Grab a seat real quick. You guys you guys look awesome under the lights. This is this is nice. I enjoy it. It kind of feels like we're outside, but we're not, but it is still hot, which is outside and it's Christmas, but whatever. Man, it is so good to celebrate Christmas with you. It's awesome to share Christmas with so many amazing people in our community. Um my name's Justin. If we've never met before, it is nice to meet you if we've never met before. And uh if it's all right, I'd like to talk for just a few minutes about Christmas. Is that is that cool? Okay, good. I figure that that made sense. Um I love Christmas. And I know that's not a very controversial thing to say. You're not really sticking your neck out there to say that you love Christmas on Christmas Eve in church. It's pretty safe. But uh, but I do love Christmas because there's so much to love. Even if you're someone that doesn't connect with Christmas from a faith perspective, there's probably at least one aspect of Christmas that you enjoy. There's the lights and the decorations and the music and the food and the time off work, I hope. And if you didn't get time off work, you're you're, I'm glad I reminded you of that. You're probably really happy with me. Uh there's there's people buying you things. Like there's so many aspects of Christmas that are enjoyable, but this year I've gotten a reconnect with a part of Christmas that I had lost touch with for a long time, and that is classic children's Christmas television programs. Yeah. I'm in my 30s, and so I don't sit by myself and watch these anymore like I did as a kid. Uh, it had been years since I had watched so many of these that I grew up watching, like the stop animation, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, that classic. Slightly creepy. Like way creepier than I remembered it being when I was a kid, but still great. The original Frosty the Snowman. They have like this new Frosty the Snowman cartoon, and and our kids were watching it, and I was like, it's an imposter. This is an imposter. You need to watch the old one. I don't care if it looks worse and is less quality, but it's it's it's original. I love it. Last night we got to watch what I believe is the ultimate classic children's Christmas television program ever with our kids, and that's a Charlie Brown Christmas. That's the best one. It originally aired in 1965, and it's been a staple of Christmas ever since. It's it's my favorite. It doesn't really feel like Christmas until I hear, you know, the beginning of if you've seen it, like who's seen it at least 500 times? Like a lot of us. Okay, I just want to make sure I'm not alone. You know, it begins with that classic song, it's Christmas time is here, happiness and cheers, they're ice skating, and the octave they sing at is so high that if you're like me, you start to sing along with it and then realize quickly, whoa, I cannot do that. Um, that's really high. But I love that, I love that program. Watched it last night with our kids, and it's amazing, even though I hadn't seen it in maybe 10 years, I remember pretty much every single moment of it. It's so memorable. I think the most memorable part though has to be when Charlie Brown and Linus pick out the Christmas tree. That's the classic scene. And you've probably seen it, so you can picture the scene. They they go to the Christmas tree lot. They've been sent there to bring back a tree, right? They're supposed to bring back something that's gonna wow people, something that's gonna blow people away, and there are so many choices. There are so many incredible trees in the lot, they're different shapes, different sizes, different colors, but there's this one tree that Charlie Brown just locks in on. And it's all the way across the lot, and it doesn't quite belong with the rest of the trees. It's it's not impressive, it's not spectacular, it's kind of fragile looking, it's it's vulnerable, it's not shiny, it's not flashy, but that's the one that Charlie Brown, that's the one he wants. Because it has one thing going for it that the other trees do not, it's it's real. Those other trees are flashy and impressive to look at, but at one point in time, Linus walks up to one and knocks on it, and it makes this this hollow metallic sound, like if you you banged on a trash can or something like that. And Charlie Brown desires something real in a in a sea of fake. And it's amazing because real resonates with us. It really does. And unfortunately, real is very hard to find. I mean, it's the holidays. It is not hard to find something flashing and shining, it is not hard to find something trendy and cool, it is not hard to find something cheesy and canned, especially in church. We can just be honest. But to find something that is genuine, to find something real enough to be fragile and vulnerable, that is rare. That Charlie Brown Christmas tree is probably the most iconic Christmas tree ever. I doubt there's another Christmas tree in history that is as recognizable. You see a picture of that, you go, yeah, Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Totally know where that's from. And it's because of what it signifies to us. It speaks to that part of us that I believe exists within each of us. We all desire something real. We all desire something real. We just live in a world that's full of fake. And the holidays have this way of bringing that out. They just do. Christmas trees are the classic example. For the very first time this year, we decorated our lobby with real Christmas trees, and it's been really fun to watch adult human beings not know what to do when they interact a real tree inside. I mean, people are shocked, they'll walk up to the tree, and it's almost like they have to test it to make sure it is a real tree. Everyone's suspicious. Which makes sense. Real trees don't grow inside, I guess. But but they'll walk up and they'll they'll smell the tree, touch it, get a friend to come over and touch it and smell it together, which is a very strange thing to see from across the hall. Really strange. But good people watching. And the moment, the moment the confirmation comes across their faces where they realize this is indeed a real tree, there's this look of joy and excitement because the reality is we expect the tree to be fake. And when we expect something fake and encounter something real, it catches us off guard. See, when Jesus came to the world 2,000 years ago, he caught everybody off guard. Because he did not arrive in spectacular fashion. His birth was as real as it gets. It was genuine, it was honest, it was vulnerable, it was fragile. I mean, he's God, he could have come in any way. I'm not God, and I can think of a thousand more impressive ways to arrive on this planet than to be born as a baby. It's like someone should have given God marketing lessons. Hey, God, I don't know if you know this, but like pretty much everyone arrives on the planet by being born as a baby. That is by far the most common way people show up on this planet. By far. And so, God, if you really want to impress people, if you want to wow people, you've got to go big, you've got to do something unexpected. See, when I think about that, I realize that my filters are very different than God's. And if I was God, my my focus, my motivation would have been to impress people, to make people say, wow. But see, God did not come to this world to impress you. He came to this world to know you. He came to this world so that you could have something real, because you don't need something flashy, you don't need something shiny, you don't need something trendy or cool, you need something that you can really relate to, you need someone that you can really relate to. And God wanted to be that person. Long before Jesus came to this world, God was impressive. God would do things from time to time that would make everyone say, Wow, but wowing people wasn't enough for him. He wanted us to be able to know him in such an intimate, personal way. He wanted us to know that he gets us, that he understands us, that he can have real empathy with us because he's lived life as one of us. Jesus is as real as it gets. Just think about that that first night. Jesus is a baby. And he was a real baby. He was not some super baby, he wasn't born strong. If you dropped baby Jesus, it would have been bad. He would not have bounced back up, so you could go, hey guys, look what this baby can do. It wouldn't have worked like that. You know, Jesus was too weak to open his own eyes. He goes from being God who can see everything, to being a baby that can't even open his eyes. He was exhausted. He was tired, he was powerless to do anything but cry when he was hungry or cold or too hot or scared or tired or lonely or nervous or just desiring to keep his parents from having the ability to think for more than five seconds without interruption. If you can't tell that I have a baby, I have a baby at home. I'm not bitter. I love my baby. I love having a baby. Just can't wait for him to grow up. That's the hard thing about babies, they act like babies. Jesus became real on our level. I mean, God's always been real, but Christmas is the story of a real God becoming real from our perspective. And not just real in the sense that he was tangible and you could touch him or you could hear him or see him, but real in the sense that he was fragile. Jesus knows what it feels like to be hurt. Jesus knows what it feels like to be hungry, to be tired, to be dejected, to be discouraged. He understands. He made himself fragile enough to be killed. And it doesn't seem like it should have gone that way. It doesn't seem like that that would have been the approach that would work to accomplish what God set out to accomplish, but that was always the plan. In fact, centuries before Jesus arrived on this planet, there was a prophet named Isaiah. And Isaiah spoke about Jesus hundreds of years before he came, and it just so happens that his description of Jesus is it's it's uncanny how accurate it is, even though it came so long before him. In fact, it's written as if it already happened. It's it's strange, it's amazing. Build your faith. And early on in in Isaiah's writings, chapter 53, he says this about Jesus. He says, My servant grew up in the Lord's presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. Not exactly the description of God you would imagine. But you know what it's eerily reminiscent of? Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Right? Tender green shoot, a root in dry ground. Charles Schultz, who did all the peanuts cartoons, was a passionate follower of Jesus. And I just wonder, I don't know this, but I just wonder if when he drew that, he had that scripture in mind. That's Jesus! It almost seems blasphemous to point to that picture and say, that reminds me of Jesus. We should be pointing to the big trees, the flashy ones, the ones that make you say, Wow. But Jesus didn't come to wow us, He came to know us. And let's just be honest, it's it's Christmas. And there is so much fake. This is the time of the year when we feel the pressure to fake it like never before, right? I mean, think of how many things you have to fake at this time of the year. It's exhausting to fake it. You have to fake being excited about things you're not excited about. You have to fake enjoying things you don't enjoy. Someone's gonna cook food that's terrible in your family. Every family has that person, and they cannot cook. And and you might be this person, and I hope this convicts you because in my family, in my family, that person's always watching as you go through the buffet line, and you kind of feel their gaze, and you turn your head and you're like, I was definitely gonna put your food on my plate, no doubt. And then somehow they find you and they're watching you to make sure you put it in your mouth, and you have to sit there and act like it's good and it's awful. And you want to look at them and say, Next year, just bring drinks, just bring the plates or something. But they won't. But you don't do that, you fake it, you go, Oh wow, thank you for this. You have to fake it financially and act like more gifts, more cousins coming over, another Christmas party at work. Yeah, no big deal. I have tons of money laying around. I've just been dying to go spend more of it. You have to fake it all the time. And I don't know if if you're like me, but I get so sick of faking it. I get so tired of fake. And at the end of the day, I'm like Charlie Brown, I'm hungry for something real. I don't need people in my life who impress me. I know a lot of people who impress me. It's one of the great things about being involved in a church like this. I'm blown away by by the generosity and the kindness and the talent of so many people on such a regular basis. But but being surrounded by people who impress me does not meet a deep need in my life. Being known, being understood, someone who can get me, someone who can empathize with me, someone who can look at me with compassion when I'm having a terrible day, someone who can laugh with me, someone who can cry with me. Not that I cry because I'm I'm very masculine, but just hypothetically, if that happened, that that would meet a deep need in my life. And I'll take it a step further. We don't need a God who simply impresses us. The world was full of gods like that when Jesus arrived, fake gods that made for great statues, but when you had a need, they were not there. We don't need a God who makes us say, Wow, we need a God who gets us, we need a God who understands us, we need a God who can do more than simply heal our hurt. We need a God who can hurt with us when we hurt, and that's Jesus. Because he came to this world and he lived a real life, he made himself vulnerable and fragile for your sake. So that when you're up against it, so that when you're struggling, he can look at you and he can actually say, I know how you feel. And I'm hurting with you. I started following Jesus when I was a kid because he was very impressive. I just went to church and they said that he walked on water, and I was like, that's so cool. I didn't have a reason to doubt that, I didn't have a reason to be skeptical. I watched X-Men cartoons. I mean, it was very believable, it's just another superhero. But the reason that I continue to be passionate about Jesus, the reason that I continue to cling to Jesus more and more as my life goes on is not, it's not because of the impressive things he does. And guys, he does so many impressive things. God shows up all the time, he does miracles left and right, he is impressive, yes. But the reason that I cling to Jesus is because Jesus is real. And because he understands me, and I need someone to understand me because I don't understand me. I don't get me. Do you get you? Because maybe something's wrong with me, but I don't get me. And the little bit of me that I get makes me not like me very much most of the time. And we're all like that, right? We all have that suspicion in our minds that the reason the people around us love us is because they don't know us that well. And we have a fear about who we really are being exposed because we worry that the people around us won't understand, that they won't have compassion, that they won't be able to put themselves in our shoes and know what it's like to struggle with the things we struggle with, but that is not Jesus. Hebrews chapter 4, verses 15 through 16 says this. This high priest of ours, talking about Jesus, understands our weaknesses. For he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Jesus understands your weaknesses. Why? Because he knows what it's like to feel weak, he knows what it's like to be a kid. He's cried, he's been hungry, he's been tired, he's hurt. And when you're struggling in life, he's not standing over you, pointing to you, asking you what's wrong with you. He's not saying, do better and do more. That's religion. Religion and Jesus, by the way, do not mix. Jesus was not very religious. That's why the religious people killed him. See, religion doesn't like real, religion doesn't know what to do with real. Real is unpredictable, and so religion likes to take Jesus and make him a lot less real. Religion likes to put a stained glass filter over Jesus. And when we do that, he's he's he looks great, he's austere, but he's not approachable. And the real Jesus was approachable. The real Jesus was more likely to have a stain on his shirt than to be in stained glass. Religion doesn't like the commonness of Jesus. Jesus was common, he spoke common language. But religion gets a hold of Jesus and all of a sudden he's he's spouting Shakespeare. There's these and thou's everywhere, and that's not how he talked. Religion likes to make Jesus presentable to the world. So it takes Jesus and it sits down with Jesus and says, Hey, we want to work on your image. We want to make you more trendy, more hip. And so Jesus, I don't know, gets like a vest or something. And he still has a beard because beards are pretty trendy right now. So I like beards, by the way, they hide neck fat really well. So it's been really nice the last couple years to just keep the beard. But that's not the real Jesus. And my my prayer for you tonight is very, very simple. My hope is that you would have a real experience with the real Jesus. Because maybe you have, maybe you haven't. Maybe someone presented a Jesus to you that just wasn't who he really is. Maybe he seemed a lot more like those shiny metallic trees than that fragile one that Charlie Brown wanted. But I want you to know that Jesus is real in every sense of the word. And he loves you. I mean, he loves you, he gets you, and he loves you. I'm not an easy person to love, and he loves me. You know, it's it's the end of the year. And every time at this time of the year, every year, I wish that I would end my years well. I wish that the holidays would be my best season, that from Thanksgiving through Christmas, I would be at my best. Because this is the time of year that everyone's gathering and pictures are being taken, and everyone's together. I just wish I was at my best. But every single year I find myself having my worst month at the end of the year. I think it's a combination of the stress and the busyness, being pulled in a million different directions, the financial burdens. Then there's the regret that I feel because I had all these lofty goals at the beginning of the year and I have not hit them, and I realize I'm not going to. I haven't grown as much as I've wanted to grow this year. I have not shrunk as much as I wanted to shrink this year. I just haven't. And I have this tendency to look at myself and call myself what I feel like I am: a failure, a screw up, someone that's just stuck repeating the same mistakes over and over again. And when I go to Jesus, when I go to Jesus like that, I do not get some standoffish, unapproachable God confirming my worst suspicions about myself. I have a God who tells me that he loves me, that he understands, he gives me empathy and compassion. You need something real. You need something genuine in your life. And I'm just here tonight to tell you that Jesus is genuine, he is honest, he's someone that never spins, he doesn't market. Jesus never sold anyone anything, he gave everyone everything, and he wants to give you everything he has. And by the way, what he has just so happens to be the real version of every fake thing this world tries to sell us. He gives us real joy and real peace and real love and real hope and real passion and real purpose. Look, you can't buy joy, they do not manufacture hope. Peace is not going on sale the day after tomorrow. And I'm not trying to be a downer. No one's gonna give you your life's purpose for Christmas this year because you can't take purpose, wrap it in paper, and put it under a tree. But when you have a real encounter with the real Jesus, you get joy and faith and hope and mercy and grace. You get love because he is love, you get purpose, and all of a sudden life becomes something you're passionate about because for the first time it's real. We're not here tonight just to go through the motions. We don't want this just to be another another Christmas thing, and we're so take this the way I mean it. I'm so glad you're here. But I don't want you to leave tonight going, that was fun. That was that was good. This is not intended to impress you. We just want you to know the real Jesus. Because the real Jesus is the only reason that I can make it through the day. The real Jesus is the only reason that my wife is still with me because she is A, way out of my league, and B, I have I have just given her so many reasons to give up on me. The real Jesus is the only reason that I. That I have hope. That even though this month hasn't been my best month, and yesterday was definitely not my best day, that I have hope because I know he's not done with me yet. It's the same with you. If you're sick of fake, just go to Jesus. Because if real is what you hunger for, real is all you'll get with him. So if you can look at the world and say, I don't need something flashy, I don't need something trendy, I definitely don't need something cheesy and canned, I need something real. Jesus is the answer. And to have him, by the way, all you've got to do is ask. There's no ritual that you have to go through, there's no trial or test. Don't worry, we're not gonna make you raise your hand. If you want, no, if you crave something real, all you need to do is cry out to God in your heart and say, God, I need the real you. Because I'm sick of fake. I'm tired of faking it. I'm tired of forcing it. I'm sick of being sold. I'm sick of spin. I'm sick of being marketed to, I'm sick of buying into lies, things that overpromise and underdeliver. I need something real. I need you. If that is the cry of your heart, I'm telling you the real Jesus will show up and he will be with you, and he will change your life for real. We're gonna continue worshiping together as we wrap up tonight. But as we sing these songs and as we as we celebrate Christmas, just remember, we're not we're not celebrating some holiday, we're not celebrating some occasion. And we're not just celebrating some big, impressive God that did big things. That's true. But we're celebrating the one true God who loved us enough to be real, to be vulnerable and fragile for our sake, to be a God who understands us and gives us compassion and empathy and love. That is who we worship. That's who he is, that's who we need. Pray with me, please. Jesus, thank you so much for being real. Thank you so much for setting aside the perfection of heaven to come and live life with us as us. You know what it feels like to be us because you've been using. And Lord, the idea that we have a God who gets what real life feels like is truly amazing. We struggle to understand you. That's just true, but you don't struggle to understand us because you you literally left heaven to live life here so we could relate to you, so that we could have a real relationship with you. And we need you. We need the real you, Jesus. Not the religious you, not the shiny you, not the trendy you, not the canned you. Don't be in a can. We need the real you, Jesus. And we're asking that you would really show up in our lives. Speak to us, stir our hearts, fill us with faith and hope, and love. And we ask this all in your name, Jesus. Amen.