Alright. Hey, everybody. Welcome to Valley Creek. Merry Christmas. My name is Jason. I get to serve on our teaching team here, and I'm so glad that we get to share Christmas together. If you are newer with us, I just want to welcome you in. You're welcome here. You are so wanted here. Maybe you are a college student and you're back visiting for the holiday. I just declare sleep over you and an amazing Christmas with your family. Maybe you're here with friends or family. I just pray that you have great memories that you make. And I believe by faith that God is going to speak to you today. We have absolutely prepared for you. we've prayed for you and I believe God wants to speak right to your heart. And while there's a lot of things we could talk about today, I just have one simple message I want to share with you and it's this. Christmas proves that God is good. Jesus has forgiven me. I am loved and everything is possible. Christmas proves once for all, no doubt that God is good. Jesus has forgiven me. I am loved and everything is possible. Does that sound familiar? If that sounds familiar, it's because we say them each and every weekend. These are like beloved to us as a church family. We say them over and over. They're part of our liturgy here, what we declare time and time again, over and over. Kind of like you probably have beloved Christmas traditions that you'd come back to again and again and again. These are ours. They're ours. They're from the Lord and we declare them out by faith. And just to be really clear these aren't just like nice phrases to say. We call these the four core truths. And we believe that they are the most profound truths in the whole universe. They are deep. They're profound. Yet they're simple and they're accessible. And they're really the most foundational truths that God could possibly speak to us. They are true. And Christmas proves that they are true. And if they are true, then they are right. And if they are right, then they are good, and they are God's goodness to us because God is good.

God is good. He can only be good. He is only ever good. Good is His nature. And He's not only good, but His goodness is right on time. After thousands of years of waiting and wondering and hoping that first Christmas, Jesus came. And God brought His goodness to earth right on time because God is so good. Check this out. "But when the right time came, God sent His Son born of a woman so that He could adopt us as His very own." Jesus came. Not to a world that was good, to a world that was broken and hurting and full of sin and shame and self. But at the right time, Jesus came. God sent His Son because He is good. So, God is good. His goodness is right on time and God is good even when the world is not. And God is good even when your situation and your circumstances and your thoughts are not. God is still good. And God is good when your circumstances are not. And really the story of Mary proves that this is true. Mary was virgin pledged to be married to Joseph. And the angel of the Lord comes to her. And he's like, "Hey, Mary you are going to have the Savior of all mankind. You're going to bear a Son. His name will be Jesus." And she's like, "Well, when is that going to happen?" "About nine months from now." Talk about some bad timing. Talk about some difficult circumstances. But Mary believed in the goodness of God. She believed He was good. And she declared He was good over her life. She even says, "I'm the Lord's servant. May your word be to me fulfilled. May it be just as you have said." See, Mary grew up learning verses just like this. The Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all He has made. The Lord is good to you. So, can I ask you a question? Were you made that He has compassion on you? And He sees you and He cares for you. And He has empathy on you. He cares for you so much. And I think for a lot of us we could admit that God is good. We're just not always convinced that He's good to me. Like God is good. "Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah." God is good to me, not so sure about that. Why? Why is it like that? Well, I think it's because life happens and pain happens. And another year passes with missed expectations and disappointments. And then, suddenly what we believe about God is primarily seen through the pain of our past or the difficulty of our present or like the fears of our future. And we can find ourselves being like, "God, are you good? Are you? Are you there? Are you good to me? Because it doesn't feel like it right now." And if we'll lean into it, and if we'll quiet our hearts, and if we'll listen to a still small voice, you might hear Him. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one that takes refuge in Him. God, are You good? I am. Are You good to me? I am. Can You be trusted? I can. Some of you are facing a very different Christmas this year. Maybe it's the first Christmas without that loved one. And so, you're really having to lean in to the goodness of God. Others of you, you've been waiting a really long time for that thing. That breakthrough, that healing, that reconciliation. And you're just playing the waiting game. And it has you questioning the goodness of God and questioning whether He's actually good to you. Can I just tell you? He is and He can be trusted. So, this Christmas, may you take a cue from Mary. "I am the Lord's servant. May your word be to me fulfilled. Translation, God, You're good to me and I trust you. God is good even when the world is not. And He's not just good, He's good to you. God is good.

Because God is good, He sent Jesus to forgive me. Jesus has forgiven me. Before I do anything right and even after I do everything wrong. Check this out. "She'll give birth to a Son. You are to give Him the name, Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." Jesus, the baby born among lambs in a manger was to be the lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. Jesus, what's He here to do? To save people from their sins. How? Through forgiveness. Through complete and total forgiveness. So, Jesus has forgiven you before you do anything right and even after you do anything wrong. 100%. Not partial. Total forgiveness. When Jesus was on the cross, He said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." In that moment all of your sins, past, present and future, they were released by the forgiveness of Jesus. Now, listen if that sounds crazy, you know what's really crazy is that the sins that we can't seem to forget are the ones He can't seem to remember. As far as the east is from the west. So, I will forgive their wickedness remembering their sins no more. We can't stop thinking about it. He doesn't know what we're talking about because the word forgiven means to send away. So, just to be super clear, Jesus sent your sins away through His finished work. He doesn't want to send you away. He sent your sins away so He can draw you near. Jesus has forgiven me. Jesus has forgiven you before you do anything right. And even after you do everything wrong. And I know what you might be thinking right now. You're like, "I don't know that I deserve that." I hear you. Maybe you're feeling like, if you knew my past, if you knew what I was into right now, if you knew what was going on in my life, I'm not sure that I deserve that. And there's been lots of times in my life that I felt like I didn't deserve it either. I can think of all kinds of things I received that I did not deserve. God's grace. My beautiful family. My incredible 1989 classic Game Boy, which was the greatest Christmas present I ever received. And just to be really clear, if I would not have received that gift, I would not have become the Tetris master that I am today. Lots of gifts that I didn't think I deserved. It's a good thing it's the giver's choice. It's a good thing it's the giver's choice. The one that gives the gift is the one that makes the choice. The one that receives the gift has to make the choice to receive it. Jesus has forgiven me, giver's choice. Jesus has forgiven me, giver's choice. It was the Father's choice to give us Jesus. It was Jesus's choice to give us His life. Actively laying it down, giver's choice. We have to make the choice to decide if we're going to receive it. This Christmas not only do you believe, but would you receive that Jesus has forgiven me. See, God is good. And because He's good He sent Jesus to forgive me. Jesus has forgiven me.

And because Jesus has forgiven me, I can always and forever know that I am loved. You are loved for who you are not just for what you do. You are loved. Check this out, "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son." Christmas is when God so loved so He gave. God so loved so He gave. Have you ever even wondered why do we give gifts at Christmas? Why did I spend the last two weeks running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying not to get hit by shopping carts in the Target parking lot? Why? Why? I ask myself that often. Target parking lot is just the worst. It's the worst. It's like where Christmas cheer goes to die. So, why? Why did you do that? Why did you give the gifts? Because that first Christmas, the Father gave us the greatest gift of all, Jesus. He so loved so He gave. So, you have to understand it's love that makes the gift exceptional. Love makes the gift exceptional. You say, "No, no, no, no." Expensive makes the gift exceptional. No, love makes the gift exceptional. The love of the Father made the gift of Jesus exceptional. Why? Because you're exceptionally loved. You got to think about this. If something is only worth what someone else will pay for it, it begs a really important question. How much are you worth? Well, in order to answer that one you'd have to kind of do the math and you'd have to ask the question, "How much is a one and only worth?" One and only. No equal. Incomparable. The only one. Extravagant. There's nothing else like it. How much was the one and only worth? Because that that's what got traded for you. That's how much you were worth. You were like extraordinarily loved because you were given the extraordinary gift of Jesus. Extraordinary. Beyond ordinary is who Jesus is and that was the gift that God gave to you. And so, some of you, your whole life, you've been told, "You had no future. You're not worth anything. You're not loved. You got no value. You're worthless." Hey, hear me. That's a lie because you were worth Jesus. You were worth Jesus and He would have done it if it was only you. Because you're so loved. You're so loved. This Christmas, may you receive the fact that you are loved and may that love make you fearless. I'm convinced that much of what goes on in our life when it comes to anxiety and disappointments and when our minds play trick on us, it really comes down to the fact that we don't believe that we are loved. We just struggle to believe it. That first Christmas, baby Jesus had the Father looking down at Him with eyes of love. He looks down at you with the same eyes of love. At first Christmas, Jesus was born into love so you could be reborn into His love. May you receive that love and may that love make you fearless. And you have to understand, love isn't just a nice feeling. Love is actually goodwill towards someone else. It's when my will is good towards them. So, can I just tell you God has goodwill towards you.

Because He loves you. So, His will towards you is good. You know that phrase? Peace on earth and goodwill to men. That's peace on earth and love to mankind on whom His favor rests. You are so loved. For who you are, not just for what you do. You are loved. So, because God is good, He sent Jesus to forgive me. Jesus has forgiven me. And because Jesus has forgiven me, I can forever and always know that I am loved for who I am, not just for what I do.

And because I am loved, oh because I'm loved everything is possible. Everything is possible. Christmas proves that everything is possible. If Jesus could as a man and in His life fulfill all 300-plus prophecies that were spoken and written about Him and He can complete all those, then everything is possible. The Christmas story, the actual story in the Scripture shows that everything is possible. Watch this. "An angel of the Lord appeared and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you." So, ready? An angel of the Lord appeared to them. Everything is possible. The glory of the Lord shone. Everything is possible. I bring you good news. Angels were talking to shepherds. Everything is possible and the Creator of the universe, the One that made everything. The One in which life itself was found. A Savior has been born to you. Everything is possible. So, please, please, please, tell me in your life. What's not possible? What can't happen? Because just to be clear with man, it is impossible. With God, everything is possible. His name is Emmanuel. God with us. If God is with us, then God is for us. And if God is for us then who or what can be against us? And if nothing can be against us, then everything is possible. Everything is possible in Jesus. Christmas is really the promise of possibility. And I know for some of you right now you're like, "Whoa man. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Getting way too excited about all that." I am. And maybe this Christmas, you just expected something different. Like a service where there's jokes about bad presents and burnt casseroles and how Santa should kneel at the nativity scene. But the thing is that just won't do it. Because that's not it. That's not it. This is it.

God is so good to us that He sent Jesus that first Christmas. And Jesus lived as a man fully submitted to the Father. He talked about what the Kingdom was like and He showed us how to live in it. And He grew up and lived this perfect life. And He died an unjust, unfair death to forgive sins and defeat death once and for all because Jesus has forgiven me. And because Jesus has forgiven me, I have access to the love of the Father. I can forever and always know that I am loved. And because I'm so loved, it's wide open. Everything in my life is available to me because everything is possible. Can I just tell you? In my life, I didn't always believe this. Here's how it felt to me. God is good to some people sometimes. But it feels like He's not always good to me. And Jesus has forgiven me if I stop screwing up and say sorry a lot and ask for a lot of forgiveness and don't do it again. Don't do it again. And I am loved, but primarily for what I could do, not really for who I was. And everything is possible, it's just not really probable because I hadn't seen much of it in my life. And it only really happened to bible characters back in the day. So, I don't know. Is it going to work out? Maybe. And I felt like that for a really long time. But can I just tell you? This changed my life. Jesus changed my life. And maybe you're here and you've been to a lot of Christmases before and you just always felt like they're a little bit irrelevant. Because somewhere way down deep inside you're like, "What does a baby in a manger have to do with anything anyways?" I hear that. The thing is, He's not just a baby in a manger, is He? He's the way and the truth and the life. He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, the Savior. He is the one in which life itself is found. He is the One that is just like He's pouring His goodness all over us right now. His name is Jesus. He's not just a baby in a manger. He is Jesus. And at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess. That Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. That is the story of Christmas. This is the story of Christmas. That Father is speaking to us right now. And He's making it personal to you. And He's saying something like this. I'm not just impersonal, I am God. He is good. He has forgiven me. He is the One that loves me. And through Him he makes everything possible. Christmas not only proves that this is true. But Christmas was when for the first time in our life, we could clearly see that this is true. See? And that's what light does. Light lets you see what you couldn't see before. And that's what truth does. Truth shows you what's true in a world full of lies. So, in just a moment we're going to light candles. And as we do, the light will shine in the darkness. It will push out the darkness just like the truth of God pushes out His truth into our life and helps us understand where we have believed the lie. The lies about God that we'd heard before. The lies that we play over and over in our mind when we don't receive His truth. Light pushes out the darkness. Truth pushes out the lies that we believe.

And so, in just a moment when the candle comes to you, you'll receive it like this. It'll come straight up. And you with your candle will surrender. Will submit, will tip your candle to it just like we surrender. We submit, we tip our candle, our life to the truth of what God speaks. No matter how I feel about it. No matter if I don't fully understand it. I still submit to King Jesus in my life. So, we'll submit to what He's speaking to us even now. We'll agree by faith and as the candle gets past one person to another, we'll be reminded that that is how the story of the good news, of the truth that God's spoken gets past one person to another. One conversation at a time. One prayer, one moment and it'll shine and eventually all of the darkness, all the darkness will get pushed out of the space. And all the lies that we believed will get pushed out of our minds. Because He's speaking His truth to us right now saying, God is good even when the world is not. He's not only good. He's good to me. And Jesus has forgiven me before I do anything right, even after I do everything wrong. And I am loved for who I am, not just for what I do. And everything is possible. There is always hope in Jesus. That's the truth. He's trying to speak to our hearts even now. And it's really, really important because without Jesus, everything is dark. That's it. That's all you get. Dark life, dark past, dark future. But Jesus has come to shine a light in the darkness. He's come to bring His truth in a world full of lies. You see, when you believe the lie, you empower the liar. But when you know the truth, the truth will set you free. When you know the truth, the truth will set you free. This Christmas, may you know the truth. And may the truth set you free. I declare over you a rise and shine for His light has come. And the glory the Lord shines around you. Because Christmas proves once and for all that God is good, Jesus has forgiven me, I am loved, and everything is possible.