Good morning. Welcome to you this morning. If you're visiting here at Gateway, you're here for the weekend being with family or maybe came with some friends. We want to welcome you. We're really glad you're here. I'm Pastor Tom Lane. I'm the executive senior pastor here at Gateway. I'm responsible on a daily basis to work with the pastoral team a day and day out basis on behalf of Pastor Robert and the elders.

And so we're really glad that you're here.

Pastor Robert's going to be back next weekend.

We were talking last night, my daughter's a sophomore at Baylor,

and she has brought a boyfriend twice to the services

and never heard Pastor Robert.

And if you're visiting, been here a couple of times and yet to hear him,

well you come next weekend, New Year's weekend,

and you'll hear his message.

He's going to begin a new series called Breakthrough. And he really was sharing with me this morning.

Lord's giving him two keys to Breakthrough in any area of life. And so if you're needing a breakthrough in 2005,

will you come and be a part of that series

that he'll begin next weekend?

I want to talk to you this morning around the Christmas story about God's desire, his intention,

what is revealed in the Christmas story, to fulfill a promise.

The Christmas story is a reminder that God is a promise. The Christmas story is a reminder that God is a promise-keeping,

promise-giving God and he fulfills his promises. Maybe you're here and you've been sitting on a promise for a long time.

Something that God told you would happen and you've been waiting for it to unfold in your life.

I think there's encouragement for you today as we remember what God did in fulfilling his

promise to send a Savior, to send a Redeemer for mankind.

And the birth of Christ was the fulfillment of that promise.

Maybe you didn't know that God has promises or makes promises today,

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