Pastor Greg Laurie recommends a great film about the 40th President of the United States. We have a movie that's going to tell you the story of this man who changed the world. Ronald Reagan was a man who believed in Jesus Christ. You're going to be inspired by it in this brand-new film starring Dennis Quaid.
It's called Reagan, and it's our gift to you for your gift of any size. Available on DVD and digital download at harvest.org. Hey there, thanks for listening to the Greg Laurie Podcast, a ministry supported by Harvest Partners. I'm Greg Laurie encouraging you. If you want to find out more about Harvest Ministries and learn more about how to become a Harvest Partner, just go to harvest.org.
How true is that? He is holy forever. Let's pray. Father, we come to You, our Holy Father, our all-powerful Father, our loving and good Father. And we know that You want to speak to us today. You've said in Your Word, Your sheep hear Your voice. Well, here we are, Lord, Your sheep gathered together, opening the Bible, ready to hear You speak to us.
So we invite You to do so. As Scripture says, He that has an ear to hear, let him listen. Lord, help us to listen, to give our attention with intention as we open Your Word. We commit this time of Bible study to You now. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. You can all be seated. Hello, everybody.
Welcome to everyone and every Harvest campus. All right, well, let's grab our Bibles and turn to two passages, Luke chapter 2 and Matthew chapter 2. Luke 2, Matthew 2. And the title of my message is Jesus and the Ones Who Listened. You know, it's very important to pay attention in marriage, in communication, constantly talking to your spouse, listening to them as well. I actually read that 83% of marriages that ended in divorce attributed it to deficient communication. But, you know, men and women are so different, aren't we?
I mean, just the way we listen, the way we hear things. For instance, a man and a wife are driving and maybe you've lost your way, and the wife turns to the husband and says, let's just stop and ask for directions. And what he hears you say is, you're not a man. Or the wife says, honey, let's spend some money and redecorate our house. And he hears you say, let's flush a bunch of money down the toilet.
Or the wife says, can I have the remote control? And what he hears you say is, let's watch something that will bore me beyond belief. And then she says to the husband, you need to get in touch with your feelings. And he hears her say, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then she says, are you listening to me? And he hears her say, blah, blah, you know. So there's a problem in the way that we listen to each other.
You've got to pay attention. So some years ago we were in Florida. I spoke there, and we're flying back to LAX. Maybe the worst airport in the world. Certainly the worst airport in America. Have you ever been to LAX? It's been under construction for 50 years now. I think they're reconstructing what they started constructing.
I mean, is this ever going to be done? Always the backup lines, et cetera. Anyway, we're flying from Florida to LAX. And I don't know about you when you travel, but when I take my seat, I usually put my headphones on.
I'm in my own world. I'm listening to something, and the flight attendants go through the instructions in case of an emergency landing. Here's where your little flotation cushion is, and the little whistle that will do so much for you. And they're going telling you where the exits are, you know.
And I don't pay attention, and I didn't on that flight either. So we're an hour, maybe 45 minutes out of LAX, and we hear the announcement over the intercom you never want to hear. Ladies and gentlemen, this is your pilot. We're going to have to make an emergency landing.
This is not a joke. We've been told that our landing gear is not going down. So we're going to have to go through the protocols again of what to do in case of an emergency landing. And this time, I listened, because my life depended on it. Now, the end of that story, I actually told this in the earlier service, and I didn't finish the story. People said, what happened? Well, obviously, I survived.
I'm here, right? Well, what happened was they had to do a flyby, and they could look up and see that the landing gear was coming down. But they had all the emergency vehicles down there. All the lights were on. It was something.
But we landed safely. But I listened, because it mattered, and we need to do the same. So Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice, and they follow me. I believe that God speaks to people today, not audibly. I'm suspicious of anyone who says they've heard the audible voice of God. I've never heard God speak in that way, but he has spoken to me many times and continues to speak to me.
And I'll tell you how that happens for me personally in a little bit. But I think we all want to hear from God. That's why I titled this message Jesus and the Ones Who Listen. This is part of our series that we're calling Jesus and You.
And we're going to look at Jesus and the Christmas story. And we're going to look at two very well-known groups connected to this story, the shepherds and the wise men. And by the way, these two groups of people could not have been more different. The shepherds were at the bottom of the social ladder. They were the lowest of the low. The wise men were very powerful, educated, influential people.
So they might be described as the highest of the high. But God reached both of them in a way that they understood, reminding us that God will always reach us where we are. So the story begins with the birth of Jesus in that humble manger in Bethlehem. Bible prophecy has been fulfilled. Isaiah 9 6, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. It's a miracle. The infinite has come to live among us as an infant, a helpless little baby. All of the waiting is now over and the Messiah is here.
God was spelling himself out in a language we can all understand. So who is going to be the first to know? Okay, how many of you have children?
Raise your hand. Okay, do you remember when your first child was born? Who did you tell first? Probably told your parents, maybe your siblings, your family.
You told good friends. You're excited. So God has the most exciting announcement in all of human history to make. The Messiah has arrived. The Son of God has come to our world.
Who should he tell first? Well, how about Caesar Augustus? After all, Caesar Augustus was described as the Savior of the whole world.
Tell him the real Savior has come. Or how about Herod the Great? This is a man who was given the title by the Roman Senate, the King of the Jews. Now the real King of the Jews has arrived. Or how about the religious leaders?
No, God doesn't go to Caesar or Herod or the religious leaders. This announcement is made first to shepherds. Now, we've romanticized the shepherds, but you have to understand where they were in the pecking order of this culture.
They were at the very bottom of the barrel. Shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. But here's the thing, shepherds had a bad reputation.
They were despised in these times. It was thought that a shepherd would never tell you the truth, and that's why their testimony was not even allowed in a court of law. We know certain people that, well, we don't expect them to always tell us the truth. We might know those people personally, and that person always exaggerates a little bit. Or sometimes they're known to outright lie. Then there are others we don't expect are going to tell us the truth all the time.
Politicians, the media, a used car dealer, a mechanic, a marketer, an advertiser. We know these people don't always tell the complete truth. We have our suspicions. That's how people fell towards shepherds.
So let's contextualize this and update it. So instead of saying, certain shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night, and an angel came with this message, we might read, certain telemarketers were out calling people late at night, and the angel came. Or used car dealers were watching over their cars on the lot late at night, and the angel came. Or IRS agents were auditing people one night.
I mean, what? Those are the ones that God chose to come to. But in many ways, shepherds were given a bad rap. Actually, they did the work no one else wanted to do. But the work that needed to be done, they had dirt under their fingernails. Notice it says they lived out there. They lived out on the open air. So when they heard about the Messiah arriving, being born in a barn effectively, that made sense to them. That's how they had their children.
And that brings us to point number one, if you're taking notes. On the first Christmas, God came to ordinary people like you and me. On the first Christmas, God came to ordinary people like you and me. I love 1 Corinthians 1 27, which says, in the King James, God has chosen the foolish things of the world that confound the wise. But a modern translation puts it this way. Take a good look, friends, at who you are when you got called into this life.
I don't see many of the brightest and the best among you, not many influential. Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks? God chose these nobodies to expose the hallowed pretensions of the somebodies. I love that translation.
It says it all. God went out of his way to reveal himself to ordinary people. No one was more ordinary than a shepherd.
But that was the M.O. of Jesus, wasn't it? Throughout his ministry, he always went to that outcast. Zacchaeus, the tax collector. Matthew, another tax collector. The woman caught in the act of adultery.
The woman at the well. The list goes on. So what was announced to these shepherds? Let's read about it. Luke chapter two. There were in the same country, I'm in verse six, or verse eight rather, there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
And they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said, don't be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born unto you this day in the city of David, that would be Bethlehem, of course, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you. You'll find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with this angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill toward men.
And so it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherd said one to another, let's go now to Bethlehem, and let's see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us. We'll stop there. So the first message of Christmas is good news. And that's we're celebrating for three reasons. Number one, it's personal. Number two, it's positive. Number three, it's universal.
First of all, it's personal. I bring you good tidings of great joy. Secondly, it's positive. It's good tidings of great joy. And thirdly, universal, which will be to all people.
So number one, Christmas is personal. Jesus came to this earth for you. I know he came for everyone.
I know God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son and whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But listen, he came for you. Christ died for you.
I love the way the apostle Paul personalized it and said, he loved me and he gave himself for me. David said it so beautifully in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. He could have said the Lord's our shepherd and he is, isn't he? But he's my shepherd. He's your shepherd.
This is personal. Jeremiah 29, 11, God says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord. Thoughts of peace, not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. So this is a personal message to each of us. That's such a beautiful thing to realize. And there's great joy in this message as well.
Tidings of great joy. You know, Christmas can be a real letdown. It underwhelms at best.
It disappoints at worst. Sometimes it even devastates some people. We gather together with family. That's not always a wonderful thing.
No, isn't it? Because we have family tensions. Who has family tensions? Raise your hand. Get your hands up.
Don't lie in church. Who are you people? You know, people say, I come from a dysfunctional family.
Yeah, welcome to the club. I came from a dysfunctional family. I'm the head of a dysfunctional family. But I like to put the fun in dysfunction. But we all have tension with family members. You've got the weird uncle, the crazy cousin. Grandpa's getting loonier every year, right?
He keeps wandering away and we have to redirect him again. There can be that, but then even worse than that, there can be sadness because maybe you've lost a loved one. And that's why many people have a lot of depression this time of year. One article pointed out the holidays can be filled with joy, but for others they can be filled with anxiety and stress.
And why? Because that loved one who has died was at your table last year and they're not there this year. And all of a sudden that that holiday time when you gather with family and friends is filled with pain and sorrow that you're dealing with.
But this is the thing we need to remember. Jesus was not born in a manger so we could go shopping and trim our Christmas trees and do all the things that we do at Christmas, which can be a lot of fun. Jesus was born that he might die and that he might rise again from the dead. The incarnation was for the crucifixion, which was for the resurrection of Christ. And the message of it all is we can be reunited with our loved ones again. We'll see them again if they've died in faith.
That's the good tidings of great joy. Christmas is about God sending a savior. Not an advisor, though God will advise us. Not a mere friend, though Jesus is the greatest friend you'll ever have. Not a mere great example, though he was the ultimate example, Jesus came to save us. There is born unto you this day in the city of David a savior who has Christ the Lord.
The angel said to Joseph you shall call his name Jesus or he will save his people from their sins. We needed a savior. You know there are times in life when you need someone to save you. Like if you're out drowning you need a lifeguard not a barista.
Now later you might seek out that barista and have a nice cup of coffee. But if you're in a burning house you need a firefighter to come and save you not your dry cleaner. You know so the point is there are times we need to be saved.
If you're potentially the victim of a crime you need a police officer to step in and help you not a telemarketer right. Jesus came to save us. That's the effective and essential message of Christmas. And what an amazing moment this was in Luke 2 13 suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest. So it's like a portal was opened up into heaven and here are these shepherds looking up into the night sky that radiates with the light and presence of God. And heaven and earth are connected for a moment here and that's such a powerful thing for them to have experienced and how great that what must have been. You know you know I think sometimes when we have those moments at Christmas and our loved ones aren't with us we think I wish they were here to see this. When we were on Maui we had that Christmas event and those crazy drones. Did you see those drones as so they program all these drones and they create these incredible images up there and it gets so dark in Maui at night.
So it's a perfect backdrop framed by silhouetted trees and and our tree was all lit up and then these drones up there putting a manger scene and a cross and and other things and I thought that was so amazing. And so some lady came up to me and we're watching this and she said I wanted to tell you something. My daughter who I raised as a Christian had wandered away from her faith and she came back to the Lord listening to you on the radio and I said oh that's fantastic. Then she said but sadly she died two years later. I said I'm so sorry to hear that. And then she said I wish she could be here seeing this with us right now.
I said I do too. But you know what what she's seen in heaven is a lot better than what we're seeing on earth right. We see twinkling lights but they're in color.
We see drones. She sees the glory of God. She sees the angels of heaven.
It's so much better for her. But I said but you will see her again and the dad said I wish I could believe that but I'm Jewish. I said she believed in Jesus. She's with Jesus and if you trust in Him you will see her again. That's the hope of every Christian right. Jesus said in John 14 I go to prepare a place for you so where I am you'll be also and let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid if I go again I will come again and receive you unto myself.
Listen God keeps His promises and He sent a little reminder of how He keeps His promises and do you know what that reminder is? A rainbow. So every time you see a rainbow you should be reminded of this.
Coming back to Maui again I guess I've never really left Maui yet but I got up one morning and I saw the most beautiful rainbow so I pulled out my phone and I took a picture. Now here's the photo it's you know not bad not a bad photo of a rainbow but I want to tell you in person it was 10 times better than that and I looked at this photo and I thought why can't you take pictures of rainbows? Now I'm sure some photographers out there could say well Greg you need this filter and then you go into post-production and okay I'm sure that's all true but I'm just saying when I take pictures of rainbows all of my rainbow photos are weak and I have a whole grouping of them none of them measured up to what I actually saw and then it occurred to me maybe rainbows are not meant to be captured. Maybe rainbows are meant to be experienced. I think the problem now is with our phones and our cameras on our phones is we live through the phone so you're experiencing a live event which is a great moment but we've all got our phones in front of our face we're not even seeing what's actually happening because we're looking to make sure we got a good shot of the whole thing and I think we're missing a lot of moments when we find ourselves doing that. You know rainbows come and rainbows go it's good to just pause and take them in and then the same way Christmas is loaded with so many memories from the past and new memories that you create and you try to capture those and try to remember them but I found that some of the greatest moments of Christmas are the in-between moments you know we get all excited about giving the present we know they're going to love this present and we give it to them and we see the look of disappointment on their face they try to hide it oh thank you and they ask is there a receipt with this that's why when I give something to someone I say I didn't know what to get you and I have the receipt and if you want to take it back please do I'm not offended at all I would rather you get something you liked and something you would enjoy because there are those people that buy you the ugliest sweater you've ever seen and then they actually ask you why don't you wear that sweater I gave you because it's ugly and you have no taste in clothing maybe you don't want to hurt their feelings so you don't say that say oh we're oh we're at some time you know and right right but no those moments sometimes are a letdown or you don't get what you wanted to get for Christmas maybe those in-between moments are more significant it's not the meal it's maybe preparing the meal with your family maybe it's not the opening of the present but just wrapping them and getting everything ready savor those in-between moments they're like rainbows capture them remember them Christmas is personal Christmas is also positive I bring you good tidings of great joy the word gospel means good news we live in a world where there's so much bad news and there's so much fake news an outright line the legacy media so-called gets it wrong time and time again pushing narratives that are completely untrue and we've seen a lot of that in recent months so we don't know what to believe people are now going to other forms of media to get their information they get their news on TikTok or on YouTube or Instagram or wherever they're going you know because they don't trust the mainstream media sources but just because it's on a different platform doesn't mean it's necessarily true we need a reliable source for truth and there's only one I know of and it's called the bible you can trust the bible by the way there was an article in the wall street journal that pointed out that bible sales are up over 22 over last year isn't that interesting 22 and it's mostly young people and it's mostly first-time bible buyers so that's good news and one person buying a bible said I just felt something was missing yes it's called the instruction manual b-i-b-l-e basic instructions before leaving earth start reading it it tells you everything you need to know about God and it tells you everything you need to know about life and the afterlife so the message of the gospel is good tidings of great of great joy there's a second chance in life you can be born again you don't have to face judgment you know people as I mentioned can be sad at Christmas and maybe you see it on their face see someone's just looking down you might say is everything okay how's your Christmas going it's not going that well really you know one thing I have found with people who are believers and even non-believers is they'll really turn down a prayer and they'll say I'm just going through a hard time and I'll just say could I pray for you I'm a Christian I believe that God hears and answers prayer could I pray for you most people will say yes please especially if they're hurting and it's a great way to start a conversation then remind them what Christmas is about it's not about giving presents it's not about receiving presents it's about God's presence in your life and a relationship with God that's why he came in the first place to be born in that manger so we could have a relationship with a God that we're separated from so what an amazing announcement this was Christmas is personal Christmas is positive and Christmas is thirdly universal notice they say I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people all the people Christ is for all of us Jesus said again for God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son he loved the whole world salvation is for everyone now those who have a reformed view theologically Calvinists would say Christ died for the elect only it's called limited atonement and they believe that some people are predestined to heaven and other people are predestined to hell Christ died for those that are predestined to heaven I reject completely that God is predestined anyone to hell completely salvation is for everyone the Bible says whosoever will let him come and drink of the water of life freely 2 Peter 3 8 says God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance so let's shift gears we've talked about the wise man now let's look at this second category of people that we call excuse me talked about the shepherds now let's talk about the wise men by the way they came later in the Christmas story there's so many there's so much mythology built up around the wise men first of all we say how many wise men were there tell me how many three right Bible never says there were three wise men and not only were there three they had matching outfits that coordinated right they had a little song they sang as they rode their camels we three kings of orient are there no no they didn't have a song they didn't have names and the Bible never says there were three there might have been nine wise men you say but Craig they gave three gifts like typical guys they might have gone in on three gifts but I mean maybe there were three I don't know but I'm just pointing out the Bible never says there were three of them it never says they rode camels and I'm going to mess with your nativity scenes now they did not come to the barn or the cave where Jesus was born they did not come to the manger Craig you're wrong no actually I'm not as we'll see in a moment as we read Matthew 2 they came later to a house where the child Jesus was they were not at the manger so if you have a nativity set you need to remove the wise men immediately I mean as soon as soon as you get home no I it doesn't matter you can keep them there if you like but but that's a tradition that's grown around Christmas here's the real story Matthew 2 verse 1 after Jesus was born notice after in Bethlehem of Judea and the days of Herod the king behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying where is he that is born king of the Jews we've seen the star in the east we've come to worship him when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him don't forget Herod was described or is given the title king of the Jews so when he hears a king has been born that's a threat and Herod was a paranoid tyrant he was a murderer and actually this phrase when it says he was troubled means he was agitated another translation puts it this way he was all shook up thank you very much just like Elvis all shook up and all Jerusalem with them why would all Jerusalem be shook up with Herod because you heard the expression when mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy when Herod was mad people were going to die so all Jerusalem is living in fear because of his paranoia so he gathered the chief priests and scribes of the people together and inquired of them where the Christ was to be born verse 5 they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea for that's that is written by the prophet but you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the rules of Judah for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel okay we'll stop there like the shepherds the wise men the wise men were open to open to hearing from God they listened for God what a contrast to King Herod and even the scribes I mean the shepherds rushed to see the baby Jesus the wise men make this long journey to see Jesus and these scribes they won't even make the journey of six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem that interesting what is this scribe in contrast to a Pharisee a Pharisee was a man who sought to live by the law a scribe was someone who dedicated their life to writing down scripture they had meticulous manuscripts that they wrote by hand they were immersed in scripture day in and day out they knew scripture in fact they quoted scripture to hear oh yeah the prophecy says this and they tell them exactly what the prophecy says well why aren't you leading the charge to go see if it's true and this reminds me that sometimes people that appear to be so devout and so spiritual can actually be far from God listen to this church can be a dangerous place so what I thought it was a safe place I mean relatively speaking it is but it's dangerous in a different way let me explain if you come here to church with an open heart wanting to hear from God this can be a wonderful place of transformation for you but if you come here with a heart that is grown cold with an indifference in your life thinking you know more than you actually know and you hear the word of God yet you're literally living in open sin continuously committing this in over and over again here's the problem the place where you should be transformed is the place where you're getting harder the easiest place to get a hardened heart is in the church by exposure to the word of God and a resistance to it the same sun that softens the wax hardens the clay so that's what happened to the scribes they were entrenched in scripture yet here is the fulfillment of bible prophecy in their very lifetime and they don't even make a short journey to check it out for themselves so let's come back to the wise men a lot of tradition around them who were they exactly well we call them the magi that comes from the root word magician another word you could use for them as wizards they were more like jedi knights and kings they were king makers these were men of great influence so when we read about the great kings and pharaohs and others who would be influenced that's what these guys did they were the ones who influenced the king and so they're powerful people and i don't think they rode camels i think they probably rode arabian stallions that would be relevant to their position and they probably had an entourage an army riding with them and so it's not at all what we envision with the traditional wise men and but here's the amazing thing here are guys that are into astronomy and they're into astrology and effectively they're into the occult they're into darkness and yet God invades their world and reaches them in a way that they understand and how does he do it well where do they look for direction they look to the stars so God sends them a star it says here guys follow this star now this is an unusual star because it moved and directed them that's not the normal thing a star would do many commentators believe this may have been the shekinah glory of many commentators believe this may have been the shekinah glory of God that would fill the temple so it's moving along and they're following this star a great journey they make from their homeland to Bethlehem to see for themselves and they bring the gifts of gold frankincense and myrrh what unusual gifts to give to a child how about a stuffed camel a video game maybe really well they had insight gold because they recognized he was the king of kings and the lord of lords incense because that's what the high priest would use when representing us before God and myrrh an embalming element and so they recognized this king was going to die for the sin of the world the title of this message is Jesus and the ones who listened the wise men the shepherds cannot have been more different but they had this in common they listened and God speaks to us today Jesus says I am the good shepherd and my sheep hear my voice isn't that interesting I'm the good shepherd he didn't say I'm the powerful shepherd though he is that more no one's more powerful than God himself he's omnipotent omnipotent he didn't say I'm the smart shepherd though God has more intelligence than all of humanity combined and throw AI in for good measure God knows all things nor did he say I'm the stern shepherd he said I'm the good shepherd and the point of that is is the sheep come to know that the shepherd is looking out for their welfare and as we grow spiritually we come to discover God is always looking out for our ultimate good in his glory I didn't say temporary good because sometimes those things that are for our ultimate good are not temporarily good in fact if we're brutally honest we would say they can even be bad yet God makes this promise he will cause all things to work together for good to those that love God another called according to his purpose he doesn't say he'll make bad things good because there are certain bad things that happen that will never be anything but a bad thing but despite the bad thing God can still bring an ultimate good and bring glory to his name God is good the Bible reminds us of that again and again Psalm 100 verse 5 the Lord is good his mercy is everlasting his truth endures to all generations so God speaks to us today how does he speak the main way that God speaks is through the Bible have you heard about the Oxford word of the year they pick a word every year that represents the year in their estimation the Oxford word of the year is brain rot isn't that two words but anyway the Oxford word of the year is brain rot and they say brain rot is a result of the constant consumption of social media the average American spends four hours and 39 minutes a day on their smartphone ages 8 to 18 that rises to 7.5 hours a day brain rot you know when you kind of start scrolling how many of you have scrolled mindlessly for far too long raise your hand up okay let's be honest I have I've scrolled so long my hand is numb from holding the phone it's like why I just scroll scroll scroll what am I look it's 45 minutes I've wasted all of this time we've all probably done it in some way shape or form and it just sort of tells you I think brain rot is a really good description because I don't really want to I don't want to do anything else afterwards it's sort of like spoiling your appetite you know my wife might say okay we're having dinner at 5 15 and my wife is an amazing cook I should call her chef she's so good right and so dinner will be ready at 5 15 okay but here's the problem I get hungry at 4 o'clock and I drive by Taco Bell and I think I could just get one taco to hold me over so I pull in and they have that same taco in a special I can get three for a lower price so I buy three but I only eat one right and I get these tacos I don't even know what they're called they're made out of Dorito chip okay so the problem is Dorito chip they they collide they crumble really badly they don't hold together there's no integrity in that taco shell and a burrito is great to eat when you're driving tacos don't work because they disintegrate and I'm covered in Dorito shells and and I eat more than one and I get home Kathy says are you hungry oh boy am I hungry I haven't revealed where I've been though I have Dorito shells all over me okay and I eat and I don't finish my meal why didn't you finish it did you not like it I like it did you eat on the way home she just knows I have all this orange stuff on what me then I have to admit I stopped buying I got a taco and I ate two and some refried beans and other things okay so what did I do I spoiled my appetite okay so brain rot we fill our minds with all this stuff I'm scrolling on my phone I'm playing video games I've been watching things on Netflix I'm watching some news feed whatever it is and I get brain rot and then it comes to the Bible and I say I I I don't have time or I'm just not in the mood see you make time for what matters and if you want God to speak to you open the Bible because that's the primary way he's going to speak to you are you going to remember are the Dorito tacos from that whole thing I just did so let God speak to you through the Bible and let God reach you where you are I'm amazed how God can reach the greatest intellectual on a level they understand and then he can reach the smallest child and it makes sense to them he reached you he reached me we're individuals we're all very different we're similar but we're different as well and God invaded your world didn't he he came into your world in some way shape or form and made himself real to you he did it for me and he's still doing it for people today they might be like a shepherd on the lowest rung of the social ladder they might be like a wise man on the highest rung of the intellectual ladder but everybody needs Jesus everybody including you including you the Bible says harden not your heart if you can hear his voice you're here listening to this message and as I said church can be a dangerous place because if I hear the truth of the gospel as you've heard it today and you say well what do you mean the truth of the gospel let me summarize the gospel it means good news here's the good news God loves you here's the bad news you're a sinner separated from God by your sin here's the good news again Christ died for your sin and rose again from the dead and now stands at the door of your life and he knocks and says if you'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in you can be forgiven of all of your sin that's the good news that the angels were talking about that you can experience and find the real meaning of Christmas and a relationship with God himself so you've heard that now you have a choice as to what to do with it you can be like me in the airplane put your headphones on tune out the information or you can listen because your life depends on it and in this case your eternal life depends upon it and I ask you in closing are you hearing the voice of God today not my voice you're hearing another voice speaking in the deep recesses of your heart and and you're hearing this this is what I've been looking for let me restate that this is who I've been looking for it's always been Jesus he's always the one that had the answers you wanted and needed and he's ready to forgive you of your sin just like he invaded the world of those wise men with all their darkness and occultism he brought them to himself he can bring you to himself and you can be free from any sin or lifestyle or addiction or any other thing that has kept you trapped but you must come to him and admit your need for him and call out to him you need a savior remember not an advisor not a helper you need a savior and Christ came to save you and save me so we're going to pray in a moment and I'm going to extend an invitation for anybody here who needs Jesus and you can pray and ask him to come into your life right now let's pray father I pray for everyone here everyone watching listening wherever they might be if they don't know you yet let this be the moment they believe let this be the moment they receive your forgiveness and follow Jesus not while our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed and we're praying together how many of you would say today Greg I need Jesus I want to change I want this relationship with God I I want to go to heaven when I die I want my guilt taken away I want a fresh start in life I I want Jesus now if you want Jesus Christ to come into your heart and life and be your savior Lord and friend if you want to know that you will go to heaven when you die if you want that new beginning in life right now wherever you are I want you to lift your hand up and I'm going to pray for you raise your hand up saying I need Jesus today I'll pray for you God bless you God bless you God bless you and you anybody else raise your hand up high where I can see it God bless you God bless you in the back anybody else let me pray for you you can ask Christ to come into your life God bless all of you now I'm going to ask every one of you that has raised your hand if you would please I want you to stand to your feet now I'm going to lead you in a prayer a prayer of asking Christ to come into your life even if you did not raise your hand you want this relationship with God we've talked about stand up let me lead you in this prayer you that raised your hand you that did not stand others are standing by the way you won't be alone stand up we're going to pray we're going to settle this right here right now stand up wherever you are if you're seeing me on the screen somewhere you stand as well doesn't matter if I see you the Lord sees you stand up saying I and say I need Christ today pray for me I need the Savior anybody else stand now you will not regret making this decision stand now I'll wait one more moment Santa let me lead you in this prayer of asking Christ to come into your life it'll make this the merriest Christmas you've ever experienced God bless all of you standing now I want you to pray this prayer out loud after me again as I pray pray this out loud after me right where you stand okay pray this after me now Lord Jesus I know that I'm a sinner but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead I turn from my sin now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior as my Lord as my God and as my friend thank you for hearing this prayer and answering it in Jesus name I pray amen Hey everybody thanks for listening to this podcast to learn more about Harvest Ministries follow this show and consider supporting it just go to harvest.org and to find out how to know God personally go to harvest.org and click on know God
