Have you ever believed you were too far gone to be used by God? Do you believe that if people at church truly knew your story, you’d never be welcomed back?

Throughout the Bible, we see God using unlikely people to accomplish His mission. The book of Matthew begins the story of Jesus’ birth with His genealogy. While this may seem like just a long list of names, Israelite readers would have understood that ancestry mattered. Proof of ancestry is what allowed the Jews to own land and access the temple.

Yet the record of Jesus’ ancestry isn’t made of up of who you might think. Jesus Christ, the King of kings, didn’t have ancestors who were royal, sinless, or perfect. Tamar was a Canaanite woman who was impregnated by her father-in-law. Rahab was a prostitute. King David was an adulterer and murderer. Before we got to the manger, the world was a mess.

But the mess before the manger is the entire reason Jesus was born. The good news of Christmas is that no matter where you’ve come from or what you’ve done, Jesus Christ was born to take away the sins of the world. Join us this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus and see how God can take what you thought was ruined and bring redemption!