1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,800 He is glorious. 2 00:00:06,800 --> 00:00:13,800 Behold the one who has come to life. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:15,800 Welcome to Hub City Vineyard. 4 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:23,600 To get connected or to give online, you can go to connect.hcv.church or give.hcv.church. 5 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:28,800 If at any time during this message you feel called to make a change in your life, text 6 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:33,300 change me to 970-00. 7 00:00:33,300 --> 00:00:35,300 Thank you and enjoy the message. 8 00:00:35,300 --> 00:00:38,300 Good morning, good morning HCD. 9 00:00:38,300 --> 00:00:39,300 Welcome. 10 00:00:39,300 --> 00:00:40,800 Welcome to another great Christmas morning. 11 00:00:40,800 --> 00:00:43,800 I am so happy to be joining you today. 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,300 Guys, thank you so much for worshiping with us today. 13 00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:47,300 Isn't that just amazing? 14 00:00:47,300 --> 00:00:52,600 Didn't the worship team do such a good job of bringing, yeah, bringing us into God's 15 00:00:52,600 --> 00:00:53,600 presence. 16 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:58,200 What the Christmas season is about is worshiping our creator, worshiping the reason for the 17 00:00:58,200 --> 00:00:59,200 season. 18 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:03,400 I'm just so thankful that you've taken time today to be with us, to come into the community 19 00:01:03,400 --> 00:01:06,400 of faith, to bring all those presents back for Angel Tree. 20 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,000 I am so honored and so blessed to be able to share with you, to be able to share my 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:12,600 life with you in this community of faith. 22 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:17,200 I'm just so proud of everything you guys do. 23 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,600 All the stuff that you don't think I see, I see. 24 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:21,200 I'm a mom, I see a lot. 25 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:22,800 So yeah, I'm just so proud of you guys. 26 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:27,640 I just want you guys to like give yourself a hand for just giving and being generous 27 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:28,640 in this time. 28 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:30,840 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 29 00:01:30,840 --> 00:01:35,720 And thank you for joining us online and welcoming us into your home and your hearts. 30 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:37,200 We love you. 31 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,320 We love the fact that you're able to join us online and be able to be part of our community 32 00:01:41,320 --> 00:01:42,320 of faith. 33 00:01:42,320 --> 00:01:43,720 So thank you for welcoming us into your home. 34 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:47,960 And I am so looking forward to what God's going to do here today. 35 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:48,960 Amen. 36 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,040 You can always say amen and then people respond. 37 00:01:51,040 --> 00:01:52,840 I don't know that. 38 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:53,840 Amen. 39 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:54,840 All right, preach it. 40 00:01:54,840 --> 00:01:55,840 All right. 41 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,000 So we are in a Christmas series called Tremble. 42 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:01,480 This is our second message in the series. 43 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:07,860 And this series is about God delivering angelic messages to common people, right? 44 00:02:07,860 --> 00:02:12,840 The God of the universe comes in and He meets people with these angelic messengers and He 45 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:15,360 promises hope for the world. 46 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:16,680 He promises hope for the world. 47 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:22,440 And we learned last year and we can learn again that God was completely silent for 400 48 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:26,600 years and then He shows up with these messages of hope. 49 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:31,680 And so we're going to rediscover Christmas through the eyes of these people and these 50 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:33,240 angelic messages. 51 00:02:33,240 --> 00:02:37,720 And I am looking forward to all that God's going to do in our hearts today and our minds 52 00:02:37,720 --> 00:02:38,720 today. 53 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:44,080 And so these normal people working tremble in the presence of something so miraculous 54 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:45,680 and so divine. 55 00:02:45,680 --> 00:02:47,520 Last week, Chris shared a powerful message. 56 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:53,240 He opened the series with a powerful message in Zechariah the priest with the message that 57 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,960 the angel Gabriel delivered to him and his response to the angel. 58 00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,280 He showed up and delivered some pretty amazing news that he was going to have a son in his 59 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:07,000 old age and his son will prepare the way for God's son. 60 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:08,920 It was an amazing message. 61 00:03:08,920 --> 00:03:11,800 If you didn't get to hear it and it wasn't online, I'm sorry. 62 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:12,800 The internet got unplugged. 63 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,960 So anyway, if you're here, you got it. 64 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:20,240 So it's basically God's redemption plan for humanity is eminent. 65 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,200 So we're going to pray and get started today. 66 00:03:22,200 --> 00:03:23,200 Is that good? 67 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:24,600 All right, let's pray. 68 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:32,520 Holy Spirit, guide me today as we take this precious time to worship you, God. 69 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:38,760 Let us receive today more of your word, more of your truth into our lives. 70 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:40,720 Change us from the inside out. 71 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:42,280 In Jesus' name we pray. 72 00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:43,280 Amen. 73 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:44,280 Amen. 74 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:49,080 So we're first talking about angels, what they are and what they aren't. 75 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:53,040 So angels literally means messenger from God. 76 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:55,880 They're God's ambassadors to people. 77 00:03:55,880 --> 00:04:01,080 And so we see in the Bible, they not only send people messages, they serve people. 78 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:06,360 In Acts we can read about an angel showing up to Peter and he's in prison and he thinks 79 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:11,080 it's almost like a dreamlike state where this angel touches his side, breaks the chains 80 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:13,560 and sets him free from captivity. 81 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:18,920 So angels in the Bible are usually described as divine people. 82 00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:25,000 So our idea of angels that have wings are pretty much not accurate. 83 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:29,300 There's no angels with wings in the Bible, but there are cherubim, which aren't little 84 00:04:29,300 --> 00:04:31,040 fat babies with wings. 85 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:35,320 They are like God's divine creatures that guard the gates of heaven and hell and they 86 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:39,040 have wings and they're pretty fierce, crazy beast. 87 00:04:39,040 --> 00:04:42,200 But angels, I'm sorry, do not have wings. 88 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:44,440 And so yeah, so yes. 89 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,960 But, so I think movies have really given us a stereotype, right? 90 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:49,960 We watch movies. 91 00:04:49,960 --> 00:04:52,280 My kids used to love to watch Angels in the Outfield. 92 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:55,280 The angel would swoop in and change the ball, right? 93 00:04:55,280 --> 00:05:01,640 But I got to watch It's a Wonderful Life a couple weeks ago and it was just so great. 94 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:06,680 But in that movie, Clarence is the angel and he appears to George, right? 95 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:09,580 And he's gonna save George so he can earn his wings. 96 00:05:09,580 --> 00:05:14,480 And George's youngest daughter, Zuzu, at the Christmas tree at the end of the movie says, 97 00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:20,040 Dad, listen, every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings, right? 98 00:05:20,040 --> 00:05:24,320 So Clarence was trying to earn his wings and George looks up at this guy and says, that'll 99 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:25,320 boy Clarence. 100 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:30,960 And it's just this perfect statement of, you know, God does send messengers to us. 101 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,320 They might not always have wings. 102 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:34,320 Maybe they do. 103 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:35,320 You can talk to me about it later. 104 00:05:35,320 --> 00:05:39,040 I'm sure somebody is gonna negate what I'm saying, but that's okay. 105 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:41,000 It's okay. 106 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:46,000 So society might have a few flaws in the form of angels, but they do exist. 107 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:50,680 So perhaps our series poster isn't exactly accurate. 108 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:52,160 That's right behind me. 109 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:56,960 When Matt used this, Matt actually created, the artist's artificial intelligence actually 110 00:05:56,960 --> 00:05:57,960 designed this. 111 00:05:57,960 --> 00:06:01,520 Do you guys know that they have these programs that are artificial intelligence and you can 112 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:05,040 just put words in and they design these beautiful images? 113 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:06,360 Isn't that great? 114 00:06:06,360 --> 00:06:09,160 So he took those words and we have this awesome angel. 115 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:13,520 Now I think we can get the idea of tremble from our angel, right? 116 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:18,880 Like Chris said last week, when you see that angel Gabriel flexing in the face of Zachariah, 117 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:21,440 you're gonna tremble, right? 118 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:24,040 Exerting God's authority over Zachariah. 119 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,560 So I think we got the theme tremble good, but we still have the wings and it's kind 120 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:28,560 of pretty cool. 121 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,120 So anyway, but I told you there's no wings, right? 122 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:37,780 So I think perhaps our characters that we talk about tremble because of all the thousand 123 00:06:37,780 --> 00:06:43,720 years in recorded biblical history, angels really don't show up all that often, right? 124 00:06:43,720 --> 00:06:48,080 When an angel shows up, God is basically, God can't come down to people, right? 125 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:53,640 But he sends these messengers, these people that are divine so that he can transcend what's 126 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:54,640 going on. 127 00:06:54,640 --> 00:06:58,160 So he can actually come in and change the situation, that he can send his message. 128 00:06:58,160 --> 00:07:03,560 He sent, actually he sent Gabriel to Daniel in the Old Testament and then Gabriel also 129 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:06,920 appears and tells him what's gonna happen in the New Testament. 130 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:09,580 Then he sends Gabriel again to Zachariah. 131 00:07:09,580 --> 00:07:14,400 So I think this is crazy, an angel showing up is definitely like, hey, God's gonna do 132 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:15,920 something big here. 133 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:20,040 So all these angels at the same time, you can tell that the Christmas story is very 134 00:07:20,040 --> 00:07:21,040 miraculous. 135 00:07:21,040 --> 00:07:26,820 And I think that people also tremble in our stories here because perhaps they were in 136 00:07:26,820 --> 00:07:32,080 so much in shock and awe because in their culture, they realized how they couldn't connect 137 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:33,440 with a living God. 138 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:41,380 They were so full of sin and the presence of God was so holy and divine and overwhelming 139 00:07:41,380 --> 00:07:46,160 the holiness of God that they had such unmerited favor by which they were saved that they had 140 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:52,280 the trueness of what it would be like if an angel came and God's presence came to them. 141 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:55,320 So they were overwhelmed because they were a person in sin. 142 00:07:55,320 --> 00:07:57,200 They couldn't go into the temple. 143 00:07:57,200 --> 00:07:58,200 Chris talked about that last week. 144 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:00,800 They couldn't connect with God. 145 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:08,120 And then God appears to them and they're like, wow, you know, wow, yeah, I must either done 146 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,880 something right or something wrong, right? 147 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:11,960 So yes. 148 00:08:11,960 --> 00:08:17,180 So I wonder today, so I'm a person who likes to ask a lot of questions, ask my husband. 149 00:08:17,180 --> 00:08:21,980 He sometimes likes my questions and he sometimes doesn't appreciate all the questions because 150 00:08:21,980 --> 00:08:23,680 I like a lot of communication. 151 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,360 So that's why he's such a good communicator with you because he has to communicate with 152 00:08:26,360 --> 00:08:27,360 me. 153 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:34,560 So I wonder today if we would have the same response if this angel showed up to us or 154 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:40,760 have we created a culture where we're so we have a sense of entitlement that we believe, 155 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,040 hey, this angel should show up for me. 156 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,100 You know, we worship a God of convenience. 157 00:08:46,100 --> 00:08:47,440 We can bend them to our every whim. 158 00:08:47,440 --> 00:08:54,600 We demand that he fixes our problems on demand or I'm just not gonna do God anymore. 159 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,360 God didn't, you know, he didn't show up right. 160 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:01,080 So I'm going to slam him on social media and I'm going to see if I have a case good enough 161 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:05,080 so I can sue him so I can actually just relax the rest of my life. 162 00:09:05,080 --> 00:09:06,080 Right? 163 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:07,720 We make excuses in our society. 164 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:09,720 We blame the big man upstairs. 165 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:10,720 Right? 166 00:09:10,720 --> 00:09:14,240 We, we believe we used to believe in God, but you know, he didn't, he didn't fix my 167 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:15,240 marriage. 168 00:09:15,240 --> 00:09:19,040 I used to believe in God, but you know, my brother died. 169 00:09:19,040 --> 00:09:24,200 You know, I used to believe in God, but he didn't answer my questions right. 170 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,680 And the church, they were, I thought they were nice people, but you know, they didn't, 171 00:09:27,680 --> 00:09:29,920 they weren't there for me when I really needed them. 172 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:35,880 So we discount God because of our situations, because of our circumstances. 173 00:09:35,880 --> 00:09:37,640 Right? 174 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:42,000 So this morning, I'm just going to leave you with that question. 175 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,400 So this morning we're going to move to our second angelic visitation. 176 00:09:46,400 --> 00:09:50,400 When the angel Gabriel shows up again to marry. 177 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:54,400 And so I get to talk about this and it's not just a bone that was thrown my way. 178 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:55,400 Okay? 179 00:09:55,400 --> 00:09:57,920 So my daughter Trinity was like, Hey, you get to speak every now and then. 180 00:09:57,920 --> 00:09:59,560 And of course you get the girl. 181 00:09:59,560 --> 00:10:01,040 Like why did they throw you the girl? 182 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:02,960 Dad just said, Oh, you get married. 183 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:03,960 Right? 184 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:04,960 And I was like, okay. 185 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:10,960 I was like, actually Chris said I could preach on any angelic visitation I wanted, but I 186 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:12,240 chose Mary. 187 00:10:12,240 --> 00:10:14,360 I chose Mary because I didn't understand Zachariah. 188 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:16,480 No, I'm just kidding. 189 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:23,640 No I was thinking Zachariah married, but no, I really felt that God wanted, had a specific 190 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,360 message that I needed to share about Mary. 191 00:10:26,360 --> 00:10:28,880 So I am so honored that I get to share that with you today. 192 00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:32,740 So I chose Mary, just like God chose Mary. 193 00:10:32,740 --> 00:10:40,200 And so my question that I'm going to ask you today is, do you want to have a Merry Christmas? 194 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:42,920 Or why a Merry Christmas? 195 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:45,240 So why did God choose Mary? 196 00:10:45,240 --> 00:10:46,240 M-A-R-Y. 197 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:49,200 I had it, you guys have it up on the screen. 198 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,040 No, you don't. 199 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:52,840 Merry Christmas, M-A-R-Y. 200 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:59,220 Why did God choose Mary to bring this miraculous story to the world? 201 00:10:59,220 --> 00:11:00,700 Why did he use her? 202 00:11:00,700 --> 00:11:03,360 Like what's so special about this Mary? 203 00:11:03,360 --> 00:11:05,240 And so we're going to answer those questions today. 204 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:10,440 And I'm hoping that you guys get a little different picture of the Christmas story today. 205 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:17,280 So the first thing that in my mind that popped in that God used Mary is Mary's a woman. 206 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:19,240 Mary's a woman. 207 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:22,720 God chose Mary because she was a woman. 208 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:27,320 And through Mary, God restores all women. 209 00:11:27,320 --> 00:11:31,480 Get this, when the angel shows up, this is what he says to Mary. 210 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:35,080 You will conceive and give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus. 211 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:38,960 And he will be very great and he will be called son of the most high God. 212 00:11:38,960 --> 00:11:44,120 The Lord will give him the throne of his ancestor David and he will reign over Israel forever. 213 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:47,560 His kingdom will never end. 214 00:11:47,560 --> 00:11:53,440 God chose to use a woman for this job because only a woman could carry or birth children, 215 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:54,440 right? 216 00:11:54,440 --> 00:11:59,080 Now I'm sure God could have brought his son into the world many other ways. 217 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:00,520 He didn't have to do it through a woman. 218 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:01,720 He didn't have to birth a woman. 219 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,600 He could have used a stork, you know, like flying over with a little blue blanket and 220 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:08,520 then popped it down in Bethlehem, right? 221 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,960 I still don't get the stork thing, you know, whatever. 222 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:16,360 He could have used, he could have taken the stork again or an angel with no wings and 223 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:22,320 brought the baby down and put it in a house and given it to the wisest and grandest man, 224 00:12:22,320 --> 00:12:26,960 a man that was financially secure and had a great big family, great big house. 225 00:12:26,960 --> 00:12:28,860 He could have done that. 226 00:12:28,860 --> 00:12:30,560 But he didn't. 227 00:12:30,560 --> 00:12:33,600 Because God always surprises us. 228 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:36,040 God doesn't work the way we think he should work. 229 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:37,940 God works the way God wants to work. 230 00:12:37,940 --> 00:12:41,600 If you've ever known God, if you have a relationship with God, you know, man, I would have never 231 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:43,780 done it that way, God, but that's pretty cool, right? 232 00:12:43,780 --> 00:12:46,720 And so that's what he does in this situation. 233 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:52,500 You know, he uses Mary because he had a plan to redeem all women. 234 00:12:52,500 --> 00:12:54,080 And we know his plan back in Genesis. 235 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,680 So we're going to go back to Genesis and we're going to learn the story of Eve. 236 00:12:57,680 --> 00:13:04,000 And so in Genesis three, six, it says the woman was convicted and she saw that or convinced 237 00:13:04,000 --> 00:13:08,160 and she saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious and she wanted 238 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:09,700 the wisdom it would give her. 239 00:13:09,700 --> 00:13:13,140 So she took some fruit and ate it. 240 00:13:13,140 --> 00:13:16,000 And then the Lord asked women, what have you done? 241 00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:20,000 Eve, Eve, what have you done? 242 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:22,680 And I will put, so he said, what have you done Eve? 243 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:25,980 So he's basically like, Eve, what did you have you done? 244 00:13:25,980 --> 00:13:28,720 And so then there's consequences for action, right? 245 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:35,120 And so first he tells the serpent, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between 246 00:13:35,120 --> 00:13:37,240 your offspring and hers. 247 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,840 He will crush your head and you will strike his heel. 248 00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:45,720 So listen, in that statement, God is speaking to Mary about the serpent. 249 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:50,800 God is already has it in Genesis is saying, you're going to crush his head. 250 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:52,800 You're going to crush his heel, right? 251 00:13:52,800 --> 00:13:57,560 God, God is going to already redeem the world through, through Mary. 252 00:13:57,560 --> 00:13:58,560 He already has a plan. 253 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:03,520 So even in Eve's sin and our bad choice and our mistake, God says, I love you. 254 00:14:03,520 --> 00:14:04,520 I've got you. 255 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:05,520 I'm going to get this together. 256 00:14:05,520 --> 00:14:10,200 Now it takes a little while for it to happen, but God wants to restore all women because 257 00:14:10,200 --> 00:14:11,640 he loves women. 258 00:14:11,640 --> 00:14:12,640 He does. 259 00:14:12,640 --> 00:14:13,640 He needs us. 260 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:16,700 He needs us to be life into this world. 261 00:14:16,700 --> 00:14:19,200 And then he said to the woman, there are still consequences for action. 262 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:23,120 I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy and the pain in you when you give birth, you 263 00:14:23,120 --> 00:14:28,420 will desire to control, to control your husband and he will rule over you. 264 00:14:28,420 --> 00:14:31,740 But through Mary, this curse is broken, right? 265 00:14:31,740 --> 00:14:33,020 It's not that just Mary's a woman. 266 00:14:33,020 --> 00:14:34,440 It's not that God had to use a woman. 267 00:14:34,440 --> 00:14:38,880 God wanted to because he wanted to break the curse that Eve brought to the world, right? 268 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:44,560 He wanted to heal his relationship with his daughters and he wanted to say, shame off, 269 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:45,560 shame off. 270 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:46,960 You have no place in my daughters. 271 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:48,460 You are not full of shame. 272 00:14:48,460 --> 00:14:49,460 You are a child of God. 273 00:14:49,460 --> 00:14:52,960 You are my daughter and you are loved and you are paid for with a price and I'm going 274 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:54,560 to use you to change this world. 275 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:56,720 I'm going to use you to bring life into this world. 276 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:02,080 The enemy might have used you because fruit is good and we like to eat, you know, the 277 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:03,080 enemy might have used her. 278 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:06,600 She was a little weak and she wanted wisdom, right? 279 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:07,600 Right? 280 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:10,480 But God says, no, this is what I say about you. 281 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:12,680 I'm going to use you to bring life into this world. 282 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:16,560 I'm going to use you to bring a redemptive plan to humanity for this world, right? 283 00:15:16,560 --> 00:15:19,400 So shame off, God's saying. 284 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:23,760 And I don't want, and he said, I don't want women to live under this curse any longer 285 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:28,480 because I see you, I know you, I want to use you and I want you to bring life into this 286 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:29,480 world. 287 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:36,840 And as women were called to bring life into this world, that is our calling, both physical 288 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:39,040 and spiritual life. 289 00:15:39,040 --> 00:15:41,680 Birthing a child is not easy, right? 290 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:48,120 I believe it's the most difficult part of birthing any child is not birthing them, but 291 00:15:48,120 --> 00:15:50,320 it's raising them. 292 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:55,680 It's raising them to be who they are in Christ, to love the people around them, to look at 293 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:57,920 the world and say, what can I give to this world? 294 00:15:57,920 --> 00:15:59,840 Not what can I get? 295 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,600 Teaching them that no, no, you have a responsibility to society. 296 00:16:03,600 --> 00:16:06,000 No, you are not going to take the easy way out. 297 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:08,520 You are going to work for what you earn. 298 00:16:08,520 --> 00:16:11,480 It's teaching them what life is about. 299 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:13,120 And that is a big task. 300 00:16:13,120 --> 00:16:18,120 Whether you birth a child or not, you're raising children is the hardest task. 301 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:22,560 You know, and if you're a woman and you have chosen not to have children, that is an amazing 302 00:16:22,560 --> 00:16:23,560 gift as well. 303 00:16:23,560 --> 00:16:24,680 Or you can't have children. 304 00:16:24,680 --> 00:16:30,240 I have a beautiful friend, Kelsey, Kelsey, if you guys know her, and she's chosen by, 305 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:31,800 she's chosen, I'm not going to have kids. 306 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,040 And that's her calling to the world, she believes. 307 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:39,080 But she brings so much life into teenagers every day. 308 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:43,720 She coaches my daughter and so many other girls, and she just tells them who they are 309 00:16:43,720 --> 00:16:46,000 and how strong and powerful they can be. 310 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:47,800 And she helps our church. 311 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:49,360 She's just a gift to this world. 312 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:50,360 And that's her choice. 313 00:16:50,360 --> 00:16:51,360 That's what she's chosen. 314 00:16:51,360 --> 00:16:53,120 And some of you want to have children. 315 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:54,440 You haven't been able to. 316 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:58,120 Well, I have a great friend, Katie, who works in my kids department at Grow. 317 00:16:58,120 --> 00:16:59,560 And she can have children. 318 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,680 And she's chosen to love on your kids. 319 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,580 She's chosen to serve you. 320 00:17:03,580 --> 00:17:06,240 There's a lot of way women, we can bring life into this world. 321 00:17:06,240 --> 00:17:09,920 And it doesn't necessarily happen through the physical birthing of a child, but we can 322 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:14,040 spiritually birth children, right? 323 00:17:14,040 --> 00:17:16,760 And I have three daughters, right? 324 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,920 And I believe in this, God's reaffirming his daughters. 325 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:24,320 I have three daughters, and there's nothing their father wouldn't want to do for them. 326 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:26,600 There's nothing their dad wouldn't want to do for them. 327 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:30,960 My daughter Zoe says, yeah, dad's put us, there's no way we can ever get married because 328 00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:34,080 dad is like the ultimate dad. 329 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:39,820 Like he loves us, he makes us breakfast, he takes care of us because he loves his daughters. 330 00:17:39,820 --> 00:17:43,520 And so what God's saying here is I love my daughters. 331 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:48,680 I love women, I love men, I love young, I love old, I love black, I love white, I love 332 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:50,840 you if you're big or larger and smaller. 333 00:17:50,840 --> 00:17:51,920 I love all sizes of people. 334 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:53,960 I love my people. 335 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:59,040 I love my people and I want to use all my people to serve me and to bring about life 336 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:00,640 into this world. 337 00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:03,040 Because the father is about life. 338 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:04,640 The enemy is about death. 339 00:18:04,640 --> 00:18:08,440 And we are called to bring life into this world as a woman, as a man, whoever. 340 00:18:08,440 --> 00:18:10,840 We need to be able to speak life. 341 00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,320 And this is what God does through Mary in this situation. 342 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:19,520 The second reason God chose Mary is she's from God's family, right? 343 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:21,600 You can't control the family you're born into. 344 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:24,120 Mary's family isn't popular. 345 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:28,000 Mary's family isn't rich, you know, but it's God's family, you know? 346 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:31,120 And God restores his people through Mary. 347 00:18:31,120 --> 00:18:32,800 He says, I'm going to do it. 348 00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:34,800 And God keeps his promises. 349 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,600 When God makes a promise, he fulfills it. 350 00:18:37,600 --> 00:18:42,800 In Luke 1, 26 and 27, it says, in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent an 351 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:47,360 angel Gabriel to Nazareth, to the village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. 352 00:18:47,360 --> 00:18:51,460 She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 353 00:18:51,460 --> 00:18:52,700 God had a plan. 354 00:18:52,700 --> 00:18:54,440 He was going to restore his people. 355 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,680 He was going to restore the covenant relationship that he made with Abraham. 356 00:18:58,680 --> 00:19:05,400 You know, a covenant relationship is a binding agreement, a legal contract, a blood oath. 357 00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:07,080 And God's saying, I'm for you. 358 00:19:07,080 --> 00:19:08,560 I'm with you. 359 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:12,760 I'm going to use you, Mary, to restore my people. 360 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:17,980 Isaiah 7, 14 says, all right then, the Lord, all right then, the Lord himself will give 361 00:19:17,980 --> 00:19:18,980 you a sign. 362 00:19:18,980 --> 00:19:21,720 Look, a virgin will conceive a child. 363 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:26,600 She will birth, she will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which means God 364 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:28,520 is with us. 365 00:19:28,520 --> 00:19:29,520 God is with us. 366 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:35,440 Micah 5, 2 says, but you, O Bethlehem, Ephraim, are only a small village. 367 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,280 You're only a small village. 368 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:38,280 What good could happen in Hagerstown? 369 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,640 Hagerstown's a small place, right? 370 00:19:40,640 --> 00:19:41,880 That's what Nazareth was, right? 371 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:42,880 That's what Bethlehem was. 372 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:44,520 These small places, right? 373 00:19:44,520 --> 00:19:47,240 But guess what? 374 00:19:47,240 --> 00:19:53,920 Yet a ruler of Israel whose origins are in the distant past will come to you on my behalf. 375 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,080 You know, Mary was from a small forgotten town. 376 00:19:57,080 --> 00:19:58,760 What good could happen in Nazareth? 377 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:00,120 What good could happen in Hagerstown, God? 378 00:20:00,120 --> 00:20:01,680 Why have you put me here? 379 00:20:01,680 --> 00:20:03,060 He sees you. 380 00:20:03,060 --> 00:20:04,640 He sees you. 381 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:05,640 He loves you. 382 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:06,640 He loves Nazareth. 383 00:20:06,640 --> 00:20:09,900 He loves Hagerstown. 384 00:20:09,900 --> 00:20:12,760 And you never really hear about Mary's parents in the story. 385 00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:16,080 You know, we don't know who her parents were. 386 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:17,080 They don't name her. 387 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:19,440 You know, they named Joseph's descendants. 388 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:26,600 But they are key in Mary being chosen, I believe, because parents who bring their kids to church, 389 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:30,720 parents who teach their children scriptures, parents who teach them, their kids, who they 390 00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:34,200 are in Christ are invaluable in the kingdom of God. 391 00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:37,320 She was raised in Jesus's, you know, in God's family. 392 00:20:37,320 --> 00:20:38,760 So she would have gone to temple. 393 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,600 Her parents would have taught her scriptures at the breakfast table. 394 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,560 She knew the stories of God, right? 395 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:46,560 And so I was blessed as a child. 396 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:50,440 Like I got to go, I was raised in a beautiful community of faith. 397 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,920 And I had people in that community of faith that spoke life over me. 398 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:55,920 They loved me for who I was. 399 00:20:55,920 --> 00:21:00,400 And I remember even going to a retreat a couple years ago and they said, you know, what was 400 00:21:00,400 --> 00:21:01,720 your life growing up as a church? 401 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,800 And I said, that was the only place I was really myself. 402 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:11,380 And I really felt that those people saw me and loved me for Jessica, for who I was. 403 00:21:11,380 --> 00:21:13,160 And that is a blessing. 404 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:14,160 That is such a blessing. 405 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:15,800 I believe that's the reason I'm here today. 406 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:17,520 My parents took me to church. 407 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,760 They took the time to bring me to the services of the church so I could be taught the ways 408 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:22,760 of life. 409 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:23,760 Yes. 410 00:21:23,760 --> 00:21:24,760 Yes. 411 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:26,560 And so that's what happened to Mary. 412 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:28,100 She knew God. 413 00:21:28,100 --> 00:21:30,880 She knew the scriptures and they taught her that. 414 00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:35,340 And you know, Mary was only like, they say 12, Lawrence said last week she was 14 maybe, 415 00:21:35,340 --> 00:21:37,880 but they say she could have been 12 to 14, right? 416 00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:42,240 She's still a child, but yet she has this faith in God, right? 417 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:46,480 A child by today's standard, I'm sure back then, their children did a lot more than our 418 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:52,600 children do, but she was taught the promises of God as a child. 419 00:21:52,600 --> 00:21:59,900 And so my third point is because of that, Mary knew what God could do. 420 00:21:59,900 --> 00:22:01,640 She knew God, right? 421 00:22:01,640 --> 00:22:07,880 And because she said yes, God not only restores his people, the descendants of Abraham, he 422 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:10,400 restores all people. 423 00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:16,200 He restores all people because Mary knew what God could do. 424 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:17,200 Her faith didn't waver. 425 00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:21,140 She had this faith and everybody thinks about that, but I'm like, she knew God. 426 00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:25,600 She was taught his way from the early childhood and she knew what he could do. 427 00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:29,900 So God restores all of humanity through Mary. 428 00:22:29,900 --> 00:22:31,760 This is the miraculous story of Christmas. 429 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,940 Now, he didn't just use Mary, he used a lot of other people. 430 00:22:34,940 --> 00:22:38,600 Don't quote me wrong on this, you know, I'm not, you know, but he used Mary and he used 431 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:42,040 Joseph and he used Zachariah and he used the angels. 432 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:45,800 He used all these people, this whole community of faith, right? 433 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:48,840 To birth his son, right? 434 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:51,120 So listen to this good news in Luke. 435 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:57,840 Luke 1 46 through 55 says, Mary responded, Oh, how my soul praises the Lord, how my spirit 436 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:04,160 rejoices in God, my savior, for he took notice of this lowly servant girl. 437 00:23:04,160 --> 00:23:08,520 And from now on, all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one is holy and 438 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:11,040 he has done great things for me. 439 00:23:11,040 --> 00:23:15,980 He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear him. 440 00:23:15,980 --> 00:23:17,920 His mighty arm has done tremendous things. 441 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,200 He has scattered the proud from the haughty ones. 442 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:25,400 He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. 443 00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,940 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. 444 00:23:28,940 --> 00:23:34,120 He has helped his servant Israel and remembered to be merciful for he made this promise to 445 00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:38,860 our ancestors, to Abraham and his children forever. 446 00:23:38,860 --> 00:23:40,360 That's how Mary worshiped God. 447 00:23:40,360 --> 00:23:41,360 You go girl. 448 00:23:41,360 --> 00:23:43,000 That was an amazing worship song. 449 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:45,880 She knew the promises of God right there. 450 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,440 She knew it and she worshiped God through it. 451 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:54,080 She's like, yes, God, yes, you did what you said you do and you're going to do it again. 452 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:59,700 So through her faith, we can learn a lot of stuff. 453 00:23:59,700 --> 00:24:02,320 When you believe what God can do, your faith rises. 454 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:10,000 Hebrews 11 one says, faith shows us the reality of what we hope for the evidence of things 455 00:24:10,000 --> 00:24:11,000 we cannot see. 456 00:24:11,000 --> 00:24:16,580 Faith is that confident assurance that what we think will happen is over on the other 457 00:24:16,580 --> 00:24:20,000 side of that mountain. 458 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,840 Right? 459 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:23,840 God you said that. 460 00:24:23,840 --> 00:24:27,280 Okay, God, I'm going to go in that direction. 461 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,160 I can't see it. 462 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:32,920 I don't know it, but God, I trust you. 463 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:34,320 I know what you can do. 464 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:36,200 So together we're going to go there. 465 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:37,200 Right? 466 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:38,680 You know, we're going to go over that mountain. 467 00:24:38,680 --> 00:24:39,680 That's faith. 468 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:40,680 That's faith. 469 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:42,460 That's stepping out in faith. 470 00:24:42,460 --> 00:24:43,720 And my faith has grown over the years. 471 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:47,840 I haven't, I haven't like, it didn't just start, you know, big and you take this mighty 472 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:49,320 leap right? 473 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:56,480 When I figured out how much God loved me, when he showed up in my weakness and my insecurity 474 00:24:56,480 --> 00:25:04,800 and my brokenness and he poured love and grace and mercy and compassion over my heart and 475 00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:06,360 my soul. 476 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:08,640 And I experienced his love for the first time. 477 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,280 I was like, yes, I'm in. 478 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,200 Everybody in the whole world needs to hear this. 479 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,040 I'm going to go in all the world and preach the gospel to every single person. 480 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:21,400 And so I was ready to go off on this missionary journey. 481 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:22,400 And guess what? 482 00:25:22,400 --> 00:25:24,000 God called me home. 483 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:31,480 He called me to learn and to, and to go back to school and to work and to get married and 484 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:32,480 have a family. 485 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:34,560 So God calls you, right? 486 00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,680 And it's not necessarily like you're jumping off the end of time, but you're just doing 487 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,480 little things, right? 488 00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,360 Little things done with great love over time. 489 00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:42,680 Okay, God, I trust you. 490 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:46,040 And I'm going to work towards this because I know you're good. 491 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:47,120 Right? 492 00:25:47,120 --> 00:25:55,040 And so I think I kind of blame our cell phones or like really good GPS systems, why we don't 493 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:56,040 have faith anymore. 494 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:57,040 Right? 495 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,440 And so, so yeah, so let me explain. 496 00:26:00,440 --> 00:26:04,080 When I was a kid, you just get in the car and your parents kind of knew where they were 497 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:09,080 going or they get directions from like the gas station attendant or they get messages. 498 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:13,360 You'd like ask a random stranger for how to get someplace. 499 00:26:13,360 --> 00:26:15,560 Like they didn't take you down a dark alley or whatever. 500 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:17,280 You get directions from anybody. 501 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:18,280 Right? 502 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,960 Because, and they say, well, it's over the three lights past this over the left. 503 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,160 And you're like, okay, well, whatever, we're going to get there. 504 00:26:23,160 --> 00:26:24,160 Right? 505 00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:25,760 And you kind of had to faith in the driver of the car. 506 00:26:25,760 --> 00:26:29,080 And I remember my mom always being like, Gary, just stop and ask for directions. 507 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:32,460 You know, like, how hard is it? 508 00:26:32,460 --> 00:26:34,520 Maybe he chose Mary because Joseph didn't stop it. 509 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:35,520 I don't know. 510 00:26:35,520 --> 00:26:36,520 Anyway. 511 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:40,400 But so our faith, like we had, we didn't know where we were going all the time. 512 00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,360 We didn't know who was, if our parents were going to come and pick us up on time. 513 00:26:43,360 --> 00:26:44,360 We didn't know this. 514 00:26:44,360 --> 00:26:46,960 So we had a lot of faith instilled in us as a children. 515 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:47,960 Right? 516 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:48,960 We're like, okay. 517 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:51,220 And, and I, and my one friend from high school is here now. 518 00:26:51,220 --> 00:26:53,040 My other friend was here first service. 519 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:57,080 But so we, I remember one time we were going to Ocean City and we're just like, okay, we're 520 00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,200 just going to drive and we're going to find the Bay Bridge. 521 00:27:00,200 --> 00:27:03,160 And one time I was coming back from Ocean City and it was like, all of a sudden I'm 522 00:27:03,160 --> 00:27:04,160 in downtown DC. 523 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:05,160 I'm like, oh, okay. 524 00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:07,440 You know, but I'm here, everything's good. 525 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:08,440 DC isn't that bad. 526 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:10,000 You know, God protected me. 527 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:13,720 But I remember that just having these little leaps of faith as a teenager because I didn't 528 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:14,720 have a cell phone. 529 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:16,280 You know, I didn't have directions. 530 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:17,280 Right? 531 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:19,040 And so I'm going to, I'm going to date myself too. 532 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:23,200 So when Chris and I got married, we would lead youth group and we would print off these 533 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:24,640 directions from MapQuest. 534 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:26,180 You guys remember those? 535 00:27:26,180 --> 00:27:28,000 And you'd have pages of directions. 536 00:27:28,000 --> 00:27:32,440 And like if you were driving and trying to read the pieces of paper and like, I'm not 537 00:27:32,440 --> 00:27:33,440 organized. 538 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:36,240 I remember somebody first service that they used to have a binder to get to California 539 00:27:36,240 --> 00:27:37,760 and they had them all in order. 540 00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:38,760 Not me. 541 00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,240 I like, I would get them shuffled up and I'd be like, oh, left and right. 542 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,320 You know, like, so I don't know if it helps us, but we took like groups of teenagers to 543 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,880 Michigan, you know, through MapQuest directions. 544 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:50,800 I don't know if it, there's more accidents with MapQuest or more accidents with cell 545 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:52,080 phones, but I don't know. 546 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:53,880 I guess that can be argued. 547 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:57,040 Anyway, but now my kids, they like track my location. 548 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:58,600 So if I'm like, oh yeah, I'm on my way. 549 00:27:58,600 --> 00:28:03,060 I'm, I'm, I'm, and now they're like, no, you're not. 550 00:28:03,060 --> 00:28:04,060 You're still at church. 551 00:28:04,060 --> 00:28:06,480 See, I have a, I have a pretty healthy relationship with my husband. 552 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:07,680 We don't like track each other, right? 553 00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:09,480 But my kids, they track me. 554 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:10,480 Um, yeah. 555 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:13,120 Um, it shows you didn't leave the office. 556 00:28:13,120 --> 00:28:14,120 I can see this. 557 00:28:14,120 --> 00:28:15,120 I'm like, oh, okay. 558 00:28:15,120 --> 00:28:16,120 Thanks. 559 00:28:16,120 --> 00:28:17,120 Thanks for tracking me. 560 00:28:17,120 --> 00:28:20,120 I remember one time I was, I was together with a couple of my kids and my daughter calls 561 00:28:20,120 --> 00:28:22,440 me and it's like, you guys are together. 562 00:28:22,440 --> 00:28:23,520 She's in Florida. 563 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:24,520 You're together. 564 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:25,520 Yes, we're together. 565 00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:27,520 I see your cell phones are together. 566 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:29,000 Yes, we're together. 567 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,480 Well, I'm not there. 568 00:28:30,480 --> 00:28:31,800 Yes, I know that. 569 00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:34,680 Well, I just wanted to let you know, I know you're together and I'm out there. 570 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,240 I was like, okay, thank you for letting me know that. 571 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:39,600 So my kids track me. 572 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:40,600 They know me. 573 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:41,600 They've got these cell phones. 574 00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:43,040 They can find, you know, anything. 575 00:28:43,040 --> 00:28:44,040 Right? 576 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:45,040 And so I love technology. 577 00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:47,480 I am not saying technology is a bad thing. 578 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,560 It's helped us with hospitals and doctors and there's so many breakthroughs in technology 579 00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:53,560 that are amazing. 580 00:28:53,560 --> 00:28:57,160 But when we use it as a crutch, not to have faith, right? 581 00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:02,000 If we don't know if we can't find out and we have to figure it out right away, you know, 582 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,440 if we have to Google everything right away instead of going to God for the answer or 583 00:29:05,440 --> 00:29:08,600 if we're texting our friend, I'm so mad at this person, right? 584 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:11,320 And so I said, oh God, that didn't feel too good. 585 00:29:11,320 --> 00:29:13,740 Let me take that relationship to you. 586 00:29:13,740 --> 00:29:17,400 Let me take that hurt or that pain to you and let's see what we can do with God. 587 00:29:17,400 --> 00:29:20,600 Man God, that conversation with my husband didn't go too well. 588 00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:21,840 I'm not going to text him. 589 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:23,920 I'm going to go to God and say, God, hey, help me. 590 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:25,680 Let me pray through this, right? 591 00:29:25,680 --> 00:29:27,520 Let me forgive. 592 00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:29,840 Help me understand what's going on here, right? 593 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:31,520 We're so quick to respond. 594 00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:32,680 We're so quick to snap. 595 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:39,360 We're so quick to, you know, just get on there and make a response where God, it says in 596 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,040 the Bible, it says people are patient. 597 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:43,440 They wait on God. 598 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:45,540 His timing is perfect, right? 599 00:29:45,540 --> 00:29:50,560 And so we need to be careful as Christians to rely on the creator, not the created things, 600 00:29:50,560 --> 00:29:51,560 right? 601 00:29:51,560 --> 00:29:52,560 Right? 602 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:56,800 So our confidence, our insurance has weakened, but as Christians, we know that we need to 603 00:29:56,800 --> 00:29:58,360 go to God first. 604 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:03,600 So through Mary's faith, God is able to birth his rescue plan for humanity. 605 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:04,600 Isn't that amazing news? 606 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,400 It's amazing news, right? 607 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,800 So John 3 16, you guys know this, but let me read it to you again. 608 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:14,480 For this is how God loved the world. 609 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:20,520 He set his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have 610 00:30:20,520 --> 00:30:21,520 eternal life. 611 00:30:21,520 --> 00:30:25,200 I don't know about you, but I love God so much. 612 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,040 My relationship with God, like that's all I want to do is spend time with God. 613 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:29,340 You know what I mean? 614 00:30:29,340 --> 00:30:34,080 And I could not imagine an eternity like hell is being separated from God. 615 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:39,840 And a couple months ago, I realized like I could never, that would be awful for me because 616 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,920 I love God so much and I have such a relationship with God and I understand how much he loves 617 00:30:43,920 --> 00:30:44,920 me. 618 00:30:44,920 --> 00:30:47,320 Could I never experience that love again? 619 00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:48,320 You know what I mean? 620 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:50,560 And I don't want anybody to experience that. 621 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:52,880 Being separated from God is like hell. 622 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:56,120 Okay, I guess that's why it's hell. 623 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:57,880 Anyway, but yeah, it's hell. 624 00:30:57,880 --> 00:30:59,360 Like you don't want to be separated from God. 625 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:03,120 If you know how much God loves you, you would never want to be separated from him. 626 00:31:03,120 --> 00:31:07,920 First John 4 9 through 10 says, God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and 627 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:12,160 only son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 628 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,560 This is real love. 629 00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:19,480 This is real love. 630 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:23,160 This is real love, not that we love God, but he loved us. 631 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:27,560 So he sent his son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 632 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:28,560 We didn't love him first. 633 00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:29,840 We weren't good people first. 634 00:31:29,840 --> 00:31:31,200 He loved us. 635 00:31:31,200 --> 00:31:32,460 He loved us anyway. 636 00:31:32,460 --> 00:31:36,840 He loves you and me and desires that we walk in fellowship with him, just like in the Garden 637 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:40,440 of Eden, just like in the Garden of Eden. 638 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:41,440 Right? 639 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:49,560 So you too can have a Merry Christmas with this in mind, Mary M-A-R-Y M-E-R-R-Y. 640 00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:51,680 I think it's both this time. 641 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:55,360 So we're going to learn how you could have a Merry Christmas. 642 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:56,360 Okay? 643 00:31:56,360 --> 00:32:02,520 So the first step is to believe what God says about you. 644 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,880 Luke 1 28 through 29 says, Gabriel appeared to her and said, Greetings, favorite woman, 645 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,840 the Lord is with you. 646 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,360 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think, what could the angel mean? 647 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:16,240 I don't know what the angels talking about. 648 00:32:16,240 --> 00:32:17,360 Highly favored one. 649 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:19,440 I am not a highly favored one, God. 650 00:32:19,440 --> 00:32:20,640 You don't see my house. 651 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,000 You don't see the shack I live in. 652 00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:23,380 You don't see my pocketbook. 653 00:32:23,380 --> 00:32:25,280 You don't see my bank account, God. 654 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,160 You don't see, I don't have a job, God. 655 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,880 I am not highly favored. 656 00:32:30,880 --> 00:32:32,440 I don't even like my nose. 657 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,960 I'm from Nazareth, right? 658 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:37,240 I'm a nobody, right? 659 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:43,120 But to God, Mary is not a nobody or somebody. 660 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:45,480 She is his masterpiece. 661 00:32:45,480 --> 00:32:47,500 And you are not a nobody. 662 00:32:47,500 --> 00:32:48,500 You're not a somebody. 663 00:32:48,500 --> 00:32:51,480 You're God's masterpiece. 664 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:53,440 You're God's masterpiece. 665 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:57,500 And if anybody's told you any different, shame on them. 666 00:32:57,500 --> 00:32:58,500 Forgive them. 667 00:32:58,500 --> 00:32:59,500 Pray for them. 668 00:32:59,500 --> 00:33:00,500 Right? 669 00:33:00,500 --> 00:33:05,100 You are God's masterpiece created in Christ Jesus to do good works that he called for 670 00:33:05,100 --> 00:33:06,860 you to do long ago. 671 00:33:06,860 --> 00:33:12,320 He knew that you were coming to Hagerstown in 2023 to do good works that he called you 672 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:14,180 long ago to do. 673 00:33:14,180 --> 00:33:17,800 He called generations and generations and generations before you that have made sacrifices 674 00:33:17,800 --> 00:33:22,280 so that you today can do the good works that God's called you to do because he sees you. 675 00:33:22,280 --> 00:33:24,000 He knows you and he loves you. 676 00:33:24,000 --> 00:33:26,440 And you're his masterpiece. 677 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:28,280 No artificial intelligence needed. 678 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:30,120 Just God intelligence, right? 679 00:33:30,120 --> 00:33:35,040 So don't believe the lies that others tell you about yourself. 680 00:33:35,040 --> 00:33:38,480 And worst of all for me, I don't know if it's like this for you, is I believe a lot of 681 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:40,520 lies I tell my own self. 682 00:33:40,520 --> 00:33:41,520 Right? 683 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:43,160 I tell my own self a lot of lies. 684 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:44,160 Oh, I'm not good enough. 685 00:33:44,160 --> 00:33:45,640 Oh, man, I should have done that. 686 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:47,200 Oh, I said the wrong thing. 687 00:33:47,200 --> 00:33:49,760 Oh, I didn't get that right. 688 00:33:49,760 --> 00:33:50,760 Right? 689 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:51,760 Right? 690 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:52,960 So we tell ourself a lot of lies. 691 00:33:52,960 --> 00:33:55,960 So I want to tell you, stop it. 692 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:58,080 Stop believing the lies you tell yourself. 693 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:01,280 Stop believing the lies people tell you and believe what God says. 694 00:34:01,280 --> 00:34:02,720 You got to get in the word. 695 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,440 You got to spend time with your creator. 696 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,120 You got to reflect his glory. 697 00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:09,120 Don't believe the lies. 698 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:13,960 And I know that's easy to say, but if you're struggling in that, get with somebody else 699 00:34:13,960 --> 00:34:15,560 who's a Christian or a believer. 700 00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:17,720 Get with somebody and say, hey, I believe in some lies this week. 701 00:34:17,720 --> 00:34:18,960 Can you pray for me? 702 00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:19,960 Can you help me? 703 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:21,400 Can you walk me through this? 704 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:27,760 Because 1 Samuel 16, 7 says the Lord doesn't see things the way you and I see them. 705 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:32,480 People judge by outward appearance, but God looks at your heart. 706 00:34:32,480 --> 00:34:33,480 God knows your heart. 707 00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:35,760 And so today you got to know is my heart right? 708 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:37,240 Because that's the only thing that matters. 709 00:34:37,240 --> 00:34:39,280 It doesn't matter that you didn't have anything to wear. 710 00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:44,080 It doesn't matter that your bank account says zero or minus $25. 711 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:47,080 It doesn't matter that your kid threw up all over you last night. 712 00:34:47,080 --> 00:34:51,560 You know, it doesn't matter because God, you want to see what God believes about you. 713 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:52,560 Right? 714 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:53,560 He looks at your heart. 715 00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:54,560 Right? 716 00:34:54,560 --> 00:34:58,120 He sees the real you and he loves you. 717 00:34:58,120 --> 00:34:59,120 And guess what? 718 00:34:59,120 --> 00:35:01,760 He not only sent his son to save you from your sin. 719 00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:04,200 He also sent you to be in relationship with him. 720 00:35:04,200 --> 00:35:05,200 Right? 721 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:06,600 It's not just about saving you. 722 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:08,400 It's more about being with you. 723 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:09,400 Right? 724 00:35:09,400 --> 00:35:10,400 He wants relationship. 725 00:35:10,400 --> 00:35:11,400 Okay? 726 00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:16,000 So this Christmas, if you don't know how much you're loved by God, if you've never walked 727 00:35:16,000 --> 00:35:19,600 into that relationship with Jesus, receive the gift of Jesus this Christmas. 728 00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:22,000 It's the best thing ever. 729 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:23,720 It's the greatest, best thing ever. 730 00:35:23,720 --> 00:35:24,720 It's even better than Santa. 731 00:35:24,720 --> 00:35:25,720 According to Elf. 732 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:29,160 I know we have an Elf back there. 733 00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,480 And number two, I want you to receive your calling today. 734 00:35:32,480 --> 00:35:33,480 Receive your calling. 735 00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:37,240 So the two things you need to do is receive what God says about you, believe what God 736 00:35:37,240 --> 00:35:39,520 says about you, and receive your calling. 737 00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:45,160 Luke 1.30 through 31 says, don't be afraid, Mary, the angel told her, for you have found 738 00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:46,400 favor with God. 739 00:35:46,400 --> 00:35:50,360 You will conceive and give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus. 740 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,840 Mary's calling was to be Jesus' mom. 741 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:55,680 And being a mom is a high calling. 742 00:35:55,680 --> 00:36:02,560 Being a father is a high calling and never, ever, ever underestimate that role. 743 00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:06,800 But there was a time in my life, I love my kids, I love being a calling as mom, but God 744 00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:11,120 was calling me other things and it was just so much easier as a mom to just shrink back, 745 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:12,120 right? 746 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:13,280 To use my kids as a crutch. 747 00:36:13,280 --> 00:36:14,280 Oh, make excuses. 748 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:15,880 Oh, I can't do this because of this. 749 00:36:15,880 --> 00:36:16,880 Or I can't do that before. 750 00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:18,400 So I would be their cheerleader. 751 00:36:18,400 --> 00:36:20,160 I would be their high fiber, right? 752 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:21,520 I would give them their water bottles. 753 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:25,600 But at some point after having kids, I didn't know who I was, right? 754 00:36:25,600 --> 00:36:30,440 And I kind of found my identity in my kids or in my husband or in my, you might find 755 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:35,120 your identity in your job or your finances or your closet, right? 756 00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:37,560 And I didn't know who I was and it was like, oh God, forgive me. 757 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,000 And I had to step back on that track and I needed to compete and run the race because 758 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:45,080 I wanted my daughters, I wanted my sons to see me as a healthy person. 759 00:36:45,080 --> 00:36:47,000 I didn't want them to do that, right? 760 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,560 So I had to grow because of them. 761 00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:50,080 I had to be a model for them. 762 00:36:50,080 --> 00:36:53,240 So I had to step back in the race and it's not easy. 763 00:36:53,240 --> 00:36:54,240 It's not easy. 764 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:56,360 And I said there was throw up last night. 765 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:57,800 There's a lot of throw up, a lot of throw up. 766 00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:59,720 I'm just going to say a lot of throw up last night. 767 00:36:59,720 --> 00:37:03,120 And it was like, it would have been just easy just to go to bed, but it's hard. 768 00:37:03,120 --> 00:37:04,120 I had to stay up late. 769 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,360 These people in the worship team, they have to get up early. 770 00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:07,560 They have to stay up late. 771 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:11,200 You know, they do that, but they do it to serve you and to serve the body of Christ. 772 00:37:11,200 --> 00:37:15,160 The people at the door, they do it to serve you, Tracy and Christie and everyone. 773 00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:16,520 We do it to serve you, right? 774 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:19,000 It's not easy, but God's, it's their call. 775 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,360 It's what God's telling them to. 776 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:24,080 Okay? 777 00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:28,320 Because we all as a society, we can even use our jobs as our calling, right? 778 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,520 Because we're all called to bring light into the dark places. 779 00:37:31,520 --> 00:37:34,040 We're all called to be merry this Christmas. 780 00:37:34,040 --> 00:37:36,520 We're all called to bring light into the world. 781 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:41,520 So you can bring that if you're a nurse, a doctor, a teacher, if you're the checkout 782 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,160 person at Walmart, just smiling, right? 783 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:45,480 You have to deal with a lot. 784 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:46,480 You have to deal with a lot. 785 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:47,480 I know you guys do. 786 00:37:47,480 --> 00:37:48,680 I know your lives are hard. 787 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:52,840 I know your jobs are hard sometimes, but spend time with your God. 788 00:37:52,840 --> 00:37:57,200 Spend time with, in the relationship with Father God, God, first thing, and then pour 789 00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,200 it out all day, right? 790 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,760 Get filled and pour it out, right? 791 00:38:01,760 --> 00:38:04,880 Receive the blessing and then be the blessing, right? 792 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:09,600 Because He calls you to partner with Him in His rescue plan for all people. 793 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:15,200 So point three, another way to have a merry Christmas this year is give yourself to Jesus. 794 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:19,240 Matthew 10, 39 says, and I mean, give yourself to Jesus. 795 00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:21,500 If you cling to your life, you will lose it. 796 00:38:21,500 --> 00:38:26,000 But if you give up your life for me, you will find it, right? 797 00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:29,640 John 13, I'm going to read from John 13. 798 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,600 I'm going to show you how Jesus gave up His life. 799 00:38:32,600 --> 00:38:37,120 So Jesus, right before, we know that He died on the cross for us, right? 800 00:38:37,120 --> 00:38:41,080 But Jesus at the Last Supper, before the Last Supper began, and He was sitting at the table 801 00:38:41,080 --> 00:38:44,820 with the disciples, and He knew Judas would betray Him. 802 00:38:44,820 --> 00:38:51,240 He knew that Judas was given over to Satan. 803 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:53,100 And this is what He knew. 804 00:38:53,100 --> 00:38:57,080 He knew that the Father had put all things under His power. 805 00:38:57,080 --> 00:39:00,040 God has all authority and all power in heaven and earth. 806 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:05,220 The enemy has no right to you, to your family, and Jesus knows that, right? 807 00:39:05,220 --> 00:39:08,240 He knows that God has the main storyline, right? 808 00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:10,480 And the devil's always come along with these subplots, right? 809 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:12,600 Oh, I'm going to bring Judas and I'm going to kill Jesus. 810 00:39:12,600 --> 00:39:13,600 Oh, guess what? 811 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:14,600 God already knew. 812 00:39:14,600 --> 00:39:15,840 You know what I mean? 813 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,240 God already knows the plan, right? 814 00:39:18,240 --> 00:39:20,600 God has all authority in heaven and earth. 815 00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:24,640 And because we have Christ living us, if we're Jesus' Father, we have that same authority. 816 00:39:24,640 --> 00:39:29,160 We can walk in the authority that God's given us in our lives and in our family's life, 817 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:30,160 right? 818 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:31,160 Yes, amen. 819 00:39:31,160 --> 00:39:32,160 Amen. 820 00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:33,440 He knew the power He was under. 821 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:36,460 He knew God had all authority, right? 822 00:39:36,460 --> 00:39:38,320 He knew He had come from God. 823 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:39,320 You have come from God. 824 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:40,320 You are His son. 825 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:41,320 You are His daughter. 826 00:39:41,320 --> 00:39:42,320 You are His created being. 827 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:44,240 He knew who His Father was. 828 00:39:44,240 --> 00:39:45,280 And so He could walk in that. 829 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:47,680 He knew the power that He possessed. 830 00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:52,120 He knew who we came from and He knew He was returning to God. 831 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:54,600 This world is not real people. 832 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,800 You know, we do have to pay taxes. 833 00:39:56,800 --> 00:39:57,800 We do have to live. 834 00:39:57,800 --> 00:39:59,280 We do have to put gas in our tanks, right? 835 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:01,800 But what we're experiencing here, you guys know the movie The Matrix? 836 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,880 It's kind of like that, right? 837 00:40:03,880 --> 00:40:04,880 Right? 838 00:40:04,880 --> 00:40:06,920 We're only here on mission. 839 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:12,200 We're on mission from God to get His kids with Him in heaven, right? 840 00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:13,200 Get with Him. 841 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:14,200 Get with people. 842 00:40:14,200 --> 00:40:15,200 Get with kids. 843 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:17,040 We're part of God's rescue plan. 844 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:21,720 We're rescuing our brothers, our sisters, anyone who's believing the lie, right? 845 00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:23,260 Right? 846 00:40:23,260 --> 00:40:27,960 So He knew the authority He had, where He had come from, and He knew where He was going. 847 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:28,960 So guess what? 848 00:40:28,960 --> 00:40:35,720 He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, wrapped a towel around His waist. 849 00:40:35,720 --> 00:40:42,080 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet, drying 850 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:43,960 them with a towel and wrapping around it. 851 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:48,880 Jesus knew what was going to happen, and He served anyway. 852 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:50,360 Serving people isn't easy. 853 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,320 And some of you guys have been burnt, and people have said things about you. 854 00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:54,440 Loving people isn't easy. 855 00:40:54,440 --> 00:40:56,400 Your family has said stuff about you. 856 00:40:56,400 --> 00:40:57,800 Your friends have said stuff about you. 857 00:40:57,800 --> 00:40:58,800 You've been hurt. 858 00:40:58,800 --> 00:40:59,800 You've been betrayed. 859 00:40:59,800 --> 00:41:05,240 But guess what? 860 00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:08,440 You don't have to stay in that place, right? 861 00:41:08,440 --> 00:41:10,520 I, myself, was in this place. 862 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:14,560 I just realized I went to this retreat, and I was able to just take some time for myself. 863 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:19,080 And I realized that I had been in some situations where I had been betrayed and hurt. 864 00:41:19,080 --> 00:41:21,440 And I realized I had forgiven people. 865 00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:23,340 I had forgiven the people. 866 00:41:23,340 --> 00:41:26,040 But I realized I still had pain there, right? 867 00:41:26,040 --> 00:41:31,160 And so that pain was causing me to hide and not be who God created me to be. 868 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:34,320 That pain was causing me to well back, you know what I mean? 869 00:41:34,320 --> 00:41:38,320 And I was doing, like if Chris asked me to do something or somebody asked me to do something, 870 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:41,360 or of course I'm going to serve in kids because that's easy because that's what I've always 871 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:42,360 done, right? 872 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:46,600 But I was just doing what I was asked to do, but I was still hiding from who God was calling 873 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:50,280 me to be because I was believing lies that people had spoke over me. 874 00:41:50,280 --> 00:41:53,000 I was believing curses that people had put over me, right? 875 00:41:53,000 --> 00:41:54,000 I wasn't hearing from God. 876 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:57,080 I wasn't believing the truth that God had formed me in my mother's womb. 877 00:41:57,080 --> 00:41:59,760 He had created me fearfully and wonderfully made. 878 00:41:59,760 --> 00:42:04,960 And that I had a voice that I could use to bring life into others, right? 879 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,960 Women and children and men and women, it doesn't matter. 880 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:10,160 You know, but I believe that lie. 881 00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:15,640 So I just had to break it off and I had to deal with the pain and gave it to God and 882 00:42:15,640 --> 00:42:17,000 said, God, forgive me. 883 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:18,880 But guess what God said? 884 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:19,880 You're already forgiven. 885 00:42:19,880 --> 00:42:21,600 And he said, guess what? 886 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:23,080 You're free. 887 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:25,780 You're free to be who I've created you to be. 888 00:42:25,780 --> 00:42:27,600 So you're forgiven and you're free. 889 00:42:27,600 --> 00:42:31,580 And God does not want you to walk in any bondage that anybody has put over you. 890 00:42:31,580 --> 00:42:35,940 You're forgiven and you're free to be the person God's created you to be, right? 891 00:42:35,940 --> 00:42:39,440 Because we know that because Jesus does it for us. 892 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:43,000 Jesus trusted God and we can trust God too. 893 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,800 Second Timothy 1, 7 said, for God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but 894 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:54,120 of power, love and self-discipline. 895 00:42:54,120 --> 00:42:56,920 And this is a word I believe for the church that I have for this year. 896 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:04,360 It says in Isaiah 58, 11 through 12, it says, the Lord will guide you continually, giving 897 00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:08,800 you water when you're dry, restoring your strength. 898 00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:13,920 You will be like a well watered garden, like an ever flowing spring. 899 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:15,920 So God is going to guide us on this mission. 900 00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:18,600 God isn't calling us to partner with him, to give our lives to him. 901 00:43:18,600 --> 00:43:20,800 And he's going to just leave and not be there, right? 902 00:43:20,800 --> 00:43:22,580 He's showing up with us, right? 903 00:43:22,580 --> 00:43:24,920 He's going to give us water when we're dry. 904 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:26,880 He's going to restore our strength. 905 00:43:26,880 --> 00:43:29,600 He's going to let us overflow from that relationship. 906 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:31,920 And guess what? 907 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:36,000 Some of you will be, will be known. 908 00:43:36,000 --> 00:43:38,960 You will rebuild desert ruins of your cities. 909 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:44,240 Then you will be known as the rebuilder of walls and the restorer of homes. 910 00:43:44,240 --> 00:43:47,360 Some of you will rebuild your desert ruins in your cities. 911 00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:51,680 There's desert, deserted desert ruins in some of you guys' lives and some of your family's 912 00:43:51,680 --> 00:43:55,880 lives in the city of Hagerstown, in the city of Martinsburg, in the city of Chambersburg 913 00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:57,320 and Green Castle, right? 914 00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:01,360 There's broken places and God is calling some of you guys to restore those places. 915 00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:02,680 He starts with us first, right? 916 00:44:02,680 --> 00:44:05,560 We restore the hope that he's given us, right? 917 00:44:05,560 --> 00:44:09,880 Those people that you've trusted God, you've trusted Jesus, you've been in that relationship, 918 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,560 but yet your hope is, is, is missing now. 919 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:17,720 Well, God's calling to restore you first and then you're going to restore people. 920 00:44:17,720 --> 00:44:19,460 You're going to restore homes. 921 00:44:19,460 --> 00:44:21,240 There's a homelessness problem, right? 922 00:44:21,240 --> 00:44:23,240 There's problems left and right. 923 00:44:23,240 --> 00:44:25,460 God is calling you to bring life into the world. 924 00:44:25,460 --> 00:44:29,040 The world needs you, your community needs you, your children need you. 925 00:44:29,040 --> 00:44:34,920 And just like Mary, you can be used to have a Merry Christmas, right? 926 00:44:34,920 --> 00:44:36,440 You can be used this year. 927 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:38,040 We have got so many events coming up. 928 00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:42,640 We've got Angel Tree and I am so thankful, so thankful for you guys bringing in all those 929 00:44:42,640 --> 00:44:45,400 gifts and presents, but we also have the night where we serve the families. 930 00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:49,760 So if you want to sign up and volunteer, it just starts with little things. 931 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:53,520 You know, like Erin, who works in my kid's ministry, she just, her and her husband just 932 00:44:53,520 --> 00:44:56,840 started by coming and serving the toddlers, right? 933 00:44:56,840 --> 00:44:59,720 And now she's, she's on staff at the church, but it just didn't start with that. 934 00:44:59,720 --> 00:45:02,560 You know, it didn't just start with like, oh, I'm going to go ahead and start this. 935 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:04,800 It just started by one little act, right? 936 00:45:04,800 --> 00:45:06,440 And I believe God works in little things. 937 00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:09,080 I'm going to serve, I'm going to give an hour of my time, but I'm going to be faithful and 938 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:13,960 little because God calls us when we're faithful and little, He'll reward us with much, right? 939 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:19,720 So show up at Angel Tree, show up to the donut drop in Hagerstown, serve somebody a cup of 940 00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:21,960 hot chocolate, you know? 941 00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:25,520 We have the Reach Cold Weather Shelter coming up right after the holidays. 942 00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:30,480 El Psy needs your help with all the things that we need to do, the food and the security 943 00:45:30,480 --> 00:45:34,680 and just being loved to people without homes, right? 944 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:36,320 We need everybody's help to sign up for that. 945 00:45:36,320 --> 00:45:38,660 So sign up for Reach if you've never done it. 946 00:45:38,660 --> 00:45:40,160 And then you can go to Team Up today. 947 00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:44,600 Chris is teaching Team Up today and you can get with him and you can see all the opportunities 948 00:45:44,600 --> 00:45:45,600 to serve. 949 00:45:45,600 --> 00:45:47,440 I know we need van drivers, right? 950 00:45:47,440 --> 00:45:50,520 People are trying to get to church and we need to help them get here, right? 951 00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:53,440 Because this is where they're going to be taught the way of life. 952 00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:54,440 All right. 953 00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:57,640 And as we close today, you can start the music, clean the music. 954 00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,520 I'm not really smooth at this. 955 00:45:59,520 --> 00:46:00,680 Yeah. 956 00:46:00,680 --> 00:46:04,960 If you've never experienced God's love, if you've never said, yes, God, Jesus, I'm in. 957 00:46:04,960 --> 00:46:08,720 I don't want to leave here today with you out you saying yes to God. 958 00:46:08,720 --> 00:46:14,880 So I'm going to do this a little differently in Chris, kind of the same, but we're just 959 00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:17,720 going to, if you want to, you can put your hand up. 960 00:46:17,720 --> 00:46:19,920 I feel like some people just want some support around them. 961 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,880 If you want to ask Jesus in your life today, but you need some support for others, just 962 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:26,680 put your hand up if you're praying this for the first time. 963 00:46:26,680 --> 00:46:27,680 Okay. 964 00:46:27,680 --> 00:46:30,960 Just pray with me. 965 00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:36,200 Jesus, I believe in you. 966 00:46:36,200 --> 00:46:40,320 I don't believe in myself. 967 00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:48,160 I made a lot of wrong choices and mistakes, but you love me. 968 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:50,320 You love me anyway. 969 00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:53,320 I believe you're God's son. 970 00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:59,440 I believe the miracle of Christmas can happen in my life. 971 00:46:59,440 --> 00:47:03,440 Come in, change me today. 972 00:47:03,440 --> 00:47:07,280 Help me follow you the rest of my life. 973 00:47:07,280 --> 00:47:08,280 Amen. 974 00:47:08,280 --> 00:47:09,280 Amen. 975 00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:10,280 All right. 976 00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:15,800 And some people today, you're holding onto a lot of hurt and pain, some lies that people 977 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:20,080 have said about you, some lies that you've been partnering with and believing, and you 978 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:21,080 know they're not true. 979 00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:25,880 So what we're going to do is a whole body is we're going to just take those lies. 980 00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:26,880 I don't have enough money. 981 00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:28,720 I don't have enough finances. 982 00:47:28,720 --> 00:47:30,880 I don't have the right education. 983 00:47:30,880 --> 00:47:31,880 I don't have the right job, right? 984 00:47:31,880 --> 00:47:35,200 So we're going to just, or, you know, whatever it is, and we're just going to lay it down 985 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:36,200 at God's feet right now. 986 00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:39,080 So I want you to just take your hands out and lay it down at God's feet. 987 00:47:39,080 --> 00:47:45,040 And we're going to say, Jesus, I give you these lies. 988 00:47:45,040 --> 00:47:47,480 They're not from you. 989 00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:49,800 Take them from me. 990 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:51,640 Tell me. 991 00:47:51,640 --> 00:47:56,240 From my pain, from my hurt. 992 00:47:56,240 --> 00:48:01,720 I give them to you because you love me. 993 00:48:01,720 --> 00:48:03,040 So I just want you to take a second. 994 00:48:03,040 --> 00:48:05,440 Just let those lies just fall off. 995 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:06,440 Let those chains fall off. 996 00:48:06,440 --> 00:48:09,760 Some of you have put those chains on yourself. 997 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:12,240 Just take this time to do that. 998 00:48:12,240 --> 00:48:14,560 And then you're going to take and you're going to open your hands up. 999 00:48:14,560 --> 00:48:17,680 When you feel like you've left it all down at His feet, you're going to turn your hands 1000 00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:23,440 open and I believe there's some gifts that God wants to give you to you this Christmas. 1001 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:41,040 So say, Jesus, what do you want to give me? 1002 00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:44,820 Some of you guys are just feeling, you're just sensing warmth in your spirit. 1003 00:48:44,820 --> 00:48:47,720 Some of you guys are feeling peace for the first time. 1004 00:48:47,720 --> 00:48:54,520 Some of you guys are, God's restoring your joy and your hope. 1005 00:48:54,520 --> 00:48:56,520 Some of you guys, God's just giving you rest. 1006 00:48:56,520 --> 00:49:07,260 That's a gift from God. 1007 00:49:07,260 --> 00:49:14,120 So God, we just receive all that you have for us in this moment, Lord. 1008 00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:20,920 Fill us again with you, with your spirit, with your life, with your love, with your 1009 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:30,520 hope, Lord, so that we can take it to the world, so that we can have a Merry Christmas. 1010 00:49:30,520 --> 00:49:33,520 Yes. 1011 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:36,480 Yes. 1012 00:49:36,480 --> 00:49:38,840 If you want to sit in this moment, feel free. 1013 00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:41,720 We have people up here on the side of the stage to pray for you. 1014 00:49:41,720 --> 00:49:48,680 If you're struggling with depression, anxiety, if you're struggling with something and you 1015 00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:51,880 feel like I need some support here, just feel free to come up. 1016 00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:53,320 We have people here. 1017 00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:55,640 Don't walk away today not getting prayer. 1018 00:49:55,640 --> 00:49:59,760 Prayer is an amazing thing and it's a gift from God. 1019 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:04,120 Come up, receive prayer if you need extra support today. 1020 00:50:04,120 --> 00:50:05,120 Okay? 1021 00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:06,120 All right. 1022 00:50:06,120 --> 00:50:07,680 Well, have a Merry Christmas. 1023 00:50:07,680 --> 00:50:09,280 I love you guys. 1024 00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:13,320 I thank you for taking time to be with me and to be here. 1025 00:50:13,320 --> 00:50:19,680 And we look forward to next week learning more about angelic visitations and the miraculous 1026 00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:20,680 that God can do. 1027 00:50:20,680 --> 00:50:22,800 Go out and perform a miracle this week. 1028 00:50:22,800 --> 00:50:24,560 Yes, you're a miracle. 1029 00:50:24,560 --> 00:50:25,560 All right. 1030 00:50:25,560 --> 00:50:26,560 Love you guys. 1031 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:41,300 Together.