Advent: Promise Keeper (Malachi 4:2-4)

It is so good to see you today.

And we're going to jump right into God's word.

And so if you have your Bibles, want to open up with me to Malachi chapter three.

We are going to be talking about Advent today, but I just want to say welcome.

If this is your first time joining us, or if you have only been with us for the past three weeks, we do this too.

Okay.

We don't just do movies.

I know we we love doing those, but we actually do this as well.

And it is so good to see you.

And if you uh are a first-time guest, we'd love for you to take just a moment before the end of the service to fill out your Connect card and you can turn it in at the Welcome Center.

We have a free gift for you today just to say thank you for joining us.

And we want to invite you to the biggest party you're ever going to see called RLC Connect.

We've got another one of those.

Woo-woo.

That was a good one.

Woo-woo.

All right, yeah.

Um, we got another one coming up uh in January.

Want to make sure you take part in that.

And so we are so excited to do that together today.

Also, if you did not already know, at the end of our service today, we have got our wonderful kids' life, are gonna sing a couple of songs uh for us today, and it is the highlight of a lot of us because you never know what's gonna happen.

There's always gonna be at least one kid who don't want to be there.

There, there's one who is excited for everybody, and then there's like everything in between, and so it's always fun.

So we're gonna uh enjoy that in just a moment.

But uh we we have been watching movies for three weeks.

You have been quiet for three weeks.

Look at your neighbor and say, You better watch out.

Because I got a lot to say to you today.

Tell them that too, yeah.

And some of y'all going, oh no.

At the movies is an introvert's best friend.

All right, but we're over with that, right?

And it's we're gonna have a good time.

And to get us started with, I love this time of the year, but I would love to know, just kind of think about for a moment, what is your favorite thing about Christmas?

Like, like, think for a moment.

If I've been asking a lot of Christmas questions the past couple of weeks, I'm genuinely curious about this.

Uh, what is your favorite thing about Christmas?

And it could be so very subjective, right?

Like, for instance, I will tell you, you know, uh a few of my favorite things.

Um, one of my favorite things is I just love Christmas music, right?

How many of you love Christmas music?

You love it?

How many of you love it after Thanksgiving only?

Yeah, I see a bunch of those, right?

When I count to three, I want to hear your favorite Christmas song.

One, two, three.

Mine too, absolutely, yeah.

Because I love all of them, but I think my favorite is actually Carol the Bells and Ocome Emmanuel.

Can't decide which one.

I love, love Christmas music.

Here's here's another one.

I absolutely love Christmas lights.

Yay! All right, I especially love them on your house, okay?

Not mine, because I don't have to take them down when the holidays are over.

And we have so many folks here who have great uh creativity, but I'm gonna tell you if you want a special blessing in your life, you've got to go by the gross family because they have got the greatest minions you're ever gonna see.

If if you want to get in the Christmas mood, you see a minion with a Santa Claus hat, it just helps you, okay?

It is awesome.

I'll tell you another one I love is I love uh Christmas treats, okay?

Because the the rumor is that when it's for Christmas, it's calorie-free, carb-free, and high in protein.

All right.

So just to make us feel better about our comfort foods, right?

Absolutely.

And then I love sweaters.

I love Christmas sweaters.

And so, as a matter of fact, some of you are super creative with yours.

Uh, we've we've really got some some good Christmas game going on around here.

I would love for you, just as a favor to me, I would love next week for everybody to wear your favorite Christmas sweater.

I want to see it, all right?

I want to see your favorite Christmas sweater.

No one's gonna beat Mr.

Jeff Simmons from last week, but whoever could come in second place, you let us know, okay?

I would love to see that.

But here's the thing: no matter what your favorite Christmas thing is, one of the things that before I was a Christ follower, I didn't really appreciate about Christmas.

But once I became a Christ follower and I really started to understand what it meant to follow Jesus, I started to fall in love with the Advent season because Advent means arrival, celebrating the arrival of Jesus.

And here's kind of the idea.

My absolute favorite thing is to celebrate the fact that Advent reminds us that God keeps his promises.

What I absolutely love about this season is that Jesus came.

And because the king stepped out of eternity and stepped into time and fulfilled over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament over the course of his life, I think he's good for the rest of them.

Like, how many prophecies does he have to fulfill before you go?

I think he means it.

So 300's good enough for me.

And say that over his life he fulfilled those.

And if he came and fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament, God is a promise keeper.

And there's so many amazing prophecies in the Old Testament that when Jesus arrived, that he fulfilled.

But maybe some of my favorite are in the last book of the Old Testament called the Book of Malachi, or as some would say the Italian book, Malachi, but it's the book of Malachi.

That was a joke, okay?

That wasn't serious.

But in the book of Malachi, it was in a dark time in the nation of Israel's history.

They were they were being oppressed by these different people groups.

There was a lot of things going on.

They weren't worshiping God the way that they were supposed to.

And so the Holy Spirit inspired a guy named Malachi to come along and say, hey, listen, we got to get our worship right.

We got to come back to God because God has made us a promise that one day in the future he will come.

And so we got to get ready now for that one day to arrive.

And in the first three chapters, Malachi talks about just getting everything in order, getting everything back into place.

And then I love what he said that the people of God did.

The Bible says this.

It says, Those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said.

In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.

And then he said this God said, They will be my people, says the Lord of heaven's armies, on the day when I act in judgment, on the day when I come, they will be my own special treasure.

And so what he's saying is, is that when the people got together and they said, We are gonna remember these promises that God has given us.

We're gonna remember that when he comes, he's gonna be a promise keeper.

He said, When I do, I am going to show myself faithful to all those people.

And then he says, Here are some of the promises that I'm gonna fulfill when I come.

And he says this in the next chapter.

He said, For you who fear my name, the son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings, and you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.

On the day when I act, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet, says the Lord of heaven's armies.

So remember to obey the law of Moses, my servant, all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all of Israel.

And so he says, I'm coming, I'm going to make an arrival, I'm going to make everything I've said come to pass.

And when I do, I'm going to do amazing things in your life.

And the amazing thing is, he did.

And so what we celebrate at Christmas time is the arrival and the fulfillment of all the prophecies.

And so honestly, I want to ruin how you say Merry Christmas from now on.

Okay.

So here's the thing is because when we say Merry Christmas, I don't know what we used to mean, but really what we're saying is, may you be merry because Christ has come to us.

And so really what you're saying to people is, is you're saying Merry Christmas, you're saying may the fulfilled promises of God fill you with joy this holiday season.

And if you just don't want to say it like that, you just say Merry Christmas, right?

One of my favorite things is when someone I know who is an atheist and I'm talking to them and they say Merry Christmas, I'm just like, yeah, me too.

Yeah, you have no idea what you just said to me, all right?

Because it's amazing.

Because when we celebrate Christmas, when we say Merry Christmas, we're saying, may the fact that Jesus kept his promise remind you of the joy we have in him this holiday season.

So look at your neighbor and try to say, Merry Christmas.

Look back at him and say, But Merry Christmas.

So what you're saying is, and if you want to change it, that's fine with me.

As a matter of fact, it would make my day if somebody came up to me in Kroger.

And instead of saying, Merry Christmas, they say, May the fulfilled promises of the Lord Jesus Christ fill you with hope this holiday season.

I just might get Pentecostal and just dance in the Kroger at that moment because it's awesome.

But I'm not probably gonna do that.

You're not gonna do that.

So we just say Merry Christmas.

And the reality of it is, is there's so many things that want to steal our joy this holiday season.

Not the least of which is Scospel Road.

There's so many different things that want to make us feel busy, make us feel rushed, and all these different things, but we have to try so very hard to remember that among all the other things, among the Christmas sweaters and the Christmas songs and the and the wonderful treats and the lights and all this kind of stuff, to never forget that we have a reason to celebrate more than anything else in this the fact that Jesus kept his promise.

And when we see the little baby in the manger in front of somebody's house, we remember God kept his promise.

And if God kept his promise then, fulfilling 300 prophecies in the Old Testament, I think he's good for everything he's promised us in our life.

And so instead of 300, we're gonna focus on three and we're gonna answer the question what promises did the birth of Jesus or Advent fulfill that we can still celebrate today?

And this is my hope for you is that no matter what happens this holiday season, no matter what difficulties may come your way, no matter what struggles you may have, every time somebody says Merry Christmas to you, you're gonna remember, you know, that reminds me that my God is a promise keeper.

So look at somebody and say, Merry Christmas.

May the fulfilled promises of God fill you with joy this holiday season.

Here's three things he said that he was going to fulfill, and he did.

And the first one is he promised that when he came, he would bring light, the light of healing to all.

That he would bring the light of healing to everyone that would fear him, that would follow him.

He said it like this He said, For you who fear my name, the Son of righteousness will rise with healing in his wings, and you will go free, leaping with joy like calves let out to pasture.

Now I've never seen a calf let out to pasture, but if you want an example, Google it.

I don't know.

I don't I'm not gonna I'm not gonna show you what it means today, but the idea here is he is saying, for those who fear my name, one day when I come.

And he he used this metaphor to help us get our minds around this idea that it would be like sunrise after a long evening.

And the healing in his wings was to symbolize the different light rays that were going out all over the place.

And he was saying, just like it's dark, but then the sun comes up, and slowly nothing is left untouched by the sun until all shadows are gone, everything is out of the way, and a new day has come.

That's what it's gonna be like when the Son of Man arrives, when the Son of righteousness comes.

And I love how for years and years they would say, I know it's dark, I know it's discouraging, but one day the Son of Righteousness will come with healing in his wings, and he will set us free, and we are gonna get the zoomies like a calf, okay?

We're gonna have a whole lot of fun.

I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I can tell you from like experience when we come home Sunday, uh, on Sundays after church, we have a family dog who has been missing her family all day long.

And as soon as we come home, she just starts turning in circles over and over again.

She gets the zoomies because her family has arrived.

And God said, You're gonna be so free that you're just gonna be happy that the king has arrived.

And he said, No matter what else happens, you get to experience the light of the Son of Righteousness.

And then we see it happen in the New Testament.

There's this amazing moment where we get to see a lady who is saved by the Son of Righteousness.

We talked about this story so much that in John chapter 8, the Bible said they've been waiting for the Messiah to come, been waiting for the Messiah to come, and until he came, they were doing what they had been told to do in the Old Testament.

John 8 · chapter mention

And one day they found a lady who had been caught in the act of adultery.

And they, according to their law, had the ability to stone her to death.

And so they were on their way to stone her to death, but they decided to bring her to Jesus first, not because they cared about the lady, not because they were looking for the son of righteousness.

They wanted to try to destroy Jesus.

And the Bible said they brought her to Jesus and they said, It says in our law that we can kill her, but what do you say?

And the Bible said that he didn't even really pay attention to him.

He got down and he started, you know, writing something down in the dust, and we don't know what he what he said.

But then they asked him again.

And the Bible said he looked at them and he said, He who is without sin cast the first stone.

Which means the only person in that room or that that place that could have thrown us thrown a stone was Jesus.

But he wasn't gonna do that.

And so as soon as they said that, they were like, Well, that's not me.

And so slowly but surely they all left until finally it was just Jesus and the lady there.

And look what the Bible says.

It says, Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, Where are your accusers?

Didn't even one of them condemn you?

No, Lord, she said.

And Jesus said, Neither do I go and sin no more.

Do you imagine how free she felt in that moment?

Do you imagine if any if anybody ever had the right to have the zoomies as an adult, it'd been this lady.

And then what I love is Jesus then reminds them about this prophecy because the very next verse he says they spoke to the people once more and said, I am the light of the world.

If you follow me, you won't have to walk in darkness because you have the light of that leads to life.

He was reminding them, remember way back when, when I said the Son of Righteousness was gonna come and everything would be touched by my light?

I'm Him.

I fulfilled everything.

And if you will follow after me, I will set you free and I will cause you to be able to experience such freedom that you can't even contain it.

And can I tell you, that's the promise that we hold on to during this holiday season.

And I'm curious what promises has God made to you in his word that you can hold on to that if he fulfilled all of those promises, that every time you see a baby in a manger, you remember God is a promise keeper and he can continue to keep his promises.

Here's one Jesus himself said the thief comes, the thief's purpose is to steal, kill, and destroy.

But my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.

It is the satisfying life that we have because Jesus came.

And every time you hear somebody say Merry Christmas, I hope that it that it means good things to you.

But if it didn't, may today be the day when it shifts for you.

And that from this moment on, when you hear someone say Merry Christmas, you will remember this is a symbol of the fact that my God is a promise keeper.

And if he made, if he fulfilled all those promises and if he came to set us free, what else will he be faithful to do in my life?

Look at somebody say Merry Christmas.

That was really good.

That was really, really good.

All right, Merry Christmas.

That the King will come and he will set us free.

Here's the second thing he said is that when he would arrive, he would allow us to walk in victory.

Not only would he set us free, but then he would give us the dignity of being able to walk in that freedom that he gave us, that he would then give us the ability to take back everything that the enemy had stolen from us.

He said it like this.

He said, You will rise with healing in his wings, and then on that day when I act, when I arrive, you will tread upon the wicked as if they were dust under your feet, says the Lord of heaven's armies.

And he's telling them that I am going to do such an amazing work in your life that I'm not just going to save you and then just say good luck with that, but I'm gonna turn around and I'm gonna start walking you toward freedom and victory in every area of your life.

And isn't it amazing that because Jesus came, he slowly frees us from everything that would try to bind us and try to stop us from walking in that freedom.

And it's always that he does it through us.

And that when he came the first time, he continues to fulfill that promise in our life now.

And I wonder if the people during the time of Malachi would think back to the past and go, well, if God did it then, I know God's gonna do it now.

For instance, one of my favorite stories about how God overcame adversity in the lives of the people would be what we would call just simply the walls of Jericho.

Or if you're from the same generation I am, Josh and the big wall, okay?

I don't know if you may watch that one.

All right, yeah, that I'm not the only old guy in here.

Fine.

All right.

But it's also the walls of Jericho.

And I don't know if you know this story, but the Bible said that when the nation of Israel was uh liberated from Egyptian bondage, for 40 years they were in the wilderness, not learning how to fight, okay, learning how to follow God.

And then after 40 years, the old generation had died.

Now you have a young generation, and God says, now's the time to go into the promised land.

So they cross over the Jordan River, and the first city they come across is this massive, well-fortified town called Jericho.

And remember, for 40 years, they're one generation removed from slavery.

They are not an army.

They don't know how to do siege warfare.

And sometimes siege warfare could take to two to five years to slowly take over a town.

They don't they don't know how to do that.

They ain't got that kind of time.

And so God's gonna have to do a miracle.

And so they look at this city.

God said, I'm gonna give this town to you, but look what the Bible said.

The Lord said to Joshua, I have given you Jericho, its king and its strong warriors.

You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days.

Seven priests will walk ahead of the ark, each carrying a ram's horn.

On the seventh day, you are to march around the town seven times, with the priest blowing the horns.

That's a lot of music, okay?

When you hear the priest give one long blast on the ram's horn, have all the people shout as loud as they can.

Then the walls of the town will collapse and the people will charge straight into the town.

Now, wait a minute.

That's the silliest thing.

Okay, can we just get really real?

You're walking around the town for six days.

What are you what are we doing?

We're just we're walking.

How is this helping us?

Because God said so.

And I don't know.

We're just walking, we're walking, we're walking, we're walking.

There's no telling what these people are throwing at them.

All right, listen, they're not just you imagine the people on top of the walls are not just going, hey, that was just once today.

You know, they're not doing that.

They're probably attacking them, they're doing whatever, and they're just walking.

Why?

Because God said so.

Well, this is silly.

I know, but God said so.

But this is making us look bad in front of our enemies.

I know, but God said so.

We're just gonna do whatever.

And then finally, on the seventh day, they have to march around seven times.

Do you know how tired you have to be after seven times?

We have no idea what they shouted, but they probably shouted, Finally, I'm sick of this wall.

And they finally do that.

Then there was this long blast of the ram's horn, which is kind of amazing because they have been playing their instruments seven full times around.

So at that point, it's just like a uh, you know, it's the best they got.

And then finally, when it happens, look what happens.

The Bible says that when the people heard the sound of the ram's horn, they were finally done, and they shouted as loud as they could, and suddenly the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.

Wow.

They had to just trust and obey God, but God said, If you'll just obey me, in seven days I'm gonna give you this whole town.

But God, this doesn't make sense.

If you'll just trust me, I'll keep my promise.

I promise you I will do this.

And then all they had to do was be faithful, they didn't have to do the miracle.

They just had to be faithful, and then God did the rest.

Do you know what's amazing about this is that for years and years and years, skeptics of the Bible said this story didn't happen.

And the reason why is because of the way Jericho was situated.

They would say, How in the world could they go straight into the town instead of having to climb straight up a wall because of the way it was?

And so skeptics said this story didn't happen.

But back in the 1950s, they actually found the original Jericho.

And what they actually discovered was amazing.

And that is that the way it was originally set up, they would have this retaining wall, and then this wall on top of it.

And then the nation of Israel marched around this.

And when they blew, what they found with the remains was it all fell in such a way that it created a ramp for them actually to walk up on it.

So the only way they could have done it was to march straight up hill and take the land.

If we will do the possible, God does the impossible.

That's what I love about Jesus, is that nothing has changed.

That if he is able to walk us toward victory when the circumstances seem impossible, he can still do it today.

That's why God's word says, can anything ever separate us from Christ's love?

Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or are hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death?

Somebody say no.

What was that?

All right, somebody say no.

Exactly.

Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours because we're awesome.

No, through Christ who loves us.

Because you plus God is always a majority.

You plus God, anything is possible.

And that's what Christmas reminds us of.

When we see that baby in a manger, we realize that our God is a promise keeper.

And he has the ability because he came to set us free.

He has the ability because he came to walk us in victory.

So my hope for you is that from this day on, every time you hear Merry Christmas, you hear, may the fulfilled promises of God fill you with joy this holiday season.

Because Jesus came the first time.

He's good for all the rest.

Look at somebody and say, Merry Christmas.

When we see that, we remember that God is a promise keeper.

And he promised that he would set us free.

He promised that we could walk in victory.

And here's one more.

He promised that when he came, it would confirm his word to those who would keep following him.

That it would confirm his word, that he was going to show himself strong and faithful if they would keep following him.

Because remember in chapter three, it said that they would get around one another and they would remind each other about the goodness of God.

They would remind each other that God was going to be faithful.

And he said, I just love it when they do that.

He said, They are going to be my own special treasure.

And that when I come, the son of righteousness will rise.

And when I come, they will tread over all the enemies that tried to destroy them.

And then when I come, I will confirm the promises that I made.

He said it like this.

He said, Remember to obey the law of Moses, my servant, all the decrees and regulations that I gave him on Mount Sinai for all of Israel.

For the nation of Israel, Mount Sinai was the biggest moment they'd ever had.

It was the moment when God came down on the mountain and gave them the law that was to set them free, that they were going to walk in his goodness.

And that was the moment.

And what Malachi is saying under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit is remember when God came.

Remember when he was faithful.

And remember how from then till now he's always been faithful.

Remember so that when you go through those seasons when he hasn't come yet, you don't lose heart because he will come.

And I wonder if they were, while they were there, they would think about all the times when God had fulfilled his promises.

As a matter of fact, this coming week we're gonna get to read about some of the fulfilled promises of God.

We've been reading the Bible together and we're gonna be reading through the book of Nahum.

When is the last time you read the book of Nahum, right?

I mean, come on, that is an amazing book that we don't read because it's right there in all of those.

And if you'd like to join us, you can text 94,000, um, our RLC Bible to 94,000 or scan that QR code.

And what's going on during that time is God was fulfilling his promises.

It was about 200 years, 300 years before the time of Malachi, and the nation of Assyria was coming at Israel, and they were they were oppressing them, and all this stuff was going on, and everything was bad, and God raised up a prophet then.

And the one of the first things he said is that the Lord is good and a strong refuge when trouble comes.

He is close to those who trust in him, those who trust that he is a promise keeper.

And what we're gonna read when we read this together is God is gonna say, I've had enough, and I'm about to judge the Assyrians.

They have done enough.

I'm gonna keep my promise.

And within just a few years of Nahum writing down his prophecy, the nation of Assyria fail, the city of Nineveh fail because God kept his promise.

And can I tell you, that's one of the reasons why we read through God's word is because God has kept his promises to us over and over and over again.

And when we read the promises of God, it reminds us that if he kept his promise, then what has changed?

And the answer is nothing.

Just like we were talking about earlier, the story of Jericho, the one who was leading them was a guy named Joshua.

And after that time, they went in and they had to do a whole lot of other stuff and conquer a whole lot of other land that no one probably would have thought they could have done, but God was with them and they overcame.

And at the end of the time of Joshua, I love this testimony.

He said this: he said, not a single one of all of God's good promises that the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled.

Everything, somebody say everything.

Everything he had spoken came true.

And I wonder if the people during the time of Malachi were like, okay, God was faithful to Nahum, God was faithful to Joshua, God was faithful to David and to Samuel and to Moses and to Abraham.

God has been faithful all of these different times.

I am going to choose to trust in God.

God is a promise keeper.

And they re-redecided they were going to follow God, they were going to follow what he had to say, and then silence.

For 400 years.

That's a long time.

That is like twice as old as the United States of America, I think, a little under that.

For 400 years, the Bible said that when Malachi was finished talking, or we find out through history, when he was finished, boom, God said, Trust me, be faithful.

And for 400 years, there was no prophetic voice that happened.

And so I know when you when you've got like one of your paper Bibles, you see the end of Malachi and you see the first of Matthew, and there's just like a white page there, you know, and you're like, oh, so I guess Malachi was done, and then like the next weekend, Jesus was born.

No, actually, like I said, 400 years, but here's the amazing thing.

This is my favorite promise, and that is this God's silence does not mean his absence.

That's the greatest promise that I could think of.

Because even though there was 400 years from the time of Malachi, the last thing God said was, I'm gonna send someone that's gonna come right before my Messiah.

And he's gonna turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, the children back to the fathers.

He's gonna come in the spirit and the power of Elijah.

Spoiler alert, it was John the Baptist.

He said, He's I'm gonna send him.

You be faithful until then.

And then for 400 years, God said, Be faithful.

Be faithful.

Can I tell you?

Sometimes, the reason why I love this promise so very much is sometimes we can go through seasons like that.

It's not 400 years, but it feels like it.

God told us to be faithful, and then we kind of wait on the next thing.

And it's like, God, I'm trying to be faithful, but my family's still in a mess.

I'm trying to be faithful, but I've lost my job now.

I'm trying to be faithful, but I don't know if my marriage is gonna last much longer.

I I mean I know I know you can, but God, I really need you to say something.

Can I tell you?

If God has not spoken something fresh to you lately, that does not mean he's not moving.

It means he's actually positioning things exactly the way he needs to.

Even though God did not give them any other prophetic word, God was busy during those 400 years.

As a matter of fact, during those 400 years, these different kingdoms would rise and fall.

And all of them were absolutely important to put everything where it needed to be.

People have asked me all the time, why did Jesus come when he did?

Why didn't he come now with the internet?

Yeah, why didn't he, yeah, why did he go?

Why did he come then?

I'm gonna tell you exactly why he did.

Because the stage was finally set.

Let me give you an example.

Under the Persians, which was during the time of Malachi, they actually gave the land back to the people of God so they could prepare because the Bible said that the Messiah was going to be born in that holy land.

So they gave it back to them.

And then just a little while later, the Greeks took over.

And one of the things the Greek did Greeks did is they gave us a universal language over the whole place so that everyone would have some kind of idea what Greeks the Greeks was.

Then you had the Ptolemaic Empire, where the Old Testament was written in Greek, so that when the gospel went out, everyone could know what the promises of God were.

Then you had the Seleucids, which restored their focus back to worship.

And then the Romans gave us a road so that when the gospels went out, it would go all over the entire world.

And through the Romans, it was the first time that the known world was actually connected in a certain way.

And as soon as you had restored land, unified language, the Old Testament could be read by anybody, worship was ready, and the Romans were Romans where the Bible says this: that Zerubbabel was the father of Abud, Abuid was the father of Eliakim, Eliakim was the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, Achim of Eliud, Eliud of Eliazar, father of Mahaton, Mahaton, the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, and that was the moment that he became the husband of Mary, and Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

That was 400 years until that moment, and God was moving the entire time.

So here's my favorite promise that I think about when I think about this time of year, and that is the Bible says that God's way is perfect.

Jesus came at the exact right moment, so that when he came, the world could hear his words, that the disciples could go all over the known world because of the Roman road, that they could use the Greek language that everyone could understand, they could take a Greek Old Testament now that everybody could read and they could talk about the Messiah.

And he says, all the Lord's promises prove true.

He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

That's what this time of the year reminds me of.

Because I don't know what you've been going through, but this time of the year, I don't really think that the holidays give us a lot of new problems, it just magnifies the ones we already have.

If you have a problem with your family, you remember it this time of the year.

Everyone's got that crazy uncle you don't like seeing, but he's gonna come around Christmas.

If you're having financial problems, you feel it this time of the year.