Winter Wonderland 2021

MESSAGE TRANSCRIPTION: 

Merry Christmas, guys, and gals. Woo! Oh. Thank you. Be seated. Well, I’m Pastor Virgil Grant. I’m the senior Pastor here at the church, but I’m also one of the pastors. And for some of you, it may be your first time ever in the Eastside. And you may be wondering, well, what kind of church is Eastside? Well, can I just tell you just a little bit about Eastside? Let me just tell you what kind of church we are, is that when God speaks, we just want to be obedient. God says, Go in this direction. We go in that direction. God says, pause. We will just pause. He goes, Go in this direction. We go in this direction. And lately, we’ve been just having this urge, this prompting from God that He wants us to embrace some things on behalf of our community. And so we have some things that he’s leading us to do. And as I share this with the people. This is what God was leading us to do. There’s a price tag associated with it of $185,000. The church people didn’t back away from this. They didn’t shrink from this. They didn’t walk away from it. They’ve embraced it. And we believe that God is leading us to build a special needs ministry room for these families that’s been in isolation that does not have a place to come and worship because there’s no place for their children. And we’ve got to build a special room with flooring and lighting. Some of you that’s in education, you know, the way you know that way better than I do. And then we believe that God wants us to start it, to start a limited preschool and daycare. And we have a baby boom going around here. And don’t drink the water. You don’t know what’s going to happen. But don’t do that. But that puts a tremendous amount of stress upon young families of taking care of child care needs. And then the third thing that we believe God’s leading us to do is to feed my starving children. And that’s where we bring in raw ingredients here on campus. And we will pack 200,000 meals over a three-day period. And then those meals then are transported around the world to developing emerging third-world countries where there’s not enough food. And we’ll pay for every bit of that. And they’ll be our gift to children around the world and our people here at Eastside. They don’t shrink back from that. They’ve embraced it. And people have been coming forward week after week saying, I want to volunteer. I want to give, and that is the type of church Eastside is. And I just want to remind all the Eastsiders to make sure you go to our website. eastsideky.church/endoftheyear, And remind you that you need to let us know about your intentions and what you are going to do to support this. And many of you have already done that. And thank you for that. So let’s give it up to the Lord for those three initiatives.

Now, here’s what I’d like for you to do. I’d like for you to turn to your neighbor. It could be your spouse. It could be somebody you don’t know and quickly share with them. What is your favorite Christmas Carol that you love and that you love to sing. So do that real quick for me. What’s your favorite Christmas Carol? Share that with your neighbor. All right. It shouldn’t take you too long to do that. Now, let me tell you, this is the biggest argument at Christmas in our home. Rose and I are empty nesters, Rose. She would start playing Christmas music on August the first. Is anybody else like that? Oh, y’all need to repent. And Jesus tonight. I’m telling you. But the thing with Rose is she loves Elvis. And so she likes to hear all of Elvis’s Christmas music. Now, I think the proper time to start playing Christmas music is the week of Christmas. Does anybody else agree with me? Yeah, the week of Christmas. But I was preparing for the sermon, and as I was preparing for the sermon, I just put on a Christmas playlist on Spotify, just pulled up a random Christmas playlist, and I started playing Christmas music, trying to get into the Christmas spirit as I was preparing this message. And this was a month or so ago, and I came across the song, and Brad’s going to sing it for us. But this song shows us and tells us about the human dilemma that we live in. But it also tells us about the hope that we have at Christmas. And then after this song, I’m going to come back, I’m going to share a few thoughts, and then we’re going to be dismissed to go experience winter wonderland. How does that sound?

Thanks, Brad. And Jesus is our hope. And in the Bible over 200 times, the Bible refers to our life apart from God as darkness. Look what it says. Isaiah Chapter nine. It says this.

“Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”

Isaiah 9:1-2

And what that means is that the human condition is dark, especially as darkness refers to being apart from God and His presence and his goodness. And darkness is talked about for us that exists in us as a life apart from God, apart from his love, his care, his direction, his wisdom. You know, sometimes darkness is referred to as a form of choking of our hearts. There’s a study that was done with some Harvard students many years ago, and they asked Harvard students a question and gave them two options. The first option was this if all the prices were the same, You could make 50,000 a year, and everybody else would make 25,000. Option B is that you can make 100,000, but everybody else would make 200,000. You know which option all the Harvard students chose. For them to make 50,000. And for everybody else to make 25,000. Because why? Because they wanted to feel superior and have other people envy them rather than them doubling their income. And that is the human condition. It is dark. Now, a couple of weeks ago, I went home one night, and Rose was there in the den, and she was seated there in the recliner. And I started talking to her about my day, about the problems that I face, about my worries and my concerns, and some of my hopes. And then I got up, and I walked away after about half an hour of conversation. And Rose said, honey, you know. You didn’t ask me one thing about my day. Now. She was right. What do you say in a moment like that? Do you go, honey? Thank you so much for pointing out my character flaw. I’m sorry. Would you please forgive me? No. You know what I did? I became defensive. Made some stupid lame remark, got up, and continued to walk into the next room. So I’m in the next room, and I’m just thinking to myself. Virgil, that was really stupid. You could have said something else. A little voice inside of me said, Yes, Virgil, You could have said. You know, honey, I was preoccupied and uncaring. Would you please forgive me? And I said to that voice inside of me, I don’t like that. What else do you have? You know, like, I don’t do that. Why? Because there is darkness in me. There’s the sea in me. Sometimes I look confident, but I am really not confident at all. But I am putting on a show. There are other times I like that I’m confident, and this is the direction that we need to go, and this is how we should do it. And I really don’t have a clue at all what we should be doing. There are other times that God has prompted me to step out and take a bold lead, and I don’t do it because I’m afraid of the consequences. Or there’s some other darker reason inside of me.

Here’s what I know That darkness lives in me. There are times that I compare myself to other people. Do you ever compare yourself to other people? And then you hear something bad about that person, and something inside of you go, Yes. Right. And where did that come from? Darkness lives in me. Well, you know what? Darkness is in the world. If you don’t believe me, I have to go home, watch the evening news, log on to one of your social media accounts, and look at all the darkness that you see on social media. Jesus predicted this many years ago. Jesus says in John 3:19.

“Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

John 3:19 (NIV)

That is the human condition, apart from God. Some of you are here tonight, and your life is going really, really well, and you are excited about everything that you’re accomplished this past year. But can I let you in on a little secret? There’s darkness in you. Do you know what darkness is called? It’s called sin. And it’s a really big deal to God. God hates the darkness that exists in us and the sin that exists in us. Because why? It leads to loneliness, isolation, and guilt. We get hurt by, and we hurt other people. And then the ultimate darkness comes into our life. Death enters the picture, right? We walk with someone for 20, 30, 40, 50 years, and then they get sick, and then they die. And then the Bible says that you will walk through the valley of the shadow of death. And God sees every bit of that, and God says, Understand what you’re going through. I’m going to do something about it. Now, in my research for this, I came across a book that I had never heard of before. Now it’s kind of amazing that I have not heard about a book. I probably have close to 1200 thousand 1200 books in my library, and I’ve read probably 400 of them. And so when I came across a book that I didn’t know anything about, I was intrigued. And I went, and I bought this book, and I’m going to give it to my granddaughter this year, Ruby, for Christmas. And it’s the book by Martin Waddell. It’s called Can’t You Sleep a Little Better? Did anybody ever hear of this book before? I would encourage you to go buy it. I’m going to give you the storyline right now. Okay. During the day, Big Bear plays with Little Bear there outside in the sun and in the snow at night time. Big Bear takes a little bear to the bear cave, tucks him in, and tells him it’s time to go to sleep. But little bears cannot sleep. Little bear is wide awake. Do any of your young parents know anything about this? Yeah. Big bear paws over to his bed and says, Can’t you sleep, little bear? No, I am scared. Why are you scared? Because of the dark. What dark? The darkness is all around us. Big Bear notices that there are corners in the cave that are still dark. And he gets out a small little lantern. And he says, Now can you sleep? Now there is light, but the little bear cannot sleep. And he tosses, and he turns. Big Bear brings in a bigger lantern. Then he brings out the biggest lantern of all. But still, the little bear cannot sleep. He tosses and turns for the fourth time. They have this conversation. Can’t you sleep, little bear? No, I can’t because of the darkness. Big Bear says it’s all light in here. And a little bear says I know. But it’s all dark out there. As he points outside the cave. Big Bear picks up Little bear and says, Let’s go out there into the darkness. And he goes, Yes, I’m afraid of the dark. Big Bear says, You don’t have to be afraid, little bear, because I brought you the moon and all the twinkling little stars. But Little bear could not hear because he died of fright. Now, it doesn’t say that. That’d be a horrible way to end a children’s book. I was just seeing if you were listening. It does not say that at all. Here’s what it is. Here’s what happened. Little bear couldn’t hear because he had gone to sleep warm and safe in Big Bear’s arms.

Now, is that a great story? Wouldn’t you like to have Kevin Wallace come over to your house and read that book to your kids? I mean, wouldn’t that be incredible? And why did a Little Bear? Why was he no longer afraid of the dark? It wasn’t because of the lantern but because he was safe and secure in the arms of Big Bear. And this Christmas, we have to remember that God has seen the darkness that we walk in. He has seen how ignorant, confused, and afraid. He’s watching us stumble around in the darkness. He sees our lives are stained through and through with sin. I know that’s hard to hear, but God says, you know, I see it. I know what you’re going through. And God did something about it. And God did something. You know what he did? He didn’t send a warning. He didn’t send a rebuke. He didn’t give us a punishment. He didn’t send an idea. He didn’t send a religion. He sends a person. He sends his own son, Jesus Christ, to us. And Jesus makes this staggering statement. And John 8:12 when he said.

“I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.”

John 8:12 (NCV)

And do you understand that tonight, there are many people in this room who are walking in darkness? They’re hiding in the darkness. They’re in isolation. They’re living in isolation and hiding out in darkness because of shame, guilt, and sin, something that they participated in. But here’s the good news about Christmas. This is the reason why Jesus is the light of the world. And the hope of Christmas is this. Is that light for you tonight? The light is for you. You can step out of the darkness tonight. You can step out of hiding. You can step out of isolation. And you can leave your guilt, shame, and sin behind. And you can step into the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ tonight. And how can I do that, Pastor? Well, Jesus said it like this in John chapter 3:3 He says.

(Jesus) “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the

Kingdom of God without being born again.”

John 3:3 (CEV)

If you step into the light tonight. You can do it. It’s for you. No matter how dark your past has been, no matter how dark your life is right now, you can leave that all behind, and you can step into the light. You can be born again tonight. And how does that happen? We just tell people this is easy as A, B, and C, and all those letters have an explanatory word that goes with it. The letter A is.

Admitting

Admitting that I’m a sinner, admitting that I’m living in darkness, admitting that there’s something broken inside of me that I cannot fix. And we all have something broken inside of us that we cannot fix. And it’s called sin. And I want you to understand something, my friends, is that there’s no priest, there’s no pastor, there’s no denomination, there’s no program, there are no parents, there’s nothing that can fix what is broken inside of you. There’s absolutely nothing. The only thing that can fix what is broken inside of you is Jesus Christ. And that is where the letter B comes in. The letter B is.

Believing

That God sent Jesus to the Earth to fix our brokenness. And you go, how did he fix your brokenness? He fixed your brokenness by dying on the cross. And he took my place. And your place on the cross. He died on our behalf. And because he did that and we receive him, then he fixes our brokenness. And the letter C stands for.

Confessing

Confessing him as your Lord and Savior, not just tonight, but for the rest of your life. So tonight, I’m just going to ask you to blow your head. You don’t have to close your eyes. You can look down at the floor. You can look at the seat back in front of you. This is a holy moment because so far, in the previous three services, we’ve had 18 people. To step out of darkness and step into the light. And I believe that tonight there are some people. Who’s going to step into the light? Who’s going to be born again. And they’re going to have their sins forgiven. And then you’re going can have your sins forgiven, but you’re going to receive a fresh start. You’re going to receive a clean slate. Your name is going to be written in the Book of Heaven tonight. And so tonight, many of you are saying, well, Pastor, I love to step into the light. I’d love to be born again. Well, how do you do that? Well, I’m going to tell you how to do it just in a second. But here’s what I’m to do. I’m not going to ask you to stand. I’m not going to ask you to come down and meet me at the front. I’m not going to ask you to meet me in the atrium. I’m not going to ask you to send me your name and text me or anything like that. But if you want to be born again tonight, I want to include you in the born-again prayer. And this. A prayer that you pray where you step out of darkness and you step into the light. And I want to include you in that. And here’s how I’m going to include you. In a moment, I’m going to ask you to raise your hand really hard. That’s how I know 18 people have stepped out of darkness into the light. And so, in a moment, I’m going to say who was to be included in that prayer of being born again, stepping out of darkness into light. I’m going to ask you to hold your hands up in the air when you leave them up. And I’m going to go around the room, and I’m going to count them. And then, after I get through counting the hands, then we’ll pray the prayer of being born again. So tonight, if you have never stepped out of the darkness and stepped into the light. I’m just going to ask you, do me a favor. Would you just raise your hand? Hold them up high. Nobody’s looking around. Just raise your hand. Raise your hand. I’m looking. One, two, three, four, five. See. Five, six. Thank you. I got you in the back. Six. And here’s what I’m going to ask us to do. Whatever. I just open my eyes, look at the side screens, and this is together. Let’s just read this born-again prayer together. If you’ve already if you’ve already made this prayer, it’s not going to hurt you to read it again. It just reminds you of what Jesus did for you.

“God, I know there is darkness inside me. I want to be your child. I believe that Jesus came to be the Light of the World. I believe that on the cross, Jesus took my sin, my shame, and my guilt, and He died for it. He faced hell for me so I wouldn’t have to go. I want to give myself to You and receive Your forgiveness and step into the Light. Right now, Lord Jesus, I turn from my sin, I turn from my darkness, to be born again. God is my Father. Jesus is my Savior. The Holy Spirit is my Helper. Heaven is my home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Would you welcome these six people? Now. Not only are we proud of those people for stepping out of the darkness into the light. I want to challenge each family here to be a light for Jesus this holiday season. And, you know, you have an opportunity every time you have a family gathering, every time that you go shopping. And I made the mistake of going shopping this afternoon. It reminded me how much I needed Jesus in my life. But, you know, wherever you do, wherever you go, you’re a choice. To be a light for other people. Or you can just be silent for Jesus. I want to challenge you as a family to make a commitment to be the light for Jesus this holiday season. And here’s what we’re going to ask you to do. We’re going to ask you the moment the worship team is going to lead us in singing Silent Night. And as they sing the song Silent Night. I want to ask you, as a family, if you’re willing to make that commitment to solidify your commitment by coming forward and lighting a candle and leaving the candle on the stage. And then go back to your seat. And then, after everyone’s done, I’ll give some final instructions, and then I’ll dismiss you. Okay. So would you stand? And the worship team is going to lead us. And as you feel led, and if you got one here in the middle, you might well get some of the confetti out of the candles. Okay.

What a beautiful scene, right? You know, tonight, as you are getting ready to be dismissed, there’s going to be food on the main floor, and down on the second floor, there’s going to be all kinds of different activities all the way across the back. And then outside in the tent is the adult room for those that maybe don’t have kids. And you think, well, this is not for me. There’s a place for you with even thought about you so that you could stick around. But we’ll give you some tangible tools to be the light of the world or be the light for Jesus. When you leave tonight, you can just pick up one of these bags, and there’s a candle. You can just slide the candle at Christmas dinner, whatever, Christmas gathering. And then, we have a contemporary reading of the Christmas story. That you can read the Christmas story with the candle lit and then end it. Most people were like, I don’t know what to pray. How do you pray? Well, here’s a prayer of light that you can just read that prayer after you get through reading the Christmas story. And these are just some tangible tools to help you to be a light for Jesus this holiday season. So pick out one per family and make sure that you utilize those whenever you have your gatherings. You’re dismissed. God bless. Hope to see you back soon.