John Gray - Manger Things
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Somebody give the Lord the greatest praise you can! We’re getting into the Word. Tell a couple of people, «I’m ready for the Word.» Tell them, «I’m ready for the Word.» I’m ready for the Word. Listen, I’m excited! I want you to go to Luke Chapter 2. Thank you, sir, that’s low right underneath the seat, underneath the seat, because it says, «If I be lifted.» Ah, but it’s still a little narrow. You' ve got to enter by the narrow gate. We’re in Luke Chapter 2, reading from the New King James Version.
I want to say to my family in the balcony, I love y’all so much! Shout out to the balcony! Y’all make some noise for the balcony! Grateful for y’all! Merry Christmas! I hope y’all have some wonderful food. What are y’all cooking for Christmas? Who’s cooking? You cooking? What? Pot roast? My God! Lift your hands, Elder! The Lord is saying, «Make a little piece for me first, and your family will be blessed.» That’s some manipulation over some delicacies! Oh, what else? Somebody- I ain’t going to say who, but somebody who loves me said, «My mama is going to make you some neck bones.»
Now, I ain’t never had neck bones, but it sounds very country and Southern. Now, are neck bones from the pig? Where do neck bones come from? Cow? From a pig? Somebody said cows. No, it’s a cow! They’re in here fighting! I said it’s from a pig. I said it’s from a cow. What else y’all making? I made macaroni and cheese on Wednesday just on the strength. My wife said it was good, wasn’t it? It wasn’t killing like hers, but I did all right. I’m proud of me, Linton. I’m proud of me, bro, just making-and I mean I made a whole pan! My kids were like, «That’s nice. Can you give me some Chick-fil-A?» I’ll beat you until I’m tired! Let’s get to Luke Chapter 2.
Shout out to the man of God, Joel Johnson, who is in the building! Pastor Joel is in the building! Wave to your family! Oh, you just rolled up on me, Del Roy! Okay, I like this stool. You didn’t-oh, it’s a Michigan fan. Yeah, take that out of here! Luke Chapter 2! I’m in the first verse! You guys got a little bit of an appetite for the Word today.
And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. Nashby, love you, boy! Come sit down! Hurry! Just sit right here; you’re already late! Come on, sit down! Y’all know I love to call people out for being late! Come on, put your finger up and say, «Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me!» This boy’s getting ready to win a Grammy for his album, and he’s part of our church. Super proud of you, young man! This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria. Quirinius, I wonder what color he was. Stop, John, this is not funny!
Can I speak to Quirinius? All right, I’m sorry, Quantavius! Somebody’s going to name their child Quirinius. Just don’t do that-just name him Peter, Paul, or James. But so all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. To be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. Isn’t that a very interesting way to say that? It didn’t say it came time for her to deliver the baby; it came time for the baby to deliver her. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.
Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night, and behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, «Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior!» Ah, sometimes the Word is enough for you to lift up a praise! Do not be afraid! For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy! Somebody say «great joy!» Joy, which will be to all people! For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, «Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace!» Somebody throw up the peace sign and say, «Peace!» Look at somebody and just hit them with «Peace!» and goodwill toward men! The title of my message is «Manger Things.» Manger things! Lord Jesus, get the glory out of this service! Be lifted up! We honor you right now. Speak through your Word! Purify anything in me that even remotely resembles personal ambition or motive or the need to be accepted! Let me preach an uncompromising gospel that lifts up the only one who is worthy to be lifted up! He is the prophesied and true Messiah, Yeshua Hamashiach, the Son of God, and the Son of Man! I pray this prayer over your people: Bless Love Story Church! Bless the families of Love Story Church! Bless our time together in Jesus' name! Amen, amen, and amen! Go ahead and be seated!
I am grateful for this moment with you, and thank you for taking time out of your Christmas plans to make Jesus a priority. It matters. It matters in a commercialized society. It matters after a bruising election cycle that we still ourselves and quiet our souls. Today, I want to have a conversation with you, albeit brief, about what each one of us has been given in the form of a gift that has paved the way for us to have full access-not only back to right relationship with the Heavenly Father but freedom from the penalty of sin and the effects of the iniquity that was passed down through our bloodline.
A lot of things can be said about Jesus. There are people who don’t believe that Jesus is Lord, and that is their choice. But you cannot say he did not live! That Jesus lived is a matter of historical record! That he lives is a statement and declaration of my personal faith because he still lives today! Jesus Christ is the one who was, who is, and who is to come. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and of that, there is no doubt. I will never stop singing and shouting about his name, and I’m going to preach about Jesus until I die! No one will stop me from lifting up Jesus! I don’t believe I’m the only person in here who needed a Savior!
I can look over the landscape of my life and the decisions that I made in my flesh-things I did that I literally felt like I had no control over because the effects of sin and the sin nature without the full submission to the Holy Spirit is one of the most tragic states of existence! To live but not be alive, to walk around but not be free-to see other people enjoying the fruit of the earth while we’re still in personal bondage! But I have good, great news! You don’t have to live in bondage any longer! You don’t have to cry yourself to sleep at night! You don’t have to go from person to person looking for temporary relief when there is an eternal relief from the bondage of sin and shame and guilt and fear and doubt!
When you think about it, it is a strange way to save the world-in a time where we celebrate heroes and we deify human beings, we need to get back to what the Heavenly Father thought in all of his profound, incomprehensible wisdom in his way of saving mankind from itself! It’s an unbelievable, staggering equation that the love of God plus nothing saved you! You couldn’t pay for it; you can’t earn it! You can’t approach him! There’s nothing you can give for your soul! You don’t have enough money in the account; you don’t have enough credibility in your name! Your family line doesn’t get you to the front of the line! You don’t get special privileges! All of us were on our way to hell on the express bus! But a Heavenly Abba Father- a Daddy God-who loved us so much put in place a plan before he ever let Adam touch Eden to save us from the decisions he knew we would make.
This is the power of the Living God! This is what needs to shut all your enemies, haters, and whisperers up who want to disqualify you for your human condition! If God didn’t want to call you, he wouldn’t have called you! But God is not shocked by your humanity! He is not shocked by your indecisions, your bad decisions, or your sinful decisions because he equated all of that and factored it in and still chose to allow Jesus to die! He still chose to save you, and he still called you!
I encourage you to tell someone near you, «I’m still called!» In spite of your best efforts to disqualify yourself, God has not changed his mind about you-all because of a baby born in Bethlehem! Does anybody know what Bethlehem means? House of Bread! House of Bread! Bethlehem-House of Bread-and Jesus is the bread of life!
I want you to lean in! Sit up and lean in! I’ve only got a few minutes with you, so I want you to hear what I have to say! Now last week I preached-aah! Last week I preached! But today I just want to talk! I just want to have a conversation! Can we converse for a moment?
I wanted to redirect my energy away from what I have historically done, which is maximize and overextend myself to give gifts to people that I love. Thank you, one person going to be honest! Because the truth is I love everybody, but I’m a good dad all year, so my kids are like, «I want this, this, and this!» And I’m like, «Let me tell you the gifts you got: the mortgage was paid! You have heat! Turn on the faucet; open the refrigerator! Merry Christmas!»
I need a three- second praise break right there! Thank you, Alicia! These kids don’t-these kids-these kids are ungrateful! You don’t deserve what we give! You didn’t earn it! Santa Claus is a nice little story-naughty and nice-but you’ve been naughty, ungrateful, entitled, spoiled! Now, I’m not just talking about our kids; I’m talking about us! And yet our Heavenly Father continues to give us good gifts! Some of us woke up this year and didn’t thank him, and he still woke us up the next day!
Some of us heard the Lord tell us to do a particular thing, and we didn’t do it! And he still protected us from a bad decision! Some of us ought to thank God for the gifts that we’ve already unwrapped all year: mercy, grace, forgiveness, provision, restoration, healing-I’ll wait until you get it! You don’t have to wait until the end of this message! In a few moments, you can bless him right here, right now! Everyone here and online has something to be thankful for before Wednesday morning! In fact, I’m going to wait right here!
Lord, we want to thank you before this sermon goes another moment! We lift our hands; we clap! Some of us may shout just to show our appreciation for the gift of life! You are alive on the Earth right now! Thank you, Lord! I was driving down the street with my family-fire trucks, ambulances, and there were 12 firemen standing outside! I get out of my car, tell my family to stay right here! I walk over and I see a car in the median and a white sheet!
We just missed it! I’m about to shout right there! Do you know how many things God allowed you to just miss? The car accident! You were mad because you forgot something at home and had to turn around? The light was too long? But you just missed death because God told the angel, «Not today! Not my daughter! Not my son! Not that family!» You ought to thank God for what you just missed! Hey! Thank you! You ought to thank God for what you just missed!
I went over to the fireman and I said, «Did he make it?» He said, «I’m not at liberty to say.» I said, «You don’t have to tell me, sir! I know what that means.» It was a sadness, it was a silence-no one was moving towards the car. Whoever was in that vehicle was driving, about to make a turn, and they opened their eyes in eternity! That’s how fast it can change! So who among us has the right to walk in pride? Who among us has the right to treat people like trash? You don’t know when God’s going to call you home!
So you might want to be real humble and really grateful and really kind! During this season, you might want to forgive a little easier and let the grudges go! Move on with your life and stop talking about what you lost and what you didn’t get and what could have happened and what should have happened! Thank God for what you have right now! Thank God for what you have in your house! You may not have everything you want, but the last time you checked, you have everything you need!
I shouldn’t have to prop you up today to give God praise! Somebody ought to just think about how good God has been to you all year! That should be enough for you to wave your hand instead of staring at me! I live in 2024! It’s December 22nd, and over 2,000 years ago — close to 2,100 years ago-in Bethlehem, there was a man named Joseph and his betrothed wife-a fancy way of saying they were engaged but they were not yet married.
The scripture that we read in Luke 2 says, «And it came time that she should be delivered.» Joseph and Mary-Mary had a baby, Joseph was the covering, but he was not the father! I want to take a moment to honor every stepfather, every man who steps up and covers children that he didn’t birth but would give his life for those kids and treats them like his own. For every stepfather who covered a family when another man didn’t take care of his responsibilities, I want to celebrate every stepfather who stood in the gap so those kids didn’t lose the love of a father because the biological didn’t bother!
Joseph wasn’t just a good man; he was a great man, and those are not the same thing, but he was both! Because he could have left that woman right there and she would have died! They would have stoned her! And you know religious people love to stone you like they don’t have something in their closet that they never want people to see! I know all about it! They love you when they need you and can get something from you, then when all hell breaks loose, they forget your name!
But I thank God he’ll let them forget your name! Because this wasn’t the best season of my life that you stepped into; that was my «pre.» Now I’m getting ready to see what all of that was for! 2025 is going to make sense of the last five years! Everything from COVID to right now is about to pay me back! Everything that I lost for the last five years is going to have to pay me back! I’m telling you I’m stepping into my wealthy place! My mentally wealthy place! My emotionally wealthy place! My spiritually wealthy place! And my debt-free financial place! I declare a spirit of margin!
I’m going to have so much that I won’t worry about when it’s coming out of my account! You can direct debit it all; I’ll have more than enough! Once you take what you need, I dare you to high five three people in your row and declare, «It is so! It is so! It is so!» Put it in the chat feed, «It is so!» You don’t need a crowdfunding campaign! God’s going to send one person to write one check and take care of your whole vision!
Hey! I just felt God right there! If nobody sees your vision, God does! If nobody else celebrates you, God will! God is backing what he whispered in your ear three years ago-Manger Things! You’re getting ready to do major things because of manger things! Uh -oh, I' m about to break in here! I said you’re getting ready to do major things because of manger things! There goes your air walking up on you! Oh, I feel God in this room! Does anybody else agree with me that the Lord is here?
So it is that we find ourselves in a moment in scripture where Joseph-a good man-had a decision to make. The decision was: do I put her away quietly or do I expose her to death? Because religious people don’t understand that sometimes God does supernatural things that make no sense to other people! Can I tell you God’s about to do something so crazy in your life that people just won’t believe it; they won’t be able to process it; they won’t be able to comprehend it; they won’t be able to understand it!
In fact, they’re going to judge it! But it doesn’t matter because even when they judge it, they still won’t be able to stop it! I’m trying to sit down! You can stand up, but I’ve got to stay sitting because if I get up, I’m going to turn this from a teach to a preach! And I’ve got to teach you!
Do you think all of your tears are going to come to nothing? You think everything you sow just went into the air? Do you know God’s been keeping an account-not of what you gave, but the faith it took to give it in the first place? So Joseph is covering his fiancée, who is carrying the answer to everything wrong with the human condition! How many chromosomes does a baby have? How many — 46! 46 chromosomes-23 from the mother, 23 from the father! Strange dynamic happening over there in Jerusalem.
There’s some research going on where they believe Golgotha- the place of the skull-was, and beneath the cross, they believe this area where Jesus was is where they discovered word ancient blood, but the blood only had 23 chromosomes! Which means it had the mother’s chromosomes but no earthly father chromosomes! That which is conceived of in you is of the Holy Spirit, Mary! This is God’s work!
I need somebody to say it here and put it in the chat feed: «This is God’s work!» This is God’s work! Shake somebody’s hand! Tell them you are God’s work! That’s why people don’t understand you! You don’t look like other people! Your DNA is different! You think different! You move different! You’re loyal when other people are surface! You stay when other people leave! You pray when other people gossip! Your DNA is different! Who am I talking to in here? You praise when other people worry! You shout when other people whisper! Who am I talking to?
You’ve got different DNA! You don’t do what other people do! [Applause] Glory! Somebody join me! Just lift up a praise! Just give him glory! Just get out of yourself! I need you to go crazy right now! I need somebody to-oh God, I thank you! Somebody shout, «Manger things!» And so it came time for Mary to be delivered! But it happened so suddenly that there was no room to get her to a high-level medical facility! She had to birth it right there! There was no preparation for what she had to birth! She had been carrying it, and then suddenly, it was time!
I think somebody may have caught what I just said! Because you’ve been carrying something for a while, and God says it’s time right now! And the reason why he didn’t announce when it was coming is because he didn’t want to telegraph to the enemy when it was getting ready to drop! Some of y’all, God kept you hidden until right now, but he’s about to release what’s in you! And the world is not ready! And the devil certainly is not ready! Because if he had caught a glimpse of what you were getting ready to birth, he would have killed you a long time ago! But he couldn’t because God had his angels around you!
Even when you weren’t thinking about God, God had already put something on the inside of you, and it’s about to drop right now! Say it out loud -"It’s about to drop!» They weren’t at home, and she has to have this baby. It says there was no room for her in the inn.
Now, in my immature years, I had a very Western concept-I’m like, is this a Red Roof? Is this a Howard Johnson? What kind of inn is this? But upon careful study of Middle Eastern Jewish culture, hospitality was of the highest regard, am I right, Pastor Joel? Hospitality was literally sacred! If someone came from out of town, you welcomed them into your home and treated them like royalty! Isn’t it strange that Mary was carrying the King- not a king, but the King and in all of the city there was no hospitality for them!
It had to be that way because the assignment of Yeshua was not to show off about how amazing he was and how he was birthed with a silver spoon! He was birthed among the animals! Oh my God, I’m getting ready to help you here! There was no room in the inn! When you study the word «inn» in this scripture, it is the word «kataluma,» which means a room inside of a house! There was no room in the guest quarters of the house!
I need you to understand-and I don’t want to be ugly to people who have nativity scenes-but there were not three wise men in the inn! There wasn’t camels looking at the baby! They didn’t have gold, frankincense, and myrrh- that happened two years later! Because they didn’t see the star until he was born! The reason why people can’t see you is because God has not birthed you yet.
It’s not that you’re not a star baby; he just hasn’t birthed you yet! But he’s about to release you in 2025! And the wise men will come, provision will come! Oh, where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have come to worship Him! We’ve seen his star in the east! The star did not begin to shine until the baby was born! Once that star began to shine, that’s when the wise men started making their journey!
What God’s about to birth is going to cause the people to begin to move in your direction! Preach, John! I am! She had the baby in a house, but there was no place to put the baby! And so they put the baby in a manger! A manger is not a crib; a manger is a feeding trough for the animals!
Now, a manger is a lower room! It’s on the lowest level of a house! If you look at a Middle Eastern home, if you go study this, the manger was in the lower level of the house and it was where you put your preferred pets! It’s where the dog would go! I don’t hear nobody! I’m trying to help you! Because all of your cartoons and all the shows have Jesus out in a barn! He wasn’t in a barn because that’s not what kataluma is! If we’re going to do it, then do it the Bible way! You don’t have to clap; you don’t have to like me, but you at least need to know the truth!
He was in a house, but there was no room in a regular bedroom, so they said, «You can put the baby where we put the animals!» That’s a shame! Why would they do that to a baby? He had to be amongst the animals! Look at us, Pastor Alicia! I don’t think they caught it! Look at us-the stuff that we do, the way that we treat each other! He had to be born amongst the animals! He needed to be comfortable around animals that are territorial and snarling and barking at each other and cussing each other out and fighting for stuff and don’t know how to treat each other!
He needed to be among the animals and the dirt and the filth and the excrement! He needed to be around the crap because that’s what he came to save! Can somebody thank God that Jesus was born amongst the animals? If you know that there’s something in your sin nature that is very animalistic-everybody’s got a beast on the inside! Everybody has something on the inside! You look nice in your outfit today, but let me catch you at the wrong time, and the beast will emerge!
Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost! I’m trying to tell them, Elder B! I’m trying to tell him I’m glad he was born amongst the animals! I feel right at home! But the feeding trough was a stone-almost like a stone crib, for lack of a better word. But you put the food-it’s what the animals would eat from! So they put him where the animals would normally dine! Maybe that’s why he said, «Eat my flesh and drink my blood, lest you have no part in me!» I’m just trying to draw parallels! It’s a stone box that they put the baby in-the Christ, the representation and the actual embodiment of the Father in human form!
If you want to see the Father, you need to look at Jesus! If you want to know the character of the Father, you need to look at Jesus! If you want to know how God thinks about people, look at how Jesus treated people! Because when you see Jesus, you’ve seen the Father! Thank you, sir! I’m hoping that you’re getting this.
Why did they put this baby in a feeding trough, lying in a manger? The glory of God in a box! Oh, all because in the Old Testament, the glory of God was in a box called the Ark! Could it be that Jesus is the living Ark? He is the living glory of God! He is the thing that the Old Testament whispered about, but now here he is in real form!
In the Old Testament, it was a gold box with angels surrounding it and acacia wood. The poles, the Ashira poles, or the acacia wood, the poles that would go into the Ark so that the Levites could carry it; but here in the New Testament, we find the very glory of God-the person of God, the presence of God, the very Ark of God-the glory of God! In a feeding trough!
He’s in a box! The Ark was in a box, but this is the real Ark! And even in the Old Testament, you couldn’t even approach it! But now here he is in approachable form-in a manger- in a feeding tube and a feeding trough! Amongst the animals for everybody to see! And the angels invited the shepherds!
Why would you invite filthy, dirty, nasty shepherds to go look at a brand new baby when these shepherds are filled with all of the filth that comes with being a shepherd? If you haven’t studied shepherds in Middle Eastern Jewish culture, it was the lowest form of employment you could get! You only gave that job to the people you did not like! It is known that shepherds in ancient Middle Eastern Jewish culture could not testify in court proceedings because they could not be trusted!
So heaven announces the birth of the greatest gift the world has ever seen-not to the high priest, not to the Pharisees, not to the Sadducees, not to the prophet with a thousand lines or the bishops with seven adjutants, none of their earpieces working-not to the famous people, not to the punk churches that look down on people that don’t tithe-not to the churches that ask for your W -2s- not for this or that! But to the worst people in the city!
Find me the drug dealers! Find me the gang bangers! Find me the twerk champions! Where are they? I have an announcement for them because they’re only doing these things because their heart is broken, and they didn’t have somebody to love them at critical moments! I need to let them know, «Peace and goodwill toward men!» I need them to know there’s good tidings of great joy! You don’t have to live like this anymore!
I know people think you’re the worst of the worst, but good news! There’s a gift for you in a manger in Bethlehem! And unto you this day is born in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord! And I need everybody with a voice to shout as loud as you can to the glory of Jesus Christ! Somebody shout, «Manger things!» Manger things! He was born, and they wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger so that you can observe him and then feed on him!
The holiest gift to ever hit the Earth was birthed in the dirtiest place that the Earth had, and that’s exactly how the Father wanted it! He went from the highest of the heavens to the lowest of the earth because he needed to be able to fill all things-from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high! I serve a King who is the ruler of the sky! I’m going to heaven, but I was on my way to hell! I was a brute beast, an animal with no hope, caged in by my sin nature! But it was the sound of a crying baby in a manger- the sound of a God King crying out amongst the animals, surrounded by the stench of family pets!
And that baby still cries today! Waiting for you to turn in his direction! He who is the living representation of the glory of God-who is God, who is and was and is to come! You kept your favorite pet in the manger! Maybe it was a nice lamb that you didn’t want slaughtered, so you kept him out of the field and you brought him into the house!
Isn’t it strange that he was the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world? He was led as a sheep before his shearers as silent, yet he opened not his mouth! He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities! The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes, we are healed! And it all started with manger things! Some people have their babies at home. They have a doula or a midwife, and they had a baby in the bathtub. I’m never going in your bathtub again!
It was Mary’s baby! Joseph had to cover him! The name Mary in Hebrew means rebellion, and from rebellion was birthed the king! I knew the pastors would catch that, but it couldn’t be Joseph and Mary’s baby because the name Joseph means, in Hebrew, «He who adds.» So if they had a baby, it would have only added to the rebellion! But God says, «I’ll let rebellion birth my son because it came time that rebellion should be delivered!»
You’re standing now. Let me take a moment of levity before you walk out the door! We are three hours early, so there' s no reason for you to leave early now! Because right about now, we would normally almost be at offering! Here’s what’s funny: I said to the team, «This is the flow that the service needs to be right here!» So that-PE!
Hold on now-he’s like, «Yes! Yes! I love the sacred nature of our service today!» And I also want to honor your time because in 2025, you’re going to need to get in here, get your word, and get back out! Because you’re going to have so much happening that you’re going to need your time to rest, to be refreshed! Because your business is going to be so crazy you got to hire new people!
You’re going to need new facilities! You’re not going to be able to do this in your den! Your kitchen is not going to be able to handle this! You’re going to need commercial space! But everything that’s about to happen in your life is because of manger things! A woman named Mary-chosen by the Most High- announced by Gabriel! She said, «Be it unto me according to your word!» And rebellion birthed Deliverance-the deliverer in the full payment of sin! The propitiation-the full payment for our sins!
Heads bowed! Lord, I thank you today that a manger housed the King of Kings and Lord of Lords- a dirty and filthy place, unclean, unkempt, unsanitary! And I’m grateful that Jesus still comes to the unclean, the unkempt, and the unsanitary! May the church be a place where those of us who are still walking through areas that are unclean, unkempt, and unsanitary can come and gaze upon the baby that has paid the price to cleanse us from the inside out and to restore right relationship with our Heavenly Father and our Creator God!
Today, let us not think about presents and Amazon drivers and wrapping paper, but let us think about the manger and that baby and everything you did to win us back to yourself! The truth is, God, you’re the gift! They wrapped him in swaddling cloths! He came wrapped! The gift was wrapped! So Jesus, let us unwrap the gift of you and invite you into the deepest places of our soul for cleansing, healing, restoration, forgiveness, and freedom, which belongs to us today! In the name of the gift that keeps on giving-Jesus Christ, the King of Heaven-the King over hell-the King in a manger! Amen! Amen! And amen!
If you’re here, there may be some here while you’re standing. I need one more moment of your time! If you’re here and you’ve never given your life to Jesus or you want to rededicate your life to Jesus today, the altar is not an altar-it’s a manger! Come get your gift! Your freedom is in the manger! Your deliverance is in the manger! Your new life is in the manger! If that’s you, meet me right here at the front of this church!
I bet you if you clap it’ll give somebody the strength! Welcome home! Stay right there! I’m so glad to see you! Welcome home! Is there anybody else? Somebody’s like, «I’m not sure! I’m nervous!» Don’t be nervous! We’ve all had to make that walk because we have all fallen short of the glory of God!
Is there anybody else? Can we thank God for those who have, on this Christmas service, given their lives to Jesus or have joined Love Story Church and now call this place home? Those who are at the altar, I want you to do me a favor! I want you to pray this prayer with me!
«Lord Jesus, it’s me! I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that Jesus is Lord! Thank you for the blood that was shed for me! I receive the free gift of salvation- not through my works, but the finished work of the cross! The blood is enough to pay for all my sins! Now, Holy Spirit, come live inside and teach me how to be more like Jesus each and every day! You are my Savior and my Lord! In Jesus' name! Amen!»