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Flipside Christian Church
Madera Ranchos, CA
Could have been a night
just like this one.
The air
filled with anticipation.
And that light
so bright in the night sky.
That it beckoned.
For shepherds and wise men to follow.
Imagine to their surprise.
When they arrive.
And find a tiny baby laying in a manger,
surrounded
with nothing more than farm animals.
How could this be their king?
How could the Savior of the world
be here in this place?
And yet they were compelled
to bow down right there and worship him.
You see, they knew that something
beyond comprehension had just transpired.
The hope of all mankind
has just shown up before them
that Jesus,
although a baby, had come for you
and for me,
you came to give us a hope and a future.
You came so that
we might have joy and light.
He came so that no matter
what circumstances we find ourselves in.
All we have to do is call on his name
and we would be saved.
This is the story of Christmas.
This is the story of the greatest gift
ever given in the story of a king,
the Savior of the world.
Born in a manger.
For you and for me.
The story of Christmas is,
simply put, two fold.
One is the story
of trusting God.
Orchestration.
See, when when Jesus shows up.
Things
he disrupts.
Things.
And in the middle of that disruption,
we're forced to answer the question.
Can I trust his orchestration?
The other part of the Christmas story
is this.
That the highest of heights,
lowest of lows,
for the lowest of lows.
That's the Christmas story.
The highest of heights
taken on human flesh,
becoming the lowest of lows
for humanity.
For the lowest of lows.
We've been looking at the Christmas story
through two gospels, the Gospel of Matthew
in the Gospel of Luke.
We started in Matthew chapter one.
Then we went to Luke, chapter one.
Today we'll be in Luke chapter two and
wrap it up in two days on Christmas Eve
with Matthew chapter two.
We've jumped back and forth
because I want to look at some kind
of chronologically how events transpired.
And so this morning we're in Luke chapter
two with the account
of Jesus's, the announcement of the birth
of Jesus to the shepherds.
And Mary having this child.
And so, in whatever form
you use to look at Scripture,
if you'll turn to Luke, to go to Luke
two, please,
I just want to read the passage.
And then we'll talk about it
and see what God reveals
of these two lessons of Christmas,
trusting his orchestration
and the realization
that the highest of highs
becomes the lowest of lows
for the lowest of the low.
And so the Bible says
in Luke chapter two, in those days, Caesar
Augustus issued a decree that a census
should be taken of the entire Roman world.
This was the first census
that was that took place while Quirinius
was governor of Syria, and everyone
went to his own town to register.
So Joseph
also went up from the town of Nazareth
in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem.
Now he did, because he belonged
to the house and the lion of David.
He went there to register with Mary,
who was pledged to be married to him.
I was expecting a child.
Mary's life.
Joseph's life
dramatically, drastically and forever
interrupted.
They, like us, has to answer the question.
Do I trust God's orchestration
or will I push back and fight against it?
You know what's interesting?
As I look at our world
and, those of us
who call ourselves Christians.
So look at this.
This term nationalistic protest movement.
When we don't like something,
we protest, we revolt.
We post
God's people in the beginning.
They were under severe Roman
occupation, depression and taxation.
And rather than revolt,
and rather than hold
marches and rather than post.
They trusted God's orchestration.
And they said, Lord,
what we're going through right now
is very, very difficult.
And we trust that you will make it right
one day. But.
We're going to trust
your orchestration of all things.
And they lived these
quiet,
humble lives of obedience and trusted
God's orchestration,
even of difficult things.
And that's where we find Mary and Joseph.
Caesar Augustus issued
a decree that a census should be taken up
the entire Roman world.
They were under Roman occupation
in the Holy Land.
And then the Bible says in verse two,
this was the first census
that was taken
while Quirinius was governor of Syria.
Well, let me just let me just do a little,
little prep work here.
Any of you who are like hardcore
nerdy history students
of ancient times, this verse
is going to cause a problem for you
because it says Caesar
Augustus issued a decree.
Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem.
We know all of that happened in our back
at about somewhere between 4 and 3 BC.
And then it says this was the first census
that was taken
while Corinthians was governor of Syria.
We know from history that Quirinius
was governor, ensuring at six A.D..
See, anybody see a problem?
And those with knowledge
will look at the work.
Let me first say that all knowledge.
We'll look at that and see. You see,
the Bible can't be trusted.
Well, let me put you at ease now.
I'm going to answer a question for you
that most of you never even had.
But the reason I'm doing
this is so you will understand
that you can trust this.
It's without error.
When the Bible says that this was
the first census, take governor of Syria
in the Greek, which the New Testament
is written in that word.
First census is, wow, wow.
Chris was governor.
That work can also mean
before Quirinius was governor.
Now, just during so literally
if we read it that way
before
Carinus was governor, the you understand?
But not only that, even if you say,
no, no, I'm going to I'm going to say it.
It says, wow, fine. No problem.
Because what we know from archeology
that there was a governor in Syria
who reigned two times,
he reign took a break
from.
What?
We're not told his name the first time,
but we know his name the second time.
Guess what? It was.
Yeah.
So it could be that this was the guy.
This took place during his first reign
in Sam.
So what?
That tells me I trust this
if even if someone throws up.
Yeah, but I trust this.
And what this tells me
is that there was this young girl
who was chosen by God
to be the one true God.
Savior of the world, would enter humanity
in the first in the days of
Caesar Augustus, when he issued a decree
that since this should be taken
up, the Roman world,
everyone went to his own town to register.
So Joseph went up from the town
of Nazareth in Galilee
to Judea, to Bethlehem of David.
Because you belong to that line, house
and line of David.
Everybody around him,
the whole area was concerned
about a census.
God was concerned
about something different.
So they go to him.
And I want you to know, since they went up
from the town of Nazareth
in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem,
if you look at a map geographically,
they have to go from Nazareth
down to Bethlehem geographically.
But the Bible says they went up. Why?
Because every time,
Bethlehem, every
time in Scripture
it says that you're going up.
Because when you take steps towards God,
you understand.
If you want to know
what your next steps are in life
that are right and good and will progress,
take steps towards God.
Go up.
And enter the house in line,
because he around the house
of the line of David.
Well, he went there to register with Mary
while they were there.
Verse six. Watch this.
While they were there,
the time came, for the baby
gave birth to her firstborn, a son.
She wrapped him in cloths
and placed him in a manger,
because there was no room for them
in the inn.
When the Bible says there was no room
for them, in the end we seek hotel.
That's not.
That's not the context.
Bethlehem was so small.
It was so small that they didn't
have a hotel in Bethlehem.
There was no inn in Bethlehem.
That word in is the Greek word
that is called Catalina.
And what it is, is historically
in the small town
that would receive travelers for whatever
reason, they would have these little one
room shacks, all in a great big circle.
Think, think,
What the.
Like the wagons
of the pioneers in the circle.
The wagons type thing. Think of that.
And so these visitors would come in
one little room, and they,
the animals that they travel with,
they would just put in the center
of this big caravan here.
Okay.
And so when the Bible says
there was no room for them in the inn,
there was no room for them
in this big circle of little one room.
Rundowns
with all the animals in the middle.
And so it's very likely
that as they show up to Bethlehem,
where there are no room,
there's no ends and hotels, they go to
what most travelers
would go to this little caravans here,
and they look
for one of those little shacks.
Everybody's so concerned with the census
and what's going on in the room
for baby Jesus.
And so what they do
is they sleep in the middle, where
all of the animals are kept outside
in the dirt,
in the dorm
with the animals. Why?
Because so preoccupied with
what's going on in their lives,
there's no room for Christ.
Everybody. So this is so important.
This is so.
This is taken over our lives.
And this is where our focus is. So there's
there's no room
for someone.
How many times you and I
get so wrapped up
and so overwhelmed
and so involved in everything else
that in our lives, two
there's.
The thing I love about my Jesus, he's
not afraid to go to the places of the dirt
and the dung in the mess.
And so that's where he goes.
The room.
See, the people were concerned
about the census
when Jesus wanted to occupy their city.
But they didn't have room for him.
I wonder how much of that is true for us.
We got room for if you.
Yeah, yeah.
There's a room for him to.
I mean, the question
that we have to ask ourselves,
it begs the question,
how much room do you have available?
Not if you room.
Well, I got room for Sunday
every now and then.
Right.
I got enough room to get me into heaven.
You right.
So the question really isn't,
do you have room?
The question is, how much have you made a.
Profoundly different questions.
I got out from the
keep them out in the mess.
Like when the stuff hits the fan.
I got room for him.
Then.
But as far as taking up residency
and living in.
You understand?
It's about.
She wrapped him in cloths.
And placed him in a manger.
Because there's no room.
The clause that she wrapped him in.
It's the same words,
the same wrapping as burial cloths.
When Jesus was crucified
and they wrapped his body,
they covered him in 100 pounds of spices.
Part of the embalming process.
They wrapped him in
what the Bible calls swaddling cloths.
Same thing from the beginning.
This child pictured his death
and the Bible makes it clear
that this as a baby
that we celebrate, came for one purpose
to die
and then to raise himself from the dead,
wrapped in swaddling cloths
because people didn't have room.
You know why he was crucified
and wrapped in swaddling clothes?
Because you and I didn't have room.
It's a Bible call. Sin.
Verse eight.
And there were shepherds
living out in the fields
nearby, keeping
watch over their flocks at night.
To them in the glory
of the Lord shone around them,
and they were terrified,
no doubt.
I love the fact that it says the time came
for this baby to be born,
and once that happened,
God showed up to shepherds.
Things let me draw
your attention to
when the Bible says the time came.
Hunt.
What it literally means is, Time came.
The word for the time is a
is is a feminine word,
and the root of that word is gentle.
So God was gentle with her
in giving her two her time,
not just the time of the delivery,
but the her appointed time
for God's purpose.
When the Bible says her time came, it
literally means
her appointed time was accomplished.
Here's what I know.
The moment we attach ourselves to Jesus,
his plan starts to become
developed and unfolded in our lives.
And if we trust his orchestration enough
to stay in those moments,
he is faithful to develop us.
Into the accomplishment
of his purpose in time.
Our problem is
when we walk into these moments
that are unknown and moments
of fear and moments of questions
and moments about and moments
of difficulty and moments of defeat,
we want to go
on, say God,
you often can't be a part of this
because this doesn't fit my.
And rather than staying in that moment
and trusting his orchestration
of all things,
we back out of that and say, God,
if this is a way to sit down.
And when we stay in it with him,
he has the freedom to, in gentleness,
walk us and develop us
into the accomplishment
of what he began,
which the Bible says over and over
and over, faithful
is he to complete what he started.
And for some of you
this morning, I want to call you back.
Some of you have backed out
of trusting God's orchestration.
Richly detailed plan.
And I want to call you back.
Because if you'll let him in gentleness,
he will walk you into the time
when it is accomplished in you.
I'm telling you.
When the time came for it
to be accomplished.
God is so detailed
and so he's he's so intricately.
It is.
He's developed a time for you.
If you trust him
in Thomas.
He will accomplish it.
The time came for her to be born.
She wrapped him in cloth
place and there's no room for them.
In the end, the shepherds are living out.
Verse eight. In the fields nearby.
Keep watch over their flocks by night.
And the angel showed up there to up.
Angels are scary, scary, scary beings.
Just please understand
they're not little fat babies sitting on
clouds, playing harps, wearing diapers.
And that's not what angel angels are.
Fearful creatures are fearful
when they show up in the Bible.
Everybody's afraid to show up in.
These guys are terrifying.
I love the fact that when God
is going to break into human history,
his announcement first goes to shepherds.
Here's why I love that.
Because these shepherds
were anywhere from 10 to 16 year
old young men, the 16 young.
You know
why God showed up to the young ones?
Because the young ones are naive enough
to believe God's word.
See what happens.
As you get older, you start living life
and you got some experience
and you've been around a block
and you know how life works.
And sometimes we convince ourselves
that the way God works.
Has been our experience.
And so we don't believe it anymore.
So much.
We're so old and wise
when I say believe God's Word anymore.
Not like the young, naive
and part of us want to say,
just wait to grow up.
You'll understand. Then.
Then what we're really saying is
in which you'll grow up
because you'll lose your faith.
And so he goes to these young ones
who are just ignorant and naive enough.
They have been around the block yet
they still believe the word
and they hear it
and this was kind of the lowest rung,
in Judaism's ladder, because what it meant
for them to be a shepherd
is you were never ritually clean
to go into the temple for worship.
You were always dirty.
And so these guys were excluded from the
religious establishment because they were
in it.
That's where God goes.
And I love the fact
that that when Jesus shows up,
he shows up to the ones
who think that they're not worthy,
who think
that they're just a little bit too dirty.
But then there are these what he says
everybody else has cast me aside,
but not Jesus.
I love that,
and these little flocks that they're in
can take care of what they were taking
care of, were the lambs that were to be
slaughtered for the Passover.
So they're taking care of the lambs
that were Passover,
and they're invited to see the lamb
who would be killed on the cross
as our Passover.
So that's what Passover us.
From the beginning, the story has been,
do we trust God's orchestration?
Because from the beginning,
God has orchestrated
for the highest
the heights to become the lowest of lows,
for the lowest, a low,
so we can attain the highest of heights.
It's a beautiful story
and it's a great reality for
guarding their flocks at night,
keeping watch over the flocks.
Angel. Lord Peter, hear them.
They're terrified.
Verse ten.
But the angel said to them,
do not be afraid.
I bring you good news of great joy
that will be for all the people.
Do not be afraid.
Today in the town of David,
a Savior has been born to you.
He is Christ the Lord.
This will be a sign to.
You'll find the baby
wrapped in cloths. Why?
When the angel said to them,
don't be afraid.
Have any of you ever seen, like, I don't
know, like on Pinterest or some some.
Thing.
But where are the Bible lists?
Don't be afraid 365 times.
Have you seen that?
Yeah. Okay. Don't believe it. It's a lie.
That's not what the Bible says.
Okay?
It makes a great little sticker or.
The thing
is just not true.
The Bible says 70 times.
Don't be afraid.
I'm so sorry to ruin that for you.
But I want to be knowledgeable
biblically and 70 times.
But here's the deal.
It doesn't matter if God says 365 times.
You're 75 says 512 times
783 times says 1870.
Says one time.
If God says at one time, don't be afraid.
That's enough.
That's enough.
That is enough to trust his orchestration.
That is enough.
But God, you don't understand.
Like I got all this going on.
Don't be afraid.
But you don't understand.
Now don't be afraid.
But you don't understand what's happened.
Like you, if you knew. Hey,
don't be afraid.
But I run up against the daddy,
and I run up against the difficulty
I run up against to defeat the.
I only need to.
Don't be afraid.
Trust my frustration.
I'm gonna get you
to that place of my accomplishment
in your life.
When we start wiggling out of that,
that's great problems for ourselves,
right?
Right.
I guarantee
every one of us,
we have the story of the problem
we created for ourselves
and we might convince ourselves
was because they did whatever fine arts
respond how we did.
Thing we stay in there
or I'm not going to be afraid.
I'm going to trust your orchestration
because I know you're going to get me
to your accomplishment.
I know that's going to be good.
Don't be afraid.
You'll find
this baby wrapped in claws,
lying in a manger.
Let me just try a little bit
more of your Christmas story.
You know that little manger that we see?
The little wooden thing with the little
hay and it looks all pretty and pristine.
But let me show you what the was.
That's the manger.
The stone struck, the stone
hewn doubt.
When this baby was born,
wrapped in burial clothes.
Laid in a hewn out stone.
Which is what the graves
were made of back then.
Everything about his birth prefigured
his death.
And into this little caravanserai
where there's no room.
Because everybody's
so concerned about other stuff.
He's wrapped in these clothes cloths
and laid and assumed out stump.
Because he is orchestrating all things
to communicate that the highest of heights
has become.
For the lowest of the low.
It's incredible.
Verse 13, suddenly
a company of heavenly host appeared
to the angel, praising God and and saying,
Glory to God
the Son on earth, peace to men on
whom his favor rests.
These angels show up,
this one angel with the announcement
and all these other names show up.
And what do they do?
What all these angels do?
The what it says.
As a great company, the heavenly host
appeared to the angel praising God.
And what?
Saying
they didn't seem.
The company of angels did not seem.
Let me.
Let me give you a little bit of Bible
info here.
There's only two of the Bible
where angels sing.
Did you know that?
Only two places.
And they're significant
because of what it means.
The two places where the angels sing.
One is in the book of job.
And job.
Is this incredibly heartbreaking, yet
really end of it,
where job has his life torn apart
and he's in this conversation
with other religious people
who are just dumb
and they're paying all these charges.
Well, all this stuff happened
because you're a sinner.
And just like, shut up.
That's not it.
A your conversation with God and God.
Fine.
God never answers his questions,
which is amazing to think about.
All these questions
we don't answer forgot from God.
He's under no obligation
to answer our questions.
They give us reasons.
And his response
to job is basically this job.
Answer me now stand up man. Be.
Tell me how I set the limits of the ocean.
Tell me how I hung the stars.
Tell me how I set the moon in place.
And set the sun. Tell me,
tell me how I made the galaxy.
You can't because you weren't there.
Because you don't know.
So God is dream job
on. Why were its footings
set or who laid its cornerstone
while the morning stars.
In other words phrases
well, the angels sang.
There it is
together, and all the angels shout for joy
in the creation of all things.
When God was putting it all together,
the orchestration of the angels
sang at his creation.
Loving, watching the God of all creation
put it all together.
God loves work in the background, music.
And at the creation
of all these things,
he says, the angels sang.
And after the for all of the rest
of human history, they don't sing.
Not another case in the Bible
where the angels sing,
you know, the next place and the only
other place they sing in the Bible.
Revelation chapter five.
When the curse is being removed
from humanity and from the world,
they sang a new song saying, you, God,
Jesus,
are worthy to take the scroll and open.
It seals because you were slain,
and with your blood you purchased
God for God, persons from every tribe
and language of people and nation.
At the creation of all things.
They sang of celebration,
faith and power and creative work.
And then they were once sin
and of the world.
They apparently they were silent
and have been silent since.
And they will not see
you until God comes and reverse
and takes away the curse from humanity.
And then they'll burst out in song again.
Guess who's left in their
stead to sing praises to God.
This is why God said, if you are silent,
the rocks will cry out
and sing my praises.
And I've got to wonder just for a moment.
Wonder with me.
The angels sit in heaven down at us.
And they look at God
and they think, God. Why?
Why do you love them so much?
Why are you so gracious to them?
Why are you so merciful?
They have no room for you.
They're so involved in everything else
that's going on around them and in them.
They make you sleep out in the cold
and the dirt in the dumb.
Why do you love them so much?
If you were just a
we would sing your praise.
They have the opportunity to
they're they're redeemed ones
who sit in silence of you.
We know how great you are.
We know how good you see your hand.
And yet they sit in silence.
I wonder what the angels would say to us.
I think I know.
I think they would say, you
who are redeemed,
you have. No.
I know what God has done.
Christ, the eternal one from eternity.
The highest of heights
became the lowest of lows
as a baby with the animals and the dumb.
For you who the lowest of low
shout. See?
Do you realize who this is?
You sit there unaffected.
Look, you got no room
you want for eternity, but not your life.
Shout!
I think they'd say something like that.
Thank you for.
Your.
When the angels had left him,
they had gone into heaven.
The shepherds said to one another.
Let's go.
Let's go see this thing that's happened.
Where's the Lord told us about?
And so they hurried off and
found Mary and Joseph
and the baby who was lying in a manger
a little.
Let's go. Wait.
How can we sit here unaffected
when we realize when we see the.
How can we sit around the fact,
let's go.
Can you imagine if they had the suspension
like.
Man, I hope we don't waste moments.
So they heard off
and found Mary and Joseph.
And the baby was lying in a manger.
When they had seen him,
they spread the word concerning
what had been told them about this child.
And all who heard it were amazed
at what the shepherds said to.
But Mary treasured up all these things
and pondered them in her heart.
Can you imagine?
You know when
when you've seen Christ,
when you've heard him.
You can't be unaffected.
When you see him, you talk about him.
One of the greatest prayers
any of us could pray is God.
Open my eyes that I might see.
Because when you see him, it changes.
Here's my great fear.
My great fear is that people sit in church
time after time of time,
with just enough Bible
and just enough Jesus to get inoculated
so they don't get infected.
The goal of a life
attached to Jesus infected,
not inoculated.
And we know when we're inoculated,
when we get a little bit and go out.
And we play safe
and there's no spreading.
And we know we've been infected.
When we go out
and others get infected because of us.
To understand,
these guys got infected.
Each of us has to discern for ourself
and populated.
Or am I infected?
Jesus calls us to a life of infection
when he said, come, follow me,
become like me.
Look at verse
27 and glorifying and praising God
for the things they had seen and heard
or heard and seen,
which were just as they had been told.
Here's what I know.
When you get infected,
you tell your humble your story.
In this church,
we talk about our huddle, those
8 to 15 people that we have,
that we have influence with,
some of them, our family, some of our
people go to school with some people.
We work with,
but we got 8 to 15 people
that we call our huddle.
They're close to us.
And when we're infected,
they know.
And they get infected to.
And when this has been your experience,
like the shepherds,
you get infected.
And it is good.
I want to I want to go back to verses one,
two, three, four because there's something
I want to point out here, okay?
So just just hang with me.
Let's go back to verses
one, two, three, four.
In those days, Caesar
Augustus issued a decree that a censorship
take of the entire Roman world.
It was the first census.
It was taken a while before
Carinus was governor of Syria.
Ever went to his own town to register?
Remember that. Now watch this.
So Joseph also went up from the town
of Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem,
the town of David, because he was he
belonged to the house and line of David.
This was why this is so important.
The census was a Roman,
regulation.
So all the Hebrews, all the Jewish people
in the nation, in the Promised
Land,
were living under Roman occupation law.
The civil law and part of the civil law
was to hold a census for taxation
purposes, to know how many people do
we have, how much money they owe us.
That's what government does. Okay.
And it was unjust, and it was unfair
because that's.
Government up and so
and so so they were under Roman
obligation.
The census. They run a Roman obligation.
But to go back to their home
town was not a Jewish regulation.
That was a Jewish stipulation.
Okay.
So the Roman obligation is
that you will be taxed,
because the Jewish stipulation
is that they went back to their homeland.
What, because the Jews were very concerned
with the with the land
that had been granted originally
through the tribe to family lines.
And so
they were under Roman obligation,
living under Jewish stipulation.
But God was working everything
for a divine restriction.
Sometimes you and
I live under oppressive obligation
and other stipulations over our lives,
but God will use even
that as a divine orchestration
to do what God wants to do.
So don't question it,
even when the obligation and stipulation
are all and oppressive.
For a moment, live under it
because it is working together
for God's divine orchestration.
Let me tell you a house. How specifically?
So they went back to Bethlehem,
the town of David.
Mary had to get back to that Bethlehem
because that's what the prophecy said
in my way back in the Old Testament.
But you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, though you are small
among the clans of
Judah, out of you will come,
one who will be ruler over
Israel, whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.
And so the prophecy in the Old Testament
that from Ephrathah would come
the Messiah.
Here's why this is important.
There were two Bethlehem's
back in the day.
Two there wasn't
just a little town of Bethlehem.
There was the Bethlehem of Judah
and the Bethlehem of Zebulun.
And back in Micah five
it says, but you,
Bethlehem, Ephrathah Bethlehem,
Efrat was the small little Bethlehem
from whence David was born.
Mary had to give back to that Bethlehem
because there were two.
And the prophecy specified that's
what so had
the Roman obligation of his census
not taking place.
And the Jewish stipulation
to go back to your homeland,
Mary would have never been back in
Bethlehem.
Ephrathah
fulfilling the Scripture centuries before.
That's recorded
in Micah five two out of you.
And God
says, I will orchestrate everything
in your world to get you to a place
where you've got to be.
Trust me with it.
The obligations that are oppressive,
the stipulations that other people have on
you, will work together
as a divine orchestration
to do exactly what I have determined to.
Through you and with you.
Trust me, you understand.
It's amazing.
Out of you will come
the one who will rule over
Israel, whose origins are from old,
from ancient times.
John one one in the beginning
was the word Jesus, and the word was God,
and the word was God.
He was with God from the beginning.
All things that have been made
have been made through him
from ancient times.
All at the orchestration
of the father.
And. Sometimes
as difficult as this might be,
what looks like an obligation
or stipulation imposed upon
you from others
is actually God's orchestration for you.
If you can't believe that right now,
I want to believe it for you.
I can lend you my faith.
I would.
There's
nothing better that you and I can do
than to trust God's orchestration
and obediently follow him into it.
See, everybody
thought that Caesar was ruling.
He's the one that issued the decree.
But overruling
a right.
Now, some of you think this thing
is ruling over my life,
this difficulty, this pain, this defeat,
the struggle, this is ruling over my life.
I want you to hear me say these words.
It might feel as though that is ruling
your life, but God is overrule that
you trust a divine orchestration
and I invite you to trust it,
because that's really
the question of Christmas.
Can you trust God's orchestration
when you can't trust others,
and when you feel like
you have no control?
That's really kind of Christmas,
is it?
Christmas is the question
Mary had to answer.
It's the question Joseph had to answer.
It's a question
every one of you and I must answer.
Can we trust God to put restriction?
I don't want to suggest you can.
Because of his amazing grace.
Because his amazing grace
that says I am going to,
from the highest of heights,
become the lowest of lows
for the lowest of lows.
Because I have so much love and mercy
and grace to pour out of them, and I want
them to experience that.
Because of God's amazing grace,
we can trust his orchestration.
He loves you.
And he doesn't just want to spend eternity
with you,
wants to spend your right now with you,
and he want you to spend your right now
with him.
And if you're willing to step into
this thing called faith.
Faith is the antidote for your every fear.
I know that sometimes life gets scary.
I know that sometimes the circumstances
that feel like they have an I'm scary
faith is the antidote.
The faith that says, God, I trust you
and I'm going to trust your orchestration,
and I'm not going to wiggle out.
His grace for you
and for me is so amazing.
It is sufficient. He.
And it's because of that amazing grace
that he chose
to take up the form of a
human and come to this planet
and offer his life
as a ransom for our sin.
So that we can have eternal life
starting right now.
And there's no greater invitation
that you can accept than that.
So the question.
Because of his grace,
will you trust his orchestration
and give yourself.
Why don't you pray with me?
God, you are a good God.
I believe what your word says,
that you've loved us
with an everlasting love.
And I believe you showed us how much
your love, how great it is for us.
By sending your son to earth.
And Jesus, you confirmed
the magnitude of the father's love
by willingly going to the cross
and then picking your life
back up again.
So that through you, Jesus, we could have
a right relationship with the father.
God, I believe that.
There are many here
who do believe the same,
and there are some who are who are
beginning to believe that.
Father, I ask for grace to believe.
For those who are yet
undecided,
for those who have wiggled out, for those
who have walked away, I ask
for them on their behalf for grace
that they might believe again.
And friends,
I'd invite you in this moment.
To say to the Father, God,
I'm going to trust your orchestration.
Because I'm going to choose
to believe that you love me.
And as much as I know how.
I'm going to love you back.
I choose to follow you.
Guys, a simple prayer,
a simple decision in your heart.
I don't want you to walk out of here
without making that decision.
It's the best decision you can make.
That the highest of heights
became the lowest lows
for people like me.
And people like you,
who are the lowest of low
that we might become and live.
Would you just say in your own heart, God,
I trust you.
Lead and rule in my life.
Help me follow you.
Today I give myself back.
Father, I thank you for decisions
that are being made.
I thank you for people
who are choosing to trust.
God, I pray that you continue
to give us grace to believe.
I thank you for your amazing grace.
How sweet the sound that it saved a wretch
like me.
I oh God, I once was lost,
but now I'm found.
I once was blind,
but now I see. Your grace is amazing.
Your love is profound.
And I thank you that you are
in the business right now of orchestrating
for an appointed time,
an appointed purpose.
You're a good God.
And in the angels
stead, we want to praise you.
In your name I pray.
Amen.
Listen, I love you.
In two days,
I want you to come back to us at 5:00.
Get there early.
We're going to wrap up
this Christmas story
with the wise men
and their approach to Jesus.
It's amazing. It's just amazing.
I want you to come back.
I want to invite your family and friends.
I want to invite your huddle. Destroy.
We need to be reminded of.
If any of you made
some decision to follow Jesus
or to come back a
you got to tell somebody.
You can let us know on those cards.
You let us know on I'm
going to be here after serving.
Come talk to me now.
My friend
John McElroy is Laura, Bob and Jennifer.
There's the we're going to be down there.
Just people down here.
You going to talk to us alone?
Talk with you,
pray with you, help solidify this thing.
Listen, it's been good to be together.
Two days.
Where are we meeting again?
Less. What time?
Who are you going to invite?
Like a good football team, man.
That's good right there.
Yeah, man, I love you guys, I love you.
Stand up and sing
because angels can't let us go get.