You ever play with a magnifying glass growing up? You know, the large circle lens with a handle that you can hold and use to look at stuff using a toy magnifying glass. I remember pretending to be Sherlock Holmes investigating a crime scene with my toys or I would go take it outside and look at plants and bugs up close. As I got older, I learned that a more advanced form of a magnifying glass can be found in microscopes and telescopes. Microscopes are used to look at small things that were difficult to see like cells in science class and telescopes are used to find things like stars and Galaxies far, far away. What's interesting to me about magnifying glasses is that all shapes and sizes share three common characteristics. First magnifying glasses make things appear bigger. Now they don't actually impact the size of something but rather well, OK. One exception, they did impact the size when the experiment went wrong for Wayne Sinsky in the movie honey, I shrunk the kids but for the most part, they simply make objects more visible. Second magnifying glasses have the ability to make something appear closer. Just a few hours north of me. In Happy Jack Arizona is the Lowell Discovery telescope, which is one of the most powerful telescopes in the entire world weighing in at £6700 and costing $53 million to make. Researchers are using the Lowell Discovery telescope to study planets, stars, Meteors, comets and much, much more making things that are far away, appear close. Finally, magnifying glasses share the common characteristic of bringing things into focus. If you've reached the age of needing to wear reading glasses, then you understand exactly what I'm talking about. So why am I talking about magnifying glasses? This Christmas, why is it important for us to remember that magnifying glasses make things appear bigger, appear closer and bring our vision into focus? Well, I share this because holidays magnify our circumstances and our situations. If things are good in your life right now, Christmas tends to magnify that goodness Christmas can even feel magical. Can't it like when you first fell in love or when your kids are still little or it's the first Christmas in your new house or you just got that promotion you've been working for all year, everything feels bigger and better and more in focus. But unfortunately, Christmas can also magnify that what is, which is difficult if you're struggling. This Christmas season can feel even more intense. Financial stress hits different in December, doesn't it a challenging relationship can feel even more strange during the holidays? If you battle loneliness, Christmas can sometimes highlight your pain more than you would even expect. And if you've lost someone recently, grief can be a powerful force in your life. Thinking back to the way it once was wherever you find yourself this Christmas, whether highs or lows, whether far from God or closer to God than ever before, whether you're struggling or you're celebrating this Christmas season. I wanna encourage you with this truth. God's love magnifies what matters most. God's love magnifies what matters most. You see the Christmas story magnifies God's love for all of humanity. God always existed. He's all knowing He's all powerful and he's all present. He is perfect and perfectly in control. Whether we believe in Him or not. The Christmas story doesn't actually change the size of God by any means. But the beauty of the Christmas story is that the arrival of Jesus is the arrival of love. Word becomes flesh, a baby born in a manger, given the name Emmanuel, meaning God with us. You see the Christmas story magnifies our vision of God making God's love bigger closer and more in focus within our lives. The question that we have to ask ourselves this Christmas then is this, if God's love magnifies what matters most, then are we magnifying God this Christmas are we showing and sharing the love of God with others this holiday season? Now, it's common to really read the Christmas story out of Luke chapter two on or around Christmas. And in fact, I encourage you to do so with your family and friends. But I wanna take a slightly different approach this year in our time together, I actually wanna discuss a character of the Christmas story that's not normally talked about during the Christmas season, the reason for his exclusion. Well, technically, he's not in the Christmas story but rather a result of the Christmas story. His story actually highlights why Jesus came in the first place. His name John the Apostle. John is an interesting guy to study for several reasons. First, he had a troubled past, he most likely had a rage problem because he was given the nickname to him and his brother James. They were together, they were called the Sons of Thunder. Recently, a wrestling movie came out in the theaters and while I haven't seen the movie, I'm guessing that the Apostle John and his brother James could have been cast in the movie playing themselves. Can you picture it introducing the Sons of Thunder? See John was known for his anger. You don't get that nickname without a few fights here and there it makes him an interesting guy to look at. But second, John is a very interesting guy to study because he actually was a businessman. He left his old way of life to follow Jesus and when he did so he left his family's fishing business. Third, John is an interesting guy. To study because he had a front row seat to the ministry of Jesus. He saw Jesus perform miracles. He was with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration and he was with Jesus in the Garden of Yosemite. Right before he got arrested, he was actually told to take care of jesus' mother Mary at the cross. And he was one of the first disciples to see the empty tomb after jesus' resurrection. And John was actually one of the disciples who helped start the largest movement in world history. We now call the church. Fourth. John is an interesting guy to study this Christmas because he experienced so much suffering and sorrow throughout his life along with battling his own persecutions preaching the gospel. His own brother James was killed in acts chapter 12 verse two. And John was the last living apostle, meaning that he saw all of his friends die for the cause of Christ. If anyone had reason to walk away from his faith, John did. And yet this leads us to the next interesting fact about him that John lived a life of consistency and longevity in the faith as the last living apostle. He ended up writing five books of the Bible, the gospel. John 1st, 2nd 3rd John and in the prophecy book Revelation, he ended up discipling guys throughout his life, including guys named Polycarp who then discipled a guy named Aus. Those are some great names, aren't they? I wonder if anyone put the name Polycarp on a stocking this year or? Hey, you know, you've heard of Elf on a shelf. But what about Polycarp on a tarp? You know, just a few years ago we had that singing bass. Well, what if we had like a singing Polycarp? Ok. Those are all pretty bad jokes. But why do I mention Polycarp and Uranus and connected with John in the first place? Well, you see John the Apostle lived a long life and so did Polycarp and so did Aus. In fact, Aus died in the year 202 ad that's important for church history because almost 200 years after the Christmas story, we have someone who historically vouches for the accuracy of the gospel accounts and the Christmas story and it's only two generations removed from the actual events themselves. Pretty cool. Right. Finally, John the Apostle is an interesting guy to study at Christmas time because he actually refers to himself five times in his gospel account as the disciple whom Jesus loved. I used to think that John was simply bragging like how he mentioned that he beat Peter in a foot race in John chapter 20 verse four. I'm so competitive. I would totally do that if I was writing a gospel account. Imagine all Christians for all eternity are noting that you are much faster than your friend put me down for that. So I used to think that John listed himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved to really show how close he was to Jesus. But the more I studied, the more I realized, I think he had a much more humble reason in mind when he gave himself that title, you see his whole, all of his letters really came at the end of his life. Some say between the years 90 100 and five ad I think that he thought back to the entirety of his life. And he realized that God's love changed everything God's love magnified what mattered most in John's life. Here was a man with an angry past who lost a business. Years of his persecution and suffering was matched with the fact that he watched his own brother and all of his friends die before his very eyes. And yet he's not known as a son of thunder, but the disciple whom Jesus loved. I'm not sure where you're at today. Do you have a past? Have you lost a business? Have you experienced suffering or grief or you're struggling? I want you to know that there is a time tested and timeless truth of John's life that we can take to the bank. You see at the end of his life, he is not known as the son of thunder, but the disciple whom Jesus loved God's love changed everything about his life. When he wrote his letters, John actually uses the word love 39 times in his gospel. 34 times in his letters and eight more times in the Book of Revelation, that's 81 different times in scripture. John truly was the apostle of love. His faith was tested. His faith lasted and he multiplied his faith through discipling others. I think we should take John's account of the Christmas story into account for our own lives. You see in first John chapter four verses 7 to 11, we read the true meaning of Christmas. We find out why Jesus had to come in the first place. The passage reads, beloved, let us love one another. For love is from God. Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love in this, the love of God was made manifest among us that God sent His only son into the world so that we might live through Him in this is love not that we had loved God, that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation, which means payment for our sins. God is love. Notice He doesn't write that love is God, nor does he write that love is love like our world likes to teach. But rather that the manifestation of love itself is Jesus Christ himself. The arrival of Jesus is the arrival of love. And the reason he came was so that he would die on the cross as payment for our sins. John writes this in other places as well. First John 513 reads, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you might know that you have eternal life. John 20 verses 30 to 31 read. Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing, you may have life in his name. And finally, in the most famous verse in all of the Bible, John 316, we read for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Why Christmas, why did Jesus come? Simply put? He came for love and he came for salvation. You see Christmas and Easter are eternally linked. Jesus came in a cradle, but Jesus came for the cross when it comes to knowing God's love. Christmas is the promise and Easter is the proof. Let me say that again because if you understand and believe this, this can change your life forever. Christmas is the promise. Easter is the proof. Christmas shows us how far love has come. Easter shows us how far love will go. You see Christmas tells us that Jesus came down from heaven to earth and Easter tells us that Jesus came to earth to die on the cross then to rise again on the third day so that we can know God's love for all of eternity. This means that hope is possible. Love is possible. Peace is possible and the forgiveness of sins eternally is possible. God's love magnifies what matters most. And when we read the Christmas story, we see God's love as bigger and closer and more in focus than ever before. If God can use characters like Mary and Joseph and the Shepherds and even the little town of Bethlehem. And if he can use John to tell us why he came, the former Son of Thunder who now tells us that He is the apostle of love. We can trust that God's love is avail available to you. And to me, what if God's love was magnified in your life to the point where you could then describe yourself as a disciple whom Jesus loves. You can. And let me tell you how you see in John 316, we see four phrases, two words, each eight total words that really describes what it means to trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior first phrase, God loved. See God loves you so much. He loves you before you have ever loved God. But the problem is that our sin has separated us from God's love, which leads us to that second phrase that God gave. He loves you so much that He gave his son from heaven to earth. Here is the Christmas story so that he could live a perfect life to die on a cross as payment for our sins. But then rise again on the third day, defeating death and sin itself. And then saying if you believe in me, that you will be forgiven and you will be saved. So we have God loved, we have God gave. But then we believe, well, what do we believe? We believe two things. We believe that Jesus is Lord and we believe that Jesus is Savior. It says in John 14 6 that Jesus says I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Do you still view Jesus as the little baby in the manger? Or do you view Him as the Lord and Savior in your life? You have to believe that He's both Lord and Savior. But the last thing is that if you believe that it says in there that we live, so the progression is God loved God gave. We believe. And then we live, which means that we shall not perish but have eternal life in Him. There is so much beauty in the Christmas story and it magnifies God's love and in turn, God's love magnifies what matters most. It means that God is bigger than you realize. He is closer than you realize. And he puts life and eternal life into focus. If we just put our trust and faith, do you wanna have a relationship with Jesus. I invite you to pray this prayer with me right now. There's not magic in the words, but rather it's, it's confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus is God and he is Savior. When you do that, you receive God's love, you receive the Holy Spirit into your life, you receive forgiveness of sins and that your life can be changed forever. You might not have the nickname Son of Thunder, but we all have a past. We all have struggles and issues, but we don't have to be defined by those. Instead, we could be a disciple whom Jesus loved. If we pray to receive him right now, will you pray with me? Dear Jesus? I admit that I'm a sinner that I cannot make it to heaven on my own. This holiday season is magnifying my own struggles and issues my God. This Christmas season, I believe in you. I trust you as Lord and Savior in my life. I believe that you are the only way to heaven. God. I ask for your forgiveness, save me, God, forgive me and God, I receive your gift of salvation and I commit my life to you. I put my trust in you today and I believe in your love. This Christmas. Thank you for saving me. Thank you for loving me. It's in your son's name. We pray. Did you pray that prayer with me just now? I would love to know. Please do me a favor and just comment. I believe in the comment section of where you're watching this video and feel free to fill out the, take your next step form. That's in the description here on our youtube channel or on our website at Mission Grove church.com. Fill out that form. Let us know of your commitment and faith and we'd love to come alongside you and really help you begin your spiritual journey. We call Christianity. And I just wanna say from all of us at Mission Grove, Merry Christmas, and we hope to see you soon.