Skip to content Don't Give Up Look Up Dec 3 · 28 min ...more
December 3, 2024 · 28 min · Rick Warren
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Pastor Rick Warren shares the hope and encouragement you need to hear everyday. Listen in as he shares biblical truths to help you live the purpose driven life
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0:03 Welcome, thanks for joining Pastor Rick Warren. To hear Pastor Rick's free daily Bible teaching program, download free sermon notes or sign up for his free daily devotional. Visit pastorrick0:16 dot com. Now, let's join pastor Rick.Looking Up: A Change in Perspective 0:19 You know, we've all heard the phrase, things are looking up. What in the world does that mean? Things are looking up. It means the situation is improving. It means the circumstances are getting better, it means my0:30 problems are decreasing, and my opportunities are increasing. This Christmas, I wanna suggest to you a simple truth for your new year. Things will start looking up0:42 when you start looking up. In other words, your circumstances will improve when you stop looking at them and start looking to God. Let me say it again. Things start looking up0:54 when I start looking up. You know, in the Bible, there's a phrase that's used over and over and over, and it is the phrase, lift up your eyes. Said many many times1:06 in scripture, it's just 1 way of saying, look up. Get your eyes off yourself and off your problems and off your circumstances and on to God. Refocus, look at him. Things will start1:18 looking up when I start looking up. You know, God said lift up your eyes to some pretty famous people. He said it to Abraham, He said it to Jacob, He said it to1:30 Moses, He said it to Isaiah. Jesus said it to his followers, Lift up your eyes, look up. You know, there's an old rhyme that says, 2 men looked out from prison1:42 bars, 1 saw mud, the other saw stars. In other words, 1 inmate looked down in despair, but the other 1 looked up in hope. I want you to look1:53 up with me right now to see what I can see out here. Just look at those stars. Isn't that amazing? God created every 1 of them, and those stars are the exact2:05 same stars that were shining on the night of Jesus' birth 2000 years ago. And when King David looked up at night, he wrote these words in Psalm 8, God,2:17 when I look up at night sky, and I see your handiwork, the moon and the stars, and all that you've set in place, I ask, what are we mortals that you should bother with us?2:30 Why should you care about mere humans? But you made us, you made us just a little lower than the angels, and you've given us glory and honor, and you put us in charge of everything you2:42 made. Lord, you are amazing. When we look up and we see how big God is, it it naturally shrinks the size of our problems. They just don't2:54 seem to be as big or as overwhelming when compared to the greatness of God. You know, about 700 years before Jesus Christ came to earth, IsaiahThe Promise of the Messiah 3:05 announced that God would send his Son to earth. This is 700 years before the very first Christmas. The prophet Isaiah predicted the coming of Jesus to earth, pointing out that the3:17 Messiah, the promised Savior, would be both great and gentle, that the savior would be both powerful and personal. He'd be strong enough to save us3:29 and solve all of all of our problems, but also tender and loving. And Isaiah chapter 40 is all about this. Let me just read a little bit from Isaiah 40 to you. Shout this news3:41 from the mountaintops. Tell everyone, your God is coming. Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in all His glorious power, but He will feed His flock like a3:53 tender shepherd, and He'll carry His lambs in His arms, holding them close to His heart. Can you hear that tenderness? He will lead us gently. That's verses 9 to4:05 11. But then Isaiah talks not just about God's gentleness, but about His greatness, His enormous power, in verses 12 to 15, and he says this. Who else has held the oceans in His hand?4:17 Who is measured off the heavens with His fingers? Who knows enough to be God's teacher or counselor? Has the Lord ever needed anybody's advice? Does he need instruction about what is4:29 good is what is best? No, for all the nations of the world are nothing in comparison to him. They're about a drop in the bucket, mere dust on the scales. He picks up islands as though they had no4:41 weight at all. It is God who sits above the circle of the earth. By the way, I just wanna point out that 700 BC, the Bible told us that the earth was round, not flat. If people4:53 had listened to the Bible, they wouldn't have had that problem. He said the circle of the earth. Now finally, Isaiah gets personal, and he applies the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, to our lives today, verses5:05 26 to 31. He says this, so look up, look up, look up into the heavens. Who created the stars? He made each 1 after5:17 another, calling each by name, and he counts each 1 to see that none are missing. Do you know how many stars are in the universe? God has numbered and named them all. So how can5:29 you say that the Lord does not see your troubles? And how can you say, God doesn't care about what happens to me? Don't you know that the Lord is the5:41 Lord, and He never grows tired or weary, and that He knows and understands everything? He, God, gives strength to those who are tired and worn5:52 out, and He offers power to the weak. You know, even young people become exhausted, and they wanna give up. But those who put their hope in the Lord will6:04 find new strength. They'll fly high on wings like eagles, they'll run and not grow weary. They will keep on walking without fainting. Now I don't knowThe First Christmas: A Story of Overcoming 6:16 what problems you're facing or carrying this Christmas. I don't know what burdens you're bearing. I don't know what grief or fear or anxiety or confusion you6:28 may be feeling right now, but I do know this. You need to look up instead of giving up. Don't give up, look up. No matter what you're6:40 facing right now, you need to do the same thing that Mary, and Joseph, and the shepherds, and the wise men did when they felt overwhelmed at the very first Christmas.6:54 You know, we have this idealized and romanticized picture in our minds of how everything was just sweet and non stressful leading up to Jesus' birth. That's far7:06 from how those involved in the first Christmas actually felt. The very first Christmas didn't start out being a very merry Christmas. The truth is, everybody involved at the first Christmas was7:18 pretty stressed out by the news, and their first reactions were not positive, not 1 of them. Now, let me just review how those first people felt at the first Christmas. First,7:30 how did Mary initially react to the news that she was gonna be the mother of the Son of God? The Bible tells us that when the angel first appeared to Mary and explained what was about to happen, all she could7:42 think of was a thousand questions, and I don't blame her. What? Why me? How? When? Where? How could this possibly happen? What7:54 am I supposed to tell my fiance? What am I supposed to tell my parents, my friends? Who's gonna believe me? You know, actually, Mary's initial reaction was quite normal. You know, if you're taking notes, you might8:05 write this down. Mary was confused and worried. And believe me, if an angel showed up to you and told you that, you'd be confused and worried too. In Luke chapter8:17 1 verse 29, it tells us this, confused and deeply disturbed, Mary tried to think of what the angel's words might possibly mean. Well, I guess so.8:29 By the way, the Greek word used here where it says confused is it's only used 1 time in the Bible. It is the word in Greek, and it means perplexed,8:41 anxious, completely shaken, troubled. That's how she felt. She didn't feel merry at Merry Christmas, she felt confused and troubled. Well, how8:53 about Joseph? How did Joseph initially react to the news? Well, the Bible tells us that when Mary explained that she was pregnant, but she had not been unfaithful to9:04 Joseph, that she was still a virgin, and that God was the father of the baby. What do you think his initial reaction was? Well, it was a complete normal reaction, too. You9:16 might write this down. Joseph was hurt and brokenhearted. Well, of course he was. Would you believe that story if your fiance told that to you? Joseph felt betrayed, he9:28 felt lied to, he felt like a fool, he felt cheated on, he felt embarrassed. He didn't know what to say to all of his friends. You know, my girlfriend, my fiance's pregnant, but we haven't had a9:40 relationship, and by the way, she's claiming the father is God. He's deeply hurt, he's deeply disappointed. He wants to be done with Mary quietly and9:51 quickly. The Bible tells us this. Matthew chapter 1 verse 19 says, Joseph decided to break off the engagement quietly so as to not disgrace Mary publicly.10:04 For Joseph, this whole thing is just too unbelievable to be true. I mean, what a preposterous lie his fiancee is telling him. No, Mary's confused and troubled, but Joseph is hurt and10:15 brokenhearted. He's not having a Merry Christmas either. What about the shepherds? How did the shepherds initially react to the news? Well, the Bible tells us exactly how they felt at first.10:27 Luke chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, it says this, that night there were shepherds out in the field nearby, watching over their flocks. Suddenly, the night sky lit10:39 up, and an angel of the Lord appeared, and God's bright glory blazed all around them, and they were, get this, terrified,10:50 terrified. If you were taking notes, you can write this down. The shepherds were scared to death. They're not happy, they're not having a merry Christmas, they are scared to death. And by the way, the Greek word here is11:02 the word phobeo, we get the word phobia from it. These guys panicked, they're filled with fear. They're looking for some place to hide. Their hearts are pounding,11:13 they're sweating bullets, some of them probably are looking for an outhouse, they're petrified with anxiety. In other words, when the shepherds first heard the news, they freaked out.11:26 They're not happy either. Now, what about the wise men? These are the last guys in the story. Matthew chapter 2 verse 1 tells us this. Now after Jesus was born,11:38 some wise men traveled a long way from the east, and finally arrived in Jerusalem. So when these wise men finally show up in11:50 Jerusalem and their caravan pulls into their destination, how do they feel? Well, first, let me remind you who these guys were. I told you last weekend that they were likely12:02 royal advisors and scholars from either Babylon, which is now in Iraq, or from Persia, which is now called Iran. And they were scientists of that day,12:14 they were the best educated people in the world, the Magi were the highly educated people, they served the royal courts, and they were very wealthy. They're the exact opposite of the shepherds who are stinky and12:25 smelly and poor. These guys are astronomers, they studied the stars, but they also studied literature, and languages, and mathematics, and history, and they weren't kings. We talk about the 312:37 kings. First, it doesn't say there were 3. It just says there were 3 gifts. So we don't know that there are 3. It could have been 10. And it doesn't and they certainly weren't kings. They served the kings. They served12:48 the emperors as advisors. In the Bible, in the book of Daniel, it tells us that Daniel had been trained as 1 of these wise men, 1 of these Magi. Now how long13:00 did it take for them, the wise men, to get to Jerusalem, whether they were from Iraq or from Iran, which we don't know? Well, if you go straight across the desert, which by the13:12 way you couldn't do, that's about 1300 kilometers. But if you took the ancient trade route, it was more like 2000 kilometers. The Bible tells us that when Ezra led a13:23 caravan from Babylon back to Jerusalem, it took him 4 months. But that included women and children, so that would have slowed him down. But the point I'm making is that these guys have been traveling on camels13:35 through the desert for at least 2 to 3 months. This is not easy traveling. This is not catching a plane or a train or driving in a car. They're13:47 on camels for 2 or 3 months. It's mostly desert. They pass through foreign countries, perilous terrain, all kinds of bandits. It's hot, it's sweaty, it's13:58 tiring, and it certainly wasn't a snowy white Christmas. So how do you think the wise men felt when they finally reached their destination? Well, the likely answer is this, you might14:10 write this down. The wise men were exhausted, They're exhausted. And I have no doubt that many times during their long and arduous journey, they probably asked themselves, is this worth14:22 it? I mean, why are we going to all this effort? Are we actually gonna see anybody? Is this just a big joke? Maybe we should give up, maybe we should give up on this idea. Maybe we should14:34 turn back, maybe we should quit the journey. It's just too hard. We have no guarantee of a payoff. So let's just review our cast of characters at the14:46 first Christmas. The Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the wise men. Okay. They're confused, they're worried, some are hurt and brokenhearted, fearful,14:58 scared, and exhausted. And the bottom line is this, at 1 point, every 1 of the characters in the Christmas story felt like giving up.15:10 Have you ever felt like that? I'm sure you have. 2000 years later, in a crowd of this size, I am absolutely certain that many of you are feeling15:21 1 of these emotions at Christmas. You know, friends, this past year has been 1 of the most difficult and confusing years in recent history, and along with wildfires and15:33 hurricanes and earthquakes and floods and other national disasters, natural disasters. We we have witnessed terrorism attacks all around the world, the15:45 largest mass shooting in American history. We've seen leaders in business and sports and government fired in sex scandals, and we've watched racism and bigotry and prejudice15:57 rise up in places all around the world. 1 of the few positive developments this past year was that America finally began to take serious the epidemic of sexual assault and16:08 harassment against women. And for that, we can be thankful. But this Christmas, you may be feeling confused or worried or hurt16:21 or brokenhearted. You may be feeling fearful, or just exhausted for personal reasons. What does this Christmas story have to say to you? Well, here's the16:32 key. Here's the key to less confusion and more clarity, less stress and more peace. The key to healing your hurt or your16:44 broken heart, to replacing your fears with confidence, to replenishing your exhausted soul. What is the key? Do what these people16:56 did when they felt like giving up. In the very first Christmas, every 1 of these characters looked up to God. They all looked up to God. I want you17:08 to write this down, because here's the big idea. When their focus changed, their feelings changed. When their focus changed,17:20 their feelings changed. When I look up, things will start looking up. Everything changed for Mary when she focused on God's17:32 promises. Now at first, Mary wasn't focused on God's promises. She's focused on her unplanned pregnancy. She's focused on the impossible position that she's been put in, the gossip17:43 and the rumors, and her likely rejection by her fiance, her own family. What's her friend's gonna say, and how she's gonna be ostracized by the community? Her wedding plans are now tossed on the garbage17:55 heap. She's not focused on anything but all the bad news. But then Mary looked up, and she turned her focus to God, and specifically, to the18:07 promises of God. And when she be did that, she began to believe, and she began to see that God had a bigger and a better idea for her life. She began to see that this was not18:19 the end of the story, but actually, it was the beginning of a much greater story that God had chosen her to be a part of. The Bible says it like this in Luke chapter 1 verse 3718:31 and 38. I love this in the message translation. It says that the angel told Mary, nothing you see is impossible with God. And Mary said, Yes,18:43 I see it all now. See, she's changed her focus. I see it all now. She's looking at it in a different perspective. So let it be with me just as you say.18:55 She said, I'm ready to serve. I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Now, when Mary's focus changed, it changed her feelings, and her feelings changed from confusion to celebration.19:08 And in Luke chapter 1, she prays the most amazing prayer of thanksgiving after what seemed to be bad news, and it's chock full of scriptures that she obviously had19:19 memorized. If you read that prayer of Mary, it's full of scripture. Mary was a woman of the word, and she focuses not on her situation, but on the promises of God. In19:31 Luke chapter 1 verse 48, as part of that prayer, Mary says this, message paraphrase, God took 1 look at me, and look what happened. I'm the most fortunate19:43 woman on earth, and what God has done for me will never be forgotten. Is that a change in attitude? I would say so, because she's changed her focus. By the way,19:55 Mary's changed attitude turned around everybody else's attitude too. In Luke chapter 1 verse 58, it says this. Her neighbors and her relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with20:07 mercy, celebrated with her. So now she's gone from confusion to celebration. Now what about Joseph? Well, everything changed for Joseph when he changed his focus, when he looked20:18 up, and he stopped focusing on his pain and started focusing on God's plan. Now Joseph, of course, naturally felt hurt. He felt brokenhearted because he's20:30 focused on his own feelings of being betrayed, and he's focused on the shame that it brought to Mary. He couldn't see any other solution except his plan to20:42 quietly break off the engagement. And maybe you're in a situation right now, and you can't see any other way but to get out of it. But Joseph's plans changed dramatically when his focus20:53 changed. And in a dream, he looks up in this dream, and he sees an angel who reveals God's plan. Matthew 1 chapter 1 verse 20 tells us,21:05 as Joseph lay on his bed, considering what he might do, he fell into a dream, and he saw an angel standing beside him. He looks up at this angel, and the angel21:17 says, Joseph, son of David, don't hesitate to take Mary as your wife, for the child within her really has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.21:29 Now he's focusing on God's plan, not his pain. What about the shepherds? Everything changed for the shepherds when they looked up, also. That same night, it21:41 says that the shepherds, they'd only been focused on protecting their sheep from predators. And that's why they're out with their sheep sleeping, on the hillside. They're not in some motel. They had no other focus.21:53 They're focusing on protecting the sheep. But when the angel put on a light show in the sky, and it was bright and brilliant, it scared them to death. But they calmed22:05 down when they heard what the angel had to say. And in Luke chapter 2, verse 10 to 13, the angel said this, do not be afraid. By the way, the angel said that to Mary and to22:16 Joseph also. Do not be afraid, for I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people, not just for Christians, for all people. Today,22:28 in the town of David, a savior has been born for you, and he is Christ the Lord. And this is what you're to look for, you'll find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger.22:41 Then a very large group of angels from heaven joined the first angel, praising God and singing, glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to22:53 all whom God favors. You know, that concert of music in the sky totally changed their focus. And next, it tells us in verses 13 to 16, then the shepherds23:05 said to each other, let's go. Let's go to Bethlehem, and let's see for ourselves this wonderful thing that has happened, which the Lord had told us about. So they ran to the village. They're not23:17 strolling along, they're running, and they found Mary and Joseph, and there was the baby lying in the manger. Now, listen, they're not only no longer23:28 afraid, now they're courageous, and they boldly start telling everybody else they come in contact with. Luke 2 17 and in verse 20 says this, after they, the shepherds, had seen23:40 Jesus, they spread the word to everyone about this child. They are bold, they're telling everybody about this. And then, the shepherds went back to their fields and flocks, singing23:52 and praising God for what the angels had told them, and because they had seen the child. It was that what they'd seen, it was the focus that changed their whole attitude. What started out as panic24:05 turned into a party. Wouldn't you like that in your life? Only Jesus Christ can turn your fears into fun. Now, what about the wise men?24:17 Finally, everything changed for the wise men when they met Jesus, of course. Now, these wise men, of course, had been looking up all along because they're following a24:29 star to find him in the first place. So the entire journey for several months, they're looking up. It's what started their journey to Jesus in the first place. If they hadn't been looking up, they would have never seen24:40 the star, they would have missed the entire event. But that star led them to Jerusalem, and a meeting with King Herod, whom the scholars of Herod told them that the24:52 Messiah would be born not in Jerusalem, but actually in the little town of Bethlehem. And in Matthew chapter 2 verses 9 and 10, it says this, that after leaving King Herod, the25:04 star appeared to them again, guiding them to Bethlehem. So they're lookin' up. And it went ahead of them, and it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the25:16 star, they were filled with joy. That's a change in attitude. And when they entered the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary. So they bowed25:27 down and they worshiped him, and they opened their treasure chests, and they gave him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. I don't have time to explain this, but each of25:39 those were symbols of what Jesus Christ would do for you with his life, death, and resurrection. Now, here's what I want you to point out. All of the fatigue, and all their25:51 tiredness, and all their exhaustion from months of travel, and all the aches and pains and soreness from sitting on a camel for months going across the desert, it all evaporates26:03 the moment they focused on Jesus, and meet him personally. Let me ask you, how do you know when you've really met Jesus? Not knowing about him, you actually26:15 know him, you have a relationship with him. How do you know when you've had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ? Well, I'll tell you. You act and react the same 4 ways26:27 that the wise men did. If you've really met Jesus Christ personally, first, you feel humbled by his presence. You bow down. You lose all your26:39 sense of ego, and arrogance, and self importance, and narcissism. Second, you expressed your gratitude and your love. That's called worship. They bowed down and worship.26:51 Worship simply means, it's a big word, means expressing my love to God. Third, you open up to him everything you hold dear. That's your treasure27:03 chest. What's in your treasure chest? The stuff that you hold dearest to you. You open that up to Christ. And fourth, you wanna give him the best of everything you've got, not out27:15 of duty, not out of guilt, not out of pressure, but out of gratitude and love. We27:24 hope you've been encouraged by this message. To hear pastor Rick's free daily Bible teaching program, download free sermon notes, or sign up for his free daily devotional, just visit pastorrick27:36 dot com.In this video 0:17 Looking Up: A Change in Perspective2:59 The Promise of the Messiah6:15 The First Christmas: A Story of OvercomingComments No comments yet. Start the conversation.
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