The Tired & The Hurting // This Is Christmas

Welcome to the Movement Church podcast. We want you to know that God is

for you and so are we. You're about to hear a sermon from one

of our weekend services in Palmer Lake, Colorado. We pray that your faith

is provoked, your mind is renewed, and your heart is awakened as you

engage the Word of God. Stay tuned for the message for ways to get

connected with us. God bless you thanks for tuning in. When the hope

that ca rescue the last day is allowed for a moment to shine in the

dark, with the time in the herding now liting their heads to be mad

with the vacuum very heart. This is Christmas. Welcome to the Movement Church.

So pomp that you are here with us today. We have seven days,

well really eight days till Christmas. Who still has shopping to do?

Raise your hand if you still have shopping to do? Okay, you are

my people. You are my people. I still have lots of shopping left

to do. We are in this series called This is Christmas, and as

we introduced it last week, a few years ago, me and a buddy

named Travis Ryan, we wrote this song called this is Christmas. I was

sitting in a Starbucks in Fort Worth, Texas, and it was around early

December, and in this Starbucks there were all kinds of secular things happening.

You know, there were people in and they're doing their work, doing their

stuff, hanging out, and over the speakers in Starbucks they were playing Holy

Night and Silent Night and Oh Come, let Us Adore Him and all of

the Christmas songs that are all about Jesus in the middle of this secular environment.

And I started thinking about how unique it is that every December, at

this time of year, for whatever reason, everyone in America seems to be

totally fine with the idea that we are a Christian nation. For one month

a year, we go and we're totally fine with being a Christian nation.

We're totally fine with the idea of Christianity being who we are. This is

Christmas. And so I started thinking about, man, what is it about

this whole Christmas season that allows us to open our hearts to this idea?

And so I wrote this song. I actually wrote a poem and wrote it

word for word, and then I sent it to Travis, and Travis sent

me about three or four hours later a work tape of him and a guitar,

and he had sung the whole thing, and then we recorded it and

released it just a few weeks ago. It's called This is Christmas. And

so what we're doing this Christmas season for fun is we are interrogating the song

a little bit. And so last week we dealt with the idea that the

fear that divides is a quieted voice. That was last week. This week

we're going to talk about this verse that says, when the hope that can

rescue the lost and the dead is allowed for a moment, and that's the

key, allowed for a moment to shine in the dark, when the tired

and the herding are lifting their heads to be met with a love that can

heal every heart. This is Christmas. This is Christmas. So we're going

to interrogate that. But before we interrogate that, there's something else that we

need to interrogate this Christmas. I told you last week that I've been shopping.

I've been looking for a Nativity scene, a Nativity set. How many

of you have a Nativity set in your home? Anybody here have a Nativity

set in your home. We don't have one at the Fight House. And

so I went looking for one all over town and I couldn't find one anywhere.

I went to hobby Lobby, I went to Walmart, Target. If

any of you know of a good place to go to find a good Nativity

set, let me know I went looking. Would you say, well,

I know, I looked at Amazon, but I'm looking for a certain there's

like this certain this is kind of what I'm looking for, Like the ceramic,

beautiful kind of set, like with a barn in it, with backlit

like I don't know that this even exists, but this is kind of what

I'm looking for. But here's the thing that's interesting about the Nativity scene that

we celebrate every year. And maybe you know this, and maybe you don't.

I may just be about to kind of wreck your theology here for a

moment, and I want to apolo just to you. But this scene that

we celebrate with our Nativity sets every year is not in your Bible. Did

you know that this Nativity scene is not in your Bible? Where all of

the wise men and the shepherds and the donkey and the cattle, and you

know, the Angel and Mary and Joseph and the sweet little baby Jesus.

This scene is not in your Bible, and so it made me wonder,

how did we get here? How did we get from what is in the

pages of your Bible to this sort of very celebrated, very known. Many

of you raised your hands and admitted that you're celebrating a lie in your homes

already. Many of you raise your hands about this, and you're unashamed about

this. How did we get here? You may be surprised to find out

that this year marks the eight hundredth anniversary of the onset of this lie,

this Nativity scene. It's not really a lie. It's kind of a creative

fiction, and it happened in twelve twenty three with Saint Francis of Assisi.

I'm going to read this to you. We can blame Saint Francis of Assisi,

who is credited with staging the first Nativity scene in twelve twenty three.

The only historical account we have of Francis Nativity scene comes from the life of

Saint Francis of Assisi by Saint Bonaventure, a Franciscan monk who was born five

years before francis death. According to Bonaventure's biography, Saint Francis got permission from

Pope Honorius the third to set up a manger with hay and two live animals,

an ox and a donkey in a cave in the Italian village of Grecio.

Is that the right way to say it, That's the way I think

it's supposed to be said. He then invited the villagers to come gaze upon

the scene. While here the Babe of Bethlehem, Francis, was supposedly so

overcome by emotion that he couldn't say the name Jesus. Bonaventure also claims this

is hilarious. He also claims that the hay used by Francis miraculously acquired the

power to cure local cattle diseases and pestilences. This was the cure for mad

cow right here this Nativity scene. Nativity buffs will know, however, that

the familiar cast of characters relied upon today, the three wise Men and the

shepherds, is not biblically accurate. Of the New Testament's four Gospels, only

Matthew and Luke describe Jesus birth. Matthew mentions wise men, while Luke comments

on the shepherds, But nowhere in the Bible do shepherds and wise men appear

together. What's worse, No one mentions donkeys, oxen, cattle, or

other farmyard friends in conjunction with Jesus's birth. Okay, but what would a

Nativity scene be without those staples. Luckily, for all the kids cast as

King number two or random shepherd, some artistic interpretation is permitted. This is

from Christianity today. And so this little ceramic scene, this moment, what

it does for us is it captures the wonder of a moment that changed everything.

Jesus Christ literally changed the timeline of human history. His birth changed everything,

and this moment is worthy of interrogation, and that's why we talk about

it every year. It's literally the beginning of the Christian calendar. We begin

our Christian calendar at Advent. Every year. We start thinking about, oh,

remember when we were waiting for Jesus. Remember when we were waiting for

Jesus to come. That's Advent, and then we get into Christmas. He's

here, and then we spend time thinking about the life of Jesus, and

then we remember what he did on the cross, and then we remember what

he told us to do until he came back again, and then we get

right back to waiting. That's the cyclical rhythm of a Christian's faith. That's

what it's about. So every year we come back to this point and we

remember this scene and it's worthy of interrogation. But today we're not going to

talk about the wise men. We will talk about them, but not today.

We're not going to talk about the gifts, the gold, the frankincense,

or the murrhr. Although you all do need to finish shopping for your

gifts, and the gold and the frankinsense and the murr are the reason why

we give gifts at Christmas. We're not going to talk about that. We're

not going to talk about the animals, but we are going to talk about

the tired and the herting who are lifting their heads. And those guys are

the shepherds. Those guys are the shepherds keeping watch of their flock by night.

If they had a whoul, it would be called Night Shepherds. That

would be the name of the series, right, Night Shepherds only on Hulu.

Right, And so what do we know about these night shepherds? What

do we know about these guys? Here's what we know. Shepherding was not

an enviable vocation It was not something that people aspired to become. Nobody grew

up in Jerusalem, Nobody grew up in Bethlehem, going, you know what,

I hope I get to be one day. I'm really hoping one day

I'll become a shepherd. Nobody was aspiring to this vocation. It was not

enviable. It was a very menial, very dutiful, very lowly position to

hold. In fact, it's why when the Angel comes to these guys,

he says, and lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them and

low because it was a lowly position. That's a pun, and nobody laughed

at it. That's okay, I'm all right. In fact, I went

looking for a picture of a regal shepherd. In fact, I googled regal

shepherd and this is the only picture I could find. And so, you

know, I guess there's no such thing as a regal shepherd. The it's

a lowly position, right, It's a very menium, very menial, very

dutiful, very lowly position to hold. And so when we get to the

story of these night shepherds, when we get to this story, that's who

we're talking about, these people who are working a night job at a very

menial, very dutiful job, and they have an opportunity to experience something magnificent.

So we're going to look at this in Luke chapter two. If you

have a Bible, open it up. If you have a device fired up,

if you have eyeballs, just look up on the screen. We'll be

in Luke chapter two. In the e SV check this out. It says

in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should

be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria,

and all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph

also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth. That's why we say

Jesus of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David, which is called

Bethlehem, or as the kids say, Bethlehem, right, because he was

of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed,

who was with child verse six. And while they were there, the

time came for her to give birth. What's important here is this was not

their birth plan. Okay, this is not what they were dreaming of.

They did not intend to give birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. This was not

the plan. But while they were there, the time came for her to

give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, wrapped him in

swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them

in the end. And in the same region, there were shepherds out in

the field keeping watch over their flock by night, so these guys had the

night shift. I don't know if you guys have ever worked a night job.

Anybody here ever worked a graveyard shift at a job before I have.

I worked at Albertson's grocery store one time as a stocker, so with these

big palettes of groceries, and we would take them off the pallettes and put

them on the shelves, and you had to turn the Campbell's soup cans just

so they had to be perfect so that people could come wreck them all day

long, you know, throughout the day, and then you had to fix

them the next day. That was my job, and we worked from ten

pm to five am, and it was a terrible job and I hated it,

and it was like you were like living It was like zombie life.

That's what the night shift was like. And these are the guys. These

shepherds are common folk doing a job most people don't envy. At a time

of night, most people are tucked safely into their beds and out of nowhere.

When they weren't expecting it at all, God chooses them to be the

first people. I love this, to be the first people to ever set

their eyes upon the greatest kept promise in the history of mankind. These guys,

these night shift guys, are the first people that are ever going to

lay their eyes upon the Messiah, These guys who grew up hearing about Messiah.

This gives us such a beautiful insight into how God was setting up his

kingdom from the moment that Jesus arrived on the scene, from the very moment

that Jesus came to the earth, everything was going to be totally different.

It wasn't going to be the way that we thought it was going to be.

These guys grew up in Bethlehem, they grew up going to Temple.

They grew up hearing from the Pentateuch. They grew up hearing about the promise

of Messiah. They grew up hearing that there was coming a day when a

messiah was going to come and change everything, that he was going to be

great, the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace, the everlasting Father,

that the government would rest upon his shoulders, that his kingdom would have

no end. They grew up hearing about this, knowing about this, And

wouldn't it make all the sense in the world that this great king's arrival would

be met with all the culture's greatest dignitaries and leaders in our culture. If

we knew that there was going to be this great arrival of this great king,

what would we do. Wouldn't we make a big deal about it.

Wouldn't we absolutely pour out the red carpet and make a huge deal about this

great king's arrival. That's not the way our God works. It's amazing.

Wouldn't you expect a veritable who's who lining up for miles and miles to catch

a glimpse of this majestic baby. Instead, the first people to lay eyes

upon the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords are Hulu's night shepherds.

That's who gets to see the King of Kings. It's incredible to see this.

I heard this quote this week. I love this quote it said this.

In human history, it's quite common for a baby to become a king.

We've seen this all throughout history. A child will be an heir to

a throne. But the story of Christmas is that the King became a baby.

That the King of kings came to earth and became a baby. And

that is what's so majestic. And he didn't come for the strong and the

powerful. He didn't come and make sure that all of the dignitaries of the

world would know about it. He didn't come and make sure that there would

be pomp and circumstance. He came for the tired and for the herding.

He came for the night shepherds. He came for the week. He came

for the lowly. Our God is much more interested in the tired and the

herding than in the strong and the powerful. It's upside down the way God

works. It's beautiful. What happened with these night shepherds happened over and over

again in the life of Jesus, and it's still happening now. He's still

pursuing people that none of us would. He's still redeeming people that all of

us would totally give up on. He's still saying I can work with that,

with people that we would give up on. That's still who our God

is. It's incredible. And so all of that to say, the question

that I want to ask today as we interrogate this lyric is this question,

what happens when the tired and the hurting lift their heads? What happens when

the tired and the hurting lift their heads. Well, let's see what happens.

Look at this in verse eight, It's said in the same region,

there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night.

They're just doing their job, and an angel of the Lord appeared to them.

First of all, that's incredible. An angel of the Lord appeared to

them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were

filled with great excitement. They were filled with great joy, great encouragement.

They were filled with great you know, jubilation. No, they were filled

with great fear. Have you ever noticed that every time an angel of the

Lord appears before a human being, that the first thing that a human being

feels is what fear. Now, I've always wondered about this. I've always

been curious about why this is I think that that we have it twisted in

our heads. You know, every February we start getting bombarded with images of

little naked baby angels, you know, with with you know, bows and

arrows, and their pointing them at people. And we're like, oh,

look at the sweet little naked baby angels. Oh they're so sweet. I

love the sweet little naked baby angels. Right, this is another example of

something that's not in your Bible. There are no naked baby angels in your

Bible. They're not in your Bible. They're not there. So I wonder

where do we get this from? And so I did a little digging.

Where did we come up with these naked baby angels? It all started here

with this famous image. You know this image. Maybe you don't know where

this is from, but you know this image, right, you've seen this

image. This is from a larger painting called the Cistine Madonna. Now we

are in the Triliks Center for the Arts. There is art all around us.

In fact, I think the Madoxes have put up new art here that

we can look at that all of the art on the walls are now new.

They've changed it out. But this is the Cistine Madonna, and this

is painted during the Renaissance. I'm going to tell you a little bit about

it. The pain takes its name from the church of San Sisto in Pa

Sensa, and Raphael painted it as the altarpiece for that church in fifteen thirteen

fifteen fourteen. The two saints, these two guys on either side, the

two saints that feature in the painting, Saint Sixus and Saint Barbara, are

the patron saints of the Benedictine San Sisto Church, hence their inclusion in Raphael's

magnificent masterpiece. This is interesting. Look here at Mary and Jesus's face.

Look closely at their face. There has been great speculation about the sadness or

even petrified expressions on the face of the Virgin and the infant Jesus. Why

are they so mournful and terrified? The answer becomes clear when we consider the

originally intended location of the work, placed behind a choir screen that no longer

survives. The Sistine Madonna would have faced a crucifix attached to the screen,

So this painting was facing a crucifix. So the mystery is solved. The

Virgin and Infant Jesus gaze out on the crucifix. The frightened expressions are understandable.

Jesus sees his own death and his mother is witness to the torture and

death of her child. This painting all along was designed to show a mother

and a son who were seeing the future. It's kind of amazing. As

for the Cherubim, the children, this is true. The children of the

model. Raphael used to portray the mother. Mary would often accompany her,

and Raphael was taken by their posture, so he added them into his work.

So these two kids, the kids of the model, would come along

whenever she would pose for the painting, and often they would be bored,

and this is what they would look like. And so he painted them as

little bored naked baby angels. And this is where we got this idea of

naked baby angels from now. When I was in high school, my mom

and dad were both teachers, and my mom was a tutor for the LSU

basketball team. She tutored Shaquille O'Neil. This guy okay in the Bible.

In the Bible, very often when angels are portrayed, the way they are

portrayed is seven to ten feet tall, okay, large huge creatures, sometimes

with six wings. In fact, in the Book of Isaiah, it says

that there are two angels on either side of the throne room, and they

have six wings, and two of them they cover their face, two of

them that cover their feet, and the other two they fly with. I

don't know, it's creepy to think about. And they're speaking back and forth

to one another. And here's what they're saying, Holy, Holy, Holy

is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is filled with his glory.

And the other angel says, I hear you. I want to say something

back to you, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty.

The whole earth is filled with his glory. And the other angel says,

I hear you. I'd like to repeat, Holy, Holy. And this

goes on and on and on for eternity. And Isaiah sees this, and

his first words when he experiences this moment is whoe unto me. I am

a man of unclean lips, and I live in a land of unclean lips.

So when he experiences holiness, he is immediately aware of his humanity and

he says, I I don't belong here. This is other Okay. Now

I'm fifteen years old, and my mom says, come with me to the

LSU dorms. I'm gonna go Tudor Shack. I want you to meet him.

I'm outside of myself. I'm so excited. I go to meet Shaquille

O'Neil. I shake his hand, his hand, his fingers go up to

my elbow, and he says to me, he says, how you doing,

young villa. And I was like, I just kept looking up,

and I just kept looking up. I could never get to the top of

him. And I was filled with great fear. Okay, And he was

like, how you doing. Stay in school, keep doing your job.

I mean everything he said to me, I was just like it echoed inside

of the cackles of my soul. You know everything he said. So can

you imagine these night shepherds. It's midnight, in the middle of the night,

the angels, you know, the heavens, open up, and all

of a sudden they see this, and he says, don't be afraid,

it's just me. I come to bring your great tuttings of great joy,

you know. And then Charles is like, hey, you're scaring everybody,

ma'am. Come on, shaq, Come on, you're scaring all the people.

Man, Come on there, just night shepherds. Ma'am right, I

mean, this is the scene that we're having. This is the experience,

right. An angel love the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of

the Lord showing around them. And they were filled with great fear because the

whole time the angels said to them, fear not, for behold, I

bring you good news, all the people, for unto you is born this

day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord.

Praise God, and this will be a sign for you. You will find

a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger in seam full of

shacks, a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying glory to

God in the highest and on earth, peace among those with whom He is

pleased. So what happens when the tired and the hurting lift their heads.

Fear is confronted. Fear is confronted. Here's what's so awesome about this story.

These guys weren't looking for God. These guys weren't sitting there in that

field that night, going is tonight the night that we get to experience the

arrival of Messiah. That's not what they were thinking about. These guys weren't

thinking about Jesus. They weren't thinking about God. They weren't thinking about Heaven.

They weren't thinking about you know, the angel shack. They weren't thinking

about any of that. But God was thinking about them, and God showed

up in their lives. And very often when God shows up in our lives,

our first emotion is fear. Our first emotion is fear. Very often,

when you talk about God with the people in your lives, their first

emotion is fear. Why maybe they feel like, look, I hear you

talking about Jesus and everything, but you don't know all the things that I've

done in my life. God can't redeem the things that I've done. You

don't know all the things that I have done wrong. God can't help me.

I've tried it. I've tried God before. He can't help me.

Fear, fear, fear. But in this moment, when the tired and

the hurting lift their heads, fear is confronted. So be encouraged by this

incursion, Be enthused by this intrusion. Be excited. You're invited. That's

this moment. These guys are being invited into something that they weren't even looking

for. Can you imagine what that choir sounded like. I mean, you

know, Shaq was thing and base, but what you know, can you

imagine the sound of this choir, this heavenly choir. Can you imagine what

kind of impact it had on these guys' lives. Do you remember the first

time that you encountered the living God for yourself. We can become so numb

to it, can't we. I mean, we can just we can just

sort of experience God that one time. Oh man, yes, I say

yes to Jesus. Yes, I'm gonna give my life to Jesus. And

then it's just kind of domesticated. After that, we just sort of make

it normal. But man, this moment, this moment where these angels are

shining upon them, this isn't normal. This is supernatural, and they're never

gonna forget it. Do you remember that moment in your life? Have you

forgotten how special it was, how important it was? Do you remember the

stark contrast between death and life, between dark and light, between hopelessness and

purpose, between meaninglessness and mission. Man, what happens when people lift their

heads. When they lift their heads, fear is confronted. Let's keep reading

verse fifteen. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherd

said to one another, I love this. Let us go over to Bethlehem

and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to

us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby

lying in a manger. Let me give you the point and we'll talk about

it. What happens when the tired and the hurting lift their heads. Faith

is awakened. First, fear is confronted. Second, faith is awakened.

It is absolutely imperative to connect our internal convictions to our external actions. So

that's a very wordy sat way to say what James said when he said this.

So also, faith by itself, if it does not have works,

is dead. We live in this interesting contradiction as Christians because there's not a

single one of us in this room that's going to get to heaven and say,

hey, the reason I get to get in there is because of all

the good things I did on earth. You understand that, right, not

a single one of you it's going to get to heaven and say, the

reason I get to spend eternity with Jesus is because of all the good works

I did on earth. That's not it. We are saved by grace through

faith in Jesus. There was a chasm between you and God and Jesus because

of the work He did in giving his life for you made it so that

you could experience grace. And now you get to heaven not because of anything

you did, but because of what He did. And you ought to say,

amen, right, okay, good news. Great. So all of

us are going to get to heaven because of faith in Gesa Jesus. But

how do I know you have faith in Jesus? How do I know that

you have faith in Jesus? Because at some point you got to do something

with your faith. These guys what if? They said, Man, that

was an incredible moment. We just experienced an amazing moment. Shaq came down,

he'd shown the light of heaven. That was wild. Our faith was

confronted. Cool. So, hey, what are you guys going to do

tomorrow? What's going on with you guys? You guys going to watch the

ball game? Uh? You know you? What are you doing next week.

What if they just went about their business. No, let us go

over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened. They believe it right

away. They put their faith immediately into action because their fear had been confronted

and their faith had been awakened. So this is incredible, and I love

this. And they went say this with me with haste. They got up,

ride off their butts, ride away, and they did something about it.

Faith without works is dead, and they proved it right here. It's

amazing. So what happens when the tired and the herring lift their heads.

Faith is awakened. And you can see it by the way they live their

lives. Now. They didn't know it yet, but they were about to

change their professions. They were about to go from being the night Shepherds on

Hulu to being something a little different. Look at this in verse seventeen.

And when they saw it, they come up to the Nativity scene. When

they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning

this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them,

These shepherds, these lowly shepherds, these guys who hold no honor in

our culture. How do they know this incredible thing? They wondered at this

moment. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart,

and the shepherd's return, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard

and seen as it had been told them. So what happens when the tired

in the herting lift their heads? First, first their fears confronted, Second,

their faith is awakened, and third, fervor is contagious. Fervor is

contagious. You know, when we have baptism services, and we're gonna have

lots of baptism services next year. When it gets a little warmer, Praise

God. Come on, when that lake falls out a little bit, we're

gonna put some people in it. Okay, praise God. But what I

love about baptism services is that when you hear somebody's testimony about what Jesus did

in their lives, it's so much more powerful than anything I could say up

here during a sermon. Just to hear someone who's just a normal person say,

guys, for real, i was lost and I'm found. I was

blind and now I see. For someone to just tell their testimony is so

powerful. That fervor is contagious. I will never forget hearing Miss Lynn's testimony

when we baptized her. Was that last year or the year before. I

will never forget hearing that testimony. When Ellen Hafei last year got baptized and

she shared her testimony. I will never forget that powerful moment. There is

nothing more contagious than your testimony. When the tired and weary lift their head,

they've got something to say. And so what happened is our guys changed

their profession. They became the first ever evangelist. These guys became the first

ever evangelist of Jesus Christ. First they evangelized to Mary and Joseph. They

came to Marry and Joseph, and they made known the sayings that had been

told of them. And then second they told whoever would listen, that whoever

is here that will listen, they told him, it says, all who

heard it wondered at what the shepherd's told them. And by the way,

this verse right here is the verse that apologists of Nativity scenes use to argue

the idea that maybe, just maybe the wise men were at the scene,

because who are these all who heard it. I thought that the only people

that were there were Mary and Joseph and a donkey. Who are these all

who heard it? Maybe, just maybe it was the wise man. I'm

not saying one way or the other. I'm just telling you the arguments.

You can decide for yourself, okay, but this is interesting. All who

heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them, and then look at how

their faith affected Mary. We talked last week about Mary. God had told

Mary who Jesus was going to become. God had told Mary about Elizabeth,

her friend, who was going to be pregnant, who was old and barren

and wasn't supposed to be pregnant. God never told Mary about these shepherds.

No angel ever told Mary that there was going to be some shepherds showing up

at midnight to tell them about Jesus. I love this. Mary treasured up

all these things, pondering them in her heart. Have you ever, moms,

have you ever had someone come and visit you in the hospital to see

your baby? And have you ever had someone come and pray over your child?

Have you ever had someone come and see you and to see your child?

And have you treasured that moment. That's what's happening here for Mary,

these lowly shepherds, the tired and the hurting, have become ministers just because

they've been affected by this moment. At Christmas. It's powerful, it's powerful.

Fervor is contagious. So when the tired and the hurting are lifting their

heads, this is Christmas. This is Christmas. So here's the direct application.

Are you ready, here's the direct application for every single person in the

room. The tired and the hurting are all around you. If you got

my text yesterday, the point I was trying to make is that at Christmas,

of course we're gonna lean into family. Of course, we're gonna look

into the eyes, into the hearts of the people that matter the most to

us. We're gonna give gifts, we're gonna write letters, we're gonna make

sure that the people that matter the most to us know it. Of course

we're going to do that. But I promise you that there are people floating

around the fringes of your life right now that are in this category, the

tired and the hurting. There are people that are longing for something real,

that they want the real thing, and if God is real, they want

to know about it. They just haven't tasted it yet. They haven't seen

it yet. And maybe it's because you haven't told them about him yet.

The tired and the hurting are all you. So don't miss the people for

the pageantry. I know you got office Christmas parties. I know you got

family Christmas parties. We had a party last night. We've got a party

tonight. Don't miss the people that are surrounding your life for all of the

pageantry that comes with Christmas. Be missional this Christmas. Look around, ask

yourself, lift your head to see who the tired and the hurting are.

Could their fears be confronted? Could you help them to do that? Could

their faith be awakened? Could you help them to do that? And could

their fervor be contagious? Could you help them to become evangelist and ministers?

In twenty twenty four, what if in the next seven days you took a

risk to talk to just two or three people and say, Hey, would

you come with me to Christmas Eve service next week? I would love it

if you came to church with me. Do you have anywhere to be for

Christmas Eve? Would you come with me and my family to church. Next

week we're gonna We're gonna hit Basically, I'm going to preach the gospel.

Next week, I'm gonna talk about Jesus and why Christmas is so important.

And here's where it is. It's Matthew eleven. Jesus says, come to

me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you

rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am

gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,

for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Next week we're gonna

interrogate this scripture or this line from the song when the light of the world

came to breathe his first breath. This is Christmas. And I hope that

you have somebody who fits in the category of the tired and the hurting tagging

along with you to hear about Jesus the Christ. This is Christmas. Amen,

Amen, let me pray for us. Jesus, Thank you for these

night shepherds and their story. Thank you for how they inspire us. Thank

you for how they remind us that each of us have a part to play

in the story of so many others. Lives. I pray God that even

today you would remind us of one purpose, bring to mind one person in

our lives who might fit the category of the tired and the hurting, who

we could invite. Maybe it's not to the Christmas Eve service here at the

Movement Church. Maybe it's that we would invite them for dinner, we would

invite them to our homes, we would invite them to lunch, whatever it

is, But that we would invite them into our faith in You, that

we would take a risk to help them to see the real Jesus for who

you are. I pray Lord that this Christmas we would not miss the people

for the pageantry, but that we would experience and that we would be a

part of the ministry that is available to each of us that have come to

know You. God, that we would be your hands and your feet this

Christmas. We love you, Lord, We praise you in Jesus' name.

Emmen. So what's God leading you to do next? And how can we

help? Would you send us an email to info at Movementchurch dot co and

tell us how we can pray for you and help you take the next step

in your spiritual journey. If you'd like to contribute financially to our ministry,

text the amount you like to give to the number eight four three two one,

or look us up online at Movementchurch dot c. You can find the

Movement Church on all social media platforms, and we hope that you'll give us

a follow God bless you, and remember God is for you, and so are we