welcome to central on line my name is Aaron and we are getting ready for Christmas at Central if you have yet to be sure to share this experience with your friends and family you don't want to miss out on it and you don't want them to miss out either in fact let us know how you're enjoying this experience on social media using the hashtag Christmas at Central I love the Christmas season and some of my favorite Christmas classics our Santa Claus is coming to town and the Grinch you can probably even throw buddy the elf in there and we love having a ton of fun here at Central especially during Christmas and we are here to celebrate the reason for the Christmas season and that is the birth of Jesus but first we're gonna start off with something special to highlight those Christmas classics that all kids and kids at heart will love so let's get ready to experience Christmas at Central roll the countdown [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] aren't you supposed to be sleep I can't sleep it's hard to fall asleep on Christmas Eve isn't it maybe grandpa can help you [Music] whenever I have trouble sleeping I always love to hear a story I think I have just [Music] what's it called worm huh it's called Christmas magic everybody's very very special story why because it's got every Christmas story ever written the old ones no one's good big in history son Claus is coming to town maybe not the same once upon a Christmas night from up at the North Pole Santa took flight as you raced over head in his magic sleigh I heard him laugh out loud let's say or nasha on dancer on Prancer and vixen on comet on Cupid [Music] ha you better not cry better not pout I'm telling you santa claus is coming to town he's making a list checking it twice [Music] cause this coming [Music] he sees you in your sleep oh you better watch - time [Applause] [Applause] [Music] time to [Music] [Applause] is a sent a wonderful sure I love Santa but is it really true that kids need to be good to get gifts i pout and found all the time is that you're gonna skip our house Christmas isn't just about being gooood is it make you this isn't the only story in the book let's read another [Music] oh the Grinch this is one of my favorite stories every who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot but the Grinch who lived just north of who-ville did not eat hoes want their Christmas but here's what I'll do a steal of her gifts out of their trees or their food then every who down in who-ville will cry [Music] you're a mean one mr. bridge oh you really are right here you're as cuddly as a cactus you're charming as an eel mr. broom [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] and given the choice between the two of you I turn [Music] [Applause] he still presents from every Whoville gorilla boy he thought the meaning of Christmas could be found in a toy wait so the Grinch really throws Christmas because of who's still have each other so Christmas isn't it's about being with your family that's a big part of it that's why I come to visit what if you can't do not have Christmas and is it bad eyes don't my gifts Christians maybe we should read another story [Applause] [Music] have you heard of butter the elf I don't think so but it was a human raised by elves and one day he traveled from the North Pole to New York [Music] you know always said any problem there is a solution what you mean is extremely random seven-foot-tall powers which place your convenience [Music] by singing out loud for all to hear will you [Music] [Applause] [Music] seeing loud for all to hear what is it you don't like the stories I like them I'm just confused sometimes it seems like Christmas is about Santa and being good to get gifts then it's about not being selfish and being with those you love then it's about being cheerful and full of Christmas spirit which is right what does Christmas supposed to be about to learn that we have to go back to the first Christmas is that story in here there wouldn't be once upon the ristmas without the first Christmas this more than a story this history it's our history would you like to hear how Christmas got started yes please let's go back to the very beginning [Music] time ago on the satellite 11th hour Shepard's computer lots of their fields [Music] do you see boy he happens I see we does Hey biggest [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] we want to welcome you to Christmas at Central and today we celebrate the fact that God sent his one and only Son Jesus to the earth and I'm actually standing up here with my son Landon and the Landon is going to share the story from Luke too with all of us today you ready buddy today in the town of David a savior has been born to you he is the Messiah the Lord this will be assigned to you you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] see ages dangers we see [Music] the mountains Oh [Music] Oh God [Applause] [Music] we're gonna keep those hands going just like this come on [Music] the worried [Music] merci my god [Music] try [Music] stroke [Music] crisis [Music] [Music] I see [Music] [Music] [Applause] to say that again [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] hey welcome to Christmas's central my name is drew Bowdoin and I serve as one of the pastor's here this is your first time in central I want you to know that this is a place where it's okay to not be okay that means you can come as you are you belong and we're so glad that you're here and I want to give some shoutouts to people watching Stacey who's up in Seattle Shirley who's watching for Montana as well as those watching all over the world in North Central South America Africa Europe Asia Australia maybe even Antarctica or the North Pole those watching on military bases as well as through our partnership with God behind bars we are so glad that you're here I want you to know that every week you can watch Central online either live or on-demand you can visit the website Central online TV and this Christmas I want to ask you to please prayerfully consider shining a bright light of hope on a child's Christmas there are all is bright campaign it's our goal fifteen thousand kids you're going to learn more about that in just a little bit but you can visit central online TV slash all is bright to make that gift of forty seven dollars or more to shine a bright light of hope on a child's Christmas 2019 is gonna be the best here yen we have an incredible series that we're kicking off called do you even left can't wait for you to check out this commercial bro do you even lift I can do more sit-ups than you in five minutes then you can do in five hours come on figure it out this is hot bet it you ain't gonna get no beach body by just doing push-ups come on you're gonna use your hands and feet to pedal a bike that's not even difficult even less [Music] I chose to [Music] Oh we [Music] [Music] as you watch [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] this Christmas central church has a goal of shining a bright light of hope on 15,000 children these are kids who are sick or who are hungry or whose families are struggling financially and won't be able to give them a Christmas this year we teamed up with Leukemia Lymphoma Society who introduced us to some incredible heroes in our community that have been diagnosed with cancer some of these kids they've been sick their whole lives experiencing pain surgeries and constant hospital visits we wanted to see these kids laugh we wanted to see them smile we wanted them to know that they are loved and that they deserve the best Christmas ever [Music] [Music] I got to meet nick nick is an incredible kid whose family's been struggling financially with only one parent working in their car constantly breaking down it's just been a really difficult Christmas season November 11th 2016 I was misdiagnosed a few times and they ran some more tests and found out that I have acute lymphoblastic leukemia one of my doctors told me and my family that I wasn't gonna make it it was really hard journey but it wasn't just hard for me it was hard for my family because shortly before that my mom found out she was pregnant so my dad was the only one that could work but he was in the hospital with me at first I thought that I wouldn't want to get through this because I wasn't strong enough but my family helped me get through this it's not just the cancer kid fighting it's a family effort my family is the one that gives me my strength so we had a special surprise for Nick and his family with Nick's two-year fight against cancer we know that it's been a struggle emotionally we also know that it's been a struggle financially and the way you guys have come together supported each other as a family through this relied on God that's inspiring and thousands of people at Central want you to know that we love you guys and we're actually in an initiative right now called all is bright where our goal there is to take all that God has blessed us with and in turn bless other families just like yours and especially blessed kids just like you Nick so we have a couple gifts we want to give you guys is that okay all right gift number one is we have all this food for you and your family here and then gif number two we actually teamed up with our friends Brian here at precision tent and they heard your story and Brian said you know what we want to bless them with a car so this is actually your car so much is a bright light of hope for your family in this season and we just want to say Merry Christmas from your central family love you guys I was just speechless and my parents didn't know so I don't know who told anybody or how they knew we needed a car if God sent them a message think he's central for the food and presence is really nice and it was really it's really helpful for my family to be able to have it and my dad to be able to make it home without having to fix the car somehow it's just been really awesome [Music] [Applause] so good so good it's so good how the central family could be a blessing to Nick and his family in fact I had to privilege the watching Nick and baptized last night God's just changing his life and being a part of that journey is really special yeah hey would you help me welcome my granddaughter Quinn when you got to be a part of the group that delivered those presents and I know that was a direct result of your prayer that you've been praying this Christmas what have you been praying for I love that that's really God's heart God doesn't want kids to be sad either and you've been learning a verse that talks about God's character what have you been learning such a great verse because it talks about that God loved us God loved people that he gave and that's really our heart here at Central we just want to love people and we want to give and you know Quinn this Christmas we've been praying that we could bless and give hope to 15,000 kids in Las Vegas this Christmas wouldn't it be great it's a lot of people you're right and what would it mean to you if how do you feel that we'd be blessing 15,000 kids happy yeah I know it makes God happy as well Quinn love you thank you for sharing with all of us this Christmas [Music] oh that's our hope and dream that we can bless fifteen thousand kids this Christmas and throughout 2019 that's what this initiative is all about all is bright just a moment we're gonna take our Christmas offering and each year our Christmas offering goes to help kids who are struggling kids who are really having a tough time that's kids whose parents are incarcerated kids who are hungry kids who are sick and kids from under-resourced families and over the last several weeks we just been trying to do all that we can to bless several thousand kids throughout the Christmas time in fact if you've been around central you know that we feed people all the time in fact I want to celebrate something with you because of the generosity of so many people here at Central we now have the second largest food pantry in Southern Nevada right here yeah we feed hundreds of people when they come for food we give them a month's supply of food that's kids you can see their face light up when they get that food and many of these kids are living on one mill a day listen I don't know about you but I don't think a single kid in our city should go to bed at night hungry are you with me on that yeah so through all is bright this offering will help us take another step in eradicating hunger to kids here in Las Vegas they've been this week alone we've been blessing kids whose parents have been incarcerated kids who wouldn't have a Christmas if it weren't for us throwing a party for them off you could see what we do we we have a big catered meal and one of my favorite parts of all of the Christmas celebration with these kids is when that inmate that mom or dad steps on the red carpet and they haven't seen their son or daughter or or their family for years some of these kids are meeting their parent for the first time because they were babies when they got incarcerated but to see that warm embrace those families being reunited seeing that love shared you know we're being the hands and feet of Jesus sharing God's love with a hurting group of people right it feels so good we're able to bless them with presence it's just such a rewarding time and it's easy to get involved in fact in just a moment the offering plate will be passed you can give by cheque or cash or right after our experience our Usher's will be at all the exits with buckets they say all this bright you can give by cheque or cash that way or if you're like me you don't carry cheque or cash with you anymore but you still want to participate our generosity team will be all over the lobby they're wearing Santa hats with flashing lights that Christmas lights are out necklace just walk up to them and tamo how many kids you'd like to sponsor hand him your debit or credit card they'll swipe it they have an iPad right there and you will be giving hope to kids this Christmas but I want to say on behalf of kids many of them that will never meet thank you thank you for caring enough to bring hope and debris a light into their life in one day we're praying that they'll name Jesus to be the leader and forgive her their life through your love and support you really are making a difference well let's just ask God's blessing on this offering would you join me but Jesus we love you thank you for stepping into our world thank you for blessing our lives that we can be a blessing to others we pray for the kids that are receiving this hope this Christmas and beyond and we just pray that you would be at work that they would know that you're a God who loves them and that wants to be personally in their life God for all of us may we invite you into our Christmas and experience your love your joy and your peace for we ask it in Jesus name Amen well right now I'm going to ask our Usher's to pass the plate even if you came prepared to give your ministry fun offering you could give it at this time as well if I you to stand as we just continue in a time of singing Christmas carols Merry Christmas everybody [Music] stars are brightly shine [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] and here it's central we are so grateful you decided to spend your Christmas with us and it's our hope today that you'll experience the love the joy the peace that comes from knowing Jesus Christ we're gonna have the opportunity at the end of our experience do you haven't prayed that prayer to do so today and maybe even take a step of faith to be baptized so we would encourage you to be praying and thinking about that but right now and invite you to be seated as our pastor Judd comes and shares a message of hope from God's Word all right welcome everybody want to say a big shout out to not only our Henderson location but also want to welcome our other central family locations that are joining us this Christmas celebration I want to welcome our central summerlin sunrise manor [Applause] thank you guys for being with us well it is Christmas time and you know that means lights beautiful lights how many of you love to put lights up on your house your place of residence you're all about the lights I'm going to go all out some of you go all out how many of you just love to look at other people's lights but you don't want to do all that work right I know I know how our because I'm the same way I've never in my adult life until this year put Christmas lights on our house I always just felt like man I want to look at other people's lights I want to enjoy other people's lights but then when it comes to our family when it comes to our life I'm like man you know that's on the outside of the house and we live on the inside and you know I'm a pastor I'm busy during the Christmas season we have services you know so my kids will always beg me dad put the lights out on the house please let's put lights on the house and every time I'll just sort of you know deflect until the holidays pass but this last year my daughter says to me dad I'm gonna be a senior in high school next year and all I want for Christmas my senior year is for you to put lights on the outside of our house what were you supposed to say to that man I mean that's I'm like okay I'll do it it's your last year I'll do it right so she reminded me all year long she said dad you promised you promised and so right after Thanksgiving this year I got the whole family together in the car and we went and got Christmas lights to put on the house now I've never put lights on the house but I felt like this can't be that hard right we didn't have a plan we didn't know we're doing we're just like rock up you know like hey we're here and so we just start iein stuff you know we get it we get a whole you know pull us stuff and we bring it home I'm thinking this is gonna be a really fun family thing we're gonna put the lights up on the house it's my daughter's senior year she's about to graduate from high school you know our jobs finished all that we're about to we're about to put these lights up it's gonna be awesome so we get all out we get ready I'm telling you within two hours of putting the lights up as a family nobody was talking to one another it was not pretty in the Wilhite household at one point I'm on a ladder and my wife's down there and she's telling me she had these little snowflakes I don't have you seen these little snowflake lights that hang off like tree limbs and stuff she wanted them all up in the tree bad idea and anyway I'm up on the ladder I'm trying to put on I finally look down or I said stop talking to me like I'm a four-year-old you know I took these snowflakes and I just chucked them up into the tree and I'm like plug it in it is what it is this was so frustrating and of course we didn't have the right lights we had to go back we had to return those lights get other lights then we had to go back and get clips I didn't know you had to have clips then you had to get extension cords I didn't really think about that and then you had to get timers for the extension cords I didn't really think about that so at this point we're broke we're angry and nobody's talking I finally paid a guy a friend of mine to put up the final aspect of the lights to get it finished but my daughter took this little snapchat video of our lights out in front of our house and she put this up she says protip if you call your parents the Grinch for 17 years eventually it will pay off look at that you see that's my little Snoopy right there I claim Snoopy I put a lot of strain on our marriage people that right there we love the lights this time of year I mean we love it because the lights remind us of what Christmas is really all about Isaiah chapter 9 says that the people walking in darkness have seen a great light and Isaiah is writing about the birth of Christ he says the people walking in deep darkness people walking in deep darkness have experienced a light and in our lives we know what it is to face darkness we know what it is to feel like the world can be a dark place all you have to do is look at the news right you see the darkness of of hate the darkness of crime the darkness of corruption sometimes all we have to do is look around our own lives we see the darkness of loneliness or the darkness of despair or the darkness of depression the darkness of hopelessness the darkness of debt well whatever it may be we all know what it is to feel like we walk in seasons of darkness but Christmas reminds us that a light has shone in the darkness and still shines today and that is the light of Jesus to give us hope and direction in our lives back we've already heard the Christmas story so I want to look with you today at Colossians chapter 1 at what is maybe the most profound verse in the entire Bible about what Christmas really means and about who Jesus really is so Colossians chapter 1 beginning in verse 15 then we're gonna bring this up now here's that kind of how we do it at Central I'm gonna read this scripture with you off the screen but when I get to the red word I'm gonna ask you to just read it out loud just as I'm moving along there and that's that's kind of how we make sure everybody around you is awake okay all right you ready all right here we go says Christ is the what visible is the visible image of the invisible God he existed before anything was created and his supreme over all creation for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth this is a profound passage because it's saying right out of the gate that Christ existed before anything in other words the child born 2,000 years ago Jesus existed before he was born into this life and after he died in his earthly existence and we believe rose again and that one day he will return again his name is Emmanuel in the Old Testament God it means God is with us and so when we look back 2,000 years at Christ's birth were inspired because we remember that God is with us not only is he with us but he's for us and those are a couple principles I want to encourage you to hang on to even if you're going through a dark seize them first God is with us God is with us how many of you have just kind of had an experience recently where you realize time is flying you know I'm talking about like like times just flying right go and buy how many who were born in the 1990s or earlier but in the 1990s or earlier okay you're about to feel really old you're born in the 90s or earlier think about this kids today born in the year 2000 our graduate our graduating high school think about that kids that were born in 2004 are teenagers it's amazing right and there are just things that kids born in the 2000s will never experience that those of us born in the 90s or earlier just have experience they're just things like like for instance kids born in the 2000s or later will never have experienced this particular sound [Music] [Applause] [Music] that is not a test of the emergency broadcast center that that's what it used to be like to dial into the internet people remember like you go get lunch and wait on the thing to dial in you have to plug the phone cord your computer into the phone and you'd wait you know and it would dial in and I mean kids today they're never gonna have to experience that they just think the Internet has always existed that it's like air it's just out there it's just the Internet I don't know huh here's another thing kids born in the 2000s or later have have never really gotten to experience this is a blockbuster membership card anybody remember blockbuster come on man this is what it was about back in the day people on the weekend man you go to Blockbuster listen kids you had to rent these things called videotapes you had to like drive to locations go in pay money rent them then you had to take them back home and put them in and you hoped when you put them in that they were already rewound cuz blockbuster slogan is please be kind got a rewind right so you put it in if it's not real Wow and you're like Austin are why it takes like 30 minutes to rewind everybody's sitting around waiting blockbuster been on Saturday Saturday morning I go take those movies back and always have the same little routine you know you put the movies in the little drop box remember to put them in the drop box but then a lot of us you walk around back in the store cuz you're trying to get that one movie that wasn't available last night and so you ask the clerk hey is there a check that Dropbox see if somebody else came by drop that movie in that drop box right there right you want to get that movie and then it's on again for another blockbuster night some kids are just never gonna experience blockbuster here's the deal things are always changing what is visible in one generation is invisible in another generation things are always moving but that's why Christmas can give us so much hope even in our lives amidst all the change some of us are going through right now Christmas reminds us that God's love and his care in Jesus Christ remains the same the Bible says in the book of Hebrews that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever that we can bank on his love and hang on to his love in our lives check this out Colossians chapter 1 beginning in verse 15 let's put this verse back up on the screen we're gonna emphasize a different word here let me just read the first part of it again says Christ is the visible one image of the invisible God he's the visible image of the invisible God amazing statement and that phrase image in the original language it actually comes from the word icon he's the icon of God the image the representation of God now we use the word icon in different ways right we have like icons on our phone we talk about you know icons and music icons and film I think about pop icons when I think about pop icons well there's only one pop icon [Music] Zoli one [Music] only one michael che even if you look if you like Michael Jackson or not you got to acknowledge he's the king of pop he's the pop icon he's associated with pop music you're welcome on the breakdancing by the way and here's what the Bible's saying that's so profound it's saying we have a greater icon than the King of Pop we have the King of Kings and the King of Kings is the visible image of the invisible God if you want to know who God is you look to Jesus you want to know how God thinks you look to Jesus if you want to know if God cares you look to Jesus he's the visible image of the invisible God so when we looked at Jesus what do we see where's a few things we see one thing we see is that the Jesus is moved with compassion again and again when you read through the Bible in fact uh it's the number one emotional response that Jesus shows other people not sadness not anger the number one emotional response you see more often than any other he's moved with compassion it tells us that the heart of God is compassionate for us in our lives not only that he's filled with love I mean Jesus attracted the up and in as well as the down-and-out right he attracted the intelligent and the bright as well as what Luke calls the disreputable sinners that hung out with him and they all felt like they could interact with him it tells us that God's heart is for people he was powerful incredibly powerful the light the lame were able to walk the blind were able to see he did all kinds of miracles in the barque one of the biographies of Jesus in the Bible at the end it says look there's just no way to list all the miracles they're not enough books and libraries to hold all the miracles if we were to write them all down and so Jesus did incredible works of power he showed us that God is powerful I mean even the fact that we're talking about Jesus today is a representation of how powerful God is think about this Jesus is this kid born in a nowhere nation in a nowhere town in a nowhere nation at a nowhere time I mean we should know who he is he wasn't juiced in with power and political influence with his family and yet he's had a greater impact on the trajectory of human civilization than all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that have ever reigned and all the Queens that have reigned on all you knew that all the congresses that have ever met and all the White House's that have ever been built think about it like Jesus has had a greater impact than all of that even though he didn't come from any political power even though he never held an official office it's amazing time he never wrote a book but more books have been written about him than anybody else in all of history never painted a painting but more paintings have been dedicated to him than anybody else in all of history never started a hospital but more hospitals have been founded in his name than anybody else in all of history never fought with the sword and yet has had a greater influence in the hearts and minds of people than all the armies that ever marched and all the navies that ever sailed he never had a social media presence there was no Twitter and Instagram and Facebook its snapchat right he never traveled more than a few hundred miles from the place that he was born he never flew on a plane and yet all around the world at Christmas people pause and remember at one point his followers said this of Jesus it's mentioned in the Gospels they said who is this man that even the wind and the waves obey Him and for 2,000 years we've been wrestling with that question who was this man Paul says he is God God with us he existed before he was born into our world and he will continue to sustain all things He is God with us and listen God is with us not only at Christmas that means God's with us today that means God's with you in your frustration the greatest promise that you see in the Bible is God says look not it's not that you won't have trouble it's that he will be you no matter what you face it's the promise mentioned more often than any other promise in the Bible God says I will be with you he's with you in your loneliness he's with you in your frustration he's with you in your job tension he's with you when your team is the Dallas Cowboys and every time you think they're winning they're losing and then when you think they're losing they start winning look he's he's with you no matter what you're facing in your life he's with your kids as you pray for your kids and ask him to move in the life of your kids listen Christmas reminds us that even in our darkness God is with us he's with us not only is he with us God is for us God is for us and that's a significant point you know a lot of times this time of year when we think about God and all of that I think sometimes we get got confused with Santa a little bit you know like it's all about gifts for kids and I get that and Santa and kind of story of Santa I understand you know but when one kid wrote out a list of questions for Santa we're gonna bring this up on the screen this is I saw this on Instagram this is actually a mom that took a snapshot of this but this would kid wrote and this this kid has some questions people listen to this dear Santa why do you come and eat cookies at my home can you buy your own do you exercise at all why do you have Alves how old are you why do you stalk us look at this last one do you see me go to the bathroom I mean you think about the song you better not cry you better not pout right you know Santa's making a list he's checking it twice he sees you when you're sleeping like Homeland Security or your phone yeah you ever done this I'm just just trying this backstage yeah I just take my phone with Instagram open and I say like you know hammers nails tools just wait a minute then all the sudden the ads start popping up is it not the creepiest thing in the world I'm not there listening people just like Santa sometimes we think gods like Santa this time of year no if you ask a lot of people how do you get to heaven you know what they tell you they say well you just live a good life you just live a good enough life to get on the nice list you get on the nice list you go to heaven but Christmas reminds us that what we really need is not a nice list what we need is a savior what we need is one who come and do what we can't do ourselves Bible says we'll never be good enough in our own strength and in our own power but Christ came and lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death and rose again so that we could experience hope and healing look at this Colossians chapter 1 beginning in verse 19 says this for God and all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ and through him God reconciled everything to himself he made what peace you see that he made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross turn the person next to you and just say peace I mean most of us want peace in our life we want peace in our world really we just want to live a life that has fewer problems and more peace in fact when you think about life I've got the word up here and most of us just want a peaceful life the problem with that is our life gets filled with so many problems that stack up on top of it right you have money problems if you don't have money problems you'll have health problems so as you get the money and the health problems fine the check engine light comes on right and let's say you got money you've burnt use let's say one of those rare seasons right now where you know you don't have money problems right now you don't have health problems and the check engine light doesn't come on it's a rare season but then at Christmas Uncle Eddie shows up and now we got family drama right it's always something and we often think if I could just get rid of these problems then I'll have peace in my life but if you ask any older wiser person they'll tell you look peace is not simply the absence of problems because as soon as these problems all get solved guess what we're gonna face more problems but what we just read is that Christ came to make peace peace between God and us and when you put Jesus as the number one in your life and you follow him in faith it doesn't mean that you don't face problems it means that you experience peace the Peace of God's presence even in the midst of your problems and so the promise is a promise of peace that Christ came to bring Pete Knight says he reconciled everything to himself that word everything in the original language no it means it means everything right that means you that means me God has I want you think about this what we just read today is from the Bible it's saying God has already made peace with you and with me through Christ and through what he did he's already made peace now the question becomes will we accept it receive it embrace it and grow into who God is calling us to be we can experience his peace and his power in our life look at this Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 says this speaking of Jesus everyone was everything was created through him and for him he existed before anything else any what holds all creation together he holds it all together I don't know if you've thought recently like man I cannot hold it together much longer you ever had that kind of moment like you're just like listen people I mean I'm holding on by my fingernails right now and I'm just telling you I can't keep this going much longer if God is big enough if Christ is big enough to hold the universe together he can hold you in your depression he can hold you in your addiction he can hold you in your marriage difficulty he can hold you in your frustration he can hold you when other people dismiss you he can hold you when other people write you off he can hold you and other people discriminate against you he can hold you when you can't see how you're gonna get out of a situation listen if he's holding everything together he can hold you in your life even when it feels like it's all falling apart he's with us but he's for us and that king born 2,000 years ago and a stable of Bethlehem we believe he will return we believe one day he will return my friend Craig says this time is short my king is coming soon because eternity matters I will give him my all my faith moves mountains my prayers calm storms my words give life my hands bring healing my feet deliver the good news that Christ is risen and he is coming again God's word is a lamp directing my steps his Spirit is my power when I'm weak he makes me strong because Christ is coming I will not back down sell out or be pushed around my life is too valuable my calling to great my god too good to waste my life on things that don't last I am empowered by God's Spirit I'm trained by his word my life belongs to him my name is written in his book and because my life is not my own and earth is not my home I will live for the glory of God the applause of people I am strong in the Lord and in his mighty power to do his will on earth as it is in heaven because Christ lives in me listen trials cannot stop me people cannot break me money cannot buy me haters cannot silence me and demons cannot defeat me [Music] my king is coming soon I'll leave no words unsaid no deeds undone no hope unshared because my king is coming soon Christmas is alight it's a light shining into the darkness and it's a light that can give hope to all of us because it declares God is with us and God is for us my friend Shanique will experience that light and I'd love for you to hear her story so check this out from California I was born in Los Angeles raised by my mom who's a single mom of four kids the neighborhood that we grew up in was violent and chaotic I just remember my brothers and I sharing a room in a one-bedroom apartment and every night it would be gang violence and shootouts and so that became like a theme in our lives growing up I noticed that we didn't have what everyone else had because we were always in and out of hotel rooms our it was always just just [Music] we just never had something for ourselves I would say when I was 11 that was the first time I met my father outside of prison but he he just didn't care enough to want to be my father so I was angry and so that caused me to just fight all the time I said yes to the identity that people placed on me and that was just being an angry person going to jail and possibly being a game remember like my father after that I just stopped trying to be someone is so that it's 14 I dropped out of high school because we didn't have anything and I wasn't able to I couldn't show up at school I didn't even have anything it's all at 14 and my head is like there's no reason so you didn't live I finally met a friend she was someone I looked up to she was my age I felt like I wanted to be something I just didn't know how to become someone or how to get out of that darkness that I was in finally went back to school and took my GED to receive my diploma and so I went to college then it was when I was 19 and Nevada was when my friend invited me to church for the first time there was a song playing and I just felt this overwhelming sense of peace God was with me in that moment I still didn't know much about him but the lyrics I felt like God was speaking to me through the song and I felt that all in that night and it was so simple of just showing up I never forget it and after that I was baptized the same night and in that moment I noticed that that they not protected me from to hurt when I was younger was God the whole time I went home and he just gave me this new sense of love for people he gave me a sense of forgiving my father was the first thing that I had to do after that I was no longer like held down by my past held down by the expectations of people those things were no longer a part of my identity those things were no longer like something that paralyzed me from moving forward I just felt free that moment God just totally placed a new identity on me that I was worth so much and more that I am loved that I his daughter and I am precious to him and his eyes I am worth living a beautiful life and showing people who he truly is [Music] I love that story and in just a moment I'd love to give some of you just an opportunity to place your faith and your trust in Christ just from Shaniqua story you know it doesn't matter you may have had a good father a good mother you may not know who your father or mother is you may have come from a healthy home stable home you may have come from a broken home yeah you may have you know spent your life being a good person doing good things helping other people you may have spent your life like I did party and being crazy doing a lot of things I regret but no matter where we've been or what we've done listen whatever you've done in the past is not as important as what God has done for you in the past through Jesus Christ and by faith when we reach out to him and ask him to move in our heart in life Bible says several things happen we receive the forgiveness of sins all the things that we've done all the mistakes that we made that slate is wiped clean we received the gift of God's Holy Spirit the begins to dwell within us to give us encouragement and to bear certain characteristics in our life the Bible says those are love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness and self-control a faithfulness like these are the things all of us would want anyway Bible says that comes begin to become a reality you become part of a family a church family a community and ultimately you live with the promise that you're not alone not only in this life but in the life to come that God is with you whatever you may face the friends he's already made peace with you the question becomes will you do as the Bible says will you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and will you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead Bible says if you'll do that you'll be saved you'd be saved so for some of you today I'd love to give you an opportunity to just open the greatest Christmas gift you could ever open this season and that is to place your faith and your trust in Christ if God's been moving in your heart if he's been tapping you on the shoulder if he's been calling you to come home to him then I want to encourage you to lean in I'm gonna lead you in a simple prayer you can repeat it after me out loud or in your mind or in your heart but just repeat it after me and ask God to move in your life with all of you please bow your heads and close your eyes if you'd like to become a follower of Jesus can begin that journey by just saying dear God I thank you for loving me thank you for sending Jesus into the world I believe you died on the cross for my sins I believe he rose again forgive me for my sins give me the gift of eternal life help me face the challenges I'm up against God I surrender my life to you in Christ's name friends with every head bowed and every eye closed wherever you're at today if that's your prayer I want to encourage you to just slip your hand in the air whatever location you may be at if you're watching online even if you're alone is slip your hand in the air and acknowledge you're gonna follow him in your life today just slip your hand god I thank you for each person reaching out to you I pray you'll fill them with your love and your goodness let them know they're not alone forgive restore redeem heal God do what only you can do we thank you for them in Christ's name Amen if you made a spiritual commitment in your life today then I just want to tell you congratulations we're all so excited for you and there's a couple things we'd love to put in your hands just to help you over the next coming days and weeks as you follow God in your life we've created a journal called the new beginnings journal and it's available at the new beginnings area you can get to this area across any of our locations just look for it ask anybody we'd love to give you this if you'd like to be baptized after our experience I want you to know we're baptizing people across all of our locations before and after all of our Christmas services so you can be baptized at Christmas mark that kind of a moment in your life we'd also love to give you this ornament just says Christmas at Central if you made a spiritual commitment in your life I just want to put something in your hands that you can kind of walk away with and mark this moment this was when I surrendered my life to Christ and so after our experiences are over you could swing by the new beginnings area we'd love to put these resources in your hands well at this time I'm going to throw it to our location pastors who are gonna talk through some next steps across our locations and here at our Henderson location we have a tradition of closing out our experience by singing silent nights so would you stand with me let's sing silent night together as we sing this song gonna fight you to take your cell phone light out hold it in the air it's a candle in the room as we sing silent night [Music] sooo to [Applause] [Music] if you prayed that prayer to follow Jesus today I want to say congratulations and we have a tool that we would love to send you a digital copy of just to help you take some next steps over the next couple of weeks we also have an ornament that says Christmas is central something you can hang on your tree that we would love to send you to just mark the state as the day you chose to follow Jesus you can go to Central Online TV slash welcome make sure to check the box that says I raised my hand we're gonna send this in the mail this week hey I would encourage you if you want to sponsor a kid there are all this bright campaign to simply go to Central online TV slash all is bright to make your donation now I hope you have an amazing Christmas join us back in 2019 as we kick off our brand new series January 5th and 6th and hang on in Romans chapter 8 that says if God is for us who can be against us Merry Christmas
