
And they're seeing this angel and this angel is making an announcement and they don't know
what to think.
They're maybe even too rattled to think.
But this angel comes and says, do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good tidings of great
joy that will be to all people.
Good news for everyone.
For there's born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be signed to you that you will find the babe in swaddling clothes and laying
in a manger.
The angel tells him why is there what is happening.
Keep your eyes closed.
Just a few more minutes.
How to find who he's announcing.
Then to completely convince them that this announcement is legit.
It says in suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God
and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.
So just to seal the deal as your eyes are closed, the announcement of the angel lights
it up.
But all of a sudden the heavens open up.
All of a sudden these couple shepherds get a glimpse into the heavenlies.
They get a glimpse into the kingdom of God.
They get a glimpse of all the heavenly hosts celebrating probably millions of angels, celebrating
the plan, the birth of Jesus Christ for all of mankind.
Now I want you to open your eyes.
And suddenly it goes all dark again.
Can you imagine?
I can see him there talking to one there.
Did you see that?
Did you hear that?
They're probably pinching themselves.
They probably thought they died.
They probably pinched each other.
Pinch somebody beside you.
Right now go ahead and do it.
I want to make sure everybody's awake.
They probably did.
And when they regained their senses, I can see them all saying we got to go.
We got to go.
We got to go see this thing that the angel said.
And probably one of them because there's always one said no we got to stay and watch the sheep.
They voted them down.
I know it.
It isn't in the Bible but I know it happened.
And they all went and I don't know about you but if this was some of us, if we were out
at a campfire somewhere at night and there were a few of us in a field and all of a sudden
an angel appeared and began to speak to us and then the light began to shine and the
sky lit up and all of a sudden everything rolled back and you got a glimpse into heaven
and maybe your voice came and said this is your imagination working here.
And the voice said go to Philadelphia because God's going to show you something.
Probably know as soon as that thing closed up we'd be like let's go road trip.
Right.
I would.
I know somebody wouldn't somebody like no I'm not going to Philly but I'd be like let's
go.
Let's get in the car.
Let's go.
And they do that.
They be lying to Bethlehem.
It says this in 16 it says then they came with haste found Mary and Joseph and the babe
lying in a manger.
Now when they had seen him they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning
this child and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the
shepherds then the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they
had heard seen and was told to them.
Those shepherds went and found Jesus just like the angels said they meet the son of
God they witness the son of God for their their selves and they are convinced they're
convinced that they just ran into hope for real.
They didn't need a long theological discussion right.
They didn't need months of discussing how they felt about the whole experience.
They just ran to the hope of the world and in the middle of the night in a barn they
knew that they just met the Messiah.
He was a baby.
He couldn't talk to him yet.
He couldn't convince them of everything of anything at all.
And they knew they were standing before the Messiah.
They knew that it was God's son and they were ready to tell everyone.
And it's in those convincing moments that changed everything for the shepherds that
Christmas.
It was there it was the convincing that moved them to the conviction.
It was the convincing in their lives from the angel from meeting and being in front
of Jesus that moves them to the conviction of following through and telling people about
Jesus because the word of God says as soon as they left that place they began to tell
everybody they ran into they began to go into the countryside and they began to tell it
is the convincing they leave that stable until everyone they meet about Jesus about an infant
who was born and is about to change everything in the world is going to give hope to all
of mankind.
And here's what I'm convinced of.
We don't talk about we don't brag about right what we're not convinced is real.
We don't go and testify about anything that's not impacted us personally and that's big
or small.
It doesn't matter if it's large or little in nature and if you're caught how many coffee
lovers we got in the house you should be a hot chocolate lover man they got an amazing
bar out there hot chocolate bar.
But if you're a coffee lover you know and you visit a coffee shop and you go into this
coffee shop for the first time and in your opinion it's the best coffee you've ever tasted.
It's the it's the best thing that's ever touched your lips is laying on your taste buds and
all you want to do is testify.
That's how good it is.
All right you're convinced that they've got some kind of secret blend that nobody else
has your shorts the best in the world and you're not you're so convinced that you get
conviction in your heart and the next day you're standing in line at Sheetz to get a
coffee and you said and you don't even know the person standing beside you you say you
gonna tell them you know what I know this is okay coffee but if you want an amazing
drink of coffee let me tell you where to go right.
It's when you convinced that it moves to the conviction and that's what happened to these
shepherds they ran smack into Jesus they run right into the hope of the world and they
know it's for real it's hope for real and they go tell everybody they go everywhere
they can and this idea of being personally convinced and it move into conviction and
you telling somebody you know it's stuck with me and as I as I began to think about it another
scripture began to come to mind and I started thinking about another place in scripture
where you got to see this kind of thing unfold and it's in Matthew 16 13 and Jesus isn't
a baby here Jesus has he's grown man Jesus is doing ministry he's a matter of fact he's
doing ministry in different places and he's gathered 12 men around him who were training
to bring the hope of the world the message of the gospel to others and as he's doing
this though they're not quite convinced who Jesus is yet and Jesus says this in Matthew
16 13 says then Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi now this is a very important
I said to Rhea Philippi now this is about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee and asked
his disciples saying who do men say that I the Son of Man am he's putting the question
to his 12 trainees that they're going to be the ones who are going to take the gospel
all over the world and he says who do men who do people say that I am so they said to
him some say John the Baptist some say Elijah others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets
people aren't sure who Jesus is yet right they know he's preaching they know he's teaching
they know he's healing and his disciples answer Jesus question and they've heard the rumors
they've heard people talk him and they're telling Jesus some of you some of them think
you're a teacher some of them think you're a preacher some of you think you're a healer
right some of them think you're a prophet you know and they're telling all these things
because they're they're they're using what they know right but none of these people were
there when Jesus was born none of them have seen angels none of them have spoke to any
of the shepherds and even if they did speak to the shepherds they maybe wouldn't believe
him right so they don't really know who Jesus is yet and they're drawing conclusions they're
speculating based on some other observation that they made or something that they heard
about the prophets before and some think he's John the Baptist right they I don't know if
they believe that John the Baptist was reincarnated or maybe they just think he was like John
the Baptist some say he's a prophet like Elijah because they're seeing the miracles and Elijah
had performed miracles people were comparing Jesus to other holy men that they knew and
read about and spoke about sometimes people do that now they make speculations about Jesus
what they think about they base it on something that they they've seen or know or something
they've heard before and they'll they'll think things like well maybe he was just a great
historical figure right who teaches great moral ideas like love your enemies yourself
or or do good to those who despitefully use you or take care of the orphan and the widow
and the stranger right or he's symbolic especially this time of year of love and forgiveness
and of hope and goodwill towards all men and you know or some people it's just the thought
of Jesus makes him feel good that it just makes him feel good or you know he's just
part of the Christmas spirit you got Santa Claus here Jesus over here right he's just
part of that whole deal but Jesus asked the men that are closest to him he says who do
now listen to what he says to his men in verse 15 he said he Jesus said to them but who do
you say that I am and Simon Peter answered and said you are to the Christ you are the
Son of the Living God Jesus answered and said to him blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah for
flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father who is in heaven and I also
say to you that you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates
of Hades shall not prevail against it and I will give you the keys to the kingdom of
heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound on earth will be bound in heaven
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven that he commanded his disciples
that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ Peter figures it out Peter gets
convinced just like those shepherds that Jesus is the Savior that he is the Messiah that
he is God's Son and the warning is that the Father reveals this to Peter and he tells
Jesus face to face you are the Christ you are God's Son you are Savior of the world
and as I thought about this it's easy for those shepherds wasn't it it was easy for
those shepherds to figure it out they saw the heavens open up they had an angel come
and stand before them and they witnessed all of heaven rejoicing about Jesus then they
probably saw things they couldn't adequately put into words and I think if any of us probably
would have been with those shepherds if we'd have had an angel come and speak to us if
we'd have seen the heavens open up we'd have probably been pretty convinced right and but
Peter now we got Peter and Peter doesn't have the legion of angels he doesn't have the heavens
open up for him right or one angel talk to him but he does have Jesus standing in front
of him physically see Peter witnessed Jesus break bread and take a few loaves of bread
and fish and feed 5,000 people one time and 4,000 the next Peter was the one who saw Jesus
walking on the water and he said bid me to come and he steps out of a boat and he walks
on the water at least for a little while getting to Jesus Peter experienced these things he
would see Jesus healed the sick he would see the diseased people healed he would see the
lame walk he would even witness those who were dead come to life and he would witness it
with his own eyes of his own eyes and Peter and the disciples had plenty to convince them
that Jesus because they physically walked with him for real but what about us what about
us most of us haven't had an angelic announcement of some kind right maybe some of you have
you can tell me about that later but most of us haven't had an angel come and announce
things none of us that I know if it walked personally you'd be really old at this point
walked personally with Jesus right you I don't anybody walk on water this week yeah me neither
right we didn't walk on water out to Jesus we didn't see him open physically see this
open blinded eyes heal the sick and call Lazarus out of the grave we didn't watch him confound
the scholars and baffle those who are supposedly the greatest minds of that time we didn't
see any of that so how are we convinced that Jesus is the hope of the world for real to
the point of conviction right convincing and conviction well Jesus and the Father had a
plan for this they made provision in spectacular fashion and they made sure that we would be
convinced and that we would be convicted to the point where we would tell others that
we would know his power and it's not from angels for most of us and we can't go back
into history and walk beside Jesus physically and witness his miracles but Jesus said this
right before he left he rose from the grave he paid the price for all our sin and he came
into power and glory and right before his he left his disciples he laid out the plan
for all the rest of us it says this in John 16 5 he says but now I go away to him who
sent me and none of you asked me where are you going but because I have said these things
to you sorrows filled your heart nevertheless I tell you the truth now listen to this it
is to your advantage that I go away Jesus said it's gonna be good for you if I go away
for if I do not go away the helper will not come to you but if I depart I'll send him
to you and when he is come he will convict the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment of sin because they do not believe in me of righteousness because I go to the
Father and you see me no more of judgment because the ruler of this world is judged
he says I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now however when
he the spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth for he will speak will
not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will tell you
the things to come and he will glorify me for he will take of what is mine and declare
it to you all things the Father has are mine therefore I said he will take of what is mine
and declare it to you on this most holy day this most holy night Jesus can be as real
to you as those who witness the angels the heavens open up and watch him physically heal
and do amazing miracles actually we have the advantage we have the advantage because it's
not a one time angelic visit for us it's not a one time one shot deal where we see and
witness something Jesus said if you believe in me I will send my Holy Spirit to be with
you he will dwell with you he will walk with you and you he will tell you of things to
come he will glorify my name that's what he said right and what I know I will speak to
him and he will speak it to you that is the spirit of Christmas I hear the world all the
time right they get around Christmas time they can't figure it out they hear all this
goodwill and cheer and they're like man there's just something different in the air yeah it's
the Holy Spirit celebrate right come on and it is him it is him and Jesus said it can
be yours and if you know Jesus as Lord and Savior he is with you the world can't explain
it they don't understand it I'm going to ask if you'd stand I'm going to ask them we've
got a special coming right now father and daughter coming to play and sing Nick and
River and we're going to have others who are going to be coming around with the lighter
I don't know if you know this or not but in scripture and I couldn't think of anything
more fitting than this for a candlelight service but in scripture the Holy Spirit is represented
by fire the Word of God you can read it in Acts chapter 2 but the Holy Spirit is represented
by fire and it's the Holy Spirit who will speak to you it's the Holy Spirit who will
speak things to come in your life how many how many of we all want to know what's coming
up right sometimes the Holy Spirit if you ask him sometime not all time but sometimes
he'll bump you he'll give you some direction about the future and the Word of God declares
when Jesus walked the earth John the Baptist it was talked about with John the Baptist
that he would come and baptize people with water Jesus said it was spoke about Jesus
he would come and baptize you with fire with the Holy Spirit as they get ready to play
and to sing and I want you to sing with him I want you to pray I want you to look at that
flame because this was God's plan when Jesus left he said I will not leave you alone and
you're not going to get a one-shot deal you're not going to have an angel just show up one
time you're not going to see a miracle just one time but the Holy Spirit will literally
be with you I call him and I don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit this
but he's kind of a personal coach to you he's a personal trainer that walks alongside you
he's a holy one but he comes and walks beside you amen and then listen to the music and
you're going to get a one-shot deal with him I call him and I don't mean any disrespect
to the Holy Spirit I call him and I don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit
I call him and I don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit I call him and I
don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit I call him and I don't mean any disrespect
to the Holy Spirit I call him and I don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit
I call him and I don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit I call him and I
don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit I call him and I don't mean any disrespect
to the Holy Spirit I call him and I don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit
I call him and I don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit I call him and I
don't mean any disrespect to the to the Holy Spirit I call him and I don't mean any disrespect
the new and glorious morn, all on your knees.
Oh, hear the angel voices, O night divine, O night when Christ was born.
O night, day of light, O night, O night divine.
When I was preparing this message this week, early in the week I went to a coffee shop.
Sometimes I do that when I want to write, and I kind of like the background noise and that white noise, and I get focused.
And I went to this small coffee shop, and I went early when they were just opening, and there was just one other couple in there.
It was a younger couple, and I say younger, they were in their 20s.
I'm older, so that's really young to me.
But they were in their 20s, and they were across the shop.
They were the whole way across the shop.
They were the only ones in there other than the barista.
And I got a coffee, and they were over there just very quietly talking to one another.
Couldn't really hear them, just a little chatter.
They were chatting with one another.
And I was just scrolling away on my computer.
I'm typing away, and I'm working on this message.
And I got to the part, and I was thinking about those shepherds, right?
And I was thinking about the angels showing up, and I just had typed, those shepherds were freaking out.
I just like, they had to be freaking out.
And I had not heard any conversation the entire time, and all of a sudden that woman, two seconds after I typed that, says, they were freaking out.
And that was all I heard, and I'm like...
And the Holy Spirit tapped me on the shoulder, and He said, are you still convinced?
They had no idea they were just speaking to me.
He was letting me know, I'm here, I'm with you.
Two seconds after I typed, He just tapped me on the shoulder, and He said, are you still convinced?
And while the world around me had no idea that God was speaking to me, He was speaking to me.
And that's how it works.
The Holy Spirit will speak to you.
He will come to you. Amen?
If you're here tonight and you don't know Jesus as Lord and Savior, you can.
The Word of God says if you believe that He is the Son of the Living God,
if you believe that He came to forgive us of our sins, because sins separated us from God,
and if you believe that in your heart, and you say, Jesus, I want you to come into my life,
and I commit today to follow you.
Stop following, I'm going to stop following what I...
the way I want to live, and I'm going to start following you today.
If that's you, that's all you have to do, is you have to pray that and mean it.
That's it.
And the Word of God says you will be saved, and the Holy Spirit will come into your life,
and He will begin to guide you and direct you. Amen?
I'm going to ask you to bow your heads one last time.
This is going to be a final prayer, and if you said...
if you want to know Jesus as Lord and Savior, I'm going to ask everybody to just keep your eyes closed,
because this is a personal thing.
If that's you, and you want Jesus in your life tonight for the very first time,
just raise your hand up, put your hand up, put it right back down.
I'm not going to call you out.
This is just you recognizing that, and I'm going to pray with you in a moment.
That's all I'm going to do.
Give you just a second.
If that's you, just please raise your hand, put it up, put it right back down,
and that's all that's going to take place, because this is going to be a prayer between you and Jesus.
Thank you.
Church, hear the Spirit of God through this Christmas season.
Hear Him speaking to you.
If you're saved and you know Jesus, let Him tap you on the shoulder somewhere along the way, because He will.
Father, I come to you today.
I thank you for each person in the house,
God who took time, God, on this Christmas Eve to come and lift up your name and to worship you,
and I pray that your hand would be upon them, and God, that their ears would be open,
and God, that you would speak to them.
God, in the daytime and in the evening and Lord, at the noontime and Lord, just somewhere along the way,
God, they'd hear your voice, and God, you'd tap them on the shoulder one more time,
and Lord, they would know and they would be convinced and they would be convicted to speak
about the one who is hope for real, and God, I pray that your hand goes upon each family.
Your blessing would be upon them, and Lord, we just lift up and give you glory in Jesus' name.
And everybody said together, Amen and Amen.
God bless you.
Amen.