Come on, church family. If you’re grateful to be in the house today, whatever location you’re at, can you give him some praise in the house today?
It is good to be in church. And everybody said, “Amen.” You always know where the youth sections at. They be
vibing, yo. And everyone else that’s an adult, they’re trying to figure out the moves like everyone else. Just, you know, get some vibing. It’s okay to have fun in church.
Everybody, are you glad to be in the house today, everybody?
Well, it is so good to be here. Do me a favor. All locations, go ahead and take a seat and tell your neighbor, “It’s good to see you. It’s
good to see you.” And what I want to do is I want to welcome everyone else right now. I want to welcome those that are our Belleview location. They’re
going crazy right now. I want to welcome those in Dupont. I know they’re going real crazy in Dupont. Online, we love you. We’re glad you’re part of our
church family. Wherever you are at, please don’t be worshiping and driving unless you’re talented that way.
And you know, Yakimal, where you at? I love you. I miss you. What about Tacoma?
Can you give me some love? And that’s if you’re grateful.
If we have not met before, I am the distant cousin family member. I’m from the Yakama location. I’m the Yakama location pastor.
So, we family. Everybody, if you don’t know me, well, now we know each other.
And I love the fact that you can be in church and have a great old time and have some fun. And I just thought it’d be fun to share a fun story right now.
Is that okay with everybody? A fun story. But when I share the story, you might not think it’s so fun. You might think some other words of me.
So please keep those words to yourself, everybody. So I drove on the pass and the big thing was going, “Am I going to make it?” Cuz it was a winter
storm warning. And right before we left, me and my wife, the person that was taking care of our kiddos, said this, “Hey, are you good driving in the snow?”
And I was appalled. I was offended. I gave her hold on. Do you know who you’re talking to? Now, this is the reason why I’m going to tell the story. So, a
couple years ago, there was also a winter storm warning and it was nothing like what I faced this Sunday.
It was 10 times worse. So, let’s just say that I had some important cargo. I had a rented vehicle and I had to leave about 11:00 from Yakama with a
friend who will not remain nameless. His name is Brian Griffith from Yakimal. And we had to have some important cargo. And I’m telling you, the whole entire drive,
you can’t see the road at all. It’s entire snow. And I’m like, Jesus, I’m praying. I’m pretty sure he’s interceding and praying for me. Well, praise the Lord. We made it, everybody.
We had a good night’s sleep. We made it on the way back. And on the way back, we hit a patch of ice and we almost ran into a semi. And I’m like, Lord, you
are with us. Now, here is the end and the climax of my story. We get back to the church and someone asked me, “How was the drive?” I’m like, “You
have no idea. We almost died.” And I’m like just adding on to it, just saying how great I am. And she goes, “I’m surprised it was so hard. Did you It was
so hard with four-wheel drive.” I go, “What do you mean? Wasn’t it already on?” She said, “No, you’re supposed to turn the knob to make sure you have
four-wheel drive.” So, I was driving two wheel drive the whole entire time, everybody. I am a legend. Or maybe I’m a little bit idiotic, but it’s okay,
everybody. We So, you know what? I had four-wheel drive yesterday. I was cruising. I was crushing. I am a legend. And if you don’t think that,
don’t tell me. Everybody, before I dive into today’s message, don’t you love the holiday season? Don’t you love a chance when you
can have gifts and spend time with family and eat some good foods where all the carbs are zero calories?
You can eat as much as you want. But one thing I think about is, don’t you agree that we have some phenomenal, amazing pastors in our church?
I know a lot of times we think serving the house, loving on them, encouraging them, but I want to ask us to do all a favor every single occasion. Can we pray
for our pastors? Can we do that consistent? There’s something so powerful, not just serving, not just giving them high fives, encouraging them, getting them gifts, but praying
for them on their behalf in your own time. And you may be asking, “How does that look?” Think about our reps. Pray for their relationships. God, I pray for their marriage that it would flourish.
God, I pray that their friendships would be great. I pray their time with their grandkids would be incredible.
Emotionally, God, I pray that you would give them a sound mind physically, many more years to come, that they’d be strong and steady,
leading the way, and spiritually, give them vision and give them direction. So, this holiday season and after the holiday season, this is our
gift. Can we be a church that prays for our pastors? Amen, everybody. Let’s pray.
And on that note, I’m going pray because we need some help. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. We thank you for this opportunity that I get a
chance to share your word. Give me the wisdom. Give me the guidance. And I pray that as I share the word, Father, that people to find themselves
in this message, their life would be transformed and changed. We thank you so much and we love you so much. In Jesus mighty name we
pray. And everybody said, “Amen.”
Amen. Amen. Well, we have been in a series called Your Story, His Glory, and it has been incredible. We had
Pastor Nicole kick us off. Then we had Pastor John. You can give some love.
Come on, Tacoma. One person clap, we all clap. But then we had Pastor John last weekend who talked about Joseph, um, the earthly
father of Jesus. And today we’re going to continue in the theme, your story, his glory. And I’m going to talk about two different groups of people and their
story and how it all came together in the birth of Jesus. And so I’m going to tell you right now, when I was studying getting ready for this, I was like
geeking out everybody. I thought I had this straight revelation. And when I shared, if you’ve already had that revelation, please don’t tell me. Don’t be doing that to me. Let just let that
the Holy Spirit and God just speak to me in profound ways. I also even thought for a while I was going to bring my glasses to look real smart. You were
going to call me DJ, Dr. Jesse, but you’re just sticking with PJ, Pastor Jesse to everybody. So, y’all ready for the groups of people we’re going to talk about?
o, we’re going to look at Matthew chapter 2 and Luke chapter 2 and we’re going to see the two different stories and how these these examples really
played a part in his story and bringing him glory. We’re going to go to Matthew chapter 2 and we’re going to go into verse number one and two in the NLT. And
it reads like this. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod. About that time, some wise
men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw a star as it
rose and we have come to worship him.” Here is the first group of people that we are talking about. We are talking about the wise men. Now, let’s go to
another portion of scripture found in Luke 2:es 8-15. This is in the annot.
And he reads like this. That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby guarding their flocks of sheep.
Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared among them. And the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified. But the angel reassured them.
Don’t be afraid. He said, “I bring you good news.” Every time I hear good news, I think about Bible Beats Volume Two.
What kind of news? Good news. What kind of news? Good news. If you don’t got kids, you think I’m just crazy. up here.
I’m telling you right now that is on and popping in the Rodriguez household. We got great music that we have coming out of our house that will bring great joy
to all the people. The Savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David, and you
will recognize him by this sign. You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth lying in a manger.
Suddenly the angel was joined by a vast host of others, the armies of heaven, praising God and saying, “Glory to God
in the highest heaven and peace on earth to the those whom God is pleased.” When the angel had returned to heaven, the
shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem. Let’s see this thing has happened which the Lord has told us
about.” So in this story we have the wise men and we have the shepherds. And the
reason I want to share these two individuals is they cannot be completely opposite more than anybody else. Let me explain this to you. We have the wise
men who were Gentiles and the Gentiles anyone who is not Jewish. Secondly their occupation is they were astrologers.
So their knowledge of astrology was seeing how okay how could things happen with things that they saw that they were concerned in this moment of the star
that the movement it might have on the affairs of history. So when they saw the star as astrologers they got drawn to
it. Secondly they were educated and higher class. So that is the wise men in Matthew chapter 2. Now let’s go to the shepherds. First off they were Jewish.
Secondly, if you don’t know their occupation, they tended to sheep everybody. And last but not least here, in Jesus days, the shepherds are usually
looked down on. Sketchy, lower class of people, less educated, foreigners didn’t mix well with mainstream. So, how
incredible that two groups of stories came into the story of Jesus’s birth.
You have polar opposites right there from the beginning. That is incredible news everybody that God would bring in
such a profound group of people sort of like a church to let us know this point.
Everyone’s story is for God’s glory. That’s point number one everybody.
And I think if we could we would underline, highlight bold. I’m that guy when I have notes like I really underline highlight. This is important.
Everyone’s story brings God glory. And I think that we need to hear this because I think
sometimes we can look at everyone and not be a part of that. Everyone. But I love when I look in a church like ours.
You can see this in Tacoma. You can see it in Yakama. You can see it in Dupont.
You can see it in Bellev. We got men. We have women. We have teenagers. We have children. We have different ethnicities,
ages, backgrounds, upbringings, life experience, cleancut, a little rugged look, tatted up, not tatted up, varying
careers and occupations, varying financial brackets. But this is what I love. All of our stories come together for God’s glory.
The way that I like to look it is we are the supporting cast and he’s the main role and we are a part of a fantastic,
incredible worldchanging story. My wife recently told me, she’s like, “Babe, we haven’t been to a wedding in quite some
time.” The reason why she said that is for a season of our life, we were like weddings all the time. We were either in a wedding, we were either at a wedding, or I was either officiating weddings.
like for two to three years weddings we were there and my favorite thing at a wedding when they do the Cupid shuffle.
I got moves y’all. I’m telling you my wife God’s video show. I got moves. I got move. I ain’t going to show y’all right now. You ain’t ready. I don’t got the right shoes.
The Cupid Shuffle is my jam. Everybody.
But what’s so funny about it is we have transitioned Yakimoth. The location I’m at is everyone moved from weddings now to having babies. So we moved from union
to church growth. Now we’re just trying to get as many kids to come. We’re trying to just do what we got to do. But what’s so interesting about weddings and we didn’t really have this situation
when we got married is there’s a lot of planning. There’s a lot of things to consider. The food, what’s the gown, the dress, who’s going to be a part of the wedding part. There’s so many things
that go on. But one thing I think that is really stressful is who is coming to the wedding. Unless you got like a
stacked venue where everyone could come, the spouse, the husband and wife to be have to sit down and go, “Your cousin may not be coming.
your auntie, she a little crazy. So, she for sure ain’t coming. And it’s so interesting, like in my household, I got like a cousin, my third cousin, fourth
cousin, fifth cousin, sixth cousin. But what’s so interesting about that, you have to dwindle down who can come to the party, the union, the marriage together.
Aren’t you so grateful that God’s not that way? He goes, I don’t got a list. I don’t got a max capacity. Everyone’s
story is available to come because he wants to celebrate with him with you. I love the fact that I don’t have to make the list. We are already on the list.
And I know that may seem kind of elementary right now for some of you that have been in church, but I believe someone right now in Tacoma and all of our receiving locations near hear that
because you have singled yourself out going, “Not everyone, not me.” No, everyone’s story brings God’s glory. And I’m telling you right now, when you make
a decision, your story, what God would do in and through, you will be life transforming and changing, and you will change the legacy for your family.
Everyone’s story brings God glory.
And now that we got that squared away, let’s go to another thing we need to know. We all have gifts to offer to the
king. We all have gifts to offer to the king. So let’s look at Matthew chapter 2 verse number 8-11 and it reads like
this. After this interview the wise men went their way and the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and
stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they were filled with joy. They entered the house
saw the child and his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshiped him. So you have there in that situation the
wise men come see Jesus and they worship him. Secondly it says then they open
their treasure chest and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrr. What you need to realize is the wise men brought
little gifts frankincense and myrr and gold but they also brought their praise and worship.
Praise and worship is also a gift. and our gifts bring him glory. And I I want to go I want to just break it down what
gifts may look like. I think there’s a lot of different ways we could go, but I want to break it down to three simple things. Your time, your talents, and
your treasures. If you think about it this way in our time, and if you go to church or you’re doing Bible studies, you’re a part of youth groups, then I’m
not really talking to you. But I’m talking about the normal person that may only go to church on Sunday. There’s seven days in a week and we’re only in
church about an hour and a half. We have seven days in a week and we’re in church one day a week. And God doesn’t just
want to be praised and honored and glorified on one day. You put them in your little time slot. He wants to be honored and praised and worshiped always.
So you can give him your time. What does my time look like? Maybe it’s some time of Bible reading. Maybe it’s some time
you just crank up the worship and even though you don’t sing like the worship team, it is a joyful noise to the Lord. I’m with you.
Maybe it’s worshiping, praying, reading your Bible, hanging out with other people. There’s so many different things that we can do.
Conversing with him, expressing your gratitude. These are ways that you can spend your time and give him honor and
give him glory with your time. Secondly, here your talents. No matter what you may think, you have something to offer
the king. Every single one of you. And I think sometimes the reason why we don’t use our talents is we are in the
constant comparison game. Well, I don’t look like so. I don’t sound like so. I don’t really have something to offer.
No, we all have gifts to offer to the king. And I think what happens sometimes is we always look at who’s on the
platform and stage. You look at the worshippers. You look at the people on the band. You you think about the drummers, the people that are doing all those things. You think about those who
are platform hosts of passion. Go, well, that’s a talent. No, no, no. There are more people not on a platform at every single location that are using their
talents and gifts to bring him glory with their story.
When you walked on site today, there was someone in the parking lot loving on you, greeting you is probably rain important, but they were using their
talents to bring him glory. When you walked into the church, there was someone giving you a high five, opening up the door. That’s our greeters. When
you walked into the auditorium, there was an usher leading you to your seat.
You know, kiddos, when kiddos are in the auditorium, you understand how grateful you are for church kid team members.
There are people right now who are loving on your kids all the way from zero all the way to elementary that are loving allowing them to jump and bounce
and do all those things. On a Thursday night, we got people at youth ministry being a part of developing the next generation. We got people right now on
cameras at every single location. You don’t see us without our media team, our photographers. What am I trying to say?
We all have talents to offer to the king.
I also love the fact that sometimes you can single yourself out. Well, I can’t always make it on Sunday. I love the fact that there are people who use their
talents to also build a church during the week. We have carpenters. We have electricians. We have plumbers. We have
people go, “I want to renovate and help to make sure that all of our locations are at the best that they can be.” We got creative eyes that go, “Man, let’s
make this room look more appealing and standing out. Everyone is using their talents to bring to the king.” And if
you are not on a team right now, I’m telling right now, we’d love to have you. I know in Belleview today, we have our church essentials, all of our classes. So, Belle, I’m telling you
right now, we all have gifts to offer the king. So after service today, make some time and be a part of church
essentials and see what God would do in and through you. And we also have church essentials in Yak. Why? Cuz we all have gifts to offer the king. And I love here
what Paul van Djk says. It is not the gift but the thought that counts. Stop weighing out your gift. Stop weighing
out the talent that you think you don’t have cuz you have a talent. Thirdly, our treasures. Don’t tune me out, everybody.
Don’t tune me out. Our time, our talents, and our treasures. Every single
one of us should live a life of generosity with our treasures. 10% a tithe. We bring it to the house. What I
love about this is we can sometimes get mixed up and lost in the fact, well, my period is not in the spot that it should
be like so so everyone else is, and I don’t offer as much. No, it’s not about equal amount. It’s equal sacrifice.
And we bring our talents. We bring our treasures and see what God can do with our treasures. And I know this all too well because I battle that especially
when it comes to our legacy offering season. I’m like, man, I really want to give this much. And the times kind of hit hard and we had to get things for the kiddos or some things that we
weren’t expecting. we really want to give this and now that we can give this I don’t know if I want to give and I know so and so last year we gave this and so now we start to minimize what
we’re going to give not equal amounts equal sacrifice so God wants your time he wants your talents and he wants your
treasures and maybe remember of a story of a gentleman in Yakamom and his name is Shawn Jameson and what he does is we
have donations sometimes where people bring toys to our locations they’ll bring supplies to our locations they’ll bring pizzas to our locations because
youth ministry lives off of pizza. And this gentleman owns a few dominoes in the Yakama area. And he told our youth director in Yakama, he goes, “Hey,
anytime you you need pizza, don’t go anywhere else.” Why? Cuz I want to bless you guys. And that’s using his treasures
to be able to bless the house. So we all have gifts to offer to the king with our time, with our talents, and our treasures. Third point here is this.
It’s not about how your story started, it’s how you finish.
We’re gonna we’re going to come to the climax of the story of the shepherds and the wise men. And what’s so interesting
is you only get one chapter each, but I want to read the climax of once they met Jesus, what happened right after it.
This is Matthew 2 verse number 12 in the NLT. And it says this, “When it was time to leave, they returned to their own
county by another route. Who is this these individuals? It’s the wise men. So they saw Jesus praised and worshiped
him. He had the gold, frankincense, and myrr. And they went on a different route. They were actually supposed to go back to Herod. But they didn’t. They
went back to their own county. Now let’s go to the shepherds. Luke chapter 2 verse 16-18 and verse number 20. They
hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby lying in the manger. After seeing him, the
shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherd’s story were astonished. The
shepherds went back to their flocks glorifying and praising God for all they had heard
and seen. It was just as the angel had told them. So in our story, shepherds,
wise men, complete polar opposites, but everyone’s story brings God glory. They use their gifts and talents and brought
him to the king. But it’s not about how your story started. It’s about how you finish. And I wish we could see more in it, but you see this in the end of the
scriptures that they praised and worshiped him and they went on home and they shared with people around them what
they had seen and what they had heard cuz they were in amazement and they were in astonishment and they couldn’t keep it to themselves.
And I know sometimes what we can do is we see that end of the past and going but okay what really happened at the end of it? Well, we might not be able to see
the end of the story of theirs, but I can tell you some other stories in the Bible of people who got transformed and changed. The Apostle Paul was someone
who was leading, condemning, he was putting Christians in prison. There was even a point in time where someone was getting rocks thrown at him and he was
there all for it. But there was one day on the road to Damascus. It’s not about how your story started, it’s about how
you finish. He encounters Jesus, gets blind for three days, and then scales fall off his eyes when someone prays over him. And he wrote twothirds of the
New Testament, everybody. And the reason I want to bring up the Apostle Paul is because I believe some of you are in that position. You don’t know my story.
I love when people say this. If I walk in the church, the church is going to burn down. The church is still standing and the church is still here. So, it
don’t matter who it is. You have a spot and a place and a sea at all of our locations.
But there’s some of you today that disqualified yourself at all of our locations. And you’re saying, “You don’t know my story.” Well, it’s not about how your story started. It’s about how you finish. The Apostle Paul built churches.
He led disciples. He was leading the way in the gospel. But maybe that doesn’t relate to you. The Apostle Paul, let’s talk about Peter, who Peter was a wild
one. And this is Peter. He followed Jesus for three years, everybody. Saw
signs, miracles, and wonders. And why do I want to bring up Peter? Because there’s some of you that been in church your whole entire life. And you’ve seen
God do a work in your mom and your dad, your grandma, your uncles, your siblings, and you were in church every single Sunday. You were in Sunday
school. You were in youth group, and you had a fire, and you had a fervor. Then eventually, school happened, things happened, decisions were made that you
were not happy about. Well, there was a situation where you started to deter your way from the church and you are no longer a part of the church or you’re barely coming back to the church
or your relationship with God doesn’t look the same like it used to. Well, Peter walked to Jesus
three years and when he was about to be betrayed, what he did is he denied Jesus three times. And that’s some of you in
the room. Man, I don’t believe in that stuff no more. No, that stuff’s not for me, man. You know what? I drank the Kool-Aid. I’m no longer a part about
that. And you have walked away and you’re trying to work your way back in.
And what’s so incredible about Peter that once Jesus got resurrected, he wanted to tell Peter, “It’s not about how your story started, but it’s how you
finish.” And he met him on the little shore. Peter jumps out of the boat, swims his way, and I love what Jesus says. “Do you love me, Peter?”
“Absolutely.” “Do you love me, Peter?” “Absolutely.” “Do you love me, Peter?” “Absolutely.” “And feed my sheep. What ends up
happening is we are collectively in churches all around right now here on the west side in Yakama and we are here because Peter
built the church. He preached the first message. Someone who followed and was in the part in church doing all the different things. He strayed away but he
got back and God used his story for God’s glory. And I believe there are people that resonate with Paul or they
resonate with Peter or you might be in between. But I want to tell you today, it’s not about how your story started, it how it finishes.
And I want to give you an opportunity to give your life to Jesus. What’s been holding you up? Is it the fact that you
believe that you are not invited to the party? You are invited. And God wants to use your story. Yes, your story. Yes, your mess. Yes. All of your actions to
bring him glory. God wants to use your gifts to be used not just in the house but outside the house to be used in your
business to be used in your family to be used in your community students. He wants to use it in your school. He wants to use your gifts. And for others of
you, man, my story didn’t start out well. The cards that I was dealt were not beneficial. They’re not helpful. But
it’s not about how you start. It’s about how you finish. And so right now at every single location, if that is you today, I want to give you the
opportunity to surrender your life over to Jesus. So every eye closed and every head bowed, I want to lead us in a prayer. And
again, if you resonated with Peter, you resonated with Paul or you didn’t resonate with anyone, but the Holy Spirit is prompting and leading you. And you’re going, God, I realize
now that my story can bring him glory and that I got gifts that I need to bring to the king. and that you
realize today that you know what my story didn’t start off start off well but it’s how you finish and today is your day to rededicate
your life or today is the day that you say my story every part of my story God I want to give it to you to
bring you glory if that is you and you want to surrender your life to Jesus I want to lead you in a prayer but first off if that’s you at all of our
location even online can put a hand in the air saying that I want to give my life to Jesus be bold Bold, be brave. Your story will bring him glory.
I believe there’s hands in Belleview. I believe there’s hands in Yakama.
I believe there’s hands in Dupont online and here in Tacoma. God’s going to use your story for his glory. So,
every single person right now, I want you to repeat this prayer after me. And especially those who made that decision today and say this. Lord Jesus, welcome to my world.
forgive me of all my sins and come into my life. I boldly declare
today you are my leader, my Lord, and I won’t be the same again.
You can use my story to bring you glory in Jesus name. Come on church
fam in all locations. And we celebrate those today who made that decision to rededicate or give their life to Jesus for the first time. God’s
going to use your story for his glory. And in a moment, we’re going to have all of our location pastors and our platform hosts come on stage.
Once we’re done, they’re going to give you further instruction. Yes, the first step is to raise your hand and say that prayer, but there’s more that God wants to do. So, please don’t minimize,
overlook the next steps. Please listen and take those next steps we want to lead you in. But I want to do something a little bit different today.
We’re going to have ushers coming forward right now at every single location. They’re going to be passing out buckets. And I want to make sure as they pass out these buckets, they’re
going to be touch cards. I have one right here. As you will see, these touch cards are
our invites for our Christmas Eve service at every single location. And so the ushers will pass buckets. You can
grab one. You can grab a handful. But we want to equip you for this Christmas Eve holiday season. And you will also see on
the back on the screens that every single location that you will see um the way that you can digitally also download an invite so you can invite
people to our Christmas Eve service. So why are we doing this? Because there’s more stories to be reached. And
if you didn’t know this, Easter and Christmas Eve are services that guests are more inclined to say yes to.
the percentage just increases. It skyrockets for a lot of people who don’t attend church Christmas Eve and Easter.
I’m there. You can count on me. So, why would we miss out on the opportunity for this Christmas Eve to not be bringers
and invite people with us? For the past two, three years as you are getting your buckets, please grab them.
Please don’t withhold. Grab a couple. Grab a few at every single location. I want to share something with you. In the last two to three years, we’ve been doing a thing called
the rooted experience. If you’ve been a part of the Rooted Experience, you know the 10 weeks at all of our locations, what it it’s about. And it is
something that is for all Christian believers to learn about rhythms that will help them in their walk with Jesus. And one of the rhythms that we talk about is this
sharing your story. And at one point of the 10 weeks, every single person that’s in rooted has to share their testimony. So what does
that mean? They have to share their story. And the whole goal is this to teach people to get them comfortable enough to share their story and not
withhold it. It teaches them ask them questions about how was your life before Jesus, how was your life after Jesus and how to use those
questions to develop your testimony. And then once you share with the group on week number nine, it says now that you’ve shared, now you got to go share with someone else.
Not keep it to yourself and not just to your group, but go out into the community. go out to a family member and tell them about your testimony. And there I want to read a
section in the book where it’s getting the word out. It’s called and it says this. Who is in your life right now who doesn’t know Jesus?
Perhaps it is someone at work, school, in your family or your neighborhood. You may think I am so inexperienced in
sharing my story. Let me pause and stop here. For some of you today, you said yes to Jesus. My story just started. God
can use you still. You can share about how this Sunday your experience and your um your proclamation and raising your hand and saying a prayer
change and transform your life. So please do not feel like you’re disqualified.
Someone else could do it better, but you are the one who is in close contact with them. You are the salt.
And so I gave you three points.
We talked about that everyone is invited for God’s glory. Everyone’s story.
Secondly, that everyone has gifts to bring to the king. It’s not about how your story started, it’s how you finish.
I don’t I don’t got another point. I got a question for every single one of us. And here’s the question. Whose story will be added next?
And I want to pause and hold here because this is not just something we’re going to gloss over. We’re going to give you further instruction if you gave your life to Jesus. But whose story needs to be added? Is it your spouse?
Is it your sibling? Is it your child, your aunt, your uncle,
your cousin, your coworker, your boss, that stranger that you’re going to run into at the grocery store and feel compelled that you’re supposed to
share your story and invite him to Christmas Eve? That person at the grocery store that you always see and you have conversation with and you’ve been trying to get worked up to
share to come to church and now it’s time. or maybe that friend that you have not seen in years but will run into them this week. Now, let me share a
little bit of my story and I’ve shared it a couple times, but I am the youngest of three in my family. I got two older brothers,
Gabriel and Moses. And when I was 5 years old, my dad gave his life to Jesus. Got radically transformed and changed. It was night and day shift.
No longer drinking, no longer being abusive. God transformed and changed his life. It’s incredible news.
But here’s what you need to know. Four other members in the family, he gives his life. It wasn’t until 18 years later.
I am not making a mistake. That wasn’t an error on my part. 18 years until I gave my life to Jesus. 18 years until my
mom gave her life to Jesus. And God had promised my dad. And my dad feels so strong and convicted by this and holds on to going that before your time is up all of your family will know Jesus.
And we don’t want him. At the latter years when he’s on his death, we want it right now. And to be
honest with you, it has been hard for me to share my story with my brothers because I grew up with them. They know I’m a pastor. They know what I do.
But it’s hard for me because I used to look up to them. But I understand this. What waste would it be if I know the greatest story to bring
him glory? And they have not made that decision yet. And so this year, me and my wife on the legacy, y’all said
Gabriel and Moses will give their life to Jesus.
And so this touch guard is not just a thing that we create. It is a life transformation that can happen. Your cousin, your sibling, your
spouse, whoever it may be, this is ammunition. And this is the invite. This is the thing that could change
their story forever. And the way that I’m believing that God, they’re going to he’s going to radically transform and change their life. And
they’re going to use their story, their testimony, their life to bring him glory. I could already see things. My brother Gabriel, he’s going to be the great evangelist out in the
streets inviting people. My brother loves traveling the world most.
He’s going to be traveling the world, sharing the good news of the gospel. I believe it and I see it.
But that doesn’t happen without an invite and being a bringer. So be 4:00 a.m.
today cuz we can continue to come collectively as a church every single Sunday and not have someone new with us and they’re missing out cuz we
know what God did for you. And so whoever that person is for you, can you put them on your mind right now? And can you be like me? Can you be
challenged for the next two weeks to do all that you can? And maybe it’s the first time you’re going to invite. Maybe it’s the hundth time you’re going to invite. But we’re going to try again. We’re going to shoot a
shot again. And we’re not just going to invite, but we’re going to pray. We’re going to intercede. We’re going to believe that the Holy Spirit is going to lead them into one of our locations or maybe even another church. But they’re
going to make a decision to give their life to Jesus. Can you believe that with me? So right now, I want to pray and I want to get ready to end, but we’re going to pray and believe that the
same way that Gabriel, Moses in my life, you have those in your life that they would walk onto one of our locations.
and when they walk onto the location, something would already start to happen at the end of the message. They would give their life to Jesus.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, we pray for every single person, God, that is on our heart. They may be family. They may not
be family, but Father, you have led us. You have prompted us. Father, I pray that we would no longer delay.
There are people outside the four walls of these doors that need to hear about your story, the transforming story. How a baby came to this earth and
eventually grew up to be the savior of the world and to die on a cross for our sins for all of our sins. And we are all welcome. We are all invited to
your story. And I pray for those that we have on our heart that are family by blood. It might not be by blood. Father, I pray that you would give us courage.
I pray that you would give us boldness that we’d be out there and share and on Christmas Eve that every single location would be filled with people that we
would have sons that we would have siblings that we would have aunts that we would have uncles that we would have cousins that we would have grocery workers whoever it may be that
would fill that house and at the end of the message they would say yes to you Jesus cuz their story matters. Their story matters and their
story will bring you glory. We thank you God in advance for what you’re going to do and all that you have done and know that you will
continue. Give us the courage to lead by example and help us to be bringers and let their stories be forever transformed and changed in Jesus
mighty name we pray. And everybody said amen. Amen.