This sermon emphasizes the importance of shifting our focus from earthly matters to the sacred presence of God, as seen in moments like a wedding communion and a perspective on heaven during a funeral. It challenges listeners to consider the grandeur and holiness of God, surpassing human understanding, and to humbly acknowledge His greatness. The message highlights the awe-inspiring nature of Christmas, where God humbled Himself to come to earth as a baby, inviting a reverent response akin to falling on our knees in worship.

It's kind of good just to get away from everything and just focus on what this is all about. I did a wedding last night. I rarely do weddings, maybe once a year if that, because they're just too nerve-wracking, but um it was so cool in the middle of the wedding, you know, the the couple was taking communion and it was just the three of us and my wife singing a solo and you know, and just took the focus off of everyone else and it was just the three of us and I said, you know, just forget this is your wedding day for a second. And just think about we're in the presence of God right now and you're gonna remember his body and blood and just to see these two people, you know, just kind of take their eyes off of this huge crowd and this dream of theirs and just remember something even more sacred and they both just started crying as they took the bread and took the cup and we just had that moment where we thought about what mattered and we thought about that what Christ did for us right in the middle of the wedding and then we went back and you know, kiss them, you know and whatever but it was just it was you know, that was that was my favorite part of the wedding, you know, it was just this quiet time where we just think about what's really going on and my prayers that that's what the service would be for you this Christmas season is that Okay, let's just pull away from everything let's pull away from everything else and let's just kind of get alone in this room just just the thousand of us and you know and just think about What's really going on here you see I uh, I also did a funeral last week and I do a lot of those those those I don't know I'm weird those those fire me up because I I think about there's so much that can be learned and there's so much growth that takes place in everyone's life during a difficult time, but this there's such a cool story this one because she was really sick and just a couple of weeks ago as As she was really weak her husband looks at her and whispers in her ear and says Just think honey this Christmas you might actually be with Christ and In all of her weakness and everything else. She just kind of blurts out how Cool, is that? You know and and I just got the Rush when I heard that story like they just just stopped and thought wait a second this year Rather than being in church and singing about Jesus and thinking about what it was like You're actually gonna be standing right next to him Like what is that? What is that? And in those words that came in at her mouth? It gives me these chills just thinking how cool is that? How cool would it be right now to be in the presence actually see Jesus Christ? See, I want to take our eyes off of where we're at right now and try to imagine heaven try to imagine Christmas from her perspective Just try Try to think about what it would be like to actually be in the presence of God Whatever thought you have in your mind. I promise you it's better than that It's greater than that Try to imagine Christmas from heaven's perspective See when I say, oh, you know Someone's gone on and been with the Lord one of the phrases that comes back and maybe you're thinking about it right now One of the phrases I hear a lot is people say oh, she's looking down on us right now Or he's looking down on us right now, and I've never said this in response to that. I always wanted to But I want to say Are you sure I know it seems rude. Let me explain this Does this I just want to say are you are you sure? Are you sure she's looking down right? Are you sure he's looking down right? Are you sure? She's not rather than looking down looking around Could it be possible that there are things going on up there that are more exciting than this I Mean just maybe okay, I know I know it's a stretch because this is pretty exciting But could you imagine I mean think about it the presence of God that right now There's this throne with this lightning and thunder and these pillars of fire and there's being on this throne That's glowing like diamonds and rubies. You know, there's there's angels just bowing down screaming out his holiness that possibly she's looking at that and She's not looking at you staring at your laptop. I mean, that's exciting. Don't don't get me wrong. That's exciting She may be going. Hey, look, he's watching a movie now Now that's pretty exciting too She's watching you drive You know, I mean these are these are good things and maybe they're looking at that but just consider the possibility That the people that are gone are looking at something better Okay Three words. I don't know how many times I've said this in church Get over yourself Your life isn't that exciting, okay There are greater things and You see Christmas is this time when we'll talk about Christ and we'll talk about heavenly things There's a time when people talk about Jesus more than ever but I also believe it's a time when we belittle him more than ever and And our picture our view of God and our view of heavenly things become so small and we really believe that we're the center of the universe You know that of course, they're looking down at me. What could be more exciting than me? You know and to think wait, maybe this life isn't about me Maybe there's an existence beyond what you see here And maybe there's something more exciting than than drywall and stucco But that there's actually something going on in heaven right now and That this Christmas story is not just about us but about this bigger picture that somehow we can jump into And it's nuts. It's nuts when you see heaven When you think about heaven and when you see Christmas from heaven's perspective See some of you when you think of Christmas you think of Jesus as a cute little baby in a manger Who some of you when you think Christmas you think baby Jesus who grew up to become a good teacher a Great teacher like Gandhi. That's true I'm just saying there's a lot more He's a lot more than that Some of you when you think of Jesus you think oh, I know I believe I believe he was the Son of God Born of a virgin who died on this cross died on a cross for our sins He was paying the penalty of all of our sins. He's the Savior of the world. He's my best friend I can have an intimate relationship with him now and now I can speak to him Absolutely, that's true, but there's so much more And some of you know, no, no, I get it I understand man He's a holy God like what you talked about that being on his throne and and you know, you know Isaiah 6 Isaiah 6 is it there's these angels who have six wings and with two they're covering up their faces With two they're covering up their feet. They're just covering themselves from head to toe and they're screaming. Holy holy holy because this Jesus is so holy and And it says that the whole place is shaking because they're just screaming so loud he's so holy He's so holy and you get that picture of God and you understand that there's this being in heaven right now when the Bible says he dwells in unapproachable light Like like like we as human beings we can't even approach him right now in these bodies Physically, we couldn't withstand his holiness and you get that and you go man when I think of Jesus That's what I think of and he came down on the earth and I go man. That is absolutely true But he's so much more He's even more than that The crazy thing is whatever view of God You have this morning whatever comes into your mind when you hear the name Jesus No matter how grand how holy of a picture you have in your head. He's greater than that He's more than that No matter how high your view of God. It's not high enough You see because I I know this because in Scripture in the Bible there were people who had a very high View of God and yet when they actually saw him They were shocked. I Love what Job says Job was a righteous man. He's most righteous man on the earth most righteous man on the earth I Mean this is Job who lost his family lost everything yet It was still willing to praise God where we get that song blessed be your name That was Job that came out of Job's mouth Because he knew how great God was and yet at the end End of that book in Job 42 because God gives him a glimpse of himself Job says in Job 42 verse 5 He says my ears had heard of you But now my eyes have seen you Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes See Job goes. I thought I knew how great you were Okay, my ears had heard of you. I'd heard all the verses I heard all the prophets and what they said about you and I understood you were this great God and I revered you and everything Else and I most righteous man on the earth. He goes, but then I saw you And he goes and I just fell to the dust and ashes. I Despised myself for my thoughts of you because they weren't high enough Job was shocked in the New Testament. We have this man named John whom when you hear about him in the Bible He's always referred to the one as the one whom Jesus loved the beloved disciple he had an intimacy with Jesus that it seemed like no one else had and Yet in Revelation chapter, I mean he understood Jesus But then Revelation 1 when he sees Jesus in his glorified state here are his words Revelation 1 17 says when I saw him I Fell at his feet as though dead These are people with a high view of God John had a high view of God. He understood man. This is God. This is God. This is Jesus and then he sees him he goes And it says he falls over like a dead man He goes man, I Had a high view of God and then I saw him Job had a high view of God and then he saw him So you got to understand Whatever view of God you have this morning He's greater than that He's higher than that and When you see his face, I don't think the first thing you think to myself yourself is let me look down on earth No, there's just gonna be this no way Just this awe of this being and I just thought you know this Christmas. Let's not belittle him Let's not just remember a baby in a manger That baby in the manger was that God? with all those angels and The beautiful thing is he actually Cared to come down That's amazing Psalm 145 verse 3 says great is the Lord and most worthy of praise His greatness no one can fathom You get that His greatness no one can fathom. So if you think you understand how great God is You're wrong. You can't fathom it He goes he goes God says in Isaiah 55. He says my ways aren't like your ways My thoughts aren't like your thoughts. He goes as far as the heavens are above the earth That's how much higher my thoughts are than yours and my ways are than yours You know how we talk about those galaxies that are light years millions of light years away and our minds can't even Absorb like what does that mean? I can't picture myself on this little planet and there's all these galaxies and stars I don't even get it and God goes, you know how much higher those heavens are than the earth That little tiny earth he goes that's the same with my thoughts the way that I think versus how you think It's just light years apart These things that are going on in heaven You have no clue You think you know my greatness and we use words to try to describe him as best we can but he goes just know that my greatness is beyond that and so when we think about Christmas I want you to think about That God in heaven who's so far beyond us Greater than any anything you can imagine and he came down into human form He humbled himself to that form for you and a lot of times we get this picture of the manger and you know, we're just thinking oh man, it's a You know, it's like a farm man. It's like this, you know horses try I mean, it's just this this stinky little place and and and that poor baby you guys I want you to look beyond that a little bit though, and I just want you I because I try to imagine this this week I thought okay What? Would be my reaction If the baby, Jesus Were on this stage Think about that God I described And he's beyond that and now he comes down to this human form on this manger This little infant takes the form of an infant Would you really just look at that baby and go oh look how cute oh Poor thing, you know, he's in this manger. I try to think okay What would your response be if God were right there on This stage as an infant. He humbled himself and took the form of a man even an infant Try to imagine yourself right now If that Jesus We're on this stage There's an old song that we sing around Christmastime It's called Oh Holy Night And one of the phrases I love in that song Is fall on your knees Right. See that's the proper response. It's not. Oh how cute It's not. Oh, look at that little baby. It's fall on your knees Man, this is a night divine. This is not a normal earthly, you know, just another night another child is born Evening this is a holy night. This is a sacred moment because that stuff we're talking about in heaven That's so much bigger than what's on earth It's like it's coming together Like that whole world God now is actually coming down onto the earth in human form This is a divine night. This is a holy night. This is crazy We as human beings on the earth get to encounter God in a real way God is gonna be with us It's like no way Almighty God whose ways are light years beyond ours. He's actually gonna come to earth in the form of baby I am just gonna fall flat on my face Before this baby. See that's Christmas and so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna have the girls come up and Sing that song for us And I want us to hear these words from a new perspective. I want you to think about that Baby, Jesus being on this stage Maybe take yourself back there to whatever the scene was But don't worry so much about the stable and trying to figure out when were their horses there were their cows were the actual animals Forget that who cares? Okay The point is Almighty God on the earth It may help to even close your eyes and try to imagine okay if I were there on that night when heaven touched earth when the supernatural came down to this planet to show us that he cared and Was on that in that stable or whatever try to picture what your response would be as we listen to the words Like we've never heard him before Oh The stars are brightly It is the night of our dear saviors Oh Till he and the soul Felt it We were rejoiced Mix a new and glorious more Oh The angels When Christ was Oh Oh Oh The angels Oh Oh night divine I'm sitting there listening to that for the first time, you know Probably most beautiful rendition I've ever heard by thinking about the angels singing Hear the angels singing I Mean I'm listening to these voices coming. Gosh, it's just so beautiful and the thought of this holy moment in this divine night when What these people saw wasn't what they normally saw See most nights we have our human nights, right Fleshly nights where everything we see is flesh and blood nothing supernatural But that night to see something divine and to hear something divine that the angels singing What in the world would it sound like To hear angels singing And I hear three girls singing I cry, you know angels the supernatural the Creator and those voices I want to just read a Just a couple of passages that you normally hear during Christmas I'm not gonna read the whole Christmas story. You're gonna do that in your homes Tomorrow in groups in communities, right and you'll hear the whole story there I mean, that's something for having to stop and go. Wow. Look Christians are talking to each other That's a huge step of faith and But I just want to I want us right now to just Read a couple of verses and I and I want you to again just to imagine this from heaven's perspective See because this wasn't just about us. You got to understand there was more in Matthew 1 verse 20 it talks about Joseph In Matthew 1 verse 20, it says but after he had considered this an angel of the Lord appeared to him