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Thank God for his presence in the house
tonight.
Blessed Jesus.
Praise God.
I want to talk about baby Jesus.
Baby Jesus.
If I had a subtitle, I'd call it,
And the Baby Grew.
And the Bible says that, speaking of John
the Baptist, And the Baby Grew.
Lord, speak to our hearts tonight.
This simple, simple word, just a short word,
a few thoughts, but Lord, we believe you've
received it from your heart.
Lord, touch me.
Now, Lord, speak to those who are in
this house tonight.
Some, Lord, that are really not right with
you.
Jesus, they are here tonight in this Christmas
season, and their hearts are really not set
upon you, but on the things of this
world and others who really don't have any
intimacy with you or really know you as
they ought.
We pray you speak to them, convict them,
and love them into your kingdom tonight, we
pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Just a heart-to-heart talk, 15-20
minutes, it's something God laid on my heart.
This is the season where the whole world
seems to give adoration to the baby Jesus,
all over the world.
Can you imagine what heaven must hear in
a way of carols, joy to the world,
silent night, holy night, and they speak about
the lowly Jesus, so tender and mild, hark
the herald angels, mean joy to the world,
king of kings, glory to the newborn king.
What a sound from the earth that must
drift into heaven of the adoration of God's
own Son.
What do you think God thinks of all
of this?
Last Sunday I spoke to you about feeding
Christ.
And feeding Christ is not our time, but
time that we give to Him.
Our time is in worship and praise, making
petitions, but God's time, the feeding time, is
when we just sit still and let Him
speak to our hearts.
And I was in one of those feeding
times this past week, and I was thinking
about the caroling and all of the adoration
of the name of Jesus, Mormons, and I'm
going to show you even how the Muslims
talk about giving Him praise and adoration.
We'll talk about it right from the words
of Information Center from the Muslim Center in
Ontario, Canada.
And all of this, and you say, well,
shouldn't God be mightily pleased about this?
I want to talk to you about the
grief of God on Christmas.
You say, oh boy, only Pastor Wilkerson would
look at the gloomy side of Christmas.
I know.
I'll tell you, it was one of those
feeding times, though, I began to feel the
grief of God, of the hypocrisy of this
season, of a generation that will adore the
baby, but have nothing to do with the
man.
They'll worship Him in the crib, but not
on the throne.
It's an amazing thing, this hypocrisy that goes
on in the world today.
You see, baby Jesus is no threat to
the world.
They'll sing about Him being the king, because
you see, up to now He has no
kingdom.
He hasn't established His kingdom.
He's made no laws, given no commandments.
He's never spoken into their lives about His
needs and His demands and His commandments.
He's not yet cast any money changers out
of the temple.
He's not had to whip at their back
for their hypocrisy.
He's never looked at them and called them
child of the devil yet.
No, you see, He's baby.
And you can worship and adore baby Jesus,
because He's no threat.
He doesn't communicate yet.
He's not said one word about the sins
of the world at this time.
He's never made a law.
Let's look at this hypocrisy for just a
minute, this hypocrisy that is not just in
America, but all over the world.
Now, I was reading something somebody sent me
from the Islamic Information Center, Ontario, Canada.
You see, what's happened recently, Islamic teachers and
some of their imams have come out strongly
about Jesus.
Mormons are doing the same thing.
Mormons now go out, all of their evangelists,
two by two around the world now, have
a little pamphlet.
They'll talk to you about Jesus and the
Mormons.
And it's all about the exaltation of Jesus
Christ.
Trying to tell people, we are Jesus people.
And the same thing now with Islam.
Islam has just come out and they're trying
to counteract this idea that Islam is a
terrorist kind of organization or violent.
And here's what they've just put out.
You cannot be a Muslim, I quote them,
you cannot be a Muslim if you do
not believe in Jesus.
He was born of a virgin.
In fact, he could talk as a baby,
he could teach as a baby and heal
the sick.
And this is to prove that they believe
in a more miracle working Jesus than the
Protestants do or the Evangelicals.
We believe he's more of a miracle worker
than you do.
He heals the sick still.
And it says Allah rescued him from the
Jews, from Israelites who were killing him.
He is to be honored.
And the last line, but Jesus was not
God.
You see, you can adore the baby and
reject the man.
You see, he grew up.
The hypocrisy in the land today is absolutely
amazing to me.
Americans all over the nation are crying about
no prayer in schools.
These are people mostly who don't pray at
home.
A lot of them don't pray at home,
but they really take a stand, even in
Congress now.
And I'm not indicting anybody, but you see
the same thing.
They say we're losing our religious freedoms.
You can't put a model up of the
Ten Commandments in public places.
You can't put a picture of Jesus or
anything else.
But you see, we have a nation that
will go fight for religious freedom to put
up models on the wall in schools, prayer
in schools, without having the law written in
their hearts.
You can be a reprobate here, but make
sure you get your model on the wall.
It's hypocrisy.
You know, we say they're taking away our
religious freedoms.
We can't put up in public places anymore
nativity scenes, creches.
They're taking that away from us.
But there are many, many people who put
out the little models of Jesus.
And there's Mary, there's Joseph, they've got some
cattle spread around, and there's a little baby
doll.
That's Jesus.
Don't go to church.
We have nothing to do with the Jesus
who's seated at the right hand of the
Father now.
I have nothing to do with the man,
but they sure do adore the baby.
And the worst hypocrisy is probably in God's
house.
And those who sing, oh come let us
adore him, Christ the Lord.
These are good words to sing, but it's
another thing to let him be Lord in
our lives.
And that's where the hypocrisy is, to sing
it and not surrender to his Lordship.
Mary took baby Jesus into the temple to
be blessed.
And there was an old prophet there, an
old priest, prophet by the name of Simeon,
who'd been looking all his life, all his
life for the Messiah.
And when Mary brought the baby Jesus in,
he was able to take that baby in
his arms and worship.
But you see, he was not looking at
a baby.
He was not adoring a baby.
He says, this is the Messiah.
This child is going to grow up.
And he foresaw a man who would wait
all this time for the birth would know
about his death.
And his resurrection.
And he said, here's the salvation of the
whole world.
He looked at this, this is God.
The 84 year old Anna, who'd spent many,
many years in the temple just waiting and
worshiping.
And at this moment she looks at this
baby and marvels.
I have lived to see the day and
I rejoice now because I have met the
Redeemer of the whole world.
I've met the Redeemer.
Didn't meet a baby, met the Redeemer.
Hold it, please, please, no clapping.
The shepherds came and they worshiped, but they
were not looking at a baby.
They were looking at the one the angel
said would be the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords.
And the same with the shepherds.
They worshiped, but they were not worshiping just
a child.
They were worshiping what he would be, what
he was, yes, but what he would become.
God will accept no other adoration but that
which climaxes in your mind, in your spirit,
in your heart.
It must climax at the cross.
The burial, the resurrection of Jesus and Christ
seated at the right hand in power.
It does not receive any kind of adoration.
The Father will not receive any adoration that
just ends at the crib.
It demands you.
It has to be something you perceive in
your mind, in your spirit, by the word
of the living God.
That this little child was with the Father.
And this little child, you look at him
and say, this is the one, the Bible
says, who made the worlds and everything that's
made was made for him.
To think that this little child is creator
of all things and set aside his glory
to come as a man.
We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and
God receives this adoration from us who believe
in not only his birth, not only that
he came as a baby, but he was
the son of the living God.
Not just a miracle worker because there are
many miracle workers.
Not just a prophet because there are many
prophets.
Not because he went about doing good, many
go about doing good.
Not just because he was a baptizer, I
baptize.
No, you see, the issue is not whether
he was a prophet.
The issue is not whether he was a
good man, a miracle worker, not at all.
The issue is, do you believe he is
God?
This separates us from every other religion.
Do you believe that this baby Jesus is
God?
Now I'm not asking you, I'm asking the
world out there.
I'm preaching to the choir on that, my
goodness.
You see, you can be a Muslim and
believe in the virgin birth.
You can belong to almost any cult and
believe he was virgin born.
And how they get that he could be
virgin born and not God, I don't understand.
Let me take a little more time and
just tell you what's on my heart.
I thank God for baby Jesus, his own
son.
For God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son.
Not just at the cross, but as a
child.
He came and that was his gift.
But you see, the shepherds, we live in
an incredible time.
How the shepherds and the wise men would
have yearned and longed to have lived in
our time.
You say, boy, it would have been wonderful
to have been there when Christ, Jesus, was
announced to the world that he came to
the world.
But you see, they couldn't have any fellowship
with that baby.
That baby couldn't talk.
There was no fellowship, there was no intimacy.
You and I have the privilege of being
intimacy with this man, this child who grew
up.
And we have the privilege that this generation
did not have.
The wise men didn't have what you and
I have.
The shepherds didn't have what you and I
have.
We can talk to this man.
He talks to us.
We have fellowship with him.
We are one with him.
This is the time to be alive.
How more greatly blessed we are.
And I was thinking about that while the
Lord was speaking to my heart and I
was feeding him.
You see, feeding Christ is when you allow
him to speak into your life.
You begin to speak and you hear his
still small voice and he teaches you by
his spirit.
And what the Lord was speaking to my
heart about was that this baby Jesus grew
up.
And God spoke to my heart that this
was a very painful time for him.
Really painful for the father to see so
many millions adore his little baby Jesus.
And totally reject and neglect the man that
he grew to be.
The gospel that he brought to the world.
And the fellowship.
And God began to speak to my heart.
The Lord Jesus began to speak to my
heart about his constant love.
It's coming now, knowing him person to person.
Knowing him intimately.
The Jesus Christ who speaks.
The Jesus Christ capable of fellowship.
And I began to rejoice when he began
to speak to my heart about his constant
love.
That it never wavers.
I don't care how I may fail him.
The love of this man, Christ Jesus, is
constant.
You can wake up in the morning and
you can feel like you are unsaved.
You can feel condemned.
You can feel almost any feeling in the
spectrum of feelings of the flesh.
But one thing you must know and one
thing that brings great joy to my heart.
Is that no matter how I feel, even
if I have failed the day before.
I may have lost my temper.
I may have said things out of order.
I may have doubted him.
But his love for me is constant.
It never wavers.
He doesn't fit in and out of my
life.
Down one day on me, up with me
the next day.
His love is constant.
And that's the fellowship I have with the
man, Christ Jesus.
If you feel like clapping, just shout hallelujah.
Catherine Coleman used to give her people a
flag.
Said don't clap, wave your flag.
The continual presence of this man.
If I can wake up in the middle
of the night, he's there.
I told you what the Lord was speaking
to me.
That when we start feeding him, before we
even go into the secret closet to meet
him.
He'll start talking to you at the door.
He'll put your hand on the door to
your secret closet.
I mean to your bedroom, wherever you pray,
wherever you get along.
Now some of you don't have that.
Your prayer closet can be a subway, bus,
anywhere you want to be.
Just close the door of your mind.
And he's there.
You don't have to conjure it or anything
else.
He'll speak to you.
I believe that more than anything else.
He'll speak to you.
And it's this continual fellowship.
This continual speaking into our lives.
Something the baby, lovely, wonderful Jesus.
Baby.
Couldn't give at that time, but we have
the privilege.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
I adore baby Jesus.
And I thank God he came in flesh
and all that that represents.
But some better thing has been provided for
us.
Fellowship.
I would die without that.
I wouldn't want to be here.
I enjoy talking to Pastor Carter and the
other pastors here.
But boy, they can't satisfy what I need.
And I can't satisfy anything in their lives.
And I don't care who you are.
There's nobody in the world can satisfy that
hunger, that need that's in you, that hurt.
Nobody.
Shout hallelujah.
Don't clap.
I'm not trying to be funny.
I mean this with all my heart.
I thank God this Christmas.
That this past year especially has been such
a marvelous speaking into my heart.
Because I'm giving him that quality time.
And that fellowship that we have with one,
I know, who's just like me.
Who's already been through the feelings of all
my infirmities.
That maybe Jesus had not yet experienced.
Without Jesus in your heart, where do you
go?
When you're in trouble.
When you're blue.
And you're down.
And you've called everybody you know and they
couldn't help you.
And you've done every little trick you've ever
tried to do to get rid of those
feelings of hurt and loneliness and pain.
And maybe some of you try to take
a pill or drink it away.
And then when you wake up it's double
worse.
Doubly worse.
And where do you go without him?
That's why you need somebody to talk to.
And that's why you need him in your
life.
And how sad it is at Christmas.
How doubly sad.
For some of you listen to me now
and even in the annex.
And I'm going to close in just a
few moments.
How doubly sad.
And I've been thinking about it all day
today.
How doubly sad that you should live in
such pain.
That you live your life with no one
to speak into your life and give you
total satisfaction in times like these.
You cried probably when you saw on television
those planes crashing into the World Trade Center.
I cried and I'm sure most of you
cried.
And some of you who've been running away
from the Lord you cried.
If you didn't cry you had tears in
your eyes and you felt great sorrow.
But you see it's a sad, sad thing
to think of so many that are living
their life in a literal hell and are
going to die and go to hell.
That's painful thought.
That you would go on in your misery
when the Lord Jesus says I have fellowship
for you.
I want to speak into your life.
I want to be your friend.
I thought of it this afternoon before coming
to church and almost too much to take.
To think there'd be people in the service
tonight that are so unhappy.
So discouraged.
And you know where to go and you've
heard the message and you won't do it.
You just put it off.
I don't have time.
You're too busy.
You just put it off.
And now let me just say this before
we pray.
Some of you here who at one time
said Jesus I give you my heart.
I believe.
You're not going to make it and I'll
tell you why.
You're breaking at least two or three of
his commandments.
If you sit here now you tell me
you're a Christian.
You're a believer.
You know what the Bible says?
Now we're not going to be judged by
the law of Moses.
Those 600 demands made by the priests.
We are going to be judged by the
moral law.
That's the commandments of the Lord.
Thou shall worship the Lord thy God with
all your heart, all your mind, all your
soul, all your strength.
Are you?
You're a Christian.
Are you worshiping the Lord with all that's
in you?
He said you have no other gods before
me.
Thou shall have no other gods before me.
Now this is a standard.
God's revealed his nature.
It's the mirror God holds up.
An old timer said the law will drive
you to the cross but can't take you
any further.
And I believe that it takes you right
to the cross.
And some of you need to repent even
though you call yourself a Christian or believer.
Because you see the idol.
He said you have no other gods nor
other idols before me.
And anything that takes up your thinking time.
You spend all your time thinking.
How much time do you spend thinking about
Jesus?
How much time do you spend talking to
your friends about him?
Even your Christian friends.
Forget about for a moment just witnessing to
unsee.
But how much time do you spend even
thinking or talking about Jesus at all?
What do you talk about?
What do you think about?
Where are you spending your time?
You stand before God one day.
And have to answer.
You say well I have believed on the
Lord Jesus Christ.
You did that way back there.
But you see if you really did that.
If you were truly a believer.
You would be walking according to his word.
You would be love.
He said those that love me obey me.
You would be obeying him.
You would be putting Jesus first in your
life.
And you would giving him thinking time.
You wouldn't have these other gods.
There's nothing wrong with some of the things
that you might be doing.
They may be legitimate in their place.
But you have allowed those things to eat
up your time.
And eat up your thoughts.
And you're so wrapped up in that.
And here's Jesus laying in the back roads
of your mind somewhere.
And you never even dig it up except
when you come to church.
Or when you think about going to hell.
You say well I'm a Christian.
I want you to think about it now
as we close.
And I felt very strongly that I should
open up these alders.
For those in the annex to come down
here.
And let me pray with you.
And those here in the main auditorium.
You know why.
You may not think this as much.
You know a good time to get really
saved.
And really surrendered is Christmas time.
It's easy to remember the date.
You say that's silly.
No it's not.
A special day.
Stand.
Very simple.
Please don't leave.
Just stand still for a moment.
Lord.
I'm asking you to send the Holy Spirit
now.
And speak to the hearts of everyone in
this place.
In the annex.
The balcony.
Here in the main auditorium.
Speak clearly Holy Ghost.
I'm not just giving this little heart to
heart talk to this body.
But I pray Holy Spirit now that you
speak to us.
I want you to speak to us.
Every one of us.
Hearing me.
How we have been treating you.
And how we spend this time adoring the
baby.
That won't follow the man as we ought.
And if you're here tonight.
I've prayed this through.
And I believe the Holy Spirit is already
speaking.
Now this is going to take honest speaking
from your heart.
Dead honest before God.
And I have never been more serious than
I am right now.
All my life.
Know this to be a fact.
Because Holy Ghost told me.
There's some of you here.
Came here tonight.
And it's not that you don't love Jesus.
It's that you have not been walking as
you should with him.
And he wants you to draw near to
him so he can speak into your life.
And lead you.
And direct you.
Because you see if you keep going the
way you're going.
You're going to get more and more discouraged.
And finally you're going to walk away from
him.
I'm asking you not to cross that line.
And I'm asking you to cross the right
line now and say.
Pastor David that's me.
Deep in my heart.
I have these wonderful feelings about Jesus.
That I neglected him.
I've been neglecting him.
And I want you to renew.
Your love and your passion for Jesus tonight.
If you're backslidden.
If you've let another idol slip into your
life.
And you've not been given the thinking time.
You've not been given your whole heart.
I want you to come down here and
repent.
And I'll pray with you.
And we'll believe Jesus tonight.
Be the night that you said this is
it.
Even while I'm talking.
Follow these.
In the annex.
The ushers go to the lobby there.
They'll show you how to get into this
auditorium.
Come down the stairs and meet me right
here.
And we'll pray.
Up in the balcony.
Go the stairs on either side.
And walk down here.
And we'll minister to you.
And let's believe God.
Come on.
Don't hold back and say well people think
I'm.
Who cares what people think.
It's only about what Jesus thinks now.
It's only what Jesus thinks now.
Hallelujah.
Lord Jesus I pray.
That your Holy Spirit.
Come now and do a deep.
Precious and lasting work in the hearts.
Of all those who've humbly.
Come to this place now to say Jesus
I need help.
I need comfort and I need strength.
Lord here's a woman who lost her.
Brother in the world trade.
Disaster.
Looking for comfort.
Give her comfort Lord.
And give her grace.
And we pray for others that are here.
Needing special grace.
And others Lord who need to just surrender.
And say here I am Jesus.
I give my all to you.
And I give my heart.
Completely now to you.
Would you just pray that out right loud.
Wherever you are.
Wherever you stand.
And if you didn't come forward.
Even where you're standing right now.
You can pray.
By your head.
Just breathe it out and pray.
Even if you don't say it out loud.
It's good because out of the abundance of
your heart.
The Bible said your mouth speaks.
So it's good to speak it out.
And just say Lord Jesus come now.
I come to live my life for you.
I come to obey your word.
I come Lord Jesus to walk with you.
I invite you to come and speak into
my heart.
I come to give you time.
I come Lord to make you Lord and
King of my life.
I come to the man Christ Jesus.
I come to him who is seated at
the right hand of the Father.
Ready to give me all that I need.
And grace and support and strength.
Speak it to him right now.
Lord Jesus come.
I wait for just a few moments.
Talk to Jesus right now as if you
were talking to me.
Or any other child of God.
Just speak it right out.
Lord you know why I'm here Jesus.
You know what I need Jesus.
And I ask you now.
Forgive me.
And cleanse me.
Sanctify me.
Do a good work this Christmas season in
my heart.
Lord I want to look back to this
day.
Knowing that I walked down the aisle.
I really surrendered all to you.
Thank you Jesus.
Come on speak it right out.
Lord Jesus here I am.
Lord I'm here for you.
Hallelujah.
Just felt the Lord put on my heart
now for us to pray.
Now not only for the sister who lost
a loved one.
But think of all at this season.
The thousands who lost loved ones.
Folks thank God that plane wasn't blown up
yesterday.
Coming in from Paris.
Hold it.
Please stay still.
We should thank him.
Thank him.
That would have been a disaster for the
economy.
And all the pain that's already around.
But I feel that we should pray.
The Holy Ghost.
Bring comfort.
To those who seem to be beyond comfort.
Folks many of them.
Many of them.
I don't know how many but I know
there.
I've heard of numbers that.
We're church going believers.
But we don't pray just for church going
believers.
We pray for all because the love of
God reaches out to every one of them.
Lord we come at this season.
Especially those of us Lord who have loved
ones around us and friends.
And you have given us life and time.
We pray Lord for these fatherless and widows.
You said that's the burden of your heart.
How you love the fatherless and the widows.
And those oh Lord who have lost so
much.
God the little children whose fathers and mothers
are not there anymore.
We pray at this season that you would
give an outpouring of grace.
And mercy.
Be merciful Lord.
And tender forth grace to those who are
in need.
Lord this sister and I pray for all
of the others.
Who say that there's not a word left
for them to comfort them.
They feel that nothing will ever bring comfort
to their heart.
Lord somehow bring them the gospel message.
Bring them the truth Lord.
That Jesus sends the Holy Ghost who is
the comforter.
Who can lift this burden and bring grace.
To survive.
And even to rejoice in the Lord and
his mercy.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
Do you have the peace of God in
you?
How many have the peace of God?
Well just thank him now.
While your hands are up just thank him.
Lord Jesus we give you thanks.
We give you praise.
We glorify you.
I'm not against clapping for Jesus.
Not at all.
Not against that at all.
Don't try to take it down like that.
Let's just give him a hand of praise
and thanksgiving.
Thank you Jesus.
Lord we give it to you.
We give you praise.
We give you thanks.
This is the conclusion of the message.