Christmas Special

Welcome to this Times Square Church 2021 Christmas Special with Carter Conlon.

My brother, my sister, you and I have to learn to let Christ be Christ in us now. This is the light that He has promised us in our time of darkness. And it's not going to come with grandeur. Sometimes it's going to come in a stable.

Don't be looking for something bigger than what God has already given you. I hope this makes sense to you. The people of Israel were anticipating the incredible promise by God. One day in the future, God would send them a Messiah, the Savior of the world. He would be a great light to them as they walked in their darkness. But the darkness did not comprehend the light. The people were expecting something completely different.

They looked for a bigger than life conquering hero. But what they missed was the small baby born on Christmas Day. And as Carter points out in today's message, many people today don't see the plan of God in their life because it may appear too small and too ordinary.

They're doing the exact same thing the people of Israel did in their day. Let's join Carter now with Christmas, your light in the darkness. Now in this particular message, I think you're going to be deeply challenged and hopefully encouraged to take the pathway that God has set for your feet before you and to receive it with joy and to let this light of Christ come into your heart and maybe with a new understanding and in a brand new way that will give you courage and conviction to face your days that are ahead of you in a way that maybe you never saw how the power of God can work in your life. I'm going to be looking at Isaiah chapter 9, then Luke chapter 2, then John chapter 1. And after we've read those three scriptures and maybe commented on just a little bit, then we're going to be asking some questions and looking at how the answers to those questions really, really are relevant to your life and to my life.

Beginning at Isaiah chapter 9, I'm going to start at verse 2 and go right through to verse 7. This incredible promise of God that the people of God of that time, they lived it, they breathed it, it was their hope, it was their future, they were promised a Messiah. This was the raison d'etre of the people of Israel of this time. They were obviously from time to time in great distress and trouble and they were always surrounded by enemies and attacked and there seemed to be every weapon of hell had come against them to try to push them away from their purpose, just like you and I experience from time to time.

But in this case, it was constant, it was actual threat of life and death was upon these people. But here's the promise as they heard it. Isaiah chapter 9 verse 2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The coming of the Messiah was going to be a momentous thing.

In their minds, it was going to burn like the brightness of the sun. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For you've broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his oppressor, the rod of his oppressor as in the day of Midian.

Every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgments and justice. From that time forward even forevermore the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

So here's how the people of Israel in many cases of course would have seen this. There's going to be this great visitation of God. It's going to cause the nation to be multiplied. We're going to be given more than we could ever hope to possess in our own strength. Our joy is going to increase. We're going to rejoice just as in the days of harvest. There's going to be such plenty we're going to be able to divide the spoil as we rejoice among each other. The yoke in a sense of every press of power that's tried to dominate the people of God is going to be broken just as in the day of Midian. You remember the story of Gideon for example when when the Midianites were caused by God to actually turn their swords against one another and they destroyed themselves in a sense and all Israel had to do is just obey God and declare his victory.

Every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire and they would have looked and said our enemies are going to be so destroyed that we're just going to be spending a season just burning their armaments. We're going to use their weapons of war for fuel to heat our homes and then it goes on and says for unto us a child is born. See the hint was there but you know there's there's so much bigness before verse six you know that that everybody kind of crafts an image of what this is going to look like and don't we do that right?

You do that, I do that. We craft an image of what our lives are going to look like when the spirit of God comes upon us and and how he's going to start working through us and and what our home and life is going to look like. But in verse six the hint is there for unto us a child is born it's not a messiah coming in a chariot with thousands and ten thousands of angels that that will happen one day. He will return with an army according to Jude in the new testament but in the beginning a child is born unto us a son is given. The government will be upon his shoulder we will no longer be in the days of Christ of course Rome was dominating the people of God and they they would have known this promise and said finally finally when the messiah comes the power of this dominant world philosophy called Rome is going to be broken and we're going to be free and we will have a king who's a wonderful counselor a mighty god he'll be the everlasting father the prince of peace and his government will have no end and we will be at peace finally forever and God has promised us the zeal of the Lord of hosts is going to perform this this is going to be a mighty a marvelous day this this is how the people of God of that day would have seen this. Now let's fast forward to Luke chapter two to when the promise through Isaiah is actually comes to fruition. In chapter two beginning at verse nine of Luke and behold an angel of the Lord stood before them the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid remember they were promised this great light these people who walked in darkness have seen a great light suddenly the heavens are open suddenly angels are shouting suddenly there's hope in the air then the angel said to them verse 10 of chapter 2 of Luke do not be afraid for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy remember the promise was this incredible joy they were going to have to all people for there's born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be the sign to you you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill towards men so here we see the actual fulfillment of the promise that God made through the prophet Isaiah now let's fast forward again 30 years later the man Jesus Christ appears on the scene he's no longer a babe in a manger but he's now a fully grown man he's 30 years of age and he's come to fulfill everything that was spoken through the prophet Isaiah and was revealed in Luke chapter 2 John says these words in the gospel of John chapter 1 all things were made through him beginning at verse 3 without him nothing was made that was made in him was life and the life was what the light the people who sat in darkness a great light remember the promise of Isaiah the people who sit and walk in darkness have seen a great light so here is the light that was promised in him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it you know it's funny we can study the scriptures for years and years and years but the problem is we craft a view of what this is going to look like in our own minds and we determine it has to be this way or it can't be God and then suddenly this this incredible promise that has never failed it's fully on course appears on the earth and the darkness did not comprehend the light now there was a man sent from God whose name was John this man came for a witness to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe now John of course in verse 8 is talking about John says he was not that light but he was sent to bear witness of that light just as I am today to you I'm telling you that Jesus Christ is your light in your season of darkness whatever that might be whatever challenge you face whatever life you're living whatever home you're in whatever your family looks like whatever you is happening on your job Jesus Christ is your light he is the absolute fulfillment of everything you've ever longed for he was not the light but sent to bear witness of the light that was the true light which gives light to every man coming in to the world verse 10 of John 1 says he was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him now verse 11 he came to his own and his own did not receive him but as many as received him to them he gave the right to become children of God to those who believe in his name who were born not of blood nor of the will of flesh nor of the will of man but of God when you look at this it's just like you and I today if we have all the witness of scripture everything in the word of God is true every promise of God is fulfilled how is it possible how is it possible I might be speaking to somebody today you've been in church maybe for years and years and years and years and he's come to you and you've not received him how did that happen with the people of God how is that happening even in our generation today where there's so many that God's trying to reach he's trying to bring light into the darkness and he's coming to them maybe speaking to them in their sleep maybe in their times of thought I don't know how he's doing it but he's coming and he's revealing himself but there's a there's a resistance in the human heart to receive the son of God the promise of God to receive everything that God said he's going to those that are created in his image now let me give you some reasons why I feel that people are loath to receive him in Luke chapter 2 the promise of God that came to them was just too small it was so like you know we get this idea that this is going to be a great light and is going to multiply the nation increase the joy there's going to be a destruction of enemies the yoke is going to be broken we're going to be burning the weapons of our enemies forever and we miss verse six unto us the child is born and we get it in our hearts that the promise of God has got to be a lot bigger than this it's it's just too small that's why the people of that day in luke chapter 2 they knew that a babe was born in a stable and maybe the shepherds were noisy and abroad the scripture does say that they told others what they had seen and a lot of people just know that can't possibly be the messiah see we know the scriptures and we know what god's going to do we know how he's going to do it and this is just too small we we can't envision almighty god coming to us this way it just doesn't make sense even though in isaiah 6 it does say unto us a child is born in john chapter 1 when he came to his own and the scripture tells us his own didn't receive him now remember in luke chapter 2 i think they didn't receive him many didn't not all but many didn't receive him because he was just too small he just didn't fit their interpretation of who god is and how god works and what god does and what it will look like when god comes but in john chapter 1 isaiah 53 tells us exactly why he came to us and why he came to his own and his own didn't receive him it's just simply because he was too ordinary isaiah says in chapter 53 who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the lord been revealed in other words here we are god we're talking about the reality that that this is going to be you this is what you're going to do on the earth this is the form you're going to take this is how you've come to deliver us this is where the strength of god really is so and isaiah is like who's going to believe this and who's going to have the revelation of the strength of god the arm of god means the strength of god who's who's going to know this and he gives the reason why he's asking the question of who's going to believe it for he will grow up before him as a tender plant as a root out of dry ground he has no form or comeliness and when we see him there's no beauty that we should desire him he's despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we did not esteem him and you know a lot of folks don't find their light or maybe the light that god's willing to provide for them in the time of their darkness because the plan of god maybe in their life seems to be too small and maybe their life just looks too ordinary now how about you today do you find your calling too small to fit your perspective of what your victory and influence should in christ look like do you feel too ordinary and this is this is a problem with a lot of people god has come to you he has sent his son you will you will see multiplication you will increase in joy you will rejoice you will divide the spoil the the yoke of the oppressor will be broken you will see incredible victories but don't be looking for something bigger than what god has already given you is i hope this makes sense to you but a lot of people just feel what's going on in my life is just too small right now it can't be god and my life is just too ordinary it's not possible that god is in this in the great victory that he would have given us or given me that i'm actually living in that victory and christmas is a constant reminder that jesus christ is your light in a time of darkness there's still this thing in the human heart that just wants to push it all away and to know if it is god it has to be bigger than this if it is god there has to be something supernatural going on in a way that is that is very visible to the natural eye and and if god's in my life why is my life so ordinary but the question i have for you today is can you see jesus in the littleness and ordinary things of each day can you learn that his ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth so his thoughts are higher than our thoughts and his ways are higher than our ways and that just because he's come to you and what you think is a little way it's not little in the sight of god and and the little victory you think you have is a is much bigger than what you think you possess you and i have got to get to the point where we realize that as the the writer of the the old time hymn says he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me i am his own his holy spirit through christ now makes his dwelling in the inner parts of my physical body i'm now the temple of all mighty god and he speaks to me every day about who he is about what he's doing in my life and what i am is not ordinary i have the presence of god inside this earthen vessel and if i can or will embrace and acknowledge the littleness of god and the ordinariness of god this i find to be problematic in a lot of people they're always discontent and more or less sitting in the shadows sitting in the shadows because their vision is it has to be bigger than this it can't be ordinary it's got to be extraordinary and because of it the reality of christ and who he is and what he does and how he chooses to do it it's as if when you search the scriptures it's as if he just he travels in the shadows as he says with the the scriptures i resist the proud and i dwell with the meek and the lowly in heart he works in secret places he does things that those that are still given to being led by their own understanding they can't fully embrace and they can't fully understand it i thank god with all of my heart and i pray every morning i pray with some different people from times square church and i just say god would you help us today to be mindful of your presence in our lives in the ordinary interactions of every day when we go to a store that if we are open to you you can speak to us about the burden of the heart maybe the cashier that's before us there are giftings of the spirit that you can allow to be operated through us if we are willing to look away from what we think things should look like and we let you just be god and you become our light in the darkness of this present time that we're living in my brother my sister you and i have to learn to let christ be christ in us now this is the light that he has promised us in our time of darkness and it's not going to come with grandeur sometimes it's going to come in a stable it's not going to come with an extraordinary looking ministry that everybody desires it just comes with an ordinary looking man that nobody else wants to look like i mean it's just the reality of it but it is still the plan of god it is this marvelous marvelous marvelous marvelous arm of god that i'm praying that will be released and revealed to you in a way this christmas like you've never known it starts with just saying jesus thank you for making me the way i am i don't need to be anybody else you love me the way i am when i opened my heart to you you came into my life you became my god you took up your abode in in the temple of my life and you were not offended at my ordinariness so god help me not to be offended if you choose to operate through the ordinariness of my life and will you help me not to consider anything too small a kind word to somebody at a corner store just a prayer that i utter up to you to give me strength to do something maybe that i i can't do in my in myself would you would you help me god not to consider any task any interaction any conversation any any any reaching out with a cup of cold water to anybody would you help me to not get so caught up in largeness that i miss christ may i put it that way that's exactly what happened they were so caught up in the largeness of their god view that they actually missed the savior when he came think about that for a moment if it happened to them it can happen to us and we get so caught up in the with our our view in other words if you were in my life my life would look like this my family would look like this i would have a job like this i would have talents like this and he's already there the light of christ is already in us but we fail to recognize it the light shined the scripture says but the darkness didn't comprehend it and darkness is is essentially everything that sets itself against the ways of god that's what darkness is by definition in a spiritual sense so let's have the courage in a sense to say jesus i'm not offended at your littleness in a sense you came as a baby that doesn't offend me and thank you that in that you're showing me something you're showing me yes there's going to be a day coming when when all hell is going to be destroyed the devil is going to be cast into an eternal pit and damnation the nation my i was going to be multiplied our joy is going to be increased and there's going to be a harvest we're going to divide the spoil the the yoke of our oppressor is going to be broken as in the day of midian all of these weapons of war are going to be burned they're just going to be fuel for unto us a child is born god almighty it starts there would you help me not to be offended by that you see this is the key to not be offended when jesus christ appeared on the earth as a man at 30 years of age into full-time ministry as it was the purpose of his life on the earth they were offended at him the scripture says it clearly they didn't think this is what god should look like how god should act what god should do the because everybody had a had a view that really didn't fit in with scriptural reality let that not be us this christmas this christmas let his light come into our hearts and become this our strength in the darkness in which you and i have to face now and i thank god that nothing is too ordinary if christ is in it and that every promise he's ever made will be fulfilled it doesn't all have to be right now let's just start with a child and an ordinary man so father just thank you lord for the men women and young people and children that are listening to this program today god and i just ask lord that make this the best christmas ever for so many of us god that we just finally finally open the door and say jesus come in we're not offended at the way you choose to use our lives we're not offended at the way you choose to be god in us and through us we're not offended if our names are not known we're not offended my god if you give us something small to do lord help us to see you in everything every day everywhere we go speak to us speak to our hearts give us the quietness and confidence that you promise will be the portion of your people and lord we just want to say thank you you are so good you are so good in jesus name we're going to listen to a song from cd i did a few years ago called where christmas never ends it's called silent night and as we sing it in your heart just go into the manger and say thank you for coming to me the way you chose to do it i yield all my thoughts to you and i ask you to use my life for your glory i hope you enjoy the song and thank you for being with this program today god bless you mother and child holy infant so tender and nice this has been a 2021 christmas special with carter conlon pastor of time square church in new york city for all of us here at time square church have a very merry christ-filled christmas