Introduction:
What's True About People Who Find Jesus:
- They made Room for Jesus. (Luke 2:1-7)
inn = kataluma
Mark 14:14 - and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' = guest chamber
- They Actively went after Jesus. (Luke 2:8-16)
- They are never the Same. (Luke 2:17-20)
Isaiah 61:1 - The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound
1 Corinthians 1:27 - But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:49-01:08
Open up your Bibles with me please to the gospel according to Luke and we are going to be in chapter 2. Do you know what I think is funny about people? I just think this is weird about people in general. We like to look for things, don't we?
01:10-01:20
As kids we play hide-and-seek, right? When we were kids we played a game called "Ghost in the Graveyard." You remember playing "Ghost in the Graveyard" up at camp?
01:20-01:22
And it was like reverse hide and seek.
01:24-01:26
We like to do word searches.
01:26-01:29
How many people here, show of hands, let's be honest, how many people like to do word searches?
01:31-01:32
Many more than I thought.
01:33-01:36
People spend money on books to look for words.
01:36-01:38
I'm like, I didn't lose them, you find them.
01:38-01:40
But people love word searches.
01:41-01:44
How about "Where's Waldo?" Show of hands, how many people know what "Where's Waldo" is?
01:46-01:52
"Where's Waldo?" Okay, we have some young people looking up here like, who's Waldo?
01:54-01:57
But we bought these books to find Waldo.
01:59-02:04
The newest way that we like to look for things, did you see this, they have these apps now.
02:04-02:05
Did you see these?
02:05-02:10
They're apps where you're like a detective or something, and you gotta find the clues in the scene.
02:10-02:13
You have this little scene, and you gotta find, how many people know what I'm talking about?
02:14-02:18
Okay, you gotta find like pictures in the scene, like a desk or something.
02:18-02:20
It's like, you know, find the bunny or whatever.
02:20-02:21
And he's like in the wood grain.
02:22-02:29
And I can barely see my phone, let alone seeing these little images of these things on the phone.
02:30-02:34
I just think it's funny how we love to try to find things until we lose our car keys.
02:36-02:37
And it's not so fun, is it?
02:39-02:41
But here's a Christmas version I just learned about.
02:42-02:43
Elf on the shelf.
02:43-02:45
How many people know about Elf on the shelf?
02:46-02:49
All right, since we're being honest here, how many people here have an elf on the shelf?
02:52-02:53
Much less than I thought.
02:53-02:59
I think some of you need to put your word search books down and go get yourself an elf on the shelf.
03:00-03:03
We just got ours this year, so it's been an education for me.
03:04-03:07
Our elf, believe it or not, our elf was named after you, Jay Naur.
03:08-03:09
Our elf's name is Jay.
03:10-03:11
No, I'm dead serious.
03:11-03:13
His name is Jay Peppermint.
03:16-03:16
That's a true story.
03:19-03:27
But as adults, maybe we don't look for the elf at Christmas but we like to play other finding games at Christmas.
03:27-03:33
We like to play find the decorations, find the right Christmas cards, find that recipe for fruitcake.
03:34-03:35
Don't.
03:37-03:41
Find the perfect present, find the best sale, find the right gift card.
03:41-03:48
And we get so caught up in looking for all of these things This morning, I want to look at the real question.
03:50-03:51
Did you find Jesus?
03:54-03:54
Did you find Jesus?
03:57-04:01
Now look, I'm not trying to be Scrooge, okay?
04:02-04:04
We have a Christmas tree at our house.
04:04-04:07
We have an elf at our house named Jay Peppermint, okay?
04:07-04:11
I'm not this anti-Christmas, pulpit-pounding, okay?
04:11-04:12
I'm not that guy.
04:12-04:17
I'm just saying, can we step back and let's just be totally objective and honest for a second.
04:19-04:29
For a holiday about Jesus, most of our time and money are spent on things that have nothing to do with Jesus, true or false.
04:31-04:33
So the question this morning is, did you find Jesus?
04:34-04:40
And I want us to find that answer from very familiar characters in God's Word.
04:40-04:41
So let's look at Luke 2.
04:43-04:48
It says, "In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
04:49-04:53
This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
04:54-05:00
And all want to be registered, each to his own town." Okay, so this was the census.
05:01-05:15
But instead of sending the person door to door, by the way, I did that part-time, last census, and Lord willing I will never do it again my family is starving to death." But that's how they did their census.
05:15-05:18
You went back to your hometown to register.
05:18-05:22
It was completely different than the misery I went through, but they had a different kind of misery, we're going to find out.
05:23-05:40
It says, "And Joseph went up from Galilee to the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
05:42-05:46
While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
05:47-05:59
Okay, so the census brought them to their hometown to fulfill the prophecy that the Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior would be born in the city of Bethlehem.
05:59-06:05
You know, Micah the prophet pronounced that about 700 years prior to these events.
06:05-06:08
This is the spot where the Messiah is going to be born.
06:08-06:12
This is the town where the Christ is coming.
06:12-06:18
So the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem was about 90 miles.
06:19-06:20
So help me out here.
06:20-06:22
What's about 90 miles from this spot?
06:23-06:23
Any ideas?
06:25-06:25
Erie?
06:26-06:26
Okay.
06:27-06:38
So imagine ladies being just about due and making a trip up towards Erie.
06:40-06:50
By the way, not in your car, maybe on the back of a donkey, even though the Bible doesn't say how she traveled, but it wasn't in luxury.
06:52-06:58
The Mary, pregnant by the Holy Spirit, conceiving within her womb, arrives in time.
06:59-07:14
And look at verse 7, it says, "And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and lied him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn." Like, what?
07:16-07:24
So they make this trip and they get into town, and it says, "She laid him in a manger." That's a feeding trough.
07:24-07:27
That's where they keep the straw for the cattle.
07:30-07:41
It says, "There was no place for them in the inn." On your outline this morning, we're going to look at what's true about people who find Jesus.
07:42-07:44
I'm asking you, did you find Jesus?
07:44-07:51
Well, we're going to see very clearly in this text, there are at least three things that are true about people who find Jesus.
07:51-07:57
And here's the first one, "They made room for Jesus." They made room for Jesus.
07:59-08:02
This is another baffling thing we see in God's Word.
08:03-08:06
It says there was no room for them in the inn.
08:08-08:10
Now we've all heard of the innkeeper, right?
08:10-08:19
I remember when I was a kid at the Christmas play in the Methodist church, one year I had the role of the innkeeper.
08:19-08:25
And my big line was telling Mary and Joseph there was no room for them in the inn.
08:26-08:29
Like thanks a lot, cast me as the bad guy.
08:31-08:33
The innkeeper is one of the biggest jerks in the Bible.
08:35-08:41
Well actually I don't believe that there was an innkeeper at all.
08:43-09:20
I mean could you imagine, let's seriously, could you imagine this nine month pregnant woman shows up and we have this idea that there's this guy that's like working the front desk at the hotel and this pregnant woman shows up it's like sorry there's really nothing I can do for you ma'am and that's not really what actually happened see but what does the text say the text says they laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn now if you study the In Greek, the word for inn is kataluma.
09:21-09:22
Like, well, what's a kataluma?
09:23-09:30
Well, something that helps is if you find how that word is used in other places in Scripture, and sometimes the context makes it more clear.
09:30-09:33
Do you know where else in Scripture the word kataluma is used?
09:33-09:34
It's used in Mark 14.
09:37-09:46
If you look up that reference, Jesus told his disciples to prepare for the Passover meal in the Cataluma.
09:46-09:48
It was the guest room.
09:48-09:49
It was an upper guest room.
09:51-09:55
So they didn't roll into town and show up at the hotel and there wasn't room in the hotel.
09:56-09:58
Apparently, there was a specific place.
09:58-10:08
We don't know what, God knows, and if he would have wanted us to know, he would have told us that apparently there was a specific house that had a specific guest room where they were planning on staying.
10:10-10:16
So they show up and there's no room for them in this guest room.
10:17-10:22
So the best that people can do, apparently from the text, is put them with the animals.
10:23-10:26
A lot of times that was the downstairs of the house, the first level.
10:26-10:36
In a lot of houses, they would have the place where the people lived upstairs, the guest room, the sleeping quarters, and then ground level would be where you keep the animals.
10:40-10:41
It was the barn.
10:41-10:45
Or another way to think of it in our vernacular in our day is it was the garage.
10:48-10:49
And that's where the Messiah was born.
10:51-10:53
I shared this story with you before.
10:53-10:58
I don't remember sharing the story if I told you the punchline though, because it's really the best part.
10:58-11:09
But several years ago, we did this wedding where Aaron and I, after doing the wedding and going through all that, we show up at the place where the reception was held and we were not on the guest list.
11:09-11:10
Remember I told you this story?
11:10-11:11
Did I tell you how this ended?
11:12-11:17
We were not on the guest list, so we're really embarrassed, and I'm like, oh, this is, hurry up, get out of here.
11:17-11:18
And so embarrassing.
11:19-11:29
So we go, and I take my wife to dinner because she was dressed up looking beautiful, and we were planning on having a nice meal together at this reception, that didn't happen.
11:30-11:35
So after we went and had dinner, we got back in the car and I realized I had this couple's marriage license still with me.
11:35-11:41
I'm like, oh, I gotta give that to them because they're gonna go on their honeymoon, they're going to need proof that they were married, and all these things.
11:41-11:51
And I had to go back into that reception hall to give them their license, and that was humiliating.
11:52-11:55
But that wasn't the most humiliating thing of that day.
11:55-12:09
I walked in, and as soon as the groom saw me, as loud as he could in front of everybody, He said, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, hey, are you hungry?
12:10-12:17
"Because we might have some leftovers back in the kitchen." And I'm like, "Leftovers, really?
12:18-12:19
"Leftovers?
12:20-12:35
"You mean to tell me that for the past several months "I counseled you, I arranged your wedding, "I set things up, I held the rehearsal, "I held the ceremony, I did all the paperwork "for the license, I'm the stinking pastor, "And that's what you're offering me is leftovers?
12:36-12:40
"Crumbs from your table?" I didn't say that.
12:42-12:44
But I'm gonna be honest with you, it was pretty humiliating.
12:46-12:50
And that's the point of the manger because that's what Jesus got.
12:51-12:52
Jesus got the leftovers.
12:53-12:56
Sorry, we can't really offer you our best.
12:59-13:02
But if you wanna go ahead and give birth to him in the barn, I guess you can do that.
13:04-13:05
Really?
13:06-13:07
Creator God?
13:07-13:08
Awesome God?
13:08-13:09
Remember Him?
13:10-13:12
Do you remember Exodus God?
13:12-13:15
Do you remember covenant making and keeping God?
13:15-13:16
Do you remember Him?
13:17-13:18
He's coming to the earth.
13:20-13:25
And we make His earthly mother lay Him down in a feeding bin for animals.
13:28-13:39
Before we feel too sad about that, I think maybe we should examine our own lives and see if that's what Jesus is still getting, leftovers.
13:41-13:50
You know, in this account there was no room in the inn, no room in the Cataluma, but maybe for you, maybe for you it's no room on my calendar.
13:51-13:59
Every minute is spoken for with work, hobbies, sports, kids' activities, Netflix, and we We just can't seem to squeeze Jesus into the schedule.
14:00-14:04
But if we have a couple of minutes, we'll throw up a quick prayer.
14:05-14:07
Or hopefully church won't go too long and we'll go...
14:08-14:10
People do that with the offering, right?
14:11-14:13
You realize everything you have, God gave you.
14:14-14:17
And when we give back to God, we should give him first and best.
14:17-14:18
But do you know what a lot of people do?
14:19-14:19
What do they give him?
14:20-14:21
The leftovers, right?
14:21-14:22
The leftovers.
14:22-14:24
What do I have left?
14:26-14:31
So before we feel too bad about no room in the inn, let's take a look at how much room we're giving Jesus.
14:32-14:34
No room on my calendar, how about no room in my heart?
14:36-14:38
Your heart only has so much capacity.
14:41-14:44
And we've sought to satisfy ourselves with lesser things.
14:45-14:49
And church, we're not hungry for the things of God for the same reason we aren't hungry for health food.
14:50-14:51
It's because we're full of junk.
14:52-14:53
But, but, but, what if?
14:54-14:54
What if?
14:57-15:12
What if whoever in this story, the person that had jurisdiction over the guest room, whatever, whoever that person was, whoever got final say on who stayed in the Cataluma, who stayed in the guest room, what if?
15:13-15:14
Can you pretend with me for a second?
15:16-15:23
What if that person knew who was going to be born that night to that woman?
15:24-15:25
How do you think that story would have changed?
15:27-15:36
If that person knew the Savior of the world, the King of the universe was about to be born, what do you think would happen?
15:37-15:38
I'll tell you what would happen.
15:39-15:45
He would have gone into that guest room and whoever was staying there would have been escorted to the barn.
15:46-15:55
"I'm sorry, the King of the Universe is here, you're going to have to sleep in the barn tonight." I'm not telling Jesus that He has to stay there.
15:58-16:08
You see, in the same way, it's only when you recognize who Jesus is, that you'll make room for Him in your life.
16:10-16:19
You'll bump Him up to VIP priority position, you'll say no to good things, but lesser things in your life, so you can prioritize Him.
16:22-16:24
You see, I can't give you a sales pitch.
16:25-16:26
I can't give you a guilt trip.
16:27-16:36
You're like, "It's too late for that." Here's the bottom line, it's only when you realize the incomparable worth of Jesus Christ.
16:38-16:41
As He put it, He's the treasure hidden in the field.
16:41-16:42
Do you remember that story in Matthew 13?
16:44-16:46
The guy was digging and he found a treasure worth more than anything.
16:47-16:49
He sold everything he had just to buy the field to get that treasure.
16:50-16:51
That's Jesus.
16:51-16:54
Jesus said it's like the merchant seeking pearls.
16:54-16:55
Do you remember that story?
16:55-16:57
He found the greatest pearl he'd ever seen.
16:57-17:00
He sold everything just to buy that one.
17:02-17:03
That's Jesus.
17:05-17:12
And when you recognize Him for who He is, He'll get the priority on the room in your heart.
17:13-17:15
That's the first thing that's true about people who find Jesus.
17:16-17:17
They made room for Jesus.
17:18-17:20
Secondly, they actively went after Jesus.
17:21-17:24
They actively went after Jesus.
17:25-17:27
Let's pick up in the text, look at verse 8.
17:28-17:33
It says, "In the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
17:34-17:44
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
17:45-17:48
Underline in your Bible that phrase, glory of the Lord.
17:50-17:58
Do you realize the glory of the Lord came on the earth in Exodus chapter 40, and left in Ezekiel chapters eight through 10.
17:59-18:09
So the glory of the Lord hasn't been on the earth centuries and now all of a sudden the glory of the Lord is back on the earth.
18:11-18:19
It says, "The angel said to them, 'Fear not, for behold I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
18:20-18:27
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
18:28-18:30
And this will be a sign for you.
18:31-18:35
You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
18:36-19:07
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us and they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger.
19:09-19:19
The thing about this story that's always bothered me is why in the world did God make the announcement to shepherds of all people, right?
19:21-19:22
Think about that.
19:22-19:31
You're God and you're going to come personally in the flesh to the world.
19:32-19:33
How would you get word out?
19:33-19:36
I mean, obviously this was before the day of social media.
19:37-19:39
So God was like, "I'm going to tweet that I'm coming.
19:40-19:45
You know, #Bethlehem." He could have gone to the high priest, right?
19:46-19:47
He could have gone to the Sanhedrin.
19:48-19:50
He could have gone to the Romans.
19:52-19:54
I mean, those are people that would get the word out.
19:54-19:55
Who did he go to?
19:56-20:02
He went to this ragtag band of dirty shepherds out in the field?
20:04-20:14
Now, we sort of glorify shepherding in our minds because in our culture, we're sort of detached geographically and time-wise from the Bible.
20:15-20:18
Because in our minds, hey, you know, the Bible's full of great shepherds, right?
20:19-20:26
Adam technically was a shepherd, and Abel was a shepherd, and Jacob, and Moses, and David.
20:26-20:28
David wrote the shepherd's psalms, Psalm 23.
20:28-20:33
But in Jesus' day, understand, shepherds weren't quite revered the way we revere them.
20:34-20:36
In Jesus' day, shepherds had no social standing.
20:37-20:39
They were considered ignorant.
20:40-20:42
They were considered uneducated.
20:43-20:44
Here's the biggest problem.
20:47-20:48
They were considered irreverent.
20:50-20:56
because the shepherds by the nature of their work weren't able to keep the Pharisees' rules.
20:56-20:58
Remember, we talked about this when we went through Mark.
20:59-21:01
The Pharisees had all these rules about how to keep the Sabbath.
21:02-21:02
Remember that?
21:02-21:05
You're not allowed to do this, you're not allowed to do that, you're not allowed to do this.
21:05-21:08
And it's crazy the rules that they had.
21:08-21:15
Well, the shepherds couldn't keep their rules because it's not like, okay sheep, you're on your own for a few hours because we gotta keep the Sabbath.
21:15-21:18
They had to work.
21:20-21:23
So they were considered unclean.
21:25-21:26
They were considered outcasts.
21:27-21:33
And that is the first reason that God made the announcement to them.
21:34-21:34
Jot this reference down.
21:35-21:36
You can look it up later.
21:37-21:43
Isaiah 61 verse 1 says the Messiah was coming to bring good news to the poor.
21:44-21:49
And the prophet gives a description, but the bottom line is this.
21:49-21:51
His Messiah was promised to come to outcasts.
21:53-21:59
Jesus, as an adult, who did He hang out with?
21:59-22:07
Prostitutes, tax collectors, often the most unsavory people, friend of sinners.
22:09-22:11
And it started even with His birth, didn't it?
22:12-22:22
The second reason that God made the announcement to the shepherds 1 Corinthians 1:27, we have that verse.
22:23-22:30
It says, "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.
22:30-22:46
God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong." You know, I ask, why didn't God reveal all of this to the high priest, to the Sanhedrin, to the Roman, the high and mighty?
22:48-22:49
Because he was shaming them.
22:50-22:51
You're like, "Well, wait a second.
22:52-22:54
What do you mean he was shaming them? They didn't even know.
22:55-22:59
They didn't even know they were being shamed." Well, they were being shamed in God's eyes.
23:01-23:02
By the way, they never know.
23:04-23:06
They never know when they're being shamed, even today.
23:09-23:13
But did you notice, the shepherds weren't told specifically to go.
23:14-23:25
In our minds, the angels showed up and said, "Hey, I want you to go." They didn't specifically tell them to go, but did they really need to?
23:27-23:29
The angels just came and gave the announcement, "Hey, by the way, a baby's being born.
23:30-23:34
Here's the details." The shepherds sort of connected that dot in their mind, didn't they?
23:34-23:38
"We're going to go find him." That leads me to another question that's always bothered me.
23:38-23:39
How did they find Mary and Joseph?
23:41-23:41
How did they find him?
23:43-23:47
The Bible doesn't say, I think it's obvious they had to go and knock on a lot of doors, right?
23:48-23:49
I mean, could you imagine?
23:51-23:55
Living in Bethlehem in that day and it's like, any babies being born here?
23:55-23:57
No, no, no babies born here.
23:57-24:00
Okay, and they're just like running around trying to find this baby.
24:00-24:02
Where they show up, any babies being born?
24:02-24:03
Actually, yeah, we did have a baby.
24:04-24:04
Okay.
24:06-24:09
Is the baby wrapped in swaddling cloths?
24:11-24:12
No, actually he's not.
24:12-24:14
Okay, this isn't the right place.
24:14-24:16
Is your baby laying in an animal's feeding bowl?
24:17-24:19
No, he's in a bed.
24:19-24:24
Okay, they had to have gone house to house, but that's the point, see?
24:27-24:32
The shepherds believed the word of God and they acted upon it.
24:34-24:37
The shepherds demonstrated true biblical faith.
24:37-24:42
They heard from God and they acted on what they heard.
24:42-24:45
And that's a transition that many people don't make.
24:47-24:49
That's a transition many people don't make.
24:50-24:57
They hear the message, they hear the Christmas message, "Yep, yep, I believe that message." But they never act on what they know.
24:58-25:00
They never personally appropriate it.
25:02-25:08
And I want to remind you that you have a message from God about Jesus.
25:09-25:14
And that message from God about Jesus is summed up in the most famous verse in the Bible.
25:15-25:16
Right? John 3.16.
25:17-25:31
It says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life." You have a message from God.
25:32-25:34
The first part of that message is, listen, God loves you.
25:36-25:37
God loves you.
25:38-25:47
Every week at the end of church we say, "You are loved." Understand that that's not for me.
25:48-25:55
I do love you, but that's not what I mean when I say, "You are loved." It's a reminder that you have a God in heaven who loves you.
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No matter what you've done, no matter where you are, God loves you.
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Because God loves you, John 3.16 says, "Because He loves you, God gave you His Son." You know, it is the season of giving, right?
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And why do we give?
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Giving is always the natural expression of love, isn't it?
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When you love someone, you want to give to them.
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It's just so natural.
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And the Bible says that God loved the world so much that He was moved to give His only begotten Son.
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The rest of the verse says that whosoever believes in him.
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So we talk about belief, let's get back to the shepherds.
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Did the shepherds believe God?
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Well, it says in verse 16, "They went with haste." They went with haste.
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And for you, seek Jesus with everything that's in you and you'll find eternal life.
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But that's something that's true about people who find Jesus as they actively went after Him.
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And finally for today, what's true about people who find Jesus?
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They are never the same.
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They are never the same.
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This is such a funny story to me.
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Could you imagine ladies who have children, could you imagine if you think back to that moment when you delivered that baby?
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Could you imagine a group of complete strangers busting into the delivery room?
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Like, "Hey, we're here to see the baby." Like, "I'm sorry, who are you?" "Oh, we're shepherds, and an angel told us you was having a baby, so we thought it appropriate to be here for that." Like, "I'm sorry, can you wait in the waiting room?" Like, this is when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
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And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them." They probably had a hard time talking about anything else from that point on, didn't they?
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Like, "Hey, you remember that night the angels told us about the baby, you remember that?" Like, "Yeah, we just talked about that." "Yeah, we're gonna talk about it again, 'cause that was awesome." It says, "But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart." And the shepherds returned, back to work, the shepherds returned, back to work but never the same.
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Did you see the rest of it?
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It says, "Glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them." That's true of every finder of Jesus Christ without exception.
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Every single person finds Jesus Christ is never ever ever ever the same. Now these shepherds they didn't become apostles. I don't think they became pastors, but they do get the distinction of being the first New Testament missionaries of Jesus Christ.
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And just like seeking Jesus, they didn't need to talk into witnessing about what they saw either, did they?
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Jesus' impact on them, this is the crazy thing, even as a baby, Jesus had an impact that changed their lives.
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So please look, I love, I love all the Christmas tradition.
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I really do.
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But my encouragement for you is to not just make that the thing, because it's so much more than that.
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And with the story, I would encourage you to not reduce this story to just sentimentality.
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Because honestly, that's what a lot of people want to do with the Christmas story.
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They want to make it a lifetime made-for-TV movie, right?
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But it's heartwarming stories, some of them.
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But it's a heartwarming story of, "Oh, this poor pregnant woman, she had to travel, and there was no room, and she gave birth in the barn, and everything was fine." Roll credits, sad music.
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That's sort of what we make the Christmas story, like this young Jewish couple that persevered and overcame the odds.
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And I would say, yeah, that's the story, but that's a teeny tiny part of the story because here's the real story.
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A baby came into the world who will completely change your life.
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So did you find Jesus?
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Because the Bible tells us some things that are true of people who have.
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First of all, they made room for Him.
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Secondly, they actively went after Him.
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And thirdly, by God's grace, they are never the same.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, I thank you for this story.
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And it can become so familiar that we sort of tune out when we hear it, because we've heard it so many times.
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We hear it in church, they even share this story on the TV.
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But God, grip us again with the wonder of the humility that you've shown, and the way that you were born, and the humility that you've shown, and reaching out to the outcasts of society to tell them the news.
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Father, I pray for us as our schedules are full, and our lives are full with wonderful things, with family stuff, and with traveling, and so many great things happen this time of year.
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But Father, I pray that we don't get so caught up in these things that we miss the pearl of great price.
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Father, it's my prayer that You would use these things in such a way that we might exalt You, we might tell others about You, like the shepherds, we might glorify Your name at the announcement of this baby.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Luke 2:1-20
What distractions keep you from seeking Christ as you should?
What is the biggest way Jesus changed you when you found Him?
What was your big "take-away" from this passage / message? What did you learn that you didn't know before?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another to continually be seekers of Christ.