Speaker 1: Come on, put it in the chat right now. If
Speaker 1: you say I'm a giver, I'm a giver. I'm a giver.
Speaker 1: I'm a giver. Thank you Lord for all these faithful givers,
Speaker 1: for the seed they've sown. Thank You for Holly. Thank
Speaker 1: You for the life that she lives, the woman that
Speaker 1: she is. Thank You for how beautiful she is inside
Speaker 1: and out. Today, God, would you speak through her the
Speaker 1: exact thing we need to hear. We are listening. We
Speaker 1: are ready for a holly, jolly Christmas. We thank you
Speaker 1: Lord in Jesus' name, y'all. Thank God for Holly as
Speaker 1: she comes. Wow, Merry Christmas. I have to say welcome
Speaker 1: to those of you who are watching online and all
Speaker 1: of our campuses today. I am so glad to know
Speaker 1: that you are prioritizing the Word of God in your
Speaker 1: life and in your family during the busiest season of
Speaker 1: the year. And I believe that God is going to
Speaker 1: multiply your time today. You're going to accomplish everything you
Speaker 1: need to accomplish in the next six days, roughly one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty hours. Still Christmas, But who's County not me?
Speaker 1: Before you sit down, I just want to read my
Speaker 1: passage really quick. If you have a Bible, I'm going
Speaker 1: to be in Luke chapter two, verse eight. If you
Speaker 1: don't have a Bible, it's going to be on the
Speaker 1: screen there for you. Luke two says. And there were
Speaker 1: shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over
Speaker 1: their flocks. At night. An angel of the Lord appeared
Speaker 1: to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them,
Speaker 1: and they were terrified. The angel said to them, do
Speaker 1: not be afraid. I bring you good news that will
Speaker 1: cause great joy for all the people. Today in the
Speaker 1: town of David, a savior has been born to you.
Speaker 1: He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a
Speaker 1: signed to you. You will find a baby wrapped in
Speaker 1: cloths and lying in a manger. Let's pray, Lord, would
Speaker 1: you speak to us today? God, would you help us
Speaker 1: to clear our minds of all the thoughts that are
Speaker 1: flying through our heads, the things that we need to do,
Speaker 1: the burdens that are on our shoulders. God, we set
Speaker 1: it all aside right now, and we ask for you
Speaker 1: to speak to us. We are listening. We know you
Speaker 1: have a message for us today. And God, for all
Speaker 1: the delivery men and women out there, would you bless them,
Speaker 1: would you help them not to get lost driving around?
Speaker 1: Would you keep them safe? And would you bring our
Speaker 1: packages safely to our doorsteps? Jesus name Amen, you can
Speaker 1: be seated. Thank you, Worshiptia. Anyone out there tracking a package,
Speaker 1: let me see your hand? Are you tracking a package?
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's a gift or a curse
Speaker 1: that technology has allowed us to literally see where our
Speaker 1: packages are at all times, except for some of these
Speaker 1: apps that are not quite accurate, and they're driving me crazy.
Speaker 1: I thought that I was doing really good this year
Speaker 1: when I started Christmas shopping in October. I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: never ever have I Christmas shopped before Black Friday. But
Speaker 1: this year I was like scared. The Today's Show had
Speaker 1: me nervous that nothing was gonna get here, and so
Speaker 1: I started in October. But I got to tell you,
Speaker 1: it has been no less stressful for me because I
Speaker 1: have spent the entire month of December obsessively tracking my packages.
Speaker 1: I currently have one package that I know is not
Speaker 1: gonna make it here by Christmas, and I have three
Speaker 1: that I keep hitting refreshed on and it's going to
Speaker 1: be a Christmas miracle if they arrive in time. How
Speaker 1: many of you believe in Christmas miracles? Yes? Okay, So
Speaker 1: last week one of the things that I had ordered
Speaker 1: for Steven hadn't come in yet, and so I went
Speaker 1: and found the email and I found the tracking number
Speaker 1: and when I clicked on it, my heart sank because
Speaker 1: it said Canada Post. And I didn't realize that my
Speaker 1: package was coming from a foreign country. Nothing against our
Speaker 1: Canadian friends, shout out to those of you watching at
Speaker 1: our Toronto campus. But my package sat at your border
Speaker 1: for three days. How do I know? Because I checked
Speaker 1: it every day. I kept the Canada Post tab open
Speaker 1: in my browser, and I just I kept clicking refreshed.
Speaker 1: And on day two I started to panic and I
Speaker 1: imagined my package getting lost in a giant pile of
Speaker 1: boxes at customs, because I know Canada is really much
Speaker 1: more strict about COVID and all the things, and maybe
Speaker 1: my package had COVID, And so I started thinking of
Speaker 1: backup gifts. And then on the third day, I refreshed
Speaker 1: in the item the thing said item has arrived in
Speaker 1: foreign country. USA. How many of you thank God for
Speaker 1: the third Day? The believing God for some Third Day packages?
Speaker 1: This Christmas. I think one of the best and the
Speaker 1: worst parts of Christmas is mail, because on one hand,
Speaker 1: I'm constantly tracking my packages, but on the other hand,
Speaker 1: the relief and the pure joy that can be felt
Speaker 1: when you pull into your driveway and you see a
Speaker 1: pile of boxes on your front door. Some of the
Speaker 1: men in here are like, I do not feel pure
Speaker 1: joy when I see all those boxes. But Sir Eric Phillips,
Speaker 1: happy birthday. You were not waiting for a Christmas miracle.
Speaker 1: And the feeling when you start to read those return
Speaker 1: labels and you realize that your gift is here, It's amazing.
Speaker 1: It is a great feeling. Amen. Anybody know that feeling? Okay,
Speaker 1: last week Stephen taught us something good is coming from this.
Speaker 1: Were you here, If you were here, do the motions
Speaker 1: with me. He said this, He said, something good is
Speaker 1: coming from this. Remember, and he told us that if
Speaker 1: anything good can come from Nazareth, then something good is
Speaker 1: coming from this. And I loved it when he said
Speaker 1: don't leave Egypt without going through the gift shop, because
Speaker 1: he made fun of me. But you guys, I love
Speaker 1: a gift shop. I have loved gift shop since I
Speaker 1: was ten years old. I don't know why I love
Speaker 1: a gift shop. If you don't buy the mug, were
Speaker 1: you really even there? You had to have proof that
Speaker 1: you were there. Something good is coming from this. What
Speaker 1: a promise he gave us to hold onto. And I
Speaker 1: thought about it all week, and I kept thinking about
Speaker 1: how so many people are going through a dark season
Speaker 1: in their lives. Right now. You might be watching and thinking,
Speaker 1: I wish my biggest Christmas. My biggest worry this Christmas
Speaker 1: season was making sure that my packages got delivered on time.
Speaker 1: I've been thinking a lot about my friend Kimberly, whose
Speaker 1: fourteen year old son has cancer and he has been
Speaker 1: fighting for his life in the hospital, and how she
Speaker 1: hasn't seen her twelve year old son for two months.
Speaker 1: And I know that many of you are going through
Speaker 1: maybe a divorce, or you lost your job, or you
Speaker 1: lost a loved one this year, and you don't even
Speaker 1: want to celebrate Christmas. And I just want to say
Speaker 1: to you that if it feels dark to you this year,
Speaker 1: if you I want you to know that I'm praying
Speaker 1: for you, and I'm also so thankful that you are
Speaker 1: here with us in church today because God can handle
Speaker 1: your disappointments and your doubts, and when you come to
Speaker 1: church where you log on to your computer and you
Speaker 1: take time and you worship God, even in the midst
Speaker 1: of a difficult season, you're sending a message to yourself
Speaker 1: and to the enemy that you may be under attack,
Speaker 1: but you are not going to go down. And I
Speaker 1: believe I'm praying that you are going to go out
Speaker 1: of here today full of faith and joy and hope
Speaker 1: in your heart because God has given me a message
Speaker 1: for you. So this week, when I was reading this
Speaker 1: passage Luke to about the shepherds, and I kept praying
Speaker 1: about what God wanted me to say to you, and
Speaker 1: I had all these things, but they weren't all coming together.
Speaker 1: And I was thinking, there's only six days left till Christmas,
Speaker 1: and God, what do you want me to say? And
Speaker 1: I finally figured out he wants me to give you
Speaker 1: part two of Pastor Steven sermon from last week. All right,
Speaker 1: so last week we learn something good is coming from
Speaker 1: this This week part two, we've got some new motions.
Speaker 1: Goes like this, something good is here right now. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's do it one more time, No, one more time
Speaker 1: here because now you got it Okay, something good is
Speaker 1: here right now, right now, today, I want to take
Speaker 1: the story of the Shepherds and show you that not
Speaker 1: only is something good coming from this from your situation,
Speaker 1: but also something good is here right now. Room's eight
Speaker 1: twenty eight tells us that God is working all things
Speaker 1: for good. But what I am learning is that while
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for God to do this good work, there
Speaker 1: is good to be found in every situation, in every person,
Speaker 1: in every moment right here. So in our time that
Speaker 1: we have together, I want to show you three things
Speaker 1: to remember this holiday season that will help you focus
Speaker 1: on the good in the middle of the chaos, in
Speaker 1: the middle of the loneliness, in the middle of your dysfunction,
Speaker 1: in the middle of every single situation that you face.
Speaker 1: Are you ready, Let's go. Let's look at the first
Speaker 1: two verses that we read. Luke tells us in verse
Speaker 1: eight and the shepherds, we're living out in the fields nearby,
Speaker 1: keeping watch over their flocks at night, and an angel
Speaker 1: of the Lord appeared to them. The first thing that
Speaker 1: I want to point out to you is that God
Speaker 1: is here, not there. One of the themes that I
Speaker 1: love about the Christmas story in the Bible is how
Speaker 1: God chooses the least likely people to carry out his plan.
Speaker 1: It's not just in the Christmas story. It's all throughout
Speaker 1: the Bible. But when we think about the Christmas story,
Speaker 1: Mary was she was not an experienced mother, she was
Speaker 1: just a girl. Joseph was not the son of a
Speaker 1: prominent community leader or a Bible scholar. Yet God chose
Speaker 1: them to ordinary people to care for and protect and
Speaker 1: raise Jesus. And then when it came time to spread
Speaker 1: the news of the birth of his son, God chose
Speaker 1: the shepherds. Now when we picture the shepherds, I think
Speaker 1: that we picture this. I just grabbed this little case. This.
Speaker 1: The book was better. The book is always better. If
Speaker 1: I have any book lovers out there, I think that
Speaker 1: we picture this. I took this from my foyer. For
Speaker 1: some reason, my Nativity set only has one shepherd. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure why. I never noticed that before there were
Speaker 1: shepherds in the field. But anyway, I think we picture
Speaker 1: this guy, and you know, he's got this peaceful these
Speaker 1: peaceful little lambs that are you know, looking up at him,
Speaker 1: and and he's got this this baby lamb in his arms,
Speaker 1: and he's got this beautiful white robe and the shepherd
Speaker 1: thing on his head, and he just looks so good
Speaker 1: and peaceful. I mean, he's holding a lamb. Right, that's
Speaker 1: my perception of what the shepherds were like. But actually,
Speaker 1: during this period of history, shepherds were some of the
Speaker 1: lowest in society. First of all, just purely because of
Speaker 1: their work with animals. They were considered unclean by Jewish law,
Speaker 1: and just because of the nature of their job. This
Speaker 1: made them an outcast from the community on a regular basis.
Speaker 1: But not just that, they were also commonly assumed to
Speaker 1: be dishonest and untrustworthy people. Now, if I was God,
Speaker 1: if you're glad, I'm not God. My kids are glad.
Speaker 1: I'm not God. If I was God, I would have
Speaker 1: chosen the priests, right. They were the ones who knew
Speaker 1: all about the ancient prophecies. They were the ones who
Speaker 1: had experience in spiritual matters, and they were respected in
Speaker 1: the community. Why didn't the angel go to the temple?
Speaker 1: But instead the angels went to the field. And I
Speaker 1: think it's funny how God works because most of the time,
Speaker 1: in my experience, he doesn't show up there the place
Speaker 1: where you think he should. He shows up here the
Speaker 1: place where you are. The shepherds are some of the
Speaker 1: least respected people in the community. They were going to
Speaker 1: be the first to receive the announcement of the birth
Speaker 1: of the King of God's Son, not in the temple,
Speaker 1: but out in the field. And I believe that God
Speaker 1: is sending you and I the message today that you
Speaker 1: don't have to change anything about yourself for God to
Speaker 1: reveal himself to you. You don't have to get clean,
Speaker 1: you'll not to be successful, you don't have to be
Speaker 1: a Bible prophecy expert. You don't even have to be
Speaker 1: an exceptionally good person. Your accomplishments, your status, your appearance
Speaker 1: do not qualify you in a spiritual sense. Now. Obviously,
Speaker 1: as we grow in our relationship with God, we do
Speaker 1: change and we do mature, and God doesn't want you
Speaker 1: to stay where you are. But who you are right
Speaker 1: now is all you need to be for God to
Speaker 1: reveal himself to you right now, in this moment. It's
Speaker 1: your position that's important. God reveals himself to those who
Speaker 1: have space to hear him, who have room to receive him.
Speaker 1: The shepherds didn't have a high position in human terms,
Speaker 1: but in spiritual terms, they were perfectly positioned because they
Speaker 1: were in the field at night, outside of the hustle
Speaker 1: and bustle of town life. They were not sleeping comfortably
Speaker 1: with a roof over their head and warm blankets. They
Speaker 1: were outside in the dark. I don't want to have
Speaker 1: to remind you about being kept in the dark. I
Speaker 1: hope you were paying attention two weeks ago. If not,
Speaker 1: you go back two weeks and hear Pastor Stephen talk
Speaker 1: about being kept in the dark. But I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: if you feel like you are outside and in the
Speaker 1: dark this Christmas, if you feel lost and confused, if
Speaker 1: you feel like no one sees you, you just might
Speaker 1: be in the best position to hear from God. I
Speaker 1: think that God knew. He knew that he could get
Speaker 1: the shepherd's attention because they were away from the noise
Speaker 1: of the town. In my experience, God does not need
Speaker 1: me to be a certain way in order for me
Speaker 1: to hear him speak. But he does not shout, and
Speaker 1: he does not compete with all the other things that
Speaker 1: I have going on in my life. And for me,
Speaker 1: the biggest hindrance to my relationship with God is my schedule.
Speaker 1: When my life is busy and hurried and rushed. I
Speaker 1: have no space for God to speak to me. I
Speaker 1: have no time for God to speak to me. And
Speaker 1: every time the holiday season comes around, every single time,
Speaker 1: you think I'd get this figured out, but I get
Speaker 1: so caught up in the rush of everything that everything
Speaker 1: that I have to do, everything that I've committed to do,
Speaker 1: that I end up limping into the new year feeling
Speaker 1: depleted because I've just spent the last month trying to
Speaker 1: worship Jesus, and this year, I feel like God is
Speaker 1: saying to me, Hey, Holly, I didn't ask for all
Speaker 1: of that decorating your home with beautiful decorations. That's great,
Speaker 1: and all the delicious meals and all the gifts that
Speaker 1: you buy for people, that's great. But what God wants
Speaker 1: from me this Christmas is my attention, the message the gift.
Speaker 1: Can you give him your attention? The message that the
Speaker 1: Angel delivered was the King is here today, and I
Speaker 1: want you to know he's here. He's here in this room,
Speaker 1: he's here in your car, he's here in your kitchen,
Speaker 1: he's here at your desk, he's here in your thoughts,
Speaker 1: right where you are, just how you are. You don't
Speaker 1: have to wait until you get there to experience God.
Speaker 1: Don't wait until Christmas Eve to experience Jesus. It's not
Speaker 1: about there, it's about here, this present moment. Take a breath.
Speaker 1: Can you make some space for God in your life?
Speaker 1: Because something good is here, Not when I get over it,
Speaker 1: not when I get through it, not when I get
Speaker 1: past it. It's here right now. Okay. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to tell you this next part because God gave me
Speaker 1: this part first, and I have been waiting for several
Speaker 1: weeks to tell you this next part. I don't want
Speaker 1: to like over promise and underdelivered, but it's really good. Okay.
Speaker 1: So look at what the shepherd. Look at what the
Speaker 1: scripture says. But the Angel said to the shepherds verse nine.
Speaker 1: An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the
Speaker 1: glory of the Lord shown around them, and they were terrified.
Speaker 1: But the Angel said to them, do not be afraid,
Speaker 1: and bring you good news that will cause great joy
Speaker 1: for all the people. Today in the town of David,
Speaker 1: A savior has been born to you. He is the
Speaker 1: Messiah the Lord. Are you ready for this? Here's number two.
Speaker 1: God has good things to say to you. Don't be afraid.
Speaker 1: I bring you good news now. I grew up in church.
Speaker 1: In fact, I would challenge anyone who is in this
Speaker 1: or watching online today that I have spent more time
Speaker 1: in church than you. Some of you heard me say
Speaker 1: this before, but my dad was a pastor my whole life,
Speaker 1: I rarely missed a Sunday or a Wednesday church. In fact,
Speaker 1: the same is kind of true for my kids. Abby
Speaker 1: has strep throat. She's backstage right now watching. But then,
Speaker 1: when I was in high school, my parents joined this
Speaker 1: traveling revival ministry where we held services almost every night.
Speaker 1: And then I went to a Christian college, and then,
Speaker 1: as you know, I married a pastor. And I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful for the foundation that my parents gave me in
Speaker 1: my faith. It made me the person that I am today.
Speaker 1: But somewhere along the lines, and no fault to you,
Speaker 1: Mom and Dad, hate my parents are watching at our
Speaker 1: Greenville location, Somewhere along the lines, I spent a lot
Speaker 1: of my teen years and my young adult life missing
Speaker 1: what it means to actually have a relationship with Christ
Speaker 1: because I thought that most of the time, when God
Speaker 1: speaks to you, it's because you have broken a rule.
Speaker 1: In fact, I remember a Sunday school lesson where we
Speaker 1: memorize numbers thirty two twenty three. This is what it says. Behold,
Speaker 1: you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your
Speaker 1: sin will find you out. I still't remember it. And
Speaker 1: oftentimes when I would think about my relationship with God,
Speaker 1: I would think about the things that I'm not supposed
Speaker 1: to do as a believer in Christ, and I would
Speaker 1: imagine that when God would speak to me, it would
Speaker 1: be about something that I needed to stop doing. Now, listen,
Speaker 1: before I get to the good news part. Sometimes when
Speaker 1: God speaks to us, it is to correct us. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it is to direct us, or redirect us, or stop
Speaker 1: us from doing something really dumb. And when God speaks
Speaker 1: these things to us, like be kinder to your spouse,
Speaker 1: be honest in your schoolwork, be faithful in your job,
Speaker 1: it can be really hard to receive. Nobody wants to
Speaker 1: hear Hey, you need to change this. So yes, that
Speaker 1: is a part of having a relationship with God. But
Speaker 1: listen to me say this. This is so important. If
Speaker 1: you only hear me say one thing today, I want
Speaker 1: you to hear me say this. Jesus came so that
Speaker 1: you and I do not have to be afraid of God.
Speaker 1: Even when God speaks to correct us, he does it
Speaker 1: as a loving father, not a condemning judge. Four times
Speaker 1: in the Christmas Story the characters are told not to
Speaker 1: be afraid. I got to tell you about him. The
Speaker 1: first time is in Luke one thirteen, and the Angel
Speaker 1: says to Zachariah, fear not, your prayers have been answered,
Speaker 1: and I believe that God wants you to know today
Speaker 1: that He hears your prayers. You don't have to be
Speaker 1: afraid that your prayers are going nowhere. God hears you.
Speaker 1: Then in Luke thirty Luke one p. Thirty the Angel
Speaker 1: told Mary, fear not, you have found favor with God.
Speaker 1: And I believe that God wants you to know today
Speaker 1: that you are blessed and highly favored. You are his child,
Speaker 1: and he is proud of you, and he has good
Speaker 1: gifts that he wants to give you this Christmas season.
Speaker 1: And then in Matthew one thirty, the Lord said to Joseph,
Speaker 1: do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.
Speaker 1: God wants you to know that you don't have to
Speaker 1: be afraid to do the things that you know that
Speaker 1: He is calling you to do. Don't be afraid to forgive.
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to give of your time, of your gifts,
Speaker 1: of your money, don't be afraid to love. When God
Speaker 1: directs you like he did Joseph. He's gonna be with
Speaker 1: you the whole way. He's gonna send you the wise
Speaker 1: man and give you the gifts that you need to
Speaker 1: carry you on to Egypt. And then the fourth time
Speaker 1: is the angels to the shepherds, and the angel says,
Speaker 1: do not be afraid. I bring you good news that
Speaker 1: will bring great joy to all the people. I read
Speaker 1: a quote this week that said, all fear is the
Speaker 1: notion that God's love ends. And I want to tell
Speaker 1: you today, don't be afraid of what your loving Father
Speaker 1: wants to speak to you today. First John four eighteen,
Speaker 1: there is no fear in love, because perfect love drives
Speaker 1: out fear. Fear has to do with punishment. And Jesus
Speaker 1: did not come to earth to punish us. He came
Speaker 1: to earth to save us. He came to earth to
Speaker 1: atone for our sins, not to condemn us again and
Speaker 1: again and again about them. The funny thing about that
Speaker 1: verse in numbers it said your sin will find you out.
Speaker 1: And I think that my sin does a pretty good
Speaker 1: job of finding me out. Most of us are doing
Speaker 1: a great job feeling ashamed of the mistakes that we
Speaker 1: have made. Most of us are well aware of the
Speaker 1: consequences of our poor choices. The message of Jesus is repentance,
Speaker 1: not shame and condemnation. And God did not send his
Speaker 1: son to rub your mistakes in your face. He sent
Speaker 1: his son because he loves you, and his love for
Speaker 1: you is endless. It's beyond anything that you can fathom.
Speaker 1: There is nothing that you can do that will make
Speaker 1: God stop loving you. I gotta say that again because
Speaker 1: I wanted to sink in. There is nothing that you
Speaker 1: can do that will make God stop loving you. And
Speaker 1: what God wants for you is to have a relationship
Speaker 1: with you. That is the gospel. You know what is
Speaker 1: actually literally translated good news. He has good news that
Speaker 1: he wants to speak to you. Does anybody need some
Speaker 1: good news today? There's a lot of bad news out there.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of scary news. I'm scared about my packages,
Speaker 1: a lot of news. My husband will come home and
Speaker 1: I'll tell him I, Oh, I've got something to tell you,
Speaker 1: and You'll look at me. You'll say, is it good
Speaker 1: or bad and I'm not an angel, but I do
Speaker 1: have some good news for you today. And I believe
Speaker 1: that you came to church today because God wanted to
Speaker 1: speak some good news to your heart. So listen to me.
Speaker 1: Here's some good news. You are loved and accepted just
Speaker 1: the way you are. Good news. Good news God sent
Speaker 1: his one and only son to earth for you. Good
Speaker 1: News God is for you, not against you. Good News
Speaker 1: you are not alone. Good news you are more than
Speaker 1: a conqueror. Good News God has put his spirit inside
Speaker 1: of you to comfort you and to guide you. Don't
Speaker 1: let fear keep you from receiving the good news that
Speaker 1: God has for you, because this news will bring you joy,
Speaker 1: an unexplainable knowing that makes you smile from the inside out.
Speaker 1: No matter what's going on around you, something good is here.
Speaker 1: Good news and great joy. That's what God wants you
Speaker 1: to experience this Christmas. The Bible tells us that when Sarah,
Speaker 1: Abraham's wife finally held her son in her arms at
Speaker 1: the age of ninety and she saw the promise of
Speaker 1: God fulfilled in flesh. You know what she said. She said,
Speaker 1: God has brought me laughter. I want you to laugh
Speaker 1: this Christmas season I want you to smile, not because
Speaker 1: everything's great in your life, but because you have heard
Speaker 1: good news and it caused you to feel great joy.
Speaker 1: Joy is the secret of Christmas, and it is here
Speaker 1: for you right now. When you receive the good news
Speaker 1: of Jesus. Look back at what the Angel said. Just
Speaker 1: keep going verse eleven. Today. Something good is here right now,
Speaker 1: not tomorrow. Today, Town of David, a savior husband born
Speaker 1: to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This will
Speaker 1: be a sign to you. You will find the baby
Speaker 1: wrapped in clogs and lying in a manger. And suddenly
Speaker 1: a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the Angel,
Speaker 1: praising God and saying glory to God in the highest
Speaker 1: and on earth, Peace on those to those on whom
Speaker 1: His favor rests. And when the angels had left them
Speaker 1: and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another,
Speaker 1: let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has
Speaker 1: happened which the Lord has told us about. So they
Speaker 1: hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby
Speaker 1: who was lying in a manger. All right, so something
Speaker 1: good is here right now, but it might not be
Speaker 1: in plain sight. That's my last point to today. God
Speaker 1: wants you to find the good. The Angel says to
Speaker 1: the shepherds, you will find the baby wrapped in cloths
Speaker 1: and lying in a manger. And the shepherd said, let's
Speaker 1: go find it, and they hurried off. And the Bible
Speaker 1: says they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who
Speaker 1: was lying in a manger. How many of you know
Speaker 1: that what that you will find what you're looking for
Speaker 1: this Christmas. If you're looking for drama, you're not going
Speaker 1: to have to search very hard. If you're looking for
Speaker 1: a reason to be annoyed, you shouldn't have too much
Speaker 1: trouble finding that. You're looking for a fight. If you're
Speaker 1: looking for the negative, it's going to be right there
Speaker 1: in plain sight. But I came today to tell you
Speaker 1: six days before Christmas, one hundred and fifty hours, something
Speaker 1: good is here right now. Are you looking for it?
Speaker 1: First Christmas that Stephen and I lived in Charlotte, Stephen's
Speaker 1: parents came to our house to celebrate Christmas. In the past,
Speaker 1: we had always driven down to their house, but this
Speaker 1: particular year we had a brand new baby, and we
Speaker 1: were busy building the launch team of Elevation, which would
Speaker 1: begin services Sunday Morning services the following February, and Stephen
Speaker 1: was providing for our family in that season by traveling
Speaker 1: and preaching at every little don't picture this church basement,
Speaker 1: picture that, every little youth group speaking event that he
Speaker 1: could fit into his calendar, and then spending every free
Speaker 1: second of his time planting this church. We were stretched
Speaker 1: thin in every way with time, with money, with everything,
Speaker 1: and so his parents generously came to us and on
Speaker 1: Christmas morning, one of the gifts that we opened was
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars gift card to Walmart from Stephen's uncle,
Speaker 1: and this was a big deal to us and we
Speaker 1: were super grateful for that gift. His uncle I had
Speaker 1: never really given us a gift that big before, and
Speaker 1: so it was just a wonderful, pleasant surprise. And a
Speaker 1: few weeks later, Seem was headed out the door and
Speaker 1: he said, Hey, where's that gift card that uncle Russell
Speaker 1: gave us? And you know, I got a bad feeling,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I casually started looking in like
Speaker 1: the normal places you would look at in my wallet.
Speaker 1: I was like, was it in your wallet? And we
Speaker 1: couldn't find it anywhere. So then we both started looking
Speaker 1: and we looked, and we looked, and I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: lie to you. We got into a fight. I was
Speaker 1: gonna say a little fight. We got into a big
Speaker 1: fight over it. This was not my finest missus better
Speaker 1: half moment. We fought over who had the card last,
Speaker 1: We fought over whose fault it was missing. We fought
Speaker 1: over why we couldn't be more responsible human beings were
Speaker 1: like grown up adults now, and why didn't we value
Speaker 1: the card more? And it wasn't good. And eventually we
Speaker 1: stopped looking, and we went our separate ways, and I
Speaker 1: just decided it must have accidentally been thrown away. Two
Speaker 1: years later, I was decorating our house for Christmas, and
Speaker 1: in the bottom of the storage bend of decorations was
Speaker 1: that one hundred dollars gift card to Walmart. It had
Speaker 1: been in the house all along. Now, guys, I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you. I looked in empty suitcases, diaper bags, wallets, drawers, pockets, cars,
Speaker 1: everything that I could think of to look. But I
Speaker 1: never thought to look in the Christmas decoration ben And
Speaker 1: it just made me think that a lot of the
Speaker 1: things that we're searching for are at the bottom of
Speaker 1: places that you don't think to look three times in
Speaker 1: ten verses. In the Bible, Luke tells us that the
Speaker 1: baby would be found in a manger. Why did he
Speaker 1: say manger three times in ten verses? I think it's
Speaker 1: because a manger is the last place that you would
Speaker 1: think to look for a baby. That's how they were
Speaker 1: gonna know it was the right baby. The angel didn't say,
Speaker 1: go look for a newborn baby, because quite frankly, all
Speaker 1: newborn babies look the same. They're scrunchy and goopy and crying.
Speaker 1: They looked like little a I'm not really a baby person,
Speaker 1: But look for a baby and a manger. Now that's
Speaker 1: not something that you see every day, because a manger
Speaker 1: was a feeding troth for animals, a manger was an ordinary, mundane,
Speaker 1: glorified dog bowl. And throughout time, there are a lot
Speaker 1: of places that people might put a baby, a crib,
Speaker 1: a cradle, basket, a drawer, a person's arms, But the
Speaker 1: last place that you would think to find a baby
Speaker 1: would be a feeding troth. And the message to the
Speaker 1: shepherds it's the same message to us. Something good is
Speaker 1: here right now today, but it's not gonna be where
Speaker 1: you expect it. But when you find it. It's gonna
Speaker 1: bring you great joy and you're never gonna be the
Speaker 1: same again. Last week, when Pastor Stephen was ending his message,
Speaker 1: have you ever the people who like to take notes
Speaker 1: sometimes when Pastor Stephen says, stand up, put your notebooks down,
Speaker 1: and then he says, like the best things, and I'm like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no no. So last week, at the very end of
Speaker 1: his message, he just like shoots off things that I
Speaker 1: would make a whole message around, and he tells us,
Speaker 1: he says, be looking for the good and he said,
Speaker 1: you're gonna find it this Christmas in dirty places, annoying people,
Speaker 1: and simple moments. When he said that, I was like, whoa,
Speaker 1: I think that's my storment. So I wrote it down
Speaker 1: and I just want to just, you know, expound on
Speaker 1: that because I like more words than him. Right now today,
Speaker 1: can you find the good in the dirty places of
Speaker 1: your life, the places that you don't want anyone to see,
Speaker 1: you know, the unfiltered places then no one's going to
Speaker 1: see in your Facebook feed, on your Christmas card. We
Speaker 1: all have those places. Your marriage is a manger, it's messy,
Speaker 1: it's imperfect, and there are places in it that you
Speaker 1: don't want anyone to see. But there is good to
Speaker 1: be found in your marriage. Can you find the good
Speaker 1: and annoying people. There's good in your teenager, There's good
Speaker 1: in that annoying coworker that you sit next to or
Speaker 1: work with every day. What if this Christmas season you
Speaker 1: went around look looking for the good in your family?
Speaker 1: Now this might be Actually, this is harder to live
Speaker 1: out than it is for me to just say it
Speaker 1: from the stage, But let's all together try to. Rather
Speaker 1: than seeing the things that drive you crazy about people,
Speaker 1: maybe you can focus on the things that they do well.
Speaker 1: Surely you can find something or the things that they
Speaker 1: have been through that can give you compassion for the
Speaker 1: way that they act or the way that they treat
Speaker 1: you or treat others. There's good to be found. And
Speaker 1: then there's what he said, the simple moments. Can we
Speaker 1: just spend some time over the next few days seeing,
Speaker 1: finding looking for the mundane major moments. This week I
Speaker 1: started thinking about the simple moments in my life, and
Speaker 1: I want to see the good in the ordinary moments.
Speaker 1: Because you see, when I said at the beginning, God
Speaker 1: wants you to have space to hear him. God wants
Speaker 1: you to have space in your schedule. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that you have to get up earlier, or stay up later,
Speaker 1: or cancel something. I'm saying, can you see the good
Speaker 1: in everything that you do? Like driving my kids to
Speaker 1: school simple every day. And let me tell you, the
Speaker 1: Furdic children they do not have a mother who is
Speaker 1: a pleasant morning person. And most days we leave our
Speaker 1: house seven to ten, that's the goal. And most days
Speaker 1: traffic is bad and I'm dropping them. We're like peeling
Speaker 1: in on two wheels at the last second, and I'm
Speaker 1: like run. Don't get get any ideas. They're not beautiful,
Speaker 1: meaningful conversations going on in your pastor's wife's car in
Speaker 1: the morning. But I know that one day I will
Speaker 1: just I will miss just breathing the same air as
Speaker 1: them for twenty five minutes in the car in the morning.
Speaker 1: It's a simple moment. Simple moment like I need to
Speaker 1: do a better job smiling at people. If you have
Speaker 1: a mask on. You know, some people love the mask
Speaker 1: because you don't have to smile with your eyes see
Speaker 1: the people that are around you. Simple moments like staying
Speaker 1: a little bit longer at the dinner table. It wasn't
Speaker 1: a perfect meal that we had this last Monday, and
Speaker 1: no one went back for seconds. But I told everyone,
Speaker 1: we are eating together. It's six forty five on Monday night,
Speaker 1: and I want everyone to be there. And we sat
Speaker 1: down and we ate together, and it wasn't about the food.
Speaker 1: It was about the time around the table. You've got
Speaker 1: simple moments in your job, simple moments in your laundry.
Speaker 1: God comes through mangers, the ordinary, the places that you
Speaker 1: don't think to look. Manger moments. It's an opportunity to
Speaker 1: look for God in the unexpected, to see Him in
Speaker 1: your work, to see Him in all your roles, in
Speaker 1: all your mess. You don't have to deny the dark.
Speaker 1: You don't have to pretend like everything is amazing. I
Speaker 1: know that this didn't turn out the way that you expected,
Speaker 1: but what I want to say to you today is
Speaker 1: don't let your unmet expectations keep you from seeing the
Speaker 1: gifts that are all around you. And the greatest gift
Speaker 1: of all. Matthew Won twenty three tells us the Virgin
Speaker 1: will conceive and give birth to a sun, and they
Speaker 1: will call him em Manuel, which means God with us,
Speaker 1: the gift of Christmas. He said, you are not alone God,
Speaker 1: is with you. He's here right now. Something good is
Speaker 1: here right now. It is Jesus Manuel God with us.
Speaker 1: He is with you in your pain. He is with
Speaker 1: you in your disappointment. He is with you when you
Speaker 1: feel like you're being kept in the dark. He is
Speaker 1: with you in all of the ordinary moments and tasks
Speaker 1: of your day. Something good is here right now now.
Speaker 1: I don't want to end on a down note. I
Speaker 1: want you to walk out of here, like I said,
Speaker 1: with a smile on your face that came up from
Speaker 1: the inside. So here's what we're gonna do. Stand up,
Speaker 1: and don't you dare leave right now. Don't you dare
Speaker 1: turn your computer off. You're gonna miss the best part.
Speaker 1: And I want a lot shorter than Pastor Stephen does
Speaker 1: every single week, so there's no rush to leave, all right.
Speaker 1: What I want you to do first, Let's do our emotions. Okay, Ready,
Speaker 1: something good is here right now. I want you to
Speaker 1: turn to the person next to you and tell them
Speaker 1: something good. Can be anything, anything, all right, all right,
Speaker 1: I told you I was gonna get you out of here.
Speaker 1: Turn to another person something good, Tell someone else something good,
Speaker 1: something you're thankful for, a person, an answer prayer. If
Speaker 1: you're watching online, I want you to put it in
Speaker 1: the chat. Tell me something good right now, something good.
Speaker 1: We're looking for the good this week. We're not gonna
Speaker 1: wait on there because something good is here right now.
Speaker 1: Can I show you one more thing? One more thing
Speaker 1: real quick? Look at verse twenty, let me find it.
Speaker 1: Verse twenty of Luke chapter two, it says this, the
Speaker 1: shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God
Speaker 1: for all that they had heard and seen. It was
Speaker 1: just as the angel had told them. They found the
Speaker 1: baby was in a manger, just as the angels had said,
Speaker 1: they worship the baby. Then they went into the town
Speaker 1: of Bethlehem, and they told everyone what they had seen.
Speaker 1: And then what did they do? What did it say?
Speaker 1: Put it back up? What did say? I got it? Okay?
Speaker 1: There it is. The shepherds went back to their flocks,
Speaker 1: glorifying and praising God. When you walk out that door today,
Speaker 1: you're going back to your flocks, but you're not going
Speaker 1: back the same You're going back a new you, with
Speaker 1: a new perspective. Because your eyes are open. You've heard
Speaker 1: the good news. It's brought you great joy. You're gonna
Speaker 1: be looking for the good. You're going out of there today,
Speaker 1: back to your flocks. Put a new you. Let's pray. Lord,
Speaker 1: we're going back to our flocks right now. Thank you
Speaker 1: for what you have shown us today. Thank you for
Speaker 1: your word. Thank you for the good news of Jesus.
Speaker 1: It brings us great joy God all day to day.
Speaker 1: Would you just flood our hearts with good news, good messages.
Speaker 1: Flood our hearts with your love. Open up our eyes
Speaker 1: as we close out twenty twenty one. We want to
Speaker 1: see the good that is here right now. We're looky
Speaker 1: and God, we thank you that you are with us.
Speaker 1: I Manuel, it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed today's podcast, there are a couple things
Speaker 1: I'd love for you to do. Make sure to subscribe, rate,
Speaker 1: and review this podcast. You can also help us reach
Speaker 1: others by investing today at Elevationchurch dot org, slash give
Speaker 1: and thanks again for joining us on the Elevation Podcast.