Embracing the Servant Love of Christ This Christmas

**Bible Study Discussion Guide: Behold A Savior is Born - The Servant Love of Jesus**

**Bible Reading:**
1. Luke 2:1-7
2. Philippians 2:5-8

**Observation Questions:**
1. What were the circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth as described in Luke 2:1-7? How do these circumstances reflect the theme of humility? [25:07]
2. According to Philippians 2:5-8, what mindset did Jesus have, and how did it manifest in His actions? [38:26]
3. How does the sermon describe the societal expectations of a king's birth, and how did Jesus' birth defy these expectations? [22:46]
4. What role did the Roman census play in the story of Jesus' birth, and how did it contribute to the unexpected nature of His arrival? [28:43]

**Interpretation Questions:**
1. How does Jesus' choice to be born in humble circumstances challenge our understanding of power and leadership? [38:26]
2. In what ways does the humanity of Jesus, as described in the sermon, enhance our understanding of His empathy and compassion? [48:23]
3. How does the connection between Jesus' birth and His ultimate sacrifice on the cross deepen our appreciation for the Christmas story? [58:11]
4. What does the sermon suggest about the importance of adopting a servant mindset in our relationships, as modeled by Jesus? [38:26]

**Application Questions:**
1. Reflect on a time when you were surprised by an unexpected act of humility or service. How did it impact you, and how can you emulate that in your own life? [22:46]
2. Jesus' birth in a stable challenges societal norms of status and power. How can you apply this lesson of humility in your workplace or community? [25:07]
3. The sermon emphasizes Jesus' empathy due to His humanity. How can you cultivate empathy in your interactions with others, especially those who are struggling? [48:23]
4. Consider the servant mindset of Jesus as described in Philippians 2. What specific actions can you take this week to serve others selflessly? [38:26]
5. The connection between Christmas and the cross is central to the sermon. How can you keep this focus during the holiday season amidst the busyness and distractions? [58:11]
6. Reflect on the sacrificial love of Jesus. Is there a relationship in your life where you need to demonstrate more sacrificial love? What steps can you take to do so? [52:17]
7. How can the story of Jesus' humble birth inspire you to approach challenges in your life with a mindset of humility and trust in God's plan? [37:17]

I'm ready to provide the 5-day devotional based on the steps outlined. Here it is:

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Day 1: Embracing Unexpected Humility
Description: The birth of Jesus in humble circumstances is a profound lesson in God's unexpected ways of demonstrating love and humility. Jesus, the Savior of the world, chose to enter the world not in grandeur but in simplicity, born to a young girl named Mary and a carpenter named Joseph. This choice defied societal expectations and highlighted the servant heart of Jesus. His humble beginnings challenge us to embrace humility in our own lives, recognizing that true greatness is found in serving others and living with a heart of love. [22:46]

Luke 1:52-53 (ESV): "He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty."

Reflection: In what areas of your life can you choose humility over pride today, and how might this choice impact your relationships with others?


Day 2: Adopting a Servant Mindset
Description: Philippians 2 calls us to adopt the mindset of Christ, who, despite being in the very nature of God, chose to serve others selflessly. Jesus did not use His divine status for His own advantage but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. This mindset is a command for us to follow, emphasizing the importance of humility and service in our relationships. By serving others selflessly, we reflect the servant love of Jesus and fulfill our calling to love one another as He has loved us. [38:26]

Mark 10:43-45 (ESV): "But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Reflection: Identify one person in your life whom you can serve selflessly this week. What specific action can you take to demonstrate Christ-like love to them?


Day 3: Understanding the Humanity of Jesus
Description: Jesus' humanity is crucial in understanding His sacrificial love. He experienced the full spectrum of human emotions and limitations, allowing Him to empathize with our struggles. Jesus' life on earth was marked by compassion and understanding, making Him a Savior who knows our needs intimately. His humanity assures us that He is not distant or detached but is deeply connected to our experiences, offering us comfort and hope in our times of need. [48:23]

Hebrews 4:15-16 (ESV): "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Reflection: Reflect on a recent struggle or challenge you faced. How does knowing that Jesus understands and empathizes with your situation bring you comfort and hope?


Day 4: Reflecting on Sacrificial Love
Description: Jesus' life and ultimate sacrifice on the cross demonstrate His profound love for us. He willingly endured suffering and rejection to offer us redemption and eternal life. This act of sacrificial love is the cornerstone of our faith, reminding us of the depth of His love and the lengths He went to save us. As we reflect on His sacrifice, we are called to live lives marked by love and sacrifice, following His example in our interactions with others. [52:17]

1 John 3:16 (ESV): "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

Reflection: Consider a way you can demonstrate sacrificial love to someone in your life this week. What might it cost you, and how can you rely on God's strength to follow through?


Day 5: Connecting Christmas and the Cross
Description: The connection between Jesus' birth and His sacrifice on the cross is central to the Christmas story. As we celebrate this season, we are reminded that Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection are all part of the gift of eternal life He offers. The manger and the cross are inseparable, highlighting the servant love of Jesus and the ultimate gift He provides. This Christmas, let us focus on the profound love of Jesus and the hope and redemption He brings to our lives. [58:11]

Colossians 1:19-20 (ESV): "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."

Reflection: As you celebrate Christmas, how can you keep the focus on the connection between Jesus' birth and His sacrifice? What traditions or practices can you incorporate to remind yourself and your family of this profound truth?

"Let's start with the young lady that God chooses to be the mother to give birth to Jesus. Now, it would have been a surprise to the elite of that day that the God of the universe would choose this girl. She's young, most likely still in her teens, teenage girl. She is not from a prominent family." [00:22:49] (25 seconds)


"And what made it more surprising, right, is the fact that she's just engaged to Joseph. They haven't been together, and she's a virgin. And of all surprises, that's the biggest one, right, that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a child. So from the very beginning of God bringing Jesus into the fleshly world that we live in, he started with surprises, things that were totally unexpected." [00:24:04] (26 seconds)


"Why did God choose to do it that way? Why in the world did he choose to put himself in that position, to humble himself in that way? That's where the humanity of Jesus demonstrates his sacrificial love. It was through his humanity that he accomplished the most profound act of love that's ever been accomplished, by in the flesh taking on the punishment of our sin on our behalf." [00:48:11] (30 seconds)


"He knows exactly how to minister to us. How to provide for us. What we need the most as we go through those things that we go through. He's not some far off removed God that says good luck with that. He came here and went through it so that he could relate to us in every way. We have a great demonstration of his sacrificial servant heart that he came here with." [00:49:39] (28 seconds)


"That's what it's all pointing to. That's why there were so many deep connections between Jesus' birth and the way he lived his life with that servant's heart. It's because that's what was required for him to then go to the cross for us. It was all for that purpose. It was all for that reason. It was all for that outcome that he would intentionally choose and even help design this plan." [00:52:16] (28 seconds)


"He would be rejected by a lot of people. I mean, he's here. He's here. He's here to rescue us. And some of those very people he came here to rescue were going to reject him. Were going to not just reject him, but fight against him. And not just fight against him, but plan to execute him. He knew all of that was going to happen. But he loved us so much, he was willing to come anyway." [00:55:29] (31 seconds)

Good morning again, everyone. It's great to see everybody here today. We want to welcome all of you to our services. Welcome to Smyrna campus. We love you guys. Glad you're connected there. Everyone that connects with us online, we're so happy to have that connection with you online as well.

We are today continuing our series called, "Behold, A Savior is Born." This is our Advent series, the time period leading up to the arrival of the Messiah that we celebrate at Christmas. Over the past few weeks of this series, we saw how we have hope in the fact that God keeps His promises. He prophesied what was going to happen. He told about it hundreds of years before, and He kept every promise. He fulfilled everything just like He said He was going to. That can give us hope in our lives.

Last week, we talked about the joy of anticipation. How even if things aren't the way we want them to be right now, we can still have joy in the anticipation of what God's going to do, of what He's already doing, or what He's doing in the present time, even when we don't see it or feel it or know what it is. God's at work all the time, and He's working all things together for the good of those who love Him. And that can give us joy, even when the circumstances aren't all that good.

Today, we're going to be looking at the idea of focusing on the servant love of Jesus. The theme is love, but it's especially looking at the servant love that Jesus Christ has for all of His creation.

Some of you, I'm sure, let's get a show of hands. Smyrna Campus 2, let's do this together. How many of you really love surprises? Raise your hand. Some of you love surprises. They just want to be surprised. And those are the people that won't tell you what they want for Christmas or something like, you know, just surprise me, right? Drives me crazy. I don't know where to go with that, right? I'm not sure what to do next. So I look for evidence to write some hints along the way.

Some people are good. They don't want to be totally surprised, so they put hints out there. They leave little notes or they share an ad about something and share that with somebody, hoping that maybe they'll get the hint and get them that. But some people don't like surprises at all. And those are the people that make a very detailed, categorized list of everything that they would like to have for Christmas.

We have one granddaughter that is the list maker, and she makes a very detailed list. Oftentimes, she'll even put where you can find that item. And oftentimes, she'll put the link in there on the list to get to it online. And sometimes, she'll get a different list for everybody she's sending it to, knowing that certain people might get these things and other people might get those things.

Now, she loves Christmas and she's very generous herself, but she just is one of those detail-oriented people that doesn't want to, she wants really, if you're going to buy me a gift, get me the thing that I really want, right? And that makes it easier for me because I give Sue Ann the list. Actually, she knows now, she just sends it straight to Sue Ann. She doesn't even send it to me anymore because she knows that's the one who's going to be detailed and get the exact thing that she wants.

Well, we're going to talk about that a little bit today when it comes to the idea of Jesus coming to be this loving servant that He came to be, and how everything connected to the way He came and the way He lived. And I'm going to talk a little bit about that today. From birth until death on the cross, there were a lot of surprises there. A lot of things that people did not expect. A lot of things that caught people totally off guard when they happened, because the truth is some surprises are great, but not all surprises are good, are they?

There was the owner of a large factory. He decided to make a surprise visit to the workplace there at the factory. And when he got there to check up on the staff, he walked into the plant. He noticed a young man doing absolutely nothing but leaning against the wall in the hallway there. He walked right up to the young man. He said, "Young man, how much do you normally make a week?" He said, "About $300." The guy got his wallet out, handed him $300, stuffed it in his hand, said, "Take this money. That's a week's pay and get out of here and don't come back again."

Then he walked over to the supervisor and he said, "How long has that young man worked here?" He said, "That young man doesn't work here. He just delivered pizzas." Not all surprises are good surprises.

As we begin today, let's look at the Gospel of Luke again to start with. Open up your Bibles there. We're going to be in Luke chapter 2. In the story recorded for us of the birth and the life and the death of Jesus in Scripture, we see a lot of surprises. Some really good, some not so good. But all of them are good surprises. And we're going to see all of them as evidences of the servant love of Jesus.

Let's start with the young lady that God chooses to be the mother to give birth to Jesus. Now, it would have been a surprise to the elite of that day that the God of the universe would choose this girl. She's young, most likely still in her teens, a teenage girl. She is not from a prominent family.

You see, if a king was going to be born in their culture, they would immediately think of the ruling families that have been around for a while, and how it would be through the line of that prestigious, powerful, wealthy, ruling family that the next king would be born. And this girl wasn't from a family like that at all, very humble family, a family that didn't have a lot of money, didn't have any power or prestige in the culture.

And she's marrying, engaged to be married, right, to Joseph. His family was no better off financially, or as far as power or position of prestige was concerned. He was a carpenter. He had just an average job, didn't make a huge amount of money, most likely. And so they would have been surprised that this king that's coming, that's been promised through the prophets, would be born into that family.

He would have thrown them off. And that's one of the reasons they had a hard time recognizing Jesus when He came. He was not coming in the way they presumed that the king would come. And what made it more surprising, right, is the fact that she's just engaged to Joseph. They haven't been together, and she's a virgin. And of all surprises, that's the biggest one, right, that a virgin would conceive and give birth to a child.

So from the very beginning of God bringing Jesus into the fleshly world that we live in, He started with surprises, things that were totally unexpected. But there was a plan behind it. There was a purpose behind all of the surprises. He was fulfilling prophecy. Yes, that's one of the purposes. But there's more to it than that. He was teaching us all some really important lessons about love and what love looks like, how love is lived out in the world that we live in today.

So I want to look at some more surprises here. The first one on your outline today is this: it was an unexpected arrival, the way it happened. We already talked about how the announcement and the conception was all a big surprise, right? But even the arrival of the baby, when that happened, it was in a totally surprising way.

Let's look at Luke chapter 2, beginning with verse 1. Again, this is a familiar passage to a lot of you. If you celebrate the birth of Jesus, you're going to be surprised. You're going to be surprised. Christmas over the years, and maybe even just watch the Charlie Brown special, right? You heard some scripture there, or you have heard it in church services or Christmas programs. It's a familiar passage.

"In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register."

Now, something I want you to notice about Luke's gospel, he gives so many details that wouldn't actually be necessary to tell the story. I mean, Caesar Augustus was ruling at the time. Quirinius was governor of Syria at this time. A census was going to be taken at this time. Why does he include all these details? It's because two things. One is, he knew the way this was going to happen would be a surprise. He wanted to give us and his readers at the time information where they could check it out and find out he's exactly right about what he's talking about.

He wanted to give plenty of evidence that we could have confidence in the gospel accounts of what was taking place here. Not just biblical evidence, but extra-biblical evidence and their own records of who was ruling at the time, of who was in those offices at the time and those places. I love the detail that Luke gives, and he's using his gospel to help confirm the fact that we could have absolute confidence in scripture.

All right, so he's got this census that's going to be taken. Verse 4, "So Joseph also, remember Joseph was visited by an angel too. He had agreed to go ahead and take Mary to be his wife, and now they have this order that they have to do this census. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth."

So where did Mary and Joseph live? Help me out. Nazareth. There you go. We connect them with Bethlehem because that's where the baby's going to be born, but they actually lived in Nazareth at the time, but they've got to go register for this census.

All right, so Joseph went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea. All right, another province there to a city. All right, the town is Bethlehem, the town of David. Why did he go there? He belonged to the house in the line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths, placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Now, Mary and Joseph had a plan. Their plan was to most likely, we don't have all these details, but if it was the norm, what would have happened is they planned to stay in Nazareth till the baby's born. They may have had plans beyond that to go somewhere else, but not before the baby's born, right?

Remember, she's far enough along in the pregnancy, but by the time they get to Bethlehem, the baby's born. So she's very far along in this pregnancy. You can be sure they had no plans to travel during this time. Even with today's modern-day travel, it's tough to travel. It's tough to travel when you're like in the ninth month of pregnancy, right? That's a tough thing to pull off, especially if it's a very long trip.

Here, you've got travel was a lot harder. It was mostly by foot or on the back of an animal that you're riding. That's how you would have traveled then. Can you imagine how comfortable that would be, ladies, in your ninth month of pregnancy? Can you imagine? Joseph convincing Mary, "We got to get out here and go all the way over to Bethlehem to register for the census."

Now, when we do a census today, I don't know how many of you have been around and remember doing a census recently. We've had census in a certain amount of years. They do a census every time, and they get a count of how many people live in the United States, and then each state, and then in each community within those states. They get precise counts as best they can of every household and how many are in that household, right? You fill it out.

But today, we can usually fill it out on paper and send it in, or even online. A lot of now places have that online where you can just fill that out online and send it in electronically. But they didn't have any technology like that then. And Caesar Augustus is wanting to get a census, he says, it says in scripture, for an important reason to him that the people would not have really liked so much.

It's for a purpose. It's for a purpose. It's for a purpose. It's for a purpose. It's for a purpose. It's for a purpose of taxing people. He wanted to be sure they weren't missing any tax revenue from people that weren't on their records that they needed to collect taxes from, from their income.

We think of income tax today, not very fondly, right? Well, they had the same kind of thing back then, like an income tax, where the Roman government who was ruling over these people at the time would collect taxes from them based on what they owned and what they earned, you know, that kind of thing, just like we have today.

But in order to do that, they had to have a record of the household, and they would even go door to door to collect taxes in those local communities because they had a record that this family lived there. And if they had not paid their taxes, they would go collect personally those taxes that they owed.

And so it would not, first of all, have been pleasant to take a trip with Mary nine months pregnant. Secondly, this is no pleasure trip anyway. This is a trip to do something that they did not want to do to start with. They didn't care for Rome at all. They didn't like the fact that they were under the oppression of the Roman government. They didn't like having to pay taxes to Caesar in any way whatsoever. And yet here, they've got to go make this trip.

By law, they are required to go to the ancestral home of the head of the household. Now, Joseph being the head of the household, he's going to go to the ancestral home of the head of the household. He's from the line of what person? Do you remember? David. So he has to go to his ancestral home. Bethlehem is the town of David's ancestry. And so that's the town they have to go to.

Now, all of this would have caught them off guard. It wasn't part of their plan. It wasn't at all what they were planning to do in the ninth month of pregnancy. So here, they've got this surprise. They've got this surprise. They've got this surprise. They've got this surprise. All of a sudden, this decree is issued. Now, they've got to change their plans completely. They've got to travel far from home, mostly on foot. She's extremely pregnant.

And then the way they get there, surprise, no place to stay, right? They get there and try to check in to an inn there. And again, I want to say it again this year, cut this innkeeper some slack. We make them out to be such a bad guy. But you have to remember that if Mary and Joseph traveled there to register for the census, what are a lot of other people doing? They're traveling there to register for the census, too.

Bethlehem is not a large town. It wasn't then. It's not now. And in Bethlehem, there would only be so many places that operated as an inn for people to stay in. And we're talking about, for all of Jewish history, everyone whose line came through David, whose ancestral home would be Bethlehem, they all are coming to Bethlehem to register there for their taxes.

And so the town would have been full and overflowing. Have you ever tried to get a hotel when there was a big event in town somewhere that you were trying to go? And this huge event, maybe you weren't aware that that big event was taking place, and you thought, "We'll just get there and get a hotel." And when you get there, you find out, "Oh, wait a minute, they're all booked up everywhere."

And you end up, we had this happen to us. Last minute, we got tickets for the first time ever from a friend to go to the Masters Golf Tournament. Now, we knew the tournament was going on when we got the tickets, but we got them last minute, right? So we're going to go last minute to Augusta, Georgia for this golf tournament. And I wasn't going to miss it. I loved being able to go to the Masters for the first time in my life.

But we couldn't register ahead of time because everywhere we checked was full. I said, "Well, we're still going anyway. We'll just go around until we find us a place." We found a place about 30 miles outside of Augusta, 30 miles to go see part of the Masters, right? We were only there for one day of the tournament. That's all we had tickets for.

So they got there without any ability to register for a place ahead of time, make any reservations. And they just had to find a place. And the place had no space for them. And I'm sure Mary, if the timing is that she's going to have the baby that night. So when they got there, she's already, I'm sure, starting to feel like we got to get somewhere.

Right? I just, the baby's close. And the innkeeper, bless his heart, at least made the effort to say, "Well, I've got this stable over here. You could stay in there, in the stable. At least it'll get you out of the weather. It'll get you out of the cool nights in Bethlehem."

We don't always think of that area as getting cold, but it did at certain times of the year. And especially at night, it would cool down a lot. And so they need some warm place. And he says, "Well, at least you could get into the stable."

Now, the stable, of course, would have been a place for the animals. Now, scholars, you know, we have all these nativity scenes where we've got the wooden stable built there with the animals in it and everything like that. And they did have some stables like that. But mostly what they used was rock to build with, along with wood frames, because they didn't have a lot of forest area there.

So it would have been probably framed up with wood, but made out of rock. A lot of stables would have been. But most likely, a lot of them would use on the hillsides there. They would have caves. Some of them were natural. Some of them were dug out caves that they would also use as stables to keep their animals in. So it could have been anything like that.

So you don't have to just picture, you know, the wooden barn type stable. It could have been a different kind of structure completely. But the point is, it's not where people normally stayed. It's where animals normally stayed. You talk about a surprise. God is bringing His son into the world. And He's got this poor family that has to travel to Bethlehem at the last minute. And they get there and don't have anywhere to stay.

Can you imagine what's going through Mary and Joseph's mind? They had to be thinking, let's just think about from the humanity side. I mean, we said this before. Remember the Exodus series we did? Some of you were here throughout the Exodus series. It's archived on our YouTube channel. If you missed it, you can go back. It was a long series we did.

But one of the things in Exodus was this. God's got a plan. It's a good plan. It's for our good. It's for His glory. But here's the thing about God's plan. Very rarely does it look like we think it's going to look. Very rarely does it look like we think it's going to look.

And Mary and Joseph, I'm sure in their minds, had not pictured the birth of this baby this way. They had not for a moment thought it was going to be in a stable, in a town away from their family, at a time where she didn't need to be traveling anyway. I'm sure they never thought once, this is how God is going to do this thing.

And yet, Jesus is born. And this baby that came into the world, came into the world in this lowly, humble way.

Now, here's why this demonstrates some of the servant love of Jesus. You see, Jesus already existed before this. He was already there when everything began, when creation took place. He was part of the world. He was part of creating everything that exists.

So, in order for this plan to be executed, Jesus already made the decision before He came to be in the flesh that He would empty Himself of all of that glory and that majesty to come be the humble servant to pay for our sins. It's an amazing choice that Jesus made. It really demonstrates the servant love of Jesus that He chose to follow the Father's plan and come to be born in such humble circumstances.

He came into the world in such a lowly and humble way. But I also want us to look at who Jesus became when He was born, right? Who He was at His time here on earth. And I want to look at another passage we're going to be referring to these two passages all through the message today. It's in Philippians. Turn there with me if you would in Philippians chapter 2.

Because in Philippians 2, Paul gives us a description of how Jesus lived His life, of the approach He took to His life, of the attitude He had in His life, of the mindset that He carried into life. And it's important for us to understand this because he's telling us we need to learn to think like Jesus, which means we need to develop the servant love attitude of Jesus because that's what we're going to see not just in His humble birth but then after He's born how He lives His life.

Beginning in verse 5, it says this: "In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus." This is not a suggestion; this is a command. In how we interact with each other, we need to do it with the same mindset, the way of thinking that Jesus had.

Well, he doesn't leave us having to guess what that mindset was; he tells us. Speaking of Jesus, he says, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage." All right, so he's God, and he could have left us on our own. He could have said, "You rebelled, you sin, you pay the price yourself." He was in a position that had the authority and every right to do that, but he did not consider his position something that he should use that way.

Instead, verse 7 says, "Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant." Being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

So, we see the servant love of Jesus in his willingness to humble himself, to take on the form of a servant, and to be obedient to the point of death.

Now, as we reflect on this, we need to remember that Jesus' life was not just about his birth; it was about his entire life and the ultimate sacrifice he made for us.

The ultimate sacrifice that it was all leading to, right? That's what it's all pointing to. That's why there were so many deep connections between Jesus' birth and the way he lived his life with that servant's heart. It's because that's what was required for him to then go to the cross for us.

It was all for that purpose. It was all for that reason. It was all for that outcome that he would intentionally choose and even help design this plan. Because remember who designed the plan? God. Jesus is what? He's God. He's the one who made the ultimate sacrifice for us.

That's a servant's heart, friend. Amen. Where at ultimate cost to self, you look out for the good of the other. That's what it means to love like God loves. That's the love of Christmas.

We always talk about Christmas and the spirit of Christmas and the heart of Christmas. And we always come back to, well, it's just getting together with family and giving gifts to each other. That's what it all really comes back to most of the time in our culture. And those are good things. They're not bad things at all. If you keep them within the right reason, right?

But God cares about the heart behind everything. Are you truly doing what you do in your family relationships, in your relationship with friends, co-workers, people at the shops when you go shopping, if you shop in person somewhere? Or is it because your heart goes out to those people?

See, that's why Jesus gave us the gift he gave us of eternal life. He knew that's what we needed most. And he knew it would cost him everything to provide it. But his servant heart said, "I will go give that gift at all costs."

He would be rejected by a lot of people. I mean, he's here to rescue us. And some of those very people he came here to rescue were going to reject him. Were going to not just reject him, but fight against him. And not just fight against him, but plan to execute him.

He knew all of that was going to happen. But he loved us so much, he was willing to come anyway. He loves us in such a way that he knew he would take the abuse that was going to come his way. He would feel the rejection, even of people that were supposed to be friends. He would take the physical beating on the body that he would be clothed with while he was here and feel every bit of it.

It's amazing that throughout this whole story, all we can see consistently from Jesus being here is we see the heart of a humble servant who loves those that he came to redeem. And everything he did points to that.

That's why a rejection of what Jesus has done is one of the most insulting things we could possibly do. We insult God himself when we reject him. We reject this offer of love that cost him so much.

Think about this, parents. Some of you have had this happen. I hope not many. But you sacrificed to get a gift you thought your child was just going to be so happy about it. And you give them the gift and they just toss it aside and don't care even a little bit about the gift that you gave them.

They don't understand, a lot of times, the sacrifice you made. They don't understand that you gave so much time and effort and money to do this when you didn't really have to, but you did it anyway because you love them. And then they just toss it aside like it doesn't matter.

That's what we do when we reject the ultimate sacrifice for you. To give you this precious gift, not just of the baby, but what the baby was coming to do for you. This gift was the whole package. It was the conception. It was the birth. It was the life. And it was the death. And it was also the resurrection.

So that through the whole package, He could give you the gift of eternal life. He understands our brokenness and that allows us to approach Him when we're struggling, when we're hurting, and when we need what only He can give us. He's there for us.

We need to live with their awareness of the profound connection with Christmas to the cross. I just hope we can keep that focus there. I think that's what we need to do this Christmas, if we've not done it before at Christmas.

To remember to keep our focus on what really matters here while we're rushing around doing all the Christmas stuff that we do. Not bad stuff. A lot of it is really good stuff. But it can take us away from the best thing, the most important thing, the thing that matters more than any other thing.

I love how Peter says it in 1 Peter 1. We begin with verse 18. I want to close with this. He says, "For you know that it was not with perishable things, such as silver or gold, that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last days for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him. And so your faith and hope are in God."

Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you. We thank you that this Christmas we can bring our focus back to the servant love of Jesus that motivated Him, even before the creation of the world, that He helped create to plan this.

Father, we thank you that today we have a community and a culture where we celebrate Christmas. And Father, I'm so thankful that we have this celebration. It's just a good thing to remind us of this event that took place.

But help us not to so much isolate this event from the whole story. Help us to understand the full picture of the servant heart of Jesus that brought Him to that manger as a baby in Bethlehem.

And may we have the appreciation for the love that it took, that it still takes even today for us to be saved from our sin. We thank you. We praise you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Why don't you have a seat, please? Come on up here, brother. We'll get this mic on. Thank you. Step right up here. Tell everybody your name.

My name is Ardell Wright. Ardell comes. He's already someone who's come to faith in Jesus, but he's wanting to come to be obedient in Christian baptism. He wants to take that step of obedience to Christ. Jesus has commanded us to do this. The scriptures teach clearly we need to take this step to be united with Christ in baptism and raised with him to new life.

So I'm going to ask you for our benefit. I know you believe this, to repeat after me a profession of your faith. "I believe."

If you would, go right over there and we'll have somebody go back with you to help get ready. Oscar, can you go back with him? Thank you, man. I appreciate it.

We have others who've come for prayer as well. We want to share those prayer needs. Come right on up. Tell everybody your name again.

Angel comes today asking for prayer. And again, it was for... Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, here's what I want you to know. God's grace is more than enough, no matter what has happened in the past. Okay? His blood is more powerful than anything that we've ever done. And as you have opportunity to make amends with people, it's great to do that. But know this. God's grace is already there for you. His forgiveness is already there.

We're going to pray with you. I want others to come up who have prayer needs as well. We'll share those. Come on up. Amen. Come on up, Jeremy.

Yeah. You can talk right here. If you would, just step right over there. Thank you.

Okay. All right. Absolutely. We'll be praying for you, Jeremy. Step right up here. Tell everybody your name.

Yeah. Tell us your son's name. His name is Mateo.

All right. And come on up, brother. Tell everybody your name as well.

Okay. We all use that, right? Just while you're out here, let's all kind of get together right here. We're going to pray together.

Okay. Father, we just want to come to you in the name of Jesus as we know we can through him boldly approach your throne of grace with the things that we need. And you will accept us into your presence through Christ. And you will hear us and you will know not only just what we say, but you'll know our hearts, Father.

So we lift up these hearts to you, the needs of the heart of the life that is before you in prayer right now. We know that you see all things and know all things. Your spirit is with us all the time and never leaves us. We pray for the presence and the power and the provision of your spirit in us.

We pray that you would provide for every need that has been mentioned here and even the needs that are unspoken right now that you know, Father. We just bring them to your throne of grace with faith that you hear and answer and care for your children. We know your love for us. We've talked about it today. We've been reminded of that love that took Jesus to the cross.

We know that if you would not withhold your son from us, there's nothing in this world that we need that you would withhold from us. We thank you in advance for answering these prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Amen. God bless you. Thank you.

Amen. I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. When I go to take you back, if you want to hold your nose, you can because I'm taking you back. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Amen. Amen.

I think y'all heard my instructions earlier. So you know what we're doing here, right?

Reveal comes to, based on his profession of faith now, I have the honor of baptizing you in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I forget to turn it on. Either way, it works for fun times.

We're so glad you're here today. And we had this time to celebrate another decision like this and all the other prayer needs that we could be praying about. We want to continue to pray for those.

If you'd like to continue worshiping through the giving of an offering, we have our website at www.fema.org. Our offering box is available. One in the back of the auditorium, mounted on a post there. One in the hallway as you exit there, mounted on a post there as well. It's got a slot in the top. You can just drop your offering down in there.

You can also give online at lateshorechristian.com. Click on the Give tab there. You can also scan the QR code that's in your bulletin shell. It'll take you to that page as well. No matter which way you do it, you can mail in offerings by mail to the church office. And any way you do it, it's an act of worship and it's a way to support the work in the ministry of the church here.

So we thank you, all those who help with that. We want you to know that if you are a first-time guest, you can stop by the information counter before you leave. We've got a gift we'd love to give you.

And now Jeremy's going to come up and close us out with some announcements and a word of prayer. Come on up, Jeremy. Thank you.