For those who dont know who I am, Im Michael Powers. I am the youth minister here. Im the one they trust to hang with your teenagers and teach them Gods Word. I want you to know that I love my job, and I love this church. It is an honor and a privilege to be able to teach Gods Word to your kids, so thank you for that. To lead into what were going to talk about today, called The Same Old Story, this is an article that I wrote for a publication a couple of years ago. I just wanted to share that with you as we get into the message today. In the 25 years that my wife and I have been doing youth ministry, weve dealt with a lot of teens that have gotten themselves into some dire straits. In fact, I thought there was nothing that could possibly surprise us anymore. I was wrong. There was one teenage girl we know that I have to tell you about. However, before I do, I want you to understand that in our youth ministry, we always strive for confidentiality-to protect both the teen and the teens family; so it is with great trepidation that I share this with you for I know that some of you will figure out who this girl is. I am hoping that by the end of these few pages, you will understand why I had to share what Im about to tell you. Before you rush to judgment, I want you to hang with me here. In fact, more than anything else, I want you to put yourself in this teens shoes. Try to feel what she must be feeling. This young girl is 13 years old, and she came to the stark realization that she is pregnant. Not only does she realize that her life is going to drastically change, but to make matters worse, she is afraid to tell her 19 year old boyfriend. Normally, she would go to her boyfriend with any problem. Hes a pretty stable, understanding, and dependable guy; but this time its different. You see, the baby is not his. She lays awake that first night thinking about all the people she has to face the next day: her parents. Shes always been worthy of the trust her parents have put in her. In fact, other families have remarked to her parents how they wished their daughters were more like her. Now she has to stand before them and explain how she got pregnant. If thats not bad enough, shes going to have to explain to them that the father of the baby is not the young man that her parents think she should marry. Her boyfriend, how does she face her boyfriend? She loves her boyfriend more than anyone-well, almost more than anyone. How is she going to face him? Where is she going to get the courage? It would almost be easier if she could tell him that it was just a big mistake, and that she is so sorry for it; but she cant lie to him. She will have to look into his trusting eyes and tell him that she willfully chose the path that lead to this little life growing inside of her. She knows deep down inside that if she had to do it all over again, she would make the same decision and end up in the same precarious situation. Please, God, please let him understand and not abandon me. I need him so much right now. Her friends, how does she share the news with them? Right or wrong, they have always put her on a pedestal, always looked to her for answers, always modeled their lives after hers; but she knows instinctively that they will not understand. In fact, she knows that she may never be able to explain to them what made her do what she did. She lays there in bed afraid, overwhelmed, and reaching out to God for strength to face what is ahead of her. The next day she finally gets up the courage to tell her boyfriend. He reacts just as she feared he would. He is going to leave her. She becomes distraught and questions God, Why, God? Why? I know that Im in this situation because of a decision that I made, but please dont take my boyfriend away from me. I desperately need him now. This unnamed teen goes to bed that night more afraid than ever, feeling every bit the child that she is. Her name? Normally, I wouldnt give that to you, but in this case she asks that her name be known so that others will understand what she has gone through and will be encouraged. Her name is Mary, and she lived 2,000 years ago. Have you ever thought of the Christmas story in that way? Today as we meditate on this, I hope that youre not like me [in my way of thinking of] The Same Old Story. I mean, were supposed to like Baby Jesus, right? When Christmas comes, we read the Christmas story-something weve heard sometimes almost 100 times, and we get bored with it. Were like, Ive heard this story before. I know how it ends. Well, lets ponder this and see if we really do know the story. Most 13 or 14 year old girls that I know, if an angel appeared to them and said, Hey, were going to put a baby inside your womb, would say, Um, excuse me. Yeah, this aint working for me. How am I gonna fit in my prom dress now? Most teenage girls I would know would be like, Forget this. We have to have a Plan B because this aint happening, but Mary follows and obeys God. I want you to think about this. I dont think we have any clue what she went through, what Joseph went through, to get in this situation and to face what she had to face. I mean how do you tell Joseph? Think about that. How do you tell Joseph? The conversation may have gone something like this, Now, Joe, before you get angry with me, I want you to know that I did not cheat on you. Come on, Mary! You know full well that we have not known each other in the Biblical sense, so the baby cant possibly be mine! Joseph, you have to believe me! I did not do this with anybody! Please, Mary, dont do this to me. You know that I love and care for you, but I cannot listen to this! Okay, Joseph, I wont lie to you. Then she looks into those trusting eyes knowing that what shes going to say is going to sound so crazy. The baby is from God. Come on! Could you imagine what that would have sounded like? Oh…God got you pregnant. Oh…okay. Can you imagine? No matter how much he loved her, he has to be thinking, Youre crazy! This is not happening! The wheels are already turning in Josephs head because he was a righteous man. The Bible says he would dismiss her privately and not make a spectacle of it. She would go though because he would send her away. Then you know the angel appears to Joseph and verifies that what is going on is true. I want you to ponder now with me: have you ever thought of God as a baby, as a fetus, inside the womb of an unwed 13 or 14 year old girl? As a writer, I would never write the Christmas story like this. If Im a writer, and Im writing this story, when God would come to earth, Hed be on a white stallion. As He would come across those streets of gold, every hoof print would send up a spray of golden sparks. He would burst through those gates, and the angels would be singing, almost defining an angelic choir. Hed burst through the universe. The stars would line up, and theyd blink, The King is coming! When He gets to the ozone layer, He would burst through that ozone layer. There would be a sonic boom! The clouds would line up behind Him as He burst through that. It would be like a long flowing white robe. He would circle the earth two or three times, and everybody would know The King of the universe is now coming into His creation! God says, No, thats not how were going to do it. God said, The God of the universe who breathed stars into existence, as it says in Psalms, went ahh, and galaxies and stars came out-He is now dependent on His own oxygen through the umbilical cord of an unwed, pregnant teenager. Thats just crazy to me-how God chose to do that. Have you ever equated God with the birth process? I mean the King of the universe in the process of human birth, and instead of a golden crown on His head, His head is in a kind of cone shape from coming through the birth canal. Instead of priceless paintings hanging on the walls of a palace, there are cobwebs on the walls of a stable and the smell of animal manure and urine. Instead of being placed in the finely-crafted bed by the greatest Craftsman in the land, Hes put in a manger. Doesnt that word sound so pretty-a manger? Do you know what a manger is? A manger is a feeding trough where cows would stick their tongues and lick food. The God of the universe, when He came to earth, He humbled Himself and was placed in a feeding trough. The Bible says (in Colossians 1:17, page 1165 of pew Bible), He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together, that by Christs very word, the universe is holding together. Now, He is dependent on the milk of an unwed teenage girl for His sustenance. Instead of kings, presidents, and world leaders, God chose shepherds. Now, if you know anything about that culture of that day, the shepherds were the lowest of the lowest class of society. They were Bedouins. The word was said like, Oh…its a Bed-o-uin, a shepherd! I want you to think about that. Youre a shepherd, and you have an angel appear to you and give you this announcement. Of all the people on the earth, He chose shepherds, the lowest of the low, to give this good news to. Then, He gives them the concert of their lives. The Heavens open up and angels appear, a Heavenly host, and they sing the first Christmas carols to a bunch of Bedouins. Have you ever seen the Northern Lights? One time in my life, besides on TV and in pictures, Ive seen the Northern Lights. I remember it was about ten below zero. We were up north, and I remember standing in this field and just being mesmerized. There were like curtains of light that just shimmered and changed. It was just amazing to me! I felt like my eyeballs were going to freeze in my head. I was afraid to blink in fear that they would just disappear. It was one of the most amazing experiences Ive ever had. I cant imagine what it would have been like for those shepherds to hear and see those angels on that first Christmas night. Ive worked with youth for too long, and some of you might be offended by the next thing Im going to share with you, and Im okay with that. Pastor Jeffs not here, so I can do what I want (congregation laughing), and Ill pay for it later. Have you ever thought that the God of the universe had a diaper? Human waste, human feces, was next to His skin, and a human being had to wipe Him? You talk about humbling Yourself and coming down into Your creation. If it happened today, Mary would write a best-selling book, I Changed Gods Diaper. Thats what the book would have been about. Can you imagine that? You and I think we know the Christmas story, but theres so much in there! Were going to watch a video now called, A Social Network Christmas, and if that were to happen today-if Jesus were to appear today-with Facebook and all of that, this is probably how it would have went down. Lets watch. (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sghwe4TYY18 It starts about ¼ of the way through the video) Wasnt that well done? I love it when people who have gifts and abilities given by God use them so that we can be blessed by that. Thats just an awesome video! There is so much more we could share about the Christmas story. Im just going to touch base on a couple of things, but literally it would take us many weeks to even get through all the nuances of whats really going on. If youre going to talk about Christmas, you have to talk about the cross; so were going to make a beeline to the cross. Before we do, I want to share some things with you. Number one, nowhere in the Bible does it say that there are three wise men. Its just the story that we passed down from generation to generation. It says there were wise men, and it says that they had three different types of gifts; but if three wise men were traveling by themselves at that time, they probably would have been beat up, robbed, and wouldnt have made it. They would have had to travel in a caravan. As much as you like the manger scene and the stable, the three wise men were not there at the birth or soon after. The Bible says that He was no longer an infant. He was a young child under the age of two years old, and they visited Him at a house. It doesnt ruin the Christmas story, but when we say its The Same Old Story, we really have not looked at it very closely. I want to share this with you too: I think Mary and Joseph were outcasts. I think Marys family treated them as outcasts, and I think Josephs family did as well. This is conjecture. If you read between the lines, you can see a lot of the stuff that may be going on, so dont take this as this is exactly what the Bible says; but it is said that Mary takes off in a hurry-literally in a hurry-to go visit Elizabeth as soon as she finds out shes pregnant. Just before John the Baptist is born, she leaves. Now, if youre going to spend three months there, why wouldnt you stay for the birth? I think its because she started showing, and the thought of being away from her hometown where maybe theyd have a little more sympathy for her [worried her]. Did you know that if you were an unwed teenage girl back then, they could stone you? You could literally lose your life. Thats how seriously they took an engagement-you were literally married, but you just didnt consummate the marriage at that point. Then she has to tell Joseph, and I think when Joseph gets the message from the angel, I think Josephs family also treated them as outcasts. We always think of the story of Mary on the donkey and basically on her way to give birth right at that moment. They get there and cant find a hotel. All of the sudden, there are no rooms at the inns. Did you know that in Luke it says that while they were there, the days to complete her pregnancy occurred? I think since they were going to Bethlehem where Josephs other relatives would have been, I think that even their own relatives probably did not let them stay at their house. If they did, most houses back then would have had an upper level where the people were and a lower level where they would take the animals in at night if it was a cold night. The body heat from the animals would help heat the house. Either they were totally outcast from even their own families, or they would have said, You know what? You can do that. Maybe not; maybe Im conjecturing too much there. Maybe there was no privacy. How would you like to give birth with all your relatives there for the census? Maybe the lower room was the only place that gave them some privacy. There was so much else going on there, but were going to find out what it would have been like for Jesus growing up. Have you ever thought about being Jesus mother or father? [We always hear] the question asked why is the sky blue except it would have been Mary and Joseph asking Jesus that question because He is God. Have you ever thought of that? Max Lucado had some fun with questions he would have liked to ask Mary: What was it like watching Him pray? How did He respond when He saw other kids giggling during the service at the synagogue? Have you ever thought of that? The God of the universe [is there] and people are disrespecting His message through Gods Word. How would that have affected Him? Did you ever feel awkward teaching Him how He created the world? Did you ever think, Man, the God Im praying to is in the next room? Did you ever try to count the stars with Him and succeed? Did He ever get angry when someone was dishonest with Him? Think of that. Did you ever think, Thats God eating my soup? I wonder if Jesus had a special affinity for lambs. The lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world… I wonder if He ever pondered that. Regarding Jesus growing up, the Bible is silent in what happened between the age of 2 and the age of 12. At the age of 12, we know of the story of Jesus at the Temple. Do you know whats interesting about that story? The Bible says that the rabbis were amazed at His answers. Do you know what that tells me? That tells me that the conversation may have started out with Jesus asking them questions, but it turned into them asking a 12 year old boy questions about Gods Word. They were amazed at His answers. How about Jesus as a teenager? Have you ever thought of that? Did Jesus ever wake up and think, This is the day. This is the day that I have made, that I have made. Did he wear a WWID bracelet? What would I do? Could you imagine having to be the sibling of Jesus? The Bible is very clear that there were at least seven kids in the family. Jesus was not an only child. The brothers are all named in Scripture. The sisters arent, so there are at least seven. Can you imagine the pressure of being a brother or sister of Jesus Christ? Why cant you be more like Jesus? Seriously, the pressure to live up to that… We gloss over-we think of Jesus as God, but we fail to ponder what it would have been like to be human because Jesus was fully God and fully human. I cant explain that; I just know thats what Gods Word says-fully God and fully human. Do you think that Jesus was possibly tempted to use spiritual power when He was growing up? When Mom told Him to clean His room-vroom, and it was clean. Do you ever think of that? Do you know why we believe that never happened? Its because of this: In Mark 6:1-3 (page 995 of pew Bibles), it says, Jesus left there and went to His hometown, accompanied by His Disciples. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were amazed. Where did this man get these things? they asked. Whats this wisdom that has been given Him, that He even does miracles! Isnt this the carpenter? Isnt this Marys son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Arent His sisters here with us? And they took offense at Him. Now, the Judas mentioned there is not Judas the Iscariot, just a common name. If Jesus were running around doing miracles as a kid, they would have known who He was. They would have recognized and said, Whoa! This guy is special. Sterling North, famous author-if you go into Edgerton, its very prominent that they are proud of their native son, Sterling North. Nazareth would have had a sign, Jesus, the God man, lives here. Do you know what this tells me? This tells me that He acted like any other child. He was a weird child, and I dont mean that in an offensive way. He was definitely strange. He never sinned. He did not run around using His spiritual power. In fact, His brother James who wrote the Book of James did not give his life to Christ until after Jesus died and rose again. How could you be Jesus own brother and not believe He was the Son of God? What did Jesus look like? He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him-nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. Have you ever looked in the mirror and felt plain, felt average? God in His wisdom made Jesus to look like an average human being. Then there came a day at the age of 30 when the Father told Him, Its time. I want you to think about this. [As God would say to Jesus], All of Your life, Youve been a carpenters son, and Youve grown up in a carpenters shop. Your dad has taught You how to be a carpenter. You love the smell of sawdust. You love having those tools in Your hands. The voice comes from God and says, It is time. What You came here to earth to do, it is now time to accomplish. Jesus, knowing what was ahead of Him, had to walk out of that carpenters shop one day and never look back. It is my guess that when that voice came and God said it was time, He sat down on a bench He had made. How interesting is it that the God of the universe who created that wood is now shaping that wood into something? I always thought how awesome it would be to have something made by Jesus Christ. Could you imagine how much you could get on eBay for something that Jesus made? He sat there, and He probably breathed in the sawdust. He knew what was ahead of Him, and He knew how comfortable it would be to just stay and be comfortable in the surroundings He was used to. He chose, He willingly chose, to walk out of that carpenter shop and head down a path that would lead to a bloody cross because He knew that you and I needed a Savior. If were going to talk about Christmas, we have to talk about the cross. There are so many things were skipping. I want to challenge you-have you fallen out of love with your Bible? Do you love Gods Word? Do you look forward to all those little things that we take for granted that are in there? He comes into Jerusalem on a donkey-please! Hee-haw! A donkey! Not only a donkey, but a colt, a young donkey-do you know how awkward it would be for a full-grown man to ride a young donkey? I think, God, why do you always pick the humble stuff? Because thats who God is. The Last Supper-have you ever thought of this? Jesus Christ, knowing what was coming, not only washed the other Disciples feet, but He washed Judas feet. I cant even imagine what it was like for Judas-knowing what he was about to do-and Jesus humbled Himself and washing his feet. I bet Judas could not even look Him in the eye. The Garden of Gethsemane, fully God, fully human-knowing whats going to happen to Him, He chooses His three best friends, His three closest people. He says, Will you stay up and pray with Me? He goes on a little farther ahead, and He comes back to them asleep. Can you imagine what that would have felt like for Him at the darkest moment of what Hes facing. The Bible says that He was under so much stress and anguish that He literally sweat drops of blood. If you want to Google this, look up hematidrosis. Its a medical term for when you are under so much stress and anxiety that your capillaries actually expand into your sweat glands, and blood mixes with your sweat. Drops of blood come out of your sweat glands. Thats what He was facing because He knew what was coming. Then we pick up the story where Judas comes and betrays Jesus. [Mark 18:3, page 1071 of pew Bibles], So Judas came to the grove, guiding a detachment of soldiers and some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to Him, went out and asked them, Who is it you want? Jesus of Nazareth, they replied. I am He, Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.) When Jesus said, I am He, they drew back and fell to the ground. There are two things that I think that are going on here. They heard about this God-man. Hed been doing miracles, raising people from the dead, and stopping storms. They were deathly-afraid to arrest this Man. They thought He was just incinerated with some kind of God magic. When He said that, they were afraid. Do you know what else I think is going on here? I think this is the Old Testament I am. This is the God of the universe proclaiming who He is. When He said I am literally the power of God knocked them on their backs. That's what is going on there. Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priests servant, cutting off his right eat. (The servants name was Malchus.) This always bugged me as a teenager. I was like, Come on! So if Im Peter, and I am loyal to Jesus Christ, and I want to save Him from this, I pull out a sword and am like, Take that! Look at that, Jesus, I just protected You. I cut off his ear! Have you ever thought of whats going on there? I think Peter, in his rage, goes to just literally chop off his head, and the guy saw it coming and did one of these (head dodged the swing of the sword). I want you to think of this: imagine being Malchus. You have come to capture this criminal, and you almost lose your life for it. This criminal reaches down and either picks up the ear and puts it back on your head or just leaves your ear there and puts His hand on your head and heals you. Talk about shocked! I bet you anything he took no part in the rest of what happened. I bet he went off to the side and was like, Whoa! What kind of person can do that? (Matthew 26:52, page 986), Put your sword back in its place, Jesus said to him, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way? He touched the mans ear and healed him. (Mark 14:48, page 1008), Am I leading a rebellion? said Jesus, that youve come out with swords and clubs to capture Me? Every day I was with you teaching in the temple courts, and you did not arrest Me. But the Scriptures must be fulfilled. Then everyone deserted Him and fled. Everyone. [For] this next verse, you have to be scratching your head here-this random verse. A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. The Bible is not boring, people. Lets think of this, whats going on. They come to get Him; I am; they all fall down on their backs; they get back up; Peter takes out a sword, tries to kill somebody, cuts off his ear, and this God-man picks up the ear or just puts His hand up there and heals him. Then a guy with a bad case of nudity runs through the Garden. Isnt that crazy? I love the little nuances of the Bible. Then the worst part of the story [takes place]. (Mark 14:44, page of 1008), Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: The One I kiss is the Man. Arrest Him and lead Him away under guard. Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, Rabbi! and kissed Him. One of the Gospels says that Jesus looked at him and said, You betray the Son of Man with a kiss? Have you ever been betrayed like that? Not by an enemy, not by someone you know or who cant stand you, but by someone who you have considered part of your inner circle. [Imagine] how that would have felt. I personally have felt betrayal like this. This is my oldest son, Caleb. As you can see, I tried to raise him as a Bears fan. I dressed him in all the right clothes. [He had a] happy, happy childhood. He came up to me one day at the age of five or six and said, Dad, I want to be a Packer fan. I was like, Son, the Powers family has been Bears fans for generations, dating back to 300 AD. He was five. He didnt know. I was like, Son, are you sure? Then he said these words to me, Dad…when you were a kid, you grew up in the Chicago area, and that's why youre a Bears fan. I live in Wisconsin! I need to be a Packer fan! I was like, Oh, man! The hardest part now is trying to transition back to the Christmas story when weve just talked about Bears and Packers football, but I have no acute way of doing this; so were just going to transition back to that. Just like we did with Christmas, lets take a quick look at whats really going on here. I want you to think about this. They blindfold Jesus; they spit on Him; they rip His beard out of His face. Soldiers stripped Him and put on a scarlet robe and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt in front of Him, and mocked Him. Hail, King of the Jews. They spit on him and took the staff and struck Him on the head again and again. The crown of thorns is no coincidence. (Genesis 3:17, page 3 of pew Bibles), Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. From the very first sin, thorns were part of the curse. Thats the crown that they give Jesus. To mock the God of the universe, the God of the universe who is going to give us an incredible gift at Christmastime, the gift of His own Son-He is going to sacrifice His own Son. He is going to pour all of His wrath and fury toward sin on His own Son; and Jesus is there, and puny little humans are going to mock Him, pull out His beard, and spit on Him. Have you ever been spit on? One time in my life when I was a young man about the age of 10 or 11, a teenage boy spit on me for no other reason than he wanted to have some fun. I remember the smell of that spit. I remember how it felt on my face. Most of all, I remember the shame that I felt that this kid was bigger than I was, and I couldnt do anything to him. I just had to take it. Heres the difference: Jesus Christ was God. He could have incinerated them with one word, and He sat there and took it because He knew there was no Plan B. There was just Plan A. I have to go to the cross. I have to have this perfect sacrifice. I have to have God place the sin of the world on Me so that those people can spend eternity with Me if they so choose. (Isaiah 50:6, page 728 of pew Bibles), I offered My back to those who beat Me and My cheeks to those who pulled out My beard. I didnt hide My face from mocking and spitting. (Isaiah 52:14, page 731) Just as there were many who were appalled at Him-His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and His form marred beyond human likeness… What they did to Him, not only could you recognize it wasnt Jesus, the carpenters son, you couldnt even recognize that He was a human being anymore. I will spare you the details of what they did with the whipping. Isnt it ironic that wood, a hammer, and nails were the instruments that were used to kill the carpenter? They put Jesus on that cross, and they stripped Him naked. You dont see that in the pictures because nobody wants a rated X picture in their living room, but He was stripped naked in front of everybody to see-in front of His own mother to see. The Bible says that for three hours it grew dark. Then God placed your sin and my sin on the back of Jesus. I want you to think about this. I cant imagine what it would feel like to be a perfectly sinless being and have even one molecule of sin put inside of me; but to have every sin, every murder, every rape, every incest-every horrible thing thats been done from the start of eternity to whenever Jesus comes back-placed on His body, inside His body. The Bible literally says that God had to turn His back on His Son. Jesus cries out and says, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? which literally translated means, Daddy, Daddy, why have You abandoned Me? God couldnt even look at His Son. The only way I can explain what that feels like-and this will not do justice of it-is when my sons were little, when Caleb was about six and Connor, my middle child, was about three, they were in the backyard. Connor picked up a stick, and Caleb picked up our pruning shears. Connor looked at his older brother and said, Here, cut the stick. Caleb, trying to cut the stick, accidently cut into his delicate little three year old fingers. I remember hearing the blood-curdling scream from my backyard. I looked out the window, and I seen my son jumping up and down. As I ran to the door-and this sounds a little funny, but at the time it was not funny at all-he was screaming at the top of his lungs, Daddy! Daddy! I need a Band-Aid! At the time, my heart was just breaking because in his mind were two things: get my dad here and if I can get a Band-Aid, all this pain will go away. Everything turned out okay. I thought he would lose part of his fingers, but the doctor just did a wonderful job. You cant even see the scars anymore, but it occurred to me that at that moment, my precious three-year old who was screaming out for his daddy-if I would have walked out that door, looked at it, walked back in, closed the door and locked it, thats what it would have felt like for Jesus Christ to have His own Father have to look away from Him. Gods punishment that we deserve for eternity-that I know myself, I know I deserve an eternity separated from God-God said, Nope, Im going to put My wrath on My very own Son so that you can make a choice. You can choose to spend eternity with Me. Do you know what else I think happens here? I think that literally Jesus heart just ruptures in His chest. In Psalms (40:12, page 556), it says, For evils beyond number have surrounded me; iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see; they are more numerous than the hairs of my head; my heart has failed me. You can look up a medical fact that peoples hearts can just burst in their bodies because of that stress, because of not only the sin but [because of] God turning His back. If you were already dead, they sent a Centurion. Normally, they would have broken condemned ones legs if they were still alive. When you were crucified, every breath you take, you have to push up on that bottom nail to release the pressure on your diaphragm to take in one breath. Then youd hold it as long as you could, and then youd drop back down. [You have to do this for] every single breath. He was already dead. They didnt have to break his legs. Thats what they would have done because the Sabbath was coming. When they pierced His side with a spear, a sudden flow of blood and water [came down]. This is a medical fact. If your heart bursts-if your heart ruptures-inside of your chest, thats what happens to your blood. It separates into the serum and the water. You know what? I am so glad that's not where the story ends. All of the talk about if the Jewish people killed Jesus, did the Romans kill Jesus-do you know who killed Jesus? My sin. Im the one who pounded the nails. Im the one who made Him go through that because of my sin. When He rose from the dead and He conquered sin, He conquered death and proved He was God. Now I have a choice. The Bible says that you and I are enemies of God. Thats not good news. If there is one person you dont want to have as an enemy, its the God of the universe. God said, I have come through this sacrifice. You no longer have to be an enemy of Mine. You can be My friend. I will adopt you, and you can be a Kings kid. You know why Jesus cried out, Daddy, Daddy, why have You abandoned Me? He screamed those words so that you and I will never ever have to say those words. You have a choice. You never have to feel like God has abandoned you. If youre here today, and I dont know where each of you are at, and you know you have never allowed Jesus to wash your sins away, He can take those rags that are dirty and dark in your life, and He can wash them in His blood. He can make them as clean as snow. He can erase every single sin you have ever committed. When you stand before a holy judge named the God of the universe, He will pronounce you not guilty. Those chains that you have around you of sin, the cross will bust through those. The question I have for you is do you have Jesus this morning? I dont know where youre at. Youre one of three things today. You are sold out. You are trying to live your life as a 24/7 Christian. You are a stumbler. You have accepted Christ into your life, but you are not living your life for God. In fact, not only is He not driving the car of your life, youve put Him in the trunk so that He cant even tell you where He wants you to go. Or the third thing is that youre a seeker. Youre just checking this God stuff out. Youre like, Whoa! Christmas and Easter, Ive never heard it in such a way. I have a problem. I have a sin problem. I have a sin infection that needs to be taken care of. If you are a seeker today, let Christmas 2010 be the day that you wrapped your life up and you gave it as a gift to God. If you are stumbling, make Christmas of 2010 the day that you said, Jesus, get out of the trunk. Hop up in the drivers seat, and Im getting in the trunk because I have made a mess of my life. I am so tired of trying to do things my own way. Im going to let You take the drivers seat. If youre a 24/7 Christian right now and you have been so busy this Christmas season, I challenge you to fall back in love with your Bible. I challenge you to take the time and sit in front of your Christmas tree-even though Christmas is over-and take five minutes to just say, Thank you so much, God, for what You have done for me. As we close this up, were going to watch a quick video. (Link can be found here: http://sermonspice.com/search?q=christmas ) I want to see if you see yourself in this video. When this video is done, my son is going to come up, and hes going to close us out. Weve already given our offering; weve already had our announcements; so when my son is done, Ill close us in prayer and well leave. Watch this video, and listen to the words of the song that my son sings. As Caleb is getting ready with his guitar, [Ill take a moment to tell you] my son started playing guitar this past year. My wife and I were listening to a song that he wrote. Hes been playing it the last couple weeks. We listened to it, and we were like, You know what? We think that would be a perfect way, a perfect song, for you to play to end our services this Christmas. Caleb, I want you to know Im really proud of you. If you listen to the words of this song, I want you to ask yourself, Are you going to let pride keep you from coming to Jesus Christ? I think thats our main issue as humans. We do not want a God to tell us what to do. I dont know about you, but I know I desperately need a Savior. Please do not let pride keep you from spending eternity with God. (Caleb sings a self-written song here called, I Need You. Lyrics follow the sermon transcript.) Lets close in prayer: Heavenly Father, we just thank You so much, I thank You so much, for the gift that You gave us 2,000 years ago, the plan that You put into action the very moment we brought sin into this universe, that You didnt abandon us-that the red thread of the Biblical message from Genesis all the way through, that one day You would shed Your blood because You loved us so much. Lord, I just pray that this Christmas season we will take time to think, we will take time to meditate, we will take time to take a good look at what we are doing with our lives. If You could die for us, the least that we can do is live for You. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.