I know that after these moments, we are about to spread out and go so many different places

into so many different activities. And I just want us to have a moment of focus and clarity

in the presence of God right now. Every time I get to preach on Christmas or Easter, there is an

elevated, not necessarily pressure, but I think wait to the moment because I know a lot of people are in the room who aren't normally in the room and we're celebrating these holidays that magnify these huge spiritual realities.

I just want you to know for ACC, our heart's desire is not just that you would walk away tonight feeling good about the Christmas service you decided to attend.

I'm honored that you would be here. It means a lot. But at the end of the day, I don't really care

if you leave here going, that was awesome or that was awkward. My main priority in preaching the

word of God and our main priority as a team and putting these moments together is that you would leave here knowing you had an encounter with Jesus.

Because the last thing I want you to do is enjoy a nice holiday that can really start magnifying a lot of other things

other than Jesus and miss out on the reason why we have breath in our lungs in this moment,

which is to join in with the song of

heaven saying, oh, come, let us adore Jesus. So we've got a lot of different life seasons in

this room. We got a lot of different stories and family backgrounds and a lot that we're carrying

at the end of a difficult year for many of us. For others of us, it was an awesome year.

The Holy Spirit gives us the ability to rejoice with

those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn simultaneously. But all I really want in this

moment is for us to tune in on what the Holy Spirit of God is doing. And we're going to do that

by getting laser focused on Jesus and looking to his word. If you need a title for this sermon,

it is called the cross of Christmas.

The Cross of Christmas.

Now that is actually the title of the song that we were just singing.

If that song, thank you for the manger, where my Savior laid.

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