Good News When You Need It Most

The Promises of Christmas

Advent series that we’ve entitled The Promises of Christmas. And just by way of review, for the past three weeks, week one, we talked about joy when you’ve lost it, peace when you can’t find it, and favor when you don’t deserve it. And today what I’m wanting to do is I’m wanting to talk about the thing that ties those all together. It’s the thing that makes all those other possible. And so if you’re taking notes, what I’d like you to write down is this good news when you need it most. Good news when you need it most.

Is it okay if I talk real just for a quick minute? I believe that for us here, America, 2025, going into 2026, I believe that we are drowning in bad news. That’s what I believe. My phone, you know, you know how you get to name your phone when you get a new phone. Like I my phone is a bad news delivery device. That’s what this does. Like the contribution to my life is almost excit. Every post, every bing, every social media update, every news update, like it’s all bad news. And apparently it’s not just my phone. I guess that’s everybody’s phone.

Listen to this. I did a little research. Listen to this. Researchers recently studied 23 million news headlines over a 20-year period to see how they’ve changed over time. Here’s what they found. Headlines expressing anger over the last 20 years, up 104%. Headlines expressing fear, up 150%. Listen to this emotionally neutral reporting. So just like reporting what happened, you know, like just reporting the news down 54%. And it’s not because the world has gotten worse, it’s because bad news, fear, and anger get more clicks. I’ve told you this. This is their whole strategy. They optimize for what we click. And bad news is just more profitable than good news.

Listen to this. Another study found that 91% of major US news coverage is negative in tone. Nine, not 51%. 91% of news is negative. And some people are like, Pastor David, why are you so hard on the news? Because it’s a fear delivery device. Right? Rachel Maddow is never gonna come on and say, like, and for today, we’re gonna open up with a baby otter holding his mom’s hand. You know, we just thought you needed that. It’s all bad. It’s all 91% of it is bad. You go to the news app, 91% of it’s bad. And people are like, Pastor David, you should be you should be more informed. And look, that’s probably true, but I’ve just noticed that when I watch the news, my blood pressure goes up and my faith goes down. So I had to make a choice.

Good News When You Need It Most

And this is politics. I don’t I don’t know if you pay attention to this pattern. If you go to go to Fox News, go to CNN, go to MS Now, MSNBC, you go to the, you know what they do? They spend all day talking about the other side. That’s what they do. Like you go to Fox News, you know what? They spend all day talking about Democrats. The other day the five, you know, the five came up on my YouTube. You know what they were talking about? Joe Biden. I’m like, he’s lost, move on, you know what I mean? Like, talk about something current. CNN, MS now, you know what they talk about all day? Trump. All day, every day. And it’s just, they capitalize on our propensity to connect with bad news. Because it’s what we click.

And I don’t know, for me, it’s my opinion. I feel like politics are changing. That’s what I think. I think they are. I think they’re like in the middle of a transition right now because it’s not even two sides anymore. The different factions of the Democrats hate each other. And the different factions of the conservatives hate each other. And so like and I think this is my opinion that you can’t have a society without shared common values. You can’t. And I’m not super sure like what that is anymore for us. And so for me, I feel like the politics of 1985 are just over. And I’m not happy about that. I wish it wasn’t that way, but it is what it is.

And so like I don’t know if you ever look at the news and you’re like, I’m just not sure where this political tension is heading, but it doesn’t seem like it’s anywhere particularly positive. And so my point is this if you look to the world, all you get is bad news. It has precisely one thing to offer you, and that’s bad news. But when the angel showed up to the shepherds, he didn’t say, I come to bring you more of the same. He said, I bring you good news. Good news, somebody some good news in a world drowning in bad news.

Good News, God Came to You

You know, this word that the angel uses good news. It’s a Greek word, and we also translate this word gospel. And I don’t know if you know this, but gospel wasn’t originally like a religious word, it wasn’t church language like it is now. In the ancient world, it’s just an announcement of good news. So, like let’s say you have an army at war. You’re a nation, and your army is at war. You know, back in the day they didn’t have social media, they didn’t have news, they didn’t have phones or any of that kind of stuff. And so they were just like, so, you know, they’re just people are back at home, they’re just sitting there and they’re just waiting. You know, it’s like, how’s it going? I hope I hope we’re not about to die. I hope we’re not about to, but they don’t know. You know what I mean? Because there was no electricity. So they were just they were just they were just waiting.

Well, if your nation would win a war, someone would run back to the city and announce the gospel. So they would announce the good news that the victory had been won. You don’t have to be afraid anymore. The enemy has been defeated. And when the shepherds hear from the angel, what the angel says, he uses this word, the gospel, the good news, he’s announcing a victory. Come on, somebody, that the battle had been won, something had shifted, the story had changed. And I think some of us just need to hear that. Not more bad news, not more commentary, not more outrage. We need someone to tell the story that Jesus came. And that’s good news. That’s good news for humanity, that’s good news for the world, and it’s good news for you today.

And so, what I want to do, I’m not gonna talk for a long time. I want to give you today three pieces of good news this Christmas. If you’re taking notes, this is what I want to write, you to write. Number one is this good news, God came to you. Good news, God came to you. Listen to this, Isaiah chapter seven, verse 14.

Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him, listen to this, Emmanuel.

We’ll call him Emmanuel. Emmanuel is a word that means God with us. Not a God that’s way out there, not a God that’s like waiting for you to get your act together so that you can reach him, but God with us, here, close. And see, religion, though, says if you pray enough, if you give enough, if you’re good enough, if you clean yourself up enough, maybe you can get to God. That’s not good news. That’s bad news. And some of you have believed that for decades. That if you can, if you can do enough, if you can be enough, then you can reach God. And it’s exhausting. No wonder some of y’all need to go home and take a nap after Sunday. You know what I mean? It’s like, that’s tired, because none of us can live up to that. We all fall short.

But the good news is that we couldn’t get to God, so God came to us. The good news of Christianity is that God is the initiator. See, my faith, my faith doesn’t initiate. God’s grace initiates, and all my faith is is saying yes to his invitation. You know, I don’t know, maybe maybe you’re old school like me. Like I was used to back in the day, it was like the boy pursued the girl. I don’t know if that’s a thing anymore. Maybe that’s not a thing. I don’t know. But just the good news is this: when it comes to your relationship with God, you didn’t pursue God. God pursued you. He proposed to you. All you had to do was say yes.

And so you don’t have to climb the ladder to get to God. God climbed down. You didn’t have to earn your way into his presence. You just said yes. And that’s the idea of the incarnation. God becoming flesh. God becoming one of us. And he shows up and he’s sitting there crying in a food trough in Bethlehem because he refused to stay distant while humanity suffered in its own sin. And so that’s something, though, that for us is not something that just happened in the past. It’s something that happens today. And God is still entering your storm. He’s with you in the storm in the valley on your best day, on your worst day. God does not leave you. God does not forsake you. Anybody? It’s good news that God came to you. Number one, God came to you. Amen.

Good News, God’s Not Mad at You

Number two is this good news, God’s not mad at you. Some of you are thinking like, Pastor David, you don’t know what I’ve done. You don’t know my record. You don’t know the thoughts I’ve had. You don’t know the choices I’ve made. You don’t know the people that I’ve hurt. Like, and that’s true that I don’t know any of that, but I do know this. Look at this, John chapter 3, verse 17.

For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Did you catch that? God didn’t send Jesus to condemn you. He sent Jesus to save you. A lot of us think when I think when we think of God, we think of like God with like a clipboard, like, oh, saw that. Demerit. Oh, again, I’ll get two demerits. I was looking at the Pachecos last year. They got me a shirt, a t shirt that had that on the front, it just had Jesus looking around a corner, and it says, I saw that. So funny. That’s just it’s like a comical picture of how people think about God.

But I want you to look at these. I’ve got three verses for you. Listen to this. Hebrews chapter 8, verse 12.

For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.

Remember their sins no more. Isaiah chapter 43, verse 25.

I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake and remembers your sins no more.

Isn’t that interesting? Micah chapter 7, verse 19.

You will again have compassion on us. You will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.

Isn’t that an interesting idea that God says when it comes to your sin, I will remember your sin no more. And like God is omniscient. What did you do with last Friday? It’s blank. I can’t remember. It’s that he’s choosing to forget. So there’s some people that are just like, well, I forgive, but I don’t forget. That’s fine. You know, you do you. But I came to tell someone that God’s not mad at you. He’s not. He’s not out of patience with you.

Look at what Paul says. He prays this for the church in Ephesians, Ephesians chapter 3 in Ephesus. Ephesians 3 17.

I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power together with all the Lord’s holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

I want you to catch this. When Paul is praying for the church, he’s praying that they would understand not how holy God is. Not how righteous he is, but how much he loves you. Why why why wouldn’t he pray that we get an understanding of how righteous because we already assume that? I think humanity already instinctively believes that God is against us. We already live in like this, don’t tick off the man upstairs mentality, right? We’re already scared. But Paul’s prayer for you is that your eyes would be opened to how much God loves you. How wide and how long and how high and how deep.

Anyone remember Chuck Mistler, he’s a preacher back in the day. He used to use this verse to say that there’s actually not three dimensions, there’s four dimensions, because he says, wide and long and high and deep, and there’s a separate. I don’t think it says any of that, but I think what he’s trying to say is like, look how big and how great and how incredible God’s love is for you. And Paul knows that if you get a revelation of God’s love for you, it’ll change your life. You’ll keep running to him and not from him.

And like, okay, oh, David, you be you preaching cheap grace. I’m not, I’m not. I’m not saying God doesn’t care about your sin. He does. Sin is serious. Sin separates. Sin destroys. But listen to me, you were already condemned. You know what I mean? Like, Jesus didn’t have to come, so you’d be con you were already condemned. Like that that’s that’s not news. Jesus came not to add to your shame, but to remove it. He didn’t come to condemn you, he came to save you. And when you when you get an understanding of that, when you when you get a revelation of that, it changes how you act.

Right? Like I don’t I don’t think you can shame people into righteousness. She could get amped up. That’s probably eight, all eight-year-olds, but mine can get amped up. And extra. She’s she’s extra. But you know, it’s amazing when when you know when she starts acting bad, you know, and she starts feeling like everyone’s mad at her and everyone’s frustrated with her. You know what she does? You probably think, oh, she probably just shuts it off and gets better. Well, you’d be wrong. Right, no, she just gets ten times worse. Right? When she feels like everyone doesn’t like her, everyone thinks she’s a mess up. You know what? She she just doubles down on on her attitude.

But but what we do, and we do this all the time, is we come, we come to her. We come to our daughter Grace, and we say, we say, sweetheart, we’re not mad at you. We’re not, we’re, you know, we’re not mad. We we love you, we’re not mad at you. And you know what happens when that shoulders drop, she can breathe, and she starts to act good again. Why? Because she stops at operating out of fear and she starts acting out of love. And I would I would propose that the same thing is true for you. Right? That if you feel like your your default posture is God is ticked, he’s super mad at me, and I’m such a mess up. You know what’s gonna happen? You’re gonna keep doing more of that. But the moment you get a revelation of how deep and how wide and how tall God’s love is for you, then you start to act better.

I wonder how many of us are acting up, making bad decisions, running from God, sabotaging because we assume that God is mad. Listen to me, God’s not mad at you. I I don’t know, I don’t even know who I’m talking to. God’s not mad at you. But God, God loves you. And it’s good news. One, God came to you, two, God’s not mad at you.

Good News, God Can Change Your Story

Three, and the band can come up or keys. Good news, God can change your story. Here’s good news. God can change your story. Because you might be thinking, like, okay, cool. So God came to me and God’s not mad at me, but what about my actual situation? Like, like, what about the actual nightmare that I’m living in? Here’s what I want you to know the good news is not just that God loves you from a distance. The good news is that God has the power to actually intervene in your actual real reality.

Some people think that there’s like there’s a there’s a church mode, and then there’s like a real mode in your life. And look, even if that that may be true for you, but I I want you to know, even if that’s true, God can still come over, he can cross the barrier and intervene in your real life. He could come and change actual things for you. He can resurrect actual things that are dead in your life and in your situation. He has the power to do that. Right? So it’s that that’s not that’s not pretend. You know, some people think, like, oh, that’s you know, that’s how we talk at church, blah, blah. No, I really mean it. God can actually come and give you a new story. He can come resurrect things that were dead.

Look at this, Matthew chapter 1, verse 21.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save people from their sins.

The name Jesus means literally Jehovah is salvation. And and and notice it says you’re gonna call him Jesus, not because you’re gonna save people from their sin, not just forgive them of their sin, but save people from their sins. How does that how does that work? Well, a couple different ways. Number one is this he saves you from the penalty of sin. Right? So death, hell, eternal separation from God. Jesus paid the price so that you don’t have to. But second, and this is what a lot of people miss, he also saves you from the power of sin. So that addiction that has a grip on you, you. You know what I mean? Like that pattern you can’t seem to break, that stronghold that’s been in your family for four generations, but that that way of thinking that keeps you stuck, God can set you free from that.

And that’s why for us at this church, that’s why what we do is we do Christ-based recovery. We’ve got incredible recovery ministry here. We’ve got amazing recovery groups. Y’all can sign up today. But the programs that we do here at this church, they’re not steps based, they’re Christ-based. Right? And listen, like I am all for, I’m all for AA and NA, celebrate recovery, 12 steps, counseling, therapy. I’m I’m for all of I think all that stuff’s awesome. But here’s what I believe the thing that truly has the power to change somebody’s life is not a program, it’s a person. The 12 steps will give you a framework. Jesus gives you freedom. Amen.

And I’m not, I’m not knocking the 12 steps, like I think the 12 steps are great, but you know what the 13th step is? Jesus. That’s not official, but it should be. I’ll write him around an email. You know, it’s just like you your support group can manage your addiction, but Jesus can deliver you from it. That’s that’s the thing, and that’s why the recovery at this ministry is centered around Jesus. Because we know that’s the place where you find real freedom. You know, alcoholics anonymous, which I like just fine. They say, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. And look, like I’ll say it like this apart from Jesus, I agree. But God can change your story. To where you’re not what you were.

Once an alcoholic that’s you can’t possibly think that if you believe in the story of Jesus. Right? Because you don’t have to be what you used to be. You don’t have to fall for what you used to fall for. Right? And like some people, it’s like their life is just like a great tragedy. You know, and I talk to people like this, it’s just like everything about their life is just sad. But God can change your story. He can give you something new. And we see it happen in this church all the time. That people come and they come in here with chains on chains on chains on chains, and they walk out free. Not because they white-knuckled their way through sobriety, right? But because the power of God broke something off of them.

And I want to tell someone today that you don’t have to be bound by your past. You don’t you don’t have to be bound by what your parents said. You don’t have to be bound by what society says. Like that’s what the gospel does. It doesn’t just help you cope, it sets you free. God can change your story. Look at this, John chapter 8, verse 36.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Free indeed, not kind of free, not mostly free, not managing it free. Free indeed. Romans chapter 8, verse 11.

And if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you.

So Jesus was dead. Like dead dead. Not mostly dead, not kind of dead, dead-ish, dead adjacent. He was dead, dead. In the tomb. Stone rolled over the tomb, and the Spirit of God showed up. And the same Jesus that the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, like that same animating force, that same resurrection power. Paul says that same spirit lives on the inside of you. That same spirit that got Jesus out of the tomb because of the spirit can get you out of your tomb by that same spirit. Whatever your flesh got you into, the spirit can get you out of. Right? Right? Your flesh get you in debt. That’s okay. The spirit can get you out. Right? As your flesh gets you into addiction, the spirit can get you out. The flesh get you into anger, bitterness, hatred, shame. The spirit can get you out.

If the pat if that same power got Jesus out of the grave, it can get you out of whatever you’re stuck in. Dead marriage, God can resurrect it. Dead dream, God can resurrect it. Dead end job, God can open a door. Dead feeling on the inside where there used to be hope. God specializes in that. It’s his whole deal. Resurrection is not just one thing that happened 2,000 years ago. Resurrection is his whole trick. It’s the thing that he specializes in. Breathing life into dead things. And I’m not saying, not saying it happens overnight. I’m not saying it always happens easy. Salvation is is as a gift, but it’s also a process. I got saved. I’m being saved. One day I’ll be fully saved.

I’ve been following God, me personally, David, I’ve been following God my entire adult life, and I’m still a work in progress. Y’all remember, remember that lady who used to call in to the Ellen show? Gladys. She’s like, oh honey, I love Jesus, but I drink a little. Remember her? We’re all a work in progress. Like I love Jesus, but I still get road rage in the church parking lot. I see you. I love Jesus, but I still fight with people on the internet. But but look, even that, did you know, even that is good news. Because it means God’s not done with you. He’s still writing your story. If you’re not dead, God’s not done. He’s still bringing life to dead things, dead dreams, dead relationships, breathing life.

And that’s what I want. I want you to walk out of here believing that today is that your worst chapter isn’t your last chapter. That’s it. Some of y’all have been through like a terrible chapter, but that’s not that’s not the end of the story. It’s not the end of your story. It’s not the end of your kids’ story. It’s a chapter. But God is still moving, and that’s good news. The thing with a grip on you doesn’t get the final word. Right? That pattern that has existed in your family for three generations, it can end with you. Hear me, young people. Did you know that that did you know that generational curses can end with one person? Amen.

I love my parents. Y’all, most of y’all got great parents, but look, listen, you you the sooner you know this the better. Your parents don’t get to define you. The diagnosis doesn’t get to define you. The divorce doesn’t disqualify you. The failure doesn’t finish you. Why? Because the same power that rolled that stone away is available to you. Not 2,000 years ago, but right now. God can change your story. I don’t care what the doctor said, I don’t care what your family says, I don’t care what the voice in your head has been saying for 20 years. God gets the final word, and his word is good news. Amen.

I was thinking about it. I was writing this message. I was working, came came up here yesterday and was working on it, and I was just thinking about me. I was thinking about my story. And you know, I I have had the great privilege of I’ve I’ve never had another church besides this one. I’ve never had pastors besides Pastor Marshall and Cindy. It’s been my whole life. My parents started attending this church when my mom was pregnant with me. And so I’ve always known the gospel as good news. I’ve never not known that. I’ve never been scared of God. Never. It was always good for me.

But I but I know that there are people that that’s part of the journey. For you, that’s the whole thing is like unlearning wrong ideas about God. And it’s been one of my great privileges and continues to be one of my great privileges in life is to like communicate the message of Jesus, the good news, to people who maybe maybe they think they’ve been following God for 30 years, but they come and they say, like, you’re saying God’s not mad at me? It’s like, no, man. He pursues you. He’s chasing after you. There’s a whole sect of Christianity that thinks unless you’re a Christian, God’s really angry at you. I just don’t see how you can read John 3.16 and think that that all happens before people come to Christ. Doesn’t make any sense. God loves you because He’s love, not because you’re lovely. Doesn’t mean He loves everything that you do. He doesn’t. But He loves you.

People can come and like come to a church service like this. And they say, like, you mean I don’t have to earn it? It’s like, no, man. It’s a free gift. All you gotta, you just gotta say yes. You just gotta and we’ve seen this. We’ve seen people walk into this room carrying decades of shame and walk out free. Why? Because God came to you. God’s not mad at you, and God can change your story, and that’s good news.

Here’s my closing statement. In a world drowning in bad news, the arrival of Jesus is the best news you’ll ever hear. One, God came to you. You didn’t have to climb up, he climbed down. Two, God’s not mad at you. He sent Jesus to save you, not condemn you. And three, God can change your story. The spirit that got Jesus out of his tomb.