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a certain uh presence, a certain degree of stress that all of you're feeling, and I'm feeling it because you're feeling it. It's something we've gotten ourselves into. It's the holiday season, and they make them longer, and it takes more.

And sometimes you just wear out. I'm looking at moms and grandmoms and uh lots of lady cooks here who have recipes on their mind, and they're just praying it tastes good this year cuz that aunt that always brings that pie that you have to throw out. Oh, yeah.

I mean, it's just a lot of pressure. And the guys, just for me, I I want to help all I can. And there's this anxiety in the house.

I I know not to get too comfortable on the sofa because I'll hear, "I [clears throat] hate to bother you, but I ran out of uh heavy cream, and I need for you to go." And fine, that's that's what I'm here for. You know, we we know what we're talking about here, don't we, guys? Women are thinking, "Please, Lord, let this be the best Christmas ever." And men are saying, "Lord, please let me find a way to slip into that room and get my nap." But I'm going to take a chance and tell you that a lot of your stress is due to that family member that you have to walk on eggshells around.

Uh-oh, here Here go. You know, everybody's got one. You don't know when they're going off.

You can say the wrong thing and that's it. Sometimes it's an in-law. I've said for years because I'm a great philosopher.

Nothing can mess up a good family like a bad in-law. And it's going to be a great deal of trying not to look around here this morning. But you know, sometimes when your kids marry, uh they bring in people that don't love the family as much as you do.

And there's tension. And sometimes you get a son-in-law who just doesn't fit in. You know?

This has never happened in my family, but I heard and I'm trying to relate to you the best I'm trying to help you. And God forbid that you bring up the wrong subject. God.

Especially politics. Because it's sad, but today uh around the Christian table, you'll have liberal discussions with people who don't any longer see the way you do. They've gone in a different direction.

And so a lot of times what we're just trying to do is get through the holiday or the day or the meal without an eruption. And sometimes we start looking and say, "What what's wrong with our family? Where did they come from?

How did we get here?" I want to tell you something, every family in here has issues. Every one of you do does. All of us are dealing with something because we're all human beings.

And sometimes you begin to think, "My family's worse than anybody's family. I hope nobody finds out this about my family." If you go back four generations in your family, most of us can't. If you go back four generations, you're going to find bad stuff, embarrassing, uh maybe even criminal, corrupt.

It's back there. You don't want to go much farther than four generations. But I'm going to tell you there has never been a more dysfunctional family on this planet than the family of Jesus Christ.

I'm going to show you that from scripture. I mentioned going back four generations. We We wouldn't want everything dug up.

But God, through the Holy Spirit, gave us His word and tells us of the ancestry of Jesus, the family tree of Jesus, and He doesn't go back four generations. He goes back 42 generations starting with Abraham. And the people in the family tree of Jesus, some of them are so rotten, God killed them.

So perverted, God just said, "I I won't put up with this." And He wiped them off the planet. There's all kinds of stuff in the background of Jesus. Let me just read some things to you.

You know, if you go to the Bible, uh Matthew and Luke have genealogies, right? Aren't they fun to read? >> Yes.

>> Wow. And you look at Luke's genealogy and it's it starts with Jesus and goes back to Adam. That's because Luke wrote to all believers, including Gentiles, and wanted the whole world to know that Jesus Christ came into the world, the whole world, to save sinners, all kinds of sinners.

But when you read the genealogy of Matthew, it doesn't go back that far. And Matthew is trying to tell Jews that Jesus Christ is the son of David, who will be the ruler of the world. He is the Messiah.

So, that's why Matthew writes the way he does and the genealogy is a little shorter because he's telling people of Jewish descent with Jewish ears, Jesus is the son of God. So, let's read a couple of those verses. Let's look at the family tree of Jesus.

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, >> [clears throat] >> the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begot Isaac. Isaac begot Jacob.

Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. One of those brothers was Judah. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

Perez begot Hezron. Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab.

Um Who names their children these names? What happened to Chuck? Ram begat Aminadab.

Aminadab begat Nahshon. Nahshon begat Salmon. Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab.

Boaz begat Obed by Ruth. Obed begat Jesse. Jesse begat David the king.

David the king begat Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Now, what's different about that? He mentions women here.

There are no women in Luke's genealogy. But these are women who are ancestors of Jesus. Look at it.

Verse 3. Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Who's Tamar?

Tamar was a Gentile. She was not a Jew. And one of Judah's sons, Er, fell in love with somebody outside the family of a different race.

And problems immediately began to follow. So, Er married Tamar. And Er was a wicked, foul, vile, worthless man.

And God just killed him. Now, in the tradition, the Jewish tradition, the next son was supposed to marry the wife and raise up children. So, the next son was On.

On was just as sorry and no good and vile. And God killed him. Judah said, "I can't risk another one." So, he kicked her out.

And that was against all tradition. He just let her go. But Tamar said, "I must raise up children from this line." God was in it, you see.

So, here's what Tamar did. Tamar knew that her father-in-law had a thing for prostitutes. Yeah.

Judah, the father of Jews. Jesus, the lion of the tribe of Judah. His ancestor had a thing for loose women.

So, she dressed up like a prostitute. And she seduced her father-in-law. And she became expectant by him.

And through that, the genealogy genealogy of Jesus continued. Wow. Is that somebody to be proud of?

Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab. Everybody that knows the Bible thinks of Rahab the harlot. That's what she was.

You can't dress it up. You can't whitewash it. She was a prostitute.

That's how she made her living, and she made a good one. That's how she supported her family. But Rahab the harlot heard that there was a real God.

And Rahab the harlot by faith believed what she heard about this God, this God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, Rahab and her whole family were saved by faith. That's in the family tree of Jesus.

Boaz begat Obed by Ruth. Who's Ruth? Ruth was a Moabite.

The Moabites were the worst enemies Israel had. They tried to destroy Israel right after they came across the Red Sea, and God said, "I'm going to let them live a while, but I'm going to deal with them later." They were arch enemies of Israel, and here this Moabite marries into the family that would bring Jesus Christ into the world. Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat David the king.

David, here we go. Did you know more is written about David in the Bible than any other character other than Jesus? King David, a man after God's own heart, a warrior, a psalmist, but he had a weakness just like you do and just as I do.

And that weakness got control of him, and then you read the rest of it. Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Which means he took another man's wife.

The king used his authority, his influence, and stole another man's wife. Not just another man, one of his dearest friends, one of his special forces Delta operator friends. And then, to keep this from becoming public, he had Uriah murdered.

There you go. And all of these people are in the family tree of Jesus. These are the rotten limbs on the tree.

It gets a little worse than that, too, because when you come to the time that Jesus is born, and now he's beginning his ministry, his own family thought he was crazy. You know, the Bible says specifically and loudly that Jesus Christ had four brothers and sisters. Mary was not a perpetual virgin.

She was only a virgin when Jesus was conceived, but after Jesus was born, she and Joseph had other children. Four boys, James, Joseph, Simon, Judas, and at least two sisters. Can you imagine growing up with Jesus?

I I can't. I've often wondered cuz, you know, Dennis and I are siblings, and Janice and Dennis and I are siblings, and we know how many spats we had growing up. And sometimes they were violent.

That's right. Somebody got hurt sometimes. Didn't you, Dennis?

But we both knew not to mess with Janice cuz she'd bite a chunk out of you. Literally bite you like a dog. I didn't need that.

Listen. Can you imagine Jesus at 12, 11 years of age, with siblings? And they're picking at him, and how does he respond?

They steal his bagel. How does he respond? It's hard, but I just have to believe.

He was human just like me. He had to throw a punch every once in a while. A holy punch.

But then when they became adults and Jesus began the ministry, the Bible says they thought he had lost his mind. They thought he was beside himself. One day Jesus was teaching in a house and his mother and brothers and sisters came to that house.

They couldn't get in because it was so full and they said to somebody, uh go in there and tell Jesus we'd like to talk to him. And they said, well, who are you? I'm his mother.

Okay. They went in and said, Jesus, your mother and your brothers are outside. They wish to speak to you.

And Jesus said, Who is my mother? Uh-oh. Who are my brothers?

You are. He that does the will of my father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my father. Wow, what an insult.

Another time, one of his brothers came to Jesus and said, listen, quit playing games. Quit sneaking around. You do a little miracle over here, then you disappear, you go over here and calm a storm and nobody can find you.

Why don't you just go on into Jerusalem, perform a big miracle and reveal yourself? Because they didn't believe him. Jesus said, my time hasn't come yet.

Here's the thing. Your savior came from a dysfunctional family. Your savior knows what it feels like to have relatives that are lost, that are crazy, that are homosexual, that are adulterers.

Jesus understands every frustration you have with family and family members. Here's the thing about it. When he spoke to Joseph that day, it says Joseph was a just man.

And Joseph wanted to do the right thing. So, the angel said to him, "Mary's going to bring forth a son and you shall call his name Jesus. You shall call his name Jesus.

For he will save his people from their sins." I want to throw you a curveball right here. Is that okay? I wrestled with this most of my ministry.

It He did not say when he saves them, they will be his people. He said he will save his people from their sins. Read into that anything you want to.

But God has a people. God knows who they are. God has a family.

And God's family is not altogether perfect. But Jesus Christ, the son of God, came into the world to save his people from their sins. And this is an important moment right here to bring up the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.

How could Jesus save me from my sins? He can do it because he was totally human and at the same time totally divine. Now, how does that happen?

We know biologically, anatomically that the mother provides in her body, she provides the body for the baby. The father provides the blood source. The cells of the father provide the type of blood and the blood itself that goes into the body.

So, while Mary had a child with all these ancestors made of flesh and blood and bone, what was in her womb was conceived of the Holy Spirit and his father was heavenly. That made him holy, sinless, divine, and capable and adequate to take my sins in his body on the cross. Hallelujah.

It's important. I I say it again, Jesus Christ was born of a virgin. He had no sin in him.

That is why he is worthy to be called savior. That is why he said he will save his people from their sins. They cannot save themselves.

They don't even know how perverted they are. They don't even [screaming] know how dysfunctional they are. But Jesus knows.

And Jesus can save his people and straighten out his people and redeem his people if his people will but believe on his name. >> [applause] >> You ought to say hallelujah to God. >> [applause] >> So, what those shepherds saw that night when they traversed that little desert area and came into Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the baby in a stall and they looked down into that crib.

They were not only looking at the savior of the world and the Messiah of the Jews they were looking at the head of a new race of people. Great day. A new race.

The race of the redeemed. I'm going to get happy here in a minute. I'm just putting you on notice.

I told the early crowd sometimes when I'm preaching it's like an out-of-body experience and I hear what I'm saying and I say, "Yes, that's the truth. Tell it. Preach it." >> [applause] >> What I'm about to tell you makes me so happy I can hardly stand it.

You know, these days in this crazy world where we live, you go to fill out a paper for something. I went to buy a a thing the other day. I had to fill out all these questions and questionnaires and race.

What race? Then I looked at that list. I I finally got to the bottom and it's there was a W there.

For in case you don't know it, I'm white. So, I checked it. But, I also noticed there was one block that said, "I am not this." I went, "What?

If I'm this, how do I Why do I have to say I'm not this? And And who is that? What group is that?

I've never even seen that group before." Because in the world's mind, we are divided. In the world's thinking, we are separate. We're trying to act like we're together.

We try to get along, but racism and division is worse than it's ever been in the history of this country, whether you believe that or not. And politicians aren't doing a thing to help it. They're in fact making it worse.

That's why everybody is race-minded and color-conscious. But when they looked in that crib that night, they saw the head of a new race where color did not matter. It didn't matter what you looked like.

If you're born again, you belong to the family of almighty God. >> [applause] >> Sorry. I told you I was going to get out of control up in here.

You know, you even in this congregation, you walk up to people and they'll say, "I'm Puerto Rican." "I'm from Mexico. I'm I'm black. I'm from Indonesia.

I'm from India. I'm from Russia. I'm from Ukraine.

I'm from Japan." They're all up here. They're all up here. And they're all out there.

But when we get to heaven, I do believe I'll still be a white dude. I do. And I believe you'll be a black lady.

And don't make me go through the whole thing. Yeah, I still believe it, but it won't matter. You see, because God is the one that made the difference.

He's proud of all his creation. He loves all his people. He's not going to wipe it all out when we get to heaven.

No, when we get to heaven, we'll just love one another and appreciate one another and thank God we'll worship with one another. Man, this is good preaching. >> [applause] >> A new race, the race of the redeemed.

I'm about to tell you something right here. In this new race of the redeemed, in this new family, that's you and me, nobody has a past. Your past started at the cross.

Did you hear me? I thought Yeah, but you don't know my past. If you met Jesus, you don't have a past.

You have a now and a future. >> [applause] >> But I did all these things before I was saved. And?

That was before you were saved. That was before you were born again. Hey!

Sorry. Born again, listen. The Bible says you've been born again of incorruptible seed.

Can't get into details, we've got young people in here today. Seed is the life-generating cell of the male. Was that good?

So, nobody's having to explain anything to anybody right here. Did you hear what I said? My My other parents, well, my parents, Lawrence and Maddie, were human.

They had the sin nature in them. And they produced us. And we got the sin nature in us when we were born of them.

But Lot and Mattie got saved because they met the redeemer. And Janice and Dennis and I got saved because our precious parents taught us the good ways of the Lord. And although I did a bunch of stuff I'm embarrassed about, I know it appear, but it's no longer in my past because my past was washed away.

I was born again of incorruptible seed by the word of God, which lives and abides forever. But you are a chosen generation. A holy nation, a royal priesthood, Peter said.

That you should show forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Listen, who were not a people, but are now the people of God. So, here sitting in this room, everybody that's been born again has no past.

You got no yesterday. You got no record because when you confessed your sins and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit took a holy eraser and erased it all out. Everything before Calvary.

That's good preaching. So, as I pondered the Christmas story this year, because it's so deep you can't get to the bottom of it. It's rich.

It's a treasure trove. I looked at seven of the characters and got a lesson from each one. First of all, Herod.

What you learn from Herod? I learned that Herod wasn't the big shot he thought he was. He was a big governor, big ruler, had power over people, wanted to destroy Jesus, but nobody can destroy Jesus.

Nobody can wipe him out. No government, no power, no president, no czar, no premier, nobody can stop the plan of God. Nobody can stop the hand of God.

Let me tell you, this country is on a path. God knows where it's going. Nobody's going to change it, and nobody's going to stop it.

I could go through all 112 nations of the of the world. Nobody's going to change it. Nobody's going to stop it.

God knows what he's doing. The best thing to do is just bow down and say, "You are God and God [screaming] alone." Second lesson, shepherds. The meekest, mildest, I I said last week they were on the bottom of the totem pole.

They were on the bottom rung of the socio-economic level in Israel. Nobody liked shepherds, and nobody wanted to be one, and once you were born one, you stayed one. And that's who God chose as an audience for the angels to show up and say, "Glory to God in the highest." I learned this lesson.

When you are humble in spirit, look out. God will show up. God will shock you.

God will amaze you, and you will never be the same again. Then I learned this from the wise men. They traveled a thousand miles to find Jesus.

The Bible says, "And you will seek me and find me when you search for me with all of your heart." Sir, if you make any attempt to know God, God will move towards you. If you have any desire to know Christ, Christ will make sure you find him. That's the important thing about the wise men.

They wanted to meet the Messiah. And though it took months and thousands of miles, they found the very one they were looking for. I learned this about Joseph.

The Bible says he was a just and good man. And he wanted to do the right thing. Don't you think it's wonderful that when God decided to put his son into a family, he didn't choose a rich man?

He did His mother was not a socialite. He chose a just and good man in humble dwellings. He chose a woman that just wanted to please God.

I want to say to the new parents, you've got babies or you're about to have a baby. You're bringing up your children. The best thing you will give them will not be stuff and money and opportunities.

The best gift you will ever give them, Dad, is for you to be a just man, a man of integrity. The best thing you can give them, Mom, is that you will look towards heaven and say, "Be it unto me according to your word. I am your servant." The next thing I learned was from Mary.

Mary brought the son of God into the world. They took this gift from heaven. Remember last week's message?

Took him to the temple and Simeon picked him up. And while he was blessing him, he kind of stopped as there's a parenthesis there and said looked at Mary and said, "And a sword will also pierce your heart." Listen carefully. God's favor is always accompanied by pain and testing.

God's gifts will try you. The more you are blessed, the more you will be tried. But the Bible says, one day the joy will outlast the sorrow.

Weeping may endure for the night, but joy will come in the morning. I thought somebody would get a little happier about that. May >> [applause] >> Then I thought about Anna.

You know, she's in Luke and all right there with Simeon. Said she was uh had been a widow since she was uh married 7 years. She's 84 years old.

And she spent her days and nights in the temple fasting and praying. Wow. So, the day that Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to Simeon and he held him in his arms, she happened to be walking by.

Read it. When she saw that, Bible says she burst into rejoicing and thanksgiving. Here's what I believe.

A person that's faithful in service to God. A person that knows why they're on this earth and that is to worship God. A person that will not be deterred or or even discouraged by the negative things in life, but will say, "Bless the Lord anyway.

I'll bless him at all times." will find that rejoicing and thanksgiving will just billow out of you at times. And then I learned this from Simeon. Remember?

He held Jesus up. And he prayed, "Lord, you said that I would not die until I see the Lord's Christ and I'm looking at him." I want to tell somebody this. David said in one of the Psalms, "Unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, I would have fainted." [snorts] Let me Let me try it a different way.

David said, "I would have given up if I didn't really believe I would see an answer in my lifetime." This is true. You will see [snorts] the goodness of the Lord in this lifetime. This lifetime.

Oh, you ought to join me. Somebody say this lifetime. We're going to get a lot of things when we die and go to heaven.

We're going to see a lot of things take place when we die and go to heaven. But this is more than just dying and going to heaven. God's a good God.

God's a faithful God. God's a prayer-answering God. God knows what you have need of.

God cares about the things you care about. >> [applause] >> In the land of the living. Stand up with me.

That's some good preaching this morning. It is. I don't care what you say.

>> [applause] >> Merry Christmas. I'm asking Lois and the choir to sing >> [music] >> and let us join them in worship. >> [music] >> your desire count on it, brother.

One way or another. And I mean before we get to heaven, you will see the Lord. The goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

I hope you're encouraged this morning. It doesn't take away from the frustration and the anxiety. Christmas is coming.

Things have to be done. Women are busy. Men wish they weren't.

I It was kind of late last night. I heard all this clanging and banging in the kitchen and I'm going, "Lord, this is not sounding good. It's just not." And then the dog was finally asleep on my lap and she came in and she's so sweet when she does it.

She said, >> [music] >> "I hate to bother you, but I am out of shredded [music] coconut. I need to go to the store and get it. I'm going to the store I said, "No, no, no.

That's the That's what I'm here for." So, I went to the store to get it. Where do you think it is? You can't find it.

Now, I'm not looking back, but she gave me plentious, copious instructions before I left as to where I could find it. And there I stood on the phone. "Where are you?" she said.

I [music] said, "I'm on this aisle." She said, "That's where you're supposed to be. Move up a little bit. It's between the frozen vegetables and the frozen fruit." I said, "That's exactly where I'm standing." She said, "You don't see it?" I don't see it.

She said, "It's in the back. It's lying down. You got to get up and look in the back." And I did.

I opened the door and climbed up in the freezer and reached back there. She said, "Might as well get two packs." I got two packs of Coca-Cola and said, "Yippee aye yo ki yay, glory to God." Take take I did a good job though, didn't I? Yes, Mike, come on up here.

I want them to see who works me to death up here. Wish them a Merry Christmas. >> Merry Christmas.

Do I need to elaborate? >> no, okay. We do wish you a Merry Christmas.

>> Yes. >> Fellas, do the best you can. And ladies, by the way, we appreciate all that work you put into that cooking and baking, don't we guys?

>> [laughter] >> Do it more often. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart [music] be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen.

See you Wednesday, unless Jesus comes. >> [singing] >> Night night and day.