WEBVTT 00:00:00.180 --> 00:00:07.360 I don't know whether to apologize or what, but we had this Christmas 4 part wonderful Christmas 00:00:07.640 --> 00:00:09.450 series planned for us as a church family. 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:14.320 And then one Sunday I got the flu and another Sunday I was out of town. 00:00:14.320 --> 00:00:15.660 And I appreciate Richie filling in for me. 00:00:15.940 --> 00:00:23.040 He caught a call on Saturday night saying my plane got canceled and was prepared by Sunday morning, so I appreciate him taking that on last 00:00:23.040 --> 00:00:23.480 Sunday. 00:00:23.520 --> 00:00:30.840 And so this Christmas, wonderful four week series that we had celebrating advent and all that was involved, 00:00:30.860 --> 00:00:33.600 kind of took a back seat to life's events. 00:00:33.940 --> 00:00:41.300 And it's been a little different than what we planned, but it carries with it an idea that I want to bring 00:00:41.300 --> 00:00:42.640 to our attention this morning. 00:00:43.940 --> 00:00:45.840 And that is life is messy. 00:00:46.720 --> 00:00:47.340 Amen. 00:00:47.340 --> 00:00:47.520 Amen. 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:48.840 I knew that can be done now. 00:00:48.840 --> 00:00:52.140 I knew I was going to get that, go home and figure out what to do. 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:52.680 Okay. 00:00:55.060 --> 00:01:01.780 I like it when people well, I don't necessarily like it, but I often hear people say, save the drama for your mama, right? 00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:03.360 I don't like drama. 00:01:04.160 --> 00:01:09.160 Typically, people that understand that life is messy and you take your mess somewhere else, right? 00:01:11.780 --> 00:01:13.460 We don't like it when life gets messy. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:18.300 We don't like failure and we don't plan to fail. 00:01:19.240 --> 00:01:24.520 But nonetheless, life is messy, and especially around Christmas time. 00:01:25.920 --> 00:01:33.340 It seems that often during the holidays, especially when we are more involved outdoors and getting shopping and with family life 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:35.320 can sometimes seem like a roller coaster. 00:01:36.540 --> 00:01:36.920 And it gets difficult. 00:01:38.220 --> 00:01:40.160 It gets messy and bad things happen. 00:01:41.600 --> 00:01:46.500 No one plans for failure in life, but none the less it takes place. 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:49.740 The question I think this morning is where? 00:01:50.040 --> 00:01:56.000 Where do we hang those events of pain and events of messiness within our life? 00:01:57.660 --> 00:01:59.740 You think within Christmas tradition? 00:01:59.760 --> 00:02:06.950 I know for me, as a child, my parents were divorced very early on, and so we spent Christmas at four different locations. 00:02:07.960 --> 00:02:10.380 And Christmas was messy as a kid growing up. 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:16.320 No one plans for divorce, but it happens and it makes life messy. 00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:18.990 No one plans to lose jobs. 00:02:19.060 --> 00:02:25.160 No one really plans to lose loved ones, though we know it will happen in life when it does gets messy. 00:02:26.920 --> 00:02:29.930 Failure happens and we try to make sense of it as people. 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:38.680 Sometimes we use clever slogans to encourage ourselves or encourage others when difficult things happen, we 00:02:38.740 --> 00:02:45.840 say things like, I don't believe it was a coincidence or everything happens for a reason, or it just wasn't meant to be, 00:02:46.700 --> 00:02:54.020 or somehow it'll all work out in the end, hoping that the messiness will be explained or the chaos 00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:56.450 will come to order. 00:02:57.100 --> 00:03:04.280 You know, the beautiful thing about it is I believe it's part of God's image placed within you, that within our souls, when complications 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:10.640 arise and difficulty is faced within our lives, we long for an explanation. 00:03:11.220 --> 00:03:13.540 We long for things to be worked out. 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:16.700 We long for the for the chaos to come to order. 00:03:18.360 --> 00:03:19.500 And God is the same way. 00:03:20.540 --> 00:03:23.840 God is a God who brings chaos into order. 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:31.000 God is a God when things don't make sense, can intervene within our lives and make things make sense. 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:37.020 Jesus, in fact, loves intervening to make life make sense. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:40.760 The thing within us that desires to connect the dots. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:45.400 To get rid of the messiness, to lose the drama for your mama. 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:48.860 It's about God's nature within us. 00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:51.320 It's his image being reflected in our lives. 00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:58.860 We live life expecting a certain amount of order, and God is one who brings order into 00:03:58.920 --> 00:03:59.640 our lives. 00:04:00.780 --> 00:04:07.440 And the first thing that people want to know, when you begin to suggest that God can do such a thing as we just ask the question, Can God really do this? 00:04:07.460 --> 00:04:10.580 I mean, sometimes we think of circumstances within our lives and we look at it. 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:13.860 We think, Can God really fix this mess? 00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:20.470 The Gospels begin to record a story for us in the Christmas story. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:27.540 A lot of times when we think about it is a beautiful, simplistic picture of Jesus coming to this world, right? 00:04:27.960 --> 00:04:29.040 You've got your manger scene. 00:04:29.120 --> 00:04:29.740 Everything's perfect. 00:04:30.500 --> 00:04:33.280 These animals are just gathering, all paying attention to Jesus. 00:04:33.580 --> 00:04:35.000 And everyone's just worshiping. 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:35.980 We sang the Christmas song. 00:04:36.280 --> 00:04:37.340 Jesus didn't Cry. 00:04:37.580 --> 00:04:38.380 You just saw that. 00:04:38.900 --> 00:04:39.900 That was debunked, right? 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:42.820 That there's no mention of Jesus not crying as a child. 00:04:43.140 --> 00:04:46.450 But the Christmas story in our in our minds a lot of times is beautiful. 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:51.180 But when you study it within Scripture, what you begin to understand is Christmas is messy. 00:04:53.260 --> 00:05:00.360 The story of Jesus is messy, and Luke, when he begins recording the events 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:05.100 of this in the scriptures, it says in Luke chapter one and verse one. 00:05:06.540 --> 00:05:13.640 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:17.580 by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 00:05:19.580 --> 00:05:23.970 Well, Luke says to us as the same thing that we find basic within our own human nature. 00:05:24.240 --> 00:05:28.980 When something eventful happens within a life, we want the news. 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:29.930 We want to know what happens. 00:05:30.240 --> 00:05:31.220 We want to record it. 00:05:31.220 --> 00:05:32.310 We want to get the updates. 00:05:32.700 --> 00:05:33.230 We're on Facebook. 00:05:33.760 --> 00:05:35.970 We get on Twitter, we turn to headline news. 00:05:36.320 --> 00:05:37.840 What happened in Newtown. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:38.140 Right. 00:05:39.580 --> 00:05:47.220 Can we understand the details that took place you think I just went home to bury my grandfather? 00:05:47.400 --> 00:05:50.340 And something happens every time someone passes away. 00:05:50.340 --> 00:05:57.480 There's someone within the family or a loved one who's chosen to write the obituary and which will go into the newspaper to commemorate the 00:05:57.480 --> 00:05:59.690 life of the individual who's just passed. 00:06:00.360 --> 00:06:00.840 It's an event. 00:06:02.980 --> 00:06:03.760 We want to know about it. 00:06:05.500 --> 00:06:06.000 It impacts lives. 00:06:07.940 --> 00:06:11.540 And Luke says the same thing in Luke chapter one and verse one. 00:06:13.020 --> 00:06:20.080 I can imagine, as he begins to pick up a manuscript and to record this gospel message, his first 00:06:20.080 --> 00:06:24.450 thoughts to us are, this story is so unbelievable. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:32.180 It's so powerful, it's so impacting, it's so life changing that anyone who found out about it just saw 00:06:32.180 --> 00:06:35.340 the need to write this down that other people may begin to know. 00:06:37.180 --> 00:06:42.460 And Luke says likewise in verse two, I began to write this down as well. 00:06:43.580 --> 00:06:47.500 These things were handed down from us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 00:06:48.220 --> 00:06:55.400 And he says in verse three, with this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I decided to write 00:06:55.400 --> 00:06:58.230 an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:02.040 Now I wonder within my mind. 00:07:02.140 --> 00:07:02.770 Can you guys stop that? 00:07:03.420 --> 00:07:04.220 Thanks. 00:07:04.280 --> 00:07:06.240 I wonder within my mind as these. 00:07:07.160 --> 00:07:09.200 Luke began to pen this story. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:17.820 If he thought, as he wrote the Gospel of Luke, how this might impact generation upon generation of 00:07:18.040 --> 00:07:25.220 people for centuries to come, Or if you just thought about his immediate contacts, maybe those 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:28.700 that he cared about and some others who may pick up the manuscript. 00:07:30.140 --> 00:07:37.320 I wonder if he thought about wars being fought and lives being changed and lives being wrecked over who 00:07:37.320 --> 00:07:43.320 this Jesus is, how impactful this story would become for the sake of humanity. 00:07:45.540 --> 00:07:46.910 He tells us in verse three. 00:07:48.460 --> 00:07:50.900 I've seen all these people record of this event. 00:07:51.260 --> 00:07:57.050 I myself have gone through this world, and I have spoken with those who are a part of everything that's taken place. 00:07:57.380 --> 00:08:04.440 And in verse three he says, and I, I felt the need as a friend who cares about you, Theophilus, just to write these words so 00:08:04.440 --> 00:08:06.750 you can understand how significant it was to your life. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:13.660 Theophilus in the book of Luke is an interesting character because no one knows who this individual is. 00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:17.320 People have often speculated as to who Theophilus could be. 00:08:17.360 --> 00:08:19.910 If you read the Book of Luke and the Book of Acts, they go together. 00:08:20.200 --> 00:08:25.740 Luke wrote both of those books in sequence to one another, and both of them are written to Theophilus. 00:08:26.100 --> 00:08:33.100 And some have wondered if Theophilus was even a real person, because the word Theophilus literally means a friend 00:08:33.100 --> 00:08:36.419 of God. 00:08:37.320 --> 00:08:44.680 Luke could have been writing this thought just merely as a person of concern, saying to our world, these events 00:08:44.680 --> 00:08:51.780 in which I'm about to record within Scripture are so significant to your life that if you have any desire to want to know this 00:08:51.940 --> 00:08:59.140 Jesus that people feel so important to share as a friend, let me just share these stories with you and I'm bringing it 00:08:59.180 --> 00:09:06.620 from a place that I've I've gone where these people have gone, I've walked where they've walked, I've spoken with them as they've experienced what's taken place. 00:09:07.000 --> 00:09:13.880 And now I'm here to share with you, Theophilus, old friend of God, what God has done. 00:09:14.700 --> 00:09:17.220 God is interesting in how he chooses to work within this world. 00:09:18.560 --> 00:09:21.550 If I were to tell you, God is going to become flesh. 00:09:22.380 --> 00:09:26.420 Now map out for me what that might look like without reading the story itself. 00:09:27.380 --> 00:09:30.940 I could come up with a lot of clever thoughts for which I think God should come into this world. 00:09:31.160 --> 00:09:34.500 After all, he's reigning on high in on his throne. 00:09:34.500 --> 00:09:38.880 Emmanuel, God with us, comes to dwell in this world and he obviously will be a king. 00:09:39.180 --> 00:09:40.600 He obviously will be rich. 00:09:40.920 --> 00:09:42.970 He obviously will rule everything. 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:44.540 Everyone will bow down to him. 00:09:44.760 --> 00:09:46.020 That's what kings do. 00:09:48.100 --> 00:09:54.260 And Luke is writing this story as if he's saying to us in verse four, so that you may know the certainty of things that you have been taught. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:10:02.340 Guys, this story is so unbelievable from anything that we'd expect the King of the universe, the King of everything coming to this world. 00:10:02.400 --> 00:10:09.600 It's so unbelievable that as a friend, I just want to take the time to share with you how significant and important it is, because 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:16.600 every thought that we would have about God dwelling upon high, becoming flesh, and living on this earth is just decimated in what Jesus 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:18.170 has actually done. 00:10:19.760 --> 00:10:21.320 And Luke begins to share the story. 00:10:23.040 --> 00:10:24.400 He opens in verse five. 00:10:26.700 --> 00:10:29.310 He starts to tell us the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. 00:10:30.920 --> 00:10:32.860 Zechariah was a priest in the nation of Israel. 00:10:34.220 --> 00:10:37.140 God hadn't spoken to Israel for over 400 years. 00:10:37.140 --> 00:10:39.220 They referred to this as the silent years. 00:10:39.220 --> 00:10:41.550 You ever wonder what happened between your old and New Testament? 00:10:41.940 --> 00:10:43.420 The book Bible ends the Old Testament. 00:10:43.420 --> 00:10:47.540 Malachi begins with the book of Matthew, and in between that you have 400 years of nothing. 00:10:48.040 --> 00:10:55.100 God is silent towards this nation, and all of a sudden, after 400 years of quietness, God now 00:10:55.100 --> 00:10:59.840 begins to speak, and the people that he chooses blows this nation away. 00:11:01.400 --> 00:11:06.760 Because in my mind, when God would choose to speak, the person he would choose to would be the most holy individual of this nation. 00:11:07.800 --> 00:11:08.640 It would be the high priest. 00:11:09.560 --> 00:11:14.810 It would be the one that everyone respected and all looked up on and desired to hear from. 00:11:15.740 --> 00:11:19.220 But why God chooses is Zechariah and Elizabeth. 00:11:19.340 --> 00:11:21.000 Elizabeth was a barren lady. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:24.100 She was unable to have children to her society. 00:11:24.360 --> 00:11:27.480 She would have been shamed upon because she couldn't have kids during that time. 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:30.820 It was a difficult thing for a lady to endure. 00:11:31.780 --> 00:11:33.310 Other women would look down upon her. 00:11:34.580 --> 00:11:38.000 And yet God, in this messy situation, begins to extend his grace. 00:11:38.520 --> 00:11:45.580 And rather than choose some elaborate and powerful individual within the nation of Israel, he just chooses poor old little, 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:48.070 little, insignificant and unimportant. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:51.580 Zechariah and Elizabeth. 00:11:51.920 --> 00:11:58.960 And as if that story didn't begin messy enough, he then begins to tell us that what he desires to work through at that point is a 16 year 00:11:58.960 --> 00:12:01.430 old virgin, or thereabouts, in her early teens. 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:11.140 Mary, out of all the people that God could have chosen, in my mind, I think God should select an individual of great wealth and power, someone prominent 00:12:11.140 --> 00:12:12.940 within society that everyone knows. 00:12:13.180 --> 00:12:13.880 And he picks a little girl. 00:12:16.400 --> 00:12:20.780 Mary, this young virgin is chosen by God. 00:12:22.020 --> 00:12:25.100 She's having a child out of wedlock and in the nation of Israel. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:26.360 It's shameful. 00:12:28.280 --> 00:12:30.300 Joseph was betrothed to her. 00:12:30.360 --> 00:12:31.420 But they hadn't been married yet. 00:12:33.880 --> 00:12:38.380 And Mary, the 16 year old girl, was selected by God. 00:12:38.860 --> 00:12:40.650 Being made fun of by her own people. 00:12:41.740 --> 00:12:46.060 And the story of Christmas gets messy as you continue on with. 00:12:46.060 --> 00:12:51.020 In the Gospels, Matthew and Luke chapter three begin to record the genealogy of Jesus. 00:12:51.020 --> 00:12:55.260 And as you look at the genealogy of Jesus, you would expect within Jesus's genealogy. 00:12:55.340 --> 00:12:58.380 Of course, he picked the best of the best of individuals to come from. 00:12:59.840 --> 00:13:06.840 And as you read the story of Jesus's account in the gospels of his ancestry, Jesus came 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:10.720 from a background that wouldn't be the best as we would describe it. 00:13:12.300 --> 00:13:17.840 Tamar, the first lady that's mentioned, had children with her father in law of Jesus's lineage. 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:21.870 Rahab, part of Jesus's lineage, was a prostitute. 00:13:23.140 --> 00:13:24.720 Ruth wasn't even a Jew. 00:13:25.520 --> 00:13:28.680 King David was a murderer and an adulterer. 00:13:29.000 --> 00:13:35.220 And all of these individuals listed are listed in Jesus's family tree. 00:13:35.460 --> 00:13:38.990 You think the story isn't exactly what I would think God would desire? 00:13:39.620 --> 00:13:41.560 This story is messy. 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:45.010 This story sometimes looks a lot like my life. 00:13:45.840 --> 00:13:47.060 Life is messy. 00:13:48.500 --> 00:13:50.200 As if the story weren't to end there. 00:13:50.280 --> 00:13:52.600 Bible tells us that Jesus was born in a manger. 00:13:52.640 --> 00:13:55.620 I got to tell you, they don't make ladies like they used to, right? 00:13:55.700 --> 00:13:56.200 Just kidding. 00:13:57.280 --> 00:13:59.900 Traveling by donkey or cart or whatever. 00:13:59.900 --> 00:14:00.830 It was nine months pregnant. 00:14:01.260 --> 00:14:02.080 Try that today. 00:14:02.360 --> 00:14:03.480 That ain't happening, right? 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:05.660 They just. 00:14:05.780 --> 00:14:06.280 They were tough. 00:14:08.880 --> 00:14:13.360 And it tells us when Jesus came to this world, he wasn't born in a mansion. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:17.040 He was born in a cave which we call a manger. 00:14:18.660 --> 00:14:23.080 Of all the places God on the throne would come, why a manger? 00:14:24.040 --> 00:14:24.780 Animal filth. 00:14:24.980 --> 00:14:26.300 Everywhere I go in my back yard. 00:14:26.300 --> 00:14:27.720 After the dog's been there and I hate walking. 00:14:27.880 --> 00:14:31.040 Could you imagine the cave full of animals? 00:14:32.540 --> 00:14:35.380 The story is somewhat gross. 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:44.210 And then it goes on to tell us that when Jesus is born within this manger, they begin to wrap him in swaddling clothes. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:47.260 We practice this today. 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:48.860 Babies born, their legs are all bent. 00:14:49.540 --> 00:14:50.180 Funky, right? 00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:50.800 It looks like something. 00:14:51.180 --> 00:14:51.940 They need to get that fixed. 00:14:52.540 --> 00:14:55.780 And we got to we wrap them up there. 00:14:55.900 --> 00:15:00.920 So they're so used to the compression of the mother's womb, they just want to be wrapped up and held tight. 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:02.700 We swaddle our children. 00:15:03.900 --> 00:15:10.960 The interesting thing about the swaddling of clothes, in which Jesus talks about in this passage is that the swaddling isn't the same swaddling that 00:15:10.960 --> 00:15:14.910 we do today in the Far East. 00:15:15.180 --> 00:15:20.080 When people would go on journeys, it was often likely that an individual would pass away. 00:15:21.020 --> 00:15:21.580 Journeys were difficult. 00:15:22.800 --> 00:15:26.280 You can imagine traveling by cart or by donkey, long distance and all the elements. 00:15:26.400 --> 00:15:28.000 No air conditioning and heat to keep you out. 00:15:28.400 --> 00:15:35.320 If you were to go through that and endure that for several days, there was a likelihood you could get some illness without any modern medication and pass away. 00:15:37.060 --> 00:15:44.660 And so what they would do back in the time of Christ is that they would take this strip of cloth, much like the size of an ace bandage today, and 00:15:44.660 --> 00:15:51.040 they would literally wrap it around their waist as they began to travel, that they had to place to place the swaddling cloth. 00:15:52.140 --> 00:15:59.140 And while on the journey of someone passed away, in order to continue the journey and have time to bury their dead when they arrive to their 00:15:59.140 --> 00:15:59.640 location. 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:07.620 If someone passed, they would take a swaddling cloth and wrap the individual like we would swaddle a baby like a mummy from head to toe. 00:16:10.040 --> 00:16:17.080 Jesus being wrapped in swaddling cloth is saying to us with in Scripture, right after Jesus was born, Mary likely wouldn't be wearing one. 00:16:17.300 --> 00:16:24.020 Her belly was a balloon, but Joseph would have taken the swaddling cloth off of his waist and began to wrap his child. 00:16:25.780 --> 00:16:27.860 Think about the picture of that for just a moment. 00:16:28.380 --> 00:16:29.660 Jesus lived to die. 00:16:30.700 --> 00:16:34.110 He came to this earth to give his life for the sins of mankind. 00:16:34.680 --> 00:16:42.000 The cross was always a part of God's plan for Christ, and Joseph wrapped his child in 00:16:42.220 --> 00:16:43.340 clothing of death. 00:16:45.280 --> 00:16:52.300 This was so important and significant in the gospel story that when the angels appear to the shepherds in Luke chapter two, 00:16:53.220 --> 00:16:57.130 it tells us when the angels show up, that the first thing the angels say isn't go find Jesus. 00:16:57.200 --> 00:16:57.650 He's in a cave. 00:16:58.680 --> 00:16:59.380 Let's go find Jesus. 00:16:59.780 --> 00:17:03.990 You wouldn't believe he's wrapped in these burial clothes, and he's also in a cave. 00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:10.020 Jesus is wrapped for death, and this story is messy. 00:17:11.579 --> 00:17:18.599 Out of all the things we would expect when you read your Old Testament, you see, prophetically Jesus proclaimed and the details of his life 00:17:18.599 --> 00:17:20.380 shared with the nation of Israel. 00:17:20.400 --> 00:17:21.960 I mean, this was like a telegraph pass. 00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:24.980 This is like Tom Brady passing to any wide receiver. 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:27.030 You just turn around and the ball's right there. 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:32.680 Right Jesus in the Old Testament is explained in such detail that you can't miss his coming. 00:17:32.860 --> 00:17:33.000 Right. 00:17:34.320 --> 00:17:35.460 Everyone should be there worshiping. 00:17:37.280 --> 00:17:44.340 The Bible tells us that all that showed up on the day that Christ was born are the lowly shepherds proclaiming and 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:45.760 praising his name. 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:54.500 As if that wasn't bad enough and an insult to the nation of Israel who were giving God's truth doesn't tell us that the Jews 00:17:54.500 --> 00:17:57.680 showed up, but later the Magi showed up. 00:17:58.080 --> 00:18:01.000 The funny thing about this is sometimes we think these individuals are kings. 00:18:01.080 --> 00:18:05.020 Sometimes we call them wisemen, sometimes we call them magi, but we really don't know what they were. 00:18:06.140 --> 00:18:08.540 Bible just gives the indication they were prominent people. 00:18:09.680 --> 00:18:14.610 And in fact, if they were magi, that might actually mean that they are in the arts of magic. 00:18:17.400 --> 00:18:21.920 Individuals that weren't Jewish dabbling in the arts of magic are coming to worship Jesus. 00:18:23.660 --> 00:18:25.300 They're involved in astronomy. 00:18:25.340 --> 00:18:31.460 The Bible gives indication of that because they see the Star of Bethlehem and they recognize there's something significant about this. 00:18:31.540 --> 00:18:33.340 This star isn't supposed to be in the sky. 00:18:33.520 --> 00:18:35.740 It's not supposed to be glowing like this. 00:18:36.860 --> 00:18:37.300 Interesting. 00:18:37.300 --> 00:18:43.500 They came from the nation of Babylon, for which Israel had been carried away as captives in the sixth century BC. 00:18:44.140 --> 00:18:51.480 They were familiar with the Old Testament, and of all the people in the world that could read the Old Testament and recognize the coming of the Messiah, rather than choosing 00:18:51.840 --> 00:18:56.800 the Jewish nation, God worked upon the hearts of the Magi to come and worship him. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:19:05.200 The Bible goes on and tells us that while Jesus was being born and while these individuals were coming to worship 00:19:05.200 --> 00:19:12.220 Christ and this messy situation, these messy circumstances covered in these swaddling cloths of death, that not only did they have to worry 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:17.400 about the elements being born in Bethlehem in December of all times, could you imagine that dealing with that weather? 00:19:18.660 --> 00:19:20.510 But there's also a king coming to kill him. 00:19:21.820 --> 00:19:28.960 The story of the king coming to kill Jesus and this messy situation gets so horrific that an angel appears before Mary and Joseph and tells him, 00:19:29.040 --> 00:19:29.580 you need to leave. 00:19:29.840 --> 00:19:30.660 You need to head to Egypt. 00:19:30.840 --> 00:19:32.020 You need to live as an exile. 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:34.260 The Son of Man born king. 00:19:34.280 --> 00:19:38.120 He's King of kings, comes to this earth, is a humble servant living in exile. 00:19:38.140 --> 00:19:42.410 He literally has no place to lay his head. 00:19:43.280 --> 00:19:50.580 And while Jesus flees in exile, Bible tells us that children are just decimated 00:19:50.580 --> 00:19:52.250 in Bethlehem. 00:19:53.840 --> 00:19:56.360 You ever thought about the individuals left behind in this story? 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:59.690 The Bible doesn't give us the details of their lives. 00:20:01.660 --> 00:20:04.740 Could you imagine being the innkeeper and the one responsible for housing Jesus? 00:20:06.460 --> 00:20:07.720 The authorities come to your place. 00:20:09.140 --> 00:20:10.320 You can't turn him over. 00:20:11.280 --> 00:20:12.100 Your lives being threatened. 00:20:13.800 --> 00:20:15.800 Your children being killed before your very eyes. 00:20:17.740 --> 00:20:25.460 God, knowing this is going to happen, God's still bringing His son to the world, allowing 00:20:25.460 --> 00:20:31.840 the hearts of men to still live in that wickedness that they are craving in this king to slaughter innocent children. 00:20:34.160 --> 00:20:41.160 Can I tell you, just thinking about that and the messiness of life especially as it relates to 00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:41.880 us of recent news. 00:20:42.400 --> 00:20:45.580 We can relate to this and seeing the tragic events that happened in Connecticut. 00:20:47.580 --> 00:20:49.240 It's the same story with this king. 00:20:51.060 --> 00:20:52.120 That's just it's messy. 00:20:53.500 --> 00:20:56.360 It's ugly, it's gross, it's disgusting. 00:20:58.380 --> 00:20:59.770 And what hope is there in this situation? 00:21:01.900 --> 00:21:07.580 You think about Luke's story or Matthew as he's sharing now the thoughts that they would have carried in these moments. 00:21:09.620 --> 00:21:16.700 The situation looks hopeless and the situation looks so difficult that even living in it, 00:21:16.760 --> 00:21:22.300 you've got to be wondering how in the world is God going to use this situation for his glory? 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:24.100 This is so messy. 00:21:28.000 --> 00:21:29.300 The Bible even goes on. 00:21:30.600 --> 00:21:37.740 The story of the Christmas events ends with this Mary takes her little baby to the temple to thank the Lord for his birth 00:21:37.740 --> 00:21:38.980 and to offer a sacrifice. 00:21:39.660 --> 00:21:43.220 A prophet comes up to her and says, oh yeah, Mary, you think it's dumb, but it's not. 00:21:43.260 --> 00:21:44.530 Your own soul is going to be pierced. 00:21:48.940 --> 00:21:56.220 You ever had to go through something like that where life gets so difficult that you feel like just your inner being 00:21:56.220 --> 00:21:57.520 is just being ripped apart? 00:22:02.380 --> 00:22:09.980 Fresh on my mind, because I just finished up a funeral of my grandfather and I remember 00:22:09.980 --> 00:22:16.980 sitting, talking with everyone and what they were going through and surprising to me, the person that was 00:22:17.340 --> 00:22:20.040 handling the most difficult was my mother. 00:22:23.480 --> 00:22:24.840 And just talking to her about it. 00:22:26.220 --> 00:22:33.260 She says, I've lost grandparents, and that was difficult, but I've never lost someone so close to me, and my soul just 00:22:33.260 --> 00:22:33.600 hurts. 00:22:35.480 --> 00:22:37.680 I feel like my life is just being ripped apart. 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:48.520 You think about the story of Mary as Luke writes this account, and Mary couldn't quite understand what 00:22:48.520 --> 00:22:49.100 God was doing. 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:58.180 God came and spoke to her, but it was 33 years of enduring hardship with Jesus before she finally saw 00:22:58.180 --> 00:22:59.520 God's plan being worked out. 00:23:01.680 --> 00:23:04.810 A young virgin, not married, made fun of in her community. 00:23:05.080 --> 00:23:12.080 Throughout all of her life and then in the very end, her son being opposed against by her own people and 00:23:12.080 --> 00:23:19.020 being hung upon a cross, her soul was pierced. 00:23:19.020 --> 00:23:21.820 And this Christmas story is messy. 00:23:22.560 --> 00:23:26.200 Why in the world would God give us such a story? 00:23:27.400 --> 00:23:29.740 You can imagine, Luke when he writes this account. 00:23:29.740 --> 00:23:35.410 He's writing to his friend Theophilus, old dear friend, whoever picks this up, you've got to look at the story. 00:23:35.420 --> 00:23:38.020 This is so unbelievable what's happening. 00:23:38.180 --> 00:23:40.160 And if God's not in it is just a mess. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:42.080 And there is no hope for this situation. 00:23:43.720 --> 00:23:45.040 It is ugly as life gets. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:47.800 Why in the world would this happen? 00:23:48.820 --> 00:23:51.020 Why would God choose such a story? 00:23:51.020 --> 00:23:56.600 Being a King of kings reigning upon a throne, God living in heaven, becoming flesh? 00:23:56.600 --> 00:23:58.580 Why would he pick to live such a life? 00:24:01.120 --> 00:24:04.700 I can imagine Luke having the opportunity of interviewing people who were there. 00:24:06.020 --> 00:24:09.340 Bible tells us after Jesus died, John took care of Mary. 00:24:09.600 --> 00:24:11.630 John and Mary lived in the city of Ephesus. 00:24:12.620 --> 00:24:15.320 Luke traveled to Ephesus with the Apostle Paul. 00:24:15.360 --> 00:24:18.610 Luke could have had the opportunity to talk to Mary about these events. 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:20.700 Mary, now that you're this is all behind you. 00:24:20.700 --> 00:24:23.200 I just want to get a broad picture of everything that took place. 00:24:23.480 --> 00:24:30.940 Can you just tell me what was that time like when you knew you knew that you were going to birth Jesus in this world? 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:37.780 Mary's response to Luke happens in Luke chapter one and verse 46. 00:24:39.820 --> 00:24:44.460 It tells us in those moments that what Mary chose to do was simply worship. 00:24:47.060 --> 00:24:51.150 There comes times in our lives where we can't understand exactly the way that God is working. 00:24:52.140 --> 00:24:52.980 We just know that he is. 00:24:54.720 --> 00:24:57.340 We don't know what tomorrow is going to bring. 00:24:57.340 --> 00:25:01.230 We just know that in those moments, he just simply asks us to trust him. 00:25:02.280 --> 00:25:09.360 Can imagine a 16 year old girl being low in income in life, and the world is just a 00:25:09.360 --> 00:25:10.640 large place for her. 00:25:10.680 --> 00:25:14.240 She can't even begin to fathom all that life's going to bring her. 00:25:14.240 --> 00:25:17.860 And then God comes to her before she's even married and tells her she's going to have a kid. 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:21.030 You can just imagine the weight that's just on her shoulders. 00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:22.480 And Luke sitting there with Mary. 00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:25.040 Mary, what did you do in that situation? 00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:28.560 The Bible tells us she worshiped. 00:25:30.260 --> 00:25:34.160 She pauses in those moments and literally sings a song. 00:25:35.340 --> 00:25:42.520 When you read the book of First Samuel and chapter two, you find out that the song that Mary sing was actually a song from a lady named Hannah. 00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:51.000 Hannah was a woman who never had a child and desired to have one, and she asked the Lord to bless her life, to give her a child who was Samuel. 00:25:52.340 --> 00:25:54.220 God allowed her to become pregnant. 00:25:54.520 --> 00:25:58.980 She was so overjoyed with that, she began to sing the song of worship of the greatness of God. 00:25:59.020 --> 00:26:06.040 And if you read the account in first Samuel chapter two, it begins to share the story of a king that God would bring to rule the world 00:26:06.620 --> 00:26:08.360 before Israel even had a king. 00:26:09.900 --> 00:26:16.900 Mary, thinking about the beauty of the birth of Samuel to Hannah, begins to reflect that joy in her own life as God has chosen 00:26:17.120 --> 00:26:18.810 her with a special child. 00:26:19.940 --> 00:26:20.910 And she says this. 00:26:22.080 --> 00:26:27.660 My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. 00:26:27.760 --> 00:26:30.750 For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. 00:26:31.360 --> 00:26:36.980 From now on, all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me. 00:26:37.560 --> 00:26:38.600 Holy is his name. 00:26:38.600 --> 00:26:42.400 His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. 00:26:42.680 --> 00:26:44.560 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. 00:26:44.560 --> 00:26:47.160 He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 00:26:48.640 --> 00:26:52.580 He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. 00:26:52.600 --> 00:26:54.060 I would sing it for you, but I don't know how it goes. 00:26:55.620 --> 00:26:59.840 He has filled the hungry with good things, but he has sent the rich away empty. 00:27:01.100 --> 00:27:08.400 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised 00:27:09.060 --> 00:27:09.580 our ancestors. 00:27:12.060 --> 00:27:19.240 Mary uses this moment to begin to reflect back on all that God has done, and 00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:24.440 seeing the course of history being played out because Israel was longing for this Messiah. 00:27:26.270 --> 00:27:33.500 Recognizing that the weak of this world, the people who felt their lives were messy, the people who need 00:27:33.500 --> 00:27:40.420 hope and despair, the people who need to connect with this God and understand how this chaos can come to order. 00:27:40.780 --> 00:27:47.630 Those people who are searching will be whole and she just worships. 00:27:48.820 --> 00:27:51.350 Why would God choose such a story? 00:27:53.260 --> 00:27:58.080 Can I suggest to us, as Mary is discovering in her own life, as she's beginning to worship God? 00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:05.080 That God chose such a humble story for us as people to say to us, there isn't a place so dark and 00:28:05.260 --> 00:28:09.610 so lonely that God's grace can't reach it. 00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:17.840 God loves the messy, and God can take the difficult of any circumstance and make 00:28:17.840 --> 00:28:19.960 it make sense. 00:28:20.760 --> 00:28:27.820 Grace is created for the messy, which is a far different cry than anything that religion would teach 00:28:27.820 --> 00:28:27.920 us. 00:28:30.120 --> 00:28:36.740 So we think oftentimes as people, before we can begin our relationship with God, we've got to get our lives right and then come to him. 00:28:36.900 --> 00:28:44.100 But God created such, this story that this king of king would come to the lowliest of positions of life as low 00:28:44.100 --> 00:28:51.360 as he could imagine within his mind, as low as we could conceive as people to 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:58.520 say to us, no matter the place that you're in, no matter how dark it may feel, no matter how 00:28:58.520 --> 00:29:05.540 lonely it may become, no matter how messy life can get, there is no depths for which you can go that God's grace 00:29:05.540 --> 00:29:07.400 can't grab you and pull you out. 00:29:09.700 --> 00:29:12.500 God chose a humble story to show us. 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:20.700 God isn't a God who uses the equipped, but he equips the weak to be used. 00:29:22.360 --> 00:29:23.480 God doesn't want the capable. 00:29:25.580 --> 00:29:31.880 In fact, I would say God more often desires to work through the difficult so that the beauty of his glory can be seen. 00:29:33.380 --> 00:29:40.440 And Micah five two talking about the coming of Christ, it says this but you, O Bethlehem, Ephrathah, you are too little to be among the clans of Judah, for 00:29:40.440 --> 00:29:47.960 you shall come forth for me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from the days of old, from 00:29:47.960 --> 00:29:49.850 the Ancient of Days. 00:29:51.640 --> 00:29:58.040 God chose such a messy Christmas story to reveal to us something about the beauty and power of who God is as he works within our lives. 00:29:59.900 --> 00:30:02.040 I can imagine Luke as he sits in these moments. 00:30:02.160 --> 00:30:07.440 Mary, how did you even begin to experience this wonderful blessing of God in your life? 00:30:07.520 --> 00:30:08.480 What did you do? 00:30:08.540 --> 00:30:15.540 What did you say when you realized this messiness of what life was that God was going to begin to intervene in your life and turn it into a beautiful 00:30:15.540 --> 00:30:16.120 story? 00:30:16.540 --> 00:30:17.720 What did you do? 00:30:18.820 --> 00:30:20.260 What did you say? 00:30:21.320 --> 00:30:22.040 The Bible says this. 00:30:24.180 --> 00:30:31.380 After Mary heard that she was going to birth Jesus in this world, she says in verse 38, I 00:30:31.380 --> 00:30:32.370 am the Lord's servant. 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:35.590 May your word be made fulfilled. 00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:37.790 And the angel left her. 00:30:39.620 --> 00:30:45.670 Say to us this morning we think about experiencing God in the midst of our messy lives. 00:30:46.460 --> 00:30:50.720 Or as life becomes messy as we don't necessarily plan for it. 00:30:51.220 --> 00:30:53.200 How can we begin to experience God in those circumstances? 00:30:55.880 --> 00:31:02.820 So the words are often familiar with that of Mary's God have your way, God. 00:31:03.040 --> 00:31:06.080 Allow this to become so as your word has proclaimed. 00:31:08.720 --> 00:31:16.740 In the beauty of the story that Mary is sharing is she's sharing this story with Luke after the death of Jesus, after 00:31:16.740 --> 00:31:23.780 her soul has been pierced, when life was all fuzzy, she's now on the backside seeing God's plan fulfilled within her 00:31:23.780 --> 00:31:24.140 life. 00:31:26.120 --> 00:31:33.280 And Luke is recording to us the most important thoughts that we could carry with us as we see the life of Jesus being played out in this world 00:31:33.280 --> 00:31:34.460 and within our own hearts. 00:31:36.560 --> 00:31:38.240 Mary, when life got hard, what did you do? 00:31:39.280 --> 00:31:39.720 Well, I worshipped. 00:31:41.700 --> 00:31:47.950 And when you couldn't understand exactly what God was doing in your life, what was the most beneficial thing for us as people to begin to understand? 00:31:49.340 --> 00:31:51.520 I simply surrendered myself to who God was. 00:31:53.500 --> 00:31:53.800 God. 00:31:53.800 --> 00:32:00.920 I paused in those moments and said, Lord, I don't understand everything, but this is what you've told me, and what I'm saying to you 00:32:00.920 --> 00:32:02.980 is, God, have your way in me. 00:32:05.160 --> 00:32:12.320 I think about relationships with Jesus in this world and how complicated life makes it for us, and relationships with 00:32:12.320 --> 00:32:12.580 people. 00:32:13.940 --> 00:32:21.080 How many times we've got to be told the same things over and over before we begin to just let go and say to God, God, I don't understand, 00:32:22.260 --> 00:32:23.770 but have your way with me. 00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:27.780 Mary's encouraging us to have faith. 00:32:30.220 --> 00:32:31.980 Faith in what could happen in this world. 00:32:31.980 --> 00:32:34.850 Faith in a God who can bring order out of chaos. 00:32:36.540 --> 00:32:39.940 You know, real faith, biblical faith is not about moving God. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:47.370 Perfect faith is the faith that moves you to trust in God when you can't see him moving at all. 00:32:48.880 --> 00:32:55.340 And what I want to be careful in saying to us this morning is we think about having faith when life is difficult, is that faith shouldn't be ignorant. 00:32:55.720 --> 00:32:57.470 I don't want us to think, walk away and think. 00:32:57.480 --> 00:32:58.620 Just be ignorant in your faith. 00:32:59.020 --> 00:32:59.700 Faith makes sense. 00:33:01.260 --> 00:33:08.320 Let me explain to you how, when we saw the story of the Christmas story being played out for us, we looked at four accounts of Luke and four 00:33:08.320 --> 00:33:09.060 accounts of Matthew. 00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:13.840 Beautiful thing about Luke's story as he shares it as an individual who's experienced it. 00:33:14.080 --> 00:33:15.880 He shares it from a personal place to a friend. 00:33:16.920 --> 00:33:22.140 Many of us in this room, if we hadn't heard about Jesus from someone we trust, we wouldn't accept Jesus. 00:33:23.740 --> 00:33:30.820 You think in foreign countries today, people who grew up under a different religious system that's oppressing their lives, if we were just to show up, to tell them about Jesus, they 00:33:30.820 --> 00:33:35.460 may not give any validity to what we're saying because they don't know us from anyone else in the world. 00:33:35.460 --> 00:33:36.220 Why should they trust us? 00:33:36.600 --> 00:33:37.870 Their parents raised them right. 00:33:38.060 --> 00:33:38.500 Trust them. 00:33:40.260 --> 00:33:43.020 But Luke's account comes from a friend in which could be trusted. 00:33:43.080 --> 00:33:44.250 But when you look at the account of Matthew. 00:33:45.800 --> 00:33:50.020 Matthew begins to explain not just from a trusted friend, but a way that faith makes sense. 00:33:51.080 --> 00:33:58.160 And when he shares the story of Jesus's life throughout the entire book, Matthew tells a story about Jesus, and then he goes back to the Old Testament and he shows how 00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:01.100 Jesus prophetically fulfilled that story. 00:34:02.400 --> 00:34:04.760 He's saying to the Jews, Jesus makes sense. 00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:06.460 Listen prophetically. 00:34:06.460 --> 00:34:11.159 We have manuscripts of the Old Testament hundreds of years older than Jesus. 00:34:12.420 --> 00:34:16.420 And Jesus shows up and fulfills hundreds of Old Testament prophecy. 00:34:17.100 --> 00:34:17.679 All of it. 00:34:19.100 --> 00:34:20.400 It makes sense. 00:34:21.219 --> 00:34:23.159 Faith makes sense. 00:34:23.739 --> 00:34:25.080 There's nothing else in this world. 00:34:25.139 --> 00:34:31.420 Nowhere else you could ever look to find something that is so logical that more logical than Christianity. 00:34:33.080 --> 00:34:33.139 No. 00:34:33.320 --> 00:34:40.840 No other religion in this world can prophetically proclaim and telegraph to you the events of everything that was going to happen, like 00:34:40.840 --> 00:34:42.100 Christianity does. 00:34:43.400 --> 00:34:43.480 Amen. 00:34:43.620 --> 00:34:44.750 Faith makes sense. 00:34:46.739 --> 00:34:48.480 But on the same token, faith is also blind. 00:34:50.440 --> 00:34:57.120 Because while we see God working his hand throughout history, we don't always understand the way his hand is choosing to work in history. 00:34:59.060 --> 00:35:03.700 Faith is trusting in God even when we can't see him moving. 00:35:06.180 --> 00:35:11.560 I would say in this situation, as Mary writes this in verse 38, to us as people, she would be in that moment. 00:35:12.580 --> 00:35:16.500 She would say to us, I have no idea why God chose that family tree. 00:35:16.700 --> 00:35:20.200 I have no idea why God wanted to be born in a manger. 00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:24.080 I have no idea why these guys from Babylon came instead of the Jewish people. 00:35:24.300 --> 00:35:27.040 I have no idea why he chose me and Elizabeth. 00:35:27.060 --> 00:35:29.620 Out of all the people in Israel, I would have been the last people they picked. 00:35:29.880 --> 00:35:35.760 I have no idea why this story is working out the way it is, but in that moment, all I knew was God was making it work. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:39.260 And I was saying to him, Lord, I'm just here trusting in you. 00:35:42.220 --> 00:35:48.160 Faith is logical, but faith can be blind. 00:35:50.260 --> 00:35:57.720 Do you realize as you think about this Christmas story, apart from God's involvement, this 00:35:57.720 --> 00:35:59.860 is a worthless and useless piece of history. 00:36:01.740 --> 00:36:05.260 None of it makes sense when you consider Luke's writing. 00:36:05.500 --> 00:36:09.240 In the beginning, it becomes important to us to recognize what he's saying as people. 00:36:11.220 --> 00:36:18.520 I'm going to tell you a story that is so unbelievable that unless God is in this history 00:36:18.520 --> 00:36:20.680 is just useless to us. 00:36:21.420 --> 00:36:29.100 But because God is in this story becomes so important for us as people that we begin to see how messy becomes 00:36:29.100 --> 00:36:32.940 good and how God takes chaos and brings into it order. 00:36:34.060 --> 00:36:36.250 Jesus loves messy. 00:36:36.880 --> 00:36:40.060 God loves the way his glory can be revealed in our messy lives. 00:36:41.080 --> 00:36:48.300 God loves the way that his grace can just be presented and show forth, and the beauty of who he is radiates in our hearts and our minds because of 00:36:48.300 --> 00:36:51.840 what he presents, how he brings order out of chaos. 00:36:53.740 --> 00:36:54.740 Jesus didn't come for the perfect. 00:36:56.360 --> 00:37:02.280 Jesus came for those in need and God is working it all to make make sense for us. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:11.000 I love the way you look at the story of the Christmas events, how God now begins to take the story 00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:15.800 of faith throughout the Old Testament, and he interweaves the story of redemption into the life of Mary. 00:37:15.980 --> 00:37:20.860 And God is working together, his plan throughout all of history. 00:37:21.340 --> 00:37:28.380 And you think about now what he does in this room, the gathering of his people and worshiping of the coming of Jesus and the Christmas season here this morning 00:37:28.380 --> 00:37:32.520 we gather together and God is taking all of us in our lives. 00:37:32.520 --> 00:37:39.680 And each story that we carry in the way that God has made himself known to us and he's interweaving within us his story of redemption together. 00:37:40.800 --> 00:37:41.180 It's beautiful. 00:37:43.860 --> 00:37:48.750 The story for us becomes a story of hope like everyone else experiences. 00:37:50.660 --> 00:37:54.720 And this morning, I could say that all of us, to some degree, need some sort of hope. 00:37:56.540 --> 00:37:58.240 Jesus ultimately came to this world. 00:37:58.240 --> 00:37:59.580 We said to live, to die. 00:37:59.580 --> 00:38:06.360 He came to offer eternal life, that we may know him intimately from now and into eternity, forever. 00:38:06.360 --> 00:38:06.460 Forever. 00:38:07.260 --> 00:38:08.510 We're created for a relationship. 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:10.050 We have that hope. 00:38:11.200 --> 00:38:18.970 We need hope in our marriages, hope with our kids, hope in our struggles and oppositions, whatever adversity we face. 00:38:19.720 --> 00:38:24.020 The Bible tells us this Ephesians one and verse 11. 00:38:24.160 --> 00:38:28.660 The Bible reminds us throughout all of Scripture that what God's message is about has always been hope. 00:38:28.680 --> 00:38:32.400 It says Ephesians 111 God works out everything according to his will. 00:38:33.020 --> 00:38:34.320 Romans 828. 00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:36.740 All things work together for good to those who love God. 00:38:37.320 --> 00:38:44.400 And Isaiah 43 and verse 30, even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall, but those who hope in the Lord will 00:38:44.400 --> 00:38:45.280 renew their strength. 00:38:46.900 --> 00:38:50.050 Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:38:50.280 --> 00:38:50.740 He leads me. 00:38:52.080 --> 00:38:53.700 Second Corinthians 12 nine. 00:38:53.740 --> 00:38:58.140 My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness. 00:38:59.240 --> 00:39:02.540 Philippians 413 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 00:39:03.000 --> 00:39:04.440 Second Corinthians 517. 00:39:04.440 --> 00:39:06.690 If anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:07.720 The old has gone. 00:39:07.720 --> 00:39:08.660 The new is here. 00:39:09.500 --> 00:39:14.310 Revelation 21 five Jesus, seated on his throne, said, I am making everything new. 00:39:15.700 --> 00:39:22.820 Jeremiah 2911 for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give 00:39:22.840 --> 00:39:24.220 you hope and a future. 00:39:26.760 --> 00:39:29.100 Life hands us events that we don't plan for. 00:39:30.900 --> 00:39:38.000 Mary had 30 years of opposition before she saw a resurrected son, and realized how much since God was taking out 00:39:38.000 --> 00:39:41.940 of this chaos and turning into this world of the beautiful order that he desires. 00:39:44.440 --> 00:39:51.600 Our faith, like Mary's, will be defined by trusting in Christ when 00:39:51.600 --> 00:39:53.360 life doesn't make sense. 00:39:55.240 --> 00:39:57.970 Faith can be logical, as Matthew shows us. 00:39:58.580 --> 00:39:59.360 Jesus fulfilled prophecy. 00:40:01.620 --> 00:40:09.560 But faith also becomes a time in our lives in the midst of adversity, where we just have to cling to the one that we've trusted, knowing 00:40:09.560 --> 00:40:12.920 that he's promised us to work all things out. 00:40:15.560 --> 00:40:16.640 Some of us could say this. 00:40:16.980 --> 00:40:19.080 This could be difficult for me to do. 00:40:19.260 --> 00:40:21.200 Do you know what I'm going through? 00:40:21.300 --> 00:40:23.840 Do you know what I'm facing in my life? 00:40:23.840 --> 00:40:25.440 And I would just say this morning. 00:40:25.680 --> 00:40:28.850 What better in your life do you have to hope in? 00:40:30.420 --> 00:40:37.820 You look at Jesus's track record of everything that he's done in history and he has redeemed it all. 00:40:38.700 --> 00:40:46.380 You read the stories of the Old Testament that didn't make sense to the lives of the people who were encountering horrific events in their lives, and God intervenes 00:40:46.380 --> 00:40:48.330 and makes it make sense. 00:40:50.990 --> 00:40:57.360 And if you believe in the same God of the Christmas story, the same God of the Christmas story is the God you worship today. 00:40:59.260 --> 00:41:02.960 God is able to turn the messy into beautiful. 00:41:05.480 --> 00:41:07.900 And Mary's experience began with a place of worship. 00:41:10.750 --> 00:41:17.920 Mary, as we've seen all that Luke has recorded, how did you still experience God in the midst of that adversity? 00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:22.030 She worshiped and she just praised. 00:41:22.220 --> 00:41:25.680 In those moments, though she didn't understand, she just wanted to engage him. 00:41:26.980 --> 00:41:29.000 God didn't have to work through her, but he was. 00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:33.240 And she just sang a beautiful song of praise to the Lord. 00:41:33.240 --> 00:41:34.540 And then she just surrendered her life. 00:41:36.860 --> 00:41:37.920 God, I may not understand. 00:41:39.460 --> 00:41:43.400 God, your story doesn't often make sense to me, but I know that you're working it out. 00:41:45.060 --> 00:41:46.070 And, Lord, I just want to trust. 00:41:48.180 --> 00:41:48.900 I just want to trust. 00:41:51.760 --> 00:41:54.720 You think about Christmas, and I love Christmas. 00:41:56.760 --> 00:42:03.800 I don't necessarily like the stuff that hasn't to do with nothing to do with Jesus about Christmas, But I love the story of Christmas, 00:42:05.380 --> 00:42:12.480 because what it gives me the opportunity to do as an individual is when life gets messy for other people, not just myself. 00:42:14.340 --> 00:42:20.960 It gives me a chance to just come beside them, put my arm around them and say, you are exactly where God wants you. 00:42:22.100 --> 00:42:29.220 You're exactly in the place where God can just move in your life in powerful ways, to reveal to you how he can take 00:42:29.220 --> 00:42:31.420 chaos and bring it to order. 00:42:33.220 --> 00:42:37.700 God loves placing his story in our messy lives. 00:42:39.320 --> 00:42:47.320 All of Scripture is about God placing his story and lives that are just a mess, because 00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:51.360 he knows the beauty of his grace can transform it into a wonderful thing.