12/11/22 Pastor Harlow: Angels and Shepherd Luke 2:8-20

I failed to remind everybody last week that we have those so if you haven't updated information you can write that there if you're new you want to share your information you can write that in there and we have several announcements for our Christmas Eve service the 24th it's going to be at 5 p.m here in the sanctuary Christmas day which we should all be here we're celebrating Jesus's birthday is going to be at 10 30 there is not going to be Sunday school no Community groups that day just service at 10 30. And New Year's we're just going to have normal services so there will be Community groups and then just normal service at 10 32. Next Saturday December the 17th there's a men's prayer breakfast in the gym at 8 A.M also on the 18th there is going to be a children's Christmas play that the Sunday School workers and I have been working on and we invite you to come during Community groups to watch that we're going to be doing it here in the sanctuary during the community group hour also parents on the 17th we are having practice at 10 A.M and then we're going to go until 12 30 and we're going to provide pizza from parents and next thing over on the north side of the building we have been working on a Family Resource Center just family devotionals just things that might be helpful to families and parents and pastor and Cody and I have been working on that and we're really excited and it's over there on the We Care side for We Care parents for 80 parents in the in the yeah for us all to use also next Sunday is the Lottie Moon offering so we encourage you to prepare your hearts and prey on how the Lord is impacting you to give there also when it comes to offering we're going to be passing the offering place during the worship songs so again we encourage you to prepare your hearts for prayer and as we close up announcements I invite you to stand up and greet one

Another I Fellowship that way thank you exclamation point thank you foreign [Music] I know we don't see points on the map they aren't just places to us we see stories of lives Living Without The Hope found in Jesus today somewhere between the Great Commission and the great multitude we find ourselves facing the world's greatest problem lostness even in the midst of natural disasters humanitarian crises and political instability Southern Baptists send IMB missionaries to give their lives to the Lost living amongst those who have never heard the Gospel people in hard to reach places people in cities and those who are dispersed and displaced around the world [Music] we believe that missionary presence cultivates Gospel access Gospel access that knows no Geographic or social boundary we believe that missionary presence fuels Gospel belief and we see the results we see lives transformed Generations forever changed and churches planted local expressions of the church that take ownership and thrive God has made our purpose clear together we seek to take the Gospel to Every Nation to all tribes to All Peoples to all languages we don't see places on a map we see our place in fulfilling the Great Commission this is our mission this is your mission and we are reaching the Nations together and so that is the goal of the Lottie

Moon Christmas offering is to reach the Nations as Southern Baptists that's probably the best thing we do as a group is give to the Cooperative program which allows missionaries to go and spread the word and so that's why we do these these special offerings like the lottery Moon Christmas offering is we give it a hundred percent to the two missions none of it stays here it all goes out to the mission field to equip to train and to allow these people to go at this time we're going to do what we what's been our habit which is to prepare our hearts and Minds for worship and today Nicholas mentioned it a little bit it's going to be a little different than we've done for apparently the last three years we're actually passing the offering plates again some of you are excited some of you may be dreaded I don't know but either way one of the things that we're going to do is prepare our hearts and Minds for that expression of worship because our giving is an act of worship amen that's what we do in our worship service we worship through Fellowship through singing together through giving through hearing the word of God preached and so I'd invite you to close your eyes and bow your heads with me as we prepare this is a hard season for a lot of people whether it's because of a family issues whether it's because of financial issues the holiday season can be dark and depressing but we have a different hope than those people who are not Believers we have hope in Christ we are promised a better future a future that doesn't depend on our Earthly things but depends completely and entirely on the creator of the universe who made a way for us

And so Lord we come before you this morning as the body of Christ to ask you to unite us to make us one in Christ Lord help us to put aside those things that would distract us this morning those arguments those those challenges those distractions God and help us to focus completely on who you are and what you've done Lord we thank you for allowing us to use this season as a time to remind us of the miracle of the birth of Christ and of the reason why he came in the first place to provide a way for us and that he's coming back again God help us help that help us to be filled with joy at that message and help that Joy overflow into our worship it's in Jesus name we pray amen so I'd invite you to stand now as we sing together [Music] foreign Joy to the World the Lord is her King let every heart prepare him and heaven and nature sing and heaven and nature sing and heaven and heaven and nature see Joy to the Earth the Savior let mend their songs employ while fields and thoughts Rock seals and planes repeat the sounding Joy repeat the sounding Joy repeat repeat the No More let sins and Sorrows roam no Thorns infest the ground he comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is whereas the court is found for as far as the curse is found he rules the world with truth and Grace and makes the Nations prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love and wonders of his love and wonders wonders of his love you can be seated as the Nicholsons prepare to share with us the Advent candle lighting

Foreign [Music] in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock By Night an angel of the Lord appeared to them in the glory of the Lord Shone around them and they were filled with great fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be a sign for you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a Manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased two weeks ago we lit the prophecy candle remembering those who first spoke of the promise of the coming Christ child and the hope that we have in him so we're going to light the first purple candle last week we lit the Bethlehem candle remembering the Journey of Mary and Joseph to the city of David in the Supernatural peace that God gave them to go about his work that's the second candle today we light the third Candle on the Advent wreath the shepherd's candle which is Pink the color of this candle is a liturgical color representing joy and it also reminds us that we are halfway through our journey of Advent this year the shepherd's candle reminds us of the joy that the Angels bid to the Shepherds as they watched over their flocks it reminds us of the joy that those same Shepherds bore as they made their way to Bethlehem to worship the Christ child it reminds us of the joy that Mary and Joseph had as they held their little child that was born to save Israel and change the world it also reminds us of the joy that

Christ brought to the World by his perfect life his death and his resurrection a joy that we can experience even now if we will only believe in the joy that will be made complete as Believers dwell with God eternally because of the blood of Jesus mix down Bower heads in prayer Lord we thank you this morning for this season of Advent and when to celebrate the birth of Jesus we ask you to fill us with the joy this morning not because of our excitement over the decorations of the announce of season but because of the work and the power of Jesus the Christ God we pray that you would remain Ria remind us of the hope that you have in our relationship with you and of the peace that surpasses all understanding because we know that you that the things of this world are only temporary Lord we look forward to the day you will come when you will dwell with when we will dwell with you forever it is in Jesus name we pray amen [Music] I'd invite you now to please stand again as we continue to worship through song [Music] Joy has dawned upon the world promised from creation God's salvation now unfurled hope for every nation not with fanfares from above not with scenes of Glory but a humble gift of love Jesus born of men sounds of Wonder fill the sky with the songs of it changes as the mighty Prince of Life shelters in a stable

Hands that set each star in place shaped the Earth in the darkness [Music] breast vulnerable and helpless yes Shepherd's bow before the lamb gazing at the glory Gifts of men from distant lands prophesy the story gold a king is born today in since God is with us his death will make our way by his blood he'll win and I know son of Adam Son Of Heaven given as a red Sun reconciling God and man Christ Our Mighty Champion What A Savior what a friend what a glorious mystery once a baby lamb now the Lord of History [Music] now I'd ask that you'll be seated once again as we have Brett Farner come up and share a testimony with us morning church my name is Brett Farner and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior happy to be up here with you most of you probably better know me as Kayla's husband or Jace Lillian Robert's dad and that's okay that's something to be good to know to be known by I've been a member by baptism here since 2020. I attended several years before that with my wife and her family currently I'm on the finance committee have the opportunity to serve with Cindy and Chris and Jeff and Nancy I'm a co-leader of the Married with Children community group with my wife and Nathan and Catherine Gustafson participate in the Men's Ministry that Nathan also

Leads and top Financial Peace University a year ago and happy to say I'll be teaching it again here in January so if you're interested in that let me know Kayla my wife and my kids are also on the loving our world committee participating Kids Quest Nursery Awana VBS any sort of potluck where I can eat food and Trunk or Treat so why do I bring all this up it's not to boast because I can only boast from the Lord right as it says in First Corinthians 1 verse 31. Do me a favor real quick I forgot to mention this get a pin out if you don't mind I'm going to need you to write a check when I'm done talking you already have it handy but seriously I've got a couple of verses here I don't want to spend all my time reading the Scripture and that's probably what I should do but I am going to highlight some verses and I want you to write them down take them back and review them this week for what I'm about to talk about but again I don't bring up being involved to boast I bring it up because it gives me the platform of what I want to talk about today which is giving and specifically I want to talk about two points of giving that are from the Bible tithes and offerings and time and talent and the activities that I just talked about that my wife and I my children and my community group members are involved in those are all examples of needs in our church and they all require money they all require time and they require God's people his disciples to be the hands and feet of Christ to be successful so what is the case for giving first

Everything's God's right he created it he gives it he takes it away he has all dominion over all things so there is no question whose possessions whose money whose things are they're his second the law says we either give our first 10 percent see this in Genesis 14 20 Genesis 28 22 Leviticus 27 30 Proverbs 3 9 and Matthew 22 23 and I can repeat those if you want but I encourage you to read those Scriptures to learn more about what it says for tithing third and we've heard Pastor Cody say this many times God loves a cheerful Giver says it right there in second Corinthians 9 6. But finally as followers of Christ we do not concern ourselves with the things of this world right our focus is eternal and because of that we should be free by the Scripture to give generously here on this Earth to make God's kingdom great not to buy what our neighbor has not to seek what the world says we should see but to God make God's kingdom great and we see this in Matthew 6 19. Romans 12 2 and Matthew 16 24. But what is the impact of giving well let's start with giving financially right ties ten percent the first 10 where does that go goes to our church budget okay our 2023 monthly budget that we just approved at our last business meeting this is the monthly budget 43 828 dollars that's a lot of money our five-year average for monthly giving is thirty six thousand that's a deficit of seventy eight hundred dollars a month fortunately we have not spent every dollar that we budget every month the last couple of years

And so we've been able to make things meet but as followers of Christ we should want to be doing more than what our budget says not less the second thing from tithing is our church funds missions directly from our church budget we participate in Cooperative giving but that's based on the actual amount given the church doesn't give a set amount we take the monthly proceeds and we give eight percent and another one percent directly off the top of that to fund missions so bottom line is the more we give the more that goes directly to missions from our church the second piece in addition ties is offerings this is above and beyond the ten percent Pastor Cody's made this very clear the Bible makes this very clear it is above and beyond so when we have offerings it's not in lieu of tithing it's above and beyond and where does this show up it shows up in our designated accounts it does not go to the budget so when you give an offering it goes into a special account and it goes directly to what it's supposed to go to it does not go in the operating budget at First Baptist Church we have standing offerings we have Lottie Moon Christmas offering that we're going to be doing next week Annie Armstrong Easter offering Missouri missions offering and we have benevolence which benevolence offering is if there's a fist Sunday in the month we'll have the box up here you can put your benevolent offering in that and that goes to a variety of needs in our community and there are many on top of that we have all sorts of interests initiatives and focus areas this building for one praise God we paid it off last year we have youth which is growing and expanding since Austin's been here

Vacation Bible School Christmas boxes We Care Trunk or Treat missions Global hunger food baskets and love offerings just to name a few again those are all above and beyond our ties what about time and talent that's a giving it's very clear in the Bible I started talking about my family and other volunteers that I work with what they're doing but this is only a small fraction of the need that exists in God's Kingdom and each of us has the opportunity to serve God's kingdom each other our community and our world Amen that's our mission here at First Baptist Church but to be honest there's too many opportunities to serve the Lord that are going unfilled right now he has given us the talent to use for his kingdom and he has told us to use it first Peter 4 10. First Corinthians 12 4-6 Matthew 25 14-30 Romans 12 6 first Timothy 4 14 Ephesians 2 10. I could go on it is very clear that we are to be giving of our time and talent as followers of Christ and there is plenty of need and opportunity to do so what is my call for you today Church it's very clear make giving to the Lord a priority in your life and I was joking about the pen but I want you to do it today I want you to do it right now financially give your money a name make a budget plan to get to the Lord first and I will shamelessly plug Financial Peace University again if you need a plan or a way to make that happen there's a plan a Biblical plan on how

You can live within your means and give to the Lord and I'll be happy to talk to you more about that if you want second Talent get plugged into the work of the First Baptist Church again there's too many amazing opportunities that are right in front of you to get involved and to do God's work and third pray for our church pray for God's Kingdom and pray for God to lead you into the field that he has called you to serve in I will tell you as my testimony it will truly change your life I love you church God is good amen [Applause] and so at this time we are going to invite our ushers up to collect our offering as we also continue to worship through singing so yeah I'd invite you men oh here they come and we'll also take a moment to pray a blessing over our offering so bow with me if you would dear Lord we praise you for who you are God we ask that you would bless this time of offering where you allow us to be a part of your work but God we also know that it's not on the Merit of our giving that we can attain salvation or peace but Lord it's out of our salvation and out of the peace that you've given us and as an over abundance of the joy that you've given us that we give of our money and our time and our talents so Lord we ask that you would bless this offering that it would bless this church and that this church would in turn bless the world it's in Jesus name we pray amen I'd invite you also to stand if you're able you know as always we don't require it [Music]

Come behold thou undressed in the dawning of the king he the theme of Heaven's Praises robed in frail Humanity in our longing in our Darkness now the light of life has come look to Christ to condescended to confess to Ransom us come behold the wondrous mystery he the perfect son of man in his living in his foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] come behold the wondrous mystery Christ the Lord upon the tree in the state of ruined Sinners hangs the lamb Victory see the price of our Redemption see the fathers mother's plan unfold bringing many [Music] come behold the wondrous mystery slain by death the God of life but no grave good hairy strain praise the Lord he is alive [Music] Deliverance how unwavering Our Hope Christ in power Resurrected directly will be and he what a foretaste of Deliverance Our Hope Christ in mind our resurrected as we will be and he comes [Music] [Applause] Christ in power resurrected as we will be when he comes we're gonna close with the song that continues to speak of The Wonder of this nativity scene this the birth of Christ What Child Is This who laid to rest on Mary's lapis gleaming whom Angels greet with Anthem sweet while Shepherd's watch were keeping what child is this

To rest on Mary his lab is sleeping whom Angels greet with Anthem sweet while Shepherds watch our keys this is Christ the King who Shepherds guard and Angels Sing haste taste to bring him Lord the babe the son of Mary while lies in such mean as state where ox and lamb are feeding good Christian fear for Sinners here the silent word is pleading nails through the cross be born for ye For You Hell hail the word made flesh the babe the son of Mary so bring him in since golden [Music] King to own him the King of Kings salvation brings let loving hearts and Throne him raise raise the song on high the Virgin sings her lullaby joy for Christ is born the babe the son of Mary [Music] Lord we pray that you help us not to lose the Wonder of this mysterious birth why that you would send your son God incarnate in a Manger Lord help us to be filled with awe and wonder at during this Advent season help us to be filled with joy because of your Gospel Lord help us to be filled with your spirit it's in Jesus name we pray amen well amen it is good together in the house of the Lord amen I wanted to tell you this one of the ways that we love and want to equip you is in just a couple of weeks we're going to be starting a new book study we're going to be in the book of First Peter and as you guys know we love to equip you guys with these little Scripture journals and so at

Each one of the entrances you can grab one they'll be available today and next week and maybe on the 24th we'll see but these are a way for you to be able to follow along write notes by the time that you get finished with it you'll have your own little commentary on a book of the Bible that you yourself have written and so that's a good resource and as I always encourage you to do bring an actual physical copy of God's word with you one of the reasons why I do that is because it's easy to write things down to Mark things down to remember things that are said in the service and also when you pass it'll be a legacy that you get to pass on to your own children or your grandchildren and so I would encourage you bring a physical copy of God's word with you now if you have your Bible and I hope that you do please turn with me to Luke chapter two we're going to be there this morning and we are in this series looking for the Savior and we are looking at all these different people who throughout the Advent season have been looking for the Christ child to be born and the story that we're going to look at today takes place in Luke chapter two we're going to be looking at the Shepherds we've talked a lot about Shepherds this morning and what they were doing and we are going to be looking at primarily Christ as the gift of God to the world and what our response to that gift ought to be like now we've all received some pretty awful gifts in our history I'm sure that if we went around here we could come up with some really funny stories but I remember when I was eight years old I was really excited because I was going over to my grand great grandparents house and my mom told me they got a really great gift for you and I was so excited eight-year-old kid you know what I wanted like Legos I wanted Hot Wheels cars I

Wanted those type of things and I got there and I guess that this is kind of cool I got I got a little suit that's what I got and so my mom was really excited about that I did not care okay I was very disappointed but I decided to go online and check out a couple of other really awful gifts that people have received and one guy he wrote down that his aunt once sent him a Christmas card that had a Walmart gift card in it for 10 bucks so he goes to use it and it had a balance of 53 cents on it yeah pretty good there was another one oh this is just a personal testimony I knew a guy it was his first time he had just gotten married that summer he's had his in-laws for the very first time and they hand them a bag it's his only gift for him underneath the tree and it's three packets of Swiss Miss hot cocoa that's it just three three packs of packets not boxes packets wasn't even crazy about hot cocoa thanks this one I found online this one was pretty interesting it said not but twice not once but twice in my life my parents bought me a brand new mic bike had it had me like open it excitedly on my birthday take it out to the driveway try it out and then they explained to me that was too big for me and told me that my older brother was getting a new bike and I was getting his old one so yeah but the gift of Christ never disappoints amen the gift that he gives to us through his Advent his rival will never put us to shame and so today we're going to be looking at two points and don't get too excited because I don't think we'll be out of here too quickly I could tell y'all are excited but we're we're going to be looking at the greatest gift that the world has

Ever received if you would stand with me in honor of God's word as we look at Luke Chapter 2 verses 8 through 20. God's word says this and in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night and an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord Shone around them and they were filled with fear and the angel said to them fear not for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people for unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord and this will be a sign for you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased then the angels went away from them into heaven the Shepherds said to one another let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that's happened which the Lord has made known to us and they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph in the baby lying in a Manger when they saw it they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child and all who heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told them but Mary treasured up all these things pondering them in her heart and the Shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them and so God we do thank you for your word and we just ask that today that you would just allow it to pierce our hearts as we talk about the Shepherds and their response to the arrival of the Savior God Lord be born in our hearts today renew that passion renew that Zeal renew our hope and our heart for you God that we would leave out of here not quite the same way as we walked in many of us we have empty cups it's been a busy weekend

Socially ministry-wise it's been a busy season with all of the different responsibilities God but we come to you now the Fountain of Life asking for you to fill our cups God so please fill us in Jesus precious name amen well this region got a new clicker today so we'll see if it did it work hey yeah it's working that's interesting that's good all right hey this one's awesome good job Tim so looking for the Savior is the tile that we're looking at this region that we're going to look at here oh no that is not right did you put in my slides are they in there because I don't think that's not my sermon is it am I going the wrong way maybe it's down ah whoa that's not right all right I need I need some help brother can you put me at the very beginning of my sermon there we go now let's check this out okay is it going the right direction you should be able to tell yeah okay all right so this region that we're looking at here is right right down there that's Bethlehem right there that's just south of the city of Jerusalem you'll see that a story last week we were in the city of Nazareth up here right at the very top of Judea right in right before you get to the main chunk of Galilee it is Galilee but it's before you really get into around the Sea of it but there were two routes that Mary and Joseph could have taken first one would take them down here through Samaria down to Bethlehem or they could have gone and gone around all of Samaria in over here to the east following the Jordan River in order to get to the city of Bethlehem and it is in this region that our story takes place now in

Roman census laws we re we know this from Egyptian Papyrus from back in the first Century that men were required by Roman law to go to the place of where they owned property so Joseph as a descendant of the of the lineage of David more than likely he owned a little plot at least a small plot of property there in the city of Bethlehem which required him to travel all the way down from the city of Nazareth down to Jerusalem and God knew from you know eternity past that this is exactly what is going to happen how everything is going to shake out and since Israel followed those patriarchal patterns of inheritance Jesse or excuse me Joseph he would have had to have traveled down to the city of Bethlehem and since Mary was betrothed to him and legally she is considered his wife although they were not yet legally married and consummated their marriage they were they were there and they traveled down to the city of Bethlehem with them now there's this little part right here no am I going in the wrong direction again we're learning this okay there we go so it is down okay so this is a diagram of the first century house as you can see there's this there's this Courtyard down here this is what people where people would store their animals they're they're they're very valuable property they would bring them into the house and they would stay on the lower level if you were a wealthier family you more than likely had steps on the outside that led to the second floor but many of the poorer homes had just a little simple ladder that led up to the second floor which is the sleeping area some of the larger Jewish homes which you know based upon testimony of Scripture this was a larger Jewish Home had a guest room and they would that's what they would call an inn so there wasn't like this ends keeper okay

That's just a western myth it's not anywhere in Scripture when we talk about that there was no room for them in the end it's not a First Century Hotel it's literally the guest room there was not any room for them in the guest room and for Mary to get up those steps at nine months pregnant or even a ladder probably was not in the cards for her and so she is stuck down here on this lower level right there with the animals the kitchen and different areas like that now either way we know that we are in the city of Bethlehem the city of David and that's where this event takes place and there are these Shepherds who are out in the field while keeping watch over their flock by night now the time that Shepherds would take their their flocks out into the field it takes place between March and November so the likelihood of Christ being born December 25th is very small sorry guys but still we celebrate that time because it's fun and it's good for us to celebrate the Advent of the Lord now in the ancient world the shepherd He was a lowly person he had a very chill relaxed job it wasn't very prestigious it wasn't very high pain it was a place where where guys they would keep watch over their flocks they would pretend to they would care for those sheep they would water them they would feed them they would make sure they weren't carried off by robbers or wild animals and that was their jobs many times they will watch over their flocks at night they would tell stories to pass the time they would sing songs and that's kind of the a regular night just put yourself in that first century Shepherd situation you know it's dark all right there's no light pollution more than likely the city of Bethlehem is winding down for the evening there's probably still some people up

And all of a sudden the heavens open up an angel of Lord appears to you and maybe your cousins maybe a nephew or an uncle maybe a father and their is the glory of the Lord revealed to these very poor kind of lower class Shepherds now we don't know how many Shepherds there were but we do know that the glory of the Lord Shone round about them and this was a terrifying event for these men and if you're taking notes write this down the very first point that we're going to look at is Christ's gift through his Advent Christ's gifts through his Advent now think about the glory of the Lord for a moment think about how astounding it would be for the full weight of God's glory to descend Even in our midst today in Exodus chapter 24 verse 17 it says now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain and the sight of the people of God I don't know about you guys but if there was like a devouring fire that was just descending from Heaven I might think that the Russians were attacking right you know it's the Red Wave it's it's the Soviets are the or the Chinese that are that are bombing us or something like that but no this is the weight and the full glory of the Lord Jesus of God the Father descending like a cloud look in First Kings chapter 8 verses 9 through 11 it says that there was nothing in the ark except the two tablets the stone that Moses put there at Horeb where the Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt and when the priests came out of the Holy place a cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priest could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of

The Lord and so you get this idea the sense that this is something that men cannot be in the presence of it is something that strikes fear into the hearts of men even priests were driven out of the house of God because of the weight of God's glory and that is what the Shepherds be held on this night everything was not all calm but things maybe were bright and it was a terrifying thing and they were filled with great fear that great fear it shares the same root word as Phobos it's phobia it means it means to be filled to the brim overflowing with fear this is the holy presence of God descending on sinful man and yet God's glory does not descend on humans here to punish them for their wickedness it is God descending to us because his son the second member of the Trinity the word has become flesh to redeem Mankind and he wants people to know that he has come to make a way for Sinners to have a relationship with this holy God that's the whole purpose of Advent that's the whole purpose of Christ's coming and so an angel of the Lords he says fear not or as we as Sarah said in our community group this morning don't freak out and if you're writing down notes the first gift that God gives us is diminished fear I mean how many times have you and I seen God work out situations infinitely better than we ever could have hoped the time when I most I was most afraid was when I heard the Gospel it's the time I was most afraid before I heard the Gospel I was I was I considered myself a pretty good person right it's not like I was I was like a terrible person who had murdered and cheated and stole and all these different things that I

Consider to be big bigger sins but it was through the proclamation of the Gospel that became very aware of what my state was like actually you see the preacher that I heard he started talking about God's law and how I had broken every single one of The Commandments I mean I had disobeyed my parents so I was disobedient I had lusted after girls therefore I was an adulterer I had hated people in my heart therefore I was a murderer I had stolen things of value therefore I was a thief and so I was comparing myself to God's law and I started realizing it's not about my goodness it's not about the good works that I did it was about the bad things that were in my life it's about the sin that I had committed against God and I was guilty of cosmic treason against the creator of the universe and if I couldn't go to heaven based on my good works then there was only one other place for me and that terrified me more than anything else in my entire existence that's when I felt the most fear and yet it is one of the reasons why Christ came to die because unto you is Born This Day in the city of David as Savior one who could come and couldn't make things right one who could pay that ultimately ultimate penalty of death and Punishment all of that came down upon the Savior so that way I didn't have to go to the cross I didn't have to bear the weight of the punishment of God Jesus took it that's the whole purpose and Advent that Christ would send his light and that God would send his son Jesus Christ into the world that he would make a way for us so I don't have to pay that penalty and guess what by faith alone in Jesus

Christ you don't have to either Jesus he didn't he didn't come to Earth to condemn us to help we were already condemned amen we are already condemned except for God he died to be our Savior he died to provide a way of an escape and if we come to God through Jesus Christ those fears diminish those fears go away forever and we can have confidence that we now have a saving relationship with God no longer are we filled with a fear of trembling like he's the Creator and I'm creation and I will face the pure judgment anymore but now we get this fear and because we are now children by faith in Christ and when God he radically saved me and he transformed me and the second gift we need to move on the second gift is joy in the darkness if you're taking notes write that down look at verse 10. Says I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people this message that the Angels bring is indeed the Gospel that's what Gospel means means good news and so they're there to preach good news of great joy that will be for all people and that Greek word is evangelismai which is where we get the word evangelism from they are they're proclaiming the arrival of Jesus Christ to a world that desperately needs to hear about God's tremendous love for it and Christ's arrival into the world was intended to bring joy not despair it's a news to be shared with people not to be covered up or hoarded even the world recognizes the celebration of Christ I mean you look around in every single culture you see a lot of Jesus around this time of year I'll just even looking at a

Display in Abu Dhabi Muslim country where there's even a display of a nativity because people know that's what this season is for notice that Christ he's the one that entered the Dark World to give it hope the world wasn't looking for it he entered our dark hearts likewise and he made me and you as well if you are in Christ he made you a citizen of the kingdom of God by entering your dark heart as well thirdly is the gift of Hope For The Lost For unto you is Born This Day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord The Promised one he is the one from Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 who would crushed the Serpent's head he is the one who would ultimately bring Deliverance he is the Messiah he is the one who would who would reconcile us to God and but we don't hope for what we don't see you see in Romans chapter 8 verses 24 and 25 it says for in this we hope we were saved now hope that is seen as not hope for who hopes for what he sees but if we hope for what we do not see we wait for it with patience in other words our hope is not something that we get to see and taste and touch in this world it's a future hope it's an eternal hope it's a very real hope for you and I in heaven and so in heaven guess what there are no more fears there's no more despair there is Joy Eternal because God is there there's no Darkness there and that hope is for you too it's available to you as well just as Christ entered the world Christ can enter your heart and make you new as well once you turn from sin you turn to God it doesn't matter where you've come from it doesn't matter what you've done God will take you just as you are you just come to him by faith you receive him by faith you are justified by faith

And that's some great news amen oh that's some great news amen now the Shepherds they must have been stunned can you imagine what your reaction would have been like evangelo Lord he gives you this sign for you to know that this message is real he says that a baby will be lying in a Manger wrapped in swaddling cloths I don't know about you but that's not exactly the first place I'd go looking for a baby is in a feeding trough okay let's go take a look let's look at this fourth gift that Christ gives to us is peace for his people and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace among those with whom he is pleased listen if you are here okay and it and you want these things that we've that I've talked about the hope and the peace and the lack of fear and you want that joy and things like that okay like you cannot get those in this world it will always Escape you it will always leave you wanting something else but they're only available in Jesus Christ they're only available in Jesus Christ but yet we don't come to God just because we want the diminished fear we don't come to God just because we want the Joy or the Hope or the peace and all those other good things you know what we ultimately we need salvation that's the ultimate thing that we need all these other things are byproducts because of that salvation that he gives to us that's why he tells us that For unto you is born this day of in the city of David a Savior he opens with that is the greatest need that this

World has they need to be reconciled to God and you and I if you are not in Christ you need to be reconciled to God you need to be saved and he invites you to know him he invites you to follow him and if the if you are not in Christ these things are not yours they're not yours and so let's take a look at the Shepherds and their response to Christ's gifts the shepherd's response to Christ's gifts firstly they sought the Lord look at verse 15 it says when the angels went away from them into heaven the Shepherds said to one another well let's go check it out right let's go to Bethlehem let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us and based upon the testimony that they've heard they decided we're going to see if this thing is true for ourselves I would encourage you if you're here you don't know Christ check it out see if it's real you come to God and you say God if you're real you make yourself known to me I'm gonna study your word I'm gonna see if what you have to say is real when you do that he will reveal himself to you in Isaiah chapter 55 this is a promise it says seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return to the Lord he beckons you he pleads with you to return to the Lord that he may have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon there is nothing that you have done that could shock God he knows the very darkest Deeds you've ever done he knows about the most hateful thoughts that you've ever had and none of that prevents him from his love for you

None of it there wasn't anything that was going to keep the Shepherds from seeking God either that they had to find him they decided you know what we're going to see if this is real and we're going to do everything that it takes to find him and when you seek God you will find him the Bible it tells us this promise you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart now in verse 16 it says they went with haste and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger now this is a actually excavated manger okay it's Made of Stone and typically in the first century this would be lined this would have a hay or like a feeding grain things like that because it's a feeding trough it's where the oxen would eat it's where the calves would eat you know it's in a Manger probably like this it could have been a wooden one but Stone was readily available too and actually was more affordable to have a stone one than a wooden one and so very likely it was in a Manger like this that the Lord was laid and I want you to think about that for a moment because you know Jesus he's the creator of Heaven and Earth he made all things and yet this is where he laid his head right when it came to Earth and so the Shepherds they find this baby he is the Savior they've heard the good news from God the one who through whom peace would come into the world they had sought him they had found him how else did the Shepherds respond we noticed this that they spread the message of the Gospel they heard the good news from the from

The angels and you know what they did they went out and they shared that same message look at verses 17 and 18. And when they saw it they may know the saying that had been told to them concerning this child unto you was born this day in the city of David the Savior who is Christ the Lord and all who heard it wondered at what the Shepherds told them and so they saw this baby he swaddled up in this manger and they knew that was for them for unto you is Born This Day and so they totally embraced this testimony they believed this testimony that the Savior had been born in the city of David and so they had to tell everyone and anyone the Bible says that they made known what was said and so this caused them this compelled them to go out and to share exactly what it was that they knew the Bible says they made known it means that they wanted to cause other people to know exactly what had happened in their lives it's the same word that's used in Ephesians chapter one in Colossians chapter one to describe salvific knowledge they had come to trust in the Lord even though he's just a baby they know that he's a future Savior he's the deliverer he's the Savior they trust that they believe in that and it's the same word to describe the knowledge that you and I have when we place our faith and trust in the Lord as well and Mary she hears the same story The Testament they obviously told Mary Hey baby's mom let me tell you about what just happened with us and she heard all of these things and she treasured them in her heart she keeps them in her mind she's like this is not just some ordinary baby

And so she decided to think on them carefully and finally the Shepherds they worshiped the Lord look at verse 20 and says and the Shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them now I want you to notice something they went back to work they went right back to work sure they were different they had an amazing encounter and experience with the glory of God they received a message from an Angelic visitor which is a special thing it's not something that we get to enjoy today and they sought the Lord they trusted the Lord and now the Shepherds they are glorifying God as a result of this crazy night that they weren't even expecting that we're glorifying it's a doxazomi it's where we get our theological word doxology from it means worship God the way that he desires to be worshiped they were glorifying him they were singing the songs from their childhood that they could remember and when you encounter the Lord you cannot help but overflow with that kind of worship and they were praising God that means they were singing songs songs that they had never that they hadn't sung out in the fields in years songs from the Psalms probably when you encounter the Lord you cannot help but overflow with praise and honor to him but listen to me the shepherd's response should be our response as well the shepherd's response should be our response as well I want to ask you when is the last time that you sought the Lord when is the last time that you just sat down you said God I just I want to seek you right now I want to find you like I know that

You're in my heart but I just I just want you I want you to leave me God I want to be close with you I'm not talking about the wishy-washy emotional tinglies just saying God show me show me your hand your work your presence your spirit God just work at me you know my family we've got a goofy Christmas tradition how many of you guys do the Christmas pickle any Christmas pickle people okay where you hide the pickle in the tree all right those are the especially white people in here joking my family we hide this little guy this baby Jesus okay this is from Fisher Price little thing and we get to hide him on Christmas Eve and I'd have that honor and then the kids they destroy the house trying to look for baby Jesus and we do that you know it's funny because I pulled this out and this morning and my son Josiah he was like hey it's it's the Jesus that we've he called it the seeking Jesus because that's that's what this little guy's role is in our family we do that because we want to teach the children you know to seek Christ to seek Christ because he's the greatest reward it's a fun and it's a goofy way to do it but you know for us it's a great way to teach our kids that opportunity search for Christ look for him because he is the treasurer he is the reward he's the one through whom all things exist and when's the last time that you shared the message of Christ with someone I mean verbally when you just talk to someone about the hope that you have in Christ I mean the world it is looking for hope like literally it's all over social media it's it's in our news people are looking for Hope people are looking for the message of the Gospel they see these

Times as dark times and we've got the light of the world people are looking for good truth and you know what we have we have the truth and they're looking for all these different things that we have the answers for but they're ours in Christ and so we need to bring the world to Christ we need to actually let's Converse that we need to take Christ to the world let's let's share it let's open up our mouths and quit talking about stupid stuff that ultimately doesn't matter but let's share the truth of the Gospel because that's ultimately what's going to bring reconciliation to the world and as the Gospel goes out it will transform hearts and lives and I promise you that everything else will follow because Christ brings healing and Christ brings hope now we look at the Shepherds they also Worship the Lord and for us this is like what we call our worship service but worship doesn't end when we say Amen right like when we leave here and the lights turn off we are no longer like it's not like we cease being the church we continue being the church out in the world as ambassadors as missionaries we believe every member every person if you are in Christ you are called to be a missionary you are called to be a minister because God he has called you and equipped you for the work of the ministry even right now he is calling you and equipping you and putting people on your mind that I have no clue who they are people that you need to have Gospel conversations with and so take that and run with it and see how God works take a step of faith share the hope that is in Christ because they are looking for it amen head hand heart I want you to know that Christ's gifts are available to you when you come to him and if you're ready

To receive Christ you know by all means you can do so right where you're at you don't have to come to me you go to God you go to God through Jesus right and you tell him God if you're willing make me clean and he will make you clean he will make you pure he will receive you just like you are because he wants to reconcile you and I want you to respond in worship to the message of the Savior Christ he came into this world not just be born in a manger but to actually go and die on the cross to be buried as a dead man he was dead and he rose again in abundant everlasting life eternal life which he offers to every single person who would turn to him by faith he defeated sin he defeated death he defeated hell and now he invites you and I to worship him as the Savior who has conquered all of those things and heart I want you to believe that God calls all people and that includes you to worship Him and he calls you and you can trust in him today let's all stand and let's worship together and let's pray God we thank you for this day and if there's anyone here that maybe they just they need that salvation that's freely available through you God I pray today would be that day of salvation that they would just talk to a friend that brought him or talk to a neighbor or myself and say Cody I need to I need to get this right Lord let that let today be that day thank you for the gift of your son thank you for the Hope thank you for the peace thank you for the joy and the diminished fears Lord that they're taken away in you I thank you for every good and gift from you we thank you for all that you've done in Jesus name amen

[Music] What Child Is This who laid to rest on Mary's lapis whom Angels greet with Anthem sweet while Shepherds watch our keeping this is Christ the King whom Shepherds guard and Angels Sing [Music] haste taste to bring him Lord the babe the son of Mary [Music] why lies in such meanest state where ox and lamb are feeding good Christian fear for Sinners here the silent word is pleading Nails spear shall pierce him through the cross be born for me for You Hell hail the word made a flesh the babe the son of man Mary so bring him in since gold and myrrh compassent King to own him the King of Kings salvation brings let loving hearts and Throne him raise raise the song on high the Virgin sings her lullaby joy for Christ is born the babe the son of Mary [Music] thank you church it's my honor and my privilege to Shepherd you at this time we've got some ethnos 360 students who have been here for a while that it's their last Sunday with us and so if that's you if this is your last Sunday as an F like in like Among Us and you've been a student would you please come forward we just want to lay hands on you and pray over you as you go I know Margaret and Joanna Joanna's going on a vision trip to India here to find out if that's where the Lord is leading her in the mission field and Margaret you're going back home for a little while right is that right okay and so if you know these young ladies and you want

To just lay hands on them as they go into the mission field or perhaps you're a missionary and you want to pray for them as well if you would come and just lay hands on them as they go because we love you guys you've seen a lot of changes since you've been here you started coming in 2020 ish yeah so she's been with us for a while and we're very thankful for Miss Joanna and Miss Margaret as well and so my friend would you do us the honors of praying yeah father we just come to you today Lord we lift up these these young ladies here today Lord and father we just ask that you just bless their lives Lord bless the work that you have for them to do father Lord we also just ask that you just open the hearts of the people here today Lord that or that the message that Cody has brought to us through through the Lord that you just or you just give us the wisdom and the peace to go out and preach your word Lord and pray this in the name of your son amen thank you