The Gift for Us All: The Wonderful News for Spiritual Zeroes

Christmas time is here. Happiness and cheer. Fun for all that children call their favorite time of year. Christmas can be so much fun! There are incredible things about this time of year and one for my family is watching movies we only watch during December. And one I have memorized from watching it over and over again since I was a kid is the Grinch. Not the weird Jim Carrey one, not the animated remake from 2018. I’m talking the old school 1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Slide of some shots from the movie Most of us know this story. There’s this town called Who-ville filled with Whos that love Christmas. They decorate like crazy, have huge parties, give each other great presents, it’s a time of so much fun and joy. But the Grinch, who lives just north of Whoville, hates Christmas. Like so much so that he spends the story trying to seek, kill and destroy Christmas for all the Whos in Whoville.

The holidays are a tricky time. It can be easy to become a Grinch. We can get overwhelmed by the plans and the decor and the spoken and unspoken expectations. We watch people drink their spiked egg nog in their ridiculous ugly Christmas sweaters, as they rock around the Christmas tree. Some of us just want to escape and hide in a cave on a mountain in our too tight shoes for the next month.

When we take a step back from all the decking of the halls and fa-la-la-ing, we can take a look at why we have Christmas, what’s cause for all this celebration that the Grinches among us hates so much?

So much of Christmas is about gifts. We give and receive gifts. And we do that to remember the gift of Christmas. And the gift of Christmas is what? (wait for folks to answer) Yes, well done. And here’s another one: who’s that gift for? (wait again) Nicely done, yes, the answer is, it’s for everyone! And while that might sound simple, the gift of Christmas is Jesus and it’s for everyone… I want to suggest that we make it so much more complicated than that. Sometimes our idea of Christmas and how it actually plays out can be two very different things.

When we look at the Christmas story, it’s not at all what was imagined in the hundreds of years of prophesies surrounding the coming messiah. Slide People expected a king in a royal palace from well-bred parents. Slide We got a pregnant unmarried teen and a carpenter in Bethlehem. Slide We imagine the arrival of a king with fanfare and confetti and a huge party and a parade. Slide Jesus’s arrival was announced by a host of angels who visited socially outcast, dirty, stinky shepherds.

To celebrate his birth, Slide Jesus didn’t receive gifts from the royal court, Slide he got lavish gifts from pagan stargazers from the east.

Jesus comes to show us that the gift of Christmas, the gift that is himself, is for those we wouldn’t expect. And he tells us all about it in the first recorded sermon in the book of Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount. This series is called “The Gift for Us All” because, well, Jesus and his kingdom are for everyone. And Jesus tells us about who exactly those unexpected everyone’s are in the Beatitudes. Today we are going to talk about how the kingdom God is for the poor in spirit. We’ll discuss how our biases cause us to decide who is in and who is out and what we can do with the best gift ever.

PRAY

The Beatitudes begin in Matthew 5. Right before this, in chapter 4, Jesus called his first disciples and he began preaching. News about what he was saying spread quickly and crowds from places like Syria, Galilee, Jerusalem and Judea started following him. Jesus was both teaching them as well as healing them.

Let’s try to imagine this. All of the sudden, this carpenter from Nazareth shows up, invites a bunch of weirdos to follow him and goes around healing people who have all sorts of diseases, people suffering from intense pain, demon possessed, people experiencing seizures, people who were paralyzed. If we got to see this, or experience healing or someone we know got healed, we’d probably start to wonder what the heck was going on and try to make sense of what was happening.

So these people were following Jesus around and the crowds kept getting bigger. When we roll into Matthew 5, we begin with Jesus talking to a crowd of people up on a mountain.‌

Dallas Willard describes Jesus' way of teaching here as show and tell. These people got to see and experience the kingdom first hand. And then he wanted to teach them about his kingdom. As they experience healing and freedom, I imagine there were tears of joy, incredible celebration, hope restored in people who were otherwise hopeless. So, now that they've experienced his kingdom, Jesus is going to tell them about it.

He goes on to say that if you want to experience God’s goodness, grace and mercy, the beatitudes show you how to find it in some unexpected people.

The Beatitudes describe all humans as having equal access to the kingdom of God. This crowd of people would’ve been made up of common folk, farmers, laborers, fishermen, carpenters, marginalized… Jesus says if you want to find the kingdom, it’s you guys, it’s yours, it’s here, the wonderful news is that it’s for you! And to them, to so many in the crowd, they’re among the last anyone would expect God’s kingdom to include. They expect to be excluded, because they already are. They imagine the kingdom is for the righteous, the religious leaders, those who had authority and power. Their status equals their inclusion because that’s what they’ve been taught. So many of these people would’ve seen themselves as excluded outsiders.

Each of the 9 beatitudes begins with the word “blessed”. Blessed as it’s used here is like saying the best of the best, the most amazing life possible, is for these kinds of people.

As Jesus starts the sermon on the mount, he says this. Matthew 5:3, Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

And while we may even hear that and think, ok, what’s it means to be poor in spirit And why is it so unexpected to find the best possible life in them?

1. What is a Spiritual Zero?

In the Divine Conspiracy, author Dallas Willard calls them “spiritual zeroes”. He says it like this (Slide): “Blessed are the spiritual zeroes, the spiritually bankrupt, the deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars, those without a ‘wisp’ of religion—when the kingdom of heaven comes upon them.” Willard goes on to say “people you’d never call on when spiritual work is to be done. No one imagines you have any thoughts worth sharing.”

Dallas Willard in the Divine Conspiracy calls them spiritual zeroes. He says it like this (Slide): “Blessed are the spiritual zeroes, the spiritually bankrupt, the deprived and deficient, the spiritual beggars, those without a ‘wisp’ of religion—when the kingdom of heaven comes upon them.” Willard goes on to say “people you’d never call on when spiritual work is to be done. No one imagines you have any thoughts worth sharing.”‌

A spiritual zero has no background in religious studies, their spiritual knowledge is basically non-existent or they’ve maybe even rejected Jesus. When it comes to understanding the kingdom of God, making sense of the scriptures, spiritual zeroes are people we’d not only never ask for help, but would probably be someone we’re concerned about because their beliefs are so messed up. We may consider them inferior, uneducated or so out there, we wouldn’t even know where to begin in having a conversation with them about Jesus.

Lots of people in the crowd that day would have identified like this. Back then, to understand scripture, to make sense of religion, you would’ve gone to a synagogue and learned from a rabbi who could explain it to you. Only 10-15% of people could read. Scripture was learned from listening and memorizing. Those in the crowd would be people who felt distant from God, either because of their position in society, the things they lacked in terms of education or literacy or because their world told them they were spiritually bankrupt. They were taught that if they didn’t adhere perfectly to the law, God was far from them.

Listening to Jesus would’ve been a surprising experience for many in the crowd. How is it possible that the kingdom of God, that the good news, that those who are welcomed include the poor in spirit?

They would’ve thought, “the Pharisees and priests, the Levites, they’re totally blessed, they know and follow all the rituals and rules. But me? I’m just trying to make ends meet, to make it through the day and provide for my family and not screw it up any worse than I already have.” To hear that the kingdom of God, that the gift of Jesus is for them would have been confusing and surprising.‌

Jesus wanted them, Jesus wants us, to know that the kingdom of God is not reserved for the spiritual elite. At that time, this teaching would have been revolutional.

(Pause)

‌Let’s try to imagine we’re there. We’re on the mountainside, hearing Jesus say this. We’re maybe a fisherman or a tax collector like Matthew. Even in this group of vagabonds around us, there is one particular group, if Jesus had smiled and pointed at them and said, yes, it’s for them too, those of us in the crowd would’ve been shocked and outraged.‌

Slide of magi And we find those people in the Christmas story. After Jesus was born, a group from the east saw a star in the sky, understood that to mean something about the arrival of the promised messiah, and took off. These people practiced magical arts and astrology, which was forbidden in Jewish law. These men would’ve been Gentiles, outsiders of Jewish faith and culture. But for some reason, they traveled hundreds of miles searching for Jesus.

The crowd would’ve considered the Magi spiritual zeroes. Maybe most in the crowd couldn’t follow Jewish law, but at least they weren’t as far off as these guys who practiced weird divination stuff and looked for meaning in the sky.

Jesus says the wonderful news of God’s kingdom is for the spiritually poor not because of anything about them but because, ok again, what is the gift of Christmas? Yep, it’s Jesus. And who is it for? Yes again. Jesus is for everyone.

Even if you happen to be a spiritual zero, it doesn’t matter. And we get this, right? Yes, we get that the gift of Jesus that we celebrate at Christmas really is for everyone, spiritual zeroes included. But do we actually live this way?

We often use our performance-based biases to determine whether ourselves and others deserve to receive the wonderful news Jesus brings with what I’m gonna call a kind of spiritual report card.

2. Our Spiritual Report Card

We live in a society that values production and output. We earn accolades or punishment based on our good or bad performance. From an early age, kids are taught right and wrong from hearing things like “good boy” or “bad girl”. As we grow, our achievements or lack there of define us accordingly: we’re rewarded for solid grades in school, or playing a sport and winning the game or receiving applause after a solid band, choir or play performance.

We even use the word blessed, don’t we followers of Jesus, whenever we’re doing well, when good things happen. We say, “wow, look at those good things we did and earned, we are blessed! A life filled with awards, accolades, achievements and success, that’s the good life!”

And when we mess up, when we fail, we have to repeat a class, or drop out or get kicked off the team. We think about what we could’ve done differently, how we could’ve studied better, if only we’d caught the ball, anticipated that question on the test, better memorized our lines.…

Growing up, our parents give us consequences when we make a mistake (sit in time out, go to your room) or a coach makes you run laps when you mess up a play, have an attitude or lose a game. When we perform well at work, we get promoted. When we mess up, we could get reprimanded or fired.

A mistake or misunderstanding could lead to losing a friendship or a breakup. Based on our desire to be loved, cared for, or noticed, we act certain ways. Or, because of our poor performance, we make decisions never to do that thing again, never to lie again, never to talk behind someone’s back again, never to try out for a team ever again, that we suck and there’s no hope for us.

From our upbringing, from these kinds of experiences, we grade ourselves. How are we doing, how blessed are we? Some of us think we’re doing pretty well and live as if we deserve this kingdom of God.

When we get good grades

Slide: A+ and list accomplishments, like a report card We read the Bible, we pray, we go to church all the time, we go to small group, we tithe, we volunteer at church, we’re generous in our community, our actions prove that we’re in!

Yay us, we get an A+, we get to be seated at the right hand of God for our super holy work. Truly, these are great things and if all of us lived this way, imagine what a difference we could make in the world!‌

But the teaching doesn’t say blessed is the small group attender, the intercessor, the giver, the goodie two shoes. When we rate ourselves based on our solid performance, we’re missing out. Jesus tells this story, this parable, in Luke 18.

Luke 18:9–14 Starting in verse 9: “To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.””

I love how Luke starts this section with being really clear about who this teaching is for, “to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.” This imaginary Pharisee is saying, “Look at how great I am! I fast, I tithe. Thank you, Heavenly Father, that I’m way better than those awful heathens.”

So often we think our accomplishments are what matter because they matter to our world. The education we get, the job we have, the money we make, the house we live in, the car we drive, our friends, the white picket fence and 2.5 kids… that’s the blessed life! We focus on what we do, instead of on what God has done for us.

All we have to do, (which is sometimes so incredibly difficult because it’s so incredibly upside down from how our culture works), is let go and surrender. Releasing our pride and self reliance is key to kingdom living.

Some of us give ourselves good grades, but I’m betting more often than not, we usually give ourselves bad grades.

When we get bad grades

Tax collectors weren’t great people. They could be terrible people in fact, taking money from people who could barely make ends meet, stealing and demanding as much as they wanted. Some of us identify with the tax collector. We think we’re the worst. We’ve lied, we’ve cheated, we’ve manipulated people to get what we want, we’ve exaggerated, we struggle over and over again with the same sins and temptations. We don’t read the Bible enough, we say we’ll attend a small group but just never seem to make the time, we’ll serve somewhere eventually, we’re just so busy right now.

Eventually our finances will make enough sense and we can be generous. We know we have these things we struggle with, but no matter who hard we try, we just can’t stop doing them. We think our doubts, failures, actions or inaction disqualify us from God’s kingdom.

Or maybe we mostly make good choices, but we’re not so sure about this whole God thing. Maybe we were at one point but the older we get, the more we learn, the more life comes our way, what we seemed so sure of growing up hasn’t held up over the years. We try really hard to live a good life and hope that’s enough. But no matter how much we try, we still find ourselves, anxious, exhausted, unfulfilled and lonely. That sure doesn’t seem like God’s kingdom so why even put in the effort?

Some of us count ourselves out because of what’s been said by someone in our lives. Maybe as a kid someone told us we’re slow, we’ll never amount to anything, we’re too shy, we’re lazy, we’re ugly, we’re a screwup. These words spoken over us can have significant impact on the way we live our lives. They can make us feel hopeless, insecure and powerless.‌

Or, we look at the Beatitudes list and think, ok in order to be in, we need to be like that. We need to become poor in spirit. We don’t need to know all this stuff about God, we just need to blindly believe and trust. That’s not the point, either!

The Beatitudes aren’t a list of character traits, a spiritual score card, if we don’t know anything about God, if we’re not sad or meek, if we’re merciful or filled with peace or persecuted for our faith, … Because we’re not these things, we get an F. slide The point of this list isn’t to try to become a certain way. It’s that even if you are poor in spirit, you’re still in!

What does the tax collector say? “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” It’s God’s freely given mercy and grace that opens up the kingdom to us, even if we happen to find ourselves like the tax collector. The kingdom of God is for this tax collector not because he was a tax collector, not because he stole and manipulated and made himself rich by taking from the poor, obviously not because of any of that.

Luke 18:13 ““But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’” It’s because of his posture. He recognized his lack and humbly came to God empty handed.

Jesus came to set right what the world made wrong. The world sucks sometimes, doesn’t it? There are truly awful people in this world. And we may think we’re one of them. No matter what has been said about us, no matter what we have or haven’t done, we’re in, we belong, we’re loved, accepted, seen and forgiven. The wonderful news of the kingdom, the best of the best life is available to us even if we’re the worst!

No matter what we have or haven’t done, how much we pray or don’t, if we read the Bible every day or only attend church at Christmas and Easter… blessed are the poor in spirit, the kingdom of heaven belongs to us. Why? Because it’s not about our words and our actions, it’s about his words and his actions.

Not only can we be pretty hard on ourselves and decide what we do and don’t deserve based on our spiritual performance… we do the same to others.

How we grade others

Back to us imagining we’re part of the sermon on the mount crowd and Jesus points at the magi and is like, Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” People would be thinking “ok, maybe I could be in, maybe I can see that, but surely not them! They’re Gentiles, they practice magic, they worship the stars, what the heck, Jesus?”

When the magi arrived 30 years before this, they were foreigners entering Jewish territory. They would’ve imagined how they’d be received by these people, they would’ve known they’d stick out like a sore thumb. They knew their presence would be shocking. And they went anyway. They were searching for the kingdom and they wouldn’t stop until they found it.

The story of the magi ends like this in Matthew 2:9–11 “…and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.”‌

Jesus is a child here. He doesn’t start his public ministry until he’s 30. There are no signs, no wonders, no water into wine, sick, demon possessed, lame being healed and set free.

Nothing that would normally led these super smart humans to the conclusion that they found the king. What happened? How did they know? These spiritual zeroes from the east show up at Jesus’s home, something happens within them, somehow they recognize him… and they bow down and worship. These people, who one no would’ve believed would be accepted into God’s family, are in. They’ve found it.

God’s kingdom is radically inclusive. It’s for the spiritual zeroes like the wise men and the spiritual zeroes in our lives today.‌

Who might we consider a spiritual zero today? Who are we excluding because of their beliefs, behaviors, or appearances? Who are the Magi today? Could it be refugees, immigrants, people with unconventional spiritual journeys?

Maybe it’s atheists. Maybe it’s a televangelist who exploits faith for their own personal gain. Or someone who views politics as their religion, who aligns more with a political party than the truth of scripture. A Muslim or Mormon.

Maybe it’s people struggling with addiction, or those wrestling with doubt or mental health challenges. Maybe it’s those who have been divorced. Maybe it’s the jerk who ba-hum-bugs all over Christmas. Maybe it’s rich people who have all that money, worship wealth, whose money is their god. Maybe it’s someone who is same sex attracted or transexual.

We look around at others, judge their actions, and grade them based on what we can see. We may write off some of these spiritual nut jobs, but a lot of them have thought about God more than many Christians have. They could be closer to the kingdom than those who are apathetic. Lots of Christians have this disinterested, lukewarm attitude towards God’s kingdom.

How might our spiritual report card be getting in the way of sharing the wonderful news with people in our lives we’ve already prejudged?

This week, let’s start to think about who the spiritual zeroes are in our lives. If someone comes to mind, great, write them down or hold them in your thoughts. If someone isn’t coming to mind, ask God to highlight someone or multiple someone’s. It’ll happen, I promise. And we’ll come back to a specific challenge about those people he’s bringing to mind here in a couple minutes.

Ok, we grade ourselves and others, deciding if we or they really deserve the good and beautiful life. But again, Christmas is about a gift, right? The gift of Christmas is (Jesus) and it’s for (everyone). So, if the kingdom really is a gift, what do we do with it?

3. What to do with the gift.

At Christmastime, we have gifts on the mind. We wrap them up to give to people we love, we see them in store displays or on the church stage.

And while it’s true that Jesus is the gift for everyone we celebrate at Christmas, there’s even more here in the Beatitudes. He’s not just showing and telling us something about the gift, he helps us see how incredibly amazing the giver of this gift is. What do we do with the gift? We get to appreciate the giver.

Appreciate the giver.

The Christmas after my grandma passed away, I received an unexpected gift from my parents. The box was tiny and light weight, it didn’t feel like anything was in there. And when I opened it, I saw a simple chain with a diamond on it. It was a nice gift for sure and then my dad went on to explain that the diamond was from my grandma’s engagement ring. He and my mom had it made into a necklace for me to remember my grandma who they knew meant so much to me. When I understood the meaning behind the gift, I was overwhelmed, I still sometimes get emotional when I think about it because it was such a meaningful gift.

Gifts reveal something about the giver. Sometimes the best gifts aren’t necessarily the most extravagant, they’re the most thoughtful, the most creative, the ones most uniquely given with us in mind.

And sometimes gifts are so generous, so incredible, so lavish, we find ourselves humbled because we know there is nothing we can do to adequately thank our giver. But combining those: something filled with meaning as well as something priceless: this is the gift God gave each of us. The magnitude of the gift reveals the character of the giver. The gift of Jesus, of the kingdom is generous, kind and so incredibly good, and that shows us that God is so stinking generous, kind, and so incredibly good.

God is good and beautiful because he gave us the gift of Jesus and he made that gift available to absolutely anyone, no caveats, no naughty or nice list, no grading scale. He gave the gift to those follow Him and those who hate him. God is the most amazing, selfless gift giver ever. He is the source of blessing, he is the giver of the best possible life.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

We give gifts to people we like, or are obligated to because we’re related to them and you know, that’s what’s expected during the holidays.

For God so loved the world… this world we destroyed, this world that is filled with sin, hate, pain, brokenness, the world that rejected him and yet, even in the midst of it costing everything, he paid that impossibly high price. We get to celebrate, to worship, to sit in awe of the incredible God who freely gives us this ridiculously lavish gift because he loves us.

Jesus came to earth, as a humble king born in a stinky barn around a bunch of stinky animals. He lived a perfect life, died on a cross and rose from the dead to conquer sin. For those of us who consider ourselves spiritual zeroes and those around us who are seen that way. The gift of the kingdom of God, the gift of Jesus himself has been given to us. We can bow low and worship our king just like the magi got to do. A simple way to appreciate our giver, to express our gratitude, is through worship. And we’ll get to do that again here shortly.

And, finally, What do we do with this gift from our incredibly generous, kind and good giver? We need to receive it.

Receive the gift.

Gifts are offered. We have to decide, despite what we’ve done, despite what’s been said about us, despite what we think we deserve, if we’ll say yes and accept it.

John 1:12 “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—” The gift was bought, paid for and there is nothing expected in return. We just get to enjoy the gift as his kids.

Jesus knew he’d be rejected and he came anyway. He knew his buddy Peter would deny him 3 times and he came anyway. He knew Judas would betray him and he called him his friend anyway. He knew he’d be mocked, insulted, beaten and brutally killed. And he came anyway. He knew we’d struggle, we’d mess up, we’d get it wrong over and over again.. and he came anyway. He sacrificed everything. And it can be tough to accept such a meaningful and extravagant gift.

The gift of the kingdom of God is for the poor in spirit. It’s for the rich in spirit. It’s for those who feel unworthy, those who doubt, and those society might dismiss. It’s for anyone who recognizes their inability to save themselves, to those who stand at a distance, who can’t look up to heaven, who beat their breast and say “God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” That is how we receive the gift.

This gift isn’t just for us, it’s meant to be shared. And we have an opportunity to invite others to receive the good and beautiful life this Advent.

Each Sunday leading up to Christmas, we have a gift for us and a gift for us to give to someone else under the three Christmas trees in the lobby.. Today, it’s to take one of the packages under the trees and give it to someone in your life you consider a spiritual zero to invite them to our Christmas Eve service. Remember when we talked about those spiritual zeroes in our lives? Did someone come to mind? Consider giving the Christmas Eve invitation to them. There’s also a separate card hanging on the tree that’s for you to keep. On it, you can write down the names of three people God is highlighting to pray for specifically this Advent season. There’s also something for us to reflect on personally on that card. It’s so good, can I read it to you, I didn’t come up with it but it’s phenomenal:

Please consider picking those up on your way out this morning.

(Breathe)

Back to the Grinch. He’s stolen all their decorations, all their gifts, all the food for the Christmas feast. He thinks he’s stopped Christmas from coming.

Slide The Grinch waits, on a mountain top, with a sleigh filled with all their Christmas trappings and waits for the sounds of devastation to ring out. As the sun comes up, the Whos gather together. Slide But the sound he hears isn’t crying. It’s singing.

Something the movie doesn’t cover but you can read in the book is that the Grinch ponders this for 3 hours. He was so confused about their singing, he tried to make sense of it for hours.

He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming. As the story goes, his heart grew three sizes that day. But that’s not what I think really happened. Looking down at the Whos that day, I think the Grinch got to experience the kingdom. He got to see that Christmas isn’t about ribbons, tags, packages, boxes or bags. He got to receive THE gift himself. “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”‌

Slide The story ends as the Whos are gathered around a huge table for a Christmas feast. And the Grinch is seated right in the middle. This guy who was out was now in. As the Grinch flies down the hill returning all their stuff, they could’ve been angry, they could’ve sent him to jail, they could’ve kicked him out of town. And he would’ve deserved all of that. But instead, they welcomed him in, they accepted him, they literally invited him to the table. Talk about a beautiful picture of the kingdom of God.‌

The kingdom of God, the kingdom Jesus is talking about here in the Beatitudes is better than the most meaningful, heartfelt, extravagant gift any of us have ever gotten. Christmas celebrates God coming to us, not us earning our way to Him. It’s a gift for everyone, including those who never imagined it could every possibly be for them too.‌

Ministry Time

Words by others

The gift for you this morning

Grief and Christmas, invite again to Blue Christmas and to have someone pray for you right now

You’re a Grinch and you don’t want to be

Lonely, feel excluded.

God have mercy on me, a sinner.

‌• road block, fear of who God is highlighting for us to invite (maybe a need for repentance, to address our pride)

Let’s take some time to worship together, to express our gratitude. I’ll be back up in a few minutes and we can take communion together.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”