Christmas Eve

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[music]

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- Merry Christmas!

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- Hey, welcome to Crossroads. My name is Rachel.

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- And I'm Andy.

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- And this is our whole family.

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Kids, do you wanna say hi? - Hi.

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- Yeah. So Christmas is a holiday we love

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to spend with family or just anyone we love. Right?

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And Crossroads isn't just something to watch,

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it's a movement, and honestly, even a family

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that you can actually belong to.

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So I hope today helps you celebrate

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the beauty and importance of Christmas,

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but I also hope you experience it as an open door

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to connecting with real people,

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no matter who you are or where you live,

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or even how old you are.

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- Yeah. Over the next hour or so,

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we're going to hear some teaching,

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we'll sing some Christmas songs together,

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and we'll just look at how the beauty and the power

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of the Christmas story still shows up for us today.

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- So kids, tell me, tell me about Christmas.

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What's it all about?

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- Toys, right? - No.

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- Santa?- No.

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- Candy? - No.

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- What's it really about, guys?

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- It's really about Jesus.

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- It was his birthday, well, we think.

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- Yeah. And what's special about that?

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- It was the day he was born

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and the day he started rescuing us from our sins.

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- Yeah, very good.

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- Yeah. How does a baby coming help us?

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- To save the world.

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And, and like, when he was a grown up,

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he didn't like have have a castle or a crown

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and and Jesus was God's Son.

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- Ellie, you said a really good thing.

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Why did Jesus come as a baby?

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- Because God plans things differently,

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so He sent a baby when everyone was expecting

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a full grown man or an angel or something.

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- Whoa, very cool. - Very cool.

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I've got one more question for you guys.

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What are all these things behind us here?

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- Candles. - Yeah.

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What do candles have to do with Christmas?

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- Because Jesus is the light of the world.

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- What else?- God is bright.

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- Yeah. Very good.

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So why do we use -- Why do we use candles at Christmas?

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- Because it reminds us of God.

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- Yeah, because Jesus was the light of the world

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and Christmas is the story of Jesus

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being that light and bringing that light

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to the darkest, most hurting places of the world

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and of our lives.

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And that's the story that

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we're going to be looking at today.

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- Hi, everyone.

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Merry Christmas. Feliz navidad.

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It's nice to see you all.

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Hey, we're going to tell one of

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the greatest stories that's ever been told.

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And it's probably been told thousands,

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maybe millions of times all over the world.

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But we're going to do it in this room

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in a unique way just for us.

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And you're going to be a part of it,

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and you're going to be a part of it,

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and you're going to be a part of it.

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And you, and if you're watching online,

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you're going to be a part of it,

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and you and you and you and you

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and you are going to be part of it.

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This is Francis and Miles, my two sons.

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Let's give it up for them. [applause]

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They're going to help us out.

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Every great story becomes better

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when you add some sound effects,

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and that's how you are going to participate in the story.

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Now, in the story that we're about to retell,

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there are four words. Everybody hold up four.

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Four words that are hidden

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at different spots in the story.

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And when each of these words is said aloud,

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there is a motion and a sound effect

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that you are going to make.

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If you got it, say got it?

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- Got it. - No you don't.

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I didn't tell you what the motions and stuff were.

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All right. The first one is the word and the name Jesus.

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When you hear the name Jesus, muscle arms.

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Muscle arms. Why? He's a hero.

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He's powerful. He's amazing.

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He's the main character of the story.

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Let me see those muscles for Jesus.

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Great. All right. Relax. Relax.

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Especially dads. Relax. It's okay.

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No one's watching. All right?

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So that's Jesus.

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For light, when you hear the word light,

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you're going to go bing just like that.

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And if you've got a glow stick, go ahead and use that.

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All right? You go Bing. Let's try that again.

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Jesus, and light, [bing]. Good. All right.

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The third one, third word.

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Do you remember what the third one is?

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- Uh. Baby. - Baby. That's right.

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It's baby. All right.

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When you hear the word baby,

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you're going to make cradle arms

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and you're going to shush the baby. Shush.

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Some of you obviously were older brothers

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or sisters, and you know how to shush a baby.

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Very, very good. Shh. Very good.

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So, Jesus, light, baby. All right.

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And then the fourth one.

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You know, there's a lot of things in this story

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that are surprising.

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And so every time that we say the word surprise,

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uh, we actually don't know what we're going to do yet.

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We were sort of incomplete on that list.

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What I need is for a kid to tell us

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what's a surprise sound?

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Like. what's a sound you make when you're surprised?

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So if you're a kid and you're raising your hand,

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you got an idea of something that you would say

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if you're surprised. Do you see anybody?

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- Um, in the black shirt.

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- The black shirt. Right here. All right.

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- OMG. - OMG! Oh that's perfect.

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Thank you. Thank you.

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We got this. We got this, Crossroads.

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All right, so every time you hear the word surprise,

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we're going to say? - OMG!

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- Perfect. You all are ready. All right.

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We're going to hear the greatest story ever told

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with sound effects.

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We're here to celebrate Christmas,

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the birth of Jesus,

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who we also call the Light [bing] of the World.

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But first, we need to talk about

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how God created the world.

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In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,

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the dark and the light [bing].

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And God created people.

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God's plan was for people to trust Him

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and live with Him forever in a perfect world

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where nothing bad happened, ever.

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Unfortunately, people stopped trusting God.

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They disobeyed him, and that's when

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all the wrong things in the world began.

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They were separated from God.

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But God had wanted to be close to His people again,

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so He was planning a rescue.

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He said the rescuer would be

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a light [bing] to the nations.

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God's special family was ready for a warrior,

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a King, but God had a different plan.

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God sent a baby [shh] to rescue His people.

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And not just any baby, [shh] His Son Jesus.

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Maybe you wonder how a baby [shh]

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could rescue God's people.

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Well great question. Thanks for asking.

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God sent an angel surrounded in light [bing]

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to tell a young woman named Mary

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that she was going to have a baby [shh]

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and his name would be Jesus.

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Mary might have been scared or surprised.

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- OMG! - You remembered.

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But she said, "I serve the Lord.

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May it happen to me just as you said it would."

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Basically, Mary wanted what God wanted.

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When Mary told her fiancé Joseph about the baby, [shh]

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he was probably surprised, [OMG!] maybe even angry.

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What would people think?

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Well, God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream.

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The angel told Joseph not to be afraid

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that Mary would have a son, and he would be named Jesus.

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And when he heard that, Joseph obeyed.

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A few months later, Mary was about to have

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the baby, [shh] but she and Joseph had to go

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on a long trip to someplace called Bethlehem.

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And when they got there, Mary and Joseph

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were surprised [OMG!]

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that they couldn't find a place to stay.

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With nowhere else to go, they spent the night

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in a place where the animals were kept.

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That night, though, Jesus was born.

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Mary laid the baby [shh] in a manger,

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which is where animals eat.

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It might seem surprising [OMG!]

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that the King of Heaven, the Savior, Jesus

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would be sleeping in an animal's cereal bowl.

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But that's exactly what happened.

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But the surprises [OMG!] weren't over yet.

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There were shepherds taking care of their flocks nearby,

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and suddenly an angel appeared to them

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full of light. [bing]

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The angel said that Jesus had been born,

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and they would find him, a baby, [shh]

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wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

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The shepherds were, you guessed it, surprised, [OMG!]

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but they were also excited.

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They got to the spot where Jesus had been born.

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It was lit up with light [bing] by a star in the sky.

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And when they saw the baby, [shh]

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they knew they were seeing the rescuer God had promised.

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Once the shepherds saw Jesus,

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they told everyone what they had seen.

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They shouted, "The rescuer is here!"

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Everyone who heard their story was amazed.

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This is what they had been waiting for,

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it just happened in a way that wasn't expected.

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You might say it was a surprise. [OMG!]

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And another surprise, [OMG!] a little while later,

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a group of wise men followed the light [bing]

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from the star to where the baby [shh] was born.

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They brought expensive gifts fit for a king.

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Mary and Joseph were surprised. [OMG!]

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The wise men worshiped Jesus because they knew

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He was the rescuer they had been looking for.

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See, even though people had disobeyed God,

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He loved them, and us.

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And to show His love and His power,

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God sent His Son Jesus to earth to show us

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what it looks like to follow God and love like God.

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And because of Jesus, we can be close to God again.

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And that is a wonderful surprise. [OMG!]

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Give yourselves a round of applause.

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[applause] Well done. Well done.

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- Can we all thank Mr. Chris? Come on.

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- Well. Hey. - Thanks, Mr. Chris.

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- What we just did is we told a story with sound effects.

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And the next time you tell the story

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or you hear the story, maybe at home,

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maybe in the car, wherever,

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you could do sound effects there too.

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You could make up your own sound effects.

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It's going to be awesome.

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What we're going to do now, though,

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is we're going to stand up together.

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We're going to sing some songs that have to do

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with the story that we all just told together.

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So the band is going to lead us. Merry Christmas.

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All right, boys, come on.

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- Yeah.

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That's right.

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We pray, Jesus, you You're worthy of everything.

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You are worthy of all of our heart's affection,

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all of our attention tonight.

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This night is because of You,

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because you changed the world,

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You changed my life forever.

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Praise you, Jesus, I pray all this,

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sing all this because of You. Amen.

00:27:26

Did you get some snow on you there a little bit?

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I love it when it snows in here.

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I love it when it snows.

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You know, for 28 years, our senior pastor

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Brian Tome has been here on this stage

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to give the talk on Christmas Eve.

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But this year we're doing a little different.

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And he passed the baton to our Lead Pastor

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Kyle Ranson, who's going to be here tonight.

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Now, I know what you're thinking.

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If you've been around a long time, you're like,

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"Can Christmas exist at Crossroads

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without that lovely red sweater?"

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I mean, that's what -- Look -- take -- look at that.

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It's beautiful. It's wonderful.

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It's a tradition around here.

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I don't know, we're going to have to see.

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So why don't you turn to somebody next to you

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and say, "Hey, Merry Christmas.

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Glad to be here with you." And then have a seat.

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- You guys Brian, he's like, "You can do Christmas.

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One caveat, you got to wear the sweater."

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And, uh. So here we go.

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This is -- this is his sweater that, uh,

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kind of smells like what you think it would.

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It's kind of stale cookies and Marlboro Reds mixed together.

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Uh, not entirely surprising.

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I mean, candles. Sorry.

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To the kids here, I meant candles.

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Speaking of which, you know,

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I haven't seen this many candles

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since Brian's birthday cake. [laughter]

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I mean, you can't even count them.

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It's beautiful. It's wonderful. So happy.

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You know, if you want a picture, take it,

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because I'm not going to wear

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this sweater this whole time.

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It's not -- It's just got to come off.

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It's time to blaze my -- Oh, no.

00:29:00

Same thing. All right, time for a shacket.

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I'm a millennial dad, so I got to put a shacket on.

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If you look to the person next to you

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and they're wearing a jacket, I promise

00:29:09

on the other side of them are young kids.

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Because when you're a millennial dad,

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you just walk into your closet

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and there's rows of shackets

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and you don't even know where they came from.

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Just like, this is spectacular. Put one on.

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And by the way, if we've never met before,

00:29:22

my name is Kyle.

00:29:24

I'm the lead pastor here at Crossroads.

00:29:25

It's a pleasure to have everybody here today.

00:29:27

This is a family service which is not typical for us.

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If you're like, this is a little bit different than normal.

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Yes. Yes, it is, family service.

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Not just millennial dads here,

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but moms and aunts and uncles and grandparents.

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Any great grandparents out here in the audience?

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Yeah. Great grandparents.

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Love that you're here. It's amazing.

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How about -- how about two year olds?

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We got any two year olds in the house?

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I love two year olds at Christmas.

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You know, I got a prediction.

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If you've got a two year old,

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this is what's going to happen.

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If you never had a two year old at Christmas before,

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this is what's going to happen.

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Your two year old is going to unwrap a present.

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You're going to stick it in front of them,

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unwrap the present,

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look at whatever the gift is,

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and they're going to throw it over their shoulder

00:30:08

and play with the box. Okay?

00:30:10

Sacred Christmas tradition.

00:30:12

Pretty sure that's what Jesus did

00:30:14

when the wise men gave Him presents. You know?

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Like, you really think a baby was that much into myrrh?

00:30:18

No, no, he played with the box.

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Parents, if you have a two year old,

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I'm going to give you permission,

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return all the presents on December 26th

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and use the money to buy yourself a bottle of wine.

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You deserve it. And the kid won't know.

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It's totally fine. Point is, if you're two, welcome.

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So glad that you're here. Merry Christmas.

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If you're seven in the room, love you guys being here.

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You're going to wake up your parents on Christmas

00:30:44

stupidly early, aren't you?

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Like 4 a.m. start knocking on the door.

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"Is it present time?" "No, go back to bed." Tradition.

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15 year olds, everybody.

00:30:54

By the way, if you're in one of our overflow rooms,

00:30:57

thank you, thank you, thank you for being here.

00:30:59

Thank you for going with us.

00:31:01

We've had more people here than we expected.

00:31:03

If you're watching online,

00:31:04

I'm so glad that you're joining us.

00:31:05

The point is, Christmas is for everyone,

00:31:10

every single person. All of it. Why?

00:31:13

Because it's the beginning of the arrival

00:31:16

of the gift that you and I want the most.

00:31:18

Whether or not we're a dad or a mom or single

00:31:21

or 2 or 102, Christmas is about the gift

00:31:24

you and I want the most. And what is that?

00:31:26

The gift we want the most

00:31:29

is for all of the darkness, all of the pain

00:31:33

and all of the problems, all the hangups,

00:31:35

all the hiccups, everything broken in our lives,

00:31:38

in the world, we want the darkness to end

00:31:40

and we want the light to come.

00:31:42

The light of love and joy and peace.

00:31:46

And that's the Christmas story.

00:31:48

Now this is a Christmas Eve experience.

00:31:51

And so for this Christmas Eve experience,

00:31:53

which is about anticipation of what's to come,

00:31:56

we're going to read an anticipation scripture

00:31:59

that will be our focus for the message today.

00:32:01

But because it's a family service,

00:32:02

I'm not going to read it.

00:32:04

Instead, please welcome to the stage

00:32:07

my beautiful daughter, Gracie.

00:32:09

Come on up, Gracie girl. [applause]

00:32:16

Are you ready? Yeah, you're ready. Go for it.

00:32:22

- The people who walked in darkness

00:32:24

have seen a great light;

00:32:26

those who dwell in the land of deep darkness,

00:32:31

on them a light has shone.

00:32:33

You have multiplied the nation;

00:32:36

you have increased its joy;

00:32:38

they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest,

00:32:42

as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

00:32:46

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;

00:32:51

and the government shall be upon His shoulder,

00:32:54

and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,

00:32:58

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

00:33:04

Of the increase of His government

00:33:07

and of peace there will be no end,

00:33:10

on the throne of David and over His Kingdom,

00:33:14

to establish it and uphold it with justice

00:33:19

and with righteousness from this time forth

00:33:23

and forevermore.

00:33:25

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

00:33:29

- Amen.

00:33:31

- Good job, Gracie. Good job. [applause]

00:33:38

That's the Christmas story.

00:33:41

It's the promise that no matter who you are,

00:33:46

no matter what darkness is going on in your life right now,

00:33:49

you can find the light.

00:34:26

[music]

00:37:09

- Let's pray. Father, thank You for the gift of the light.

00:37:13

I'm asking for everybody in every room overflow

00:37:17

and auditorium, watching online,

00:37:20

that all of us would find the light

00:37:22

that we're missing.

00:37:24

That we would get the gift that You've given us

00:37:28

through the Christmas story, the gift of the light.

00:37:31

Amen. Amen.

00:37:34

Well, Christmas story is about the gift of the light.

00:37:36

The thing about gifts, if we can be honest

00:37:39

for a minute, is that all gifts are not the same.

00:37:43

Tomorrow or on Christmas, you're going to open some gifts,

00:37:46

and some of them you're going to go,

00:37:48

"Oh my gosh. Yeah," naturally.

00:37:51

And some of them, kids, we can be honest,

00:37:53

you're going to go "Oh, thank you for this."

00:37:58

Problem, kids, right, is that our parents

00:38:01

expect us to say the same thing

00:38:03

every time we open a gift,

00:38:05

whether it's good or not, which is what?

00:38:08

Thank you. That's right.

00:38:10

Someone said OMG, not -- No. Thank you will do.

00:38:14

That is fine. It's enough.

00:38:16

You got to say thank you.

00:38:18

Let's practice this for a second, kids.

00:38:19

I want to make sure you ace this test on Christmas morning.

00:38:22

Imagine, all kids, holding in your hands.

00:38:24

Pretend right now put your hands out.

00:38:26

I want you to imagine that you're holding

00:38:28

a present that your great Aunt Betty just handed you.

00:38:33

Okay? And she's that -- She's that lady.

00:38:35

She looks like a raisin. She smells like soup.

00:38:37

You know, Aunt Betty, she gave you the present.

00:38:40

And now just rip it apart.

00:38:41

Rip. Take it. Rip off the wrapping paper.

00:38:44

Open it up. Pull it out.

00:38:45

What is it? It's socks.

00:38:49

And Aunt Betty's looking at you.

00:38:51

She's going to look at you

00:38:52

and she's going to want a reaction

00:38:53

and you're going to say, "Thank you, Aunt Betty.

00:38:58

Socks are so useful. Thank you.

00:39:02

You could have got me candy or something I wanted,

00:39:05

and instead you got me socks. So great. So great."

00:39:10

Now, the best gifts are the ones

00:39:14

you don't have to pretend to love, right?

00:39:18

And they're kind of in this intersection

00:39:20

of the thing that you want really badly

00:39:23

and you also need, at the same exact time.

00:39:26

Ultimate want, ultimate need, those are the best gifts.

00:39:28

And when you get them, you just go, "Oh my gosh,

00:39:30

thank you. Wow. This is amazing."

00:39:33

Just erupt in gratitude.

00:39:35

The best gift of your life that you will ever

00:39:38

be offered is the gift of the light.

00:39:42

The best one.

00:39:44

Now I know I'll be honest, right?

00:39:45

This place where we really do want to be honest,

00:39:47

we want to die in the hill of authenticity.

00:39:49

I know for some of us, we walk into a room

00:39:51

like this in the Christmas story feels kind of like socks.

00:39:57

Like we're supposed to be grateful.

00:40:00

We're supposed to be thankful

00:40:02

to Aunt Betty, slash God, whatever.

00:40:04

But like, it's socks, it's not $1 million.

00:40:07

You know what I mean?

00:40:10

And if you feel that way, I just want to propose

00:40:13

to you that maybe, just maybe, it's because

00:40:14

you've not understood the true power of the gift.

00:40:20

You haven't understood it, how much you want it,

00:40:22

and how much you actually need it.

00:40:24

Now, a warning is about the gift.

00:40:26

When you understand the gift of the light,

00:40:29

it will be somewhat insulting. It will.

00:40:33

Some gifts are like this, by the way, if you notice.

00:40:35

Some gifts are absolutely insulting.

00:40:37

I have a list of presents I do not want to get

00:40:39

on Christmas because I will be insulted.

00:40:42

Example: breath mints.

00:40:46

Kids, if someone gives you a breath mint,

00:40:48

what does that mean? Who knows?

00:40:50

Yeah. You have bad breath. Excellent.

00:40:52

You nailed that one. Don't want to get breath mints.

00:40:54

A diet book. Don't want to get that.

00:40:58

Okay. Don't want to talk about what that means.

00:40:59

I put on a few pounds.

00:41:01

We're doing The Push and stuff, so I just,

00:41:02

you know understand, don't need a diet book.

00:41:04

No. Thank you.

00:41:06

Anti-aging cream.

00:41:09

This, kid, you could be -- you could be --

00:41:11

You could be tricked into thinking

00:41:12

that's a good gift for mom. It's not.

00:41:14

Do not give your mom anti-aging cream

00:41:18

because you won't get any presents. Okay?

00:41:20

Just telling you that.

00:41:21

Cologne. Don't want Cologne?

00:41:23

Why? Same reason as breath mints.

00:41:24

I mean, this is just tricky, right?

00:41:26

Because we like to give Cologne, especially as dads.

00:41:28

And we're so dumb. We're like, 'Thank you for the Cologne,"

00:41:30

without ever thinking that you don't give

00:41:32

Cologne to people who smell nice.

00:41:33

That's not what you do.

00:41:35

Any book that ends in the words "for dummies,"

00:41:38

don't want to get that either.

00:41:40

Point is some gifts are insulting

00:41:42

and that's actually the gift of the light.

00:41:45

Because, see, you only give the gift of the light

00:41:48

to someone you think lives in darkness.

00:41:53

That's the claim of the Christmas story,

00:41:55

is that you and I, by default, we have a problem.

00:41:58

And the problem is that we live in the dark.

00:42:01

In fact, it's not just like a problem, but it's the problem.

00:42:04

If you got to the bottom of every single hangup,

00:42:06

every single hiccup, every single issue

00:42:08

we've ever had in our lives, at the bottom of that

00:42:10

what you would find is a problem called

00:42:13

we live and we walk in darkness.

00:42:16

Everybody close your eyes for a second.

00:42:18

Close your eyes. Kids, you got to make sure

00:42:20

that adults next to you aren't cheating.

00:42:22

So put a hand over your adults eyes, okay?

00:42:25

Make sure they're closed

00:42:26

and then put the other hand over your eyes.

00:42:27

Everybody in darkness right now.

00:42:29

Everybody's eyes are closed. Okay?

00:42:31

Everybody's eyes are closed.

00:42:32

Now, I want you to imagine that your eyes are closed

00:42:35

and I said, "Everyone stand up and start running around."

00:42:39

Don't do that, okay? Just to be clear.

00:42:41

Just imagine if I said stand up and start running.

00:42:44

What would happen? Chaos. Yes.

00:42:49

People would get hurt.

00:42:51

People would bump into each other.

00:42:52

Sometimes it'd be your fault

00:42:53

and sometimes it'd be my fault.

00:42:55

But we'd be smashing into each other.

00:42:56

And we'd all go into Christmas with bloody noses.

00:42:59

Bad. Don't want that.

00:43:01

You can open your eyes, by the way,

00:43:03

go ahead and open your eyes.

00:43:04

But this is what the Christmas story proposes

00:43:09

our life is like without Jesus, without the light,

00:43:11

that you and I are walking around

00:43:12

and we're bumping into each other

00:43:13

and we're causing problems and we're causing pain.

00:43:15

Sometimes we mean to, sometimes we don't,

00:43:17

but this is the world that we live in,

00:43:19

that we live in darkness.

00:43:22

And He says He's going to come and give the light.

00:43:25

And by the way, not just darkness, but a deep darkness.

00:43:28

That scripture that we heard read earlier

00:43:30

so beautifully by Gracie, yes, amazing, Gracie girl.

00:43:33

Amazing, it says this Isaiah 9:2:

00:43:45

Now deep darkness actually translates to death's shadow.

00:43:51

The people who live in the world with death's shadow.

00:43:55

What does that mean? Affected by death.

00:43:58

On them the light has dawned.

00:44:00

We walk around in this way.

00:44:02

Now, all of us, some of us we experience

00:44:03

that darkness very acutely maybe right now in our lives.

00:44:06

We're going through a season

00:44:07

where it's particularly painful

00:44:09

and there's problems and there's issue in our lives.

00:44:11

And so we don't need to be convinced of the darkness.

00:44:13

Others of us, maybe things are going well.

00:44:14

And so we're in a moment we're like,

00:44:16

"You know, things are okay. Things are okay."

00:44:18

But all of us, at the end of the day,

00:44:20

we carry this instinct in us that says that

00:44:24

the world is not the way that it should be.

00:44:27

I've never met a single person who would say,

00:44:29

"Yeah, you know, I think everything happening

00:44:31

in the world is exactly the way it should be.

00:44:34

I think when people get sick and die too young,

00:44:37

that's how it should be.

00:44:38

I think when wars break out, that's how it should be.

00:44:40

I think when families break apart,

00:44:42

that's how it should be."

00:44:44

No one's ever said that, of course not.

00:44:46

We carry this instinct in us that says

00:44:48

we do indeed live in the darkness.

00:44:50

And the truth of it is that you and I

00:44:52

aren't just victims of it, but we contribute to the darkness.

00:44:56

And this is God's perspective on the world.

00:44:58

And so what does He do when He sees us in this darkness?

00:45:03

He gives the light.

00:45:06

It says this in Isaiah 1:18:

00:45:21

See, His response to the darkness in the world

00:45:24

is to give the light.

00:45:28

Isaiah 9:6, For to us a child is born,

00:45:30

to us a son is given.

00:45:33

He gives Him like a gift.

00:45:37

Now, that prophecy was actually written

00:45:38

700 years before Jesus,

00:45:40

and it was ultimately fulfilled through His life

00:45:43

and detailed in the Gospels, the four biographies

00:45:46

that describe His life.

00:45:47

Maybe no where more clearly than in

00:45:49

the most famous Bible verse in the world, John 3:16,

00:45:52

which mirrors this ancient prophecy. It says:

00:46:05

I'll just say, for me as a pastor,

00:46:08

as someone who studied Scripture,

00:46:09

who's thought very deeply about these things,

00:46:11

I do not know why God allows some darkness

00:46:15

to persist in our world.

00:46:17

But I do know this:

00:46:18

It is not because He doesn't love us. It's not.

00:46:23

Now there are people who will tell you

00:46:25

that all religions are the same.

00:46:26

It's a popular saying, all origins are the same.

00:46:28

If you hear someone say that,

00:46:30

the thing you need to know about them

00:46:31

is they've never studied religions at all.

00:46:33

Because if you do, if you spend an ounce of energy,

00:46:36

what you'll see is they're dramatically different,

00:46:38

not just in the things they say are important,

00:46:39

but in the character of the God they present.

00:46:42

And if you go across the thousands and thousands

00:46:45

and thousands of religions around the world,

00:46:47

you will find one where the god says

00:46:50

He gave Himself for us.

00:46:53

You will find one where the god says,

00:46:55

"I will suffer for you."

00:46:57

You will find one where the god says,

00:46:59

"I will step into the darkness because I'm the light,

00:47:03

I'm the only solution," and actually does it.

00:47:05

That's the Christmas story.

00:47:14

My question for you is, do you want that gift?

00:47:18

Do you want it?

00:47:19

Do you want someone who would do anything for you?

00:47:22

Yes.

00:47:23

Do you want a King who would come and rescue you?

00:47:27

Yes.

00:47:28

Do you want a Savior who would die for you?

00:47:31

Yes.

00:47:32

- Do you want to live in the darkness,

00:47:35

or do you want to live in the light?

00:47:37

The light. - The light, yes, yes, yes.

00:47:40

Which means you live in God because the Bible says

00:47:42

that God Himself is light.

00:47:45

If you go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible,

00:47:47

all the way back to Genesis 1:2,

00:47:50

you'll see the first action of God.

00:47:51

And the first action is that

00:47:53

He brings light into the darkness.

00:47:55

The state of the world is darkness,

00:47:57

and He brings the light.

00:47:58

Now, what's fascinating is that it ends

00:48:00

and it says, "There was morning,

00:48:01

there was evening the first day,"

00:48:03

and there's a second day, and there's a third day.

00:48:05

And then on the fourth day, guess what God does?

00:48:08

He creates the sun. Weird.

00:48:12

How was there light in the beginning before that

00:48:15

because clearly there was?

00:48:16

It's because God Himself is the light.

00:48:19

If you go to the end of the Bible

00:48:22

and the prophecies that describe

00:48:23

what heaven will be like someday,

00:48:25

it's very specifically says there is no need for a sun.

00:48:29

Why? Because God Himself is the light.

00:48:32

Jesus, when He walked around on earth,

00:48:34

He was very explicit about who He was.

00:48:37

Not just a good teacher, not just a moral example,

00:48:40

but He Himself was the Light of the World.

00:48:42

He said this, John 8:12:

00:48:54

He is the light.

00:48:57

He has come once and he's coming again.

00:48:59

Another scripture in Revelation that describes

00:49:01

Jesus as the bright and morning star.

00:49:03

He actually says this Himself.

00:49:04

Jesus in this prophetic picture, He stands up

00:49:06

and says, "I'm the bright morning star."

00:49:08

Now, I don't know if you know this,

00:49:10

but the bright Morning star has a name in astronomy.

00:49:15

It's actually the planet Venus,

00:49:16

and it's the last star that rises

00:49:18

above the horizon just before the dawn.

00:49:21

So the first time that Jesus came

00:49:23

in this Christmas story,

00:49:24

He is announcing the arrival of light.

00:49:26

And there is some light in our life right now,

00:49:29

but there's also shadow.

00:49:31

It's because the bright morning star has come,

00:49:33

but He says he's coming again.

00:49:35

And when He comes, the fullness of the dawn

00:49:38

will break over the horizon.

00:49:41

This isn't the end, folks.

00:49:43

This isn't the end of the story.

00:49:44

We're somewhere in the middle,

00:49:46

but the dawn is surely coming.

00:49:49

It's no accident that when Jesus was first announced,

00:49:52

the first people who heard about Him,

00:49:54

it was the shepherds in the field.

00:49:55

And that moment looked like these guys

00:49:57

out in the middle of the darkness, and suddenly

00:50:00

there's a light shining around them.

00:50:02

It says this in Luke two:

00:50:14

These people, they're just amazed.

00:50:16

And they immediately they worship.

00:50:17

We heard that earlier in the kid's story.

00:50:19

They worship and they praise Him.

00:50:20

They go and they tell everybody that the Savior is here.

00:50:23

And if you look at the Gospels

00:50:25

and you study the life of Jesus,

00:50:26

and you study the reactions of the real people

00:50:28

who really saw Him walk around on the earth,

00:50:30

you'll only see two reactions.

00:50:31

Either you mirror the shepherds

00:50:34

or you hate Jesus and try to kill him.

00:50:38

You decide He's crazy. You decide He's not for you.

00:50:40

Those are the only two options.

00:50:41

Or you fall down on your face like the shepherds,

00:50:44

and you worship Him and you give Him your entire life.

00:50:48

The point is, there's not an option

00:50:51

to react as if He sucks.

00:50:54

You won't find anybody who goes,

00:50:56

"Yeah, you know, it's good. He's good.

00:50:59

I like Him not, you know, not super into Him,

00:51:02

but like He's fine, I got to tolerate."

00:51:04

They won't find that.

00:51:05

You hate Him or you give your life to Him,

00:51:07

because those are the only two

00:51:08

intellectually stable responses

00:51:10

to a guy who claims to be the light.

00:51:13

He's either crazy or He's your savior,

00:51:16

and you got to pick.

00:51:18

The Christmas story is about saying,

00:51:20

"I think you are the light."

00:51:23

I love what Scripture says in 1 Corinthians 1:27

00:51:26

because this can sound kind of crazy. He says this:

00:51:37

See, if you conclude that He is the light,

00:51:41

there's only one thing you need to do.

00:51:44

It's the same thing that you'll do tomorrow,

00:51:46

kids, if you get the present you want.

00:51:48

What's the present you want the most

00:51:50

tomorrow morning under the tree?

00:51:51

What do you need? What do you want?

00:51:53

What is it? Shout it out.

00:51:54

- Lululemon. - Lululemon.

00:51:56

That's -- Congratulations.

00:51:58

Hope you get that. Spectacular.

00:52:01

A drone. That's -- I don't know

00:52:03

if you need a drone exactly, but that's --

00:52:05

A PlayStation. So many things. Okay.

00:52:08

Now, one more question, kids.

00:52:12

If somebody's on Christmas gives you that thing,

00:52:17

what will you do? - [indiscernible]

00:52:20

- Yes, you'll take it and you'll play with it.

00:52:22

Well, will any of you, just a question,

00:52:24

just got to check in.

00:52:25

Will any of you say no thanks? - No.

00:52:29

- No, no. Will any of you say

00:52:31

I couldn't possibly deserve this? No.

00:52:35

Will any of you say I haven't earned it? No.

00:52:40

Will any of you say this would really

00:52:42

be better for somebody else? No.

00:52:44

You'll just say thank you.

00:52:48

And this is the response to the Christmas story

00:52:51

that people have been having for 2000 years.

00:52:53

It's incredibly simple

00:52:55

and it's incredibly profound,

00:52:57

you just say thank you.

00:52:59

Maybe for the first time in your life,

00:53:01

or maybe for the 400th time, I don't know.

00:53:04

Right now is a moment to just pause

00:53:07

before you run out of here

00:53:09

and you go to your next Christmas thing

00:53:10

and everything's nuts,

00:53:11

and the wrapping paper is flying around.

00:53:13

Before all that, right now is a moment

00:53:16

to just pause and just say thank you.

00:53:22

Would you pray with me?

00:53:23

God, thank Y for the gift of the light in my life,

00:53:28

I need it. I've been through darkness.

00:53:32

I see darkness and I need Your light.

00:53:35

I believe You are who You say You are.

00:53:39

Thank you. Amen.

00:53:52

- You can take out the candle or your glow stick.

00:53:56

The very last thing that we're going to do.

00:53:59

By the way, if you're watching online

00:54:01

and you've got a candle nearby,

00:54:04

it's one thing to talk about the light.

00:54:05

It's one thing to want the light or need the light,

00:54:08

but it's another thing to actually receive the light.

00:54:12

And that's what we get to do.

00:54:13

I know in a room full of this many people

00:54:15

where you're watching at home

00:54:17

or if you're in overflow, before we light these candles,

00:54:20

just want you to bring one thing to mind.

00:54:22

And it's maybe not going to be pleasant

00:54:25

or peaceful, but I'm curious when I say

00:54:28

darkness in your life, what comes to your mind?

00:54:32

For some of you, it might be someone

00:54:34

that's not at Christmas this year.

00:54:36

For others, it may be a diagnosis

00:54:39

or a symptom that's yet to be diagnosed.

00:54:41

But we all have darkness in our life.

00:54:45

And I think that the key to receiving this light

00:54:49

is to first just recognize that

00:54:51

whatever darkness is in our life, John says,

00:54:54

"The light will overcome it."

00:54:56

He says, "Whatever the darkness is,

00:54:58

it is never more powerful than the light."

00:55:01

So maybe for some of us, this is just going to be

00:55:03

a beautiful moment for Instagram.

00:55:07

But for others, you're going to have

00:55:09

a candle that's not lit.

00:55:12

And not only is light going to come to your candle,

00:55:15

but the Light of the World can come into your life

00:55:18

and He can pierce any darkness.

00:55:20

That's the promise of Christmas.

00:55:36

Why don't you stand as we spread this light?

00:56:09

[music: Silent Night]

01:00:26

- Thanks so much for joining us

01:00:27

and for letting us be a part of your holiday.

01:00:29

We hope that this has been meaningful for you,

01:00:31

and that it's even helped you get a bit closer to God.

01:00:33

We'd love to get to know you and pray for you

01:00:35

and encourage you in any way we can.

01:00:36

You can actually just email us at

01:00:38

anywhere@crossroads.net and we'll reach out

01:00:40

or just chat in on our website.

01:00:42

- That's right. This isn't just content to watch,

01:00:44

it's actually a community to belong to.

01:00:46

And we have all kinds of stuff to help you grow

01:00:49

and make friends no matter where you live.

01:00:51

So we hope you join us back online next week

01:00:53

as we take a look back at our year together

01:00:55

and what God has been doing here at Crossroads in 2024.

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