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following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains following yonder star We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor And mountains We three kings of Orient are bearing gifts We travel so far, fields and fountains moor Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room And heaven and nature sing And heaven and nature sing And heaven, heaven, nature sing Joy to the world, the Savior reigns Let men their songs employ While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy Repeat, repeat the sounding joy No more let sins and sorrows grow Nor thorns infest the ground He comes to make His blessings known 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 Amen, okay well I'm going a little bit out of order because we're having a special service we're having a candlelight service tonight and so we're just doing one song we're going to do several songs at the end by candlelight fake candlelight but they look like candles they flicker and everything so I'll go over all the rules and everything after I'm done with my sermon I'll just go over that we'll hand out the candles any child can have them they're totally safe as long as they're not like throwing them across the room or something we'll be good but I want to go over the announcements real quick if you have a bulletin let's go over the bulletins real quick there might be a few extra bulletins ushers can you make sure does anybody need a bulletin all right one person needs a bulletin all right on our front of our bulletin we have our verse of the week it says for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father the prince of peace isaiah 9 6 very very famous and great scripture there and our service times are 10 30 sunday mornings and 3 30 p.m sunday evenings thursday is 6 30 p.m and tonight we're going to skip our normal bible study and we're going to just do a service about the lord jesus christ it's all about him anyway and everything the bible points to him and he either points back to him or points forward to him and so he's the reason for the season so we're going to focus on him a little bit tonight if that's all right with you we have so many times listed below and if i think we didn't did anybody have a salvation just i don't think so okay but we had four salvations on sunday which was great and um a couple family members huh salvation yesterday okay i'm sorry i didn't yeah i didn't see that okay yeah so we did have a salvation yesterday and so that's great so that puts our totals closer to 20 i think anyway um for the month but uh you can look down you can see the praise report salvations baptisms and attendance and our attendance has been a little weird lately we've been having more in the evening service than in the morning service but i think we had 102 actually on sunday night and like i think like i don't know like 92 or something like that in the morning i can't remember exactly what it was but that's pretty weird so that's two weeks in a row where we had more in the sunday evening service so and we had plenty of visitors and people visited the church that's been invited here and so very excited about that we've had a lot more visitors since we moved to this location it's not the walking dead walking in it's actually normal people so that's great anyway um we had our christmas service on sunday and we enjoyed a prime rib dinner afterward we got to hear the men sing they did a great job and the children did a great job as well and so um that's all behind us but tonight's our candlelight service and again it's going to be a little bit different of an order of service but it's still going to be a great service so um december 31st we're going to pray the new year in there's going to be a game night a ping pong tournament and foosball and dinner will be provided bring snacks drinks for desserts maybe there should be a sign-up sheet wink wink wink wink uh in the uh whatsapp group so my wife has become a are you are you getting good at that by now like putting that in okay good so um so we'll have that all set up and here here's the thing that's dependent upon the weather okay so apparently it's supposed to snowmageddon it's supposed to hit on saturday and so everything's dependent on the weather but you know if it's too dangerous i'll call off church on sunday or thursday if necessary but uh i know there's always diehards are like what do you do castle church it's like well i don't want people to die okay so i know you're not gonna die you you're you're superman in the snow or whatever but not everybody is so anyway so but i would only do that if it was absolutely necessary so be prepared for to possibly be canceled depending on how much we get depending on how well they treat the roads in washington they do a pretty good job they actually put salt on the roads the salmon scream as they get as it gets dumped out but the trees cry but you know it's okay it's only every once in a while so so anyway yeah if it's if the roads are really bad then i'll probably cancel church but be prepared to come anyway so don't just say i'm just gonna stay at home and my pink fluffy slippers and not go to church uh i'll i'll call it by saturday night though sometimes saturday night so if you wake up early to go to church and there's a thing saying don't come to church then you'll know okay and so january 1st is our new testament uh bible challenge that begins on the first of january and it's nine chapters a day to get the bible read in 31 days there's a couple cheat days in there so it's a great uh challenge to try to begin the new year off reading the new testament january 15th we have our usa canada preaching event so sure foundation baptist north and a sure foundation baptist church vancouver we're going to combine forces at arch state park and we're going we rented the building up there and we're going to have a couple church services there and some fellowship so there won't be any soul winning plans so if you want to go so when you want to go up a day early you can still win in blaine or bellingham i've actually got people saved up in blaine before going up there so you know i got i think we i went out with brother scott and we got like two salvations knocking doors our one time but anyway that uh the information that's on here is if you try to type that into your gps it's going to take you try to take you across the canadian border at which they will shoot you and not ask questions no i'm just kidding they just won't let you in so i'm going to get the specific directions that you need to take because the washington state parks said don't take those these directions because they won't they'll take you the wrong way so i'll get those ready for you but we are we do need to put a sign-up sheet inside the whatsapp group to who's going for sure okay and so there's a breakfast planned at 10 a.m we have the building from eight to five and there's an afternoon lunch provided also and so just bring yourself and your family and we'll have a good time if you haven't met the brethren from canada be a good time to meet our leadership and our church members there and so it'll be a great time and there's a fireplace there so we'll have a nice fire roaring and some roaring preaching and stuff like that so anyway so one last thing uh friday february 11th it's gonna be our married couple's sweetheart banquet guest preacher will be pastor jonathan shelley so he'll be preaching for us and he'll also be preaching for us that sunday so i've hired him to preach against my enemies no i'm just kidding just joking that's the accusation though but anyway i had to get that little jab in there real quick what enemies can i develop between now and then no i'm just kidding anyway so we're family integrated church you guys all know that and uh i'm just gonna skip all that for time's sake uh i don't think we have any guests here tonight so sean had a happy birthday he's old now he's 40 or 41 okay he was already old last year so he's he's old now all right uh so okay let's sing another song and we'll receive an offering to turn to page 264 in your blue hymnal page 264 oh come oh come immanuel page 264 sing it out on the first oh come oh come and ransom captive israel israel shall come to thee oh israel come thou rod of jesse free thine own from satan's tyranny from debts of hell thy people save and give them victory o'er the grave rejoice rejoice immanuel shall come to thee oh israel oh come thou key of day they come and open wide our heavenly home make safe the way that leads on high and show the path that bring us night rejoice rejoice joy shall come to thee oh israel good singing at this time we're going to receive the offering brother sean here if you'll bless the offering lord thank you so much for this day lord so so so so good evening would you please turn with me to the book of isaiah the book of isaiah chapter 9 isaiah chapter 9 merry christmas eve eve we're going to be reading from isaiah chapter 9 and as is our custom we'll read the entire chapter so please follow along silently with me as i read isaiah chapter 9 isaiah chapter 9 the bible reads nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of zebulun and the land of naftali and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea beyond jordan in galley of the nations the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them half the light shined thou hast multiplied the nation and not increased the joy they joy before thee according to the joy and harvest and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil for thou hast broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder the rod of his oppressor as in the day of midian for every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire for unto us a child is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father the prince of peace of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of david and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever the zeal of the lord of hosts will perform this the lord sent a word into jacob and it hath lighted upon israel and all the people shall know even ephraim and the inhabitants of samaria that say in the pride and stoutness of heart the bricks are fallen down but we will build with hewn stones the sycamores are cut down but we will change them into cedars therefore the lord shall set up the adversaries of reason against him and join his enemies together the syrians before and the philistines behind and they shall devour israel with open mouth for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still for the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them neither do they seek the lord of hosts therefore the lord will cut off from israel head and tail branch and rush in one day the ancient and honorable he is the head and the prophet that teacheth lies he is the tail for the leaders of this people cause them to err and they that are led of them are destroyed therefore the lord shall have no joy in their young men neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows for every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer and every mouth speaketh folly for all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still for wickedness burneth as the fire it shall devour the briars and thorns and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke through the wrath of the lord of hosts is the land darkened and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire no man shall spare his brother and he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry and he shall eat on the left hand and they shall not be satisfied they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm manasseh ephraim and ephraim manasseh and they together shall be against judah for all this is anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still further alex can you pray for us thank you that he's the prince of peace uh but at the same time like the captain says he's angry thank you so much lord for gathering us here tonight and i pray that you fill pastor with the holy ghost and he preaches your word amen amen all right well the title of the sermon tonight is jesus christ the gift that keeps on giving jesus christ the gift that keeps on giving because the bible actually says that jesus christ is a gift and of course it's christmas time and so this verse here in verse number six if you look down at your bible and it's our verse of the week says for unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given and when you give somebody something it's a present right it's a gift and so we were given a son a child all those years ago and there was no room at the inn he was born in a manger he was you know born in a barn and kept in a manger he was born poor he had no play to a place to pillow his head as an adult you know he basically was the king was the king of kings lord of lords but took on himself the form of a servant for us and lived a perfect life so that we wouldn't have to go to hell he he was the second adam the bible says and he was he was given to us for the cleansing of all of our sins so when christ died on the cross he died a perfect sacrifice the john the baptist when he saw him said behold the lamb of god which taketh away the sin of the world and so jesus christ was that lamb but he was born to us he was given to us by god the father and he is um it says he's given he's given to us so he is a gift and he wasn't just given to us one time and that's it we tell the story about christmas all the time or whatever he keeps on giving us gifts as we live through our lives he is the gift that keeps on giving because he was given to us as a savior he was given to us to be able to you know be redeemed to god and so but those gifts that he keeps giving are precious gifts also and it's not like he just saves us and then we have to live a horrible life all the time that's usually not the case now some people it is the case sometimes that does happen but you know even if we have a horrible life on this earth and we're saved you know what we still have something to look forward to so i know that that you know when people are going through a dark time and you know people are going through heart heartache and hardships and and hard times with their health people in their family are passing away people are in their family are not getting saved and you know this world is a hard place and we have joy in this world but we also have a lot of hard times and even jacob said you know few and evil have my days been you know so jacob was one of the greatest men in the bible and he said that few and evil were his days so he felt like he didn't really live that long of a life because our life is like a vapor and we don't have much time on this earth to serve the lord but you know god gives us salvation through our lord jesus christ for absolute free and there's no other god you know small g i'll say there's all these religions in the world and they all say that you basically have to repent of your sins and be a good person you know even like the buddhist they still they still say the same thing you know they might have these different philosophies but ultimately it's the same it's a workspace salvation you know but they're ultimately trying to not exist so that's kind of a weird religion to to be in it's like hey my goal is to not exist someday my goal is to exist forever and i've achieved that goal because the bible says you have everlasting life once you believe in lord jesus christ but so the son a son is given to us and it says the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called wonderful counselor the mighty god the everlasting father the prince of peace and he is all those things and he will be all those things in the future you know he he talked about him being a king and for this reason when he was born and even though he was on this earth he was still the king but his kingdom was not of this world but someday his kingdom will be here with man at the same time so his kingdom is not of this world but god and man shall dwell together in the new jerusalem so but anyway so number one tonight i don't want to preach for a long time because i want to get into the rest of the service here but the word of god is is something we need in every church service amen let's look at john chapter three verse number 16 now number one tonight the gift of the only begotten son so jesus is the only begotten son now you that have children will understand this concept well which one of you would actually give up daughter or son your only child would you give up any child for other people that don't that would spit in your face for doing so you know nobody would do that but you know god did that god watched his son be mocked and tortured and beaten and be maligned and lied about and challenged at every step of the way and he still gave his only begotten son you know people think well you know he was just going to raise him from the dead yeah but it doesn't mean he didn't go through what he went through he still went through those things they were still real to him just as real as it would be to any of us we have everlasting life but if we you know went through some major ordeal with that that would be something that would leave scars wouldn't it and so that would be something that we would carry with us for the rest of our life the bible says that he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief you know a man of sorrows i mean when you're when you have sorrow that means that there's a lot of bad things going on in your life so it's not like jesus just you know had this easy life he didn't have an easy life i mean joseph was his stepfather and it doesn't talk about him in his older years so he probably died or went away i'm not sure the bible doesn't say but it seems to me that he lived part of his life without his earthly father and so that would probably not be easy you know to be told that your mother is you know people were saying that he was a bastard that jesus was a bastard and that mary you know laid with a roman soldier and all this other stuff i mean he had every everything that's been could be said about him has been said about him not only then but even today people use his name as a cuss word and god the father gave jesus as a gift to us he lit he was perfect he he had no reason for anybody to talk about about him but that just shows you how wicked this world really is that they will malign and talk about about somebody that only has their good in mind isn't that crazy i mean if you think about that and some people hate good people they just they just despise good people for no reason but it's just because their needs are evil right so john 3 16 says for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son isn't that giving him as a gift he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and so this gift is a gift that is something that can give us everlasting life and the bible says all you have to do to get that gift is to believe now i know that there's a lot of other teaching out there but their teachings a lie any church that teaches that you have to do anything else besides believe to be saved is not a true church any church that teaches that you can lose your eternal secure or that you can lose eternal life which that doesn't even make sense but it says you'll have everlasting life if you believe in him now if you've committed some crime or something and or you stop going to church or you stop being faithful to god does that mean that you're not going to have everlasting life anymore that doesn't even make sense everlasting life means it lasts forever but isn't there churches out there today that will say oh no you could lose eternal life i was reading up there was a missionary family there were Mennonites and they were captured in Haiti and they escaped in some daring escape i was reading up about the Mennonites and the Mennonites believe you know that i started reading about them and they they're like the Anabaptists they came from the Anabaptists and then the Amish split off from them a long time ago because they said they were too liberal but i would say that they're just not even saved because straight in their in their uh statements of faith it says we don't believe in eternal security well then you're not saved it's just that simple if you don't believe in eternal and eternal life if you don't believe you have it by believing in Jesus then you don't have it at all because it's eternal it lasts forever and so Jesus Christ is the gift of God and he's the only begotten son of God it says for God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved see he doesn't want to condemn people you know he's not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance he wants people to be saved but you know they're you know in that in that chapter in Isaiah it's talking about his arm is stretched out still he's still you know even though all these people do all these wicked things how many chances do you see God give people in the old testament that are super wicked and he says hey my hand is still stretched out still I'll still save you I'll still forgive your sins but people just slap it away they don't want it you know we go out soul winning and people just say I'd rather watch football literally my niners are playing right now I'd rather watch football and again you know I can understand was to see no I'm just kidding I couldn't understand that either but you know people are just weird it's like you have heaven at your at your door it came to your door in the form of some someone are coming to knock your door and you just shut up the door to heaven you did it yourself you know there's no big jumbotron in heaven that says hey you know here's all the sins that you committed or whatever but you know what God is going to bring those things into your remembrance I'm sure at the final judgment and those people that said hey I'd rather watch the 49ers I didn't know I didn't know you knew you knew and you looked you looked a man of God right in his eyes and you were just like what are you doing here how dare you interrupt my Niners game but Jesus Christ is the gift the only begotten son of God and he was given to us that we might be saved he was given to us that we would have everlasting life and it's it's quoted over and over again in the book of John believe believe believe eternal life eternal life everlasting life now number two tonight the gift Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving and it's the gift of eternal life I'm going to cover more the eternal life now look at Romans chapter 6 23 and I realize a lot of these verses or verses you already know but he is the gift that keeps on giving you know he doesn't just give you life and then oh you messed it up you lost it now sorry no more everlasting life for you that'd be weird right he's the gift that keeps on giving because once he gives you that gift it keeps on going forever and so that's why it's a gift that keeps on giving look at Romans 6 23 it says for the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life and who do you get it through Jesus Christ our Lord there's no there's neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved there's no other way to get to heaven Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father but by me and so people that would say well there's other ways to get to heaven no there's not there's only one way and it's the Lord Jesus Christ that's what the bible says right there right and it's a gift that he gives to you Jesus gives you the gift he's the one that paid for it isn't it weird when people that people would have to pay for their own Christmas presents you know I I don't like to use that out someone anymore because I know people that have said well I do actually have to pay for my presents like really well your mom's messed up you know I've bought my own presents before I mean everybody in here I'm sure has done that but to here's your presents junior now it's going to be five dollars for present like I just I can't even I can't even imagine that'd be true but I guess it's out there but we don't pay for our own gifts gifts are given to us for free and someone else has to pay for it so the salvation the eternal life was paid for by Jesus Christ and he's the one that paid for it with his sinless life and his his death burial and resurrection so Ephesians 2 I'll have you turn to John 6 40 I'm going to read Ephesians 2 8 Ephesians 2 8 says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God I mean how much more plain can it be that people will still just not get this concept isn't it funny when people just get it like that when you're out soul winning and they're like you're like hey man sometimes when people get it that easy I'm just like do you know how many people don't get this like they just don't even realize that what they just got many people have just wrestled with us and struggled with us on these issues it's like but you still got to do the works no you don't it's not of works you know what part of that don't you understand is not of works lest any man should boast so it's a gift so look at John 6 40 it says and this is the will of him that sent me that everyone would see it the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day these are the words of Jesus Christ himself right here on in front of you on your page if you have a red letter edition that's him saying that do you believe him or not do you believe that if you believe on him that you may have everlasting life it's not saying you might have it that it's just like you may here you go hey may I have a cookie yes you may may I have everlasting life yes you know that's kind of what how it's being said there now turn to John chapter 10 verse 27 John chapter 10 verse 27 see Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving and he was given to us by the father and he was a gift for us for salvation but he's also a gift for us for eternal life and he gives that gift for free because gifts are free right my sheep hear my voice verse 27 and I know them and they follow me and I give unto them eternal life see how it says I give because it's not earned see I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish never how long's never it's never it's never ever right neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand so you can't even pluck yourself out of God's hand because are you any man well or a woman either whichever one you are you can't pluck yourself out of God's hand so once he saves you then you can't even pluck yourself out of his hand neither suicide murder any sin cannot pluck your you cannot pluck yourself out of God's hand now is God going to chastise his sons and daughters of course he is any good parent would do that but he'll you know what he'll never do he'll never throw them in the oven he'll never throw them in hell for any reason whatsoever look what it says in verse 29 my father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand so nobody can do it nobody can pull you out of his hand you can't pull yourself out of his hand and he gives you the gift of everlasting life and it's not like something you can give back see if I give you something you can try to give it back and maybe I would take it back I don't know you might be able to give it to somebody else you regifters you but that this is not a gift you can give back this is not a gift you can just lay aside and say this is no longer mine once you have it it's yours forever because it's everlasting you know people you say well you can give gifts back yeah but not this gift this gift lasts forever and you can't give it back there's nothing you can do to give it back so you can't even give it back you can't pluck yourself out of God's hand and so Jesus Christ when he gives eternal life it's the gift that keeps on giving it's never going to go away it's always going to be life it's never going to be death the only thing that's going to die is this body that we live in but that body is going to be raised up from the dead and we'll have a new body that's another gift but I don't have that on my points but another gift that we get is a brand new body you know I'm starting to feel some aches and pains almost I'm almost 50 and you know over your life you accumulate pain here and there from different things you know people talk about their old war wounds or their old you know sports wounds or you smash your thumb with a hammer and deformed it or whatever we get all kinds of little you know you sprain your ankle you stub your pinky toe on the corner of an oak desk and it never looks the same you know I mean those types of things happen but you know what when you get our new body that's that can't happen there's a body that can't die it's a body that can't be deformed it's a body that will never experience pain like we experience now and that'll be great that's something to look forward to right not waking up and going oh my back oh my neck bring me the massager I mean that won't be existing anymore so number three tonight the gift of eternal peace now in our verse in isaiah chapter nine look at verse number seven if you look back at isaiah chapter nine verse seven so the gift of eternal peace this is a gift that he will keep on giving now right now we don't have peace in this earth do we but again this is one of those things that you have to look forward to because it's not here yet but it's something good to look forward to because this earth is filled with violence this earth is filled with crime have you noticed how much worse crime has gotten how many more people flip over on the freeways I just don't understand that it's like a an unnatural phenomenon in vancouver or something it's like every time I see something on the news feed it's like car flips over semi flips over on 205 it's like how does that even happen because people are driving like mad max beyond thunderdome they're driving like they stole something and it's scary but there's a lot of crimes out there I was getting some snow tires at less swab today and they said I said well I'll just you know I they said it won't be red till six and I said well I got to go to church and they're like well you shouldn't leave it in the parking lot because the last time someone did that all their windows got smashed out and they didn't even steal anything they just smashed all their windows out it's like okay well I'll be there you know I don't want that to happen but look what it says in verse 7 in Isaiah 9 it says of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end so his government Jesus Christ is going to set up a government he's the he's the rock that comes and smashes the statue of of the world you know that statue where it had Babylon as its head the Medes and Persians the Greek empire the Roman empire and then the end times empire with the ten toes and the uh the ten toes mixed with clay miry clay and Christ is going to come and smash that statue that that whole world system is going to crumble and fall and Christ is going to be the head of the government and it says that of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end so it's going to be a good government forever it's going to be a great government for it's going to be the way the government should have been set up in the beginning no taxes folks I mean just look forward to that like they literally just tax us on everything gas you know your paychecks state tax local tax all different kinds of tax and it's just getting ridiculous now they want to tax our income to help pay for other people's problems and stuff but they've been doing that for a long time it's called welfare but anyway now I don't mind helping people don't get me wrong if people need help they need help but it shouldn't be a perpetual I just don't want to work thing so but you know in this this government of peace you know I couldn't say that it would be a peaceful government if we had to pay taxes I just I don't believe that I don't think that taxes will be a thing and it says upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever the zeal of the lord of hosts will perform this so the bible talks about here about an everlasting good government a peaceful government so the gift that keeps on giving is this peaceful government that we're going to have and you're like well that sounds unrealistic well it's not unrealistic it's a fact it's going to happen it's something that we can look forward to look at isaiah chapter 11 and this is a pretty cool portion of scripture but it kind of just gives you a little insight of what this world's going to be like when jesus christ is the head of everything once he smashed all these goats once he smashed all these devils once he's thrown the anti-christ and the beast and the false prov all those people are in hell when when the devil is in hell and he's no longer able to come out against us look at isaiah 11 6 it says the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb is that something you'd normally see today wolves and lambs hanging out now and the leopard shall lie down with the kid talking about a little goat and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them so you're talking about i mean just think about this for a second you got wolves and lambs dwelling together a leopard laying down with a goat and then you got you know a calf and a young lion i mean a young lion is going to take a calf to pieces right now you couldn't put them in the same room for any amount of time until that thing would kill it but it says the lion shall eat straw like an ox so oh sorry i skipped the to the next verse but a little child shall lead them so imagine a little child come on lion come on let's go come on you know you know how kids like take animals and they're just like the matter animal looks miserable they're like holding it just like they pick up the puppy and they're like come on puppy and the puppy's like please help me the gerbil they're like anyway but the little children shall be able to lead these wolves and these lions around i mean how cool would that be that's a world of peace that would be a world of peace right and it says in verse seven and the cow and the bear shall feed their young one shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like an ox like the ox so lions aren't going to eat animal other animals anymore so they won't need to eat other animals and eat their flesh they'll eat straw like an ox so all animals will be vegetarians apparently at that time it says and the suckling child shall play on the whole of the asp and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den so that's another poisonous snake these are poisonous snakes it's talking about a suckling child a child that's still you know breastfed playing on the whole of an ass they're crawling you know the there's this there's a snake hole there and you don't have to worry about it you know why because the snake isn't going to bite them that would be a place of peace wouldn't it and where men aren't killing each other when men aren't making weapons of war and hurting each other and people aren't doing violence to their neighbor it says in verse nine they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the lord as the waters cover the sea and in that day there shall be a root of jesse which shall stand for an ensign of the people to it shall the gentiles seek and his rest shall be glorious and he calls it rest because that's what it's going to be it's not going to be any more striving in a sinful world and worried about all the different things that we have to worry about nowadays and it's going to be a time of peace and you know what that time of peace is going to last forever that's a gift that keeps on giving isn't it now number four and i only have one more after this but number four the gift of daily benefits so jesus you know even in this world now we get daily benefits that we don't even realize that we get look at uh psalm 68 verse 19 psalm 68 verse 19 and you know sometimes we have hard days and we think oh man this you know this world is just so bad but you know think about the benefits that you had that day did you still have food to eat did you still have clothes on your back did you still have a place to live did you still have shoes on your feet were you walking around barefoot anywhere did you did you have to hold up a sign no and it's because we have daily benefits god still takes care of his people and you know he hasn't seen his seed begging you know david said he he didn't see his seed begging for bread because the people of god you know god is going to bless them he's going to make sure that we're okay and that we're taken care of and even if we go through a time of trouble because look we just don't know when we're what what generation we're going to be born into the people that were in world war ii they didn't know that they were going to be born into that generation it just happened something like that could just happen to us too you know and god could still take care of us through anything like that we don't know when the end times are going to start we i mean there's no temple being built right now and yes there is going to be another temple okay but there you know we still have time we still have time right now to live our lives and to be you know carefree for the most part of people not murdering us for being christians but that could all change but you know what every day we get blessings from god every morning we get new mercies i mean we got to think about the benefits that god gives us on a daily basis you know do you still have the ability to come to church do you still have the ability to go out soul winning now people yell at you sometimes and call you names and slam the door in your face but other than that you know it's pretty easy going it's not so bad you know you're not walking into a town thinking that you're going to get murdered for preaching the gospel it's not that bad is it so the benefits of jesus christ is that he gives us daily benefits look at what it says in psalm 68 19 it says blessed be the lord who daily loadeth us with benefits even the god of our salvation sila so he daily loads us with benefits and we sometimes we just don't realize you're having a bad day you're having a bad week you're tired you're hurt you're you're sore you're achy you know and and you're just having whatever you're having a bad week but just don't forget that god daily loads you up with benefits he you know it could be a lot worse you could be in a position where you have no food you have no shelter you have you know people in your family your loved ones are dying or whatever it can get worse and right now we don't have it that bad so we got to remember that we have benefits that god gives us every day and that's a gift that keeps on giving he daily daily to be daily loaded with benefits it's like the children of israel were whining because they had to eat the manna in the wilderness but you know didn't they have daily bread to eat but yet they were whining that's not a position that we should look at you know if you think about christmas people just were jacked up about you know opening presents and kids that's the their favorite part of it and i get that you know because i'm i'm still i still get jacked up about that you know i like christmas i think it's great but you know i'm not we got to put things in perspective and and realize that you know it's not about just what we get it's not just about what we can earn but just think about the fact that god daily loads us with benefits i mean benefits packages are good reasons to have certain jobs aren't they you want to have medical and that's a benefit isn't it it's not something that your company has to do they give it to you right it's kind of an added benefit so but god does that too and we've we fail to see that sometimes we fail to see where he's blessing our lives but in reality he's blessing us more than probably most people on the whole planet there's 300 million people that live in the united states you know a lot of them are intentionally not being blessed because of the way that they live their life or they just don't care but in some countries they don't have anywhere near the riches that we have i got like so many king james bibles i don't even know how many i have there's countries where they don't even have one they don't even have a bible in their own language we're daily loaded with benefits in this country and we should be thankful for that and not and not forget that number five this is my last point the gift of the kingdom of god we get to inherit the kingdom of god see we are we're gonna we'll look at roman chapter 8 verse 32 roman chapter 8 verse 32 roman chapter 8 verse 32 the bible says he that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things see we're going to inherit all things we're going to inherit the kingdom of god we're going to be able to explore this kingdom i'm sure to a certain extent i don't know what we're going to do in heaven honestly i always tell you that story about how i used to think it was just us playing a harp on a cloud or something i'm telling you what that's not going to be the case you know maybe we'll do that for for fun one time or something i don't know but that's probably we're not going to be with sylvester and tweety playing you know the harp or whatever so we're going to be doing stuff we're going to be probably having our own place building our own stuff you know going on adventures who knows but you know what i know it's not going to be it's not it's not it's going to be peaceful it's going to be filled with benefits you know it's going to be an everlasting thing that we get to do but we get to inherit the kingdom of god we are you know what we are we're joint heirs with christ and so that means that we inherit with the son and now he's obviously we're not going to overtake him in power of some sort he's obviously god he's the son of god but you know we get to inherit with him all the blessings that christ earned for us he shares them with all of us and that is the kingdom of god he's going to be sharing with us so he's going to freely give us all things you know and so turn to revelation 21 verse 7 you know like well how much what are we going to inherit we're going to hear it at all everything we get it all and that's a good gift that keeps on giving amen all right here we go again acts chapter 20 verse 33 or excuse me revelation 21 verse 7 i actually got to get there i just wrote that down revelation 21 verse 7 the bible says in revelation 21 verse 7 it says he that overcometh shall inherit what does it say some things all things and i will be his god and he shall be my son oh that's great right that we get to inherit all things and that is the kingdom of god is one of those things you know turn to acts chapter 20 verse 33 acts chapter 20 verse 33 so the gift that keeps on giving i mean there's lots of different things obviously i could probably think of a lot of different things but i don't want to preach all night i want to do some singing and some worship of the lord jesus tonight but uh acts chapter 20 verse number 33 i got a few more places to turn we'll be done says i have coveted no man silver or gold or apparel yea ye ourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me i have showed you all things how that's so laboring you ought to support the weak and remember the words of the lord jesus how he said it is more blessed to give than to receive so that's a man that lived by these words he he was it was more blessed to give than to receive and he's going to receive a lot of things for the things he gave because you reap what you sow right even christ the savior is going to reap what he sowed the kingdom is going to be his and he's going to share with all of us and why i mean well i'm not god so i don't understand why he loves us so much but he does why he wants to give us so much things even though we don't deserve it clearly i mean but he does and he says it's more blessed to give to than receive so i mean that's the thing that you should think about this christmas are you giving more than you're receiving are you giving it all that you can for the lord look at james chapter 1 verse 17 james chapter 1 verse 17 i only got two more scriptures so turn there please james 1 17 and just remember this that everything that we get is from god ultimately amen you know people think well i did this that's what Nebuchadnezzar thought too he's like ah this is great Babylon that i have built and that's when god just like nope you're gonna be a beast for seven years how do you like that so we think that we're doing all this stuff but god is the one that ultimately allows us to have the talents and gifts that we have he allows us you know he blesses our lives or curses it but you know we have to understand that it says in james 1 17 says every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning so every good thing that we get just remember that it comes from god it doesn't come from you it doesn't come from anybody else the gifts of god are from heaven now last verse we'll turn to second corinthians chapter 9 verse 15 second corinthians chapter 9 verse 15 the bible says thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift thanks be unto god for his unspeakable gift and just remember that you know the the existence that we even have in this life the great family that you have the great church that you have all the things that god has blessed you with in your life and the and the gift of salvation the gift of eternal life you know don't forget to thank the god that actually gave it to you don't forget to thank the lord jesus christ for the life that you have you're like well i just don't really like my life well maybe you just need to be a little more positive maybe you need to learn to get along with people i don't know what it is but you know he gave us an unspeakable gift he gave us multiple unspeakable gifts with salvation number one we get saved we have everlasting life i mean that he could have just done that and that's it but he gives us lots of benefits he we're inheriting the kingdom with him he we're gonna be in a government that is actually peaceful and actually does true justice and and gives out true judgment not like the one we live in now where you could be sued for anything for any reason for any time by anybody you know if you if you have bad breath i'm suing you you have bad breath i'm sure it's out there you know there's there's just all kinds of of injustice out there you know there's over 10 000 federal laws am i supposed to just read all those and know them like i know the bible so i don't accidentally do something wrong so they can throw me in federal prison i don't think so that doesn't sound like peace to me i'm supposed to learn all my local government laws and rules and regulations and you know lobsters that i can catch love lobsters that i can't keep salmon that have a different fin on it you have to throw that one back and all this other garbage why can't i just fish you know there's gonna come a time when we are ruling this world with our lord jesus christ so you know what that's a great gift that's a great benefit you know the times can be hard now while we're on this world while we're in this life but you know what you are blessed beyond measure you just don't realize that sometimes sometimes you just gotta stop and smell the roses you ever heard that saying before you know and and things get crazy you get busy and you don't feel like you have time to stop and smell the roses but i assure you you should sometimes just stop stop running the rat race for just a little bit take some time with your family enjoy yourself enjoy your life you know i'm not saying just it's all vacation but enjoy yourself enjoy your family enjoy your children enjoy your spouse enjoy your aunts and uncles and your brothers and sisters and your mom and dad you know god didn't bring us here and and he didn't do all this for us so we couldn't enjoy anything and if you're not enjoying yourself you're doing something wrong because we should have some joy in our life joy unspeakable and full of glory you ever heard that verse you know so we should be thankful and thanks be to god for his unspeakable gift so when you're at home with your family enjoying your holiday just remember to thank god for all the benefits that he gives us the unspeakable gift of the son of god and be thankful for what you have enjoy it have a great holiday if you get snowed in who cares somebody else has to plow the road anyway it's not going to be you and remember to keep christ and christmas you know when people when you do christmas do you do some kind of devotional with your family you should you should read the story of the you know and even if your kids can't sit still or won't sit still just you know you will learn about jesus you know just give them a snack but so kids you know they're excited they want it they want to open up the presents but you know are they ruling your house or are you ruling your house so remember to keep christ and christmas do some sort of devotional read the story about how he was born because the kids should know that's something they should learn growing up is it so wrong to actually have a holiday where we actually talk about jesus i mean there isn't very many of them most of them are for all these other things that nobody cares about it's not that big of a deal but there's only a couple you know maybe three that are even remotely christian and christmas is one of them and it's about the greatest man that ever walked the face of the planet and you know a child was given to us a child was born and his name was emmanuel which means god with us let's pray heavenly father we thank you lord so much for all the benefits that you give us lord and the gifts that you keep on giving lord i pray that you'd help us to stop and smell the roses i play i pray that you'd help us to remember the the great families that we have and lord that we would enjoy the things that you've given to us and lord we know that there's some things that are not within our sight right now but lord there are things that we can hope for in the future a perfect government and lord just all the great blessings of the kingdom of heaven pray lord that you'd help us and keep things to keep things in perspective in our lives and lord to not uh not be negative all the time but be positive about the things because our future is bright lord and we thank you so much for everything you do for us in jesus name we pray amen all right well so now we're going to have the candlelight service and i'm going to have the the only instructions are you just have to turn let me show you real quick if i can uh oh i messed up i can show you that i messed it up what did i do here oh i'm opening it from the wrong end that's awesome all right so basically you just twist it and it turns on okay we did this last year see how it twinkles like it's real but here's the here's the the sad part is that we have emergency lighting in here and i'm afraid to hit the breaker so it's not going to be super dark in here but maybe that would be best for the kids i think this kid screamed last year when we turned the lights off anyway but what i want you to do you don't have to turn don't turn the lights on now let's turn them off for a second so i'm going to have the song leader come up and we're going to sing what how many songs josh like three four four songs we're going to sing four songs and let's sing it out let's sing to the lord let's uh have a great spirit field song service and then we'll be done you need more all right you got one josh you need one you just turn it just like this i wasn't watching that's okay just turn it you just keep yours on all right so we're going to turn out the lights as best as we can um maybe the is there anybody left in the mother baby room if there is we can shut those lights off we're done we don't have enough do we have any i don't i had three boxes that was it well you're gonna have to share i don't get one i'm just kidding all right so let's all get our book what what song song all right is that is that as dark as it gets all right all right okay thank you baby those are all the switches okay oh sorry oh glory to the newborn him sinners reconciled join the triumph of the scars with angelic host proclaim christ is born in bethlehem heart the herald angels sing so so so so so so 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 but little lord jesus no crying he makes i love the lord jesus look down from the sky and stay by my cradle till morning is nigh be near me lord jesus i ask thee to stay close by me forever and love me i pray bless all the dear children in thy tender care and take us to heaven to live with thee there page 426 hopefully everybody was drinking their tea page 426 i drink coffee on accident page 426 i heard the bells on christmas day sing it out on the first i heard the bells on christmas day their old familiar carol's play and wild and sweet the words repeat of peace on earth goodwill to men i thought how as the day had come the belfries of all christendom had rolled along the broken song of peace on earth goodwill to men and in despair i bowed my head there is no peace on earth i said for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth goodwill to men then peel the bells more loud and deep god is not dead nor doth he sleep the wrong shall fail the ripe prevail with peace on earth goodwill to men till ringing singing on its way the world revolved from night to day a voice a chime a chance sublime of peace on earth goodwill to men our last song is going to be page 431 page 431 silent night holy night page 431 on the first 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 shepherds quake at the sight glory stream from heaven afar far heavenly host sing hallelujah christ the savior is born christ the savior is born silent night holy night son of god loves pure life radiant beams from thy holy face face with the dawn of redeeming grace jesus lord at thy birth jesus lord at thy birth on the last day silent night holy night wondrous star let my life with the angels let us sing hallelujah to our king christ the savior is born christ the savior is born all right that was great thank you brother sean for getting the lights off i don't know how he did it but it worked out and we still did you guys even see after that i was like a mole i was like well i hope you all have a merry christmas and thanks all for coming tonight and having this special night let's bow our words and have a word of prayer heavenly father we thank you lord so much for coming to this world and dying for us lord and and raising from the dead lord and and all the gifts that you give us lord and especially the gift of salvation and everlasting life and lord we just want to thank you lord and for everything that you do for us and and lord we're a people that's that's um appreciative of what you do for us and i pray that you just help us to have a blessed and safe holiday as we go our separate ways and bring us back to church on sunday in jesus name we pray amen all right turn out your lights and then you you