It’s Christmas Eve. Be still and rejoice.

Steve Brown:
Hey, it’s Christmas Eve. Be still and rejoice. Let’s talk, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Matt Heard is a speaker, teacher, writer, pastor, coach, and the main guy behind ThriveFullyAlive.com.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Matt, I’ve appreciated so much your coming in these four Mondays, during the Advent season. We’ve had a, those have been great times. We’ve looked at the ninth chapter of the prophet Isaiah. Let me read it to you, then we’ll have a prayer. And then we’ll talk about what we’ve seen, and where we’re going, and what happened. This is what Isaiah said.

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned. For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Let’s pray and then we’ll study. Father, thank you for coming. Sometimes we get so busy with Christmas stuff, that we forget that this really happened, that you entered our place and walked our roads. That you were tired the way we are tired, and even afraid the way we are afraid. And lonely the way we’re lonely, and then you died. And you came back from the dead, and you said we could too. It was kind of like your Merry Christmas to us, and we praise you and worship you for it. Father, we give you the broadcast, we give you our days, and we thank you for Christmas. In Jesus’ Name. Amen. Review just a little of what you’ve been teaching us over these last four Mondays.

Matt Heard:
Well, Merry Christmas.

Steve Brown:
Merry Christmas.

Matt Heard:
Thank you. You know, this is

Steve Brown:
Well, you were waiting for me to say bah humbug, weren’t you?

Matt Heard:
I was, I was. But I also know that Christmas Eve is different for you. Maybe, you might do some bah humbugs earlier in the Christmas.

Steve Brown:
But not Christmas Eve. I love Christmas Eve.

Matt Heard:
But it’s a gift to be able to celebrate this with you and journey through this. So, and I’ll answer your question. I’m not going to bypass it, but tell me a little bit. You mentioned it yesterday and I loved it. What, so why Christmas Eve? What’s so special to you as Steve about Christmas Eve?

Steve Brown:
It’s all done. Not only the Christmas season is all done and the presents. When I was a pastor for a lot of years, the pain and the darkness that is often a part of Christmas for the people I loved, the people who had nothing and couldn’t get anything, the sadness of Christmas, watching others, there’s just so much of that and it’s overwhelming, plus all of the hassle and you’ve got to preach 18 sermons on the same theme over and over. All of that, but it’s over, Christmas Eve, it’s done. And if you haven’t done it, you can’t finish it. It’s done. But that also reminds me what you’ve been talking about during these Advent broadcasts, you have a nail in your pocket and you gave me one. And said, remember that it really is done. That baby grew up and died on a cross and said, it’s finished. So, on Christmas Eve, I think I’m righteous, the righteousness of Christ. I’m forgiven, I’m going to live forever. I may even speak in tongues and Presbyterians don’t do that and dance and Presbyterians don’t do that well. But I love Christmas Eve because it’s done.

Matt Heard:
I love that. And you know, I’ve said before on these broadcasts, I feel like too many church people, they know the lyrics of the gospel, but not the music. And as a result, there’s no dance and Christmas Eve is an opportunity to get to the dance and to get to the music if we let it. And not just in a sentimental, nostalgic, oh this gives me warm fuzzies, but this meeting of darkness and light and how the darkness as John says.

The darkness couldn’t overcome it.

And Isaiah saying the people walking in darkness of people doing their journeys, their stories, their marriages, their jobs, or their lack of a job, or their financial crises, or their medical crises. These people doing all of that in the darkness. We’ve seen a great light. And Isaiah says, can I introduce him to you? Can I tell you his name? And so, going back to your question, review those four names, and we’ve paralleled those with the four Advent themes of hope and joy and love and peace. With hope, so what we, I’d like to encourage me and if anybody else wants to do it, you can, but on this Christmas Eve to just review those and to think through, okay, I’m coming in the presence right now of a Wonderful Counselor who gives me hope, of a Mighty God who gives me joy, of an Everlasting Father who’s crazy about me. He loves me. And a Prince of Peace who really does give me Shalom. And so, here’s the assignment for us all today. Let’s do a gift exchange with Jesus. You know those, the white elephant gift exchanges, you know, I used to think, I used to love them, but then I got started getting tired of them, but I always did still like them because you always have the person who brings something nice and leaves with some socks that are dirty. And in a sense, that’s the kind of gift exchange I’m talking about with Jesus, where we come to, it’s actually with God the Father, as well as God the Son, and God the Spirit to say, alright, this is what I’ve got to bring because a lot of times in gift exchanges, you want to make sure you’re giving a gift of similar value that you’re going to be receiving and you don’t want to embarrass yourself. And you know what? When it comes to the gospel, we’ve got nothing, you know, as Brennan Manning says, we’re just raggamuffins, we don’t have anything, but yes, we do have a few things that he says, go ahead and give me, give me your confusion.

Steve Brown:
Oh, yeah.

Matt Heard:
And let me give you my Son, the Wonderful Counselor. Give me your weakness right now. What is it that has overwhelmed you and said, I’ve got nothing left. He says, Oh, I’ll take that. Thank you. And let me give you my son, who’s Mighty God. And he’s strong. Your stress, your anxiety. Go ahead and give it to me. I’ve got something I want to give you in return. My son who’s the Prince of Shalom and that theme of peace is throughout Scripture and it’s not an absence of conflict It’s not an absence of difficulty. It’s the presence of his enoughness, his care. It’s really the culmination, those four words, for hope we have Wonderful Counselor, for joy we have that Mighty God because he’s enough, for love we have an Everlasting Father. And for this notion of peace and Shalom we desire, he says, I want to give you the one that’s enough for you in the midst of it. And by the way, you’re alone today and actually Christmas Eve is an awful day for a lot of people because it reminds them of how alone they are for any number of reasons, maybe stuff we’ve done to ourselves, mistakes we’ve made or stuff that happened to us. And we don’t even like to think about Christmas Eve because it reminds us of how empty and alone he said, no, no, no, no. I want you to think about it and give me your aloneness. And I want to give you my son, who’s Everlasting Father, he’s your Abba. And he’ll collect those tears. He listens, he hears them, he cries with you. And so, let’s have a gift exchange on this Christmas Eve where we give him our ache and he gives us his awe and his beauty.

Steve Brown:
Oh, yeah. You know, I remember a seminary Christmas party, that white elephant where you do the exchange. And John Frame is a world renowned, incredible theological mind, one of the greatest of our generation. And he got, believe it or not, a bra, a red one. And I can remember his wife and Dr. Frame walking out the door after the Christmas party and she was swinging that around her head. You know, that’s kind of what we do. We settle for the red brassiere and we don’t have to because there’s a gift exchange that takes place on Christmas Eve that is incredible.

Matt Heard:
Yeah. Yeah. And it is a, it’s a gift exchange that he’s never a debtor. You know, God is not our debtor. He says, you know what, and we say, well, I did that exchange last year. He says, I’m not going to run out. He lavishes us with his love.

Steve Brown:
sufficiency

Matt Heard:
And it’s that perisseuo grace of Ephesians 1 that he has lavished on us and he’s ready to lavish it more. Merry Christmas.

Steve Brown:
Hey, and Merry Christmas to you guys. I hope these Advent times that we’ve spent have meant as much to you as they have to me. Matt was kind and gracious to teach us. So, that’s our gift. Merry Christmas.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve and Matt. What a great series this has been, anticipating the arrival of Christmas and examining Advent. Hope it is added to the enjoyment of your holiday and of course, tomorrow, we’ll have a very special Christmas Day episode. So, after the presents and after all the food, tune in to Key Life to hear Steve read the Christmas story in the way that only he can. Well, last year’s Christmas episode of Steve Brown Etc. was a blast, sharing favorite stories, eating cookies. We even had a surprise guest drop by. So, as our gift to you, we’d like to send you that episode on CD for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE and we’ll get it in the mail to you today. Again, that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for the free Steve Brown Etc. Christmas show CD. And finally, if you’ve been blessed by the work of Key Life, would you help share that blessing with others through your financial support? Giving is easy. Just charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or you can now give safely and securely through text. Just pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.