Praise God that we are gathered together on this Christmas Eve to be in the church, where truly this is where God receives his honor. This is where he receives the glory that He deserved from the beginning. You know, we've been learning a lot lately, and I'm going to go over some of it quickly. And it's going to be a short sermon today, but just thinking about everything that we have been speaking about. About how Mary came, and she was pregnant with the Word of God. She was pregnant with the Word made flesh. To think about it - and we think about the song - I think about where it said, “Did you know that you were pregnant with your own salvation?” She had her own salvation inside of her.

You see, because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ tonight, we too can be pregnant with the Word of God. We too can have the Spirit of God, the Word made flesh inside of us. We can be pregnant with our salvation. Because of His sacrifice, because of His love today, you can come to know the Lord Jesus Christ in such an intimate manner, that He is alive inside of you. He can come to rest inside of you, and you too can hold within you your salvation. Tonight, I need us to know that the Spirit of God, it does not remain stagnant. The Spirit of God can't come inside of a man and just dwell and do nothing else. Just like if a woman was pregnant, it changes things. Things begin to change. You can no longer do what you used to do.You can no longer eat how you want to. You can no longer go out and do the activities that you used to do. Things change. Even your body changes. So it is with the Spirit of God.

When you become pregnant with the word of God inside of you, you won't be able to do what you used to do. You won't be able to speak like you used to speak. His word becomes alive inside of men. All these years later, He is still repeating what He started back then. His word made flesh inside of you that brings about the salvation of God. Because of what He did, because of His sacrifice, you can be like Mary all those years ago, amen. As pastor was preaching last Sunday, she said something that had stuck with me as I was preparing this message. And she said, “He (being Jesus) is the fulfillment of the old Testament. We are the fulfillment of the New Testament.” You see, that struck my heart, right? That hit me when I heard that, because we are meant to be the fulfillment of the prophecy made long ago. We are meant to be hand in hand, fulfilling the purpose of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.

He didn't die just to die. He didn't resurrect just to resurrect. He didn't come down in the manger, being born among animals, just because He was bored. He came to do it because there was a prophecy to be fulfilled. And that prophecy didn't stop with his resurrection. His prophecy is fulfilled in you and in me. It is fulfilled when the Word of God comes alive inside of a man that gives him a new soul, a new spirit, a new heart, and that person begins to live out the Word of God. We have to know that he is the prophesied Messiah. He is the one that was spoken about throughout scripture. And we say that, I know we say that every Christmas, but when you really look about how far back it goes, it really is amazing.

I'm going to read a few verses to you. Isaiah 7, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel”. That was written 734 years before the birth of Christ. Micah 2, “But you, Bethlehem, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel”. Written 700 years before the birth of Christ. Just happened to be that Mary was in Bethlehem that day right - just a coincidence apparently - but it fulfilled a prophecy over 700 years old. Isaiah 53, “He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering.” Written 680 years about the life of Jesus before he was born. And Daniel 7, “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away.” Written 500 years before Christ. You see - God almost orchestrated - all of history surrounded the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke about it and everything, all of creation, was holding their breath for the day that the Lord God would come in human form. That He would be born inside of a manger. Prophecy spoke - the prophets spoke about it and wrote it down in the scrolls - and all of heaven was waiting, and the angels were holding their breath, and everything was coming to this moment!

He was the Son of God, and he came to take away the sins of man. That's a powerful statement. He came to take away the sins of man. That is powerful! You see, he didn't come to just get you into heaven. He didn't come to give you more money or so that you would have less problems. He wasn't - and I hear this a lot, especially around Christmas - He wasn't like an ideal or something for us to live up to, a good example for us to teach. That we should, you know, “live up to, to be a better person.” No, he didn't come for any of those things. He came to take away the sins of man.

“But in His birth, in His death, and in His resurrection hold the keys for you to live a sinless life.”

His life, death, and resurrection today are the keys that you might live a sinless life. I know that's a bad word, right? Nobody said, “I can't be perfect. I can't. I'm just a man. I'm just a person.” But in His birth, in His death, and in His resurrection hold the keys for you to live a sinless life. That is the Christmas message. How did he do that? Well, you see - he didn't just - he was born, but he also went and died on the cross. He was perfect in the flesh. Although He was a man, He came and lived his life perfect. He came and lived his life blameless, if He had sinned and went to the cross, it wouldn't have meant anything. Because then He was just getting what He deserved. But He led a sinless life, and went to the cross and took the punishment of a sinner on the cross. So the Son of God goes, does not sin, lives a sinless life, goes to the cross. That is why He can take the punishment for our sins. He goes upon the cross and he dies. And he says, “I do this for you, and I do this for those of mine that will come - for my sheep”.

You see, if you take the punishment for someone else, you have the right to be angry, don't you? But he doesn't. Not only did He take our sins, but He offers us something called forgiveness. He offers us forgiveness. You see, when someone takes your punishment for you, takes what you deserve, they are the only ones that can truly forgive you.They are the only ones that can say, “it's okay.” And that's what Jesus Christ did. He took our punishment, but He didn't stop there. He actually forgave us for our sins. Now, when a man comes to God, and he bends the knee to him, and he submits to him and says, “Lord, I want you to be the Lord over my life. Forgive me for my sins.” - when that happens inside of a man's heart, God implants his spirit inside of that person.

“The salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ makes us so we can say no to ungodliness and say yes to the spirit of God living inside of us.”

That Holy Spirit, that seed that goes inside of a man. It is a Holy seed. It is what the prophecy spoke about long ago. It is the fulfillment of why He died and was resurrected. And we, people of God, are meant to give that Spirit control over our lives. This is the mystery. This is the amazing part. This is the best part of the entire gospel, of everything that we do. It's not about going to heaven. It's the fact that when God's Spirit comes inside of you, when you bow a knee to him, make Him Lord over your life, that you would no longer live as a soulish man - meaning living by your desires, living by what you've always done, living by the sins of your parents, doing what you've always done before. No, we don't have to live that way. The salvation of the Lord Jesus Christ makes us so we can say no to ungodliness and say yes to the spirit of God living inside of us. Amen.

We are meant to give up those soulish ways. That is salvation, giving up soulish ways and submitting to his spirit. Submitting to the spirit of God. You see, that is how we nurture that baby. That is how we feed the baby. That is how we get the baby to grow. Why do we do that? So that one day it will come out, right? So one day it will be seen. Be plain to see it is not meant to stay inside. It is not meant to just be in the belly forever and ever. No, there is a time that it stays in and that baby grows until it cannot be held anymore. We are meant to fulfill the prophecies written long ago. Jesus Christ, He fulfilled the Old Testament. We are meant to do the rest. See, the prophecies didn't stop at Jesus Christ. They continued to what his spirit would do inside of the hearts of man. I'm going to read Ezekiel 36, written 2,609 years this year ago - and he says, “I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit in you and move you, (this is my favorite part), and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws”.

You see, Christianity - people don't like this - it's about discipline, it is. It's about not doing what everyone else does. It's about not just going your own way and doing what your flesh wants. But the problem is people have failed for years, and years, and years until the Spirit of God comes upon a man. You see, we are shackled to sin in our flesh. Our fleshy ways are shackled to sin, but through the Spirit of God, we can be made new. As it says in Romans 6, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,we too may live a new life”. He is the prophesied Messiah. You see, I think about all that went in. Think about all of history. Think about all of the prophecies. Think about five, six, seven hundred years before Christ, they were speaking about His birth. Think about all the angels and everything since the beginning of creation. When the Lord Jesus Christ was there, He knew what He was going to have to do. Everything was set up leading to that moment. You see that life, that death, and that resurrection, how monumentous it was - that is meant to be living inside of you.

The Spirit of God is not fickle.The Spirit of God is not small. It is not a little thing to receive Christ. All of that saga, that whole story is meant to live inside of the hearts of men. How could we possibly stay the same? You know, He came to bring you new life. New life means you need to be born again. Why? Because the man of flesh is bound to sin. You can't stop sinning! You might try. You might go to therapy. You might take a drug. You might be able to curtail your behavior a little bit, but ultimately we are shackled to sin. God calls us to die with Him and be resurrected again so that we would not have to be shackled to sin, but that we could be slaves to the spirit. God came that you would no longer submit to the soul, but that you would submit to the spirit of God.

That we would no longer be doing the things that we used to do. That you no longer have to live like your mom did, or like your dad did, or like your grandfather did. That you no longer have to do the same things over and over. You know that pain that you live with? You know the heartache, the depression, the abandonment, the hurt, all those things that weigh us down? In the name of Jesus, you can be born again into the Spirit of God. We are meant to fulfill the prophecies. You are meant - you were written about 2,609 years ago. You were written about in the Bible. It spoke about a time where the Gentiles would come in, when they would no longer live like everyone else. When the Spirit of God would touch them. When their heart of stone would be replaced with the heart of flesh, and they would be moved to obey the Spirit of God. You were written about 2,000 years ago. You were prophesied about 2,000 years ago. God has called us to no longer be the same, but to be made into a new creation.

That is what it is to live a life worthy of the King. He has called us to live a life worthy of him, we are the fruit of the labor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it He said “for the joy set before me.” He walked that path, and went to the cross, and scorned the shame of the cross, why? Because He knew the fruit that was coming. He knew what was coming. You are the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ’s labor. You are supposed to be the fruit of what He did on the cross. There was a purpose, and it was written about. You - we - are meant to be the fulfillment of the prophecy. The truth is that we live in a dark world. We live in a world that is filled with darkness and shadow. And I tell you, no matter who you are, when the word of God begins to take hold inside of your heart, it's meant to eventually be birthed. It's meant to come out. It's meant to do something inside of you, and build up until it cannot be held back anymore, and it has to come forth and come into the light. But this world will do everything it can to stop that light from coming forth.

We see it, and you know how I know that's true? Read about any prophet, any person, even outside of the Bible. Go - my wife reads to my son sometimes,some of the old people, like Jonathan Edwards, I think she's reading right now. Read about all these people that went through, and the literal hell that they went through to bring about the Word of God. It doesn't matter who it is. It doesn't matter what prophet, what preacher, what man, what woman. Whenever someone goes to bring forth the Word of God, whenever someone goes to bring forth and Jesus is birthed through them, there is a resistance. This world will try to stop it. This world is run by darkness, unfortunately. And maybe, just maybe, they'll be okay with you kind of having it inside of your heart, right? If they had to be okay with it, they would. As long as it stays inside here and it doesn't come out, right? If they had to, they would say, “All right, we lost that one. But you know, as long as it stays inside of his heart, it's just a personal belief. It never leaves there. It never really has an impact. It never brings light into a dark world. As long as it's just inside, that's probably okay.”

When is the problem? The problem is when you want to birth that spirit. When you want to birth that word. When that word all of a sudden can't stay in anymore, but it needs to come out, right? Ask any woman or anybody who's been through pregnancy, ask them about when that time comes, right? They know. They know it's coming, right? There's something coming. The time has come - and I'll tell you, church - the time has come for the word of God to be birthed in this place!

I think about Mary and what she went through, right? She went through shame, and she has to walk around for nine months. You know, there's some shame attached to that today about being unmarried and having a baby, not even that much anymore. You know, people to avoid that shame, they do like that quick thing to get rid of the baby. That didn't exist then. Mary had to go and carry a baby for nine months. And go and say, “Well, this is shameful.” Right, but what did she say? What did we learn on Sunday? She said, “I got to bring my light forth, that's not the case.” And she began to prophesy out loud. And she said in Luke 1, “My soul praises the Lord's greatness. My spirit finds its joy in God my Savior because he has looked favorably upon me, his humble servant”. You see, she couldn't keep it inside anymore. Even outside of just the baby of actual Jesus Christ, she couldn't keep it inside. She had to prophesy and speak the word out and say, “No, God is great. God is awesome. And what He has birthed inside of me is going to bring salvation to men.”

John the Baptist -I've been on John the Baptist kick lately. John the Baptist, he preached, right? There was a word inside of him, and he couldn't keep it inside. He had to preach it. He had to speak it. He wasn't just preaching. He wasn't just speaking like he's reading a grocery list. No, he was speaking what was deposited inside of him. He was prophesying about what was coming. But what was the cost? He was ostracized from his community. It eventually led to his death. But he knew he had to bring the light forth. What did he say? “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”. He knew he had a word, and it didn't matter what it cost. It didn't matter who was trying to stop him. It didn't matter if he had to eat locusts and honey. It didn't matter if he had to get clothes from, you know, an animal skin. No, the word of God had to be birthed.

Look at the apostles. It doesn't matter which one - pick one. It doesn't matter they were all different men before the spirit of God fell upon them. Some were cowards. Some were selfish. Some were ignorant. Yet when they received their salvation, when the spirit of God came upon them, they were changed men. Think about Peter denying Christ, saying, “I don't know him. I have no idea who he is.” Then all of a sudden, Pentecost hits. The spirit of God that is deposited inside of him. And he stands up and preaches a mighty message and thousands are saved. Why? Because he could not keep what was birthed inside - what was growing inside of him - couldn’t stay inside. It had to come out. It had to see the light. It had to push back the darkness. It had to be birthed. Light had to come out inside of a dark world. Acts 5, “The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for his Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah”.

They had to bring their light forth. My point of telling you these stories is to say that each one of these men and women counted the cost. They knew what it would cost, and they said, my light must come forth. They knew that their light could not stay hidden under a lampshade. God has a call for us today. Maybe you don't know the Lord Jesus at all. Maybe you've never submitted to Him in your life. Well, God is calling you to bow down a knee today and surrender unto Him. For some of us, maybe you've been cultivating, maybe you've been feeding that baby. Maybe more and more you've been submitting to Him and that baby has been growing. I tell you today, it is not enough for the baby to stay inside. It must be delivered unto the light. You know, I see so many people praying and they say, “God, help me with this. God, help me with that. God, come down and push back this darkness and push back that darkness.” And I'll tell you, - He does it out of love - but so much I think about Him and I think about what He must say. “I've already done the work! The light has already come!” It's meant to be birthed inside of here, growing inside of here, and then coming out, and then being birthed into this world. Light is meant to push back darkness. Light is the only thing that can push back darkness, and that light is meant to come from here.

God offers us to no longer remain the same, to be transformed by his power. I tell you, do not come to Him if you're looking to remain the same. Don't come to him if you're looking to just kind of do a nice addition unto your life. Don't come if you just want to wear a necklace with a cross on it. That's not who God is. God is a God of transformation. God is a God that He comes and deposits something so Holy inside of you. Think about all those years, all those prophecies, everything leading up to the Lord Jesus Christ's birth. That is meant to live inside of the heart of a man. That is supposed to go inside of here and grow and transform you until it cannot be held back anymore. And it must pour out of your eyes, and out of your mouth, and out of your actions, and out of your love ,and all the fruits of the spirit ,and out of your family and out of your dinner table. And all of a sudden the light of God cannot be held back.

“Do not allow the opposition that exists in this world to stop you from birthing what God has deposited inside of you.”

God calls you to bring the light forward. We can pray, but God calls you to bring the light forward. God calls the light of God to be found in you. God calls you to change your families. God calls you to change your situation. God calls you to go out and bring the light of God to wherever there is darkness and bring truth. You see, these men and women, they knew they couldn't let anything stop them from the Spirit of God being born. To push back the darkness, to push back what surrounded them. The light comes from the spirit that God deposits inside of you. That is where transformation comes from, for your lives, for your homes, for your children. Today, God is calling for you guys to push. He's calling for you to push. Push that baby out. Listen, it takes some effort. I've been there, right? I've seen a baby being born. It takes some effort. You know, it doesn't just happen, right? You have to push. Push those things out. Don't accept the things of the old, push! Don't accept the ways of your parents, push! Don't accept that sin inside of your life, push! Birth what God has deposited inside of you. Push and do not give up. Do not allow the opposition that exists in this world to stop you from birthing what God has deposited inside of you. God is calling for you to stand up. Gird your loins, get ready the time has come! The Spirit of God can't stay in anymore.

Prophesy! We talked about it on Sunday, prophesy! We're not just talking about just saying a nice word. Not saying a Bible verse that you memorized when you were seven. It's not what we're talking about. We're talking about prophesy the Word of God. Speak it out! Those things that are inside of you - those words that have changed you, prophesy. Praise the name of the Lord from your soul. From that deep part. Say “Soul, you will worship the Lord God!” Speak about His goodness. Speak about his grace. Speak about his love. And every time your family or you want to move aside, tell them what he has done. Tell them about his love. Tell them about how He rescued you when you were about to die and pulled you out of the grave and gave you a new life. You see, this is what it means to speak the word, to bring the light forward, to bring the light out. It can't stay inside. Push. Push, deliver this baby.

We are the first fruits of the labor of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the fruit. You are the fruit. You are the reason He went to the cross. You are the reason that he died. You! You are what was prophesied about all those years ago. He thought of you when He walked to the cross. He thought of you when he hung there. He went through with it and didn't call down the angels because there was a prophecy to be fulfilled. Is that prophecy being fulfilled in you? Is that prophecy being fulfilled in you today? If not, it's time to push, church. It's time to push. It's time to deliver that baby and I'll tell you maybe there's nothing in here that might be you today, maybe there's nothing here. Well, if that's the case then God is calling you to surrender. God is calling for you to bow a knee. To say, “God, I can't continue to live this way. I don't want to continue down my ways of darkness.” You see, the world wants to stay dark. Because what's in darkness? It's confusion, can't see clearly, you don't really know what's coming. You don't know what's around the corner. Let me tell you what's around the corner. The face of God. The face of God is around the corner. One day all men will have to go before God and make an account for their lives. My prayer today is that you would hear the Word. That the Word would go in, and it would cause you to surrender. It would cause you to bow down and say, “Lord, you are King. I need the Spirit. I've been shackled to sin. I've been living my own way, my own feelings.” That's what the soul is. The soul tells you how to feel, when to feel, what you should think, how you should go about things. That's what the soul does. But the spirit of God gives you a new life.

It gives you something to put that soul down. The Spirit is what saves you. The Spirit of God that goes inside, that is fed every day, that is your salvation. Just as Mary held the salvation - her salvation - in her belly, you too today can hold the salvation of God in here. But God has to deposit that seed in you today. For others, maybe that seed is there. Maybe you've been growing it. God is calling for the light to shine in the darkness. This world is dark. But God, he was the light, right? He came down. We sing all these songs. He came down. He came down inside of men, but where is he? He's not here anymore. He's in heaven. He's at the right hand of God. But He sent His Holy Spirit down to be inside of men. To grow, to take hold, to bring down the soul. That spirit might be birthed. That you might begin to deliver that baby and light would shine in the darkness again. Just as it did all those years ago. Just as it did in that manger. God is calling for a light in the darkness today.

But it must be God's light, not yours. I'm not talking about being a good person. I'm not talking about doing nice things. I'm talking about the spirit of God - supernatural. Man can't do it on their own. Man can't touch it. Man can't replicate it. I'm talking about the supernatural - doesn't exist in man's hand, by man's hand's thing, that comes in and changes a man. That is the spirit, that is the seed. That is the light that must be birthed.