Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message
Speaker 1: God is Great, which you turn to the person next
Speaker 1: to you and tell them God is with you today.
Speaker 1: Look at him again and say I can tell and
Speaker 1: ask them would you like a hug? And if they
Speaker 1: don't cuss at you, give them a big hug. I
Speaker 1: want you to turn around and give about four or
Speaker 1: five hugs all over the room. Hey, congratulations Elevation Columbia
Speaker 1: on your new building. Congratulations to all of our locations.
Speaker 1: You made it to church. Congratulations to you. You made
Speaker 1: it through another week, You made it to another day.
Speaker 1: Come on, how many are grateful to be in the
Speaker 1: number one more day? That's my section right there. I
Speaker 1: found my section right there. Who better be glad they're
Speaker 1: not on the front row. We would never get out
Speaker 1: of worship. I saw some rowdiness over and here too.
Speaker 1: It was weird because you know, Christmas season is supposed
Speaker 1: to get stuffy everybody gets real busy and hateful. No
Speaker 1: greater way to tell Jesus Happy Birthday than to run
Speaker 1: up our credit cards, get stressed out and hate everything.
Speaker 1: So we kind of try to make it countercultural. And
Speaker 1: I like to take a little extra time during worship
Speaker 1: before I preach as we lead to the holidays, just
Speaker 1: because the seed of the Word of God is always pure.
Speaker 1: But if the soil of your heart is not plowed,
Speaker 1: you can't receive it. And one thing that I do
Speaker 1: understand is that sometimes it takes us a lot to
Speaker 1: get to church. And you know, if you're watching online,
Speaker 1: Oh man, you've already had three distractions, haven't you. You
Speaker 1: already had a virus pop up on your PC? And
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do about that? Well, let's just
Speaker 1: block it all out, because all the hell that you
Speaker 1: have to go through when you get home doesn't stand
Speaker 1: a chance. In this place. For the next few minutes,
Speaker 1: while we preach God's words, I want to bring Heaven
Speaker 1: down to your heart for a few minutes. So just
Speaker 1: for the next half hour or so, half hour or so,
Speaker 1: I want to preach a thought to your heart today
Speaker 1: from the Christmas story. And I do also want to
Speaker 1: say what JJ said, I assume all of the campus
Speaker 1: pastors and our online team thank you for your remarkable generosity.
Speaker 1: Of course, our year end offering comes all the way
Speaker 1: to the end of the year, but I want to
Speaker 1: thank all of you who already stepped up and gave
Speaker 1: artrificially faithfully. Man, God's gonna use that in a great way.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Always feels weird saying thank you
Speaker 1: because I know you didn't give it to me or
Speaker 1: for me. You gave it to God. And one thing
Speaker 1: I know about God, he will not be outgiven. So
Speaker 1: be expectant for Him to do things in your life
Speaker 1: over the next few weeks. I don't know who this
Speaker 1: is for, man, I got to get to my scripture.
Speaker 1: I'm just taking so much time doing this. But God
Speaker 1: can do something at the end of this year that
Speaker 1: will make all the hell you went through all year
Speaker 1: long irrelevant in the scope of it. And I don't
Speaker 1: even know what it's gonna be. It could be a perspective.
Speaker 1: I noticed that God has been blessing me with better
Speaker 1: perspective the last few days. I can't explain it, just
Speaker 1: been opening my eyes, like look at that. Woke up
Speaker 1: this morning super early to pray for you, humble brag,
Speaker 1: and saw both of the boys vehicles still in the
Speaker 1: driveway and thought, thank you Lord for bringing them home
Speaker 1: safe again. Another day, another night, and you have to
Speaker 1: stand next to my daughter during worship today. Y'all don't
Speaker 1: know this, but Abby was a co writer on that song,
Speaker 1: same God. I'm not giving her any royalties. Here's our contribution.
Speaker 1: When we wrote the song, Originally it was I'm calling
Speaker 1: on the God of David, I'm calling on the God
Speaker 1: of Jacob, I'm calling on the God of Moses. And
Speaker 1: I always wanted to put a woman in the song,
Speaker 1: but I couldn't figure out how to do it. I
Speaker 1: thought it was kind of, you know, kind of lopsided
Speaker 1: to just have all men in the song. And I
Speaker 1: showed Abby the demo and she said, I love that song.
Speaker 1: Why isn't there a woman? And it was a confirmation.
Speaker 1: I didn't even tell her that I'd felt bad about
Speaker 1: it too. And I called my buddy Pat Barrett, and
Speaker 1: we had already recorded the song that was the bad
Speaker 1: part about it, and we decided we needed a verse
Speaker 1: about I'm calling on the God of Mary, whose favor
Speaker 1: rests upon the low ly, and I love what it says.
Speaker 1: I know with you, all things are possible, big things,
Speaker 1: little things, pretty things, ugly things, things seen, things unseen.
Speaker 1: All things are possible. And we're going to share from
Speaker 1: a scripture that coincides with that. In Luke chapter one,
Speaker 1: I'm going to read a very lengthy part of this
Speaker 1: Verses twenty six through forty one, but you can handle it.
Speaker 1: I also leaned over to Abby and said, next year,
Speaker 1: me and you were singing O Holy Night together as
Speaker 1: a duet. Get ready, She rolled her eyes. We'll see,
Speaker 1: we'll see. It's a voluntary offer. Pray about it. Wasn't
Speaker 1: the music beautiful? Today? We got the best. Oh, we
Speaker 1: got singers that sing so good. You can't even tell
Speaker 1: if they prayed or not. They just sound so good.
Speaker 1: I think that's the Holy Spirit, or it was the
Speaker 1: vocal chords or both. But I thank God for our team.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about the Christmas services December twenty second through
Speaker 1: twenty four. That's Christmas at Elevation dot Com. Now it's
Speaker 1: time for the scripture. Luke chapter one, verse twenty six.
Speaker 1: In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the
Speaker 1: angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: come back to that. You'll forget it because I'm gonna
Speaker 1: read so much, but that verse is coming back. He
Speaker 1: sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, the town in Galilee,
Speaker 1: to a virgin pledged to be married to a man
Speaker 1: named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
Speaker 1: The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who
Speaker 1: are highly favored. The Lord is with you. That's why
Speaker 1: I had you tell your neighbor the Lord is with you.
Speaker 1: I want you to see how it felt to talk
Speaker 1: to an angel. And verse twenty nine says I could
Speaker 1: preach that goodn't I? Mary was greatly troubled. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: I thought he said something that was nice. In a
Speaker 1: compliment with the abill says Mary was greatly troubled. Did
Speaker 1: you know you can be highly favored and greatly troubled
Speaker 1: at the same time. Come on, not let you know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about her. I'm gonna start citing specific
Speaker 1: things in this room. You can be anointed and addicted.
Speaker 1: You can be saved and struggling. Yeah, you can be
Speaker 1: grateful and a gossip. You can be favored and afraid,
Speaker 1: and just because you feel afraid sometimes doesn't cancel out
Speaker 1: the favor in your life. I want to tell somebody today,
Speaker 1: the favor doesn't care about your feelings. When God has
Speaker 1: a purpose for your life, He's going to do his
Speaker 1: work what he's gonna do, no matter how you feel
Speaker 1: about it, no matter you're mood about it. But you
Speaker 1: get to decide if you want to be a willing participant.
Speaker 1: So Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered
Speaker 1: what kind of greeting this might be. But the Angel
Speaker 1: said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, you have
Speaker 1: found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth
Speaker 1: to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.
Speaker 1: You are to call him Jesus. He will be great
Speaker 1: and will be called the son of the Most High.
Speaker 1: The Lord God will give him the throne of his
Speaker 1: father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.
Speaker 1: His kingdom will never end. What an interesting beginning for
Speaker 1: a kingdom that will never end. The virgin womb of
Speaker 1: a woman change the world. Now watch this, she hears
Speaker 1: all that. In Verse thirty four says, how will this be,
Speaker 1: Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin, and
Speaker 1: the Angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come on you.
Speaker 1: The power of the most High will overshadow you. So
Speaker 1: the holy one to be born will be called the
Speaker 1: Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to
Speaker 1: have a child in her old age, And she who
Speaker 1: was said to be unable to con is in her
Speaker 1: six month. Watch God do stuff that people said he
Speaker 1: couldn't do. Watch God do stuff that people said he
Speaker 1: couldn't do, she who was said to be unable to
Speaker 1: conceive his in her six month. For no word from
Speaker 1: God will ever fail. Well, since you put it like that,
Speaker 1: I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered, may your word
Speaker 1: to me be fulfilled. Then the Angel left her, and
Speaker 1: at that time Mary got ready and hurried to a
Speaker 1: town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered
Speaker 1: Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth less verse. When Elizabeth heard
Speaker 1: Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth
Speaker 1: was filled with the Holy Spirit. All right, now, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give your title. I got good news for you today.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be the best holiday message you've ever
Speaker 1: heard in your life. Look at your neighbor and tell
Speaker 1: him my title. You don't have to. Didn't that feel
Speaker 1: good to hear that? All the stuff you gotta do
Speaker 1: between now and December twenty fifth. Look at your other neighbor,
Speaker 1: the one you really wanted to talk to all along,
Speaker 1: but you were just being nice to that guy, and
Speaker 1: tell them you don't have to. Let's give God praise
Speaker 1: in the place. Come on, if you want to, you
Speaker 1: don't have to. You may be seated if I start
Speaker 1: preaching in a minute. You want to stand back up,
Speaker 1: you can, but you don't have to. Now. The Lord
Speaker 1: was convicting me recently because I was going through a
Speaker 1: list of responsibilities. And the responsibilities I was listing were
Speaker 1: formerly prayer requests that I had prayed. It was little
Speaker 1: baby prayers that I prayed that were now full grown jobs.
Speaker 1: And I noticed something in my language, and the Lord
Speaker 1: really checked me on it. Everything had got to in
Speaker 1: front of it, everything everything, And I would love to
Speaker 1: tell you that it was just the things that I
Speaker 1: didn't want to do. You know, I've got to and
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say something I don't want to
Speaker 1: do because it might offend somebody in the room. You know,
Speaker 1: I would never say I've got to preach, but well,
Speaker 1: sometimes it does feel like that. You know the people
Speaker 1: are coming, and as you know, I gotta, I gotta
Speaker 1: get ready, I got to. And sometimes I want to
Speaker 1: go watch my kids play volleyball or wrestle and and
Speaker 1: I say I got to go to Grandstattional. I don't
Speaker 1: think there's anything you know wrong about that the semantics
Speaker 1: of stating things. I don't ever want to be one
Speaker 1: of these vocabulary police Christians that when you say I
Speaker 1: got lucky, I got a parking space, they say there's
Speaker 1: no such thing as luck. You're blessed in highly favored.
Speaker 1: It's like, no, listen, Actually, if God probably wants me
Speaker 1: to get some extra walking, so he probably did not
Speaker 1: give me the parkings base close to the front door
Speaker 1: at the gym, that doesn't even logically make sense. It
Speaker 1: was just luck. But in all of the got tos,
Speaker 1: I realized, sometimes I lose my get to spirit. Okay,
Speaker 1: And I don't know if the season and the pressures
Speaker 1: and demands thereof have stripped some of the delights for you,
Speaker 1: But I just found recently that everything felt like a
Speaker 1: got to, even stuff that I love preaching to you
Speaker 1: supporting my kids. I even said to my barber, I
Speaker 1: gotta go uh, because I got date night with Holly,
Speaker 1: and I got to go on this date night. Got
Speaker 1: to go on date night with Holly. I would have
Speaker 1: killed seventeen men to go on a date with her
Speaker 1: when we were in college. I would have slipped their
Speaker 1: throats and prayed for resurrection. But you like that? Why
Speaker 1: did you like that? That's the loudest applause We've got
Speaker 1: all days for throats slitting imagery. Well, maybe you need
Speaker 1: this message too, because there can come a point in
Speaker 1: all of our lives where the God, who has graciously
Speaker 1: given us so many good gifts, begins to feel to
Speaker 1: us either like a silent benefactor that we forget to think,
Speaker 1: or an obligator rather than a bringer of the good
Speaker 1: news of the Gospel, who has set us free from
Speaker 1: the law of sin and death, and has graciously given
Speaker 1: us all things richly to enjoy. For if He gave
Speaker 1: his own son for us, and did not spare him,
Speaker 1: but gave him up for us, how will he not
Speaker 1: much more give us all things? But a lot of
Speaker 1: the gifts that God gives us become prisons. Because our
Speaker 1: perspective is so overwhelmed by the pressure. Everybody say pressure,
Speaker 1: because I know you got some pressure. I got some pressure.
Speaker 1: And what we're trying to establish in our time together
Speaker 1: today in my sermon, and what I thought I would
Speaker 1: try to help you to do before you go into
Speaker 1: the next few weeks, this YEurope, and see what God
Speaker 1: has for you in twenty twenty five, look alive in
Speaker 1: twenty five, before you get all that going, I thought
Speaker 1: I would try to get you back to realizing that
Speaker 1: you've got a God who didn't have to give you
Speaker 1: anything that he gave you. And it's not good to
Speaker 1: have a god to spirit when you serve a get
Speaker 1: to God. One of the things I love about the
Speaker 1: passage that we read today was the sense of privilege
Speaker 1: that Mary seemed to receive this invitation to carry the
Speaker 1: Son of God with And I know that it must
Speaker 1: have also felt like pressure, But somehow she was able
Speaker 1: to view the pressure of carrying the sinless son of
Speaker 1: God in her virgin womb as a privilege, and so
Speaker 1: she accepted that assignment. But one of the things that
Speaker 1: pressure will do in your life is not only turn
Speaker 1: things that you used to delight in into things that
Speaker 1: you actually dread, which I could preach a whole sermon
Speaker 1: about that, but it could also if you're not careful,
Speaker 1: it can turn things that you ought to praise God
Speaker 1: for into things that you feel pride about. That is
Speaker 1: often when we feel the heaviness of our responsibility. You know,
Speaker 1: somebody's got to put these Christmas lights up, somebody's got
Speaker 1: to make all the plans. Somebody's got to decide whose
Speaker 1: house we're going to eat at. Somebody's got to figure
Speaker 1: out who's going to bring the macaroni. And I don't
Speaker 1: really want Susan to bring it because I don't like
Speaker 1: her macaroni, and I think it's kind of dirty and
Speaker 1: it's kind of a little too cheesy. Somebody has to
Speaker 1: keep the cheese ratio in the macaroni together. I mean,
Speaker 1: the whole universe is kind of hinging on it, isn't it.
Speaker 1: And then we come to something like this And it
Speaker 1: only takes one sentence to shift Mary from how in
Speaker 1: the world to let it be? And I thought that
Speaker 1: was so powerful when I read it. I thought it
Speaker 1: was it was so amazing and so admirable of Mary
Speaker 1: to go from how are we going to do this?
Speaker 1: To let it be just like you said. And I
Speaker 1: think there is something powerful about when you get a
Speaker 1: real word from God that you can't explain it. It's subtle,
Speaker 1: it's usually not visible to other people's eyes, but something
Speaker 1: shifts in a moment when God speaks and you go
Speaker 1: from I've got to to He's got this, and you
Speaker 1: can't even explain how you got there. It's an invisible
Speaker 1: path you take, and you've been there before. You've gone
Speaker 1: from there's no way I'm going to do this to
Speaker 1: I don't really know how I did it, but it's done.
Speaker 1: You've been in seasons of your life where you've looked
Speaker 1: at your schedule and thought, I'll be dead at the
Speaker 1: end of this. Breathe in, breathe out in the devil's face,
Speaker 1: just to let him know he was a liar for
Speaker 1: everything he said. You weren't gonna make it through. In
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, there were some things, Oh, I feel
Speaker 1: like preach him that you look got out in front
Speaker 1: of you, and when they were in front of you,
Speaker 1: you were afraid. But now they're behind you. If you
Speaker 1: were afraid when they were in front of you, shouldn't
Speaker 1: you give God praise now that they're behind you. And
Speaker 1: the truth is, you wouldn't believe what I'm standing on
Speaker 1: today because I could have tripped over it. But somehow
Speaker 1: God turned what I could have tripped on into something
Speaker 1: that I'm standing on and I have a testimony. Free
Speaker 1: Pentecostal people give God a tambourine praise because I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I'm saying that if Jesus came into the world through
Speaker 1: a virgin wound, there's nothing he can't do. Now, it's
Speaker 1: important theologically speaking for Jesus to be born of a virgin,
Speaker 1: first of all. And you want to take down notes
Speaker 1: to show your friends that you actually came to church
Speaker 1: like a doctor's excuse or something, write down this. He
Speaker 1: came through a virgin because he had to be clean.
Speaker 1: He had to be clean, and if he were born
Speaker 1: with a human father, he would carry the seed of
Speaker 1: the sin of Adam. So it had to be a virgin.
Speaker 1: That's not just a Catholic thing, that's a clean thing.
Speaker 1: The unclean cannot be redeemed by the unclean. The only
Speaker 1: thing that can redeem the unclean, that's me, that's you,
Speaker 1: is a clean thing that's not me, that's not you.
Speaker 1: So in order for God to redeem you. He had
Speaker 1: to send a clean thing into the earth, and the
Speaker 1: only way for it to be a clean thing was
Speaker 1: for it to not come from Joseph. It had to
Speaker 1: come from God. Jesus, if he had been born through
Speaker 1: Joseph in Mary's womb, would not have been able to
Speaker 1: pay the price on the cross. So he had to
Speaker 1: be clean. And then he also had to be born
Speaker 1: of a virgin, not only because it was prophesied that
Speaker 1: he would be, but because he wanted to come close.
Speaker 1: I mean, you do understand that Jesus could have come
Speaker 1: repelling from the staircase of Heaven, gone straight to the cross,
Speaker 1: and skipped all the storms on the Sea of Galilee.
Speaker 1: There was no rule that said God had to send
Speaker 1: Jesus as a baby. But I think one of the
Speaker 1: reasons that he sent Jesus as a baby to a
Speaker 1: virgin womb is not only because Jesus had to be
Speaker 1: clean and because Jesus wanted to be close, but because
Speaker 1: He also wanted Jesus to get credit clean close credit
Speaker 1: the Three Seeds of Christmas. That Jesus was clean, born
Speaker 1: of a virgin, not of the seed of a man,
Speaker 1: but the seed of God. The perfect, spotless lamb of
Speaker 1: God who takes away the sin of the world. The
Speaker 1: lion of the tribe of Judah, who rolled back the
Speaker 1: stone and stood up with the keys of death, hell
Speaker 1: and the grave. He was clean, he was close. And
Speaker 1: the thing about a virgin having a baby is she
Speaker 1: can't take any credit, and neither can the man. Why
Speaker 1: ain't taking time to explain about a virgin having a baby?
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen on Christmas? Because obviously God thought it important
Speaker 1: enough that he started the entire Gospel story with it.
Speaker 1: And I wonder if it's because he wants you to
Speaker 1: realize that this thing did not start with you, so
Speaker 1: this thing doesn't have to be sustained by you. I
Speaker 1: wonder if why you feel so much unnecessary pressure is
Speaker 1: because you're trying to sustain something that you didn't even start.
Speaker 1: I mean, how much did you have with being born
Speaker 1: the first time? Not too much. I mean, you came
Speaker 1: on out eventually, but you didn't take much credit, did you.
Speaker 1: I don't even know why we're singing happy birthday to you.
Speaker 1: We'll I'll be singing happy birthday to the one who
Speaker 1: pushed you out. But see, we like to take credit
Speaker 1: for stuff and then that spills over into our Christianity
Speaker 1: because we didn't have anything to do with being born
Speaker 1: again either. If you want to get down to it,
Speaker 1: I mean most of us in here we tried so
Speaker 1: hard to push God away. It's not like we had
Speaker 1: some awesome resume to present to the redeemer of the universe,
Speaker 1: all the reasons why he should recruit us for his service.
Speaker 1: Now that's not your story. The matter of the fact
Speaker 1: is you were dead in your sin, but God. And
Speaker 1: so we come to the Cradle of Christmas realizing that
Speaker 1: the reason Jesus was born as a baby from the
Speaker 1: womb of a virgin and a place called Galilee of
Speaker 1: the Gentiles, was so that when God got done doing
Speaker 1: what he was going to do through Jesus, nobody else
Speaker 1: would get the glory, and nobody else would get the praise,
Speaker 1: and nobody else would get the credit. Because I'm not
Speaker 1: clean and I wasn't close. But here came Jesus and
Speaker 1: just the right God. This is my Christmas devotion. Let
Speaker 1: me preach it like I feel it. I was lost
Speaker 1: without anyone to guide me. I was blind and couldn't see.
Speaker 1: I was nobody. I had nothing to bring to the
Speaker 1: king that was of word. I had no crown to
Speaker 1: place on his head, and he took a crown of
Speaker 1: thorns for me. For you see, he deserves all the credit,
Speaker 1: all the credit. By the way, if you start giving
Speaker 1: God all the credit, he'll start taking more of the stress.
Speaker 1: All right, let me really preach to y'all. Now. There
Speaker 1: was a group of preachers who came to visit us
Speaker 1: about a year ago, and one of them wanted to know,
Speaker 1: what do I do about critics? What do I do
Speaker 1: about critics? What do I do about critics? I said,
Speaker 1: I have no idea, I've never had one. What are
Speaker 1: you speaking of these critics? I find people loving and
Speaker 1: generous in their interpretation of all of your No, actually,
Speaker 1: what I said is if you want to survive criticism,
Speaker 1: you have to change your relationship with praise. He said, No,
Speaker 1: I'm not asking about praise. I'm asking about critics. I said, yeah.
Speaker 1: But if they have the power to praise you, then
Speaker 1: they also have the power to pull you down. So
Speaker 1: when people praise you, don't take it too seriously. They
Speaker 1: just hadn't got close enough yet. When people criticize you,
Speaker 1: don't take it too personally. They just don't want you
Speaker 1: to see that big old plank sticking out of their
Speaker 1: right eye. So they're talking about a speck in yours.
Speaker 1: And either way you slice it, it's the same principle.
Speaker 1: I thought we were talking about Christmas. We are. Remember
Speaker 1: that what started in the cradle ended on the cross,
Speaker 1: And we know so much about Mary that Mary doesn't
Speaker 1: know about Mary yet. We know that she initiated Jesus's
Speaker 1: first miracle when she said, get ready and turn this
Speaker 1: water into wine. And Jesus said, woman, my hour is
Speaker 1: not yet come. And she said, well, you don't have
Speaker 1: to remember my title. You don't have to. But she
Speaker 1: turned to the servants and said, do whatever he tells you,
Speaker 1: and man, the wine started flowing when that woman spoke. Wow.
Speaker 1: We know about Mary that she became frustrated with Jesus's
Speaker 1: popularity because she felt that it kept him from being
Speaker 1: intimate with his family, and stood outside the door saying,
Speaker 1: he's going crazy. Go in there and tell him he's
Speaker 1: going crazy. We know that although Mary was frustrated, though,
Speaker 1: she would not forsake Jesus, for she was there at
Speaker 1: the foot of the cross with one disciple named John
Speaker 1: when her son died. There are some things about Mary
Speaker 1: that Mary doesn't know yet, and yet she accepts. Ah,
Speaker 1: this was beautiful for me to see the promise of
Speaker 1: God to her virgin womb. Now, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you noticed when we read, and I don't know how
Speaker 1: close you pay attention. When I read the scripture, I
Speaker 1: noticed sometimes we have to go back to it because
Speaker 1: when I'm reading it the first time, you're kind of
Speaker 1: getting oriented. Go back to verse twenty six for a moment.
Speaker 1: Can we study. We're gonna do a lot of singing
Speaker 1: next Sunday, so I'm gonna get all the study part
Speaker 1: in this Sunday so you'll be ready. This word's gonna
Speaker 1: help you get ready for everything you got coming up
Speaker 1: this week. To elbow your neighbor and say you don't
Speaker 1: look ready yet, this word's gonna get you ready. Though. Now,
Speaker 1: in the sixth month, in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy,
Speaker 1: verse twenty six, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth,
Speaker 1: a town in Galilee. We need to talk about two
Speaker 1: things in this passage. We need to talk about who
Speaker 1: is Gabriel and what is Galilee. I'll do it in
Speaker 1: reverse order. Galilee is the place where Jesus is going
Speaker 1: to do the majority of his ministry. He will not
Speaker 1: die in Galilee. He will die in Jerusalem, but he
Speaker 1: will minister and base his operations thirty years from now
Speaker 1: out of Galilee. He will calm storms on the sea
Speaker 1: of Galilee. He will heal the blind eyes in the
Speaker 1: region of Galilee. It's going down in Galilee in just
Speaker 1: about thirty years. And God is setting all of this
Speaker 1: up through a girl, and he sends an angel named Gabriel.
Speaker 1: Gabriel is not a minimum wage angel. There's only two
Speaker 1: angels in the whole Bible that we know the names of. Michael.
Speaker 1: Michael is the fighting angel. Michael is the Mma angel.
Speaker 1: Michael choke you out. Michael is a cauliflower ear angel.
Speaker 1: Michael is a guy you don't want to mess with.
Speaker 1: And Gabriel, he's not the fighting angel. He's to fill
Speaker 1: you in angel. He's the angel. You'll remember this who
Speaker 1: came to Daniel and explained to him about the prophecies.
Speaker 1: He brought him clarity in Daniel chapter eight and nine.
Speaker 1: And then we don't see him again for a long time,
Speaker 1: and we see him go to Galilee. But before he
Speaker 1: goes to Galilee, he goes to Jerusalem. That's why I
Speaker 1: read you the verse where it said it was the
Speaker 1: sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Now Elizabeth was a relative
Speaker 1: of Mary, and her husband was named Zachariah. And Zachariah
Speaker 1: was a priest. And one day Zachariah, the priest, who
Speaker 1: was very old, went into the temple to burn incense,
Speaker 1: as it was his duty to do by the lots
Speaker 1: that were cast. And as he's there burning incense, an
Speaker 1: angel shows up right there by the altar and said, Zachariah,
Speaker 1: I know you, I know you hadn't felt like your
Speaker 1: old self in quite some time, buddy, But get ready,
Speaker 1: you're about to have a baby. And Zachariah said, but
Speaker 1: I'm old. And Gabriel said, but I'm Gabriel. Ooh, ooh ooh.
Speaker 1: I felt that on my spine spinal column when I
Speaker 1: said it. But I'm Gabriel. I stand in the presence
Speaker 1: of God, and I don't care how old you are,
Speaker 1: and I don't care if you've put all the baby
Speaker 1: clothes away from all the times you tried before. See
Speaker 1: Zecharia and Elizabeth had never had a baby. Her wound
Speaker 1: was barren. She was advanced in age, even though she
Speaker 1: was of the line of Erin, even though she was
Speaker 1: a very significant person. As her husband stood in Jerusalem
Speaker 1: burning incense, the angel Gabriel showed up to say, you're
Speaker 1: about to have a baby. Zechariah said, it cannot be.
Speaker 1: I'm old, And he said, because you said that, and
Speaker 1: because I'm Gabriel, and because I stand in the presence
Speaker 1: of God and you don't, and because I come from
Speaker 1: Heaven and you don't shut your mouth. You're not speaking
Speaker 1: again until the baby is born. And when the baby's born,
Speaker 1: you're gonna name him John. When everybody asks you, why John, say,
Speaker 1: because I'm Gabriel and I came with a message from God.
Speaker 1: And Zechariah came out of the temple smelling like incense smoke,
Speaker 1: but not able to say very much. And Zachariah had
Speaker 1: to learn sign language real quick coming out of that temple,
Speaker 1: because everybody wanted to know what happened, and why were
Speaker 1: you in there so long? Kind of weird. You were
Speaker 1: in there a long time, Zachari don't take that long,
Speaker 1: delight incense? What was going on in there? Zachar isiser,
Speaker 1: But that's been six months ago, And that makes sense
Speaker 1: because of course, the angel Gabriel, the messenger, Abriel, the
Speaker 1: clarifying angel, Gabriel to fill you in and tell you
Speaker 1: what God's about to do. Angel. Of course he would
Speaker 1: show up to a priest in a place like Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: Why Jerusalem was the center point of Jewish worship. I
Speaker 1: expect to see Gabriel at the temple in Jerusalem speaking
Speaker 1: to a priest. I expect to see Gabriel standing at
Speaker 1: the threshold of the place where the offerings and the
Speaker 1: sacrifices were made. You expect to see Gabriel in a
Speaker 1: place like that. What I didn't expect was six months
Speaker 1: later to see that same Gabriel, one of only two
Speaker 1: angels whose names we know in scripture, one of the
Speaker 1: arch angels in scripture. Sure, what I didn't expect was
Speaker 1: to see Gabriel show up in a place like Galilee.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Galilee. Galilee is seventy miles from Jerusalem.
Speaker 1: Galilee is not considered very significant by the people who
Speaker 1: live in Jerusalem. Galilee is mixed with Jews and Gentiles,
Speaker 1: so the religious customs are questionable at best. It was
Speaker 1: referred to as the land of Darkness. I'm not surprised
Speaker 1: to see Gabriel show up in the temple where the
Speaker 1: priest is burning incense. That seems like something worthy of
Speaker 1: Gabriel's time. But I am surprised to see Gabriel show
Speaker 1: up six months later for a special appointment with a
Speaker 1: girl whose name would not even be known had Gabriel
Speaker 1: not shown up to tell her what she was carrying
Speaker 1: in a place called galilee, where nobody even found worth
Speaker 1: putting on their itinerary when planning an important trip. All
Speaker 1: that I said to say this, God's to show up
Speaker 1: in some unexpected places in your life in this season,
Speaker 1: and don't be too surprised, because God is not bound
Speaker 1: to the customs and traditions that people are bound to.
Speaker 1: And God doesn't just show up in holy families and
Speaker 1: holy knights and silent nights. For the king that we
Speaker 1: served before he went to a throne, he stopped by
Speaker 1: a manger. And I want to speak to somebody this
Speaker 1: Christmas season who is going through a galilee in your family.
Speaker 1: I don't know exactly what that means to you, but
Speaker 1: perhaps you do. Maybe it's a galilee in your relationship
Speaker 1: with your children. Maybe it's a galilee in your relationship
Speaker 1: with your wife. Maybe it's a Galilee in your own
Speaker 1: emotional despondency. Galilee can be a dark place. Galilee can
Speaker 1: seem like an insignificant place. Galilee can become an insecurity,
Speaker 1: so that you begin to think that no one as
Speaker 1: important as God would have time for someone as in
Speaker 1: significant as me. Which is why I read you Luke,
Speaker 1: Chapter one, verse twenty six. Now God sent an angel
Speaker 1: named Gabriel to a place called Nazareth, in a region
Speaker 1: called Galilee. I announced to you this day, Gabriel is
Speaker 1: coming to Galilee. You hear me. At Dove's nest. You
Speaker 1: hear me. You can't be with your children this Christmas
Speaker 1: because you're in recovery. Gabriel is coming to Galilee. You
Speaker 1: hear the voice of the Lord. Now don't listen to
Speaker 1: my voice. Listen to the voice of the Lord. Some
Speaker 1: of you are bereaved this season. Gabriel is coming to
Speaker 1: your grieving. Some of you have been betrayed in this
Speaker 1: season of your life. Gabriel is coming into the betrayal
Speaker 1: because God is sending him. And when God sends Gabriel,
Speaker 1: Gabriel has got to go. See. I want you to
Speaker 1: understand that when God speaks a word he does not
Speaker 1: consult circumstances. When God speaks a word, he does not
Speaker 1: consult circumstances. I'm gonna say it again for the lady
Speaker 1: in the back of the room. When God speaks a
Speaker 1: word over your life, when God speaks a word over
Speaker 1: your destiny, when God speaks a word over your future,
Speaker 1: when God speaks a word over your relationship, when God
Speaker 1: speaks a word over your baby, when God speaks a
Speaker 1: word over your life span, when God speaks a word
Speaker 1: over your generational impact. When God says Gabriel, go, Gabriel
Speaker 1: doesn't get to say to God and not go into Galilee.
Speaker 1: That's only humans that do that. That's only humans that
Speaker 1: do that. We disobey, We get stubborn, we don't want
Speaker 1: to forgive because we've been heard. Gabriel goes where God
Speaker 1: says God. So what I'm trying to get you to
Speaker 1: see is that the miracle of Christmas is that I
Speaker 1: could not get to God. My sin was great. Christmas
Speaker 1: is not just sentimental for me. It is salvation to me.
Speaker 1: My life is on the line.
Speaker 2: I cannot walk straight, I cannot be clean, I cannot
Speaker 2: come close, I cannot take credit for my righteousness was
Speaker 2: as filthy rags, so.
Speaker 1: You cannot get to God. You say, how is that
Speaker 1: good news? That I can't get to God? You don't
Speaker 1: have to That's what makes it good news. And the
Speaker 1: more you realize that, you're gonna start praying faster when
Speaker 1: you mess up, because I don't have to get it
Speaker 1: right to come to God. I don't have to be clean.
Speaker 1: He was clean. I don't have to be clean to
Speaker 1: come close. He was clean. He came close. He gets
Speaker 1: the glory, and I feel like giving him twenty four
Speaker 1: seconds of Christmas Craine with the symbols, with the organ.
Speaker 1: I'll give you ten more seconds to praiser, all right,
Speaker 1: let's practice ten more seconds to praise him, eight seconds
Speaker 1: to give him credit. Top seconds to let the stress
Speaker 1: going freaks who won hot five your neighbor and say,
Speaker 1: Gabriel's coming, Yeah, Yeah, Gabriel's coming. Gabriel's coming. God is
Speaker 1: gonna give you clarity about that thing in your darkness.
Speaker 1: God is going to give you perspective about that thing
Speaker 1: in your darkness. God is going to give you provision
Speaker 1: for that thing in your darkness. Gabriel came to Galilee.
Speaker 1: Aren't you glad about that? It makes me think if
Speaker 1: I get a little depressed, I can call on Jesus,
Speaker 1: I can call on Heaven, I can call on the angels.
Speaker 1: I can call on the light, even in the darkest place.
Speaker 1: Because Gabriel, this is it. Gabriel came to Galilee, and
Speaker 1: he came to Galilee to get it ready for somebody greater.
Speaker 1: Y'all don't like good preaching anymore. Oh that's delicious right there.
Speaker 1: He came to Galilee to get it ready for something greater.
Speaker 1: And yet isn't it amazing of God to start something
Speaker 1: so great as the salvation of the world. Think of
Speaker 1: all the great things that would happen in Galilee, Think
Speaker 1: of all the great things that would happen at the cross,
Speaker 1: think of all the great things that would happen on
Speaker 1: the other side of the empty tomb. And yet he
Speaker 1: started something so great in something so small as a baby.
Speaker 1: As a baby makes me think that God wanted me
Speaker 1: to know that He can hold me too. I mean,
Speaker 1: think about it. We'll give it to you like the
Speaker 1: Lord gave it to me this morning. Think about the
Speaker 1: fact that the Angel told Mary not that God would
Speaker 1: descend from the skies like thor But we'll wrap himself
Speaker 1: in a little baby flesh and all of the attendant
Speaker 1: idiosyncrasies of a baby, and he came like a baby.
Speaker 1: He came like a baby, which means that he had
Speaker 1: to be held by humans. Now, sometimes we need a
Speaker 1: practical sermon. Sometimes we just need to revel and marvel
Speaker 1: in the glory of God. Watch this, that heaven was
Speaker 1: held by humanity. That's amazing. And he didn't have to
Speaker 1: do it. Jesus was fully God and fully man. So
Speaker 1: the choice that he made to be held by human
Speaker 1: hands was not of necessity. It was of love. The
Speaker 1: heavenly King, the most High God, held by human hands. Oh,
Speaker 1: I wish you could see it like I see it,
Speaker 1: because I see that the reason that Heaven had to
Speaker 1: be held by humans was so that humans could be
Speaker 1: held by Heaven. The Lord wanted you to remember that
Speaker 1: you are held. This season that you are held. You're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've been held. Hell has been all up in my life.
Speaker 1: I have been No. No, I'm saying, held by the
Speaker 1: hand of God. When I look back, I see it
Speaker 1: so clearly. Satan came from my soul. But the Lord said, no,
Speaker 1: I've been held by the hand of God. I've been
Speaker 1: hidden by the hand of God. And this is what
Speaker 1: we call the invitation of incarnation and theological terms is
Speaker 1: that heaven was held by humanity so that humanity could
Speaker 1: be held by it. And just to remember, as you
Speaker 1: walk through your life that you are being carried. Give
Speaker 1: him the credit for carrying you. Thank you, Thank you
Speaker 1: every step and arrival, every step and announcement that God
Speaker 1: is not through with me yet. Hell this Mary would
Speaker 1: hold heaven in her arms. She held heaven. But I
Speaker 1: think that the secret to Mary, and I thought about
Speaker 1: calling this sermon I make Mary moves And it was
Speaker 1: so dumb. I shouldn't have told you that I thought
Speaker 1: about calling it. That might as well have has let
Speaker 1: that out. But one thing she said that I thought
Speaker 1: was so powerful. And I know, Holly, your favorite verse
Speaker 1: is Luke one thirty eight, but my favorite verse is
Speaker 1: Luke one thirty four. Her favorite Let me show you
Speaker 1: her favorite verse, verse verse thirty eight. I am the
Speaker 1: Lord's servant. May your word to be me be fulfilled? Right,
Speaker 1: that's here my favorite one, verse thirty four. How that's
Speaker 1: my verse. How don't act like you're not living with
Speaker 1: some howls in your house? How am I gonna make
Speaker 1: it through this whole month without cussing somebody out in Japanese?
Speaker 1: I might learn Japanese just to cuss somebody out in
Speaker 1: Japanese acting like this? How am I gonna pay for
Speaker 1: all this crap? Go back to my earlier point credit?
Speaker 1: How am I ever gonna catch up if I keep
Speaker 1: on consuming like this? How now Mary isn't asking that
Speaker 1: she's not spending money at the mall. She's trying to
Speaker 1: give birth to the Sunna came? But I thought, get
Speaker 1: have some coming grundm with Mary. How let me ask
Speaker 1: a question, how many of you are living in a
Speaker 1: how right now? In a how right now? Anybody online? Honest?
Speaker 1: I think the purpose of the Christmas story is not
Speaker 1: just in being held, but it is in being humbled,
Speaker 1: humbled that Jesus, being in very nature God, did not
Speaker 1: consider equality with God something to be grasped Philippians two
Speaker 1: five through ten. He emptied himself, He humbled himself, taking
Speaker 1: on the form of flesh of a servant. So Jesus
Speaker 1: humbled himself, and so did Mary, and so must you
Speaker 1: and I? How will this be? How am I gonna
Speaker 1: do it? Without drinking again? How am I gonna do
Speaker 1: it without having a nervous breakdown? How am I gonna
Speaker 1: do it when I wasn't raised and taught? How am
Speaker 1: I gonna do it when nobody in my family ever did?
Speaker 1: How am I gonna do it at this age and
Speaker 1: stage of life? How am I gonna do it when
Speaker 1: I can't even feel God when I'm in church? How
Speaker 1: will this be merry? Ask the Angel, since I am
Speaker 1: a virgin, valid question? Powerful answer verse thirty five. The
Speaker 1: Angel answered, how many of you would like to have
Speaker 1: an appointment with an angel so you could get some
Speaker 1: answers for your how today? Come on, say, I want
Speaker 1: an appointment. I want an appointment with Gabriel so he
Speaker 1: can tell me how I'm supposed to put up with
Speaker 1: this mess. I want an appointment with Gabriel so he
Speaker 1: can tell me how I'm supposed to fix this mess.
Speaker 1: I want an appointment with Gabriel so he can tell
Speaker 1: me whether I should stay or go. I want an
Speaker 1: appointment with Gabriel so I can ask him what to
Speaker 1: do about this trauma that happened a long time ago,
Speaker 1: and it stayed in my life even though the trial
Speaker 1: is over. I want an appointment with that angel. And
Speaker 1: I thought it was crazy that when the Angel answered
Speaker 1: verse thirty five, he didn't really say how, He just
Speaker 1: said who. Thank you Jesus. The answer to how is
Speaker 1: a who. Put the verse on the screen and let
Speaker 1: me preach us home. Now, the Angel answered, holy Spirit
Speaker 1: will come. Now we got something better than Gabriel. Now
Speaker 1: we got something better than an angel. Because I don't
Speaker 1: have an angel standing next to me today. Touch your
Speaker 1: neighbors say you're not an angel, But I do have
Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is my answer
Speaker 1: to the question called how. The Holy Spirit speaks up
Speaker 1: when the lies are raging in my mind, and the
Speaker 1: Angel answer, the Holy Spirit will come on you, and
Speaker 1: the power of the Most High will overshadow you. I
Speaker 1: read it again, The Holy Spirit will come on you.
Speaker 1: This promise is for you, baby, This promise is for you, man.
Speaker 1: This promise is for you. The Holy Spirit will come
Speaker 1: on you, and the power of the most High will
Speaker 1: overshadow you. The power of the most High will overshadow you.
Speaker 1: The power of the most High will overshadow you. So
Speaker 1: I hear you saying I don't know how, and I
Speaker 1: hear God saying you don't have to see you do
Speaker 1: not not have to know how. If you can get
Speaker 1: a glimpse of who. Everybody's saying like an owl, SAYO,
Speaker 1: that's what I know. That's what I'm hope in. That's
Speaker 1: what I stand on, that's what I rejoice in. Help
Speaker 1: me preach, and I'll get you home in time for lunch.
Speaker 1: That's what I know. That's what I'm talking about. That's
Speaker 1: why I'm worshiping. That's why my hands are lifting, not
Speaker 1: because I know how, because I know ooo oooh, the
Speaker 1: Lord's bringing it back to my mind everything I studied
Speaker 1: to preach to you this week. He was telling me
Speaker 1: how sometimes in your life you get so caught up
Speaker 1: in how that you miss the power of who, and
Speaker 1: you get hung up on how, and you're gonna end
Speaker 1: up like Zechariah, old bad knee Zechariah incense burn and
Speaker 1: stay in the bathroom temple too long. Zachariah talking about
Speaker 1: I should have kept my mouth shut because God knows how,
Speaker 1: and you don't have to. Wouldn't that be wonderful news.
Speaker 1: Let's put ourselves in Mary's shoes for a moment. Can we,
Speaker 1: just for one moment, pretend that this has happened to us?
Speaker 1: We are not expecting an angelic villa visitation. We haven't
Speaker 1: even got our wedding registry set up yet. And God
Speaker 1: is talking about a baby, and the Lord says, you're
Speaker 1: pregnant and you're gonna give birth to the Son of God,
Speaker 1: no pressure. And Mary's like, I got to, No, I
Speaker 1: get to. Oh, I get to. So I appreciate you
Speaker 1: giving me these kids to raise God. I appreciate you
Speaker 1: giving me this church. I appreciate you giving me the
Speaker 1: because I appreciate you giving me this department. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you give me this opportunity. But what do I do
Speaker 1: with the pressure? And this is so powerful? Man? Oh,
Speaker 1: it's so powerful to me going through her mind or
Speaker 1: a million questions because she's already engaged to Joseph. How
Speaker 1: do you tell your fiance, Yeah, I met this guy
Speaker 1: named Gabriel, but he's an angel. Don't worry. He's an
Speaker 1: angel named Gabriel. How do you tell your husband that
Speaker 1: you're pregnant and he knows it wasn't him. How am
Speaker 1: I going to tell him? Well, look over in Matthew
Speaker 1: chapter one when you get home, because Mary, I know
Speaker 1: you can't figure out how you're going to tell Joseph,
Speaker 1: but you don't have to a little bit after Gabriel
Speaker 1: got done telling Mary she is going to have a
Speaker 1: another angel popped up and told Joseph, hey believe her.
Speaker 1: You don't have to convince anybody. You don't have to
Speaker 1: prove anything to anybody. You don't have to stop trying
Speaker 1: to defend yourself to people who aren't even paying attention.
Speaker 1: Stop having imaginary arguments with hypothetical opponents. You keep your
Speaker 1: heart right with God in this season. You don't have
Speaker 1: to tell them anything about red states, blue states, none
Speaker 1: of that. That doesn't even have to come up. Let
Speaker 1: me tell you something about the arguments that are gonna
Speaker 1: happen around your table this holiday season. All right, this
Speaker 1: holiday holiday season, around your house. Let me tell you
Speaker 1: about the arguments that you want to win. You don't
Speaker 1: have to You don't have to win an argument. All
Speaker 1: you gotta do is complete your assignment. Man. I was
Speaker 1: so stressed out one day having a bunch of people over,
Speaker 1: and my friend said, what do you think they're expecting
Speaker 1: when they come over to the house. I said, I
Speaker 1: don't know. They said, you have one job. Nobody drowns
Speaker 1: in the pool. I said, it's that simple. They said, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have to create some magical moment, but you know
Speaker 1: it was I figured out what it was. I feel
Speaker 1: pressure to perform because in my job, in my line
Speaker 1: of work, you expect me to have something to say,
Speaker 1: and it needs to kind of make sense, and it
Speaker 1: needs to be something that you probably couldn't have thought
Speaker 1: of on your own or else. Why did you get
Speaker 1: the ice off the windshield to come hear this stuff?
Speaker 1: But wouldn't it be prideful of me to think that
Speaker 1: a good God who has angels like Gabriel would need
Speaker 1: a messenger like me to be perfect to speak his
Speaker 1: word to you? Wouldn't it be stupid? Wouldn't it be wrong?
Speaker 1: Wouldn't it be crushing for you to live under the
Speaker 1: debilitating weight of how when it's never been about how,
Speaker 1: It's always been about who. And here's what God has
Speaker 1: been doing in our lives. Some of us in this
Speaker 1: season we have been humbled by how. That's it. We've
Speaker 1: been humbled by how because we thought it was going
Speaker 1: to turn out one way and it's going a completely
Speaker 1: different way. And it doesn't mean God isn't doing what
Speaker 1: he's going to do, He's just not doing it. How
Speaker 1: you want it, and you are being humbled by how
Speaker 1: You need another example, Okay, think about the nation of
Speaker 1: Israel who was standing before a giant named Goliath with
Speaker 1: swords and spears. And when it came time for God
Speaker 1: to take out Goliath, he did not use a sword
Speaker 1: or a spear. He used a slingshot. Why so that
Speaker 1: the army would know that it is not by sword
Speaker 1: or spear that God saves. So he used a shepherd
Speaker 1: with a slingshot to bring down a giant. Because God
Speaker 1: will use the how to humble you. God will put
Speaker 1: you up in front of a red sea. He will
Speaker 1: put a stick in your hand. You will be looking
Speaker 1: at a sea, hearing the clatter of chariot wheels behind you,
Speaker 1: wondering like Mary wondered, how how am I gonna make
Speaker 1: it across? And God will speak to the insignificant thing
Speaker 1: in your hand, and he will cause you to stretch
Speaker 1: the thing in your hand over the thing that you
Speaker 1: can't go through, because He wants to humble you in
Speaker 1: the how Jesus could have come to the earth anyway
Speaker 1: he wanted. Jesus could have come to the earth like Simba.
Speaker 1: Jesus could have come to the earth in a supernatural way.
Speaker 1: But the hands that hung the stars in space were
Speaker 1: held in a virgin womb. We're held by Mary's hands.
Speaker 1: We're held by the nails of the cross. Why God
Speaker 1: humbles you by how so that when he does it,
Speaker 1: there will be no confusion about who's doing it, because
Speaker 1: if you do it, you got to keep doing it.
Speaker 1: But if He began a good work in you, help
Speaker 1: me breach now, because I feel somebody's help coming. God said,
Speaker 1: I'm using the how to humble you. And that is
Speaker 1: why he came as a baby, so that you would
Speaker 1: be humbled by the how. And when you are humbled
Speaker 1: by the how, now you can be helped. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel like help is going to come to you this
Speaker 1: Christmas season. You didn't count on help that you forgot about.
Speaker 1: I don't know how. You don't have to. And some
Speaker 1: of you have been saying I can't do this alone.
Speaker 1: And God is saying you don't have to. For what
Speaker 1: the Angel said to marry God, I feel your presence.
Speaker 1: The Holy Spirit is saying to you, the Lord is
Speaker 1: with you, and I have to do this alone. You
Speaker 1: don't have to make these decisions alone. The Holy Spirit
Speaker 1: will help you. The spirit who brought Jesus to Mary
Speaker 1: is the spirit that lives in you, and the Holy
Speaker 1: Spirit will help you. And I want to pray for
Speaker 1: people today who are hung up on how right now.
Speaker 1: That's fine, but just remember that God isn't going to
Speaker 1: show you how, because he wants to show you who.
Speaker 1: So I want us to flip our prayer everybody's standing
Speaker 1: at every location. As the Lord instructed me, I have
Speaker 1: imparted to you today this great revelation of grace that
Speaker 1: you don't have to You get to carry Christ this
Speaker 1: Christmas season. And I dare you to go back to
Speaker 1: this week with a little bit different attitude. I mean,
Speaker 1: don't go back quoting dis sermon to your wife or
Speaker 1: your boss. Tell me the word of the Lord is,
Speaker 1: I don't have to Well, you're gonna get fired and
Speaker 1: you can't tie, and we have to shut the church down.
Speaker 1: Don't do that. Listen to me. Listen to me. There's
Speaker 1: some stuff that you are carrying that you are not
Speaker 1: meant to carry, and it's causing you to forget about
Speaker 1: the Christ that you are called to carry. And I
Speaker 1: love being practical and I love breaking it down. And
Speaker 1: one of my friends asked me the other day. I
Speaker 1: love when you preach stuff. It gets me excited. You
Speaker 1: tell me about Galilee, you tell me about Gabriel, but
Speaker 1: tell me how and see the thing about it is.
Speaker 1: I don't have to, because if you would get still
Speaker 1: for just one moment in the presence of God and
Speaker 1: humble your heart, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you and
Speaker 1: the hand of God will hold you. Now this is optional.
Speaker 1: You don't have to give your next few weeks to
Speaker 1: God at the end of this year, but his hands
Speaker 1: are ready if you want to. You don't have to
Speaker 1: take any time over the next few weeks to thank
Speaker 1: God for the promotions that he brought in your life
Speaker 1: this year, for the friends that he brought in your
Speaker 1: life this year, for the enemies that he held back
Speaker 1: from destroying you this year, from the sickness that he
Speaker 1: left it lifted off of your life this year, From
Speaker 1: the way that he averted the situation this year that
Speaker 1: it could have gone another way. You don't have to
Speaker 1: thank God for any You don't have to, But the
Speaker 1: Gospel says, you get to. This is our privilege to
Speaker 1: carry the presence of God. And I was just thinking
Speaker 1: about another Mary. You remember in scripture where Mary and
Speaker 1: Martha had Jesus in their home. Do you know this
Speaker 1: story in Luke chapter ten? And Mary was sitting at
Speaker 1: the feet of Jesus and Martha was trying to get
Speaker 1: some work done around here, and Jesus was teaching, and
Speaker 1: Martha was bossing, and Martha thought Jesus would take her side, said,
Speaker 1: tell my sister Mary to help. No, this is a
Speaker 1: different Mary. But look what Jesus said about this Mary
Speaker 1: in Luke ten forty two. And I think this will
Speaker 1: be a pretty good mission statement for you and I too. Martha, Martha,
Speaker 1: you are worried and upset about many things, but few
Speaker 1: things are needed. Wait a minute, don't you see all
Speaker 1: this work I have to get done. You don't have to.
Speaker 1: You don't have to. Ninety eight percent of your list
Speaker 1: is optional. Yeah, you get to, you get to And
Speaker 1: watch this. He said, There's only one thing necessary, and
Speaker 1: Mary has chosen what is better and it won't be
Speaker 1: taken away from her. So I'm just gonna beg you
Speaker 1: and implore you on behalf of Christ. Do not give
Speaker 1: yourself over to things at the end of this year
Speaker 1: that can be taken away so easily. So easily. So, Lord,
Speaker 1: as we come to you today, I am aware that
Speaker 1: there are some who are under the sound of my voice,
Speaker 1: whether in person or separated by miles, who are in
Speaker 1: a galilee of sorts. And we thank you today that
Speaker 1: your message knows no bounds. You can enter any situation,
Speaker 1: you can enter any dysfunction, you can enter any trial.
Speaker 1: But Lord, for some of us just running around with
Speaker 1: the spirit of obligation when we serve the God of
Speaker 1: good news and grace. So I thank you, Lord for
Speaker 1: the way that you are resetting our hearts in your presence.
Speaker 1: Recalling on you, God, the God of Mary, whose favor
Speaker 1: rests upon the lowly. We know with you all things
Speaker 1: are possible. We lift our hands to heaven. Now go
Speaker 1: ahead and lift your hands to heaven right now. If
Speaker 1: you know that you are held by the hands of God.
Speaker 1: Oh God, my God, I need you, Oh God, my God,
Speaker 1: I need you now, how I need you now? Thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you
Speaker 1: who give generously to this ministry. Is because of you
Speaker 1: that this ministry is possible. You can click the link
Speaker 1: in the description to give now, or visit Elevation Church
Speaker 1: Slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast,
Speaker 1: you can subscribe. You can share it with your friends.
Speaker 1: You can click the share button, take a screenshot and
Speaker 1: share it on your social stories and tag us at
Speaker 1: Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.