DEC 24 2019 | Miracle in a Manger

Sea Change Church · "Miracle in a Manger" Pastor Adam Stadtmiller · December 24, 2019
Automated transcript. Not reviewed for accuracy.

Good to have you all today. When did it start feeling like Christmas for you? For me, I do a lot. I like starting Christmas November 1st. So November 1st, seriously, I'm like an early decorator. My family wouldn't let me do it this year. They wouldn't let me put the tree up. I start playing the Christmas Herald Anthem last Christmas by George Michael on the 1st. They won't let me play that. My daughter would turn it off every single time. Had to get in the mood. So about 10 days ago, my wife's like, Christmas tree's looking a little sorry. Christmas tree's looking a little sad today.

And I was like, I will fix that. So she went out, did her thing, and I went and I acquired some of the neighbor's lights. No, I didn't. I had extra lights. I took them off the bushes in the front of the house and I wrapped that tree up. And boom, the living room just like came alive. What is it that makes you feel like Christmas is here? You know what I'm talking about? Like when you walk through the door of some transcendent moment, it's like, oh, I'm at Christmas. Or maybe you didn't. I know like five years ago, I had a Christmas and I just didn't feel it.

You know? And I'm not just talking about tinsel and all those things. Obviously, Christ and the nativity and all those things. But that sense that you feel. For me, if you're from California, then you remember KTLA. Do you know what those four letters stand for? KTLA is a mega station in Los Angeles that would blow its signal before cable all the way down the California coast. And I would turn on my TV on Thanksgiving and then also on Christmas because they had something that they would offer that made me feel like Christmas had come.

It was the 24-hour Twilight Zone marathon. Did anybody watch that? The Twilight Zone marathon? Now, if you're from Missouri, I don't know. Maybe you didn't have it. But we had... Anybody watch the 24-hour Twilight Zone? Am I the only... Okay. All millennials are like, what's the Twilight Zone? What are you talking about? Twilight Zone is a show with Rod Serling from the 1950s and 60s about existential reality. It's a show about something beyond what we can see, beyond perhaps what we can prove.

And it started with Rod Serling saying a little something at the opening of the show. And if you watched it, and I would watch all the episodes, you'd see something like this. You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension. A dimension of sound. A dimension of sight. A dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance. Of things and ideas. You've just crossed over into the Twilight Zone.

It's funny, as I watched the Twilight Zone as a kid... Now, we'd gone to church a little bit as a kid, but it was kind of like Christmas, Easter, and the occasional Sunday here and there. But as I think back about what has shaped my understanding of that there's something beyond what there is and what can be proved, perhaps, or seen in this world or in this universe or what can scientifically be proven. And I've got to look back to a pathway that was cobbled together, not just by Scripture, not just by God.

The people in my life and all the things that you would say are, quote, Christian. And God put stones in the path that actually started whetting my appetite for the eternal. And one of those things, oddly, was the Twilight Zone. I remember when I was seven years old watching William Shatner. Now, if you're a millennial, you probably don't know who that... Well, maybe you do. You watch the commercials. William Shatner from the USS Enterprise, the Star Trek, the original.

And he was also in the Twilight Zone when... I don't know if you remember that Twilight Zone where he was on a plane and every time he looked out the window, there was a little monster on the plane, like, chewing on all the cables that kept the engine going. It was terrifying. And I thought to myself, are there monsters on the wings of planes? No. Chris says no. So, I will say this, that one of the things that it actually made me do was very, very early in my life, I began to ask myself the question, what is reality?

And is there more than I can actually see? As I got ready to prepare this sermon, I started thinking about clocks and doors. Before I came across the Twilight Zone trailer, which I just happened to see as I was creating the sermon, and maybe it was God that led me to that and back to it, actually, or maybe not. But I began to think about our reality. Our reality. And so, there's people who believe that all reality is kind of more like a clock.

If you saw at the beginning, it starts with a door, and the door opens to a clock. But some of us feel that everything, and the view is called naturalistic view, everything in the universe, everything that exists, everything that can exist, is within a system. It's in a system that could be proven. And if something happens that seems supernatural, it's actually not supernatural. What it is, is something that can be proven, but it just hasn't been proven yet.

In Germany, they call these glockenspiels. I don't know if you've been and seen some of the giant clocks that they have in the towers that you walk in, and they have all these incredible, like, little mechanical characters that come out. And so, many of us believe in this clock. But then, there's a whole bunch of other people in the world that believe, no, it's not really a clock. Actually, we're in a system for sure, but I believe that there's a door.

And through that door is a different reality. Through that door is something that can't be proven. Through that door is something that I can't know just in this world. Through this door, maybe a door of faith, maybe a door of belief, but there's got to be more than what can be proven. There's either a clock or there's a door. And I've always kind of been, ever since I was a little bit of a kid, I've kind of been a door guy.

You know, I've been kind of a guy that just believed that there was something more. And so, before I ever walked through that door, and funny enough, Jesus says, I am the door, which is so interesting. He never said, I am the clock, although he is obviously the God of all time. But he said, I am the door. Before I ever walked through the door that it was Jesus in my own belief, I began to believe that there was something else and that there was something more.

There's a passage in John. In John chapter 14, beginning with verse 6, Jesus says something. I'm going to read it to you right now. Jesus says this to Thomas. Now, you have to know Thomas was this disciple who had a problem with doubt. He actually had a problem with faith, but he continued to doubt. You've actually heard the colloquialism, don't be a doubting Thomas, right? Thomas was the guy that when Jesus raised from the dead in the story, he looked at him and he says, I'm not going to, you know, he actually, before Jesus raised from the dead, or he had heard the rumors of it, he says, I won't believe it until I see him or put my fingers in his actual wounds.

And so Jesus, I mean, you dare Jesus, he's going to go for it, right? So Jesus shows up and he's like, touch the wounds. And Thomas has belief at that moment. And then Thomas, or Jesus says something kind of radical. He says, blessed are you for believing, but even more blessed are those that believe in a door to a different reality, who believe without seeing, without it having to be proved unto them. And so Jesus goes on because Thomas came up to him and Thomas was having an existential problem in his life.

He wanted to follow God. He wanted to move on in his life. He just didn't know how to get to where he wanted to go. And maybe you can relate to that. And so he goes up to Jesus and he says, Lord, and this is after Jesus had gone out about, I'm going to the Father and I want to introduce you to my Father. And by the way, that's Jesus' whole mission. The whole mission of Jesus is not to come save people from hell so that they won't go to hell and be a basic, you know, a moral cop and a lifeguard.

Most people have turned Jesus into a moral policeman and a lifeguard. He wants you not to do certain things and then he wants to save you so you don't go to hell. That's not the gospel. The gospel is those things are true. He actually doesn't want to be a moral policeman. He does want to tell you the things that lead to life. But he actually wants to introduce you and reintroduce you to your Father because we have been lost.

And he came that he might restore this relationship with the Father. And so he had been saying, I'm going to the Father. And Thomas comes up to me and goes, well, what are you talking about? Jesus, if a lot of people, they think they understand Jesus, but they've actually never read what Jesus said. There's a lot of Christians that haven't read what Jesus said. And I encourage you, if you've never really studied Jesus, like it's easy to just say, well, you know, the church or you can point at a few bad, you know, bad actors in the church or a few bad centuries here and there in the church.

And easily write off Jesus. I want to encourage you not to write off Jesus. There's a reason 2,000 years later that this one figure, this basic wanderer, a homeless rabbi basically, changed the entire world. There's a reason for that and why that happened. And so he said, I'm going to the Father. And Thomas comes up to him. And the purpose of the gospel is that Jesus might lead you to know your true Father. So if you've never heard the gospel, let me just tell you this.

Christianity exists that you might know God as Father. That is the ultimate end goal of the gospel, that you would spend eternity with a father. It's not to keep you from doing things. It's not to like be a buzzkill so you can't get your party on. It's none of that. It's that you might truly know that God doesn't only want to be your father. He is a loving father and desires relationship with you. That is the gospel that I think the church needs to get better at telling people about.

Because I think we spent way too many centuries being moral policemen. Jesus says to him, or Thomas says to Jesus now, and they're having a door conversation, right? They're not having a clock conversation. They're having a door conversation. Like, where are you going? What are you talking about? And how do I get there? How do I get through that door? He says, Lord, Thomas says, we don't know where you're going. So how can we know the way?

And Jesus answered, once again, a radical statement. Jesus says, first of all, he says, I'm the way. These are three radical things. And actually, I believe that they're more relevant today, as we'll see in a moment, than they probably even were then. I'll tell you why in a moment. Jesus answered, I am the way. That's huge. I am the truth. And I am the life. I mean, imagine in a conversation with somebody, and they ask you, hey, how you been?

What you been up to? You know, what's your life about? What have you been doing? I want to tell you, I'm the way. And for you, I'm the truth. Not like the truth. Not just for me, but for all reality. And I am the life. And if you want to know the Father, and your way, not only the way I'm going, the way that you should go, that if you actually want to know what truth is, and you want to know what life is, follow me. That's radical.

That puts Jesus either in the completely lunatic category, or perhaps God. He's either God, or he's on to something, or as they say in Australia, they call him a nutter, okay, if you're completely nuts. They call you a nutter. I don't know if you know that. He's a complete nutter. Jesus can't be both. 2,000 years later, people are still trying to figure him out. And he looks at Thomas in the eye, and he says, you want to know how to go?

Not only will I show you the way, because if you follow Jesus, he will give you far more than you want. He will give you far more than you asked for. So what does Thomas ask? Thomas says, I don't know the way. He goes, not only am I the way, I want you to know I'm going to give you some truth, and I also want to give you life. The question that this scripture begs, as you sit here thinking about our own lives, because that's what we do, right?

And for society as a whole, what is the way? What is the actual truth? Do you know the truth in a post-truth and fact society? And do you have life? Do you feel truly alive on a regular basis? Do you feel like you know where you're going? And do you have life? This is what he says to Peter, excuse me, to Thomas. I say in order to follow Jesus, there's a couple things you have to probably do. The first is this. You either have to suspend your belief in what you perhaps currently believe, which means you've been believing something, which is perhaps maybe contrary to what Jesus is actually offering, and you would have to suspend your belief in that thing, and then engage belief somewhere else.

To actually think about a different way when the way you are going is no longer working is why alcoholics get sober. It is why many people follow Jesus. It is why many people do a lot of things when the way that they are going is no longer working. And they begin to say, this thing that I have been sold, this bill of goods that I have been sold, so I read in a, there was a song I was listening to recently, and it said, you know, this is the wrong revolution.

So really, sometimes we're fighting the wrong revolution. We've been sold a bill of goods that we believe in, but when we look at the product in our lives, that what we have believed in is actually offering us, maybe we need to suspend belief in what we think was right, and engage belief in something else. In order to change our mind, you actually have to engage belief, and what damage can engaging belief do? You have the ability to disengage belief again, because if you're going to believe in Jesus, you've got to actually take a radical jump of belief.

Jesus' entire life, bookended by miracles. Unbelievable miracles. Baby, manger. You know what it says, how he came? Virgin birth. Really? Really? Like, virgin, that's the way you're going to start? Like, if I'm God, I'm not starting with a virgin birth. It's too hard. The road for me to make the mental jump within the clock system, I can't believe that if I'm a clock guy. Or at least it hasn't been proven yet, but it will be proven at some point.

Actually, supernaturally, Jesus' life starts with a miracle. Some of us need miracles. Some of us need more than we have. Then Jesus' life not only begins with a miracle, it actually ends with a miracle. He bookends the entire life with two miracles that are difficult to believe. The other one is the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. And like Paul says, if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, then this faith means nothing to us.

Perhaps we need to take a look at what we believe and ask yourself, is it working for me? Is what you believe actually working for you? Do you actually see the things that you are believing in actually making a positive difference and change in your life? And is it possible that like Thomas, you might need to recalibrate belief? To think in 2020, 2020, I've been thinking about this as a year of focus, right? I think in two ways.

One, a double portion. I feel like there's an ability, if God wants to, if we lean into God, he can make a double portion. If you ever study the Bible, a double portion. When you used to sit with a king, if you were honored, not only would they like fill your food up, you know, with a bunch of like steak and prime rib and the whole thing, they'd come and give you a double portion. And so you'd be sitting at the table, and all of a sudden everybody else would have like a good portion, but it'd be like, whoa, what just happened over there to Pastor Harry?

Why has he got the double portion there? It's like, boom. This is what happened with David at Saul's table. I believe in 2020, it's possible as you lean into God and begin to believe and engage belief. And let me say to people that are already believers here, some of us need to start believing more in what we already believe in. So many times as believers, myself included, I believe in something 100%, but I don't believe in it enough to make a change in my life.

For instance, we believe in prayer, but we don't pray. We as believers feel, we don't even feel, we actually believe that one of the reasons, if not one of the primary reasons that slavery no longer exists in England in the 1800s, was because a group of people believing people got together and began to pray for the abolition of slavery. It wasn't just a bunch of good-minded people that wanted to have some social good.

It was people that actually believed in the power of prayer, that understood the monetary system that was going to be really hard to break. Slavery is a hard thing to break, because there's a lot of incentive to keep it, right? And so people began to say, we are going to pray and make a difference. So let me speak to you, Christian, real quick. Maybe you need to re-up and believe more in what you actually believe in it.

You already believe in it. Why don't we actually do what we believe? And some others that are here, you don't believe in it. But what you're doing no longer works for you. And it's time to perhaps recalibrate and even ask Jesus, because the Bible says if you seek him, you will find him. You ever try to test that one? That's like, test it. Seek God. And if you don't find him, as they say in England, call it bunk and walk away.

Give it a good run for its money. Give Jesus a run for it. If you haven't, opinions about Jesus are great. Educated opinions are even better. This is something that Thomas is looking at for. Thomas asks this question, I don't know where I'm going. And then Jesus says, follow me. Following Jesus is captivating. Following Jesus is absolutely not meant to be an exercise in futility or an exercise in obedience or an exercise in a mechanical walking just to do.

Because some people, look, some people are in religion because they need a dad. And I don't mean a father like God wants to be. Because they need someone to tell them what to do and they like the rules and the rules actually help them feel safe. That is not why God wants to be in a relationship with you. He doesn't want to be in here to be a father who just lays down all the rules. I love parenting when I'm not disciplining.

I will discipline out of love. I will give boundaries. Hey, Lily, don't go put the fork, you know, when she's two years old into the light socket, you know, not healthy. I will do that. But that's not the purpose of God. God wants to have a captivating relationship with you. I will say I made a decision to follow Jesus when I was 12 years old. Walk forward. I didn't know what I was doing. I absolutely did not know what I was doing.

My mom went forward. My brother went forward. I thought I should go forward too. And so there was a guy named John Maxwell. And he said, hey, if I didn't say, hey, he's got a southern accent. He said, if you want to accept Jesus and come down here, he did then, he doesn't really have it anymore. And he says, you come on down. I'll pray with you. So I went down. And he grabbed my hands. I was 12 years old. I looked it up at him.

He was a 31-year-old evangelist at the time. And he said, boy, I remember that, boy. No one says that anymore. He says, boy, do you want to ask Jesus into your heart? I'm going to say no. I mean, I'm already to the point of no return at that point. I really had no idea what I was doing. So I said yes. The crazy thing is, is that it completely stuck. I mean, we've had our bumps along the road, trust me. Like 1988 in Pacific Beach.

That was a bump. But totally captivating. I have found Jesus so captivating. Like I tasted of the world. I tasted everything. There was very few things in the world that I did not go after with a diligent passion, a pursuit to the point of trying to, you know, heart attacks, all types of stuff. We don't need to go into the whole story. But it was pretty full on. I found the world wanting. And when I get to that place where I'm like, is this really real?

And then I look back at what I was doing and where I was going and how many times I ended up in the hospital or woke up and didn't know where I was or whatever. Or worse than that, didn't know who I was or didn't experience the love of God that he was offering me and the loneliness that came when I was living full throttle for me. I have to say, there was a, I would say I don't experience loneliness that much anymore.

But when I was 19 years old and living on meth and thinking I was having the, I was, I was having the time of my life during the day and many nights, there was a palpable loneliness in my heart. And I want to say that when I'd finally turned around and came back to Jesus, it hasn't been perfect. I haven't been perfect. But he has captivated me in such a way that I would say that the world is left wanting. When I look at the world, there's nothing it can offer me that I actually want anymore.

And I've begun to try to believe more in the things that I actually believe in. Jesus said three things. We're going to circle the tower and we're going to come in for a landing. Jesus says, I am the way. If you don't know where you're going, I encourage you, get a Bible. Look, if you've never looked into Jesus, like take him seriously. Like take it, it's, he's changed human history for 2,000 years. There's been some, obviously humans are a part of the, the hardest thing about Christianity is that it involves humans as well.

It'd be a lot better if it was just the God part, the Jesus part. I totally get that. And you can point at all these things, Spanish Inquisition, you know, whatever. Um, but beyond all those excuses to actually look at Jesus, he's absolutely captivating. I want to encourage you to take this year because it can be a, a 2020 can be a year of a double portion where God actually, you lean into that. But it's also, it can be a year of focus.

2020 is a focus. And maybe you've lost focus. Have you ever woken up and not know who you are anymore? I've woken up and not known who I am anymore. And I don't wake up like that anymore. Jesus says, I am the way. And so if you don't know the way, and even if you're a believer, I'm talking to believers, people that your uncle just asked you to come and you said you would. I mean, I'm talking to everybody in the room, whether you follow Jesus or not.

If you don't know who you are, you are, you don't know the way that which you're going. I want to challenge you to lean in and at least look at what Jesus has to say in a deeper way. This year can be a pivot year. Every year can be a pivot. Every day can be a pivot day. Every moment can be a pivot moment where you pivot into a better life to become the person that you actually want to be. That's believing and believing in those values.

Jesus says, I'm the way. Second thing he said was, I'm the truth. We live, I heard this week, I was reading, it said we live in a post-fax world. That's what I read. I read it in a newspaper, online. Post-fax world. That's interesting. It says we live in the age of post-fax and where the truth is no longer the truth. I don't know if you're seeing that. It's really, really, it's a really interesting concept. I mean, back in the day when people were still believing in like giants and fairies and magical forest and everything, back in the dark ages and the whole thing, at least they didn't know the difference.

What this article was saying was, we know the difference, but we choose not to accept the difference. We choose to live in the lie on purpose and to call it the truth. The scripture actually says, I'm not sure if it's the end times or not. People have been trying to tell me it's the end times, not me personally, but for 2,000 years they've been saying it's the end times. Every generation of the church has said it's the end times.

Paul thought it was the end times. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the 1950s thought it was the end times. I'm not going to tell you it's the end times. But the Bible says that in the end times, people's love will grow cold. So if you see that, people's love, they'll stop loving each other. It'll grow cold. And then the, which I've always thought, well, that's interesting because that kind of seems. And it says they will no longer know what's true anymore, which is really, really interesting.

Jesus says, I am the way. I am the truth, the straight up truth. He's not the truth that he just wants to tell you a few facts about himself. He wants to reveal the truth in such a deep way it makes you more real. C.S. Lewis has a book called The Great Divorce where they're on a bus and they're going to heaven. And he gets out of the bus and this bus is traveling. If you can get on Amazon tonight and just listen to the audio version, it's phenomenal.

It's an allegory. And he's going to heaven in this bus. And he gets off the bus at one point. He doesn't have his shoes on. And he sees some grass. And the man jumps onto the grass. And all of a sudden it hurts his feet. And it's like stinging his feet. And he's like, ow, this grass. It's like walking on razors and needles. Why is that? He said, well, the thing is, is the closer you get to heaven, the more true things become.

And actually the grass becomes more real. So it's less bendable than it was because things are more real than they ever bend. And you're not used to being in reality. You see, God, Jesus just doesn't want to come to tell you a few facts. It's funny. We think when I get to heaven, I'm going to ask Jesus this question. You're going to be so blown away by truth. That question probably won't even matter to you. Imagine when you stand in front of the author of all truth.

You're not going to be wanting to know, well, you know, did Judas really do that? No. You're going to be so blown away by truth. And that journey to truth, Jesus says, can start today. I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the life. Post-fact society. We live in the healthiest, supposed, or excuse me, the most medically advanced civilization. Talk about Western civilization. Ever. Yet for the last four years, the average life expectancy has dropped.

Have you known that? For the last four years, the average life expectancy has dropped. Why? Two reasons. Because we no longer love life. Suicide and opioids. Opioids. This is something you probably already know. We're taking our lives and we're running from our lives. Both of those two things that are actually destroying life in a society that should be living longer than it's ever lived. You can't tell me that life is thriving in our civilization currently.

And perhaps, like I said at the beginning, what Jesus said about I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life is way more relevant today. And maybe he was speaking beyond through a door to now in a more powerful way than his people even heard it then. Because they had a completely different understanding of life and of truth. Coming in for a landing and I actually circled the tower. Jesus offers you a way. He offers you truth.

And he offers you life. I want to show a little video right now about this that I feel is very powerful. It talks about this very verse. And posits the question to you. If you're at the crossroads in your life, whether you've followed Jesus for a long time or not, is 2020 perhaps a year of renewed focus? Let's watch this video. The people today, they called you king. They think you were the Messiah. Who do you think I am?

You are the son of God. What if he's not the one? We're risking our lives. For what? He has shown us his power. We must have faith in him. Don't be afraid. Trust in God. Trust in me also. You know the way to where I'm going. We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? I am the way. The truth. And the life. I am the alpha. And the omega. The first. And the last. The beginning. And the end. There will be no more death.

Or mourning. Or crying. Or pain. I am making everything new. Yes. I am coming soon. May the grace of the Lord be with all God's people. Amen. Amen. This year in January we're starting a new thing here at the church. It's called Alpha Cafe. Starting January 26th we're going to have an eight week conversation during our second service for anybody who wants to come. It's going to be amazing coffee and pastries and all kinds of stuff.

But we're going to sit around tables for anybody who wants small tables and we're going to talk about who this Jesus is through a thing called Alpha. It's about an hour and 20 minutes long every single Sunday. I want to invite you if you actually want to have a conversation and look in to what I'm talking about to Alpha Cafe. It starts here on the 26th of January. Now normally when you have a service like this they teach you in pastor school.

A lot of people bring people who don't know Jesus. So make sure that you close the deal with like a sinner's prayer. Like okay that can work. But my problem with that is sometimes that's just way too emotional. You've been touched by something I've said. Whatever. You've been triggered as I mentioned something that triggered an old wound or something. I think Jesus often did it a different way. Jesus would do something.

He would say something and then he would bounce. And then people would go find him. They'd be like dude that whet my appetite so much. I want more of that. I want to say that's really before we do our candle lighting. Which hopefully just lights a spark in your imagination more than anything. As you go out from here tonight you know in your heart I want to know more. And granted we could you know have a pressure valve release of let's just bow our heads.

Everybody raise your hand. You can walk out of here and maybe you've done that 10 times before. But maybe it would look different this time. As if on Thursday of next week you're like hey I still think I want to find out about that Jesus. You can come here. You can come to Alpha Cafe. You can go other places. You can look up online. Wikipedia tells you a lot about him. But if you say in your heart I want to know you and will you reveal yourself to me.

I guarantee you that he will do it. Because the word guarantees if you seek him you will find him. So that's the invitation. The invitation. I'm starting a new series on the first week of January called The Invitation that continues to talk about this. We would love to have you be a part of it here in our family. If you want to know more about this walk of faith. Pastor Sean is going to be out at our info table afterwards.

We'd love you to stick around and hang out. And before we light this candle we just ask that you would stand so we can pray a blessing. 12 years old I walked forward and didn't know what I was doing. And then I'm not even sure I did it for all the right reasons but I did it. And Jesus proved himself real to me. And he lit a light in my heart. It's flickered at times for sure. But it's continued to burn. I think I'd die for it.

I don't know yet. I haven't been asked to. But Jesus is so real. Let me tell you one thing about belief before I close. The more you believe and the more God proves his reality to you in belief the less you have to believe. Hebrews says that your belief will become a substance. And it uses this word that your belief actually will become the proof that you need. It actually becomes the thing within the clock. It becomes a proof.

And it becomes a reality. I pray that the truth will set you free this year. And as this candle, as actually the fire goes from the Christ candle to here, to your heart. We pray as it lights that you will refocus this year. Let's light the candles together. As we get ready for this new year, I pray for it to be a year of focus, a year of hope. I'd love to bless the congregation. I'm going to ask you in a second to bow your heads.

Careful with your candles, obviously. It could go bad real quick. Here we go. If you bow your heads, let me just pray over you if I can, a blessing. Lord Jesus, for some of us, we know you're speaking straight to us, God. What we believe, we need to disbelieve in because it doesn't work and it hasn't proven itself to be true. We want the way. We want more than the way. We want the truth. We want the life. So, God, I pray a blessing of way, if I can, use the word wayness, for these people, God.

A way in the desert. That you'd be the truth. That you would just overwhelm them with truth, God, and reality. And that you would give them life. And for some, they don't want to live anymore. We see that here all the time. God, change that. Come in and speak truth and say, you're my son. You're my daughter. I know who you are. I want you to know who you are. And I want you to know that you are beloved. We send you out with an anointing of the belovedness of God.

The heart of God that beats for you. That beats for this world. That you might know him. And that reality might set you free. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. Hey, Merry Christmas, everybody. We love you. Hope to see you again here soon at La Jolla Christian Fellowship. Please join us next door for some hot cocoa and some pizzas and all kinds of stuff before you go. We love you. Merry Christmas.

Bye-bye. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.

Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night. Good night.