WEBVTT 00:00:07.679 --> 00:00:11.679 You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:00:12.480 --> 00:00:15.519 Men and women, God came. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:23.760 And he brought a breakthrough into our society and into our culture and into our world that has changed a lot. 00:00:24.800 --> 00:00:27.519 There's never been a breakthrough like this. 00:00:28.399 --> 00:00:32.560 And wherever you are in your journey, it might be financially stressful. 00:00:32.799 --> 00:00:35.679 It might be tremendous problems within your job. 00:00:35.840 --> 00:00:37.920 There could be issues in your marriage. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:43.520 Jesus would say to us today, look at my story. 00:00:44.159 --> 00:00:47.600 I bring miracles where you need miracles. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:53.679 At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ. 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:58.159 For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:01:03.439 We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:19.040 We are celebrating the birth of Christ, and probably one of the biggest struggles in our celebration of the birth of Christ is that we've got such a sanitized view of the whole thing. 00:01:19.280 --> 00:01:21.519 And uh, you know, kind of the manger scene. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:22.719 We have a manger scene in our house. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:24.239 Remember the simpage dolls? 00:01:24.319 --> 00:01:35.280 So we have this simpage manger scene, and so Joseph's like, and you know, and Mary's like, and it's just everybody's just like so cleaned up, right? 00:01:35.519 --> 00:01:39.840 And we got a guy down the road, this guy's got like a hundred manger scenes. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:42.560 I mean, this guy's got a million manger scenes in his yard. 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:43.120 They're everywhere. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:45.200 There's little manger scenes this high, you know. 00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:53.200 There's a pink, there's a pink Joseph, and there's a red Jesus, and there's a yellow Mary. 00:01:53.760 --> 00:01:57.519 And uh, and there's a light coming out from them and all that. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:09.919 And so let's look at the the whole manger scene, the whole first Christmas, maybe more from the perspective of how Mary would have remembered it. 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:16.000 And it's not quite as sanitized, it's actually a little more earthy and a little more gritty. 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:19.280 So if you have your Bible, look at Luke chapter 2. 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:20.879 We just read it. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.120 If you don't have your Bible, I'm gonna read it to you. 00:02:23.199 --> 00:02:24.960 We're gonna go verse by verse. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:40.960 But the story begins with a guy that none of you would know anything about unless you were a history major in college, except that he came to rulership in the time of Christ. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:49.360 Verse 1, and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, the second Caesar. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:50.800 So there was Julius Caesar. 00:02:50.960 --> 00:02:55.759 Julius Caesar was murdered in 44 B.C. 00:02:56.240 --> 00:02:58.080 Many of you know the story. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:12.800 And he had three men that he gave power to within the Roman Empire, and over the next few years there was a battle between these three men about who would take charge. 00:03:14.319 --> 00:03:19.520 His real name was not Caesar Augustus, that was his title. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:22.240 His real name was Gaius Octavaus. 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:29.840 And Gaius came into power because he was able to wrest control from a guy you may have heard of named Mark Anthony. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:43.280 Mark Anthony had an affair with Cleopatra, so he was able to recruit the troops from Egypt, and there was a great battle, actually a sea battle and a land battle, and Gaius Octavius took over. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:51.599 And in 27 B.C., the Senate in Rome gave him control of what he called the Principate, which was the idea of one emperor. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:56.319 So he became the principal emperor, and that ruled Rome for the next 300 years. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:58.719 That's pretty good information, right? 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:00.560 But you'd never have heard of the guy. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:06.800 I mean, if you'd have read this in any other condom, it was Julius, I mean, you just say, like Caesar's pizza. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.199 I mean, it means nothing. 00:04:09.919 --> 00:04:16.240 Because he's only a footnote in history, gang, if it hadn't been for Christ. 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:20.560 So we've had President Bush. 00:04:21.519 --> 00:04:26.879 And we've had President Obama, and now we have President Trump. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:33.199 Ladies and gentlemen, they are a footnote in history. 00:04:34.079 --> 00:04:40.639 They're a pawn in the system of something greater that God's doing called the kingdom of God. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:43.279 That's the great drama of the ages. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:54.480 Do you realize that what's happening in this room is more important in God's heart than anything happening in Washington, D.C., because he cares about you. 00:04:55.199 --> 00:05:01.040 So Luke, the great historian who wrote the book of Luke, gives us a footnote. 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:07.600 He says, A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:10.720 Or some of your Bibles say, taxed. 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:15.120 This census took place while Corinius was governing Syria. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:27.759 So in 27 BC, the Senate gave all power to Octavius, who became Augustus Caesar, the second Caesar. 00:05:28.639 --> 00:05:35.600 And then for the first time in his reign that year, he decided to tax Palestine. 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:42.319 So, verse 3, all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:46.240 So Joseph, men and women, was from the city of David. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:49.040 His background was David. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:53.519 That was his lineage for hundreds of years before that. 00:05:54.560 --> 00:06:08.399 Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David. 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:11.360 So some of you have been to Israel. 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:24.240 I've been to Israel a couple times, and you know that the distance from Galilee, or we'll just say Nazareth to Jerusalem, and then Bethlehem, is about 70 miles as the crow flies. 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:27.040 And the way it worked back then is there was a roadway. 00:06:27.199 --> 00:06:31.920 There was a roadway that went down along the Jordan River that connected the two. 00:06:32.240 --> 00:06:35.040 And in that 70 miles, there was no police. 00:06:35.199 --> 00:06:39.199 This is Roman-controlled territory. 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:48.879 And the Romans didn't really care about the people, they cared about safety and peace as it related to them and them only. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:52.000 So if it didn't affect them, they weren't policing it. 00:06:52.480 --> 00:07:01.839 So here's Mary, probably in her third trimester, not riding on a donkey, by the way. 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:04.720 Anybody here rode on a donkey before? 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:06.240 Yeah. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:10.319 So I think there was one hand that went up in the last service. 00:07:10.480 --> 00:07:12.319 People don't ride donkeys. 00:07:12.959 --> 00:07:14.160 Not a good idea. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:16.000 How many of you have ridden horses? 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:17.279 All right, lots of us. 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:17.759 Okay. 00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:23.360 So a woman in her third trimester is not going to be riding a donkey. 00:07:23.439 --> 00:07:26.079 She wouldn't even ride the donkey if she wasn't in her third trimester. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:32.800 And you can make more ground, you can actually go faster walking than you can walk or riding on a donkey. 00:07:32.959 --> 00:07:39.839 So probably going it at two and a half miles an hour, probably a little bit less because she's pregnant and needs rest. 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:42.000 Seven to ten days. 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:46.639 Seven to ten days moving through some arduous territory. 00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:55.439 These are complex times under Augustus Caesar and under Quinius the governor, under Herod. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:00.160 Because half of Rome was slaves. 00:08:00.560 --> 00:08:02.240 So slavery ruled. 00:08:02.319 --> 00:08:03.360 People didn't care. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:05.040 It was ruthless. 00:08:05.439 --> 00:08:12.319 And Joseph is leaving his hometown, which is Nazareth, and he's a carpenter. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:15.040 So he's leaving his livelihood. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:17.759 He's leaving everybody that he knows. 00:08:18.160 --> 00:08:20.480 So he's financially strained. 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:23.920 This has all happened pretty quickly, as far as we know. 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:26.240 Seven to ten day journey. 00:08:26.959 --> 00:08:28.800 Arduous and difficult. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:40.720 He goes to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, so she's pregnant with child. 00:08:41.279 --> 00:08:46.639 But they're not officially married while she's pregnant. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:49.440 So it was a lot of shame. 00:08:50.879 --> 00:09:01.840 My grandmother was divorced in 1937 in a small town called Whitsit, North Carolina. 00:09:02.080 --> 00:09:03.519 She's dead now. 00:09:04.080 --> 00:09:15.919 But to hear her tell the story of what it was like to be a divorced woman in the 1930s in the South, a lot of shame, she said the question was, why couldn't you keep your man? 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:21.440 And she came from a very well-known family in North Carolina. 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:26.720 And she carried that with her her whole life. 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:34.399 So Mary, at a time, I mean, you think seriously, Mary, you're pregnant. 00:09:34.799 --> 00:09:46.000 Well, see, this angel came, Gabriel, and he said, the Holy Spirit's gonna come upon me, and I'm gonna become pregnant with the Messiah. 00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:50.399 Umbody believes that. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:52.879 Even Joseph didn't believe that. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:10:00.159 It had to be a dream that came from God to keep Joseph from divorcing or breaking off the relationship with Mary. 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:01.840 So shame. 00:10:02.960 --> 00:10:05.600 She carries shame with her. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.320 They go to a place they don't know. 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:11.440 Financially, they've got to be totally stressed out. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:18.159 Only a little bit of money that Joseph could could put together was gonna keep them intact. 00:10:18.240 --> 00:10:23.200 They had he had no way, probably didn't have the ability to take his tools with him. 00:10:24.240 --> 00:10:26.320 So no financial means. 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:32.559 So while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. 00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:46.320 And she brought forth her firstborn son, she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the kataluma or in the inn. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.120 This is not the holiday inn. 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:59.279 A kataluma at that time was a place where caravans came and someone had created rooms through stone walls in the back of their house. 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:11.759 So what you had, if you had enough land, and a lot of people did have a little bit of land, is where they kept the animals, they had taken stones and created these small stone walls about Yee High, and that was a room. 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:15.279 No roof, that was your room, and you paid for that. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:18.159 Kind of in the stalls near the animals. 00:11:18.480 --> 00:11:19.440 No room. 00:11:20.960 --> 00:11:33.600 So not even any room in the Cotaluma because Bethlehem, historians say, had grown from about 600 to maybe 20,000 because of the taxation and registration that was happening. 00:11:35.039 --> 00:11:45.679 So even though Joseph was from Bethlehem, it appears either he didn't have family there that he was close to, or there was no room, or they didn't expect him to come. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:49.840 Bottom line is no place to stay. 00:11:50.559 --> 00:12:02.879 Financially stressed, relationally disconnected, in a ruthless society where half of the culture and half of society are slaves. 00:12:04.159 --> 00:12:10.720 Under Augustus Caesar, a ruthless dictator, and now homeless. 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:12.559 Homeless. 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:14.320 Homeless. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:16.000 Jesus homeless. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:17.200 Mary homeless. 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:18.799 Joseph, homeless. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:23.360 Some of you have probably been homeless before. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.799 Most of us haven't, but some of us have. 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:33.919 And that is a scary feeling to have no place to go. 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:45.679 And I think when Mary and Joseph looked back in the years as their son was growing up, this was no manger scene. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:54.159 There was probably something in their gut, as she pondered these things in her heart, like, what was this all about? 00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:08.240 Men and women, God came and he brought a breakthrough into our society and into our culture and into our world that has changed the world. 00:13:09.039 --> 00:13:11.840 There's never been a breakthrough like this. 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:22.399 And wherever you are in your journey, it might be financially stressful, it might be tremendous problems within your job, there could be issues in your marriage. 00:13:22.639 --> 00:13:25.120 Maybe some of you are carrying shame. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:31.519 Brene Brown, in her books, many books that she's written that are, you know, some of my favorites. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:34.720 If you come to the roads, you hear me talk about Brene Brown a lot. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:37.360 She says everybody carries shame. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:41.279 And the people who don't think they carry shame have got it the worst. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:48.879 Because we've all been hurt and we've all been betrayed and we've all been ripped off, some worse than others. 00:13:50.159 --> 00:14:08.960 But Mary carried that shame because God wants to say to you here today, if you're carrying shame, and you're on that journey of wondering where in the world is God in my life, Jesus would say to us today, look at my story. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.519 I bring miracles where you need miracles. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.399 Do you realize miracles don't happen if you don't need them? 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:19.679 Miracles happen when we need them. 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:26.159 And Christ can break through in any of our lives, in any of our situations. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:30.799 And our theme for this church in 2018 is breakthrough. 00:14:31.120 --> 00:14:33.600 God wants to bring breakthrough in our lives. 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:35.360 He wants to start today. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:37.519 A breakthrough. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:45.039 Now it's interesting that the word here for swaddling clothes in verse 7. 00:14:45.519 --> 00:14:54.159 Because I'm going to read the rest with the shepherds, and then I want to explain a speculative theory that I have. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:14:55.200 Verse 8. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:00.639 Now there were in the same country shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 00:15:00.799 --> 00:15:08.240 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone before them, and they were greatly afraid. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:16.799 Then the angel said to them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. 00:15:17.279 --> 00:15:22.480 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:24.159 And this will be the sign to you. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:26.240 And that's the key word, that's the operative word. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:28.879 This will be a sign to you. 00:15:29.919 --> 00:15:32.159 This will be a sign to you. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:39.279 You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:16:10.879 Now, if you read all of Luke 1 and into Luke 2, the way the story goes is that when Mary was encountered by Gabriel, and he told her that she was going to conceive and bear a child, she then went to Elizabeth, who was a relative of hers, who was probably around 70 years old, who had become pregnant because the angel of the Lord had come to a priest named Zachariah. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:17.840 So that means that Zechariah and Elizabeth lived near or in Jerusalem, where the temple was. 00:16:57.120 --> 00:16:59.919 When she meets Mary, the baby leaps in her room. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:00.879 Two things are happening. 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:10.799 Number one, it's a confirmation to Elizabeth that the Messiah is going to be born through Mary, and it's a confirmation to Mary that she really did see the angel. 00:17:11.599 --> 00:17:13.519 But you know what happened next? 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:16.319 Now we're moving into speculation. 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:19.759 Zachariah's a priest. 00:17:20.559 --> 00:17:31.119 And the custom of the temple was that the high priest as well as the other priests would take their robes and they would shred those robes for the Passover. 00:17:32.079 --> 00:17:35.599 They were given to the unblemished lamb. 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:39.440 So in Bethlehem is where the shepherds hung out. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:46.720 And the shepherds, their main job there in Bethlehem was to raise the sheep that would be sacrificed in the temple. 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:50.960 And they were always looking for the unblemished lamb, the perfect lamb. 00:17:51.200 --> 00:17:52.880 Anybody been around sheep? 00:17:53.839 --> 00:17:59.279 Sheep are nasty, they're dumb, and they can be mean. 00:17:59.440 --> 00:18:01.599 Not the little ones that you nurse and everything. 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:05.440 But like when they grow up and stuff. 00:18:05.759 --> 00:18:07.839 And so they're looking for an unblemished lamb. 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:08.720 That means it's perfect. 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:19.279 And when they found the unblemished lamb gang, they had to, they needed to sequester it away because sheep bite each other and kick each other, and it's not unblemished anymore. 00:18:19.359 --> 00:18:20.640 So you know what the custom was? 00:18:20.799 --> 00:18:26.000 They take the unblemished lamb and they'd wrap it in the priestly garments. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:34.079 They'd wrap the unblemished lamb in priestly garments and lay it in a two by two foot manger. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:37.359 That was the unblemished lamb. 00:18:38.640 --> 00:18:43.599 So you know what Zechariah did to Elizabeth and to Mary? 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:48.799 That's the promised one. 00:18:48.960 --> 00:18:57.359 That's the unblemished lamb that we've prophetically been worshiping and celebrating now for hundreds of years, has come. 00:18:57.599 --> 00:18:59.119 That's the prophecy. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:01.839 Here's the garments. 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:10.960 And so Zachariah, possibly, again, it's speculation, gave the garments to Elizabeth to give to Mary. 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:20.240 Mary brings the garments with her, and she wraps the babe in swaddling clothes, priestly garments. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:23.680 And so it says here, that shall be assigned to you. 00:19:23.839 --> 00:19:33.680 Those shepherds in Bethlehem see this, see this host of angels saying, Look, this is how you know the Messiah has come. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:41.279 You will find a babe, an unblemished lamb, in a manger, wrapped in priestly garments. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:44.960 Because he's the king of kings and the Lord of Lords. 00:19:45.680 --> 00:19:50.079 These shepherds in verse 10 were afraid. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:54.880 And then God said, I bring you great joy. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:58.079 Men and women, you need great joy this year, don't you? 00:19:58.240 --> 00:20:00.559 Everybody go like this if you need a little more joy. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:01.519 Great joy. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:02.960 We need joy. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:05.920 That's the breakthrough, is joy. 00:20:06.240 --> 00:20:12.799 So, church, I want to just remind us this year is a year of breakthrough. 00:20:14.480 --> 00:20:18.880 You've been listening to The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:22.000 We hope you have been blessed by today's message. 00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:26.000 To connect with us further, visit theroad.org. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.079 If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you. 00:20:30.319 --> 00:20:37.279 Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request. 00:20:37.599 --> 00:20:45.440 Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.