WEBVTT 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:01.820 Luke chapter 2 is where we're going to be. 00:00:02.340 --> 00:00:06.500 I found a lot of comfort in this section of scripture this morning. 00:00:07.100 --> 00:00:14.590 One of the reasons is just because this passage helps me see how God works in strange ways to accomplish his plan. 00:00:15.080 --> 00:00:22.160 You know when you look on paper, you listen to sermons, sometimes when it comes to the Christian life, we can explain it in a very 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:27.280 sanitized way, the truth is it's messy. 00:00:28.540 --> 00:00:35.820 Living life is messy and so living the Christian life is messy, and it's messy because we're messy and people are 00:00:35.820 --> 00:00:36.720 messy. 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:44.540 Finding God in crazy and meeting God in the midst of the end of this year, is I really want to look at 00:00:44.540 --> 00:00:47.610 how do you meet God in the crazy Christmas mess that is life? 00:00:48.120 --> 00:00:55.480 Truthfully we've said together, Christmas isn't something that one time a year we celebrate this holiday, but what God intends with Christmas is 00:00:55.480 --> 00:00:58.400 something that we should be celebrating every day. 00:00:58.420 --> 00:01:05.480 Not the going out and buying, as the world describes, all of this debt in the gifts, not that obligation part but the joy of 00:01:05.480 --> 00:01:09.180 what is represented by Jesus coming and how that should transform your life. 00:01:09.860 --> 00:01:16.280 You get to the end of a year like this and you think about all the things you need to accomplish, all the extra activities that come along with it and it gets stressful, right? 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:18.480 Life gets messy. 00:01:20.080 --> 00:01:27.220 When I think about the messiness of life and just recognizing Christianity involves people and Christianity 00:01:27.400 --> 00:01:32.200 is messy too, that Christian history is no stranger to mess. 00:01:33.090 --> 00:01:35.770 It has its fair share of crazy things. 00:01:36.260 --> 00:01:41.240 People are nuts, and you know knowing that about people, I find comfort in that sometimes. 00:01:41.360 --> 00:01:48.420 Like I can't tell you the number of times I've gone to shop somewhere like walking to Wal-Mart to buy some milk or something for the family and maybe 00:01:48.420 --> 00:01:53.410 you guys have run into my in public like this, but I am one that I always talk to myself. 00:01:53.480 --> 00:01:56.820 Wherever, I read a lot, and so when I read I think about it and I'm a verbal processor. 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:00.160 When I'm thinking about things, I'm always talking to myself. 00:02:00.160 --> 00:02:07.100 I'm like, man if someone ever sees me, they're going to think I'm crazy but most of these people I don't know, so I'll just keep talking to myself, right? 00:02:07.100 --> 00:02:08.669 But then I look in church history. 00:02:08.740 --> 00:02:15.910 I see people like Martin Luther from the 1500s, and it was known about Martin Luther that he talked to himself all the time, so I'm like oh good. 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:18.780 I like my crazy ass company. 00:02:19.140 --> 00:02:22.960 There's comfort in that, and church history has a lot of that. 00:02:23.220 --> 00:02:25.160 God moves in our mess. 00:02:25.340 --> 00:02:28.900 God can use a crooked stick to work in his plan. 00:02:29.640 --> 00:02:37.120 When I think about Christmas, the nostalgia of what Christmas has become for us really started at 00:02:37.140 --> 00:02:40.820 the end of the third, and the fourth century with a guy names St. 00:02:40.820 --> 00:02:44.090 Nicholas or as the Deutsche would call him Santer Klaus. 00:02:45.760 --> 00:02:50.330 We call him Santa Claus today, but he was one that came from a wealthy family. 00:02:50.500 --> 00:02:51.410 Parents died young. 00:02:51.480 --> 00:02:58.760 He went on to use that wealth to bless the lives of others and especially during the Christmas season, recognizing how Jesus was the greatest gift 00:02:58.800 --> 00:02:59.960 and wanting to model that gift. 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:02.090 He gave lavishly out of his life. 00:03:03.040 --> 00:03:06.040 During that time of St. 00:03:06.040 --> 00:03:14.100 Nicholas, as he passed away, there were two other Christians that came on the scene, one named Jerome and 00:03:14.100 --> 00:03:16.900 the other one named Gregory. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:24.760 They came at a time where there was this movement in Christianity called hermits. 00:03:25.260 --> 00:03:30.060 I don't know if you know much about hermits, but hermits literally means desert dweller. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:33.660 I'm looking at a room full of them today, right? 00:03:33.980 --> 00:03:40.080 By the fourth century, the movement of hermits became somewhat of a popular thing. 00:03:40.300 --> 00:03:47.380 What happened was Christians knew they didn't want to sin, so they moved into the middle of nowhere to avoid temptation. 00:03:48.040 --> 00:03:50.600 They called those people hermits, desert dwellers. 00:03:51.180 --> 00:03:52.380 The world was bad. 00:03:52.660 --> 00:03:53.700 I want to follow God. 00:03:53.880 --> 00:03:55.140 I want to get away from all this. 00:03:55.840 --> 00:04:02.980 They moved out to the middle of the desert to share this rigorous lifestyle of forsaking sin to follow after 00:04:02.980 --> 00:04:03.480 the Lord. 00:04:03.600 --> 00:04:07.040 One of the crazy things that happened to them, they then decided it's not good enough. 00:04:07.580 --> 00:04:09.600 So they were still close to the world. 00:04:09.600 --> 00:04:12.240 They go out in these deserts, and then they decided, you know what? 00:04:12.480 --> 00:04:17.920 We should build towers, because not only do we need to get away from them, but if we get really high up, then they can't bother us. 00:04:18.779 --> 00:04:25.980 Then, in the sinfulness of human beings and the mess that we make things, as if towers weren't enough, then the hermits decide to start oneing up each other. 00:04:26.360 --> 00:04:28.720 Whoever builds the highest tower is the more godly. 00:04:29.100 --> 00:04:31.140 My tower's bigger contest. 00:04:31.380 --> 00:04:36.160 When you go to look in church history, you actually see these figures, hermits with towers. 00:04:36.360 --> 00:04:39.670 People painted these things, these godly people right? 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:41.060 That climb these towers. 00:04:41.960 --> 00:04:45.820 One of the individuals that built the tower was named Jerome. 00:04:46.580 --> 00:04:53.020 The reason Jerome became a hermit is because Jerome came out of a promiscuous lifestyle when he knew, before he knew the Lord. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:55.140 He came to know the Lord and he wanted to leave that. 00:04:55.140 --> 00:05:02.180 It was a temptation for him, and so he goes out in the desert and he thinks that that's going to curb his sexual drive, and he gets out there and he finds 00:05:02.180 --> 00:05:02.960 out you know what? 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:04.920 It's not so much in what we do. 00:05:04.920 --> 00:05:07.230 It's in the heart of who I am and you can't get rid of that. 00:05:07.300 --> 00:05:14.060 To occupy his mind, Jerome learns the ancient languages that the Bible's written in. 00:05:15.080 --> 00:05:22.180 Jerome actually decides the tower thing ain't working and he comes back down, and the early church uses Jerome and his 00:05:22.180 --> 00:05:25.920 ability to understand the original languages of scripture, to translate the Bible. 00:05:27.140 --> 00:05:34.680 He translates it into Latin and that Latin translation becomes the use, what the church uses for 1000 years 00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:35.520 in history. 00:05:37.020 --> 00:05:40.540 While Jerome is being a crazy hermit, shortly after St. 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:42.660 Nicholas, this other guy comes along named Gregory. 00:05:43.500 --> 00:05:46.430 Here's a picture of Jerome by the way. 00:05:47.260 --> 00:05:52.350 Then a guy named Gregory comes along and Gregory, alive at the same time as Jerome. 00:05:52.760 --> 00:05:59.780 They're probably building towers next to each other, competing over whose tower is bigger, but Gregory also goes out and he realizes you can't 00:05:59.780 --> 00:06:03.920 really stop your sinful nature just by isolating yourself from people. 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:06.370 That what we really wrestle with is within ourselves. 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:13.920 So Jerome gets down off his tower and he becomes a pastor, and Jerome actually grabs a hold of 00:06:14.020 --> 00:06:20.700 this movement that Santa Claus had started, this idea of blessing lives of people, especially around the Christmas season. 00:06:21.160 --> 00:06:26.970 We have in history, Jerome records one of the first Christmas sermons that we have in writing. 00:06:27.640 --> 00:06:34.840 A portion of it, just to give you a little understanding of where Christianity and Christmas, how it all came together. 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:38.540 Gregory said this in his message. 00:06:38.840 --> 00:06:41.730 It says this is our present festival, talking about Christmas. 00:06:42.600 --> 00:06:49.880 "That it is this which we are celebrating today, the coming of God to man, that we might go forth or rather, 00:06:50.320 --> 00:06:53.400 for this is the more proper expression, that we might go to God. 00:06:54.300 --> 00:07:01.300 That putting off the old man, we might put on the new, for where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." "Therefore let us 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:07.080 keep the feast, not after the manner of the heathen festival, but after a godly sort. 00:07:08.040 --> 00:07:11.640 Not after the way of the world, but in a fashion above the world. 00:07:11.640 --> 00:07:19.160 Not as our own, but as belonging to him who is ours or rather as our masters." So 00:07:19.160 --> 00:07:23.950 what Gregory is recognizing even in the world around, Gregory, his life was messy. 00:07:24.120 --> 00:07:26.820 I mean he bit a tower for God's sake and lived in the desert, right? 00:07:26.820 --> 00:07:29.500 That's just odd right? 00:07:30.220 --> 00:07:36.660 But he comes, he comes off this tower and he continues to use his life to minister for the Lord. 00:07:38.020 --> 00:07:41.420 He's looking at the world around him and you realize the world around him is messy. 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:46.250 They had this celebration called the winter solstice and they would honor false deities during this time. 00:07:47.300 --> 00:07:50.940 They see this as an opportunity to leverage for God's glory. 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:58.260 So Jesus wasn't really born on December 25th, but they saw this as an opportunity to speak into culture about the gift that is 00:07:58.260 --> 00:07:58.360 Christ. 00:07:59.320 --> 00:08:04.320 They began to use this time period, rather than honoring false gods to then honor the one true God. 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:10.060 He's talking about this in a story, that let's grab hold of this holiday and make it ours and honor Jesus in it. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:17.280 I think that's, in the middle of the mess of our lives, that's the challenge we face this season and every season. 00:08:18.760 --> 00:08:27.000 Christmas was something that, when you look in Christian history, in the middle of the mess that they sought to honor God, at 00:08:27.640 --> 00:08:27.640 least by the third, fourth century. 00:08:27.640 --> 00:08:34.860 Even today, we're losing some of our tradition of what Christmas represents for us, but we're going to look at the gospel of 00:08:34.860 --> 00:08:40.700 Luke chapter 2 in a minute, but when you go home and you look at your Christmas tree, Christians get crazy about Christmas. 00:08:40.880 --> 00:08:47.640 People take very hard stands over what it represents, but everything God created is all moral. 00:08:48.920 --> 00:08:53.280 Meaning, it's what you do with it that determines if you glorify God with it or not. 00:08:54.880 --> 00:08:56.290 Things in this world aren't inherently evil. 00:08:56.920 --> 00:09:01.680 It's the twisting that man makes of it that determines if it's used for evil or if it's used for God. 00:09:02.460 --> 00:09:03.540 Christmas can be that way. 00:09:04.460 --> 00:09:13.600 The origins of what Christmas represented and the winter solace was, it was pagan, but 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:15.740 Christians started creating tradition around it to honor God. 00:09:17.260 --> 00:09:21.040 When you go home and you look at your Christmas tree, on the top of the tree, there's typically two ornaments that we put there. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:24.400 One is an angel, right? 00:09:25.020 --> 00:09:25.400 What's the other? 00:09:26.360 --> 00:09:26.620 Star. 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:34.940 When you read the Christmas story in the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke, in the gospel of Luke, you'll see in chapter 2 today, 00:09:34.940 --> 00:09:38.140 when the shepherds are called, who meets them in the air and declares Jesus is born? 00:09:39.040 --> 00:09:39.320 Angels right? 00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:44.120 The Wise Men in the book of Matthew, what do they follow to get to Jesus? 00:09:45.320 --> 00:09:45.460 The star. 00:09:46.380 --> 00:09:48.420 In the gospel accounts there's two things that appear in the sky. 00:09:48.460 --> 00:09:52.920 It's either an angel or a star, and your Christmas tree becomes a declaration of that gospel message. 00:09:54.060 --> 00:10:01.400 There's imagery of what Christianity has portrayed around this Christmas time that we can utilize 00:10:01.400 --> 00:10:06.240 to honor God with our lives, in the middle of the mess that life becomes. 00:10:07.180 --> 00:10:14.200 You look in church history, yes, it is messy because people are messy, but God 00:10:14.200 --> 00:10:15.940 uses that mess for his glory. 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:20.020 You know the same thing's true with the Christmas story. 00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:24.820 When you look at the Christmas story, I think we've sanitized it today. 00:10:24.820 --> 00:10:26.940 We sing nice fluffy songs about it. 00:10:27.160 --> 00:10:34.280 In our culture, we tend to think of it in very positive ways, but when you really look at what the story is, it is a crazy messed up story. 00:10:35.660 --> 00:10:42.760 In fact, if I were just to start in Luke 2:1, what Luke is saying in this gospel, in the very 00:10:42.760 --> 00:10:50.220 beginning, "Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:54.860 earth, that was the first census taken which Corinius was governor of Syria. 00:10:55.880 --> 00:11:03.080 Everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city." Now what the author is actually doing here in this beginning 00:11:03.080 --> 00:11:07.820 chapter, he's positioning some thoughts for you, for all of us to consider. 00:11:09.540 --> 00:11:13.140 The identity that he begins in making, is this thought of Caesar Augustus. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:14.560 He's the one that puts this in motion. 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.880 This is the reason why Jesus is born in Bethlehem. 00:11:18.300 --> 00:11:25.480 This Caesar Augustus calls for a census, which requires everyone to go back to their hometown, where they're originally from in order to take this census. 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:27.240 But here's the interesting thing with Caesar Augustus. 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:30.540 Caesar Augustus' name is actually Gaius Octavius. 00:11:31.620 --> 00:11:36.280 Gaius Octavius is really the first one to take on this title for himself in Caesar, calling himself Caesar Augustus. 00:11:37.480 --> 00:11:41.020 This name literally means ruling majesty. 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:48.160 He looks at, he walks in one day, looks at his friends and is like, don't call me Gaius Octavius anymore. 00:11:48.260 --> 00:11:49.600 Only my mama can do that, right? 00:11:50.020 --> 00:11:51.760 I want you to refer to me as ruling majesty. 00:11:53.270 --> 00:11:55.100 You can imagine his friends. 00:11:55.140 --> 00:11:56.120 Okay, whatever. 00:11:56.140 --> 00:11:56.800 He walks into the room. 00:11:56.880 --> 00:11:58.710 Look everyone, ruling majesty. 00:11:59.140 --> 00:12:01.560 But what it actually is a claim of deity. 00:12:02.820 --> 00:12:04.080 He's calling himself God. 00:12:05.040 --> 00:12:06.320 Here comes ruling majesty. 00:12:07.180 --> 00:12:09.440 Here's the interesting thing about calling himself God. 00:12:09.480 --> 00:12:12.770 He's not a very good one, because he doesn't even know who he rules over. 00:12:13.660 --> 00:12:16.100 In the sovereignty, it says in verse 1, he gives this decree. 00:12:16.840 --> 00:12:18.000 He is sovereign, right? 00:12:18.800 --> 00:12:21.180 In that sovereignty, it's like I don't even know who's under me. 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:22.810 Make them all go back to their hometowns. 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:24.890 I need money so I can tax them. 00:12:26.100 --> 00:12:27.720 So he calls them back to their hometowns. 00:12:28.380 --> 00:12:35.380 The intentions of the author in this story, if you even look in your Bible, you're going to see this, is that the 00:12:35.380 --> 00:12:42.640 author actually will, in the translation of the English, he takes the initial chapter 2, and he sort of writes this paragraph 00:12:42.640 --> 00:12:46.960 of Gaius Octavius, Caesar Augustus, and then he starts with another paragraph. 00:12:47.280 --> 00:12:53.020 In the next paragraph, some start in verse 6 or verse 8, but this second paragraph introduces you to another character. 00:12:54.360 --> 00:13:02.340 It says this, "To the shepherds, the angels said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will 00:13:02.340 --> 00:13:03.700 be for all the people. 00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:12.540 For today in the city of David, there has been born for you a savior, who is Christ the Lord." What 00:13:12.540 --> 00:13:15.760 this story is doing is contrasting between two rulers. 00:13:17.360 --> 00:13:24.040 Here you have Gaius Octavius, ruling majesty, and now while he is ruling, though he doesn't even know who's under him. 00:13:24.040 --> 00:13:25.520 He doesn't even have that sovereign ability. 00:13:26.120 --> 00:13:27.300 Then there is this other ruler. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:30.380 It's sort of like the author is giving you two choices. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:33.000 Who are you going to follow? 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:37.940 If you just stop right here, the story ends here, this is a pretty insane spot. 00:13:39.400 --> 00:13:46.400 You can either follow the guy who calls himself ruling majesty, or the little baby in 00:13:46.400 --> 00:13:48.000 a barn wrapped in rags. 00:13:49.260 --> 00:13:51.160 Choose this day who you will serve, right? 00:13:51.340 --> 00:13:53.120 It's like, uh? 00:13:53.460 --> 00:14:00.680 So the author's starting to position these contrasting ideas about really what this Christmas story 00:14:00.680 --> 00:14:01.800 should matter to us. 00:14:01.800 --> 00:14:08.920 Now the gospel of Luke goes on from there in building the case for what makes Jesus so glorious, but you see how this author is 00:14:09.220 --> 00:14:16.340 introducing us to this idea of this Christmas mess, that ruling over Israel is Gaius Octavius, who this guy is 00:14:16.440 --> 00:14:17.540 just two sheets to the wind. 00:14:17.540 --> 00:14:20.120 He is insane in his mind of what he thinks he is. 00:14:22.100 --> 00:14:29.120 Then, a baby born in a barn 00:14:29.220 --> 00:14:37.200 next to a donkey, of which you're 00:14:37.240 --> 00:14:37.860 called to worship. 00:14:40.020 --> 00:14:40.980 Then the story goes further. 00:14:42.400 --> 00:14:42.660 Verse 4. 00:14:43.920 --> 00:14:51.480 "Joseph went up from Galilee from the city of Nazareth to Judea because of Caesar Augustus's order, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem 00:14:51.480 --> 00:14:54.540 because he was of the house and family of David. 00:14:54.540 --> 00:15:01.600 In order to register along with Mary who he was engaged to him and who was with child." That last line's supposed to 00:15:01.780 --> 00:15:02.730 shock us there. 00:15:05.240 --> 00:15:12.840 You think of this story as we historically know it, most people estimate Mary's probably around the age of 15. 00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:21.620 While she's traveling from Nazareth down to Bethlehem, like on the best day, 00:15:21.980 --> 00:15:25.270 like I Googled this on Friday in the middle of the day, which would have been at night in Israel. 00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:31.440 97 mile journey, takes you an hour and 51 minutes when it's light traffic, and there is a toll that you have to pay. 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:39.640 But if it was the time of Jesus' day, you think how far can you go when you're nine months pregnant? 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:46.360 Could you imagine this conversation between Joseph and Mary? 00:15:46.580 --> 00:15:48.780 I bet it wasn't a very gracious one, really. 00:15:49.260 --> 00:15:51.520 Nine months pregnant, oh yeah put me on the back of that donkey. 00:15:51.560 --> 00:15:53.060 I want this journey, right? 00:15:54.720 --> 00:16:01.820 But that travel, 90 miles, on the best day during this time period, going with your possessions, you're 00:16:01.820 --> 00:16:03.340 looking, maybe 20 miles a day. 00:16:03.340 --> 00:16:04.780 Nine months pregnant, probably less than that. 00:16:04.840 --> 00:16:06.980 This would have taken them a week to get there, at best. 00:16:09.910 --> 00:16:15.680 Most of us assume Mary probably would have ridden on the back of a donkey for a good portion of this journey if not all of it. 00:16:16.740 --> 00:16:24.130 It's not for certain, but here she goes on this 90 mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:31.740 and the text tells you in verse 5 that she's engaged to Joseph, but they're not married, yet she's pregnant. 00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:33.360 So this is how this is going to look guys. 00:16:33.460 --> 00:16:37.920 Like, this family has to go down to where they're from. 00:16:39.680 --> 00:16:44.420 All of the family that is spread throughout this land is meeting in this place. 00:16:45.420 --> 00:16:47.020 This is going to be a ginormous family reunion. 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:48.290 You ever been to one of those? 00:16:48.560 --> 00:16:50.540 That's really messy, right? 00:16:50.540 --> 00:16:53.960 They're gathering at this family reunion and here's the hard part now. 00:16:54.500 --> 00:17:01.700 They're going to have some explaining to do, in a very conservative culture, at a time period where being 00:17:01.700 --> 00:17:05.640 pregnant in this type of culture this way could have led to you being stoned. 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:14.240 Yet, here they go on this journey, to explain to their family. 00:17:16.420 --> 00:17:17.380 Now I'm a virgin. 00:17:22.540 --> 00:17:26.680 The mess of what Christmas was. 00:17:27.300 --> 00:17:33.440 Verse 6 and 7, it says, from there, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 00:17:34.640 --> 00:17:41.140 She gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. 00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:46.220 I've been at the birth of my three kids. 00:17:46.660 --> 00:17:49.860 I have yet to describe it this way. 00:17:51.260 --> 00:17:53.280 The days of my wife have been completed. 00:17:54.360 --> 00:17:55.760 That is not how it goes. 00:17:56.320 --> 00:17:58.390 They make it sound like Mary's like, you know what? 00:17:58.560 --> 00:17:59.490 I think I'll give birth now. 00:18:00.100 --> 00:18:01.530 I'll be back in five minutes. 00:18:02.210 --> 00:18:05.020 The days were completed for her to give birth. 00:18:05.340 --> 00:18:09.080 That's not how it goes down at all, but they just concisely say here... 00:18:09.080 --> 00:18:13.130 I'm sure if we let Mary take over the pen here, she might have a little more in the descriptor. 00:18:13.600 --> 00:18:16.220 But Luke's like, let's just say it like this, okay? 00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:23.600 In verse 7 it says, "She wraps him in cloth," which I'll get to that in a minute, "And they laid him in a manger because there 00:18:23.600 --> 00:18:29.610 was no room for them at the inn." Our picture of this is a little off sometimes. 00:18:31.240 --> 00:18:34.360 We like to sometimes think when you see the word inn, you're like, oh yeah. 00:18:34.730 --> 00:18:37.770 Joseph's going down to Bethlehem to check into the local motel. 00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:39.440 They booked with hotels.com, right? 00:18:39.740 --> 00:18:41.350 But unfortunately it was overbooked. 00:18:41.360 --> 00:18:42.350 Thank you Captain Obvious. 00:18:42.500 --> 00:18:46.140 So they had to find secondary accommodations, but that's not how it goes. 00:18:47.040 --> 00:18:49.360 In fact, the word inn doesn't mean motel or hotel. 00:18:51.220 --> 00:18:53.060 You think of the way the story is unfolding here. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:58.520 They're calling the family members to go to their original town to take a proper census. 00:18:59.440 --> 00:19:04.720 So all these family members converging on this town and so, when Joseph goes to this town, where's Joseph going to stay? 00:19:05.800 --> 00:19:11.130 Well he's staying with his family because he's going there to be with his family, to be counted as part of the census with his family. 00:19:12.360 --> 00:19:13.360 He's not a stranger here. 00:19:14.560 --> 00:19:18.620 He's going to stay with his mom and dad, or his brother or whoever else lives in the town. 00:19:20.400 --> 00:19:23.300 This word inn literally is more like an empty room. 00:19:25.040 --> 00:19:31.500 So what it's saying for us, is when they get to the home, where the whole family reunion is taking place, there's no longer any room in the house. 00:19:31.660 --> 00:19:33.150 There's no spare room to be found. 00:19:34.410 --> 00:19:41.500 During t his time period, especially people that weren't of great wealth, they oftentimes lived in more like a 00:19:41.500 --> 00:19:42.300 barn. 00:19:43.380 --> 00:19:46.860 They would place their family living quarters sort of in the loft. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:54.010 Oftentimes they would build in a cave and they would have a lower part for the animals and sort of have sort of a split level. 00:19:54.760 --> 00:19:58.780 Just above the animals they would leave a little foundation there for their family to stay. 00:20:00.340 --> 00:20:08.080 So what it's saying is, in the split level entry to the cave, on the second floor, just maybe waist 00:20:08.080 --> 00:20:10.440 high with the animals, there's no room there. 00:20:11.800 --> 00:20:12.680 Everyone's hanging out. 00:20:13.840 --> 00:20:15.260 The whole family's gathered together. 00:20:16.140 --> 00:20:23.920 Mary's got an audience for this birth, but she's down with the animals because 00:20:23.920 --> 00:20:25.000 this place is packed. 00:20:27.580 --> 00:20:30.140 Christmas is messy. 00:20:31.980 --> 00:20:33.540 She wraps him in cloth. 00:20:36.040 --> 00:20:37.960 That's not very good planning, right? 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:39.640 You're about to have a baby. 00:20:40.100 --> 00:20:40.860 Get a baby outfit. 00:20:42.000 --> 00:20:45.470 Rather than that, they've got some cloth. 00:20:45.760 --> 00:20:48.400 This cloth, some argue is very symbolic. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.900 In fact, it's the way the shepherds are told to recognize him in verse 12. 00:20:51.900 --> 00:20:52.840 This will be a sign for you. 00:20:52.840 --> 00:20:54.920 You will find a baby wrapped in cloth and lying in a manger. 00:20:55.280 --> 00:20:56.900 I can imagine being a shepherd in the field. 00:20:56.900 --> 00:21:02.320 You're like, angels come to you, give this glorious presentation of the coming of the king. 00:21:03.660 --> 00:21:05.280 Caesar Augustus or Jesus. 00:21:06.360 --> 00:21:09.000 The angel's like, okay, what do we look for when we find this king? 00:21:09.600 --> 00:21:10.530 It's going to have a glowing aura? 00:21:11.240 --> 00:21:12.410 Will it have these trumpets blasting? 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:14.300 Will an army be around him? 00:21:15.320 --> 00:21:16.240 No, he's going to be in cloth. 00:21:17.540 --> 00:21:18.010 That's the sign. 00:21:18.880 --> 00:21:25.400 It's like, okay we're going through a poor community, looking for a poor kid, just like all poor kids were wrapped in cloth during this day. 00:21:25.460 --> 00:21:26.050 That's our sign. 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:26.980 All right. 00:21:27.320 --> 00:21:34.180 But people say that this is symbolic for what ultimately will be represented with Jesus. 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:43.440 During Jesus' day, before we had TSA, when we traveled online, most of us would like to take our luggage, 00:21:43.680 --> 00:21:47.320 but now that you have to pay, you need to put on three layers of clothes and just do your carryon, right? 00:21:47.860 --> 00:21:48.480 Save 50 bucks. 00:21:50.310 --> 00:21:52.320 Traveling during Joseph's day, the same way. 00:21:53.480 --> 00:21:54.580 You can't take all that luggage. 00:21:56.020 --> 00:21:56.930 You have to downsize Mary. 00:21:58.780 --> 00:22:05.000 During his day, they would often take a strip of cloth, and they would actually create a belt out of it. 00:22:05.020 --> 00:22:07.380 They would wrap it around their waist, sometimes multiple times. 00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:16.140 With that strip of cloth, if anything happened on the journey, there was a wound, someone died, a baby is born, they 00:22:16.140 --> 00:22:22.200 could use that cloth to wrap around the wound, to bind up someone who's passed away or even used on a baby. 00:22:24.040 --> 00:22:32.320 When the baby is born, they take strips of cloth, unravel the makeshift belt and 00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:34.100 use it for the baby. 00:22:35.740 --> 00:22:43.320 The only other time in the New Testament that you have anything wrapped is when Jesus is 00:22:43.320 --> 00:22:43.600 buried. 00:22:46.320 --> 00:22:50.440 Some people look at this as symbolic of what ultimately is represented by Christ. 00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:51.560 His life was about his death. 00:22:53.600 --> 00:22:55.880 Here he is at his birth, wrapped. 00:22:57.480 --> 00:23:00.460 At his death, wrapped. 00:23:02.180 --> 00:23:06.740 Then who's the one that proclaims the birth of this baby? 00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:11.860 Joseph and Mary celebrating with the family. 00:23:13.700 --> 00:23:16.590 Who would God give, get to declare this to the world? 00:23:18.280 --> 00:23:22.770 Kings, rulers, high, prestigious figures? 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:23.900 No. 00:23:25.800 --> 00:23:26.540 He picks the shepherds. 00:23:29.120 --> 00:23:33.040 The low men on the totem pole in the socio-economic status of society. 00:23:34.900 --> 00:23:35.730 The least popular people. 00:23:37.320 --> 00:23:40.520 The ones considered unintelligent so they're just thrown out with the sheep. 00:23:43.020 --> 00:23:45.700 They're the ones that proclaim the goodness of the coming of this king. 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:52.580 It says, "In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keep watch over their flock by night. 00:23:54.120 --> 00:24:01.280 An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terribly frightened, but the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold 00:24:01.280 --> 00:24:04.780 I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people. 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:13.120 For today in the city of David there was born for you a savior who is Christ the Lord." That statement right 00:24:13.120 --> 00:24:15.330 there is a fulfillment of a promise. 00:24:15.400 --> 00:24:17.300 In verse 10, that it's for all the people. 00:24:18.460 --> 00:24:26.040 That he's coming in the city of David, which that's where the promise was to come from the line of David, this savior, this rescuer, who is the 00:24:26.040 --> 00:24:31.720 messiah, the anointed one, the one who is the Lord that they had waited for all people. 00:24:33.340 --> 00:24:40.980 All the way back to the story of Genesis when God promises to Adam and Eve that one would come to crush the head of the serpent, the rule of 00:24:40.980 --> 00:24:41.620 the serpent. 00:24:41.660 --> 00:24:44.600 Then he says to Abraham, that through his seed, all nations would be blessed. 00:24:47.580 --> 00:24:48.640 Jesus is coming for all people. 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:56.610 It's interesting today, you study in the New Testament, when Jesus came, he called the 70 apostles. 00:24:59.380 --> 00:25:06.460 Most people really don't even recognize what that represents, but Jewish customs taught that 00:25:06.460 --> 00:25:14.000 at the Tower of Babel, when the languages were divided in Genesis, or when the people groups were divided, that the 00:25:14.000 --> 00:25:21.260 Jews had historically taught that when the people groups were divided at the Tower of Babel and multiple languages were spoken, that from that 70 people 00:25:21.260 --> 00:25:21.920 groups came. 00:25:25.380 --> 00:25:26.640 God was coming for all people. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:27.750 That was his promise to Abraham. 00:25:29.680 --> 00:25:37.680 So when Jesus shows up and he calls his apostles, he calls 12 originally, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, but 00:25:37.700 --> 00:25:42.840 then he calls 70, as a declaration not just to Israel but to all nations. 00:25:44.620 --> 00:25:46.980 Jesus Christ the Lord has come. 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:55.540 That's the statement that the angels deliver to the shepherds to pronounce unto this world. 00:25:56.200 --> 00:26:00.490 They tell them, go look for the sign, the one where the baby's wrapped in rags. 00:26:01.220 --> 00:26:08.620 Then in verse 13, it says this, "And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising 00:26:08.620 --> 00:26:15.920 God and saying Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men, with whom he is pleased." That word peace is a very 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:18.980 rich theological phrase for the Jewish people. 00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:23.700 They even say it now when you gather for their, when they gather in their synagogues for worship. 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:30.220 They'll say to each other on Friday night, they won't do any labor and they'll say to each other "Shabbat Shalom" Shabbat Shalom, peaceful sabbath, peaceful sabbath. 00:26:30.220 --> 00:26:31.240 They're looking for that peace. 00:26:31.480 --> 00:26:34.120 They know mankind is looking for peace in their soul. 00:26:35.360 --> 00:26:37.560 From the very beginning, God created all things with order. 00:26:37.560 --> 00:26:38.140 Man sins. 00:26:38.240 --> 00:26:38.840 Peace is lost. 00:26:40.920 --> 00:26:44.360 In the middle of the mess, we need peace. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:47.340 That's what he says. 00:26:48.580 --> 00:26:51.360 Praising God, glory to God in the highest, peace on earth among men. 00:26:52.400 --> 00:26:54.920 When the angels had gone away from him into heaven. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:27:02.000 The shepherds began saying to one another, let us go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing which has happened, which the Lord has made known to 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:02.440 us. 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:08.440 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph and the baby, and as he lay in a manger when they had seen this. 00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:13.440 They made known the statement which had been told them about this Christ. 00:27:15.020 --> 00:27:16.540 You can imagine how that looked, right? 00:27:16.950 --> 00:27:21.360 You rode to this house, and they're just getting over the craziness of this birth. 00:27:21.400 --> 00:27:25.540 There's this huge family reunion and all of a sudden, like 12 grown men just pop up. 00:27:25.620 --> 00:27:27.510 They're like, we're not creepy, we promise. 00:27:27.820 --> 00:27:31.600 We didn't just come to this birth because we just like gathering around births. 00:27:31.600 --> 00:27:32.380 We're here for a reason. 00:27:34.000 --> 00:27:34.570 Then he shared. 00:27:38.040 --> 00:27:41.980 Mary's group, it was a ragtag messy group. 00:27:44.140 --> 00:27:49.420 But there's no such thing as ordinary when you follow an extraordinary God. 00:27:51.580 --> 00:27:59.000 Then in verse 18 and 19, it really lays out for us the reaction to this moment, the 00:27:59.060 --> 00:28:00.360 craziness of Christmas. 00:28:02.340 --> 00:28:10.500 It says, "And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds, but Mary treasured 00:28:10.500 --> 00:28:17.720 all these things, pondering them in her heart." I think for me in the Christmas story, verse 19 00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:22.120 is probably my favorite out of all the verses that share about Christmas. 00:28:24.520 --> 00:28:31.600 But verse 18, just backing up for a moment, verse 18 really tells us the people didn't know what 00:28:31.600 --> 00:28:32.120 to believe. 00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:38.320 They hear the shepherds and the response is that they wonder. 00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:43.960 When you do a word study in the New Testament on the word wonder, it's sort of a mixed bag. 00:28:45.320 --> 00:28:48.180 Most often people wonder but don't do anything with it. 00:28:48.620 --> 00:28:53.420 There's a few verses where people wonder and respond in worship, but most often they just wonder and leave it. 00:28:54.520 --> 00:29:00.000 That's kind of interesting I think for themselves, but they don't participate in what it's about, and they miss out. 00:29:01.100 --> 00:29:02.690 They ask the question, I wonder what happened? 00:29:03.760 --> 00:29:07.160 Maybe the wondered if the shepherds have had too much of grandpa's cough syrup out in the field. 00:29:09.420 --> 00:29:09.860 They wondered. 00:29:12.620 --> 00:29:13.450 But then it tells us Mary. 00:29:16.220 --> 00:29:22.640 They use this word to introduce Mary, to kind of contrast the reactions that we should have, as if Mary becomes the example. 00:29:23.960 --> 00:29:31.080 There are those who hear this story, there are those who are going through the Christmas season and kind of know what it's about, sort of wonder at it, but never really dive into 00:29:31.180 --> 00:29:36.860 the significance of what this season means for us, not just at this time of year, but for all of our lives. 00:29:36.860 --> 00:29:38.420 There are those who will just wonder at that. 00:29:40.060 --> 00:29:42.430 But then there's Mary. 00:29:43.360 --> 00:29:50.440 See, she's sort of, in the contrast of these two verses, she becomes the example of model for us, as if to tell 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:57.700 us, all these crazy things that have happened with Christmas, starting with Gaius Octavius, Caesar Augustus who thinks he's the ruling majesty, down 00:29:57.700 --> 00:30:03.100 to the birth of Jesus, and here becomes the way that our hearts should react to this moment. 00:30:05.020 --> 00:30:06.220 But Mary. 00:30:09.400 --> 00:30:11.430 It says Mary treasures these things. 00:30:14.270 --> 00:30:21.440 Mary teaches us, no matter how messy it gets, take time to worship. 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:25.320 I mean think about worship. 00:30:25.480 --> 00:30:27.580 Worship doesn't stop the chaos. 00:30:29.280 --> 00:30:31.470 Worship is really finding God in the middle of the chaos. 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:34.860 You don't have to get life perfect before you come to God. 00:30:35.900 --> 00:30:37.010 You come to God in the crazy. 00:30:39.320 --> 00:30:45.000 All the family around, all the animals just bleeding away, in the manger and all these crazy shepherds come in. 00:30:47.860 --> 00:30:54.680 In the middle of all that mess, Mary looks at the heart of God. 00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:58.020 It says she treasured all things and pondered them in her heart. 00:30:58.620 --> 00:31:01.400 Treasuring literally means that she held onto this. 00:31:01.480 --> 00:31:05.560 Like you got something in your life that you treasure, something you'll lock up. 00:31:05.560 --> 00:31:06.360 Something you'll keep away. 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:09.360 Something you don't want anyone else to really know about because you don't want it to go missing. 00:31:11.900 --> 00:31:19.180 That's sort of the idea of what Mary's doing here, not that she doesn't want to share this, but she's holding onto it in such a way that this is her treasure. 00:31:22.080 --> 00:31:24.080 She ponders it in her heart. 00:31:25.640 --> 00:31:28.600 This word ponder is more than just I kind of wonder. 00:31:29.460 --> 00:31:35.460 This word ponder means to forcefully grab hold of and connect it to something. 00:31:37.100 --> 00:31:38.480 What is she connecting it to? 00:31:38.520 --> 00:31:39.820 It tells us in the story, her heart. 00:31:40.840 --> 00:31:45.700 She's grabbing hold of this, and she's making a collision with her heart as to what God's doing. 00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:49.420 Now the text also gives the idea that she doesn't completely understand. 00:31:50.660 --> 00:31:57.840 She's a 15 year old young lady going to a place because some crazy king told her to do this, and 00:31:57.840 --> 00:32:02.380 in the middle of these shepherds going crazy around her, and a family reunion taking place. 00:32:02.540 --> 00:32:04.040 She is like, God, what is going on? 00:32:07.020 --> 00:32:08.440 She doesn't want to miss the moment. 00:32:10.940 --> 00:32:12.760 So she treasures it. 00:32:14.460 --> 00:32:18.160 She takes it to her heart, looking fort he bigger picture. 00:32:18.180 --> 00:32:23.120 She was holding onto these Christmas events, but she wasn't sure exactly what God was doing. 00:32:23.180 --> 00:32:27.700 When I look at this verse, at first I'm unsettled by Mary's unsettling. 00:32:28.960 --> 00:32:30.280 I want Christmas like I remember Christmas. 00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:33.380 It comes with a nice story and a good bow tie at the end, right? 00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:34.820 Everything's happy. 00:32:34.820 --> 00:32:38.520 It's all warm and fuzzy, but that's not the way that Mary describes Christmas. 00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:45.740 In fact, if you were to read the rest of Luke, you'll see as Mary raises Jesus, in verse 49, 50, 51, 00:32:45.740 --> 00:32:48.140 that Jesus disappears from her one time as a young. 00:32:48.220 --> 00:32:50.300 It's the only story of Jesus being a young guy. 00:32:51.240 --> 00:32:55.500 It tells us she still doesn't even understand, but she's still pondering these things in her heart. 00:32:57.670 --> 00:33:01.880 She's holding onto this, just looking for the way God's going to tie this story together. 00:33:04.080 --> 00:33:05.800 But this story is unsettling. 00:33:07.580 --> 00:33:09.100 It doesn't help my anxiety. 00:33:10.180 --> 00:33:15.190 But as I look at the story, I see the beauty of finding God in the uncertainty. 00:33:17.460 --> 00:33:18.180 Life is messy. 00:33:19.500 --> 00:33:21.470 We don't get to make it cookie cutter sanitized. 00:33:24.080 --> 00:33:30.700 The truth is, it's when things are uncertain though that we're driven to find the things that are certain. 00:33:33.460 --> 00:33:40.800 It's in the imbalance of life and the mess that things are, when things aren't as they should be, we 00:33:40.800 --> 00:33:42.380 look for the things that are certain. 00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:51.760 The thing that Mary knows is certain is God. 00:33:52.660 --> 00:33:53.360 God how can you work? 00:33:55.740 --> 00:34:01.600 You know with God, we get key questions answered for life, who, what, when, where, why? 00:34:01.620 --> 00:34:02.580 Like, God who are you? 00:34:02.580 --> 00:34:03.270 What are you doing? 00:34:03.880 --> 00:34:04.610 When are you coming? 00:34:04.720 --> 00:34:05.590 We see that story here. 00:34:06.180 --> 00:34:07.000 Where are we going? 00:34:07.320 --> 00:34:08.449 Why are you doing this? 00:34:08.679 --> 00:34:16.920 We get these foundational questions answered with God but one of the questions that we don't get answered in detail is 00:34:16.920 --> 00:34:17.280 how. 00:34:19.580 --> 00:34:21.639 With God, you get his presence. 00:34:22.960 --> 00:34:23.590 You get his promises. 00:34:24.820 --> 00:34:26.580 You get the beginning told to you. 00:34:26.840 --> 00:34:28.659 You see the end of where God's going. 00:34:29.020 --> 00:34:32.020 We really meet him in the in between of all of that and the how. 00:34:32.020 --> 00:34:33.460 God now how are you going to work this out. 00:34:34.600 --> 00:34:36.440 That's exactly where Mary is in this story. 00:34:36.460 --> 00:34:37.960 She knows her God is good. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:39.370 She knows what he's doing. 00:34:40.020 --> 00:34:40.550 He is savior. 00:34:41.420 --> 00:34:41.909 He is Lord. 00:34:41.940 --> 00:34:43.659 He's promised this from the beginning. 00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:50.600 He knows he rules in all things and he will bring peace to all men on earth, but God how? 00:34:53.770 --> 00:34:56.530 That's where our hearts collide with him. 00:34:58.460 --> 00:35:04.100 That's where Mary is in verse, in these verses, talking about worship. 00:35:06.740 --> 00:35:13.740 Knowing God's presence and promises are given to us, knowing that God has the beginning and the 00:35:13.740 --> 00:35:17.980 end, we're left with the question, God how? 00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:24.110 In that question, I think we oftentimes can wrestle with fear. 00:35:25.540 --> 00:35:32.700 When you look at the gospel story in the first couple chapters of Luke, and even in Matthew, the responses, the initial responses 00:35:32.700 --> 00:35:34.600 of the people when God comes near them is fear. 00:35:35.780 --> 00:35:42.380 In Luke 1:30, when the angels appeared to Mary to tell Mary what's about to happen, in her virgin birth, her initial reaction was fear. 00:35:44.320 --> 00:35:50.600 When the angels appear to the shepherds in the field in Luke 2:8-9, their initial reaction is fear. 00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:56.260 Fear affects our relationship with God but in the midst of that fear, God comes near to them and tells them peace. 00:35:58.660 --> 00:36:02.340 Fear could control but rather faith guides. 00:36:03.620 --> 00:36:04.980 Why? 00:36:05.200 --> 00:36:08.940 Because in the uncertainty of how, they're reminded of certain things as it relates to God. 00:36:10.440 --> 00:36:10.840 He is good. 00:36:12.940 --> 00:36:19.140 Both his promises and his presence, the beginning and end, are with him. 00:36:20.660 --> 00:36:25.360 If he is good, he calls me, though things aren't as they should be. 00:36:27.380 --> 00:36:34.140 I can meet him in the uncertainty, grab hold of the one who is certain because he is good. 00:36:36.720 --> 00:36:39.140 Therefore Mary treasures and ponders. 00:36:40.900 --> 00:36:46.270 In this story, what we find is that God takes them deeper so that really, God can take them further. 00:36:48.280 --> 00:36:55.660 When we study the history of Christianity and you look at the course of scripture, God lays things out for us, the best Christians have come through 00:36:55.680 --> 00:36:57.680 some of the most refining fires in life. 00:37:00.140 --> 00:37:01.120 I can wrestle with fear. 00:37:02.500 --> 00:37:03.910 I can stop in uncertainty. 00:37:06.120 --> 00:37:07.070 But God is good. 00:37:08.900 --> 00:37:14.360 Knowing that God is good, that's why Mary says in Luke 1:38, I am his servant. 00:37:18.340 --> 00:37:27.380 Reality is, if it weren't for the uncertainty of life, I probably wouldn't seek the certainty of God, but 00:37:27.380 --> 00:37:34.540 it's in the fog and the mystery of what life is, that drives me to look for how things could 00:37:34.540 --> 00:37:38.440 be better for the one who controls it all. 00:37:40.400 --> 00:37:40.800 God is good. 00:37:42.860 --> 00:37:47.680 Isaiah 49:16, I love this statement that God writes to Israel. 00:37:47.740 --> 00:37:52.940 He says to them, actually in verse 15 he says, "I'm not going to forget you. 00:37:52.980 --> 00:38:00.100 Does a nursing mother forget her child?" Then God says, "I have engraved you in the palm 00:38:00.140 --> 00:38:02.680 of my hand." It literally means I have tattooed you. 00:38:03.420 --> 00:38:06.290 God tattoos your name in his hand. 00:38:09.000 --> 00:38:12.100 Life is messy, but God is good. 00:38:13.660 --> 00:38:16.620 By his grace, his promises and presence are made known. 00:38:16.660 --> 00:38:17.380 That's what Christmas is. 00:38:19.100 --> 00:38:20.720 Promises of God fulfilled, all people. 00:38:22.100 --> 00:38:24.360 The presence of God is come near for you. 00:38:24.360 --> 00:38:25.220 It's not just Mary. 00:38:26.840 --> 00:38:33.780 So when you think about what life is, the mess, the chaos that comes with it, the question in align with Mary's story is what worries you? 00:38:36.380 --> 00:38:37.260 Where is your uncertainty? 00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:40.800 What keeps you from worship? 00:38:42.940 --> 00:38:44.820 Where are you walking in fog? 00:38:46.700 --> 00:38:48.820 Where do you practice fear instead of faith? 00:38:51.560 --> 00:38:52.620 Related to kids? 00:38:53.760 --> 00:38:54.300 Job? 00:38:55.620 --> 00:38:56.180 Marriage? 00:38:57.760 --> 00:38:59.380 Just trusting in Jesus? 00:39:01.320 --> 00:39:06.180 The best lesson learned at Christmas, trust in the Lord. 00:39:07.880 --> 00:39:08.690 Meet him in the mess. 00:39:10.740 --> 00:39:11.490 That's where you grow. 00:39:12.780 --> 00:39:15.060 Hold on to what you know is true about God. 00:39:15.980 --> 00:39:19.280 Walk as he has called you and look for where he leads you. 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:22.820 Worship instead of wonder, treasure instead of fear. 00:39:23.240 --> 00:39:26.850 Create a heart collision in the midst of chaos. 00:39:28.000 --> 00:39:31.100 In so doing, you become like Mary. 00:39:32.700 --> 00:39:38.670 I was going to title this message because I want to be like the Virgin Mary, but I thought that was probably a little misleading. 00:39:40.940 --> 00:39:43.700 But rather, finding God in the mess. 00:39:46.020 --> 00:39:53.880 It's crazy to think that in the middle of the Christmas mess, even though Mary couldn't understand it, God 00:39:53.880 --> 00:39:54.820 was working all along. 00:39:56.500 --> 00:39:59.770 She just needed the patience to walk with him through it. 00:40:01.020 --> 00:40:08.200 In the midst of not understanding how is exactly where she met her God, and that's 00:40:08.200 --> 00:40:10.230 where this story calls us to meet him too.