SPEAKER_01: Let's give it a free pass.
SPEAKER_01: I love Forbes, man.
SPEAKER_01: Um, mainly because uh Jesus says I have to love him.
SPEAKER_01: Um that's the that's the main reason I love Forbes, but I love him because his heart is pure.
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the first time I'm I met Forbes uh at the Cracker Barrel, we sat there for three hours and just talked.
SPEAKER_01: And it was just a friendship from the get-go.
SPEAKER_01: And I knew God just brought us together if for nothing else, uh, to be buddies and just to walk alongside each other as God calls us to be faithful to the ministry.
SPEAKER_01: And so every time we get to come here as a family, my kids are excited.
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's the place.
SPEAKER_01: My well, my my second son's that's the place with the donuts.
SPEAKER_01: So that was what he was excited about, that he was gonna come in and get a donut.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's just a blessing for us just to make the drive over here and really for me um to have an opportunity to pour into uh this family because uh we're all family in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So uh let me pray for us and then we will we will jump in.
SPEAKER_01: Dear Heavenly Father God, we just thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you because of who you are, not because of anything you've done or that you've given us, but just on the basis that you are good and you are righteous, you are holy, you're loving, you're kind, you're forgiving, you're gracious.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, today we sit in that truth, and God, we ask that that will wash over us today as we uh study this beautiful story uh that you've given us.
SPEAKER_01: Holy Spirit, uh I'm dependent on you today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh would you just do only what you can do?
SPEAKER_01: Would you speak to the hearts of the people in this room and say the things that their hearts need to hear?
SPEAKER_01: Uh may my words uh and the meditations of my mouth be pleasing in your sight.
SPEAKER_01: May you make less of me and more of you.
SPEAKER_01: In Jesus' name.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, every time the Christmas season comes around, I kind of get this itch uh to start watching all my favorite Christmas movies.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you all kind of have your favorite Christmas movies?
SPEAKER_01: You know, I have my favorite Christmas movies, but I think they're controversial because the more I tell people that these are my favorite Christmas movies, they tell me they're not Christmas movies.
SPEAKER_01: So I get a little confused.
SPEAKER_01: But but my favorite two Christmas movies, or the movies that I kind of enjoy to watch around the Christmas season, is number one, Sister Act Two.
SPEAKER_01: I love Sister Act Two, and then Coming to America.
SPEAKER_01: Those are my those are my two uh favorite Christmas movies.
SPEAKER_01: And and I can make a case of their Christmas movies, you know.
SPEAKER_01: In Sister Act Two, they remix Joyful, Joyful.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody sang it better than Lauren Hill in that movie.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just telling you that.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then in Coming to America, one of the funniest scenes is at this banquet with the Christmas decoration when the Reverend is on stage and he invites sexual chocolate up there to sing, and and it's just hilarious, right?
SPEAKER_01: So I love both of those movies.
SPEAKER_01: But I think the reason I love those movies so much and why they remind me of the Christmas season, uh, is because the underlying message in both of those movies is this don't judge a book by its cover.
SPEAKER_01: When you think about Sister Act 2, you got Whoopi Goldberg, who's this showgirl, and and and she uh does a 180 for friends and puts on this this nun outfit and she goes to revive this choir at this Catholic school, and as she walks in this life, she's judged on both sides.
SPEAKER_01: By the students, they see this nun that could never understand their lives.
SPEAKER_01: And everything she tries to give them, they judge it and they say, we don't want it.
SPEAKER_01: But then on the other side, the schoolmaster, once he realized she's not a real nun, he can only see the show girl, and he's convinced that what she has to offer is nothing at all for their school.
SPEAKER_01: But then when you think about coming to America, you know, you got Prince Akeem, and his goal is to come to America to find his wife.
SPEAKER_01: And so this real prince in Africa cloaks himself in humility.
SPEAKER_01: And he comes to America and lives in an impoverished neighborhood, and and and one of the key things about his mission is the women that he courts cannot know who he really is.
SPEAKER_01: They must love him for him, they must receive him in his humility.
SPEAKER_01: I love that, and it makes me run back to this Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: And I want to say to us, uh, let us be careful that we don't judge a book by its cover.
SPEAKER_01: And I think so often the way that this Christmas story has been presented to us over the years, it can become very easy for us to judge it by how it's wrapped.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the question I have for you as we open our time this morning.
SPEAKER_01: How have you received the coming of Jesus this Christmas season?
SPEAKER_01: I can admit it, until I started working on this message, I hadn't really even pondered the idea that I was receiving the coming of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If I could be honest, my mind was all wrapped up in many of the things that maybe your minds and your hearts have been wrapped up in.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe what you have received this season are the traditions.
SPEAKER_01: You're trying to figure out your traveling plans, you're trying to figure out whose house you're gonna be at, you're trying to figure out who's making the potato salad and the mac and cheese.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you're trying to figure out who who got you, who pulled your name in the white elephant, and and what do you need to get people to these traditions that that are good in themselves, they're fun, but they rob us of the beauty that the season comes to bring.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe what you have received is is misplaced passion and misplaced expectations.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've started in your heart that this Christmas has to be perfect.
SPEAKER_01: And instead of you resting in the perfect one coming, your mind has been on making sure that your kid gets that very gift on that very day and making sure that everybody has the white pajamas, and and if this old name didn't have it, we gotta drive off to listen to the find it.
SPEAKER_01: Because we gotta have good pictures, because we gotta send these postcards out, and we gotta show our cousins and our brothers and our sisters that we are a beautiful Christian family.
SPEAKER_01: Right.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe, maybe what you've received is uh bitterness this season, heartbreak, hurt.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this Christmas season reminds you of what Christmas used to be when the marriage was healthy.
SPEAKER_01: And your heart longs for those days again.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're thinking about the Christmas that you wished you had as a kid that you never had, and and that bitterness is your motivation for making sure your kids never experience that.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe for some of you, you grew up in a tradition or a family that Christmas wasn't even something you celebrated.
SPEAKER_01: So you're just learning.
SPEAKER_01: Either way, can I just tell you that that what you ought to be receiving and what I ought to be receiving this season is not the familiar story and the nativity scenes where we get to argue, is Jesus Irish in this nativity scene?
SPEAKER_01: What is going on, right?
SPEAKER_01: Or you don't have to receive, you know, the inaccurate cartoons and where all of a sudden somehow uh the shepherds and the wise men show up at the same time, and and just the craziness.
SPEAKER_01: There's singing cows and horses and right, because honestly, uh that's what's happened to this beautiful, powerful, life-changing Christmas story.
SPEAKER_01: It's been thrown in there with Frosty the Snowman, and I think we miss the beauty of what Jesus gives us in this season.
SPEAKER_01: So, so what I believe, and I believe this because the Bible says it says our best weapon against uh the schemes of the enemy, and I think telling the Jesus story wrong is a scheme of the enemy.
SPEAKER_01: Our best weapon against that is the word of God.
SPEAKER_01: And so I'm excited today that we're gonna read the story and we're gonna dive in.
SPEAKER_01: So if you have your Bibles, uh, you can join me in Luke chapter 2.
SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be on the screen as well.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to pull it up on your phone and get the exact translation, but again, it's on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be reading from verses 1 through 14.
SPEAKER_01: 1 through 14.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna step into some light here.
SPEAKER_01: It says this in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole empire should be registered.
SPEAKER_01: This first registration took place while Corinius was governor of Syria.
SPEAKER_01: So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David, to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.
SPEAKER_01: While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
SPEAKER_01: Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them at the inn.
SPEAKER_01: In the same region, she were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock.
SPEAKER_01: Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
SPEAKER_01: But the angel said to them, Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_01: Today, a Savior who is Messiah the Lord was born for you in the city of David.
SPEAKER_01: This will be the sign for you.
SPEAKER_01: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly there was a multitude of heavenly hosts with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people he favors.
SPEAKER_01: Bless the reading of God's word this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you're a note-taker, you can tag this man as the present of peace.
SPEAKER_01: The present of peace.
SPEAKER_01: And for the remainder of my time, what I want to do is I want to focus our hearts and our minds on three takeaways, three simple takeaways, three simple theological truths that I think we find in our passage that we could take with us, not only for this season, but for the seasons to come.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the first truth I have for you: God is sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: God is sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: Another way of saying that is that God is all powerful and always in control.
SPEAKER_01: We see this in our first seven verses.
SPEAKER_01: Looking at our passage, we learned that the Roman leader of the day was requiring a census.
SPEAKER_01: Theologians point out that when Rome required a census, there was really only two reasons why they were required census.
SPEAKER_01: The first reason was that they were trying to see how many men and boys they had that were war-ready because maybe they were on a conquest again, and they needed to see what their firepower looked like.
SPEAKER_01: And the second reason was for taxation purposes.
SPEAKER_01: Either way, the backdrop of those reasons is a loss of autonomy, a loss of self-regulation.
SPEAKER_01: It's a reality that someone or something outside of yourself, uh, some circumstance that you can't control is directing your life.
SPEAKER_01: We learned that for Joseph and Mary, this man had to leave Nazareth at what seemed like the absolute worst time to travel.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible tells us that they had to go up to Bethlehem to be registered with Joseph's family line.
SPEAKER_01: And this is interesting because when you look at a map, when it says go up to Jerusalem, when you look at a map, Jerusalem is actually south of Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: So it was confusing, right?
SPEAKER_01: But then you have to understand that Jerusalem sits on top of a mountain.
SPEAKER_01: So here comes this pregnant woman at the worst time in her pregnancy, having to travel 90 miles, and she didn't ride on a donkey.
SPEAKER_01: I know that, and that would be terrible anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Riding on the donkey for 90 miles and you're not my pregnancy.
SPEAKER_01: Come on.
SPEAKER_01: That'd be crazy.
SPEAKER_01: But here they are, having to travel at the wrong time to be registered with Joseph's family line.
SPEAKER_01: Verses 6 and 7 tells us that while they were in Jerusalem, the time came for her to give birth.
SPEAKER_01: And when she had delivered Jesus, she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger or feeding trough.
SPEAKER_01: When looking at it through the lens of what's convenient and maybe what's comfortable, the situation seems to be a mess.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: Let's not dehumanize the situation.
SPEAKER_01: This was a stressful moment.
SPEAKER_01: Even with modern advances, last-minute travel with the baby on the way is a disaster.
SPEAKER_01: It's a nightmare.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what is a nightmare to our sensibilities and what's a nightmare to what we think, these why God moments, we find out Jesus used to be a butt God moment.
SPEAKER_01: And this butt God moment changed the course of human history.
SPEAKER_01: Galatians 4, 5, 4 through 5 says this.
SPEAKER_01: But when the right time came, catch that.
SPEAKER_01: But when the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
SPEAKER_01: God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us by his very I'm sorry, so he could adopt us as his very own children.
SPEAKER_01: I love that that scripture says at the right time.
SPEAKER_01: Because when I read that story, I can scream, God, this is the wrong time.
SPEAKER_01: This family is leaving home, going to a faraway place.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people are traveling into town.
SPEAKER_01: Apparently, when they get there, they're trying to find a place to stay, and every place is.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't think it was dramatic as the cartoons, right?
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a rainy night and it was 2 a.m.
SPEAKER_01: and they're going from door to door, like trying to figure out what place to get into.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think that's what it was.
SPEAKER_01: Most theologian historians say that they actually uh were there for a while.
SPEAKER_01: The Bible said uh while they were there.
SPEAKER_01: So it implies that they just didn't roll into town and she went in labor.
SPEAKER_01: They had to be there for a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: And they were probably staying at a family member's house.
SPEAKER_01: All right, but but it's clear that this family member wasn't a wrench, a rich family member.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have a palace.
SPEAKER_01: And the way that they they describe it is most homes had uh kind of two stories.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So they had a main level, all right, that will sometimes be called the upper room.
SPEAKER_01: That's where the people hung out.
SPEAKER_01: And then you go you went down three steps, and this was the area that housed the animals.
SPEAKER_01: And so what historians believe is actually being portrayed here is that they were staying at a family member's house along with other people.
SPEAKER_01: When it came time for Mary to have a baby, they needed to find a place that could accommodate a woman pushing out a baby.
SPEAKER_01: And hanging out in the family room with 20 people doesn't lend itself to push out a baby.
SPEAKER_01: And so here they go, they find themselves, they kick the animals out.
SPEAKER_01: Y'all go back outside because we got a baby coming.
SPEAKER_01: She had a baby, and likely there was a speeding trough filled with fresh hay that this loving, caring mother wrapped her child tightly in and laid them there to rest.
SPEAKER_01: Just changes the narrative a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: But what's the lesson here?
SPEAKER_01: I think the lesson is if we want to be wrapped in peace, we've got to learn to be okay with much blessing and much mess.
SPEAKER_01: We've got to learn to be okay with easy and simple, but also hard and confusing.
SPEAKER_01: Because in either circumstance, there's some truth that we have to hold on to.
SPEAKER_01: The truth is still that God is power, that God is provision, that God is still a present up in a time of need, that God still has a plan for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purposes.
SPEAKER_01: That's the truth in good and bad seasons.
SPEAKER_01: And if we want to learn from Mary, if we want to learn from Joseph, if we want to rest in the reality that God is sovereign, we have to believe that here in our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: So when we look at it again, what seemed like a tyrannical leader calling for a census that produced unexpected travel and induced labor for a mother in a less than adequate accommodation was actually the God who is above all earthly power, using human decisions to bring to pass what he had promised years ago through the prophets.
SPEAKER_01: Church.
SPEAKER_01: So, what's the application?
SPEAKER_01: Simply this, write this down.
SPEAKER_01: God is above all things and can use anything, anyone, any season, in any circumstance for his kingdom purposes as he calls us.
SPEAKER_01: I know some of you might need to tug that away.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you just came out of a season, or maybe you're in a season.
SPEAKER_01: But that is hard to believe, and I just want to promise you that like the seasons don't determine the character of God.
SPEAKER_01: What you're going through doesn't define who God is.
SPEAKER_01: And the Bible declares over and over and over that God can and will use everything that you've experienced in your life, good, bad, and ugly.
SPEAKER_01: For kingdom good if we're willing to give it to Him.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what we can't do is we can't step into these moments and point at God and say, God, why are you doing this?
SPEAKER_01: Because oftentimes that's what we do, right?
SPEAKER_01: When we get something good, we say, Thank you, God, for doing it.
SPEAKER_01: And when we get something bad, we say, Why, God, are you doing this?
SPEAKER_01: And I think the posture that we gotta take here is God, what are you doing here?
SPEAKER_01: The second truth that I want to give you this morning from our passage is this is that the good news is for all people and all seasons.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is for all people and all seasons.
SPEAKER_01: We see this verses 8 through 12.
SPEAKER_01: You know, one of the biggest issues with how Jesus and the gospel has been presented over the years is that somehow, in some way, the simple message that God has interrupted our plan of self-destruction with the way of escaping his son Jesus has become a complex members-only proposition for a special few.
SPEAKER_01: We like to put barriers in front of people and make the gospel complex.
SPEAKER_01: But but the good news is simple.
SPEAKER_01: In our passage, we were introduced to some nameless and faceless, poor and unimportant shepherds that were somehow worthy enough to receive the good news and to experience the glory of the Lord shining around them.
SPEAKER_01: Now, as I read that, my mind ran back to another moment in scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It ran back to the moment in scripture in Exodus when Moses was with the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He said, God, show me your glory.
SPEAKER_01: And God said, If I show you my face, it will kill you.
SPEAKER_01: So what I'm gonna do is I want you to go over there and I'm just gonna walk.
SPEAKER_01: Past you.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna just let you see the back of my glory.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna just let you see the tail end of my glory.
SPEAKER_01: This is Moses.
SPEAKER_01: This is the patriarch of our faith.
SPEAKER_01: Like this guy was a trailblazer, the man that led the people into Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Yet we find some shepherds that don't even know the name in the field, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.
SPEAKER_01: Think God was doing something special here.
SPEAKER_01: In this moment, these shepherds responded with great fear, but their fear of the Lord was met with compassion and mercy from God.
SPEAKER_01: As these angels delivered good news of great joy.
SPEAKER_01: Again, for who?
SPEAKER_01: All people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in human wisdom, a scene like this would have been much better in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: A scene like this of the angels and the heavenly hosts dropping into the top into the temple while everybody's worshiping, and or or this scene happening in the palace of the emperor.
SPEAKER_01: Like, surely, God, that would have been more powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Surely, God, that makes more sense.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what 1 Corinthians 1 27 through 29 tells us.
SPEAKER_01: It says, But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.
SPEAKER_01: God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
SPEAKER_01: He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not to nolify the things that are, so that no one may boast in his presence.
SPEAKER_01: We're looking at our passage from Mary, this unwed team mother carrying God's son to the Savior, Messiah, and King being born to peasants laid in a feeding trough, to these shepherds working the lowest job in the ecosystem, receiving God's choosing of the foolish.
SPEAKER_01: It's foreshadowing God's choosing of the humble and the poor in spirit, and those who mourn and weep, and those who hunger and thirst for justice.
SPEAKER_01: It's him foreshadowing what he was going to do through Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The power of the good news is that it breaks into a world of imperial power and religious exportation to exalt the fact that not just some, but all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
SPEAKER_01: And in that needy condition, we're invited to receive that little baby wrapped tightly in cloth as Savior, as Christ, and as Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You know, as I say that, I guess and I hope in my heart that this morning I'm speaking to some people that know that they're broken beyond repair and know that they have a debt they can never pay.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, we say, we say thank you for being our Savior, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I think in this room there are some folks that that know that there is no other hope except in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Lord, we praise you.
SPEAKER_01: We praise you for keeping your promise.
SPEAKER_01: And I know there's some weak folks in here, some folks that that need his strength today.
SPEAKER_01: And so, God, we confess our need and we say, Jesus, we need your power, we need your substance, we need your spirit, we need you to wrap our minds and our hearts in you.
SPEAKER_01: God, we need you in the hurting moments late at night.
SPEAKER_01: We need you when my mind is telling me it's over.
SPEAKER_01: God, we need you when the door closes and I don't know if he's coming back.
SPEAKER_01: God, we need you in the midnight hour, and so God, we confess our need to you, and we believe in our hearts that the good news was not just to save me, but the good news is for me every day.
SPEAKER_01: That even in the trials, God, you are still Lord, you are still Savior, you are still Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Our power is in your hand, and you have used that power to redeem me and save me, and you intend to keep your promises.
SPEAKER_01: God, we thank you.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the application.
SPEAKER_01: Those who know they need them are those that receive them.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is for all people, and it's for all seasons, but you gotta know you need them.
SPEAKER_00: And when you know you need them, then you can receive them.
SPEAKER_00: And he'll give you everything you require.
SPEAKER_01: Lastly, I want to pick back up at verse 13 and 14.
SPEAKER_01: I want to read that again.
SPEAKER_01: It says this suddenly there was a multitude of heavenly hosts with the angel praising God and saying this glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people he favors.
SPEAKER_01: In those verses, we find the fundamental truth that the shepherds experience at his birth, and and hopefully what we've experienced and what we've found in Christ by way of the cross and his resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: And that's this that peace is found in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't take away anything else from this message, take away that peace is found in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And thinking through this passage, I ran across the quote from uh Pastor John Piper, and I and I love this quote because it made me take a step back.
SPEAKER_01: Here's this quote and this goes back to our opening question, and it goes back to something Forrest said during communion.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the quote says the goal of Christmas is Good Friday and Easter.
SPEAKER_01: Say that to you again so it can sink in.
SPEAKER_01: The goal of Christmas is Good Friday and Easter.
SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, the reason that Jesus was born and the reason that Jesus grew in size and stature and favor among men, the reason that that that Jesus uh walked and was baptized and was tried in the wilderness, the reason that Jesus called 12, the reason that Jesus commissioned that 12, the reason that Jesus was in the gardening and praying and bleeding, the reason that he was betrayed, the reason that he had to walk up that hill carrying his death instrument, the reason that they spread them wide and they nailed his hand and the reasons that they nailed his feet, and the reason that the stone was rolled away was so that Jesus might defeat death for you and me.
SPEAKER_01: And the best way to defeat death is through life.
SPEAKER_01: And so God, in the most poetic way, says, We're gonna defeat death, and I'm gonna do it by bringing life into this world.
SPEAKER_01: Love that the reason and the goal of Christmas is Good Friday and Easter.
SPEAKER_01: Just makes my mind think of this beautiful verse that you all know.
SPEAKER_01: John 3 16 and 17.
SPEAKER_01: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
SPEAKER_01: For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
SPEAKER_01: To save the world through him.
SPEAKER_01: If you place your faith in that message, then you are one who God favors.
SPEAKER_01: And our scripture tells us that peace is your gift.
SPEAKER_01: Peace is your gift.
SPEAKER_01: And it's not just for this season, but it's because of this season.
SPEAKER_01: Peace is your gift.
SPEAKER_01: Before I sit down, because I want to honor my man Forrest, I'm gonna take a side note.
SPEAKER_01: I love Forrest.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, in one of the most humble and gracious ways, Forrest said, you know, Terrence, uh, hey man, we were getting off the phone.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Hey, oh yeah, by the way, uh, you know, uh make sure you're kind of tight on your message.
SPEAKER_01: Last time, uh, you you kind you kind of went long, you know.
SPEAKER_01: And really it's for the kids, you know, it's for the kids.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I said, man, you know better than to, you know, invite a black pastor and and not give him a time limit.
SPEAKER_01: Like, come on, bro.
SPEAKER_01: So I tried to keep in mind the children, because the children are our future.
SPEAKER_01: But before I sit down, I want to give us an invitation.
SPEAKER_01: And I love that we're laughing and we're smiling right now because this is an invitation that we can receive with joy, because with peace comes joy.
SPEAKER_01: This invitation is for anyone who finds himself going into the next week, the next day, the next season, lacking the peace as promised in our text this morning.
SPEAKER_01: As we celebrate his first coming, the peace we have is that there is a second coming as well.
SPEAKER_01: And so as we sit in between, this peace is just a holding pattern for us.
SPEAKER_01: It's this promise, it's this foretaste of what's to come.
SPEAKER_01: And it's God's heart that we would experience that life.
SPEAKER_01: And Trisha says, experience it to the full, and you experience that primarily by having peace.
SPEAKER_01: So here's what I'm gonna do.
SPEAKER_01: You know you need God's peace, and this invitation is for you.
SPEAKER_01: You may need peace with God.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you feel like, man, you've just gone off the rails, and you just need to be reassured that you're still his.
SPEAKER_01: I want to tell you that you are.
SPEAKER_01: But you got some spleening to do.
SPEAKER_01: Say say.
SPEAKER_01: But the Bible says that we can approach the throne of grace, uh throne of grace confidently.
SPEAKER_01: So if you find yourself off the rails, just approach the throne of grace right now with confidence.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe some of you are not at peace with other people, and this invitation is for you.
SPEAKER_01: The Christmas seasons can bring up all of the stress of family and relationship.
SPEAKER_01: It shows us both the beauty and the brokenness.
SPEAKER_01: And some of you are really carrying stress right now because of the people or the rooms you're gonna have to be in this next week.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to invite you to believe that God's peace can go with you in that situation like never before.
SPEAKER_01: And in fact, there is no relationship so broken that God cannot establish a new peace in that relationship.
SPEAKER_01: And so I invite you to receive this invitation.
SPEAKER_01: And for some of us, we just need peace, peace with ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes just you come in this room, you come to church, and you love coming, but you leave deep down because you're just reminded of how broken and how sinful you are, and how you missed the mark again.
SPEAKER_01: Can I just tell you, God is not through with you yet?
SPEAKER_01: He intends to finish the work that he started in your heart, but it goes back to that application.
SPEAKER_01: You gotta know you need him, and you got to invite him in, not to just be savior, but to be Christ and to be Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So this invitation is for you as well.
SPEAKER_01: And and the invitation is simply this I want you to hold your hands out and a posture to receive if you if you know you just need God's peace.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have any special fairy dust or anything like that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna come around and put ten dollars in your hand.
SPEAKER_01: All right, but what I want to do is I just want to read God's word over you again.
SPEAKER_01: I want to read the proclamation that those angels gave to the shepherds because we are the shepherds, we're those broken, lowly people.
SPEAKER_01: Apart from God, we're those people at the bottom, the scum on the earth who needs to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: So receive this blessing this morning and receive it as absolute truth.
SPEAKER_01: Bible says, Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
SPEAKER_01: But the angel said to them, Don't be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people, even the people that multiply church.
SPEAKER_01: Today, a savior who is Messiah the Lord was born for you, for you, for you, for you in the city of David.
SPEAKER_01: This would be the sign for you.
SPEAKER_01: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.
SPEAKER_01: Suddenly, there was a multitude of heavenly hosts with the angel praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven.
SPEAKER_01: God, we glorify you.
SPEAKER_01: And here's your gift, church.
SPEAKER_01: Peace on earth, peace on earth, not tomorrow, but today.
SPEAKER_01: To people He favors those who are in Christ, Heavenly Father, we just thank you.
SPEAKER_01: You're good, and you prove yourself to be good every day.
SPEAKER_01: So, God, my prayer is this: it's a simple prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Be our peace, be our peace in our comings and our goings, be our peace in the disaster of our days and the joy of our days.
SPEAKER_01: Have your way with our lives this Christmas season.
SPEAKER_01: May we not judge the book by its cover, but may we truly receive Christ Jesus, born to die for our sins and the forgiveness of this world.
SPEAKER_01: May we receive that message this Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you.
SPEAKER_01: In that mighty name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.