WEBVTT - Don't Make A Scene 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.600 Well, thank you for joining us today. We've got a 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:06.760 special gift for you. I preached a sermon last week 0:00:06.880 --> 0:00:09.240 about when the picture that you have in your mind 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.480 doesn't match the reality of your life. Yeah, it was 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:15.880 called it's not what I picture. Well, this sermon is 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:17.920 from a few years ago. It's called don't make a 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:20.800 scene from the vault. Yeah, this is from the vault 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.280 for our e fam and for all of those all 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:25.400 over the world. You know, let's be real. This time 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:29.040 of year can be overwhelming and your experience is probably 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.960 not gonna line up exactly with your expectations. So if 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:33.640 that's you and you got some people coming in town 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.560 or leaving, and you need a message to realign your priorities, 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:39.839 check this out. It's going to be great. Matthew, Chapter one, 0:00:39.920 --> 0:00:42.320 verse eighteen. This is how the birth of Jesus the 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.640 Messiah came about. His mother, Mary was pledged to be 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:50.240 married to Joseph. I know Mary is the headliner of Christmas, 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:54.320 but let's give Joseph some love today, because Joseph had 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.200 a lot of faith, would you agree? Look at this 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:04.000 before they came together. You know what that means. Just 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:10.000 ain't e kids, y'all? Before they came together, she was 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.800 found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Everybody said, 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:23.640 oh Joe, because Joseph nineteen, her husband, was faithful to 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.479 the law and yet did not want to expose her 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:31.000 to public disgrace. He had in mind to divorce her quietly. 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.880 But after he had considered this, I wonder how many 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:36.720 things in your life would have turned out different if 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.640 you would have stopped and thought about him for a minute. 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.479 After he had considered this, an angel of the Lord 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.479 appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph's, son 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:48.960 of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.480 as your wife, because what is conceived in her is 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:56.320 from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, 0:01:56.640 --> 0:01:59.480 and you are to give him the name Jesus, because 0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.680 he will save his people from their sins. And all 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.920 this took place, All this took place. I don't know 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:10.040 what all this is in your life, but all this 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.919 took place in Joseph's life. All of the drama, all 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:17.079 of the controversy, all of the confusion. Everybody show, all 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:25.480 this took place to fulfill. I like that word fulfill, fulfill. 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:30.000 We should do a series about that. Come on, Keith 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:33.880 twenty sixteen. Put it on the calendar, put it on 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:40.160 my Google docs. All this took place to fulfill what 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:43.000 the Lord had said through the prophet, the Virgin will 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:45.440 conceive and give birth to a son, and they will 0:02:45.440 --> 0:02:48.760 call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. And when 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:51.280 Joseph woke up, he did what the Angel of the 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:54.120 Lord had commanded him. It doesn't say all of his 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:59.200 questions went away, but he acted in obedience to his revelation. See, 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:05.600 you don't have to feel something to have faith for something. 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:09.000 When he woke up, he did what the Angel of 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:12.160 the Lord commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:14.239 I'm not sure I would have been able to do that. 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:16.320 I'm not sure I would have been able to get 0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:20.240 past it. But Joseph took Mary home as his wife, 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.040 but he did not consummate their marriage until she gave 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:26.000 birth to a son, and he gave them the name Jesus. 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.720 Back up to verse nineteen, where it says because Joseph, 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.239 her husband, was faithful to the law and yet didn't 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:35.360 want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:38.960 mind to divorce her quietly. So I want to use 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.000 as a subject for this Christmas sermon, a little instruction, 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:44.480 a little piece of advice I have for you. Ready, 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:49.240 you ready, you're ready, ready, ready. Don't make a scene. 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.480 Don't make a scene. Touch somebody say you need to 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:57.600 calm down, You need to calm down. Don't make a scene. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:00.760 A then Father, opened their eyes, and open in our hearts, 0:04:00.840 --> 0:04:03.160 and open the heavens over us, and speak a word 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:07.000 in Jesus' name. Everybody shout a man, a man, you 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:12.880 may be seated. Thank you, worship team. Well done. When 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:14.480 I get to heaven, I don't want to hear him 0:04:14.520 --> 0:04:26.520 say medium rare. I want to hear well done. Anybody 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:29.040 think Christmas is overrated? I do. I thinks over rating. 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:33.280 I think that's a lot to say. Don't throw me 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.600 out the church, don't don't disrespect me as a man 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:37.880 of God. I love the story of Christmas. I love 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.159 the message of Christmas or the meaning of Christmas. My 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:42.640 Christmas is as a child. We're delightful. I mean, you 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:44.960 can't have better Christmases than I had as a child 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:47.800 in terms of just enjoying the season. It's not what 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.839 I mean. What I mean is I think that we've 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:54.480 done Christmas a disservice in the way that we present 0:04:54.560 --> 0:05:01.320 the story that actually happened. In cultural terms, I would 0:05:01.320 --> 0:05:05.960 say we have sanitized the salvation process to the point 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.080 that it doesn't even resemble the revelation that we see 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.760 in the scripture. You know what I'm saying, Like, there's 0:05:12.000 --> 0:05:15.400 so many ways this is reflected in our songs. Let's 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.599 take the songs we sing at Christmas for example. They're beautiful. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.760 I sing them too. I love them, They're wonderful, sing 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:22.640 them all, love them all. They're great. But Jesus cried 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:26.160 in the manger, all right, I know that it says 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.280 away in a manger, no crip for a bed, little lord, 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.080 Jesus laid down his sweethead. But I've had three babies 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:37.160 and they were born in hospitals, in good conditions, and 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.480 they screamed their heads off. So you're not gonna get 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:41.760 it past me that Jesus, who was fully God and 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.799 fully manned, wasn't screaming in a barn having to sleep 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:46.760 next to animals. Don't even try to tell me that 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.080 he laid on the straw comfortable and didn't scream. Jesus Christ, 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.159 the Son of God, was screaming his head off and 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.760 Mary was screaming too, screaming at Joseph for making her 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.000 ride on that donkey to take the census and not 0:05:57.080 --> 0:05:58.920 having the foresight the book the hotel I had to 0:05:58.960 --> 0:06:01.719 talk one day. I'm a city, a whole city called 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:04.479 Christmas got real, and it's gonna have Christmas carols like 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:07.200 they really happen. And in my Christmas carols, Jesus, the 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.520 Little Lord Jesus is gonna be asleep on that. She's 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:17.200 gonna be collicky. Jesus is gonna be screaming. All is calm? 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:24.840 What Christmas planet are you from? All is calm? All 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:28.320 is calm? Again. It just shows me that the one 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.080 who wrote that him had a different frame of reference 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.719 than my frame of reference. Again, I had a good family, 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:37.280 but it extended family. That's you know, that's a whole different. 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.599 My mom is here, she will back me out. My 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:44.800 uncles would bring so many girlfriends through. I didn't know 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:46.800 what to call these. Do I call her aunt too? 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.680 I'll never forget. My mom looked at me and said, 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:55.599 don't you call her your aunt. That's not your aunt. 0:06:55.800 --> 0:07:03.120 That's that's everybody say. Real real Christmas, Real Christmas, Real Christmas. 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:08.200 Where your expectations collide with your reality. And that's really 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:12.080 the problem, isn't it. The problem is that all the 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:16.080 people in our lives don't read the script for how 0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:20.280 they're supposed to act to make our Christmas what we 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.360 expected it would be. I mean, if they would all 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.240 just get on the same page and all take their 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:29.080 places and fall in on their mark, we could have 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:32.000 a good Christmas. Touch somebody say, Christmas could be perfect 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:38.400 if you would do it my way, and most of 0:07:38.480 --> 0:07:41.400 us would make a scene in our minds that we 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.160 want Christmas to look like not just Christmas, that we 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:47.040 want Monday to look like that. And so we get 0:07:47.040 --> 0:07:51.040 this imagination. But what do you do when the ideal 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:58.200 collides with the real and what you pictured Christmas would 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:02.960 be like memories of how it was collide with the 0:08:03.000 --> 0:08:06.320 reality of how it now is. This could be empty 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:10.120 seats at the table, This could be strained relationships that 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:14.560 won't resolve. And so I'm not saying that Christmas is 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.920 overrated in the spirit that it really exists. I'm just 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.400 saying that I think we have downplayed the drama of 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.720 what really happened to create the first Christmas to the 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:28.080 extent that we are disappointed in ourselves that we can't 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.520 create perfect major scenes because we're all trying to manage 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.520 the scene of reality that exists in real life. And 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:36.800 when we compare that to all is calm, and you 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:39.080 look in your life and you see that all is chaotic, 0:08:40.720 --> 0:08:42.080 what do you do? So I want to talk about 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.560 these elements real briefly today. I want to talk first 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:49.880 of all, about the chaos of Christmas. The chaos of Christmas. 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:53.000 And I made a note to myself. I don't ever 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:54.240 look at my notes. I don't know why I bring 0:08:54.240 --> 0:08:57.240 them up here, but I said, hurry on this point, 0:08:57.240 --> 0:08:59.400 because this isn't really the point I want to make. This. 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:02.360 Don't get all bogged down at this point and use 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:06.080 up all your clock. But because the chaos, what I 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.120 want to say about it is really really simple. Embrace it. 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:17.640 Embrace it. I didn't say create it. I said embrace it. 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.560 I don't believe that chaos should be a lifestyle, but 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.800 in certain seasons of your life, chaos is inevitable, and 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.960 in those seasons, embrace it. The Bible says that after 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:33.200 Joseph had considered this, he took Mary home to be 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.840 his wife. And when he took her home. He took 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:41.560 along with her all of the circulating chaos, all of 0:09:41.559 --> 0:09:45.600 the scandal, all of the criticism that would accompany his 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:49.199 decision to be with a woman who had apparently been 0:09:49.240 --> 0:09:52.840 unfaithful to him, a woman who, during the time of betrothal, 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.240 had all of a sudden shown up pregnant. And Matthew 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.719 does something interesting to help us with this, because in 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:03.640 order to embrace the chaos, you always need the context. 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:05.640 That's my second point. I'm flying, you better write this down, 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.800 or's gonna be over and you're gonna be home. You're 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:09.959 not gonna have anything. Christmas is gonna suck because you 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:11.800 can't pay attention to the preacher. I want to talk 0:10:11.840 --> 0:10:16.400 about the context. Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, 0:10:16.400 --> 0:10:18.840 and he knows that their interest will be in discovering 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:21.360 the lineage of Jesus Christ. They would have been familiar 0:10:21.440 --> 0:10:24.440 with this lineage through which the Messiah came, and those 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:26.920 first seventeen verses that I did not read to you 0:10:27.320 --> 0:10:29.600 because I didn't think you would enjoy hearing about them, 0:10:29.679 --> 0:10:32.120 would actually be interesting for you to look at, because 0:10:32.160 --> 0:10:35.280 if you read the lineage that Jesus came through, that 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.240 Matthew takes the time to establish before he gets to 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:41.040 the actual story about what happened when he was born, 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:42.959 or the miracles that he worked when he was a 0:10:43.000 --> 0:10:45.120 grown man, or the price that he paid as he 0:10:45.120 --> 0:10:50.440 gave his life. Matthew starts his gospel establishing context. Everybody 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:54.680 shout context. Context is so important. You know, we're in 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:57.120 a political season right now, and I don't pay much 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:00.559 attention to the rhetoric because all they're doing in presenting 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.400 news to us is taking things out of context to 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:09.480 present them to us in the most bombastic fashion. And 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:12.120 so they've got they take this thing and this thing, 0:11:12.320 --> 0:11:15.800 and they put it all out of so that the 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:18.160 person actually said the words. Now, there are some candidates 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:19.880 you don't even have to take them out of context. 0:11:20.080 --> 0:11:25.160 They're crazy in context. But generally speaking, the way that 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:29.479 they attract attention is to take things out of context. 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:32.720 This is how the enemy, by the way, introduced deception 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:35.040 and sin into the world. If you want to study 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:38.680 at it, it was a case of context. Because God 0:11:38.760 --> 0:11:41.920 told Adam and Eve, of all the trees in this garden, 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.560 you may freely eat, that's permission, but don't touch this one, 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:48.760 or you're gonna die, and so there's a there's a 0:11:48.800 --> 0:11:52.200 permission given, and then there's a consequence established. And so 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.000 when the snake comes slithering up to even the third 0:11:55.040 --> 0:11:58.080 chapter of the Book of Genesis, he takes God's words 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.160 out of context. He says, did God really say you 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:04.320 can't eat off of any of these trees? In fact, 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.360 that's nothing like what God said. What God in fact 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:09.440 said is you can eat from any tree, but if 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:11.800 you eat from this tree, it's going to be harmful 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:14.440 to you. But the enemy knows he can always divorce 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.000 you from your destiny if he can get you out 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:26.080 of context. I almost called this whole message. Let's keep 0:12:26.200 --> 0:12:31.840 Christmas in context. You know, Let's remember that Herod was 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:35.000 trying to kill all the baby boys under the age 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.120 of two at the time when Jesus was born. Let's 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.920 remember that we're not living in the first day in 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:44.559 time or the age or the epoch where there has 0:12:44.640 --> 0:12:48.280 been violence in the world. Let's remember that Christ, who 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.400 was born, Oh Holy Knight, was born into a violent world. 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:54.679 Keep it in context. If you ever go to visit 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:56.720 the Holy Land and you ask them, oh, can I 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:59.960 see Bethlehem, They'll probably tell you don't want to go there. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.920 It's a ghetto. Now it's a beautiful place, but it's 0:13:02.920 --> 0:13:04.640 no place that you would want to visit on your 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:09.439 itinerary for a vacation. Because God is born into contexts 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:14.680 that people reject. Jesus was born to a virgin, to 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:18.560 a Palestinian girl. That is the context of your faith. 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:22.000 And so when Matthew says, Abraham, that got Isaac, who 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:24.880 begot Jacob, who begot Joseph, you might want to skip 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.000 over that stuff, but go back and read it because 0:13:27.000 --> 0:13:29.160 if you read that whole lineage, it'll give you a 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:34.559 context for the message of Christmas. That Jesus came through 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:38.640 a lineage of murderers, and Jesus came through a lineage 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.319 of fugitives, and Jesus came through a lineage of liars, 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:46.480 and Jesus came through a lineage of backstabbers. One woman 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:50.040 who's mentioned in the context of Christmas is a prostitute. 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.240 So before you look down your nose this Christmas on 0:13:53.400 --> 0:13:56.720 people who don't have their act together, you better remember 0:13:56.920 --> 0:14:00.079 the context of Christmas is that Christ came into the 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:05.880 world through sinners for sinners, and you're one of them. 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:15.520 Let somebody say you're one of them. Context, context is everything. 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:21.800 Don't you think context context is so helpful for determining 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.600 why someone is committed. If you meet someone who's really committed, 0:14:25.840 --> 0:14:28.120 I bet you they went through a season of struggle. 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:32.360 And if you meet someone who's committed to their job, 0:14:32.920 --> 0:14:36.160 or committed to their calling, or committed to their ideals. 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:39.120 The most successful people I've ever met, if you get 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:41.120 a little bit of backstory, and see, you need a 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:43.640 little bit of backstory to understand the baby in the manger, 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:45.560 because if you go straight to the baby, you miss it. 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.320 But Matthew says in verse eighteen, this is how the 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.160 birth of Jesus the Messiah came about. This is how 0:14:51.320 --> 0:14:53.480 how did he do it? Did God drop him down 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.080 out of heaven in a handcrafted box? Did God put 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.360 him behind glass and send him through the clouds and 0:14:58.400 --> 0:15:02.080 drop him into palatial spaces? We're royalty resided? No, no, no, 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:08.520 This is how in chaos and confusion through the lineage 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:12.880 of sinners. So the most successful people I've ever met 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:18.360 went through a season that was so difficult that now 0:15:18.360 --> 0:15:22.120 they are driven by their desire to never have to 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.880 go back there. And so that's why they stay up late, 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.360 and that's why they work hard. But you'll never understand 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:34.360 their commitment until you've understood their context. Some of you 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:38.880 haven't struggled enough, and you will never be successful until 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:42.960 you struggle because you don't have the context yet that 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.880 can contain success. So why would God give it to you? 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:53.760 I'm gonna come over here and preach, I said, God 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.720 is not going to drop blessing into somebody who's never 0:15:57.760 --> 0:16:02.000 been in a bar. I'm gonna try the C intersection. 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:04.320 Everything's falling apart now I might have to move to 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.000 the overflow Before us all said and done, I set 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:12.000 your struggle today is a setup for your success tomorrow. 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.080 There it is, but you have to go through some 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:19.680 stuff in the cradle before you can get to the cross. 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:28.600 You've got to establish a context. Context context. A context 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.960 can also help you understand someone's celebration. You know, there 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:36.520 are people who will be really happy this Christmas getting 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.680 less than you got because their context is they've never 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:46.040 had it before. They'll take shoe boxes through Operation Christmas Child, 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:49.080 which we've supported Samaritans perse for years, and when they 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:51.760 drop them off to the kids, toys that your kids 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:59.120 would walk past these kids will cry over context context. 0:16:59.320 --> 0:17:01.840 The person say next to you might be a little 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:04.760 more exuberant than you that when we were worshiping, they 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:06.719 might have been kind of loud, and you might not 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:11.120 understand that. But if you understood their context, you might 0:17:11.200 --> 0:17:14.840 understand that the person next to you didn't even think 0:17:14.880 --> 0:17:19.000 they'd see their thirtieth birthday, but God stepped in some 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:22.800 kind of way and delivered them from all their fears. 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:26.440 And so when I start preaching and when we start praising, 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:32.040 there's a celebration. Do me a favor. Touch somebody say, 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:36.199 you don't know what it's like to be me. You 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.879 don't even know all the fights I had to fight. 0:17:39.160 --> 0:17:41.560 You don't even know the wars that God won on 0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.840 my behalf. You don't even know what I stepped across 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.280 to get the church. You don't know what it cost 0:17:47.359 --> 0:17:54.320 me to raise my kids. Context context. We went to 0:17:54.359 --> 0:17:56.680 a baseball game a year ago that Graham was playing 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:58.320 in and the kid on the other team hit the 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.000 ball and the ball dribbled the pitcher, and the kid 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.040 got on first base, and the whole other side, the 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:04.720 kid was on the other team, and the whole other 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.440 side starts cheering like the boy had hit a home run, 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:09.879 like he around at home plate, like he hit a 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:12.679 grand slam, won the World Series. All these parents going wild, 0:18:12.880 --> 0:18:15.240 which I thought was ridiculous, till one of the parents 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:17.480 told me that the kid. The reason they're cheering is 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:20.800 because the kid had never played sports before, and when 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:22.080 he came out there, he didn't even know how to 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:24.000 hold the baseball back because there was no dad in 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.359 the family, and it was his grandma that brought him out. 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:28.520 And so to just see him hit that, just to 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:35.199 see him make contact, that's the context to understand that 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:41.720 somebody's small step is a big success. Maybe there's some 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.199 things that's Christmas that you need to put in context, 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:47.560 because if you would put it in context, you would 0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:51.240 celebrate your crazy kids. If you put it in the 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.720 context of somebody's kid isn't with them this Christmas, somebody's 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.639 kid is in prison, somebody's kid is in the hospital, 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:00.760 somebody's kid is dead, it would help you appreciate your 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:04.200 living parents. To understand that somebody has no living parent 0:19:04.280 --> 0:19:07.120 to visit, even though your mom has dementia. It might 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.040 help you to see a little bit of joy in 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:12.360 a hopeless situation. If you could ask God to give 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:18.560 you a context. Context. I'm going to say something else 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.920 about context. Can I preach? I'm gonna say something else 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.919 about context. The reason some of us don't have compassion 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.520 is because we don't have context for other people's conflict. 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:36.480 Compassion is a result of context. So it's kind of 0:19:36.520 --> 0:19:40.159 easy for a white man in America to say that 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:46.760 racism doesn't exist anymore and see things on TV and say, oh, well, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:52.199 they're always complaining about black people. Because you have no 0:19:52.359 --> 0:19:59.359 context for the conflict, you have no compassion. You've never 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:02.879 had some follow you around the store because of the 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:06.199 color of your skin. I'm not gonna talk about this 0:20:06.240 --> 0:20:09.239 if y'all uncle help me. You never had to have 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:11.520 a talk with your kid about how to deal with 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:14.280 the police officer on that level. So now when you 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.160 hear somebody else's conflict, you don't have any compassion because 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:24.240 you don't have any context. Christmas is God stepping into 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:28.879 humanity and giving us a context for compassion. That he 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:32.119 would breathe your air, that he would take your sin, 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.320 that he would take your shame, that he would walk 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:38.560 your earth, that he would walk your crown, that he 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:50.359 would take your struggle. It's easy to criticize somebody who's 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:54.560 context you've never experienced. I'll tell you if I heard 0:20:54.560 --> 0:21:01.080 the pastor of that church you don't know, we'll start one. 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:11.880 Then he's a little Christmas devotion. Come on, smile, y'all, smile, smile, smiles, 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:16.159 moll context. It's really easy for a straight person to 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:20.480 talk about what a gay person ought to do until 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.520 you've spent a day in their context. You never understand 0:21:24.560 --> 0:21:28.960 the feelings that they have associated with the church because 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:32.439 of people who quoted Scripture at them. But they quoted 0:21:32.480 --> 0:21:45.080 it out of Please, please, please, please, don't use the 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:49.399 Gospel as a context for hate. Please don't use the 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:54.280 Gospel as the context for judgment. Please don't call yourself 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:57.800 a Christian until you're willing to be like the one 0:21:58.080 --> 0:22:03.879 who carried your cross A text? Got if I'm preaching 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:12.480 rite got if I'm preaching right? Yeah, I put it 0:22:12.520 --> 0:22:19.439 in context, put it in context. We'll treat people better 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:23.159 when we put their conflict in context. You know, I 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:25.480 don't know what it's like to be a single mom. 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:28.720 I don't know what it's like to raise teenagers. I'm 0:22:28.760 --> 0:22:31.359 not gonna do a parenting series till all mine are 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:35.920 gone out of the house. I don't know how he's 0:22:35.960 --> 0:22:38.760 gonna act at age sixteen. I don't know, So I 0:22:38.800 --> 0:22:41.240 don't want the measure of judgment I use to come 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:47.159 back on me because I preached it out of So 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:53.680 I'm just hanging on man. You know what I'm saying, Well, 0:22:53.680 --> 0:23:05.680 if I had their money, you don't, and you will 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:08.800 make some of the worst relational decisions of your life 0:23:09.400 --> 0:23:12.080 when you take things out of context. You know, when 0:23:12.119 --> 0:23:14.520 somebody has been good to you for ten years and 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:16.320 they do one thing that makes you mad and you 0:23:16.359 --> 0:23:20.920 write them off. You mean, you're gonna take the ten 0:23:21.040 --> 0:23:24.160 years that they were good to you and one thing 0:23:24.240 --> 0:23:27.359 they said is going to make you cut the relationship off. 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:29.760 You're going to take one thing out of the context 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:33.160 of the whole relationship now and be done with the person. 0:23:33.640 --> 0:23:43.159 What if God did that with you? Bubbaloo? Anyway, I'm 0:23:43.200 --> 0:23:45.280 boring some of y'all, so I'm a rush to the 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:51.840 conclusion here. I'm just saying, you know, maybe you need 0:23:51.880 --> 0:23:55.840 to put your current situation in context because the enemy 0:23:55.840 --> 0:23:57.719 would like you to think that there's nothing to your 0:23:57.760 --> 0:24:00.280 life and it doesn't matter, and you know, it doesn't 0:24:00.280 --> 0:24:02.600 make a difference and all this, and you got to 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:05.320 remember that the hope of the world was born in 0:24:05.400 --> 0:24:11.120 a barn. That is the context of Christmas is that 0:24:11.320 --> 0:24:17.960 God saved the world from a stable. So the next 0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:21.159 time the enemy tries to tell you it doesn't matter 0:24:21.960 --> 0:24:25.040 and it's not worth it and you're not much, just 0:24:25.119 --> 0:24:29.000 remember the context of your faith is that your savior 0:24:29.080 --> 0:24:33.840 came from a stall. I wonder what little thing there 0:24:33.920 --> 0:24:37.240 is in your life, I said, I wonder what little 0:24:37.280 --> 0:24:39.800 thing there is in your life. It just looks like 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:43.119 a seed right now. But every oak tree you drive 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:47.040 past was a seed at first. The context of the 0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:50.800 tree is that its started as a seed. The context 0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:54.440 of salvation is that it's started in a staple. The 0:24:54.480 --> 0:24:57.760