Go Find Jesus - Pastor Brad DeLong

I recognize that December 25th has passed and some have already moved on, but I love Christmas and I try to prolong it as much as possible. So, we're going to talk about the Christmas story. And it's not just the Christmas story. This story applies year round. And I want to highlight a pattern and a posture I receive I see reflected in that first Christmas story. A posture, a pattern that I hope we all assume today and really every day. thereafter. Turn with me to the book of Luke, chapter 2.

We pick up on the sudden wakeup call of the angels to the shepherds in verse 8. I would have loved to have been there. I think probably would be never seen a choir of angels. Probably would be screaming along with the shepherds. I don't know if they were screaming, but I think most likely Luke records they were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy." Jo, I feel that joy in the room today, which will be to all people. For there's born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior who's Christ the Lord. They didn't really ask them to do this. In this next line, they said, "And this will be the sign to you. You're going to find him. Just assume that you're going to find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.

He'll be lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host. They were praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men." So it was when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that's come to pass, which the Lord made known to us." And they came with haste and did as the angel said, and they found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a manger.

Of course, when they saw him, they were excited. They went to all their friends and loved ones as far as we know and they glorified the Lord and they shared the news. And this morning for just a couple minutes I want to preach on the response of the shepherds and I would say the implied mandate of the angels. In light of that proclamation, in light of the shepherd's response, I want to preach from an imperative to today and that title is simply this. Go find Jesus.

Go find him. The angels didn't say it outright, but the shepherd's urgency shows us the proper response to the word of God and the good news of Jesus. We ought to take every opportunity to find Jesus and seek the Lord. Why don't we do it now? Would you put your Bibles down and let's just take a moment to seek after the Lord? And I'm hoping and praying that you'll find him today if you haven't already. Lord, we're in a mission in a mode to connect with you.

That is our mission. And we want to find you today. We we don't want to just uh punch our time clock and leave, but we want to make this service count and we want to make this day count and we want to make every day count. We truly seek after you. And I pray and hope and believe that we're going to find you today. That someone who's desperate, someone who's broken, someone who's needing peace and love and joy will find Jesus and they'll find all of those things in him.

We love you and thank you in Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Thank you, Sister Rever, for playing so beautifully. My goodness, not to call you out, but it was I just thought, "Wow, it's awesome." There is a noticeable pattern in the Christmas story, in this narrative that I want us to notice. I want us to to emulate, to copy it, not only at Christmas, not only in this festive time of the year, but in our daytoday lives. You saw it clearly with the shepherds.

You're going to see it in the lives of other Christmas characters that when they're confronted with the news of Jesus that Jesus has arrived, you have access to him and his existence and his coming. Their immediate response was always just to go right then and there. And and their priority was we got to go and we got to find Jesus. When the word or the spirit's prompting or the the stars or the heavenly lights beckoned them, they stopped everything and they stopped at nothing to seek after and to find Jesus.

In the case of the shepherds, they're confronted with this angelic host and choir. And as far as we know, they either leave their sheep in the field or I like to think that they took all their sheep with them. that just a whole flock of sheep is going through Bethlehem and they're checking all the the the mangers and they're looking around. They're trying to find they're knocking on doors and they open the door and there's just a couple shepherds with a host of sheep and they're they're searching.

Uh they make haste and they go and they they find this baby wrapped in swaddling clothes. It it tells us that they moved quickly. They moved with intention. They had no higher priority in the middle of the night than to go and to find Jesus the Messiah. They heard the word. They responded to the word by seeking after and finding Jesus. I will just pause here and say any given Sunday when you hear the word of the Lord, any given Wednesday or any day in between when you're confronted with the word of God, you ought to just stop and lay aside every other priority and make sure you find Jesus.

That's just a good response. It could be a sermon on repentance. It could be a sermon on the coming of the Lord. It could be a sermon on how great our God is. No matter what the occasion of sermon is, you ought to find Jesus every chance you get. They heard the word. They responded by going after him. Just five verses later in Luke 2, we see the same pattern. Simeon and Anna, elders, faithful believers. They're prompted by the spirit, at least in Simeon's case, to go and to find Jesus at the temple.

In Luke 2 says, "Behold, there's a man in Jerusalem. His name was Simeon. And this man was just and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel. I read that this week and again I need to pause because there is someone here I believe that's waiting on the same. You're waiting on the comfort of God. You're waiting on the answer from the Lord. And that's what Simeon's waiting on that. You're waiting on the peace of God, his consolation. He says he will not leave you comfortless.

And you have that access. But I want you to notice what he does as he's waiting. and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. So he came by the spirit. This man was a man of the spirit into the temple. And and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he takes him in his arms and he blesses God.

When nudged and prompted by the spirit, his first and only response was to go to the temple and to find Jesus of Nazareth. And he was shortly followed by Anna, who did the same. Some of you might feel a nudging in the middle of this sermon to go and to seek the Lord. You don't have to wait for me. I'm glad Simeon didn't wait. He might have missed his opportunity. If you feel the nudge of the Holy Ghost to seek after God, you ought to do it with haste.

Simeon and Anna knew of the prophecies of the word of God. And they both responded by seeking the Lord, finding Jesus and worshiping him. And of course, there's the magi of Matthew chapter 2. At least one more example of this pattern in posture. This is a day before air tags and GPS and cell phones. They they just had this dogmatic determination that they were going to seek and find the the reasoning for this star. And likely some believe that they were inspired by the the writings and influence of the prophet Daniel himself who was a a wise man of the east.

And and so they're confronted by the combination of the star and quite possibly the word of God and the word of prophecy. And they put their lives on hold and and they gathered their band of travelers and traversed across what some estimate was 500 to 900 miles of terrain, rough terrain in those days. And they disobeyed kings. They defied orders. They followed the signs of the heavens. They brought some of the most precious gifts they could find to meet Jesus the Messiah. I just heard a joke uh during service actually from a good brother who said that whenever they presented the gifts to Jesus, they told Mary and Joseph, "These are for Christmas and his birthday." And I thought that was funny.

I won't tell you who told me, but Aaron, I thought it was funny. I want you to notice it's such a remarkable act of worship. Some of us, if they said, "Hey, hop in the car. You're going to drive 900 miles. Drive 900 miles. You're going to find uh the answer to the star." They may not have known all it was going to happen. You don't even really know what you're going to look like. You'd look at me like I was crazy. They didn't drive. We don't know what they what means of travel they had, but it was a remarkable act of worship in response to the news and the possibility of a Messiah being born.

Many know that Herod was heralded. He was infamous. He was a cruel and and wicked king who in the world kills a generation of baby boys and they defied his order. It was a bold and brave act. In the face of it all, they they sought after. They find Jesus just like the shepherds and the elders before them. And all of these when confronted with the news of Messiah, they go looking for and they found Jesus. And in doing so, I believe that they knowingly and unknowingly obeyed a long-standing command written from centuries past by the Messiah's own lineage by a man who knew what it was to seek after the Lord.

The the shepherds, the elders, the magi followed the same admonition that we're endeavoring to obey, to live out. It was given from David's writings in 1 Chronicles 16 when he says, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the people. Sing to him. Sing praises to him in psalms. Talk of all his wondrous works. Glory in his holy name. Let the hearts of those rejoice who do what? Who seek the Lord. Seek the Lord in his strength. Seek his face ever more.

Whether it's 500 or 900 miles or you got to go all the way around the world to find him. You go after Jesus and you find the Messiah. WHETHER THEY KNEW IT OR NOT, IN THEIR searching and seeking and and their subsequent finding and rejoicing, they were fulfilling a pattern that their ancestors had discovered long ago that when you're confronted with the presence and the power and the word of the Lord, you simply seek after him. You go look even before you're confronted with those. You all know the word.

That's all you really need. Even before you have the feelings and before you come in service AND BEFORE YOU FEEL THE POWER OF GOD, YOU ought to seek after him. even before those things and true to his word and and promise, you're going to find him. And they found him. Found the savior. They found the Messiah and the only almighty one. They found Jesus. Hear me today, somebody this morning and truly every morning. That is our highest aim. That is our highest priority to connect with the Lord.

If we're going to endeavor to do anything this holiday season, if we're going to find anything or anyone, if if we're going to find that uh uh that special holiday deal or that gift or that perfect plate of holiday cuisine, whatever we're going to attempt to find, I I want to find Jesus. Let it be that of all the things I find during this season, I love the Christmas cookies and I love finding different treasures and I love finding uh the the THINGS IN THE STOCKINGS.

I WANT TO find Jesus. Let it be that APC follows the pattern of scripture, the one exhibited during his first coming, like the shepherds and the elders and the magi, like David and the disciples, like hungry hearts and desperate people have done for centuries and millennia. Let us seek the Lord. Let us find him. Let us know him and adore him who came and died on our behalf. If it's been a while since you really found Jesus, you ought to find him today. >> You ought to find him this morning before you leave.

Let us find ourselves every day with Jesus. And if there's anything you have left on your bucket list for your days off or even for next year's resolutions, could it just simply be this? That I'm going to find Jesus every day. I'm going to spend time with him and make him my highest pri. I'm going to seek the Lord. I know it's so simple and fundamental that maybe we miss it. Those those shepherds and el elders and magi, they were locked on to something. If they wouldn't have found Jesus, we wouldn't have the story.

If you wouldn't have found Jesus, you wouldn't have a testimony. If you wouldn't have sought after the Lord, if you wouldn't have sought out the Lord while you were sick and while you WERE STRUGGLING, YOU MAY NOT EVEN be here. But the Lord sustained you. When you find Jesus, you find everything. >> It changed everything. And I don't want us to miss their response and the one that we're supposed to have when confronted with the word of God is coming. We ought to find Jesus every Sunday, every Wednesday, every day in between.

This is the pattern we see in scripture. This is the one we follow today. Go find Jesus. Look at your neighbor and tell them, "Go find Jesus. Tell them you need Jesus." I talked about the determination of those magi, those shepherds. I've been inspired recently by that resolute pursuit. Like we do in all of our sermons and messages, I've of course found inspiration first and foremost in the word of God and the pattern of the word of God. That pattern is enough for me to follow and emulate.

But as you might have guessed about me, if you've been around more than two weeks, I also found a little inspiration in the same pattern that I observed in my own kiddos. You knew it was coming. See here recently we have enacted a new tradition in the Dong house. One that prompted Mariah to tell me a few weeks ago. She said, "You're going to get a sermon out of this." She didn't know I was already writing it. This tradition involves our kids seeking after and finding this guy supposedly Jesus with a very light complexion.

Every morning during the holiday season, most have likely heard of, you know, Elf on the Shelf, a game where the kids wake up and they find the elves and see what they're up to. Mariah saw this and came up with a variation of that one that involves this guy right here. Instead of Elf on the Shelf, we tried to come up with some alternative names. We I threw out a couple. Messiah in the Salah, which means living room, I think, in Spanish. Christ in the casa.

I just kept going with Spanish. Jesus on the main line. We didn't. We settled on, thanks to my wife, Jehovah all over. We believe that Jesus is the one true God. So, we've got this Amazon Jesus. And we started hiding him every night for the kids to find him the next day. And truthfully, seeing the response of those kids every morning, it it lit a fire under me, inspired me. And there's no way I wasn't going to preach about it. Every morning. Every morning they wake up with one thing on their minds.

I walk in their rooms. They've been wanting me to sing to them to wake them up. Sounds pretty rough, but we do it anyway. They open their eyes. Some of their first words throughout this December season were, "I got to go find Jesus." You know, it really is that simple, church. Shepherds did it. Anna and Simeon did it. The Magi did it. The Dong kids do it. They have prioritize this pursuit above every other pursuit. My kids have been getting up. Before they even eat breakfast, before they get dressed, they are on the hunt.

They're going to find Jesus. They don't stop looking until they find him. I can learn a thing or two about that. is how many times have I've gone in to pray or read my Bible and I I just again I we're all guilty of it. Maybe just me, but we check it off the list. I really didn't find him. I really didn't interact with him. I really didn't connect with him. But at least I can say that I tried. They hardly even get distracted with things like brushing their teeth.

Some of us need to get distracted with those things, but playing with their TOYS AND THEY'RE JUST AFTER JESUS first and foremost. They they make this pursuit their highest priority, if you catch what I'm saying. In fact, a couple weeks ago, Wesley got mad at me because I forgot to hide Jesus. Said, "Dad, you didn't hide Jesus." And Jesus is one of his legs fell off that night. I think Mariah stitched him up, but his his feet aren't. Well, anyway, every analogy breaks down at some point.

I know that. But I'm thankful the Jesus that we're after isn't hiding. Said he's saying, "Hey, seek me. You'll find you will find him every time you truly look for him. In fact, the Lord told the exiles, the ones who are far away from his temple and and his corresponding presence as they had ever been before. He says this in Jeremiah 12, they're far off. They're they're far away from God. And he says, "Then you'll call upon me and you'll pray to me even without the temple.

And I'll listen to you and and you'll seek me and you will find me when you search for me with what? WITH ALL YOUR HEART. I WILL be found by you, says the Lord. and I'll bring you back from your captivity. I'll gather you from all the nations and all the places where I've driven you, says the Lord. And and I'll bring you back to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. In other words, this is the posture of our Lord when you go looking for him and and when you go praying after him each and every day.

He really is wanting to be found and he makes that abundantly clear in the scriptures. I woke Mila up the other morning. I was trying to convince her to get out of bed and I told her, I said, "Ma, you got to get up. Jesus is waiting on you. He's ready for you to find him. I wonder some of us would wake up with that on our hearts and minds in the morning. I know some might think, well, I wake up with overwhelmed worries. I wake up with my task list.

I wake up with other things. Why don't you just cut through all that and start to pray and seek the Lord? And maybe this thought will come to your mind. I got to get out of bed because Jesus is waiting on me and the GOD OF ALL OF HEAVEN IS WAITING TO talk to me and he's waiting to commune with me and he WANTS TO SPEAK. WHAT A SOBERING thought that the God who has angels waiting on him is waiting on you every day. And I believe he's waiting every day, every morning, every moment.

God is waiting on us. He's waiting and calling for our pursuit of his presence. He's waiting on our response to passages like James 4, which he inspired James to write. When James says, "Draw near to God and he'll draw near to you." And he qualifies. He says, "Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double- minded, and lament and mourn and weep." In other words, let there be a posture towards the Lord of humility. He says this in verse 10, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he will lift you up." I want someone to hear me today.

Maybe maybe you didn't get everything you wanted for Christmas. Maybe this holiday isn't everything that you hoped and wanted it to be. And maybe you've got the Christmas blues and all the lights and the trees and and the rich foods didn't fill that void in your life. Maybe you're hurting and discouraged and you're restless today and everyone's coming in their holiday attire and we've got the lights on and you think, "Well, I'll just show up to church and and maybe there won't be any filling of the void." Let me just give you the remedy.

If you're feeling that way today, WHY DON'T YOU GO FIND JESUS? I believe MAYBE IT WON'T FIX ALL YOUR PROBLEMS, but it'll fix most of them. Draw near to the Lord and he'll draw near to you. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. Go find Jesus. Isaiah 55. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he's near. Psalm 9 and 10. And those who know your name will put their trust in you. For you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 34, taste and see that the Lord is good. I've tasted a lot of good food over the holiday break. There's nothing that I've tasted better than him. Taste and see that he's good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints. There's no want to those who fear him. The the young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing. And Lamentations 3 says, "The Lord is good to those who wait for him to the soul who seeks him." You ought to seek the Lord and you ought to find him today.

And I would add, you ought to find him every day. Like the dong kids, go looking for him every day. What that means is on Christmas day, wake up and find Jesus. On New Year's Day, go looking for Jesus on January 1st, the same day all the way to December 31st. We ought to find Jesus each and every day. I remember reading a a post from a great minister, a great man of God. He said something like this. It convicted me. He said, "Yesterday, I sought the Lord and I found him.

Two weeks ago, I sought the Lord and I found him. Three months ago, on a Tuesday, I sought the Lord and I found him." One year ago today, I sought the Lord and when I read that, I thought, "That's what I want to be and that's what I want to do. I want to find him every single day. On your rough days, why don't you go find Jesus?" And on normal days with nothing going on, make sure you find Jesus. On days when you're busy and you got a hundred things to do, why don't you find Jesus first and find him anyway?

On days when you're tired and you're weary and welloing, you make certain that you find JESUS BEFORE YOU FIND YOUR PHONE. I'm I'm with you. Okay? Before you find your devices and your distractions, find Jesus. On sunny days and good days, fill them with Jesus. On stormy DAYS AND DIFFICULT DAYS, go find the Lord of Hosts. On days when you're overwhelmed, on days when you're overtaken, you ought to make SURE YOU FIND JESUS. ON DAYS WHEN ANSWERS are nowhere to be found, BE CERTAIN OF ALL THE THINGS YOU FIND that Jesus is first.

James said it like this in James 5. Is anyone among you suffering? Pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing songs. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he's committed any sins, he'll be forgiven. In other words, on the days when you're suffering, pray. Seek the Lord. On days when you're cheerful, sing psalms of praise to him.

On sick days and dark days and dreary days, pray and call for the church and call for some elders to do the same. I'll just put it like this. On whatever day you find yourself living, let it be a day when you find Jesus. I believe Deuteronomy 4 would concur it. It talks about a future day when the sun is hidden and hope is bleak. The Lord is addressing their future exile. He's telling them, "If this day comes, this is what's going to happen." He says, "But from there, from exile, you'll seek the Lord your God and you'll find him from there if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

when you're in distress and all these things come upon you in the latter days and when you turn to the Lord your God and you obey his voice. For the Lord our God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you. He will not destroy you. He will not forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them. So on days of exile in latter days, every single day we're told to seek the Lord. On days when you have breath, find Jesus. And when you do, know that when you find him, you'll find more than Jesus, as great and matchless as he is.

It's hard for me to say the phrase more than Jesus. You'll get what I mean in a moment because you also find the strength and the glory and the blessings that inevitably and undoubtedly accompany him. Luke chapter 2, the tells us the shepherds found a baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. But you also need to know that they found in that manger a savior and a messiah. They found the lamb slain from the foundation of the world in that resting place. They found great joy.

They found good news. They found news that spread to anyone who would listen. They found more. Again, hard for me to say, but more than just more than Jesus. I can't say just Jesus. As wild as that sounds, they found everything that they and their parents and their ancestors had been waiting on, all wrapped in swaddling clothes. Anna and Simeon found him at the temple. When they did, they found the realization of a promise, one that the Lord gave Simeon before that day. One that was given all the way back in Genesis chapter 3.

When they found Jesus, they found spontaneous praise. They found joy. Anyone ever found Jesus and all you just couldn't contain yourself? You started to worship the Lord. Has anyone ever found Jesus? Maybe in your living room or your car and you just YOU START TO POUR OUT PRAISE. You start to worship God. When you find Jesus, you're going to find everything everything. They found the fulfillment for and and the culmination of their years of faithfulness and sacrifice in one moment with Jesus. They found answers to decades of waiting, questions, wonderings.

They found purpose as Simeon blessed the Christ. As Anna shared the news of him to all who would listen. When you find Jesus, you find exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think according to the power that works in us. They found Jesus. And lastly, in the Christmas narrative, the magi, pagan men from the east. When they found Jesus and the star over his home, the Bible says they were overjoyed. They brought him their gifts and for at least the first time in person, they worshiped the one true living God.

These men from likely a polytheistic east found in Jesus the revelation of the only God worthy of worship and sacrifice and service. And when they bowed in their reverence and their obedience to the command of that dream to go home another route, they found answers that wise men for centuries and millennia had been looking for. They found wisdom above their own and ways beyond the wisest men could admit. We're not told the remainder of their story, but their posture in the narrative shows they believed on Jesus and they worshiped him.

Their lives were changed by that interaction. One moment with Jesus. How many of you would testify one moment with Jesus can change it all? Not just your first moment. How many of you had a moment in the last month that changed your heart and mind? Anybody? Oh, yeah. Jesus, the one they found, the God we're seeking today, says this in Matthew 7, "Ask and it'll be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives.

He who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be open. Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread, you give him a stone. Or if he asks for a fish on his Christmas list, you give him a serpent. If you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him? This morning, in light of it, I wonder what good things we miss when we don't find Jesus.

And I wonder what good things we find when we find him. I can tell you this as musicians come. Every time I find Jesus, every day, every moment I find him, I find good things. In fact, I would contend that every person who has ever truly found Jesus has found good things just like the shepherds, the elders, the magi, and the gospels. Yesterday morning, I had one of those moments that I just talked about in the house. Didn't have a 100 things to do, but carved out some time.

Turned on the prayer music. I love that testimony song we sang Sunday night. I've been listening to that song over and over again. And I just felt the glory of the Lord come over me and joy. I've gotten some wonderful moments with my family, wonderful gifts. This I don't despair or make light of any of those things, but I haven't found anything like that. I told the Lord, I said, "Lord, I feel like I have everything right now." There's someone here right now. you got a void in your heart in life and you felt like the holiday was going to fill it and you felt like, "Oh man, if I could just get to Christmas, I don't I don't even know who exactly I'm talking to.

If I could just get to Christmas and and we'll get together and those those things are wonderful. I don't again, I don't disparage any of those things. It's filled me so much to be with family, to be with friends." But maybe you're on the other side of Christmas and you still got the void and you still feel unsettled. You still feel a little bit empty. Go find Jesus. And when you feel that again tomorrow, find him again. Only Jesus really can fill that void. Only Jesus really can help you with that.

You can find everything. With that in mind, I want to end this service and I want to end this year together at least at APC with this admonition to the church, to the people of God, someone who's broken and wounded. To those needing strength and help, to those who need peace and purpose and healing, to those who need answers and you need miracle and you need the love of God to pour over you, to those wanting and needing the good and God things of heaven, go find Jesus.

As we stand together, I encourage you go find him. Or rather, as we do, come and find him. And you can start at this altar in just a moment. I've given this appeal before, and I believe it's fitting for today as we stand. In light of the response and the determination of those shepherds and the magi and the elders, I would ask someone to seek after the Lord at this altar today. and do not leave until you find him. What does that look like, Pastor Brad?

What's finding him looking like? I think you'll know it, but maybe it might be a a breakthrough in your heart and mind. May it might be you sitting at this altar with your hands lifted, speaking with other tongues. It it might just be the the all-encompassing presence and glory of God coming over you. What better way to end the year than standing in the glory of God and letting his power and presence wash over you today? It might just look like you kneeling at an altar and the Lord's speaking to you for the first time in a while.

However it looks, find Jesus. Find him today. Truth is, someone and perhaps everyone in the room would benefit as you linger in the presence of the Lord and you listen for his voice and pursue him with all your heart. And if you're looking for peace and you're looking for healing and you're looking for answers, I know that there's some in the room that are. I know that you need to seek after those things. But I encourage you to find Jesus first and then just see what happens.

If you need any of those things or you just want to spend some time with the Lord, I'm opening this altar call for whosoever will, would you just begin to come right now? If you want to connect with the Lord, if you want to find Jesus, would you step out of where you are right now? Come and flood the front of this place. You can lift your hands. You can kneel before the Lord. This is just what we're going to do to end our year. We're going to connect with God just like the the same way that we started this year.

Would you come right now and lift your hands and begin to call on the name of the Lord? And I encourage you again, child of God, man or woman of God, would you stay in that posture and stay in that place until you know you found Jesus. Those wise men didn't stop looking until they found him. And those shepherds didn't stop looking until they know they had discovered Jesus. And when they did, it changed everything. If you need healing, if you need salvation, if you need forgiveness of sins, I encourage you to come and lift your hands and begin to call on the name of the Lord.

Seek out to the Lord while he may be found. >> Oh Jesus, we seek you, Lord. >> We want to find you today. >> Oh God, we want to connect with you, Lord. Jesus at the center of it all. From beginning to the end, it will always be. It's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus at the center of it all. Jesus at the center of it all. From beginning to the end, it will always be. It's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Nothing else matterers. Nothing in this world will do.

Jesus, you're the center. Everything revolves around you. Jesus, you Jesus be the center of my life. Jesus be the center of my life. From beginning to the end, it will always be. It's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus, be the center of my life. Jesus, be the center of my life. From beginning to the end, it will always be. It's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Nothing else matters. Nothing in this world will do. >> >> Jesus, you're the center. Everything revolves around you. Jesus, you Jesus be the center of our church.

Jesus be the center of your church. Every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess you Jesus. Jesus Jesus be the center of our church. Jesus be the center of our church. Every knee will bow and every tongue shall confess you Jesus. Jesus, nothing else matters. Nothing in this world will do. Jesus, you're the center. Everything revolves around you, Jesus. You from my heart to the heavens. Jesus, be the center. It's all about you. Yes, it's all about you. From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center.

It's all about you. Yes, it's all about you. From my heart to the heavens, Jesus be the center. It's all about you. Yes, it's all about you. Jesus at the center of it all. Jesus at the center of it all. From beginning to the end, it will always be. It's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Jesus at the center of it all. Jesus at the center of it all. From beginning to the end, it will always be. It's always been you, Jesus. Jesus. Nothing else matterers. Nothing in this world will do.

Jesus, you're the center. Everything revolves around you, Jesus. You >> just a moment or two. We've got several that are going to be baptized in Jesus name. the Lord is going to transform their lives. For that time, I'd like us just to stand together. And I know that there are special needs here in the body on any given year at the end of the year. There are some who are celebrating all that God did in 2025 and they're excited and they're uh thinking about 2025 as a a banner year.

And there are others who are just hoping for 2026. I know that there's some in the room, maybe that thought hadn't crossed your mind, but 2025, maybe it hasn't been the smoothest or maybe it's ended in a rough way. If you've got a need right now, you need the Lord's help and the Lord's strength, we're going to pray for you as a body. So, we seek the Lord, of course, individually, but we also come together and we seek him together. So, I'd like us if you'd just be honest as we do.

This is a safe place and environment. If you need prayer, you you need a miracle, you need strength in your life or body, would you just lift your hand right now? Got some who are rounding out the year in pain and the Lord knows and see. Now, church, look around. Just take a look around. Look at those hands lifted. Key in on the one you're going to pray for. And would you go right now and make sure no person is left alone. Keep that hand up, brother or sister.

We've got some hands over here, some people who need prayer. We've got hands back there right now. We got individuals that need God's strength and need God's help. Oh Lord, we seek you and we don't do it on our own. Oh God, I thank you for the body and the people of Christ and the family of God that comes alongside us even when we feel like we don't have the strength to pursue you. They lock arms with us and link arms with us and and they help carry us to the throne.

We come before your throne with boldness to receive grace and mercy and help in time of need. We pray for brothers and sisters who have been beaten up this year by life and circumstances in the enemy that you would lift their heads and lift their countenance today that they would see you, oh God. Oh Lord, maybe they haven't found you in a little while. They'd find you fully that they'd be complete in you, the head of all principality and power. Oh Jesus, that they would find you in your presence and glory, your peace and your strength and your healing right now.

In the name of Jesus we pray. In the name of Jesus we pray. We thank you Jesus. We thank you Jesus.