Reasons to believe, part 2: Jesus was born in Bethlehem

By Greg Byman
St Joe Community Church
December 23, 2018

Was Jesus really born in Bethlehem? If so, so what? Today, Pastor Byman continues a three-part sermon series that explores the credibility of the claim by Jesus and his followers that undergirds the rationale for the church celebrating Christmas today. Part 1, Dec 16: Jesus actually, as a matter of documented history, was born of a virgin. Part 2, Dec 23: Jesus actually, as a matter of documented history, was predicted to be born in Bethlehem. Part 3, Dec 30: Jesus actually, as a matter of documented history, was predicted to be exiled into Egypt.

Successfully predicting simple things like the weather is tough enough. Successfully predicting anything with precision hundreds and even thousands of years into the future is simply impossible for anybody...except for someone with the power to pull it off -- God. Pastor Byman has carved out the last three Sundays of 2018 to present reasons for any intellectually honest seeker to believe, that Jesus is who he said he was -- the Christ child.

Pastor's notes

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Transcript

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How many of you read that in the Bulletin and don't even listen to Jean Oh OK So we'll be back tomorrow night to light candles light all of our candles everybody gets to hold a candle and we'll it's just a kind of a beautiful scene of this auditorium began to light up because honestly. It's a difference between going to church and being church so I asked So where do we go to church well you know I understand what they mean where do we gather we're Where is the building that we go and worship at and thankfully for the 3rd year in a row now it's not the movie theater Yeah a great God for that. How exciting no popcorn sorry we defy machine may we could not today but we sometimes get all wrapped up in the going to church and those candles when we each hold one we realize that we are the light of the world and collectively we shine brightly for Jesus Christ in this auditorium is this will be symbolic of that tomorrow night during our Christmas Eve candlelight worship heard someone say they have one at 4 o'clock and at midnight I'm like midnight well praise God for you. I'm going to get enough sleep so that when my kids say it's time to get presents I'll be awake enough or No actually at midnight I think we're still wrapping presents anyway I don't know oh anyway. We're just getting home from the store how many you know midnight Christmas Eve because you've got your last minute shopping done for that one person is the hardest person to shop for you know we're in a series of messages 3 parts next Sunday will be our final part in the series. And it's on the predictions that god. Gave us in the Old Testament that were fulfilled and in the history books and ever as recorded in the New Testament last week was the predicted pregnancy in the virgin birth of Jesus coming into the world to Mary was last Sunday and this Sunday we're going to be talking about that that predicted place was that he would born in Bethlehem and next Sunday we're going to talk about the predicted plight I don't always do the I don't have those fancy words I leave that to famous preachers like Adrian Rogers and big guys don't know how to deliberate but but I can I came up with some I figured for Christmassy at least could do that for you but predicted plight the escape of Jesus into a gypsy to escape Herod's murderous threats. He wanted to snuff out the potential king that would be a rival to his throne where a talk about that next week I don't think I've ever heard a sermon on just narrowed down to the conversation about his flight into Egypt when Jesus fled there as parents took him there at about 2 years old of age but Chris Christmas is that time of season when we have this competition between the real meaning of Christmas and everything else and with all due respect and or respect for way there are a lot of other holiday traditions. Of other religions. That have come up through the ages and we know that the very faith that brought us Jesus Christ. And yet they are still blinded to the fact that he is the Messiah that the Old Testament predicted would come but even the Jewish nation this is a big time of the year for them as well and so we have a lot of different moving pieces going on but I think the biggest moving piece of competition is the gift of the Savior in the manger scene that we think of or the whatever that was and the guest we're going to get from Santa and the fact that there's this we've taken all well we're giving gifts and it's symbolic of the fact that God gave us the gift of Jesus Christ and while that we say that we give lip service to that and yet all of our focus and attention is on the gift giving and what am I going to get what's in that box under the tree my lad pick it up can I pick it up No no you can pick it up this year I one year you pick it pick up can I pick it up it's real big you know you go up whoa it's really saw light weight oh my goodness well it's not a puppy. You know and I mean we make a big deal somebody staging the plans in our neighborhood that the lady that's going to watch our dog she actually has Christmas Eve gets a little puppy in order to walk across the street and give it to the family that got little kids and they're going to get a puppy for Christmas and they've got all staged out so that Christmas morning she's gonna knock on the door and say Santa left this for you you know whatever so and that's kind of cool you know it's like it's a big deal and they've got this all choreographed of how this is going to happen and go down but the reality is so much of this gift giving We totally forget the gift that started it all and the meaning behind why we do what we do. And so for we we as believers of Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ we know that God gave us the gift of eternal life he gave us the gift of forgiveness he gave us the gift of peace he gave us the gift of power and strength to do the right thing even when we don't feel like doing the right thing he is the one that gave us and he raced the board of all the things we ever did to offend a holy God who did who totally totally was justified to judge us as unrighteous and able and unfit to be part of his kingdom forever in heaven and instead of just leaving us in the muck in the mire he came down and brought himself end of this world and did what no one else could do for us he did it for us him self you've heard me give this picture before how God Almighty stood as the judge and he stood as that judge and he said you are guilty of San against me and against my ways and against the way in which this kingdom was supposed to operate and you are a criminal in the court of heaven deserving of absolute punishment death I'm an end fanatic God who deserves and demands with all rights your worship and you refused to worship me and because of that you worship yourself and your sin and you didn't trust me and for that you are guilty and because I'm an infinite God it takes an infinite punishment and you will be banished forever away from me and never ever to enter into my presence and to suffer eternally the damnation of your soul but in leave it that way. Because as judge he stepped down from the judge ship and he took off his robe and he came down in the form of a man Jesus Christ and he said judge Jesus said to his father Father I choose to come and stand in the place of this person who has been guilty of fending you and because I am perfect and I have no sin in my life I come down and I will cover your sin and all you must do is bound on and worship me and trust me as your Savior and your Lord and know that I am the Way the Truth and the life and that no one comes to the Father except through me and if only you will trust in me I will die for you I will be raised for you and I will intercede forever in heaven on that throne by the side of the father saying as soon as father says Who's that that's mine I died for them and he trusted in me she put her faith in me and if you confess me before man I'll confess you before the Father and if you refuse to confess me before others on this world I will not have no choice but to refuse to confess you as one of my children in front of the father it's that simple and all we must do is realize that he comes down in front of us in front of the judge and says I will take your place all you've got to do is accept it just like you're going to get a free gift from somebody under the tree this we're you accept the free gift from God of eternal life the Tree of Life the cross where our sin was paid for and that's the simple message of Christ and if you just accept that and put the understand that he is the way he has the truth he has the life you put your faith in Him you will begin a relationship with God that lasts forever and you will have the peace that passes all understanding peace on earth goodwill to men and women. God bless you as you trust in Him All right that's it we can go home now I want to bolster your faith in that story based on some facts that are in the scriptures so let's just put away that picture because we're not going even think about gifts from anybody else right now we're going to talk about the gift that God gave us about that said OK with you a few moments in talk about those gifts later who got cards out there who didn't want to ride on talk about the gift Now this picture by the way is the church if I get my pictures right I was never there but I from what I can research this picture is the Church of the nativities So where do you think this was was constructed by Constantine I believe it was had all this money brought in he was instructed on the birth place where who was born Jesus then look like a manger to me but anyway all of these holy sites they came through and they put big churches on them to sell celebrate and commemorate and to to honor the places where we're Jesus was His tomb there's a place there there's there's all kinds of places that are been turned into shrines really in some ways and really just like we've exploited Christmas with all kinds of gifts and everything else except Jesus you can probably have that same feeling if you're not careful and in in the Holy Land but but nonetheless a look at the evidence this is a real place this isn't something that happened that I kind of think it might have happened or like where's the North Pole and there's some Santa land up there I mean that's a family we know that we know that's you know that's a goofy story you know what to my wondering I should have here but you know the Twas the Night Before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring not even a mouse I mean I mean you know that story in that story OK yet with this it that's a fake story. Still light full but this one's real real people real place really happened Jesus really die came into this world he was really born he really died he really rose from the dead and the evidence we see and Luke Chapter 2 starting in verse one in those days that decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered this verse read straight this 1st registration took place Walker Ennius was governing Syria so everyone went to be registered each to his own town and Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the City of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and family line of David to be registered along with Mary who was engaged to him and was pregnant while they were there the time came for her to give birth and all the ladies in the room said amen get this over with and then she gave birth to her 1st born son and she wrapped him struggling cloth and laid him in a feeding trough because there was no room for them in the end and there's other verses here but that's the crux of the story Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Matthew Chapter 2 we know that the wise men a couple years later by the way in the chronology they weren't at the manger scene saw all those pictures out there don't be stealing the wise men from manger scenes in town just politely point out that they're wrong now they come a few years later but they're driven by a star. And there are strong they're strong numbers astrologers there they studied the stars to figure out what God was saying or what the world events would be taking place and they can to worship and so they would rightly so they knew that that the star obviously the star wasn't perfectly aligning exactly where they ought to go but it led them to Jerusalem to to Israel and where do they go they go to the capital city they go to Jerusalem they say hey we got this idea from the star that the kings born and Herod and we'll talk about this morning next week here it's as though well let me know about that so I can worship this king and kill him it best what he was really one to do but but but he said what's going on and inversed chapter 2 verse 3 it says when King Herod heard this he was deeply disturbed and all Jerusalem with them I mean when somebody unhappy nobody happy when the leaders are not happy and so he assembled all the chief priests and scribes and the people and asked them where the Messiah was to be born now now these are not believers they're not looking for Jesus they're not saying oh it's we hope the Messiah comes today they know they just they were just average old historians Jewish historians and they said hey could you tell me in that library of all the stuff we know that's true from the Old Testament what's happening here and they pulled out lo and behold verse 5 they said well in Bethlehem of Judea that's where it's supposed to happen they told him because this is what was written by the prophets and you Bethleham in the land of Judah and by no means least among the leaders of Judah because out of you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel so they knew based on their understanding of God's word from the past the Old Testament that 650 years from that moment in time God had said. That the Savior the Messiah would be born in Bethleham again cooperating the idea that this is the evidence that this is what they knew is to be true it's happening it's happened now some wise men show up on the scene to go we heard this is going on by Ark estimations from the stars so we're here to to worship this the prediction was clear because they were going back to Micah chapter 5 verse 2 and I spelled that wrong and I apologize it's wrong on my notes too so whoever wrote those notes me got that wrong publicize reading from Mike to 5 verse to the very passage 600 plus years before Jesus was actually born God told the world through Micah the prophet Bethlehem F.E.M. your small among the clans of Judah one will come from you to be ruler over Israel for me his origin is from antiquity from eternity and what reread don't you know him to turn to but I'll read to read to you again please point it out to you when Jack read us the scriptures this morning strategically I read when he read for us in the beginning was the Word and the Word was WITH God in the Word was God and he was with God in the beginning and in verse 14 The Word became flesh and took up residence among us God was from Jesus was from the beginning the antiquity from eternity past but he was entering into humanity through the town of Bethlehem and we already read last week all the evidence the fact that he was predicted to be born of a woman who had never been with a man a virgin. And now we have the prediction that he's going to be born in Bethlehem and of all the places the Messiah could have been born and all the ways in which Mary could have on the way there had a premature pregnancy birth they were living in Nazareth that's where they were you think well that's not right sort of like that epic movie only this isn't a movie that's the real deal and the and we don't know the end of the story and the angel come and says Mary your Nazareth and everybody in the movie theater says he habit the baby supposed to be born in Bethlehem she's a Nazareth how that going to work out what's going to happen how in the world she going to get from there to there that just isn't normal you just don't normally move from one place to the now she's pregnant well is it God's choice or was it a grand conspiracy that this happened by design or did people just figure it out and try to make it work or you can't make this stuff up Caesar Augustus demand to see says a census is us it's time for men to get counted and for most of the world it was to be counted for taxes and for military service now at this time period Rome what was in charge of the world was wise and the people that they had conquered and they knew that the Jews would just absolutely revolt if they were forced to be can strip conscripted into the military and so the Jews were not required to serve in the military but they certainly did have to pay their taxes so by the way pay your taxes and this is a good moment to say if you haven't yet given your year end gifts to St Joe Community Church and you want to be counted on your taxes that Sundays the last Sunday there you go Karen was that good is that good my treasurer OK Good OK. Taxes are real now we don't give in order to get the tax break but hey if you get a tax break and you want to give that to the church to that be great to know anyway honestly we ought to taxes are real is what I'm saying it's been real from the beginning of time it's real today and it was real in the days and it was because of that as cause of taxes Jesus was born in Bethlehem moved really and you know and remember who was the disciple that was the tax collector that Jesus the Son that Jesus called to follow him Matthew and when he said follow me Matthew said well wait a minute I got a good pension Here let me think and I go home to my family and find out with my other do now he got up from his tax booth and followed Jesus just like that pretty cool would that we would in this room just do whatever God told us to do right now God said it that settles it I believe it let's do it Caesar Augustus says let's have a tax and that census meant that in the Jewish culture we're not sure why but in the Jewish culture they went back to their own town to get registered to be counted in the census and Joseph and Mary by the way were both from the line of David but it would be Joseph that would drive the story in their family because he's the patriarch the man and he would they would use him as the lineage. Designation and so he brings his wife Mary with him down to Bethlehem to be registered to say why would a woman travel probably towards the middle to the end of her pregnancy 70 miles or so you know they didn't have cars we're talking maybe a donkey and although there's no story that she was on a donkey all the way down she might have walked good for it's wrong so wrong wrong they're going to stone me OK and the guys well I can't believe you said that. But but so it's this is arduous journey but think about it it was already probably some buzz in the land that Joseph had married this woman who was already pregnant and they were starting to do the math now wait a minute she's going to be having a baby this time and the wedding was this time and tails tongues started wagon and maybe he brought Mary with her with him in order to protect her from the calamity and the social disgrace that was going on because he was having a baby that was. Not due to a marriage when the proper wedding marriage baby birth could also be that this baby he knew that she was coming into her time of having a baby and he would be there when to make sure she was cut taken care of he was protecting her physically caring for her and not even they just want to get out of Dodge but the reality was they would have done it if the world powers hadn't said you gotta do it grand conspiracy or God's choice and then you got to also calculate When's the baby gonna be born they didn't have altar sound Joseph didn't know how many I mean I'm sure they had an idea but but they didn't know how many days or weeks that that day was going to be overdue underdo as a going to what's going to happen When's the baby going to be born only God knows when the baby's going to be born even with medicine we don't know in even know for sure when a baby is born sometimes we scheduled what all almost of our kids it was awesome going to have a baby that OK go in have baby come home I cleared my calendar it was great and one day I was I'm on my wife we're gonna have baby today and I mean you had that one. Whoa whoa OK So you know. And you don't know that so you can't say OK God said Bethleham. The rent's that the 2 that we got 2 days on the on the manger. You've got to have a baby pretty soon here because this isn't going to fulfill prophecy I'm going nowhere to babies born doesn't say that just says she had a baby in fact I am God's timing grand conspiracy I think not now I want to just point out the fact that there were many many predictions or prophecies that said Jesus was the Messiah that he fulfilled several prophecies in the Old Testament of the Messiah and in least Robles bookcase for Christ he's received interviewing this professor to say is it just chance that this all happened and he said the odds of are so astronomical that they rule they rule out chance someone did the math and figured out that the probability of just a prophecies being fulfilled in one is one chance in 100000000000000000 do that math in high school 100000000000000000 the ever had to count a 100000000000000000 you're not old you're not old enough nor where you live long enough to count that long even if you started counting right now every 2nd that's how big that number is that number is a millions of times greater than the total number of people who have ever walked the planet he calculated that if you took this number of silver dollars they would cover the state of Texas to the depth of 2 feet if you marked one silver dollar among them and then had a blindfolded person wander the whole state and bend down to pick up one coin what would be the odds he'd choose the one that had been marked. The same odds that anybody in history could have fulfilled just 8 of the prophecies in the Old Testament I've studied the same statistical analysis by mathematician Peter Stone or when I was investigating messianic prophecies for myself and Stoner also computed that the perp walk probability of fulfilling $48.00 prophecies was one chance in a trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion trillion or the odds alone say that it would be impossible for anyone to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies yet Jesus and only Jesus throughout all of history manage to do it let's praise God for that. Acts 318 when Peter when Paul was when Peter was preaching he said but the things which got announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer has thus been this isn't anything that just sort of happened by chance this wasn't a grand conspiracy you know how many people over 600 years you had to line up to follow the story to make it fit and have it to be Jesus you could do it you couldn't do it you know most of our grand conspiracies here in for In America you know we're only 200 plus years young. And to even have a smattering of truth to so many of the of the of the crank conspiracies that are out there about the for about our our forefathers and about the are the men of the revolution and I mean I just watch national treasure I mean that you know that's got to all be true right I mean I mean Nicolas Cage can't be wrong and you know and so you have all these things and he said and yet that's just 200 sure he's We're talking 600 years to get a complete conspiracy to work out so that this would actually happen and who cares if it happened if Jesus really is the Messiah this world is truly bent away from God not towards God If anything they'd be doing everything they can to a race any kind of plan for God to change and rule and to save the world Amen we usually go away from God and away from good not towards good this was God's choice not a grand conspiracy and I want to read that last birth that 1st part of the verse in Luke where it says in those days that says a lot when Luke said in those days these days as the listeners would have listened probably more than they've read because most people may not have been able to read but they read the letter from Luke that was probably orally transmitted to many people over time it was a time of peace the pox Ramana it was the peace of Rome it was the most peaceful time that they've had in many centuries. There was a relative level of peace yes there was occupation by Rome and there was seething opposition underneath the surface but generally there was a widespread peace that was going on this time period a perfect time for a wonderful message to be distributed now only that but there was a common language the Greek language and so if you're going to talk about something you didn't have to have all kinds of interpreters most people knew or most people knew someone who knew the common language of Greek of that day and so if you're going to get a great message of what God's up to what a great time to do when the world was generally united around one particular language and then top it all off they had a great international highway system that even to this day you can see the roads have been built on top of or at least you can see the outline of the Roman roads that were so well built that there was travel everywhere commerce everywhere there was widespread travel it was easy to get from one place to the next what a wonderful time to take the message of Jesus Christ as a missionary around the world and to be able to spread it out just like he said you would by be my witnesses here and beyond here to the other most parts of the world when Jesus told His disciples that before he went into heaven this was a wonderfully perfect time for Jesus to enter into the world for God to begin the clock again of the salvation history of the world in those days is when Jesus came what a wonderful time what a wonderful time and I read last week and asked one of my most favorite verses and lessons Chapter 4 verse 6 let's read this together out loud but when the completion of time came God sent His Son born under the law to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoption as sons that's what it was for. It was so that we might be adopted into the kingdom of God Almighty that God the heavenly Father will be our perfect father and I've said this many times that my goal as a father is not for my kids to totally and dear themselves to me as their dad but that I might be some kind of a model of some way of a of a of a way to say I'm not the one that's going to save you forever I hope my modeling of being a father might lead you to The Heavenly Father to find faith in His Son Jesus Christ to be adopted by him forever and just as I'll never remove my name from you because I love you with as much love as I possibly know how as a dad I don't care what you ever do wrong I do care but I don't care I will not use what you do against you to not be in my family tree you're dead to me I'll never say that because you're my kid and just as I am my own earthly imperfect way know how to give good gifts to my kids in the way that only an earthly dad would do to not give him a stone but give him a piece of bread how much more will the heavenly Father give to us when we ask him and how much more does the Heavenly Father have to give us if only will put our trust in His Son Jesus when the completion of time came was this moment in history when Jesus entered tend to the world and said I'm here. You know what that the cattle are lowing you know the baby not a peep I don't know what it says on there but really I means it starved because you know you know when babies are hungry whether they do cry and my children were perfect they slept all through the night and never and never woke up right now I slept through the night. And I'm still paying for that but anyway. When babies are hungry they cry it was a real baby real child grew up age 13 said I should be about my father's business when he hung around in Jerusalem longer and his parents had left 3 days they should be reported to C.P.S. They didn't know where the child was for 3 days and but they come back and say What are you doing here such to be about my father's business knowing that his plan was and he grew in stature and wisdom and understanding he grew up just like we did but he was perfect and he became the perfect sacrifice for you and me what a story Santa Claus can bring you that and nobody in this world can buy you enough love to give you that kind of love there is no gift that will give up enough for you and satisfy that deep longing you know my favorite time of getting a gift for me growing up was when just before I opened it and then right after I opened it and then all of the joy and the excitement of that gift and that what you're going to get it evaporates Now I'm not saying you don't enjoy the gift don't get me wrong I was very grateful for all the gifts but the excitement about getting the gift was even more exciting than the gift itself well the excitement about Jesus is the excitement just keeps on going on because that is the gift that keeps on giving because once you've gotta he's in your life and he walks with you and he's with you and he holds you any takes you through the tough times and I'm reminded that this is not the most exciting time for some people in this country in this church there's been lost this year. And this is not the most exciting year for you or a loved one has gone to a new level of low physically Michelle's not here because her dad has taken a new level of low physically and she's in Michigan she is our keyboardist and singer on the team here she's not here because of that there's some tough things going on in your Cody you all know Cody one of our single kids around here kid he's 289 he's older but he's kid and but he's in the burn unit right now and you may even see them and he had he had as apartment caught on fire and he had smoke inhalation and his mom's arriving here real quickly and he's so this is a touch and go for him physically on Christmas it's not a time it's not a fun time some of you are in the medical profession you'll be working and you going to be around some sorrowful moments and thank you for doing that for being there my mom was a nurse and you know medical problems don't take a holiday our firefighters are our 1st responders our police officers are going to be out in full force there might be something bad going on right this 2nd on Christmas Sunday morning and they're they're watching all of that there's no peace in this world like only Jesus can get and there's no story in the world that says crazily true as the story that's really true the story of Jesus being predicted to come fulfilling those predictions here he is just in time delivery just in time delivery today a Savior who is Messiah the Lord was born for you in the City of David that's what the shepherds heard on the hillside a savior was born to the world not only is this just in time but everyone must accept this gift personally. Out in our neighborhood it seems like Fed Ex is just fine with putting it right on the doorsteps and some of you have let me have that new Dell doorbell ring or has a camera anybody have one of those Everybody put your hand up so in case somebody in the rooms think in some Yeah. Just making sure that all who doesn't have one. I'm not saying there's a thief in the house but we're only going to be by temptation but they give you a delivery package and you don't have to sign for it right I think it's great because I live out in the country and and I'd drive all the way and of wherever that is and get it our little post office is open like I never remember the time I get there and it's crap and they don't know I don't care Thank you John he's a post guy so he knows punched out I'm going home and get your mail sorry you know this gift isn't something that you can leave at the door it's one you guys signed for yourself this is this is not a gift that somebody can just to take for you kids this isn't a gift your parents can get and just by curiously because they got the gift of Jesus you had the gift you have to get that gift yourself you have to personally receive the gift from God through putting your faith in Jesus Christ you don't get the gift because you showed up to church one Sunday and decided this a fun place to be in your hung out for a while you get the gift by receiving it personally he's not the savior he's personal save this isn't just some formal knowledge of him it's a personal relationship with him no more than you would say well I'm married and then you go your separate ways the day the moment after your marriage ceremony the ceremony is I trust you Jesus and you're going to walk with me forever and we're together this isn't fire insurance to say well I'm going to get rid of the damnation part and all the guilt part no it's the you get the god part and you walk with him part and you live your life for him part. The least I can do is to give my life to the one who gave his whole life for me so this morning let's stand or feet we're going to sing one more song and I want to suggest that before you get gifts from other people before you give gifts to other people that you do business with God based on the gift that he gave us this morning and I just want you to take this card right now this is the Fed Ex card from God right here not really but on the back of the card you can sign on the dotted line to get the gift now signing on the line just by signing it doesn't mean that you get the gift we're talking about the fact that this is how you sign the line you say Jesus I believe that you're the savior of the world and that you're really big come down to this earth and you died for my sins I believe this isn't some fairy tale This isn't some North Pole story this is the real Bethlehem story it really happened I believe it and I admit to you that I am a sinner and when I die that I am dead in front of you because of my sins the things that I did that offend you my holy God and I ask you to forgive me of my sins just right now just think in your mind's got it just say to him I am done living for me and the way it's getting me nowhere I'm done living for the pleasure that just fades the moment after I'm done with the pleasant experience I'm done with that and God I'm willing in front of God everybody front of you in the world to put my life in your hands and the 1st step of that is the take this card and the sign on there and to say God I'm yours I'm committing my life to Jesus Christ and if you just do that to some morning. This is not some magic thing that this is God's gift but this is a way for you to help us pray with you and encourage you towards that decision so that you can know exactly what it is that you're walking into a relationship with Jesus Christ let Christmas not be just one more empty holiday of gift giving and cleaning up the house enough for people to come see you are thank goodness somebody else was posting so I don't have to clean my house let this be the day that says I'm celebrating the birth of Christ it was born to 25th but I'm celebrating that you came into this world and this year I'm celebrating that you came into my life I pray that that will be your gift greasy being this morning because there's no way you can give what God wants you to give to the world until you receive the very gift that he gave you and that is Jesus so you trust him today when you put your life in his hands as best I know how God I give you my life to do with as you please.