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- Merry Christmas, Springhouse.

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Boy, I like to say this before I come.

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It's a good day to be in the house of the Lord

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and today is certainly no exception, amen?

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Amen, it's great to see your faces.

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Before I start here, I wanna say,

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if you are here this morning

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and you don't have a church home,

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man, we would so welcome your presence here at Springhouse.

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We meet on Sundays at nine o'clock and 11 o'clock.

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And if you're looking for a group of people

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who are good at not being perfect,

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we are your people, right?

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Man, we're just on this journey pursuing this King.

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And guys, I'm over here just kind of in tears

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looking at my family on the front row

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and just looking at you all.

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And don't you know, there's coming a day

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where we are gonna spend eternity under the banner of,

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"Oh, come let us adore Him."

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It's going to be an eternity with this King,

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not just an hour, not just a moment,

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but an eternity and we place our hope in Him.

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Would you look at somebody who's sitting next to you,

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somebody you love and just say,

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"You have access to the King."

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You have access to the King this morning.

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It's not a far-fetched idea.

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It's not a dream.

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It's not a fairytale,

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but you actually do have access to the King of the universe.

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First John says this,

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"This is the message we have heard from Him

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"and declare to you that God is light.

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"And in Him, there is no darkness at all.

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"And I am so glad this morning

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"that the light of the world has come."

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The light of the world has come.

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When Scripture tells us that God is light

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and in Him there's no darkness,

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it means there's no deception in Him.

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There's no confusion in Him.

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There's no instability in Him.

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And when Jesus stepped into the world,

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He declared, "I am the light of the world."

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And He didn't just bring light to us.

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He brought light to reside within us.

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Jesus has come to be our King,

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unwavering, unmovable, unshakable.

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The world changes, but this light does not.

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People fail, but this light does not fade.

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Circumstances shake, but our light does not move.

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Our King can be trusted.

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Do you believe that this morning, amen?

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See, under the old covenant,

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the priest used to use light to examine

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and to expose, to reveal what was unclean.

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And that was faithful work,

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but it was not a complete work.

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The light kept showing people their sin,

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but it couldn't heal it, and it couldn't unite its hearts.

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The priest illuminated brokenness and separation,

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but Jesus illuminated hope and access.

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And He's continuing to illuminate hope

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and access into us today.

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He showed us what love looks like in a body,

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what mercy looks like with skin on it,

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what it means to live in truth

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without withdrawing from one another.

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Listen, sin created separation.

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And before this baby King arrived on the scene,

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it was all about separation.

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But the light stops us from the hiding

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so that we can receive the love

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that covers a multitude of sin.

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And all of this is possible because of the cross,

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that the cross has already dealt with,

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which once separated us.

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Because of Jesus, no longer a priest stands in a grab.

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A curtain is no longer making a boundary line.

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Holiness is no longer communicating, do not draw near.

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Because of Jesus, the veil tore, the barrier fell,

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and the distance closed.

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Hallelujah.

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We no longer stand outside looking in.

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We have access because our King made a way.

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Not access based on performance.

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Not access based on qualification.

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Access based on His finished work.

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Hebrews 12, 28 tells us we are receiving a kingdom

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that cannot be shaken.

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Hebrews 4 says, "Let's approach this throne with confidence

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because of the access that we have."

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And then guys, listen to this in Colossians 1, it says this,

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"For He has rescued us and has drawn us to Himself

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from the dominion of darkness and has transferred us

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to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

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in whom we have redemption because of His sacrifice

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resulting in the forgiveness of our sin

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and the cancellation of sin's penalty.

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He is the exact living image,

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the essential manifestation of the unseen God,

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the visible representation of the invisible,

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the firstborn of the preeminent one, the sovereign,

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the originator of all creation.

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For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth,

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things visible and invisible,

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whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities,

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all things were created and exist through Him and for Him."

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And listen to this, "And He Himself existed

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and is before all things, and in Him all things hold Him."

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Would you say that?

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And in Him all things hold together.

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Guys, I don't know about you, but my 2025 was a mixed bag.

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I had some of the most phenomenal, supernatural,

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wonderful moments, chief among them, Eliana Hope.

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But I also had some moments of grief,

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had some moments of hardship and real hurt this year.

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And as I look into 2026, guys,

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I'm not striving to make 2026 the best year ever,

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but what I am doing is I'm looking to allow Christ,

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the one who holds it together,

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to be the center of everything in 2026.

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Why?

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Because I have access to Him, and so do you.

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He is the light of the world.

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What you gonna do with your light?

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Would you stand with me this morning

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with those who are gonna serve the elements come forward?

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I can't think of a more appropriate thing

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to do this morning.

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As we remember His first coming,

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to remember that He's going to come again.

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His promise the first time was fulfilled,

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and He came for our salvation.

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The second time He's coming,

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there's gonna be no more suffering.

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Hallelujah, amen.

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And in the waiting, in the in-between,

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we get to cling to this hope,

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and we have access to this glorious God.

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Friends, on the night in which Jesus was betrayed,

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He took bread and He broke it with His friends.

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And He said, "Take this bread,

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"every time you're gathered together,

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"and eat this bread, My body in remembrance of Me."

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Shortly after, He took the cup,

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which represents the blood of the new covenant,

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the cup of salvation.

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And He said to His friends, "Take this cup and drink it,

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"for this is spilt for the remission of your sin."

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So that we have the access we were just talking about.

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He says, "Every time you're gathered,

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"would you drink this cup in remembrance of Me?"

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And so Father, we thank You for all the gifts, Lord,

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that we are celebrating today.

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But the most significant gift,

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the very best gift is Your Son, Jesus.

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And so this morning, we remember

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the gift that came once to save the world,

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but the gift that's coming again,

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and the gift that keeps giving extraordinarily.

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Father, we thank You that there's an eternity

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that awaits us, where we truly will come

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and adore Him forever.

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In Jesus' name, and we all said amen and amen.

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Come this morning and receive communion

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as we remember Jesus.

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(soft music)

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(soft music)