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Hey, good evening everyone.

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Merry Christmas.

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We're so excited that you chose to join us here at HCV.

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If you're joining us from home, thank you for welcoming us into your space.

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And like I said, during the season, during the Christmas season, there's a lot of things

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you can be doing this time of year.

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Life is busy.

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There's places you need to be.

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And thank you for just slowing down and making Jesus our priority.

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You know, it is so unique that every year during this season, people gather all over

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the world to worship and adore a baby born in a stable to peasant parents.

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We're living thousand miles from a no name city and thousands of years since this took

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place yet still people gather together to worship and adore this baby who would become

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a man named Jesus.

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Now, I don't know about you, but maybe you've played the game, Telestration's before, or

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maybe you're familiar with how the game works.

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Each player is put on a team and then each team is given an object or phrase that has

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to be drawn out.

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A teammate, when given the prompt, draws on the card who then passes it to the next teammate

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who then looks at the drawing and writes down what they see.

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Then after writing it down, it's passed on to the next teammate who has to draw the picture

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of the word written down.

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And this continues through the entire team alternating between drawing and answering.

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By the time the tablet has been passed to the last teammate and the answer is given,

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teammates quickly realize that they started with this phrase or this word and what they

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ended up with is completely different.

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In fact, you can YouTube and watch different individuals playing the game and in one instance,

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a team was given a prompt for a pot of gold.

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And by the end of the game, it had become a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.

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This is familiar with the telephone game that we may have played when we were in elementary

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school, when the phrase is given to one student and then is passed through all the entire

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class and by the end of the line, with people whispering in one another's ears, what was

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started is completely distorted and messed up by the time it gets to the last person.

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Now, some of you are sitting there thinking, Chris, what does this have to do with Christmas?

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Well, messages that get lost in translation has a lot to do with Christmas because Jesus

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was born more than 2000 years ago.

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Since then, the church, not a building, but the people of God, those that follow Jesus

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were responsible to share the good news or draw a picture of what God looks like in this

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world, saying, hey, this is who God is.

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This is God's message to the world so that everyone who hears the message would want

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to follow him and become a part of his family.

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However, something has happened to this message.

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Not everyone clearly understands who Jesus is and why he came into this world.

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And it's very interesting when you talk to people about Christmas, most people are warm

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to the idea of Christmas.

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They are open to the idea of generosity and hope, peace on earth, family and friends gathering

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together with lights and presents and Santa calls.

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The entire spirit of joy and happiness is welcomed.

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But when you mention a God connected to Christmas, suddenly people's body language changes.

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Their postures change.

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And suddenly the conversation about joy and happiness turns to confusion.

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Maybe for some people, maybe they are afraid of God.

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Maybe they are indifferent toward God.

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Maybe some are unaware and maybe some are just angry at God.

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And I think that all this confusion comes from the different places across culture that

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influence who we are.

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Social media, YouTube, Facebook, Tik Tok.

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And unfortunately for many people, the message they have heard from the church is just religion.

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Do more, try harder.

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Put your head down.

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Do everything you can to be morally good and accepted by God.

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And that leads people to believe that God is angry with them because they are not living

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a good enough life.

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And it leads other people to believe that God is just out there somewhere, distant,

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not interested in them.

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Whatever the case, the message of Jesus and the idea behind all of it has gotten lost

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in translation over the years.

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Which brings us to Christmas.

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See there are many reasons that Jesus came to earth, but one of the most important reasons

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leads us to our first thought.

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See Jesus gives us an understanding of who God really is.

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Jesus came to bring clarity to you and me about God and what he wants for our lives.

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See Jesus was 100% God and 100% man.

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He is God in a body.

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Colossians 2, 9 tells us, for in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.

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John 14, 9, Jesus' own words.

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Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

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So why are you asking me to show him to you?

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In other words, if you want to know what God is like, just look at Jesus.

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Look at the way he lived.

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Look at the way he loved.

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Look at the way he served.

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Jesus is born and throughout his life he wants to give us a picture of what God is like and

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what it means to know God.

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And not just to know the character of God, but also know how God feels about you and

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me.

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The truth that God wants a relationship with you, a personal, unhindered, unhibited relationship

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with you in this relationship is not just a means to get to heaven, which is true, but

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there's so much more.

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In John 10, 10, Jesus says, my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

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See Jesus desires that we have a full life, a rich life, a meaningful life, a life of

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purpose.

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And that's where it gets interesting.

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Because see, if God is the creator and we are his creation, then he would know what

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is best for us, true or false.

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He would obviously know what is best for us.

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He would know how to lead us and guide us.

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He knows what satisfies us.

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He knows how to sustain us and fulfill us.

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He would know the direction we should go in our lives and would be fools not to listen

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to him.

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And yet for many of us, there's this gap between the life God wants for us and the life that

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we are living.

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And listen, this is not necessarily a bad thing.

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It's a good thing.

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We're all trying to figure out this thing called life.

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We're only given 80 years or so to try and figure it out, to determine the difference

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between right and wrong, to answer the question, how did I even get here?

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What happens after I die?

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What is the purpose for this life?

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And listen, these are all good questions to ask.

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But I want to take this a step further.

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I want you to honestly reflect on where you are in this life and what you believe.

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Because I've been pastoring this church for the last 18 years, I've been pastoring in

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total for 25 years.

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And what I've discovered in talking with people over the years and their search for significance

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leads us to our next thought.

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See, in their search for significance, humanity tends to settle.

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In our attempts to settle our lives, to understand it all, we settle.

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And what I'm trying to say is we actually settle for less than what God wants for our

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lives.

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I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes, but I believe that God wants us to live in

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HD, in high definition, but humanity settles for SD, standard or average.

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God wants us on the varsity, but we settle for JV.

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God wants us to live in abundance.

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Again, Jesus says, my purpose to give them a rich and satisfying life.

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And to pursue this message, let's return to the Christmas story and hear how it was originally

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communicated through the Gospel of Luke.

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Luke was a physician who interviewed eyewitnesses so that he could discover what happened at

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Jesus' birth.

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And this is what we read at Luke 2, 8 through 12.

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That night, there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of

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sheep.

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And if you've never heard it before, the shepherds were the least forgotten in the outcasts of

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society.

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So if you feel that way, you're welcome here.

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You are welcome here because that's who God spoke to first.

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Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them and the radiance of the Lord's glory

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surrounded them.

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They were terrified.

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And some of you are thinking, terrified at Christmas, why?

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Well, it was the middle of the night.

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It was dark.

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It was empty.

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They were watching their sheep and suddenly the sky lights up.

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You would be terrified.

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Okay?

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You would wonder what was going on.

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And by the way, God hadn't spoken to his people in over 400 years.

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But the angel reassured them, don't be afraid.

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He said, I bring you good news that will be great joy for all people.

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But unfortunately, for some of you, you don't believe this is good news because of your

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interaction with other Jesus followers, because of the church, because you see religious judgmental

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hypocrites who don't make the world a better place, but actually cause confusion to the

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original message that Jesus brought.

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But the angel goes on.

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The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of

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David, and you will recognize him by this sign.

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You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth lying in a manger.

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Good news of great joy.

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At the core of it is a God who loves you, a God who cares about you, a God who values

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you and is concerned about what goes on in your day to day life.

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And in our attempts to settle our lives, to figure it all out, we become tired and weary.

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We become overwhelmed and stressed out.

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And I believe that God wants more for your life during this season.

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This Christmas, we need to be reminded that the God is not just for us, but he loves us.

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And he not only wants to love us, but he wants to propel us onto a course where we are living

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a version of life that just pales in comparison to what we're living right now.

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There was a man who went on a mission to prove the Christmas story in Christianity wrong,

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false.

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This man was fully convinced that Christianity was false and ridiculous and there was no

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God.

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So he started studying the Bible and the practices of God.

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He began to interview different people that believed.

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He began to visit different biblical sites.

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And in his effort to prove Christianity was false, he became a follower of Jesus.

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In his research and study, God spoke to his heart and God changed him.

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This man became a scholar, a theologian, an author, a just overall brilliant man and his

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name was C.S. Lewis.

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In the weight of glory, C.S. Lewis writes these words.

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It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.

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In other words, we settle.

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We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition with infinite

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joy is offered to us every day.

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In other words, we settle for the pleasures of this world when God is offering us the

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riches of heaven.

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Lewis continues, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because

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he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.

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We are far too easily pleased.

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In other words, we get distracted and we settle.

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And Christmas is screaming to us that God wants more for us than we want for ourselves.

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And this is good news of great joy for all people.

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Which leads me to share with you so that we can experience and welcome and embrace three

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truths God wants for every single one of us this Christmas.

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See, there is power in the birth of Jesus.

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And the first truth is we can experience peace beyond our circumstances.

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See, I believe all people want to experience peace in this world.

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I think it's good to desire a life that is content and happy, a life that is void of

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stress and worry that allows us to sleep good through the night.

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A life where we feel good about our family and friends, our job, and we are passionate

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about the upcoming days and weeks that they will bring.

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It's a good desire to have, however, without Jesus does our society even attempt to have

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peace in their life.

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Right when we leave Jesus out, what does society do?

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Well some people focus on their income, their money, and all the wealth they can gain and

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pour into their 401k so that one day they can retire and rest and relax and have a life

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full of peace.

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While others use their possessions, a larger house, a new car, a new pair of shoes, a new

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outfit, and there is nothing wrong with any of those things.

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However, guess what?

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They're not going to bring you peace.

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Still others focus on their health, what they eat, what they do, how they exercise, that

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they can run faster and lift more.

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And if they're healthy, their life will be good.

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Which is, it's good to be healthy.

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I believe in health, but health does not bring peace.

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And there's a part of society that believes that politics is the answer.

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That if the politicians would just get it right, our country would experience peace.

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Newsflash, they're never going to get it right.

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They're always going to be divided.

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And when we put all of our life and want this peace into us doing it, whether it be our

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health or our money or our politics or whatever it may be, our possessions, basically we're

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just playing a big game of Jenga with our life.

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We're just pulling one block out and putting it on top, making our life bigger and better.

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But yet at one point, we're going to pull a block out and it's all going to come tumbling

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down.

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There's so many people working so hard, focused on their money and their health and their

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career and you don't even realize that none of it will bring you peace.

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But Jesus will.

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Christmas says peace is not in the stuff, it's in the person.

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It's in the baby born in a manger, Isaiah 9, 6, for a child is born to us, a son is

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given, the government will rest on his shoulders and he will be called wonderful counselor,

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mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.

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Luke chapter two, suddenly angel was joined by the vast host of others, the armies of

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heaven, praising God and saying glory to God.

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In the highest heaven and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.

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See Jesus is Emmanuel.

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We sung about it, which means God is with us and this means God is connected to us through

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all aspects of our life.

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See if we are searching for peace in this world, you're not going to find it in a relationship

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or money or possessions.

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However, you can open the gift of peace every single day when Jesus tells us in John 14,

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I'm leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart.

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And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give, so don't be troubled or afraid.

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And see not only do we want peace this Christmas, but we also want our next truth, purpose within

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this life.

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I believe everybody wants to have purpose in this life.

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If you believe your purpose is simply playing video games, you've believed the lie.

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There's so much more to life than playing video games.

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See look, like I said earlier, we're only given one life and for many of us we're only

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given 80 years.

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And when you come to the end of that life, you have to ask yourself a question.

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Did I live a life that mattered?

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Or was I just focused on myself building my own plateau of Jenga blocks, building my own

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plateaus of education and money, or maybe so focused on my kids or my grandkids because

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I missed out on life?

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For some of you it's the ability to perform, watch me, I play at a high level, I can sing,

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I can build, I can teach.

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And listen, none of those things are bad.

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But if you believe that is your only person you're missing out on so much, that simply

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building your own kingdom, in your own strength, welling up with inside of you, eventually

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you're gonna fail.

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You're gonna become weak and you're gonna fall, yet deep within your heart you're hearing

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God cry out, there's more for you.

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Because in Ecclesiastes 3 we read, yet God has made everything beautiful for its own

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time.

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Notice what he's done.

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He's planted eternity in the human heart.

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But even so people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

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See we weren't designed to focus on ourselves and to build our own kingdom.

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We were created to give back, to serve, to give, to care for, to love, all for God's

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kingdom.

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And if you're in a relationship with Jesus, God bless you, but in Proverbs 19 says, you

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can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail.

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And if you're here tonight, God's will will eventually prevail in your life, no matter

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how hard you fight it.

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Because one day you're gonna realize, Ephesians 2, 10, for we are God's masterpiece.

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He has created us anew in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he's planned for

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us long ago.

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Listen, if we live like we're masterpieces, and we do the good things God has planned

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for us, you will then die a person who had purpose.

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If we invest in the kingdom of God, then nothing you do will be ever lost, forgotten, or stolen

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because that's what matters.

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Which leads to our final truth.

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Jesus becomes the source of our righteousness.

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And righteousness is the idea of being in right standing with God and with others.

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I believe everyone wants to be considered a good person.

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We don't want to be on the fourth level naughty list.

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We all want to be on the nice list.

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However, without Jesus, what is your standard?

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How good is good enough?

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What do I need to achieve?

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What do I need to do in order for me to be a good person?

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And who decides that level of acceptance?

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Here's the reality.

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Jesus came into the world to be a savior because we're all sinners.

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For everyone is sinned, Romans tells us, we all fall short of God's glorious standard.

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No one is righteous.

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We've all committed cosmic treason against God, against our creator.

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And because God is perfect and holy, there's nothing we can do in our own strength that's

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going to make us righteous enough.

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We need someone to make a way for us, and that's why we celebrate Jesus being born.

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Ephesians 2, God saved you by his grace when you believed.

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And you can't take credit for this.

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It's a gift from God.

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Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about

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it.

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The baby would become a man, a man that hangs on a cross, dies on a cross for our sins,

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but rises on the third day to provide a way for us to reconnect with God that loves us

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so deeply.

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Friends, this is the gift of Christmas.

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Don't be afraid, he said, I bring you good news that will be great joy.

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See, God gave up his one and only son so that we can live life in abundance.

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And here's the reality.

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Tomorrow, all of us will wake up and open a few gifts for some more gifts than others.

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And those gifts will bring us some temporary joy and happiness, but eventually that joy

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will wear out and eventually that happiness will break.

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And there's only one gift that really matters at Christmas, and that's the gift of Jesus.

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And here's the reality.

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This message clearly understood, clearly heard, elicits a choice.

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If you clearly hear me saying that Jesus is a gift, the only way to experience peace,

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purpose, and righteousness in this life, the only way to connect with the Creator, there

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are only two responses.

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Either you open the gift and you worship him receiving abundant life, or you say, this

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is the stupidest thing I've ever heard, can we please light the candles and get out of

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here?

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That's it.

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There is no in between.

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You can't just consider the Christmas story a nice story that we read every single year.

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C.S. Lewis says it this way in Mere Christianity.

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A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great

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moral teacher.

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He would either be a lunatic on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg, or

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else he would be the devil of hell.

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You must make your choice.

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Either this man was and is the son of God, or else a mad man or someone worse.

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You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon, or you can

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fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.

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But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.

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He is not left that open to us and he did not intend to.

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He is either savior and Lord, or he is a liar and a lunatic.

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And this morning, it is not morning, this evening.

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What do you hear Jesus speaking to you?

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A few years ago Verizon had a commercial that said this guy running around saying can you

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hear me now?

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Can you hear me now?

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Can you hear me now?

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And he would go all over the world saying can you hear me now proving that Verizon had

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the best cell phone coverage.

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You see I believe that if Jesus walked into this building tonight, he would be asking

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many of us the same question.

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Can you hear me now?

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I want so much more for your life.

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More than you could ever imagine or believe.

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Are you willing to take that step of faith?

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Are you willing to go all in and say Jesus I want it all.

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I am tired of settling and I am tired of letting life pass me by.

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Will you stand with me?

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As we recognize and celebrate the birth of Jesus, here at HCV we pray a simple prayer

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every single time we gather because we believe God brings people into our midst that are

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distant, far from God, removed from God or are settling for less.

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We all pray this prayer together whether we are a believer or not because we don't want

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to single you out, we don't want to make you come up front, we don't want to make you do

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jumping jacks for believing.

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We just want you to believe and go all in.

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Amen?

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So let's pray together.

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Jesus I am broken.

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I am full of doubt, shame, regret, sin.

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Change me.

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I believe you are God's son.

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I believe you died for me.

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Make me new.

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Set me free.

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Fill me with your spirit.

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Help me God.

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To serve others.

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In Jesus name.

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Amen.

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Now listen, if you prayed that prayer, we have a baptism gathering coming up on January 12th.

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You need to get wet.

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You need to come out and say I am a follower.

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I believe I am going all in.

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That's your opportunity.

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Now as we close, we are going to light our candles.

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Can we start lighting our candles?

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There we go.

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The reason we do this every year, listen friends, the reason we do this every year.

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A candle lighting service just simply means these candles reflect the light God has placed

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in our life.

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We are to carry this light to all places throughout the world.

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Here in the tri-state area and beyond.

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Because we carry the hope, the meaning, and the message that Jesus brought at Christmas.

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So as your candle is lit, the band will begin to play and sing joy to the world.

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And I want to encourage you.

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You be the choir.

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You sing louder than them because that's what the church is called to do.

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So Merry Christmas.

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Thank you for being here.

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We look forward to all that God has for us in 2025.

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Now let's sing together.

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Amen.