Uncontainable Joy - Here I Am to Worship Part 3

Hey, good morning, real life church.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, isn't it?

Oh man, it's such an exciting day.

Today I invite you to stand to your feet and join us in worship

today. Let's have some fun this

morning. Come on unto you.

This day a baby's born is Christ's Messiah, King and Lord.

All the earth will rejoice. The King say the king is here,

Hey, hey, the shepherds have come, the angels sing.

They followed the star, the three wise kings to come and bow

on bended knee. The king is here, the king is

here. Hey, hey, hear good tidings of

great joy unto you. A Savior is born in a Manger

lays Christ the Lord. All have come to a door to

worship Him. Our Savior, the King is here.

The King is here, hey. Here good tidings of great joy

unto you a Saviour is born. Here good tidings of great joy

unto you a Saviour is born. Glory to God in the highest.

Glory to God in the highest. Peace, honor, and goodwill

toward me. Glory to God in the highest.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, come on, give it up for God in the house

today. Let's continue to worship him

today. Come on.

You've come to breathe, to be alone, to be nearer to us, and

you've come to bring light, to be light, to shine righter in

us. So we will you.

God with us, I deliver earth. You are Savior.

In your presence we find our strength over everything, our

redemption. God with us, you might live with

us. Oh, you've come to be home to

this world for your honor and me, and you've come to take sin,

play shame, and to conquer the grave.

Are we? You are right with us.

I delivered. You are Savior.

In your presence we find light room over everything, our

redemption. God with us.

You are. God with us.

You are here. You are holy.

We are standing in your glory. Here are here.

You are holy. We are standing in your glory.

We are here. You are holy.

We are standing in your glory. You are here.

Our Deliverer, you are Saviour. In your presence we find our

strength. Over everything our redemption,

God our deliver. You are Saviour.

In your presence we find our strain.

Over everything our retention, God with us you are God.

With us you are God. With us you are God.

Amen. Our God with us.

And that's the reason that we get to gather together to

celebrate this season is that God who was in heaven and all of

His Majesty came to humble himself with us here.

And as we get to celebrate that this morning and this season, we

get to see just the light of the Lord and these little kids in

just a minute. It's such a special time to

worship, so let's lift him up. The light of the world.

You step down Into Darkness. Open my eyes, let me see beauty

that might this heart adore you. Hope of a life spent with you.

Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down.

Here I am to say that you're my God.

You're all together lovely, all together worthy, all together

wonderful to me. King of all days, also highly

exalted, glorious in heaven. Up humbly you came to the earth,

you created your. For Love's sake, we came home.

All we worship you is here. I am to worship here.

I am to bow down here I am to say that you're my God.

You're all together lovely, altogether worthy, altogether

wonderful to me. Oh, come, as I do hear him.

Christ the Lord, lift him up. Oh, come.

O Him, oh come, let us out or be him.

High the Lord, because we'll praise your name for him.

We'll praise your name for him. The the river cries, the Lord

you all cry because here I am to worship, here I am to bow down.

And here I am to say that you're my my God.

You're all together love me all together worthy.

You're all together wonderful to me.

And here I am to worship. And here I am to bow down.

Here I am to say that you're my God, you're all together lovely,

You're all together worthy. You're all together wonderful to

me. Amen.

Give him some praise this morning.

Man, when you guys think of the word worship and you come before

God with everything you have, everything you don't think you

have, man, everything that we've received is from God.

And just to take that moment with you guys in a corporate

setting, just to give it back to God, give him the worship that

he deserves, all the honor and glory that is his.

And what a holy moment. So can we give a shout of praise

up for God one more time? Thank you guys for worshiping so

well this morning, man, what a awesome day.

We're going to have a very special day today.

It's going to be great. Great, great.

So we have a lot of new people with us today in person and

online. Can we show those guys some

love, lift them up, give them a shout of praise?

Yeah, bye for your hands. Hey, why don't you guys take 30

seconds and just welcome everybody around you, all right?

All right, you guys can go ahead and be seated.

I'm in Diane's way hey as you guys are sitting down, I want

you guys to know that you're getting ready to sit down on

something awesome and it's connection card this connection

card is for everybody in the house today So as always, if you

call real life home, we love it when you guys thought this

connection card. Let us know what's happening in

your life. Maybe you need something prayed

over prayed about. We'd love to hear about that

Maybe you got a prayer praise man God showed up an awesome

way. We'd love to hear about that as

well. Our leaders look forward to

getting these cards week in and week out and they'd love to get

them and stay connected with you and pray for you guys.

If you guys are new or newer with us, we, I love it that you

guys are here. Thank you so much for being

here. We've been praying and planning

for you all week. We're not going to ask anything

except for this one simple thing.

We would love just a simple introduction.

And when you fill out the top of that connection card and drop

that later on in the gathering, we'll have a way to reach out to

you. We're not going to show up to

your house and do anything weird, but we love a way just to

disconnect with you and let you know who we are real life and

seeing us more information this week and who we are real life is

this is we like to say that we are a church on a mission,

right? Real life and a church on a

mission is this is to see people far from God discover their real

life and their purpose in Jesus. And what that simply means is

this is that if you guys have spent any time walking through

this world, you're going to get your teeth kicked in, right?

That's what happened to Jesus. What happened to his followers.

That's our expectation. But we don't have to stay in the

ditch. God's called us to live just a

just a awesome life, one that's full of purpose.

And we find that purpose in Jesus.

And one of my best friends is in the in the service here.

And I steal this quote from him all the time.

We exist to make Jesus name famous and in the opportunity

and the glory that we get to have is to see God's story just

bless people's lives and people's lives transformed week

in week out. So we just love being on mission

with Jesus. And thank you guys for using to

be here with us at this gathering.

So today you guys are in for something special.

Are you guys ready, man? We're getting ready to do real

life kids Christmas. And can I tell you, you share

something from my heart? A lot of times we come and watch

our kids. We think it's a performance, but

this is not a performance. This is an act of worship.

And what the kids are going to do is they're going to help lead

us into this moment of worship. And that's the whole story of

Christmas. And that's really the whole,

the, the whole theme of, of what we're doing here in this series.

Because as Jesus was born, we saw people came with open hearts

and they basically said, is this is here I am.

So that's what we're doing here. I am to worship.

So I want you guys to really lean in, open your hearts and

just worship with our kids as they lead us.

I want you guys to welcome up Christy Hardy as we kick off

Real Lives, real Life kids Christmas.

Good morning. How's everyone doing?

Good. OK, I'm going to welcome real

life kids up, so while I introduce them, they're going to

walk up. Come on guys, we have been

working so hard. These kiddos are so excited to

tell you the Christmas story. It is going to be straight from

God's Word. We are going to have some

friends that are reading the Bible today as we do it.

We've got some adorable sheep coming up now and let's

encourage them. Go ahead and give them a hand,

guys. Put your hands down, all right?

Kiddos, when you get up here, go ahead and look for your parents

and give them a wave. Find them, Give them a wave.

They are so excited to share Jesus's story with you today,

guys. All right, give them another

hand. Here they come.

You can't find your mom. She's here.

Give them a wave. Give them a wave.

Guys, find your parents. OK so without further ado I give

you real life kids Christmas. Today we celebrate the greatest

story ever told, the story of Jesus birth.

We will read the Christmas story straight from the Bible.

God also spoke to Joseph in a dream.

An Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said Joseph,

son of David. Do not be afraid to take Mary

home as your wife because what is conceived inside her is from

the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and

you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his

people from their sins. Time passed and Mary and Joseph

traveled to Bethlehem. While they were there, time came

for the baby to be born. She gave birth to her first

born, a son. She wrapped him in claws and

placed him in a Manger because there were no guest room

available for them. Dear Savior, it's not a major

Oh, what a glorious night. Oh, what a glorious night.

Happy New Year every season.

Jesus Christ. Glorious.

Glorious. What a glorious night.

Glorious, glorious. I hear the angels singing

Hallelujah, the earth receiver king.

I know the love has gone singing out.

Jesus Christ is born. I hear the angels singing

Hallelujah, the earth receiver King.

I know that love has gone. Sing it now, Jesus rising boy.

Jesus, rising boy. The.

Out in the. Field shepherds were watching

over their sheep. Music.

None. The.

None. Luke 2101113 and 14 But the

angels said to them, Do not be afraid, I bring you good news

that will cause great joy for all people.

Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you.

He is the Messiah, the Lord. Suddenly a great companion of

the heavenly host appeared with angels praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest heavens and on earth.

Peace to those who whom his favorite Reese, the shepherds

hurried to see Jesus. Luke 2/16/17 So they hurried off

and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the

Manger. When they had sent him.

They spread the world contents what had been told to them about

this child. Go.

None. Everyone.

And so it's true soil, she shouted.

Tell all the world about it. God is greatest life.

God is greatest life Soil. This is Jesus.

Now we have peace and God is greatest life.

This is the true Christmas story.

God sent His Son Jesus to bring hope, joy, and salvation to the

world. We celebrate because He is still

our Savior today. Man, give it up for all of our

kids, give it up real big because they're getting ready to

walk off the stage. Man, good job all of you guys,

from the sheep to all the singers to our shepherd Landon.

Great job. Good job all of you.

I have to say, Carter, as you're walking off, I do relate to you

quite a bit. Keys optional rhythm is not

mandatory either, but bright smile, wide eyes, just pure

worship, right. That was so good.

He really also got into the clapping.

It wasn't just a normal clap. It was a full body clap, all of

his chest. Not that we're handing out MVPS

or anything, but if we do, it might be Carter.

Yeah. Give it up one more time as

they're walking out. That was really good, man.

Who's ready? Who's ready to celebrate today?

Right. Who's ready to celebrate the

birth of Jesus? Yes, it's so good.

Great start to the day and really just great start to

Christmas season in general. Look at the room, look at the

lights, look at the Christmas trees.

I feel very official walking around the Bethlehem walls,

staring out you guys over these towers.

Can we give it together, put it together for a few people?

Can we give it up for everybody that planned this out?

Give it up for Sean, Holly, Diane, my mom Christy, and then

a second round of applause for everybody that took time to

actually put boots to the ground and set this all up yesterday.

I know it's not a small thing to take time out of your guys's

holiday weekends because we're getting so close to Christmas.

You guys could have been doing a lot yesterday, but everybody

that came in here to set up, I really appreciate all you guys.

That was huge. And then like I said, it was

just one last big, one last round of applause for our kids

one more time. I think really leading the way

for just this message and our worship, they gave us such a

good foundation of joy for today.

There's a deep seated joy in Christmas.

And I think that that was so evident as we see Carter

clapping with all of his body, as we seeing all these kids

singing and their eyes are bright.

They have huge smiles. And it really just reminds me of

the season in general, right? It's a season of joy.

There's two types of people in this season.

First type of person, raise your hand real wide.

Real high. If you find yourself relating to

Dan Bray, if this is the best time of the year, Christmas is

the best month of the year. It doesn't get any better than

this. If you consider yourself a

joyful person, you're full of Christmas spirit.

You're the incarnation of Buddy the Elf.

Would you please raise your hand real high, real wide.

Yes. The Boston Scully crew.

We can also give it up to them. The Boston Scully crew in our

men's quartet on the worship team, That was really good.

That was a phenomenal foundation of the day.

Like I said, there's a, there's a couple different types of

people during Christmas, right? You get it?

You're like Dan or you don't. Full disclosure, I don't.

More often than not, I'm going to throw up a picture real

quick. That was a picture.

You see that picture and you think, man, he is in a Christmas

sweater. The guy right there, he is full

of Christmas spirit. It's a Christmas miracle.

And I have to tell you, that is the face of a liar.

That is the face of somebody who was forced to do that.

I have no Christmas spirit. I've always called myself a

Grinch. It was brought to my attention

that I'm not even a Grinch. Mandy told me at least the

Grinch had a change of heart. So calling myself a Grinch is

doing a disservice to him. She said that I'm a lot closer

to Ebenezer Scrooge because I'm never going to change and I'm

going to get a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Past.

And this isn't a part of anything.

But I, I, I resent that. I feel like I'm a victim to

these circumstances. I think that is result of my

upbringing. I, I inherited a lot from my

dad, his aptitude for hair follicles, and I also inherited

his Christmas spirit. The apple doesn't fall from the

tree. I was thrown into this.

I I was given this through pain. If you saw in that picture

originally, I was kind of feeling that I was in a

Christmas sweater. I was, the Christmas joy was

overtaking me, and I tried to hold Shawn's hand.

He swatted it away. That didn't do anything for my

Christmas spirit. That dragged me right back down

to my Scrooge and then in my sweater, who I felt really good

about, by the way, the most holiday cheerful person in here,

Dan Bray, trashed it. He told me it wasn't a Christmas

sweater. He told me I was pathetic and he

told me I didn't deserve to wear Christmas sweaters.

His words. Not that that's that is quoting

him. I'm not making that up.

So I my, my, my, Bah, humbugness, This was given to

me. You feel bad for me, but is

there anybody else in here that relates to my pity?

That anybody else in here that finds themselves kind of

dragging? Yeah.

Yes, kind of dragging down the mood during Christmas.

Anybody else, Elf? You need a hug, any buddy to

come and cheer you up? I know you guys know this and I

know this too, but past the consumerism, past the Hallmark

commercials, past the overpriced presents, Black Friday, all of

that there is there is a deep sea of joy in Christmas, right?

There is a reason we all gather here today and there is a reason

why people like Dan Bray do consider this the best time of

the season. So today we're going to continue

that. We're going to continue

hopefully in the heart of joy. We're going to continue our

message series on here. I am to worship.

If you guys don't mind, let's kind of give ourselves set.

I might I might pray if you guys don't mind, as we get ourselves

prepared for this message. So God, you're good.

We come before you. I thank you for the opportunity

to just preach your word. I thank you for everybody that's

in here today. I pray for anybody that's in

here that might not know you to, to sit in to, to listen in and

to settle on your word. Let us all come before you it

with joy and in worship. Just name a man.

Couple ground rules, 1 ground Rd. 1 ground rule.

Really before we get started, we're going to be preaching on

the shepherds, which I'm going to get to in a minute.

Full disclosure, I preached on this last Wednesday at Youth and

if anybody in here asks me when this is going to be over, I'm

going to take my ball, I'm going to go home.

I'm not doing that again. I appreciate all of you guys

sitting in here and gleaning everything that this message has

to offer. If autumn is in here, you're not

allowed to talk during this message.

So like I said, we're continuing our here.

I am to worship. We've gone through different

perspectives. Week 1, Mary, let it be to me.

As you said, Week 2 wise men, they saw what everybody else saw

and they did what nobody else was willing to do.

And like I said today, our third perspective is going to be that

of the shepherds. And the perspective of the

shepherds is twofold. First of all, it is finding an

overwhelming and overflowing joy in this season is to be the

opposite of I am during the Christmas season.

And secondly, as we'll get into where we're going to end, it is

the perspective of evangelism. It's the perspective of being

given the good news that is so good you can't help but keep it

to yourself. So before we start, I'm going to

give you guys some context. Let's start with who the

shepherds were and what a day in their live and like what the

kind of people that we're dealing with.

So Luke 28 starts and there were shepherds living out where the

fields nearby. That's important, keeping watch

over their flocks at night. As we get into our narrative and

as we get into our story, it is important to know that this is

happening while these shepherds are on the clock.

These shepherds, they were not very glamorous and they were not

super high up on the social ladder, right?

They're like the blue collar people of that time.

And God chose them to reveal Jesus first.

That is significant. Heaven's announcement went out

to shepherds, to those low on the social ladder, before it

went out to priests, before it went out to kings, before we

went out to politicians, to people of influence.

It went to people in humility. God reveals himself to us,

right? How many of us can relate a

little bit more to humility than we can to kings and to priests

and and to and to politicians? But God came his glory to the

humble. He gave his glory to the

overlooked, to The Dirty, to the downtrodden, to the beaten, to

people just like us. And let's walk you through a day

in the life of the shepherd at that time.

A shepherd's day often began before the sun came up.

It was a hard work. They slept lightly.

They often slept outdoors, keeping watch for predators,

keeping watch for anything that might harm their sheep.

At first light they would count their sheep because if any were

missing, if any were harmed, they had to report that to their

masters and show that they did their due diligence.

Shepherds knew every animal in their flock.

They knew every animal intimately.

I don't know if you guys know I can relate to this.

I didn't know how much I was going to relate to as I was

learning about the shepherds, but I can relate to this.

We have sheep, we have Bonnie, and we have Clyde at our house

and I know them intimately. I know when Bonnie is going to

talk to me at the door. I know when Clyde is going to

try to take me off my feet when I turn my back to him.

These were shepherds that knew every tendency of every animal

they had. They finally knew them by name.

They knew which ones were prone to wander, which ones were weak,

which ones were pregnant. And this is impressive.

I do not leave my sheep by voice.

But the flocks of these shepherds were led by voice.

They were not led by force. They were led by trust.

I cannot get Clyde to do what I want out of trust.

This is a relationship that was fostered over lifetime.

And a true shepherd didn't drive sheep.

He walked ahead and they followed.

Like I said, they walked ahead and they walked miles every day

looking for good pasture, looking for good water.

Good pasture was scarce. Good water was limited.

They had to keep watch constantly.

They had to redirect sheep constantly.

If you have sheep, they do their own thing.

I can relate to that. Redirect them from cliffs

instead of cliffs. It's a oil well so that Clyde

doesn't get caught in the oil well.

Redirect them. They're always trying to get

themselves harmed and they lifted lambs onto their

shoulders when they were exhausted.

These were these were these were men that knew their work.

Their work was hard and they carried after their sheep and

they did it diligently. They carried simple tools that

carried Staffs for their support on their long walks.

They carried rods for protections and slings for

weapon, weapons for predators. Bottom line, this was a lonely

job. So it was a repetitive job.

This was a job that was exhausting and it was a job done

in quiet. Does this sound familiar?

Does this sound like anything that we can relate to?

These were the people that God revealed himself to.

Shepherds were considered ceremonially unclean.

They couldn't attend temple worship.

They were always around dirty animals, right?

They couldn't go because of their work in contact with their

sheep. They were distrusted in courts.

They were considered unreliable in testimony, and socially they

were invisible. These were the kind of people

that God chose to meet Jesus at sunset.

Shepherds would gather the flock, counting again, making

sure they didn't lose or kill any their had to do their due

diligence. Sheep were placed in the sheep,

a stone sheepfold 1 opening. There's a lot of skill in this

job and they would lay across that one entrance, literally

becoming the door of who could come and see the sheep.

If you were going to go to the sheep, you had to go through or

go over the shepherd. They stayed awakened shifts.

They washed underneath the stars.

And it was during this exact routine, in this exact context

that we find our story picking up in the middle of ordinary,

exhausting, unnoticed work. Heaven broke in with angels

announcing Jesus birth. This is important.

Don't miss this. God did not interrupt comfort.

He did not interrupt people sleeping in.

He did not interrupt people playing on their Xbox, whatever.

He interrupted faithfulness and He met them where they were like

He meets us where we are in the middle of a mundane normal like

any other night. God didn't choose the powerful.

He chose the present to reveal His Son to.

That's powerful. Worship begins in availability.

Something powerful to say that God sees our faithfulness and

even the lowest of war of roles. He didn't choose the shepherds

because of where they were or who they were in society.

He chose the shepherds because of the fact that they were there

and they were present and how they were going to handle the

good news. Luke 2A.

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby,

keeping over their what? Their flocks at night.

So these were shepherds outside of Bethlehem.

There's something interesting and there's something special

about the Bethlehem shepherds. What they were most likely

guarding. We're not just any normal lambs.

They were probably guarding sacrificial lambs, lambs that

would be used in temple sacrifices, lambs like what we

would see happen in the Passover in Exodus 12 to avert the ghosts

or the lambs that you would see in daily temple sacrifices.

And ultimately, this was the foreshadowing of the lamb, the

sacrificial lamb that was led without protest, right?

There's something powerful in these keepers of sacrificial

lambs being the first to meet the sacrificial lamb, the

ultimate sacrificial lamb. John 129 says, look, the Lamb of

God who takes away the sin of the world, How does he take away

the sin of the world? Hebrew shows in that.

And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice

of the body of Jesus Christ. How long?

Once and for all. So you have to keep doing good

works to maintain the sacrifice, right?

This is something that you can lose, right?

With something, go away. No, this is a promise I've been

given to us for the rest of time.

Once the good news comes upon you, it will never leave.

The good news is with you for the rest of your life.

Verse 9 says as we continue an Angel of the Lord appeared to

them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were

what they were terrified. Understandable.

Probably huge flashing light as we're going to see an army of

angels overtaking the light. This isn't this isn't like I

said, this is happening in the middle of their work shift

little bit jarring, but the Angel said to them do not be

afraid. I bring you what good news.

We're going to come back to that and that will cause great joy

for all people as I was getting ready for this message.

Good news in the Greek, and I'm going to butcher this again you

Angelion is the actual Greek for good news.

And what that means is a few things, but it actually means

gospel. What the angels gave to the

shepherds were the was the gospel, the gospel that God

loved them that God sent his son to to come and as a baby and

eventually die on the cross for their sins and that that gave

them great joy. That should give us great joy,

right? That is the that is the foothold

of joy in this season is the gospel the good news, you and

gallion Luke 211 today in the town of David, a savior has been

born to you. He is the Messiah.

He's the Lord and this will be assigned to you.

You will find a baby wrapped in claws and lying in a Manger.

It's very powerful. This is reminiscent of promises

made to Israel over the all over the Old Testament and know that

Jesus wasn't only born in a stable.

He was born in a promise. He was the fulfillment of that

what was said to come. He was born in the town of

David. Bethlehem is King David's

hometown. He was born in the midst of the

Roman sentence. Romans census in the ancestors

hometown during a Pagan decree to fulfill the prophecy.

Jesus found the shepherd's found Jesus as it was said to them not

only then, but it also as it was said to the world.

This wasn't just a shepherd's in waiting, this was a world in

waiting for their Messiah. And it happened and it fulfilled

every single detail that the world was waiting on.

Know that God can do everything. Know that every detail will be

fulfilled. Know that every obstacle will be

overcome. There's no power that will stand

in His path. The king of this time was King

Herod, appointed by Augustus, the most powerful and the first

emperor that Roman had ever seen.

There is nothing that would stand in the way of Jesus coming

to die on the cross for all of our sins.

His word stands final, and it came to pass.

And that's humbling, right? Everything we're talking about

so far, it puts it into perspective.

The King of kings, creator of everything you've ever known,

everybody you've ever seen, anything you've ever

experienced, that God, that king took on our humility.

He was born and he was placed in a feeding through where he was

revealed to shepherds. Is that humility an accident?

Probably not. We serve a God that is a God of

humility. It is not an accident that the

end was full. All of this unfolded exactly as

he wanted. And even though the root of the

world had no room for Jesus, even though the inn was out of

space for Jesus, Jesus always has room for us, right?

He wasn't above a Manger. He loved us enough to enter the

world like an animal. It reminds me of Philippians 27,

not that it's on the screen. The Philippians 27 says that God

emptied himself from us. He emptied himself for our sake.

And I don't remember, it's either Acts or Second

Corinthians. Don't quote me ever.

It says that God took on our poverty so that we might partake

in his riches. He entered the world as an

animal for our sake. And this is a good reminder.

You don't have to climb up to God.

And even more than that, you can't climb to God.

There's nothing you can do. There's nothing I can do to earn

God. But luckily for us, the God we

serve came down to us. God came down to you.

Luke 213 Suddenly a great company of heavenly hosts

appeared with the Angel praising God and saying glory to God in

the highest heaven and on earth. Peace to them with peace to

those on whom his favorite rests.

That great company. That's a lot more than just like

what you're seeing on like a Hallmark cartoon.

I don't watch a lot TV on Netflix, wherever you might see

a cartoon of angels in the sky. It's a lot more than that.

It's an it's an army. It's not some precious moment.

It is heaven shouting out glory to God.

It is an army in rank with weapons that have come to push

back the darkness. The beginning of John, John 15,

says that Jesus came to fight the darkness, to overcome the

darkness, and the darkness would never overcome him.

The angels came to announce that that darkness was here to be

vanquished. With the darkness vanquisher

Jesus, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has

not overcome it. And that is the heartbeat of why

we're here to worship, right? Because Jesus came.

And this isn't a battle that's ongoing.

It's a battle that's won Luke 215.

And the angels had left them and gone into heaven.

The shepherd said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem

and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has told

us about. So they what they meandered,

they took a couple weeks, they waited until their work vacation

was over. They waited until they got their

house chores done. They put it off.

No, no, they had, they had urgency.

They hurried off and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who

was lying in a Manger. When God speaks, the right

response, and I'm talking to myself when you guys here is not

delay, it's urgency. It's this, it's this, put your

foot on the gas and get after it.

It's movement, it's obedience, it's submission, it's urgency.

I joked about it earlier about how I'm a Scrooge and I was half

joking. It's not it's not false.

I am a Scrooge during this time of the season, but what kind of

came on to me as I was getting ready for this message is God

help me if I can be a Scrooge during the season where we

exclusively talk about the story of Jesus coming to earth.

God help me if I can be lukewarm during that season.

And for for those of you in here that are like me, I was saved

when I was 5. I'm 23 now.

So it's 18 years of being a Christian.

I I hate to say, but I have to be honest in saying that I can

get a little bit normal to this story.

I can let it, this story become a thing of just facts and habit

to me. But we should be overcome by joy

every single day, because every single day we should ponder the

fact that God came to earth for our sake, that God came in a

feeding trial for you and he came in the feeding trial for

me. We should be overcome by joy

with that. It should be impossible to be a

Scrooge in this season. Luke 217 When they had seen him

being Jesus, they what? They spread the word concerning

what had been told to them about this child.

They moved through their village, they moved through

homes, they moved through synagogues, and all who heard it

were what they were amazed at what the shepherds had said to

them. Don't miss that the shepherds

were the very first evangelists. The first people to see Jesus

were also the first people to tell about Jesus.

The most selfish thing we can do is let the gospel stop at our

doorstep. And the shepherds were unwilling

to do that. The shepherds had no platform.

They had no education, no authority, no no strategy.

They, they, they were considered unreliable.

They were of low social standing.

And yet they had an encounter and they met God and that

overcame every possible obstacle to telling other people about

God. God chose people that their

culture ignored in order to carry the good news that would

change the world. Don't miss that.

Even though the worship begins with your availability, worship

is carried by your posture and it is carried by your witness.

If you let the good news stop at your door, Is it really good

news? If you don't have a heart on

fire to tell everybody else about what God has done in your

life and how God has changed your life?

Has He really changed your life? The gospel spreads through

ordinary people like the shepherds and like you and like

me who have seen Jesus, not experts that have everything

figured out. They have every theological

stance taken, solidified, and they could argue for 50 minutes.

You don't have to have all the answers, you just have to have a

heart for Jesus. All who heard the shepherd's

words were amazed. And that amazement isn't

necessarily belief. But what that amazement was is

it created space for faith to take hold.

It created a space when the shepherd's go out, they told her

friends, they tell your families, and maybe it created a

moment. Maybe it gave those people

comfort. Maybe.

Maybe it created a story. Maybe it told those people for

the first time that they were loved.

Maybe it told them for the first time they were cared for.

Maybe it sparked a conversation. Maybe it gave an act of

generosity. The amazement and the shepherd's

words created space for God to move in the lives of others.

That thought you have the first time you hear the gospel, the

thought that I can't stop thinking about this news.

I can't get over this. That is where God is moving the

most. If there's anything you don't

miss, don't miss this. The gospel didn't move and it

has not found its way to you right now, right here, right

today, because it's a good story.

It's the best story, but there's a lot of good stories.

The gospel moved and it traveled over 2000 years from person to

person. Now to you, because it moved

personally because the shepherd's told somebody, who

then told somebody and it's a snowball effect that led to

somebody caring about you enough to tell you about the Jesus that

saved their life and changed their lives forever.

The gospel moved because it was personal.

And my question for you all as we get ready to wrap up is how

are you going to make it personal?

Are you going to let the gospel stop at your doorstep or are you

going to tell about the good news that you've heard and that

has changed your life? Who are you going to tell about

Jesus? Are you going to make it

personal? And how far will you carry it if

you all would bow your heads, close your eyes?

And there's a lot of people in here that are like me, you know

Jesus. But if you're like me, you

aren't doing enough in your evangelism.

The good news has been given to you and it has radically changed

your life. And you just haven't told enough

people about it. If if you're like me, and that

is you, and you need to do better in evangelism, you need

more fire, more urgency and evangelism, would you raise your

hand if I'm describing you, if you're relating to me like God,

you are so good. And I just need to tell more

people about it. I don't tell enough people.

I'm being selfish for keeping it to myself.

John 435 says that the fields are white for harvest and the

hands are few. I invite you to get your hands

dirty. I invite you to join me in

telling about God to whoever will listen.

Your, your friends, your your neighbor, that family member

that doesn't know God, that coworker that has been

struggling with loss. Anybody that needs the good

news, I invite you to jump in and share with me.

So God, you're good. Thank you for the ability to

share your word. Give us urgency and give us

wisdom as we share your Word. Make us like the shepherds.

Don't let the gospel stop at our door with every head still bowed

and every eyes still closed. I get the feeling there's

another group of people in here that relate to the shepherds,

but they relate to the shepherds for a different reason.

There's somebody in here that does not know God that came in

and they're shackled down by whatever sin has been has been

banging on them. Maybe there's loss in their

lives. Maybe there's circumstances that

they can't just get over. Maybe you're in here and you

don't know God, but like the shepherds, you have been

interrupted by the good news. Maybe like the shepherds, you

have heard that there's a creator of this universe that

loves you enough to take on your flesh, to join you in Earth in a

Manger for your sake, to live a blameless life, to die on the

cross, to pay a debt you could never cover.

If that's you and you don't know God, but you want to know God,

would you raise your hand? If that's you in here and you're

just now for the first time hearing the good news and you

want to start a personal relationship with God, would you

look up at me? Thank God you're good.

You know the hands, you know the hearts.

We are just floored to be in front of you today.

And if that is you, you feel feel free to pray this prayer

after me. God, I am a Sinner in need of a

savior. I believe that Jesus came to

earth in humility, put on my poverty and died for my sake.

I believe that Jesus did that. I repent of my sins and I fall

down at your feet. Yours entirely.

Jesus, name a man and give it up for anybody that made that

decision. Thank you so much for the

opportunity to come up and, and, and just tell you guys what's on

my heart. I hope that you guys leave here

with a heart of worship today. And I just appreciate you guys

and I invite you all to end your Christmas season in worship.

Gear up for the bald and the beautiful over here.

Not bad for a partial Scrooge. First of all, I'll say I love

you guys. Man, that was that message.

Good. Just a reminder to hurry off,

right? It's so easy to just kind of

hurry to the next thing and shop and plan and cook and all the

things, but to hurry off with the gospel.

And when you mentioned this heavenly host coming down, it

wasn't just angels. The word, therefore host

actually means armies. So you'd imagine these shepherds

sitting there and the armies come.

The warrior angels show up full garb, singing and praising,

rejoicing for Jesus that the King has arrived.

That puts a different fire in your bones to realize who Jesus

really is. That the armies of the whole

heavenly host paused what they're doing to give glory, to

follow their king to earth. It's amazing because those same

angels still look over the edge of heaven and curiously wonder

what God is doing in US. Pretty cool.

And we could play a part of the story.

And for some of you today, like you took a real personal, like

you recognized who Jesus is for the very first time.

It's so significant. You never get past that.

Never get past. Oh, thank you, Jesus, that you

came to earth for me, that you lowered yourself and made

yourself nothing so that I can become a child of God.

So I'd encourage you in this season, let's go and tell, Amen.

We've all these conversations with our families and friends

and people that we've known see, and people are busy and they're

out there. There's so much stress in the

season. You see the joy, but there's

chaos right in the Spirit of God, in the presence of God,

just an encounter of Jesus breakthrough all that chaos.

And if we know Jesus, let's not forget the reason for the

season, Amen. I'll encourage you guys if you

made a step today where you took a personal for Christ, like you

accepted Jesus, like you recognize the stories and some

made-up book. It's not just a good story, it's

the story. It means passed down personally

and today it moved from one person to another and it came to

you, to your address, to your heart.

I would encourage you guys to let us know on the connection

card just to indicate, hey, I stepped to Jesus because you

stepped into a new world like all of heaven invaded your heart

today, like you're changed from inside out with helping on that

journey. It's easy to just to show up to

church. It's not about going to church,

it's about encountering Jesus. It's so unnatural.

You need help to do it. Amen.

None of us are self-made and would help on that journey.

So if you indicate we're going to follow up with you, we have

people that are helping coach you.

If you need a relationship, we want to put your relationship

and to help you. What?

What is the walk of Jesus? First steps?

What who is Jesus? What decision I make?

What's the Holy Spirit do in my life?

What should be doing next? What is next steps and have a

friend on mission together and just walk towards Jesus and so

that's significant. We have a Bible on the way out

for you. If you have a Bible, but please

indicate it's just the the best next step for you.

So a couple things we want to do before we jump in to I got all

sorts of fun stuff we're going to talk through today.

First of all, if you're new with us today maybe came you saw the

kids go crazy on stage doing their thing.

We love you. We want to invite you back for

Christmas Eve invite you back next Sunday as well to be part

real life is doing so can you give it up for all based new

today. Let them know we love them the

day. It's significant.

Thank you guys who invited? It's fun watching the kids.

Nothing crazy happened. Amen.

But it's also kind of fun stories, right?

The kid that dove off the stage and all the fun stuff.

I want to encourage you guys. So last week we did our

celebration. Sunday, we're wrapping up a

difference maker. We had a number.

We'll put the number on the screen.

This was the number that we started with at the beginning of

the first gathering last week. There's some people that have

turned in pledge cards since then, and I want to give you a

new number of what God has done. So here's the new number.

You guys ready for it? There you go, $1,905,000.

Boom, confetti cannons, right? Became the second last week.

They didn't really blow up on time.

It was it was kind of awesome and awkward, but yeah, $1.9

million, five thousand over. Amen.

You know, we set this goal and it is a God sized goal.

I've been telling people we thought we could this, if you

don't know what this is, this is basically raising a million

above and beyond. Our typical ministry fund would

be 1.9 million. We set out like, hey, let's

raise the extra million of the next couple years and say yes to

an opportunity to move out of this space into a permanent

home. And that $1,000,000 was a huge,

huge, huge goal and God has done more than the million.

Amen and this was was no location in like locked in or in

mind like we have ideas, but I mean this is just like a dream

on faith. And so we know that numbers just

to keep going north and God gives us an opportunity to do

this. And so I'll say thank you guys

who played a part of the story. And I believe God does

exceedingly more abundantly. You can ask or think Ephesians

320 right And if you ask anybody on our team, like can you hit a

million? We'll be like, yeah, full of

faith and confidence, right? And I kept thinking like, Lord

be bold and very courageous. And it was just, it was pushing

uphill for me and my faith. And then God did it and he did

it and he did it. And I don't think he's done

doing it. Like I think that number is

still going to go and still going to go.

It's more than a number. It's just like, we'll look at

the Lord can do through our church.

And if you could do this, like, maybe I should dream a little

bigger. Maybe she stepped out on bigger

faith, maybe don't put God in the box, don't have self

limiting belief of who what God he can do.

And so I would just encourage you guys if, if you played a

part of the story, thank you Jesus, Amen.

If you're not played a part of the story, you can be part of

the abundance above and beyond. Like you, we can be like, look

what God even did. Now, now, now I'm humbled

because my faith is too small, Amen.

And I would encourage you guys that are giving to this and

there's a little bit of confusion like how do we do

this? When you give to the ministry

fund, that's the same as a difference maker, it'll say on

there, it's the first line. When you drop down menu, it'll

say ministry fund slash difference maker.

It's a one fund. What's that means?

That money comes together for next two years and we basically

locked our budget in next couple years.

And that money above that goes directly towards our first

parent space. I will show this next number.

This is pretty cool. Silver since Sunday, since

Sunday we raised well, they did it early, $170,000 towards our

building already given, Amen. So give it for Jesus on that.

That's like there like people sent stocks, people gave gifts,

people stepped out. We had gold.

Remember to talk about gold last week, somebody gave gold.

We're like, what do we do with gold?

I don't know. No one's ever giving me gold,

right? It's like in kind gift block

that bad boy and it's safe. Sell it.

You know, like it's just amazing how God has stepped in and this

is numerous people's giving, by the way, but I encourage you

guys as we step in this season, like let's kick off this thing

strong so that we can begin to move in a direction.

Amen. You got a million pledge and

some of us will give her time. Don't feel bad if it's like

going to become in weird spaces like that'd be weekly, OK, But

those you are giving that expansion will help us to be

able to say yes to an opportunity even earlier.

And so it's just amazing what God's doing through that.

If you give regularly this big time to change to your

expansion. So you think through, hey, this

next year, next couple years, what's my expansion look like on

the weekly basis or my giving schedule?

If you can, if you're giving money to the church, it cost us

to do credit cards like that. If you do, ACH, it is helpful.

That percentage just goes right back to what we're trying to do

for the cause of Christ, Amen. And so just some logistics to

think through, but God is good, Amen.

He's really good. So I'll encourage you guys.

We're gonna wrap up this season of Difference Maker.

We're still pushing forward, but as you end this year, let's end

strong. Trust the Lord.

You guys can give today like normal.

Lots of ways to give. We have different options that

you don't need to talk about. We do stocks.

There's different ways to give assets.

We have people reaching out with, I've had some reach out

with baseball card collections to different random things.

We have the ability to to leverage that for the Kingdom.

And so I would encourage you guys if something sticks out

like, hey, we can leverage this for God.

Let's see if we could do something and so it's just

amazing you give online is most people give.

But given the buckets and if you need help in this season, I do

have somebody who's given us some more food.

So if we need food, just come talk to me.

I'm not going to make it weird. If you need some help reaching

the giving buckets, take out any loose cash.

You see if you need more than that's in there, just come find

me or the team and we'll just make sure you guys are taken

care of for this Christmas season.

So thought we're coming for you. Pray a blessing on today.

Got thank you for men step in the gap like Logan really truly

even last minute to preach your gospel to share your word God

thank for the example the shepherds your Holy Spirit in

that arm you would come down and just share though there's the

king and help us God to be a church that runs on mission.

God bless every gift as a stepped out on faith just full

heartedly for you. God, you see the faith in our

people in the season. God pray blessing on their

families as they as they lean in towards Christ bless their

conversations as they take the gospel just around their tables

before their meals, the side conversations and hallways in

the kitchen. God that you would be made

famous in this season. God praise in Jesus name.

The church said Amen. I'll give you 3 very quick

things before we head out. So super quick.

Number one, I'll invite you guys come out this Wednesday at 2:00

and 4:00 PM. We are having our Christmas Eve

gatherings and we're going to have some Santa pictures, hot

cocoa, lots of fun. We're just going to worship big.

This is a great opportunity to bring somebody out that normally

doesn't go to church. They're very skeptical in

general, but these kind of seasons, these kind of

gatherings, people are very open to come out.

So encouraging to invite people out.

We're preaching straight from the Bible through the Christmas

story is going to be very solid, very evangelistic and to be one

of those gatherings you want to bring somebody to.

Amen. So that's this Wednesday.

We all got decorated. Praise God, Hallelujah got

shifted around that amazing team come out yesterday.

Also New Year's Eve that the youth group is doing something

very special. They're going to main event.

I think there's about 1315 teens signed up, which means we have

all our teens sign up. Amen.

We just take about 3035 people. So please sign up.

It's $40. They're going to do It's pizza,

there's drinks, there's ice cream.

By drinks, I mean soda. What kind of drinks have youth

group, but they're gonna let the ball drop there.

Come back to the Hope Center. But please sign up.

It's a great crew. It's a safe option as a parent

to worry about what's gonna happen.

They got a Buster taken out to main event from real life Hope

Center. So it's time for that last

thing. Help me out social 28th So I'm

excited about this. We we are going to go big on

this. We got big charcuterie stuff.

We're going to have baptisms. We're going to commissioning.

It's at 10:00 only with your family and it's just like a

celebration like it's a hangout. And so I encourage you guys make

time for that 10:00 last night of the year.

We're ending the worship. We got like in a sense of

Scripture. And so I'll encourage you a few

verses this Isaiah 52. You might not know this existed,

but how beautiful on the bounds or the feet of those who bring

good news. This is where Paul took his

thought about the gospel going out.

You'll find this in Romans 10/15.

How beautiful the feet of those who bring good news.

You guys got beautiful feet this week, Amen.

Like you hurry off and your feet are now beautiful because

they're carrying good news to lost the dying world and Mark

1615. It says go into all the world

and preach the gospel to all creation.

And so I encourage you guys, let's let's make Jesus big in

this season, Amen. People are sharing it.

We're not about humbugs, Amen. We're going to get the Scrooge

out of Christmas this year. Come on, Logan.

Right? But I would encourage you guys

next week or this this Wednesday, come out, bring your

family, bring your friends. It's going to be amazing.

And remember, guys, whoever finds Jesus discovers real life

and purpose. See you guys two o'clock 4:00

Wednesday. This is the end of this podcast,

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