Skip to content How God Gives Us Christmas - Christmas Eve 2023 Dec 24 · 44 min ...more
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Empowering multimedia ministry for bold Christian living: Weekend Messages, Deep End Podcast, Deep Dive Bible Study. Tim Hatch, Lead Pastor, Waters Church, 26 years of pastoral ministry, book author.
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0:00 We're gonna read a very familiar passage that comes around every year, and it's from Luke chapter 2. Here's the word of the Lord. The Bible says, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the0:11 world should be registered. This was the first registration when Corinneus was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth to0:23 Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Because he was of the house and lineage of David, and he went to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came0:35 for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling claws and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region, there were shepherds out0:46 in the field, keeping watch over their flock at night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear0:57 not, for I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a1:09 savior who is Christ the Lord. He is our savior. He is our Lord. I wanna talk to you1:21 on how God gives us Christmas. How God gives us Christmas. I don't know where you are. I don't know what's been happening in your world, but I want to tell you1:33 that there's a God in heaven who loves you, and that he moved heaven and earth to come down here and live a life that you couldn't live, a perfect life.1:46 He suffered. He was rejected. He was betrayed. He was hated. He was misunderstood. Ultimately, he was nailed to a cross, but he went to a grave that was just borrowed.1:58 And the next day, he rose up. 2 days later, rose up to life everlasting. And Christmas reminds us that God loves us. Easter tells2:09 us that God saves us. You don't get 1 without the other. So this morning, Merry Christmas because Jesus Christ2:20 is Lord. Amen. Amen.2:25 Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that he he knows what we what we feel. He knows how it is to live on this2:36 earth. We do not serve a God who's distant and disconnected. We serve a God who's intimately acquainted with all the struggles and all the upsets and all the disappointments of life.2:49 And because he was a man, he can feel it.2:52 But because he is God, he can fix it. We2:57 love you and praise you and help us, Lord, this morning to see Jesus. Him and him only in his mighty name we pray, and everybody said Amen. Amen. God bless you at all locations. Have a seat3:09 in the presence of the Lord. Take out your notes. We're gonna make you take notes on Christmas Eve this morning. Fill in the blanks if you're here from out of town, and you're wondering why on earth are there drums3:20 and guitars and all that stuff on church in church? Well, because we love to party for the Lord. Amen. Why should the devil have all the good music? Come on, somebody. I3:32 wanna say a big thank you to our low all of our locations. We got really big plans for our church. We've been raising money. If you're here from out of town, this won't apply to you, but let me just talk to our church3:43 this morning. You've got you you just got such a heart to give, and I'm just so thankful for you. I was, just blown away. As of right now, we are at over 700000 dollars in3:55 for really big things. For those of you who are here for the first time or you're looking for a church or you're here and, you haven't been here for a while, we're plan we're starting4:05 a a elementary Christian elementary school here in this location in Apollo Beach, Florida. We're looking for land because God is blessing that location. We're looking for an a building in4:17 Woonsocket or the Bellingham Blackstone area right now for our church in Woonsocket, and we're gonna start 2 new churches. 1 is already starting in a in a home, and we wanna say congratulations to4:28 Josh, pastor Josh and Michelle Vining. They just brought home their third baby. Micah Vining. God bless you guys. Praying for you. Micah was born at 34 weeks, so he's a little4:40 bit early, but he's healthy. Praise God. And so we thank God for that. That's in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, and then ultimately we're gonna go to Tennessee, and we're gonna start a church there. God is moving at4:51 Waters Church. You wanna be a part of it. You wanna be a part of it. Turn to your neighbor and say, you wanna be a part of this. So that money that you have given is going under lock and key. It will only go to really5:03 big things, and those projects continue to give because it's gonna take a lot more money than that to get these things done. But I'm just so thankful that you are5:14 following what the Lord is leading us to do. Amen. 2023 is over. You're happy5:26 about that? Yes. But 2024 is coming up. Have you heard it's an election year? And I think about this this5:37 year ahead, I think we're in for 1 of the nastiest, most vicious, most illegal operation, all over the place nonsense on both5:49 sides. On both side. Please don't think I'm taking a side, even though I have a side. I'm not taking a side up here. But it's gonna be cray cray.6:00 I'm just looking forward to next Christmas Eve, to be honest with you. It'll be over. Well, maybe. Maybe. We don't have election day anymore. We have election season.6:13 But we're gonna have a a year, I think, and the Lord I just feel like this is I don't know if this is from the Lord. Don't don't don't don't quote me, but I just feel like there's gonna be a year of, you know, constant6:22 fear. People are gonna just be putting stuff on you, pressure. Oh, and they're gonna say the same things every time they'd say the same thing. It's the most important election season in our history. Well, of course it6:31 is, dummy. It's the only 1 that's not decided yet. I mean, you know, they say that to drum up, you know, anxiety and stress. And then I I don't know about what's going on in your own personal life either because I'm sure6:43 that this doesn't this election thing, that's not even on your radar because of your own problems, your own situation, your own hang ups. And and that's why you don't come to church for6:54 politics, you come to church for peace. That's what that's what this season is about. It's about the Prince of Peace. Well, wanna tell you how to get that peace, but I wanna tell you first of all that that peace is not7:04 the peace that the world wants to give you. And we know that that's for sure because the season in which Jesus Christ entered human history was very much like7:16 our season, was very much like this time. Wars were abounding across the world. Dictators were trying to take control of the populations.7:27 People were trying to run other people's lives. And Luke's gospel opens us up to that reality right in chapter 2 verse 1. He's not gonna placate the imagery in7:39 which Jesus interjected God's story in humanity. He's not gonna soften the blow. He's not gonna paint it through rose colored lenses. Luke gives us the straight7:51 facts about Jesus is showing up. And it's kind of interesting because it's this is how God gives us Christmas. And I've got a theme for my message today on8:03 your notes, and I want you to write the theme down. We'll put it up here up on the screen. This is the message in a nutshell. I'm giving you I'm giving it to you first so that you have it, and if you8:15 have, you know, early dinner plans, then you could just get up and leave. Okay. Here we go. No. Don't do that. Worldly powers added to personal pressures can produce8:26 God's saving presence. Worldly powers added to personal pressures can produce God's saving presence. I8:38 didn't mean get up and leave, sir. I want you to stay. Merry Christmas. Anyway, when we look at our world, it's always gonna be a story of8:50 who's in charge and who's called the shots and who's gonna save us from our pain. That's why I mentioned the election, they're all gonna make promises. They're not gonna fulfill the promises, but they're gonna make those8:59 promises, boy, they're gonna make them. I don't know how many times we vote for them thinking they're gonna save us, and they don't save us. I don't know who you're looking at to save you. Maybe it's a girlfriend, maybe9:09 it's a boyfriend, maybe it's a marriage, maybe it's a child, maybe it's a mom, maybe it's a new job. We're always looking for somebody to heal us, save us, fix us, make us better. Maybe a counselor, maybe a pill, maybe a9:20 doctor. I don't know. We know something's wrong, but so often we are missing the solution. And what we have to realize is that there is a historical reality to our to9:32 our time in which we live. There is a there is a season that we are in that I don't know if we're understanding. You see, Jesus didn't say that it's gonna get easier the closer his return comes. Actually, he said9:43 the exact opposite. Let me just give you a little bit of end times truth in a season in which we're looking for a peaceful remembrance of a baby born in a manger. That baby grew up and became a9:55 man. And he says some pretty tough things. And at the end of his ministry, he said, listen, here's how it's gonna go down. There's gonna be wars. There's gonna be rumors of wars. The word rumors means10:07 news. There's gonna be news of wars. There's gonna be conflicts everywhere. Nation against nation. The word nation, ethnos. Ethnicity against ethnicity. He says there's gonna be10:19 stormy seas, changing climate, and people fainting with fear. That's that's what he said. There's gonna be plagues, there's gonna be all these disturbing elements, and then at that time,10:31 when it just starts to get really rolling, He's coming back. And He's not coming meek and mild. He's not coming wrapped in swaddling cloths.10:43 My Bible tells me He's coming on a white horse. He's coming in a robe drenched in blood. He's coming with a sword out of his mouth and a scepter in his hand and a crown on his hand. He's coming to rule10:55 and reign on this crazy planet, and then peace will be on earth. But you're gonna have to understand something about how God works in order to see when he comes11:07 again. It's gonna be the same exact thing the way he came the first time. Worldly powers and personal pressures can produce God's saving presence. Number11:18 1, write this down. Worldly powers, you have to understand, operate in the plan of God. Believe it or not, this is how it's always been. Not 1 world11:30 leader on this earth has ever caught God off guard. I mean, it can feel like darkness is winning. It can feel like evil is on the verge of taking over. It can feel like11:42 the tribulation is moments away. Anybody ever wake up and just say, okay. What chapter of Revelation are we doing today? I mean, that is our world. Government upheaval,11:54 global turmoil, inflation, the end of days personal problems, maybe depression, anxiety, suicide's on an all time high, challenging situations in your family, in your kids, in your marriage, stress from your job, stress12:06 on the inside. Some of you just have this, I don't know, this this bubbling apprehension that something that all the shoe's about to drop you if we're just waiting for it to happen. You live with this constant sense of12:16 foreboding. I wanna let you know something. Here's how we find peace. We remember that that's the that's the context into which Jesus entered the world. Worldly powers12:28 were dominating, and it looked like evil was winning. Israel, God's chosen people, were a shell of their former glory,12:41 subjected not just to the Babylonians in 5 86 BC, but then to the Medes and the Persians around 500 BC, Ultimately, then to the Greeks and Alexander the Great conquering the whole12:53 world. Alexander's kingdom is fractured because he died way too young into 2 separate kingdoms. Eventually, the Romans take over the world, and they start just dominating, ruling, crucifying13:04 enemies, putting down insurrections, and taking control of the whole known world as we knew it back then 2000 years ago. And the scripture opens with the with the narrity the narration of Jesus' birth with these13:16 words in Luke chapter 2 verse 1. It says, in those days, a decree somebody say decree. Decree. The word decree in Greek is dogma. We think dogma is a religious term. It's actually just a word for opinion,13:27 ordinance. It's it it could be an or it could be just, you know, something that's right. Well, the world has its own dogma, and and and Rome had its own dogma. And the Bible says that the the decree, the13:39 dogma went out from who? From Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be registered. Now this is how Luke has chosen to tell us the story of God entering humanity. Well, he starts not with Jesus, he13:51 starts with Caesar. Why? Because Caesar was in charge at that time. Who is Caesar Augustus? Well, he he was the great nephew of 1 Julius Caesar. Rome had been a republic14:03 for all of its history, and then the senate was in control. And so there was this guy, this gifted politician named Julius Caesar. He started to accumulate followers and fans, and he became a leader, and people got14:12 threatened by it. Republicans in the senate decided to assassinate him, and they put him to death. But before he died, he had adopted his great nephew as his only son. And his great nephew was born, Gaius Octavius14:22 Thorinus. Gaius Octavius Thorinus. I practiced that name all week long. And this was Julius Caesar's great nephew, and he was the sole heir of Julius Caesar once he was dead. And he was also an adept14:34 politician, a skilled master orator. He was well versed in literature and architecture, and he accumulated power quickly and with great political skill bound this14:46 nation, this empire together for 20 years after Julius Caesar's death. For 20 years, Rome was in civil war. Imagine a civil war in America that14:57 lasts 20 years. It can kinda seem like we're in a cold civil war, and we've been there as a nation for 20 years. That's the context into which Gaius arrives to the throne of15:09 Rome. And with his skill and brutal tactics, he put down other competitors to his power, rival authoritarians to his throne, and he15:20 took charge. The Senate was so impressed with his ability that they decided to give him the name Caesar. By the way, Caesar becomes Kaiser in Germany. It becomes Tsar in Russia, and it's still a term that we use even in15:32 this country right now. I'm getting a little bit worried that we have some SARS in America, but that's for another discussion. Anyway, Caesar, Gaius Gaius Octavian becomes Augustus. The senate gave him the term Augustus.15:43 Do you know what Augustus means? It means the supreme 1. Caesar, the supreme 1, issued a decree that all the world should be15:55 registered. Augustus was so beloved in his day that they celebrated his birthday. On September 20 third, every year they would throw a festival and exchange gifts16:06 in honor of Caesar, the supreme 1. When a comet flew overhead over the Roman sky, he told the people that that was his great uncle Julius Caesar arriving to heaven to take the throne of heaven. And16:18 because he was his adoptive son, he said, that means that I'm the son of God. And the people went along with it. Ancient descriptions have it written that people called him the savior of the world. Are you16:30 hearing the echoes of the story? A worldly politician, a very skilled man, people considered the16:42 son of God, the savior of the world. I thought about if Time magazine was around in those days, it wasn't, thank God. But if it was around in those days, maybe a cover would look like this.16:54 Caesar Augustus, how he stabilized the empire, secured his rule, brought peace of world. By the way, plague is back, mask mandates are on the way. Anyway, this was the17:06 time in which Caesar Augustus issued a decree. Why a decree? To register, to number the people. What did he want? Taxes. 217:17 guarantees in life, death and taxes. Amen, somebody. And this is what he did. I want people to be numbered, to be registered. This first, back to Luke chapter 2 verse 3, and all went to be registered, each17:29 to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee. This is Joseph. This is Joseph before he was Joseph. Like, there's a good chance he's on your mantle at home17:41 right now. But before he was there, he was just a lowly carpenter from a no name town. A town that people said nothing good could come from there. He had to travel on foot, 9017:53 miles south to the town of Bethlehem. That was his hometown. He was affiliated with the tribe of Judah. From Judah came David. And this Joseph knew that he was a descendant of the king David. And he knew that if he had18:04 to be registered, he had to go down. What an inconvenience. What an intrusion. What an interruption to his regular life. All because some dictator 1500 miles away in Rome decided that it was time to tax18:16 people more. On the surface, it looks like Joseph is powerless and Caesar is winning. On the surface of your life, it looks like18:28 Washington DC is messing up your life. Your boss doesn't know what he's doing. Maybe your parents are crazy. Maybe you married the wrong person. Maybe you18:40 think that your job is just not gonna get you anywhere. You just look at all the things, all the situations of your life, and you say, I have no power, I have nothing going on, and God can't possibly be involved in this18:51 mess. That's what Joseph must have felt like, traveling 90 miles. You know, it's hard to travel 90 miles even today with a car. He had to travel on foot. It's tough19:03 to travel on foot 90 miles. How many know it's tough to travel on foot 90 miles with a wife? She was telling them where to stop, where to turn, how to fast to walk, slow down. You missed a19:14 signal. You know how fast you're going, Joseph? On top of that, she was pregnant. Man, that's tough. And what it19:26 looked like was Caesar was in control. But here's what was really happening. God was aligning the stars.19:39 600 years before Joseph made that journey, a prophet named Micah, Micah, m I c h h, looked on the on the world, looked on this nation, saw it19:50 deteriorating, saw it becoming godless, saw it becoming the mess that our country's kinda becoming. And he warned the people. He said, we can't keep going like this. God's gonna judge us. We can't keep going like this.20:00 God's gonna judge us. And he told them, and they didn't listen. And he told them, and he didn't listen. And they ended up going into judgment. They ended up going into exile. Their nation conquered, their temple20:09 destroyed, their king assassinated, their identity gone. But Micah, as all God's prophets did, with warnings of judgment came signs of hope.20:22 That though judgment was coming, God was not done. And so in Micah chapter 5 verse 2, Micah said these words, but you, oh Bethlehem Ephrathah,20:34 who are too little among the clans of Judah to be counted. From 1 of you shall come forth the 1 who is ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days.20:46 I find it fascinating that the trip that Caesar Augustus, the most powerful man in the world at that time, ordered poor little old Joseph with pregnant Mary to travel 90 miles on20:58 foot south that evening, or those 4 days in the middle of his life. I find it fascinating that all those events were actually coming to pass according to the plan that God had written down21:10 600 years earlier. Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you, don't be under any other understandings than this, that God rules over the affairs of man. And21:22 what looks like a big old mess, God is putting together for his ultimate message. So no matter who wins, no matter who's in21:34 charge, understand that God rules. And I think that someone needs to hear that today. Someone needs to hear that on the verge of 2024. The world will mandate,21:46 the world will impose, The world will desperately try to conform you. The world will seem like it's powerful and popular and powerful people are running the show. But ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you on21:56 Christmas Eve 20 23 that God is gonna have his purpose accomplished. Nothing's happening outside his domain. Nothing's happening outside of his22:08 control. And that was that's what gives me peace no matter what's22:13 on the outside of my life.22:16 Number 2, personal pressures are often the path to God. Worldly powers are in the plan of God, but personal pressures, now we're talking22:28 about you individually. How are you going to handle what you're going through? See, everybody experiences pressure, and everybody experiences22:40 discomfort, and everybody experiences pain. That's life. If you haven't experienced those things yet, it's because you were born last week. But this is life. This is how it goes.22:52 Joseph has to travel, bible says in verse 5, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. What an amazingly23:04 pressurized situation. Because you gotta back up in the story and borrow some text from Matthew's gospel to understand what happened to this poor couple. Mary, first of all, is just a23:16 normal Jewish girl with dreams of having a getting married, having a family, raising children, and dying. God interrupted. Angel Gabriel comes and tells her, you're gonna be23:27 impregnated, not by a man, but by the most high God. She says, I'm not even married. I don't even know a man. How's this gonna be? He says, nothing is impossible with God. She gets23:39 pregnant. Now they come from Nazareth. Somebody say Nazareth. Nazareth. Nazareth is a little town. Maybe that topped 305 hundred people at the time.23:51 Now I come from a little town. I don't know if anybody else does, but I come from a little town. I hate little towns. Everybody knows everybody's business. You're locked into identity for the rest of24:03 your life. Happiest day of my life, high school graduation, I had a big old smile on my face, I threw that cap off, I ran out of that town and I never went back. Thank you Jesus.24:16 Mary was a first century Jewish girl. Look what the text says, she went with Joseph on that 9 I always thought, she went with Joseph 90 miles south.24:29 90 miles south to Bethlehem with Joseph. Why? And I thought about it. Well, go back to the text, it says, she was his betrothed.24:41 She was his betrothed, and she was with John. She wasn't his wife. Betrothed means24:52 fiancee. She was his fiancee, and she was with Shower. She was his fiancee, and she was with Now in our day, we throw a baby25:04 shower for Mary. We say, oh, isn't that wonderful? Look at you guys playing house. You haven't gotten married yet, but you're having babies the American25:16 way. But in her day, it's a scandal. And I have it on good authority from the word of God that according to the law, she should be stoned.25:28 Oh, they'd throw something at her, but not a shower. And this is a scandal, and she is shamed. And she looks horrible on the outside. And all she can tell people25:39 is an angel and the holy spirit. And ever I just see everybody being like, whatever. Joseph had some options according to the tradition of that day. Number 1, he could ashamed her publicly in the25:51 city square, cast cast dispersions on her, cast her out. Everybody would ashamed her for the rest of life. He had option number 2, which is the 1 that he was gonna choose, divorce her quietly. Just give her a certificate26:01 of divorce. She could go away, find another husband, or marry the guy that impregnated her and live a happy life. He took number 2. God showed up in a dream and said, don't do that either. She's gonna be your wife. She's26:13 gonna give birth to my son, and you're gonna raise him. But it's hard to explain that to friends and family. So I have a26:25 I just have a thought that maybe Mary said, you're traveling 90 miles south, I'm with you. I'm ready to get out of Dodge. But the hard journey you know 90 miles, that's that's an hour and26:37 a half in a car, an hour if you drive like me. And on foot and on a donkey with a pregnant wife, it was probably 5 to 7 days. 5 to 7 days of kicks in the26:49 belly and, you know, maybe some pregnancy pains along the way, frequent stops, if you know what I'm saying, and danger from robbers and thieves. I27:01 mean, there was no lights on the streets in those days. There was no electricity. There was no, you know, hotel 6. Right? There there nothing like that. They were on the goodness and kindness of strangers. And did I27:11 mention that they were broke? Dirt poor. How do we know they're broke? Because the Bible says that they offered at Jesus' dedication in Luke chapter 2 verse 23. They offered 227:23 pigeons or 2 turtledoves, which was the poor person's offering for the birth of their firstborn son. They couldn't even afford a lamb. 1 lamb. They couldn't even afford a lamb to27:35 redeem Jesus as their firstborn son. That was the law. That's what they had to do. So they had to take the smallest of birds, pigeons or turtledoves, and offer them to God. And yet, in the midst of27:47 their poverty, their strangeness, their difficulty, and the pressure they were feeling, God showed up. Worldly powers added to personal pressures can produce God's saving presence. Now27:58 here's how it goes down in my life, and it's probably the same in your life. I don't get God's voice when I'm thinking I'm doing okay. I don't hear him when I think my life28:10 is clicking on all cylinders, and I'm nailing it, and everything's going right. Nope. In those moments, that's when I'm deaf to God. Because I don't need them.28:23 I got this covered. Go help somebody else, Lord. But then life happens, and pressures come in, and something you didn't expect smacks you in the face. Suddenly,28:35 I'm now listening. Where is he? I need a voice. I need a word from God. I need to know what's going on in my life. You know what happens? Pressure. Sometimes you gotta thank God28:47 for the pressure that he brings in your life. This is why Jesus' brother will grow up James and he'll say in his book, my brothers count it all joy when you go through trials and tribulations of various kinds because28:59 you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance and perseverance, and perseverance makes you a mature and complete person. And then you're gonna look to God for wisdom, and God's gonna give you wisdom29:08 bountifully cause he doesn't hold anything against the people that he gives stuff to. Pressure opens our ears. C. S. Lewis famously said, God whispers29:20 in our pleasures, He speaks in our conscience, but he shouts in our pain. It is his megaphone to a deaf world. Worldly powers29:31 and personal pressures can produce God's saving presence. Verse 7 says, she gave birth. Now that's pressure right there. I love the brevity of Luke's writing here. She gave birth. Come on, ladies. How29:43 many know that deserved a few more verses than just those words? I mean, that is tough stuff. I have been an observer in 3 birthing processes,29:56 and I have thanked God in heaven that he chose to make me a man ever since. That is tough stuff. God bless you, women saving the world 1 pregnancy at a time.30:09 I don't know how you do it, but you do it. And she just gave birth to her first born, first born son, Miracle Baby, wrapped him in swaddling cloths, laid him in a manger. Manger was a30:22 not you you have this image because it's probably on your mantle or in your Christmas card of this kinda cross hatched kind of wooden hay filled basket that that, man, you'd you'd ask30:34 Aunt Geddes to get your baby in there and take a couple pictures. You know what I'm talking about. But in Jesus' day, the manger was a a wooden slab that had been hollowed out, and and food for animals was in there. And30:45 you have to realize food for animals and spit of animals, and just the grime of several ant coming to that manger. This was the landing place30:57 of God. I'd do something different. I would do something If I was God and my son was coming to this ungrateful earth,31:10 I'd put him on the front steps of Caesar Augustus With 3 angels showing up with sores in their hands and saying, hello from the31:22 other side. This is what we're gonna do. You're out, he's in. Wait for him to grow up and rule the world. That's what I would do, but that's not what our God in heaven did. He came31:34 to Earth in pressure, in poverty, in destitution, to send a message that it came to associate with us. The31:46 bible says that there was no place for them in the inn. Now I know again, you have images in your mind of the surly Motel 6 manager saying, sorry, there's no vacancy. Didn't you read the sign? But that's31:58 not what happened. The word katalima does not mean motel. It can mean 1 of 2 things. Either the secondary room in the house where you would put your animals in at night if you were a kind of wealthy32:10 family, or it could mean a rest area in the ancient world that was pretty much an open area with a little wall around it where there was feeding troughs for your animals, and you could spend the night in danger of32:20 robbers and thieves, but at least you had a little bit of protection from the brick wall around you. Jesus was born in the rest area and placed in an animal feeding trough.32:33 My God.32:35 This is why though. Because God doesn't show up, write this down, in the comforts of pleasure. He shows up in the pressure of pain. Some of you are in32:47 immense pain. Your life is immense. You don't know what you're gonna do. This is the worst year of your life. You don't know how you're gonna pay bills. You don't know what you're do with your kids. You're praying and32:56 and you're wondering, where is God? And I gotta tell you something, God meets us in the pressure. He grows up, Jesus does. He becomes a man. He starts preaching. People don't like33:07 it. Some people love him. At 1 point, has thousands of people following him. And at that point, he says, okay. Here's the real deal. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna suffer. You're gonna eat my flesh and drink my blood. They all33:16 walk away. He's down to 12 people. Even in amongst the 12, he's got 1 betrayer named Judas who's gonna sell him out. And all of them are gonna leave him in his moment of pain and pressure. He's gonna go to a garden on33:28 the last day of his life, the last night of his ministry, and he's gonna kneel before the father, and he's gonna say, father, if it's possible, take this cup from me, but not what I want, what you want. And that garden33:39 has a name. Anybody know the name? It's the Garden of Gethsemane. You know what Gethsemane means? Olive press. He was squeezed.33:49 He was pressured. This is33:51 why Isaiah foretold 800 years beforehand in Isaiah 53, he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities, and upon him was the chastisement that brought us34:03 peace. And by his wounds, we are healed. Jesus came to experience the pressure and the pain, listen to this, of your sin and34:14 mine. He never failed God. He never disobeyed. He never spoke out of turn. He was perfect in every way, and he became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. See,34:26 God doesn't show up in the comforts of pleasure. He shows up in the pressures of pain. Worldly powers, Caesar Augustus' decree, personal pressures, Mary and Joseph's helpless and34:38 hapless travel 90 miles south, can produce God's saving presence. But I don't know if you noticed that the theme of my message had 1 key word in it that I need you to circle for me.34:50 It's the word can. Can. It's not guaranteed. You could leave here this morning and still not have God's saving35:02 presence in your life because this is on you now. Where are you at with this God of the universe? Where are you at with this baby born in a manger who rose from the35:13 grave? That's the greatest question of your life. Which leads me to point number 3, have I received his presence? His saving presence. Do I know him?35:26 Do I walk with him? Is he my Lord? Is he my savior? Am I confident that I'm going to heaven, not because I'm a good person, not because I've done what is right, I'm going to heaven because I35:37 believe that Jesus Christ saved me from my sins. Am I going to heaven because I know that I'm a sinner? That my greatest problem is not what other35:49 people have done to me, or what society has done to me, or what the social conditions of my context are doing to me. But I36:01 myself am the greatest problem in my own life, and I need somebody, pause it, I need somebody to save me from me.36:12 That's when you know you're getting close to the gospel of Jesus Christ. God gives you a choice.36:24 I've done it all, I've made a way, my blood was shed, my son died, will you receive him? Jesus is born in36:35 verse 8 of Luke's gospel in chapter 2 says, in the same region there were shepherds. Somebody say shepherds. Shepherds. On the field keeping watch over their flock at night. And the angel shows up, and the glory of the36:47 Lord shows up, they were filled with fear. And then the angel speaks and he says, fear not, I bring you good news of great joy. That's all people. This is for everybody. Not just Jews, every36:59 nation, every color, every person on the face, this is good news of great joy that is offered to you. Now why does God show up to shepherds? That's an amazing thing.37:11 Why? Now in our day, again, 2000 years later, because of this moment, we we think shepherds are cute, they're cool, they're awesome. Let's put them on our mantle. Amen. It's beautiful, it's picturesque. But in that37:23 day, shepherds were despised members of society. The Jewish commentary, Mishnah, the commentary on the Old Testament, has several passages, several writings, which refer to37:34 shepherds as irredeemable people. The reason why is because they would let their flocks roam anywhere and steal other people's grass and hay, and they couldn't really control them. And so people said they were inShow more
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