Well, almost merry Christmas. I feel like you can say Merry Christmas, really the whole month, but then Christmas Eve is when it really hits. But let’s, let’s get warmed up for Christmas Eve. We’re not that far away. Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas. All right. Sounding good. One of the things when we think about Christmas, especially when we’re looking at scripture, is why do we need Christmas? We’re in a sermon series right now where we’re talking about the songs of Christmas. Last week we talked about Mary’s song. This week we’re gonna talk, talk about Zacharia’s song. But at the heart of the Christmas story is that God sends a savior, which begs this question of why do we need a savior? Most people in our country wouldn’t actually, they would miss the point of Christmas because they would miss that whole question, why do I need a savior?

When, when they do surveys, here’s what they find, that 70% of people, 70% of people, according to the American worldview inventory, 70% of adults believe that people are basically good. Or another way to phrase it would be that people are inherently good for, so most of us, if you ask someone on the street, Hey, do you think that people are inherently good? People are inherently bad people, most people would say, no. People are inherently good. They’re basically good. And there’s some problems with that idea that one scripture doesn’t teach. That scripture actually says that we’re inherently evil. That that doesn’t mean that we, we don’t have moments of good, or that we can’t be good, but that we have a sin nature. That that trends the wrong direction. And if you just objectively take a step back and watch the news, you’ll see that that is true.

That there is evil that exists in our world. If people were inherently good, then at some point, just based off of our own goodness, sadness would go away and the pressure would go away, and war would go away, and famine would go away. But that hasn’t happened. That still, when you look around the world, there is a lot of brokenness that were born in such a way, and the Bible gives us a reason for it. It’s because of sin that we see that gets introduced all the way back with Adam and Eve. But because of that sin, we have this human nature. And because of our human nature, we all trend towards selfishness. If you really wanna see that on full display, go to an airport. <Laugh> we just got back my family and I, we were for eight days, we went back to Texas.

That’s where we’re from all of our families in Texas. And so once a year at Thanksgiving time we get on an airplane, we fly to Texas, we spent eight days there, flew back. And by far the most stressful part about travel is the airport. Because it starts at the house. Before you even leave you, you’re doing all the math of what time do we need to leave? What time do we need to get there? And, and depending upon where you fall on that spectrum, I’m a, Hey, get there so that there’s not a lot of waiting at the airport type of guy. My wife is a, let’s get there so we can have a camp out at the airport and, and maybe read a few books and maybe, maybe go for a straw. So, so there’s already that kind of tension of how early are we supposed to get there?

What time do we need to leave? The moment that you start packing everything up, you always feel like you’re, you’re running outta time. And in the back of your mind, you always feel like you’re missing something because you know, without failure, you’re gonna get to wherever you’re going and you’re gonna have forgotten something. You, you forgot the nail clippers. You forgot toothbrush. You don’t have toothpaste. Oh, I forgot deodorant. So you always know in the back of your mind, there’s something that I haven’t put in my bag, but you don’t know what it is. And so already there’s a stress that is starting to happen by the time you get into a car and you start making your way to the airport, and you always run into some kind of traffic, especially once you start getting closer to the airport, there’s always that traffic spot where everything starts hitting.

Then, then our, our airport’s massive in Denver. It’s, it’s the size of, of its own city. It’s got some weird history. We got the death horse right at the front of it. That’s, that’s one of those, those, anytime someone comes in town, I dunno why. It’s like, Hey, you see that horse? Let me tell you a story. And so you’re pulling up and, and then, then you have to park like nine miles away from, from the airport. And so then if you’ve got, if you’re by yourself at the airport, it’s stressful. If you’ve got three kids, that’s really stressful. ’cause You’re like, Hey, you carry this bag, you carry that bag. Okay, I gotta carry you and a bag. And so you’ve got all this stuff. You finally get up, you’re going through the security, and no one likes going through security. Like the anxiety is high be because here in the back of my mind, I’m like, they’re gonna find something on me, <laugh>.

And there’s nothing even on me. Like, I don’t do drugs, I don’t have a gun. But in the back of my mind, it’s like, this is gonna be the time. They’re gonna be like, is this yours? I’m be like, I, I didn’t know. I dunno how. And so you’re already starting to freak out when you’re there. You ever been to the airport and the the dogs come by and you’re like, oh gosh, there’s a dog <laugh>. Like I, I have, I have nothing. I’ve never been around a bomb. I don’t smell like a bomb, but I’m like, what if I ate beef jerky this morning? And that dog just starts smelling me like, what’s gonna happen? What if he smells my dog? So, so already the stress is there. I remember last time, which having, not this time, but by the time before we’re going through and, and they, they wave a bag and, and you have the conversation with your kids on the carrier, and they’re like, Hey, nothing sharp. Okay, so no knives. And so they wave the bag and they start going through the bag and you’re nervous, like, great, what are they gonna find my kids’ bag? What did they put in there? And then they pull out a pair of scissors and I’m looking at my kid like, what?

And then after, after the conversation’s like, well, I didn’t know that scissors weren’t allowed. Scissors are two knives taped together. That’s, that’s what scissors are. And so I’d already given them a lot of grief. And then I, I go through the airport and guess whose bag gets flagged this time? Yeah, this guy’s. And I’m like, what, what is in my bag? There’s nothing in there. And then they pulled out, it’s called a plumb line, which I used for a sermon illustration, which is basically a giant weight with a point at the end. I’m like, I don’t know how to explain that. It looks like a giant stake for vampires. So, and so then, then you, you get to the kinda waiting area of the airport. And what I love about the airport is there are no rules. You can eat whatever you want at any time.

You can dress however you want. You can sprint in an airport. Just, just a pro tip for life. If you wanna just go for a run in the airport, as long as you pick up a bag and look like you’re headed towards something, you can sprint as fast as you can. Just go like this. And no one bats an eyelash. They’re like, oh yeah, they’re probably late for their plane. Go for it. You can eat pizza. We ate pizza at 10:00 AM My my kids are like, why are we eating pizza? Like, don’t worry about it. All right, we’re in an airport. Then you get onto the plane. That’s a whole stressful thing. But probably the most stressful time of the entire airport experience is when you’re deboarding the plane. And we have our conversation with our kids about deboarding. We say, Hey, so here’s what’s gonna happen is we’re gonna land.

And then you’re gonna think you’re about to get up, but you’re not, you’re gonna stay in your seat for 10 more minutes. And I know you’ve been flying for two and a half hours and you’re like, please get out in the, no, you’re gonna stay right here. And then I, I tell them, you’re gonna want to get into the aisle and run up front, but only selfish people do that. <Laugh>, you’re gonna stay in your seat. That’s what you’re gonna do. And you’re gonna wait, because there’s always somebody in the back of the plane that thinks they’re more important than everybody else in the plane. And they try and run to the front like, we’re not gonna be that family, okay? And so we land and, and the moment that that little light bulb goes off and people can unbuckle, there is a person from the very back of the plane and we we’re probably halfway through the plane and they come sprinting up as fast as they can, which of course you’d have to be the fastest sprinter in the world to actually make it up before everybody stands up. So they make it about halfway, which put them right smack dab in front of us. And so we’re getting our stuff and starting to get together. But the moment that they get there, one of my kids says, Hey, that person ran and cut into the front of the line <laugh>. And I’m like, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. But in the back of my mind, I’m like, yeah, they did that jerk <laugh>. And then one of my kids says, didn’t you say only selfish people do that <laugh>?

And they didn’t make eye contact. That person was just like, Sharon, straight ahead as the rest of us just glared at that person. <Laugh>. But, but that’s, that’s everything about the airport. Why is it so stressful and anxious? Because some part of you, you really are so cared about yourself and focused on yourself that everybody else bugs you the whole time. And, and everybody is like that. Like we’re all so focused on us that we don’t really care about anybody else. Like the only reason we don’t all run to the front is because we don’t want anybody else to run to the front. So it’s not me being selfless that stays in my seat. It’s actually being selfish that stays in my seat. ’cause We all need to do that. So we like to think that, well, hey, we’re all inherently good. But instance, after instance, after instance in your life, if you just open your eyes and pay attention, we’ll demonstrate to you that we are not and we’re selfish.

If you’ve got a Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter one. Last week we were in Luke chapter one looking at Mary’s song. This week we’re in Luke chapter one looking at Zacharia’s song. We’re gonna do a little bit of a recap. There’s about 50 verses total that talk about Zacharia’s song. Let’s get the context. So here’s the recap from Zacharia’s song that happens in verses five through 24. Here’s what we find out. One that Zacharia is a priest, two that he’s married. His wife’s name is Elizabeth. Three, that they had no child and both were advanced in years. Now, now our guests based off of studies and scholars would say that likely understand the cultural context. They were probably in their late fifties or early sixties. Now, some of you are, I just offended ’cause you’re like, wait, I’m not advanced in years if I’m in my late fifties.

And the point of, of what scripture’s trying to, to set the the table for the story with at that point is that they were advanced in years. When it comes to childbearing age, most of the time you’re not having your first kid in your early sixties, but that’s exactly where they are in life. And then what happens is that the angel Gabriel tells Zacharia that he would have a son and he was to name him John. Now imagine if you’re zacharia, this has been a prayer that you’ve had for, for, for probably 40 years, longer than that. Maybe the, the moment you get married, Hey, God, give us, bless us with the child, bless us with the child, bless us with the child. No kids. Then the angel says, Hey, you’re gonna have a kid. And he’s think thinking about his own age, thinking about his wife’s age, and he has disbelief.

He says, wait, there’s no chance we can’t have a kid. And then there’s this interesting wrinkle that happens in the story that because of Zachariah’s doubts, Gabriel removes his ability to speak. Which we don’t really know why. We don’t know why. That’s the thing. I dunno whether it’s just Gabriel that’s like, Hey, I got powers. And so zap, I, I mean I, maybe it’s a joke. I we don’t really know the context of it. But now imagine if you’re zacharia and you’re going home to try and communicate to your wife the fact that you had just had an encounter with an angel, and the angel had said that you were gonna have a child. And so you wanna take this message home, but you can’t speak, you’re completely mute. And so your wife’s looking at you like you’re crazy. Your coworkers, the other priests are looking at him like he’s crazy.

And, and then the craziest thing happens. His wife gets pregnant and for the entire pregnancy, for nine months, he cannot speak. He’s completely mute. And so, so just imagine you’re zacharia, you’re trying to tell your wife, Hey, hey, we’re gonna get pregnant. Gabriel told me that, that you’re going to have a baby. And you’re trying to communicate that without using words. And then she does get pregnant. And you’re like, I told you so, but I can’t say that. So I’m like, I don’t like imagine how challenging that nine months must have been. And then it’s really funny what happens in Luke chapter one, skip down to verse 57. It says, now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child.

Now, in Jewish tradition, this is the moment that you give a name to the child. It says, and they would’ve called him Zacharia after his father, but his mother answered, no, he shall be called John. Now, for us, that just sounds normal because John has become a very common name. But in the first century, the expectation was that especially a firstborn son is going to be named after their father. And in the rare instance that you don’t name your firstborn son after the father, then you would give them some other family name like it. It’s not like today. Today you, you look at generations and you have these names that become popular. Like my wife is Lauren I know in their, their late thirties to, to kind of fifties. I know a hundred Lawrence, I know almost zero year old Lawrence.

Like that name just kind of, it went from being super popular to just disappear. And now it, it’s a whole bunch of different names that become popular. And so you have popular names that, that they don’t really necessarily relate to family. We just choose names. But in the first century, that was unheard of. Like you were gonna choose a family name for your child. And so they turn to Elizabeth assuming that this firstborn son would be zacharia. If not, maybe you’re gonna name him after some other family member. And then this is what it says. Elizabeth responds and says, no, he shall be called John. Now imagine if you’re the midwife or you’re, you’re, you’re somebody that’s there that you, you’re helping kinda write down and document this stuff. And the mom, the mother of the child says, we’re gonna name him John. And they didn’t just say, Hey, that’s a beautiful name.

Then they go over, this is what it says. They go and they said, none of your relative is called this name. And then they made signs to his father inquiring what he wanted him to be called. I I just think it’s kind of comical what happens. That that two things. One, they don’t trust Elizabeth. They’re like, okay, we hear you about that name, John, you’re wrong. So we’re gonna go to the guy who can’t talk to us and we’re gonna try and get him to tell us. And then what’s funny is it says that he can’t speak. It doesn’t say that, that he, he’s lost his intellectual ability, but clearly they think he has because it says they’re making signs to him. Like they’re probably talking slower to him. They’re trying to say, Hey, how are, and so he says, gimme something to write with.

And it says, he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, his name is John. And they’re like, this is weird. We don’t know what’s going on. It says, and they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was open. This is Zacharia. And his tongue loosed. And he spoke blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. So imagine a couple things ’cause I think it helps us with context. Zacharia is a priest. So, so he grew up understanding his nation’s history. Now, the nation of Israel ha has this beautiful history that they were this great nation and God had done great things. So that in them and through them, going back to Abraham and King David. But then the whole history of Israel’s told us in the Old Testament and over and over again that they’re God’s chosen people. But instead of following God, they turn away from God.

And God is continually trying, trying to redeem his people back to him. And they continue to turn away and continue to turn away and continue to turn away. But throughout the entire Old Testament, starting all the way back in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, there is this prophecy that one day God would send a Messiah, that one day God would ultimately redeem his people. Now, Zacharia is a priest. He knows that history. He knows the story. He knows what is going to happen. And yet the time period we find ourself in is called the 400 years of silence. From the end of the Old Testament to the beginning of the New Testament, there’s just this nothingness. And so surely there’s this doubt that is starting to creep in. And on top of that, in the first century, they were under Roman occupation.

So they were in the nation of Rome. Now, any nation that gets conquered by Rome that they have to become subservient to Rome. But multiple times the Israelites had tried to revolt against that. So although the Roman Empire was oppressive to people that were conquered nations for Israel, it was doubly so because they kept trying to revolt, kept trying to, to fight back. And so there was a hatred that people in the first century, if you were Jewish, had towards Rome. And so Zacharia, knowing all of this, having gone nine months without being able to speak now, sees the miracle that God is providing and knows that this child, his son, would be a prophet for the Messiah. Then let’s pick up in verse 67. It’s a big text. I’m gonna read it starting in verse 67. It says, in his father, Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied saying, now this is the song of Zacharia.

He sings, blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For he has visited and redeemed his people. And he has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to show the mercy promise to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our Father Abraham, to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear and holiness and righteousness before Him, all of our days. And you child will be called the prophet of the most high, for you’ll go before the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.

In verse 77, he uses this phrase to give knowledge of salvation to his people and the forgiveness of their sins. The, the, the purpose of John was preparing the way for Jesus. And why would Jesus come? Why was the Messiah coming? The Messiah was coming to give forgiveness, the knowledge of salvation for the forgiveness of sins. Now, now sin is a word. It’s an interesting word ’cause we don’t really use it outside the context of church. We talk about it in church a lot. And typically, our understanding of sin is simply doing something wrong, which is accurate. In one John five 17, it says, all wrongdoing is sin. So there is a descriptive, there’s a reason we think that. So if I tell a lie, it’s a sin. If I’m selfish, it’s a sin. If I, if I disobey my parents, it’s a sin.

If I murder someone or steal, those are sins. So we’re pretty good at saying, okay, that’s a sin. That’s not a sin. But, but here’s the problem. We think of sin only that way is we can think of it as, well, if I just don’t do certain things and do certain things, then I can be enough. I, I think that’s why people tend to think of, of people as inherently good. And most people are pretty good. It’s because, well, okay, if you don’t do some of the really bad stuff, then you are good. But the Greek word for sin is harmatia harmatia is, is actually a, a different kind of word than just wrongdoing. Although it does describe wrongdoing that it’s an archery term, which simply means to miss the mark. It can also be used in old Greek literature to be on the wrong path, to be out of place.

And so this spiritual understanding of sin, what Jesus is saving us from, is not just doing bad things, although he is saving us from those things. It’s simply for being off. I am not a good darts player, but I do have a dartboard. And and interestingly, they set it up where there’s some fancy guitars behind it. So I gotta be real careful. <Laugh>. I had a dartboard in our house growing up as kids, and it was up on the wall and oh, eventually my dad took it down. And <laugh>, the reason he took it down was because I was one for three right there, because the drywall, he got sick of repairing. And, and here’s what I know about darts, is you’re supposed to, oh, in real darts, you actually don’t go for the bullseye. You go for one on the side. I know that from Ted lasso.

But <laugh>, or if, if at like two o’clock in the morning you turn on ESPN darts is one of the things that you watch. But, but here’s what I know is that you’re supposed to, like a normal person, steps up and tries to hit the bullseye. And maybe you are one of those people that can hit it accurately. I cannot I could probably count on one hand the amount of bullseye I’ve had in my entire life of throwing a thousand darts. And yet even the best dart throwers in the world don’t hit the bullseye every single time. And, and so the, the picture that scripture has for us of what Jesus is saving us from this idea of sin is not just doing wrong things, although he does save us from that, it’s this picture of, okay, if this is your life, there are going to be times where you are off or you’re on the wrong path.

That, that, that something is wrong. That the author of Ecclesiastes, when he’s describing it, he says that we are created with eternity in our souls. That, that God created us in such a way that we are supposed to be in relationship with him, but because of the sin in this world, the sin in my life that I’m born, separated away from God. And so the best way to feel that is to say that if this is my life, instead of everything being right on the bullseye, even if I’m a good person, even if I’m close, I’m still not perfect. And not perfect is not good enough. And you can feel it oftentimes that, that in life. You, you talk to people that they say, well, I got a great job and a great family and a great this and a great that. But something feels like it is missing.

You look around the world, you wonder, why is there so much war? Why is there so much brokenness? Why is there so much murder? If we were inherently good, wouldn’t we at some point be able to stop those things? And, and here’s what we like to tell ourself. We, we like to tell ourself, well, most people are inherently good, but some people are inherently bad. And then the way we would describe it, we’d say, but it’s not their fault. They’re inherently bad because of other people in their life. And then you say, well, are those other people in their life inherently bad? Like at some point that there is an issue? There’s a real struggle that we don’t have an answer for, but the Bible does. The Bible says that we were created to be in relationship with God, but when sin enters the world, it breaks that.

And two things happen that one, we’re separated away from God, and two, because of the sin in our life, we deserve death. But the heart of the Christmas message is this, to the very end of Zechariah’s song, he sings, the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet and to the way of peace. There, there’s some beautiful imagery that’s happening here. That one is this idea of darkness, that Jesus says, I am the light of the world. That when you are in darkness, you have no clarity, you have no direction, you have no vision, you have no understanding of what’s going on around you. And scripture is telling us that apart from God, this world is dark. We are born into darkness, and we are incapable of fixing it ourselves in the midst of that, that we are in the shadow of death.

But it’s talking about the sunrise, the the, the message of Christmas. The message of Jesus is that he has come to be the light. He’s come to be the sunrise in the midst of the darkness, that he visits us in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace. The way of peace, peace. In Hebrews this word, shalom, which means completeness. To go back to this imagery that, that in the Old Testament, this idea of peace would be if you don’t have peace, you’re lacking something. It, it’d be like a piece of you is missing. But peace is when you are made whole. So in our life, if, if I’m off sinner, that means I don’t have peace. But Jesus has come to, to take all the darts and stick ’em where they’re supposed to go, to bring me peace where there is none.

Christmas is a powerful time because you probably can think back over the course of your life and you have these very strong memories about that day or about that season, that that probably, there’s, there’s other months of the year, like if I say, well, hey, what’s your favorite memory from September? What’s your favorite memory from October? From February from March? Like, there’s other dates where it’s hard to think of something, but most of us have very strong memories from Christmas. Something that happens about it, that that makes it memorable, where we never forget it. And we have these different moments in life where we have good memories that we never forget. I know exactly where I was and exactly what happened when this, and then we have these other memories that are bad memories. I was with some younger people, some college students not too long ago.

And it was interesting going around the table discussing that all of them had a covid moment. They said, I remember where I was when the world shut down. ’cause For them, they were either juniors or seniors in high school. And then all of a sudden the world shut down and, and it had these, these huge drastic effects on what would’ve happened to them in the next few months. I was thinking about my own life and, and probably the most memorable moment when I was their age when I was in high school, as I was a senior in high school when nine 11 happened. And I vividly remember, we were at a senior retreat and one of the, the teachers called me out into the hallway and I go out into the hallway and there was teachers and some students that were crowded around this small television that was out in the hallway.

And at this point, the first plane had crashed into one of the towers of the World Trade Center, but the second plane hadn’t crashed. And so initially the conversation was what would, what happened? What kind of an accident? Oh, what a bizarre thing that a, that a plane could accidentally run into. And then some people are saying, well, there’s no way that was an accident. And I watched live on TV as the second plane flew into the second tower. And that was the moment that we all knew this wasn’t an accident. I remember people saying phrases like, Hey, we are under attack. It’s interesting the history of nine 11, that, that of all the people that got buried in the rubble, do you know that they only saved 12 people? They were only able to rescue 12 people. Out of that, two of the people that they rescued were a guy named Will Jimino and John McLaughlin.

You can see with John McLaughlin’s hat that they were both a part of the Port Authority Police Department. So they weren’t in one of the towers when it happened. But they were in the New York area. They were part of the, the police department for the Port Authority. And they called in everybody because they needed help. And Will Jimena Jimeno got connected with John McLaughlin. Wilhelm had just started, like he was, he was weeks into the job. So he got connected with John McLaughlin and, and they were underneath the two towers there, there is there was a mall and, and a giant hallway, corridor underneath. And they were underneath. They were trying to come up from underneath to try and pull out as many people as they possibly could. And they were underneath when the first tower, the South Tower fell and they all got trapped.

They were somewhere between 30 feet and a hundred feet of rubble above them. And they had small pockets of air but it was complete in total darkness. They were completely pinned. They could not move. And an hour goes by and two hours go by and three hours go by and four hours go by and five hours go by and six hours go by and seven and eight and nine or nine hours. Just imagine being in utter complete darkness, not being able to physically move and knowing that it is impossible for you to save yourself. That’s the feeling that they had. And in interviews afterwards, both of them said, I knew I was gonna die. It wasn’t a question of if it was a question of when, for the first couple hours they were screaming as loud as they possibly could. But eventually they gave up and said there was no way anybody could hear us underneath that.

Now, a couple hours away, there was a guy named Dave Kas. Now Dave Kas was an accountant in Connecticut. Dave Carnes, like many of us was watching on tv. And he was standing in front of TV when the second plane hit. And the second the second plane hit, one of his coworkers said, this means we’re at war. And he had spent 23 years as a Marine. So he goes to his, his boss at the accounting firm. He says, I’ve got to go. I’ve got something to do. So he goes out to his car, he drives right to a barbershop. He goes into the barbershop and says, I want you to give me a marine haircut. He gets a haircut. He goes home. He had his military fatigues oppressed and ready to go in his closet. He puts one of those on he drives to his church.

He says, will you pray a prayer for me? I’m going to the towers. He gets in his car, he drives as fast as he possibly can. He goes to different checkpoints ’cause they weren’t just letting anybody in. But this is a guy who was in military fatigues with a military haircut. And so they just kept waving him on through. He gets to the site of the, by this point, it got there five 30. Both towers had collapsed at this point. Rescue workers, they were removing off of the site because they thought that it was too dangerous. So at great risk to himself, he avoids those people that that are telling you you can’t go on. He goes around them and he makes his way onto the rubble of the Twin Towers, he finds another man, last name Thomas never knew his first name. Also in military, Gar Gar garb, also retired from the military, but had put it on to come help.

And the two of them start roaming around this very dangerous field trying to see if they could find someone who needed help. And, and here’s the phrase that both of them said over and over and over again. They would say, if you can hear us yell or tap, they were just screaming this at the top of their lungs. If you can hear us yell or tap, if you can hear us yell or tap, if you can hear us yell or tap. And eventually Dave Kanes hears Will Jimino in a very faint voice, crying out from over 30 feet below the rubble. And so he gets approximately to that area and he sends Thomas off to go get more help. And he says, keep keep making noise so I know where you are. And he starts to dig him out, takes him two and a half hours once help arrives to dig out Will and minow.

It takes an additional five hours to build out to, to get out the other officer. And now I want you to understand the picture. I actually if, if you look on the, the notes if you go through your, your Cherry Hills mobile app at the bottom, I had him post the link to an article that they can kind of go into more detail about this exact story. I heard the story for the first time from Josh Howton in Dallas last year. A powerful story. So I encourage you to go, go read the whole thing. But, but get the picture of what happened with Dave Carne. That he was an accountant and an air conditioned, nice and safe environment. And, and he put off the safety of that. He, he put on his military outfit and he goes to the place where he knows that people are lost a great risk to himself in order to seek and to save the lost.

The, the story of Christmas is that Jesus puts off the comfort of heaven. He takes on human flesh. And he tells us in Luke why he says, the son of man came to seek and to save the lost that Jesus came because we were in utter darkness, incapable of saving ourselves. And Jesus came to start piece by piece, tearing back the rubble in order to give us life with every head bowed and eyes closed. Here’s what I challenge you with. Maybe you’re in here today and you are not a Christian. You’ve never responded to the message of Christmas. Here’s what Christmas is all about, that Jesus set aside the comfort of heaven. He put on human flesh. He lived a perfect life, a sinless life. He died on the cross for your sins and my sins in order that he could save us from darkness.

If you’re in here and you’re, you’re not a Christian, you’ve never responded to that. Jesus is crying out, Hey, if you can hear my voice, shout out or tap. ’cause He wants to save us. And so our response to the gospel is this. The way we become a Christian is this, that we say a prayer to God. We just say, God, I need you to save me. Forgive me of the sin that I have in my life. Thank you for Jesus coming to save me, that he died for me. That Christmas was about saving me to you, and then making a decision in that prayer to say, Jesus, become the Lord and the Savior of my life. And if you’ve never said that prayer, today is the day. Don’t miss another Christmas without Jesus. Heavenly Father, I pray right now forever in this room, and I specifically pray for anyone in this room that does not know you, God, that today can be the day that they respond for the very first time. It’s the name, Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.