Speaker 1: Well, good morning once again.
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas everybody.
Speaker 1: I'm holding out.
Speaker 1: I think today is probably pretty much the last day you can get away with a Merry Christmas, so I'm doing it as much as I can, man, and then it's happy new year's.
Speaker 1: I went and grabbed a coffee at Caraboo early this morning and I found two.
Speaker 1: It must have been high school or college girls there with the coffee and it was probably 7 am when I got there pretty early, you know, and I go in and I expect to kind of see like, oh man, we got to work on New Year's Eve and they were like super bubbly and they were doing their chalkboard and I went and checked out with my coffee and she asked me she's like so what's your New Year's resolution?
Speaker 1: And I really don't do a lot of that, and so I was kind of caught off guard and what I said was to be better.
Speaker 1: That's what I said, that's my answer.
Speaker 1: And she's like, wow, that's really deep.
Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, I've been thinking about it a long time, you know.
Speaker 1: So, happy new year again.
Speaker 1: My name is Ben Krullers and the director of Student and Family Ministry.
Speaker 1: Great to be here with you worshiping on New Year's Eve and thanks for all of you online for tuning in this morning.
Speaker 1: There's a question.
Speaker 1: There's two questions I want to think about this morning, but the first is pictures kind of tell a thousand words.
Speaker 1: Right, that's why we take pictures.
Speaker 1: They tell a story, and I love Christmas and it's my favorite time of year.
Speaker 1: I go into a little minor depression following Christmas, and so after today you're going to catch me on the downhill slope, but I love it and there's.
Speaker 1: We have a lot of rituals and stuff in our family.
Speaker 1: I want to share one with you this morning.
Speaker 1: It's called New Hollen, newligen, what's it called?
Speaker 1: Hey, someone else.
Speaker 1: New Haven, newligen.
Speaker 1: Get a Volkswagen.
Speaker 1: That's what it's called.
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's all.
Speaker 1: All of my children from age five to fifteen can pronounce this correctly.
Speaker 1: But it's New Hall of the Newvigen.
Speaker 1: Nope, that's not it.
Speaker 1: But I want to show you just about a fifteen second clip of what it's like.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, there we go, there we go.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you guys got it.
Speaker 1: Alright, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: I got married eight years ago eight years ago, something like that, right eight years ago and prior to that I was.
Speaker 1: This was my first Christmas at my in-laws and my wife was like by the way we dance around the Christmas tree.
Speaker 1: I was like no, you don't, no one dance around the Christmas tree.
Speaker 1: And I got there and my father-in-law pulls out the tree and we form this circle and we sing Christmas carols and we sing the New Hall of the Newvigen song and we dance.
Speaker 1: And this year, for the first time, there were so many people there and our kids are all old enough that the kids got to form their own ring and dance around the tree.
Speaker 1: And if you were like me, like if you looked at this picture, this still shot of it, you'd have to ask what is going on here?
Speaker 1: What's the story?
Speaker 1: Pictures have that kind of power in our life, right?
Speaker 1: They invoke a story, they invoke feelings, and I got a few pictures that you might ask yourself what is going on here.
Speaker 1: So check this picture out.
Speaker 1: What exactly is going on in this picture?
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is marriage counseling for reptiles or what, but you ask yourself what is going on here?
Speaker 1: How about this one?
Speaker 1: What is going on in this picture?
Speaker 1: I love the kid trying to get away, but I love seeing his reaction even more.
Speaker 1: Right, what is going on in this picture?
Speaker 1: Now this next one it's going to throw you for a big loop.
Speaker 1: Alright, what is going on in this picture?
Speaker 1: What you have here is two grown, fully grown adults going to Disney World, leaving their four children at home.
Speaker 1: Okay, and that smile of pure innocence on that grown man can only be brought out in Disney World.
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: You look at this and you're like what is going on in this picture?
Speaker 1: These pictures tell a story.
Speaker 1: My question for you, the first question for you this morning, is what if you took a snapshot of your life right now, if you took a picture of everything that was going on, or maybe just one certain area, and if you were able to take a picture of that and then have the ability to step away and look at that picture, not being in the moment, not being in all the heat of what's going on, but able to step back and ask this question what could God be doing here?
Speaker 1: It's not what is God doing here, because we'll talk about that a little bit, but it's what could God be doing in that snapshot of your life?
Speaker 1: What could God be doing?
Speaker 1: And this is not an easy question to ask.
Speaker 1: That's why a lot of us don't ask it.
Speaker 1: And so this morning, what I want to do is I want to kind of talk about three reasons, about, maybe, why we don't ask the question and then, hopefully, in kind of talking about these reasons, understanding what's going on, maybe, starting off this new year, we can have the courage to ask what could God be doing in our life?
Speaker 1: That's what we want to do this morning.
Speaker 1: So, before we get to that, will you pray with me?
Speaker 1: Hell, we follow.
Speaker 1: Oh God, we give you thanks and praise for this day, a day before a new year comes, and, lord, for many in this room, lord, we may have our list of goals and new year's resolutions and things we want to see different, and that's awesome.
Speaker 1: And for all of us, man, we don't really kind of think about it.
Speaker 1: We just kind of go about another day, another year.
Speaker 1: So I pray that in the next few minutes, lord, as we talk about this question which could impact our new year in amazing, incredible ways, lord, I pray that you kind of clear out all the stuff that might be blocking this message to receiving in the hearts and minds of everyone.
Speaker 1: And, lord, let your spirit come into this place.
Speaker 1: So, in the name that we pray, amen.
Speaker 1: So, reasons why we don't ask this question what could God be doing here?
Speaker 1: I think the first one is is because we love clarity.
Speaker 1: We love very simple, clear objectives.
Speaker 1: You go this way, this is going to happen.
Speaker 1: We go this way, this is going to happen and we can see it very clearly.
Speaker 1: It eliminates fear, it eliminates worry, it eliminates anxiety, and so we want clarity.
Speaker 1: We see clarity.
Speaker 1: When my wife and I were first dating, we were dating for about a week and I remember I was over at her house and we were watching the Wild Avalanche playoff game and we were sitting on the couch and we had been dating for a week and she had turned to me and she said you know what do I tell people we are when people ask, like are you my boyfriend?
Speaker 1: What's going on here?
Speaker 1: And I had this moment of fear because I had been telling everyone for a past week that we have been dating right, like not, that I've called my mom, called my aunt, called my uncle.
Speaker 1: I don't like right, like I put a billboard on highway 10, she said, yes, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Like I was telling everybody.
Speaker 1: And here the girl I thought was dating for a while was like are we dating?
Speaker 1: Are we what Clarity is important.
Speaker 1: Now, here's the funny thing about the story.
Speaker 1: I asked my wife about it and I'm like you remember this?
Speaker 1: And she's like that's not how it happened, and I'm like, yes, it is.
Speaker 1: We see clarity, even though years later, clarity is something that we like.
Speaker 1: However, when we ask the question, what could God be doing here?
Speaker 1: We don't always, most of the time, get a clear cut answer, and that's what this passage today reminds us of, this passage that comes from up on the screen here Romans 11.
Speaker 1: This passage tells us a lot, but it also reminds us that God is big, god is huge.
Speaker 1: God is mysterious and His ways are mysterious and they're not always made clear to us.
Speaker 1: Oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge.
Speaker 1: How impossible is it for us to understand His decisions and His ways?
Speaker 1: Let's read that again oh, how great are God's riches and wisdom and knowledge.
Speaker 1: How impossible is it for us to understand His decisions and His ways?
Speaker 1: For who can know the Lord's thoughts, who knows enough to give Him advice, and who has given Him so much that he needs to pay it back?
Speaker 1: For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory.
Speaker 1: All glory to Him forever, amen.
Speaker 1: Throughout the Bible, you will find passages that continually remind us listen, god is huge, god is mysterious.
Speaker 1: That's part of the draw of God.
Speaker 1: Yet then, when we want clarity, we get frustrated when we ask the question what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: You see, that's why it's important that the question is what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: Not what is God doing, because we can look at a situation like, yep, this is what God's doing, well, maybe, but maybe he's doing this thing over here.
Speaker 1: Maybe we see something like God is doing this.
Speaker 1: Well, maybe that's where our heart wants to be, as opposed to the true question being what could God be doing here?
Speaker 1: What is this big, mysterious, powerful, loving God doing in my life?
Speaker 1: We seek clarity.
Speaker 1: Often, we use this image of we're on this journey, we're on this path and we want to be on the path that God has for us, right and we worry so much about.
Speaker 1: Is this the path?
Speaker 1: When we come to the fork in the road and we can go left and we can go right, and we have a decision to make and, in all honesty, we search our heart where does God want to lead us?
Speaker 1: And we make a decision and we focus so much on the path, and I think we need to flip the way that we look at it.
Speaker 1: I think it's more important that we put less pressure on the path and more importance on who you're walking the path with, because if we focus on the path and if we go down the road and we're like man, I made the wrong choice.
Speaker 1: We feel alone, we feel like we were, you know, less of a somebody or less loved.
Speaker 1: But if we walk this path with God, then, no matter which way we go, we are still with God and the clarity comes from Him.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of verses that I want to hit.
Speaker 1: I think I jumped ahead.
Speaker 1: Sorry, sorry, sarah, I'm all over the place.
Speaker 1: I'm all over the place.
Speaker 1: Look at this verse from Philippians 1-6.
Speaker 1: Philippians 1-6, see, even though clarity in God is hard to see, there is some things that are crystal clear.
Speaker 1: And it may not be, oh, do I take this job or do I take this job?
Speaker 1: Do I buy this car or buy that car?
Speaker 1: Do I do this or do this?
Speaker 1: But there are things that are made crystal clear in God, and Philippians 1-6 tells us something about it.
Speaker 1: It says, and I am certain that God, who began the good work within you will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Speaker 1: See, we may not be clear on some things, but the Bible is very clear on this is that God is always making us more like Jesus Always.
Speaker 1: See, there's no asterisk in that passage.
Speaker 1: That says he is making you more like Jesus if you choose the right path.
Speaker 1: He is making you more like Jesus if you do this.
Speaker 1: He says God is constantly at work in your life, making you more like Jesus.
Speaker 1: That's one clear thing that we see when it comes to God in our life.
Speaker 1: The second thing comes from Romans 8-28.
Speaker 1: Romans 8-28 says this.
Speaker 1: It says something, a lot of things here, romans 8-28.
Speaker 1: And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good, for the good.
Speaker 1: So the two things that we can have clarity about are the things that should really can bring us peace.
Speaker 1: Is that, no matter where we go in this life, the path that we choose, we walk it with God and the clarity that we have when we ask the question what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: We know that he is making us more like Christ.
Speaker 1: He knows, we know that he's making us more like Christ and he's working for whatever happens in your life for the good.
Speaker 1: Is that enough clarity for us?
Speaker 1: Can it be enough clarity?
Speaker 1: Can we focus less on the path that we're walking, but who we're walking the path with?
Speaker 1: But this is a major reason why we don't ask that question what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: Because we know that if we ask, we might not get the clear cut answer we want.
Speaker 1: So if we focus on who we walk the path with, maybe that'll make it a little bit easier to ask the question.
Speaker 1: The second reason that I think we don't ask this question is that it could bring about change.
Speaker 1: It could bring about change If you will open up your Bibles your Pew Bibles or your own, if you brought it to Matthew, chapter 19.
Speaker 1: And that's page 800 in your Pew Bible, page 800 in your Pew Bible, matthew 19,.
Speaker 1: Starting at verse 16.
Speaker 1: And this is a passage we're probably familiar with the rich young man, right?
Speaker 1: We've maybe heard this story before.
Speaker 1: If we haven't get ready, it's pretty great.
Speaker 1: But what I love about this story are there are certain characters, there are certain people in the Bible who gets a bad rap, right?
Speaker 1: Peter, I think, is one of them.
Speaker 1: Peter's always up and down, making the wrong choice the right choice.
Speaker 1: I think Peter gets a bad rap.
Speaker 1: I know Thomas does right.
Speaker 1: We know him as who, we know him as doubting Thomas.
Speaker 1: What man?
Speaker 1: Talk about all the good stuff he did and that's what he's labeled with right?
Speaker 1: He gets a bad rap.
Speaker 1: I think in this story we also see a character who gets a bad rap, right.
Speaker 1: So this is the rich, the young rich man.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna read a bit of this passage because I think it's pretty powerful.
Speaker 1: Remember, what we're looking at here is reasons why we don't ask the question what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: And this reason is because maybe God is asking us to bring about some change.
Speaker 1: So and I'm reading from an NLT, so what you have is probably different.
Speaker 1: Sorry about that, but it's the Bible, verse 16,.
Speaker 1: Someone came to Jesus with this question teacher, what good deed must I do to inherit eternal life?
Speaker 1: Why ask me about what is good?
Speaker 1: Jesus replied there is only one who is good.
Speaker 1: But to answer your question, if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.
Speaker 1: Which one the man asked?
Speaker 1: Then Jesus replied you must not murder, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not testify falsely.
Speaker 1: Honor your father and mother, love your neighbor as yourself.
Speaker 1: I will obey all these commandments.
Speaker 1: The young man replied.
Speaker 1: What else must I do?
Speaker 1: Jesus told him if you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven.
Speaker 1: Then come and follow me.
Speaker 1: But when the young man heard this, he went away, sad, for he had many possessions.
Speaker 1: So here is this young, rich man who feels like he's doing everything right in life.
Speaker 1: He feels like he's doing pretty good we talk about that path right Like he would look like man.
Speaker 1: I'm doing right, I'm making good choices, I'm feeling really good.
Speaker 1: And he's going to Jesus probably first.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, good job, good and faithful servant, right.
Speaker 1: And he's like what must I do?
Speaker 1: Well, you gotta keep these commandments.
Speaker 1: And Jesus here knows what's going on.
Speaker 1: We don't look to this passage of scripture to be like what are the most important commandments that we need to follow?
Speaker 1: Jesus is using this just to make a point here.
Speaker 1: He's saying, okay, these commandments.
Speaker 1: And the guy's like I've followed him, what else do I have to do?
Speaker 1: And then Jesus looks at the heart of this young man and he knows he's rich, he knows he's wealthy and he knows what has his heart.
Speaker 1: And he says get rid of all that stuff, get rid of all those possessions, and then come and follow me.
Speaker 1: And then the story goes that he just walks away sad, and we view this as like oh man, you had Jesus right in front of you.
Speaker 1: He told you how did you miss that man?
Speaker 1: I would put a wager on many, many of us in this room if we went and asked the same question and Jesus said you have to get rid of this, you have to give up this, you have to change this, the majority of us would have walked away.
Speaker 1: That's the pressure that comes with this question.
Speaker 1: What could God be doing?
Speaker 1: If we ask that?
Speaker 1: God will search our heart.
Speaker 1: God will search the deepest parts of our heart, where we try to keep everyone away from, where we try to keep ourselves away from, and he'll bring that bubbling to the surface and he'll say hey, maybe this is something, maybe this is something you want to peek at, maybe this is something you want to deal with.
Speaker 1: And then we have the decision all right, am I going to listen to that or am I going to keep shoving that back down and keep on living life.
Speaker 1: Because the thing about the story is this guy was having a good life, he was living a good life, he was doing the right things.
Speaker 1: Most of us in this room can relate to that.
Speaker 1: Right, like man, all right, we make mistakes from time to time, but life might be pretty good.
Speaker 1: And then we open up to this what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: We take a 10,000 foot view of our life and we look at it.
Speaker 1: We're like what is God doing?
Speaker 1: And we see that dark corner that we don't want to deal with Because 99% of everything else we see, 99% of that picture, looks great.
Speaker 1: It's that little, tiny corner and when we ask that what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: Question, that might be the corner that he brings up and we don't want to deal with that.
Speaker 1: And that's why this question is hard, because it takes risks.
Speaker 1: It takes courage to go away from the moment and look at the greater picture of our life and open it up.
Speaker 1: Say God, what could you be doing here?
Speaker 1: Maybe there's something in our life that we can change, Moving into the future.
Speaker 1: So I said there was three, so there's one is not a clear answer.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna get a clear answer sometimes on which way we should go, but it's more about who we go with on the journey.
Speaker 1: The second thing is it could bring about change, just like the young, rich man.
Speaker 1: And the third one I was reminded of by Pastor Sonia this week, and that's just hurt and pain, hurt and pain.
Speaker 1: I was talking to her a little bit about my message this week and kind of trying to struggle and finding a find in a direction to go, and I knew I wanted to talk about this question what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: Because it's a question that Sonia reminded me that in ministry we ask all the time.
Speaker 1: Right, we ask it weekly.
Speaker 1: We literally have weekly staff meetings where we gather like all right, what's going on, what is God doing?
Speaker 1: And we and we take a look at the ministry of this place and of what's happening and we ask that question.
Speaker 1: And she reminded me that we may ask it all the time at work, but it's a lot different when we're outside of that, when we're not looking at the ministry pieces of this place and of the ministry.
Speaker 1: And she reminded me that there are people sitting in the pews and in the life of this place.
Speaker 1: That is the last question they want to ask Because right now, men there are going through some incredible hurt and pain and they are dealing with anger towards God that this question is the last thing that they want to answer.
Speaker 1: It's the last thing they want to take to God, because they don't understand.
Speaker 1: People are dealing with loss in their life of loved ones.
Speaker 1: There's people in this church they're dealing with loss of young children, and why in the world would they want to go to God and say, god, what are you doing?
Speaker 1: Because what you're doing is destroying my life.
Speaker 1: So she laid that on me and then she asked what would you say to someone like that?
Speaker 1: And I was like I'm gonna change my sermon title, we're gonna figure something else out.
Speaker 1: But that was reminded of a time in my life and, trust me, it's nowhere near what some of you guys are going through, nowhere near.
Speaker 1: But there was a time in my life where I did feel very great anger towards God and I would not want to ask this question and it dealt with this here.
Speaker 1: This picture here, that's my son, arlo, when he was first born, probably about day three.
Speaker 1: I have four kids.
Speaker 1: My two olders are technically my step kids, man, but they're my kids, and so we have four, but this was my first child, this was my first born son and man, I and I love being a dad.
Speaker 1: Right, there's nothing more in life I love being a dad besides being a husband.
Speaker 1: Right, that's number one.
Speaker 1: Okay, being a dad is number two.
Speaker 1: But, like this, this changes your life, right, being a dad changes your life, and I remember I was, I had Arlo on my chest and you know that, that, that skin to skin contact and I'm not sure what that is, and you know that, that that skin to skin contact.
Speaker 1: And I'm laying in the room and on cloud nine, and I noticed that his body starts moving rhythmically.
Speaker 1: His arms and his legs just start moving, not like kind of sporadic, just Rhythmically.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh great, he's gonna be a drummer.
Speaker 1: I love it, this is perfect.
Speaker 1: Right, he's already drumming in, you know.
Speaker 1: And so I didn't think much of it.
Speaker 1: But the nurse came in and I did ask I'm new at this, right, first, dad, I don't know if this is normal babies jamming out, I don't know.
Speaker 1: And so, hey, nurse, lady, is this a?
Speaker 1: Is this normal?
Speaker 1: She looked at me and said no, I was like what does that mean?
Speaker 1: The next day I know the doctor came in now.
Speaker 1: This isn't normal.
Speaker 1: And the next thing I knew they had an ambulance there ready to take my newborn son to children's.
Speaker 1: They brought in this like this case that looked like you put a bomb in to deactivate it, right, and they put him in there and then we couldn't ride in the ambulance and the whole way I'm angry.
Speaker 1: Then we get there and then on I have to go in the room with him but they pull a curtain and we're lying on a couch and behind the curtain they're hooking Arlo up to all these things and I can hear him crying.
Speaker 1: I can't do anything.
Speaker 1: Absolutely brutal.
Speaker 1: And Days go by and they can't figure out what's going on and my anger is growing and growing and growing and I needed prayer, man.
Speaker 1: And so I call up my group of guy friends and I say guys, man, this is the situation.
Speaker 1: Arlo's struggling and I had to find some levity in it.
Speaker 1: So I sent him this.
Speaker 1: I can't remember, do I cut the red or the blue wire?
Speaker 1: What is going on, god?
Speaker 1: And I didn't want to ask the question Because I knew I probably wouldn't get a clear answer and I was also afraid what if the answer was the darkest possibility I can think of.
Speaker 1: Now, seven years later, arlo's up here taking pictures of the video of the band and interview guys.
Speaker 1: So sorry about that, but he's doing just fine.
Speaker 1: Praise God, right.
Speaker 1: But in the heat of that moment, what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: It's the last question that you want to ask.
Speaker 1: So what do we do about that?
Speaker 1: What do we do about when we're in the hurt and the pain?
Speaker 1: The question that Sonia asked what would you say?
Speaker 1: And this is my only answer I'd say ride that wave, be angry as long as you want to be, grieve as long as you want to grieve.
Speaker 1: If that's weeks, months, years, a lifetime, just ride that wave, because the truths don't change the truth that God is at work in your life and the truth that God works all things for good, even in the darkest parts of your life.
Speaker 1: They don't change with the situations of our life.
Speaker 1: Ride that wave and maybe, hopefully down the line, months, years, you're able to come back to this question what could God have been doing during that time?
Speaker 1: And allow God to work?
Speaker 1: But if that time never comes, it doesn't change who's on the journey with you and that's okay.
Speaker 1: These reasons stop us from asking a pretty important question in our life what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: Whether it's clarity is the issue, whether it's bringing about change or there's just too much hurt and pain.
Speaker 1: The last thing I'll say about hurt and pain is the passage in Scripture that you're all going to memorize Scripture today.
Speaker 1: So here we go Ready, it's John 1135.
Speaker 1: And it's a very simple or it's John 1135.
Speaker 1: I got that right.
Speaker 1: That's a good start.
Speaker 1: It's two words Ready, anyone know it?
Speaker 1: Jesus wept.
Speaker 1: I love this story.
Speaker 1: We often look at it and be like man.
Speaker 1: Jesus knows what it means to go through pain.
Speaker 1: In the story he loses his best friend Lazarus.
Speaker 1: His best friend is gone and Mary and all these people are crying for their loss and they're mourning their loss and it says Jesus wept.
Speaker 1: It's a beautiful story, but I think we get it wrong.
Speaker 1: I think we view it as Jesus is weeping for his best friend Lazarus, and I don't think that's the case, because the Scripture tells us that man, he was doing just fine and then he saw Mary weep.
Speaker 1: He saw all the people who mourned the loss of Lazarus weep and mourn and cry, and that is what brought about Jesus' tears, because Jesus knew he was going to raise Lazarus.
Speaker 1: He knew that he was just sleeping, right.
Speaker 1: He knew it was coming, but in the moment he wept with Mary.
Speaker 1: So as you grieve, as you mourn, know that Jesus weeps and mourns with you.
Speaker 1: That's the love that is in Christ Jesus.
Speaker 1: All right, so here we go.
Speaker 1: We've talked about three reasons not to ask the question, right?
Speaker 1: So then, why the heck would we?
Speaker 1: Why would we ask the question?
Speaker 1: If we're not going to get clarity, if it's going to bring up some shadow stuff, and if we're just in too much hurt and too much pain, why on earth would we ask the question?
Speaker 1: And I think the answer is this.
Speaker 1: I think because when we ask the question, as tough as it may be, it brings us closer to the heart of God, and in church we use that expression a lot the heart of God.
Speaker 1: And I thought about that.
Speaker 1: I'm like what does that mean?
Speaker 1: Right, like we can get up and spout these really cool church phrase like the heart of God.
Speaker 1: But what does that mean and what does it look like?
Speaker 1: And why is it so important that we go through the process of asking this question?
Speaker 1: To bring us closer to that, or to feel the heart of God.
Speaker 1: What is that?
Speaker 1: And it brought me back to Christmas every time.
Speaker 1: It brought me back to the manger every time, because in Christ Jesus we find peace, we find hope, we find joy and we find love.
Speaker 1: All of these things come back to the manger, come back to the Christmas story.
Speaker 1: If we want to ask what the heart of God is, it's here, in this moment, in the manger, and it's in Him that we find that peace where things look so confusing and we don't know and the road is so scattered and we have to make decisions here, and decisions here we find peace, knowing that wherever we go, we go with God.
Speaker 1: We find joy in life, in all the people and things around us.
Speaker 1: We find hope, man, when all the light is turned off and we grieve and we mourn and we have soul loss and our heart is breaking.
Speaker 1: We find hope here.
Speaker 1: This is the heart of God.
Speaker 1: This is why thousands and millions gather at Christmas time and this is the reason why we ask the tough questions what could God be doing here?
Speaker 1: This is why we ask so central this new year as we celebrate it.
Speaker 1: May we be people, a church, a community that somehow bring up the courage to ask the question what could God be doing?
Speaker 1: Amen.