The Ultimate Regifter

Good morning church.

It's good to see all of you.

Would you all please stand.

I tried to get a twang in there, for you Know me some.

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed.

The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head.

The stars in the sky look down where he lay.

The little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay, Be near me, lord Jesus.

I ask Thee to stay close by me forever and love me.

I pray and feed us for heaven to live with thee.

There.

My soul magnifies the Lord.

My spirit rejoices in God.

My.

Savior.

My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God.

God, my soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in.

God my.

Savior.

My soul magnices in God.

My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, my soul, and we thank you.

My spirit rejoices in God.

My soul is my dear.

God is my, god is my God is my God is my God is my.

My soul and my life are yours.

My spirit and my life are yours.

My soul and my life are yours.

My spirit will be still as it is now.

Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o'er the plains and the mountains in reply, echoing their joyous strains Gloria in excelsis Deo, gloria in excelsis Deo.

Oh shepherds, why this jubilee?

Why your joyous strains prolong?

What the gladsome tidings be which inspire your heavenly songs Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Come to Bethlehem and see Him, whose birth the angels sing.

Come, adore on bended knee, christ, the Lord, the newborn King.

Gloria.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.

I almost forgot to come up and read this.

Today we'll be in verse 28.

Gabriel appeared to her and said Greetings, favored woman.

The Lord is with you.

Confused and disturbed, mary tried to think what the angel could mean.

Don't be afraid, mary.

The angel told her, for you have found favor with God.

Good morning.

We're going to begin with the word of prayer, so let's pray, father.

We thank you for this day.

Father, we thank you for this day.

God, we thank you for this time together.

We're thankful for an opportunity to get together as family and to come together and to celebrate the wonderful miracle of Jesus, and we're thankful for his love and we're thankful for his example and we're thankful for his birth and what that means for us.

And we ask that now, as we study and we pray, that you would open up our hearts and our ears to the things that you want us to know and that we can take things away today and apply them to our life and continue to point people to you and to your love.

It's in Jesus' name that we pray.

Amen.

Good morning.

Good morning that we pray.

Amen, good morning.

All right, we're going to continue our series this morning on the idea of the gift, if you're joining us this morning.

We've been doing a series on the Holy Spirit and when Jesus was preparing to leave and preparing to go to the cross, he had shared with the disciples many times that he was leaving.

But it was for the better that he was leaving, because by Him leaving.

They were going to receive the gift, and the gift is the Holy Spirit, and while it's something that we may not always understand and it may not make a ton of sense to us, the purpose of the Holy Spirit is to point to Jesus, and so this morning, we're going to continue our study on the gift and what it looked like for the birth of Jesus as well, and so, as we get started today, I want you to think about what is the last thing you re-gifted.

It's that time of the year where people get you things, and people have thoughts and they want to get you something nice, and sometimes they get you something that is nice but it's not something that you think is nice, and so our common trend is is if somebody gives me something and it's nice, but it's not necessarily my style or my taste, I may secretly re-gift it.

Okay, we've created a whole thing for this.

We've designed what we call the White Elephant Gift Exchange, where we can just exchange things we don't like, okay.

So I want you to think about what's the last thing you re-gifted, okay, and I have for you today the top five things that were re-gifted last year.

Number five is home decor Decorations for your house.

Somebody thought you needed that golden goose.

But you didn't need that golden goose.

It didn't really fit your household, and so you may have, in the last year, re-gifted some decorations that you had for fit your household, and so you may have, in the last year, regifted some decorations that you had for your own home.

So that was number five on the most regifted gift.

Number four is a, in fact, red turtleneck sweater.

I don't know why people feel like that's something you gotta buy somebody, but one of the most regifted items last year was a red turtleneck sweater and so hopefully I'm not ruining anybody that's already bought gifts.

I'm not trying to discourage you today, but these are just what statistics say is the most re-gifted gift.

Number three is any kind of gift basket of chocolates or things like that.

Yeah, and I know people in the 830 service and some of you have already said it right now I would never re-gift that.

Right, I'm gonna eat all the chocolate.

But you know, I'm thinking maybe if somebody, like an office manager or something, gets a lot of those, maybe they just rewrap that and give it off to somebody else.

So gift baskets is number three on the list.

Number two is candles.

You may think the scent is perfect and it's the right item, but the receiver might say no, no thanks, and so candles are often re-gifted.

I know in our family we started a white elephant gift exchange, probably 20 years ago, 15 years ago, and for 15 years, as we've done that white elephant, there has been one candle display that has been in it every year.

If you get it, it is just tradition that you're going to bring it back next year and re-gift it, and it has been in the family for, I think, like 15 years.

You just keep re-gifting it and so it is a candle set from the 90s that just keeps getting handed out.

And the number one re-gifted item is anybody got a guess?

Somebody say lotion, fruit cake.

That should have been on the list.

I feel like Number one re-gifted item is soaps, lotions, because I think you know, you think the scent smells great, but then the other person's like I'm not a lavender person, you know, and so the number one regifted item is, in fact, soaps, bath salts, moisturizers, things like that.

So this morning we're going to continue our series.

We're going to continue to look at the idea of the Holy Spirit, we're going to continue to look at the idea of the Holy Spirit.

We're going to look at Luke, chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

That's what Steeler read to you this morning and I failed to put Luke up there, but it was Luke, chapter 1, verse 28 that he read, and it's the conversation between Gabriel and Mary when she finds out that she's going to be the mother of Jesus.

Luke 1:28

And so, as we get started this morning, I want to just remind you that the Holy Spirit's purpose is to point to the wonder of the Son of God and to the Father, and so the purpose of the Holy Spirit and the goal or the whole design of the Holy Spirit is to point back to Jesus.

Everything that the Holy Spirit does is to point back to Jesus and to the Father.

And so, from the beginning, the Spirit, as we look through the history of Scripture, the Spirit has always been quietly in the background, doing what needs to be done to put Jesus first, so that Jesus gets all the glory and things like that.

I want to share with you a video.

I think it's going to play here.

Maybe you've seen this before.

I thought this would just be a fun way to introduce the birth of Jesus in our story today.

These are kids retelling the birth of Jesus, and their parents then act out what they say is happening.

So it's just kind of a humorous little thing and it's pretty accurate.

So we'll check it out.

An angel came to see Mary.

She was doing laundry and then the angel just appeared and she was really scared.

So Gabriel was like Mary, you're going to have what I can't say it.

Good, mary, you're going to have a baby.

You're going to have a baby and you will call him Jesus.

And then Mary was like I'm not going to have a baby.

You're gonna have a baby, you will call him Jesus.

And then Mary was like I'm not gonna have a baby yet.

I'm only a teenager, I'm not married.

Then the angel, gabriel, told Joseph that Mary is not lying, you are having a new baby.

And so they met up.

They went to Bethlehem, which was Joseph's old town.

They ride a donkey.

I don't know A camel, oh, yeah, a camel.

She said this donkey's fast.

Well, they tried to go to a hotel and they asked the keeper for a place to stay.

The keeper said we have no rooms, literally no rooms.

So Mary and Joseph walked away sadly, but then he said the only place here in Bethlehem that you can stay is a stable.

And then he just pointed the way and they followed.

When the shepherds were taking care of the sheep, then they saw angels.

The angels said a new baby is getting born, who is king of the Jews.

The angel were singing Glorious and then the shepherds said I think we should go there and meet him.

The second Christ-sang said yeah, I agree with you.

And the other said yeah, me too.

They had to walk through a bunch of grass and bushes Maybe have to camp out a night.

Then the wise men heard about it and then a star appeared.

We should probably follow that star.

It's pointing down to the barn, so maybe we should follow it, maybe.

So the wise men went to Jesus.

They gave them gifts A stuffed animal like a hippo one they have at home, some diapers and some wipes and some milk, some shoes, some Jordans, gold, frank and Baltimore, and I don't know how I would survive in that barn Too stinky, too crowded and ugh.

I think he probably pooped because the room was very smelly.

Thank you for coming.

He's adorable.

He's going to be our best friend.

I love you and you're the best baby I've ever seen there.

I said it the new baby is going to change the world.

I love you and you're the best baby I've ever seen.

Someone.

Tacey shared that with me after the 830, and I said oh, we got to show that.

That's perfect, that's just great.

So we're going to be in Luke, chapter 1.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

We're going to read the interaction between the angel and Gabriel and look at just a few things that take place there.

Verse 28 says Gabriel appeared to her and said greetings, favored woman.

The Lord is with you.

Confused and disturbed, mary tried to think what the angel could mean.

Don't be afraid, mary.

The angel told her, for you have found favor with God.

Mary is almost surprised to hear what God thinks of her and she's also surprised to find out how he's going to work in her life.

But he tells her you are favored, the Lord is with you, and other versions say you are blessed.

That's what he tells Mary.

Now I want you to understand where Mary's at in this situation.

Mary is engaged to be married and the way that weddings worked back then was a little differently than we do it now.

There's about three stages to the wedding.

Two of the stages have already happened.

The first stage was the fathers agreed that the two could get married.

They come to an agreement.

The two fathers of the children agree that, yes, mary and Joseph can be married.

And then the second stage is the exchange of promises, and at that point they are binded together in marriage.

So they are engaged.

But at this point they are binded together in their promises.

It is they are under obligation to be faithful to one another, and at this point a divorce would need to take place for them to separate.

That's where they're at.

And then the third stage is for him to come get his bride and then to finalize the wedding.

But this is where they're at.

They're in stage two.

Their relationship is firm, they are in a relationship together.

They are soon to be married and Mary gets this news that God is with her, that she is favored and that she is blessed.

What an amazing compliment.

I asked the 830 service we had a discussion what's the greatest compliment you've ever received?

And they struggled to come up with one, because it's hard.

It's hard to think about what people say about you, but in this moment, what the angel says to Mary is an amazing compliment the Lord is with you, you are favored and you are blessed Three things that we would all love to hear, right?

Well, if you read Scripture, guess what God says about you you are favored, god is with you and you are blessed.

Maybe not in the same way does he say it that he said it to Mary here, but throughout Scripture you read that God feels the same way about you.

Nonetheless, the angel comes to the conversation and tells her you are favored, you are blessed, the Lord is with you.

And her response is that she's kind of confused and disturbed.

It's an interesting way of just saying she can't believe it.

People have given you a compliment and you said me.

They said oh, you're so wonderful and you're like are you sure you meant to say that to me?

That's where Mary's at.

She can't really believe this compliment that she's getting.

But God is showing his love and his grace to Mary in this moment and that love and that grace she didn't expect, and so I just think she's thrown off a little bit that such this great compliment has come to her.

So she's a little confused, she's a little surprised by it.

The God and the angel don't get frustrated because she's confused and disturbed or there's a little bit of hesitation.

Instead, the angel of the Lord tells Mary don't be afraid hesitation.

Instead, the angel of the Lord tells Mary don't be afraid.

I want you to notice, as we keep reading this morning, how quickly this conversation becomes about Jesus.

This conversation is with Mary, but it's no longer about Mary at this point.

As we flip to the second part of this, it all becomes about Jesus.

Verse 31 says this you will conceive and give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus.

He will be very great and he will be called the Son of the Most High.

The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor, david, and he will reign over Israel forever.

His kingdom will never end.

It all becomes about Jesus.

Mary, you're going to give birth to a son, and here's what he's going to be like.

The first thing it tells us is that his name is going to be Jesus.

There's a lot of different names that we use for Jesus, but Jesus gets translated to the word Joshua, and Joshua means Savior and it means Deliverer.

And so he stops and he tells Mary, you're going to give birth to a son who is going to be the Savior, which is great news for the world, and it's great news for Mary.

The son that you're going to give birth to is going to be the Savior.

There's a lot of things that make us excited.

There's a lot of things that make us cheer.

There's a lot of things that make us cheer.

There's a lot of things that make us smile.

Jesus is going to be greater than all of those things.

He says his name is going to be Jesus and he will be great.

The greatest thinkers in the world will stop to hear Jesus speak.

I was trying to think about how to describe to you how great Jesus is, and there's a.

I'm going to play one more video for you today, for King and Country has a Christmas monologue where they talk about the birth of Jesus and they talk about how great Jesus is going to be, and I want you to just listen to this real quickly.

Maybe here we go.

It's remarkable to think that a baby boy born in a stable, no prestige, no privilege, no social media or social status, political campaigns or private airplanes, and yet he turned BC into AD.

He flipped the world on its head.

He's the most famous name around the globe.

Into AD.

He flipped the world on its head.

He's the most famous name around the globe, inspired the most read book ever written.

He reconnected us to heaven and, in turn, brought heaven down to earth.

And now he offers us redemption, a fresh start, freedom, so that we can hold our heads high and march through this life knowing that we are never alone, that every woman and man, boy and girl, to all of us who feel like we have nothing left, nothing to bring, that we can know that God is smiling at us, that he's loving us, that we are enough smiling at us, that he's loving us, that we are enough.

So light up that Christmas tree, stand under the mistletoe, surround yourself with the ones you love the most and together let's celebrate the greatest news this world has ever known To think that a baby born born in a stable, no prestige, no privilege, no social media or social status, no political campaign, no private airplane.

He turned BC into AD.

That's King Jesus.

He's going to be great.

The Bible tells us that he is going to be great.

He's the greatest to ever live.

He's the greatest Savior.

He is the Savior, he flipped the world on its head and he's the most famous name in all of the globe Jesus.

So, mary, yes, you're going to give birth to a son and it's going to happen in the most craziest of ways, but he is going to change the world.

He will be great, craziest of ways, but he is going to change the world.

He will be great.

He will be known as the son of the most high.

He will be an image of God.

People will see how God is through him.

People will see how God loves by the way that he interacts and walks in this world and how he loves people.

People will see God through this boy, mary, and he will sit on the throne.

He is king, will be king and always has been the king.

Micah 5 tells us.

This is Old Testament.

Micah 5 tells us but you, bethlehem, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be the ruler over Israel.

The Old Testament told us that the Messiah, that the Savior, is coming, and he's going to come from Bethlehem.

So it was no mistake that there was a census.

It was not coincidence that God allowed Mary and Joseph to end up in Bethlehem.

It was how it was supposed to be.

It was how it was written, and those like Mary and Joseph would have known, if they knew scripture, that a Savior was going to be born one day.

I just don't think Mary knew it was going to be through her, and so there's obviously some shock in that.

But also in Isaiah 7, verse 14, obviously some shock in that.

Isaiah 7:14

But also in Isaiah 7, verse 14, it says Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign.

Isaiah 7:14

The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will call Him Immanuel.

Old Testament.

God had a plan from the beginning to get His people back, and he did it Through His Son, jesus.

And so Mary gets this news You're going to have a son.

He's going to be great, he's going to be awesome.

He's going to be the image of God.

He's going to be the king and his reign will never end.

She probably has a whole lot of questions right, wouldn't you?

Do I ground him, do I not?

You know all of those different things.

How do you parent Jesus?

Here's her one question how can this happen?

I hear you, jesus.

I know the old testament, I know the scriptures, I know that you said this was going to happen, but how?

How are you going to do this?

The angel?

Well, first of all, this is on your outline, logical question, but I believe she asked it in faith.

I think she knows it's going to happen, but just how?

I believe that you're going to do it, god.

I believe that the angel, what he's saying is true, but how in the world is this going to happen?

We get our answer in verse 35.

It says the angel replied the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so that the baby to be born will be holy and he will be called the Son of God.

Mary.

The Holy Spirit will be with you.

You will be in the presence of God.

He will be holy because he has been conceived in the presence of God.

He will be holy because he has been conceived in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

So insert the Holy Spirit.

That's where the Holy Spirit comes into play in the birth of Jesus.

He's in there and he was there.

And then the angel gives Mary what I call a faith booster, something that's going to boost her faith, to help her believe in this moment.

He says oh, by the way, elizabeth is pregnant and she's six months pregnant, and I know that, you know that she hasn't been able to get pregnant and it happened, and so you can go talk to her, you can go see her, and I told her she was going to become pregnant.

Now she's six months pregnant.

This will happen too.

So he gives her a little bit of boosting and then one of the greatest responses this is the way that she responds to what God says is going to happen I am the Lord's servant.

May everything you have said about me come true.

And then the angel left him.

What if we responded that way to every situation in life?

I am the Lord's servant.

I don't want to love that person, but I am the Lord's servant.

I don't want to get out of my comfort zone, but I am the Lord's servant.

I don't want to get out of my comfort zone, but I am the Lord's servant.

But what if they say this I am the Lord's servant.

What if I make a mistake?

I'm still the Lord's servant.

Mary's response is incredible the faith that she has that God is going to do not only what he says he's going to do, but that he in fact can use her.

It was a faith response.

It didn't mean it was easy.

She was going to have one of the most suspicious pregnancies ever.

People were going to question her.

People were going to question her integrity, who she was, whether she was telling the truth.

She was probably receiving threats, people thinking she committed adultery, that she was going to pay this price for what she had done.

But in this moment she says God you work, holy Spirit, you work.

Put me where you want me, use me how you need me.

God, you got this.

That's Mary's response to God giving her an unbelievable challenge.

She says Lord, I'm your servant.

Let's pray, father.

We thank you so much for this day.

God.

We thank you for this moment.

God, we're so thankful for your son, jesus.

We're thankful for his birth.

We're thankful for his ministry.

We're thankful for his life.

We're thankful for his birth.

We're thankful for his ministry, we're thankful for his life.

God, we're thankful for your love and we're thankful for your spirit.

God, I pray that you will allow us to go into our community and share with people Jesus, so that they may know that Jesus is the great Savior, that they may know that he is the Son of the Most High and that he is the never-ending King.

In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.

God sent His Spirit to help bring Jesus into the world.

Jesus lived the perfect life, died on the cross so that we could have the forgiveness of sins and receive the Holy Spirit.

God is the ultimate regifter.

He gifted the Holy Spirit so that Jesus could be born, so that Jesus could live His life to live a perfect life for you and I.

Die on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, so that you and I may receive the Holy Spirit.

It was the ultimate re-gift, it was the only way it could be and he pulled it off.

We have the Holy Spirit because the Spirit was at the birth of Jesus and Jesus lived for us.

O come, all ye, faithful, joyful and triumphant.

O come ye.

O come ye to Bethlehem.

Come and behold him born, the King of angels.

O come, let us adore him.

O come, let us adore him.

O come, let us adore him.

O come, let us adore him, christ the Lord.

Yea, lord, we greet Thee Born this.

Happy morning, jesus.

To Thee be all glory.

Given glory, give Word of the Father now in flesh appearing.

O come, let us adore him.

O come, let us adore Him.

O come, let us adore Him.

Christ the Lord.

Philip mentioned this morning about things coming full circle.

Lord, Father, we're thankful for this Lord's Day and we're thankful for this opportunity that we have to gather together as family and this opportunity we have to gather together and to praise your high and holy name.

And we thank you, Father, for this time of year which reminds us of the great gift giver that you are and the gift that you gave us in the form of your Son and our Savior.

And we pray, Father, that as we go about our business this week, that we'll be a good reflection of the light that you've shown to us through him, and it's in his name we pray, Amen.

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and, if you have nothing to do on Christmas Eve, we have a wonderful service here and we'd love to see you all here in his hands, who has numbered every grain of sand.

Kings and nations tremble at his voice.

All creation rises to rejoice.

Who has given counsel to the Lord?

Who can question any of his words?

Who can teach?

The one who knows all things?

Who can fathom all his wondrous deeds?

Fathom all his wondrous deeds.

Behold our God seated on his throne.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our King.

Nothing can compare Our King.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore Him.

Who has felt the nails upon His hand, bearing all the guilt of sinful men, all the guilt of sinful men.

God eternal, humble to the grave.

Jesus Savior, risen now to reign.

Behold our God seated on His throne.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our King.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore him.

All for Him, you will reign forever.

You will reign forever.

You will reign forever.

You will reign forever.

Let your glory fill.

Behold our God seated on his throne.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our king.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our God Seated on his throne.

Come, let us adore him.

Behold our King.

Nothing can compare.

Come, let us adore him Amen.

Have a great week.