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🎵Piano music plays🎵 and the the the the the You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You Merry Christmas, we're so glad to see you here this morning. Thank you for joining us for a Christmas service Let's find our seats and open our hymn books to page 276 your blue hymn books to page 276 hark the Herald angels sing Page 276 in your blue hymn books hark the Herald angels sing Page 276 sing it out loud with me on the first See my own God and sinners reconciled Joyful are ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies With angelic hosts proclaim Christ is born in Bethlehem Hark the Herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Christ by highest heaven adored Christ the everlasting Lord Late in time behold Him come Offspring of a virgin's womb Veiled in flesh the Godhead seeing Hail the incarnate Deity Pleased as men with men to dwell Jesus our Emmanuel Hark the Herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King On the third Hail the heavenly Lord Hail the heaven born Prince of Peace Hail the Son of Righteousness Light and life to all He brings Wrist with healing in His wings Out He lays His glory by Lord the man no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth Hark the Herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King On the last Come desire of nations come Fix in us thy humble home Rise the woman's conquering seed Cruise in us a serpent's head Atoms like this now we face Stampedine image in its place Second atom from above Free and state us in thy love Hark the Herald angels sing Glory to the newborn King Amen. We're so glad you're here this morning. Great singing. Brother Eli, do you want to open us with a word of prayer? Amen. Amen. Page 264 for a second song this morning. Page 264. O come, O come, Emmanuel. On the first. O come, O come, Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lowly exile here Until the Son of God Until the Son of God Appear Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel O come, thou rod of Jesse Free Thine own from Satan's tyranny From depths of hell thy people save And give them victory o'er the grave Rejoice, rejoice Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel O come, thou key of David Come And open wide our Heav'nly home Make safe the way That leads on high And show the path That bring us nigh Rejoice, rejoice Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel Amen. Great seeing you this morning. At this time we'll have our announcements. Good morning everybody. Welcome to Sherr Foundation Baptist Church. Let's take our bulletins and go through some announcements really quick. Thank you so much. Does anybody need a bulletin? Just lift up your hand and one of the ushers will bring you a bulletin. Anybody need one? I see a hand over there. Thanks guys. On our front cover we have our verse of the week. It says, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. That's Luke chapter 2, 11. Of course a very famous scripture about the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Today this morning in our service we're going to be celebrating Christmas in church. And it's just one service only. It seems like almost all the time our services fall on a Christmas. And we do our midweek service on Thursdays so we won't be having a Christmas, an actual day where we're at church on Christmas. So we decided to observe it today. So hopefully that's alright with everybody. But anyway I just want to say welcome to all of our visitors this morning and our church family. And it's going to be a great day in the Lord's house because we are also going to be feasting today after the service. So that's great. So anyway, in our bulletin there we have our service times. Sunday morning service is 1030 a.m. Sunday evening service is 3.30 p.m. And I'll be preaching out of the book of Joshua in chapter number 6 tonight. So for those that don't really want to celebrate Christmas it's okay because tonight I'm not going to be preaching a Christmas sermon. For all you ball humbugs out there. So Thursday evening is our Bible study. And we will be in, we're actually next week we're switching the Bible study to Tuesday and we're going to celebrate New Year's. We're going to bring the New Year's in on a Tuesday because that's when New Year's is. So we're going to switch our midweek service next week. So don't forget about that. And zoning times are listed below. We will have a zoning, we have a couple of zoning maps out there for anybody that wants to go zoning today. We are going to have a meal after the service. So if you just want to get out there and still go zoning. Alex do you have the time that you want everybody to be ready in here if they want to go zoning? Yeah we should be here at 1.30. So if you're planning on going zoning, Alex will already have you paired up. He'll have everything ready for you to go and he's got maps already in the WhatsApp group if you're planning on going. Otherwise just sit back and enjoy the fellowship if you're not planning on going. No rush, no pressure. So also if you look down you can see the praise report, the salvations, baptisms and attendance from last week. And we had five salvations yesterday but we went out for a few hours and covered two city blocks in Gresham. I don't think that they planned on getting everything done but we actually did get all the maps done yesterday. And so yeah it was a great time out there and we went to Buster's Barbecue afterwards and feasted. So we're getting two feasts in a row. So for those that went out zoning yesterday thank you very much for showing up. And it didn't rain all day so that was actually pretty nice. And today, this morning, after the offering we're going to be doing, the children are going to come up and sing. So if I could get a couple guys up here right after the offering to just move this over without knocking everything down and making a giant mess, that'd be great. Just listen to what Ryland says, that's the only time I'm ever going to say that. And let him direct you as to where you want everything. And the children are going to get up here and sing. And so the service might go a little bit longer than it normally would but I'm sure a lot of you are just here to listen to the children sing so that's good. But hopefully you stick around for the preaching afterwards and the potluck slash Christmas dinner afterwards. So other upcoming events we have, December 29th we're going to have a men's preaching night after the evening service. And December 31st, like I said, we're switching the midweek service, the Thursday service to the 31st which is a Tuesday evening, regular times. But you can come early. A lot of people get off early or don't have to work that day. And you're welcome to come in early and play board games or bring your board games, whatever you want to do. We're going to probably have a list of snacks if anybody wants to bring snacks and whatnot, you're more than welcome to do that. Desserts, things like that. And we'll pray in the new year. I'm going to preach regularly at 6.30. We'll pray in the new year and we'll have a good time. Fellowshipping. And January 1st, I haven't mentioned this until now, we didn't have room on the announcement sheet there. But January 1st we always do the New Testament challenge. And that challenge, and it's called a challenge for a reason, and it's reading the New Testament in 30 days. So you have all the month of January to read the New Testament. And then at the end, not only are you going to be, it's a challenge and God will be proud of you, but I'll be proud of you too. But also you get a prize for doing that. So I'm not bribing you, it's just a reward for doing something that, you know, you should read the Bible anyway, right? And so like a lot of these restaurants have these challenges, like Buffalo Wild Wings, if you eat these certain, has anybody ever done that before? Anybody? Oh, brother Eli. Is it Seven Levels of Hell that you have to go through or what? Nuclear Wings. Nuclear Wings, okay. Yeah, I'm not going to try that one. But this is not that hard compared to that, so. Anyway, yeah, so I think it's about 45 minutes of reading. And I think that Jeremy and Molly actually came up with another challenge. It's like a, Jeremy, will you explain that one real quick? Yeah, we have the entire Bible program over the whole year. Evenly giving up, so we have all of the New Testament in January, and then the Old Testament in September. The Old and New are in that 10 months, and then we do the New Testament again in March and November. And then there's a little break and we're not re-reading it again, by the way. Yeah, so if anybody's interested in doing an Old Testament challenge after that, I'll put that in the bulletin, too. Again, room-wise, I just didn't have the space. But I'm going to look at the, they have a calendar where they have the Old Testament, and you can read the New Testament again. And then you get ready, I don't know exactly, she's got the copy for me, I'm going to look it over. But anyway, so I just wanted you to be aware that there's going to be an Old Testament challenge also, if you want to do that. But the New Testament challenge is 30 days in the New Testament. You have some cheat days, so if you get behind, don't get discouraged. And even if you don't do the 30-day challenge at least, still keep going. It's a great thing to read the Bible, it's a great thing to read the New Testament, but it's a great thing to also read the Bible cover to cover. And if you're a Christian and you've never read the Bible cover to cover, that should be a goal of yours. Jesus said that all the words are important, right? And so we should at least read the Bible cover to cover. We should probably try to do it once a year. And that's about 15 minutes a day of reading. I'm sure you probably scroll on Facebook longer than that every day. So anyway, that's a different sermon. That's January 31st sermon. All right, so February 1st and 2nd, we're going to be celebrating SFBC Indy's first anniversary. So a year ago we planted that church in Indianapolis, and if you're wanting to go to that, it's obviously going to be in Indianapolis. It's in the winter. But we're having a soul-winning time on Saturday, and lunch will be provided after that. And then we've rented out a bowling alley for a couple hours in the afternoon, maybe three hours, and then I'll be preaching there on the Sunday services. Brother Justin Zong's been doing a great job. I'm going to ordain him as the evangelist there so he can start baptizing people. But they're like over 800 salvations for the year. It's very receptive there. If you're wanting to go to that, it'd be a great time to get out there and meet the people out there. They're running about 50 people in their services right now, so they're doing really well. It's been a very good success. So if you're interested, just talk to me more about the details if you want, or just at least watch the services if you get a chance, and that'd be great. So May 15th through 18th is going to be another King James Conference. Of course we'll have new material about the King James Bible being presented. And unfortunately Dr. Stringer's not going to be able to be here. He had to bow out of the conference. But we're still going to have Pastor Shelley, Pastor Mahina, Pastor Anderson, and of course yours truly. And so anybody on the internet listening, you can RSVP through email or text. So it's going to be a great conference. We've already bought all the stuff for it, so hopefully it won't be. I've learned some lessons from last time about feeding the masses and all that stuff. It would be nice if I could just break bread apart and just feed everybody, but a couple loaves and some fishes or something, but it doesn't really work that way. And not get the biggest boats to put all the nacho things in, and like five people get all the nachos and we're almost out. That was rough. But anyway, it's going to be a great conference. Looking forward to that. We're family integrated. That means the children and infants are welcome during the church services. Please utilize those mother-baby rooms, dad-baby rooms for your convenience. And if you look down, you can see the offerings that came in so far for this month, and no birthdays and anniversaries to celebrate. With that, I'm going to turn it over to the song leader for our next song, and we'll receive the offering after that. 272 will be our next song this morning. We Three Kings of Orient Are. Page 272. We Three Kings of Orient Are. Let's get out with me on the first. We Three Kings of Orient Are. Bearing gifts we traverse afar. Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star. Oh, star of wonder, star of nigh. Star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Born a king on Bethlehem's plain, cold I bring to crown him again. King forever, ceasing never over us all to reign. Oh, star of wonder, star of nigh. Star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Frankincense to offer have I, incense owns a deity nigh. Prayer in praising, all men raising, worship him God on high. Oh, star of wonder, star of nigh. Star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Mur is mine, it's bitter perfume. Breeze a life of gathering gloom. Soaring, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in a stone cold tomb. Oh, star of wonder, star of nigh. Star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Glorious now, behold him arise. King and God and sacrifice. Alleluia, alleluia peals through the earth and skies. Oh, star of wonder, star of nigh. Star with royal beauty bright. Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light. Amen. At this time, we'll have our ushers come forth to receive the offering for us. And if we could get a couple men up here as well to help move the pulpit out of the way, we'd appreciate that as well. Brother Sean Harrington, can you bless the offering for us? Lord, thank you so much for this day. Lord, thank you so much for coming here. This is the word of the priest, Lord. I pray that you would just bless this offering, Lord, and bless both the gift and the gift. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. In Jesus' name, amen. Ring the bell, ring the bell, Let the whole world know, Christ the Savior lives today, As He did so long ago. Come on, baby. Joy to the world, O Lord, in time, Let us receive the King, Let every heart prepare Him through, Let heaven and nature sing, Let heaven and nature sing, Let heaven, heaven, and nature sing. Joy to the world, the Savior reign, Let heaven, heaven, and nature sing, Let heaven, heaven, and nature sing, Let heaven, heaven, and nature sing. Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat the sounding joy, Repeat, repeat the sounding joy, No more the sins and sorrows grow, Nor doors infest the ground, He comes to make His blessings flow, Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as the curse is found, He rules the world with truth and grace, And makes the nations prove, The glories of His righteousness, And wonders of His love, And wonders of His love, And wonders, wonders of His love. Away in a manger, No grave or a bed, The things the Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head, The stars in the sky, Look down where He lay, The little Lord Jesus, Asleep on the hay, The cattle are lowing, The baby awakes, The little Lord Jesus, No crying He makes, I love Thee, Lord Jesus, Look down from the sky, And stay by my great hope till morning is nigh. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay, Close by, be forever, And love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in the tender care, And take us to heaven to live with Thee there. Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright, Round yon virgin, mother and child, Holy infant so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace. Silent night, holy night, On bright stars, let the light, With the angels let us sing, Hallelujah to our King, Christ the Savior is born, Christ the Savior is born. John 3.16, John 3.16, For God so loved the world as He, He gave His only King God His Son, That whosoever believes in Him, Should not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, he wants to eat something. Oh, that thing, up there. Oh, he wants to eat something. Oh, that thing, up there. Oh, he wants to eat something. Oh, that thing, up there. Oh, he wants to eat something. Oh, that thing, up there. All right, go ahead and open your Bibles to Romans chapter 14. Romans chapter number 14. If you don't have a Bible, there should be one under the seat in front of you. Romans 14. Romans 14, the Bible reads, One man esteemeth one day above another, Another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth a day regardeth it unto the Lord. And he that regardeth not the day, To the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, For he giveth God thanks. And he that eateth not, To the Lord he eateth not, And giveth God thanks. For none of us liveth to himself, And no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord, And whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live therefore, or die, We are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, That he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother, Or why dost thou set a knot thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, Every knee shall bow to me, And every tongue shall confess. So then every one of us shall give account to himself to God. Let us not therefore judge one another any more, But judge this rather, That no man put a stumbling block, Or an occasion to fall in his brother's way. I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, That there is nothing unclean of itself. But to him that esteemeth anything to be unclean, To him it is unclean. But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, Now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ died, Let not then your good be evil spoken of. For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, But righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ Is acceptable to God and approved of men. Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, And things wherewith one may edify another. For meat destroyeth not the work of God. All things indeed are pure, But it is evil for that man who eateth with offense. It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, Nor anything whereby thy brother stumblest, Or is offended, or is made weak. Has thou faith? Have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the thing which he alloweth, And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, Because he eateth not in faith. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Brother Eli, will you pray for us? Thank you so much for your word, Father. Your word is so powerful. Amen. All right. Well, I'm kind of preaching a different sort of Christmas sermon this time. And normally it would be all about the birth of Christ. And, of course, that's what we are celebrating. It is a little bit about that. The title of my sermon this morning is, Is Christmas Pagan? Is Christmas Pagan? Because there is a lot of, every year you can kind of set your clock to it, that the memes come on all the social media sites and all the literature comes out that says, you know, Christ really wasn't born on December 25th and, you know, that it was really a pagan holiday. And, you know, you're worshiping the devil if you celebrate Christmas and stuff like that. And, you know, there is some truth maybe to the fact that pagans might have celebrated some pagan holidays on December 25th. I'm not really sure. A lot of stuff out there is Internet hoaxes. People just make a lot of things up and call it true. And I'm not really going to get deep into all the pagan theology or whatever they would call it. But, you know, I personally I love Christmas time personally, but not everybody does and not everybody celebrates it. And this chapter in the Bible is kind of spelling this out for us that, hey, if you want to celebrate a day, if you want to regard a day to the Lord, it's perfectly fine. But if you don't, that's perfectly fine also. And neither one of us should be arguing and fighting over that necessarily. But, you know, I enjoy Christmas probably less than I used to because now I'm the one buying the presents. As opposed to the one that was getting the presents and not having to buy presents for people. But I didn't grow up in a Christian home and I don't really recall being taught anything about Jesus by my parents. Except my dad. I mean, my dad, of course, but I didn't live with him. But, you know, I remember we did like in the school I went to is like a town of 500. There was 10 kids in my class. And at that school, we had a teacher there that taught us some of the songs that the kids were singing this morning. By the way, that was a great kids. Good job. And that's what Christmas is all about to me. You know, stuff like that. But they they she taught us that some of those songs. And that was kind of my the only thing I like learned about Jesus. And I don't even remember thinking anything of that song. Honestly, I liked it, but I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know anything about, you know, religion or Christianity besides just my dad telling me stuff when I was reading the Bible to me when I was a little boy. But I watched all the Santa shows. I watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman, which that cartoon is super annoying. Happy birthday. You know, I mean, it's just I can't handle it. But, you know, all those, you know, the Peanuts Christmas I did watch. And that does have some King James Bible being read by, I think, Linus. And but again, I don't I didn't really to me, Christmas was not a Christian holiday. It was me thinking Santa was going to come and deliver presents or something to me and me being really excited about waking up and opening presents. And I don't think there's anything wrong with being excited and waking up and opening presents. So but it is very possible to celebrate Christmas with absolutely no Jesus emphasis whatsoever. So can Christmas be pagan? Of course it can be. It can be not religious at all. There's lots of everybody in this country gets the day off pretty much because it's a national holiday. It's called Christmas. It's not called Kwanzaa. It's not called, you know, Mohammed's Day or Buddhist Happy Buddha Day or something like that. It is called the Christmas holiday. And atheists and homos and anybody else that wants to gets to celebrate that day. They get the day paid off that sometimes they get, you know, Thanksgiving and the day after off because, you know, Thanksgiving is a national holiday. But, you know, there's a lot of people that do celebrate Christmas. And to them, it's just about buying presents. It's about Black Friday. It's, you know, I mean, the Christmas season's about greed and covetousness and what can I get and all that. So in that sense, I think it can be a pagan holiday. It can be a non-religious holiday. But that's not what it is to me and that's not what it has to be to you. And that's not what it has to be to other people. So, I mean, I do believe Christmas can be pagan, but it's not what it means. It's not what it has to mean to us. And so Christmas time can be a very covetous time. So we do have to guard our hearts about the things we see because you're just being bombarded with all kinds of ads, all kinds of commercials that you see, all kinds of billboards that you see, all these types of things. And it's wrong to covet. You know, the Bible, it's in one of the Ten Commandments to not covet. Because when you covet, you want those things. And when you want those things, you'll try to find a way to get those things if you don't have the money to buy those things. And, you know, we should be happy with the things that we have. The things that we have, those things should be sufficient for us. Is it wrong to want things? It's not wrong to want things. It's not wrong to have things. It's not wrong to give gifts. It's not wrong to get presents. It's not wrong to give them. But we can take it overboard and get crazy with it. But when I became a Christian, as a babe in Christ, someone showed me the verses in Jeremiah, chapter 10, that seem to indicate that Christmas trees are wicked. Who's ever seen those verses and thought, or someone showed you those verses, right? Well, I'm going to get into that later if I have time, but that kind of started me down the road. Is Christmas wrong? But I kind of tabled that for a while. And I went to a church, and I don't really want to mention the name of the church necessarily, because I think that the people at that church are okay people, and the pastor that's pastoring there now is a good pastor. But the first time I ever visited, I visited because the church is unincorporated. And they were kind of against that incorporated church, and I was kind of into that. I kind of was into a lot of conspiracy theories when I first became a Christian, and I still am to a certain degree about some things. But anyway, this church was unincorporated. They can't even take a check or anything like that for an offering or anything. So when they have all this controversy, everything at their church is a controversy. They would tell people to not have social security numbers, and that they should not pay taxes, shouldn't have driver's licenses. And that stuff can get pretty extreme. And you're always going to lose when you try to fight the tax man. You're always going to lose if you think that you're going to drive around with no license plates and no driver's license, and you think you're going to find an end-around to that. You're not going to. You're going to go to jail. I had a friend that I was friends with at that time, and he got $30,000 in debt to the IRS, and they were going to put him in jail for it. And he did all the little end-around stuff. And that's what ended up putting Kent Hovind in jail, too, if you know who that is. He was doing all that and pushing all that stuff. And where did he go? Prison for 10 years. So it's not really something to mess around with. This church was into that kind of stuff. And when I went there, I picked up a bunch of booklets that they had, and one of them was talking about Christmas being pagan. And so I brought it home, and I was reading through it, and I was like, yeah, this stuff is interesting, da-da-da-da. And I was like, honey, I think we might need to stop doing Christmas. And she was like, oh, yeah, right. So I prayed about it for one second, and I was like, yeah, this is weird. No, I'm just kidding. I'm glad I didn't go down that road, because in reality, what good thing comes from just being against Christmas? There's nothing really good that comes out of just being anti-Christmas all the time and just having this attitude that anybody that celebrates Christmas is wicked or evil. There's extremes on both sides, though, isn't there? There's the total extreme of Christmas is evil and wicked, and Santa mixed up is Satan, and it's 666. You're taking the Mark of the Beast because you celebrate Christmas. And then there's the other end of the spectrum where it's total hedonism. It's nothing about Jesus. It's Santa Claus. It's just by greed. It's covetousness. We should probably be somewhere in the middle. If you don't want to celebrate Christmas, that's fine, but don't be weird about it to everybody else. But if you're also celebrating Christmas and you know someone doesn't, then don't be over the top the other way to them. Or just say your neighbor's a Christian. They don't celebrate Christmas, and you do, and then you just sparkle up your house and just throw it in their face and just get all these decorations for Christmas just to upset them. You know what I mean? And you normally wouldn't do that. That's what this passage is kind of talking about. Don't offend people on purpose just because you can, because it's lawful or whatever. So let's look at verse five in Romans chapter 14. It says, One man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. So some people do esteem some days above another. It's fine. But it says, He that regardeth the day regardeth it unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks, and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth it not, and giveth God thanks. See, it's giving two contrasts here. One person believes they can eat pork and one doesn't. Maybe it's a Muslim convert. They just got saved. In their whole life, they grew up not eating pork. If it touched you or it touched a dead body, they're defiled forever or something. And then some brother in Christ at the church that they just started going to is just walking up eating bacon and pork chops and slaps them with a piece of bacon or something. And that person hasn't really come to that conclusion that it's okay to eat pork. You know what I'm saying? Someone's just offending them with their pork. I'm just trying to give you an example. This probably would never happen in this church, obviously, because it's just not... I mean, it possibly could, but think about other places in the world where that could happen. It could happen. So that's why it's talking about food. Or back then, meat being sacrificed to the idols was kind of a big thing. And if you don't know that it's sacrificed to idols, and you're eating it and that person's like, whoa, that's sacrificed to idols, that person could freak out and lose their mind over it. But when it comes to holidays, some people don't care about holidays. Birthdays, some people don't care what day they celebrate their birthday. And so that's what the Bible's talking about. And this doctrine is called, what we call it, is individual soul liberty. Individual soul liberty. I preached a series called Baptists maybe a year or two ago. And the I in Baptist, I preach it as an acronym, the I in Baptist stands for individual soul liberty in that sermon. And it means that every individual has the God-given privilege of free will and liberty to choose what to believe. I can't make you believe what I believe. I can get up, I can show you what the Bible says, I can preach it, but I can't make you believe anything. That's why people are just like, yeah, you guys are a cult. I can't make you believe what I believe. I can show you what the Bible says, I can preach what the Bible says, but I can't make you believe it. So that's what individual soul liberty is. You have the right and the ability to choose what you want to believe. You can be, you know, we can talk about something, I can show you what the Bible says, and I can be telling you verbatim what the Bible says and say I believe that, and you can say I don't believe that. You can be wrong. I would agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong. But individual soul liberty is a Baptist, I mean it's not a Baptist doctrine necessarily, it's the Bible doctrine that states that each person has the right to interpret the Bible for themselves and choose their own religious beliefs. It is not the case that individual soul liberty means that a person's soul is above other souls, which some people think that. If you don't agree with me, then you're wrong. And then they have to go around telling everybody how wrong they are and how right they are. And it also does not mean that a person is not responsible for their own actions and beliefs. So you can believe something, but it doesn't mean that you're not responsible for the actions that you take because you believe that. So soul liberty is never a justification also for disobeying scripture. Just because you believe what you believe, it doesn't mean you're right. So if you're justifying disobeying the Bible because I have individual soul liberty, God is the one that makes the rules, and just because you have that interpretation doesn't mean your interpretation's right. So it does not justify your disobedience, and liberty is not a license to sin. That's not what liberty means. Oh, I can just do whatever I want, bro. I'm free in Christ. That's not what that means. Soul liberty does not grant the right to do something which will harm another person's walk with God. So like I said, if you're just purposely, you regard a day, they don't regard the day, and you're purposely trying to upset them because you do and they don't, then that's not right. So let's turn to First Corinthians chapter eight verse 13. First Corinthians chapter eight verse 13. First Corinthians eight 13. The Bible says, this is the apostle Paul saying this. It says, wherefore if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend. So, and he is talking about meat sacrificed unto idols in this passage, but he said, I'd just eat no flesh. I'd eat no meat for the rest of my life if it's gonna cause my brother to offend. And it says, turn to Colossians chapter two verse 14. Colossians two 14. So look, if something that you're doing is purposely offending someone, it'd be better for us to not do that than to offend them on purpose. But that's not to say that something you just normally practice and they're weak in the faith and they just can't handle it and you just didn't know that they were offended by it. That's not wrong for you to do that. It's not like you're automatically wrong because they're weak. It's like someone that eats herbs only. The Bible says that that person's weak. But if they're, I mean, so God has kind of weighed in on that in this chapter, you know? But if someone's a vegetarian, then we're still not supposed to just be mean to that person just because they're a vegetarian. But people do like to make fun of vegetarians a lot. But a Christian, the Bible does teach it's okay to eat meat. It's not saying it's not. But if you just want to personally just offend people all the time over it, it's not right. So Colossians two 14 says, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in, what's it say there? In respect of an holiday or holy day. Holy day is what it says, but that's where we get the word holiday. God set up holidays in the Bible, holy days in the Bible for people who had to keep those holy days. Three times a year all the males had to appear in Jerusalem. They had to go, it wasn't an option. But who would refuse holidays? They had more holidays than we do now. I mean we have a lot in this country, but nowhere near what they had in the Old Testament. They had a lot of good, I mean, yeah, don't work on these days. Oh please stop, don't make me not work. We like those kind of holidays, don't we? But it says of the new moon or the Sabbath days. We are not to be judged by Sabbath days, you see that? It says let nobody judge us in those things. We don't have to keep those things. The Old Testament, some of those things were done away in Christ. That's what it's saying. He nailed those things to the cross. We don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore. Why? Because Jesus is our Sabbath of rest. It was a picture of that God did all the works for us and so we can rest in Christ because we rest in Christ because he did the works for us. That's what the Sabbath represented. We no longer have to keep the Sabbath. You're like, well why are we in church today? Well today's not the Sabbath day. Today's Sunday, the day that Jesus rose from the dead. So it's kind of just a tradition. Does the Bible say thou shalt go to church on Sunday? No, but you see examples of where they were in church on the Lord's day or John was on the Lord's day and then the Spirit came to him or Jesus appeared to him in the book of Revelation. But anyway, when it comes to Christmas or any holiday, except Halloween of course, and the reason why Halloween is a wicked holiday is because it's all about, the whole concept of it is demons and witches and scary things. That's not something that we should partake in because we're supposed to be separate from those wicked things. But if you regard the day, any day, as some special day, then be sure to act Christian about it. That's what I'm saying. If you do not regard the day, you think Christmas is the same day as any other day, you don't regard any holidays, you don't regard birthdays or whatever, then be sure to act Christian about it too. It goes both ways, it cuts both ways. And you're like, well pastor that's easy for you to say because you're pro-Christmas. Yeah, but I'm saying it goes both ways. I'm saying I should be the same way as you should be. So let nobody judge or criticize others for an honest, worshipful, spiritual and loving attitude about Christmas. And I've seen rudeness on both sides of this. I've seen people, oh you don't celebrate Christmas? What are you, a Jehovah's Witness? And Jehovah's Witnesses are pretty weird about a lot of things actually. But whatever, people can do whatever they want. So they do get a little strange about things. So anyway, there's no need to get nasty about it. So here's some objections or issues that people bring forth about Christmas. I want to cover a few things here this morning. And number one is December 25th is not really Jesus' birthday. So my answer to that is there is a one in 365 chance that it is. So those are better odds than any lottery you're ever gonna get, all right? So a one in 365 chance, you have more of a chance of getting struck by I think lightning twice or something than winning the lottery. So could Jesus' birthday have been on December 25th? There's a one in 365 chance, okay? So there is a chance. So you're saying there might be a chance? Yes, there might be a chance. But the Bible doesn't give his birthday. But people say also that shepherds would not have been in the field at that time of the year. Winter, right? It's winter. But let's look at Genesis chapter 31 verse 38. And obviously in the Bible there's a lot of people, there's a lot of shepherding. There's a lot of sheep. There's a lot of different moments in the Bible where people are keeping sheep. There's a lot of men in the Bible that were pastors. You know, they were keeping sheep. They were keeping flocks. And this particular passage, Jacob is run from Laban and he took his wives and he fled and was getting away from Laban, right? And Laban has changed his wages. He's done him dirty. His countenance wasn't like it was before. And then they run after him and Laban is furious that they leave without saying goodbye. But Jacob was afraid that he was gonna try to kill him or something, which he probably would have tried to at least. But God warned Laban not to mess with them. And so finally Jacob gets mad. He's wroth with Laban and he just kind of starts telling him off about all the ways that he's done him dirty. But look at verse 38 in Genesis 31. It says, this 20 years have I been with thee, thy ewes, ewes is like a lamb, right, or a sheep. It says, and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten. That which was torn a beast I brought not unto thee. I bear the loss of it. Of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night. Thus I was in the day the drought consumed me and the frost by night. So was he out when it was cold? There was frost. What is frost? Is that freezing? And my sleep departed from my eyes. So it sounds to me like Jacob spent some freezing nights out in the freezing cold. Where would he have been if he was freezing out? Probably outside, right? So I mean, I'm just saying that is it possible that they would have been out at night in the wintertime? It could be possible. I'm not saying it was. I'm just saying it's possible, because Jacob was out when it was freezing with the sheep, with the flock. So now we had a couple that used to be at our church. At our church they moved to FWBC LA, Annie and Alex Berea. And I married them on February 29th, leap year. Leap year, in case you're not aware of this, comes every four years. So their wedding anniversary, they usually celebrate it on the 28th every year, because the 29th only comes every four years. So technically they only have an anniversary every four years. So is it wrong for them to celebrate their anniversary on the 28th for those three years in between? Is it wrong to do that? Well it's not really their anniversary, Pastor Thompson. It's the 29th. I mean, that's bizarre to say that, isn't it? What if my birthday falls on an inconvenient day of the week? It's Monday. I'm like, my birthday has to be celebrated on the 24th this Monday. I demand that all my kids come to my house and eat cake and ice cream, and we're having dinner on the 24th. I mean, that's kind of ridiculous, right? Isn't it more convenient to do something like that on a weekend day, like maybe a Friday night or a Saturday? Is that wrong, that I celebrated my birthday on a different day? Does it have to be on the exact day? No, I mean, nobody would think that that's true. But some people are sticklers for stuff like that. Like the anniversary of our church. Does it have to be that specific day? I mean, the calendar changes every year. Does it have to be on the 29th of July? No, it doesn't. We change it. I change it whenever I want. I don't really care. I don't care what day I celebrate my birthday. I don't care when we celebrate the church's anniversary that much. Is it ballpark? Ballpark, yeah. I pick a weekend that was close to that time. So my point is, though, is that what difference does it make what day he was born? We're just celebrating Jesus' birth, whether it was December 25th, whether it was February 29th, leap year. I don't think they keep the calendar the same. They kept the calendar the same way, though. But I'm just making a point that it doesn't really matter what day it is in reality. Because the fact remains that Jesus is the most important man that ever was born on the face of the planet. He's our Lord and Savior. Does everybody in here celebrate their birthday to some extent? Do you celebrate your children's birthday? Do you celebrate your grandchildren's birthday? That's okay, though. But you can't celebrate Jesus' birthday. It's kind of a stretch. I don't know. I agree, though. It's wrong to take Christ out of Christmas. But to take one day and remember the birth of Christ, God manifest in the flesh, I just don't understand how that's a bad thing. Songs are sung about him. The radio used to play a lot of songs about him. Now it's all about Santa Baby and all this other stuff. It's kind of hard to listen to. But the name of Jesus is on people's tongues. The name of Jesus is being proclaimed in one way, shape, or form. People are more open to the things of God this time of year. People are more open to hearing about Jesus. You know, the world's growing dark and cold about a lot of things, but this is a time of the year where people are more open to the things of God, I believe. And they're not thinking more about Buddha. They're not thinking more about Kali. They're not thinking more about Krishna. They're not thinking more about Muhammad. They're not thinking more about Allah. They're not thinking more about Joseph Smith. They're not, they're thinking more about Jesus, aren't they? And so the holiday is Christmas. It's not, you know, anything else. So, and our bulletin, the verse for the week is, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord. So what were they proclaiming? The birth of Jesus Christ. It was so important that God sent angels to the shepherds in the field and told them, hey, Christ is born today. So the birth announcement was important, wasn't it? The prophecy of him becoming, of coming to the earth as the Messiah, coming as God manifests in the flesh, coming as Emmanuel was important. And so why is it just like, but we shouldn't celebrate his birthday? We did celebrate his birthday. It's in Luke chapter number two. They celebrate his birthday. It's in the book of Matthew. It's in the book of Mark. It's in the Bible celebrating his birthday. It tells us the details about it. It tells us that his name was called Jesus because he's gonna take away the sins of mankind. Number two, Christmas, here's another objection about Christmas. Christmas means Christ's mass. That means it's Catholic. I'll give you that a little bit, okay? I'll give you that. But names begin as one thing and change over time. I mean, wasn't Gideon's name Jerubel? I mean, his dad had like a idol that he destroyed, right? But I mean, his name was Jerubel at first. So things can change. Names can change. There's things that were named one thing, and Israel, when Israel took those places over, they changed the names, but when I think of Christmas, the last thing I think of, literally, is the Pope or the Roman Catholic Church. I don't think that most people that are Protestants or Baptists or whatever think when they think Christmas, they go, oh, Pope, splash some holy water on somebody or something. I don't think about that. When you think of Sunday, do you think of worshiping the sun god? Is that what you think of? Oh, I can't wait to go to church on Sunday, sun god. But that's what it's named after, people that worship the sun god. That's what Sunday is named after, the sun, right? People that worship the sun god. But Seventh-day Adventists sure seem to think that because they said that the Pope changed worship to Sunday instead of Saturday because we've taken the mark of the beast and we worship the devil on Sunday. That's what Seventh-day Adventists believe. We've changed the Sabbath to Sunday because we worship the sun god. Okay, well, then maybe they worship Saturn, the god Saturn because Saturday is actually named after the god Saturn, and so apparently they worship the god Saturn because Saturday. I mean, that's ridiculous. Their names are meaningless. It's a day of the week to us. The month January was named after the two-faced god Janus. Is that what you think of? Do you think of other gods? August, Augustus. I mean, the Roman Caesars named some of the months after themselves and changed the months around. I think that is just kind of a nothing burger. Number three, Christmas is not a holiday in the Bible. It was a heathen holiday. So that's another disputation about it. So the word Bible isn't in the Bible either. Did you know that? The word Trinity is not in the Bible. The word rapture is not in the Bible, but we still say those things. Pastors marrying people isn't in the Bible. Have you seen that verse where the pastors marry people? I haven't seen that either. The things that we say in a wedding are not in the Bible. There's no chapter where it says this is how to perform a wedding in the Bible. Isn't that interesting? But yet we do those things. It's become custom for pastors to marry people. It's become custom the way we perform weddings. So there's also no verse that says to construct a church building, but people do that. There's no verse that says this is how a church building has to look. This is the order of service in a church building, but we still do that. It just says to do things decently and in order. So people in the Bible met in different places in the early church of Acts. Look at Acts 19, nine. I'm gonna read Acts 5, 12. Acts 5, 12 says, and by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Now Solomon's porch was an area of the temple that the apostles met early on. Remember daily in the temple they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus. Every day they were there meeting. They had their own little church meeting or place where they met. That was at the temple early on until they got persecuted majorly. So Acts 19, nine says, but when diverse were hardened and believed not but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. So at some point the apostle Paul had a church at a school. People do that still today sometimes. They start churches in schools after schools or whatever, and it says, and this continued by the space of two years so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Romans chapter 16, verse five says, go ahead and turn to Acts 3, one. Romans 16, five says, likewise greet the church that is in their house. Salute my well-beloved Appanatus who is the first fruits of Achaia unto Christ. They met in people's houses. People think that's weird when people start a church in their house, but in the New Testament early on people met in people's houses. Sometimes there's no other place to go and the church is small. So all I'm saying is that you don't really see them saying, hey, build this church house. Build this church with stained glass and tall steeples and stuff like that. Is it wrong though? No. The Bible doesn't say it's wrong. So our church meets in an old bank building. So are we wicked banksters because banksters used to operate in this building? Because there's a vault there where people, dirty money used to go pass through here? No, I mean, it's just a ridiculous argument. So Acts 3 one says, now Peter and John went up together into the temple in the hour of prayer beginning the ninth hour. So the ninth hour is three o'clock in the afternoon. The New Testament doesn't say what time we're supposed to have church services. But would it be convenient for you guys to meet here at three o'clock for church? Probably not. But Peter had a time, Peter and John went to the temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour. So at the temple they had a prayer time of the ninth hour. The Bible just doesn't say what time we're supposed to do things. What kind of buildings we're supposed to have. There are many things that we practice and do that the Bible doesn't spell out. And that's not wrong. It's just not. So even being called Christians was something that happened after Jesus died and went to heaven. Look at Acts chapter 11 verse 26. Acts 11, 26. I'm trying to go as fast as I can here. You guys are being entranced by the smell of good meat back there. So Acts chapter 11 verse 26 the Bible says, and when he'd found him he brought him unto Antioch and it came to pass that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church and taught much people and the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch. So they were called Christians first in Antioch. This is way after Jesus has gone to heaven. He's already been resurrected of course. Already died. And so it must have been fine though to call, we're called Christians today. But they were first called Christians in Antioch. In 1 Peter 4, 16 it says this. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God on this behalf. So apparently this picked up steam and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Peter is saying don't suffer as a Christian doing something wrong. So apparently it's fine to call, that we're called Christians. But Jesus didn't say call yourselves Christians. That wasn't something that was just hey you call yourselves Christians but it was fine because obviously it's in the Bible. Peter says don't suffer as a Christian. So it's a moniker that we were given probably by our enemies and now everybody calls us, I'm not a Baptist, I'm a Christian. People will say that kind of stuff. I'm not a Catholic, I'm a Christian. They'll say that. There's nothing wrong with being called a Christian. So hopefully that makes that point. But maybe it was a heathen holiday. Maybe it was but it's not that way for me. Maybe it was Yuletide or Saturnalia or whatever they say it is. But it's not that for me. It never has been that for me actually. But whatever it was before it's not that for me. Nobody thinks of Christmas and goes pagan unless they're really just wrapped up in all this online stuff and literature that they've read. Number four. Does Christmas have to be a commandment or can it be a custom? Does Christmas have to be a commandment or can it be a custom? So you have the Sabbath, you have the Passover, Unleavened Bread in the Old Testament, the First Fruits, Pentecost, the Feast of Tabernacles, you have the Day of Atonement and all these other things. So there were days that became custom though in the Old Testament that were not commanded. Can you think of any? Anybody think of any off the top of their head that were holidays that were kept that were not commanded by God to be kept? Well let's look at a couple of them. Judges chapter 11. Judges chapter 11. Is it wrong to celebrate holidays that are not commanded in the Bible or can we have customs? Is it wrong to have Mother's Day? Celebrate Mother's? Oh, I'm not gonna celebrate Mother's Day. It's just a hallmark way to sell greeting cards and boxes of chocolate and whatever. And it is commercial. There's a lot of stuff that's commercialized. I get it. But if you think it's wrong to tell your mother I love you and have a special day for your mom then I'll pray for your mom, okay? Judges 11, 39. It says, and it came to pass at the end of two months that she returned unto her father who did with her according to his vow which he had vowed. This is talking about Jephthah. And he said he was gonna sacrifice the first thing that he saw because God allowed him to defeat his enemies. And she knew no man and it was a custom in Israel that the daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the daughter of Jephthah, excuse me, the Gileadite four days in a year. So because of what happened, because he foolishly vowed something and followed through with it, it's what the Bible says, right? It became a custom that the daughters of Israel would yearly lament four days in a year. So this is a four day holiday that they came up with for this young virgin that never got to get married or whatever because of something dumb that her father did. And it became, you know, so the Bible doesn't say it was wrong. Of course, people did that which was right in their own eyes in the days of the judges. Some people would say, well, it doesn't really, you know, the Bible doesn't say it was right or wrong. Well, I mean, the Bible doesn't necessarily condemn it either. Look at Esther chapter nine, verse 19. And I just don't see how that would be wrong to do that anyway, but Esther nine, 19. Maybe you're not convinced with that one. How about Esther nine, 19? And of course you know that Esther, she helped save the nation of Israel by going into the king when she could have been killed for doing that. And after all the Jews were saved because of her bravery in Esther nine, 19, it says, Therefore the Jews of the villages that dwelt in the unwalled towns made the fourteenth day of the month Adar a day of gladness and feasting, and a good day, and of sending portions one to another. And Mordecai wrote these things and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus, both nigh and far, to establish this among them, that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same yearly. So did it become a holiday? Something that they keep every year? Yes. And so it was sent out to all the Jews and all the provinces. This is of course after Israel ceased to be the nation that they once were. This is after they had been conquered. But it was something that was established and is still kept today, really. But it was kept even through Jesus' time. And Jesus also kept a day that's held around the same time, around the holidays this time of year, called Hanukkah. But Purim is what that holiday is called in Esther. But let's turn to John chapter 10. And many people might not know this, might not know this, but Jesus attended Hanukkah. Anybody know that? Jesus attended Hanukkah, the festival of lights. I don't know if he played with the dreidel or anything like that, but he definitely attended a Hanukkah service. So, now, Hanukkah was basically, you know, in the book of Maccabees, which is an extra biblical book, it's not scripture, but basically Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the temple and sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple. And he's kind of like a picture of the Antichrist, but they revolted, the Maccabees revolted against them and threw out all that stuff and rededicated the temple. And they said that there was just enough, I think there was just like enough oil left for like a night and then somehow eight nights it lasted or something like that. I think that's what the, am I right about this? I think I am. Anyway, so they celebrate Hanukkah every year during the December month. It would be our December, right? So, John chapter 10 verse 22 says, and it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, so it's the dedication of the, that temple's now destroyed, of the dedication, and it was winter. So, what was the time of year? Winter, are there any winter feasts that you know of in the Old Testament that they were supposed to keep? No, it's spring and fall. So, this one, though, is something that happened in between the testaments. So, during the, you know, it was after, you know, it was during the silent month, the silent years before Christ came that this was made up or whatever, this holiday was made. It says, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Remember where I showed you that the disciples were meeting on Solomon's porch? Well, this verse proves right here that Solomon's porch was at the temple. That's where they were meeting for church. Anyway, so Jesus obviously didn't think it was wrong to attend a non-sanctioned holiday that God didn't put in the Bible. There's nowhere that we see where it's sanctioned. So, you know, what I'm saying is that it's okay to have holidays that are made up as long as they're not, like, some sinful holiday like Halloween, obviously. So, I mean, and if Jesus attended it, he obviously, you know, he used it for an opportunity to preach to people. So, it's not wrong. If it's custom, it's still okay. People just get so rigid, it's like, the Bible has to say it or it's not okay. That's not really true. That's not really true. Of course, we should go by principle. Of course, we should, you know, we should not do anything that's sinful or celebrate things that are sinful, but I don't think celebrating the birth of Christ would be sinful. But, again, you have to do what's right in your own conscience. If you think it's wrong to do it, then don't do it. It's that simple. Number five is my last point. I tend talking about Christmas trees. And we don't have a Christmas tree at church, and I don't do that because I don't want people to get offended about it. Because the Bible doesn't say, Thou shalt put a Christmas tree in your church. Some churches do it, and I'm not against them, and some people probably would want a Christmas tree at your church, and I'm not against you either. But, you know, some people might be offended about it. I don't know. I just don't do it because, you know, And some people do get offended about Christmas trees. So, I don't know. Nobody's ever told me that they would be, but I know that it can be a battle. I've seen the battles. I've heard about the battles at churches, and I wouldn't want someone to come in and see the Christmas tree and be like, you know, just rend their garments and just leave immediately over it or something. So, this wreath is probably the devil, too. I don't know. Hopefully that's not true. Anyway, turn to Jeremiah chapter 10. Jeremiah chapter 10. Almost done here. Last passage we're going to. Jeremiah 10, verse 3. And, of course, I could go on and on about stuff, but I'm not going to do that, too. But, this is the last passage here. Jeremiah 10, 3 says, For the custom of the people are vain. For one cutteth a tree out of the forest. Uh-oh. The work of the hands of the workmen with the axe. Kind of does sound like a Christmas tree, doesn't it? They deck it with silver and with gold. Ooh, this isn't looking good. They fasten it with nails and with hammers that it move not. Uh-oh. This really is sounding like a Christmas tree. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not. They must needs be borne because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them, for they cannot do evil. Neither also is it in them to do good. Well, I don't know that I've ever been afraid of a Christmas tree before, but anyway, let's move on. For as much as there is none like unto thee, O Lord, thou art great and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O king of nations? For to thee doth it appertain. For as much as among all the wise men of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like unto thee. But I want to point this out, though. If you just stopped, you just read verses three and four, it does kind of sound like a Christmas tree, doesn't it? And when someone first pointed this out to me when I was a new saved Christian, I was like, oh, it is a Christmas tree. And I was just like, man, this is bad. Let's keep reading, though. Verse eight. So context does matter. But they are altogether brutish and foolish. The stock is a doctrine of vanities. Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workmen and of the hands of the founder. What does a founder do? They melt silver and gold. Blue and purple is their clothing. They are all the work of cunning men. But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and an everlasting king. At his wrath the earth shall tremble and the nation shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall you say unto them, the gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by his power. He hath established the world by his wisdom and has stretched out the heavens by his discretion. When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens and he causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings with rain and bringeth forth the wind of his treasures. Every man is brutish in his knowledge. Every founder is confounded by the graven image. So when you read further, what is this talking about? It's talking about a graven image. Is that what a Christmas tree is? A graven image is a statue that's made out of wood and it's overlaid with gold or silver. I'm sure you've seen a Buddha statue or something at a Chinese food restaurant that is a fat Buddha or a skinny Buddha if it's at a Thai restaurant and it's got some kind of gold overlaid over the top of it with oranges and rotten vegetables usually and some kind of sake or some kind of alcoholic drink next to it or something. But what does it say? For his molten image is falsehood and there is no breath in them. So yes, you could take verses three and four and yeah, you make sure the Christmas tree's there. You deck it with silver and gold. You went and cut it out of the forest. It sounds like the familiar story of people going and cutting down a Christmas tree and bringing it in their house and decorating it, but that's not what this is about. You make molten images out of wood and the founder melts all the gold and silver or whatever they're gonna put over the top of it and they skillfully make that statue. In the book of Acts, I think it's in chapter 19 where Paul, the Ephesian people that make the images of Diana freak out because they think that their craft is being messed with by the Apostle Paul turning everybody away from idols and they shout, great is Diana of the Ephesians, but they're like union workers basically that are counting on being able to make these idols to their goddess or whatever and they're mad that their union is getting busted or whatever and so their job is to make these types of things. It's a skilled trade to make these idols. Now obviously in this country we don't have that so much, but I'm sure there's other countries where their job is to make idols. Like I think in Mexico they probably have them. I think I've seen where they just have all these merry statues that they try to give to people or sell to people when they cross the border and anyway, out of the scope, but this passage is about making an idol. It's not about a Christmas tree, but if you think Christmas trees are evil, don't put one in your house, but again, the whole point of this sermon is really just to say, hey, if you observe the day, observe it, but don't throw it in people's face that don't. If you don't observe Christmas, cool. Well, but don't try to just turn everybody to the side and be like, hey, Christmas is evil, even though you already know how they feel about it and we should just have grace for our other people and maybe someday they'll change their mind about it either way, but we shouldn't get, when people are just so freaky about one doctrine like flat earthers for instance, flat earthers, they just kind of get on that kick and they don't get off of it. Everybody has to believe like I do. I have to tell everybody they're gonna fall off the earth. It's like, why don't you get on the gospel kick instead? That's a little more important. So anyway, in closing, I just want, I just want like most things just, like I said, most things just need to be in the middle. If we would have our doctrine be more in the middle grounds, I'm not trying to say be lukewarm, that's not what I mean, but not extremist on our view, not just totally liberal, but the middle ground is the best place to be on things like this. Don't be Santa's the beast or whatever. I mean, Santa is not true, obviously, but we shouldn't be just trying to change everybody from not celebrating Christmas because the most important, one of the most important events that ever happened in human history was Jesus being born on this earth. There's no doubt about it. That's how the New Testament starts is talking about the birth of Jesus, the birth of Jesus happening, and then of course it gets into the ministry of Jesus. So I hope everybody has a Merry Christmas. I'm gonna pray and dismiss the service and then pray and bless the food and when my wife gives me the signal, we're okay to load up our plates and all that good stuff. Parents, please don't let your kids just touch all the food and I always say this, but if you have littles, just grab their plate, make a big jumbo plate and then divvy it out to them or whatever, that's probably the easiest way. And then just make sure everybody, there's not a lot of sides. This is kind of like the David meal from when I preached in First Chronicles chapter 16. It's like a good piece of flesh, a flag and a wine, and a piece of bread. So there is some sides, but there's not a lot. So anyway, let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much for the birth of your son, Jesus Christ, and Lord, we just want to recognize that it was one of the greatest events in human history. Lord, I pray that you just bless the rest of our day and our fellowship and the soul-winning and I pray that you bless the food that we're about to partake in, our fellowship and all things done in your house today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The first Noel. We're gonna sing verses one, two, three and then skip down to six, okay, just to make it a little shorter to get to the food a little faster. Amen? Amen. So one, two, three, six. 268, the first Noel. On the first. The first Noel The angel did say Was to certain poor shepherds in fields As they lay in fields Where they lay keeping their sheep On a cold winter's night That was so deep Noel, Noel Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel They looked up And saw a star shining in Beyond them far Into the earth And gave great light And saw it continued Both day and night Noel, Noel Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel And by the light Of that same star Three wise men came From country far To seek for a king Was there in ten And to follow the star Wherever it went Noel, Noel Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel Verse six Then let us all With one accord Sing praises to Our heavenly Lord That hath made heaven And earth of God And with this blood mankind hath bought Noel, Noel Noel, Noel Born is the King of Israel Amen, great singing Looking forward to feasting with you all And Merry Christmas Brother Ramon, can you bless the food And pray for us this morning