WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.900 We've got one last reading tonight from Luke chapter 2, verses 1 to 12. 00:00:06.500 --> 00:00:12.859 In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 00:00:13.379 --> 00:00:20.100 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:21.820 each to his own town. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:28.579 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of 00:00:28.579 --> 00:00:34.320 David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:38.179 be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:43.380 And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to 00:00:43.380 --> 00:00:49.719 her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:51.359 was no place for them in the inn. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:56.820 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their 00:00:56.820 --> 00:00:57.719 flock by night. 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:02.439 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:04.260 and they were filled with great fear. 00:01:04.260 --> 00:01:12.140 And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:14.240 be for all the people. 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:20.840 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, and 00:01:20.840 --> 00:01:22.160 this will be a sign for you. 00:01:22.460 --> 00:01:26.520 You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. 00:01:28.960 --> 00:01:29.760 Let's pray. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:38.140 Lord, we thank you so much for these readings from Scripture, and the fact that we can come 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:39.880 tonight and gather and worship you. 00:01:40.100 --> 00:01:44.480 And so we come now and ask that as we look at the Bible, this passage, for just a few minutes, 00:01:45.060 --> 00:01:50.640 you would open our eyes to see your truth by faith, and you would open our hearts to receive 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:56.340 your love that you teach us in this passage in Luke 2, and you would open our ears to listen 00:01:56.340 --> 00:01:57.060 with understanding. 00:01:57.060 --> 00:02:02.000 So we ask that you would come and meet us exactly where we are for your Holy Spirit to lead us 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:02.260 tonight. 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:03.960 We pray this in Jesus' name. 00:02:04.299 --> 00:02:04.560 Amen. 00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:07.159 All right, let me raise this up. 00:02:11.340 --> 00:02:18.099 We just read from the Gospel of Luke, and Luke, the author of that passage, the story of 00:02:18.099 --> 00:02:23.000 Jesus' birth, he was a medical doctor, and he was also a historian. 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:27.840 And so there's a notable scholar, a historian of the first century named Richard Baucom. 00:02:28.659 --> 00:02:36.719 And Baucom says that Luke's gospel is formatted in the same way that a Greek historian of the 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:39.580 first century would format a historical text. 00:02:40.420 --> 00:02:46.420 And it makes sense because Luke was a man who had access to people like Peter and Paul, 00:02:46.520 --> 00:02:51.780 other writers of the New Testament, people who are eyewitnesses of the story of Jesus when 00:02:51.780 --> 00:02:52.740 Jesus was on earth. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:57.379 And he traveled all around Jerusalem to the Mediterranean and everywhere. 00:02:57.620 --> 00:03:02.439 And he took in eyewitness testimony from lots of different people, and he produced this gospel, 00:03:02.539 --> 00:03:04.360 the gospel of Luke that we've read from. 00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:12.500 What does Luke, the historian, want us to think and to feel tonight about the first Christmas? 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:14.900 Three things. 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:21.300 Number one, Luke wants you to know tonight that this story that we've read is not a fairy tale. 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:22.219 It's history. 00:03:23.419 --> 00:03:27.280 Now, when you read Luke's gospel, he doesn't open up with lines like, 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:28.460 once upon a time. 00:03:28.840 --> 00:03:32.199 He doesn't open up with, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:40.219 And he doesn't even open up with, in a hole in the ground, there once lived a hobbit. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:45.859 No, in chapter one, he says, I write to you to give you an orderly account. 00:03:46.359 --> 00:03:49.079 And that's a historian's language for eyewitness testimony. 00:03:49.219 --> 00:03:53.560 And then in chapter two, he says that we just had read for us in those days. 00:03:53.679 --> 00:03:55.579 And then he lays out this political scene. 00:03:55.580 --> 00:04:00.100 And he says, the first emperor, Caesar Augustus, that's Gaius Octavius. 00:04:00.540 --> 00:04:01.500 He was on the throne. 00:04:01.600 --> 00:04:03.720 And then he says, and Quirinius was the governor of Syria. 00:04:04.140 --> 00:04:08.580 That's Quirinius Warus, who was the governor of Syria at the beginning of the first century. 00:04:08.780 --> 00:04:13.180 And he goes on to give you family lineage details and travel schedules 00:04:13.180 --> 00:04:16.540 and what census we are on in the first century under the emperor. 00:04:17.540 --> 00:04:17.780 Why? 00:04:17.960 --> 00:04:21.460 Christmas has become many, many things over 2,000 years. 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:25.819 And today, for all of us, there's presents involved. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:28.620 And there's department store shopping involved. 00:04:29.339 --> 00:04:32.459 And there is watching Home Alone involved. 00:04:32.639 --> 00:04:35.459 And all of that stuff comes with fun and good stuff. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:39.519 But the real Christmas, the first Christmas, was not a sentimental story. 00:04:39.579 --> 00:04:41.599 Instead, it's an historical narrative. 00:04:42.099 --> 00:04:46.000 And it is where God, in the middle of history, became a human being, 00:04:46.599 --> 00:04:49.139 this little baby we've read about in real life history. 00:04:49.139 --> 00:04:58.060 And I don't know about you, but at my house, I sometimes get in trouble for failing to pick a movie 00:04:58.060 --> 00:05:01.419 to the point where we finally all just fall asleep. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.599 And there's so many options today in our world. 00:05:05.500 --> 00:05:07.099 And so we're scrolling and scrolling. 00:05:07.399 --> 00:05:12.620 And so what I'll do is I'll get my phone out and I'll open up Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb. 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:17.319 And I'm looking at everything saying, is this going to be good enough for me to invest my time into? 00:05:17.319 --> 00:05:23.139 Right now, if you're like me and you love IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, one of the things maybe you've noticed is that 00:05:23.139 --> 00:05:27.620 what the critics say about films and what the audience say are different. 00:05:28.599 --> 00:05:32.560 And Rotten Tomatoes has even introduced the popcorn meter, which is the audience score, 00:05:32.939 --> 00:05:35.439 versus the tomato meter, which is the critics score. 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:41.240 And when you pay attention, one of the things you probably know is that critics want us to watch 00:05:41.240 --> 00:05:47.280 con film festival films, you know, indie films, sad films. 00:05:47.840 --> 00:05:55.519 They want us to watch slow pacing, non-linear storytelling, avant-garde, unclear endings, 00:05:56.120 --> 00:05:58.160 sad at the start, sad in the middle, sad at the end. 00:05:59.840 --> 00:06:02.220 Rugged realism is what the critics love. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:06.960 And the audiences, when you look at that, they love Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and Cinderella 00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:11.180 and Beauty and the Beast and Lion King and A Christmas Carol and Les Mis. 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:16.379 And we normal humans love it when the brave children defeat the wicked witch. 00:06:16.819 --> 00:06:23.179 We love stories where the light breaks into the darkness and there's rescue and there's redemption. 00:06:24.299 --> 00:06:29.579 And we, it's because we humans, until we're trained out of it, are drawn to certain story patterns. 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:33.859 And those story patterns are because of Christmas. 00:06:34.079 --> 00:06:42.000 You see, Christmas says that Jesus Christ is the historical reality to which all the best stories point. 00:06:43.139 --> 00:06:49.159 His story is the pattern by which every other story finds its shape and purpose. 00:06:50.339 --> 00:06:54.620 And the once upon a time stories that we love to write, we love to tell, 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:57.740 they point to the fact that the real thing actually does exist. 00:06:57.740 --> 00:07:02.120 And so my first invitation to you tonight is to trust your deepest longings, 00:07:02.980 --> 00:07:09.439 to trust your instincts, that when you watch the vulnerable hero's sacrifice at the end of that great story, 00:07:09.759 --> 00:07:12.300 and it stirs something in you and it makes you weep, 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:15.680 and you say, I wish that were true in real life. 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:16.460 It is. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:19.900 It has become true in Jesus Christ. 00:07:20.500 --> 00:07:24.079 He is the truth to which all the stories ultimately point. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:28.939 At Christmas time, the Son of God became a vulnerable human being to rescue you. 00:07:30.039 --> 00:07:31.639 It's the truest story that's ever been. 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:38.779 Secondly, Luke the historian gives us only one line in this whole section about the birth of Jesus. 00:07:38.979 --> 00:07:44.319 So one of the most important events in all of human history, the birth of Jesus itself. 00:07:44.819 --> 00:07:47.539 Luke only gives you one verse, and it's in verse 7. 00:07:47.540 --> 00:07:51.520 And all he says is, he was wrapped in swaddling cloths. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:07:54.939 He was laid in a manger because there was no place for them in the end. 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:58.120 Now, he was laid in a manger. 00:07:58.379 --> 00:08:02.460 We learned later in Luke's gospel, in Luke 13, what a manger is. 00:08:02.900 --> 00:08:04.720 A manger is not a baby's crib. 00:08:04.860 --> 00:08:10.280 Instead, later, Luke 13 says, you have to tie your ox to a manger in a normal farm life. 00:08:10.279 --> 00:08:13.739 And you don't tie your oxen to baby's cribs. 00:08:13.939 --> 00:08:15.699 You tie them to feeding troughs. 00:08:16.079 --> 00:08:17.839 He was laid in a feeding trough. 00:08:17.979 --> 00:08:18.959 That's what the manger is. 00:08:19.459 --> 00:08:25.259 And that means he was laid in a bath of muck, of animal feed, of animal spit. 00:08:25.979 --> 00:08:28.939 And then we are told that there was no place for them in the inn. 00:08:29.059 --> 00:08:32.980 And another way to translate that is that there was no place for them in the guest room. 00:08:33.559 --> 00:08:36.819 And that's because in a first century house, it's two levels. 00:08:36.899 --> 00:08:39.879 In the bottom level, the ground floor, is where you keep your animals. 00:08:39.879 --> 00:08:41.879 The top floor is where you keep humans. 00:08:42.439 --> 00:08:45.340 And so nobody had any place for them in the top floor. 00:08:45.419 --> 00:08:48.600 So they stayed in the ground floor with the hay and the animals. 00:08:49.480 --> 00:08:53.559 And then we're told that he was wrapped in swaddling cloths. 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:57.080 Now, I've been around for the birth of five babies. 00:08:57.620 --> 00:09:02.960 And I've seen that moment that a baby's born and then the baby's wrapped in a swaddling cloth. 00:09:03.019 --> 00:09:03.700 We still do that. 00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:08.779 And you've got to imagine that the God of all the universe, the God who hung the stars, 00:09:08.779 --> 00:09:11.000 is wrapped in a cloth. 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:11.399 Why? 00:09:11.459 --> 00:09:15.220 So that his arms and legs don't flail at the beginning of his life. 00:09:15.579 --> 00:09:20.819 And what we realize here is in the story we just read, the Son of God was born into dirt and straw. 00:09:21.059 --> 00:09:21.939 There was no midwife. 00:09:22.059 --> 00:09:22.799 There was no doctor. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:25.179 It was animal waste everywhere. 00:09:25.179 --> 00:09:27.559 And he entered. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:36.500 We learn there that the conditions of his birth teach us that he entered into our uncleanness from the moment that he came into our impurity. 00:09:36.620 --> 00:09:37.559 That's why he was born there. 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:41.620 The conditions of his birth point us all the way to the end of his life. 00:09:41.659 --> 00:09:42.779 The conditions of his death. 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:47.620 He came to step right into our messiness, into our darkness, into our sin. 00:09:47.699 --> 00:09:49.459 And we see that right from day one. 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:51.779 He enmeshed himself with us. 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:54.120 He came to get so close to us. 00:09:54.240 --> 00:09:56.519 This Christianity has no distant deity. 00:09:56.519 --> 00:10:03.899 But the God who came so close to you that he enmeshed himself with your life. 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:11.159 He came to get so close that he wanted to enter into your messiness, into your sinfulness, and rescue you. 00:10:11.819 --> 00:10:17.059 And that means that this Christmas you've got to know that Jesus Christ does not wait for you to get clean. 00:10:18.279 --> 00:10:23.960 So don't come tonight thinking that you've got to get clean before you're going to become reconciled with the real God. 00:10:24.059 --> 00:10:24.360 No, no. 00:10:24.419 --> 00:10:25.279 He came to you. 00:10:25.279 --> 00:10:27.860 He came to meet you exactly where you are. 00:10:27.919 --> 00:10:30.919 He doesn't wait for you to build a castle of your achievements. 00:10:31.259 --> 00:10:33.279 And he's telling you that because he didn't come in a castle. 00:10:34.019 --> 00:10:35.199 He came in a trough. 00:10:36.319 --> 00:10:38.659 Don't build a castle of achievements to come to God. 00:10:39.819 --> 00:10:43.279 There's an invitation to you to come exactly as you are tonight. 00:10:43.459 --> 00:10:46.459 Lastly, in verse 10, how does this work? 00:10:46.459 --> 00:10:50.439 In verse 10, the angels speak to the shepherds and they say, 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:55.860 Tonight, we have good news of great joy for all people. 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:59.460 So here's what the angels say to us about this moment. 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:01.100 It is first good news. 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:07.720 And the fact that they say that is so important because news is not advice. 00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:08.560 It's an announcement. 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:17.139 News is the fact that in the birth of Jesus, God the Father has announced his grace to you. 00:11:17.139 --> 00:11:21.879 So there's no call or invitation here to be a better person. 00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:25.039 And it's more of the gospel. 00:11:25.139 --> 00:11:29.659 The Christian gospel is far more like opening up the newspaper and reading what has happened 00:11:29.659 --> 00:11:33.480 rather than going to get advice from a counselor or a pastor or somebody like that. 00:11:33.539 --> 00:11:39.320 It's an announcement of what God has come to do for you, to meet you where you are, to deal with your sin. 00:11:39.639 --> 00:11:45.759 And then he says to us, it's good news of joy for all people, meaning who can receive this? 00:11:45.759 --> 00:11:49.059 And the angel goes out of his way to say all people. 00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:53.559 And if you think about the stories that we've read tonight, right in this moment, 00:11:53.639 --> 00:11:58.120 he comes to the shepherds who are the poorest, some of the poorest in the first century world. 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:06.080 The next story after this, he comes to the magi who were some of the wealthiest, the wise men in the ancient world. 00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:08.799 And he comes to all sorts of people. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:10.879 He comes to Mary, who is a teenage mother. 00:12:11.000 --> 00:12:14.700 He comes to Zechariah, who is a religious man filled with doubt secretly. 00:12:14.700 --> 00:12:16.200 He comes for the religious. 00:12:17.220 --> 00:12:22.720 And he comes for people like Nathaniel, the cynic, and for people like Thomas, the doubter. 00:12:23.379 --> 00:12:27.220 And if you know a little bit about the genealogy of Jesus, the mothers of Jesus, 00:12:27.340 --> 00:12:32.320 he comes for a woman who's in Jesus' genealogy like Rahab, the prostitute, 00:12:33.040 --> 00:12:37.660 or Ruth, the Gentile woman who was an enemy of God's people. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:40.480 He comes for every type of person there is. 00:12:40.660 --> 00:12:43.860 And all that means tonight is Jesus Christ in the middle of history came for you. 00:12:43.860 --> 00:12:45.240 He came for every single one of us. 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:47.220 He came to meet us exactly where we are. 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:53.240 You are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. 00:12:53.779 --> 00:12:58.180 And you are never so good that you don't stand in utter need of God's grace. 00:12:58.779 --> 00:13:06.220 So tonight, let me invite you to consider enmeshing yourself with him as he has enmeshed himself with you. 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:07.519 How do you do that? 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:08.519 Let me finish with a story. 00:13:10.259 --> 00:13:15.840 In one of the great 20th century fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, 00:13:16.840 --> 00:13:21.139 C.S. Lewis talks about, in the voyage of the Dawn Treader, a little boy named Eustace. 00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:31.639 And Eustace was a—if you know the stories, you'll know—Eustace was a selfish, greedy, grumbling, complaining kid. 00:13:31.639 --> 00:13:38.379 And one night, he wanders into a dragon's cave, a dragon's den. 00:13:39.399 --> 00:13:43.299 And greedy as he is, he falls asleep on top of a pile of gold. 00:13:43.399 --> 00:13:47.100 And he wakes up the next morning to discover that he has become a dragon. 00:13:48.179 --> 00:13:52.059 And what Lewis is telling us is that he actually became the condition of his heart. 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:53.480 He was so greedy, he became a dragon. 00:13:53.480 --> 00:14:00.360 And he's stuck, and he's trapped in dragon scales, and he's unable to speak, and he's unable to be with his friends and his family. 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:03.340 He's unable to do anything but hoard his gold. 00:14:03.460 --> 00:14:05.399 He has no other ability than to do that. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:13.840 And what he realizes is the very thing that he thought would make him happy in life, more and more money, is the thing that has imprisoned him. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:18.259 He worshipped gold, and he became a dragon, and now he can be nothing else. 00:14:18.259 --> 00:14:26.580 And then Eustace later on, after being redeemed and rescued, he's telling the story to Edmund, another boy who had been rescued, in a different story. 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:28.559 And this is what Eustace says. 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:32.360 He says, all of a sudden, when there was nothing I could do, the lion appeared. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:37.620 And the lion, you may know in Lewis' stories, is a Christ figure, Aslan. 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:40.240 The lion told me to follow him. 00:14:40.299 --> 00:14:41.460 I got up and I followed him. 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:43.019 I was terribly afraid. 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:49.860 You may think that being a dragon, I would have thought, I can easily knock out a lion, but it wasn't that kind of fear. 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:54.939 There was no moonlight, but wherever the lion went, light shone all around him. 00:14:55.019 --> 00:14:59.100 He took me up a mountain into a garden, and in the middle there was a well. 00:14:59.539 --> 00:15:02.819 It was like a bath with marble steps that you could go down into. 00:15:03.340 --> 00:15:05.899 But the lion told me I must first undress. 00:15:06.439 --> 00:15:08.559 I thought, I don't have any clothes on, I'm a dragon. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:14.779 Then I realized dragons are snaky things, and snakes cast off their skin. 00:15:15.239 --> 00:15:16.219 That's what the lion meant. 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:20.199 So I started scratching, and the scales started to fall off all over the place. 00:15:20.379 --> 00:15:23.919 And I looked down, and I had shed an outer layer like a snake would do. 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:29.079 And then I went to get into the bath, the pool, but I realized I still had scales all over me. 00:15:29.239 --> 00:15:30.679 So I realized I had to do it again. 00:15:30.759 --> 00:15:31.779 I scratched, and I scratched. 00:15:31.899 --> 00:15:33.559 Scales fell everywhere a second time. 00:15:33.939 --> 00:15:37.739 And I entered the bath, but then again, I realized scales still all around me. 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:44.139 I did it a third time, and then I realized how many layers am I going to have to dig deep down 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:50.340 into who I really am until all the scales fall off, all the selfishness, all the greediness, 00:15:50.580 --> 00:15:55.620 all the God forgetfulness, all the moments I've lived in my life not thinking about the God who 00:15:55.620 --> 00:15:57.480 made me and the God who has offered redemption. 00:15:58.080 --> 00:15:59.139 And Jesus, how far does it go? 00:15:59.220 --> 00:16:01.759 How deep does the dragon scale problem go? 00:16:02.379 --> 00:16:06.399 And then he said, then the lion spoke, you will have to let me remove the scales. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:10.319 So he began, it hurt worse than anything I'd ever felt. 00:16:10.959 --> 00:16:15.840 There I was, scales removed, and he threw me into the water, and it hurt for a moment. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:18.079 But then I was perfectly healed. 00:16:18.419 --> 00:16:19.340 I was cleansed. 00:16:19.579 --> 00:16:20.840 I'd become a boy again. 00:16:21.279 --> 00:16:23.860 He gave me new clothes, and he gave me a new life. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:29.779 Christmas says, Christmas does not say that light shone from inside our world, 00:16:29.779 --> 00:16:34.240 but light came from without our world into the darkness of our world. 00:16:35.639 --> 00:16:37.819 We cannot fix our problems. 00:16:38.579 --> 00:16:41.600 We can't all band together and make the world a better place. 00:16:41.659 --> 00:16:45.980 Not ultimately, not really, because every time you pull a layer off, you'll find something else. 00:16:46.299 --> 00:16:49.019 Deeper level of selfishness underneath it. 00:16:49.100 --> 00:16:51.379 We cannot heal ourselves from our sin condition. 00:16:52.019 --> 00:16:53.819 God did not send us a self-help manual. 00:16:54.279 --> 00:16:56.740 He didn't give us a program to clean our lives up. 00:16:56.740 --> 00:17:03.139 He gave us himself, and the manger preaches that, and the cross preaches that at this Christmas, 00:17:03.580 --> 00:17:08.819 Jesus Christ climbed into our dragon skin, and he died for our injustices. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:10.140 What do you do? 00:17:10.200 --> 00:17:11.440 How do you enmesh yourself tonight? 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:13.279 Believe that this is real. 00:17:14.539 --> 00:17:17.319 Turn to him in prayer and say, that is me. 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:18.299 That's my need. 00:17:18.299 --> 00:17:25.680 I need God to come from the outside in and heal me, change me, forgive me, and then lift up your head 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:31.879 with the shepherds and say, rejoice, peace on earth, mercy mild, peace between me and God. 00:17:32.819 --> 00:17:34.579 And it's for every single one of us tonight. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:35.539 Let me pray. 00:17:35.639 --> 00:17:42.720 Father, we ask that you would do a new work in us and teach us the truth about our dragon-scaled 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:45.680 hearts that we need healing from the outside. 00:17:45.680 --> 00:17:51.180 We thank you, oh God, that when you made us, you chose not to forget about us, but to redeem us. 00:17:51.900 --> 00:17:54.799 And we thank you that this Christmas we can remember that all the more. 00:17:54.900 --> 00:18:00.000 So teach us your mercy tonight, we pray, as we finish up with singing. 00:18:00.259 --> 00:18:02.440 And we ask this in Jesus' name. 00:18:02.860 --> 00:18:03.180 Amen. 00:18:03.180 --> 00:18:03.360 Amen.