Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Joy Is Closer Than You Think | The Arrival | Part 3

Episode Date: December 15, 2024

When life is hard, joy can seem far away. But God promises joy in His presence. If you’re in the middle of a difficult season or know someone who is, check out this encouraging message. Joy is possible in any situation.Advent is a tradition to help us prepare our hearts for Christmas. Discover more about Advent and how you can anticipate the arrival of Jesus with these resources:A Simple Intro to the Meaning and Purpose of Advent: https://finds.life.church/meaning-purpose-of-advent/Advent: A 25-Day Countdown to Christmas Bible Plan: https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/52893-advent-a-25-day-countdown-to-christmasABOUT THIS MESSAGEIn a world desperate for hope, a light broke through the darkness. Love stepped in. Jesus changed everything—including the life that's possible for us. This December, let’s come together to celebrate The Arrival.CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS AT LIFE.CHURCHThis year, you’re invited to experience the wonder of Christmas at Life.Church. Whether you attend at a Life.Church location or with our online community at Life.Church Online, you’ll experience a welcoming environment and meaningful worship. Find a service time and location at https://www.life.church/celebratechristmasNEXT STEPSHave you made the decision to follow Jesus? You might be wondering what’s next for you. We want to help! Check out these resources to ​​discover what saying yes to Jesus means: https://www.life.church/yesABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.churchFind locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/appFIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/life.churchTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@life.churchCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/craiggroeschelFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #thearrival Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We are in a series called The Arrival talking about Advent, and I think it's been pretty cool because it kind of helps refocus and actually in many cases give us a perspective on Advent that you may or may not have had before. Now, for me and my family, we have actually done Advent celebrations and the lighting of the candles for probably somewhere 16, 17 years now. And it's always a great reflective moment to be able to focus our hearts on God. Now, an interesting story came a few last week when my 13-year-old daughter, now Miss Brooklyn, had a very curious take on the Advent story. And so we were lighting the candles into an advent, and she looks over at me and says something. And I tell her, that is so funny. I got to share that with the church. I was like, do you mind?

And she said, hmm, on one condition, you show a picture of me? And I was like, okay. And then she goes, wait, I get to pick it out. So here is Ms. Brooklyn right here. Look at her. Isn't she sweet? Yeah, she's pretty sweet. She's the one with the short curly hair in case you're wondering.

She's so sweet. But here's two more pictures of Brooklyn. She didn't say I couldn't show more, so you should have read the fine print, baby girl. Look at that center one right there. You see the sass on that face? It's that face you need to think about as I tell this story. So she looks at me and she says, so, Daddy, you know, during Advent, She goes, it would have been hard to have been Joseph, right?

And I'm like, yeah, I mean, probably, yeah, it probably would have been. She goes, oh, come on. Mama walks in, but like, I'm pregnant, but it's God, for real. And I'm like, okay, I'll give it to you. Yeah, that would have been a little difficult, you know? And she goes, yeah. And then the angel comes to you, and then you get good with it. Then you go to Bethlehem.

And then three fellas show up at your door with gifts. That had been suss. I'd been like, that might have been a little suss. Yes, that could have been. And she goes, you wouldn't have been like, he better not have any of your eyes. I'm telling you right now. I was like, girl, that is funny. I don't think that is what Joseph thought. That is by any means. But it's an interesting little funny perspective with Bible bites with Brooklyn. But if you want to focus in and see, what is the real Advent story? It is found in our scriptures and in Luke chapter 2. And today we're going to go to the scripture to determine what is Advent all about. And if you would, and if you are able at all of our locations, if you wouldn't mind standing for the hearing and the reading of God's word in the book of Luke chapter two. A familiar passage, but don't miss the power. And there were shepherds living out in their fields nearby, keeping watch over their flock at night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, do not be afraid. For I bring you good news that will call. great joy. Everybody say great joy. Great joy for all of the people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be assigned to you.

You'll find a baby wrapped in clothes and lying in a manger. And suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rest. And when the angel had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherd said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told to them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to them.

but Mary treasured up all of these things and pondered them in our heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying, and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. May God bless to us the reading, hearing, and the receiving of His word. You may be seated. We are, as Pastor Craig said, continuing on in our Advent series known as the arrival. Pastor Craig on week one talked about the candle of hope. And then week two, we lit the candle of peace.

Today, we are going to be lighting the candle of joy. This candle is peak, actually representing the change in a typically somber tone and actually representing as our hearts prepare the way for the Messiah in the context of him coming and the rejoicing of his birth. So we represent joy with our pink candle. Would you pray with me? Lord Jesus, we thank you for the joy that can be ire's as we focus our hearts on you this season. I pray that your joy would be in our hearts and in our mouths.

It's in Jesus' name I pray. And everybody said, amen. So I can't start talking about joy without starting to tell you about Ms. Beverly. So Ms. Beverly was my Sunday school teacher at my little country church back in Texas. And Miss Beverly, one of my favorite things that she did, she was always giving us like the Stoufers puffed animal crackers with a little bitty cup of apple juice. And that was one of my favorite times. And she could work a felt board like nobody's business.

And if you know, you know. She could make a felt board look like an IMAX movie. It was amazing. And it was funny because I think at my church they must have had budget cuts. Because Joseph was also Abraham and Moses and sometimes David. And you know what? I had a full circle moment during the series Unshakeable a few weeks ago. And I actually did a screen grab.

And I show you, Pastor Craig even got in on the act. right here. Look at that. Y'all actually zoom in on Pastor Craig. Look at this. Get my Joseph from, sir. That was my Joseph, Mr. Beverly used. And now Pastor Craig was talking about him being Daniel. And it was such a full circle moment. I was like, I'm back with Miss Beverly. It was amazing. And Miss Beverly would always, during the context of the Advent season, she would have all of us kids sing this song. And if you know it, by chance, you're welcome to join in with me. And if not, I'll be a fool for the of Jesus and stand up here and sing this song for you. It goes like this. I got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart. Where? Down in my heart. Where down in my heart? I got the joy, joy, joy, joy,

joy down in my heart. It's down in my heart to stay. Oh, we're not done, because we're so happy, so very happy. We've got the love of Jesus in our heart, down in our heart, and we're so happy. So very happy, we got the love of Jesus in our heart. Yeah, right? Okay. All right. Some of y'all went to Miss Beverly's class, too. All right.

And here's the thing. What you need to know is when you walk through difficult things during Advent, during the Christmas season, how do you keep the joy? Well, the answer is actually in the lyrics to the little kid song. it's because you can get the joy, joy, joy, down in your heart. It's because you've got the love of Jesus in your heart, and you can experience his joy. And that is actually, in some total, the answer to the question you seek to find joy. And that's where we're going to end up.

But why not take the scenic group, right? because it's so fun. I was in my living room a week or two ago, and I was talking with my second oldest daughter, Hannah, and her husband, Keaton. They were considering buying house. So we're in there and we're talking about different things, about interest rates and loan terms and markets and all this kind of stuff. And we're talking about this. And my six-year-old Kaysen comes into the room. And he says, I know all about this. I go, well, you don't know nothing about a loan. What are you talking about? You You don't know anything about this, and he goes, I do know about it. And when Kaysen starts to get mad in the house, you best back up a little bit.

So I'm like, okay. I'm like, well, what do you know about this then, buddy? And he looks right at me. He goes, don't you remember when I was in the ocean? And the water was salty, and it stoned my eyes. And I was like, okay? And then I got out, and I sat on the ground, and I took the sand, and I threw it up like that. It got in my hair.

I was like, boy, what does that have to do with alone, man? You're crazy. He goes, no! What are you talking about? He said, when I was in the ocean and it stung my eyes and it bothered me, I was with my family. I was never alone. I said, buddy, your thoughts are higher than my thoughts right now. I'm a dad, but I didn't see that dad joke coming.

I was like, dang. Oh, man, and it's funny and it's silly until it's not, and you feel alone in the context of a season where you feel like you really shouldn't. You feel like, man, I should be alone, and this season can be tough. And maybe you feel alone because you have a broken relationship. Maybe you feel alone because your giftless is one less gift, and it hurts because that person is no longer with you. Maybe you, like some people tell me,

they can be at all the Christmas parties and all the things and feel alone in a crowd. today I want you to know that I think many of the biblical characters understand exactly what that was like I mean imagine Mary and Joseph you're walking around living in Nazareth this really really small community and all of the sudden angel Gabriel peers tells Mary hey you're going to have a baby she then you know has to go tell Joseph about that we've already established it was difficult for Joseph right and so Joseph here's this news What in the world? An angel comes to him. They start talking. They start trying to figure it all out. And I'll guarantee you in that little town, the rumors grew every bit as quick as Mary's belly did. But as a young couple, they probably begin to think, where are we going to have this baby? What are we going to do? And they started to try to plan. And maybe we could have it over at your mom's like second at that over there or maybe over there at uncle's house. And we could have this baby. And they begin to plan. And then all of a sudden, everything gets messed up. You see, well, Caesar Augustus, determines that he's going to take a census of the whole Roman world, and everybody then has to return to the place of their original heritage. So he, being of the line of David, has to go to

the city of David, aka Bethlehem. But there's a problem. Bethlehem is 90 miles away. And there is no lady who has ever had a baby or is pregnant right now who would ever want to sign up to go on a 90-mile journey on the back of a donkey. Not going to happen. And I promise you, there's no fella who's going to want to take that lead rope and then take her from Nazareth to Bethlehem stopping at every bush along the way. Not going to happen. But I can imagine as they're walking. And they get a little bit closer to Bethlehem and they're off in the horizon. You see the palace of Herod. And I wonder if they were like, hey, Mary, it is going to be the creator of the world. It is God's son. I wonder if somebody's going to pop out of the palace and be like,

Hey, look, that's crazy, man. Come on in. We got an extra room. Heron will never know. Don't worry about it. And then our baby would be born in a palace. But then they walk right on by the palace and nobody pops out. And they get on down towards Bethlehem and they see it off on the horizon.

And maybe Joseph was like, Mary, maybe somebody that we don't even know is just going to jump out and be like, hey, we got a place. Come stay with us. This is terrible. Look at you. You need a place to be. But nobody did that. Joseph's like, well, you know, okay, we can go to the end. I'll just pay for a room.

We'll be okay. And then if you know the story, well, there was no room there either. But at least the innkeeper was kind enough to say, well, you could at least stay out here where my animals are. And, of course, that's every girl's dream, right, to deliver a baby right there with a cow's and sheep and all the things. No, it's not exactly what Mary thought may have been the plan when she was originally told. by God, you are going to have the Savior of the world, my son. Maybe you find yourself in a whole mess of unmet expectations. But I want you to take heart this Advent season, because things can change suddenly.

We see it in Scripture very, very often. And perhaps you've been in a place where it's years of grinding and a situation has just been tough. You find a tough relationship that it's just a young. just difficult for you, or years of unanswered prayers, or maybe an addiction, you just cannot break free from. But this Advent season take heart because things can change suddenly. And we see this in the scripture, actually. If you look here at Acts chapter 2, verse 2, the Bible says, talking about Pentecost, it says, suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven.

Or in Acts 9, in the story where Saul is traveling to Damascus. on the road. It says as he neared Damascus on his journey, everybody say it. Suddenly, a light from heaven flashed around him. And then in our own story that we're looking at today in Luke 2, the Bible says, suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel. And you need to know that your circumstance can change suddenly. Advent brings forth a season of belief, maybe even an expectation. a longing, a desperation for God to speak in the context of our brokenness and our loneliness and our darkness, that maybe a joy would suddenly burst forth.

And that is exactly what happened to a group of shepherds. The angel burst forth for the shepherds. We see that God proclaimed good news. In fact, we heard it. The angel said, I bring you good news of great joy that was to all people. And what the angel proclaimed, God demonstrated clearly by delivering the message to a group of shepherds. You see, shepherds would have been a very, very, at the best, a very common low task. In fact, in most of our ancient lives, they would have been considered outcast and definitely

because of their job unclean. In fact, they would have not been able to go even to the outer court of the temple without walking through various ceremonial rituals to cleanse them from their uncleanliness. I find it interesting, though, that God chose some lowly shepherds who were just finishing up a long day and we're sitting around a campfire at night and got the sheep all put away, then suddenly an angel appeared and says, I bring you guys some good news, some great joy. It's for everybody. It's for everybody. And those people whom the religious society and the world would have said are unclean. God says, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're just who I need to go

actually, come over here to Bethlehem, and I want you to stand, actually, in the very presence of my son, the Messiah, the Lord. I proclaim you to be able to speak that good news. You ever feel a little bit like you're unworthy, you're not ready, you don't have all the boxes checked? The shepherds may have felt that way, but God said, I've checked them all through the context of my sons of birth and the salvation that he is going to bring to the world, because this is good news of a great joy for you. And the shepherds arrive, and they proclaim this good news. And I wonder, as Mary sat and listened, could you imagine being the shepherds? I would have been thinking, they're going to think we're crazy. We're walking up in here,

telling them that like an angel showed up, and that this child, they have no context for all this. They just show up and they tell Mary. Remember all those such of unmet expectations. I don't think that Mary didn't necessarily believe that he was the Messiah. But boy, I tell you what, you ever felt like God told you to do something and the expectations are a little bit different? And then all of a sudden you start being like, I did hear that right, right? I mean, I know, I'm sure it was Gabriel. Yeah, I remember, no, I know this has got to be right.

And then some Holy Shepherd show up and be like, guys, this baby, he's him. He is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. I know because an angel from heaven came and told us and told us to come here and find this baby. And you know what? I bet Mary's like, oh snap, I know about angels. I had that happen to me. See, she didn't think they were crazy. She was like, I've had this happen to me. Oh my gosh, the reassurance that you are in fact doing exactly what God proclaims. Man, maybe you could one day just be a shepherd to see. somebody else. All of a sudden, God speaks to you and you take away the fact that you feel unworthy, you don't know enough about the Bible, you don't know this, but all you need to know is that God has selected and chosen you to be his vessel of encouragement and assurance to someone else and bring them a word of great joy to proclaim good news. But guys, there is a very fundamental and difference between joy and happiness that we got to talk about today. Because our culture is twisted all up about what it is. Okay? And I'm going to break it down for you real

quick. And it's simply the fact that joy isn't an emotion, it's a choice. Joy isn't an emotion, it's a choice. It's not some exuberant, ecstatic feeling you get because you get that first sip feeling of Starbucks or your favorite team won or whatever it may be and you high-fiving and you're excited, that's not it. Joy is actually a choice. Let me illustrate it with scripture. Up here, I'll put a few scriptures for you. Let's take a look at Second Corinthians chapter 7. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. Oh boy, that sounds messed up, doesn't it? In my affliction, I'm overflowing with joy makes no sense. Neither does this one. We find in Colossians 1. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake. That's crazy. What kind of, what is that?

But then it gets worse. Look at James 1, 2. Consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds. What is wrong with James? What is wrong with these guys? Don't they know what happiness is? They probably do, but they know what joy is better. And it's different. In this verse right here, that word consider is a Greek word called Hegeomai. The idea is that you give careful consideration and thought to what you're about to do and that you make a very discerned and dedicated decision towards something better. You, in other words, count the cost. We see Paul talk about this a lot, and I want you to look at this in Philippians 3, and I'm putting this up here so you can see it. What is more, Paul says, I consider, I've thought about this, guys, I consider everything a loss. Why? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For whose sake, I've lost all things, I consider, I've thought about it, I consider it a bunch of garbage that I may gain Christ. There you have it. There you have it. Joy is not an emotion. Because if it were, these scriptures couldn't be true. You see, joy is actually a choice when you fix your eyes actually

on something else. And in our society, be this idea of your way out the pros and cons. You know, if you're going to take the job, you're not going to take the job, you're going to do this, you're going to do that. You think about the pros and cons list. And as a dedicated follower of Christ, when you look at your pros and cons, it doesn't matter how high you want to stack that con list because Paul said already, I consider that whole list a bunch of garbage. Because I consider this right here. This pro of knowing Jesus, my Lord and Savior, to outweigh all of the cons you can stack up against it. As a pastor for 27 years, I hear people, and maybe you've heard this too from a dear friend. I hear people say things like this. They'll say, it usually comes after the

The wound is a scar, meaning there's been some time past, months, years in some cases. And they'll say something like, you know, Sam, I never would have asked to go through this. But because of what God has done, I would never choose to remove it. As somebody who has got their eyes set somewhere different. You see, in Hebrews 12, too, we see a scripture that. that paints this picture from our Lord and Savior himself perfectly. It says that looking to Jesus, the author, the perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,

despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. What's joyous about the cross? Is it being flogged joyous? That's not joyous. Being stripped naked? That's not joyous. How about being criss? crucified with, you know, spikes running through your wrist and through your feet and dying,

a suffocating death. There's nothing joyous about that. But what the scripture says is for the joy that was set before him, you see, Jesus' mind wasn't on all that. It was on something different. It was on, well, you, actually, and me. It was the joy that he could just know that you could find forgiveness. The weight that you're feeling right now, it can be lifted. And it's that joy that drove him to the cross. It was for the freedom you can find from the addiction that holds you captive. It was that joy that he knew you could have, and because of it, he went to the cross. It's for that that you can experience. And we see Jesus, look. Look. past his circumstance and make a dedicated and a specific decision to focus on joy. You see,

joy emanates from a different place than our circumstance. It emanates from a centeredness on Christ and his goodness in our lives. I want you to think about this for just a second. because we spend a lot of time and energy trying to find happiness and comfort and all of those things. But I need you and I beg you to understand that the greatest enemy of joy isn't pain. It's distraction. The greatest enemy of joy is not pain. It is distraction. During the Christmas season, the reason you can feel burned out, tired, hurt. All the things is because what happens is we begin to focus on the gift list and the presents and the things and all of the things you've got to do and all of the all of the allure. And our eyes just, they just do like this. It's slight, but we lose joy when we lose our focus. The angel proclaimed, there's good news, great joy.

Today, today in the city of David. You see, every single day you get out of bed is a day that has joy. If you have eyes to see it. But most of us make a mistake. I know I do. And it sounds like this. We let our one days rob you of your two days. You know, one day when you're going to get married.

One day when I'm healed. One day when I score my dream job or when my spouse finally changes or when I find balance or whenever I get over that relationship, whenever I get more money. one day and it'll rob you of your two day or it's your yesterday right now if i had only savored that moment of the way if i hadn't made that mistake if that hadn't happened to me if only and yesterday starts to mess up your two day so recently i was at a funeral and when i was there they started showing a video with a bunch of pictures on it. And I started watching the video

and all these pictures of the person who had passed away. And I thought to myself, I wonder if they knew that that picture was going to end up in their funeral camera roll. The answer is no, they didn't know that. Neither to you. But then I thought, I wonder if they knew

that there was joy in that moment. Did they, did they, did they see it? I tell you, it was so impactful to me that now every time I pull this old thing out and I do one of these, I pause. And I think, do I see it? When I go to take that picture, I just stop for just a second. And I think, am I in it? Do I feel it? The joy that transcends my circumstance. You see, I started looking at it. I started looking at it. a bunch of pictures actually. A bunch of pictures of my family.

And what I want to do is I want to focus for you on a few. Look at this one here. Oh, goodness. She's 21 now. Here's the other picture of her I took last year. That picture? That's a selfie I took with her right before the barn doors open and I walked her down the aisle.

And while I look at it and it's like, like, man, there's a lot of years. There's a lot of years. It doesn't feel like a lot of years. And I know there were a lot of moments that my one day's got in the midst of the two days, and I didn't see it. I missed the joy. Then there were a couple of other pictures here. Here's one of us camping last year. It's me and my crew and their spouse, or soon to be spouse. And I, uh, it was 10 people and I was cooking on cast iron for 10 people and that robbed a joy out of anybody's soul right there, I guarantee you. But boy, when I took this picture, I did think, that's a good day. And then this one here, this of my son Benjamin, where he's out on the front

of my boat running the trolling motor. And I took this picture and I distinctly remember looking down at my phone and I was like, oh my goodness. I could hear his real. I could hear his spinning out and his bait hitting the water and I could hear the birds chirping off there when I could hear the water lapping against the side of the boat and I thought it's a good day savor it be in that moment because so many times we miss them and then there was this picture here yeah you just needed a little lighthearted moment right there and quite honestly every sister has felt this way about her brother I could almost guarantee you at some point in their life. Oh, but then there's this one. So that's me and my dad.

He passed away December 30th, 2005. And this picture here is one of the last pictures that I took at just he and I together. But I didn't know it was going to be. So how do you do it? How do you walk through a hard season, a difficult season, a time? during Advent, oh my gosh, it can be hurried, hectic, and, well, just downright hard. Remember, I already told you, actually. Remember, we got the joy, joy, joy, joy. And when you have the love of Jesus and you find your heart not being distracted, but focused on the love of Jesus, then what you find is that that baby in a manger,

born in Bethlehem destined for Calvary, when we focus ourselves on him, you can realize that, oh, boy, you can have hope and you can have peace, and you can most certainly have joy. Would you all pray with me today? As you're praying in this attitude of prayer, man, today maybe, as we're thinking, And you're like, you know what, Sam? I would love to be able to just be able to find myself, not getting distracted from all of the things that could be and to truly focus on Jesus and Him crucified. And may He set forth the joy for me.

And you want to find yourself this season, this Advent season, focusing on His joy for you. May I'd love to be able to pray for you. Just lift up your hand. May all of us want to have a little bit of joy and have our focus on Him. Absolutely. Lord Jesus, I pray that in this season of Advent, that can be. be hurried and hectic. I pray that we don't lose ourselves finding focus on you. May we not be distracted by all of the things that vie for our attention, but that may we find focus on you

and your love for us and in that find great joy. Still praying today in an attitude of prayer, I just want to say, there's some of you, that guess what? There's good news. Oh, there's some good news and it brings great joy that today, today there is a Savior who is calling your name. And I love it the fact that you want to know what? A bunch of shepherds who they were not pronounced clean in any way. God didn't say, hey, fellas, I got a whole checklist for you to go through before you go and see my son. Oh no. He said, you know what, guys? Go. Go now. Go see my son. I'm so proud of him. And you can find he is the Messiah. He is in. And, You today, you don't have to jump through a bunch of hoops.

In fact, there's only one thing the Bible says you really have to do. And that is profess with your mouth. Believe it in your heart that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Lord. And you can find forgiveness. You can find hope. And oh, you can find joy in the meaning and the forgiveness of Jesus. And that's why God's brought you here today to say yes to a relationship with him.

At all of our locations today, that is you to say yes to Jesus. Come into my life. Be my Lord and be my Savior. Lift your hands boldly right now saying, yes, Jesus, come in, take over. Be my Lord, be my Savior. Yes, absolutely. Others of you today who would say, Jesus, come in, be my Lord, be my Savior. Just lift up your hand.

Those of you online, type it in the chat saying, yes, Jesus, come in, take over, be my Lord, be my Savior. Are there any others who would say today? That's me. Jesus, come in, be my Lord, be my Savior. Yes, right over here to my back right. Welcome to God's God. It's a decision many times we make with our heads bowed and our eyes closed, but we proclaim it together. So repeat this prayer after me.

Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing good news of great joy. I ask Jesus to be my Lord, to be my Savior, forgive me in my sins, and make me new. Help me to find hope. Help me to find peace. And help me to find joy. in you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Everybody said, amen.