Speaker 1: 0:00

Well, thank you guys for coming out. Hey, we're gonna keep the rest of this service pretty simple and short, because we know we got our little ones in here today. But I just want to say, on behalf of the LVC family, to you Merry Christmas, and we're just so thankful you're here with us today. Okay, now I gotta say something. Who in here loves joy? We all love joy, right? You know I've never met I haven't met very many people I like, oh, I just love to be mopey and dopey. You know there's some Eeyores in the world, but not a lot.

Speaker 1: 0:34

But I remember my first Christmas morning with that. My daughter, kingsley, who just read, was old enough to really engage with the magic of Christmas. And parents, you know the feeling that you're so excited for your kids to wake up and see all the presents underneath the tree. And kids, you know how exciting it is with the thought of waking up and running down and seeing all the presents under the trees. Okay, and so this Christmas was our first Christmas away from Virginia Beach. We just moved to Richmond, and so we drove down to spend Christmas morning with Aaron's family, and Kingsley was around one and a half at this time.

Speaker 1: 1:12

So Christmas morning comes, we wake up Kingsley. She comes down the stairs to see all the presents and she is pumped, you know. So far, so good, all right. So then she sees all of them. So then we go to the den area and we do our stockings first, kind of something that we do. We always do the stockings first, and we gave Kingsley her stocking that had this candy in it, and she asked for the piece of candy, and me, trying to be a responsible dad, says well, you can't eat candy for breakfast. I think I was being more of a Scrooge, though, and so this sets off this little one and a half year old's mood for the rest of the morning. All right.

Speaker 1: 1:48

So we go in back into the living room, we start opening presents and she's just kind of into it. Her joy is not as high as I want it to be. I actually have a picture that kind of sets her mood. This was her mood for the whole morning. She just sat in that little pack and play and she was kind of grumpy and you know. So we took a little pause, ate some breakfast, and then I said you know what? You can have your piece of candy. Then her joy meter went back up right. Then she was happy and so it wasn't. But you know, as parents we wanted her to experience the joy of Christmas and as a kid she wanted the joy of having things her way. Things still really haven't changed that much, okay.

Speaker 1: 2:36

But joy is a powerful thing and oftentimes we do. We rely on events to bring us joy. We rely on things like Christmas morning to bring us joy. We rely on, maybe, a job promotion or when we finally get married Amen. When we finally get this thing that we want, then joy comes and those things are good and they can bring joy. But joy is not just an event, it is a choice. It's a choice and joy is a way of life.

Speaker 1: 3:08

So today we're going to conclude our series, the Way in a Manger where we've been looking at this extraordinary thing that Jesus said In John 14,. He says I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus is not just a way of life, but Jesus is the way of life. Jesus isn't just something to do, he's not just an add-on to your life, but when you follow him he is the way to life, he is the way to freedom. He is the way to victory. He's the way to the hope that you've been hoping for. He is the way and he's the way to victory. He's the way to the hope that you've been hoping for. He is the way and he's the way of life.

Speaker 1: 3:49

And so, as we get ready for Christmas, we have so much to do. Right, we got to go to Target. Still, we got family coming in town and some of us we got to go out of town and I just want to talk to us about this essential message of the Christmas story and the way of Jesus, and that is joy, and how joy is a choice. And you know this story. We just shared it. Mary and Joseph they travel to Bethlehem and while they're there, mary gives birth to Jesus. But get this she gives birth to Jesus not in a palace, not in a mansion, not in a nice Airbnb, but in a manger. But in a manger, the Savior of the world, the way Jesus, the way the truth and life begins in the most humble of place. And here's what's crazy After Jesus is born, god sends angels to announce his arrival.

Speaker 1: 4:45

And who does he tell first? Does he tell kings and queens? Does he tell the rich and the powerful? Does he tell social media influencers? He doesn't. He tells shepherds. And who are shepherds? Shepherds are your everyday people. Even in that time, shepherds were most likely teenagers. They were teenagers working the job, teenagers. In here you can start contributing, okay. So what does the angel say? The angel says do not be afraid, I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. And here's what, and here's what I don't want you to miss.

Speaker 1: 5:28

From the beginning of the story of Christmas to the, to the moment of the end of Jesus's earthly ministry, joy is the central location. This is the central spot. The Hebrew writer even tells us this in Hebrews 12 too. He said so joy came on that faithful night on Christmas morning and there was joy on the cross. And those joys are the things that we need for the everyday person, for the mom who feels overwhelmed, for the dad who feels like he's failing, for the teenager who feels overlooked, for the kid who's trying to figure out their way, for the person who feels alone at Christmas. Jesus didn't come for the perfect, he came for the broken. And he came for people like you and me. And he says I bring joy, I bring joy. And so we can choose joy, and this is what we must understand. Joy isn't just a feeling, it's a choice we make by following the way of Jesus. So I'm going to give us to us, real fast, three reasons why we can choose joy this Christmas season.

Speaker 1: 6:43

Joy is knowing that God is with you. Someone you might be saying, jacob, can you make that a little bit more practical for me? Like, can you make it? Like, what does it mean that God is with me? Okay now, now, here you go, kids. Where's all my, where are all my kids in here? All right, I'm gonna do something. I'm gonna trust you kids. Can I trust you? All the parents are like mm-mm. Okay.

Speaker 1: 7:11

So, kids, if your parent has a flashlight, parents, hold on. Let me set some ground rules. Before you give the flashlight to the kids, kids don't point any of the flashlights in people's eyes and after this little segment, give it back to your parents. Can we do that? But then you can keep it, then you can keep the flashlights after that. Okay, here you go. Here you go, joy.

Speaker 1: 7:34

We can embrace joy because, wait, wait, don't turn them on yet. Wait for me to tell you. We can embrace joy because joy is light in the darkness. All right, kids, turn on your lights, all right. Okay, you can see a difference a little bit. You see that. You see how, even though the auditorium is dark, there is light in this room. Right, and this is exactly what it's like to be a Jesus follower. There are times where it's dark, where it's hard, but Jesus is that light that penetrates the darkness, and that's how he is with us. You can turn the house lights back on for us, thank you, and kids, can you hand the house lights back on for us? Thank you, and kids, can you hand the flashlights back over to your parents? Oh, good job, I love it. Damn, we got some good kids in here. Lvc kids is awesome, I love it.

Speaker 1: 8:30

Now, this is what I want to tell you. Jesus says this to us. He says I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. Guys, I want to be honest with you. Life feels dark at times, man. There's anxiety, there's fear, depression, mental health, there's all these different things, but Jesus is the light in your darkness. Look for Jesus in your darkness, because he is looking for you.

Speaker 1: 8:55

Second thing is this Second thing is this Reason number two is joy is giving away God's love. Now, I like receiving a good Christmas present, come on, and the thing I'm blessed with is my wife is a good gift giver. She has her love language. But there is something about giving away. Like Aaron mentioned, our local miracle gift Guys guys, we collected over $2,000 and we're giving all that away. Isn't that amazing? It's an amazing thing. And so here's the question what feels better than giving a gift, than getting a gift? It's giving a gift, it's giving it.

Speaker 1: 9:37

And now I got to say this to people who are Jesus followers If you're not a Jesus follower, you're excused from this part of the message, but if you are a Jesus follower, we have to become pros at giving away. We got to become pros at giving what away Giving hope to people, giving love to people, giving life to people In your workplace. You better be the biggest light there. You know, in your home life. If other people in your home life aren't Jesus followers man, love people like Jesus would we have to become pros at giving away. Now what I want to do.

Speaker 1: 10:10

I got another illustration this one's for my youth in here. My youth are going to help me with this. So I think I got two youth in here there's Preston and then Pippa. Yeah, pippa is also a great babysitter. If you need help with that, all right. Hey, preston, grab those two presents up there for me, buddy, and okay. So what we're going to do, yeah, you can hand it right to Pippa. Pippa, you can stay right there and Renee's going to help you.

Speaker 1: 10:41

Find said people? Okay, in our church we have three people. One of them couldn't make it today, but we're going to bless him anyways. We have three people in our church who just retired Okay, come on, give it up for them who just retired. Now that's. I can't wait. I'm dreaming about my retirement. I love hanging out with you guys, but, man, florida sounds great, okay. So, anyways, I'm going to retire and become goofy, like, literally, I'm going to work at Disney World, okay, anyways.

Speaker 1: 11:15

But what I want to do, because we are an intergenerational church, I wanted our youth, our young people, to bless our seasoned people who just work so hard. They, finally, are enjoying retirement. Two of them are here, so they don't know I was doing this. I'm calling them out. You can stay at your chair, though, stephanie, if you can stand up for me and, belinda, if you can stand up for me, come on, let's give it up for them. How wonderful.

Speaker 1: 11:41

And I want you guys, church, I want you to see this the younger generation serving the seasoned generation, and I think that is so important for us as a church as we move forward into 2025. Hey, man, our church is blessed with a lot of young people and hey, and my seasoned people in here. Man, we need people to love on our young people and I'm telling you, when that happens, it's a beautiful thing. So, hey, guys, let's be good at giving God's love away. Let's give it up for people. Jesus tells us this. In everything I did, I showed you that this kind of hard work must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus himself. He said blessed is more blessed to give than to receive. Let's remember that on Christmas, last thing I'll say is this, and then we'll close Joy is found in spending daily time with God.

Speaker 1: 12:31

Joy is found in spending daily time with God. James, you can drop the keys on me, make it a little bit more spiritual in here. Or, nick, actually, here comes Nick. Joy is spending daily time with God. Now, if I had one thing my young people. If I had one thing to say that I would want written on my tombstone okay, is this Spend daily time with God. If I had one message I can give the world, I have one message I can give you. It would be spend daily time with God.

Speaker 1: 13:08

And the reason why is that? Because, here you go, you can have earthly success, you can have more money, you can have more things, you can have more stuff, but if you don't know who God has called you to be, you will always miss out. You'll always miss out on what God has for you, and no matter who you are and what you're going through. When you spend daily time with God, you can navigate the complexities of life. You can navigate them and find hope and freedom there.

Speaker 1: 13:39

And so Jesus says this that he is the way, the truth and the life, and nobody comes through the Father, except through him. This is an invitation to spend daily time with God. And so Christmas reminds us that Jesus is personal, that Jesus is not just distant out there somewhere. He's not just an out there somewhere deity, but he's a personal God who is personal yet powerful. And as we spend daily time with God, we discover that he is trustworthy and that we can lean into him and that we can find hope in him. But you will never discover that God is trustworthy until you spend time with Him. You'll never figure it out. He will just be a concept to you or someone else's religion. But when you spend daily time with God, you'll see that he is for you and that he is with you and that he can come into your situation and your life and say, hey, I am king even in that and I can rule and I can reign in your life today and I can show you the way, the way to live. So that's why we spend daily time with God and joy is found there.

Speaker 1: 14:57

And this Christmas let's remember that the way came, and the way came to show us the ways of the Father, that he's with us and for us. So, god, jesus, holy Spirit, we thank you for your love, we thank you for your goodness and your favor, and we say more of you, lord, more of you. Help us, come to know you more, and we ask for your joy. We ask for you, lord. So we say joy this Christmas. We choose it, lord. We don't fall into it, we don't drift into it, but we choose it, lord. We don't fall into it, we don't drift into it, but we choose it, lord. We intentionally pick time to spend with you, and so we love you in this place today, and we need you In Jesus' name. Amen, amen, amen. Let's give God some praise in here today.