That's the reality I know, that people say, well, Christmas is a family time. It's not about the family. If you think it is, you miss it altogether. It's not about that. Christmas is about Jesus. We're celebrating Jesus's birth. Well, we're looking at this little series that I'm following, A Season to Celebrate. The kids are dismissed. I am so sorry. The kids are dismissed. Go see Mrs. Barbosa. All right. If you could stand for the reading of God's Word, Luke Chapter 2. Luke Chapter 2. Let's look what the Lord has to say, the Bible has to say about Luke chapter 2. We have the story of Christmas here, and it says, And it came to pass in those days that went out of a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea under the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because it was the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary as a spouse wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son. and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes and lay him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Shall we pray heavily, Father? Thank you, Lord. For this passage of Scripture, Luke gives us the Christmas story. What a wonderful thing to know that Emmanuel, God with us, was with us, Lord. Thank you for that. Thank you for salvation. Thank you for Christmas. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. You may be seated. Interestingly, verse 7 says that she brought forth, not his, Joseph, her firstborn son, because Jesus was not the son of Joseph. The Bible is very clear, it says there. You know, we find in these lessons a season to celebrate. Is Christmas a season to celebrate? Is it or is not? It is. What are we celebrating? Jesus We celebrate Jesus. We say, oh, you know what Christmas listen Christmas is not about Santa Claus. I remember last week I said this Christmas is not about reindeers. It's not about Frosty the snowman is that you know what all these silly movies that we watch it a Traditional things but had nothing to do with Christmas Even the Hallmark movies have nothing to do with Christmas. Some people like to watch these. Everything is magical at Christmas time. Nothing magical, okay? It is the Word of God that came fulfilled, be fulfilled. Prophecy was fulfilled, all right? So, Christmas is about Jesus. So, listen. We all have traditions, right? Go ahead, celebrate traditions, but don't take Jesus out of the equation. Because if you do, you're not celebrating your traditions by celebrating yourself, you're not celebrating Jesus. Because this is the season to celebrate Jesus, the baby, the baby of Bethlehem. So, this morning we're going to continue with our series, and this morning I'm going to teach you, or preach to you, a season to rejoice. I say, one minute, Pastor. Rejoice? You don't know what's going on in my life. No, you don't know what's going on in my life either. Okay? So Christmas season is a season of joy for all God's people because we celebrate the birth of our Savior. It's a season to rejoice. Why? Because of the birth of Jesus, I have salvation. Because Bethlehem, the house of bread, I am saved. I receive Jesus as my Savior. It's a season to rejoice. Listen, we always should rejoice in our salvation. Don't lose that. Don't lose the zeal. Don't lose the enthusiasm. Don't lose the rejoice and the joy of your salvation. Don't lose it. Okay, so, Jesus is and always will be the reason for the season. Listen, Yes, okay. Now people say to me, Pastor, Christmas is too commercialized. Only if you want it to be. Right? Nobody's going to push you to the stores or make you go to Amazon to shop. You do that on your own. We celebrate the Savior. Okay, I'm not saying, no, oh pastor, I don't want to take your gift back because I love gifts. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay. See, but the only one thing we have to keep in mind is Jesus is always and will be the reason for this season. Unfortunately, there are quite a few amount of Christians who do not like, neither rejoice at Christmas time. They say that Christmas lost its meaning because it's too commercialized. Others don't like this season because remind them of a loved one who have passed away. Some others don't like Christmas because remind them of hardships that they went through, through the year. They say there's no reason to rejoice. I do understand that all of us humans have feelings and emotions. We're not made out of steel. We are human people, okay? That's the way God made us. That's our makeup as human, okay? But joy can be expressed in the midst of tears. Joy can be expressed in the midst of sadness or hardships and pains of life because joy is never, never will be based on circumstances. Your circumstances right now might not be the greatest ones, but it doesn't mean that you cannot rejoice. Joy is something that you possess inside of you that will sustain you through the most hardships of life. And listen folks, hardships come and go and some come and stay for the longest time. How many people right now as we speak are in serious hardships? How many people are laying in hospital beds with no hope right now? or sad with its situation and circumstances. How many people are crying right now because something drastic happened in their lives? But it doesn't mean we should lose the joy that we have. Because, listen, happiness, I say this all the time, is based on what's going on in circumstances, favorable circumstances. Joy is something that lives in our heart. It sustains us. It helps us go through the most hardest times of our life. You know what? My mom's birthday is on December 17th. It could be a very sad day for me. You know what I did, dear? I tried to remember all the good times I had with my mom. You just remember that. It brings you joy to your heart because now she's just a memory. Same thing to all our loved ones, isn't it? Have you ever noticed that often Christmas carols mention joy? For example, What child is this? Raise, raise the song on high. The virgin sings her lullaby. Joy, joy for Christ is born. The babe, the son of Mary. O holy night, a thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices." There he goes. Heart the herald angels sing. Joy all ye nations rise. Joy that triumph in the sky. With angelic hosts proclaim. Christ is born in Bethlehem. See all these songs talk about joy. O come all ye faithful. Joyful and triumphant. You see that? There goes another one. God rest ye merry gentlemen of tidings of comfort and joy. You see? Joy to the world, the Lord is come. You know, see, these songs encourage us to rejoice in Jesus' birth. The last carol, Joy to the World, is the most famous, was published in 1719. I look at this because this is going to throw you off. It threw me off, okay? By Isaac Watts, who intended to celebrate not Christ's birth in Bethlehem, but His second coming. Because if you look at verse 4 of that, actually Erica and me were talking about this this morning. At verse 4 of that song, he said, I don't like this verse 4 over here. It has nothing to do with Christmas. The song was not a Christmas song. It was sung for the second coming of Jesus, but they got so popular that we sing it at Christmas time. So this is the thing, I learned that when I was looking at this song. And there you go, I'll teach it to you this morning, okay? So with this song getting so much popularity, we sing it as the joy to the world, the Lord has come. He did come in Bethlehem. He's coming again. So... At Christmas, perhaps like no other time, we are reminded that no matter what is going on in our world around us, and no matter what burdens, no matter what things you carry, joy can reign in our hearts. Luke says in Psalm 1611, that will show me the path of life in thy presence is the fullness of joy. Christmas is about the claim that there is joy to be found because Jesus, whose name is Emmanuel, means God with us. And sent to earth so we could eternally be with Him. Okay, so let's look at this word this morning, joy. That's the word I want to look at this morning, joy. Listen, it is a thing to be happy, another thing to be joyful. Do you ever heard people say, this is tears of joy? Is it joy in serving Jesus? Oh, yes. It's joy, joy, joy in serving Jesus. Joy that lives within my heart. Every, I forgot the rest of the song, but anyway. So number one, okay, let's look at this word, joy. Joy in God's providence. Look what it says, "...and it came to pass in those days that they went out of the grief from Caesar the Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city." You see, the world is the world. The world is marching on with those things. They're doing their things. You know why? And through that, God's plan keeps moving on. The Bible says that He would come in the fullness of time. In Bethlehem of where? Judea? He would come. It was hardly, listen to this, for a time of joy, especially considering that Joseph and Mary were forced to walk the 90 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem to pay their taxes while Mary was in the last trimester of her pregnancy. Can you imagine a woman in that situation on top of a donkey? Oh, by the way, who ever rode a horse right here? Oh, many people. OK. That makes me, you know, two. What about a donkey? You know how donkeys walk very, very quick? Imagine a lady in her last trimester of her pregnancy on top of that. I remember when my wife was expecting, we were expecting Patrick. We were living in Warwick, and there was a road they were fixing. I made a mistake. I got the car through there, and my wife said, stop, stop, stop, stop. You're going to kill me over here. I'm going to have the baby. Stop. I was like, what's the matter? I'm a man. I have no clue what's going on. She said, stop. I had to literally stop. Can you imagine on top of a donkey for 90 miles? No roads, like up and hills and things. Poor Mary. That poor lady had a wonderful ride all the way to Bethlehem. But it did. You see God's providence was there. God was guiding those two. God did not forget the promise that he made to the human race. The Messiah would come to save people from their sin. Now let's look at this. Joy in God's providence. We see letter A. He created history. Let me tell you this. We can reduce the fact that history begins with God and ends with God. He alone originated history and continues to unfold history. Okay, what part of history right now? Don't look at men's history because everything will vanish away. But God's history will stand forever. Well, okay, what part of history is God doing right now? The church age. We're in the age of grace. Jesus is going to come and this church age is going to go. It will be a marriage to the top of the Lamb up in heaven. A wonderful celebration for seven years. And you will come and rule and reign with Jesus on earth for what? Long? A thousand years. And it will be like what? The great white throne judgment, not for you and me, for those who reject the baby of Bethlehem. And a new heaven and a new earth for God's people. Eternal joy. God is the one who are you created history Continues and on full history until the end man's history will vanish away All the records all the things vanishes away You know even in sport you see like, you know, they will conquer everything and then you know what next year starts over again because already old I remember one guy that won the Super Bowl for the Patriots and he said in the end, they interviewed him and I said, so how you feel that you won the Super Bowl? He goes, I thought it was going to be different. He realized, you know, did this sufficient get there when he got there, like that's it. It is God that does the stuff, okay. Let it be. He orchestrates, orchestrates. God not only originates the history, He also is the one who continues to fill history. A theologian said this way, history is God's history. President James Garfield said this way, history is the unrolled scroll of prophecy. How wonderful there was a script written by God long before we were born that all the events of this world, even those we don't understand, are working according to His providential plan to fulfill His own will. Luke 1 says in Jeremiah 1 verse 12, Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform it. Caesar Augustus was the most powerful ruler known in the world at that time. His empire was vast and he ruled with iron fists, using his great army to keep order and maintain the Roman roads, among other things. When Caesar used the imperial order to entice Romans to be taxed, he was fulfilling God's will without even knowing. It was because of that that Mary and Joseph went to the house of David. Bethlehem of Judea. God used Caesar's law to fulfill his own plan. Today they don't understand at the time Joseph and Mary like I said had to be in Bethlehem in order to fulfill a 700 year old prophecy about the birth of Jesus. Look what it says in Micah 5, verse 2. It was prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea. And guess what? God in his providential plan used human form. What did the Romans would do? And he used that for that to come to pass. When the Magi came and asked, where is the king of the Jews? Right there. Even the doctors of the law sat in Bethlehem of Judea. Everybody was waiting for him when Jesus came on the scene. Many didn't even bother to go see him. Folks, the same thing today. Jesus had come. Jesus had died for the sins of mankind. And mankind continued to reject the free gift of salvation. Why would God give such a problem at a very difficult time? and marry in Joseph's life. They're already poor as could be. Why did he make them do their trips like that? They were expecting their first child at any time and they were now wealthy people, like I said. It was not comfortable to walk or to ride a donkey for 90 miles. Why would God allow difficult situation in any of our lives at a time when we already have enough burdens? He does it to lead us Fulfill his purpose in our lives. Some people might be sick in the bed and say I'm a Christian. Why am I hurting? Well, we can just focus on that and forget the greater purpose it was Paul hurting Paul great man of God right that he asked God to take that hurt away from him. Yes, he did and God says my grace is sufficient for thee and If we focus on what we have and we forget the bigger plan We even forget to tell others about jesus and to live for him paul didn't let that Thing that he had whatever he had in his flesh to stop him from serving the lord He continued doing it doing until life would be no more for him Listen as many things in our lives we can say because of this or because of that. Oh, I have this I have that i'm too busy and we Listen, we were born for such a time as this. This is a season for us to rejoice in our heart what God has done for us. We need to rejoice in them. Listen, don't let the world suck you in that you forget who you are as a Christian. Listen, things may seem difficult for Joseph and Mary and I believe life was difficult for them in that time. But those two, they believed the promise of God and they fulfilled the promise of God and they kept on going. Listen folks, we live in a sinful world. We live in a world that is cursed by sin. If we think that we're not going to have any problems, you're in the wrong planet. You're in the wrong galaxy, you're in the wrong universe. You see, only if I go to this other planet, problems will be there too. This whole universe is cursed by sin, and because of that, you know what? We face all kinds of difficulties every day. All kinds of things. We deal with the wrong people. We deal with the wrong statements. We have to go to work. We don't like the work. People are rude to us at work. It goes on and on. We get sick. We have colds. We got all kinds of stuff. You know what? We deal with that. But let me tell you, all this should not take the joy from our heart. The joy of the Lord should reign in our hearts regardless. Oh Pastor, it's easy for you to say. No, it's not because I have my own difficulties too. I'm not made out of steel. I'm a human being. I have emotions. I have needs like everybody else. But we can choose to go one way and forget the other way. It's always a choice for you and I to make. We can have the joy of the Lord in our hearts. By the way, don't let anybody rob you for the joy of the Lord. there are a lot of Jew robbers out there so number one the joy of God's providence number two the joy of God's presence look what it says in verse six and it was so while they were there that the days were accomplished that she should be delivered and she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger because there was no room for them in the end God could have given us any God could give us anything but he knew what we needed most and so on long what so on long prophesied came in a stable in a town called Bethlehem. He gave us his presence. God was in the presence among us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ actually Matthew 1 23 says behold a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and shall call his name Emmanuel, which we interpret God with us. Think about it. Jesus came to live among us. He came to pay the penalty of our sin. He came so He could make it possible for you to be reconciled with Him. Yes, He came to fulfill many prophecies. But when Jesus was here in His humanity, He saw the struggles from everybody, every day, from daily people. He saw the struggles of humanity. He saw the ups and downs of life. He lived among us. In his humanity, Jesus saw the pains and the doubts, the discouragement of everyday living in the lives of many people. Actually, the Bible says that when you look at the multitudes, it says he was moved with compassion on them because they were sheep having no shepherd. Can you imagine? He looked at his people, God's people, and he says, where is my shepherds? Where is the shepherds of Israel that's supposed to lead my people? What about today? Where is the pastor that's supposed to preach the gospel today? Where are they? What are they doing in churches today? Is churches just a place of comedy or politics? Or are we going to be here and proclaim the Word of God? That's what a church should be. Where's my shepherd? What are they doing to my sheep? The same thing that was long ago is the same thing today. We have to preach Christ and Christ crucified. We should not be ashamed of who He is, not ashamed of what happened. Calvary was a place of blood. You know why? We should say to people, you know, that Jesus of Bethlehem, it is the Christ of Calvary. He is the same child. He grew up, so He could go there and pay for my sin and your sin. We say, thank you, Lord. The Bible says, He came to confirm the wise. Oh, I don't need Jesus. You know why? That's why at Christmas time, people don't celebrate Jesus, celebrate themselves. Alcohol is a big thing at Christmas time. Drunkenness everywhere. You tell me that with effort at Christmas. Jesus came with one purpose. He knew that you were going to be born many years later and you needed a Savior. In his humanity, Jesus saw the pains and discouragements of life. He saw people walking aimlessly as sheep without shepherd. He saw the despair in people's eyes. He saw the hopelessness of humanity. He saw the hunger for physical and spiritual food. Our Emmanuel was moved with compassion by seeing the condition of the human race. My friend, as the Lord looks at planet Earth today, He sees the condition of the human race today. Many people, their hope is in the White House. Many people, their hope is in other people. May we put our hope in Him, in Him alone. I say, but Pastor, you don't ... No, no, you got the Word of God. Apply it, live it, believe it. Just imagine for a second, Emmanuel, God with us. Look what Matthew 28.20 says, Lo, I'm with you always, even into the end of the world. Hebrews 13, 5 says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. Matthew 11, 28 says, Come unto me all ye that labor, that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. How many people are carrying their burdens on their backs today? How many people are tired of carrying their burdens? Then Jesus said, Why are you doing that? Give it to me. Give it to me. Isn't that good when we have the Lord, look what it says, look what the psalmist says, King David says these words. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. That's the walk of a Christian. Yes, folks, let me put it this way. There's pain, there's discouragement. There's sorrow, there's loneliness. There's all kinds of stuff that comes in our life. He said, Pastor, but you don't suffer. He's always smiling. Behind the smile is always a lot of great pain sometimes. And I say that all the time. I choose to smile. I will smile to life until the Lord takes me home or He comes for it. I will. Oh, I wish I was like you. No, you can't be like me. You are you. I'm me. God created you, created me. You are you, and I'm me. You cannot be like me. I cannot be like you. But I made my choice. I want to smile. Perhaps you smile when life hurts. Sometimes, you know, you lose a smile for a bit, but it comes back again. You smile. Did you think I stopped smiling when I was fighting cancer? I did not. It was serious times? Mm-hmm. It was concerned times? Mm-hmm. It was crying times? Yes. But the joy of the Lord sustained you. Sustained you. I'll give you an example of my own experience in life. When he came to America, we were here for about two weeks. My mom got extremely sick. She wound up in the hospital. What a despair. With three kids, we were despair. Mom was not in the house. House was empty. It was not long after, my dad got extremely sick. My dad went to the doctor. The doctor said that at the time they couldn't see it, they said, he has a black spot there in his intestines. It looks like it's a tumor. 12 hours of surgery, 12 hours of despair. Literally, we didn't know what to do. My mom was crying. We were crying. Oh, they're like totally despair. Dad's gonna die. Years later, my dad got extremely sick again. I was a Christian then. What a strength that God gave me to help my mom and my sisters. They needed some support. What a difference when we know the Lord, how much He can sustain us and give us an inner joy that we ourselves don't even understand. But it does. You say pastor so you have some hard times in your life. All of us do. We live in a falling world. And on the second point we see a specific birthplace. A specific birthplace. Listen folks, people say the Bible have errors. The Bible have no errors. It was a specific place where Jesus would be born and he born in Bethlehem of Judea. Look what it says in Matthew chapter 2 verse 1. now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the great, Herod the king behold there came three wise men from the east saying where is that is born king of the Jews for we have seen a star in the east I come to worship him you know it was prophesied in Micah Bethlehem of Judea these guys come and they were asked where is he born and it said the same thing in Bethlehem of Judea It was a specific birthplace. Why? You say, Pastor, why a specific birthplace? Because Bethlehem means house of bread. Ironically, that was the place where they raised their sheep for the slaughter in Jerusalem. Interesting, because who was born there? Jesus the lamb of God would take it away the sin of the world. Also. He said I am the bread of life Coincidence, I don't think so. I don't think so He was born in the place with such a meaning the house of bread. Let it be a savior was delivered. It is tradition in many cultures to celebrate the birth of a baby by sharing the family with food and gifts. Hospital gift shops are full of items that we take when a lady has a baby to give to them. Even some hospitals will give you some gifts. I remember my kids were born in Kent County Hospital and every time we went there they give you a big bag with the whole dinner in there. uh, you know as a Congratulations, uh, we all had like a big huge bag with I don't know if they still do it now, but they sell it. You know what? Mary and joseph didn't have any gifts Jesus was born in a stinky place In the lowest of lowest you say well pastor why god didn't put him in a hotel He was an and why god didn't put him in the end This is my own theology now, okay? I'm not gonna contradict the Bible. I'm gonna do that. I think the Lord was born that way to show you and me that he can reach anyone, to the poorest of the poor, to the lowest of the lowest, to the most rich one. Because some people's like this, oh, I can't go there because all those rich folks over there. They feel like they're second-class or third-class citizens. God says, to whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It don't matter who you are. Because we put it this way, it don't matter what you have in life, at the foot of the cross, we're all needy people. We're all the same. One time I saw this thing on Facebook, a grave, and it says in the grave, it said the person put it this way, Rich and poor, we all end up in the same hole. A savior was delivered. Wasn't it wonderful that God took on the form of a man to be delivered. So number one, we see the joy of God's providence. Number two, the joy of God's presence. And number three, the joy of God's provision. What was provided for millions and millions of people that day Jesus was born. Salvation was provided. The answer is God. He provided Himself as the greatest gift in all the world. The greatest gift. I'll tell you what. Some people are going to have great gifts this Christmas. Right? But the greatest gift of all is Jesus. That's the greatest gift of all. We see that, hey, a personal provision. This was not some mystical appearance of a spirit presence. This was actually God in the flesh. You know what? Jesus in the flesh. God in the flesh dwell among us. Wow. I love that song. Mary did you know. I know it's a contemporary song but I love the words of that song. I like that part when they said when you kiss, you kissed the face of God. Wow. What a great song. It's a personal provision. What's the provision? Provision for the human race. We need salvation. It was a spiritual provision as well. This was also a spiritual presentation because Jesus, who was physically the son of Mary, was also the son of God, not the son of Joseph. So don't misunderstand me here. Jesus always been, and he was born of Mary. But in this reincarnation, taken in human form, Mary became the vessel that God used for the Savior to come into the world. Because even Jesus said before, Abraham was I am. And Abraham was much older than Mary. I conclude with this this morning. We cannot recognize the significance of God with us until we experience the reality of Jesus Christ in us. Once we invite Jesus in, we will know the joy of the Lord and we will be able to give thanks for his unspeakable gift. I love that verse. It says, thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. You know what? It is a time of joy. Yes, the Christian life should be a life of joy. You see, Pastor, don't misunderstand joy and happiness. You can be the most unhappy person on the face of the earth, but be a joyful person. Okay? You can't say, listen, Pastor, I have nothing to be happy about it, but I'm joyful. Don't confuse those two because they go hand in hand, but they're much different from one another. Because let me tell you, I know all of us here. I know many people. You know what? I understand there's a lot of things that we have in our life to say. I'm not happy. My circumstances are not the best. I have nothing to be happy about. That's true. But I rejoice in the Lord. You know, it blesses my heart. I'm going to tell you what. that we as Christians, even our church family here, how many times I know you're struggling, I know you're hurting, I know emotionally it's hard, and you are serving the Lord in spite of that with joy. It's beyond human comprehension. I don't understand, you don't understand, in the end you say, I don't know where I got the strength. It's the joy of the Lord. That's what the Lord does in our hearts. That's what He does. When you know Christ personally, Christmas is indeed a season to rejoice. O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel. What a season to rejoice, isn't it? God took a human form with one purpose. You and me. Calvary. He would shed His blood for you and me and that cross. So salvation could be possible to the human race. Jesus did it all. We can rejoice in that. No, He leaves the option to you or the choice to you. No one can go, can depart from this world and go to God and say, I missed that because you didn't tell me about it. No, no, no, no. The Bible says they are without excuse. Even the very creation reveals a great God. The gift of salvation was given. It's up to the human race to say, I believe. I want it. The greatest gift we can have this Christmas is Jesus. The greatest gift of all. Don't matter, regardless of our circumstances, He's the greatest gift of all. Do you like the gift? I like it too. Can't wait to get, taste those bananas over there. But He's the greatest gift of all. Merry Christmas, everyone. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, so much for your blessings and for your goodness. Thank you for Jesus, the greatest gift of all. And I pray, Father, for someone online watching us that never truly received Jesus Christ as personal Savior, or even here. But I pray today that they will understand that Christmas is not about them. Christmas is not about Santa Claus and reindeers. Christmas is about the greatest gift of all. And his name is Jesus. May they call upon him for salvation today. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. If you could stand please. Age 294. 294 just as I am. Aren't you glad that you came to the foot of the cross? Aren't you glad that you one day open your heart to God and say, Lord, forgive me of my sin? I'm a sinner. Aren't you glad that you said, Lord, forgive me of my wrongs? Please be my Lord and Savior. Don't you still rejoice on that fact? There are millions who've never done that. Millions who've never done that. If you're one of them here this morning who are online, right there where you are, Acknowledge your sin. You have broken God's laws. Ask God to forgive you of all you have done. And call upon Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. He died for you. He came to Bethlehem because of you. He went to Calvary and shed His blood because of you. This is a season to rejoice because the Messiah was born. The baby of Calvary was born in Bethlehem. What a season to rejoice. Celebrate Christmas. Don't leave Jesus out. Don't leave Him out. Let's sing one more verse and we will go our way. Just as I am and waiting not to rid my soul of one dark blood to thee whose blood can cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come. let's pray heavily father thank you lord you're so good to us we're forever grateful thank you for jesus thank you for bethlehem thank you for calvary thank you for salvation who was paid in full and is free thank you lord for this church pray go with us bring us back again at five p.m. in Jesus name I pray amen all right before we leave just want to remind it tonight we have our musical our Christmas musical encourage you to be here for that I'll be wonderful invite someone to come yes we will have online as well we'll be live online with that and let's say go enjoy your afternoon and it's be here at 5 p.m. thank you you are dismissed