Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast.
Speaker 1: Be sure to.
Speaker 2: Subscribe so we can get you these new sermons every week.
Speaker 2: I hope you're blessed today. We praise you for who
Speaker 2: you are. We praise you because you came and because
Speaker 2: you can. We come to worship you, adore you, and
Speaker 2: give you glory.
Speaker 1: Christ the Lord. Thank you for coming for us, thank
Speaker 1: you for dying for us. Thank you for giving us
Speaker 1: this moment. We worship you, Almighty God in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen,
Speaker 1: I want to welcome you to a very special Sunday
Speaker 1: at Elevation Church. Welcome to our evam around the world.
Speaker 1: A few minutes from now, we'll have the chance to
Speaker 1: give our offering, and that will be absolutely incredible. As
Speaker 1: we stand in the midst of so many miracles that
Speaker 1: God has done for each of us, and so many
Speaker 1: miracles that He's done for all of us. I just
Speaker 1: invite you to bring your offering with joy today, and
Speaker 1: maybe your offering is a million dollars. We have had
Speaker 1: people give a million dollars in these offerings, and you
Speaker 1: would clap if they gave it to you. And your
Speaker 1: bank account. I don't know why you're not clapping, because
Speaker 1: we can use that to help people. Yeah, but it
Speaker 1: might not be that much in terms of the finances
Speaker 1: of it. But we all get to stretch our faith together.
Speaker 1: So whether you're here in a building or watching online,
Speaker 1: I'm excited about the opportunity to give. As you give,
Speaker 1: you will select one word or phrase. Some people make
Speaker 1: up really creative words, like my word for the year
Speaker 1: is trusting God, even though I don't see his goodness
Speaker 1: a lot of hyphens. But whether it's a sentence or
Speaker 1: a word, something that captures the spirit of what you're
Speaker 1: believing God to do in your life. And will believe
Speaker 1: God with you and stand with you for that. And
Speaker 1: again at the end of the sermon, I'll pray and
Speaker 1: we'll have that opportunity, which means that I've got to
Speaker 1: preach short today, which means that you've got to listen hard.
Speaker 1: So tell your neighbor, if we get out latest your
Speaker 1: fault for not listening. I can look and see how
Speaker 1: good you're listening. If we do this right, I will
Speaker 1: have you home in time today to watch the Panthers
Speaker 1: lose or the Panthers playing today all right, that's a prophecy,
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. I started a tradition a few years
Speaker 1: ago of giving you your Christmas sermon on the week
Speaker 1: you give the offering. So I'm going to continue that
Speaker 1: tradition today.
Speaker 3: I like to give it to you before you get
Speaker 3: so busy.
Speaker 1: The busier you get in this season, the less bandwidth
Speaker 1: you have. So I want to give you the Christmas
Speaker 1: story and walk through it together and see a few
Speaker 1: things that God would speak to us before things get
Speaker 1: extra hectic. How many would say, it's already extra hectic.
Speaker 1: Pastor Stephen, you're about thirty five years too late. Well
Speaker 1: made this message. Find you and catch up with you
Speaker 1: wherever you are today, remain standing in honor of the
Speaker 1: reading of God's word. If you're joining us online today,
Speaker 1: let us know in the chat where you're watching from.
Speaker 1: And everybody just say, I trust in God, I trust
Speaker 1: in God. I trust in God. Are you a soprano?
Speaker 1: Luke Chapter two, Versus seven through twelve. Luke, Chapter two,
Speaker 1: verses seven through twelve. And she brought forth her firstborn
Speaker 1: son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him
Speaker 1: in a manger because there was no room for them.
Speaker 1: In the end, they were in the same country, shepherds
Speaker 1: abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night.
Speaker 1: And lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them,
Speaker 1: and the glory of the Lord shone round about them,
Speaker 1: and they were sore afraid. And the Angel said, unto them,
Speaker 1: fear not, for behold, I bring bring you good tidings
Speaker 1: of great joy, which shall be to all people. For
Speaker 1: unto you is born this day in the City of David,
Speaker 1: a savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall
Speaker 1: be a sign. Unto you, you will find the babe
Speaker 1: wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Let's put
Speaker 1: our hands together and thank God for the gift of
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. Look at that again with me verse twelve.
Speaker 1: You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying
Speaker 1: in a manger. The title I want to give this
Speaker 1: message today is a little unusual. But stick with me
Speaker 1: and I'll make it make sense. The Lord told me
Speaker 1: to tell you the pajamas are a prophecy. The pajamas
Speaker 1: are a prophecy. Now touch your neighbor and say, don't
Speaker 1: sleep through this sermon. This one's going to make sense.
Speaker 1: In a minute, you may be seated. The pajamas are
Speaker 1: a prophecy. Amen. Yeah. So when I think about this
Speaker 1: Christmas announcement to the Shepherds and the Christmas story in general,
Speaker 1: it causes me to reflect and realize how many times
Speaker 1: in my life that rejection or the fear of rejection
Speaker 1: has kept me from receiving a gift that God wanted
Speaker 1: to give me. I don't like to admit that because
Speaker 1: I would like to pretend as if everybody else was
Speaker 1: to blame for the things I didn't get in life,
Speaker 1: or that I'm just waiting on the Lord for everything
Speaker 1: I've prayed for. But this Christmas, in reflecting, I thought
Speaker 1: a lot about how rejection and I'll break that down
Speaker 1: just a little bit for you right now. But first
Speaker 1: let me tell you a story. On Christmas Eve, my
Speaker 1: grandmother on my dad's side would always come to see
Speaker 1: us with my uncle Russell, and both of them are
Speaker 1: now in heaven. They both died within the last couple
Speaker 1: of years. I want to tell you about the last
Speaker 1: time that I saw both of them. They lived just
Speaker 1: about two hundred yards apart on the same piece of land.
Speaker 1: My uncle called me to tell me that he was
Speaker 1: sick and that he didn't have much time. He'd kept
Speaker 1: it a secret. He didn't tell anybody. And I really
Speaker 1: loved this uncle too. He was my cool uncle. He
Speaker 1: was my cool uncle. He didn't give me beer or
Speaker 1: anything like that when my dad wasn't looking, but he
Speaker 1: always had my back. When I called the DJ Jazzy
Speaker 1: Jeff nine hundred hot line, the Fresh Prince in Jazzy
Speaker 1: Jeff nine hundred hot line and ran up a seventy
Speaker 1: dollars phone bill, he was the one to meet me
Speaker 1: out in the yard and let me know I was
Speaker 1: in trouble so I could prepare to go face my dad.
Speaker 1: And he had my back. So I went to see him,
Speaker 1: and it was really sad because he was already in
Speaker 1: the bed. Why didn't you tell us sooner? We could
Speaker 1: have come and seen you sooner. Be as a very
Speaker 1: private person and going to see him with my mom,
Speaker 1: I figured while we were there we would get to
Speaker 1: see my grandmother too, who was also pretty sick. But
Speaker 1: something weird happened, and y'all, I didn't want to tell
Speaker 1: this story at the start of my sermon because it's
Speaker 1: going to sound heavy, but it's all right to laugh.
Speaker 1: Because it's kind of funny, and everybody's family it's kind
Speaker 1: of crazy, and so don't feel bad laughing at this
Speaker 1: when I tell you, because kind of funny. We're sitting
Speaker 1: there with my uncle and my grandmama calls and they
Speaker 1: pick up the phone, and we're sitting with my uncle,
Speaker 1: and I hear my grandmama on the phone while my
Speaker 1: uncle's girlfriend is sitting there, and she says, hey, hey, grandmama.
Speaker 1: And they had tension in their relationship too, but you know,
Speaker 1: she was calling because he was very sick and probably
Speaker 1: days away from dying, and so she I can't believe
Speaker 1: I'm telling you all this. She goes, what are y'all doing?
Speaker 1: And Sandy says, well, Faith and Stephen are here, and
Speaker 1: Grandmama goes, Faith and Stephen, oh God. Now I love
Speaker 1: my grandmama. It's not like we had some horrible relationship. Again.
Speaker 1: She would come every Christmas Eve. My grandmama was the
Speaker 1: one who would record the pay per view WrestleManias for
Speaker 1: me when I was a boy. So I owe her
Speaker 1: a great debt of gratitude, love and honor. Anyway, she said,
Speaker 1: Faith and Stephen, oh God. Then she goes, are they
Speaker 1: coming over here. She know we could hear, and Sandy said, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Grandmama, and Grandmama goes, god, I hope not.
Speaker 1: I know. It's kind of like ray for pestor Stephen,
Speaker 1: and and so it was the weirdest thing. And we
Speaker 1: didn't go see her and then never saw her again.
Speaker 1: I never saw her again. And I don't know that
Speaker 1: I regret that necessarily, because I mean, it was pretty
Speaker 1: obvious we weren't wanted. But you know, my mom said something,
Speaker 1: and in fact checked this with her to make sure
Speaker 1: she actually said it. This week when we were driving away,
Speaker 1: we were like, what that crazy that we were like
Speaker 1: these unwanted aliens invading She didn't want to see us,
Speaker 1: And she goes, my mom goes, well, maybe it wasn't
Speaker 1: that she didn't want to see us. Maybe she didn't
Speaker 1: want us to see her in that state and the
Speaker 1: house in that state, and she had raised another girl
Speaker 1: after she had raised one of her son's daughters, and
Speaker 1: then those kids were there, and so the house was
Speaker 1: always a mess. Maybe she wasn't reject us, Maybe she
Speaker 1: was protecting herself from being seen by us. The reason
Speaker 1: I mention that as embarrassing as the story is, and
Speaker 1: as awkward as it is, Merry Christmas, everybody, there's a
Speaker 1: heart wrenching Christmas story. To warm your spirits. We'll put
Speaker 1: some hot cocoa into communion cups a Christmas even make
Speaker 1: it up to you something like that. The reason I
Speaker 1: share it is because it made me realize that a
Speaker 1: lot of times we reject blessings in our life because
Speaker 1: we don't accept the messes that come with them. And
Speaker 1: what I love about Luke chapter two and the way
Speaker 1: that God comes to earth in the form of a
Speaker 1: baby born in a barn in Bethlehem, is that it
Speaker 1: lets me know that God is very comfortable stepping into
Speaker 1: my mess. I want to say to somebody today whose
Speaker 1: life is a mess going into this holiday season. House
Speaker 1: is a mess, mind is a mess, marriage is a mess.
Speaker 1: Money is a mess. If I look long enough, I'll
Speaker 1: find a mess. Don't make me get up under the bed.
Speaker 1: I will fight. I'll open the doors in the closet.
Speaker 1: In the room, you don't let anybody in. Everybody in
Speaker 1: here has a mess. And I think one of the
Speaker 1: greatest sins of the Church is the cutification of Christmas.
Speaker 1: I made that word up. Cutification little baby Jesus. You know,
Speaker 1: babies are only cute when you're waving at them. They're
Speaker 1: chaotic if you're raising them. I will repeat that again
Speaker 1: because you are a little slow today. Y'all came in
Speaker 1: on that dial up modem spiritual setting. Okay, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say it again. Babies are cute when you wave all.
Speaker 1: Look have babies so cute? But when you're raising them,
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, the baby becomes the perfect symbol of Christmas
Speaker 1: because it teaches us that God is comfortable in our chaos.
Speaker 1: So don't wait till you get it all together to
Speaker 1: invite God in. Don't be like Grandmama and think, well
Speaker 1: if they saw how I was living. The beauty of
Speaker 1: the incarnation of Jesus Christ is that while o Romans
Speaker 1: five eight, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us,
Speaker 1: and while we were in our lowly state, he came.
Speaker 1: Notice where he came. He came in a field to
Speaker 1: the shepherds. So it reminds me to know that God
Speaker 1: can reach me wherever I am. God can reach me
Speaker 1: wherever I am. Let's get that confession, go and say
Speaker 1: it out loud. God can reach me wherever I am.
Speaker 1: And this is why we sing the Christmas Carol. I've
Speaker 1: got friends in low places the Christmas Carol because because
Speaker 1: it's good to know that this season you have some
Speaker 1: expectations for great moments and peaceful moments and wonderful reunions
Speaker 1: and wonderful gifts and all of that. But if you
Speaker 1: really want to have a blessed Christmas season, might I
Speaker 1: give you some unspiritual sounding advice. Lower your expectations right,
Speaker 1: set your expectations low. And you're like, but no, the
Speaker 1: Bible said, fear not, for behold, I bring you good
Speaker 1: tidings of great joy. So in that sense, we expect
Speaker 1: blessing to come into our life. How many are expecting
Speaker 1: God to bless you before the year is over in
Speaker 1: a brand new, beautiful way. Well, don't be shy about it.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna get in like that little timid Christian.
Speaker 1: How many are expecting God to bless you?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I am, of course I am. I'm expecting for him
Speaker 1: to show up and provide for me. I'm expecting for
Speaker 1: him to see me through with this peace. I'm expecting
Speaker 1: for him to create moments that I'll remember. I'm expecting
Speaker 1: him to visit in my life, and I need to
Speaker 1: stop screaming because this isn't the best part of my sermon.
Speaker 1: But God promised number one, he will reach you. Notice
Speaker 1: that the angels came to the shepherds. And the reason
Speaker 1: I mentioned Saint Garth Brooks is because look at this verse.
Speaker 1: You never seen this before in the Christmas story it said,
Speaker 1: and lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them.
Speaker 1: You missed it. While we're so busy looking for God
Speaker 1: to come from up here from a high experience. While
Speaker 1: we're so busy waiting for God to come up here,
Speaker 1: the Angel of the Lord came upon them, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: and Lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them.
Speaker 1: So if you're looking for God in your life right now,
Speaker 1: looking for provision and protection in your life, right now,
Speaker 1: I got a piece of advice. Look low. Imagine Heaven
Speaker 1: wanting to get the word out that the Savior of
Speaker 1: the world is born, and so Heaven puts together an
Speaker 1: advertising agency, a marketing team. We got to get the
Speaker 1: word out and let everybody know that the Savior is born,
Speaker 1: that the one who was prophesied is coming, that the
Speaker 1: one who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah is here,
Speaker 1: right now today is born to you in the City
Speaker 1: of David, a savior, which is Christ, the Lord, who
Speaker 1: will we assemble to be the influencers that will spread
Speaker 1: this heavenly message. And so God looks at Silicon Valley
Speaker 1: and finds some tech startup billionaires, but he can't give
Speaker 1: them the message because they're too high for it. And
Speaker 1: God looks at somebody else who has a perfect standing
Speaker 1: in society, some socialite who is accepted by all, who
Speaker 1: has entree into every environment, but he can't give them
Speaker 1: the message because they're too high for it. And God
Speaker 1: puts together a search committee. We need to give somebody
Speaker 1: the message that the Savior is born, and we can't
Speaker 1: find anybody except these shepherds. You got to understand something
Speaker 1: about the shepherds. The shepherds, we're the lowest people in
Speaker 1: the society of the day. So when God get ready
Speaker 1: to shout, got ready to give the high, highest announcement,
Speaker 1: he picked the lowest people to give the highest announcement.
Speaker 1: And I wonder, is he looking for somebody today who's
Speaker 1: been real low because he wants to show you something.
Speaker 1: I had to learn this that the Lord looks slow.
Speaker 1: Did you know that the Lord looks low. Jesus said,
Speaker 1: I am lowly in heart for all of those who
Speaker 1: are in a spiritual low today, he's looking for you.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor in case they're going through, say he's
Speaker 1: looking for you. He's looking for you. Hey, angels over here,
Speaker 1: we're important now. I'm not looking for you. Hey angels
Speaker 1: over here, I'm real smart. I'm not looking for you.
Speaker 1: Hey angels over here, I'm accepted by everybody. I'm not
Speaker 1: looking for you. I'm looking for a low person. You say,
Speaker 1: what does that mean if my life is going good,
Speaker 1: that God won't bless me. It doesn't mean that at all.
Speaker 1: It just means that the only reason your life is
Speaker 1: going good is because He reached down when you were lone.
Speaker 1: And some of us have forgotten. I'm gonna give you
Speaker 1: twenty three seconds to remember how he reached down low,
Speaker 1: how you didn't deserve for him to answer your prayer,
Speaker 1: how you had to pray for him to get you
Speaker 1: out of a situation that you got yourself into. Fake
Speaker 1: people on Christmas. That's cute Christmas phrase I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: He reached down Loa.
Speaker 5: He reached way down Loa.
Speaker 1: And the Bible said lo the Angel of the Lord.
Speaker 1: Everybody saw loa, loa. I got a friend in low,
Speaker 1: oh places that encouraged me. Look for God in the
Speaker 1: lows over the next twenty days, look for the lessons
Speaker 1: he wants you to learn in the lows. After all,
Speaker 1: if He chose lowly shepherds to reveal his son to,
Speaker 1: maybe he will choose your low moment to reveal the
Speaker 1: greatest lessons of your life. Now, I'm on o'clock today,
Speaker 1: But that's not the only thing I wanted to tell
Speaker 1: you about. That's just one thing. The first thing I
Speaker 1: noticed is that God promises to reach you. There are
Speaker 1: three points in this sermon. If you choose to write
Speaker 1: them down, he will reach you. And then the second
Speaker 1: thing what really got my attention. And y'all, I don't
Speaker 1: get tired of preaching the Christmas story. I don't know why.
Speaker 1: It's the same every time I read it, but I'm
Speaker 1: not That's why we come back around to this again.
Speaker 1: It's the same. But I'm not. I'm growing, I'm changing,
Speaker 1: I'm not staying a baby. Jesus didn't and he's in me.
Speaker 1: And so it's interesting, isn't it that God would reveal
Speaker 1: himself to lowly people and reach them. What a strategy.
Speaker 1: I got to point this out. The Angel could have
Speaker 1: told everybody Jesus was born.
Speaker 6: He didn't.
Speaker 1: He told the shepherds. They went to Bethlehem and saw it,
Speaker 1: and they told everybody because God wanted people to receive
Speaker 1: the word of his son through messy messengers. And that's
Speaker 1: a lot of what's going on in your life right now.
Speaker 1: God is speaking to you through messy messengers. But if
Speaker 1: you don't accept the mess you reject the blessing. So
Speaker 1: he promises to reach you. And it's the contrast, isn't it.
Speaker 1: I wrote this in my notes. See if this makes
Speaker 1: sense to you. Jesus is in the juxtaposition. Jesus is
Speaker 1: in the juxtaposition because on one hand, I'm given a
Speaker 1: promise of great joy. On the other hand, I am
Speaker 1: told to look in a manger for a baby. There's
Speaker 1: nothing great about a baby physically speaking. Now, I want
Speaker 1: to teach you a little bit so we don't just
Speaker 1: have a sentimental Christmas. Let's really let's really dig into this.
Speaker 1: The smallness of the body that God chose to inhabit
Speaker 1: says something about the way He works in our lives.
Speaker 1: If God being God could be born of a virgin
Speaker 1: right than he could have skipped to the highest version
Speaker 1: of humanity to come to earth. That would have been
Speaker 1: more efficient. God chooses the least efficient way possible to
Speaker 1: save the world. And the only way I can explain
Speaker 1: this to you is to tell you that God does
Speaker 1: not always work in the way that makes the least
Speaker 1: mess or takes the least time. He works in the
Speaker 1: way that brings him the most glory. Y'all better help
Speaker 1: me preach, you better help me preach. This is the
Speaker 1: Christmas sermon. He looks for a shepherd. They're messy, they're
Speaker 1: in the fields. When they go to see the baby.
Speaker 1: They didn't even get to wash their hands. They were
Speaker 1: in the middle of their mess. And God shows up.
Speaker 1: You are in the middle of a mess and God,
Speaker 1: God will show up. But how will he show up?
Speaker 6: Small? Small?
Speaker 1: You will find a babe wrapped in cloths and lying
Speaker 1: in a manger. Big enough to save the world, small
Speaker 1: enough to fit in a cradle. This is the juxtaposition
Speaker 1: of Jesus. In the Book of Zechariah, chapter four, verse ten,
Speaker 1: the prophet says, despise not the day of small beginnings,
Speaker 1: And this Christmas. You have to understand that some of
Speaker 1: the things that God gives you in your life are
Speaker 1: under wraps right now. They're big, but they're in a
Speaker 1: little package. The fact that Jesus came as a baby
Speaker 1: lets us know that there is a development process to
Speaker 1: everything that God does in your life. So you pray
Speaker 1: for something and get frustrated because what God gave you
Speaker 1: doesn't match what you ask for. The fact that He
Speaker 1: came as a baby lets me know that there is
Speaker 1: a part of God that I must grow into. Feels
Speaker 1: so annointed to preach this to somebody who has been frustrated.
Speaker 1: You have been frustrated because you have been comparing your
Speaker 1: starting place to somebody else's finished product. If God says,
Speaker 1: if you look for me, you'll find me as a baby,
Speaker 1: just a small thing, just a small prayer, Holly. The
Speaker 1: other day, one of the men I met at the
Speaker 1: wrestling match said, I got a question to ask you.
Speaker 1: Elevation church, right, I said, because that could go either way.
Speaker 1: He could say my whole family got saved there, or
Speaker 1: he could say I heard y'all pass out marijuana instead
Speaker 1: of communion bread. Is that true?
Speaker 3: I mean, people say all kind of crazy stuff about
Speaker 3: our church. I've heard everything about our church. Many people
Speaker 3: have heard crazy stuff about our church before. I'm not
Speaker 3: looking because you hurt my feelings. I'm closing my eyes
Speaker 3: that big church, that megachurch. But here's what he said
Speaker 3: to bless me. He said, I got a question I
Speaker 3: always want to ask you. Elevation Church, right, And obviously
Speaker 3: I'm kidding. I'm proud to pastor this church. I'm proud
Speaker 3: to pastor.
Speaker 7: A church that would give millions of dollars and reach
Speaker 7: millions of souls and do amazing things, and stand and
Speaker 7: serve and drive back darkness and shatter stereotypes, and clothe
Speaker 7: the orphan and clothe the naked, and feed the hungry,
Speaker 7: and visit those in prison and proclaim the acceptable.
Speaker 8: Year thought the Lord's favor. I said, yeah, Elevation Church.
Speaker 8: What little edgy?
Speaker 1: He said, did y'all used to meet in a basement?
Speaker 1: And I had to think about it because I barely
Speaker 1: remember that basement, But I said, yeah, actually we did
Speaker 1: in the basement of the Matthews Community Center. Give me
Speaker 1: my handheld, Mike. The Lord must want me to preach. Preach.
Speaker 1: This is my teaching, Mike. Let's go ahead. And make
Speaker 1: the switch. Something's wrong. I will not let a microphone
Speaker 1: stop me from releasing this message. Get this off me, Jared,
Speaker 1: come over, Jared, Jared. Everybody say Jared, take off the
Speaker 1: grave clothes and let him go. All right? So he said,
Speaker 1: did you meet in a basement? I said, yeah, we
Speaker 1: actually did for a few weeks. That's where we started,
Speaker 1: at the Matthews Community Center basement. He said, how long
Speaker 1: did you meet there? I said not long, but it
Speaker 1: was the longest six weeks of my life. I used
Speaker 1: to go in the bathroom in the baseman of the
Speaker 1: Matthews Community Center and I would stand over the toilet
Speaker 1: because every week I felt like I would throw up
Speaker 1: because I was pregnant. You ever had mourning sickness for
Speaker 1: something God was doing in your life? No offense. I
Speaker 1: know it's just a metaphor, but I felt like that.
Speaker 1: I felt like I was carrying something big. Maybe that's
Speaker 1: why I wanted to preach about Mary, because maybe I
Speaker 1: was standing over the toilet feeling like I was carrying something.
Speaker 1: But I'm scared of something. But I'm carrying something. But
Speaker 1: I'm scared of something, And in that chucks the position.
Speaker 1: Are you there right? Now, you know God has given
Speaker 1: you a word. You know God has called you to
Speaker 1: do something. You know God has made you a promise.
Speaker 1: You know he reached out and saved you. You know
Speaker 1: he's given you a testimony. You know he brought you
Speaker 1: out of a miri pit. You know he set your
Speaker 1: feet on the rock. But in that basement, behind the
Speaker 1: closed door of a bathroom stall, I was privately petrified. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I didn't think it'd be good if I threw
Speaker 1: up in front of my team. I didn't think that
Speaker 1: would be a good look for leadership. And yet somehow
Speaker 1: from that basement. Now I'm preaching about a barn in
Speaker 1: Bethlehem and a basement in Matthews. But I'm really preaching
Speaker 1: about the low place in your life today, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: the small beginning in your life today, because God said,
Speaker 1: not only will I reach you, I will wrap you.
Speaker 1: Think about Jesus. Come on, let's consider it before we
Speaker 1: get real cute with it and put money on our
Speaker 1: credit cards to tell Jesus Happy Birthday before we go
Speaker 1: into debt. Show the Lord how much we appreciate all
Speaker 1: He's done for us, before we get into all that chaos.
Speaker 1: Let's take a moment, and consider the Christ A babe
Speaker 1: born in a manger, laid in a manger. Why give
Speaker 1: me Luke two seven? Because there was no room for
Speaker 1: him In the end, he was rejected. The Savior came
Speaker 1: and he was rejected. He was rejected because they had
Speaker 1: no room. And so now I wonder, am I talking
Speaker 1: about Jesus or am I talking about you? Because maybe
Speaker 1: you've been rejected not by a person, but maybe your
Speaker 1: dream has been rejected or denied, or delayed or deferred
Speaker 1: this year and in that place of rejection, where you
Speaker 1: could not find room for yourself, could not feel at
Speaker 1: home in your emotions, could not see a solution through
Speaker 1: your red seat, could not see a way through your storm,
Speaker 1: could not find peace in your night, could not figure
Speaker 1: out your next step to take in that place of rejection,
Speaker 1: watch this, you will find a babe in a manger.
Speaker 1: It wasn't Mary's plan to place him in a manger.
Speaker 1: It was not her preference to place him in a manger.
Speaker 1: Sometimes we end up in places we didn't plan to be.
Speaker 1: I didn't plan for my season to get ended early.
Speaker 1: I didn't plan for my job to go overseas or
Speaker 1: replaced by a computer. I didn't plan for my kid
Speaker 1: to come home and say I need some money. I'm
Speaker 1: on drugs. I didn't plan for any of this. But
Speaker 1: just because you did not expect it doesn't mean God
Speaker 1: hasn't covered it to you, whom this word is for,
Speaker 1: it is a specific word. You have been rejected by people,
Speaker 1: could not find anyone to help you, didn't get it
Speaker 1: from where you wanted to get it from. It didn't
Speaker 1: come through when you needed it to come through. Jesus
Speaker 1: was laid in a manger, but watched the Bible put
Speaker 1: it back up. It says he's wrapped in swaddling clothes
Speaker 1: laying in a manger. The manger is a cold place,
Speaker 1: the manger is a strange place. But the swaddling clothes,
Speaker 1: see these strips of linen that were wrapped around him
Speaker 1: were a symbol of his mother's care. How many would say,
Speaker 1: I was rejected, but God wrapped me. I was disappointed,
Speaker 1: but he wrapped me. I was lost and lonely, but
Speaker 1: he rapped me. I was turned away, but he rapped me.
Speaker 1: I was done wrong, but he rapped to me. And
Speaker 1: this becomes the prophecy that the promise of God does
Speaker 1: not mean we will never find ourselves in a low place.
Speaker 1: It simply means that wherever life lays you, God has
Speaker 1: you rapped. Say God has me rapped. Say it again,
Speaker 1: God has me rap. In fact, right now I feel
Speaker 1: the Everlasting Father wrapping his arms around somebody to let
Speaker 1: you know that you didn't plan to be here, but
Speaker 1: he planned for your arrival, and he prophesied. Joseph and
Speaker 1: Mary didn't think this was the right time to have
Speaker 1: the baby. They were headed to Bethlehem, which wasn't even
Speaker 1: where their hospital was or their gift registry. But the
Speaker 1: prophet had said Micah chapter five, verse two, from you
Speaker 1: Bethlehem will come a ruler. So they had to be
Speaker 1: in Bethlehem at that exact moment so they could give
Speaker 1: birth to this king. And the Spirit wants you to
Speaker 1: know right now, he's got you rapped. He's got you rapped.
Speaker 1: He welcomes you with your weird self, He welcomes you
Speaker 1: with your weak self. I know it because of how
Speaker 1: he came. He reached me, He rapped me. I never
Speaker 1: paid attention to the swaddling clothes, never thought much about them.
Speaker 1: I was too busy trying to get to the frankincense
Speaker 1: and the gold and the mirrh, the good stuff. But
Speaker 1: I found out some some times God will allow you
Speaker 1: to be rejected and he will wrap you, and that
Speaker 1: sometimes people's rejection is God's protection. Don't assume God isn't
Speaker 1: doing it. He's just got it under wraps right now.
Speaker 1: Don't assume it's insignificant. You will find the babe wrapped
Speaker 1: in swaddling clothes, long strips of linen that wrapped the Savior.
Speaker 1: He's got you wrapped right now. I can't get off
Speaker 1: of it, y'all. He's got you wrapped right now. Because
Speaker 1: this cold in this manger, this cold in this divorce,
Speaker 1: is cold in this condition. It's cold in this hospital room.
Speaker 1: It's cold in this prison bed. It's cold in this
Speaker 1: loveless home. It's cold in this adolescent trial, is cold
Speaker 1: in this court case is cold right now. But I'm covered,
Speaker 1: but I'm covered. Put it in the chatters cold, but
Speaker 1: I'm covered. Tell your neighbor is cold, but I'm covered.
Speaker 1: I siffer sometimes. But he came to the shepherds to
Speaker 1: let me know that I'll never go so low he
Speaker 1: can reach me, that I'll never make a mess too bad,
Speaker 1: that he won't step into it. Stop turning God away, Grandmama,
Speaker 1: because your house is a mess.
Speaker 9: When he comes in, he'll clean it up when he
Speaker 9: comes in. He'll fix it up when he comes in.
Speaker 9: He'll turn it around when he comes in. He'll bring
Speaker 9: new wine when.
Speaker 1: He comes in. I got good news of great joy.
Speaker 5: Shell the zippers, I'm stepping in, shell, my hid.
Speaker 1: You'll got a friend in a love place. You gotta safe.
Speaker 5: You're in a major Listen him thirty seconds figs or grave.
Speaker 1: Low. The angel came lo. I see God reaching down
Speaker 1: to the addicted today, this Christmas season, the broken family,
Speaker 1: the grieving family, the same in your heart, everything that
Speaker 1: you want to use to keep him out. He said,
Speaker 1: that's the reason I'm coming in. I came to Saints Sinners.
Speaker 1: We haunt it right now, mister, we're haunt it right now.
Speaker 1: And I realized, can I tell you one more thing?
Speaker 1: He said that he will reach you. Say he'll reach me.
Speaker 1: Number two, say he'll rap me. Maybe you need to
Speaker 1: tell your neighbor. Pretend like you're an angel for a minute.
Speaker 1: Make the announcement. Everybody. Say he'll reach you. Put it
Speaker 1: on the line. Say he'll reach you. Say he'll rap you.
Speaker 1: He'll rap you like a gift. How many know some
Speaker 1: of you have been taken for granted, and you think
Speaker 1: you don't have a gift, and you think you're not
Speaker 1: good at anything. You got it. You're just rapped right
Speaker 1: now because when God gets ready to unwrap it, he's
Speaker 1: gonna use it, and he needs you to be mature
Speaker 1: enough to handle it. Yes, Lord, I feel no doubt
Speaker 1: that this is the message God wanted us to shout
Speaker 1: about this Christmas. Y'all keep clapping like an angel wants
Speaker 1: to shout like a separate one time. Sound like He
Speaker 1: paid for you.
Speaker 5: When you could comb the hell the boys.
Speaker 1: He's good when.
Speaker 5: You couldn't bum the hem. If he has to reach
Speaker 5: way down edenough will picul up.
Speaker 1: So I give you this. God was once a baby
Speaker 1: taking his first breath. Sovereignty lay swaddled where the oxen slept.
Speaker 1: God was once a toddler taking his first steps. The
Speaker 1: carpenter of the cosmos wobbled on two legs. God once
Speaker 1: wore pajamas. You didn't know that God wore pajamas. He said,
Speaker 1: you will find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying
Speaker 1: in the major in now, Isaiah said he'd be born
Speaker 1: of a virgin. Micah said he would be born in Bethlehem.
Speaker 1: But not one of the prophets told me he would
Speaker 1: be wrapped in class. That's because it was hidden. It
Speaker 1: is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is hidden.
Speaker 1: It does not yet appear what we shall be ah.
Speaker 1: But watch this. Although the pajamas were not directly prophesied,
Speaker 1: the pajamas are a prophecy. I told you it would
Speaker 1: make sense when I finished. Now, let's appreciate when Jesus
Speaker 1: comes in human form, we see him wrapped in strips
Speaker 1: of linen. The next time we will see strips of
Speaker 1: linen in the story of Jesus. The next time we
Speaker 1: see strips of linen. Let me teach the Bible. The
Speaker 1: Bible says in John chapter twenty, verse five that when
Speaker 1: Peter got to the tomb where the body of the
Speaker 1: Savior used to lay, he came following John, and he
Speaker 1: went into the tomb, and he saw the linen cloths
Speaker 1: lying there. What's he trying to say, Fernick, I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say, what use to holdings? Couldn't hold it anymore? Man,
Speaker 1: That's why he was wrapped in strips of linen. He
Speaker 1: was letting me. Now they're gonna.
Speaker 5: Lay me in the grave with the biddle of your sins.
Speaker 1: But it's three dyes, three days, three minutes, and I
Speaker 1: can finish three days. God lived in a body, laid
Speaker 1: down in a grave. Three days later he was gone.
Speaker 1: Linen strips remained. The mystery figured it out. The mystery
Speaker 1: of the linen strips is that Jesus was born swallowed
Speaker 1: in linen strips. When he died, he was buried in
Speaker 1: linen strips, and when he rose, he left the linen
Speaker 1: strips to let you know that he is Lord of.
Speaker 6: All, Lord of all, Lord of all, Lord of all.
Speaker 1: In linen strips, and you will find the band. Stop
Speaker 1: looking up there to something better in the future, wrapped
Speaker 1: swaddling clothes. You keep telling me who left you, Start
Speaker 1: telling me how he held you. When they left you,
Speaker 1: he rapped me. So he came to the shepherds to
Speaker 1: let me know he can reach me. He came as
Speaker 1: a baby, raptinglenin to let me know that he can
Speaker 1: rap me. And at the end of his life he
Speaker 1: rose from the dead, and he left his linen strips
Speaker 1: to let me know he can raise me. The pajamas
Speaker 1: were a prophecy, y'all. He was swaddled, not only so
Speaker 1: he wouldn't shiver. Jesus was God. He could have made
Speaker 1: his body a seat warmer even as a baby. He
Speaker 1: was swaddled in strips so you would know that He
Speaker 1: came to die for you, and that whatever has died
Speaker 1: in your life will rise again in His name. And
Speaker 1: this is my Christmas message to you. This is the
Speaker 1: prophecy of the pajamas. Every Christmas, my wife gives every
Speaker 1: member of our family pajamas. It's a tradition. Every Christmas,
Speaker 1: she gives us pajamas on Christmas Eve. When the kids
Speaker 1: were little, they didn't like the pajamas, but they knew
Speaker 1: what the pajamas signified. It meant, not many hours from now,
Speaker 1: we got something for you. We got something for you.
Speaker 1: Tell your neighbor. God's got something for you. God's got
Speaker 1: something for you. Because when they opened the pajama they
Speaker 1: could know, oh, it's Christmas Eve. It became like Pavlov's dog.
Speaker 1: They started getting excited about the pajamas because of what
Speaker 1: the pajamas prophesied. I need you to start getting excited
Speaker 1: again about what God can do in your life despise,
Speaker 1: not today a small Beginning's Linen's strips are lying there.
Speaker 1: An empty grave is there to prove my savior lips.
Speaker 1: Not just a manger birth, but an empty grave showing
Speaker 1: my family and pajamas every Christmas Eve, every Christmas Eve?
Speaker 1: What is going on with my hair? Every Christmas Eve?
Speaker 1: That's back when I used to preach seven thousand Christmas services.
Speaker 1: Look at my hair. It's a wonder I didn't end
Speaker 1: up in a rehab facility preaching that many Christmas services.
Speaker 1: Oh God, that was the year. You know what I
Speaker 1: think this woman was when she gave them those pajamas
Speaker 1: with a dog on it. I think I just thought
Speaker 1: about this. She was prophesying to show up the other picture.
Speaker 1: Now we got a dog for real. Now we got
Speaker 1: a dog for real. The pajamas were a prophecy. I
Speaker 1: want you to get the picture in your mind. One
Speaker 1: more time of Christmas for real. You can have your
Speaker 1: Christmas scented candles all you want. If they really smelled
Speaker 1: like Christmas, you wouldn't want to light them because it
Speaker 1: was messy, it was smelly, it was rough. You would
Speaker 1: light a candle to cover up the smell of the
Speaker 1: First Christmas, but from that game a savior. So I
Speaker 1: give you this charge Christmas. Expect a blessing. Expect a blessing.
Speaker 1: And Lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them,
Speaker 1: and the glory of the Lord chilling round about them.
Speaker 1: Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of
Speaker 1: great joy, which shall be to all people, shepherds and sages,
Speaker 1: all people, billionaires and broke, all people.
Speaker 10: Expect the blessing and accept the mess. Accept it, accept it.
Speaker 10: God accepts you.
Speaker 1: I never saw my grandmother again because she wasn't expecting
Speaker 1: our visit. We never had a moment because she didn't
Speaker 1: want to show her mess. I know you keep pushing
Speaker 1: God out, keep pushing joy out, keep pushing the future out,
Speaker 1: keep pushing peace out, keep pushing it out. Because you're messy.
Speaker 1: Expect the blessing from the God who steps into your mess.
Speaker 1: This is the Lord of the linen strips. This is
Speaker 1: the prophecy of the pajamas. God has you wrap wrap
Speaker 1: your arms around yourself right there where you are. Yeah, yeah, yeah, God,
Speaker 1: I thank you that you got me covered. I thank
Speaker 1: you for covering my family. I thank you for covering
Speaker 1: my special needs child. I thank you for covering the
Speaker 1: soldier who's overseas and can't be with their family. I
Speaker 1: thank you, Lord, I thank you for covering me as
Speaker 1: I look at an empty seat. I thank you for
Speaker 1: covering me as I wish I could do more for people,
Speaker 1: but I can't right now. I thank you for covering
Speaker 1: those who are waiting for a breakthrough in their emotions.
Speaker 1: I thank you that they're covered even in the cold.
Speaker 1: This Christmas, you said you'll find Jesus wrapped. Thank you
Speaker 1: Jesus for rapping me. Oh come lis.
Speaker 6: Uh, Oh calm.
Speaker 4: Well us, Yeah, sweet sweet scarp have your wedding.
Speaker 1: M Yeah, cried.
Speaker 11: The Lord of All in linen strips. Let's adore him now,
Speaker 11: Oh calm, when you stand in reverence the King of
Speaker 11: Kings come, Oh come, Glory to God in the highest.
Speaker 1: And on earth, peace in your low place. For he alone,
Speaker 1: that's why we glorify.
Speaker 6: Say it again.
Speaker 12: He now on every hand lifted in his presence, say
Speaker 12: we give you all the glory God.
Speaker 13: Thanks for joining us today. We pray that God has
Speaker 13: spoken to you in a unique and powerful way through
Speaker 13: the message. Well we are in our year in offering
Speaker 13: season as a church where we get the opportunity to
Speaker 13: reflect back on all the ways that God has been
Speaker 13: faithful to our ministry this year, but also to look
Speaker 13: ahead at what we're believing God for in the upcoming year.
Speaker 13: And each year as a church, we get to come
Speaker 13: around a special offering and offering that contributes to both
Speaker 13: outreach efforts in local and global cities and as well
Speaker 13: as the expansion of our ministry continuing to reach people
Speaker 13: all over with the hope of the Gospel. And we'd
Speaker 13: invite you to take part and participate in our year
Speaker 13: end offering. To do so, you can go to Elevationchurch
Speaker 13: dot org. Just click the banner there at the top,
Speaker 13: and then you'll be able to see everything that you
Speaker 13: need to be a part of our year end offering.
Speaker 13: You'll see two options. The first is to begin tithing.
Speaker 13: Maybe you've been wanting to prioritize God in your finances,
Speaker 13: but you haven't taken that step to make a commitment
Speaker 13: to doing so. This is a great place to begin.
Speaker 13: Or perhaps you've been giving consistently in this season. God
Speaker 13: may be challenging you to stretch above and on the
Speaker 13: tithe to give a sacrificial gift to our year end offering.
Speaker 13: If you're part of one of our physical locations, you
Speaker 13: can choose your campus there, or if you're part of
Speaker 13: our online ministry, of course you'll choose Epham or online
Speaker 13: and then enter the amount that you'd like to give.
Speaker 13: We are believing for all the ways that God is
Speaker 13: going to stretch our faith in this season through our
Speaker 13: year end offering, and we can't wait to see what
Speaker 13: God does through you. God bless and we'll see you
Speaker 13: soon