Christmas Eve

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Merry Christmas, Eastside. My name is Ariel Marrow, and my family and I have had the privilege of attending church here for the last three years. As we take time today to reflect on and celebrate who Jesus is. I want to remind you that God frequently comes to us in the obscurities of life. He comes to us in ways we may not anticipate or expect. Just as God came to Mary in obscurity, God came to my family in a way that we did not expect in the form of our son, Blake. I have a picture coming up of our three beautiful babies, and our youngest, Blake, was diagnosed a few years ago with a very rare genetic mutation. It’s so rare it doesn’t even have a name. It’s just referenced by the gene that’s affected. And it’s called c T and B one. After years of missed milestones, doctor’s appointments, therapy, surgeries, and endless tearful questions, we finally had an answer to why Blake is the way he is. Having his diagnosis helped guide our path, but it also solidified his special needs. We love being Blake’s parents, and we find so much joy in little things. We fell to our knees and praised the Lord when he took his first steps because we were told he may never walk again. Praise the Lord for his mercies. I could go on all day about how much Blake has taught us, the incredible people we have met through our story, and how God has shown up in our lives. But the sad truth church is that special needs parents it’s very isolating. And there’s a whole community out there that feels like they can’t attend church because their family may not be welcome or their child’s needs may not be met. I knew when I was asked to speak today I had to get up here and be a voice for a community that so often doesn’t have a voice. Blake brings joy. He brings something special to our lives. And you may know somebody who has a family member who has a child with special needs or a coworker. They may not come to you with their struggles, but I promise you, they need you. They need the church, and they need the community that it provides. You may have heard that Eastside is embracing three new initiatives in the coming year. The special needs program is a limited preschool, and they’re bringing back the meal-packing program called Feed My Starving Children. We are so grateful that this church is embracing those needs. My family and I were in prayer and decided to give up our weekly giving. This may be something you want to do for a one-time donation, or this could be your first step in your generosity journey to help support these amazing programs. If you feel led, the website will come up here. It has a form that you can fill out, and that will tell the church how you are preparing and how you want to give to this in the coming year. I want to thank you not only for my family but I want to thank you from the communities that will be supported in this. Thank you.

Whoa! Give it up. Yeah. Praise King Jesus. Thank you. You can be seated, you know; I want to once again thank you for being here. I’m Virgil Grant. I’m one of the pastors around here. And this is or not service in the last 14 days. So I want you to give it up for all of our volunteers. Who’s made these nine services possible over the last 14 days? They’ve done a tremendous job, and I’m so grateful for each and every one of them and their hard work and dedication. Well, you know, I want us for just a few moments to take a second or two and reflect upon the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, it’s amazing to me that after 2021 years, we’re still talking about Jesus Christ. Think about the 2021 years later, we’re still talking about Jesus Christ, and we’re talking about how He has changed lives. I don’t know about you, but there are millions and millions and millions of people who testify to the wonder-working power of Jesus Christ in their lives. And I just happened to be one of those individuals who Jesus has changed. Has he changed anybody else in the room tonight? Yeah, just raise your hand. Yeah. There you go. Yes. He’s changed your life. And the name of Jesus is highly controversial. I don’t know if you know that or not. You can go on to a talk show. You can talk about God. You can talk about the spirit. You can talk about spirituality. But the moment that you bring up the name of Jesus, it becomes controversial. You begin to talk about Jesus. And now he’s the only way to God. And they go, No, he cannot be the only way to God. And the name of Jesus evokes controversy. And what I want to do tonight, just for a very brief moment, is to help you to broaden your understanding of whom Jesus Christ is. And I will take my sermon title from the carol that we just sang. What child is this?

Now, you have to understand that most people look at Jesus in a low-definition resolution. I want us to move to high def. And I just want to briefly introduce you to a broader spectrum of who Jesus Christ is. Now, before I do that, I have to teach you a Hebrew word and a Greek word. And these Hebrew words, the Hebrew word is hinneh, and the Greek word is idou. Now, those are two words, one in Hebrew and one in Greek. They mean the exact same thing. And it means to see, behold. And so as we’re going through this, you have to understand that we’re going to see the word behold over and over and over. And that is what that means in contemporary English. Hey, dude, wake up. You better watch out. This is something really, really important. That’s what it means in modern terminology. So let’s look at who Jesus Christ is. Some different pictures, number one. Behold Jesus, the baby. Now you understand that Jesus. The baby was prophesied hundreds of years before he was ever born. In fact, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah makes this declaration in excuse me, in Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14.

Isaiah 7:14 (NKJV)

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name

Immanuel.”

Which means what? God is with us. So, folks, listen. Is that Jesus was brought forth through a miracle birth. Now, if you’re a parent, you understand that childbirth within itself is a miracle. If you have ever watched or ever been a part of it, ever have a child in your home. It’s a miracle process. But this was an even greater miracle because the Holy Spirit did a divine work in Mary. Mary brought forth the baby Jesus, and Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. Now, folks, you have to understand that when he was born, they wrapped him. As you may remember what, they wrapped him in the grafting. And what swaddling clothes does it make know what swaddling clothes represents? They were actually material that you buried, that you wrapped around a person who had died. And what are the implications of that? From the very beginning, who’s the son of God that was born to die for the sins of mankind? And so we see Jesus, the baby. But number two, I want you to see Jesus, the LAMB of God. And John makes this declaration and John. 129.

John 1:29 (NKJV)

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said,‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'”

Now, folks, we don’t understand the implication of this particular verse, but back in that day and age, they understood with great clarity what all of this meant because their system was based upon a sacrificial system. When someone sinned, someone had to die for that sin. And what they did is that they had a sacrificial system. In fact, that was started when God delivered the nation of Israel from the Egyptians. And he instituted the Passover. And the Passover was is that there would be blood. They would put over the door posts. And when the blood was put over the doorposts that, the death angel would fly can pass over that. And if he didn’t have blood on the doorposts, what would happen is that death would come to that house. Now, here’s what they did, is that this is kind of gross, but we have to understand what they did. They took an innocent lamb, a baby lamb that was pure and unblemished. And they took the lamb, and they slit the lamb’s throat, and they took the blood, and they dumped it into a bucket. And then what they did, they took the blood from that lamb, that innocent blemish unblemished. LAMB And they took a sponge, and they put the blood over the top of the doorpost. When you put blood over the top of the doorpost. What happens to the blood? It drips down to the ground, and then they would take blood and they put it on the side of the door post representing the cross of Jesus Cross. And here’s the thing. When the death angel would come over, he would see the blood, and he would do what he would pass over. And when he didn’t see the blood, then he would come in and bring death to that family. And so John says is, behold, look, there is the lamb of God. Not just any lamb, but the lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Who’s Jesus Christ? He’s the baby number two. He’s the lamb of God. But number three, behold Jesus, the man. Now we have a hard time understanding that Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time. He said he was one 100% man and 100% God at the exact same time. And this is hard for us to comprehend. And there’s a big technical term for that. But God came in human form, and he was God in the flesh, but he was no ordinary individual. Look at this, John. Chapter 19.

Jesus came out in front of the Pontious pilot wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and the pilot said to him, What? Behold the man. Now, behold the man. Jesus was not just any man. He was a man that was full of God’s love. Because you think about it, is that Jesus loved everyone. Remember the leopards of the lepers of that day and age is that they got leprosy and were put into isolation, and nobody would hang out with them. Nobody would minister to them. And Jesus came along. And what did he do? He ministered to them. He reached out and healed them. And then you remember that there are people with blind eyes. And what would Jesus do? Reach out. And he healed them. And then he befriended the prostitutes of that day and age. And anybody that was different. Jesus made room for them in his life and in his heart. And Jesus Christ was a man who was obedient, even to the cross, even to death. And you recall that when. Jesus went to the cross. There is this whole ordeal that he endured on our behalf. He’s not just any man. He’s fully God. What you remember is that they had beaten Jesus with 39 lashes. Now we think about 39 lashes, and we go, Well, what’s the big deal about that? Well, they had an instrument called the Cat of Nine Tails, and this was an instrument with a wooden handle. And they had these big long leather strips that reached out, and there was nine of them. And the Roman soldier had perfected the art of taking that kind of nine tails. And at the end of those leather strips, there was glass and stone connected. And so you can imagine, as they had perfected the art of this cat of nine tails, they would take those leather strips, and they would wrap it around the individual, and then they would pull back it. Where they would pull back, it would rip the flesh. And after 39 lashes, the internal organs would actually be hanging out. And Jesus endured that for you and I. And then the Roman soldiers, they’re these big bulky rings on. And they would hit people, and they hit Jesus, and they hung Jesus on the cross. And they pierced his side, pierced his hands and his feet. And as the creation was mocking the creator, Jesus Christ looked up to his father in heaven. And what does he say? Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Folks, listen to me. Jesus Christ is Jesus, the baby. But He’s also Jesus, the LAMB of God. And not only is He those two things, but he’s also the man. But number four, he is the returning king. Now, you have to understand something. When Jesus came the first time, he came as a lowly servant. But when he comes back and he’s coming back, by the way, sometimes we forget about that. He tells us in Scripture that it’s coming back, but when he comes back the second time, he’s going to come back as the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Now, notice what it says here in Revelation chapter 22. I hope that you’re watching this. What’s the first word of this? These verses, what is it? Behold! Pay attention. Look up. I’m coming quickly. Jesus says my reward is with me to give to every one according to his work. He says I’m the alpha, the omega, the beginning, and the end, the first and the last. He says, Pay attention. I’m coming. I’m going to come quickly. Notice what he says in Revelation chapter 19.

Revelation 19:11-16 (NKJV)

“I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”

He says, Behold. Check it out. Time is short. Look around. See the pain. See the world. See the wars. See the tragedy. See the famine. See the moral depravity. Behold, there is a soon-coming king. And one day, the trumpet of God will sound. And the dead in Christ will rise first. And then all of us that are living will be called up. And we will all be gathered together in and around the throne room of God one day as believers. Folks, listen. Behold Jesus, the returning king. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to that day. Amen. But lastly, I want you to see Behold. Jesus wants to share life with you. I love this next verse, one of the first verses I memorized as a child. Revelation 320. And notice what it says. And Jesus is speaking.

Revelation 3:20 (NKJV)

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

You know what Jesus is saying there? He says, I stand at the door and knock if you let me in. You know what I’ll do? I will show you the unconditional love of God. You know what? I’m standing at the door, knocking. If you let me in. I will show you joy. Unspeakable. I’m standing at the door, knocking. If you let me in, I will show you peace that passes all understanding. If you will let me in. As I’m standing there knocking, I will come in, and I will bring healing to your life that you know nothing about. If you let me come in, Jesus says, I will give you love, and I will give it to you abundantly. Are you listening, my friends? Are you paying attention? Behold. Check it out. Is Jesus the same returning king? And he’s knocking on the door of your heart. And I’m so afraid that many people are celebrating Christmas. But they’re missing the risen cross. You know, there’s a lot of people celebrating Christmas. But how many people are missing the risen Christ? I love this quote. I just had to put it on the screen for you that Christmas began in the heart of God, and it is only complete when it reaches the heart of man. Christmas becomes a reality when you invite Christ into your life. See, folks, Christmas is not about opening up presents. Christmas is about opening up your heart to receive Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ came to this earth. 2002. 2021 years ago, when he came, he didn’t come and die on the cross. Be put in the grave on the third day, come out of the grave so that you can attend church. Once or twice a year or 52 times a year. Jesus came and died on the cross, was put into the grave, and came out of the grave three days later so that you could have heaven. That’s why he came here so that you could have your name written in the Book of Heaven, so that you could have a fresh start, so that you could have a new beginning so that you could have your past forgiven. So that you could have a brand new slate. And folks, I know and you know, that there are many individuals that have not yet experienced the forgiving, forgiveness, and the love of Jesus Christ. They have still haunted, and shame and guilt still rule their life. But you know what? To not, you can have a brand new start. Your past can be completely forgiven. You can have your name written in the Book of Heaven, and you can have a dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ. And you go, But how can I do that? Pastor is, my past is so tainted. If you just knew what I did last night, you wouldn’t want me to be in the church. You know what? God knows all about that. Here’s what Jesus says in John chapter three, verse three. He says this I’m telling you the truth that no one could see the Kingdom of God. No one can enter heaven unless they are born again. And the question is, how do you become born again? Well, let me just say this. Born again. It’s not an Eastside term. Born again is not a pastor’s term. It’s not my term. It’s not a Baptist term. It’s not a Catholic term or Methodist or any other denominational term. Born again is a Jesus term. And Jesus says, If you want to have your name written in the Book of Heaven if you want to have a fresh start, you want to have your sins forgiven, you have to be born again. And the question is how? How can a person be born again? And we say that all the time around here, and you can probably say it. It’s as easy as one A, B, and C of being born again. And each letter corresponds to an important principle. The letter A represents admitting that I’m a sinner, admitting that there’s something broken inside of me. There’s something broken inside of you. There’s something broken inside of your spouse. There’s something broken inside of your children, no matter how small they are. You know what it’s called? It’s called sin. And you know what? No one can fix that. I mean, you can’t fix it for your children. Parents is that your peers can’t fix it for you. There’s no priest, there’s no pastor, there’s no promise. There’s no program. There’s no denomination. There’s nothing that can fix the brokenness inside of you that is called sin. And some of you similar if there’s brokenness inside of each and every one of us, then how can any of us get to heaven? How can we get there if we can’t fix ourselves? And that’s where the letter B comes into play, which is to believe that Jesus came to fix us. And how did he fix us? He didn’t give us a bunch of rules to follow. Jesus came, and he lived the life that you and I could not live so that He could die a death that we should have died. But instead of us being hung on the cross, Jesus went to the cross on our behalf. And Jesus took the hit for you and for me. And the letter C stands for confessing him as Lord and Savior. Now, with every head bowed. No one is looking around. No one is moving around. If you’re here and you go pasture, I want to be born again. I want to have a relationship with Jesus. I want to have forgiveness for my sins. I want a fresh start. I want to spend eternity with God in heaven. If this is your heart’s desire. I want to ask you to pray. The born-again prayer. And if you want to pray that prayer, I’m going to ask you to do something for me. I’m not going to embarrass you by having you stand up. I’m not going to embarrass you by asking you to come down front or meeting me in the atrium or nothing like that. But if you’re saying in your heart. I want to take that step, Pastor. I know that I need to be born again. I want to invite you to pray with me. See, the greatest gift you could give to your family this Christmas is a relationship with Christ. And that can happen right now at this very moment. And so here’s what I want to ask you. If you want to be included in this prayer being born again, I want you do me a favor. This is what happened at the 12-noon service. I’ll do the exact same thing in five. People. Raise their hand if you want to be included in this prayer. I’m going to ask you to raise your hand in just a second, and I want you to hold your hand up. Don’t you hold it high? And I’m just going to go around the room and count the hands. No one’s moving. No one’s looking around. If you are ready to receive Christ, ready to be born again, I just want you to raise your hand up right now. Just raise it up to you so I can see it. One, two, three, four, five. Looking back now. Five. Five six. Seven. Thank you. Seven people. Raise your hand. Here’s what I’m going to ask everyone to do. I’m just going to ask everyone. Just look forward and together. Let’s just read this prayer out loud.

Dear Lord Jesus, I believe that you’re the son of God. I believe that on the cross, you took my seat in my shame and my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven. A purpose on earth and a relationship with your father. Today, Lord Jesus turned from us. Sin to be born again. God is my father. Jesus is my Savior. The Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is my home. In Jesus’ name, 

Amen.

 Let’s welcome the seven people of the Kingdom of God. Yeah. Greatest decision.

The greatest decision you’ll ever make. The Bible says angels are rejoicing in heaven and throwing a party right now. And the greatest gift that you could ever give to your family is to be born again. So congratulations. God bless you. Now, if you would, there are some communion elements that. You discovered when you came in. I want you to go ahead and secure those if you don’t mind. Now, some of you you may be visiting from out of town, and some of you, you came with family or friends, and then you go, Well, should I take communion? Should I not take communion? Well, at Eastside. The Bible teaches that there’s one requirement primarily for you to take communion, and that is that you’re born again, that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And if you have a relationship with Jesus Christ and you feel comfortable, we would encourage you to take communion with us. But if you haven’t received Christ, if you haven’t asked him to forgive you for your sins, then you probably shouldn’t do that because you’d be going against what the Scripture teaches. And so we would welcome you if you meet the requirement for you to join in. And I just want to remind you what these elements stand for. The bread stands for the fact that Jesus cares. You know that Jesus cared enough to leave heaven to come to the earth. And aren’t you glad that God didn’t send us an email, that God didn’t send us a text message? He didn’t send us a letter in the mail, but he knew that we needed it. To see Jesus in the flesh, and he sent Jesus to the earth to live and die on our behalf. And so the bread represents the fact that Jesus cares for us. But the cup or the juice? The wine represents the love of Jesus. That he loved us enough. That he was obedient to death on the cross. Because Scripture says that without the shedding of blood, there’s no forgiveness of sin. Because see, that’s the reason why we don’t have the sacrificial system no more as a reason why we don’t go around slaughtering baby lambs anymore. Because you know that blood wasn’t sufficient. But when Jesus Christ died on the cross once and for all, His blood was sufficient for all of history. And so the fact that he cares for us and that he loves us. And Alicia is going to come out, and she’s going to pray for us and then lead us in taking the bread.

Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for this opportunity tonight to take a moment and pause. And with all the hustle and bustle and all the things we could be doing or have to do after this, Father, this is a time where we just sit in your presence and are reminded of the sacrifice of your son. Father, thank you for sending him as a baby. Thank you for having him live a perfect life, so we didn’t have to. And, Father, thank you. That because of his sacrifice, we get to live forever with you. Father, we thank you for this sacrifice, and we thank you that we get to partake in this bread and be reminded of how much you love us. Let’s take this together.

Okay. Carline is going to lead us in praying for the cup and taking the cup.

Let us pray over the cup. Father, we thank you right now that your blood was spilled out on the cross. You said the words. It is finished. And what was finished with your life was really the beginning of our life. We thank you that the blood represents not death, but for us it represents life. Jesus, As we receive what represents your blood, we’re reminded of the life that you gave us, that you came 2000 years ago. That you died, but that you rose again to give us an everlasting life. God, we thank you. That we can receive your blood. That covers all of our sins. And in Jesus’ name, we all pray. Amen. You may take the cup.

Now I want to ask you to grab your candles. And I want to show you how we’re going to do this. I know it seems elementary, but you know what? What we want to do is we want to help other people by allowing their candles for them. And so Elisha is not going to light my candle, but I’m going to do this and then come back and then help the next person by holding my candle that keeps all the wax from dripping over on you and on the seats on the floor. And so our ushers are going to start lighting the candles, and you can help other people. And then, once your candle is lit, you can go ahead and stand, and we’re going to sing together a closing song.

You know, I love it. When all the candles were lit across the room. Because it reminds me of what we’re trying to do as a congregation, as a church. Part of our mission. As a church is to push back the darkness in Madison County and to be the light for Jesus Christ. That’s the reason why, you know, these new initiatives, new ministries, is to just help to continue to do that in different pockets of our community. And, you know, here’s the thing. If we can make this room completely dark. And you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. And you lot one candle. Darkness is dispelled. There’s no amount of darkness that can snuff out the light. The light always prevails. And so this Christmas 2022, let us be the light of Christ wherever we go. Amen. Amen. And they meant Merry Christmas. You can blow out your candles and put them in the bins as you leave. And have a great evening. You’re dismissed.