Hello, this is Ashley Chase welcoming you to the Mark Driscoll Podcast.

For more content from my dad, Pastor Mark, senior pastor here at the Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, visit realthafed.com,

where you'll find study guides to go along with each sermon series as he preaches verse by verse through books of the Bible,

daily devotions, free e-books, and more.

Now, grab your Bibles and get ready for today's sermon.

Merry Christmas to you and happy birthday to Jesus!

And let me just say, my heart is so full of joy to see you, and I just want to take a moment and thank all of you for joining us.

But also, can we just take a moment and thank the BAM then the choir?

What an incredible job leading us!

And here's what I want you to know is so wonderful.

These are all members of our church family.

These are people that we know and love, and many of the people on the stage became Christians at this church.

Some were saved and baptized this year.

And all of us have been doing incredible things and we're overjoyed to see you.

My name is Pastor Mark. I have the honor of teaching and preaching God's Word here at Trinity Church, and we're very glad to have you.

My Christmas present to you is a short sermon.

If you come back later, you'll get a full one, but this one's a bit brief.

But I love this time of year because I love Jesus Christ.

And I thank you for joining us as we worship Him.

And when we speak of Christmas, we're really speaking of the worship of Christ.

Christmas, the Word, comes from actually two ancient older words, Christ, Mass.

Of course, Christ, referring to Jesus Christ, and Mass is an old word that the church would use for worship services devoted to Jesus.

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