Welcome to the Harvest Chapel PA podcast.
We're so glad you joined us.
Each week you'll hear powerful messages, testimonies, and conversations designed to
help you grow in your faith and encounter Jesus in a fresh way.
Let's dive into today's episode.
Bless the Lord.
Everybody good?
Those kids were pretty amazing.
I look at those, all the kids that were in here and I think, man, the future looks
great, doesn't it?
Looks amazing.
That's, people talk about that being, you know, like the next generation.
They're part of this generation.
It's a huge part of the body of Christ and I love what we can see the kids growing
and learning and just developing and chasing after Jesus.
That's pretty awesome.
So I'm pretty excited today.
It's a great day.
Oh, if you happen to see Leah, today's her birthday.
I think she's 25, I'm not sure.
20, okay.
But if you see her, you might want to wish her a happy birthday.
She does an amazing job.
Her children, Andrew, have blessed our house immensely and very thankful for
them.
Excited about what God's doing.
It's Christmas Sunday and it's a pretty awesome time.
I'm going to see if I can preach in a tie.
I don't know if I can.
It's been a long while.
But I get excited about a couple of things I want to share with you.
I thought about, when you think about Mary having a baby, and if you've been with me
over the years, I've taught about that where I believe the actual manger was
actually in a royal stable with McDally Dare and you can check that out on Google
because if you have Google and God, you can learn stuff.
But in the midst of that, I wonder how big Jesus was.
Was he a big baby or a little baby?
And we don't have that and we should because they did have a way in a manger.
Okay, never mind.
Okay.
Fine, I'll just preach.
Never mind.
Okay.
But Pastor Matt's been leading a series on the God who knows us.
And today, he asked us to talk about the God who gives the best gifts.
A little while ago, we sang the song, The Goodness of God.
And I have to tell you, the goodness of God was put on display in a manger 2,000
years ago.
The goodness of God, the God who keeps His promises, the God who promised us a way
through.
And I think about that and I think, man, the gift of Christmas is Christ.
And I think about that because the most quoted scripture in the Bible is going to
be John 3, 16 and we hear it all the time.
But what's it say?
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever
believes in Him wouldn't perish but have everlasting life.
And I stop and I think about that and I think if we broke that down, God so loved
the world.
Why?
Because He's the greatest lover.
Gave His only begotten Son.
Why?
The greatest gift.
The greatest lover gave the greatest gift.
Why?
Because God's the greatest giver.
And I stop and I think about this and I think, man, all these things come together
to one culmination.
The fact is that Jesus came because God loves you.
And it's one thing to know God loves you.
It's another thing to live loved.
Like I know He loves me.
Like I can know it but am I living it?
Is it part of my life?
Am I actually walking out the reality of the love of God in my life?
Because I've got to tell you, the more I receive His love, the easier it is for me
to love you.
And some of you are tough.
No, I'm just kidding.
But the reality is that we can look at our lives and realize that, man, God,
am I living like somebody that God really loves?
Have I not only become aware of it, but I'm actually walking it out and living
that?
Because His love for us is shown through, I want you to think with me for a minute.
Go back 750 years before Christ, you have Isaiah the prophet.
Imagine Isaiah, it's chapter seven, it's verse 14.
He's in the temple, long white beard, all these bearded eyes around him,
the prophets are all together.
And he stands up and actually makes a prophecy.
It's written in Isaiah seven, 14.
Here's what he said, behold, a virgin will conceive and bring forth a son.
Right?
He actually says the Lord Himself will give you a sign.
A virgin will conceive and bring forth a son and will call his name Immanuel being
interpreted God with us.
Right?
I want you to think with me for a minute.
It has to take a real courageous, very bold prophet to declare that a virgin
is going to have a child.
I mean, think about that for a minute.
He's with all the other prophets, his reputation's on the line, if you
would, and he's saying a virgin is going to have a baby.
And the other prophets are like, what's in your tea, buddy?
Because that's unheard of.
I mean, come on, it's unheard of.
And he says, but no, it goes deeper.
It's unheard of.
A virgin's going to conceive and bear a child.
God's going to give you this sign, and it's a sign to us that God is with us.
And I want you to know, sometimes we sing the song, O come, O come, Immanuel.
Right?
Can I say this?
He came.
Come on.
He's with us.
God's always with us.
There's never a moment that God's not with us.
And we have to live with a constant awareness that He's actually with us.
Jesus.
Isaiah goes on to prophesy in chapter 9.
You know what he says?
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
Right?
I want you to think with me for a minute.
Unto us a child is born.
Why?
Because he's a hundred percent man.
Unto us a son is given, because he's a hundred percent God.
He's fully God, yet fully man, and he comes to dwell among us.
And I don't know if you've thought about it much, but I think about the King of
glory, who's come to walk and live among men and to lead us in a way that we can
actually walk this thing out.
And I thought about this.
I thought, man, child born, son given.
He goes on to say the government will be upon his shoulder and of the increase in
government, the increase of his peace in government, there will be no end.
It's an ever increasing government because it's an ever increasing kingdom.
I've heard people say, man, I think the church is in trouble.
I'm like, no way, man.
I think the church is growing leaps and bounds.
I don't know if you've been following any of the stories, but man, college campus
after college campus, there's revival after revival after revival.
It's not just in America.
It's in Australia.
It's not just in Australia.
It's in Japan.
Japan's having a revival.
China's having a revival.
Russia's having a revival.
Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of Muslims are being visited by the man in
white.
And that's what they call him.
And you know what it is?
It's I'm telling you, we're living in the most exciting time of the history of the
world.
It's pretty awesome.
God is on the move from the very incarnation.
God had a plan.
So let's look at it from Luke chapter two, because this is Christmas Sunday.
You can't do Christmas Sunday without Luke chapter two, right?
It came to pass in those days that went out of decree from Caesar Augustus that
all the world should be registered.
If you have a King James, it says all the world would be taxed.
I think it's amazing.
Let's keep reading.
Let me show you.
All right, let's talk for a minute.
Let me help you break this down just so we have an understanding.
In the chapter prior to this, we find the angel Gabriel, he showed up to Mary.
We're gonna read that in chapter one.
I don't know if you've ever read the Magnificat.
It's Mary's song.
But when the angel showed up to her, she began to sing a song, if you would.
And that song actually has 14 Old Testament scriptures included in Mary's
song.
It's called the Magnificat.
It's Mary's song.
And 14 scriptures came out of her.
And you know what I thought about?
I thought, man, the gospel was in her before the gospel was in her.
Come on.
You've got to understand.
It was already in her.
And it's interesting because in their culture, women weren't allowed to learn,
but Mary had already received so much of the scripture.
And now the Word was coming to live in her.
She had scripture in her.
Now the Word was coming to live in her.
And Mary's excited.
They're in Nazareth, right?
And what's important to you understand is they're in Nazareth.
And that's Judea.
That's up here in the north, right?
But Micah had already prophesied that Jesus was going to be born in Bethlehem,
which is in the south.
That's Galilee.
It's a five day journey from Nazareth to Galilee if you're going by foot in donkey.
Everybody follow what I just said?
That's a long way.
And now watch.
Mary's with child.
The Holy Spirit's already overshadowed her.
Joseph has taken her on.
There's already been a betrothal.
Do you guys understand how that all works?
Let me explain that real quick, if I can.
Joseph's parents and Mary's parents would have gotten together, made a contract
together, right?
Where Joseph is going to take Mary to be his wife.
That's why he's espoused, right?
That's why.
Now watch.
There's a legal binding contract.
They haven't been married yet.
They haven't been married because the marriage covenant would take place.
They would have a ceremony and they would actually go into the marriage tent,
right?
And in the marriage tent, the woman's hymen would be broken and it would
actually seal the covenant in blood.
Does everybody understand that without me going too much detail, right?
I think you'll figure that out.
In the midst of all that, what would happen is then, then they would celebrate
and the marriage would actually be official.
Does everybody understand what I just said?
But it had to be sealed in blood.
That was why.
Because the Jews understood a blood covenant.
Isn't it amazing that Mary has a child within her, but that hasn't been broken
yet?
The hymen won't break because somebody came in.
The hymen breaks because somebody came out.
Why?
Because it's always about a blood covenant.
I think it's amazing.
She's great with child.
They're in Nazareth up here.
They've got to get down here.
And God moves on the heart of the governor to have a taxing so there has to be a
registration.
And now Joseph and Mary have to go from where?
From Nazareth to Bethlehem.
And it's interesting because Bethlehem actually means something.
When you see the prefix B-E-T-H, it always means house, right?
Bethphagi is house of figs, right?
Beth-el house of God.
Bethlehem is house of bread.
Isn't it great that Jesus in John chapter six would say, I am the bread came down
from heaven.
Come on, eat of this bread.
Come on.
Even in the communion, what did he do?
He broke the bread.
He's the bread that came down from heaven.
The bread of heaven came in the house of bread.
God would move on a governor to actually have us taxing to make that possible.
So they're on their way down.
They're making this journey, right?
And watch.
So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be
delivered.
And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and
laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
I want you to think,
if you understand Jewish culture, the hospitality was king.
There would be people that should take them in.
Family would have took them in.
Somebody would have took them in.
Somebody would have had a room for them somewhere.
But you've got Mary, right?
Who's pregnant and not married.
She's going to have a veil on that says that she's never, it's the veil that a
virgin would wear, right?
But she's got a huge belly.
And so people are looking at that as a rather stranger or unusual thing to the
place where they're like, we don't have any room for you.
We don't have room for you.
Why?
Because they had no understanding.
I think it's amazing because I never put it together until this past week.
But what I thought was when Jesus was coming into the world, there was no room
for him in the end.
But if you go to John 14, you know what he says?
Let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me.
In my father's house are many rooms.
Come on.
You didn't have room for me, but when I go home, I'm going to make sure there's a
room for you.
Come on.
He's got a room for you.
There's a room for you.
There's a place prepared for you.
She brought forth her firstborn son, wrapped him in swaddling clothes,
lied him in a manger.
Now watch.
Now there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field,
keeping watch over their flocks by night.
And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, the glory of the Lord shone round
about them.
And they were sore afraid.
I would imagine so.
Shepherds in a field and now a whole bunch of angels.
Right?
In the Jewish culture, when an angel would show up, you know what he'd say?
Fear not.
Why?
Because when an angel showed up, their first thought was, I'm going to die.
It's the death angel.
They had a culture that said angels were death angels.
When the death angel come, it was your time to go.
That's why you'll see the angels when they're given messages or what are they
saying?
Fear not.
You'll find that to every Jewish one.
The only time you find an angel showing up somewhere who doesn't say fear not is in
Acts chapter 10, when the angel shows up to Cornelius, right?
But you have to understand something.
Cornelius wasn't Jewish.
He was a Gentile.
He was a Roman.
So the angel didn't say fear not because he didn't live in that culture.
Sometimes we're so governed by our traditions, we have trouble hearing God.
So watch.
And the angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shown round
about them.
I think that's amazing.
But let's read.
Let's go further.
Keep reading.
Watch what happens because it's fun.
The angel said to them, do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy, which shall be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the
Lord.
And this will be a sign unto you.
You'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger, right?
Let's stop right there.
Watch what happens because he says something.
Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.
Great joy.
I just think this.
I think Christians ought to have joy.
Come on.
Doesn't mean everything in your life's hunky dory.
Doesn't mean everything in your life is going the way it's supposed to go.
Doesn't mean everything in your life is like, I got, I don't know what to do with
all this money at the end of the month.
Yeah, I've never had that problem.
How about you?
But in the midst of that, here's what I can find, that my joy was never based on
my circumstances.
I might be one of the happiest people on the planet and it has nothing to do with
the circumstances of my life.
It has to do with the relationship I have with a God who loves me and I've received
his love and I understand the love of God.
God's love was put on display in that manger in Bethlehem.
And suddenly there was a voice with the angel multitude of the heavenly host
praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace,
goodwill toward men.
And I think about these verses, listen to me because I think it's
important.
What do you find?
You'll find, what do you say?
I bring you good tidings of great joy and then we find peace on earth, goodwill
toward men.
Paul writes in Romans 14, 17, here's what he says, the kingdom of God's not meat and
drink, but it's righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.
What do we find?
Righteousness came through Jesus Christ.
And when Jesus Christ came, the two declarations of the angel, peace on earth
and joy, come on, the good tidings of great joy, joy and peace were part of the
original declaration because it's two thirds of the kingdom.
We ought to live in joy, we ought to live in peace, and we ought to live in
righteousness.
Because why?
Because when you're living in righteousness, joy and peace are the
byproduct of it.
It's the reality of the gospel, man.
It means something to me.
So he says, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people,
right?
Can I talk for just a minute?
There's things that are in my heart today.
I'm just trying not to rush, but I need to hurry.
I've had people actually made phone calls to me and said, I noticed in your church
you have Christmas trees.
They're pagan.
I'm like, no, they're not pagan.
They're green.
I don't even know what color pagan is.
People have a lot of different cultures and backgrounds, and they think about
stuff, but I began to study it.
I thought, I'm going to look this stuff up, and I found some things.
So when we talk about the Christmas tree, it came actually from the 16th century
German Christians.
And they chose an evergreen.
You know why?
Because it represented eternal life.
Come on, why?
Because the evergreen doesn't die in the winter season.
It just stays green.
And I thought about eternal life.
Here's what Jesus said.
Come on.
Because when Lazarus dies and Martha comes to him, Jesus says something to Martha.
He talks to Martha, and then he talks to Mary.
And when he talks to Mary, he actually says to Martha's sister, Mary,
he said, he who believes in me will never die.
Come on.
1 John chapter 5, he who has the son has life.
Come on.
I'm not going to someday have eternal life when I die.
I've got eternal life until the day I said yes to Jesus.
I'm never going to die.
That's not a bad day.
I don't care who you are.
Here's the reality.
We have eternal life through Jesus Christ.
That evergreen tree represents eternal life.
And then the lights that are on there started, you know, in the 16th century,
they actually put candles on those evergreen trees.
And then they decided somewhere along the light, we should invent electricity so the
trees don't catch fire.
But the original trees were decorated with fruit, right?
And with candles and pine cones.
They had pine cones and fruit and candles.
And then when electricity came, that became the norm to have the little
lights on there.
But it always represented what?
You are the light of the world.
The world ought to look and say, man, I don't know what those people got,
but I want whatever they have.
I think it's a big deal that we should live a life that people are jealous for
what we're carrying.
I want that.
They had wreaths that represented the circle of life.
And then they put a star on top of the tree, which represented the star of
Bethlehem that led people to Christ.
I think you should be a star leading people to Christ.
I think leading people to Jesus is what we should be doing.
And in this Christmas season, when people are thinking about Christ, how much more
do we as Christians should shine and let the love of God flow through us,
let the light of Christ shine through our lives that we could actually show people
what it looks like to walk as a child of the king.
And then we started giving gifts.
And the whole concept of giving gifts came from this.
God gave the greatest gift.
So all of our traditions are based out of our Christian roots.
And I look and I think about this and I think, man, this is a beautiful thing.
And I don't ever want to get so commercial on Christmas that it's about gifts and
everything else.
Everything ought to point to one thing.
Everything ought to point to the one thing.
The baby in the manger.
The Christ who came.
God wrapped himself up in flesh.
It's amazing to me.
And I stop and I think, God, what do you want to do with this?
And I thought about this because the greatest gift ever given is Christ.
And I haven't met anybody who doesn't need Him.
But if I can talk to us for a minute, I got to tell you.
I've had people tell me, my life's so broken.
I don't know.
I can't find joy.
I can't find peace.
I don't have any value in my life because my life's so broken.
And I actually found something else this week that I thought was pretty amazing.
And it's called a kintsugi vase.
K-I-N-T-S-U-G-I.
If you can throw the picture up on the screen just real quick for a minute.
We're not going to leave it up there.
That's a kintsugi vase.
And you might have seen something like that.
But I want to talk to you about what that is.
You can take that back down.
Now, you guys got a visual image of that.
But I want you to think with me for a minute about what that actually was.
That was a vase.
And I'm going to say it this way.
That vase was worth $100.
And then it got broken.
Kintsugi is a Japanese art form.
And what the Japanese people did in their culture, what they did is they didn't
throw the broken vase away.
They actually took it and mended it with golden joinery.
It was a gold powder mixed with lacquer.
And they would actually take the pieces and begin to put them back together again.
And what they did was they took that golden joinery and they began carefully
putting the pieces back and lacquering and joining and lacquering and joining.
And what happened was at the end, it becomes a beautiful vase.
And the vase that was worth $100 when it was whole was worth $1,000 after it was
repaired.
And I read that and I thought, man, that's the gospel.
Can I tell you, your broken life once you've given it to Jesus is worth so much
more than it ever was before.
But I got to tell you, he didn't come to fix your broken life.
He came to give you a brand new life.
That's the gift of Christmas.
That's what this thing is really all about.
He's actually here walking among us.
And you might say, well, he's seated at the right hand of the Father.
He's an omnipresent God.
He's with you every step of the way.
And my thought was this, is that as we're in a Christmas season,
the heart cry of heaven is that you would find him, that you would know him.
Why would you find him?
Because he's searching for you.
I want to take you to one place real quick if I can.
Go to Matthew chapter one.
It's not in, it's not on your paper, hon.
But let me show you this from Matthew chapter one.
Mary's pregnant with child.
Joseph doesn't know how to respond to it and an angel shows up.
And he says, don't be afraid, Mary.
This is of God.
Or don't be afraid, Joseph.
Take Mary.
This is of God.
Right?
It's one thing to hear a message.
It's another thing to respond to it.
Joseph still has to decide, God, is that really you?
Can we talk a minute?
How many of us have heard God and wondered if it was really God?
Was that me?
Was that God?
Was that the devil?
Was that pizza?
Maybe you had a dream.
Was it a God dream?
And we struggle with those kind of things.
Joseph had to determine in his heart not only to take Mary, but he had to
determine, this is God speaking.
And he has to make the decision.
I'm going to walk this thing out.
And he does it.
In chapter two, we find something new.
Let's go to chapter two.
Now, after Jesus was born, everybody say after.
After.
Yeah, because it's important you understand this.
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King,
behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been
born king of the Jews?
For we've seen his star in the east and we've come to worship him.
There's a whole lot of tradition around the wise men.
We even have tradition where there's three wise men with three names.
That's all tradition.
That's not scriptural.
That's not backed biblically.
None of that's none of that's found anywhere.
It's just kind of, it's just there.
In the midst of that, we know there was more than one because it wasn't wise men,
it was wise men.
We know that the wise men came bringing gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
We know that.
I have to help you understand some things.
These wise men would have come from Persia.
We do know that.
What were they doing?
They were studying the stars.
They knew that there was something that was going to happen.
Why?
You can trace it clear back to Daniel when he's in Babylonian captivity is actually
training and teaching in the courts of Babylon.
They know the prophecy of Micah that there's going to be a star that's going to
appear.
It's going to be the announcement of the coming king.
They've already been studying this for hundreds of years.
It has been brought back, brought down through generations among these Persian
counselors, these astrologers, these wise men who had been studying.
We know that Balaam, the prophet, is actually who had prophesied about all
this.
It all comes through.
Years and years and years, and now these wise men show up.
Can I say this?
There's not like three little guys in rags with a little tin foil present.
These are kings who have come from afar.
They are sent as ambassadors of Persia.
There's probably an entourage of an army of people.
Why?
Because Herod sees them and he's troubled.
You're not troubled by three guys in their pajamas.
This is a big deal.
They come into the town, and where did they come?
They came to the palace.
Why?
Because they knew that the king was being born.
They said, Where is he who was born king of the Jews?
For we've come with one purpose to worship him.
Can I show you?
Read a little bit further because it's important that we get this.
Watch.
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with
him.
Why would all Jerusalem be troubled?
Because if Herod's troubled, everybody's troubled.
Right?
So keep reading.
Watch what happens.
And when he gathered all the chief priests and the scribes and the people together,
he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it's written by the
prophet, but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are not the least among the
rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people
Israel.
That's Micah chapter five.
I think verse two, if I remember right.
In the midst of that, here's what's important too.
These guys knew the scripture, but they didn't follow up.
The wise men came seeking.
Now Herod calls his scribes, and they come and actually tell him, this is what the
scripture says, but then they don't follow through.
It's one thing to know what the Bible says.
It's another thing to follow through.
The test isn't in your knowledge.
It's in your obedience.
Boy, that'll preach all day.
Stay with me.
Watch what happens, because it's powerful.
Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what
time the star appeared.
Everybody see that?
What time did that star appear?
And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young
child.
How cool was that?
Probably the only thing Herod said right.
Go and search diligently till you find Christ.
Can I talk to the church right now?
It's not about finding a good pastor.
It's not about finding a good church.
It's not about finding a good apostle, prophet, whatever.
Listen, it's about making sure that you found Christ.
I think there's a lot of people who found a good church.
I'm not sure they found Christ.
I think there's a lot of people that might have a good relationship with a pastor,
but do you have a relationship with Jesus?
Because ultimately, everything else isn't going to do it.
It's your relationship with Jesus that's going to matter.
And nothing else is going to matter, but that's going to matter.
Search diligently till you know you found Him.
And then He says something.
Read what He says, because this is important, right?
He says, go and search carefully for the young child, and when you have found Him,
bring back word to me that I may come and worship Him also.
It would have been a great idea, but here's the truth.
Underneath that, in my Bible, I wrote in small writing, liar, liar, pants on fire.
Because He doesn't want to come and worship Him.
He wants to kill Him.
But remember what happened?
He said, when did you see the star?
Right?
Do you know that immediately after the wise men leave and Joseph and Mary are
gone to make the Exodus to Egypt, that Herod goes back now and kills all the
children two years old and under?
Keep reading.
Watch what happens.
When they heard the king, they departed, and behold the star which they had seen in
the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Why did they have great joy?
Because they found the thing that was leading them to Christ.
Come on.
When you find something that leads you closer to Jesus, it ought to give you joy.
It ought to give you peace.
It ought to make your heart jump inside of you.
Because the more I know Him, the more I love Him.
Keep reading because it's fun.
I like this stuff.
And when they had come into the house, they saw where the young child,
they saw the young child.
Did you catch it?
Not the infant baby.
If you read it in the Greek, the actual word says toddler.
He's a toddler.
He's a young child.
It gives the inference there.
The wise men that you have in your nativity set, that's nice.
You don't have to throw them away, but it's not true.
They didn't show up there.
Right?
If you got two cows and a pig and whatever, they weren't there either.
But I'm just going to leave that alone for right now.
That's a whole nother sermon for another Christmas.
But the reality is that when these wise men showed up, they had great joy inside
of them.
But I want you to see what happens next, because this is what gets real important,
right?
And when they saw the young child with Mary his mother, they fell down and
worshiped him.
And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
Can I tell you that the sequence of that is amazing to me?
Here's what happened.
First they worshiped, then they brought their gift.
Come on.
What's the matter?
What do you say?
God's not interested in your gift if he don't have your worship.
Come on.
He wants your worship before he wants your gift.
I don't care how good you can sing.
I don't care how good you can play.
I don't care how well you can orate and all the different things.
What's really, really important is this, that we worship and then bring our gifts.
First they worshiped, and then they presented their gifts.
What did they give them?
They gave them gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Why?
Because gold is the gift that you would give to a king.
Come on.
Gold was the gift that you presented to a king.
Where is he who's born king of the Jews?
They brought frankincense.
Why?
Because frankincense was a gift that a priest would receive.
Because the priest would burn the incense.
Then they brought myrrh.
Why would they bring myrrh?
Because myrrh was a spice that was used to anoint the dead, and Jesus was one who was
born to die.
He's our king, our high priest who came to die for us.
It's amazing.
This book's full of incredible stuff.
So they bring them gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and I think that's huge.
They came, they worshiped, they presented their gifts.
Then watch.
Then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod,
they departed from their own country another way.
Wait a minute.
An angel showed up and said, you can't go back the way you came.
Oh, I've got to talk to somebody.
When you encounter Christ, you can't go back the way you came.
Come on.
When you encounter the real Jesus, you'll never go back the way you came.
You might have came in one way, but you're going out another.
You can't stay the same when you meet the real Christ.
Your life's going to change.
And you won't travel the same path anymore.
And everything's going to be different, and it's okay.
Remember that Kintsugi vase?
Go to Psalm 51.
The 51st psalm is a beautiful psalm.
It's actually David's psalm of repentance after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
But if you look around verse 10, I'm pretty sure that's where I'm at,
verse 10, he says, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit
within me.
Come on.
It's in my head all the time in the King James.
In the new King James, it's going to come up a little bit different, but listen to
me.
He says, created me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence.
Take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Right?
That's huge.
Now, look at the next part because this is where the Kintsugi vase comes in.
Watch this.
What he says.
He says, restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with your generous
Spirit.
Right?
I want you to see this.
Now, watch.
Then, I will teach transgressors your ways.
And sinners will be converted to you.
Wait a minute.
What did he say?
Here's what I want to tell you.
You might have come in here this morning and you think, well, I'm so broken.
I want you to understand God's a God of restoration.
God's a redeemer.
He wants to bring you back to your original value.
Come on.
He doesn't want to fix you.
He wants to make you brand new.
And I want you to understand this.
When I say this, this is huge to me.
But this is what he's saying.
I'm looking at David and I'm looking at that vase because here's the deal.
The vase was whole and valuable.
Then it was broken.
But then it was restored and it was even more valuable before.
Watch what David said.
He says, listen, I might have messed up.
Come on.
What's he say?
Creating me a clean heart, O God.
What's he saying?
Fix me.
Get me back together.
Put me back together like the Kintsugi vase.
What's he saying?
Put me back together.
Take my mess.
Then I'll be a little bit of time until it actually restores.
And then what will happen?
I'll take my mess and make it my message.
I'll restore sinners unto your way.
What will happen?
God will take your brokenness.
He'll make you brand new.
And then you can go and help the people who were messed up like you were.
It's literally the Kintsugi vase all over again.
And I thought about it.
I thought, man, on this Christmas season, when we talk about gifts, the greatest
gift ever given is the gift of redemption, the gift of restoration, the gift of
salvation for you and I, the gift of Jesus Christ.
And I think about that and I think, man, there's so much to that.
And I thought, Lord, help us to get this and understand this.
The best gift ever given was Jesus.
And the best gift you could ever give is give your life to Christ.
I said, but what do I, what can I give to my family?
The best gift you can give to your family is give your life to Christ.
The best gift you can give to your children, give your life to Christ.
Come on.
The best gift you as a child could give to your parents is give your life to Jesus.
I promise you, it's the best gift.
Why?
Because that changes your life and when God starts to bless you, everyone around
you is going to get blessed.
I've said for years, when God rains on me, people around me get wet.
It's a good day.
On this Christmas, when we look at that nativity, when we look at the message of
the manger,
grace took a face, hope took on hands, freedom took on feet, and God came near.
He came near for every one of us.
He came as a little baby in a manger.
But can I tell you this today, church?
He's coming again.
I say that boldly and strong.
He's coming.
We're living in unprecedented times and there are so many things that are going on
around us right now that make me realize, man, I was part of that generation.
We were all sure he was coming back in the 80s and then the 90s and for sure,
Y2K is the end of it all and 2012 was the Mayan calendar and we were all getting out
of here.
Some of y'all remember all that.
It didn't happen.
But I gotta tell you, we're closer now than we've ever been.
And here's the reality.
He may not come for us all collectively, but he could come for any one of us
individually.
He is coming again.
He's coming again.
Remember that verse I quoted from John 14?
In my father's house.
We read it in King James and there are many mansions.
The actual translation would tell you there are many rooms.
He's made a room for you.
The question is, have you made room for him?
Because here's what happened.
He came as a baby in a manger, but according to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4
verse 16, it says, For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with
the voice of the archangel and the trump of God.
And the dead in Christ are gonna rise first.
Do you get a visual of that?
Like what's that gonna look like?
Graveyard's just going poop, poop, poop, poop, poop, poop.
Like literally you're driving past the cemetery and all of a sudden popcorn,
boom, boom, boom.
I don't know what that's, I have no clue what that's gonna look like.
I never saw it before.
But it's pretty exciting.
The dead in Christ are gonna rise first.
And then he says, And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
That's pretty amazing to me.
I get on a lot of planes now.
I get on a plane, first thing I do is ask the pilot, You saved?
Here's the reality, man.
We gotta know beyond a shadow of a doubt that our heart's right with Christ,
that we've made our peace with God, that we know that the blood of Jesus has
covered us.
The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel,
the trumpet of God's gonna blow.
The dead in Christ are gonna rise.
We which are alive and remain caught up.
That's the word.
That's where we get the word rapture.
The Latin term there is rapturo.
And that's where the word rapture comes from, that verse right there.
Rapture, right?
We're gonna be caught up together with him in the cloud, with him in the air to meet
him.
And when I think about that, here's the reality.
Last time he came as a baby in a manger, very few people knew it.
Isn't it amazing that he appeared to shepherds?
That he appeared to shepherds and a star appears to wise men.
So now we got shepherds and kings.
We got the bottom of the totem pole and the top of the totem pole if you would.
Why?
Because he's a savior for all mankind.
It's for every one of us.
And what happened?
He came.
And hardly anybody knew it.
But when he comes again, everybody's gonna know it.
According to Revelations one and eight, every eye will see him and they that
pierced him shall mourn because of him.
It's gonna happen.
And the reality is this, man.
It's known in your heart if he would come today.
If he came right now, would you be here to shut off the lights when it's all said and
done?
Or would you be like, I ain't gotta worry about no electric bill ever again.
Come on.
Come on, man.
I got a mansion in heaven, got a mailbox with no bills.
Yes.
It's a good day.
But the reality of the gospel is true.
And the fact that he's coming again means something to me.
See, the first Adam created in the image of God and placed in the garden of Eden
failed and had to step out of the garden and into a grave.
But the last Adam, Jesus, who shows up in this very uncommon birth, walks out a
perfect life, didn't fail anything, did it all just right, completed the work
the Father sent him to do on the cross.
It is finished.
What's he saying?
Everything the Father sent me to do has been accomplished.
Come on.
And what happens?
They put him in a borrowed tomb.
Did you ever read it?
Because you've got Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
And they come and they ask Pilate for the body of Jesus.
And they put him in Nicodemus' tomb.
And it says, they put him in the garden and there was a new tomb where never a man
laid.
Right?
And it says that.
Can you picture Mrs. Nicodemus?
You gave that guy your tomb?
You gave that criminal your tomb?
He's only going to need it a few days.
Yes, honey.
But when I read that, it hit me.
In the garden, there was a new tomb where never a man laid.
Adam stepped out of a garden into a grave.
Jesus stepped out of the grave into the garden and hit the reset button.
Come on.
If that don't jump your tractor, you do have a dead battery.
Get a battery for Christmas.
Come on.
Because in my world, that's amazing to me.
And this is the reality of the gospel for every one of us.
We have this incredible opportunity to simply say yes to Jesus.
And you may be here today and you think you might be broken, but I'm going to tell
you something.
When Jesus restores you, you'll be way more valuable than you ever were before.
Because he came.
He came for one reason and one purpose.
To give you eternal life that you'll never, ever die.
Stand with me all over the room.
I've got so many things in my heart and in my mind.
But I want to talk to us as the body of Christ.
I've had people tell me
the Christian life is hard.
And I struggle with that phrase because I'm really enjoying it.
I don't endure it.
I enjoy it.
But they talk about the idea of the things they have to give up.
And I guess I never focused on what I gave up.
I focused on what I got.
Because I think what I got was way better than what I gave up.
I think what I stepped into is better than what I stepped out of.
And I would invite you today that if you're here in the room.
And you don't know him, but you want to.
Listen to me.
You're yesterday.
If you really mean it, you're ready to walk it out.
It won't just affect you, it will affect generations to come.
It will impact your marriage.
It will impact your children.
It will impact your grandchildren.
You say, I don't have grandchildren.
I didn't have grandchildren when I said yes.
I didn't even have a wife when I said yes.
But my yes in 1978 impacted my marriage in 1979.
Impacted my daughter who was born in 1980 and my son in 84.
And my grandchildren and I have no idea what year they were born.
I have terrible gut stuff.
But I promise you, your yes isn't just for you.
It will impact everyone around you.
What gift can I give?
Give your life to Jesus.
It's the best choice you'll ever make.
It'll make your Christmas a whole lot merrier.
I'm ready to believe God right now.
I'm going to do something I don't very often do, but I really feel God for this.
If you're here today and you haven't given your full yes to God, but you want to and
you're saying, you know what, Pastor?
This is my day.
This is my time.
I'm ready to make that decision.
I'm ready to mean it.
Maybe you made it a long time ago, but you haven't walked it out and you're
ready to recommit that decision.
Either way, would you meet me here right now?
You might say, well, Pastor, you're asking us to step forward 100%.
Why?
Because I believe what you're stepping into is better than what you've ever
stepped out of.
And I believe that God is here to meet you right where you're at.
So if you're here today and you're ready and you're saying, this is me,
I'm ready, Pastor.
I want to do this.
It's not to embarrass you, it's to encourage you.
Because I believe that God wants to bless your life immensely.
Is there anyone else that would like to come?
Anyone else that's saying, you know what, I don't do that unless I feel God.
So I know God's moving in the room.
So I'm just going to encourage you.
It doesn't take a minute.
And if you're ready, thanks, hon.
That means the world to me.
It's time to say yes to God.
It's time to say yes and mean it.
It's time to say, this is my day, this is my hour, this is my season.
Has Caesar come?
And anyone else that you might be just saying, you know what, I'm ready to step
into the merriest Christmas ever.
I promise you, he said, I'm going to give you good tidings of great joy.
And I just believe great joy comes through salvation.
Great joy comes through knowing Christ.
Great joy comes Great joy comes through dedicating your life to Jesus and saying,
God, I am with you.
Do you understand?
We sang that song, Emmanuel, God with us.
He's with us right now.
I'm going to just hold just a minute longer because the Holy Spirit is really
thumping my heart.
Anybody else that wants to just come?
It's your day to say yes.
God's faithful and He's good and He's always with us.
Thanks, hon.
Thank you, Jesus.
It's time to say yes It's time to say our full yes to Jesus.
God, we are yours.
We have a faithful high priest who's touched by the feelings of our
infirmities.
He does know us.
Thank you, guys.
It means the world to me.
Thank you.
Thank you all so much.
Would you just bow your hearts with me a minute?
All of you that have walked forward, all you really need to do is tell Jesus I
give you my yes because your yes matters.
The sinner's prayer isn't recorded anywhere in Scripture because there's
really not one because true repentance is a shifting of the heart, not just the
saying of the words.
It's your heart shifting before God and giving Him your yes.
So, Father, I thank you for each one of these who have made a step forward.
And I pray, Holy Spirit, come.
Come and touch us individually and corporately.
Pastor Matt, would you just lay hands on each one?
Father, I just thank you that you're with us in this journey.
And we just pray the blessing and the favor and the goodness of God resting on
each one of these hearts and lives.
And I just pray the favor of the Lord would touch them individually and
corporately.
Holy Spirit, we look to you.
We thank you for the gift of salvation, the gift of God that's been freely given,
the gift, Lord, that baby in a manger who's made a promise he's coming not as a
baby but as a roaring iron.
And God, I'm excited about what you're doing on the earth right now.
We're living in the most exciting time in the history of the world.
And Lord, we just bless each one that has come to make their way to this altar.
And each one, Lord, that's even within the sound of our voice, the sound of our
hearing, that the blessing, the favor, and the goodness of God would rest on
hearts and lives together.
So Holy Spirit, we welcome you right now.
We give you our yes, God.
And we simply say, Holy Spirit, guide us, direct us.
Let this be the most joyous Christmas season ever.
May the blessing of the Lord, the favor of God and your goodness just be shown
visibly in our life on a daily basis as we walk out the kingdom.
Lord, not only did we say yes for us, but our yes is going to touch so many
people.
And God, let that yes resound not only in the halls of heaven, but on the corners of
earth as we give ourselves fully and completely to Christ.
So Father, we say thank you.
We love you.
We bless you.
In Jesus' name, in the church, shout it.
Amen.
Bless the Lord.
Thank you, guys.
It means so much.
Bless every one of you.
Listen.
As you celebrate Christmas, man, keep Christ right in the center of your
Christmas.
If you can be here for Christmas Eve, it's going to be an amazing time.
I invite every one of you to come and be with us 6 o'clock.
We try to be out by 7.30.
We're pretty strong on just trying to conserve time because we know that's a
special night.
But if you can be with us for that, that would be awesome.
If not, have the most Merry Christmas.
Bake a birthday cake for Jesus and celebrate Him on your family.
Amen.
Bless you, guys.
You're dismissed.
Thanks for listening to the Harvest Chapel PA podcast.
We hope this message encouraged you and drew you closer to Jesus.
To stay connected, visit us at harvestchapelpa.com or follow us on social
media at Harvest Chapel PA.
We can't wait to be with you again next week.