Mary asking how since she is a virgin, angel explaining the Holy Spirit will overshadow her and nothing is impossible with God
34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.
36 Behold, Elizabeth, your relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
Joseph a righteous man finding Mary with child and planning to send her away secretly
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
19 Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.
an angel appearing to Joseph in a dream telling him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife and to name the child Jesus
20 But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
21 She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
explanatory note that this fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy of the virgin bearing Emmanuel meaning God with us
22 Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel”; which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”
the shepherds saying let us go straight to Bethlehem and finding Mary and Joseph and the baby
15 When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 They came with haste, and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough.
angel telling Joseph in a dream to flee to Egypt because Herod would seek to destroy the child, Joseph leaving that night
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”
14 He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt,
angel appearing to Joseph in Egypt after Herod died, directing him back to Israel, settling in Nazareth fulfilling he shall be called a Nazarene
19 But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
20 “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”
21 He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,
23 and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
a woman calling blessed the womb that bore Jesus, Jesus responding blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it
27 It came to pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts which nursed you!”
28 But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.”
the revelation given to bond servants, blessed is the one who reads and hears and keeps the words of prophecy
1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
2 who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
Jesus citing his mission to share with the poor and proclaim freedom for the captive
1 The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of Yahweh’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;
3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified.
4 They will rebuild the old ruins. They will raise up the places long devastated. They will repair the ruined cities, that have been devastated for many generations.
5 Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will work your fields and your vineyards.
6 But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations, and you will boast in their glory.
7 Instead of your shame you will have double. Instead of dishonor, they will rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land, they will possess double. Everlasting joy will be to them.
8 “For I, Yahweh, love justice. I hate robbery and iniquity. I will give them their reward in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their offspring among the peoples. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are the offspring which Yahweh has blessed.”
10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up; so the Lord Yahweh will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.
God giving apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for ministry until unity of the faith and fullness of Christ
11 He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
12 for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
14 that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;
16 from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This sermon, preached by Pastor Ben on December 21, 2025, traced the responses of the shepherds, Mary, and Joseph to the messages they received from angels at the first Christmas. The central question running through the whole message was simple: when God sends a word your way, what do you do with it? The pattern across all three accounts is the same, hear the message, and act on it.
What was said
Pastor Ben opened by noting that Christmas carries real pastoral weight, because joy and grief sit right next to each other this time of year. He asked the congregation to hold that tension honestly rather than pretend it away, and to consider what they personally do when a message from God lands in their lap.
He walked through the introduction of each figure: shepherds working a low, dirty, necessary job and keeping careful watch over their flocks at night; Mary, a young woman in Nazareth who was perplexed but not paralyzed when Gabriel appeared; and Joseph, a righteous man who had quietly resolved to protect Mary even before any angel spoke to him.
In each case, the angel's first word was essentially "fear not," because the message was unexpected and the messenger was terrifying. Pastor Ben pointed out that in Luke's account the angel tells the shepherds twice that this birth is "for you," making a universal announcement personal at the same time. He noted that the tension between God's sovereign love going out toward everyone and the individual who receives it is one that our finite minds struggle to hold, but both things are true.
The heart of the sermon was what each person did after the message came. The shepherds said "let's go" and went straight to Bethlehem, leaving their carefully guarded flocks behind. Mary said she was the Lord's servant and that it could be just as the angel had said. Joseph woke from his dream and did exactly as the angel commanded, and kept doing so through two more dream-messages, including the urgent flight to Egypt with the child and Mary.
Pastor Ben connected the Greek word for the shepherds "keeping watch" over their flock to the word Jesus uses in Luke when a woman in a crowd calls Mary blessed, and He replies that blessed are those who hear the word of God and "keep" it. The same word, he said, means guarding, protecting, observing carefully, treating something as precious. That is what faithful response to God's word looks like.
He then moved to Ephesians 4, where apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are all described as carriers of messages, given to equip the whole congregation for the work of ministry. The point was that receiving a message from God is not reserved for people in the Bible or people in ministry. God may speak through any of these, or through a neighbor, or through a nudge toward a practical act of love for someone two doors down.
Pastor Ben closed by holding up Joseph as a particular example of love-shaped obedience. Joseph was legally within his rights to handle Mary's situation harshly, but he chose the way of love before the angel ever spoke, and when the message came, he simply moved. That, Pastor Ben said, is the posture the whole sermon was pointing toward: humble availability, ready to act on whatever God puts in front of you, for your good and for God's glory.
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Pastor Ben talked about the joy of the Christmas season sitting right alongside real pain, grief, and loss. How have you experienced that tension this Christmas, and what does it look like to hold both honestly?
The shepherds were considered the lowest of the low, yet the angel's message was addressed specifically to them: 'for you, a savior.' What does it mean to you personally that the message of Christ's birth was framed as an individual word, not just a general announcement?
If you would, I think we're gonna probably have more people showing up. If it's easy to kind of create some space, that'd be great. I'm sure we're gonna have some parents wanting to see their kids sing. And that's it. Would you stand and we'll sing joyful joyful we adore thee.
Amen. Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Thank you. That's pretty awesome.
Full room. We've got a few announcements. A one o connect hour. Today, after this service, there's a potluck down the hall. So, there should be lots to share down at the other end of the hall.
That's on. We're after the children are singing today. They're seeking truth in your twenties. Oh, by the way, we are having children's church downstairs after the singing. That's something that we might have miscommunicated or I might have miscommunicated.
We are planning on doing the song service and then I'll have a sermon. The kids will go down for an age appropriate lesson downstairs. Stairs. Seeking truth in your twenties is having a Christmas party tonight out at the McCooey's place on North Roberta. That starts at five, and so seeking truth in your twenties Bible study is having a Christmas party out there behind the airport.
No Awana. Tomorrow school is out, so Awana is off. We'll reconvene on January 5. That's a great program. And for Christmas, we have on Christmas Eve, a 04:30 and a six.
And so if I can ask you, so this morning, there's overflow room down in the other end of the hall. If if people show up and wanna find somewhere to sit, you can sit down there. That's probably the way it's gonna be for the 04:30 service on Christmas Eve. That's normally the heaviest attendance. So if you don't care, if it doesn't matter to you which one you come to, if you have if you'd like to make space for more people, more outsiders to come in, then if you would come to the sixth, that would be a great idea.
Okay? It would help us out a lot. If you can, if you got a choice, come to the sixth. The 04:30 is usually the one that's the most full and so we'll gather for that. There will be childcare at the 04:30 And then the police sit in the fellowship hall to make room for guests.
That's we're trying to open up space for folks that it's not their normal norm. If you're one of us and you want to, please head on down there or come to the 06:00. That's good. Anything else? Angel Tree, that is going very, very well.
Tanya and Pascal have been organizing like crazy. You can still contact her directly. I think that we're closing in on the yesterday was the deadline for the gifts to be in. If you got a few stragglers, bring them on, bring them on, please, because we're trying to distribute them pretty quickly, but that has gone very well. I think it ended up being 57 different families to be blessed that were tags on the trees and then some others that were outliers from that.
But it's pretty amazing to see your generosity hitting the real world, So that's that's really good. Speaking of the real world, this is a map of the real world and I know you can't read it and that's somewhat by design. Okay? This is what our mission's footprint, guess you can say at first b. These are the folks we support.
There are a couple of them that aren't on there, but some of them are sensitive when we put them up anyway. But if you can see those little lines going all over the whole map, we we don't have a big presence in Canada, but I think that's the only place. Okay? Everywhere else seems to be fairly well covered. I just wanted to say thank you on behalf of the missions committee that you care about the rest of the world.
It's not just the people across the street from you, but it's all the way to the uttermost parts. And it's pretty amazing to be a part of that. And this is the mission's moment this morning. If I can do it without crying, I'm just gonna say thank you. Lord God Almighty, we wanna be a part of doing your will and your way both in our own homes, in our own skin, right where we are, but also Lord, we want to see the gospel reverberate.
We wanna see that the world that long has been lying in error and and sin and just pining away for some hope, Lord, that the hope of the gospel would be present. We wanna be about spreading the hope of the gospel to the very uttermost part. So thank you that you've allowed a mechanism for that, and thank you that you've allowed us as your humble servants, Lord, to just do our reasonable service. In Jesus name, may we be continually praying for these missionaries that are far from home in a land that you're calling them into and you're calling folks out of the context. Just like you called us out of our all of our affiliations and all of our all of our predilections.
Lord, you've called us out of that and into the body of Christ, into your church. May we be continually doing the work that you have for us. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Amen.
And I think if there are any other announcements, they're probably are on the website. I'm glad to see y'all. I'm glad to be here. Yeah. And so would you greet one another and stand in the in all the commotion, the kids are gonna come forward, I think.
We'll play a song or so with them. Let's do it. Alright. Would you stand?
Greet one another. Kids, come on.
There you go.
Yeah. They just came in on Wednesday, so we're here until the end of January. Calico for dinner on Christmas day. I don't know why. It's right by our house, so it's just, like, super easy.
And they love pizza, so, like, they just get their pizza mixed. But It's good. So you and Roni played pickleball last year together. Right? Okay.
I think McKenna just got
Okay. Okay. Well, as they're heading out, I'm actually gonna invite the ushers to come forward. And we have a kind of special music in the offering time here but would y'all pray with me? Lord, thank you for this group.
I thank you for the ability. Lord, when we draw in breath to be exhaling with the praise on our lips, singing the story, the story of Christmas, the story of hope, the peace, joy, comfort of the season. In Jesus name, Lord, we ask that you'd bless this offering, that you would do with it as you will, that it would go forward to do your kingdom work, Lord. We offer it to you and we want for you to use it for your glory, Lord, but for our good. In Jesus name, amen.
Before before we go to children's church, before we go to children's church, I'm gonna invite the Browns to come up. So Jeff and Sheila Brown are gonna do our advent lighting for today and Ben will send you off to Children's Church. Angelina, amazing. Thank you.
Sheila's got to go to work in just a little bit, so fly the friendly skies. Today, we light the fourth candle on our advent wreath, the candle of love. God's inexpressible love was demonstrated in the sending of his son. His love has led to our salvation. We respond by loving and living for him.
John three sixteen and seventeen says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. And whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Amen. I'm gonna bring something to hide behind. I know I'm a big old guy and this is a little bitty pulpit. But I need a security blanket. So there it is.
Here we are. Children's Church, it's time. It's time. Now is the time. If it's not written up there, I kind of forget what to say, honestly.
Considering considering Christmas, I I every year, I feel like, how am I gonna say this a different way? I'd I'd love to come up with a new and insightful way of doing this, but I I just this year, what I've been overwhelmed with is the response of the people when they heard from the angels. Okay. So last week, we covered Zechariah and his response, and then struck mute. Right?
And we heard Mary's response. This week, we're gonna hear the shepherd's response and Joseph's response, and to hear the message. So the listening and responding to what angels say is what it is, and usually the first thing the angels say is fear not. Right? Because it's really scary when you get a message that you don't know what to do with.
Right? But I want you to think of it that way that we're listening and responding to whatever messengers say. The songs that the kids sung this morning was a message already. Right? And what do you do with that message?
What do you do with joyful joyful we adore thee when you hear that and you go, is that true? Is that true? Have I been stuck in a pit and I'm not really I'm not really in the place of joyful joyful we adore thee. I know that there are a lot of people hurting at this time a year, and there are people that are hurting this time today, that this time yesterday were overjoyed, and I know that. There was an avalanche on the past yesterday.
It was very very very dangerous, and there's a fellow who is on life support right now, but probably won't be before the end of today. And so there'll be families that at Christmas will respond to this. Yesterday was anniversary of the death a year ago of a dear saint that went to church here. I talked to her son yesterday, and I realized that with the joy of the season comes a lot of pain of the season too. And the pastoral burden is always, but the pastoral burden in Christmas feels like it's just there's a little bit more to it.
So I'd ask for your prayers for me and for the grace to get through, but I I want for all of us to respond to the message that's gonna be presented. So there are three different biblical precedents, but I think that it's all always it's for your good and for God's glory when we proclaim what the scripture says. But also, what do you do with it? What do you do with it? So that's what we're gonna go through today.
So here they are in parallel. I'll tell a little bit of the story of each one of them. We did cover Mary last week in a quick run through, but we'll hit the shepherds this week. So the shepherds in the time period were the pretty lowest of low, what most people would have thought of as the bluest of blue collar. It was position where it had to be done, but it was kind of like a micro dirty jobs sort of had to be done.
Somebody's got to do it, so they did it. And they weren't well respected for it, but it's used often of Christians, it's used often of pastors, it's used often of leaders, shepherds. It's messy work, it just is. In the same region, there were some shepherds, and they were staying out in the fields because that's what they did. They're their shepherds, and they were keeping watch over their flock at night.
And a word for keeping right there is I think, oh yeah, that's what shepherds do, but I wanna highlight that. Living out in the field, this is in Northern Morocco. Years ago, Tanya and Pascal and I went, and we were hiking, believe it or not. That's kind of funny. Now, Pascal mostly rode a mule, but we were hiking up to the top of the High Atlas Mountains, and we passed multiple groups of shepherds, and there they are out there, and they were keeping watch over their flocks.
And those were in the daytime, but this is by night, they they did both. So this form of the word used twice in the New Testament, it's a present tense thing that emphasizes ongoing continual action. This is what they did was keep watch over it. They took care of it. They guarded it.
Keeping, guarding, protecting, observing very carefully for the sake of the well-being of the sheep. I mean, yes, it's the way they earn their living too, but they're really watching out after the flock. So this is the word, it's taking care of, and really holding on to it as if it is something that is precious. That's what they were doing. And and when we were walking along this road, we saw they'd take these flat rocks and they'd put them up around hazards, and that's keeping watch over their flocks.
That ravine right there is a leg breaker for a sheep. And so the people who care for the sheep in order to take care, put some guardrails up in these flat rocks, and I think that's pretty neat. And you know, there are some gaps in there, but they put the gaps in where there are easier spaces to cross. It's pretty neat. They're keeping watch over their flock at night.
And so, that's the introduction to the first. Next introduction is Mary. Now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin, engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descents of David and the virgin's name was Mary, that's the introduction we get. First, we've heard of her and then Joseph. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows.
Merry Christmas. When his mother Mary had been betrothed, engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. That's the first introduction we hear of Joseph. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, because that's an uncomfortable position to find oneself in, and the law had some pretty hefty consequences for that. But he's a righteous man and not want to disgrace her.
He planned to send her away secretly. He had planned to do the loving thing, though he's well within his rights to be ugly about that. Right? So that's Joseph. The shepherd back to the shepherds.
What was what was happening? So an angel of the Lord, one angel of the Lord suddenly stood near these shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shown all around them, and they were terribly frightened because that's what happens when you see an angelic body there. Terribly frightened, and so the angel said to them, don't be afraid. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all of the people. For today in the city of David, there has been born a for you, a savior who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign for you. Okay? So for you, that first one, it says, it's gonna be for all people, but this savior has been born for you. Oh, yeah. It's an individual message.
What do do with the individual message? Right? And then, this will be a sign for you, a way that you'll know. Who knows how many babies were born in Bethlehem? Who knows how many of them were in, you know, around?
But you'll find a baby that's wrapped in cloth and lying in a feeding trough. Messy, smelly, dirty, yuck. But that's how you're going find him. And suddenly, there appeared with that angel a multitude of the heavenly army of angels. We've been reading in the minor prophets recently, and then the Lord of armies, the Lord of hosts comes up a lot.
And this says that, I mean, you were scared of one angel, multitude of the heavenly host shows up, and they're praising God, and they're saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among people with whom he is pleased. I have covered this multiple times. This is the New American Standard Version of this. If you listen to any of our hymns that were written a long time ago, you'll remember the King James version of this, which I like better. Just do glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.
The difference in these two is something that I could explain for an hour if you wanted me to. It's a squiggly at the end of the sentence. A sigma makes the difference in glory to God in the highest, and the peace is for the people among whom God is pleased. That's one way of seeing it. He was sharing that with the with the shepherds.
Right? He was pleased to share it with the shepherds. So that's true, but it's also peace and goodwill towards men. It's God in heaven who is the highest, who is almighty, and he's sharing his goodwill and his peace towards us. Now, what are you gonna do with it?
That's part of the message too. So both of these things are true. We can prove it different ways. We can go to different verses, different places in the Bible, but that classic kind of Calvinist Armenian debate is a persisting question in a lot of people's minds, because our finite minds just can't hold both of those things. The sovereign God is sharing his love towards, and the people who accept it are the ones upon whom his favor rests, and that's just the way that it is.
The message is, it's coming towards you. What you're gonna do with it? So little town of Bethlehem. I think it probably wasn't even quite that impressive. Mary, the angel Gabriel coming in, he says to her greetings favored one, the Lord is with you, individual message from an individual angel, but she was very perplexed at this statement and she kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.
She doesn't sound like she's as scared as everybody else to me, but she is perplexed. She was very perplexed and kept pondering the kind of salutation this was, and the angel said, don't be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God. Do we know that she had done anything to achieve this? No. It's towards her.
So the message is coming from God towards her. Don't be afraid. Found favor with God. I love you. God is saying to Mary.
And behold, you're gonna conceive in your womb and you're gonna bear a son and you shall name him Jesus. He'll be great. He'll be called the son of the most high, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And Mary said to the angel, how can this be? Since I'm a virgin, I I don't know how this can be.
And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy child shall be called the son of God. You are going to be the mother of the son of God. And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived. We talked about this last week, a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing will be impossible with God.
And with that explanation, well, we'll just go forward to Joseph, why not? Joseph. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly, but when he had considered this, and I imagine he was considering it, how is this gonna look? How's it gonna be? Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream.
So these others were right there with them, and then Joseph has a dream and an angel of the Lord, messenger. Angel always means messenger. Sometimes it's an angelic being, sometimes it's just somebody that carries a message. Right? The postman is an angel.
He carries messages. Okay? So appeared to him in a dream and saying, Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. Don't be afraid to take her as your wife.
Go ahead with the plan and she will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. Same name that Mary had been given. I'm glad. Wouldn't that have been an argument? Yeshua.
What it means, Joshua? Yeshua, Jesus. What it means is he will save his people. He will save his people from their sins. Now, all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet Isaiah.
Behold, the virgin shall be with the child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means God with us. So that's an explanatory note that we get actually in Matthew. But back to the shepherds. Are y'all keeping up? Is this alright?
Alright. When the angels had departed from them into heaven. So the message was laid in their lap. Right? The message had come towards them and now, what are they gonna do with it?
When the angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, let's go. Let's get up and go straight to Bethlehem. What about the flocks that they're so carefully guarding? They'll be alright.
Yeah.
They said, go. Let's go. Let's go straight to Bethlehem then. Let's see this thing that's happened which the Lord has made known to us. It was they recognized that it was a gift from God.
For you, it said, two different times, for you and they with the message that they received. For you, what do you do? Let's go. And they came in a hurry, and they found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as he lay there in the manger. And when they had seen him, they made known the statement which had been told them about this child.
Isn't that cool? Oh my goodness for Joseph who had received this note from the angel. Don't we don't be worried about taking Mary as your wife. And for Mary, this is gonna happen, though it's unconventional. And then for the confirmation of those shepherds to come in to the place where the animals, right?
We know the whole thing about them not having room in the upper room for them where the people would normally stay, and now they're staying with the animals, these shepherds, grubby shepherds come in, and they feel right at home, right there with this child. I just boy, I think how loving God is, how good He is, How he's willing to humble himself even to the manger, even to the cross, right? He just He's gonna go lower than we expect. He's not coming in regal robes when he rides in triumphantly into Bethlehem, I mean into Jerusalem later on, he comes in on a foal of a donkey. Like, it's not big, it's small.
It's upside down, this upside down kingdom. And the shepherds went back after, and all who heard it were amazed about the things which were told them by the shepherds, But Mary treasured all these things up, pondering them in her heart. You know, there wasn't Did I skip something? No. Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen.
In between sixteen and seventeen, it says, they came in a hurry, they found the way of the Mary and Joseph, they found the baby just as the angels had said, and when they had seen him, they may known the statement, they said that. It doesn't go on and on about how they praise and worship and adored and played the drum and all that stuff, it doesn't go on and on about that. It doesn't. It says that they got a message to go and they went, and it says, they got a message and they carried the message to to Mary and Joseph. It's cool.
It doesn't go on and on about that, it's just that they're carrying a message forward. I think that the slide this morning about the mission stuff hit me. I'll cry every week, but I mean, it hit me because that's amazing. It's amazing that a a little gathering of people here can have an impact on the other side of the world. Fateful with the message.
All of the folks who heard the message were amazed about the things that were told them by the shepherds. Mary treasured all these things in her heart. I mean, I know what Gabriel said to me. I know what that dream was about for Joseph. They're confirming everything, and the shepherds went back, and when they went back, it says they were glorified and praising God for all that they had heard and seen just as it had been told them.
They were praising God for having heard the message, but they I think they were doing it because they acted on the message. They acted on it, and there was the blessing and the obedience, and Mary, Mary. So after nothing shall be impossible with God, Mary said, what was her response? I'm the Lord's servant. Every week we pray, Lord, we wanna do your will and your way.
We don't know what it is. Look, I'm the Lord's servant. May it be to me just as you have said. I don't understand how it can be, but if that's what God wants of me, that's what I wanna be. That's what I wanna do.
What did Joseph say? Joseph awoke from his sleep and he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took Mary as his wife, but he did keep her a virgin until she gave birth to a son and called his name Jesus, just like he was told. So there's a message. Joseph, this is what I want you to do. This is what Joseph did.
Mary, this is what I want you to do. This is what Mary did. Shepherds, this is what I want you to do. This is what the shepherds did. And it Joseph, it didn't stop there actually.
He gets three different visits. When he had and when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Again, same format for him said, get up and take this child and his mother, and y'all get out of here. Flee to Egypt. Remain there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child and is gonna try to destroy him.
Antichrist is always lingering in the background. Right? In every age, it's not something where we're just waiting for this one thing to happen. Antichrist is always lingering in the background. There's ugliness.
There is there there are people who are not interested in the message that God has for them. They just are seeking self promotion and that was Herod. That's the way Herod acted in that day, and what he wanted to know and we see the wink wink in Matthew about with the wise men that were coming from the East and they even in their astrological, superstitious, whatever. You know, maybe it was astrological and superstitious or maybe maybe since they're coming from the East, maybe they're paying attention to Daniel. Maybe they're paying attention to the prophecies that were carried by the faithful Hebrew children in exile, and they had heard that this is gonna come to pass.
And when that star appeared, God was speaking to them even outside of his chosen people. Right? His chosen people are supposed to be a light to the nations. We are supposed to be a light to the nations. Joseph hears this message, get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, refugees, and remain there until I tell you for Herod is gonna search for the child and try to destroy him.
And so Joseph got up. Actually, love the text here. It says, get up and go, got up and went. Joseph got up and took the child and his mother while it was still night and he left for Egypt. They left for Egypt.
So he got a message, it contained a command and he did as he commanded, the shepherds. All who heard it were amazed about the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured all these things in her heart. Luke interviewed Mary. I believe Luke interviewed Mary.
He says at the beginning just a few, you know, one chapter back. He says, Theophilus, I interviewed everybody. And so I've examined all these things. He might have talked to some of these shepherds. Who knows?
He says, everybody was marveling and amazed about this stuff. Mary treasured all these things in her heart. The shepherds went back and what they went back glorifying and praising God. It's amazing to be a part of what God is doing in the world, and that leads to glory for him and good for them. So they're good in God's glory is what this comes down to.
Mary. Mary said, my soul magnifies the Lord. That's glorifying God. Right? And my spirit has rejoiced in God my savior, that's good for her.
For he is regarded the lowliest state of his maidservant. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. For behold, henceforth, all generations are gonna call me blessed. And would you say Mary has been called blessed? Oh my goodness.
Yeah. Probably over the top sometimes. For he who is mighty has done great things for me, so it's good for her. The Magnificat is full of scripture, some of it from the prophets, some of it from the minor prophets even. For he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.
So the aftermath for Mary is her good and God's glory. Right? That's because she heard the message and she was obedient to the message. Right? So Joseph, but when Herod died, Herod the great.
When Herod the great died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, that's the third message he's getting, and said, get up, take the child and his mother, go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead. So Herod the Great is now dead. So Joseph got up, he took the child and his mother, and he came into the land of Israel, but when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. He's still in Israel, but he decided to settle down in Galilee. After being warned by God in the dream, he left for the regions of Galilee and came and lived in a city called Nazareth, And this was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene.
I told you there are several different places where there's a kind of a play on words about Netzer, the branch. He shall be called a Nazarene. God is weaving this together. Out of Egypt, he calls his child and it was contingent upon Joseph being obedient to the message that the angels had for him. Think about that.
Yeah. God is sovereign and he is good, but he asked you to be a part of what he's doing in this world. It's for Joseph's good, Mary's good, Jesus is good, and for God's glory. So y'all might be thinking, who am I to receive a message from God? Who are the shepherds?
Who was Mary before that? We never would have heard about Mary. Who was Joseph? And you might be thinking, well, who am I? Well, humility before God.
He resists the proud. He gives grace to the humble. This is a humble way of thinking. Yeah. I don't know what I can't even believe I get to do this.
That's the that's the way that those shepherds felt. That's the way that Mary felt. That's the way that Joseph felt. I hope that's the way you feel. That you get to act on behalf of almighty God.
How is it that he acts? He acts in love towards the other. All the time. That's what he's doing. Fast forward in Luke, and it happened as he spoke these things that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast which nursed you, and Jesus responded and said, more than that, more than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God.
By the way, y'all just heard it. Okay? Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it, And the keep it right there is the same keep it for those shepherds. Like how is it that you hold on to the word of God that you've received? Do you guard it?
Do you keep it? Do you observe it? Do you put it in a place of honor? Do you treat it as if it's precious? Fulos Santos.
Keeping, guarding, protecting, observing carefully for the sake of well-being. That's what you do with the word of God. Can we skip forward to revelation?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Thank you, Connor. The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show to his bond servants. Are you a bond servant of Jesus Christ? Have you tied yourself to him?
Has he called out to you? Have you answered that call? The God's love comes towards you in Christ, and what are you gonna do with it? This is a message to those who have received them. These things which must soon take place, and he sent and he communicated by his angel.
There it goes again, to his bond servant John who testified to the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and everything he saw. Blessed is the one who reads and the ones who hear and the words of prophecy and keep the things which are written for the time is near. Do we act like the time is near? Do we act like, it's been two thousand years. Come on.
That doesn't sound like soon to me. Are we expectant for Christ? Are we expectant for the word of God to be made flesh among us? Right? Because we know what Jesus' mission was.
He gave a very specific sermon, Isaiah 61 where he said that he came to share with the poor. He came to share a message of freedom for the captive. We know what Jesus's message was. Are we a part of that message? Are we a part of that going forward?
Are we keeping it? Are we guarding it? Are we paying attention to it? Think about this. In Ephesians four, one of these great passages, kind of foundational passages for ecclesiology for the church.
God gave some as apostles, those are sent out ones, and he gave some as prophets. Those are ones who proclaim, thus saith the Lord, whether it's ahead of time or thus saith the Lord, this is what he has said. Some as evangelists who really carry the gospel as their main message, but it's a message, and some as pastors and teachers. This right here, these categories, consider this, all of these people carry messages. So I think more than anything else, I'm a pastor teacher, but I was sent from the South to Mexico and from Mexico to here.
So I'm apostolic in some ways. I'm much of a prophet quite honestly. I'm uncomfortable with the prophets. But pastor and teacher, yeah, I guess I'm that by vocation and by calling. But we carry messages.
Why do we carry the messages? Ephesians says it's for the equipment of the saints for the work of ministry. If there's something that's reverberating from this message and say, am I being obedient to what the Lord has told me to do? Have you noticed God told you to do something? If it's share with that person that I love them, if it's pay for that person's light bill, if it's take care of the person two doors down who just lost a loved one, Are you receiving the messages from whatever angel?
Right? It doesn't have to be a heavenly being. It can be anybody. It can be an apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher, but this should be equipping all of us for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ until all of us attain to the unity of the faith. Are we unified in the faith?
Are we? I hope we are. We're not. It's not over yet. Do you know?
It it it ends well. It ends well for those who are in the faith. It ends well. If it how's that saying go? It'll all work out in the end.
If it ain't working out, it ain't the end. Okay? This is this is the plan that we have until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God, to a very mature man, to the measure and stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Until that fullness happens, we've got a job to do, and it is taking in the message that God is sending, and it is putting it into practice in the real world for our good and for God's glory. We're no longer to be children.
They're just tossed about here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, every new popular thing, by the trickery of people, by the craftiness and deceitful scheming. But we are to be speaking the truth in love. We're to grow up in all aspects into Christ who is the head that is Christ from whom the whole body being fitted together, held together by what every joint supplies according to proper working of each individual part. God has a message for you. I don't know what it is.
You don't know what it is yet. I'm saying, would you sit in a place of being ready? Sit in a place of being ready for what it is that God wants you to do day by day. If you wake up in the morning and you're breathing out, Lord, I long to do your will. He will show you what it is.
I long to do your will. Show me your way and I'll walk in it. The proper work in each end of parts causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love, and love has to be the way. Joseph was religiously within his rights to have Mary set aside even stoned. But he sought the way of love.
He was forbearing and that's his loving humble action was when he received the message from God that this is alright, Joseph. Go with it. God Almighty, would you help us? I'm gonna invite the band to come on back up. Lord God Almighty, thank you for sending Jesus, the Messiah.
I thank you that he shall reign forever and ever and that that day of his reign can start today. For anyone who would humble themselves and say, I've never understood it before. I still don't quite understand it now, but I believe that this message is for me to come into the family of God. That's where it begins. The kingdom of God begins now for anyone who's willing to be a humble servant, a humble subject of king Jesus.
Messiah Jesus, thank you for walking it out perfectly, for giving us a good and loving example, for allowing us to see the word as flesh that dwelt among us. Thank you for these kids that sang today, and I pray Lord that you would that the that the seed that has been planted in their lives would grow, and it would just come back more than a hundredfold. In Jesus name, amen. The altar is always open for prayer. There ain't a whole lot of room up here right now.
But it's always open for prayer and we'll be around afterwards. But would you stand? And we're gonna sing Jesus Messiah. Amen. Amen.
Yeah, Connor. Go for it. Lead the lead the charge, buddy. That's good. I've got a big overarching Christmas verse.
That's a good one too, but I'm thinking of Galatians four four and five. And this is talking about timing. But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his son. He sent forth his son, born of a woman, an obedient servant of God. Born under the law, so that he might redeem those who are under the law.
That's all of us. So that we might receive adoption as sons. Lord God Almighty, thank you for making it possible for us to come into the family of God and to be a part of the body of Christ and to go forward with the gospel to the places and the people that don't know it yet. In Jesus name, I ask a blessing on everybody here present. Amen.
