All right, so today we're gonna jump into I'm gonna jump a little bit off of pastor Fred's message, but also really want to punch him one main theme today in the title of the messages Behold the Savior comes and I want you guys to say that say behold. I believe this is gonna be our Christmas command this year y'all Because that's what it is. It's a command behold is not just some information to say hey, you know Just check this out. It's a command to look I want you to look and so today That's what we're gonna talk about the Christmas command behold and it's really when when God steps into the room And so every Christmas I was praying and asking God like for a message for the Christmas time I love Christmas time.
I don't like Christmas music, but I like Christmas time and so I really want to just talk about some things today And we're gonna dive in it's gonna be awesome, but we like to talk about the manger That's a popular one. We like to talk about the animals We like to talk about the star the shepherds, but I want to really put a focus on today that it's not just about Where he was born there's a lot of focus on where he was born But I want to focus on today what his birth ended That's what I want to focus on today because his birth it ended distance silence separation and ended fear We've been talking about tackling fear what ended fear. It's not just a story about a baby coming into the world It's a story about God stepping into our world and refusing to be far ever again It's not just God came to us It's we're gonna read it says Emmanuel, which means God with us So it's not just that he came to us. He came to be with us not above us around us against us say with us We gotta wake up sir.
Say with us. There we go. And here's what I think There's only really one right response to that kind of miracle and this first command Heaven announced him But before we jump into that I'm building up here guys. I want you to want you to really stay with me and focus today Before we read that announcement I want to just lay out the scene So we can kind of picture this I want you to really try to look in today lean in today because for 400 years heaven was silent Complete silence no prophets no visions no fresh word Generations are wondering if God was still going to keep his promise for 400 years and Then God begins to move but it's quietly at first He sends an angel to Zachariah about John and Gabriel speaks to Mary about Jesus and Joseph receives confirmation in a dream What am I saying here all of these encounters are private?
They're intimate they're private behind the scenes are hidden if you will into the world. Nothing looks different yet Shoey Rome still rules Israel still weary expectation is like super low like super low And religion is cold and out in the field You've got some shepherds come on the shepherds the ones that nobody notices nobody celebrates nobody chooses They're out in the field doing the night shift y'all They're out here working just doing their normal routine same to hillside Which some believe it was caves that they stayed in but I don't want to get into those details I just want to say that they're out here. They're doing their same routine. They're in the same darkness Nothing special is happening nothing spiritual is happening nothing supernatural is happening.
They're just out there doing their normal routine And I think it's interesting because I find that God likes to move in those places And what doesn't seem special doesn't seem like nothing's going on you know the ordinary places and one of the And one of the middle of those silent nights in that field Heaven finally goes public after 400 years like this is public. It was private. It's silent Speaking about what's coming lining things up then all of a sudden 400 years heaven goes bam It starts to break are y'all ready all right today? Come on Silence and heaven goes public This is the first public announcement of the Messiah all of it was private up to this point And this is the first public announcement.
I want you to notice this when it does go public There's an instruction that's first to the heart Do not be afraid and then there's a first invitation Which is to their eyes? Behold first instruction to the heart first invitation to the eyes. I'm getting excited y'all Do not fear is the first thing that heaven addresses after 400 years of silence See I had to bring this up because we're talking about tackling fear and they're left with a warning And then we get 400 years later and now the first thing is Do not be afraid. I want you to hold on to that because I think what we're seeing is You have to deal with the fear first before joy can land I'm gonna say one more time something has to be dealt with in us Before this can really land and do what it's meant to do come on one.
Amen on the left side right side wake up It didn't start with peace joy. It didn't even start with a Savior is born first. Do not be afraid Behold I love that heaven started by calming fear first. I love that Don't be afraid and then shortly after commands us to behold to look All right, let's go ahead and read if you got your Bible's turn to Luke chapter 2 and I'm gonna reverse is 1 through 12 And there's some good stuff.
I just could not leave out So we're gonna talk we're gonna punch on it, but I want to get to a couple main themes if you're there say I'm there If you don't have your Bible we will pray for you after service. I'm joking. It's on the screen Verse 1 and it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered This sense is first took place while Cornelius was covering Syria So all went to be registered everyone to his own city Joseph also went up to from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea into the city of David Which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and a lineage of lineage of David to be registered with Mary His wife who was with child So it was that while they were there the days Were completed for her to be delivered. I was waiting for it.
I was just getting ready to say can we get an amen? All right, so here's what I want to I want to just touch on something real quick I want to touch on verse 1 I want to walk us through something real quick And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered What's really going on in this verse? We're about to break it down. I want to say that I love that it shows God entering history This is anchoring the birth of Jesus in a real moment.
It's under a real ruler with a real government order This isn't one of those stories that starts out with once upon a time in a land far far away No, this is this is talking about real history here this print this is bringing some evidence here about the birth of Jesus and It happened right in the middle of human history. That's the first point I want to bring up the second little point is Earthly power always thinks it's in control Caesar Augustus believed he was rolling the world. He was the ultimate roller He issues a decree pretty much what kids would say now flex in his authority. This is decree.
He's flexing his authority but unknowingly His command is being used by God to move Joseph and Mary Exactly where prophecy said the Messiah would be born. I don't know if y'all just heard about that He's using this decree from a earthly ruler To move Joseph and Mary to the very place that they had to go back to which is Bethlehem where where scripture says That our Savior will be born. We can go home right now That should be enough to prove to you that we serve a powerful and good God But let's go a little more I want to show you something too with this that God works through systems even broken ones It's going to show you our powerful God a Roman census was about control Taxes and power Yet God used that very system to fulfill his redemptive plan Can we just take a minute and say thank you God? I want to speak to something real quick that might get a little hairy I would normally like to do this on Thursday nights since we're not live but we're live.
I'm going to say it anyway We see here Just follow me Something that looks political Is really God moving pieces into place for his promise I just want to speak to a political people for a second That hey listen God moves God will use political movements. So if you're against a certain party or the next party, I've always said this It's not a good plan to fight against each other But just hear me out. We have proof in scripture that God used a political party To move things in position for his promise to land So if we trust our Savior we trust our a good lord and savior then sometimes there might be some things that's happening that we can't see I don't think you heard what I said. I don't think you want to receive that But the reality is we're watching here There was a ruler that made a de- he made a decree That God used to bring everything to the proper place For his promise the ultimate promise.
We're not just talking about a promise We're talking about the Savior being born and he used all that to bring it to the right location Oh my goodness gracious If that don't excite you, I don't I'm probably not gonna say anything else that's gonna get that much more exciting To see how God uses thing and orchestrates things for his promise to come to pass So rest in that the lord will use anything and he can use anything And when you think that he's not moving he might just be aligning something for it to land where it needed to land My goodness gracious All the world it says all the world Because from Rome's perspective that meant the entire Roman Empire But for God's perspective it hit a much bigger scale The Savior who would pick who would impact the entire world That's a big deal See they were talking about just a little region, but this is God knew he was going to send someone that was going to impact the entire world The entire world Man So sometimes what looks like a government order is actually a divine setup See Caesar thought that he was counting people but God was positioned in a savior Do you trust your savior? I don't think you didn't convince him not me. Do you trust him? Come on All right verse seven And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in a swaddling cloth and laid him in a manger Because there were no room for them in the end Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields keeping watch over their flock by night And behold say behold An angel of the Lord stood before them And the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid Verse 10 Then the angel said to them do not be afraid For behold I bring you good tidings of great joy Which will be to all people for there is there is born to you this day in the city of david a savior who is christ the lord Thank you father And this Will be the sign to you You will find a babe wrapped in the swaddling clothes lying in a manger And this Will be the sign to you You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger Father, I thank you for your word today God, I thank you that it's true I thank you that you give us and lead us right to the place where we can see the evidence That you sent your son and what he came to do and that all of that was fulfilled father Everything was fulfilled and you show us that We thank you that you send him We trust you we love you we honor you in Jesus name.
Amen All right, behold The christmas command I write that down. This is going to be your christmas command this year Behold I like this is the first command of christmas if you had a different one remove it and use this one This I want you to understand something This isn't just saying hey, I want you to listen up now and lend a ear This this is this literally means a translation of this word See differently Look see differently Shift your perspective Don't look at this moment here with old eyes Could you imagine if we started seeing things through the new eyes the new lens There's a lot of times church that we're looking at things through old eyes This is saying look Behold I want you to look into this I do Not I do that's the Greek word here the the word this translation It's I do I do It's an imperative which means it's a command This isn't just you know some passive information. I'm telling you pay attention You need to see this right now if you miss this moment you're going to miss everything This is how strong this is church. I hope you're I hope you're grabbing this This isn't just a another word that you're looking at if you will grab this for what it is It's saying you can't miss this point because you won't get the rest Behold Behold You need to shift your focus And it comes From another word edu E-ideo To see to perceive to know I want to point out this it's not just about eyesight It's about perception and understanding It's saying to look But this is look with intention This isn't just a oh all right Notice the focus in and see I think uh I think some of us look and we don't look to gain understanding We don't lean in to try to gain understanding when we look And I think this is what it's drawing us to do It's pretty much saying hey stop being ruled by fear Refocus And look Put put your attention on what God is doing right now You need to understand what he's doing right now Well you look Y'all are going to think I keep beating the same horse because I'm going to Do not fear Behold You need to refocus You're looking at the wrong thing Being afraid will have you looking at the wrong thing Behold refocus shift Understand what you're looking at There's something that's happening right here Is what you'll need to grab a hold on Behold say behold Y'all are going to hate this word by the time we're done This is a divine interruption church See God used it often To interrupt the normal thinking For shifting perspective And announcing something that changes everything Announcing something that changes everything Can you come here bro?
I don't think Listen I don't think just stay right there for a second I don't think Oh you can see it up Sorry I need to take a drink I don't think you guys get it Here here's Behold Behold Not going to get it right Because that's not what's happening here This is literally what the word is trying to say Behold Behold right that grabs your attention Right go right see Like it's meant to really grab a hold of you It's the angels not just saying Hey guys hey just look Just look over there Now it's trying to grab to say Hey listen You need to understand what you're looking at I can't I shouldn't have used you I can't be serious We direct round thank you bro Can we give me my hand? Do you guys get it though? That's what it's trying to do here This is what my hope is for you That when you read this from now on This isn't another fluffy story That you're reading that you're realizing It's trying to grab your attention To draw you in to what's happening Because that's what's going to move you That's what's going to get your shift Everyone's like how do we get Christmas off of You know Christ is in Christmas But how do we get the focus off this? Here's how Behold Forget the rest If you behold this It will change your perspective forever Because you will understand the true meaning Of what took place And you will maybe celebrate with gifts Still that's fine I don't care But you will sit down around this time And understand That it is grabbing a hold of you To let you know Something major is happening here You will not get another present That's going to ever be better Than this right here Which is a savior That is born to us Stop Just stop Looking At what's scaring you And look at what God is revealing I've learned that the Lord is always revealing himself And we will allow the whisper And the fears and stuff that scares us To draw our attention But we also have the ability to behold And say but this is what God's revealing in the moment My goodness gracious It was a revelation that we are being invited to Christmas requires new eyes We do not behold the manger We behold the miracle We don't behold the night We behold the light The one who came And we definitely don't behold what's wrong We would and should always behold Who has come Always You cannot live God with us If you're not willing to behold That God is among us You won't You can't You just won't be able to see it church I hope you hear my heart today I really didn't come to wreck anybody's Christmas plans or thoughts I just want us to understand That if you will behold The savior who came Everything will change for you And I believe the world would Derastically start changing around us If we began to live God with us It would change everything how we walked So every time We say Immanuel I believe we are answering God's command God with us Behold God is with us Behold God is with me Behold Heaven has closed the distance Behold Heaven has closed the distance It's no it's God came down But now he's with us Are you guys seeing this?
Behold the savior comes He came Behold I want to encourage you With this Christmas command this year Behold Keep looking until you see him If you keep looking until you see him And you see until you start to believe him And you keep believing in him Everything is going to change I just want to help us today I want to help us Im at 1124 Im doing okay That was just my opener See last week Pastor Fred Preached you shall call his name Jesus Which I thought was a profound word It's something we He said it's not It's not nothing new We just keep reading it But something changed for me when I was reading it And he was preaching it because I was looking different You shall call his name Jesus No it's nothing new It's scripture that we read all the time But he showed us something powerful That his name literally means Jehovah is salvation Jehovah is salvation Which that said to me a couple things Not Jehovah might save Not Jehovah wants to save He does But Jehovah is salvation And that changes everything When I know he don't just want to Or it's not just what he does But that's who he is That changes how I see him His very name Declared his assignment Like his name declared Who he was and what he came to do I thought that was so awesome And what's cool is that his name Jesus Jehovah is salvation Tells us what he came to do He came to say rescue, redeem, deliver And then we see another name that pops up This isn't the different Jesus I believe it's just a different deeper revelation Emmanuel St. Jesus But I believe this reveals his mission Jesus reveals his mission Emmanuel reveals the nature of the Father If you're taking notes just write that down Take that with you Jesus Jehovah is salvation Reveals his mission Emmanuel God with us Reveals his nature See Jesus answers the question What does he do? But Emmanuel answers the question How he does it I thought that was so cool He saves us by being with us He delivers us by dwelling among us And he rescues By refusing to leave us Says that he will never leave us Nor forsake us If there's anybody lonely out there Just want to Make a plug real quick God with us See this is the site I'm telling you to look through That it's trying to get us to understand We'll get afraid and we'll live outside of this And when we're afraid and we're scared And we're not beholding What this scripture is telling us And we're believing it Then we start to see things Things start to feel distanced Get us in our feelings We start operating in those And then we start to I'll get to this place I just feel lonely I'm lonely But scripture shows us that God came down to be With us And I want to tell you right now If God is with you, you're never alone And he gives a promise He's the only person in my life to this day That's never failing And I'm not talking Ill of anybody else But he's the only one that when he says That I'll never leave you He's never left me I've stopped looking I've stopped beholding but once the second I behold He's there I'll never leave you Or nor forsake you And so if God with us That means you're never alone That means you got more than what you need And I understand this season I actually want to love about it This season's hard for a lot of people And I understand that But I want to tell you today You got the greatest gift ever A gift that will last you a lifetime All the way into eternity Amen He'll never leave you You're never alone Emmanuel, God with us Shoo, we So if you come to me and you're like a nun I'm just gonna be like, hey Emmanuel, behold You're not gonna like it That's what I'm gonna keep saying But come on Pastor Fred showed us The name that reveals God's saving us And I want to talk a little bit more on that About God's staying with us Because Jesus came to save But he also came to stay So the first point Was that thing's been up there for a long time Emmanuel, God with us This is a fulfillment Not a feeling Matthew 1 I'm gonna be 20 through 23 But Matthew 1, first 20 Maybe 21 And she will bring forth a son And you shall call his name Jesus For he will save his people from their sins So all this was done That it might be fulfilled Which was spoken by the Lord through the prophets Saying Behold, say behold The Virgin shall be with child And bear a son And they shall call his name Emmanuel Which is translated God with us So before he ever taught He'll deliver raise people from the dead He was first Emmanuel with us Before he did any of that stuff Presence I want you to grab this It leads me to believe that presence Is the foundation of every promise God with us If we start there Before anything else happens If we start there That his presence is with us It'll change how we step from that Forward One amen over here Listen Before anything happened Emmanuel he was with us first God with us Presence with us among us Starting ground If we start there See you can know scripture You can attend church every sunday You can pray You can serve You can do all the things we love to do But if you do not know that he's with you You will live as if you're on your own If you don't understand he's with you You'll live as if you're on your own Anybody in here ever done that? That's tarry, amen Anybody ever this side ever live on their own?
Amen Come on Because I believe it's partly because we don't know that he's with us We don't understand that he's with us We didn't behold that when it said a Savior came To really grab a hold to look intentionally Like I was shaking Pastor Fred He was No We didn't do that We didn't let it we're just like okay Yep Just something else I kind of understand I believe but I don't really believe I never behold I think there's some people today in the room that you need to behold You need to look and understand what was born A promise that we received Because if you don't know that he's with you He will live as if you're on your own I believe Christmas is God telling us That we'll never walk alone again See in the Old Testament God came on people He came to people He even came through people But he never Never in the Old Testament Was continuously with people Do y'all understand what happened When we received the Savior and God stepped in It shifted everything It went from him being distant Just coming on people Coming through people don't know that But then a Savior came and he literally stepped in to the world And it said with us Never to leave again My goodness gracious I hope right now that if anybody's feeling lonely That the Lord is just showering you with his love Letting you know you'll never walk again We have access to something greater This isn't uh this should not be I love Christmas but Christmas is seasonal I want you to understand this word is not seasonal It's not seasonal Immanuel is not a seasonal presence It's permanent So guess what you get to have all year long Not just on December 25th If you behold You get to have this continual presence That God is with you But if you just wait to every Christmas to behold Just look look casually again Then you're just going to grab it for a couple days And then once the new year hits and you start this new journey of working out and it stops in two weeks You gotta go all that Yeah, someone caught that I do it every year y'all like January Yeah, New Year's tradition I'm going to start going to the gym And guess what the gym loves me because I never go but I support it and pay monthly But come on This is not seasonal and man who is God with us forever He came down to be with us I think some of y'all think he just touched down to visit and then just leaves He came to be with you Do not fear I talked a little bit about this leading up So I can just punch through these but I want to make it known fear gets addressed Before joy gets received And here's why I believe Because you cannot receive good news When fear is gripping your heart It's one of those things I would put it this way You hear what you want to hear but it doesn't feel right You still don't get what you wanted You know what I mean Because I think that's you trying to do that on your own Let's see You gotta address fear first so the good news can actually land Does that make sense? It made a lot of sense to me I was getting excited about that one But Christmas, like I said, does a lot of things Because what was scary and silent for a couple hundred years God actually stepped into And it ended fear's authority Because I serve a God that steps into the things that scares us We don't have to keep anything from him Church Now I'm shifting to attack one fear We don't have to If we will let him come in You understand what happened He came out of heaven to earth He came all the way down So we could have access Which tells me he wants to walk into every part of our lives But he won't if you try to keep him out Here's what I want you to say To the people that are I'm not enough Emmanuel God with us This is the only thing you have to say I believe God is with me As soon as that starts I'm gonna be transparent That's the one that haunts me the most It pops its head up You're not doing enough You're not enough But I'm gonna start staying and say no God is with me God is with me That's the only thing we have to understand Because if we church you see If we behold that he really came And fulfilled his promise that he's now with us Then what do we have to be afraid of? Do not be afraid Behold I'm not enough Don't be afraid Behold Like if we don't get it we're just gonna keep doing the same routine But when that comes Ahh I can be calm because he said not to be afraid Why? Because he was gonna step into anything that would ever scare us And know that he's with us And that's everything we'll ever need Is him in any situation Do not be afraid Behold There's a lot of people that's afraid of the future But God is with us There's a ton of my life I believe that my past disqualified me But God is with me That thing it has encouraged me so much God is with me You know we all go through things But if we understand that God is with me That'll shift our perspective Behold Because fear instantly loses its voice When the presence enters the room Behold God is with us And I think when we behold correctly That's when fear and stuff breaks But if we just do the Behold That's gonna look You come on You all remember two weeks ago when I stood here And Matthew was standing in front of me Across the line of scrimmage from me That point where we collide Where we have to either stand up to it or we run Guess what you got to do with that When he's standing here You can't just be like whoa Behold I'm gonna try this thing No Behold God is with me It doesn't matter what's on the other side of me Behold God is with me That's what gives me the strength to take another step God is with me Come on church do you see this Do you see that what God's trying to do Fear is gotta stop tackling us We have everything that we need And when our perspective shifts It just so happens to be that joy rises This is not mind-blowing things It's just the reality That when those times have happened in your life And you've really behold Not to just to behold When you really behold If you ever notice that there's a shift in your life And that joy just starts to flow through your body Because when you really grab a hold That God is with you You understand that there's nothing That can stop you That is powerful That is a shift Shoe God stepped into what we wouldn't let him touch The manger is It's no secret that that God was born Not into really comfort It said there was no room at the end I can tell you now I'd be really upset I would not be settling for the manger I'm letting you know guys If it's like there was no room at the end Well you better call your manager and make some room Because I'm not sleeping in that thing That's just me But come on He wasn't born into something He was born into something crazy Some chaos It wasn't comfort It was chaos He was born into poverty Into darkness Into instability Into a manger That could not have been clean Pretty Prepared even He was born into none of that stuff And I As I was reading and thinking about this If he was born into that and didn't avoid that He ain't gonna avoid the mess that you're in We're gonna see in a minute that it goes further But I just want you to hear me out real quick If he came the savior of the world Came to that place Why do we act like he won't come into some of these places of our life that needs clean up He ain't afraid of no space I won't stay in a manger He will He'll come to that place Come on This is the thing that excited me the most I'm just gonna be honest When I thought about the savior coming to the manger And yeah, I know a lot of people talk about the silent humility Right, the manger and what we just talked about But it showed me something greater That he came to the lowest place And I know we talk about Bethlehem and It's you know what good can come from Bethlehem, right?
It's not a good place But it showed me that our savior came to the lowest place And yes it was in humility But more than anything it gave complete access It showed me when I was studying this week that I'd never have to climb to get to him That he came so low that I could access him That's what the manger was That's why he didn't come anywhere crazy Or that it would take you wouldn't be able to access or reach him To me it was the sign of the most accessible place in person To let people know they'd never have to climb to get to him He would be able to meet him right where they're at Whoever you are And that to me was so special That that's where he came He came so low So you'd never have to climb high And I think the places you avoid In the world avoid it It shows us It's the places that our God's drawn to It says Bethlehem This is a manger Nothing about this is awesome But our God sends Jesus there Emmanuel is not just his name It's a promise with the pulse And then I believe that what we see eventually is that Christmas starts the movement of the distance Of being separated from God and God not being near To it becoming Emmanuel With us Then we see the shift to God Distance with us to within us Closhing 127 says this To them God will to make known What are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles Which is Christ in you the hope of glory So see it starts with God with us But then it becomes Christ in us In us The hope of glory I sent a message out to our team because I wanted us to encourage us that It was uh, you know at this time that was so That was so far fetched for people to wrap their brains around Like so far fetched And we have to understand that this was never originally for the Gentiles We'll see then we were grafted in but what this is saying that hey, this is this is the mystery That Christ will be in you Like that's the great mystery He's now in us The moment we start to believe in him it becomes now Christ in you How exciting is that? That's the glory the hope of glory will never be alone again Our futures guarantee now that Christ is in us We get to have confidence We get to walk this life understanding and knowing that God is with us It's no more anything that he's not around us nearest Disaffirm us not access to us We are now with him and he is in us If that doesn't excite you church, I'm not sure what will Because my goodness See I love Christmas The Christmas story And I get it You won't find the word Christmas in the Bible But this is the Christmas story But see Christmas is the outside miracle Pentecost was the inside miracle God came to be with us And on the day of Pentecost That shifted everything now God can be in us And that's what I believe ultimately is needed for transformation to happen God with us is great And when we see a lot of great things happen and move But transformation happens with Christ in us Working in us Through us I don't think you guys got what I said Christ came to God came to be with us And then it got even deeper of a relationship That once I accepted him Then he became to be in me And it's a holy spirit that's working in me That actually begins to do the transformation of our lives To live this life like to example Jesus Amen Shoo They're making me work hard for it today My goodness There ain't nobody in history That came to that love so much To not just want to stand beside you But loved you so much to actually be a part of you Like that's a love that we just can't comprehend But this is why church I believe that angel is saying Behold Because if you just look You're not going to see this deep revelation You got to actually look because you want to gain understanding of what's really happening Jesus has come This is the sign that you're going to know that it's him You're going to find him swaddled in a manger And that is how you will know That this is the Lord Behold Because if you're going to see him correctly To to receive him fully you got to see him correctly I think that's where we're getting the little hung up Because if we really were beholding that leads to belonging And belonging is what's going to ultimately lead to us becoming Do you understand that our Savior came to be with us? Emmanuel God with us Christ in us You must still don't are you guys okay? God is with us in the seasons we don't understand Because we love God with us When the miracles come super fast But I want to speak to the seasons that don't make sense Does anybody have those?
I think Luke 2 gives us kind of a picture we often overlook After the angels appeared After the heaven filled the sky all the stuff I just got you guys excited for After the glory surrounded them I want to say something those shepherds They didn't get promoted They didn't get relocated They didn't get upgraded Here's what Luke 2 says out of the holy translation the message translation Verse 20 the shepherds Return and let loose Glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen It turned out exactly the way they've been told I want you to catch something though The shepherds returned Guess where they went back to? The same hillside the same fields the same work the same routine the same everything the same they just returned But see you got to if you just glance if you're not beholden you're going to miss it They returned back to the same environment everything was the same But they were different Ah, you didn't catch it They returned back but guess what to the same environment But they were different because it says when they returned if they were praising and they were thinking and they were doing all this Because they seen and everything that they were told became to be exactly what they were told Shoo we And that just pumped me up so much because this great the greatest thing that can happen Right 400 years of silence and then the saviors all this crazy cool stuff is happening And then after it's all done and they go and they see and all that stuff They got to go back But see the difference is is they're taken now because guess what they did different church They behold Everything that was told to them was exactly right And they were able to understand it now the savior is with us So they could walk back into everything was the same but be different Oh my goodness. I don't think you guys are still the left side starting to get in the right side still sleeping on it They returned Listen everybody in here can return back to your normal life, but you can be completely different There's a lot of people that leave sunday mornings and they go back to their same routine and they need sunday again to revive them But you can leave out of this door these thresholds today and never be the same if you will be whole that you have a savior That's with you and that Christ actually became in you and you're never alone again You got everything you need so anything you're ever going to face or do you got God with you My goodness gracious if that doesn't excite you come on church We don't have to keep repeating the same process. We can go back to work Tense of the fuck Go back to night shift go back to what we were doing, but the difference is known who's with you That should change everything in your life.
He's with you say he's with me They went back different see when you really behold who the savior is It it doesn't it can't do anything but produce thanksgiving because that's who how good he is Like it it shifts everything Like you if you grab ahold of who he is Their job didn't change Their joy did I'll tell you right now We talked a while back. I remember this as I was studying this week pastor Fred said I want city reach To be the best employees in this you all remember that He said that This is how we do that If you beholden you understand you can go to the same job I have a different joy My goodness Listen you can go to the same job if I have a different joy because you understand who you are and who's who's you are Come on church If you want to keep just still doing the same things over and over again Then just keep me. Oh, I see it. Yeah, I see he was born.
I get it. I know he's all these things but No, that's not beholding. That's just you. Yeah.
Yeah, I'm just What you being a bloodhead? That's not you beholding. Hey, man. Can I say that church?
The field they went back to did not move their faith to Like you guys seeing this This is Emmanuel God with us in those awesome moments But God also with us in those other moments But don't seem so awesome But we grab a hold of that that it is God that is with us and that's what sustains us Phew He's a good God when everything makes sense But he stood still be a good God when nothing makes sense See what I love is that he doesn't always remove the seasons from us He just refuses to leave us in it He is with you and your season of waiting Your season of uncertainty Your season where you don't feel him The seasons where the promise seemed delayed this was 400 years y'all we can't make it four minutes We throw a we throw a hail mary other and we're sitting by our phone like our God's been 30 seconds We we don't we don't like to wait But even when it's delayed Seasons where you don't have the answers if you're in the season right now where you feel like I don't have the answers I would propose that God's actually drawing you closer to him right now because the more more you get closer to him the more you realize I really don't know and have this figured out and I don't have to because God is with me This is what Christmas showed me That we won't always understand God But he promises me that I'll never walk without him We might not always understand But if we behold the Savior comes And we understand that Christmas ended the separation that sin began And that God didn't come to inspect us Judge us he came to be with you It's so interesting that we have this different perspective of God but scripture tells us that he's Jesus Jehovah is salvation which saves those other things But then says he's also you shall call him a manual God with you But some reason we have this problem of seeing our God for who he truly is and we think that he's judging us all the time Or he's asking us to measure up or he's asking us to do all these things But it's not in his nature or his name I'm gonna say one more time. You didn't hear me. It's not in his nature or his name God is love God is all these things he is salvation Jehovah is salvation Emmanuel God is with us all of that tells me he's a loving father that wants you to know who you are and who you are We gotta stop listening to fear and let in fear tackle us church He came to be with us Behold Behold I'm getting ready to close but you can come up please Behold God is with us Behold God is for us Behold God is in us Church if you will be hold today. This isn't my promise.
It's his Everything will shift Everything will change You will start to see things for what they're really meant to be Because you'll be looking at the one of who it was all about Jesus Jehovah is salvation I need you to call him that because I need you to know what he came to do That's why they gave him that name and I need you to also call him Emmanuel So you know if that's who he is He will be with you forever We stand today church this Christmas We have a new community old look and have a savior that came and also stay