Fear Not: The Promise of Christmas

Like we ought to sing Go Tell it on the Mountain now, just pick it and let's sing it. All right. Open your Bibles, if you would, to Matthew, chapter one. Matthew, chapter one, and then Luke, chapter one.

Just go ahead and mark both places. We'll be in both places as well as others. Mark, chapter one. Luke, chapter one.

I wonder if you can count the number of times when fear really gripped you. I mean, there's nobody immune to it. Maybe it doesn't come as quickly or as easily to some, but people have been fearful at one time or another.

I mean, gripped you, really gripped you. Might have been something you did or something that was done to you or a dangerous situation where you envisioned the worst possible scenario.

I have been the victim of a violent crime when I was, I think, 17, maybe 18 years old. And that was the most frightened I've ever been in my life. I thought I was losing my life. I really did. But fear takes many forms. So I understand.

Fear can grip you, man. I mean, grip you. And it takes many forms, but it is real. Fear is real. It's a state of mind.

And sometimes it's an irrational fear, but it's a fear nonetheless. And when I say irrational, here's an irrational fear. How many of you ever heard of the fear called dendrophobia? Dendrophobia? Anybody?

You know what that is? It is a fear of trees. Dendrophobia. Fear of trees. I mean, I've never heard of it either until I read it.

But there are some people who actually have a fear of Christmas trees. I've never met anybody who had a fear of Christmas trees, but that's what that is. Anybody ever.

If you run into somebody who has a fear of trees, it's dendrophobia. It's an irrational fear as far as I'm concerned. But, you know, what do I know?

So why am I talking about fear when I should be preaching a Christmas sermon? Well, I'm glad you asked. Go ahead and read with me. In Matthew, chapter one. I'm going to read verse 18 through 21.

Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. Whenas mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, joseph, thou son of David, fear not.

Fear not to take unto thee, Mary, thy. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son.

And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Look at Luke, chapter one. Luke, chapter one, verse 26. Luke 1:26.

And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin, a spouse to a man, whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her and said, hail, thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.

And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David.

And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be, seeing I know no man?

And the angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. Turn to chapter two. Look at verse eight.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Verse nine says, and lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them. And the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men. Did you see that? I mean, folks, what we consider to be the most wonderful time of the year. We consider this the most wonderful time of the year.

The most festive, the most joyful time of the year, the most. But it was to the main characters of Christmas of the first Christmas. A fearful event, fearful so much so that God had to say to them, fear not.

Now if I'm afraid of something, to me, if not to anybody else, it's a legitimate fear. May not be to anybody else, but if I'm afraid of something, it's a legitimate fear.

And if somebody tells me you don't have to be afraid, don't worry about it, don't be afraid.

Okay, if you're going to tell me not to be afraid in the midst of my circumstance, I want to hear the follow up explanation as to why I shouldn't be afraid. Why should I not be alarmed? This is a real situation I'm in here and you're telling me don't be afraid. Why? Well, God does exactly that.

Because the fear that their fear might be legitimate to them. But God tells them in the midst of their fear, fear not.

But each one of these situations was a fearful event to them and they had to be told, don't fear. But that's not enough. Just don't be afraid. Well, why, why shouldn't I be afraid? That's what I want to know.

Well, he tells them in the midst of their fear, not to fear. And then he gives an explanation as to why they shouldn't fear. And quite frankly, if you think about it, we live in potentially fearful times.

I'm not given to television, I'm not given to the news. I don't like watching the news. If my wife's got the news on, I'll usually walk out.

I don't like listening to the news and not like she focuses on it, but if it happens to be on, if she's watching the headlines or whatever, I just know, I don't even watch Fox News. I don't watch any news because they're all liars and they'll just. And if you just listen to them, man, it'll fill you with fear.

You'll be fearful of the economy, you'll be fear of the political scene, you'll be fear of everything around you socially and the news. I've noticed they always give you nothing but bad news. Nothing but bad news.

I mean the entire 30 minutes or however long, if it's not the weather, everything else is just bad news. And then they want to make you feel good at the very end.

They want to sprinkle a little bit of sugar on it and say here's, here's something for us to leave you with a little nice dab of sugar at the end. I don't like the news, but if a person watches it enough and if they listen to talk Radio enough and if they listen to podcasts enough.

Good night, man. We just want to go, you know, find a compound somewhere. We want to go off grid because we're afraid of the entire world.

And as we consider the birth of Christ, we too are given the message to fear not. Remember, the word of God is written to us as well. And all scripture is inspiration of God.

It's all inspired by God and it's written to us and it's written for us. And he said, fear not. Now the same message is as relevant and powerful today as it was on that first Christmas.

So I want to look at why God said to them and us, fear not. Why not? Fear. Anxious, worrisome. And for some people, this time of year just brings nothing but heartache.

It brings nothing but sorrow, brings nothing but anxiety and worry.

And I mean, if it's not a sad time for some, it's an anxious time for others because they want to get gifts for people and they don't have any money and so they know they're going to put it on their card and they're going to end up with all these just anxious when it should be a joyful time of the year. It does have a tendency to lend itself to some people, just anxious, worrisome and fearful.

But I want you to notice, why did God tell them and us fear not? Well, number one, I'm going to give you three things. Number one, because the birth of Christ shows us God's purpose.

The birth of Christ shows us God's purpose. Joseph had reasons to be fearful and anxious. During the betrothal period, which is about a one year engagement, Mary became pregnant. What a shock.

What a shock. I mean, by all indications, Mary had been unfaithful to him. Shame is about to come upon him. Shame is about to come on her.

He didn't want that to happen to her. He didn't want that to happen to her family. He didn't want to. He didn't want it to happen to him and his family. But there it was. There it was.

What a shock. He is going to be required to make a decision as to what would happen to her. This is a big decision, major decision. I mean, think about it.

Major decision he was going to have to make. And while he thought on these things, we read Matthew 20 and 21, Matthew 1, 20 and 21.

While he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not. Look, the angel didn't say that without reason. Joseph was afraid. He was fearful for everything that was about to happen.

In his mind, he was creating worst case scenarios. Just like you would be. Just like I would be.

And the angel came and said, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son. And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin.

God revealed his purpose to Joseph and it centered on this baby, that same baby that was making him fearful. God said, this baby that you, that you're making these worst case scenarios in your mind about, about to do something amazing with this baby.

And so I want you to take Mary to be your wife. Mary hadn't been unfaithful after all. Praise the Lord. He was so glad about that.

In fact, it was her faithfulness to God that resulted in her being chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Wonderful. He could lay that burden to rest. Why? He was fearful. And God said, don't be afraid. Why shouldn't I be afraid? Here's why.

Oh, isn't that awesome? I mean, you stop and think about it. He had a reason to lay down that fear. Because God revealed an amazing purpose to Joseph.

But the greatest revelation and the reason to not fear was that this child was going to save his people from their sins. Hallelujah. I like what Spurgeon said. I wrote this down. Christ is the central fact. Christ is the great central fact in the world's history.

Now listen to what he says. Think about this. He is the great central fact in the world's history. To him, everything looks forward or backward.

That was when they were still using AD and bc. Now it's BCE before the common era and whatever. What is a common era anyway? He said this. All the lines of history converge upon him.

All the great purposes of God culminate in him. Now listen to this line. The greatest and most momentous fact which the history of the world records is the fact of his birth.

Now you and I would say, well, what about the resurrection? Well, that's so argued today. They don't even. They don't. There's so much that says, well, we don't know that that's a fact.

But one thing they don't deny is his birth. That's a fact. The greatest fact that God ever placed in this world is the birth of Jesus Christ.

And from the very beginning, God's purpose in sending his Son was to provide salvation for us. That was his purpose. Joseph didn't have to be afraid he didn't have to fear because God revealed his purpose.

I feel sad for those who don't see their need for salvation. I really do. I mean, it breaks my heart.

You know, there was a day when I first started soul winning, you know, a wasp, a small wasp, you know, full of stinger and no sense. I try to argue with people and, well, okay, if that's the way you feel about it, go ahead and go on to hell, then that's your. Your problem.

Well, I don't think that way anymore. You know, the years have come. Wisdom, I hope, has taken in place of stupidity.

And it breaks my heart when people truly cannot see their need for a savior, when they can't see their need for salvation. It's like they're swimming in an ocean and sharks are converging upon them.

And because they can't see those sharks, they close their eyes and they close their mind to anybody trying to show them or tell them anything, and they end up destroyed.

He's the one that showed me, hey, look, you're on your way to hell. There are a bunch of sharks behind you in this water, and even though you can't see them, I'm telling you they're there.

He helped me to see that truth, and he put that hand out for me in the way of the gospel, and I received it. I grabbed hold of that life, that safety vest, and I got to shore, and I'm saved because of it.

Now, April 18th, and I'm telling you, most of my problems were fixed that day. Most of my worries and fears and anxieties all got taken away from that day.

I like to tell people all the time, if you get saved, your greatest problem's fixed. Your greatest problem is. Your greatest problem is eternity. And if you'll trust Jesus Christ, that's taken care of. I like what Henry Bosch wrote.

He wrote, jesus wasn't born to live. He was born to die, to live again. Amen. That was the only way he could save his people from their sins. What did Jesus himself say about his purpose?

He said in Matthew 20, verse 28, even as the Son of man came not to be. Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus said that about himself.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. I think sometimes we get lost. We lose sight of the true purpose of God in sending Jesus Christ. I mean, even in Christmas time, we still.

We lose sight of it. We lose sight of the reason he came, the purpose of God. Paul wrote to Timothy in first Timothy one.

He said, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief brother. I'm all for the songs. I like the songs to a point, you know? And I love the festivities of Christmas. I love the food of Christmas.

I love the gift giving of Christmas, and I love the fact that your husband's going to be back for Christmas. Amen. I asked her today, when's her husband coming? She said Sunday. Yay. Exciting. What a gift, right? Great Christmas. Okay, where was I?

Anyway, I love all of that. I love all the things about Christmas. I really do. But I think that, you know, we get around the. We get around the tree, maybe with our family and.

And we thank God. We thank God for all that he's given us. We thank God for our family. We thank God for everything.

But we have to stop and remember again, do we thank him for the fact that I was lost and on my way to hell? And it's easy. We can look at everything that we have in the trees. We can look at the flowers, we can look at the gifts.

And we can make every single one of those speak to that fact that I was lost. Look at this gift. It's God's gift. Look at that tree and everything inside. I like trees.

Look at everything on that tree we can speak of to Christ, right? I may not be biblical, but we can do it. And if it helps us to look to him and point to Him, I'm for it.

So this is why I don't need to be fearful and anxious. This is why you don't need to be fearful and anxious. This year, God, God's purpose in sending His Son provided us with a way out.

An escape from all the sin and the social corruption that abounds, the ungodliness that is in the world. And I feel sorry for some of you. In my ministry, church planning, I worked a Secular job more times more than I didn't work.

And so I know I was sitting here just a little while ago and I was looking at some of your faces and I asked God to remind me of the fact that these folks work today. And seriously, they worked.

Because it's easy when you're full time on staff and you're not out there working a full time job and you don't have to rub shoulders with a lost world, with an ungodly crowd that's putting your savior down all the time and laughing at every godly thing there is. You forget about that. It's easy to forget about what it's like.

And I was sitting there a little while ago and I saw some faces and I said, boy, they really look like thee are hurting today. I wonder what's on their heart. I wonder what's on their mind. Some of them are just, they're just tired. They've worked all day.

Well, I want to remind you that God had a purpose in sending Jesus Christ and that was to keep you from going to hell. And if there's.

Listen, if you could clear your mind and just focus on that fact, I think you could wipe away the drudgery of the day just with that fact. Amen. I'm going to heaven. I'm not going to hell. I deserve hell. I'm chief of sinners. I'm ungodly. But in spite of it, Jesus saved me anyway.

He reached down and saved me, pulled me out of that pit and set my feet upon a rock. God says I've got a purpose.

And my purpose that through faith in my son, Jesus Christ, you can have eternal life, you can have abundant life, you can have all the riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He said that in Christ you might have to be in the world for a little while, but by faith you have victory to overcome it. Fear not.

Fear not because the birth of Christ shows us God's purpose. You think about these guys, these people that we're talking about in this Christmas story. They. We look at this as a joyful time.

It was fearful for them, and it might just be fearful for you tonight, but you don't have to fear not because the birth of Christ shows us God's purpose. Amen. What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see. When he takes me by the hand, right. And leads me through the promised land. Amen.

When I look upon his face I can't remember the words now I forgot the words but I sing it all the time. Yeah, what a day. Glorious day that will be. How about when we all get to heaven? What a day. Do we even think about the words when we sing these songs?

What a day of rejoicing that will be. Most of us don't sing it. Most of us men don't sing it because we can't reach that high register. So we just leave it alone.

I throw it out there, though. I don't have the greatest voice. But when I just throw it out there. Because when we all get to heaven, I just try to make it mad.

I try to make it work. What a day of rejoicing that will be when we all see. I can't reach it either. See Jesus, I'll sing and shout the victory.

I get excited about that song. I really do. One day we're going to heaven and brother, you know, you know, sister, you know I know it ain't far away. It's not far off.

Oh, man, how can it be far off? I mean, just. Just take just. All the signs that we have and the knowledge. Remember, the Bible says the knowledge is going to increase exponentially.

Can you keep up with it? I mean, they're the greatest of techies in here. I think about Sean, who. I think about the guys in the back.

Can you guys keep up with the tech as fast as it's coming? It is amazing. It blows me away. Of course I'm old, but I've got an iPhone 11. And. Yeah, and some of you are like, that's a toy, man. I can't even.

I can't even maximize its potential. Jesus is coming soon. I believe. He's got to come soon. The birth of Christ shows us God's purpose. Let me tell you a second thing here.

The birth of Christ shows us God's promise. Look back at Luke 1, verse 26. In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth. Verse 28.

The angel came in unto her and said, hail, thou that art highly favored. The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women.

And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, fear not, Mary. Fear not Mary. Again, she was afraid. She was fearful. I mean, an angel came into and came into her room.

Fear not, Mary. For centuries, the Jewish people had been waiting for the birth of the Messiah.

Every Jewish mother hoped and prayed that her son would be the Messiah. The entire Old Testament is lit up with the preparation for Christ's birth, beginning with Genesis 3, 15 it's in there. I love teaching the temple.

I love teaching on the tabernacle because everything in there speaks of Christ. I love teaching on it. And I love it when God shows me something through whatever means preaching or studying.

When I see something in the Old Testament and it's a, aha. Oh, oh, that's awesome. And I see how it connects to the New Testament.

And I love it when God shows me something from the Old Testament that I didn't quite understand. And I see it now in the New Testament and God puts it together. That's amazing. I love it when God does that.

And the Old Testament is lit up with preparations for the birth of Christ. What God's message meant to Mary was this. Mary, I've given the world a promise that a savior would be born of a virgin. Guess what?

You are that virgin. I mean, we read it and then we just read it. I'm a reader. I love to read. I read. I usually have two or three or four books going at one time at home.

I love to read and I love to put myself right there. I get into it. I love to read, think about being Mary. Mary, you remember those Old Testament prophecies? That's you, that's you. You are that version.

Your son will be the son of the most high God. I've promised that he would reign on David's throne forever. You, Mary, are to be the chosen conduit of that promise. Did Mary have reason to fear?

Absolutely. Probably more than anybody else. I mean, it was her life that would be in jeopardy.

But before her fears could get out of control and shake her faith, God gave her a reason not to fear. Even in the midst of her fears, she had to say she was afraid. And God said, fear not. The angel said, fear not.

Well, I would follow that up with, well, why not? This is an incredible situation you're placing me in. Why shouldn't I fear worst case scenarios going around in her mind? Right. Why shouldn't I fear?

He said, mary, I've got a promise to keep and you're going to help me do it. I've got a promise to keep and you're going to help me do it. And he spells out that promise in three parts to her.

He says, thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son virgin born. In verse 32 and 35, he shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. Verse 32 and verse 35, he shall be called the Son of God.

And again in verse 32, the Lord shall give him unto the throne. And the Lord shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever.

And his kingdom, of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary was no stranger to those promises. She grew up hearing them told and retold. Isaiah 7:14. Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign.

Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Immanuel. She heard that all of her life. Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders.

And his name. I never get tired of hearing this. Do you? His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

I never get tired of hearing that. The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace.

There shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth and even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform. She could probably quote that she's heard that all her life. Well, that alleviated Mary's fears.

But how does the fulfillment of God's promise alleviate our fears today? How is it that I can get through this season without worrying, without being anxious, without being fearful or anytime as far as that goes?

Because Second Corinthians 1, verse 19, says, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him, amen unto the glory of God by us.

In other words, all the promises of God converge again in Jesus Christ. All the promises converge in Jesus Christ. All the promises of God are accessible through faith in Christ. Ours are on this side of the cross.

They're spiritual in nature, but no less blessed. No more, no less glorious, no less marvelously rich. Okay, so you're not going to get that 20 acres you've been salivating over, okay?

You're not going to get that new GMC that you've been hoping for. Don't get mad at God over that. God didn't promise that. He promised spiritual blessings.

And brethren, we in this room, if you're saved, that ought to be more exciting to you than any gmc. Any spread of land, all that stuff is temporal. It's going to burn up. It's gone one day. But, brother, we live forever. We're an eternal soul.

We will live forever with God. And how short is 70 years in comparison to eternity? I often think of that verse, prepare to meet thy God.

Sometimes I see that or I think on it and I read it and I think on it and I wonder, have I really prepared myself? I mean, we're going to be with him for eternity. Have I prepared myself to meet? I. Well, let me ask. Let me see. Do I watch? How much TV do I watch?

What kind of movies do I really enjoy? What kind of entertainment do I really. And go, what? What I really, you know, engulf myself in.

You better answer that question and then ask the question. Have I prepared myself to meet God? The Word says, prepare to meet thy God. Not in judgment. We know that.

But brother, I read in there somewhere where you have an opportunity to have rewards or lose them. I don't know how I got off on that. That's not even in here. But listen to Second Peter, chapter one, verse two and four.

He says, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power. Now we're talking this side of the cross. Now listen to what's yours. According to.

As his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. That means you got to read your Bible to know him whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.

The Bible says those promises are exceeding great. Not just great, exceeding great and precious. That by these. Now, here's the kicker. Watch.

You want to think you don't have anything this side of the cross, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Brother, do we read? Did you read what I just said? Listen. Through faith in Christ, we can become one with God.

Not saying you can become God, but only by salvation do we become partakers of the divine nature. You have that in you. And sometimes we don't even. We don't even. We don't even take advantage of it.

We live in so much turmoil and worry and anxiety and we never one time ask Jesus Christ, take care of this for me. Not like he's a genie, but I'm telling you, he's there with us. Let me continue on. The Holy Spirit of God. The indwelling Spirit of God. Listen.

We have the mind of Christ in spiritual matters. The Holy Spirit of God indwells us. He guides us. He instructs us. He illuminates our hearts and our minds regarding the things of God.

And if we as born again believers will avail ourselves to those promises, then we would know there's no reason to fear anything that life throws at us. No reason to get under the circumstances, no reason to dwell in depression or despondency. There's no reason to dwell in that.

No reason to live in that. The problem is that so many born again believers don't abide in Christ and His word. We miss out on the benefit of embracing those promises by faith.

William Carey wrote that a young Hindu priest went to his home in Serampori, India to ask him some questions.

And in the course of their conversation the young man said, there are many things which Christianity contains that I can find in Hinduism, but there's one thing which Christianity has that Hinduism does not have. And William Carey asked him, what is that? And his reply illustrates the point that we're making here.

He said the one thing which Christianity has that Hinduism does not have is a savior. A savior.

Jesus is the promise of God to you personally so that by believing with all your heart that he came and died for your sins and was buried and rose again from the dead. And by confessing him as your Savior you can have eternal life and, and you can have that divine.

You can be partaker of the divine nature and have the mind of Christ. How many of you like me? I mean, listen folks. Boy, I want to take this off. It's warm.

How many of you are just tired of making dumb decisions that come back and just bite you? And it's probably more men than women, I'm sure. Man, I've made some bonehead choices. My ministry in my life, dumb. I've made some real blunders.

And you know the reason for that? I did not take advantage of the mind of Christ. Clear as that. You want to stop making dumb decisions? You want to stop staying broke? Get God in on it.

Fear not. Because the birth of Christ shows us God's purpose. Because the birth of Christ shows us God's promise.

And then finally, let me give you this last one. The birth of Christ shows us God's presence.

Now we have the shepherds In Luke chapter 2, the angel of the Lord, verse 9 says the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And. And they were, watch this one. Sore afraid. Sore afraid. We just read that. Sore afraid. That says nothing to us. Sore afraid. How about petrified?

They were terrified. They were scared out of their Wits. I mean, you might get a better picture. I mean, think about it.

You're in the field, you're watching sheep at night, and all of a sudden these bright angels come and reveal themselves to you. What would you do? Oh, hey, dude. You startled me. What? I'd be falling on my face. I'd be trembling.

I might be wishing I'd have brought a change of clothes. It would have been bad. They were sore afraid. The Bible says they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, fear not. Just fear. Fear not. Why not?

Right. You're telling me. Don't be afraid. What? Tell you why? Why shouldn't I be afraid? I've got man. Are you here to judge me?

Are you here to bring God's judgment? What are you here for? I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly.

I mean, I don't know if this alleviated their fears or thrilled them even more. Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest.

And on earth, peace, good will toward men. I mean, they're all confronted by the angel of the Lord, and they were terrified. So give me a good reason why I shouldn't be terrified.

Because I bring you great tidings. A savior is born to you. God has come. They know this word. Emmanuel. Emmanuel. What does that mean? God with us. God is with us.

And that was enough to alleviate that amazing fear that. That terrific, terrible fear that they had. They were sore afraid. We read that like they were sore afraid.

That doesn't even begin to describe it, does it? They were sore afraid. In the Old Testament, God promised his presence to his people.

And he told them that because of that, they didn't need to fear anymore. Listen to Isaiah 41. Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee. I will help thee.

I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. And now that God has come in the flesh, nothing will be the same. Listen.

It was wonderful when Jesus walked among men and when he worked miracles and he glorified the Father. While in the flesh it is no less wonderful now that he's with us and in us, in the person of the Holy Spirit. He's in me. Do you get that.

He's with you. He's in you. Maybe we don't want to think about that when we're doing something wrong. Yeah. You know, I fear. I fear. This is what I fear.

I fear God will come back. Jesus will come back and snatch us up right while I'm in the middle of doing something I know I shouldn't be doing.

Now we laugh, but don't you have the same fear? I mean, that is not an irrational fear. That scares me. And I wish that that thought would always keep me doing right, but sometimes it just doesn't.

But he's in us. So if he takes me up while I'm doing something wrong, that's one thing, but we have to stop to consider he's actually there.

He's looking at what you're looking at. What are we exposing him to? What are we bringing the Holy Spirit? What are we bringing Jesus Christ into?

Would Jesus Christ sit down and watch the movies we watch? He is. We still have his presence. We have his presence in the person of the Holy Spirit. And how much stronger. Think about this. And you know that.

I gotta quit. Good night. I'm. I can't. That clock is mean. I'll say this, and I'll get down. I'll just blow through everything else and stop.

Listen, how much stronger are you in Christ? How much stronger are you spiritually when you are cognizant of his presence?

I mean, when you get up in the morning or when you pray at some point in the day and say, lord, I just want to walk in your presence. I want to know that you're there. I want to be aware of your eternal presence in my life. And you know that everything you do is Jesus is there.

And when you stop to consider throughout the day, Jesus is never not there. How much stronger are you a stronger Christian when you are aware of the presence of God? Because you know he's never not there.

Let me get down to this. I'll finish up with this. How many of you remember this? This comic strip, Hagar the Horrible? You remember that? Hagar the Horrible?

One year, one of the years that Christmas fell on a Sunday, I read this Hagar the Horrible comic strip that day featured Hagar's son sitting on a boulder with a monk. And the son is looking at the people celebrating the Christmas holiday. And he says this. He says, I love this time of year.

Everyone is so happy and kind and giving. Everything is so peaceful and it's like a whole different world. And look, the star. That star was never there. Before.

And the monk looks and he says, oh, no, no, it's there all the time. It's just that most people can only see it at Christmas time. Isn't that true?

It's amazing how different the spirit of people is during this time of year. Why not just continue the spirit all the time? Why not just always sing about the star of Bethlehem, that beautiful star of Bethlehem?

I know that we only sing the Christmas. We shouldn't just sing the Christmas songs. I mean, I don't think we ought to sing them every week. Find me a new church.

But I think that it's okay to sing them throughout the year. I love oh Come All Ye Faithful. I love that song.

But when the trees are put away, when the lights are taken down, the manger scenes are put away, let's not let the awareness of Christ's presence be put in the closet with it. Let's maintain. Look, fear not. Because the birth of Christ shows us his presence, shows us his purpose, shows us his promise.

Let's enjoy this Christmas and every day, really, for what it really is. Amen. Let's all stand. Father, we come before you this evening. We just thank you for the promise and the presence and the purpose of Christmas.

Jesus Christ. And Father, I know it is easy for us to. Once we put. Once the holiday has gone and we've made it so. We've just put so much.

We've included so much into Christmas that we just lose sight of it. So I pray that you would help us to focus on that for just a little while.

If nothing else, the purpose, the promise and the presence of the birth of Jesus Christ. Lord, we love you. And we. We only love you because we know that you first loved us and you demonstrated it on Calvary. Thank you. For Jesus.

It's in his name that we pray.