Christmas Moments // A Moment of Boldness

2 this morning, luke, chapter 2.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

Have you ever had an opportunity that you hesitated on?

And you look back and you think I wish I didn't hesitate on that opportunity.

The other day I was in Vacaville and this happened to me.

I was at God's favorite store.

Now you guys know what God's favorite store is in Vacaville.

She says the Bible bookstore.

I'm not that spiritual Lakeisha.

Anybody want to guess what God's favorite store is?

Nike, thank you.

I was at the Nike outlet Some of y'all are laughing at me with Pastor Cody and Edgar, which, by the way, did any of you guys see Edgar's shoes up here?

I'm just saying so.

Is it the Nike outlet?

And some of you may not know this about me, but I really like shoes.

Now you probably already know this, but I don't need another pair of shoes.

But I saw a pair of shoes for $50.

$50.

But since I'm such a good steward, I said you know what?

I'm going to sleep on this a couple days because I don't need another pair of shoes.

So I slept on it a couple days and I was thinking.

I was like I wonder if they still got those shoes for $50.

So I went back to the Nike outlet and you'll never believe it.

The worst thing possible they were now $75.

I ain't buying a pair of shoes for 70, no $75.

And I missed this opportunity because I hesitated.

Well, maybe it wasn't that big of an opportunity, but you could probably look at your life at times where you had opportunities but you hesitated.

Maybe you look back and you think, man, I should have got that education and gone to that school.

Maybe you look back and you think I should have taken that job.

Maybe you look back and you think I should have said yes, but I hesitated and I missed out.

And I think all of us can look back at times in our life where we hesitated and I missed out.

I think all of us can look back at times in our life where we hesitated and we missed opportunities.

And there's a place in my life where I hesitate way more often than I care to admit In fact, I'm kind of ashamed to even say it not just because I'm a pastor, but because I'm a follower of Jesus.

The place I often hesitate is when it comes to sharing my faith with other people, making Jesus known to others.

Now, a lot of times my reason they're just excuses, but it's I'm like I don't want to be pushy on them.

I think, well, I mean, I don't want to offend them, you know we live in 2024.

I think, oh, this isn't probably not the right time, this probably isn't the best time, like I know a really good time is going to come.

I just I know it will, it's going to happen.

Like I'm waiting for the stars to align in the shape of a cross or something you know, and I hesitate instead of stepping into a moment of boldness.

And you never know how God might use one moment of boldness to change someone's life forever In fact, some of you.

You can look back at your life and you can think about somebody's moment of boldness that changed your life forever.

Maybe, when it comes to our faith, when it comes to following Jesus, maybe somebody stepped into a moment of boldness and they invited you to church for the first time.

Maybe somebody you were having questions about things and somebody stepped into a moment of boldness and explained who Jesus was and the good news of the gospel that he came to this earth, he died on the cross for our sins and by faith in him we can be forgiven.

Maybe somebody stepped into a moment of boldness by maybe sharing something on their social media, and you saw that and you're like, hmm, it piqued your interest.

And you never know how God might use one moment of boldness to change somebody's life forever.

And what we're going to see today out of Luke, chapter 2 is how God used some really unlikely people that stepped into boldness to make Jesus known to people that would not know otherwise.

Luke 2 · chapter mention

And here's what you need to know today is that God wants to use you to do the same for somebody else.

Sometimes you look at me and you're like, oh, pastor, of course, like you're a pastor, so that's what like God can use you.

Y'all know that I put my pants on the exact same way you guys do every morning.

God wants to use every single one of us, and we're going to see a story about how God used some unlikely people to make Jesus known to others, and we're going to pick it up in Luke 2, verse number 8.

And if you're ready for the word, would you say amen, amen.

This is what the scripture says in verse number 8.

It says in the same region, shepherds, everybody say shepherds ready.

Somebody tell me what do shepherds do?

They shepherd their sheep.

They watch sheep.

That's who these guys are.

They're staying out in the fields and they're keeping watch at night over their flock.

How many of you guys ever worked nights before?

You worked graveyards, so you get the picture.

These guys nights.

You know what that's like.

They're probably a little sleepy, they're watching their sheep and they're about to experience something that they've never experienced before and they're never going to experience again.

In verse 9, it says an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were terrified, like we talked about last week when people saw angels.

They were terrified, but the angel said to them don't be afraid, for look, old translations say behold, I proclaim to you what does he proclaim to them.

I proclaim to you what does he proclaim to them.

I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

Now you know what all the people means.

All the people.

This is a message for all people.

You know what this means.

This means.

This is a message for you, pastor Nate.

You don't understand.

Not really a churchy guy, I'm just kind of hanging out.

It's for you, pastor Nate.

You don't understand.

I haven't had good news for a long time.

2024 has been a rough year.

I can't wait for the holidays to get over.

It's good news for you.

Pastor Nate, you don't understand my mental health challenges right now.

It is just overwhelming.

Got good news for you, good news for all the people.

Anybody that will embrace this message, anybody that will receive this message.

It's good news for you.

What is it?

Verse number 10 or verse number 11.

It says this today, in the city of David, a savior was born for you.

Who's the Messiah, the Lord?

He's the forgiver of sin, he's the one that brings shalom, that brings peace, and this will be a sign for you.

You'll find a baby wrapped tightly in cloth and lying in a manger.

Somebody tell me what's a?

What's a manger?

Feeding trough, not like a buffet, not one of those feeding troughs?

This is a place where animals ate out of.

You're gonna see this baby in this feeding trough, in this manger.

And then verse 13,.

Things really escalated.

Suddenly, there was a multitude of the heavenly hosts with the angel, so we started with just one.

Now there's a multitude of them Praising God and saying glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to the people he favors, the people who receive this message of grace.

Now it really can't be overlooked that Jesus the fact that he was being born, was told to shepherds.

Shepherds were the lowest form of labor available in that day and age.

In fact, their testimony would not even be trusted or heard in a court of law.

If you were a shepherd as an adult, that was a life fail.

And the message of Jesus being born was first told to shepherds.

That's a head-scratcher y'all.

I mean, come on, like, right down the road was a palace with a guy named Herod who lived in this palace.

He was the acting king of Israel.

How come the angels didn't come to him?

King of Israel?

How come the angels didn't come to him?

Or Rome was the capital of the known world, with all of its power and splendor and glory.

All roads lead to Rome, right?

So then, how come the angel wouldn't go to Caesar and the powerful people and the rich people?

How come he would go to the lowly, messy people?

How come he would go to the people that were forgotten about?

How come the angel would go to the people that were disregarded?

How come the angel would go to the people that nobody wanted to be like?

Because God values those people and God values you and some of you are here today and your life is figuratively very messy and life is hard and life is difficult.

And you wonder does anybody understand?

Does anybody care?

Does anybody remember me?

Does anybody know me?

Am I even seen?

Can I just say there is a God of grace that meets you right where you are?

Can I just say there's a God of grace that loves you and cares about you and in a world that makes these dividing lines where the best people are the pretty people, the powerful people and the rich people, god constantly crosses the dividing lines of the world and says I go to the people that just want me to come to them.

I go to the people that will just receive me.

And this is something we see often time and time again in scripture is God meets people in the places that they are, not in the places where they want to be.

You may find yourself in a place right now where you're like I'm not where I want to be in life.

I have this disappointment and this disappointment and this disappointment and your life has been nothing more than like disappointments that are stacked up like pancakes that I hop and you're just like can I catch a break and your life is not where you want it to be.

But can I say that God meets you right where you are?

Can I say that God meets you in your hurting and in your pain and in your difficulty and in your struggles and in your mental health challenges?

That God is a God that meets you right there?

And some of us think that, man, I have to clean myself up, I have to do better, I have to, and then God will hear me.

No, no, god hears you right now.

That's who our God is, that is.

And God meets people, not in the places where they want to be, not in the places where they think they should be, but in the places where they are.

And he meets all people there, all of them.

And the angels deliver this message to them, and not as soon as they deliver it, they go away.

It says in verse 15,.

It says the angels.

They left them.

They left them and they returned to heaven.

And the shepherds said to one another let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened.

Hey guys, if y'all just saw that you saw the angels.

You saw the one angel, then you saw a multitude of angels.

You would probably say the same thing let's go check this out, let's go straight to Bethlehem, let's see what's happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

And they hurried off.

What did they find?

Mary, the mother of Jesus, joseph, the earthly father of Jesus, and the baby who was lying in the manger.

And after seeing them, after seeing Mary and Joseph, they look what verse 17 says.

They.

What are those three words?

They reported the message.

They were told about this child and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherd said to them.

When you study off this text, what this means is they just went around telling all the people that were around them about what they had just heard.

They said, hey, they see somebody that's on the street.

They're like hey, I got to tell you the Messiah, jesus was born.

Hey, there's our friend over there.

We got to tell you, hey, the Messiah, he's born.

You got to know this, you got to know this message.

He was born.

They told everybody, they reported the message.

People were just amazed, probably because some shepherds were so excited, they were bold about it, they stepped into boldness and they told others.

And I think sometimes for us, at least for me it's hard to step into boldness and tell others, and I think part of the reason why it's hard to step into boldness is because sometimes, in the busyness of everything, we forget how great this message is.

In verse number 10, remember the angels, the first thing they told them after fear not.

They said for look, this means behold.

You know what behold means Jesus, the Messiah, is coming down to this earth.

Behold this message, and this is what down to this earth, he.

Behold this message, and this is what we have to do.

We're just three days away from Christmas which, by the way, guys.

You're just three days away from Christmas.

Can we just say thank you, jesus, for Amazon Prime?

Can somebody say amen?

You know what I'm saying?

Something y'all already got planned out this afternoon is Christmas shopping on, and we're three days away from Christmas.

This is what we have to do.

We have to behold and look at how beautiful this message is of the gospel.

We got to see it, and when we behold it, this is what's going to happen.

We're going to behold and see, number one, how incredible the gospel message is.

Here's the challenge.

If you've been in church for a while, if you've been following Jesus for a while, we can just get used to how beautiful the gospel message is and just kind of go on that Jesus came down to this earth and he died on the cross for us and through what he did for us.

We have salvation by putting our faith and trust in Christ, and not only do we have eternal life, but we have abundant life in the present.

And the gospel is good news because it gives us eternal life and it also gives us abundant life.

It gives us abundant life.

I was reminded of this the other day because I was watching a show.

I was watching a documentary.

How many of you guys like documentaries in the room?

Okay, how many of you don't like documentaries?

I'm going to pray for you.

Okay, I'm praying for Kyrie.

I was watching a documentary about a guy.

Let's test our football knowledge real quick.

I was watching a documentary about a guy.

Can we put his picture up on the screen?

Can somebody tell me that?

That's a Lanes guy right there?

Okay, and I left him in the Packers gear, just for you.

That's good old Aaron Rodgers.

Aaron Rodgers, I was watching a documentary, all about his life.

I'm a man of God and he talked about how he was raised in organized religion and how organized religion ultimately, in his own words, just didn't give him the big answers to the big questions in life, the things that he was searching for.

And he's so intellectual and so smart and I so respect him for that he talked about.

He said things like this he said after the Super Bowl, he said I didn't know who I was.

He said things like this.

He said after the Super Bowl, he said I didn't know who I was.

I struggle with perfectionism.

Which.

Is there anybody else in the room like me that sometimes struggle with perfectionism, like Aaron Rodgers?

Okay, I see.

Yeah, I struggle with perfectionism.

So I could never really be happy with my life because I could always be better.

He said I saw myself accurately and thought who could ever love me?

And all anybody really wants is love and care and to be seen.

He went on to say he said I could never express myself emotionally, talking about the environments, the organized religious environments that he was in and what I was really experiencing.

He said what I experienced growing up was guilt and shame.

And he talks about how he's gone on this because of this, he's gone on this journey of new age things and all these different spiritual things and medicines and like there's like witch doctors and things of that nature and you ever, you ever watched something on TV or you watched a movie and you started talking to the TV All the time, all the time.

It's like you're watching a scary movie and you're like, don't go in that room.

He's in that room, don't go in, right?

Or maybe you're watching Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy.

I know the answer, you can say the answer out.

Or if you're like me and you're a struggling 49ers fan or you're a football fan, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

I know it's hard, guys, I know it's hard.

You're watching the game and you're like yelling, why are you fumbling the ball?

Tackle him.

So I'm watching this Aaron Rodgers documentary and I'm talking to the TV.

I'm like Aaron, have you considered Jesus?

Have you ever thought about Jesus?

Then I catch myself what I'm doing?

I'm like Nate, you are talking to the TV, he needs to hear it.

Aaron, have you thought?

And I wonder, and I wonder, could it be in our search for all these things?

What if Jesus actually offers the things that we're longing for?

Some of us you might think, man, I want more stuff, or more money, or this relationship.

Most of us.

We aren't actually looking for those things.

We are longing for what we think those things will bring us, for meaning, for identity, for self-worth, for security, and Jesus offers abundant life for us today to experience those things in him.

There's narratives that we see all the time on our shows and our music and our movies that really ultimately goes to this and it goes into a lie that many of us are believing.

And here's what the lie is that true life is found outside of Jesus.

There's this cultural narrative that says true life is found by doing your own thing and going your own path and not letting anybody tell you otherwise.

That's where life is found.

But, friend, I'm saying Jesus is the answer because he meets the longings of your heart that nothing else can meet.

And you can spend your entire life winning Super Bowl and chasing championships and having what they call generational wealth, and that will not meet the deep needs of your heart.

That Jesus can meet, that he can meet.

And I was thinking about what Aaron was saying and I really appreciate that he's asking the questions about life that really matters, the questions that so many of you may wrestle with or you have wrestled with, and I was thinking about how the gospel answers the questions of what he's looking for.

You think about what he said here.

He said I didn't know who I was.

You know what this is.

This is identity.

The gospel's good news, guys, because it gives you a secure identity.

That's not based on what you do, what you look like or what other people think about you any people pleasers in the room, you're normal.

It's based can we go back?

It's based solely on who God says that you are.

You're looking for identity.

All of us are.

The gospel says when you come to Christ by faith, you have a secure identity.

He goes on next slide.

He says I struggle with perfectionism so I could never really be happy with my life, because I could always be better.

The gospel is good news to the perfectionist because it says you don't have to be perfect.

Jesus was perfect on your behalf and your self-worth isn't determined by your performance.

Guys, my value as a human being is not dependent on how bad of a message I teach on a Sunday morning or how good of a message I teach on a Sunday morning.

It's based on what Christ has done for me.

So I don't have to deliver the perfect message every Sunday and y'all are like good thing because you don't deliver the perfect message.

I don't have to do that because my self-worth is not determined by that.

And some of you, in your perfection, you're like if I could just do more.

Stop it, relax, jesus has already done it all.

Aaron Rodgers went on.

He said I struggle, I saw myself accurately and thought who could ever love me?

All anybody really wants is love and care and to be seen.

The gospel is good news because it shows you that God fully knows you and still fully loves you, that God knows everything about you, that God knows everything about you your past, your baggage, your secrets, your hurts, the things that nobody else may know.

And this is what he does.

He says I still love you.

Man's greatest fear is to be fully known and rejected.

God says I fully know you and I will not reject you.

Aaron said this.

He said I could never express myself emotionally what I was really experiencing.

The gospel is good news because it shows us that Jesus came down to this earth, experienced many of the same temptations, challenges and difficulties of a broken world Hebrews, chapter four and in his emotional pain he fully opened up to his heavenly father and was not rejected.

You guys remember the guard of Gethsemane?

The father's will was for him to die and this is what he did.

Jesus said God, the father, I don't want to do this.

This is how I'm feeling right now.

This is how I'm feeling right now.

And he fully opened himself up to exactly what he was going through, exactly how he was feeling.

He wanted to do something different than the father wanted him to do, and he was open and the father didn't reject him.

We can open ourselves up to God.

Last thing he said he said all I ever experienced growing up was guilt and shame.

This is what the gospel tells us that we are fully forgiven when we come to Christ by faith and we have no condemnation, no shame on us because we are in Christ.

Some of us spend our lives running from our shame, running from our past, trying to make up, trying to cover up.

Can I just say God says there is there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ.

Jesus.

You are free.

Who the Son sets free, they are free, indeed Forgiven.

You can stop trying to prove yourself.

You can stop trying out who cares.

God accepts you and friends.

What we have to do is we have to behold how beautiful this message is.

We cannot forget the gospel, we cannot forget the implications of this message, because it is powerful, it is life-changing, it is life-giving, it is the hope of the world.

It is what your family needs, what your neighbor needs, and it is what you need and what I need to remind myself.

Look at this gospel.

It's beautiful.

And here's what will happen when we behold this gospel, when we look at it, it's going to cause us to ask ourselves a question how can I make the message of Christmas, the message of this gospel, known to other people?

See, when we really behold this, when we really understand this, I'm not going to have to twist your arm and say, go tell your family members about Jesus.

If you are a good follower of Jesus, I don't have to do that.

I'm not about that guilt.

Beholding leads to telling.

Seeing leads to sharing.

Embracing who he is leads me to want to help others embrace who he is.

Here's what I want you to do.

I want you to think for a second as we kind of wrap this message up, we're going to baptize in a few minutes.

I want you to think for a second as we kind of wrap this message up, we're going to baptize in a few minutes.

I want you to think for a second about your spheres of influence, about the people that you come in contact with, and I want you to think about opportunities, maybe, for you to step into boldness and make Jesus known to them.

You think about your family.

You think about your friends.

You think about the people you work with, that you go to school with.

Think about your neighbors, think about social media.

You think about random interactions you have with people at coffee shops and at the grocery store, wherever you are.

You think about these.

How can God use you to step into boldness?

Somebody told me in the lobby the other day.

How can God use you to step into boldness?

Somebody told me in the lobby the other day.

They showed me one of these flyers and they said, hey, when we have special Sundays, this is their way to step into boldness.

What they do is they count out every flyer which, by the way, we got a bunch of flyers left every flyer for every person they have on their street.

They know exactly how many neighbors they have and they go around and personally invite every single neighbor on their street and they're like, hey, most haven't come, some have come, but I'm just gonna keep doing it and I'm gonna keep praying for them.

That's them stepping into boldness.

Maybe what stepping into boldness looks like for you is for you to grab a card like this and invite a friend or family member over the next couple days to Christmas Eve.

Maybe what stepping into boldness looks like is somebody at your work is going through a tough time or you have a friend and you say this can I pray for you?

Can I just pray for you?

You never know how God can use that.

You never know how God might use a single moment of boldness to change someone's life forever.

Here's how I know a single moment of boldness can change someone's life forever.

Because my life has changed forever because 53 years ago somebody had a moment of boldness.

Somebody had a moment of boldness.

My dad was not raised in a Christian home, like at all.

You say I was not raised in a Christian home.

Let me tell you my dad not raised in a Christian home and 53 years ago he had some neighbors that were having some special services at their church.

They were followers of Jesus and they said who can we invite?

Who can we help know Jesus?

And they prayed and they invited my dad and his brother and his sister and his mom and his dad and his mom and his dad and his brother and his sister and his mom and his dad and his mom and his dad and his brother and his sister said, nope, I'm good.

But my dad said, check it out.

So my dad went to a church service similar to how we had this morning, but they were dressed up a little bit more, didn't quite have a band, but they were preaching the gospel, just like we are the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now he brings hope.

And my dad heard this message multiple times before he really understood it.

And he heard this message time and time and time again.

And then one day it clicked on him I need Jesus.

My dad knew nothing about Jesus up until this point.

He knew nothing about church.

He was 14.

He didn't know.

He's like I need Jesus.

And just like we have people, the prayer, next steps banners, they have people that are at the front at that, at that church service.

And he came forward after one service.

He said, hey, I want to turn from my sin, I want to trust in Jesus, I want to follow Jesus, I want to give my life to him.

And 53 years ago he made the decision to do that and the trajectory of his life was changed forever.

Growing up as a teenager in a family where they didn't go to church, he said church would be a priority to me and he got a ride to church.

His neighbors took him whatever.

He went off to a Christian college.

He met my mom.

My mom got married.

They got married and had me and my sister.

And those neighbors 53 years ago.

The thing about those neighbors is I don't know who they are.

In fact, if their pictures were up on the screen, I wouldn't know them from Adam.

They wouldn't know me.

In fact, chances are probably the parents aren't around anymore.

But 53 years ago, a family said let's have a moment of boldness and let's invite them.

Mom said no, dad said no, brother said no, sister said no.

But the 14-year-old son, the oldest son, said yes and the trajectory of his life changed forever.

And now and get this and don't miss this.

Do not miss this, guys.

53 years later, I'm standing here teaching God's Word because somebody had a moment of boldness.

53 years later, 53 years later, my life has been radically transformed by the gospel by people, because people that I don't know, that don't know me, that I've never met, that I never will meet, had a moment of boldness and some of you, you're over here right now and God is leading you to take a step of boldness and who knows, in 10 years, 20 years or 53 years, how your moment of boldness today, tomorrow or the day after or next week, the impact of that.

So here's what I want us to do this morning I want us to take some time and I want us to pray for boldness, because it's hard to have.

I want us to take some time and pray for opportunities for us to share our faith with others and for us to say, lord, give me boldness and give me opportunities.

We're going to baptize.