unknown: Did you see the thing?
SPEAKER_01: Good morning.
SPEAKER_01: It's a great uh great passage to look at here this time of year.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know why we why we talk about it this time of year.
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_01: Um if you don't know me, my name's Ben, um, and I'm one of the leaders here at City Church.
SPEAKER_01: If you know me, you'll know I have four children.
SPEAKER_01: And so every time one of them turned up, one of them came along, um, we'd make some kind of formal announcement for them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we'd do something, we'd we'd we'd share a photo, we would uh give, you know, height and weight and the time and date of birth, and we would give their full legal official name.
SPEAKER_01: You know, even Zeke.
SPEAKER_01: Zeke joined our family when he was in primary school.
SPEAKER_01: We we even did something for him here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, there he was.
SPEAKER_01: See, this was at the family court when we adopted him.
SPEAKER_01: And um the the the text that we put out with that adoption was uh with that announcement was introducing Ezekiel Benjamin Lynn, seven years old, four feet two inches, fifty-three pounds, nine ounces, adopted forever, February 3rd, 2014.
SPEAKER_01: And that's sweet.
SPEAKER_01: There we go, there we go.
SPEAKER_01: Put that up there in the second service to embarrass the poor kid.
SPEAKER_01: But but but uh that's that's really what we're dealing with in some ways this morning.
SPEAKER_01: This passage is a bit of a birth announcement, but instead of, you know, height and weight, time, date of birth, we've got some other details.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll have to take a look at that, but first let's go to the Lord and ask his help as we look at this passage.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Lord God, thank you for your love.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that you're with us all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you that we can come to your word and see a passage that perhaps we've we've seen before, we've heard before.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps it's new to us.
SPEAKER_01: And Lord, we rely upon your spirit to make this clear to us, to help us to understand what you have for us this morning, that we might be changed, that we might be transformed by your word.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you for this in Jesus' name.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: So I've titled this talk, Jesus Has Come.
SPEAKER_01: What are you gonna do about it?
SPEAKER_01: So maybe it's a call, a birth announcement, and a and a call to action.
SPEAKER_01: But if you look at verses 8 to 14, this is kind of the Jesus has come bit.
SPEAKER_01: And 15 to 20 are the what are you gonna do about it bit.
SPEAKER_01: So let's start with Jesus Has Come.
SPEAKER_01: And I really see two main subpoints.
SPEAKER_01: So not trying to be too much like Mark here, but two points, two subpoints, all kinds of stuff here.
SPEAKER_01: We want to look at why he's come, and we want to look at how he has come.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll start off by looking at how he has come.
SPEAKER_01: If we take a look at verse 10, I'll read I'll read this for us.
SPEAKER_01: It says, And the angel came to them, said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, fear not.
SPEAKER_01: This is the third time in less than two chapters in this in this uh Gospel of Luke that we've seen an angel appear.
SPEAKER_01: And every time the angel starts off with, Don't be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: I think this would be a pretty overwhelming experience to see an angel appear before you.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not meant to terrify, it's not meant to overwhelm us.
SPEAKER_01: And I think we can see that in the reaction of the of the shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: They're not they're not running away, they're not fainting, they're not freezing up here.
SPEAKER_01: But the angel gives them good news.
SPEAKER_01: He says, This is good news of great joy, and it's for all the people.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we're all individuals, we all have different tastes and different things that are interesting to us.
SPEAKER_01: So the idea of good news that's for all the people, that's that's a pretty big deal.
SPEAKER_01: Give you an example.
SPEAKER_01: Good news for me this year, my favorite baseball team won the World Series.
SPEAKER_01: How many of you put up your hands if that's good news of great joy for you?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, not very many.
SPEAKER_01: I'll try a few more.
SPEAKER_01: Pennies, the store, they're doing all night shopping.
SPEAKER_01: Just so you can get just put your hand up if you think that's good news.
SPEAKER_01: All right, very good, very good.
SPEAKER_01: Um, the Fast and the Furious movie franchise has announced they're done.
SPEAKER_01: No more movies?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, all right.
SPEAKER_01: On the other hand, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has announced ten more movies in the next three years.
SPEAKER_01: So there's loads of things that we could look at.
SPEAKER_01: But good news is something that we can all differ on.
SPEAKER_01: You remember at the beginning of the lockdown how John Krasinski came out with the you know, some good news YouTube show?
SPEAKER_01: We all watched that.
SPEAKER_01: We're like, oh, that's sweet, that's really cool.
SPEAKER_01: And then he did seven more episodes that I don't think anybody else watched, but that's how it works.
SPEAKER_01: So, good news of great joy, this is this is something that's a big deal.
SPEAKER_01: It's it's an important thing.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 11 spells it out, and it says, For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Well, now we have something to dig into a little bit and see what this good news is all about.
SPEAKER_01: We can see how the angel describes Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He says, He's a savior who is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: There's three three terms in there that we want to look at, right?
SPEAKER_01: Savior.
SPEAKER_01: He says he's a savior.
SPEAKER_01: This is not really a term that we use outside of the church.
SPEAKER_01: You know, we think about a savior at something that's kind of a fairly Christianese word.
SPEAKER_01: Um, but a savior is just somebody who rescues, someone who saves, someone who protects, someone who makes makes whole.
SPEAKER_01: Um Gandalf in the second movie, yeah, when he came and and they were all under siege and he he brought the army, and yeah, he was the savior there.
SPEAKER_01: That was that was a pretty cool thing.
SPEAKER_01: I think I remember that.
SPEAKER_01: But um that's that's what a savior is.
SPEAKER_01: The next term that he gives is Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And again, this is a word that we only really use with Jesus, or if we've stubbed our toe or something like that.
SPEAKER_01: But what does Christ mean?
SPEAKER_01: What does it mean?
SPEAKER_01: It's not it's not a word that we use, it means anointed one.
SPEAKER_01: All right, so it's it's it's the same as the Hebrew word for Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in the Old Testament, uh, we can see this, because this is how the shepherds would have understood it.
SPEAKER_01: In the Old Testament, we can see that anointing was a sign that uh that God was going to use someone for a special purpose, that prophets, priests, kings, they were all anointed.
SPEAKER_01: A great example of this is in 1 Samuel chapter 16, if you want to look back into the Old Testament there, where King David was anointed.
SPEAKER_01: He was proclaimed to be God's king over God's people.
SPEAKER_01: So that's what Christ means.
SPEAKER_01: And finally, we have the Lord, a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And this one here is probably the easiest one for us to figure out, because he's talking about the Lord Almighty, the Lord God.
SPEAKER_01: So, what we have, if we're to sum up what the angels are pointing to, it says that this is a rescuer who's designated by God for special work in the kingdom, who is also God Himself.
SPEAKER_01: This is something that can only really point to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And so this gives us an idea of our first sub-point here.
SPEAKER_01: Why has he come?
SPEAKER_01: He's come to save, he's come to rescue, and he's come to do God's work of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: So if we look at in verses 13 and 14, the angel says this is good news of great joy.
SPEAKER_01: And we see the proper response.
SPEAKER_01: The angel, this one angel, is joined by a whole group of other angels, and they start into a chorus of glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.
SPEAKER_01: So the heavenly choir here, the appearance of these guys up in there, really gives us an idea that this is a big event in the history of the universe.
SPEAKER_01: This is where the kingdom of God breaks into our world.
SPEAKER_01: This is where the descendant of Eve, who will crush the head of the serpent and break the curse of Genesis 3, way back at the beginning of the Bible, the promised one.
SPEAKER_01: This is where he's born.
SPEAKER_01: This is where the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 makes his appearance.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, it's in Isaiah chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: This is 700 years before this moment that this was written.
SPEAKER_01: Isaiah chapter 9, we read about a child who would be born and who would be the prince of peace.
SPEAKER_01: The angels are proclaiming peace on earth.
SPEAKER_01: This is peace that has been fractured, that has been damaged ever since the fall of man, ever since the first couple chose to sin in the Garden of Eden.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the beginning of God's plan to repair that, to restore that, to redeem, and to reconcile.
SPEAKER_01: Everything before this moment in Scripture is looking ahead to this moment.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Peter writes about the age before Jesus where prophets and angels alike longed to see when the Savior would appear.
SPEAKER_01: Now he's appeared.
SPEAKER_01: And so the angels are gonna sing.
SPEAKER_01: So keep the angels in mind as we move over to our second point here.
SPEAKER_01: We've seen why Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: But let's look now at how he's come.
SPEAKER_01: Luke calls the angels a heavenly host.
SPEAKER_01: Now, heavenly host, this is a military term.
SPEAKER_01: Nowadays we might say like a squadron or a regiment, you know, or division of angels.
SPEAKER_01: It's a military term, but they're coming proclaiming peace.
SPEAKER_01: So a group of soldiers singing about peace, well, that's almost as unexpected as the God of all creation coming as a baby and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_01: How has Jesus come?
SPEAKER_01: He's come in ways that defy our understanding.
SPEAKER_01: The angels are declaring the biggest news since creation, and who are they telling?
SPEAKER_01: They're not up in Jerusalem telling King Herod.
SPEAKER_01: They're not at the temple talking to high priests and worshipers there, not talking to the rich and the powerful in the upper crust of you know Bethlehem Jerusalem society.
SPEAKER_01: They're out in the field.
SPEAKER_01: They're talking to shepherds, right?
SPEAKER_01: I've nothing against shepherds, nothing, nothing to say bad about them, but the news could have gone to any number of people who were higher up on the food chain, better financed, more powerful, more important.
SPEAKER_01: But this is, we've talked about this before, this is the upside-down kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Mary sang about this in chapter one, in the in the sermon that Mark preached two weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: It says, He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
SPEAKER_01: Now, why is that?
SPEAKER_01: Why is that?
SPEAKER_01: We we we like to look at that and say, well, that's because the hungry and the poor, maybe they're maybe they're more virtuous.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think that's it.
SPEAKER_01: I think it's because we're all poor.
SPEAKER_01: We're all hungry, right?
SPEAKER_01: It's when we let our own goodness and our good wealth, you know, distract us from the fact that we're poor and hungry.
SPEAKER_01: The sooner that we recognize that we're poor and hungry, the sooner we see our need of the Savior.
SPEAKER_01: So the angels have appeared to the shepherds, told them that a Savior who is Christ the Lord is a newborn lying in a feeding trough.
SPEAKER_01: It's not exactly the way we would expect him to come.
SPEAKER_01: So, what does this show us?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it shows us that God's ways are not our ways.
SPEAKER_01: He operates on a completely different program than we do.
SPEAKER_01: But more than that, we see that God's power is not rooted in the power of this world.
SPEAKER_01: This world is broken, this world is tainted by sin.
SPEAKER_01: And so God's power in a lot of ways stands in opposition to the power of this world.
SPEAKER_01: So it should be no surprise that this great moment of redemptive history is played out in ways that seem weak and foolish to the world systems there.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, the Apostle Paul, wrote to the to the Corinthian church that the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
SPEAKER_01: This Christian economy is so different.
SPEAKER_01: It's where it's where God's strength is made perfect in weakness.
SPEAKER_01: It's where we're healed through Christ's wounds, it's where we're blessed in our suffering.
SPEAKER_01: So, our first point here, Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: I hope we're getting a taste of how big of a deal this is.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, his his advent inaugurated the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: And just to give us a just to give us a picture of this, one month from today there's a different inauguration going on.
SPEAKER_01: In my home country, the U.S., we've got uh got our presidential inauguration.
SPEAKER_01: Now, shift shift your attention just for a minute from Bethlehem's Fields over to uh Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_01: for me.
SPEAKER_01: Just picture this in your mind with me.
SPEAKER_01: So be a hundred thousand people packing them all.
SPEAKER_01: There'll be news crews, there'll be cameras, they'll be, you know, the marine band and all of these exalted old buildings and monuments, historical places and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01: And it will all be focused, all the attention will be focused on the one podium where the president to be will stand up and he will give a speech and he will address and all of these things.
SPEAKER_01: The world watches eagerly.
SPEAKER_01: But imagine, imagine if he didn't turn up.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine if the person who's been elected president, imagine if he just wasn't there, and you've got all of these people, all of these plans and parades and pomp and circumstance ready for him, and he's not there.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, you find out later, maybe, maybe he went off to some homeless shelter or a soup kitchen and took the oath of office privately.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not talking about like for for camera crews and making himself look good, not with a bunch of hype, but just kind of quietly did it in an inconspicuous place with regular people.
SPEAKER_01: What would that tell you?
SPEAKER_01: What would that communicate without saying anything about what that presidency would be about?
SPEAKER_01: So shift us back into uh back into our passage here.
SPEAKER_01: Think about our shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: How do you think they would have understood this idea of good news, of great joy that will be for all the people?
SPEAKER_01: Friends, Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: He's come to carry out God's plan of rescue, and he's come in a way that sets aside the power structures of this world.
SPEAKER_01: Much later in his life, Jesus would say, My kingdom is not of this world.
SPEAKER_01: And can you see how this has been true from the very first day?
SPEAKER_01: Going on with our passage, we come to our second point.
SPEAKER_01: Second point is, what are you gonna do about it?
SPEAKER_01: So we started with the shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: So let's see how they answer this question.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 15, it says, The angels went away from them into heaven.
SPEAKER_01: The shepherds said to one another, let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 16 says, They went with haste.
SPEAKER_01: Now the angel didn't tell them to rush over.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't say, you know, this is a limited time offer.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't say, you know, they're only going to be there for a few minutes.
SPEAKER_01: Women who've just delivered their babies usually don't just pick up and move along to the next town.
SPEAKER_01: But the news they had received was so compelling, was so exciting, they just couldn't wait to go and see for themselves.
SPEAKER_01: So it says that they that they hustled on over there.
SPEAKER_01: We get the sense that they left right away.
SPEAKER_01: They left their sheep up on the hillside there.
SPEAKER_01: And we might be tempted to think, oh, it's because of the spectacle, right?
SPEAKER_01: They saw these angels and it was a very big, bright, flashy show, and so they were just running on adrenaline.
SPEAKER_01: But look at the way that they talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: It says, let's go see what the Lord has made known to us.
SPEAKER_01: See, they understood that it wasn't about the angels.
SPEAKER_01: The angels, the angels were just God's messenger.
SPEAKER_01: Angel means messenger, but they understood that this was a revelation from God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why it was important.
SPEAKER_01: Their focus was on God, and it was God who sent the angels to share this good news.
SPEAKER_01: So the fact that they left right away, the fact that they that they hurried down to Bethlehem, the fact that they turned up and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, that they were telling everybody what they were told, these are actions that are based in faith.
SPEAKER_01: They believed the God of the Bible, they had confidence that he would follow through on his promise to redeem.
SPEAKER_01: They had hope and expectancy in all of this.
SPEAKER_01: So, really, that's what faith is.
SPEAKER_01: That's what faith does.
SPEAKER_01: It leads them to action.
SPEAKER_01: This is faith lived out in the real world.
SPEAKER_01: If the shepherds had seen the angel and said, Yeah, that's cool.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we'll maybe we'll uh ask around about that tomorrow or the next day.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we'll maybe we'll look into it then.
SPEAKER_01: What would that have said about the faith that the uh shepherds had at that time?
SPEAKER_01: But they didn't, they hurried down.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 18 says, and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
SPEAKER_01: Now we don't know how many people the shepherds told.
SPEAKER_01: Uh the angel said, Born this day.
SPEAKER_01: The angel said, a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
SPEAKER_01: So Bethlehem probably wasn't a huge town, you know, a thousand people or less.
SPEAKER_01: But the shepherds probably had to go around and ask around, knock on some doors, try and figure out, you know, does anybody know what this means?
SPEAKER_01: Does anybody know where we can find this child?
SPEAKER_01: So they probably knocked on a few doors, and then when they finally did turn up at this inn, probably would have been fairly disruptive, right?
SPEAKER_01: A bunch of shepherds coming in and they're talking about an angel and lights and this and that.
SPEAKER_01: So the all who heard from that verse could have included townspeople, could have included kind of the staff at the inn, the family that ran the inn, could have included the other guests at the inn.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, the angels said the good news was for all people.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they wanted to start getting the word out as they went.
SPEAKER_01: But how did these others respond?
SPEAKER_01: That's what I want us to look at here.
SPEAKER_01: The ESV, the Bible translation that we're looking at here, says that they wondered.
SPEAKER_01: Other Bible translations say they were amazed or astounded or surprised.
SPEAKER_01: Funny thing about those words is they don't tell us, is this a good surprise or a bad surprise?
SPEAKER_01: Is this a joyful wonder or an I wonder if this even matters?
SPEAKER_01: We don't know if this is an I'm amazed at what God is doing, or I'm amazed that you woke me up with this.
SPEAKER_01: It seems like Luke maybe leaves it vague intentionally.
SPEAKER_01: But in verse 19, we get a little contrast here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, but Mary treasured up these things, treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
SPEAKER_01: It starts with but.
SPEAKER_01: And that tells us that that's a different kind of response than the other people maybe had.
SPEAKER_01: So remember, Mary, Mary here is the insider.
SPEAKER_01: She's known that this Jesus was coming, she's known that this was God's plan of redemption.
SPEAKER_01: She's known for, you know, at least the last nine months.
SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's not new to her.
SPEAKER_01: She's she's had time to grasp kind of the significance of the moment.
SPEAKER_01: And her attitude is more reflective.
SPEAKER_01: I I don't think it's that the moment is leaving her cold, I don't think that she's, you know, kind of immune to it.
SPEAKER_01: It says that she treasured up these things.
SPEAKER_01: And we know that what uh what her response was in the beginning when this was first shared with her back in chapter one, was her response was worshipful.
SPEAKER_01: It was humble.
SPEAKER_01: So there's a thread of Jesus has come that's all through the second section, even though this is our you know, what are you gonna do about it section?
SPEAKER_01: It's what are you gonna do about the idea that Jesus has come?
SPEAKER_01: Verse 15 is Jesus has come, let's go see.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 17, we're here because we heard Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 18, everyone wondered at the news that Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 19, Mary treasured the news that Jesus had come.
SPEAKER_01: And finally, verse 20 says, And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen, all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, they heard, they saw, they heard that Jesus had come, they saw it, and they went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God.
SPEAKER_01: God's revelation to them that Jesus has come had been heard, had been acted upon, and it had been confirmed.
SPEAKER_01: And the result with the shepherds is right where the angels started with glory to God in the highest.
SPEAKER_01: So again, our second point is what are you gonna do about it?
SPEAKER_01: We can see a variety of responses in the text.
SPEAKER_01: We see wonder and surprise, we see excitement and worship, we see quiet reflection.
unknown: And now
SPEAKER_01: Think we really have the opportunity to look at these responses for ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: What am I gonna do about it?
SPEAKER_01: Well, maybe you're listening this morning and you're like the shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this is just such an exciting thing that stirs you up, it energizes you, it stirs up your faith and it drives you to action.
SPEAKER_01: This is good news of great joy for all people.
SPEAKER_01: And you're in.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're more like Mary.
SPEAKER_01: The news that Jesus has come draws you to quiet reflection and thankfulness.
SPEAKER_01: It's a familiar story, but the familiarity hasn't taken away its impact.
SPEAKER_01: And let me say both the response of Mary and the response of the shepherds, I think these are good biblical responses.
SPEAKER_01: They both result in worship, they both drive us to action, and they're both kind of normal expressions of the Christian life.
SPEAKER_01: The same gospel that stirs us up sometimes in joyful praise will also sometimes lead us into somber contemplation and reflection.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're listening and you're more like the onlookers.
SPEAKER_01: You're surprised, you're in wonder, maybe, maybe a little bit uncertain.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've never heard this story before.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've heard it and you're understanding it in a new way.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you today, I'm glad you're listening.
SPEAKER_01: And can we invite you to find out more?
SPEAKER_01: Can we invite you to follow up on this Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: The idea that Jesus has come is intriguing.
SPEAKER_01: And so there are people here who would love to answer questions, who would love to talk through the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I'd be glad to do that after the service.
SPEAKER_01: Even in January, in the new year, we're going to be offering a four-week course that just looks at the basic claims of Christianity.
SPEAKER_01: If you're intrigued, if you're in wonder, if you're just unsure what this is all about, that might be a good place to get some questions answered.
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, in the meantime, we would love to talk with you.
SPEAKER_01: And the passage doesn't mention it.
SPEAKER_01: But it stands to reason there was a fourth response in Bethlehem that night.
SPEAKER_01: Those who did nothing.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you're listening today.
SPEAKER_01: And that's you.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe you don't see what all the fuss is about.
SPEAKER_00: And if that's you, again, thanks for listening.
SPEAKER_01: But like the group I just addressed, I would encourage you to lean in, to get your questions answered.
SPEAKER_01: Because the truth of this passage is that Jesus has indeed come.
SPEAKER_01: And it's good news for all people.
SPEAKER_01: Not just for people who are good enough, not just for people who are religious enough, not just for people who are of the right background.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in his first letter to him, he says that God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
SPEAKER_01: And he also writes that this is only possible through the one mediator who is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: All people to be saved.
SPEAKER_01: This is good news for all people.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: What are you going to do about it?
SPEAKER_01: Finally, City Church, us as a gathered group of believers here, let's be like the shepherds.
SPEAKER_01: Let's be encouraged to let the good news, the gospel, drive us into action.
SPEAKER_01: Let's watch with expectancy to see God at work.
SPEAKER_01: Let's hurry to be part of this story and let's live our lives to glorify and praise God wherever we go.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord God, we thank you for this passage and just all the different responses that are recorded in Luke's gospel there, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: We thank you that that we can see different ways that we might respond to this, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: I pray that our response in all of it would be worshipful, that it would be to come to you.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus has come.
SPEAKER_01: So let us respond in faith.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray that if there are those who are listening to whom this is new information, that you would uh encourage them and that they would be uh able to come forward and and speak to people and get their questions answered.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, thank you as we as we as we turn now and sing uh songs that uh celebrate the birth of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, let us uh let us sing them in light of this wonderful news that we've just heard.
SPEAKER_01: It's in his name we pray.
unknown: Amen.