WEBVTT 00:00:00.600 --> 00:00:02.260 Well, it's good to be back with you guys. 00:00:03.080 --> 00:00:07.160 Even though things are messed up today, we can still have fun in Jesus, right? 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:10.200 That's what we came here for. 00:00:10.420 --> 00:00:11.770 Today is just to learn about the Lord together. 00:00:12.580 --> 00:00:14.270 And so I'm I'm grateful just to have the opportunity. 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:15.960 We're going to begin a new series today. 00:00:16.860 --> 00:00:18.660 it's called Unbelievable Christmas. 00:00:20.020 --> 00:00:26.600 Not unbelievable in the sense that we don't want you to believe in what Christmas is about, but unbelievable in the sense that the events were so uncommon. 00:00:26.980 --> 00:00:29.380 It was just it becomes difficult. 00:00:29.580 --> 00:00:36.830 You'll see in the very early accounts of Christmas for the people who were a part of the birth of Jesus, to begin to wrap their mind around everything 00:00:37.160 --> 00:00:39.520 that Jesus was about to do on this earth. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:47.640 To them, it was unbelievable because it was uncommon before Jesus arrived to this 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:53.840 earth, he was proclaimed through a message by an angel named Gabriel. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:01.120 We in our lives hear messages that seem unbelievable to us on a regular basis. 00:01:01.780 --> 00:01:04.379 Hopefully not too regular unless it's good news. 00:01:05.680 --> 00:01:12.100 Maybe the first time that you realized you were about to become a parent, you might categorize that as unbelievable, right? 00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:20.680 Some of you guys, when you were nervously shaking before your future wife as you went before her to ask her to marry you, thinking there's no 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:22.760 way that I've tricked her into doing this. 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:23.570 And she said yes. 00:01:24.780 --> 00:01:26.960 That was unbelievable, right? 00:01:27.540 --> 00:01:34.300 An uncommon event taking place, which just seems so surreal that you couldn't imagine that it was happening to you. 00:01:35.680 --> 00:01:43.600 Maybe the first time you got that great job that you were looking for, or even a tragic event like the death of a loved one can 00:01:43.780 --> 00:01:45.350 strike us as being unbelievable. 00:01:47.380 --> 00:01:49.280 We hear messages every day. 00:01:49.300 --> 00:01:51.340 Some are easy to hear and some are not. 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:59.860 As a young kid, it's way better to take the message that you got an A on your report card, rather than you failed as a more believable 00:01:59.860 --> 00:02:00.510 story. 00:02:00.520 --> 00:02:02.370 Some some are easy to accept. 00:02:02.380 --> 00:02:02.880 Some are not. 00:02:02.900 --> 00:02:05.960 Like we're going to vacation in Disney World this year. 00:02:05.960 --> 00:02:06.840 I could accept that. 00:02:07.520 --> 00:02:12.140 Maybe parents getting a divorce, maybe not so much acceptable, maybe unbelievable. 00:02:13.860 --> 00:02:17.840 Some of the messages we receive are life changing, some aren't. 00:02:19.420 --> 00:02:22.660 Some bring us closer to God, some don't. 00:02:24.480 --> 00:02:31.580 Some of the messages that we hear in life tend to be unbelievable, and we think 00:02:31.580 --> 00:02:34.900 about this time of year in Christmas and what it means for us. 00:02:35.040 --> 00:02:42.040 To the original people who celebrated the first Christmas as they began to receive the news from the angel Gabriel, their first 00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:45.300 response was, this is unbelievable. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:50.630 If you brought your Bibles this morning, I'm going to invite you to turn to Luke chapter one. 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:58.100 We're going to begin the journey of an unbelievable Christmas together by beginning with the life of Zacharias. 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:05.240 Zacharias was the very first person to receive any sort of message about the coming of the Lord to this earth. 00:03:06.540 --> 00:03:10.820 It tells us in Luke chapter one, beginning in verse five, the account of Zacharias life. 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:16.620 As we begin to read this story, we'll see how this message was perceived as unbelievable. 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:21.890 Christmas really is in a in a sense, starting with the first people. 00:03:21.920 --> 00:03:26.680 An unbelievable story says in Luke chapter one and verse five. 00:03:27.680 --> 00:03:34.900 In the days of Herod, the king of Judah, there was a priest named Zacharias of the division of Abijah, and he had a wife from the daughters of 00:03:34.900 --> 00:03:36.710 Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 00:03:37.940 --> 00:03:43.580 They were both righteous in the sight of God walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. 00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:45.760 But they had no children. 00:03:48.240 --> 00:03:48.500 Interesting. 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:55.960 It tells us in Luke chapter one, it's picking up in our in our Bible after over 400 years of silence from 00:03:55.960 --> 00:03:56.180 God. 00:03:57.560 --> 00:04:04.560 The Old Testament ended with the book of Malachi, picks up with the story of the Gospels, and in between your 00:04:04.560 --> 00:04:06.000 book of Malachi in the Old Testament. 00:04:06.200 --> 00:04:11.700 In the beginning of your of your New Testament, there are over 400 years in which God was silent to the people of Israel. 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:20.320 In fact, in history you can find men like Josephus writing during that time period and sharing the accounts of Israel, wishing and desiring that God 00:04:20.320 --> 00:04:23.540 would once again bring his prophets to share his news with the nation. 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.920 Because the nation of Israel was still long awaiting a messiah who would come and deliver them. 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:34.100 And here we have a man, Zechariah. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:36.980 After 400 years of silence. 00:04:38.260 --> 00:04:40.660 God begins to speak to him. 00:04:41.760 --> 00:04:48.080 You think just being a common man, as Zechariah was, it says in this passage of Scripture that he was an old man. 00:04:49.540 --> 00:04:53.920 He probably didn't feel like anyone's special or significant for God to talk to. 00:04:53.940 --> 00:04:57.960 Yet it was one that God, a person in which God chose to speak through. 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:07.100 It tells us in verse six the reason this unbelievable Christmas story began in the life of Zacharias was because Zacharias 00:05:07.220 --> 00:05:10.480 was a faithful man of God. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:12.760 It says he and his wife Elizabeth. 00:05:12.840 --> 00:05:18.800 They were both righteous in the sight of God walking blamelessly and all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. 00:05:21.100 --> 00:05:28.160 Now think about this Christmas season for me, and you know, what I desire every year is for it just to be a memorable Christmas, 00:05:29.680 --> 00:05:31.600 maybe even to say an unbelievable Christmas. 00:05:33.660 --> 00:05:37.440 I want to say see good things happen in that time of year full of great cheer. 00:05:37.540 --> 00:05:37.640 Right? 00:05:38.180 --> 00:05:39.710 And I am on a roll with those rhymes. 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:40.580 Look out! 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:42.180 Who knows where it's going to take me today. 00:05:42.200 --> 00:05:47.680 But can you think about just in your mind this first Christmas. 00:05:48.080 --> 00:05:51.380 God, after hundreds of years of being silent, coming to this humble man. 00:05:51.380 --> 00:05:54.740 And it says in verse six, the only thing that made this Christmas unbelievable. 00:05:54.760 --> 00:06:02.900 And the reason that God chose to work in this particular moment is because Zacharias was a faithful man of God. 00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:11.720 We can think in our own lives, desiring for God to move into work in ways that we might think unimaginable difficulty 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:19.220 and adversity that we might face in our own particular situations in which we are encountering, tells us. 00:06:19.220 --> 00:06:19.720 Zacharias. 00:06:19.820 --> 00:06:22.280 His difficulty was that he didn't have a child. 00:06:22.340 --> 00:06:30.260 In verse seven, during the time in which Zacharias was alive, not having children was shameful in his time 00:06:30.260 --> 00:06:30.700 and point. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:34.720 It's a little bit different than the way we view children today, isn't it? 00:06:34.780 --> 00:06:41.060 Zacharias wanted more than anything a child to pass on his lineage and his wife as well. 00:06:42.700 --> 00:06:49.960 And it says in this passage of scriptures, we're going to come to find out that God begins to intervene in the life of Zacharias, to answer this need in his life, because Zacharias 00:06:49.960 --> 00:06:56.840 was a faithful man to do great things for God to be a part of an unbelievable Christmas story. 00:06:57.840 --> 00:07:00.540 The only thing that God asked for you is for you to trust in him. 00:07:02.540 --> 00:07:04.540 We talk about having an unbelievable Christmas season. 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:09.000 We talk about keeping Christ in the center of Christmas, in which it should be. 00:07:09.720 --> 00:07:12.860 We always run the danger of making Christmas about anything other than Jesus. 00:07:14.220 --> 00:07:21.360 But in order to have that, the Bible tells us the way that this story unfolded in scriptures that God chose to work through faithful 00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:22.160 people. 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:30.140 If we're saying to ourselves this morning, God, just like you, worked through Zacharias, just like I read this miraculous stories in the Bible, I want you to work in my life and in my heart 00:07:30.140 --> 00:07:31.310 and to change my circumstances. 00:07:31.840 --> 00:07:34.640 God is saying to us, just give me your heart then. 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:38.490 Just trust in me. 00:07:39.700 --> 00:07:40.780 And God takes care of the rest. 00:07:43.320 --> 00:07:46.260 I want Christmas to begin in unbelievable ways. 00:07:47.480 --> 00:07:54.900 I want this to be for me this year, just an unbelievable Christmas in which God is just moving and working not only in my heart, but in 00:07:54.900 --> 00:07:56.000 those around me. 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:04.360 But it starts in the commitment of our heart tells us in the next verse, in verse eight, what Zacharias has done in 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:05.320 response to this. 00:08:06.080 --> 00:08:10.960 It says, now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division. 00:08:11.820 --> 00:08:12.450 Yeah, that was a mouthful. 00:08:13.220 --> 00:08:20.280 According to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense and just stop right 00:08:20.280 --> 00:08:26.580 here and point out the significance of this moment, because we have the opportunity just to breeze past this and not understand what's happening in Scripture. 00:08:28.020 --> 00:08:32.840 And going into this temple and offering the incense was an offering of prayer for the nation of Israel. 00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:36.880 Every year a section of priests would go to the temple. 00:08:37.460 --> 00:08:37.559 Once. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:44.860 Once a week, a new section of priests were chosen to go to the temple and conduct the temple services and the lifetime of 00:08:44.860 --> 00:08:45.080 a priest. 00:08:46.160 --> 00:08:53.240 He would only have one opportunity during the time of Jesus to ever go into this temple and offer this incense in prayer to 00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:53.340 God. 00:08:55.740 --> 00:09:02.760 This seems like a random selection to most people, and I would think that the nation of Israel has priests being selected to go into the temple would think 00:09:02.820 --> 00:09:08.150 that it was just a random selection for Zacharias on this day to go into this temple and offer these prayers. 00:09:08.240 --> 00:09:10.360 It was only one time in your life you got to do it. 00:09:10.400 --> 00:09:11.940 And this just happened to be Zacharias moment. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:21.040 But what we discover as we read this passage of scriptures, though it may look random to us, God has his finger on this moment and 00:09:21.040 --> 00:09:24.760 could imagine the importance of this moment as a priest. 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:33.660 Zechariah, serving the nation of Israel and only one time in his life, will have the opportunity to go into this temple and 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.000 pray before his God. 00:09:37.140 --> 00:09:44.320 The Bible tells us until Jesus had died on the cross and the temple of God came to dwell within man, the temple of God or the presence of God dwelt 00:09:44.320 --> 00:09:45.060 in the temple. 00:09:46.300 --> 00:09:48.040 It was referred to as the Shekinah Glory. 00:09:48.040 --> 00:09:50.150 The presence of God was there. 00:09:51.180 --> 00:09:58.260 Men were supposed to go in without sin in their lives, and to walk into this temple and offer the sacrifices and the need of services for the nation 00:09:58.320 --> 00:09:58.860 of Israel. 00:09:59.140 --> 00:10:00.950 And now it's Zechariah's turn. 00:10:01.140 --> 00:10:09.240 This only opportunity is going to happen his entire life, to walk into this temple and on behalf of his nation, pray before his God. 00:10:09.780 --> 00:10:15.220 I would imagine before Zacharias went into this temple, that he knew that day was his day to go into this temple. 00:10:15.280 --> 00:10:21.720 Long before the day had come, the priest had drawn the lots and assigned the particular duties that would take place into this temple. 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:27.520 I can imagine the conversation that existed in the home between Elizabeth and Zacharias as he prepared to go into this temple. 00:10:28.940 --> 00:10:30.150 It set us up for it in verse seven. 00:10:31.640 --> 00:10:33.180 Elizabeth might have said to Zacharias. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:39.080 Zacharias, what an opportunity you have just to go before your God and lift your nation up in prayer. 00:10:40.380 --> 00:10:47.040 But while you're in there and you're praying on behalf of your country and your people, do you think you could just talk to God about our need? 00:10:49.260 --> 00:10:55.260 Zacharias, do you think that you could just begin to open up your heart and share with God what we desire? 00:10:58.320 --> 00:11:00.610 You know, I look at this opportunity Zacharias had. 00:11:01.320 --> 00:11:08.280 It was a once in a lifetime opportunity just to take his heart and just pour it before God on his knees. 00:11:09.820 --> 00:11:17.100 I can think this morning, if there was just one thing in this world that you knew when you took it before God, that you were in his presence. 00:11:18.460 --> 00:11:19.080 What would you pray about? 00:11:21.460 --> 00:11:28.680 And what prayer in your heart is so important that you're saying, God, if you could answer this in just an unbelievable way, God, it would just bring me great 00:11:28.680 --> 00:11:29.040 joy. 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:37.780 Do you realize as we read a story like this, it's about telling a story of a God who can answer those prayers in the deepest needs of our hearts? 00:11:38.860 --> 00:11:41.670 That's what an unbelievable Christmas is about. 00:11:42.780 --> 00:11:45.420 Zacharias went before God and all he did. 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:49.320 We talk about prayers as if this magnificent ritual that we do. 00:11:49.340 --> 00:11:51.050 But he just poured his heart out. 00:11:52.300 --> 00:11:57.400 It says in these verses later on that the whole multitude in verse ten, the people were praying outside. 00:11:57.400 --> 00:11:58.300 This was an important moment. 00:11:59.060 --> 00:12:06.160 They're all gathered outside of the temple, and they know the service is about to take place, and Zacharias is going into the temple on behalf of the nation of God that 00:12:06.160 --> 00:12:08.810 is still waiting on the delivery of a messiah for his people. 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:15.100 And he goes in and I can imagine he says, God, will you save our people? 00:12:16.100 --> 00:12:19.260 Will you bring the Messiah to Israel? 00:12:20.360 --> 00:12:27.230 And God, if I could just bring this request, my family's in shame because we don't have a child. 00:12:28.300 --> 00:12:30.910 God, could you just give us one child? 00:12:33.200 --> 00:12:36.890 We see in the very recesses of Zechariah's heart. 00:12:37.800 --> 00:12:41.740 He just reveals his longing and his need before God. 00:12:42.300 --> 00:12:45.360 And God begins to answer that miracle. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:50.900 Christmas begins with a prayer and it says in verse, verse 11, it builds on a promise. 00:12:51.860 --> 00:12:55.880 And it says, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:00.820 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him. 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:08.280 But the angel said to him, do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the 00:13:08.300 --> 00:13:08.820 name John. 00:13:09.620 --> 00:13:12.800 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 00:13:12.800 --> 00:13:18.000 Well, he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 00:13:19.660 --> 00:13:26.710 The verse goes on, the passage of Scripture goes on to tell us in verse 17, it is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and the power of Elijah, 00:13:27.200 --> 00:13:34.880 to turn the hearts of their fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared 00:13:35.560 --> 00:13:36.040 for the Lord. 00:13:37.760 --> 00:13:39.040 How does God answer this prayer? 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:47.320 He answers this prayer, but not only giving Zacharias what Zacharias wants and having a son, but he also answers the prayer by bringing a 00:13:47.320 --> 00:13:48.860 messiah to the nation of Israel. 00:13:50.300 --> 00:13:56.040 Zacharias is told by God that John the Baptist would come to this world, and he would be the one that would proclaim the coming of Jesus. 00:13:57.460 --> 00:14:03.530 God takes both prayers of Zacharias and answers as if it's one prayer for the nation of Israel. 00:14:03.780 --> 00:14:07.820 God builds Christmas, this unbelievable Christmas on a promise. 00:14:09.560 --> 00:14:13.320 Isaiah 714 says, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. 00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:20.080 And behold, a virgin will be with a child, and bear a son, and we shall call his name Immanuel. 00:14:22.740 --> 00:14:30.020 Isaiah nine six says to us, unto us a child is born, unto us a Savior is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and 00:14:30.020 --> 00:14:36.680 he shall be called wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah. 00:14:37.700 --> 00:14:40.190 Zechariah is told he's about to come. 00:14:41.660 --> 00:14:46.700 God's promise was fulfilled through what is said in verse 17 through a prophet of Elijah. 00:14:49.160 --> 00:14:54.800 Zacharias knew very well what this meant when God said that this forerunner would proclaim the name of the Lord, as Elijah did. 00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:57.380 Malachi chapter three. 00:14:57.380 --> 00:15:04.380 The very last book of the Old Testament, and into chapter four and verse six, it says that before the coming of the Lord is to appear, a man like 00:15:04.380 --> 00:15:10.000 Elijah will proclaim the name of Jesus to people to return the hearts of Israel back to God. 00:15:11.940 --> 00:15:15.280 Christmas was built on a promise. 00:15:17.340 --> 00:15:21.910 You realize today that we live in the constant danger of forgetting that message. 00:15:23.920 --> 00:15:29.720 Bible shares a few passages in the New Testament where Peter and Paul said, I want to recall this, or I want to remind you of this. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:36.740 And the point of Christmas is for us is to take an opportunity in our hearts and our lives to remind us that it's all about Jesus. 00:15:38.340 --> 00:15:40.540 In fact, this morning I hope you guys received this. 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:43.460 It was a green, book. 00:15:43.460 --> 00:15:45.290 If you didn't receive this, we might be out of copies. 00:15:45.400 --> 00:15:47.580 We'll have some for you tomorrow or next Sunday. 00:15:48.400 --> 00:15:50.120 But making Christmas all about Jesus. 00:15:50.120 --> 00:15:52.350 Think about this novel idea for a minute. 00:15:52.700 --> 00:15:58.820 Do you realize that some of the things that we do on our Christmas during the Christmas holidays are in connection to who Jesus is? 00:15:59.580 --> 00:16:04.660 And you ever wondered why in the world you feel obligated at this time of year to drag a tree into your house and hang things on it? 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:05.880 And that is weird. 00:16:07.080 --> 00:16:07.900 What is that all about? 00:16:09.200 --> 00:16:11.700 Why is it this time of year over every time of year, we eat candy canes. 00:16:12.520 --> 00:16:13.410 What is it with candy canes? 00:16:13.520 --> 00:16:14.160 I mean, do I even like peppermint? 00:16:14.880 --> 00:16:16.600 And yet someone always puts it in my hand. 00:16:17.020 --> 00:16:18.480 What are those things all about? 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:27.000 But we run the danger when we forget about the importance of Jesus at Christmas, of making Christmas about something other than 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:34.100 Jesus and Zacharias, we see that the coming of Christ was built upon the promise of a messiah who 00:16:34.100 --> 00:16:37.800 would save people, who would bring them life in him. 00:16:40.060 --> 00:16:47.140 I would say also that Christmas is shared through a message tells us in verse 17 what the 00:16:47.140 --> 00:16:48.940 angel said to Zacharias. 00:16:51.520 --> 00:16:57.220 Zacharias was the first to hear about the coming of the Lord and hearing about the coming of the Lord. 00:16:57.240 --> 00:17:01.420 He also heard that he would have a son who would share with this world about the coming of the Lord. 00:17:04.060 --> 00:17:11.339 God came in the flesh, and it tells us in the Bible in verse chapter one and verse 14 of John, that we beheld his glory 00:17:12.859 --> 00:17:14.829 full of grace and truth. 00:17:16.579 --> 00:17:23.980 You think about as we as people consider the promise of Christmas and the message of Christmas, 00:17:23.980 --> 00:17:26.380 it's all about beholding the glory of Jesus. 00:17:28.880 --> 00:17:36.120 May we take the opportunity in our days to behold the glory of Jesus in 00:17:36.120 --> 00:17:40.410 the most important thing that we can do with the message of Christmas is just share it with ourselves. 00:17:41.120 --> 00:17:48.580 I sound selfish for a minute, but to share the significance of Christmas with ourselves, because 00:17:48.580 --> 00:17:55.620 unless you understand the importance of what the coming of Jesus was all about, you're never going to infiltrate that or share that with your 00:17:55.620 --> 00:17:56.020 family. 00:17:57.880 --> 00:18:02.180 Take time in your heart and the busyness of this season to make Christmas an unbelievable Christmas. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:03.860 Just like Zechariah. 00:18:04.540 --> 00:18:07.840 By being faithful, just giving yourself to God and being honest. 00:18:08.080 --> 00:18:15.340 Just opening your heart to God and looking to the point of the promise of Jesus coming for your life, and 00:18:15.340 --> 00:18:16.710 then understanding that message. 00:18:18.340 --> 00:18:25.620 Because what God desires for us is the same desire that he shared with Zachariah on behalf of John the Baptist, that we would go into this world and 00:18:25.620 --> 00:18:32.220 proclaim this message, and it becomes a joyful message to proclaim, because it's a message of hope. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:39.300 It says in Romans 15, for such things were written in the scriptures long ago to teach us, and the scriptures give us hope and encouragement as 00:18:39.340 --> 00:18:42.700 we wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. 00:18:42.700 --> 00:18:44.080 It is a promise of hope. 00:18:45.340 --> 00:18:48.620 The Christmas message is a promise of forgiveness, as it says in Malachi. 00:18:49.360 --> 00:18:49.830 Mike, excuse me. 00:18:50.020 --> 00:18:50.980 Micah 718. 00:18:51.020 --> 00:18:57.160 Where is another God like you who pardons the guilts of the remnant who overlooks the sins of his special people. 00:18:57.500 --> 00:19:02.140 You will not stay angry with your people forever because you delight in showing unfailing love. 00:19:04.160 --> 00:19:06.120 It's a message of love. 00:19:07.720 --> 00:19:11.260 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. 00:19:12.860 --> 00:19:20.520 Jesus is about a gift, and unless we understand the significance of Christmas in our life, we're not going to realize that Jesus is 00:19:20.520 --> 00:19:24.190 the greatest gift this world could ever hope to accept. 00:19:25.880 --> 00:19:32.240 I know in my name this morning you should feel blessed by me sharing this morning because my name is Nathaniel, which means a gift from God. 00:19:32.620 --> 00:19:35.140 Everyone gets a glorious gift by me being here today. 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:37.560 I know that sounds way conceited, but just throw that in. 00:19:38.600 --> 00:19:38.820 Yeah. 00:19:38.980 --> 00:19:40.040 That's right. 00:19:40.060 --> 00:19:44.690 But the greatest gift you have to offer is Jesus. 00:19:45.760 --> 00:19:52.760 The greatest thing that you can do this holiday season, and everything that is going on in your busy lives and all the shopping and people you have to punch 00:19:52.760 --> 00:19:53.890 to get to the front of the line. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:20:02.320 Jesus, in those moments when someone cuts you off and the only parking spot left where you want it to be, Jesus. 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:09.180 When you're going around, you're celebrating and Thanksgiving and everyone just made you want to pull your hair out. 00:20:10.140 --> 00:20:10.680 Jesus. 00:20:10.700 --> 00:20:10.880 Right? 00:20:11.640 --> 00:20:12.580 It's about Jesus. 00:20:14.440 --> 00:20:19.520 Where have we gone when we've lost the message of Christmas, of hope and forgiveness and love in Jesus? 00:20:22.080 --> 00:20:27.320 Christmas wasn't a day intended for presents, though they are nice to receive. 00:20:27.940 --> 00:20:29.870 I'll take mine anytime you want to give. 00:20:31.080 --> 00:20:32.500 But what it's intended for is faith. 00:20:34.400 --> 00:20:35.810 Christmas is about faith. 00:20:37.640 --> 00:20:41.320 It's about a time of decision. 00:20:41.800 --> 00:20:48.840 It's about looking at the importance of Christ and His coming in this world, and whether you've trusted in him or not, saying to him, Jesus, what is it 00:20:48.840 --> 00:20:51.390 my life that you want to take control of? 00:20:53.220 --> 00:20:55.960 God, how can I open my heart to you to let you in by faith? 00:20:56.140 --> 00:21:01.420 Just continue to trust in the direction you desire for me to pursue in this world. 00:21:03.800 --> 00:21:06.880 It's about taking the opportunity to quiet your mind and think. 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:13.880 Just as Jesus arrived on a quiet night in a simple manger, to simplify our lives and just say, God, how can I continue 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:15.620 to trust in you? 00:21:17.980 --> 00:21:25.900 It says in Luke chapter one and 18, Zechariah said to the angel, how 00:21:25.900 --> 00:21:27.220 will I know this for certain? 00:21:28.900 --> 00:21:30.100 For I am an old man. 00:21:31.220 --> 00:21:36.560 I would venture to say, before Zechariah asked for a child that he asked his wife if that's what she wanted. 00:21:37.280 --> 00:21:40.320 I would hate for him to return home and pronounce this news without a discussion existing. 00:21:40.860 --> 00:21:41.200 Guess what? 00:21:41.780 --> 00:21:43.000 You're old and we're having a kid. 00:21:45.100 --> 00:21:46.360 How will I know this for certain? 00:21:46.400 --> 00:21:48.840 For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years. 00:21:48.840 --> 00:21:51.220 I like that he knows how his wife works. 00:21:51.520 --> 00:21:52.480 He calls himself old. 00:21:53.320 --> 00:21:53.770 She's just advanced. 00:21:55.380 --> 00:21:59.180 The angel answered and said to him, I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. 00:21:59.200 --> 00:22:02.180 And I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 00:22:03.380 --> 00:22:10.520 Behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled 00:22:10.520 --> 00:22:11.360 in their proper time. 00:22:13.740 --> 00:22:20.740 Zechariah's first response was not to believe, you know the shame of the Gospels when 00:22:20.740 --> 00:22:21.540 you read them. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:23.330 In the end, people believed. 00:22:24.740 --> 00:22:27.320 But throughout the time of Jesus they chose not to believe. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:35.500 When the angel came to Mary and to Joseph and shared that Mary would have a child as a virgin. 00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:37.620 At first Joseph didn't believe. 00:22:39.520 --> 00:22:43.220 Now, as Jesus grew up, the Bible tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters. 00:22:44.220 --> 00:22:48.300 You find in John, I believe it's in chapter seven that his brothers and sisters mocked him. 00:22:48.460 --> 00:22:53.420 Could you imagine coming home to Jesus as your brother, bringing that report card home when Jesus beat you to the door? 00:22:55.260 --> 00:23:02.460 And they mocked him and the book of John in chapter 20, it tells us even to the point where the disciples 00:23:02.460 --> 00:23:05.220 are running to the tomb, because they heard that the tomb was empty. 00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.840 The disciples still hadn't believed. 00:23:09.880 --> 00:23:17.420 It comes in John 20 and 28, but after the resurrection of Jesus, they believed. 00:23:18.740 --> 00:23:25.330 It tells us in acts chapter one that his brothers were in a room gathered together with their mother Mary, and they were worshiping Jesus. 00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:31.280 It tells us that the disciples had turned from unbelief to belief and trusting in Jesus. 00:23:31.420 --> 00:23:37.090 The message of Christmas is all about faith and what you choose to do with Jesus. 00:23:38.960 --> 00:23:46.120 You know, what I love about Jesus is that God just takes the simplest things in this world and 00:23:46.280 --> 00:23:48.610 turns him for his greatest glory. 00:23:50.140 --> 00:23:55.730 You think about the promise that came to Zechariah, that John the Baptist would come and proclaim the name of Jesus. 00:23:56.940 --> 00:23:58.700 You ever read about John the Baptist in the Bible? 00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:04.580 If I were to pick an incredible man in Scripture, I would not pick. 00:24:04.720 --> 00:24:10.980 John the Baptist tells us in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 11, this is what Jesus says about John the Baptist. 00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:13.710 I tell you the truth of all who have ever lived. 00:24:14.040 --> 00:24:16.460 None is greater than John the Baptist. 00:24:18.200 --> 00:24:25.420 Interesting that Jesus would say that, because when you read in other accounts about John, it says, John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness 00:24:25.420 --> 00:24:25.860 of sins. 00:24:26.220 --> 00:24:26.400 That's good. 00:24:26.880 --> 00:24:27.820 John is sharing the message. 00:24:28.580 --> 00:24:35.400 It says, in all the country of Judea was going out to him and all the people of Jerusalem, and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins. 00:24:35.440 --> 00:24:36.290 Look what it says in verse six. 00:24:37.300 --> 00:24:38.200 Think about this guy. 00:24:39.320 --> 00:24:44.040 John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. 00:24:44.520 --> 00:24:48.100 He is a fashion king and wore excuse me. 00:24:48.100 --> 00:24:50.880 And his diet was locusts and honey. 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:59.430 If you were to go through this world and think about incredible people that you would say, man, if this person would just trust in you, God, they're going to do amazing things. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:07.100 God, if you would just get that famous person and he just got on TV, man, we wouldn't have to share your name because Justin Bieber has the world, right? 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:08.860 I don't know if that's true or not. 00:25:09.060 --> 00:25:10.160 Is that Justin Bieber's name? 00:25:10.360 --> 00:25:10.820 Right? 00:25:10.820 --> 00:25:11.420 Bieber fever. 00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:11.680 Okay. 00:25:12.780 --> 00:25:13.040 Sorry. 00:25:14.800 --> 00:25:21.300 Think about John the Baptist, a guy in camel hair, wearing a belt, eating locusts. 00:25:22.040 --> 00:25:24.680 And could you imagine that you're going to get baptized by this John the Baptist? 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:28.080 And you're like, John, you got a little leg hanging out your tooth. 00:25:28.080 --> 00:25:29.120 Can you take care of that? 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:39.040 The point is this Zacharias was used by God because 00:25:39.040 --> 00:25:40.590 Zacharias was faithful. 00:25:42.360 --> 00:25:43.780 Zacharias wasn't anything special. 00:25:43.780 --> 00:25:46.040 There's not much written about Zacharias in the Bible. 00:25:47.460 --> 00:25:50.420 All it says was at his old age, God used him. 00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:54.990 And the reason that God used him is because he just loved him. 00:25:56.940 --> 00:26:02.500 And in that love, he was compelled to just go in prayer before God and open up his heart. 00:26:04.080 --> 00:26:08.920 When Zacharias began to open up his heart, what he experienced was just an unbelievable Christmas. 00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:16.750 You know, I have the difficulty of just focusing on Christmas, as if that's the only time of year that God can work in our lives. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:24.110 When we talk about an unbelievable Christmas, it's an unbelievable Christmas because Jesus can work in our lives any time of the year. 00:26:25.560 --> 00:26:31.260 If people would just humble themselves before God and trust in him and open up their hearts and begin to pray. 00:26:32.740 --> 00:26:36.780 God can work in the message of Jesus to accomplish great promises in our world. 00:26:39.180 --> 00:26:40.220 Question for you this morning. 00:26:43.680 --> 00:26:50.820 Because if you had one thing on your heart, if you knew that you just had an opportunity just 00:26:50.820 --> 00:26:56.670 to come before the throne of God, and can I just tell you, the Bible says that when you are praying to God, you are before his throne. 00:26:58.060 --> 00:27:05.060 But if one thing even among your wife is Elizabeth and Zechariah would have had the opportunity to talk about the prayer that he would bring into the temple of God as he offered 00:27:05.060 --> 00:27:05.580 up the incense. 00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:08.380 One prayer you could just pour out to God. 00:27:08.420 --> 00:27:11.400 What would it be for Zacharias? 00:27:11.540 --> 00:27:12.820 It was important for his lineage. 00:27:14.800 --> 00:27:20.930 I could think about even my young son just holding in my arms and thinking, God, just work and move in his life. 00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:23.320 God, what? 00:27:23.600 --> 00:27:26.680 What prayer do you really need to bring before God? 00:27:27.780 --> 00:27:33.170 If I were to ask you whatever you're thinking about, whatever that prayer is, have you really been praying for it? 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:35.680 Think about that for a moment. 00:27:36.740 --> 00:27:43.980 You think about the personalness of Zacharias coming into this temple and praying and lifting it up before God, because he believed that in that moment God 00:27:43.980 --> 00:27:45.020 would answer that prayer. 00:27:45.320 --> 00:27:48.460 Are you taking that need and just saying, God, give me that unbelievable Christmas. 00:27:48.740 --> 00:27:52.800 God, answer this prayer from the joys of your life into the depths of my heart. 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:54.100 God, please bring this. 00:27:55.400 --> 00:27:57.270 Trusting in him. 00:27:58.280 --> 00:28:02.910 Maybe we could ask ourselves, are you taking the time to trust in him? 00:28:04.480 --> 00:28:08.760 I mean, have we fallen into the despair of thinking that Christmas is about everything but Jesus? 00:28:11.040 --> 00:28:14.590 In this book that we're given out to you today is just answers the questions. 00:28:14.620 --> 00:28:16.460 Where did where did Saint Nick come from? 00:28:16.460 --> 00:28:18.760 Why do you have a tree in your living room right now? 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.010 Why do you put a topper on that tree? 00:28:21.220 --> 00:28:25.790 I mean, that's the most dangerous ornament to hang, but it's all about Jesus. 00:28:27.500 --> 00:28:31.430 It's intended for you to take these opportunities and realize people have done this throughout the years, so they don't. 00:28:31.740 --> 00:28:37.190 We don't lose the meaning of Christmas and forget that it's about Jesus and to focus it on him. 00:28:38.660 --> 00:28:46.080 Here's what we find in Scripture that even as a common, ordinary person, God can do some 00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:47.100 glorious things. 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:54.680 If we by faith would just humble ourselves, open our hearts, and take the time to pray and God begins to move. 00:28:55.880 --> 00:28:56.800 Let's close in a word of prayer.