Christmas Eve (3 of 3)
Series: Joy to The World
Craig Smith
Luke 2:11-12
I. Introduction
Merry Christmas and welcome to Mission Hills. I am so glad that you're here today. Hey, how much fun was it to get to be part of that joy moment a little bit ago? We've been planning those for months...we actually have nine different moments like that planned for each of our nine Christmas Eve services on our three Denver campuses...so we're not expecting the same person to act surprised nine different times!
And I'm so glad we planned those moments, for two reasons: first, I don't know about you, but I can get a little stressed out around Christmas... anybody else? Yeah...with everything going on, my heart can start to feel a kinda tight and constricted. And watching something like that kind of stretches my heart out...maybe, I don't know, three sizes or so? And that's important because I know that my heart needs more room for the joy that God wants to pour into it.
Which leads me to the second reason which is that Christmas is all about receiving. I know we say it's better to give than to receive, but honestly, when it comes to Christmas, it's wrong. Christmas is all about receiving...not the latest tech or the hottest toy...it's about receiving joy.
And here's where a moment like we just experienced together can actually take us off target if we're not careful. See, what we just saw wasn't actually joy. What we just saw was happiness. And happiness is great, but...happiness doesn't hold a candle to joy. See, happiness is what happens when our circumstances are good. When good things happen to us, we feel happy. But the problem with happiness is that it doesn't last. As soon as our circumstances change, our happiness fades
But what I want you to understand today is that even when happy isn't happening, joy is still possible. See, that's what God says: That he has joy for you even happy isn't happening. And the joy that God has for us isn't a result of ...
Series: Joy to The World
Craig Smith
Luke 2:11-12
I. Introduction
Merry Christmas and welcome to Mission Hills. I am so glad that you're here today. Hey, how much fun was it to get to be part of that joy moment a little bit ago? We've been planning those for months...we actually have nine different moments like that planned for each of our nine Christmas Eve services on our three Denver campuses...so we're not expecting the same person to act surprised nine different times!
And I'm so glad we planned those moments, for two reasons: first, I don't know about you, but I can get a little stressed out around Christmas... anybody else? Yeah...with everything going on, my heart can start to feel a kinda tight and constricted. And watching something like that kind of stretches my heart out...maybe, I don't know, three sizes or so? And that's important because I know that my heart needs more room for the joy that God wants to pour into it.
Which leads me to the second reason which is that Christmas is all about receiving. I know we say it's better to give than to receive, but honestly, when it comes to Christmas, it's wrong. Christmas is all about receiving...not the latest tech or the hottest toy...it's about receiving joy.
And here's where a moment like we just experienced together can actually take us off target if we're not careful. See, what we just saw wasn't actually joy. What we just saw was happiness. And happiness is great, but...happiness doesn't hold a candle to joy. See, happiness is what happens when our circumstances are good. When good things happen to us, we feel happy. But the problem with happiness is that it doesn't last. As soon as our circumstances change, our happiness fades
But what I want you to understand today is that even when happy isn't happening, joy is still possible. See, that's what God says: That he has joy for you even happy isn't happening. And the joy that God has for us isn't a result of ...
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