The joy of giving is something we can instill in the hearts of our children and grandchildren from a young age. I learned of a family sponsoring a child whose son asked them, “Can you help me sell my game system on eBay?” The parents were surprised since this was one of their son’s most prized possessions. They asked him why. “So I can send our [sponsored] child a Christmas present,” he replied. I’m sure the boy was happy when he originally received his game system. I’m also sure that when he gave a Christmas present to a truly needy child across the globe, his happiness was both greater and more enduring. The way of loving generosity may sound like dutiful obedience to the uninitiated. But generous givers know the truth: the habit of generosity ultimately explodes into enduring happiness. God Created Us to Give Arthur Brooks writes, “Our brains are actually wired to serve others. When we give charitable money and service to others, our brain releases several stress hormones which elevate our mood and cause us to feel happy. Serving and giving help to others makes us happier, healthier, more prosperous, and therefore greatly blessed and more successful than non-givers.” To voluntarily serve someone—to give of ourselves—is to show love to them. When we model this and include our children in our generous giving of time and dollars, we include them in our joy. God has wired us to love and serve others, and to find happiness in doing so. We should give because it’s right, but also because it’s smart. When we give, God is happy, those who receive our gifts are happy, and we’re happy. Everyone but Satan wins. I spoke at a Jesus Film Project missions conference and invited a farmer from my church to join me. People from all over the world told powerful stories about how God had changed their lives through this ministry. After the conference, this normally reserved man told me with bold passion, “I want to give as much as I possibly can to this ministry!” Someone might have thought he’d won the lottery. Yet what excited him wasn’t winning money; it was giving it away. This man had made money for years, and it hadn’t filled his heart with delight. What he was gaining now was purpose, direction, a deeper love for God’s work, and joy (as well as eternal reward, though that wasn’t foremost in his mind). All it cost him was money he didn’t need—money that, had he kept it, might have harmed him and his family. God doesn’t expect His followers to live like monks in a stark cell, never feasting or celebrating or enjoying life. He is like a parent who puts specially selected presents under the Christmas tree and delights in watching His children enjoy the gifts He chose just for them. When Giving Is Too Much of a Good Thing It’s one thing to provide for our children. It’s another thing to smother them with possessions until they turn into self-centered materialists. An alarming number of children from Christian homes grow up grasping for every item they can lay their hands on. Children raised in such an atmosphere—which includes most children in America—are afflicted with a killer disease called “affluenza.” Children raised in wealth show many symptoms of those raised in abject poverty, including depression and anxiety. They experience despair, sometimes attempting suicide. They turn to alcohol, drugs, and shop­lifting. Their parents are often so busy making money and spending it that they have little meaningful time with their children. They give them everything that money can buy, but money can’t buy what’s truly precious. Consider the typical American Christmas. When the annual obstacle course through crowded malls culminates on the Big Day, what’s the fruit? We find a trail of shredded wrapping paper and a pile of broken, abandoned, and unappreciated toys. Far from being filled with a spirit of thankfulness for all that Christmas means, children are often grabby, crabby, picky, sullen, and ungrateful—precisely because they’ve been given so much. “But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment” (1 Timothy 6:6, NASB). Things we would have deeply appreciated in small or moderate amounts become unappealing in excess. As a man who has gorged himself at a banquet finds the thought of food repulsive, one glutted with material things loses his regard and respect for them. The prevalent disrespect of children for their possessions and those of others is a direct result of overindulgence. “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, NIV). Children who grow up getting most of what they want have a predictable future. Unless they learn to overcome their upbringing, they’ll misuse credit, default on their debts, and be poor employees. They’ll function as irresponsible members of their family, church, and society. They’ll be quick to blame others, pout about misfortunes, and believe that their family, church, country, and employer—if they have one—owe them. Parents and grandparents who spoil children out of “love” should realize that by overindulging them, they are performing acts of child abuse. Although there are no laws against such abuse—no man-made laws, anyway—this spiritual mistreatment may result in as much long-term personal and social damage as the worst physical abuse. How about a Field Trip to a Dump? How can we teach our children the emptiness of materialism in a direct and memorable way? Try taking them to visit a junkyard or a dump. (The lines are shorter than at amusement parks, admission is free, and little boys love it.) Show them all the piles of “treasures” that were formerly Christmas and birthday presents. Point out things that cost hundreds of dollars, children quarreled about, friendships were lost over, honesty was sacrificed for, and marriages broken up over. Show them the miscellaneous remnants of battered dolls, rusted robots, and electronic gadgets that now lie useless after their brief life span. Point out to them that most of what your family owns will one day end up in a junkyard like this. Read 2 Peter 3:10‑14, which tells us that everything in this world will be consumed by fire. Then ask them this question: When all that we owned lies abandoned, broken, and useless, what will we have done with our lives that will last for eternity? Is There Any Substitute for a Parent? Every good financial perspective or habit is developed best by the example of parents. Children learn most effectively not only from what we say but from what we do. Sometimes our actions speak so loudly that our children can’t hear a word we’re saying. Training our children about money and possessions begins at birth (Proverbs 22:6). For better or worse, we are their tutors, every hour of every day. Albert Schweitzer put it this way: “There are only three ways to teach a child. The first is by example; the second is by example; the third is by example.” Giving gifts to children is often a substitute for giving them personal attention. Many children receive a playhouse, then a train set, then skis, then a motorcycle, then a car, all to compensate for the fact that their parents—often their father in particular—are not available to spend time with them. Anything we give our children is a poor substitute for ourselves. I spoke with a Christian man who loves his wife and five children and wants the best for them. He works hard so they can have a beautiful house, lots of things, and enough money for the children to go to college. In fact, he works so hard that the last three years he hasn’t had time to go on vacation with them! This man’s children are growing up with plenty of material things. Tragically, they’re also growing up without a father. Our children will not remember what we did for them nearly as much as they’ll remember what we did with them. None of us, on our deathbed, will look back and wish we had spent less time with our children. God Is the Ultimate Good Parent He does not cater to our whims or submit to our demands. Yet He is a kind, gracious, and loving Father who cares for our needs and even has a place in His heart for our wants. He gives us surprising, delightful, frequent treats (if our eyes are open to see them), while not spoiling us with overindulgence or trouble-free ease. There’s a play on words in 1 Timothy 6:17: “Command those who are rich . . . [not] to set their hope on riches . . . but on God who richly provides with all things for our enjoyment.” (NET, emphasis added). Sometimes we take for granted God’s many wonders, such as the beauty of the hummingbird, the glories of a rose, or the taste of grapes picked off the vine. For me, late-summer bike rides in my hometown are highlighted by the scent of ripe blackberries and the warm sun on my face. Are these small things? Sure. But how encouraging that God has intended “all things” for our good! In the middle of instructing those who are rich, Paul took a moment to comment on the character of God. He described God not as demanding or restrictive or begrudging, but as a God full of joy who provides all things with our delight in mind. Paul wasn’t telling us “Stop enjoying life” but rather “Start enjoying the good life—the true and abundant life! Take pleasure in all God’s gifts to you.” He wasn’t telling us “Don’t care about treasures” but “Enjoy the superior treasures and joys of generosity.” Our Father doesn’t prize our misery or insist that we live a life of stoic sacrifice. Rather, the Creator delights in our joy. Who should enjoy God’s world more than God’s people, who know and love Him as their loving Father? The things we love are not merely the best this life has to offer—they are previews of the greater life to come. So we simultaneously feel profound gratitude for what He gives us now and great anticipation for the treasures He promises us in the world to come. God’s generosity abounds. His gifts surround us—everywhere we look, and everywhere we don’t. Let’s make the effort to help our kids see those gifts. Doing so will pay eternal dividends. See Randy’s books Giving Is the Good Life and Money, Possessions, and Eternity. Randy Alcorn (@randyalcorn) is the author of over sixty books and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries.

Christmas is stressful because we all want to give the perfect gift. But gifts are temporal. A godly home, integrity, love and a good marriage are precious gifts. The gifts we should give last a lifetime! SIX GIFTS THAT LAST A LIFETIME Message #3: Six Gifts That Last A Lifetime Dr. Larry Osborne North Coast Church A DEVASTATING MYTH THE MYTH: A GODLY HOME guarantees GODLY KIDS. Proverbs 22:6/ Genesis 3/ Ezekiel 18:20 THE TRUTH: We have tons of INFLUENCE but no CONTROL. Proverbs 21:30-31 SIX GIFTS THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME (1) A strong MARRIAGE. Ephesians 5:22-6:4/ Malachi 2:13-16/ Genesis 2:24 (2) A CONSISTENT example. Deuteronomy 6:6-7/ Luke 6:40 (3) Respect for AUTHORITY. Romans 13:1/ 1 Peter 2:13-22/ 1 Corinthians 5:12 (4) Valuing CHARACTER over PERFORMANCE. 1 Samuel 16:7/ Mark 8:36/ Matthew 6:33 (5) A genuine INTEREST in their WORLD. Philippians 2:3-5 (6) Battles picked WISELY. Ephesians 6:4/ Colossians 3:21 Daily Dose: To receive our short daily devotional video, text the keyword “daily” to 51400. To subscribe by email or for a free audio or video copy of this message go to northcoastchurch.com Food for Thought for the week of December 2, 2018 (Questions and Scriptures for further study) Note to those who aren’t in a parenting role: These questions are written in the context of parenting, but many of the answers also apply to other significant relationships. Answer them in light of any role of leadership or responsibility you may have – or counsel you may need to offer. Two Old Testament passages give us good insight into God’s desires for parenting. In the following passages, jot down the actions and attitudes you see in each one that can relate to parenting. Deuteronomy 6:4-8 (NIV) – 4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.5 Love the LORDyour God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Psalm 127:3-5 (NIV) – 3 Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him. 4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court. What does 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 add to your understanding of the role of a parent? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (NIV) – 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Many things in parenting are better “caught” than “taught.” In light of that, what would it look like for you to model each of the following passages in such a way that those watching would be inclined to follow your example? Psalm 119:15-16 (NIV) – 15 I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. 16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. Matthew 5:13-16 (NIV) – 13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. 14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Philippians 2:3-4 (NIV) 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Colossians 3:13 (NIV) – 13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. Larry talked about how important modeling is in parenting. Take some time to reflect on what you hope your children will catch as they watch what it looks like to know, love and follow Jesus in the following areas… …serving and putting others first …forgiving others and owning up to your mistakes …loving your enemies …speaking the truth to others …time with Go www.northcoastchurch.org

We need to put on Christ. Holiday apparel will come and go. But the beautiful qualities of gentleness and purity will show to be the most enduring beauty. www.northcoastchurch.org SERMON SERIES: HOLIDAY SURVIVAL GUIDE Message #1: What To Wear For The Holidays Colossians 3 & Ephesians 4 Pastor Chris Brown North Coast Church November 17-18, 2018 What To Wear For The Holidays Why we need to change: Ephesians 4:30, Matthew 5:23-24, Matthew 6:12-15 Dad cares about how His kids get along. Forgiveness is a command, not an option. Our motivation for the change? Ephesians 4:32, Romans 12:14-21, 1 Peter 3:8-12, Matthew 18:21-35 Remember how we have been forgiven. Remember how we have been accepted and loved. Remember who we now represent. STEP 1: Recognize the “old me” Anger = Rage = Malice = Slander = Filthy language = STEP 2: Put on the “new me” Compassion = Kindness = Humility = Gentleness = Patience = Daily Dose: To receive our short daily devotional video, text the keyword “daily” to 51400. Standard text rates apply. To subscribe by email or for a free audio or video copy of this message go to northcoastchurch.com Food for Thought for the week of November 18, 2018 (Questions and Scriptures for further study) GUIDE TO SURVIVING THE HOLIDAYS This weekend Chris kicked off our new series “Holiday Survival Guide.” Below are several practical steps you can use to help you stay healthy in the relationships you have with family (or friends) you typically see during the holidays. Be aware of the role you typically play in your family. Our family role is the behavior(s) we often acted out during our upbringing which can automatically return when back with family. Although this could be a good thing, it can easily be negative in how it affects us and those around us. What role are you tempted to play when around your family? (eg. rescuer, enabler etc.) Be aware of which family members or family situations test you the most. What people or situations come to mind? Decide what healthy boundaries look like and what unhealthy boundaries look like. Are there any boundaries you need to tighten to have healthier interactions with friends or family? Are there any boundaries you need to loosen? Remember we cannot change others, we can only change ourselves. What can you change in how you approach or respond to challenging, toxic or negative interactions with friends and family? Are there any actions or attitudes you want to start practicing now to yield a better result in those situations or relationships? Don’t ride the emotional roller coaster. When someone close to us has mood swings or gets angry, often we get to choose whether we ride the roller coaster of emotion with them or if we sit on the bench outside of the ride. How often do you get pulled into someone else’s emotion? How might you best model a calm demeanor to an overly emotional person? TAKING IT HOME Chris reminded us of the importance of recognizing the “old me” and putting on the “new me.” While we know that none of us are finished products, there are ways we can see this play out in our walk with Jesus. As you go through Galatians 5:22-23, how might each of the fruits of the spirit look if someone were putting on the “new me” vs. the “old me”? What advice does Romans 12:19-21 give for how we can respond to challenging people and situations in a loving way? Romans 12:19-21 New International Version (NIV) 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[a] says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Imagine how Mary must have felt when she was told by an angel that she would be the parent of the long-awaited Messiah—that she’d be responsible for raising and nurturing her Savior. How do you think you’d respond? You’d no doubt find the responsibility overwhelming and intimidating. You might be instantly overcome with worry. You might even attempt to respectfully decline the position altogether. That’s why Mary’s response to the angel’s prophecy in Luke 1:28-35 is so remarkable. She was just a young woman—a girl, really—but she reacted with the grace, wisdom, and spiritual maturity of a seasoned saint. Meeting with Elizabeth Mary, filled with joy and bubbling over with praise, hurried to the hill country to visit her relative, Elizabeth. There’s no suggestion that Mary was fleeing the shame of her pregnancy. It seems she simply wanted a kindred spirit to share her heart with. The angel had explicitly informed Mary about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. So it was natural for her to seek out a close relative who was both a strong believer and also expecting her first son by a miraculous birth, announced by an angel (Luke 1:13–17). While Elizabeth was much older—maybe even in her eighties, and had always been unable to conceive—and Mary was at the beginning of life, both had been supernaturally blessed by God to conceive. It was a perfect situation for the two women to spend time rejoicing together in the Lord’s goodness to both of them. Elizabeth’s immediate response to the sound of Mary’s voice gave Mary independent confirmation of all that the angel had told her. Scripture says, When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:41–45) Elizabeth’s message was prophetic, of course, and Mary instantly understood that. Mary had learned from an angel about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Nothing indicates that Mary had sent word of her own circumstances ahead to Elizabeth. Indeed, Mary’s sudden arrival had all the hallmarks of a surprise to her relative. Elizabeth’s knowledge of Mary’s pregnancy therefore seems to have come to her by revelation—in the prophecy she uttered when the Holy Spirit suddenly filled her. Mary’s Psalm of Praise Mary replied with prophetic words of her own. Her saying is known as the Magnificat (Latin for the first word of Mary’s outpouring of praise). It is really a hymn about the incarnation. Without question, it is a song of unspeakable joy and the most magnificent psalm of worship in the New Testament. It is the equal of any Old Testament psalm, and it bears a strong resemblance to Hannah’s famous hymn of praise for the birth of Samuel. It is filled with messianic hope, scriptural language, and references to the Abrahamic covenant: My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed. He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever. (Luke 1:46-55) It is clear that Mary’s young heart and mind were already thoroughly saturated with the Word of God. She included not only echoes of two of Hannah’s prayers (1 Samuel 1:11; 2:1–10), but also several other allusions to the law, the psalms, and the prophets. Those who channel their religious energies into the veneration of Mary would do well to learn from the example of Mary herself. God is the only One she magnified. Notice how she praised the glory and majesty of God while repeatedly acknowledging her own lowliness. She took no credit for anything good in herself. But she praised the Lord for His attributes, naming some of the chief ones specifically, including His power, His mercy, and His holiness. She freely confessed God as the one who had done great things for her, and not vice versa. The song is all about God’s greatness, His glory, the strength of His arm, and His faithfulness across the generations. Mary’s worship was clearly from the heart. She was plainly consumed by the wonder of His grace to her. She seemed amazed that an absolutely holy God would do such great things for one as undeserving as she. This was not the prayer of one who claimed to be conceived immaculately, without the corruption of original sin. It was, on the contrary, the glad rejoicing of one who knew God intimately as her Savior. She could celebrate the fact that God’s mercy is on those who fear Him, because she herself feared God and had received His mercy. And she knew firsthand how God exalts the lowly and fills the hungry with good things, because she herself was a humble sinner who had hungered and thirsted after righteousness, and was filled. It was customary in Jewish prayers to recite God’s past faithfulness to His people (Exodus 15; Judges 5; Psalm 68; 78; 105; 114; 135; 136; 145; and Habakkuk 3). Mary followed that convention here in abbreviated fashion. She recalled how God had helped Israel, in fulfillment of all His promises. Now her own child would be the living fulfillment of God’s saving promise. No wonder Mary’s heart overflowed with such praise. Mary’s Legacy Mary herself never claimed or pretended to be anything more than a humble handmaiden of the Lord. She was extraordinary because God used her in an extraordinary way. She clearly thought of herself as perfectly ordinary. She is portrayed in Scripture only as an instrument whom God used in the fulfillment of His plan. She herself never made any pretense of being an administrator of the divine agenda, and she never gave anyone any encouragement to regard her as a mediatrix in the dispensing of divine grace. The lowly perspective reflected in Mary’s Magnificat is the same simple spirit of humility that colored all her life and character. It is truly regrettable that religious superstition has in effect turned Mary into an idol. She is certainly a worthy woman to emulate, but Mary herself would undoubtedly be appalled to think anyone would pray to her, venerate images of her, or burn candles in homage to her. Her life and her testimony point us consistently to her Son. He was the object of her worship. He was the one she recognized as Lord. He was the one she trusted for everything. Mary’s own example, seen in the pure light of Scripture, teaches us to do the same. www.gty.org

The angels must have been stunned to see the second member of the triune God become a human being! The baby of Bethlehem was Creator of the universe, pitching His tent on the humble camping ground of our little planet. God’s glory now dwelt in Christ. He was the Holy of holies. People had only to look at Jesus to see God. When we look at the life of Jesus, we see something unparalleled in all human history. As a carpenter’s son, and especially as the eldest son, He was an integral part of the family business. He worked hard, long hours. As did other Jewish children of His place and time, He studied and knew much of the Old Testament Scriptures by heart. He was like the other children with one major difference—He never sinned. That would have made Him popular with some people, and very unpopular with others. But let’s go back further. As God the Father directly oversees every child’s conception and formation, so He did with Jesus, again with a startling difference. In this case, the child conceived was the Son who had always, from eternity past, lived with His Father and the Holy Spirit. This same Jesus who stepped out of eternity and into time is the source of our eternal happiness. The Jesus who dwells within every believer, who came down from Heaven and returned there, will one day actually bring Heaven down to the New Earth—forever ( Revelation 21:1-4, NIV ). Following are some verses and quotes about the incarnation and virgin birth, excerpted from my book  It’s All About Jesus . Enjoy! Here is the great mystery of our religion: Christ came as a human. The Spirit proved that he pleased God, and he was seen by angels. Christ was preached to the nations. People in this world put their faith in him, and he was taken up to glory.  1 Timothy 3:16 CEV In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. …The angel went to her and said, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High…his kingdom will never end.” How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.  Luke 1:26-38 NIV The Incarnation is the most stupendous event which ever can take place on earth, and after it henceforth, I do not see how we can scruple at any miracle on the mere ground of it being unlikely to happen. –John Henry Newman Christ took our flesh upon him that he might take our sins upon him. –Thomas Watson The greatness of God was not cast off, but the slightness of human nature was put on. –Thomas Aquinas It is fitting that a supernatural person should enter and leave the earth in a supernatural way…His birth was natural, but His conception was supernatural. His death was natural, but His resurrection was supernatural. –John Stott Jesus Christ did not remain at base headquarters in heaven, receiving reports of the world’s suffering from below and shouting a few encouraging words to us from a safe distance. No, he left the headquarters and came down to us in the front-line trenches, right down to where we live… –Helmut Thielicke It has never been quite enough to say that God is in his heaven and all is right with the world; since the rumor is that God had left his heavens to set it right. –G. K. Chesterton Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. Materialists believe in the virgin birth of the cosmos. Choose your miracle. –Glen Scrivener If Jesus Christ were not virgin born, then…He inherited the nature of that father; as that father had a nature of sin, then Jesus Himself was a lost sinner and He Himself needed a Savior from sin. Deny the virgin birth of Jesus Christ and you paralyze the whole scheme of redemption by Jesus Christ. –I. M. Haldeman Though He was God, He became a man. He was the Ancient of Days, yet He was born at a point in time. He created worlds and companied with celestial beings, yet He came to live in a family setting on earth. –Henry Gariepy At Bethlehem God became man to enable men to become the sons of God. –C.S. Lewis He was created by a mother whom he created. He cried in the manger in wordless infancy, he the Word, without whom all human eloquence is mute. –Augustine No priest, no theologian stood at the cradle of Bethlehem. And yet, all Christian theology finds its beginnings in the miracle of miracles, that God became human. –Dietrich Bonhoeffer www.epm.org

Were you afraid of the dark when you were a child? I was. The chore I dreaded most was taking the trash to the curb. The 25-yard walk down the driveway in the quiet darkness seemed more like a 2.5-mile gauntlet. I was sure that robbers and coyotes were crouching in the bushes, ready to spring their attack on me under the veil of darkness. Later, at night, I would lie frozen in my bed, afraid of what lay behind my closet door. What monster lurked, waiting for me to fall asleep? In George Lucas’s Star War universe, the Light and Dark sides of the force vie for power. The forces are equal in power, and the outcome is in jeopardy. There is no guaranteed victor. Good thing we live in God’s universe and not Lucas’s! Christmas reminds us that history does not hang in the balance. The Light will overcome. In his introduction to his gospel, John explains that Jesus is the light: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.  5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6  There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  7  He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.  8  He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9  The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.  (John 1:4-9) Jesus the Creator contains and is the essence of Light and Life. When he takes on flesh in his creation, it is as though a light has been turned on in a dark room. He is flood lights as I walk in the quiet darkness to the curb; he is a sunrise after a night with no moon. The darkness of fear cripples us. The darkness of shame clings to our hearts. The darkness of envy won’t release us. The darkness of bitterness churns in your gut. But the light of Jesus makes them flee. Where is there darkness in your life? Where are the shadows lurking? What situation do you fear God isn’t powerful enough to defeat? Do you have a functional Star Wars theology in your heart? Are there are certain things you have a sneaking suspicion the light of Christ can’t conquer in your life? Be confident this Christmas that when God the Son took on flesh in Bethlehem, an unquenchable light arrived. And that light is for you. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. www.thebeehive.live.

The Coming Glory Romans 8:18-25 The last three years have been some of the most emotionally difficult years we have ever seen. Everyone I encounter seems to be stressed to the max. From a global pandemic, to severe supply shortages, a Russian invasion of Ukraine, sexual abuse scandals, mass shootings, and high inflation, this has been a season like no other. All these events have brought us to tears. Over the last three years, many people have told me that they simply can not watch the news anymore because it is traumatizing them to hear one sad story after another. And, you know, I am inclined to agree with them. I used to be a news junky, but in the last three years I haven’t wanted to watch the news as much. How has this present suffering effected you? Have you found yourself struggling with an increase in anger, feelings of helplessness or frustration? If you have you are not alone. For me personally, the emotional heaviness started nine months before Covid hit our big world. In November of 2018, my beloved husband Gary, retired from our Tucson church where he had pastored for forty years. To celebrate his retirement, our sweet congregation sent us on a trip to Israel. Going to the Holy Lands was always on our bucket list. Little did we know that this retirement gift was also going to be Gary’s graduation gift. While touring the sights of Israel, from the Golan Heights to the Dead Sea, my husband began to experience seizures which would later prove to be an unknown brain tumor. And, this diagnoses was going to make the endurance of Covid even harder. For the next seventeen months we struggled through surgeries, chemo therapy and Covid isolation. Often times Gary and I had to communicate though ground floor windows of a care facility or a hospital. As his brain tumor continued to grow, one time I coached Gary for twenty minutes on how to find his cell phone, it was in his pocket. After he found it he told me he needed a nap and could not talk to me. This was the last real conversation I had with my husband. I walked backed to the car in tears knowing the end would be soon. Finally, they put him on hospice and they let me bring him home. My children and grandchildren rallied one more time to see their beloved father, and we cocooned as a family until he passed. I found the entire experience of trying to be an advocate for my husband, while he was dying of brain cancer, during a global pandemic to be emotionally exhausting. On October 2, 2020, my husband went to be with Jesus. My days of grief have been a mixture of both good and bad times. Yes, I lost my husband, the love of my life and until I see him again in heaven I will deeply miss everything about him. But, in his illness and death, friends supported us, brought us food, sent money and genuinely wanted us to to know how much they loved Gary. I have to say I am deeply grateful for the extended time God gave us to say our full goodbyes. In Romans 8:18 Paul wrote, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ESV Was Paul being genuine when he wrote these words? Did he know what real suffering was? How could he say with confidence that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that is coming in Jesus? Paul’s present sufferings were very different than the trials we have been facing. But, suffering is not a competition where we struggle to see who has endured the most. Your sorrow is real and so is mine. Once when I was trying to explain the universality of suffering to a sweet friend deep in grief she said, “Well if it was I would be winning!” Haven’t we all felt that way at times? Yes, Paul and his fellow Christians never faced a global pandemic. But, they did face many life threatening trials. For the first 400 years of Christianity, it was a crime to be a Christian across the entire Roman empire. There was literally no place to hide for the young and persecuted church. The book of Acts records in great detail how Christians were taken outside the city gates and stoned by their accusers. Some went on to their death in coliseums where they would face gladiators and lions, to entertain the blood thirsty citizens of Rome. Long after Jesus’ resurrection, crucifixion remained Rome’s favorite form of intimidation. These numerous acts of torture were a constant reminder of how much it would cost to disobey Rome. In spite of this high level of physical pain and suffering Paul said that the glory that was coming was not worth comparing. Can we imagine a glory like that? A glory that makes all our trials pale in comparison and gives us hope? This glory is what I want us to consider. Look at Romans 8:18-26. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen isnot hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ESV Paul emphasizes three truths about the glory that is coming. First this coming glory puts our present sufferings in perspective. Romans 8:18 In this world everyone will suffer, but this is not the end of the story. Eternity is coming when we will see the glory of Jesus and that will be, so spectacular that these present trials will pale in comparison. We do not get to choose our earthly trials, but we have the freedom to choose where we will spend eternity. At the end of time no one is going to say, “Jesus, you asked me to do too much.” No, instead we are going to wish we had done more to advance God’s kingdom on earth. This is how fabulous seeing Jesus’ face will be. Can we imagine that? If we could it would strengthen us. Second this coming glory is anticipated by all of creation. Romans 8:19-22 As I studied this passage I found myself remembering a recent trip to Sedona, Arizona that I took with my children and grandchildren. Every time I think of about this trip it makes me deliriously happy. As a native Arizonan I have always loved the rugged beauty of Sedona. And, I loved considering that this red cliff, hiker’s paradise is groaning in expectation for the glory that is going to be revealed in Jesus. This is a marvelous concept to consider. In Romans 8 Paul is teaching that creation was subjected to decay when Adam and Eve rebelled against God in the garden. Before the Fall of Man, roses didn’t wilt and plants did not decay. What Paul is emphasizing in this passage, is that creation has been waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. When nature sees the revelation of who the true children of God are, she knows it won’t be long before she too, will be liberated from her bondage to decay. Creation is groaning for this revelation as in the pains of childbirth. How many of you women can remember the pains of childbirth? Me too! Paul’s illustration of childbirth explains just how painful creations’ wait time for Jesus’ return has been. All of creation is groaning in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. The next time you look at the iridescent feathers of a hummingbird hovering in flight, a brilliant Arizona sunset after a monsoon storm, or the red cliffs and canyons of Sedona I want you to remember that nature has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth to see who the adopted children of God are. Third this coming glory fills us with hope. Romans 8:23-25 We learn from this passage that the children of God, just like all of creation, are also groaning in expectation for God to set the world right. We long for the day when God will broadcast who he has adopted as his children. God uses everything that happens to us, good and bad, to draw us to himself and to reveal his great love for us. God delights in knowing his children and being known by them. His spiritual adoption sets our hearts at rest when we know that just like a precious child who is adopted on earth, our acceptance is based on his word and not our behavior. Employees or servants must strive to please their employers, but a child is favored because of who their daddy is. God gifts us with his unconditional and sacrificial love, to redeem us and make us his own. No one can earn God’s favor and become his child, but those who are adopted spiritually will live lives marked by spiritual fruit. Paul talk’s about the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. ESV Spiritual fruit is the evidence of Gods indwelling power. Galatians teaches us, that we can not be loving unless God fills us with his indwelling presence. We can’t be joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle or a person who exercises self-control, without the Holy Spirit within us bearing his fruit. When fruit is sold at the grocery store that is out of season its’ price usually reflects its’ scarcity. For example: Rainier Cherries are $7.95 a pound when they appear at the market early and are out of season, but they are only $2.95 a pound when they are in season. Rainier Cherries are still an expensive fruit, even in season, but the fruits that arrive first at the market don’t taste any sweeter than the fruits that arrive later after the larger harvest. This is also true of those of us who bear spiritual fruit today. We maybe scarce, but we are not sweeter than the believers who will follow us. All the true children of God will bear the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit. Those of us who have this privilege to bear first fruits, just like all of creation, are groaning for the revelation of those who are God’s children. We are eagerly waiting for the redemption of our bodies. This is the very hope that saves us. Because of the power of Jesus’ blood sacrifice we have been adopted into the family of God. This is the hope that is coming. But, hope that is seen is not hope. But, if we wait in patience for Jesus’ return, Jesus our hope will not disappoint us. This coming glory puts our present sufferings in perspective, is anticipated by all of creation, and fills us with hope. Death is real and death is final. Many of us have not always enjoyed the life we wanted here on earth. Let’s be truthful, many of us have experienced extreme betrayal and heavy heart aches, but we need to realize we have complete control over how we are going to spend eternity. Someday soon all of us are going to meet Jesus face to face. This truth should sober us. Are we looking to our hope or has our suffering been in vain? This is the question I want us to consider.

The Hebrew word for peace is SHALOM. Shalom is RELATIONAL HARMONY and it’s four-dimensional. It’s right relationship with God, Self, Others, and Creation. How do we experience the peace that passes understanding? First and foremost, peace is a PERSON. His name is Jesus, the Prince of Peace. If you want to experience shalom, there are three keys: 1) Confess Your Sin 2) Love Your Enemies 3) Prophesy Your Praise God With Us: The Peace That Passes Understanding November 27-28, 2021 Speaker: Dr. Mark Batterson Scripture: Isaiah 9:6-7 Series Overview: Advent is a season of preparation. A season of anticipation! A season of Peace, Hope, Love, and Joy! Series Discussion Questions: How is God working around me in this season to show me His Peace, Hope, Love and Joy? Message Overview: The Hebrew word for peace is SHALOM. Shalom is RELATIONAL HARMONY and it’s four-dimensional. It’s right relationship with God, Self, Others, and Creation. How do we experience the peace that passes understanding? First and foremost, peace is a PERSON. His name is Jesus, the Prince of Peace. If you want to experience shalom, there are three keys: (1) Confess Your Sin (2) Love Your Enemies (3) Prophesy Your Praise Message-Specific Discussion Questions: Where do you need an increase of peace this season? Peace is best defined as “Shalom”: ● Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace” in our text for the week. Shalom is more than an emotion. It is easier to understand what that means by seeing Jesus’ example in Scripture o Shalom is the good will of God. (Psalm 23:6; 84:11) o Shalom is healing and restoration (Mark 5:34) o Shalom is forgiveness (Luke 7:47-50) o Shalom is exercising authority with humility (Mark 4:39) o Shalom is being Spirit- filled! (John 20:22) © 2021 National Community Church Page 1 It starts with how we see God: ● Our relationship with God keeps us in balance with how we see ourselves. ● As a result this impacts how we interact with others and the world in general. ● It involves right relationships with God, self, others, and creation. ● If we leave God out, we have a social gospel. How do we restore Shalom? 1. Confess your sin ● Reflect on 1 John 1:8-9 ● Sin is the disturbance of peace; the opposite of shalom ● Are there areas where God has forgiven us, that we can fully release ourselves? 2. Love your enemy ● Reflect on Matthew 5:44-45 ● Do not give the enemy a seat at your table. ● Is there a seed of bitterness, a grudge, something that is keeping me from experiencing Shalom? 3. Prophesy your praise ● Read Revelation 5:11-14 ● Reflect on Luke 17:20-21 ● The Kingdom of Heaven is not just for the future, it is something we live in now! ● We are not alone! Read Psalm 32:7 ● Read Zephaniah 3:17. Praise puts us where we see beyond our own limits! Prayer: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Walk before me this holiday season, so that others can experience your peace, your shalom. May the Lord God be with us, as He always has been. May He go ever before us not leaving us or forsaking us, but holding true to all His promises. May we be rooted in the house of the Lord and be made whole in His perfect peace. Amen" Practical Application o Develop a daily rhythm of renewal and resilience in the middle of the hustle and bustle. Connecting with what God is doing around us, through a short daily devotional. Download the NCC app or go to ncc.re/daily. o Review the verses in this week’s sermon discussion guide. Write down in your journal one thing that God is showing you as a way to experience His peace in this season of life. o Start the day with positive encouragement, in a prayerful virtual gathering by joining the Upper Zoom each Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7:14am. Register at ncc.re/UpperZoom © 2021 National Community Church Page 2 www.theaterchurch.com

In this series of advent posts, I will share the words of the eyewitnesses of Jesus’ life and birth. The words that follow are from the gospels and are combined, not edited. With the hope that we might encounter the story afresh, I’ve removed the chapters and verses from the story itself (you can find them in the footnotes). The story of Jesus’ birth begins in eternity. It is the impossible story of that eternal light becoming flesh. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.[i] In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great before the Lord. And he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.” And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.” And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they were wondering at his delay in the temple.And when he came out, he was unable to speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple. And he kept making signs to them and remained mute. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden, saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among people.”[ii] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.[iii]

The Magnificent Mother of Messiah Sip Heitzig Hello, and welcome to this teaching from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Albuquerque. We pray that God uses this message to strengthen your faith. If he does, we'd love to hear about it. Email us at mystory@calvaryabq.org. And if you'd like to support this ministry financially, you can give online securely at calvaryabq.org/give . Mary, the mother of Jesus, is central to the Christmas story. Unfortunately, people are greatly divided about her importance and her role. In the message, the Magnificent Mother of Messiah, Skip considers five notable attributes that formed Mary's personality. Now we invite you to turn in your Bible to Luke Chapter 1 as Skip begins. Would you please turn in your Bible to Luke Chapter 1 this morning. The gospel of Luke, third book in your New Testament, Chapter 1. I was supposed to have been a girl. I know that's an odd statement to begin a sermon with, and it needs explanation. But I wanted to get your attention. I was supposed to have been a girl. I'm the fourth boy born to Lou and Agnes Heitzig. They had four boys. They were hoping that one of them would be a girl. That didn't work out with the first three, so I was their last hope at having a daughter. What a disappointment I was when I came out a boy. And yet, there is often a very special bond between a son and a mother, and I will admit to you freely that though I love both mom and dad and respect to them greatly, I was very, very close to my mother. Moms love you no matter what. Their love is fierce, and it is unbreakable. In fact, we even have a saying. You have a face that only a mother could love. Mothers love no matter what. My message today is about Mary, the mother of Jesus, the mother of the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world. I can only imagine there must have been an incredibly strong bond of love between Jesus and his mother Mary, and one of the reasons is that we believe Joseph, Jesus' stepfather, died at a young age, leaving Mary alone. And did you know Mary was the only human person who was there at both of the birth of Jesus and the death of Jesus? A wonderful event, a horrible event. When he came into the world, she was rejoicing. When he died on the cross, like the prophecy, a sword pierced her own heart. But if you know much about Mary, you also know that Mary is a very controversial figure. Mary is someone that Catholics will fawn over and Protestants will wince about. I've watched it for years. I grew up in my early years in a Roman Catholic family in a religious environment that exalted Mary, and prayed to Mary, and elevated Mary. I remember Mary being described as the co-redemptrix of the human race, as well as the co-mediatrix of the human race-- big fancy words that simply mean Mary helped redeem the world and is a mediator between mankind and God. There is even a basilica in Rome called the Santa Maria Maggiore that has a picture of Mary hanging on the cross with Jesus, as if she helped redeem the world. Inside that church is a painting that depicts Jesus himself crowning Mary as the queen of heaven. According to the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, Mary was always a virgin, even after she had Jesus, the perpetual virginity of Jesus Christ, even though the scripture attests otherwise. Also those two religious denominations believe in the Immaculate Conception, that Mary was untainted by original sin, and thus she is elevated to the place where Mary answers prayers and Mary dispenses grace. Now all of those are not true at all, from a biblical perspective. You can say they are, but you cannot find any evidence in the Bible that those are true. However, the other extreme committed by Protestants is to disregard Mary altogether, to ignore her altogether, to ignore the fact that she was uniquely favored by God and is blessed among women. Now, many Protestants will avoid her. I don't want to do that. I think she was a magnificent woman, and I want to show you in the scripture that. I love Christmas, and I love Christmas messages. I love the Christmas story. I love preaching on it, but I have to be honest with you. I hesitate every year when I do any Christmas message, and you know why? Because you know it. Because it's so familiar. You know about shepherds, and Herod, and the star, and the magic. You know all this, manger. You know it all. And that's a good thing, but some of you even know the real story. Some of you know that there weren't three kings from the Orient. Some of you know that it wasn't a Silent Night in Bethlehem. You've gotten the historical background. You know some of the more advanced real historical facts of the story that is told in the Bible but often misrepresented by Christmas carols. So I know you know it, but to come to grips with the thought that a virgin girl was impregnated by the Holy Spirit so that that baby bump on Mary was the creator of the universe is mind boggling. I still don't get my mind around that. I've heard people say, preacher, I don't believe in the virgin birth. A virgin birth is impossible. I agree with you. It is impossible, but with God, nothing shall be impossible. And really that is the solution. I've always thought and believed that if you can get past the first verse of the Bible, the rest will be easy. If you can believe in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, everything else is a cake walk compared to that. If he can pull that off, he can pull anything else off. So I do believe in a virgin birth. But these thoughts must have dawned on Mary from the very beginning. She didn't quite grasp it all, but from the first announcement made-- these thoughts of what she was doing, and who she was carrying in the womb, and what this would mean-- began to dawn on her, and we have her response in Luke Chapter 1. So going through this chapter, some select verses, I want to show you five attributes of Mary, five character traits that hopefully will get us ready for Christmas. And here's the first. Mary was real. It's weird that I'd have to say that, but I do have to say that. She was a real person. She actually existed. She was historical. I'll explain in a moment. Let's look at the text, Chapter 1, Verse 26. "Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the House of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angels said to her, rejoice highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. For you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth the son and call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. And then Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man?" In other words, I'm a virgin. "And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God, nothing will be impossible." Mary was real, and I make this statement because by some Mary has been called a myth, an allegory, a fictitious made up person. She'd never existed in history. And the reason somebody will say that is because they say, well, the only record we have that Mary existed is the Bible. We have no historical records. We have no other historical records beside the Bible that she ever existed. I just have to answer that by saying I'm not surprised at all by that, for several reasons. Number one, she lived in Nazareth. Nazareth was podunk central. It was some little out of the way hayseed village that nobody cared about, nobody knew about. You wouldn't even have heard about it unless Jesus was from there, raised there. And people like that from places like that were never recorded in ancient history. Furthermore, she was a Jew, a society that had been subjugated by the Roman government, and Romans had no interest in recording the lives of conquered peoples. Number three, she was from Israel, a patriarchal society where men had top billing. Women had no legal rights. A woman was owned by her father and then later by her husband. Women weren't recorded in genealogical records typically unless she was a woman of wealth, or status, royalty. So I'm not surprised that Mary is not recorded anywhere else except in the historical record of the scripture. So who was Mary? Having established that we believe she was a real person, who was she exactly? Well, because she had a miraculous birth, the Jewish nation historically has had to come to terms with that, and so they have made all sorts of stories up about her. The Jewish Talmud says that Mary was a hairdresser. How? Where do they come up with that? I don't know. I can honestly say that came out of left field. She was a hairdresser. Did she do nails, too? They say she was a hairdresser who had an affair with a Roman soldier. That's how Jesus was born. The Roman soldier's name was Pantera, and the union of Mary and Pantera, the Roman soldier, brought forth this elicit child, this illegitimate child called Jesus. I even read a pastor online whose Christmas text that he chose from was the Beatles song "Let It Be". You're familiar with the song? When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom. Let it be. So he chose that as his text, and his opening statement was, I had no idea all these years singing that song that that was about Mary in the Bible. And I thought not only are you biblically illiterate, you're musically illiterate, because Paul McCartney wrote that song about his mother whose name was Mary who died. And in a dream he saw her one night and wrote a song that became a hit the next day. I love the song, but it's not about Jesus' mother Mary. It's about Paul McCartney's mother Mary. Mary was real. She was from a Jewish family. Her Jewish name would have been Miriam, a common name. And because we believe the genealogical record in Luke Chapter 3 is Mary's genealogy whereas Matthew's genealogy is that of Joseph, then we would surmise that Mary's dad's name was Heli, H-E L-I, or Eli. So her name would be Miriam bat Eli, her Hebrew name. Now, how old was Mary when she had Jesus? Well, some of you know, again, the answer to that. But scientific records estimate that women in Mary's day achieved menarche-- that is menstrual maturity-- around age 13 or 14. That's according to the National Geographic Atlas called the Biblical World. So Mary was somewhere between age 12 and 14. Let's just say safely 13. We would not be unsafe to say Mary was 13 years of age when she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Jewish women, once they reached physical maturity in those days, got married and had a family. So we have somebody very young from a poor family, a young teenager from Nazareth, a working class village who's engaged to a young man named Yosef. And what did Joseph do for a living? He was a what? You can say it out loud. A carpenter. That's the English translation, and unfortunately, you think of a guy who builds wood houses or something or makes tables and chairs. The Greek word is he was a tecton, and a tecton meant he was a craftsman. That is a worker with hard materials, and in those days, you know what they built with? Stone. He was a stone cutter, a stone worker. He may have worked with wood as well, but primarily stone and some wood. He was a working class craftsman. She was engaged to Joseph. She, Mary, was from the tribe of Judah. She was a direct descendant of King David, the royal line, which meant in her lineage there were the great kings like David, Solomon, King Asa, Josiah, Jehoshaphat, great and godly leaders of the past. But here's what's interesting. For 400 years, there has been no word of God. There has been no prophetic Revelation to Israel. There's been no angels, no miracles, silence for 400 years, till now. And what happens 400 years later when God decides he's going to speak again? The angel Gabriel is sent to Jerusalem first, six months before this, to a priest working in the temple named Zacharias. And Gabriel says, hey, heads up. Your wife-- I know you guys are old, but you're going to have a baby. You're to call his name John. He's going to be the forerunner of the Messiah. Six months later, Gabriel shows up in Nazareth and appears to Mary in the scene we have just read. Now, Gabriel is interesting, because Gabriel isn't just an angel. He's like the angel's angel. He's a super angel. There's only two angels in the Bible, named Michael and Gabriel. Gabriel is the guy who gives to Daniel prophetic messages about the future in Daniel Chapter 8, Daniel Chapter 9, the great 70 week prophecy. Gabriel gives that. Gabriel is in charge of all things messianic for the Jewish nation. He shows up and gives this to Mary, and Mary's response is I'm confused. I don't get it. How can this be? I'm a virgin. And the answer is simply, it's God. Nothing shall be impossible with God. The Lord will overshadow you. This will be born. He will be born of the Holy Spirit conceived by God. So this young confused teenager gets up and goes to visit her older cousin Elizabeth in Jerusalem. It's a long journey. Why? Why does she go visit her? I think I can guess. Who else would understand what just happened? There's only one person on earth who would understand, and that is Elizabeth. Why? Well, who else would understand when a 14-year-old girl says I'm pregnant by God? A woman who's had her own unusual pregnancy announced by the same angel Gabriel. Who's going to believe a girl when she says she's the mom of the Messiah? A woman who has been told she's going to be the mother of the forerunner of the Messiah. So she goes to visit Elizabeth. Mary was real. Second character trait I want you to see is that Mary was humble. Verse 38, look at her response. Mary said, Behold, the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word and the angel departed from her." That's a statement of absolute submission that shows her humble faith. Did you know that every Jewish girl-- from the time that Messiah was announced, Jewish girls grew up in ancient times hoping that maybe they might become the mother of Messiah? Messiah is coming. Messiah's going to be the son of some mother. Maybe I'm the one. Maybe my baby boy is going to change the nation of Israel and reside over as king forever. Maybe I'm going to be the one. Now, having said that, when Mary discovered that she was the one, her response is interesting. Because if God dispenses an angel from heaven to say to a young woman, you are very unique, you are the one God has chosen of all people on Earth to have ever lived to birth the Messiah, that could tend to make a person puffed up with pride, walk away from that and say, I must be special. And indeed, Mary was special. Mary was unusually spiritual, very, very unique, but she was also humble. For she says, behold the-- look at the word-- maid servant of the Lord. Literally, behold the slave maid of the Lord. The word is doule in Greek. Some of you who know the language know that sounds familiar. It's the feminine version of the typical word for servant or slave, doulas. When it's put in the feminine form it means as a woman having no rights in this patriarchal society, but also a slave maid. I am completely owned by a master. I have no rights of my own, and I gladly take that place. In ancient times, there were both servants and slaves, and there was a difference. A servant wasn't owned, but contracted out. A servant was compensated for work produced. A servant could come and go as he or she pleased. A slave on the other hand, was the property of a master, had no rights at all, ever, was under complete ownership, could not come and go as he or she saw fit. So Mary didn't see herself as just a servant, but as the slave maid of God. Notice in Verse 48-- I just want to skip down to Verse 48, her prayer. We'll get to it in a minute. She says, "for he, God, is regarded-- look at this-- the low or the lowly state of his-- here's the word again-- maidservant, slave maid." In other words, look, I know who I am. I'm a poor, young teenager from Nazareth. I know what God has done. He has not gone to Rome, the political center of the world. He has not gone to Athens, the cultural center of the world. He has not gone to Jerusalem, the spiritual center of the world. He came to a no where place, to a nobody, and has done this-- the lowest state of his maid servant. But she says, future generations are going to hear how God blessed me. Look also at Verse 52 to see her humility. "He has put down the mighty from their throne and exalted the lowly." She would include herself in that. This is humility. Every year I hear people talk about the Christmas spirit. Let's get into the Christmas spirit. Question, what is that? IS that where you walk by lights and get a fuzzy feeling. Oh, it's the Christmas spirit. Or the song, I get into the Christmas spirit. I submit to you, this is the Christmas spirit. The Christmas spirit is not, man, I didn't get everything I wanted for Christmas. The Christmas spirit is wow, God stepped out of heaven and brought Christmas to me. I don't deserve anything. So she was real, and she was humble. Look at a third character trait of Mary. She was worshipful. Now I want you to consider, beginning in verse 46, her prayer. She goes to Elizabeth's house, and they have a conversation. And listen to what Mary says. Here's her song. Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior. For he is regarded the lowly state of his maid servant for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For he was mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy has spoken to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever." What did I just read? A teenager just said that? A 14-year-old at best, girl, 13 year-old spoke that? This is the praise that comes out of her heart at this time. And it's worth considering. There's that question, when you bump up against something, what spills out? Answer, whatever's inside. This is what's inside this girl. When she is bumped up against when an angel gives her the most shocking news of her life, this is what bubbles forth. This is her song of praise. It's called the Magnificat. It's a Latin term for the third word in her prayer-- "My soul magnifies the Lord"-- a song of praise. And it tells us a lot about Mary. We're peering into Mary's spirituality here. Do you know that one of the best ways to get to know a person is to pray with a person? I often tell a young couple-- if they're dating, I say, do you spend much time praying together? And then they sort of look at me like, well, you're a pastor you're supposed to ask questions like that. But I mean it. I remember dating my wife Lenya. And I remember one night in particular after a dinner we had-- I hadn't seen her for a while-- I took her home, and we prayed together. And my impression on that night-- I'll never forget it-- I thought, man, I want a relationship with God like that. She is connected with God on a level that I yearn for. And it's been said that prayer is a window to the soul. You're peering through the window into Mary's soul. Her heart is pretty mature for a 13-year-old. Wouldn't you say? Last night, I gave this message, and a proud grandfather came up to me-- I've known him for years-- with his granddaughter, Addison, nine years of age. He said, we came a little late. She couldn't go into the Sunday school, so she sat with me in big church and showed me her notebook. I said, notebook? A nine-year-old carries a notebook? And it's filled with sermon notes, several pages, and it said Skip's class. And she had taken notes through several pages. And I'm looking at the notes going, you're how old? That's what I think about when I read this prayer of Mary. So she was real. She was humble. She was worshipful-- three character traits. Let me give you a fourth. She was scriptural. Now, get this. I hope this will impress you about Mary. I have discovered no less than 15 references in this teenager's prayer to Old Testament scriptures, 15. Most scholars read this prayer, and they go, hmm, that sounds familiar. It sounds very similar to Hannah's prayer, First Samuel Chapter 1 and 2, where Hannah, you remember, was barren, and the Lord said she's going to have a boy. And his name was Samuel. So there is a corollary, and probably I wouldn't doubt that after Mary was told that she's pregnant by the Holy Spirit she went and found the scroll in the synagogue that had First Samuel in it and wanted to read that story to bone up on what happened back then. But Mary must have memorized scripture. She must have, because there are references in this prayer to the Old Testament law, first five books of Moses, prophets, and the psalms, all in her prayer. Let me give you an example, a few examples. Verse 46, she says, "My soul magnifies the Lord." That's an echo of Psalm 34, Verse 2. "My soul shall make its boast in the Lord or magnify the Lord." Verse 47, "My spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior." Sounds very much like Isaiah 45:21. "The is no God besides me. A just God and a Savior, there is none besides me." Look at Verse 48. Mary says, "For he has regarded the lowly state of his hand maiden or his maid servant." That's very much like what Hannah prayed in First Samuel 1:11. "You will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me." Verse 48, "For behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed," sounds like Genesis 30 when Leah, the wife of Jacob, prayed, "Happy am I for the daughters will call me blessed." Amazing. Verse 49, Mary says, "For he who is mighty has done great things for me." That's an echo of Psalm 126, Verse 3, "The Lord has done great things for us." And then finally, Verse 49, "And holy is his name," a direct quote of Psalm 111, Verse 9. Here's the thought I walk away from. Mary must have paid close attention in the synagogue when the scriptures were read. Don't you think? For her as a 13 maybe 14-year-old to have this kind of a prayer, she must have paid close attention. Now again, here is a teenage girl who knew the Old Testament, and she didn't have a concordance she could pull out and look it up. This just flowed from her. On occasion, I meet a very spiritual teenager. Whenever I do, I'm so impressed, and I pause, and I gravitate toward that one, whether it's a girl or a guy, when they have that heart for God at a young age. And I want to channel that. I want to get behind that. I want to encourage that. Because I remember when I was 17, 18, and I'd just come to Christ. And I had all this zeal and energy, and I had a mentor who saw that and saw that's a good thing. But it has to be directed. It has to be challenged. 1 Timothy, Paul writes to young Timothy and said this. I love it. "Let no one despise your youth." Another translation, let no one look down on you because you are young. Did you know Jesus lead a youth movement? If you're picturing the apostles as gray headed, gray bearded old guys sitting around a table, you got the wrong impression. They were young. It was a youth movement that Jesus spread around the world. So here's a teenager, Mary, without a library, without a computer, without internet Bible programs, and this comes out. Not only does she know her Bible, this girl knows theology. As I read her prayer, she knows about the Abrahamic covenant. She knows about the Davidic covenant. Man, she knows stuff pastors I know don't know. And let me just give a footnote to this, because I just want to press this just a bit. Then I'll leave it. You will never regret as you grow older spending too much time with scripture. I've never met a person on their deathbed to think, I wish I wouldn't have memorized so much Bible. Because it's at times like your death bed or like a bed of suffering and pain that those scriptures come back to comfort you, that you have placed in your heart, that you remember. And they carry you through, and Mary knew that as a young girl. So when people bump into you, what comes out of you? Same answer, whatever's inside. From the abundance of the heart, Jesus said the mouth speaks, and this is what she spoke. She was real. She was humble. She was worshipful, and she was scriptural. Let's close on this. She was also needful. She was needful. Verse 46, Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord." Verse 47, "And my spirit has rejoiced in God-- say it out loud, my what-- my Savior." My what? Savior. Thank you. Who needs a Savior ? Yeah, I know. I appreciate that. Let me rephrase that. Technically, I know you do. We all do but, who needs a savior? A sinner needs a savior. Savior is only good to somebody who needs saving. That's what a savior is. A savior comes and does what a person cannot do, saves the person, delivers the person. So for Mary to say God is my Savior-- not just quoting the scripture, but he is my Savior-- denotes that she has a need. She recognizes that she has a need for salvation. Now, I'm pressing that, because nothing is stated here or anywhere else in the Bible that Mary was immaculate, that Mary was to be prayed to, that Mary dispenses grace. Somebody might say, now wait a minute. Verse 48 says, "He has regarded the lowest state of his maidservant. Behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed." That's right. Look at what it says. It didn't say all generations will ask me to give them a blessing. They're going to regard me as the one who's the recipient of the blessing. They're going to call me blessed. This is what God has done for me. Verse 49 says, "He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name." Listen, the greatest thing God ever did for Mary was to save her, and she knew that she needed saving, that she along with everyone else was a sinner in need of salvation. She admitted that. Hey, do you remember the time when somebody came up to Jesus? This is the first time Mary worship started to get in vogue. It was during Jesus' own time. A man came up to Jesus in Luke Chapter 11. Listen to his words. He said, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." Now, that sounds very similar to what I remember growing up with. "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." And Jesus immediately spouted back, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." He didn't say, oh, you're right. Blessed is my mother. None of the apostles, none of the writings of the New Testament venerate Mary in any capacity. But they would agree with what Jesus said. "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it." Did you know that Mary would be the first one to be appalled if she saw or knew that people were praying to her, venerating her? Now, I do believe Mary should be honored. I do believe that what Elizabeth said of her in Verse 42, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." I believe that. She is to be honored. Best way to honor Mary is to worship the God she worshipped. Best way to honor Mary is to receive the Savior that she birth into the world. That's the best way to honor her. You remember that song "Mary Would You Know?" or "Mary Did You Know?" by Mark Lowry? And some people think it's an ancient hymn. It's pretty recent actually, but a lot of people love that song. Mary, did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water? Mary, did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters? But my favorite verse is, did you know this child that you delivered would soon deliver you? Yes, she knew that. She may not have known it at all at that moment. She's sort of figuring this thing out. But by the end of Jesus' life, she will know it. She'll discover it over time as she raises Jesus. Can you imagine raising a perfect child? See, you can imagine that, can you? I can't. I've never seen one. Can you imagine how frustrating it would be to be a brother or sister of Jesus? I know. He's perfect. Mary would watch, and Mary would discover. And she would hide these things in her heart, and she would stand at the foot of the cross. And she will know one day that the baby she delivered would deliver her, and she includes you, by the way. She includes you in her song, Verse 50. "And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation." That includes you. This is your generation. This is one of those generations she sung about in the lyrics of her song. That's us. His mercy is still around to save. Father, thank you for this young girl-- very, very unique, very honored, very blessed among all women. Not to be worshiped, but to be honored. Not to be prayed to, but certainly learned from and learned about, seen as an example. And what a humbling example she is. We thank you for her, Lord. We thank you for her spirituality, her scriptural emphasis. We thank you for her humility, her simplicity. And we thank you for the Savior that she bore. The issue is never Mary. It's always the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the incomparable Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood alone saves a man or a woman from sin. Hey, as your eyes are bowed, you're praying, maybe you're just realizing you don't have a relationship with the Savior, you're not walking with Jesus, you're not living obediently to Jesus. You know him or you know about him religiously, culturally from your family, but you've never met him personally. He's not the center of your life. You've never received him as the one who cleanses you from sin. I want to give you an opportunity to do that. Real quickly in closing, our heads are bowed. Our eyes are closed. Mine are going to be open. I'm going ask you, if you don't know Jesus yet, I want you to raise your hand up and say I want to receive him right now, right here. I'm willing to just pray a simple prayer and ask Jesus to come into my heart. Just keep your hand up for a moment. God bless you right up here in the front. Anyone else? Just raise that hand up. Just say, yep, I need to do this. I know I do. Pray for me. Here's my hand. God bless you to my left-- a couple of you. Anyone else? Yes, ma'am. Right up here in the front. Toward the back, way in the back, thank you for raising it high. Father, we just want to pray for those who have raised these hands and pray that you just bring change to them, hope to them, peace to their hearts as Jesus becomes the very center of their lives. So wherever you are right now, if you raised your hand up, I want you to pray with me. I want you to say these words from your heart to the Lord. You can say them out loud if you wish. You can say them silently if you wish. Say Lord, I give you my life. I know that I'm a sinner, and I'm asking you to forgive me. I believe that Jesus died on a cross, that he shed his blood for my sin, and that he rose from the grave, and that he's alive right now. I turn from my past. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as my Savior. I want to live for him as my Lord. Help me to do that. In Jesus' name, amen. Though she was human just like everyone else, Mary exhibited attributes that led her to be chosen to birth our savior. What did you learn from her example? Let us know. Email mystory@calvaryabq.org. And just a reminder, you can give financially to this work at calvaryabq.org/give. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is central to the story of Christmas. Unfortunately, people are greatly divided about her importance and her role. Some magnify her too much, making her more important than even Jesus. Others ignore her and fail to give her the esteem she deserves. Today, we briefly consider Mary and five notable attributes that formed her personality. www.connectwithskip.com .

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.” In 1977 these blue words scrolled across black screens in theaters across America, introducing an unsuspecting audience to the world of Ewoks, Wookies, Storm Troopers, and light sabers. With those words, George Lucas simultaneously transported viewers into the future and then back into the past (as Star Wars obviously takes place in a future version of our universe). Lucas’s words were a brilliant stroke that called the viewer forward and backward at the same time, evoking both imagination and nostalgia. “There is nothing new under the sun,” the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us (Eccl. 1:9). “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,” another author evoked audiences to consider the Triune God in eternity past. John begins his gospel with these words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3). If our imaginations are stoked by Lucas’s words, how much more should they be stoked by God’s words of a mind-blowing reality? John invites us to consider Advent from eternity past. Before we are called to consider the coming of Christ to this earth and before we are invited to anticipate his return, John takes us to the beginning. With his words, John evokes the first words in the Bible, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen 1:1). In your mind’s eye, imagine the formless void, consider God existing “eternally ago.” John gives us a peek into that reality and reveals that this God was not static but an active three-in-one reality. As we prepare for Christ’s coming, John wants to make sure that we aren’t confused about the divinity of the Christ-child. Jesus was God-in-flesh, the second person of the Trinity, who exists from eternity. In Lifeway Research’s latest “State of Theology Report,” “Nearly 3 in 4 (73%) evangelicals by belief say Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.” Marissa Postell clarifies, “Affirming Jesus as the first and greatest creation denies the eternal existence of Christ, but we must not assume our congregations are making these connections on their own. The understanding that the Son is not a created being is not a new belief. As the writers of the Nicene Creed wrote by AD 381, the Lord Jesus Chris is ‘begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.’”[i] Concerningly, most evangelicals believe the distorted theology of Jehovah’s Witnesses and not the orthodox faith of the gospels. We need John’s epic introduction to the Advent to reshape our understanding of the Christ child. The Son of God was the Word, who existed “with God, and the Word was God.” This Advent, we look forward not just to the coming of our Savior but also to our Creator. “All things were made through him,” John reminds us. The one who created us became part of the creation in order that we might be rescued from our separation from him. For God so loved you and me that “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,” he chose to create us knowing that he would one day put on flesh to save us from our choice to follow the dark side. [i] Marissa Postell, “11 doctrines you can’t assume church members understand,” Lifeway, October 25, 2022, https://research.lifeway.com/2022/10/25/11-doctrines-you-cant-assume-your-church-members-understand/?ecid=PDM262086&bid=1318228213.

Leave your baggage behind. In a crowded, busy holiday season, it’s common for people to feel weighed down by family relationships, financial pressure, regret, or failure. This series will help people see that the weight they feel comes from things that God never asked them to carry, and His solution is simple: Let go of the baggage and travel light. ♪ Deck the halls with boughs of holly ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la la ♪ ♪ Tis the season to be jolley ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la ♪ - Come on! ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la ♪ ♪ Sing the ancient Christmas carol ♪ ♪ Fa la la la la la la la la ♪ - Hey, I just want to tell you guys I'm kind of in the mood to preach today. And I'm hoping you're kind of in the mood to help me and so I gotta warn you up front that this message could like a little bit step on your toes. If you can handle it just say I can handle it. - [Audience] I can handle it. - Now just remember you asked for it, okay. We're launching into a new message series called Travel Light. What I hope to do over the next few weeks is remind you and remind myself that this world is not our home. As I travel through my life it's amazing how much of the wrong kind of stuff I end up accumulating. I accumulate hurts and I accumulate junk and I accumulate seeds of, of discontentment that grow into all sorts of problems, and so over the next few weeks what we're going to do is we're gonna talk about letting go of some of the stuff that holds us down, weighs us down, holds us back and so that we can really live the life that would be honoring to God. Next week we're going to talk about letting go of distractions, we're gonna talk about letting go bitterness, we're gonna talk about letting go of control, which some of you probably want to skip that week because you are, you have the spiritual gift of control freak all over you. And your husband just said Amen. And so today what I want to do is I want to talk about letting go of stuff the stuff that weighs us down, I've got a key thought for you if you're taking notes then it's this, it's better to have less of what doesn't matter and more of what does matter. Let's say this allowed. It's better to have what? It's better to have less of what doesn't matter and more of what does. The problem is everything in our culture screams the opposite. You can go all the way back to the beginning of the Bible the story of God creating Adam, said it's good, but it's not that good because Adam lost his keys and has a hard time and so he creates woman to help mate so they can serve together and they're both naked and God says be fruitful, be multiply, enjoy everything in this garden what could get better than that, you know, and you just can't eat from this one tree and the serpent comes along and says something like, that's how I imagined the serpent introducing the conversation. Did God really say you can't eat the fruit of that tree? All the way back the very first creation story you see the very same why imply that so many of us tend to believe today and that is what you don't have. You have all these other blessings from God but what you don't have is what you need to be happy, fulfilled, and complete, and I grew up believing this, that something else out there is what I need, more is always better, more is always better. If one dollar is good, two dollars is better. If one vacation is good two vacations is better. If one car is good, two cars is better. If one kid is good, six is more than enough in our family, and I learned the beginning of this lesson that more is not always better years ago when I went to a movie and I bought not one role of Sprees, who knows what a Spree is? The candy. Not one role of Sprees, but two roles of Sprees because I wrongly believed that if one role of Spree is good two is always better. Well I ate my way through the first role of Sprees. I was probably a good 65 or 70% through the second role of Sprees when my body rejected, violently rejected, the Spree party that I was enjoying, and I vomited the most colorful stream of internal juices that you talk about a technicolor yawn. I put down on the floor of the Ardmore, AMC or whatever it was the time, the most colorful array of disgust in the history of mankind. And I learned the principle that I want to teach you today. Solomon actually said this, he said that better, everybody say better. - [Audience] Better. He said better is what? He said better is one handful with tranquility, with peace, with joy, better is one handful with tranquility, then two handfuls with toil, and a chasing after the wind. In other words, it's better to have less of what doesn't matter and more of what really does matter, why? Because your life is too valuable. Your calling too great, and your God too good to waste your life on stuff that does not last. Jesus warned us about this. In fact, there's a powerful story about two sons that we're kind of excited about their inheritance. And Jesus warns them and Luke 12 verse 15, he says, watch out, everybody say watch out. - [Audience] Watch out. - He says, be on your guard. Everybody say be on your guard. - [Audience] Be on your guard. - The intensity of this warning kind of gives me a pause. It's like something's going to get you something must be really dangerous, there must be something lurking around the corner that could cost me a lot. And the reality is, although I might think of physical danger when someone says watch out and be on your guard, Jesus is showing something that is equally as dangerous to our soul and he says watch out. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed. Because life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. Somebody say my life. - [Audience] My life. - Say my life. - [Audience] My life. - Does not consist. - [Audience] Does not consist. - Of my stuff. - [Audience] Of my stuff. - Everything in culture tells you the opposite, but I hope you'll understand you are not what you have. You are not what you drive, you are not what you wear, you are not what you own. Even though you're being incredibly quiet right now. And you act like I'm getting all up in your business. You are not the stuff that you have. The lie is what you don't have is what you need to be happy, fulfilled, joyful, cool, to fit in, to feel good about yourself, to be significant, to be important, to be popular, to have a house like Joanna Gaines, whatever it is, what you don't have is what you need the lie says, to be happy, to be fulfilled, to be complete, more, more, more, more stuff. I would ask you the question what if the stuff you have is actually robbing you from the life that you want. Better as one handful with tranquility than two with toil and stress and anxiety, it's chasing after the wind. So what I'm going to do today is kind of the perfect time of the year when you're about to buy a bunch of junk give it to your kids and they ignore what was inside the box and they play in the box, right? I want to I want to give you three thoughts about what I call one handful living. One handful living. Are you're ready? Say I'm ready. - [Audience] I'm ready. - First thing I want to encourage you to do is cause better is one handful, is to throw out. When you're looking at the junk that most of us have. It is ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous. Throw out as if your life depends on it. Because for some people, it really really does. Your life does not consist in the abundance of the junk that you have in your drawer in your closet, up in your attic, in your garage that is overflowing that you can't even park your car in the garage. It's not your life. It's not your life, it's a lie. Eat less of what doesn't matter, more of what does. I'm not talking about just decluttering. I'm talking about de-owning, Getting rid of stuff. I would argue all day long that owning less is way better than organizing more. Your life doesn't consist your stuff. And there was a guy in the New Testament that in many ways for so much of my life I could relate to. He was he was known as the rich young ruler. He was young, he was an up and coming kind of leader. He had a lot of stuff and this problem is with him is the stuff had him. Jesus said something to him that Jesus didn't say to anybody else because he knew the problem this guy had with this stuff Jesus said was you need to do when the guy was asked about, you know, spiritual life, how do I get right with you and such, Jesus said, you need to go sell your stuff, take that money give it to the poor, and he said, then you will have treasures in Heaven. In other words, you'll have less of the stuff that doesn't matter. And you'll have more of what really does matter. And the problem was this guy was so into his stuff that Scripture says when the young men heard this he went away sad because he had great wealth. I want to land on the story for a minute and talk about it because not wrong have stuff, not wrong to have nice stuff. God is the generous God, God blesses us wrong when your stuff has you. It's wrong when your life is defined by your stuff. It's wrong when you believe that more stuff is actually what you need to be fulfilled to be happy in life, pursuing a bunch of junk, believing that there is something meaningful, something powerful, something's gonna fill a void inside of you that no stuff can ever fill. It's a spiritual void. It needs to be filled by the goodness of God and His grace. Why is it, let's just talk about it for a minute, why is it that we hold on to so much stuff? Why won't we give it away? Why can't we throw it out? Two big reasons why we don't throw in our knickknacks. Why we have so many dishes, why you still keep VHS tapes. Why you still have those pants that haven't been worn since MC Hammer wore them. They may come back in style. Alright there's two reasons. One is fear. We're afraid we might need this in the future. How many of you are living with somebody like that right now, just don't point at them, just acknowledge it with a raised hand, and your children might want it. You don't want to be a waste, you want to be a good steward. This is how I grew up, I grew up with a real poverty mindset, I need to save it, I might need it, decided I paid good money for it I don't want to give that away. This is important to me. What I found is there was a tremendous lack of faith. And now I am incredibly passionate about blessing other people with stuff that we don't need. And it's symbolic of a deeper spiritual sense of faith. It's very real in my life. And that is when I give this stuff away that I might need in the future. I'm trusting God to provide for me in the future. And I'm blessing someone else today. God, I'm trusting you to be my provider. I'll show you an example of how passionate I am about this. How many of you would probably assume that because I speak in public a lot in a lot of different environments, that I probably need more clothes than the average person? How many would say this, probably true? Probably true? Okay, let me show you show you my closets. This is my closet at my office on the right and the other one is my closet at home on the left. That is the sum total of the clothes that I have, with the exception of workout clothes. It does not include my shoes. And those are my clothes. You can take the picture down now because people are starting to judge my clothing. Okay, the reason I have clothes at the office just in case you're wondering is because I have someone that dresses me because I'm colorblind, and it's much better for everyone if someone else dresses me okay. How do I make it without amount of clothes? I have a very strict rule and that is when I get something I give something away every single time. Get a new shirt, give a shirt, get a sweater, give a sweater, get a pair of shoes, give a pair of shoes, and what this does is it keeps what I have for what I do lean, in all fits, it all works, I like it all, I wear it all, if something goes more than a year without being worn it's gone and given away and what this does is it actually frees me up from pressure of this, this, this, managing and such, and this is really how I try to live my life. What if I need it in the future? Well God I trust him to provide. Why do we not often give? Because of fear. Another reason we don't tend to give away or throwaway is cause of sentiment. In other words, you know, this was my first ribbon that I won when I was four years old. Or this is my child's first drawing that she made, you know, in second grade. And here's the first one in third grade. Here's a 17th one in the fifth grade. Here's the report card. And here's the first diaper that my baby did the duty in, you know, whatever it is and so we tend to keep because of sentiment. There's a book that I read among many different books on minimalism and such, this book was by Marie Kondo called The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, it's a very odd, strange book, which I like. If I read a book that's close to my philosophy or doesn't change me, if I read a book with one degree away from my philosophy it doesn't change much, if I read one that's way, way different from the way I think it can rattle me off center. That's what this book did. And that's why I like it, why I recommend it. Because it's weird enough to jar me out of where I am. What the author says about sentimental things, is she says to thank them for the purpose they served in the past and bless someone else with it. Thank you, God for that duty that was in that diaper 27 years ago when my baby first pushed that stuff out of her little body into that tiny diaper, it served his purpose in my life. And now I'm going to bless the garbage man with this treasure and move on with life. Thank you, God for the gift that my college roommate painted for me years ago, it served a very valuable purpose and showed me the love and relationship we have. I treasure that my heart and now I bless someone else with this gift. And I'm not going to let the stuff weigh me down. What I want is I want less of the stuff that doesn't matter. So I can have more of what really does. Let's all say it together. Better is what, better is what? Better is one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with a toil and chasing after the wind. The first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna throw out. Somebody say throw out. - [Audience] Throw out. - Notice I didn't say throw up, I said throw out. The second thing we're gonna do is we're going to buy less. Buy less. Some of you gonna say too late Pastor Craig, Black Friday and Cyber Monday just came and I just failed for the glory of God in every single way. 62% of people actually admit to, to shopping to cheer themselves up. I feel down I feel depressed so guess what, I'm going to go shopping and get more financial struggles, because that's gonna make me feel so much better. It's a form of entertainment. I want something new. I want something clean. When I go shopping it makes me feel powerful. It gives me a sense of momentary significance to buy something I don't need with money I don't have to impress people that I don't even like, there's something about that gives me a dopamine temporary high, oh, glory to God. Because when I don't have, that thing out there, it's what I need to feel fulfilled, complete and satisfied. I love what the Solomon says in Psalm 119, verses 36 and 37 prayer, God calls my heart to bow before your words of wisdom, and not to the wealth of this world. I need to pray this all the time. Help me turn my eyes away from illusions, so that I may pursue only that which is true. Help me turn my eyes, another version says away from meaningless things. What I want to do is I want to get to the place and I'm not there now, but I want to get to a place where my life is so full of the goodness of God, that I don't need things to help me feel better about myself. I don't need things to define who I am. Because Jesus has defined who I am. And in our home, one of the things we're really working on and doing better than in years past is we're working hard to choose experiences over things, experiences over things, experiences over things. I want my children to enjoy, have great memories of experiences over things. In fact, just to kind of even see what they would say. I texted my two oldest daughters, Katie and Mandy, both of whom are married this week and I asked them what are your favorite childhood memories? You know what they didn't say? That time you got us a video game, right? The time I finally got my new LuLu leggings or whatever it was. They did not say that, and I want to tell you what they said because it really made me emotional. They said this. Mandy said when we played g-ball, that was our our Groeschel version of kickball, much better than kickball is g-ball, you see. When we play the escape game. I did this with all of my kids where I locked them up and hold them and they have to escape by a certain number if not they get tickled and so ready go. And they fight and they fight and they fight and we play the escape game. Mandy also said the obstacle courses. We'd go to the playground and you'd have to go over and under, ready, get set go. We'd time them and such. Katie said it was the first of the year look backs whenever the new year starts we'd look back over the previous year and we write down all of the memories of here's when you got your training wheels off and here's when you lost your first tooth and such. She said Nancy Drew books because I read all of them to my kids, all of them. There's 793,000 Nancy Drew books, There's 793,000 Nancy Drew books, if you look it up, and we read all of them. And then she said the dog fairy stories, which I hate, I don't want to go into details. But it is a true verifiable fact that since I was a child there's actually a dog fairy that lives under our house. He follows us from house to house. At nighttime, a magical door opens under a bed, the dog fairy comes out and does all sorts of wild adventures in the house. Some of you will not believe it. But I tell you, God is my witness. There's a dog fairy, that lives in our house, and I'm sticking to that story as long as I live. Throw out that stuff, don't be weighed down by the stuff. On the other side of that stuff there's freedom and there's joy, and there's time for relationships. I'm gonna buy less. We're into experiences, memories, time with the people that we love, not stuff that will burn up. And then finally, to have the life that really matters, one hand living I'm going to talk about giving more, give more. Give more. I love what Paul told Timothy, in First Timothy 617, to me this is so powerful and emotional to me what he said Paul to Timothy, he said, command those who are rich in this present world. Let me stop there for a moment. Because whenever we read a verse about rich people, I know what most of you do, most all of your gonna say, well, I know some rich people but I'm not a rich people. I work with a rich person but I'm not a rich person. I've got a friend at college and her parents pay for everything, they're rich people, but I have a job, I'm not a rich people. Let me just put it in global perspective for a moment. If you drove somewhere today, you are rich people, you're in somewhere between the top five to 7% richest people on planet Earth. If you have three meals a day, or at least the option to have those you're a rich people. You're in the top 40% of people alive today. If you're able to order a pizza on your phone, you're a crazy rich people. We're rich people. When we look at the totality of the population of the world today, we're incredibly blessed. This verse is to us. Hear it, feel it, internalize it, embrace it, live it, become it. Command those who are rich, this is us in this present world, not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth which is so uncertain but where are we to put our hope? We're to put our hope in God. Who does what? Who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. We don't feel guilty about our blessings. God is a God who blesses. We don't feel guilty if we have nice stuff, we just don't let the stuff have us. Then he tells them command those rich people, notice what he doesn't say, command them to buy more! Command them to hoard it all until they don't have room in their nice house and they have to buy extra storage space just to put their stuff. He doesn't command them to click Buy Now on Amazon, over and over and over again. But this is what he says. Command those rich people to do good, to be rich in good deeds, to be generous, and willing to share, in this way they will lay up treasures for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age. So they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Your life does not consist in the abundance of stuff. But when you're a blessing. When you choose experiences, when you overflow, the goodness of God and you're generous. That is the life that is truly life. Less of what doesn't matter, more of what does. In fact, when I think about stuff, I never get emotional like oh my gosh, I just, I got that expensive high end bed. Oh, it makes me so emotional. I don't have a single emotional getting story. Oh, when I finally got my my iPhone 10. Oh god, I feel so close to you. When I finally got the off white shoes. Well I don't have those, but if I did, oh, now. I just have to cry for well. I don't have emotional getting stories. Finally made the purchase, 54 inch TV. I also don't have emotional keeping stories. Oh, it's so meaningful. I was just about to give an end of your sacrificial offering to help you eradicate Bible poverty. But I am so glad I didn't. Instead I took the whole family out to Chili's. I'm so glad. We got an extra refrigerator, a new one. And I was going to give the old one to this great single mom for my life group who is a need and doesn't have one. But oh, thank God in heaven I kept out in the garage. We don't even remember it's there but it's out there just in case. I don't have an emotional story. Like that. But I've got too many emotional giving stories to count. It goes back to my first time when I was scared to death. Because I was raised with the you better have more, more, more, more and giving God 10% seemed irrational. And I remember being totally convicted to do it. And scared, and I wrote a check. If you don't know what a check is you can Google it along with a VHS tape for those of you that are under 25 years of age. And my hand was like shaking. And I put it in an offering bucket. And I felt so close to God. Faith. And he proved himself faithful to me. I remember when we when we started Life.Church, and amen, I felt called by God to do what we call going all in we took everything that wasn't tied down, like that means our house, every cent that we could liquidate everything we had. And we gave the first offering to the church. It was the biggest offering to us, wasn't big compared to what we can do now. But at the age of 28 we went all in. And two years later, we did it again. And I remember that with joy and great emotion. I remember when I wrote my first book, 15 books. My first book and we had six little kids, and we're looking at braces and had college coming and weddings cause I got four daughters. And I thought this has been a great way to pay all this stuff. And we felt called by God to give the royalties from that first book, I wrestled with it, we wrestled with it, and wrestled with it, I said God called us to do this. I feel great emotion for that. I remember when people wanted to buy our church resources. And we said, what if we gave them away? I remember the fear of could we keep doing it? Would it matter, would they care? And how now years later, churches around the world are blessed by that decision. I remember when we gave our first car to someone in need. It wasn't an expensive car. But it was a lot to us then. Things that are a member of value that this age in life, it's not stuff. So funny, in the early years of life all I wanted to do is accumulate more, more, more, more, more and more, at this age I can look at it and say that stuff's gonna burn up and doesn't matter. Better, somebody say better. - [Audience] Better. - Say it again, say better. - [Audience] Better. - Better is one handful with tranquility, with contentment, with peace, with joy, with simplicity, with margin, with assurance, with confidence, with the ability to be generous, with the heart to be a blessing, than two handfuls with toil, more, more, more, stuff, with toil, more, more, more, stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff, stuff. The chasing after the wind. Less of what doesn't matter, more of what does. Less of what doesn't matter, more of what does. This world is not our home we're passing through. I asked myself this question all the time. Are you accumulating on Earth what you cannot keep? Or are you investing in Heaven, what you cannot lose? Traveling light, Travel light, throw out, buy less, give more, less of what doesn't matter, more of what does, less of the stuff that just cost more stuff. Less of the stuff that just accumulates and gets in the way of what matters, more intimacy, more peace, more joy, more deep and committed relationships, more generosity, more blessings that are truly blessings, less of the imitations less of the distractions, more of the life that is truly life because listen to me, your calling is too great. Your life is too valuable. Your God is too good to waste this one life on things that do not last. Why is one handful living better? Think about it. When you've got one handful, what can you do if someone's down? You can help them up. What do you do if you have one handful? You can give to someone who's in need. If someone who is hurting, you can encourage them, cheer them up, give them a hug, pat them on the bottom, flat never cupped. Unless you're married then cup it all you want. You can give praise to God. Because your life is not so full of the stuff that holds you back. Let's say it together. Better is one handful. - [Audience] Better is one handful. - With tranquility. - [Audience] With tranquility. - Than two. - [Audience] Than two. - With toil. - [Audience] With toil. - And a chasing after the wind. - [Audience] And a chasing after the wind. - Less of what doesn't matter. - [Audience] Less of what doesn't matter. - More of what does. - [Audience] More of what does. - So Father, we ask today that by your power, and I pray this for me, God, that you would help us let go of the stuff that weighs us down and holds us back. Not to feel guilty for the way you blessed us. We know you're a generous God, but not to let the stuff own us, to define us. And help us not to believe the lie that there's something out there that we don't have, that's what we need, unless the thing that we don't have, God, is you, because that's what we truly need. All of our churches today if you'd like to pray with me, God help me to not be defined by the things of this world, not to crave the things of this world. But God to truly have less of what doesn't matter and have more of what does. If you want to pray that with me would you lift up your hands right now, just all of our churches. God thank you for people that want to be Kingdom minded. Want to be a blessing in this world, want to be generous, want to be free from the lies that what we don't have is what we need to be happy, fulfilled, and complete. I pray God that you would give us a sense of gratitude, never entitlement, gratitude for all the blessings that we have, not guilt but gratitude. God I pray that you give us a sense of stewardship to recognize that most of us, we have far more than we'd ever need and that we could truly be a blessing to others. God, I pray that there are those today that would even love was an irrational act of generosity. Someone who may give the very first offering ever, and someone who give their very first tide ever, someone who take that second refrigerator and bless somebody with it, someone who will bless someone in their life group with a car, someone who has the ability, who will say, hey, I have this and it would be my great honor to bless you with it. Help us God, help us God, help us God, to have less of what does not matter. And more of what does. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, some of you, you're going to recognize very clearly, this is you. You're going through life pursuing that something. That something to satisfy, that something that you're missing, you tried everything and you can continue to try, go to the party scene, try to get more likes, become more popular, have more fun, travel more places, go to more exotic places, get more things, get better name brands, upgrade your house, get a bigger house, get nicer stuff in your house, try a different person, another person, another person, and then burn through relationships. And you can try everything of this world and you're still gonna come up short, why? Because you were not created for this world. You are not created to be satisfied and blessed and fulfilled by the things of this world. This world is not your home. The problem is so many of us is we're trying to fill a spiritual void with material things. Our need is not for more physical, our need is for spiritual peace through Jesus. The grace of Jesus Christ. Why is it that we want so much of this world? The reason is because we are bent toward sin. We're all sinners, every single one of us, we do things wrong. We know what we feel guilty, we feel unqualified for having God if I stood before you I know I've done a lot of bad things, I don't know what to do about it. Let me tell you what, there's nothing you can do about it. God did everything about it. He sent his son Jesus who is perfect, sinless in every way, Jesus became for us sin on the cross, he died in our place. On the third day God raised Him from the dead, what did God do? Got defeated death, Hell, sin and the grave. Now we have access to all the eternal spiritual blessings of God through Jesus Christ, not by our own effort, not by our own goodness, but only by the grace of God. How are we made right with God is never by our own good works, is never by the lack of our own sinfulness, it's only by the grace of Jesus. So when you call on his name, the name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, God hears your prayers, He will forgive your sins, they're covered by the blood of Jesus, your sins covered and what do you become? New, forgiven, completely made whole by the grace of Jesus at all of our churches there are those of you, you recognize, you've been looking, you've been searching, you can't find it. The reason that you've been looking and you've been searching in the wrong places. Today is the day where you turn from your sins, you call on the name of Jesus. He will forgive your sins. He will give you the life that is truly life, all of our churches those who say yes, I want less of what doesn't matter, more of what does, I turn from my sins, I give my life to Jesus, that's your prayer lift your hands high now. All over the place to say yes, that's my prayer, back here in the section, God bless you, right back over here over, over here as well. Up here in this section. Oh my gosh, goodness, over here, others of you, way back here toward the back, Jesus I call on you, here in the middle section, Jesus I need you, right back over here. Church Online, you click right below me and we're all going to pray together then we're going to worship God for His goodness. Would you pray aloud? Pray Heavenly Father. - [Audience] Heavenly Father. - I give you my life. - [Audience] I give you my life. - Jesus save me. - [Audience] Jesus save me. - Forgive all my sins. - [Audience] Forgive all my sins. - Fill that void. - [Audience] Fill that void. - With your spirit. - [Audience] With your spirit. - So I can follow you. - [Audience So I can Follow You. - So I can love you. - [Audience] So I can love you. - So I can serve you. - [Audience] So I can serve you. - Help me to have. - [Audience] Help me to have. - Less of what doesn't matter. - [Audience] Less of what doesn't matter. - And more of what does. - [Audience] And more of what does. - More of you. - [Audience] More of you. - More of the life. - [Audience] More of the life. - That is truly life. - [Audience] That is truly life. - Today I give you my life. - [Audience] Today I give you my life. - Thank you for new life. In Jesus name I pray. Could somebody worship God in a big way? Could somebody welcome this morning to God's family today? www.lifechurch.tv/open