And now we spend some time in God's Word. Let's turn now to Luke chapter 2. The program choir was based on, and we'll just look at this passage. And in doing so, you know, when it comes to a message for certain holidays, sometimes you wonder what text to preach from. Well, when Tyler had the verses from Luke 2, I thought, well, we'll try to do something from Luke 2 in the Christmas story, right? Obviously. Turns out, as I look back in the past about some of the other Christmas messages we had, This was the exact same message that we had December 24th, 2017. 2017 was the last time, you know how the calendar rotates, was the last time that Sunday was on Christmas Eve. And we did a message, you have in your notes, I just changed it just a bit if you have your notes. It's the same message. I won't preach it exactly the same, but same message six years ago. How old were you six years ago? Some of you weren't born. Some of you were little kids. Some of you weren't here, you weren't married six years ago. I was still in my 40s. Debbie and I were both in our 40s. Barely, Debbie was barely in, no, she was in her 40s. Bethann, were you in your 40s? Oh, no, just teasing. I tease her about her age. Oh, that's not very nice, but I'm teasing her. Okay, six years ago, wow. So maybe in six years we could preach this message again, sing the same choir songs. Well, we had different choir songs. The choir sang No Room, Gentle Mary, Later Child. Didn't we just sing that? Yeah, that was the same one. So the one of them is the same. No room, gentle Mary laid her child in his name. Now I wondered when I saw no room, I wondered if Marilyn, where's Marilyn sitting at? Am I missing it? I wondered if you were the choir director then. I think you were during that year. Yeah, I think that was Marilyn, choir director then. What'd she say? Marilyn helped, but you were here, you happened to be here then? Jan was directing it then, maybe, huh? I know Marilyn did a year, one year in there. Huh? Marilyn played the piano, oh, played the piano. Yeah, Marilyn played the piano, and then she directed one year, but she played the piano, yeah. Wow, a lot of time. And then at the end of the service, we've made it a tradition to sing Go Tell the Mountain with the kids, so we'll be doing that again. Well, let's look closer at this. Luke chapter 2 announcing the good news, the Christmas story. You have a version of the Christmas story in Matthew, it's more from Joseph's perspective. And here in Luke it's from Mary's perspective, really from Luke. Here we draw out most of the details that we know about of the story itself, traveling to Bethlehem, no room at the inn, the angels speaking. Announcing to the shepherds and so forth really comes from chapter 2 of Luke and in Matthew that's where you get the three wise men and so forth. So a little bit different and I hope you've had time to read those Christmas stories during this season. Announcing the good news is what the angels did for us. Announcing the good news, anytime you announce good news, it's always a privilege to be the one that gets to announce good news. Proverbs 25, 25 says, as cold water to a weary soul. You know how good a cup of cold water, I've been thirsty this morning. Tastes, I mean, you're the guys that are thirsty, you can't take a drink until afterwards, When you're thirsty, you ever had that? I know kids sometimes think they're thirsty, but some of us adults that have really been thirsty at times. And you get that water and it really quenches your thirst. The Bible says here, it's cold water to a weary soul. But what about a thirsty soul? If you're here this morning, are you thirsty in your soul? Are there things in this world that just don't seem to quench a thirst or longing? And this good news, this proverb says, as cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country. And this far country we're going to hear this good news from is 2,000 years ago, 2,023 years ago, in Israel, Bethlehem to be specific. This good news that can change your life. This good news that is the most important news ever, and it begins here at the birth of Jesus, and it runs through his sinless life. And all the way to the cross when he died on the cross for the sins of the world. And the good news when he's resurrected and raised from the dead, he can be your savior today. The greatest gift God has given is his son. And what greater thing could happen if you were to get saved today? And for those who have been saved to just take this time and recognize, yes, I'll get some nice gifts. I hope you get some nice gifts today and tomorrow. But the greatest gift that anyone's ever received is the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ Himself. So this good news is wonderful extra good news. That's a CEF song that the kids sing. Let's have, we already had our scripture reading with the program there. We're gonna look at these verses, verse by verse. Let's have a prayer of blessing as we begin our message time. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time. We pray your blessing as we look at this good news. And Lord, I pray that the good news would fall upon every ear here. It'd be life-changing news. It's the best news. It's wonderful, extra good news. Thank you, Jesus, that you came to be a man. Thank you that you lived a sinless life and died on a cross. Thank you that you were raised up to be our Lord and Savior. Prayer blessing on this message time in Jesus' name, amen. Well the announcement we see first of all of Christ's birth was given to shepherds. And we're gonna look at three reasons here. Three reasons that God chose to announce the good news, excuse me, to shepherds. These shepherds were most likely, it says in verse eight, now they were the same country, shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night. These shepherds were most likely Levites. Levite was of the priestly class, and they were responsible to handle the functions of the temple. They were the tribe of Levi. And these were probably Levites keeping sheep out from Bethlehem, which was just a few miles south of Jerusalem. And in this area is where the sheep were kept that were used to be sacrificed in the temple. And how fitting that God would announce the birth of his son to these shepherds who kept the sheep that were used as sacrifices for sin in this temple. They announced the birth, God announced the birth through angels to these shepherds of the birth of His sheep, of His lamb. Jesus is God's lamb. John 1, John 1, 29 says, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's who Jesus is. And in 1 Peter, Peter spoke of Jesus and said, but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb, without blemish and without spot. God announced this good news to these shepherds because they watched over the sacrificial lambs and God was now sending his own sacrificial lamb. The second reason you can see here why God announced the good news to shepherds is there's a prophecy that needed to be fulfilled. And we're gonna look at the Bethlehem prophecy later. But turn now to the same book the Bethlehem prophecy is in, to Micah. Old Testament, book of Micah, chapter four, verse six. Chapter 4, verse 6. I'm not sick, Debbie. Chapter 4, verse 6. Now, there's hundreds of verses of prophecy about the birth of Jesus. This would be what you could say a little more obscure, not one of the main prophecies, but nevertheless, it's a prophetic word that must be fulfilled, and we look at it and say, well, how was this fulfilled? And it began to be fulfilled at the birth of Jesus, announcing the good news to these shepherds. And these shepherds, this is why they were announced as shepherds, because of this verse right here. Micah 4, 6 says, in that day, says the Lord, in that day refers back to chapter four, verse one, it shall come to pass in the latter days. In the latter days, Messiah would come. In the latter days, God would end his judgment for his people and bring salvation to Israel. It would overflow to the whole world in the latter days. And that's what this passage is speaking about. In that day, in those latter days, and when that day comes, verse 6, I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcasts, and of those whom I afflicted. Jesus says the great shepherd would gather his sheep, and look at the sheep he would gather. Not the best sheep, but the lame, the outcasts, and the afflicted. I hope you can identify yourself as one of those today in sin. He says he'll gather those, and verse 7 says, I will make the lame a remnant. They'll become his flock. And he outcasts a strong nation, so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion. That's speaking of Jerusalem. From now on, even forever. And you, here's our prophecy. Well, I'll let's preach a prophecy, but here's the details. Verse 8, and you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you it shall come. Even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem." Well, the Tower of the Flock is exactly where these shepherds were. There was an ancient Christian writer that lived in Bethlehem in the 4th century, in the 300s A.D. And he saw that tower. They all knew about that tower. It existed then. It was just a mile south of Bethlehem. And it's where these shepherds kept their sheep, the sacrificial sheep. It's right there, the Tower of the Flock. That's it. And in that location, that's where the coming of the Messiah would be. It's identified with Bethlehem. These shepherds were just on the outskirts of Bethlehem. And this prophecy needed to be fulfilled that He would come. God's blessing would come. And the outcasts, excuse me, at the tower, in you tower of the flock, speaks about Bethlehem. The Lord would come to Bethlehem. And then the next word you see there, stronghold of the daughter of Zion. If you have a New American Standard, that stronghold, that word might be translated heel. Well, if you look in your notes, the Hebrew word is ophel, O-P-H-E-L. That was a designation of a location on the southernmost corner of Jerusalem that was the stronghold for the defenses of the city. But it was known as the weakest point. It was the weakest point of Jerusalem. They tried to build it up, but if anybody would attack the city, they knew that ophel was the weakest point. and they needed to do what they could to build that up. That's where the enemy would be able to penetrate. They did when they stormed Jerusalem and sacked the city. Ophel was always the first area to fall. It was the weakest point. But that's where God says He'll come. He'll come to the Tower of the Flock, Bethlehem. He'll come to the stronghold of Zion, the hill Ophel. This is what the message is that God wants us to know, that He will come to the weakest place. God will come and meet humanity at the weakest place. And from there would emerge the power of God. See, we wouldn't expect that, but that's how God works. And that prophecy is that the Messiah would have to be born in Bethlehem, and then his kingdom would emerge from the weakest of Jerusalem to the most powerful. That's exactly what the prophecy is. Now, that's the first and second reason we have a prophecy here. Let's turn back. You see, the third reason is the shepherds were common, unremarkable, and simple people. You know, the illustration he uses, who are the shepherds at the Christmas play? You know, this year we only had one shepherd, isn't that right? Who all was shepherds? Oh, who was shepherds? I saw Noah, who else was shepherds? Wukash. And Emerson were shepherds. I didn't see them in their, I must have missed them when I was standing there. I thought maybe they were animals, but they've been promoted. I say promoted, but the little kids get to be the animals. Now, that's really special. Usually, when you have a Christmas play, who are the first characters everybody wants to be? All the little girls wanna be Mary, and then some boy, I suppose he's reluctantly, gets to be Joseph, but Mary and Joseph. And the angels, you put the little girls in, the angels have a big speaking part. And the innkeeper, you gotta find the right kind of person to be the innkeeper if you're putting on a whole pageant. And he's got speaking lines and he's out front. But then you're left with 10 other kids. Well, you know, the little kids, it's fun to dress them as little animals at the manger, but talking about older kids, well, they're shepherds. They don't have a speaking part. Maybe one of them has a small line you'll see in the story, it's verse 15, but the rest of them, they just have to look in awe, and then walk, and then sit, and look, and it's the easy part. Really, that's where you put, you know, at the end of the movie, it just might say in shepherds, and it has a long list, names you don't know. That's really how shepherds were in real life. They were common, unremarkable, simple folk. And the idea is when this good news was announced, in this sense, it wasn't announced to the most important person in the world, that's who you'd expect it to be announced to, but there was no one in Jerusalem that this news was announced to. But God announced it to the lowest. The idea of the lowest and the common person to be announced to is people like me and you. You see, in other religions, you have a hierarchy. Only the priesthood, only the king, only the ones higher up, only they have the special access, but not with God. He came down to the lowest of us, the most common of us, the weakest of us, and said, this good news is for you. It's important to understand, no other religion's like this in the world. God would announce this good news to shepherds. You see, the access to Jesus isn't restricted by your societal status, But the good news is for everyone. And when you consider being the most weakest and the most unremarkable, the Bible says in Romans 5, 6, for when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. When you come to the Lord Jesus, you need to recognize yourself without strength. When you're done trying to make your own way, when you've already done everything you could and your life's not turning out, when sin is still plaguing you and you can't defeat it with your own power, that's when God can come to you. And that's when he comes to the lowest. When we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. It's important that we see that God announced this news to shepherds. Next we're gonna see an announcement of Christ's birth was given by angels. You know, isn't it fun to be the important one that gets to make the announcement? I mean, when you get to be the one to tell grandma, when you get to be the one to come to church and tell all the church family, when you get to be the one to come home and tell dad, you're the one who gets to make the important announcement. And this announcement was made by angels. And God wouldn't have anything less than angels make this announcement. And it says in verse nine, the beginning part of verse nine, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them. What's interesting about this word is it's often used as supernatural appearances, stood before them. The same word is used in Luke 24. It says, as it happened, as they were greatly perplexed about this, they're at the tomb, and the tomb is open and it's empty, and there are the women set. And they're greatly perplexed about this. What happened? What have they done with Jesus? Where is He? That behold, two men stood by them. in shining garments. They just appeared out of nowhere, and there they were. It's the same word as used of Peter when he was arrested and he was in prison. And remember, the church was praying for him, but they didn't really think that he would be delivered or rescued or set free, because when he did show up at their door, they were a bit surprised. But no one was more surprised than Peter. He sat there in chains. He was ready to die for the Lord as a martyr. And it says, now behold an angel of the Lord stood by him. Imagine when he looked up and there's the shining brightness of an angel standing by him. He didn't expect that. He thought that he was gonna be martyred for the Lord. But it appeared suddenly. This word can also be used for the appearance of supernatural judgment. The Bible says at the end times, it says when they say peace and safety, at the end times the world will say we don't need God. And they'll look for an answer and peace and safety without God. They'll make their own way. And you see, that's what our world is doing. They want peace, but they want it without God. And unfortunately, sometimes a sinner is that way. They make their own way. And when they say peace and safety, when they think they've finally gotten what they want out of life, it says, then sudden destruction comes upon them. See, when we understand this sudden appearance, that's how God enters into our life. You know, you're going about your life and then, The pain comes here. The car wreck happens. Your life gets turned upside down by some event. And you weren't expecting it, but God has entered into your life. And he can enter in either in a way where you recognize him and say, this has to be God's work in my life. I must seek him. God is doing something in my life. What's he doing? I need the answers. And in a good way, you might seek him. But look, it's the Bible says, and they were greatly afraid. Greatly afraid because you've got to find out the answer. And you might be greatly afraid because when God shows up, it could be for judgment. You know, life can end that fast and you may only have seconds or minutes and your life flashes before your eyes because it's happened and you never expected it that day. But God has shown up in judgment. What will you do? You see this idea of showing up and being afraid, it happens in real life. Caitlin's here, and she's been teaching down in Texas. Imagine the kid's in the room, and she goes and leaves the room to talk to the principal or another teacher, and she comes back in and looks, and the kid's caught red-handed, and the teacher's looking right at him. See, this appearance of God. And only a word from the Lord can abate the fear. They said, do not be afraid in verse 10, the angel said. Those are words that only God can tell you. Do not be afraid. Well, you see here that the angels came and it says, I bring you good tidings of great joy. This good tidings is to evangelize. These angels were bringing a good message, good news of great joy. And so the angels evangelized the shepherds and they told them of its mega joy, great joy. Did you know God created us to be happy? I gotta ask you this question, are you a happy person? You know what causes sorrow in life? Frustrations. We seek happiness in the wrong places. Looking for love in all the wrong places. You think it will bring you happiness, maybe initially it does, and maybe for a little while you're happy, but that deep joy is not there. And if you're here today and you're not a happy person, if you have to be honest, your life's not turning out the way that it is, and you don't have the joy you thought you would have. That joy only comes from God. It only comes when we seek God. It was the angels, it was God that brought them great joy. God created us to be happy, but that happiness comes from Him. And look at the message He gave them. In verse 11, for it's born to you this day. It's born to you this day is a fulfillment of prophecy. Let's turn quickly over to Isaiah chapter 7. We're gonna look at these Old Testament prophecy verses. In Isaiah chapter 7, born to you this day is a fulfillment of prophecy. This is probably the most important Old Testament prophecy about the birth of the Son of God. Therefore the Lord Himself, verse 14, will give you a sign and behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. It was born to you on this day, the Son of God, entered into humanity. And you go and look at Isaiah 9, verse 6. This was read in our Christmas program. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. It's a fulfillment of that prophecy of giving of the Son of God. Let's turn back now to Luke 2. Although we're going to quickly go back to the Old Testament. For it was born to you this day in the city of David. The city of David, if you'll turn back to the book of Micah. Micah chapter 5. We're looking at these three most important Old Testament prophecies. Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9 and now Micah chapter 5. Verse two, but you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me, the one to be ruler in Israel whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. That's the city of David, where David was born. This offspring of David would be the king, and as prophesied, would be in the city of Bethlehem. Turn now back to Luke chapter 2. The angels came. Born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior who is Christ the Lord. You see that he's the Savior. God saves us from sin. The Bible says that Jesus is named Jesus because the angel told Joseph, you shall name him Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. Jesus is Yeshua, the Lord saves, Yahweh saves. That's what Jesus means. And He is the Savior from sin. What sin is Jesus saving you from? Can you name those sins? You see, we talk about Jesus dying on a cross and dying for sin, and it seems to be a vague thing, but when you come to the Lord, it becomes a very personal thing. Oh, if you know the Lord, and you come close to Him, and you know the Word of God, you do know those sins all too well. David talked about his own sin. He says, for I acknowledged my transgression, and my sin is always before me. When you hear that Jesus is your Savior, you know exactly the sins that He's saving you from, that you need to be saved from, which is Christ the Lord. This is God's anointed Christ. This is what we come to believe, that He is God's anointed, God's chosen, the one that God has sent. His Son is the Christ, the one that would fulfill all prophecies. And he is Lord, he is the highest ruler of which all must bow to. And remember when Thomas recognized him in his resurrection, he says, my Lord and my God, as he bowed down low to the Lord Jesus Christ. In order to get saved, you must understand that Jesus is Lord. He died on a cross for your personal sin. And he's been raised up to be Lord. And you must come to him and repent and ask him for forgiveness. And call upon him and say, you're my Lord. That if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus, that Jesus is Lord, and believe in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Now next look at this verse 12, and this will be a sign to you. Always wondered about that. This will be a sign to you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. You know what's in this sign? It's the swaddling cloths. That's what they're supposed to look for. A baby lying in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. Well, the first thing's not real curious at all. All babies are swaddled, right? Swaddling cloths, where cloths, they use strips of cloth. We might use a blanket, a swaddling blanket. Don't you swallow your baby in the hospital and bring your home? The baby is wrapped up. And finding a baby in swaddling cloths is not unique. Unless you're the son of God. Unless you're God and God becoming a man wrapped in cloth. So we see that the babes wrapped in swaddling cloths is, speaking of his humanity, is just a baby. The son of God became a baby. And laid in a manger. And the idea of laying in a manger is his lowliness. His humility, wasn't born in a home or a fancy hospital, but laid in a feeding trough. Born probably in a stable. Kenosis, the emptying of the Lord. Philippians 2.7 says, but he emptied himself. He gave up his prerogatives, his glory of being the Son of God and just became a man, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. You know when you're talking about this humanity and lowliness put together, and you know what he's gonna do? He's gonna be dependent on a mother. You mothers who have held your babies, you realize, I mean, did dads try? I mean, that baby is fully dependent upon you mothers. Remember when you held your baby? Jesus, the Son of God, was gonna put himself completely into the hands of Mary to be held and taken care of by her. That's the sign, the Son of God becoming a man. When they find that, then they would know that God became a man and all the prophecies would be fulfilled. And suddenly, in verse 13, it says, You know, we have that alliteration, I don't use them very much. I'll show you why, they don't really work. First, you're gonna have glory and peace. This is a comparison. To glorify God is the only way to have true peace. If you're looking for true peace in this world, you'll never find it. Jesus said, peace I give to you, not as the world gives. And if you want that true peace, you must come to Jesus Christ. You must glorify God through Christ. And when you glorify God, you can find true peace rather than glorifying yourself or something else. but glorify God and you'll find peace. Glory to God in the highest. And then you have the contrast, you have the comparison, you have a contrast of heaven and earth. Earthly blessings come from heaven. Earthly blessings don't come from other broken down, ruined, earthly things. See, don't find your blessing in other stuff around here. It's all broken down here. It's all dirty and nasty and messed up. I'm not going to be happy with the things in this broken world, but it must come from the outside. And a true blessing, the true favor of God comes down from heaven to us. Earthly blessings come from a heavenly place. What a contrast. And then what about the connection? It's God and man. Goodwill toward man. Glory to God in the highest. The angels are speaking a blessing toward man. And God initiates the relationship with mankind. That's the connection. It starts with God, not with us. The Bible says there's no one that seeks after God. But God seeks after us. Do you hear Him calling you? When was it that you answered that call? It's a connection between God and man. Now, here's where it don't work. What's the last part? Goodwill toward men, men whose God is well-pleased. Well, I put conclusion. See, you got the three Cs. They work really good. Comparison, a contrast, connection, but the last one, you can't find nothing. And that's when preachers make up words. Well, conclusion. It's not a conclusion. It's a C word I can't think of. It's really the blessing. It's the blessing, goodwill toward men, men of goodwill. men whom God is pleased. He asked himself this question. Who are the kinds of people that God is pleased with? I mean, you can go to the other religions and they'll tell you. You can go to the rich and the wealthy. They've always thought they're blessed of God. After all, look at everything they have. But who are the kinds of people that God is pleased with? Quite simply, it's the people who trust Him and obey Him. It's quite simple. God means to bring goodwill toward men. That God is pleased with men when they trust Him and obey Him. And that's what we see here in the way that is responded in the announcement. Look at verse 15 and 16. So it was when the angels had gone away from them, that the shepherds said one to another, let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. I think the first thing you wanna see is entrusting and obeying. They had to believe the message. How many times have you heard some announcement say, I ain't gonna check into that? Well, why not? I think it's true. But if you thought something was true, you might act on it. And these shepherds believed what the angel said, and they acted on it. They dropped what they were doing. They left them sheep out in the field, and they went to Bethlehem, and they went and they found the babe. They believed. They believed and they obeyed. And then in verse 17 it says, now when they had seen him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning a child. We're seeing a right response to this good news. You must believe and you must follow or obey the Lord. The shepherds proclaimed the good news. You need to share this good news. It's such good news I have to tell somebody. It's such life changing. I can't stay the way that I am. It'll come out in the way that I live. And then I'll tell you who he is. And they proclaimed this good news. And in verse 18, it says, and all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherd. I'm sorry if you're not blown away by the truths of Jesus Christ. I'm sorry that if you're not blown away of the wonderful theological truths that are in the Bible. Those of us in Sunday school, boy, if you didn't make it to Sunday school this morning, for whatever reason, I just have to say, that was a great lesson, wasn't it? I mean, I was blown away by that. Did you sense that in the Sunday school class? We had our prayer time, and then we had that lesson about being with God, and it just blows you away, those theological truths. By the way, I made a mistake on that one. John 14, three, it says they received him. It really wasn't that word pros. I made a mistake there, but the rest of it was right. I went and looked it up, because I thought I was mistaken on that. Verse 19. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Mary held dear and deeply thought about what had happened and what was said. That's too bad when people don't think about the Lord every day. Do you think about the Lord every day? You wanna know an indication that you're saved? You think about the Lord every day. You can hardly try not thinking about him. You ever tried that when you was in sin? I mean, you were thinking about him. Lord, I just don't wanna deal with that right now. And you're thinking about him. And when you're a Christian, you can't not think about him. You love him, you believe him, you follow him. Everything he says is so important to you and you're always thinking about, well, is this right? What would the Bible say? Well, I wonder what other Christians do. I wonder what, and you just want to know more about God in your life. Psalm 119, the prayer is, open my eyes. We cry out to God, open my eyes, my understanding, my heart and mind that I may see wondrous, that's a miraculous, deep truths that I can't recognize on my own. Truths from God, wondrous things from your law, from your word. Christians can't stop thinking about God. Christians can't act apart from the scriptures because we just gotta know and when we disobey, conviction comes. You see, in verse 20, then, finally, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as was told them. Well, glorifying and praising God is called worship. In your life, you worship. You don't understand what's happening. It hurts, you have no answer, but it's God's will, and God is bringing it about, and what can you do but worship? You can't doubt him, and to complain is sin, You don't understand, you're told to love him and trust him, you know that he's good. The thing to do is to glorify and praise him, to worship him. And that's the response, the right response of people who know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So I ask this question, how will you respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ? We come here this morning and I know there's lots of fun things going on today and tomorrow and the holiday season. I like all of those fun things too. But you know that it comes down to the real reason why we even have a holiday. The real meaning of life. This good news that Jesus came, lived a sinless life, died on a cross for your sin, and rose again the third day to be your Lord and Savior. That's the best thing ever. And remember what we learned in Sunday school. If everything was taken away, it could all be taken away. If you try to find happiness in anything else, that's wrong. The only thing you and I need is Christ. And it's the only thing we'll take into eternity is our faith in Christ. How will you respond to this good news? Will you put your faith in Jesus? Will you repent of your sin and believe in Him and call upon Him to save you? And brother and sister, for us, we come and say, Lord, at my weakest, and the more I learn about you, the more weak I understand I am, that you came to me, you're the Lord. Let's stand as we have a time of invitation. Let's come before the Lord and say, Lord, You are the real reason for this season. You are the most important thing in my life. The Lord's at heart knower. And when you say that, you either really mean it or you won't. And the Lord knows that. And maybe you'd rather come and say, Lord, maybe you haven't been the most important thing in my life, but I'm beginning to realize you should be. Help me. Save me. You can call upon him to be saved, or you can call upon him and you can worship, praising and glorifying God for all the things that you've heard and seen, the wonderful truths of Jesus. Let's have a time of silent prayer, and then I'll close in prayer.