The Blood Water Offering

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

So good morning my name is spencer i'm one of the pastors here we are in week two of our gift series we're going to be in 2nd Samuel chapter 23 verses 13 through 17 today a brief story in the old testament you can turn there we'll thought you could fall on the screen behind us we'll be there in a moment when i was in high school i was very excited about uh the xbox 360 which is a gaming system that was going to come out and and i was like i want this.

But it was in the holiday season when it came out and they just said if you want this you're probably going to have to enter into the holiday craze in order to get it and i hate shopping it's just it's not my thing especially around the holidays i just in christmas time i i don't like it but i was like i want this so i'm going to go for it i had really three options at hand to be able to get an xbox 360 the.

First was in the the day that it came out the night before to go out and camp uh which i was never going to do because i don't camp a whole lot anyways i'm certainly not going to do it for a gaming system so that one didn't make sense the second one was to show up the morning that it came out and and get in line very early and hope that you could you know be one of the people that got in line and got one uh the.

Third option uh was to rob somebody to to show up early to find an easy week mark go get a biscuit from mcdonald's come back and then take it from them but i talked it over my mom she said that was not a good idea i might miss christmas in jail so we went with option two so i showed up at five o'clock at target in irmo and i got in line and i was one of the last four people in line to get one of the vouchers that would get you an xbox 360.

So i was excited and then as a few minutes went by more people got in line and there were parents behind me that were excited about getting one for their child who were very disappointed to get a different voucher that voucher was if we get a shipment before christmas you've got one so they still had to stay in line very upset that they were going to get one for their kids and there were a group of younger guys at the very front they had been there since the night before and they were they were talking about their intentions uh what they were going to do with their xbox 360.

Loudly about selling it on ebay for double the price so as these parents who are behind me that you know possibly not going to get one of these for their kid for christmas are hearing these young guys up front talking about selling these online for double the price you can imagine about how that went they were very upset they were starting to argue they were starting to verbally attack the guys i thought we were going to have an arnold schwarzenegger situation from jingle all the way or terminator or predator it was going to get violent.

But that listen we tell stories like that every time around this series because that highlights the insanity of this season every year we talk about pausing for gifts series because we've lost the thread on what christmas is supposed to be and we get all caught up in the holiday craziness the christmas craziness of getting presents and materialism and everything else so we we hit that every year that's why we pause for this series however in having kids now i can at least.

See that when parents go crazy over getting toys for their kids that it's actually a good desire that's just gotten corrupted right i mean the good desire is that you would get your child a gift and on christmas morning they'd be really excited and you'd see their face light up that's that's a good desire that their desire becomes our delight and we get to be excited about it it just goes a little crazy right and people get violent and all the youtube videos that we've seen of how people go a little crazy.

But at its core it's a good desire that's become corrupted and today we get to sit in a story where these uh we're going to look at three soldiers uh these are David's uh soldiers who uh want to get something for David they want to cheer him up and we're going to sit in this for a moment and glean from it and hopefully as we step back from it at the end we're going to see that this actually helps us grow in generosity and growing a normal of.

Jesus so let me pray for us and then we will jump into the story father i thank you that we get to pause every time this year and remember the Gospel and remember that it calls us to walk in generosity God i pray that you would bless this time grow us and shape us and mold us into your image we ask this in Jesus name amen all right so some context because we're jumping into a very obscure passage from the old testament all right.

So first and second Samuel really highlight the rise of David all right the one of the greatest kings in the history of Israel so we're at the end of second Samuel uh and and what this story is doing is in a series of stories that are highlighting some flashbacks and they're flashing back to uh David's 30 mightiest warriors all right so this is a series of stories that are talking about the the baddest of the bad they're called the chief men the 30 mighty men these are the baddest of the baddest warriors that fought.

For David think the expendables but less botox all right so for those of you that have never seen the expendables there you go that these are the baddest soldiers that he's got i'll just give let me give you three different highlights from three different guys that show this one uh soldier his name is jay shabiam which for those of you that are having boys it's a strong name all right jay show all right jay shabiam killed 300 men at one time with one spear all right went toe-to-toe with 300 men with one spear killed them all the.

Second uh uh banaya banaya was one of David one of David's bodyguards so banaya uh went toe-to-toe with a with a lion and a snowy pit all right and he killed the lion one-on-one he also killed an egyptian giant a seven foot five soldier so he killed shaq and he killed a lion all right and that's just to be David's bodyguard all right uh we'll give you one more eleazar eleazar was uh there's a story where he um with the Israelites or they have a barley field they're defending.

But they flee from the barley field when the philistines come eleazar posts up in the middle of the field and defeats all of them by himself all right these are the baddest of the battle these are David's mighty men and specifically in this brief story that we're going to be in today this is three unnamed men we don't know which ones they were i like to think that joe was in this bunch but we don't know all right three of his men and we're gonna pick up in.

Verse 13 and what they did 13 and three of the 30 chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of adulum when a band of philistines was encamped in the valley of refugee David was then in the stronghold and the garrison of the philistines was then at bethlehem all right so this gives some context for the situation so David uh and his men they are encamped their stronghold is at the cave of abdullah that is about as a few miles southwest of Jerusalem the philistines are encamped throughout uh they are spread out through the valley of refugee and their stronghold is in the town of bethlehem and that is.

Very sad news for David because that is David's hometown that is where he's from and the philistines are his greatest enemy the philistines i mean he has a history with him right remember David and Goliath Goliath was a philistine that's how he made his entrance into being a great military warrior he defeats Goliath there's another story where he goes he wants to marry king Saul's daughter and king Saul really wants to get rid of David because he's a threat so he says go and kill me 100 philistines and and David goes and kills 200 philistines and brings back some some goodie bags which.

For small ears we're not going to go into but you can go back and read the story the philistines hate him all right it is and that is his greatest enemy and they have taken his hometown his land where his home is and and he is deeply dismayed at this it's in caves like the cave of abdullah that we get psalms like psalm 57 there are a few psalms that were written uh in the cave and it's you can connect the dots and think this is probably one of those psalms was written during a time like this in psalm 57 1 he says be merciful to me o.

God be merciful to me for in you my soul takes refuge in the shadow of your wings i will take refuge till the storms of destruction pass by he's lamenting he's he's in the midst of storms of destruction uh there's another psalm psalm 142 same thing written in the cave when he says when in 142 3 says when the my spirit faints within me you know my way his spirit is weak he's dismayed you could even say he's probably depressed this is the state of David all right that's the context.

For verse 15 when we hear what David says in 15 and David said longingly oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of bethlehem that is by the gate so some context for this all right the the structure of this sentence i looked at this alongside some commentators this this is not a command okay he's not saying somebody go out and get me some water he is simply expressing a deep longing probably talking to himself oh if someone would get me water from the.

Well specifically the one by the gate in bethlehem all right this could be nostalgia for missing home right i got like if you're traveling abroad and you're like oh i miss my wife's cooking oh i missed my mama's cooking i longed for this all right it could be that the water is better there i remember when my wife and i we moved back from we lived in louisville kentucky when i was in seminary for five years when we moved back we realized something that the water in louisville is actually really really good people rank city waters.

Because they have time on their hands and it makes the top 10 across the country every year i don't know how because the ohio river is gross but they've got some type of filtration system and the water tastes very good and when we moved back here you know the lexington and now we live in lakes west columbia area every summer i don't know if you know this if you live on this side of the river but every summer uh the water tastes they say earthy that ain't earthy it's it's gross it's dirty it's.

Because there's an algae bloom in the lake which by the way that's where we get our water from on this side of the river and every it just it tastes not that great and when i taste the water sometimes i'm like man i really miss the water that i had in louisville that didn't taste like dirty algae i it listen it could be for nostalgia reasons it could be the water in bethlehem takes better than the cave for whatever reason he longs.

For the water that he used to drink at home and his longing does not go unheard verse 16 then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the philistines and drew water out of the well of bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David all right so three of his mighty men they hear this and they spring into action they are going to get this water if it is the last thing they literally do they're going to risk their lives.

For this it says they break into the camp now i want to make sure i understood this correctly that they weren't just kind of sneaking in at night what so i looked at the hebrew for the word break and it's a violent breaking which means they fought their way into the camp all right risking their blood probably shedding some of their own blood and shedding the blood of others they got to the well drew the water out presumably defending themselves and they had to get out of the camp which means they probably fought their way out of the camp and ran all the way back to the cave of adul think about that what kind.

Of devotion is that what what kind of what what compels people uh men to do this to risk their lives for a drink of water it's because they loved David they loved him they loved him fiercely they're in the midst of David's depression and his sadness he expresses a a whim a desire oh that i'd have a drink of water and and his very win all right his very longing that he expresses becomes their complete and total devotion that they're willing to risk their lives that's love that is love.

For David that you would risk they'd risk their comfort their safety all for a drink of water you might be thinking well i mean these are his men right don't i mean they have to be obedient that's that's part of it right well here's the deal first off it's not a command as we just said but also obedience is not enough to compel this type of action it's just not in high school i uh i played two sports play baseball and football and my two coaches.

For baseball and football could not be any different my baseball coach was very successful in building a program won lots of state titles partially because he recruited players to come in and then my junior year i guess he stopped recruiting because we weren't very good uh and and he just gave up on us for two years he just he just gave up on us and he he didn't love us we were in we're a means to an end in winning titles and and we just we kind of went through the motions of the baseball season i.

Remember going into my senior year we had not taken the field for actual practice and we had a game five days later we still hadn't taken he was running us to death every day and conditioning i remember specifically one day he had an excuse that they'd been raining a lot but it was very it was dry enough for us to go and practice and and he said all right put your tennis shoes on which meant we were going to run some more and i just i just stared him down i was furious and our team was just we were.

So upset he was was was furious with us he pointed to the state championship banners and said you're never going to win any of these walked on us walked out on us and then we went out and practiced without them all right it was just completely different though the relationship we have with him than with our football coach our football coach loved us and we loved him we would run through a brick wall for him my my sophomore junior season we were not good at all we didn't win a lot of games and we loved him we fought to the finish in every game two very different relationships we do anything.

For our football coach because it was based on love and our baseball coach he was half hearted obedience and that's the difference love versus obedience love produces true devotion obedience just produces the mere semblance of devotion it's not the same love is an all-out response while obedience is just walking through the motions love is the foundation for devote for this type of devotion for these men they love David and it shows up in how they respond to him so they bring this water back to him.

Verse 16 but he would not drink of it he poured it out to the lord and sometimes we read the bob you're like wait what a second if you're just reading through second Samuel you're like wait what he pours out the water seriously oh i mean they went to all these lengths to do this and he pours out the water uh chet and jordan jordan's one of our members chet's one of our pastors they uh they sometimes talk about this restaurant that they met in in lynchburg virginia at liberty and they talk about this restaurant called osaka it's supposed to be like tokyo grill.

But way better and they swear by they they say it is the best and finally jordan he brought me one a plate that was like a day and a half old i heated it up and it lives up the hype it is it is it is great now imagine i walk into the office one day and i see jordan and chet and they're just sad and they're downcast and they just oh if we could just have some osaka we'd feel better and i hear that and i spring into action and i get in my car and i drive five hours up to lynchburg and i get it and i fight traffic and i come all.

The way back and i bring it to them like guys and i put it in place with some covers to make it here it is boom and they take it they smell it and they just dump it on the ground all of it they take the white sauce and just pour it out it's shocking when all that effort for what they got all the effort they fight they risk their lives they shed their blood for what pours out the water say.

But he would not drink of it he poured it out to the lord and said far be it from me o lord that i should do this shall i drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives therefore he would not drink it these things the three mighty men did David realizes that he isn't worthy of this type of devotion he's not worthy of this type of sacrifice these men gave up blood to secure this offering and he's not worthy of it he realizes that the only one who is worthy of this type of offering offering is the.

Lord he takes their devotion he pours it out to the lord this is this is a drink offering all right in the old testament they had they had drink offerings numbers 15 says you shall offer a a third of the hen of one the picture is it's a pleasing aroma to the lord that a drink offering is poured out that's what he takes he takes the devotion and he pours it out this is hear this this is the most honorable thing he could have done in this moment is to take that devotion and turn it up to the.

Lord far be it from me to drink the blood of my men this belongs to the lord this type of love and devotion belongs to God and that's the story real small obscure story from the old testament and it's it's an incredible story to look at how they honored their king like this is incredible so you might be wondering that's neat why are we talking about this in our gift series what does this have to do with christmas here's the deal we won't understand this series we will understand generosity and we won't understand christmas until we understand that we serve a much better king than David we serve a much better king these men got.

To serve David who was a great king and we see the kind of sacrifice and the kind of devotion that kind of love they poured out to him how much more so should we serve the king of all creation how much more should we be devoted to how much more should we love the king who left heaven to come for us to wage war against the enemy who stepped into darkness David in the midst of his despair doesn't have it in him to go out and get this offering he doesn't have it in him his soldiers go out.

For him our savior our king came he's the one that broke through enemy lines for us when he left heaven and he came to earth we sing this season joy to the world the lord has come let earth receive her king and we look at that song we think that's it's cute it's nice because 30 different pop stars have covered it in terrible fashion it's not cute it is a declaration of war joy to why is there joy because the king came.

For us because he stepped into the darkness he stepped into this domain to wage war against the enemy and we've been in the Gospel of Matthew for over a year now and we've gotten to see how good our king is that he came for us they didn't leave us in our darkness they didn't leave us in our sin that he came we got to see as he steps on the scene in in Matthew 4 right when he's being tempted in the wilderness and he goes toe-to-toe with Satan after 40 days and 40 nights of fasting and drinking no food or water and he's a showdown with Satan and he does what adam and eve couldn't.

Do he remains sinless and we got to see how good our king is and that he teaches us the sermon on the mount is beautiful it is the embodiment of wisdom we get to see over and over again over the last year as our king as he healed the paralytic and said rise take up your mat and walk away as he put his hands on the eyes of the blind and gave sight to them we get to see over and over how good our king is and he does all of this on our behalf and it doesn't cost our blood to obtain this gift we're not being sent out to earn this on our own.

As soldiers no now the king lays down his life sheds his own blood and his blood is poured out like a drink offering how much better is our king than David he's so much better and once we understand that once we understand how good it is the king who came for us how sweet how amazing he is then we can begin to understand how we should respond in worship then we can look at the example of these three mighty men and say i i want to respond like that.

And then some because our king is much much better with the hope that one day we'll stand before our king and he'll say well done my good and faithful servant well done my good and faithful soldier that is how our approach changes to opportunities that we have right in front of us you know oftentimes we get every year we do this and we we have these these opportunities to give to something like this and i feel this there's a part of us that looks at this and says all right.

Well what what do i have to give what is it i mean all right my regular generosity okay it's a 10 is that what i have to give all right do i need a budget for forgive project is that is that what i have to give listen i feel that i do but understand this that respond misses it misses on it misses out on total devotion in love it's a different response than us uh instead of just showing a mere semblance of obedience by going through the motions with how we do generosity instead of doing that how about let's chase after the heart of.

God let's let his his desire become our delight and let's run after that i mean what if like what if we caught a mere whisper of the Holy Spirit like these men did they just caught David talking to himself what if we caught the voice of the Holy Spirit saying to go big to to go maybe he starts pointing out stuff right maybe it's the christmas bonus that you get every year maybe it's it's christmas money that you get every year i don't know what that is.

For you but what if the Holy Spirit just started touching on something a mere whisper and that caught our full attention and we said all right what do you want lord what do you want i'm all in i want to be i want to be completely devoted is it this is it more that's a different response when we go after the heart of God that's the type of devotion that God calls us to my hope is is that we catch a we catch wind of that and we'd respond.

Listen when we sent the rockies out i honestly i thought it was a little hasty i did i talked through i sat with chris and was like are you sure right now you don't have all your support raised are you sure like we're right in the middle of the pandemic i wouldn't hurt to wait a few more months and he said no no we've prayed the lord has spoken and we're going chris and danielle like good soldiers heard the Holy Spirit and they said we're all in we're going we're selling everything we're packing up we're moving our kids and we're going and isn't the.

Lord wiser than we the fact that chris a builder shows up right before hurricane decimates the very village that every town that they were going to reach they were obedient because they are devoted and they love God and they're gonna follow his heart anywhere and the desire that we have right in front of us is this project it is fully funding them at a thousand bucks a month it is building some houses down there my hope is that we can join them with the love and devotion that sent them down there that we might.

See Jesus use them to build some houses to make some disciples to raise up some Church plants and to bring light into darkness as our king came and did for us the band's gonna come up and i just want us to sit in that for a moment before we respond and worship i want us not to feel like we have to but to listen to the Holy Spirit and to chase after the heart of God that his desire would become our complete delight and we respond with however.

God calls us to i don't know what that looks like for you my hope is you'd listen my hope is we listen as a Church and that we respond with the type of love and devotion that these three soldiers did for David and then some let me pray father i pray that you would first help us see what you did in your coming what you did on the cross what you did in the empty tomb and that we be so overwhelmed by you that in worship we'd respond and we'd pray and we'd.

Listen and we trust you i don't know what that looks like for us but God i pray that you would speak to us that we take a step of faith in growing in generosity that flows out of a heart that is totally devoted to you we ask in Jesus name amen.

Giving and Sending

Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.

Transcript

So well good morning my name is chet i'm one of the pastors here if you will if you have a Bible grab it go to acts chapter 11. we have every year around this time we do a three week give series and so i'm excited that we get to to start our give series today and announce our give project when i first when we first moved here we moved from lynchburg virginia to here to plant a Church felt called to plant a Church in this area i got a job with sears i had been working at sears in lynchburg i got a job with sears here.

Because i want to be a part of a company that was on the rise and really get in get in on the ground floor and i apparently wasn't that good of a salesman because the store i worked at here shut down but um i i got to work in the hardware department and uh right around leading up into into thanksgiving we would put up uh artificial christmas trees and so our whole like half of the hardware department was filled with an artificial christmas tree lot.

And so i got to be a christmas tree salesman and the people who purchased christmas trees from sears some of them were pleasant some of them you know had peace and joy and holly jolliness most of them however did not i did not know that christmas tree shopping was this stressful or frustrating but i learned people would walk in they'd be looking around i'd walk over and say hey my name's chad it's nice to and they'd say hey this is a six foot tree.

But i need it in eight feet it's like oh well okay let me let me see what i have they they'd say things like um uh these are all balsams i need a fur well all of ours are plastic so um okay i'll see what i can do i had a lady one time she said yes do you have any trees that twinkle and i said um how about how about that tree she said no that that tree is flashing.

Then i was like oh well then well then no we don't have any trees that twinkle um maybe squint take your glasses off i don't know i don't have to tell you one time a lady said you have this tree and i said yes i'll go check in the back and see if we have it and she said you better so i just never came back that's that's not true but people who are buying christmas trees are scary and and it makes sense after i thought about it.

Because you know how you're sitting at your house and you think i'm in a terrible mood and i'm very frustrated i want to go buy a christmas tree that's not that's not what happens the the reason they were there was to celebrate something worth celebrating and i actually think it's a really good picture of what happens to us culturally around this time of year we have something worth celebrating we have something glorious and delightful and joy-filled and hope-filled and then we american it we consumer it and we make it this stressful frustrating has to be about perfection and living up to some ideal and earning something christmas is about our lack of perfection our inability.

To live up to the ideal our complete hopelessness it's one of the reasons why we celebrate with lights because we were in darkness and a light has shown joy has dawned we have something worth celebrating and feasting for but we end up turning it into some sort of a consumer nightmare a beautiful picture of that is is black friday we have a day devoted to thankfulness followed by a day devoted to consuming and getting more and having more and earning more and it's.

And so we end up taking something worth celebrating we make it stressful and so one of the things that we do as a Church family is we have our gift series where we intentionally fight that in our souls that we intentionally as the Scriptures say that where your treasure is they were your heartbeat also that we intentionally take our treasure and send it out the door we intentionally take our treasure and put it towards things that God cares about so that in this season we remind ourselves actively and aggressively and intentionally where our hope lies and what the purpose of this season is.

See the reality for us as we enter into this gift series and as we as Christians enter into this holiday season is not the question for us is not do we like christmas because i think we do i think we enjoy it i think there are times where we where we calm ourselves and we delight in the things that are to be delighted in but i think the question for us is do we believe it when you see a nativity scene is it just cute is it just quaint or is it jaw dropping shocking and glorious that the.

God of the universe would become a baby that he would put on flesh that he would suffer and die so that we might have hope does that captivate our hearts you see because if this christmas is true if it's real if Jesus Christ really came to redeem sinners as he really came to rescue us out of darkness if he really came because there is eternity at stake and we are incapable of saving ourselves then yes we have a lot to celebrate we have a lot to be joyous over.

But we're also called to give up our lives for something that matters that's eternally urgent if we really do believe that he's our only hope and that all those who call in his name will be saved which means that all of those who don't won't and so as we enter into this season we don't want to just enjoy christmas we want to believe it we want to have the reality of God redeeming sinners saving wicked people like you hopeless people like us captivate our hearts.

So that we might follow him faithfully genuinely and as if we really believe this so let's pray and then we're going to read in the book of acts some people who are doing that and then we're going to get to join with them as we introduce our gift project for the year so let's pray God we thank you that because of the incarnation because you became a man so that you might save humanity we thank you that we have hope we thank you that we have something worth celebrating that we have joy that cannot be taken from us that cannot be bought by us.

But that was bought by you and say lord i pray that we would be a people who genuinely believes that and celebrates like we believe it help us to respond in generosity and obedience and faithfulness and lord as we study your word today help um may your Holy Spirit uh captivate our hearts and call us into something more in Jesus name amen so we're in the book of acts today and we're going to be looking at the early Church and so this is believers who have been captivated by this idea who have placed their faith in.

Jesus that he died that he rose again that it was God who had come to join us and to rescue us and to redeem us this idea was not uh normal to them they did not grow up with it it was not something that they were used to it was not something that they had celebrated their whole life this idea came to them as news as new information that they might place their faith in it and their hope in it and follow him.

And so that's what they're doing and sometimes i think they have the benefit of that that for those of us who maybe grew up in the u.s or grew up in the south and this becomes normal when it is not normal that God would become a human that he would die that he would rise from the grave that's not mundane that's not ordinary but i think sometimes we we get so used to it we fail to see it with the eyes they.

See it with and so i hope that we would as we read this today so we're reading about the Church in antioch and we're going to start in verse 25. so uh the the Gospel is uh proclaimed people believe and then there's persecution and then they scatter and as they scatter they go telling this message so they're run out of town literally but as they go they start telling this message to anyone who would hear it's not true to to jewish people who would hear.

And then they they eventually start telling gentile people which is good news for for i think pretty much everybody in this room and they also started right now in antioch they told hellenistic jews which were jewish people by blood but that had adopted a whole lot of greek culture and these hellenistic jews believe and the jewish jews are a little surprised so they send barnabas to go check it out they're like go go see and check and he shows up and he's encouraged he's excited they really believe they've placed faith in.

Jesus and so he celebrates with him and then it says we pick up in verse 25 it says so barnabas went to tarsus to look for Saul now if you're familiar with Paul it's the same guy they're calling him Saul here went to tarsus to look for Saul and when he had found him he brought him to antioch for a whole year they met with the Church and taught a great many people and in antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

So barnabas and Saul are teaching the Church in antioch and they're teaching much of what we would probably see in Paul's letters later which is explain to them what it means to follow Jesus that if this is true what does that mean for your life if he has come to redeem if he has come to save if you are rescued by grace alone by faith in Jesus what does that look like how does that affect you what do you do what do you not do and it's all coming out of a response to the Gospel.

So the message of christianity is not here are the things you need to do and then you can have the Gospel these baptisms were not i finally got my life together now i'm a good person you can see me get dunked in water that's not what this was that's not the hope we have if if the video had said that i just wanted to show everyone i'm great we would have all jumped up and said time out no no no no you don't get to be baptized and even.

If your head goes completely underwater don't even count you're just wet because that's not what this is that's not the hope we have the hope we have is that Jesus redeems sinners that we're broken we can't save ourselves and so he's proclaiming this message and he's telling them this is what it looks like for this to lay claim to your life verse 27 now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to antioch and one of them named agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world this took place in the days of claudius.

So prophets come in the Church to prophesy uh the word of God and to foretell that there's going to be a famine how the baptist feeling right now you okay with that Bible stressing you out a little bit so there are prophets in the new testament Church that are empowered by the spirit to proclaim to tell what's going to happen in the future and they do and God empowers this and they they tell them that there's a famine coming and so it says that they told that this would take place.

And then i love that it says it took place in the days of claudius luke's writing the book of acts and he's just showing his work he's like they told there was going to be a famine and it was this specific famine that took place like if you want to look it up look under claudius you'll find him that's what he's doing so the disciples determined everyone according to his ability to send relief to the brothers living in judea and they did.

So sending it to the elders by the hand of barnabas and Saul so let's follow this timeline Gospel is proclaimed there's hope in Christ you can be redeemed you can be saved they believe Paul and barnabas come and teach and help explain what that means and what that looks like then they find out through prophecy that there's going to be a famine there's going to be a natural disaster there's going to be something that comes over the land that makes food scarce and prices high.

And so they just decide as a Church hey we're going to send money to Jerusalem where that's going to be hard hit and they give they send relief according to their ability and this is something the Church has done forever that as uh the Gospel changes our hearts it changes our wallets because as Jesus says our wallets are tied to our hearts so one of the best ways to tell what you love is to see what you spend money on one of the best ways to tell what you care about what you're motivated by what you desire what you want to defend is to.

See what happens with your wallet and so one of the best ways for us to push our heart into places is for us to actively choose to send our money there example if you were going to watch a soccer game you would be uh not interested and that offends a handful of you but for most of you you would be not interested for like seven hours there's no time on the soccer game by the way it just goes and goes they don't tell you.

But if you put five dollars on it or if you do what i do and you bet egg roll station on it because that's the only bet i make egg roll station you'll suddenly care you'll have moved your heart just a little bit just a piece of your heart if it's egg roll station a large piece of your heart but that's that's reality and so that's one of the things that we know is that when we send our money it goes towards things we care about as our money goes.

So do we care like uh my wife and i we had ugly carpet we were annoyed with our ugly carpet but we didn't love our ugly carpet and when our children spilled things on our ugly carpet we didn't care we've replaced some of that carpet and i didn't realize that that was going to make me love carpet and care about it and dislike my children we're talking about painting some of our walls and i had to re-explain this to my wife i said.

Okay we can paint them and i think we should because they look bad but as soon as we do we're gonna suddenly care that our children are holding markers and running down the hall like this why would they do that but we're going to care because that's what happens and so because Jesus has changed our hearts it's not just that we send our money so that we'll care but it's because he's changed our hearts suddenly we're free suddenly we respond in a way differently than we used to this is what he tells the Church in corinthians is he's talking about this exact idea of giving up money he says this in.

Second corinthians 8 9. for you know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich that's the Gospel was infinitely rich rich doesn't cover it it's a placeholder word that hides a whole lot of things but he was infinitely rich infinitely glorious infinitely welcomed infinitely worshipped and he became poor it's a song we just sang that he created the world by speaking.

Now he's mute he's going to have to re-learn language he's going to have to be static and he's going to have to learn how to grow and he's become so small and then he's ultimately gonna be crushed he's gonna die he's gonna give up his life and he's gonna do that so that by his poverty we might become rich so then Paul keeps going because he's trying to to raise some money for some issues that are going on that they need to raise some money to to give it's a very similar situation we.

See in acts 11 he says for i do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened but that as a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that their abundance may supply your need that there may be fairness so he's calling them to give money and he's specifically saying the same thing we just read in acts 11 which is they gave according to their ability so he's saying to them i'm not saying that you shouldn't pay rent.

So they can pay rent i'm not saying you shouldn't eat so they can eat but i am saying you've been blessed so let's give you're rich right now so let's give because he who was rich became poor so that through him we who are poor might become rich now i love this i think this is a helpful rule this is one of the reasons why we don't in Christian giving we don't do amounts we don't do you have to give x amount of dollars or whatever we we talk more about percentages we talk more about what are you capable of giving that we would give what we're able to give.

But that we would respond with generosity with sacrificial giving that it would affect how we live you see one of the things that we do as americans is we artificially inflate our need we'll say things like yeah i'm just barely paying my bills and my bills are a very large house three different video subscriptions the internet two vehicles a cell phone some magazines two things i forgot i had signed up for but i'm getting billed for right now we've artificially inflated our need and the reality is that we live like kings and queens and there is a call.

For us to intentionally live under our income so that we might be generous we might be ready to share and so he's saying that those of you who have need to to give and that's what they said according to their ability so the disciples determined those who are following Jesus every one according to his ability to send relief to those who are in need this is something the Church has done forever and we're going to get a chance to do today uh chapter 13.

Verse 13 let's keep going in the book of acts so this is we've jumped ahead a little bit a few chapters but that's because uh we're following the story of antioch and so we've read the story of antioch name in the book of acts in chapter 12 it talks about some other things and then it comes back to antioch and it says now Paul no hold on yeah but i lied about what chapter is give me a second this is going to bother me yo fine i won't find it in the Bible oh one through four i just have it typed up wrong here we got it.

Now that we're in the Church at antioch we'll edit that so later when you listen to it online or watch it it'll seem that was like it was great we won't now that we're in the Church at antioch prophets and teachers barnabas simeon who was called niger lucius of cyrene minion a lifelong friend of herod of the tetrarch and Saul while they were worshiping the lord and fasting the Holy Spirit said set apart for me barnabas and Saul for the work to which i have called them.

Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off and so we get to see the generosity of the Church in antioch in two ways one is financially and two is by sending people some of their best people the people who had actually come and taught them for a year straight the people who had helped found this Church and lead it they sent them away and they sent them away because they were obedient to the to the voice of the spirit they listened to the.

Lord and sin and that's one of the things that the Church does that we send financially to help support those in need we we help with the poor we help with believers in other areas and then we send people there are some people called to go and there's some people called to send and i love the way this is written it's not Paul and barnabas saying hey we were supposed to go do this it's the Holy Spirit saying set apart for me barnabas and Saul.

For the work to which i have called them he told the Church set them apart he told the Church these people are supposed to go and the Church is supposed to set them apart the Church is supposed to send them out and we see that as the Church sends them out they care for them financially as they go so before i get to announce our gift project for the year i want to ask these questions i want us to see something in this text really quickly i want you to.

See that God sees and calls specific people for specific tasks that they're praying they're listening and God says these two names not sin two not hey we need some he says sin barnabas and Saul for the work i have uh called them to set them aside for it now are we praying and listening enough to know what he set us aside for some of you are in here and you're like i don't know what he wants me to do when's the last time he fasted prayed and asked him when's the last time you laid it all on the table and you said.

Lord my wallet my time my life my career my relationships the yours what do you want from me can i tell you something i think he'll answer i think it'll be good i think it'll be terrifying i think as soon as he answers you might be like oh no okay i don't i'm gonna go eat a meal and quit praying about this i'm gonna quit fasting and praying it may feel overwhelming at first but these are the kinds of prayers he answers i think sometimes we're just really comfortable with things looking normal.

For us but i think we need to begin to ask lord what do you want from me my job's yours what do you want it to look like my time is yours what do you want it to look like my life is yours what do you want to look like see that's us believing what we say we believe at christmas that Jesus came to rescue us that he owes us nothing because he gave us everything by grace we haven't earned anything.

So that he would owe us anything and so now we are his we've been bought with a price and we owe him everything and so we come to him we ask what do you want what would you have for us so he sets aside specific people for a specific task and the Church is told this and the Church gets to help send and it's a dangerous thing when we listen and obey this begins the missionary journey of the Church that Paul would be sent to plant churches and that the Church would spread through the work of Paul and through the suffering of Paul that.

God had an intentional design for Paul and barnabas that he would see his work done and the reality is he's placed you where he's placed you and he's given you what he's given you and he's equipped you with what he's equipped you and we need to start asking lord what do you want from me and what do you want from our Church okay so it's our gift project and we're gonna spend the next three weeks trying to raise some money for two things one primarily the.

Second one's like a bonus thing you're welcome we have the opportunity to get behind chris and danielle rocky as we prayed about what our giving our gift project would look like this year we began to ask the lord what would he want us to do we felt called to to help them finish out their support so we had the distinct pleasure of God specifically telling members of our Church family to move to to pack up and go and just so you all know that was a labored thing.

For them that chris and daniel came they have two daughters parker and maggie who are six and nine but they came and chris said he was feeling called to Church planning wasn't really sure he wanted to pray and investigate this and he wanted us to pray and investigate it with him and with his family and they came here to try to see what that would look like the more he prayed the more he started saying i don't think it's domestic Church planning i don't think it's in the u.s i think we're supposed to go overseas the more he said that the more his wife was like i'm gonna i'm gonna keep praying.

Because danielle wasn't super excited about that but God knows what he's doing so if you got to know their family danielle is a spanish teacher chris ran a a home renovation and home building company called house healers he mostly showed up to places that were messed up and helped fix things and God specifically began to work in them and told them to go to honduras and to el progresso and to join with this specific team in el progreso hope through him to join them and what they're doing and they felt confirmed in that and terrified and sad and excited and we felt confirmed and sad and excited just as i'm sure this Church felt confirmed.

In the book of acts that antioch they were sad and excited they were like we don't know what the lord's doing but we know he's doing this we don't know what his plan is but we trust him and we're going to miss y'all but they set him aside for the work so i want to show a video one of the uh i'll talk kind of as this video plays here in a second but we'll start it all right this is coming into june 22 another community we working.

So they're in el progresso um it's kind of base of operations forum and in el progreso they do uh kind of a food ministry and some different ministry with with homeless people and then they have a couple of places that they go to and they also minister and this is june 22 that's the name of the town it's named june 22 after the the date when they kind of organized themselves as a town and it's kind of up in the mountains it's a little bit further away from them.

But they go there and they do some vacation Bible school stuff with children and they do um a feeding ministry they take food up there and it's it's a pretty impoverished town but about 40 homes are there they have a president of the town and they they do some ministry there with them we're going to get to see kind of an area where they do some ministry there's a couple other places campo yano they do some work there and um just felt called to this area felt called to join um hope through him and to to help start churches to help serve people and specifically just felt like the.

Lord was calling him to be there and chris wanted to train some people to lead house churches what christianity is there there are some faithful Christians and believers there but there is a good bit of religious legalism some you have to be good enough to earn this and so chris felt burdened to just proclaim grace that God redeems those who cannot redeem themselves and that he's good to us in our sin that he's hoped for us in our darkness and so this is this is june 22.

And so that was kind of their plan going and you could already see the lord at work that uh in his grace he was sending them somewhere that spoke spanish so that uh danielle could speak the language and he was sending one person who taught spanish and three people who don't know spanish and so maybe she could also help teach them and so i asked how that was going and he said it was going okay but the wearing masks makes learning spanish harder.

But this is the area they went to but that the plans got changed a little bit on them uh because of the fact that right after they got there two hurricanes came through so hurricane edda came through and hurricane iota came through and kind of adjusted what they were planning on doing but in just a second you're going to get to see they're coming kind of the end of this and there's going to be a section where they're doing some what they normally do in this area which is getting to spend some time with the children hey mel city um here we are at june 22.

You'll see this is a lot different than campoyano because we don't have our own building to be in we just kind of sit here on this little overhang right next to the kitchen so they're cooking rice and beans over there and they're going to do birthday gifts for all the children and so she says that they were learning that some of the children had moved and they were also trying to catch up on all the birthdays they had missed from covid and that's kind of their plan their plan originally was that.

But then as i said the floods came through and i want to show you this this is uh june 22 as well hey guys so we were finally able to get out to june 22 one of the communities that we work in the road was pretty terrible but we were able to to get through with some uh four wheeling a lot of spots washed out and kind of going back and forth on different sides of the road but we made it through flip the camera around here.

So we've we've muted the rest of it but this is uh that's that neighborhood we just saw him pull down that's the whole area the main road is right over there that and he'll be on it in a second we'll see the kind of the route that they took getting in this is after the first hurricane the second one was worse than and that we don't have any footage from when they went back out but the water was up over completely over that house that you.

See right there they said they were evacuating and putting some of their stuff on this berm up here and that people came and stole some of it but that whole area has just been under water and as they were trying to to get back going they got hit by another hurricane and so our give project this year is to do exactly what we just read in in the book of acts first to send and to send well we want chris and danielle to be able to stay in country to be completely provided.

For they're about a thousand dollars a month short of their financial goals so the first thing we want to do is try to raise that extra thousand dollars in monthly support so that they are uh set for the year and don't have to raise any more support we actually looked and i told chris i said you know you see the lord at work here that he sent them there and chris was thinking he was going to do Church planting work and maybe he will eventually.

But God sent a house healer when there's a lot of houses to heal you could i told him i said if the lord doesn't know what he's doing he really lucked out on this one which is a joke because he knows what he's doing but that we want to help chris be there we want to help danielle be there we want to help make sure that's the where they're living now so they've all across the top of this they just went up and started putting tents um and waiting.

For the water to go back down and waiting to go back and see kind of how they're going to be able to rebuild so the first thing we want to do is for us to intentionally put into our budget to help chris and danielle stay in country we have the opportunity as we mentioned earlier with the lottie moon christmas offering that's for international missions through the southern baptist and that's so that the they don't have to raise support but chris and danielle felt called and they felt called to go and to go quickly and i think we.

See now why and so we want to help make sure that they don't have to keep raising support and so as a Church as the lord has called them to be missionaries from among us we want to help make sure they can stay and the way to do that will be to go to hope through him.org spencer's going to walk us through this in a minute and to put in a gift and to put that you want it to recur monthly and to figure out what that means.

For you some of you that's five dollars and that'll be uh what you can handle some of you it's 50 some of you it can be 250. some of you may look at this next year and you go you know what i'm going to do i'm going to drive a worse vehicle and every time i get frustrated with my vehicle i'm going to pray for some missionaries that are working in another country to proclaim the Gospel that i say i believe in and i'm going to do that.

So that instead of having this payment i can send money some of you are going to have slower internet some of you realize that the person you're dating is expensive and you're going to be single for a year so you don't have to pay for extra meals and gifts for the sake of mission i don't know what it is i don't know what the lord's calling you to do but i do know that we need to pray we need to ask we need to.

Listen the first thing we want to do is we want to raise what will end up being twelve thousand dollars but it'll be monthly we want to raise a thousand dollars a month for them so that they're fully met their needs are met financially so they can just be there and working so they can be full-time doing the work that's going to be full-time work on top of that this is the bonus one if you were like 1000 a month is nothing to me i have tons of money.

Well we're glad you're here and we've got good news for you they also need money to help rebuild june 22. and so for anyone who wants to give to that we would ask that you would prayerfully look at supporting them monthly so that we can keep them there and working but then on top of that we can give to to the work they're doing at june 22 they said that they think they can rebuild a house for about thirty five hundred dollars.

Now thirty 3 500 is not a lot for a house most of us you can't renovate your kitchen for that but these people are living on a berm under a tarp and they think they can go back in and rebuild the houses they want they might say they said it might cost a little more if they're able to figure out how to build them on stilts so that next time it comes through like this it won't be as bad but they're looking to to rebuild about 40 homes that's what they think they're going to end up having to do and they're committed to trying to get that work done.

And so if we have the money to help support that we want to help that as well but first we want to keep the rockies in country and we want to do this not because we have to that's not the good news of the Gospel just pay a certain amount of money per month and the lord will save you the good news of the Gospel is first really bad news you can't save yourself you cannot be good enough you are not good enough you have fallen desperately short.

But unto us a son is given unto us a child is born and all people in darkness has shown a great light and we get to celebrate like other people celebrate when there's joy at a harvest we get to celebrate because we've been redeemed we've been brought out of darkness and we've been set free and that nothing can claim us or take us now we've been purchased with the precious blood of Christ and we are free and we have eternal hope and we get to joining joining him in his eternal mission towards things that matter let's pray.

God we thank you for your grace we thank you for your goodness towards us we pray that we would listen that we wouldn't just think through what we could do but we would ask you what you want from us we would ask you what you have for us that we might join you in things that ultimately matter and that our hearts might look like we truly believe the good news of the Gospel we thank you that we have something to celebrate at christmas and we pray that you would bless this gift project as we try to support your Church on the other side of the globe in.

Jesus name amen

Genealogy of Jesus: From Fall to Redemption

Transcript

Good evening. Man, what a way to close out the evening. What a way to close out our time here at Glen Forest. I'm so thankful for our worship team and how they lead us. We're going to be celebrating Christmas tonight by looking at Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus. And here's why.

Jesus was born into a family. He was born into a family history, a family tree. And that matters. So we're going to take a look at that. A few years ago, I got interested in our family tree. And I learned something.

We moved, my family moved from Germany in the 1600s to Pillion. And for the last 400 years, we've kind of stayed in the same spot. Pillion, Lexington, West Columbia for like 300 plus years. This is where we've been. And I've looked at our family history because it's pretty extensive. And there are some people in it that are admirable.

Like I look at my grandfather who was a titan of a man. He's such a bright spot in our family's history. And there's some other people that do some kind of crazy things. It's a mixed bag because when you're born into a family history, there's good, there's bad, there's moments of brokenness, there's moments of hope. But that's family histories.

And Jesus was no different. He was born into a family. And what we're going to see as we walk through his genealogy, we're going to see as we walk through his background, we're going to see hope and how it meets brokenness. And that really is the story of Christmas. Christmas is a season where we celebrate that hope entered into a broken world. So we're going to be in Matthew 1.

You don't have to follow along because we don't have Bibles out at night, but we'll have it on the screen. So you can follow along there. Verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Okay, that is a heading. This is not Ancestry.com. He's not about to go this person and this person and this person.

Matthew is retelling the genealogy of Jesus differently. He's telling it thematically. He's sending a bunch of 14 groups of names and he's skipping generations because he's trying to tell a story. By telling Jesus his history. And he starts off by saying, son of David. And that's significant.

David was the king in Jewish history. Everyone looks back to the time of David. That was the glory days. He was the savior type king who brought the nation together and established them as a people. This is the king that slaughtered Goliath as a boy. That helped defeat the surrounding enemies.

That made Israel a light to the surrounding nations. Everyone looks back to David. So when you say son of David, that says something. In the same way that if I said I was the son of George Washington, which I'm not. We're in pillion, y'all. If I said I was the son of George Washington, that would say something.

That would speak volumes about my history. So it says son of David. But what we're about to see is he doesn't just highlight the good moments, the moments of hope, the moments of the bright spots. Matthew's going to go out of his way to highlight the brokenness in the line of Jesus. So he starts off with son of David.

Verse 2. Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac, the father of Jacob. These are the patriarchs. These are where the people of God come from. The Israelites look back to father Abraham.

They look at their three patriarchs with joy looking at their history. This is the formation of their people. They look back at this with so much hope. And then it fades into brokenness fairly quickly. It says Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. Now, we walked through Genesis in the past year plus.

It was a long time in Genesis, y'all, but it was good. When we got to Judah, I just kind of said, y'all, God could have chosen any of the twelve brothers to bring about the Savior of the world. But he chooses Judah. Who I'd argue is the worst. His stories are not great. Judah sold his brother into slavery.

Pretty much all the highlights we get of him aren't great. And Matthew doesn't skip over this. He says, Judah, the father of Perez and Zerah. And he could have just kept going. But he says, Ba-Tamar, which highlights the brokenness of his past.

That's the worst moments of Judah when his daughter-in-law, Tamar, her husband dies. And he doesn't make sure that she's taken care of. So she, when he is drunk, they sleep together. It's incestuous. It gets weird. And he wants to have her burnt alive.

It's a messed up story. It's a broken story. And Matthew doesn't skip over it. No, he leans into it and says, no, Ba-Tamar. Keeps going. And Perez, the father of Hezron.

Hezron, the father of Ram. Ram, the father of Aminadab. Aminadab, the father of Nahshon. Nahshon, the father of Salmon. Salmon, the father of Boaz by Rahab. And again, he could have just mentioned Boaz, but he mentions Rahab.

Rahab is a bright spot in one respect. She was of the people of Jericho and helped the people of God enter the Promised Land. She was a hero in that regard, but also she was a prostitute. And he doesn't skip over that. No, he mentions the brokenness and the hope that is in this line. He keeps going.

And Boaz, the father of Obed. Obed by Ruth, which is a beautiful story in the Old Testament. If you have not read it, go to the book of Ruth. And Obed, the father of Jesse. And Jesse, the father of David, the king. Now, that's the first set.

The first set of names. Leading up to David. And then we get to David. The bright spot. The king that everyone looks back to with joy. And he gets to David and he says, And David was the father of Solomon.

And he could have stopped there, but he doesn't. And he says, of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. And what he just did, was he referenced the worst part of David's history. The moment that he looked at Bathsheba, Uriah's wife. And he took her. And he slept with her.

And they conceived. And to cover it up, he had Uriah sent to the front lines and killed. He highlights David, not just as king, but also as adulterer and a murderer. Keeps going. And Solomon, Solomon, the father of Rehoboam, which could not be two different types of kings. Solomon, the philosopher king.

The wise one. Wrote the book of Proverbs. Ecclesiastes. Everyone looks back to his wisdom. And then you get to his son, Rehoboam, who was a fool. Who, when setting up the kingdom at a very touchy time, listens to his young friends for counsel.

Rejects the counsel of older, wiser men. And the kingdom breaks into two. And it is never the same. Then we get a mixed bag of kings of people, good and bad. Rehoboam, the father of Abijah. Abijah, the father of Asaph.

Asaph, the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, the father of Joram. Joram, the father of Uzziah. Uzziah, the father of Jotham. Jotham, the father of Ahaz. Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah.

By the time you get to Hezekiah, this is a good example of a king in their history. A good example in the line. Took down Adosh. All kinds of things. But his son could not be any different.

Hezekiah, the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the most insidious and evil king in the history of the people of God. He sacrificed his own son, burnt him on an altar to a foreign God. This is who the Savior of the world comes through. Manasseh. Manasseh, the father of Amos.

Amos, the father of Josiah. Josiah, the father of Jehoshaphat and his brothers at the time of the deportation of Babylon. Now, I'm not going to read the last ones. I'm just going to give you the highlights of what happened. They spread across the Babylonian empire because of their sin, because of the rebellion. Eventually get back.

They establish themselves again in the land. And there's a 400 plus year period of waiting. A 400 plus year period of darkness. Waiting for someone to come. Waiting for a Savior to bring them out of their situation. As one nation at the other rules over them.

Just as the people of God waited 400 plus years in darkness in Egypt. Waiting for a Savior to come and rescue them. They are waiting. And then finally, finally, on a night in a small town in Bethlehem. Skip down to verse 16. And Jacob, the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

Finally, on a dark night, hope enters the broken world. What I love about the genealogy of Jesus is that He comes from a broken line of messed up people. Because He comes for a broken, messed up people. This world is broken and marred by sin. But the God of the universe doesn't look at the world and say, I'm going to destroy you.

He doesn't look at the world and say, I don't care about it. He comes and He rescues us. He loves us so much that He comes in the form of a babe on a night in Bethlehem. The God of the universe humbles Himself of becoming a baby. And He grows up. And He obeys the Father perfectly.

And He takes that perfect record with Him to the cross. Where our brokenness and our rebellion and our sin is paid for on the cross. And when He steps out of the tomb on Resurrection Sunday, hope, eternal, beautiful, unending, unfading hope is born and is offered to anyone who would believe. That is why I love the story of Jesus. He comes from a broken people for broken sinners like you and me. And that is the hope of Christmas.

That is what we celebrate every single year. We pause and remember that God loved us so much that He came from heaven and He sought us. That's the good news of the Gospel. And as we go through the next few days of celebrating, whatever traditions you do as you exchange gifts, as you listen to your uncle talk about politics ad nauseum, whatever it is that happens in your family, may we not forget this. May we not forget while we sing these songs, while we gather here. Because there's a loving God who came for us.

May we remember that He comes for the broken. I know that some of you, that this is a difficult season. Some of you have been wrestling with some serious suffering. Maybe some serious sin. Maybe this year brings up all kinds of painful memories. I want to say very clearly to you that this season is because God loves you.

He loves you so much that He sent His Son to die for you. So that you would believe in Him. And for eternity experience this hope. For eternity you would taste and see and Savior this King.

The Three Wise Men

Transcript

Good morning. My name is Ben Johnson, and I'm a member here and a leader in training here at Mill City. And I'm so thankful for this opportunity to speak to you today. And we're so excited about the new year, the beginning of the year. I'll be co-leading our community group with Patrick Harding. And we are so thankful for that opportunity and looking forward to that.

And for those of you who don't know me, I would just like to talk a little bit about who I am. I'm originally from Augusta, Georgia, born and raised. And I am a Georgia fan, unfortunately. We can't clinch any championships, but we're still pretty good. And we're going to get to go to a bowl game. But when you think about it, the one game we lost this past regular season was to the Gamecocks.

I mean, how does that happen? I was in Lebanon when Spencer told me. And I was like, is the world turned upside down? What is going on? But unfortunately, it did happen.

But I know y'all were happy about that. When I was 23, God called me to move to the Middle East. But before I made that move, I would take several short-term trips, a few to South America, a couple to Africa. And when I got back from Brazil in 2008, my grandmother called my mom and asked, well, where's Ben planning to go on his next missions trip? And my mom goes, well, he's thinking about moving to the Middle East. And my grandma goes, well, where's that at?

And my mom goes, you know, where all the crazy people are, shooting everybody. And my grandma goes, well, why does he want to go there? Tell him to come to my house and I'll shoot him if that's what he wants. My grandma really did say that. She was a blessed person. I loved her so much.

But before I moved to Beirut, and I have a picture of where Lebanon is. Beirut's the capital of Lebanon, north of Israel, surrounded by Syria. I started 1040 Hope Missions with the vision and purpose to reach the 6,000 unreached people groups in the 1040 window. The 1040 window is a part of the world where the least amount of missionaries, the least amount of churches, the least amount of resources are sent. And I went with the mission to do something, to help resource churches, to train leaders, send new leaders, send out new laborers. Because we have to do something, because that's 3.5 million people who would die and spend an eternity without Christ.

So I was there for 10 years and doing this mission, doing that work. And during that time, I met my beautiful wife, Patricia, where most of my friends, when they saw her, said, Ben got an upgrade. And I did. And God gave us beautiful children. But towards our 10th year, we started to realize we made all these connections, all these networks, got all these leaders trained and ready to go.

But we have no resources to help them. So that's when the Lord put on our heart last year to make a move back to the States to begin working towards this. To getting more people on board, getting more churches as partners, doing what we can do to make the awareness of the needs of the 1040 window known. And getting more resources so we can send more laborers into the harvest to reach the unreached. And that's what we are all about. And I'm so thankful for this church.

You are our home church. And you guys have met such a need in our lives. But I'm so thankful that we're partnering together on one of these projects in 1040 Hope to reach the unreached, the unlovable, the outcast in Egypt. And I'm so thankful that we're doing this together. And when I think about how God brought us together, it just it blows my mind because God loves to use small events or strange events or insignificant moments in our lives to bring about his sovereign and holy will. And that's what we're going to be talking about today in Matthew chapter 2.

God is going to use an event, a star, appearing of a star to bring foreigners from the east, unexpected people to come and be the first ones to worship the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's an uninteresting story. We're going to talk more about that. But it makes me think about how even he connected us because I was working on my computer one day and it crashed. And if you know anything about me, I hate buying a new computer. I don't know why.

It's just it's something in me. I don't want to pay the money to buy a new computer. So I do what I do best. I take my wife's computer and start using it for work. And she loves when I use her stuff for work. But guys, I kid you not.

Two days later, it crashed. I'm like, what is going on? Do I need to rebuke some kind of computer demon? What's going on? So then what do we do?

We go to Best Buy and we're at Best Buy on Sunset Boulevard and we're taught we meet Josh and Josh starts showing his computers. And he talks about how this computer was used by his wife at their church. They go, oh, you go to church. So he told us about Josh Church. And then we start talking about how we're missionaries. We started talking and then Josh starts giving his testimony.

And then Josh starts giving some real deep details of his testimony. And we're like, bro, it's OK. You don't have to share all this stuff right now. We just met. But you know what?

We really weren't weirded out. We actually just he left a good impression on us. And even though he did not make any commission off me because I still walked out of there without buying a computer. Because he talked me into doing their total tech program and fixing my old one, which actually it did last till just this past week. It crashed this past week and I took my wife's computer again. So though he didn't make any commission, he has a spiritual ward because we came to the church and here we are.

And you guys have been our home church and we are so thankful. And y'all have been such a blessing to our lives. But this is what God does. He takes small, insignificant events, things that seem strange and bring about his will and his purpose. And this is what he does with the wise men. He brings foreigners, outcasters, outsiders to the covenant to be the first ones to come and worship the Lord Jesus Christ.

And give him the worship that he is due. And this story is so important because here at the beginning, Matthew is revealing the heart of God for all nations. Not just his people, but for all nations. And the mission of God. That this message of good news would go out to every corner of the earth. So that's what we're going to talk about now.

So let's go to Matthew chapter 2 in your blue Bibles. Verse 1, Matthew chapter 2. And I'm going to pray before we start. Father, I just thank you so much for this opportunity to be here with my church. And I thank you that we're partnered together. Because we're able to accomplish things that we couldn't on our own.

But together we're able to do so much more. And fulfilling your mission. Fulfilling your purposes. And bringing that those who are outside of the covenant. Those who have no hope of salvation. Into the fold.

Into your fold. And into your covenant, Lord. So I thank you together. We're partnered in this mission. Help us now, Lord. See this from this text.

Your heart for everyone. In Jesus' mighty name I pray. Amen. Verse 1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea.

In the days of Herod the king. Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. Saying, where is he who is born? King of the Jews. Matthew is purposely using this phrase. Wise men from the east.

And we as readers have to stop and ask. Who were these wise men? Why does Matthew make known of them? Well, we know that they were spiritual advisors. To the kingdoms and palaces they came from. Most likely from Syria, Iraq, or Iran.

Somewhere from that region. We have an old song about singing the three kings of Orientar. They were not kings. They were religious leaders from their courts. So they were very prestigious men.

We know that they were astrologers. So as religious leaders, they studied the stars and studied the heavens, studied the signs. They were Gentiles. Meaning they were outsiders to the covenant people of God. They were not part of the covenant. But yet, they did have some knowledge of a Jewish Messiah.

Western tradition tells us there were three. Three wise men brought three gifts. Eastern tradition tells us there could have been up to twelve. Regardless, we just know it's a large caravan, a large party, coming from the east to pay respect to this new born king. King of the Jews, Matthew says. And he's being so strategic in this phrase.

Because just as Chet and Spencer have been walking us through this book this past couple of months. And showing us that the whole purpose of Matthew writing his book is to show who the king of the Jews is. What this kingdom is going to be like. And how different it is from what they expected. And the current king is ruling. And this is what Matthew is telling us.

So let's keep reading in verse two. So the wise men said, For we saw his star when it rose. And we have come to worship him. Now the church for the last two thousand years has not come to an agreement exactly on what this star was. Some say that it was a star, just as the text says. And that God being God can do whatever he wants.

Uses this star in a miraculous way to lead the wise men from the east directly to the place where Jesus is. Others say, because the Bible has been known to call angels stars. That this star is actually an angel who has appeared to the wise men. Just like in the occasions with Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. Regardless of how it really is. God is miraculously using this event to bring unexpected outsiders to the place where Jesus is.

So that they can worship him. And the phrase worship him is so important here. Because these wise men are doing something that's common in their day. Coming to pay respect to a king that has been born. And we know because of the Old Testament. And because the Jews have been scattered all over the ancient world.

That there formed a rumor that was circulating during that time. That a great king would rise from the Jews and rule and establish an empire. So we know that this was circulating. And the wise men have heard of this rumor. And they believe with the showing of this star that this king has been born. So they leave everything.

They pack up. And they come to pay him respect and worship. Even if they fully don't understand who he is. They are coming to pay worship to this new born king of the Jews. I'm sorry. Oh.

I thought, where did it go? I'm missing a page. Did not see it. Thank you guys. Y'all are helpful. So Matthew is clearly making the point here by this phrase worship.

Is that Jesus, who is God incarnate. Who is Emmanuel, God with us. Is the one who can rightfully receive worship. For he is worthy. And in reading in verse 3. When King Herod heard this, he was troubled.

As all Jerusalem with him. Because they thought they might die too. Because he never knew what Herod was going to do. And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And they told him.

In Bethlehem of Judea. For so it is written by the prophet. You, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. Are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Matthew is quoting the scribes telling Herod from the prophecy of Micah chapter 2.

They are using the Greek translation of the Old Testament. So if you were to go to Micah chapter 2. It is not a word for word translation. But the point of the prophecy is made clear in this translation here given in Matthew. That the promised king of the Jews would come from Bethlehem. Though a small city it is not least.

And he would be the shepherd king of Israel. And Matthew is clearly pointing a contrast here. Because Herod. As Chet told us. Caesar said it is better to be his pig than his son. Would kill his own sons.

To cling to his power. Matthew is making sure we know that Jesus will be the shepherd king. That was promised from the Old Testament. Who will lay his life down for his subjects. As a shepherd would lay his life down for his sheep. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly.

And learned from them what time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem saying. Go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him. Bring me word. That I may come and worship him too.

Now Herod clearly has crafty and evil intentions here. But I laugh when I read this. Because it is such a Middle Eastern thing to do. Say one thing but mean another. Chet told you the story when I went into a restaurant one time. And I order my sandwich.

And I eat the sandwich. And I walk out. And I did not pay. And I am halfway down the street. Like oh my goodness. I did not pay.

So I run back. And I talk to the man. I am so sorry. He is like Habibi. Which is my friend. What is ten dollars between you and me and friends?

What is ten dollars? He did not mean it. As soon as I took out my money. He took my money. And there were many times like that. Where somebody would tell me something like that.

And I have to look at my wife. Do they mean that? She is like nope. I was like okay. I remember one time one of my good friends told me. He said I learned with Ben Johnson.

Not to ask him anything. Unless I really want to give it. Because he will take it right away. I did not know. Nobody told me you are supposed to ask three times. Say no.

Ask three times. I did not learn that until about a year after. I offended a lot of people. But they forgave me. Verse 9. After listening to the king.

They went on their way. And behold. The star that they had seen when it rose. Went before them. Until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star.

They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house. They saw the child with Mary his mother. And they fell down. And worshipped him. Now put yourself in their shoes for a minute.

You're. Imagine yourself in that time. You're of an average family. Average income. Average house. Nothing spectacular.

And all of a sudden. A large motorcade shows up. And president advisors get out. And come into your house. You'd be shocked. Right?

Yeah. This is what's happening here. I imagine they are very surprised. Now their culture is already very hospitable. And they. They will give you anything.

If you are a guest. And I remember this would happen to me. When I would go into the. The Syrian refugee camps. When the war just broke out. And we knew ISIS was there.

And we had to be careful. We worked with our leaders. And when our leaders would say. That guy's ISIS. We'd go the other way. But the army.

Lebanese army protected us. But when we'd go into these camps. And we'd sit on their floor. And they were very very poor. But what they had.

They gave to us. One. Because it's just in their culture. To be hospitable. But two.

I'm an American. That has come into their tent. And has taken the time. To sit with them. So they gave up what they had.

So I imagine Mary and Joseph. Are probably trying to do the same. Like what do we give these. Prestigious men. But they did not come to be honored.

They did not come to be served. But to serve. And to honor. The king of the Jews. That has been born. So I imagine.

They are very taken back. By this event. And then it says in verse 11. Then opening. I'm sorry. Then I was talking about.

When they saw the child. They fell down. And worshipped him. And we know. That later on. By the story.

That Herod. Learned from their time. Of when he told them. The star appeared. That the baby. Was either one or two.

Years old. So the wise men. When they come. And worship baby Jesus. He's not a baby. He hasn't just been born.

At the stable. But he's either one or two. Somewhere. Somewhere around there. So. But unless you're like.

My family. We still worship. With a nice. Nativity. Nativity scenes. You know.

We put it up. In front of the Christmas tree. And we have the wise men. Present with the sheep. And the shepherds. And Mary and Joseph.

But then maybe you're like. Patrick Hardy. Who he decides to come. To my house. A couple weeks ago. He sees a nice little.

Wooden nativity scene. Nativity scene. That we have. That my children. Love to play with. And he starts taking out.

The wise men. From my nativity scene. Because he says. They were not historically there. And I'm like. Really?

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe you're like Patrick. And the suggestion. I have for you. Is take your wise men.

From your nativity. Find the corner. Far. Western corner. Of your house. Eastern corner.

I'm sorry. Because Jesus is in the west. The wise men are in the east. So go to the far corner. Of your house. Place the wise men there.

Make sure they're facing west. Because that's where Jesus was. And you'll be like Patrick Harden. And be historically accurate. So yeah.

So he's around. Two years old. When they come. To worship him. And when they worship him. In verse 11.

They open treasures. They offer him gifts. Gold. And frankincense. And myrrh. And being warned in a dream.

Not to return to Herod. They departed to their own country. By another way. These gifts that they present in worship. Were gifts fit for a king. Gold was the currency of kings.

Frankincense was not used by normal everyday people. They were used in palaces. By expensive people who had a lot of money. They were very expensive. It was. Myrrh was also used to embalm those who had died.

It was not a regular thing that was used. Not very common. These foreigners. These outsiders to the covenant. To the covenant people of God. Bring gifts fit for a king.

Bow down. And worship baby Jesus. But then they are warned by a dream. Of Herod's evil intentions. And they choose to go by another way. Which I imagine would have been very difficult for them.

Because they are a large caravan. And we know Herod had roots all over his kingdom. And outposts. But it seems that they are obedient. To the heavenly dream they are given. And they escape.

And we know from the rest of the story. That Jesus will escape to Egypt. And here we are at the end of the story. And we as readers must pause and ask. Why? What is the purpose of the story?

Why has Matthew. Who is the only gospel writer. To give us this story. To give us this information. Why has he chosen this story? Because think about it for a moment.

John the apostle said. If all the things that Jesus did. Were written down in books. Not all the books of the world. Can contain them. Imagine that.

Wow. So Matthew. Is purposeful. In choosing this story. And we as readers. Have to ask.

Why? And the reason is. Here at the very beginning of his book. Matthew is revealing. The heart. And the mission.

Of God. Not only for his own people. The Jews. But for foreigners. Outsiders. Men from the east.

Who have no hope of salvation. No hope of being part of the covenant. But God draws them. With this miraculous sign. To the place where Jesus is. And even if they fully don't understand.

What they are doing. They give him worship. And express that through the gifts. That they bring. And this shows that God desires. All men.

To have relationship. And fellowship. With him. And Matthew. This is what his whole book is about. About the kingdom of God.

Jesus. God longs for all people. To be in part of his kingdom. And Matthew. All the way. Is going to be talking about this kingdom.

And what it looks like. Up to the very end of his book. Where he. This risen Lord. The Lord that. Died for our sins.

This God. Who became flesh. And died for our sins. And resurrected. So that me and you.

Could no longer. Be outsiders. Because unless you were born Jewish. We had no hope. Unless you had a Jewish ethnicity. Sorry.

We are outsiders. To the kingdom of God. But he came specifically. So that you. And I. Could be grafted in.

And become insiders. Of the covenant people of God. And that. Is good news. And so Matthew. At the end of the book.

Has this risen Lord. Telling us. Now go out into all the world. And take this good news. Take this message. To the ends of the earth.

Until I return. And that. Now we are co-laborers with God. Co-laborers with Christ. Co-laborers in this mission. Of spreading the good news.

And the gospel message. Of Jesus Christ. That those who are outsiders. Can now. Be insiders. No matter what your background.

No matter what you come from. No matter what's happened. You can now be an insider. If you. Answer. Answer.

The invitation. So how do we respond today? Let us respond. As the wise men did. That they may not fully understand. Even who Jesus was.

But they left everything. And they came to where he was. And they bow down. In reverence and respect. And give him expensive gifts. Today we know who he is.

He is Emmanuel. He is God with us. He is. Jesus is the word. Who became flesh. So let us leave all.

The distractions. And all the things of life. That grab our attention. And let us bring our lives. And lay them down. At his feet.

Because it is the least that he deserves. Because he gave up everything for us. For God so loved the world. He gave his son. I can't even imagine. Giving one of my children up.

For someone that I don't even know. But God did that. For me and you. So that we can no longer be outsiders. But insiders.

And part of his kingdom. So let's take that message. Whatever we do. Whatever we have to do. Let's get this message out.

And that's going to play out. In different ways. For different people. Because we all have different gifts. And talents. But we need to respond.

And I've got some examples. I think. And how we can respond. And maybe some of those. God's going to call you. To pray a little bit more.

Jesus said. Pray for the labors. To be sent to the harvest. For the harvest is huge. But the labors are so few.

I have seen this. We don't have all the labors we need. We need more labors. Pray for the labors. Pray for the labors. That we do have.

For their safety. They give up so much. For the gospel. We need to pray for our brothers and sisters. Around the world. The bible tells us.

That are being persecuted. Or that are sitting in prison today. Because they are believing in the hope. Of the good news. Some of you. May need to respond more.

Are called to respond more. By giving. Paul said. Those who have more. Should give more. To further the kingdom of the gospel.

Don't give to where you put yourself in a bind. But if you can give. There's no guilt or pressure here. Give. To further the gospel. Do exactly what you are doing.

As we are doing as a church. As participating in this gift project. Giving to Citizens Church in North Carolina. So that people here. In the United States of America. Can hear about the good news.

Because we still need more churches. In this country. Continue giving. To this gift project. As we're partnering with Pastor Georges. And his ministry.

This ministry. That is reaching out to the nine million people. In his country. That are disabled. Or handicapped. And seen as a curse by God.

Because of their handicap. But they're going to them. Saying no. You're not cursed. You're not an outcast. God did everything.

So you could be an insider. So that you can be loved. And you as a church. Are helping make that possible. Because supporting one of these events. These events.

Where they go out. And proclaim this message. To the multitudes. You are allowing for people to come. And know that they can. They are loved.

And that they are not cursed. Or outcast by God. And I'm actually going to show a video. Of one of the events. That you're going to be help sponsoring. And there's going to be some.

It's a three minute clip. And there's going to be some parts. Where he speaks in Arabic. And I'm just going to give a slight translation. During those points. But let's go ahead.

And watch that video now. And there's going to be some. With our hearts set on glorifying God. We can stand against oppression. And force failure to stand down. We can introduce and bring hope.

Back into our world. Jesus is going to give happiness. To everyone that is present here today. We thank you Lord. For being over this work. And completing it.

We thank you Lord. For always letting us feel your presence. In every second of every day. We thank you Lord. For touching everybody. That called on your name today.

By giving $4,500. You are helping. Make one of these events possible. And reaching people. That feel cursed. And outcast.

And unloved by God. Because we found people in Egypt. That were put in a room for 40 years. Because they were handicapped. And the family didn't want. Other people in the community.

To know. That they had a handicapped person. In their family. For fear. That they would not give their sons. Or daughters.

Into Mary. And into their family. Which is a big deal. In their culture. So people who have been in rooms.

For 40 years. Can you imagine. Thinking that they are unloved. Outcast. Outsider. Jesus died.

For those people. And you by giving. Are partnering with them. So when you get to heaven. People will come to you. And say thank you.

Because the sower and the giver. The reaper. Are one and the same. In Christ. We work. In Christ Jesus.

And all the glory goes to him. You are making this possible. Some of you. May be called to respond by going. First going. And being an everyday missionary.

In your community. Going to your work. To those in your family. To those in your neighborhood. To those all around us. And when possible.

Going. To those who are far. I remember when I was 20 years old. Sitting in my Bible ministry class. And the teacher started walking through the book of Genesis. And he got to the place of Ishmael.

And he stopped. And he looked up. And he said. Ishmael. Who has 300 million descendants. Who are deceived.

And dying. And going to hell. And no one is going to them. And that just pierced my heart. Because I came from Georgia. Like my grandma said.

Just come over here. I'll shoot you. If that's what you want. I heard from Georgia. Everybody say. Blow them all up.

Why do we need to send our troops over there? So I never even thought about going. Or even thought about saving the Arabs. Until this moment. That God pierced my heart so bad. That I could not stop weeping in that moment.

And I knew God had called me. That I had to do something. And he actually specifically called me. And told me to go. It took me three years to get on the field. And I lived there for ten years with them.

But I knew I had to do something. And that may. That's not going to happen with everybody. Practically that. That just can't happen. We can't all go.

We need people to pray. We need people to say and give. We need people who can go. But there might be some here today. Who the Lord might actually put on your heart. To pack it all up.

Like the wise men did. And go to another land. To worship him. In that way. Of going and taking the message. Of good news.

So it's going to look different for each of us. Some of us are going to pray more. Some of us need to give more. Some of us might need to go more. And as the band comes up. In this moment.

We're going to pray. And we're going to take communion. And I want the Lord. You want. I want you to ask the Lord. Lord what part can I play?

In helping bring outsiders. Like these wise men. Into your kingdom. With the message of good news. So that they become insiders.

Because you allowed me to become an insider. And now I'm a co-worker. And laborer with you. So ask the Lord. What specifically part. That you can play.

In fulfilling his great commission. So that all people can hear. The gospel of good news. And have a chance. Of salvation. And entering this kingdom.

That Matthew. Is talking about. Let us pray. Father I thank you for this church. I thank you for my family Lord. And I thank you that we're partnering together.

And bringing your gospel. And your message. To outsiders. People who seem. To be outcasts. And unlovable.

But Lord they're not. You gave up everything for them. So Lord pray. I just pray you speak to everyone's heart. Right now in this moment. Of Lord.

What part they can play. There's no guilt here. There's no pressure. Father we do it. Because we love you. We do it.

Because we were outsiders. And we had no hope of salvation. We had no hope of being a part of your kingdom. But you left up the glory. And the riches of heaven. For me.

For us. So that is our motivation God. We love you. With all our hearts. With all our mind. With all our soul.

We desire you. And to make you known. So reveal to each and every one of us Lord. What can we do? What part can we play? You know.

By ourselves. We can't do that much. But together. As one people. As one voice. We can accomplish a lot.

So I thank you Lord. Use us. Use this body here in Columbia. South Carolina Lord. To do your kingdom work. To spread your name.

And to go after those that are outsiders. And outcasts. And unlovable. And bring them in. And make them insiders in the kingdom of God. We give you all the praise.

And all the glory. In Jesus name. Amen.

Obedience Like Joseph

Transcript

Well, good morning. How are we doing this morning? Yeah, it is good to be with you guys. I love that song. I got the privilege last week of getting to preach at our church that I'm at right now, Midtown, Downtown. And we played that right before I walked out.

And so to get to walk out and preach following that song again is just such good. Good for my heart. Hopefully good for your hearts. That beautiful mystery of the gospel, right? That Jesus, the Savior of the world, the Lord of all creation, would humble himself and come as a child. So we celebrate in this season.

Excited to be opening God's Word with you this morning. If you have a Bible, go ahead and get to Matthew 1. We're going to be in Matthew 1 and 2 a little bit today. Like Chet said at the very beginning, my name is Tim. I'm currently on staff over at a church downtown called Midtown Fellowship. And they are sending myself and my wife and a team of about 40 individuals out to the east side of Charlotte, North Carolina, to plant a church called Citizens Church next summer.

And so we're really excited, really grateful. Some of them are sitting front and center this morning. So I'm trusting they'll bring the amens for me. But really, really glad, really grateful for you guys for making us one of your Give projects, for caring about us, for wanting us to see us be launched out well as a brand new church. But more than anything, I'm excited to open up God's Word with you this morning.

Now we just prayed, but let me pray one more time for us before we dive in. Father God, thank you for your Word. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for Jesus as a baby in the manger, helpless, clinging to Mary and to Joseph. God, thank you for Jesus on the cross, who appears helpless, but in the same moment is claiming victory over Satan's sin and death. Thank you that we worship that King.

That we serve and give our lives away for that King who first gave his life away for us. Would you be with us this morning as we open your Word? Would you help us to see what it is that you have for us, to apply what it is we need to apply, to know what it is we need to know, to love what it is we need to love. We pray all these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.

So we're in the second Sunday of Advent, the middle of this Advent season. The season where we look back and we remember and celebrate Christ's first coming. And we look ahead. We look forward to and anticipate the second coming of Christ. This time not as a baby in a manger, but as a King. A risen and ruling and reigning King for all eternity.

And so to do that this year, you guys are looking at different themes from the Gospel of Matthew in the Christmas narrative. And so I have the privilege this morning of talking to you about Joseph. Not colorful coat Joseph, but standing next to Mary in all of your scenes of nativity, Joseph. That's who we're talking about this morning in Matthew chapter 1. So growing up, my family had a tradition where every other Friday night, we would sit down and watch movies together.

So we would order pizza and we would sit down, usually watch some kind of great American film or great American classic. On the other hand, my wife's family was not really big into movies. So they just didn't really watch TV a whole lot. That wasn't their thing growing up. Didn't watch a whole lot of movies. And so when we got married, I found out pretty early on that she had never seen some of the American classics.

I mean, just the films you need to watch if you are going to be a part of this culture and this society. Films like Star Wars. Films like Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings, which I'm told are also books, can neither confirm nor deny if they're books or not. But she'd never seen the movies and that's what I cared about.

And so being the spiritual leader of our family that I was, I decided this had to change, right? And so we sat down over the first year or so of our marriage and we watched through every single one of these movies. And what happens is when you watch through these movies back to back to back to back to back to back to back is that you notice two things. Number one, you notice that all of the plots are basically the same. Hot take. You can argue about it later.

All the stories are the same. They all tell the same story. Hero, villain, kill the villain, you win, right? That's how the story goes. But the second thing you notice in all of these movies is that there is always some secondary or third, some other character that seems like they're not really that important.

They're kind of in the background, kind of off. You're wondering what their deal is, but then you get to the end of the movie and you realize, hey, this person played a pivotal role in the story of the lead character. They're not the lead. They're not the main character. They're not the one that the story is about, but they do something, some sacrifice, some act that helps serve the purposes of the lead character. So in Harry Potter, you have Hagrid, right?

In Star Wars, you have Han Solo. In Lord of the Rings, you have Samwise Gamgee, right? In Chronicles of Narnia, you have Mr. and Mrs. Beaver. I mean, even Anna has her Olaf, right? There's this secondary character that is helping serve the purposes of the lead.

Well, this morning in Matthew 1 and 2, that's what we see with the person of Joseph. So we get when we get to Joseph. Joseph, this man who is not the lead character. The Christmas narrative is not about Joseph. We don't sing all these songs about the risen Joseph. He's not the one in the manger.

He is just a secondary character, but he plays a hugely vital role in the Christmas story. His Acts of sacrifice and obedience to God are huge. He is set to protect Jesus. Baby Jesus, helpless newborn Jesus. And so he has a vital, crucial, wildly important role to play, but he's not the lead character. And that's what we're going to see in the story of Joseph.

We're going to start in verse 18, Matthew chapter 1. And what I want to show us this morning is a pattern. So we're going to look at three different little stories from Matthew 1 and 2. And I want to show you a pattern from the life of Joseph. We're going to start in verse 18, Matthew chapter 1. Here we go.

Scripture reads, Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. So reading this story, there might be some confusion, right? Are they married? Are they engaged?

If they're just engaged, why does he have to divorce her? What is, what's going on? So in verse 18, it says that Joseph and Mary were betrothed. So betrothal in this time period is a part of the Jewish custom called kiddushin. And kiddushin means that what would happen is a man and a woman would get legally married. So they would be bound together.

And then they would enter a period, usually a year, of what was called betrothal, where they were set up to be married. By all legal circumstances, they were married, but they weren't married yet. So what would happen is a groom's family, in order to arrange a marriage, that's how it worked in that custom, they would pay a large amount of money to a bride's family for the right for their daughter to marry their son. And so they would pay this large amount of money. And so what they would do is they would enter a betrothal period, a year, a period of about a year, basically to wait and make sure that this woman, who they paid a lot of money for, was morally pure, that she wasn't pregnant, that she was fit to marry in their culture, fit to marry their son.

And so what would happen is they would be set up for this year period, where they were legally married, but they weren't allowed to live together, they weren't allowed to be alone together, and they weren't allowed to sleep together, which my opinion is no thank you to that tradition. Right? So they were married, though. And so in order to break it off, they had to be divorced. So what happens is during this betrothal year, Mary shows up pregnant.

Whereas the text says before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And I don't know how that conversation goes between Mary and Joseph. Right? Would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that one. Right? Mary, who in Luke 1, we know that she was told by an angel, you're going to conceive, and you're going to give birth to a son.

This is God's son. You're going to call him Jesus. So it's found that she is pregnant. She's pregnant by the Holy Spirit. And so she maybe rolls up to Joseph and is like, hey, Joseph, by the way, I'm pregnant. And Joseph's response is, what?

Say it again. And she says, don't worry. Don't freak out. Be calm. It's God's baby. Which if you're Joseph, you shouldn't believe her.

Right? So we think, oh, yeah, people in that custom, people in that culture, they're so superstitious. Of course, he believes her totally. He doesn't believe her. Right? He believes in the supernatural, but he doesn't believe in the superstitious.

He's not just some blind, oh, yeah, totally. God got you pregnant. Totally. Yes. He doesn't believe her. He's thinking clearly.

Verse 19. And her husband, Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. So here's what I want you to notice. Joseph is both just and gracious. Right? So he's just.

He can't just say, Mary, it's not a big deal. He can't just say, you know what? Let's slide it under the rug. No big deal. Let's move past it.

Let's move forward. He can't overlook Mary's sin. He's a just man, but he's also gracious. So he doesn't want to put her to public ridicule, to public shame. Legally, in that time, Joseph has the right to have Mary killed. If he really believed that she was guilty of idolatry, of having this sexual relationship, he could have her killed.

But he's gracious. So he wants to send her away quietly. He's just and gracious. We actually get a beautiful little picture into the character of God here through Joseph. Right? God is both just and gracious.

Right? He's just. He can't let sin go unpunished. He can't go. He can't let sin be swept under the rug or ignored or pushed aside. But he's also gracious.

He doesn't treat us as we deserve. He treats us as he treats Christ based on what Christ has done for us. So Joseph is a just man and a gracious man. And so he resolves to divorce Mary quietly. Verse 20. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

So I don't want us to move past this. Right? One of the dangers of preaching or hearing stories that we're so familiar with from Christmas is that we kind of put this Christmas filter on it. Right? We kind of know, okay, this is what happens. The angel shows up, tells Mary she's going to get pregnant, going to have a baby.

Of course, then the angel shows up to Joseph. He believes her. They go to Bethlehem happily ever after. Right? Let's sing some Christmas carols.

Let's light some candles and have some hot chocolate. Right? That's kind of what we do with Christmas stories. So I want to help you just for a second try to put yourself into the story. So imagine this is happening in 2019.

Right? Imagine this is happening today. Right? Here's this teenage couple from out in the woods, out in this backcountry town, out in the sticks, in the boonies. If I was preaching this at Midtown, I would say, imagine they're from West Columbia. It's a joke.

All right? It's a joke. It's a joke. Imagine they're from Shira, right? Or maybe Gaston or, I don't know, Edgefield. Right?

So imagine there's this teenage couple and they come up to be pregnant. Right? The woman is pregnant. And she has a dream. And she says, guys, don't worry. It's not Joseph's baby.

It's God's baby. And you're like, okay, that's kind of weird. And Joseph, her fiance, doesn't believe her. And so he's like, no, we're not getting married. No way. This is done.

But then he goes to sleep. And he has a dream. And an angel shows up and says, Joseph, you should marry this girl. You should marry her because this is my baby. This is from the Holy Spirit. And so he goes around town and he's like, we're having the wedding.

The wedding is on. This is God's baby. We're doing it. So imagine you're hanging out Friday morning at, I don't know, Hardee's. Right? Getting your bacon, egg, and cheese.

And you hear these people at a table next to you talking about this couple. Mary and Joseph. Joseph, right, these teenagers, right? She's pregnant. She says it's God's baby. What?

He believes her. He says he had a dream where an angel showed up. And what is going on here? Now, take a step further. Imagine you're Joseph. Think about it.

Take a second. Think about it. Imagine you're Joseph. Here's this woman who you're waiting a year of betrothal, of waiting time to enter into marriage together, and then she ends up being pregnant. What's going through your mind? What hopes and dreams of a life that you've built up for yourself with this woman alongside of you?

What pictures of that? What glimpses of that? What dreams of a future that you have for yourself are suddenly shattered in an instant? Every story you had written? Every scenario you had played out in your head? Here's this woman.

You're waiting. You're anticipating this season. And if any of you have been engaged before, you know that season of waiting towards marriage is agonizing in some senses. Right? You're waiting to be united together with this person. And here is Joseph.

And she winds up being pregnant? And she says it's God's child. And I don't believe her. But now I've had this dream. And this angel has showed up to me and said, No, this is from the Holy Spirit. What does he do?

What step does he take? What agony and turmoil is he going through? No wonder the angel shows up. And in verse 20, he says this, Joseph, son of David, do not fear. I love that. Do not fear to take Mary as your wife.

There's so much for Joseph to be afraid of here, right? There's so much at stake. His reputation is on the line, right? Even if he believes her, even if he believes the angel, who believes him? Who believes Joseph, right? Either he's a liar and he's making up this whole it's God's baby thing to get himself out of trouble, to get himself out of the circumstances he's caused, or he's a fool.

And everyone says, how could you marry this woman even after she betrayed you? Even after she was found to be pregnant? If he believes her, if he believes God, who believes him? His good standing in the community. Any good name that he has is on the line. His relationships are at stake.

Rejection from those in his family. Rejection from those in his hometown. His hopes and his dreams are at stake. This life that he has written for himself, whatever that looks like, is totally thrown out the window. He is signing up. If this is true, if this is real, he is signing up to be the stand-in father of God's baby.

His life is never going to look the same. He's giving up his hopes. He's giving up his dreams. He's giving up his reputation and his relationships. But the angel tells him, do not fear.

Do not fear. Have faith that what you're being invited into is from God. It's an invitation for him to step out in obedient faith. Keep reading verse 21. Angel continues. She will bear a son.

And you shall call his name Jesus. For he will save his people from their sins. This is important. I want to make sure you don't miss it. For Joseph, naming Jesus would give him legal rights to being Jesus' father. So that's how it worked in this culture.

The one who names the child is the one who claims legal rights, legal fatherhood, legal authority over this child. And so what the angel is saying is you are to name him. And in other words, for Joseph to name Jesus is for Joseph to claim Jesus. So what the angel is saying is you don't get partial obedience here. That's not an option for you in this scenario. You don't get to just kind of play fill-in.

You don't get to have one foot in to this whole fatherhood of Jesus thing and one foot out. You don't get to just be Mary's husband. You have to jump all in. Obedience requires you saying, no, I'm here. I'm in. You have to step in fully.

For him to name Jesus is for him to claim Jesus. He has to step into full obedience. Verse 22. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took his wife but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. So here's the pattern I want you to see. God shows up to Joseph. He calls him to do something costly and weighty and that might not make a whole lot of sense.

He invites him into obedience. Joseph obeys and a prophecy is fulfilled. Meaning the purposes and plans that God has move forward. Meaning what God has designed for the world to go, what he has orchestrated, what he has said should happen, does happen. God shows up, calls Joseph to obey. Joseph obeys and God's plan moves forward.

That's the pattern of Joseph's life. I want to show you two other areas, Matthew 2, two other ways we see this playing out. God calling Joseph, Joseph obeying, God's plan moving forward. So the first one is in Matthew 2, verse 13. So Chet talked about this last week.

Jesus is born in Bethlehem and King Herod, King of the Jews, hears there's this child who has been born who is supposed to be King of the Jews. And so obviously he wants to protect his kingdom. He wants to protect his throne. So he's going to have him killed. Wise men show up. We three kings bring the gifts, yada, yada, yada.

Keep going. Verse 13. That's where we pick it up here. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remain there until the death of Herod.

This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. Out of Egypt I called my son. Same pattern. God shows up to Joseph, right? Calls him to do something costly and weighty. Tells him, Herod's trying to destroy this child.

He's trying to kill your child. So take Mary, take Jesus, flee to Egypt, which is about 90 miles or so away. So it would have been about a five to seven day journey by foot and by donkey. So let's stay on the Imagine You're Joseph train, right? Keep yourself in this moment, right? God shows up.

He tells you that this woman who you are about to marry is pregnant, but not to worry. It's his child. Do not fear. Take Mary as your wife. Raise Jesus. This is from God.

Right? So if you, imagine you say yes to this. You're like, all right, God, this is changing my whole life, but I'm going to be obedient to you. And so I'm going to step in and I'm going to go for it. If you're anything like me, you would imagine that your life is going to be good from here on out. Right?

After all, you signed up to be the stand-in father for Jesus. Right? You signed up to take this role, to obey God. You said yes to God's plan. He should work everything else out, right? Right?

If I'm going to be the adoptive father of Jesus, I need a couple mil in the bank. I need a big house. Right? I need the latest whatever. I need everything in my life to be good. Right?

I'm taking care of Jesus. We should be protected. We should have angels flying all around all the time. Like, we should be okay. And here you are now finding out, hey, I said yes to God. I said yes to being obedient to him.

And now somebody wants to kill him? Somebody wants to kill my son? Wait a minute. I said yes to God's plan. Why is my life not getting any better? You ever think that way?

You ever have those kind of thoughts? Wait. Wait. Hold on. Hold on a minute. I said yes to you, God.

Like, I obeyed you. Why are you not working things out how I want them to work out? Wait. God, I said yes to your mission. I stood out in faith. I took a chance because I felt like you were calling me to do it.

Why are my circumstances not getting better? In fact, why are they getting worse? We think back on those decisions. Why would I do it again? God, why would I obey you when last time I obeyed you, you didn't turn things out the way I wanted them to turn out. I said yes to you and you made this happen.

You let this happen. You let that person get sick. You let us lose how much money? We do this, right? We think, okay, yes, if I say yes to God, he should just work everything out for me. Joseph says yes to God and now they're on the run.

Right? Somebody's trying to take out Jesus. But Joseph obeys. God's plan moves forward. Let me give you one more. So if they flee to Egypt, Herod has every male child in Bethlehem and the surrounding region under the age of two killed.

Then we get to verse 19. Matthew 2, verse 19. But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. When he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there.

And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene. Same pattern. Right? God shows up to Joseph, calls him to take Jesus and Mary to Israel. All right.

They get to go home. Right? Finally, maybe they get to settle in. They get to have a life. He obeys. They start heading that way.

God shows up again and says, nope, not Israel. You've got to go to Galilee. Really? Galilee? So they head to Galilee.

They end up in a city called Nazareth. We notice again God's plan moves forward so that his plan would move forward so that Jesus would be called a Nazarene. And this is really the last we see of Joseph in the story of Matthew. This is kind of it. We get a little glimpse of him in chapter 13 where it's kind of a little quick reference. But that's it.

This is Joseph. Right? This massively, wildly important character in the story of God who serves God, obeys God, sacrifices so much to protect the baby Jesus. Right? Wildly important. And yet he's there for two chapters.

That's it. He plays his role. He plays his part. And then he steps out of the way and Jesus gets put into the forefront. The actual lead. The actual one that we worship and serve and give our lives away for.

And so what I want to show us this morning with our last little bit of time, what I want to show us is that Joseph is not just a character with great historical influence. But he's not someone we just put in our nativity scenes. He's not someone we just mention in a few Christmas carols. He is actually a wildly important example for you and for I of what obedience to God looks like. He's a great example of what obedience to God looks like. And I want to show you three ways.

Three ways. His obedience is an example to us. Three ways. Joseph is an incredible example of faithful obedience to God. See what we can learn from this. Three ways.

Number one, obedience when it doesn't make sense. Obedience when it doesn't make sense. Mary's pregnant with God's baby. What? Flee to Egypt? To Galilee?

Where? What do you want from us? It doesn't make sense. An angel showing up, right? Telling Joseph this stuff doesn't make sense. Doesn't it feel that way sometimes when God calls us to obey him?

Like, hold up. Wait. God, I'm reading your word. And I'm praying. And you want me to do what? You want me to say yes to what?

You want me to say no to what? Now, chances are, right, none of us are going to go home tonight and go to bed. And none of us are going to have a dream where an angel shows up and says, Hey, the woman you're engaged to is pregnant with a baby from the Holy Spirit. Marry her. Call him Jesus. That's not going to happen.

Right? If it does, go back to sleep. You heard it wrong. All right? That's not going to happen. But there are going to be times in our lives where God calls us to step out in faith, to step out in obedience.

And it's not going to make sense. It's not going to make sense. So maybe for some of you, that looks like God calling you to give up that promotion. Or to say no to that raise so that you can actually stay in this city and build deep roots with your church family. For others of you, sacrifice that doesn't make sense looks like, hey, I'm really tired tonight and I would much rather watch Disney Plus or Netflix. But instead, I'm going to go and I'm going to invest in my community group.

I'm going to open up God's word with them. I'm going to love them. I'm going to serve them. For some of us, it looks like, all right, this doesn't make sense to give away money with zero financial return on my investment. But God's kingdom is bigger than me.

So I'm going to use what he has given me. For some of us, it looks like, wait, I'm supposed to parent my kid that way? I'm supposed to make that sacrifice for my family? I don't get it. I don't understand. And for some of us, obedience, when it doesn't make sense, looks like finally opening up and sharing that deep part of us that we would never tell anyone about ever.

Because we know God invites us into freedom. He invites us to be fully known and fully loved by him and by his people. Obedience doesn't always make sense. God calls us to do stuff that our rational minds would butt up so hardly against. Right? And say, why would I do that?

Why would I say yes to those things? Why would I say no to those things? God, why would you ask me to do that? Why would you ask me to step in in that way? Because this is how obedience so often works. I've been getting a firsthand glimpse of this with our Citizens Church core team.

This is not a story to set us up as the hero. I would rather talk about Jesus the whole time, but I feel the need to talk about it. So our team, our team with Citizens is a group of about 40 or so individuals. And they are the most normal folks. We are the most normal folks you've ever met in your entire life. You can meet them.

A lot of them are sitting on the second row. And you'll know, yeah, they're really normal. Like they're really average. We have baristas. We have some college students. We have some future pharmacists, some future nurses.

We have people that work in insurance. It doesn't get any more normal than working in insurance, right? It just doesn't. And there are people that believe that God has called them to something. That God has said, hey, would you step out in faith? And for most of them, 99% of them, it doesn't make sense.

Right? So in our culture, in our society, we move somewhere new for one of three reasons. We move for family. We move for a new job. Or we move for cheaper cost of living, right? That's generally the three reasons why we move.

A lot of the people on our team are actually moving away from family to go to Charlotte. They're giving up jobs that they like with no guarantee of a job. None of them have jobs right now. And for a lot of them, they're going to move into more expensive apartments and more expensive houses because Charlotte is way more expensive than Columbia. It doesn't make sense. It makes zero sense.

And yet they believe that God has called them to something. So they're trying to step out in faith. They're trying to be obedient to the mission of God. And what we see with Joseph is that faithful obedience to God doesn't always make sense. Secondly, obedience when it's costly. Obedience when it's costly.

Joseph ruins his reputation. Just ruins it. Totally derails any plans he probably had for his life. Any hopes and dreams he had. Just totally goes off the rail. Right?

He is signing up to be the stand-in father of God's son. Life is not going to look the same. And Joseph willingly steps into the sacrifice. His reputation, his relationships, his hopes and dreams. He steps out even when it's costly. Here's the reality.

And if you've been following Jesus for any amount of time, you probably feel this. Obedience to God is going to cost you. Just is. Right? Matthew 16. Jesus says, if you want to be my disciple, if you want to follow me, take up your cross and be willing to die.

That's what it means to be a Christian. It means to follow the way of our Savior, which the way of our Savior is one of continual sacrifice upon sacrifice upon sacrifice all the way to the cross. So to follow Jesus is to have sacrifice after sacrifice after sacrifice. The call of obedience from Christ is one that is going to cost you. It's going to hurt. It's not always going to feel pleasant.

And that rubs against us because we think, God, I'm following you and you control all things. Why isn't my life getting better? Why aren't things magically just working out for me now? Because the call to obedience is the call to come and die. To give up our lives. To give up what's easy and what's normal.

To sacrifice for the mission of God going forward. Gets us to number three. Number three. Obedience when you don't know the outcome. Obedience when you don't know the outcome. We know the whole story of this, right?

We know the whole Christmas narrative. We're on this side of the Bible. We know who Jesus is. We know the miracles that he does. We know that he goes to the cross. We know he dies but doesn't stay dead.

But he gets up out of the grave. We know all that. Joseph doesn't. When Joseph says yes to the angel in the dream. When Joseph says yes to marrying Mary. He doesn't know how it all works out.

He doesn't know the miracles that Jesus is going to perform. He doesn't know feeding the 5,000. He doesn't know the walking on water. He doesn't know the cross. He doesn't know the empty tomb. Joseph doesn't know any of that.

He is just a dad. Trying to be faithful to the call of God on his life. He's just trying to take one step at a time. Little step by little step by little step. He's just trying to be obedient. He doesn't know how it all works.

And if you're anything like me, that could be one of the most frustrating parts of obedience to God. Right? Because I'll be reading God's word or I'll be praying and I feel like God's called me to something and I want to know, all right, I'll totally say yes. God, I am in on the plan as long as you tell me what the next five steps are. Right? As long as you tell me where we're going when we get there.

Give me the ending. Tell me how this all works out and I'm totally in on your plan. Meanwhile, in the back of my mind, I'm going, all right, let me make sure I like it first. Let me make sure if I say yes here that it's going to work out how I want it to work out. Let me make sure that everything's going to be okay. God, show me the whole plan.

And I'm about as type A as type A comes. So God, I need 50 step by step. Do this, do this, do this. And an invitation for me and my Christian growth is, no, Tim, little step. Little step. Take a little step.

Take a little step. I tell our core team all the time that we don't know if this is going to work. I tell them all the time, like we're going to Charlotte. We're trying to plant this church. We think God's called us to do it. I don't know if we're going to fail or not.

We have a process that we take our people through before they join our core team, our first group of members. And I tell every single one of them, I'm not a salesman, I'm a pastor. So I tell every single one, I don't know. We could have a thousand people and plant 50 churches or we could have 10 people and not be able to pay our bills and close our doors within a year. I don't know. And for a lot of these conversations, I actually go back to a conversation I had with Chet, one of your pastors back, I think 2012, 2013, something like that.

We were hanging out at Cafe Strudel. And I remember that because he taught me about all you can drink coffee, which is wonderful. Glad for that. And so we're sitting down at Cafe Strudel and Mill City's just kind of really starting to get rolling at that point. I think we were kind of talking church planting. He knew that's what I wanted to do eventually.

And so I remember him asking me this question and it still stuck with me today and I still share it with our core team all the time. But he asked me, he said, Tim, how do we know if Mill City is a failure? Like, how do we know if we failed? Then he asked me some, I think, rhetorical questions, but I might have answered them. He said, Tim, if 10 years from now, if we're huge, if we've blown up, but we've never planted another church, we've never reproduced ourselves as a church, have we failed? I'm like, all right, I don't think so.

It doesn't feel like failure. He said, all right, let me give you another one. If three years from now, we've reached 500 people and we're huge and we've blown up, but we haven't baptized a single person or a single person hasn't come to faith. Not a single person's met Jesus. Are we a failure? Maybe, I don't know.

These are tricky questions, Chad, I don't know. All right, let me ask you one more. If in a year from now, we have zero money in the bank, nobody comes. We close our doors and come crawling back to Midtown. It's what seems like failure. Are we a failure?

All right, this one I know. Yes, yes, you're a failure. Got it. I know this answer. And he looked at me and I still remember this to this day. He looked me in the face and he said, Tim, we are stepping out in faith to what we feel like God has called us to do.

So it actually doesn't matter. We're already successful. It doesn't matter. 100 people come to know Jesus. Nobody comes to know Jesus. We have stepped out in faith and what matters in the kingdom of God is faithful obedience.

So I tell my team all the time, I don't know. I don't know. This could be the worst thing we've ever done. This could be a terrible decision, but we feel like God has called us to do it. And so we're just going to be faithful. We're going to work really hard.

We're going to evangelize like crazy. We're going to serve the poor. We're going to love our neighbors. We're going to do semi-decent gatherings and sing and preach God's word. And we're going to talk about Jesus and we're going to invite people to respond. But God does all of it.

And we just try to be faithful. So the invitation for all of us this morning, Mill City Church, all of us this morning is God is inviting you into faithful obedience. And I don't know if for you, it's one specific thing. Maybe that one thing in all of your prayer time, you just keep wrestling with God about that. He just keeps saying, do this, do this, do this. And you keep, I don't want to.

That feels scary. That feels weightier. Maybe it's that one thing he keeps calling you to give up, to say no to, to push away. Maybe for you, it's just a general call towards maturity, a general call towards, you know that when you read scripture and you look at your life, they don't match up and you don't care. So maybe for you, the invitation to obedience is to love God's word and to ask the Holy Spirit to bring conviction over your life, to step in, to speak.

So I don't know, I don't know if it's a specific thing, I don't know if it's a general thing, but here's the good news for us this morning and here's where I want to, I want to land us. Here's the good news for all of us. What God invites us into, Christ has already done. What God invites us into, Christ has already done. That's the story of Christmas. Right?

God himself stepping out into humanity. Right? Taking on flesh, becoming a child, born of a woman, born in a manger, willingly stepping and lowering himself all the way to go lower, even still to the cross. And that doesn't make sense. Right? That doesn't make sense.

On a surface level, that does not make sense. No other worldview or world religion has God stepping down to man. Every single other one has man trying to get themselves to God. But here's God, God himself, creator and controller and ruler of the universe, taking on flesh and lowering himself to become a man. It doesn't make sense. It's costly.

Right? It's costly. Jesus gives up his life, faces an agonizing, brutal, torturous death, physically, emotionally, spiritually, being forsaken by the Father. He experiences such a cost. Grace is free, salvation is free, but it was costly. It cost Jesus his life.

But here's the difference between him and us. Jesus knew the outcome. Right? Jesus knew the outcome. Jesus knew that the cross was not the end of his story. Jesus knew the cross was not the end for him.

He knew three days later he was going to get up out of the grave and be risen and ruling and reigning forever. So what that means for us, church, what that means for us is that every act of faithful obedience, every step of faith, every act of sacrifice actually makes perfect sense in the kingdom of God. Right? Because as we think about, as we learn to fall in love with, as we are changed by the power of the Holy Spirit in light of the person and work of Jesus, it actually makes every sacrifice in light of his ultimate sacrifice make perfect sense. So why wouldn't we give our lives away?

Why wouldn't we step out in faith? Why wouldn't we obey? It actually makes it all not that costly. It hurts. It's weighty in the moment, but we know we anticipate and we expect an eternal reward. Right?

That one day Christ is going to return and he's going to make all things new. That is a guarantee. And we know that. We know the outcome. We might not know it here. We might not know how this specific scenario or this specific circumstance turns out, but we know that one day Christ is going to return and make all things new.

And we get to worship him and celebrate him forever. Here's where I want to end us. None of us are the heroes of the story. So that's the beginning. Mill City, you're not the heroes. Citizens Church Corps team, not the heroes.

I'm not the hero. None of us are the hero. Joseph's not the hero. Jesus is the hero of the story. He's the one we sing about. He's the one we worship.

He's the one we proclaim. He's the one who gave it all away. And so in response, we give it all away in return. He is the one who is worth it. All we're called to do is to step in and play our role of faithful obedience, however small it might be in the kingdom of God. We're called to step out in faith because he's worth it.

He's worth it. He makes it all worth it. Let me pray for us. God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the manger, for him lowering himself, taking on flesh, becoming a human. Thank you that, and in one sense, it doesn't make sense at all.

Why would you lower yourself? Why would you take on flesh? Why would you go to the cross, the cross that we deserved? And on the other hand, we see the bigger picture, that you are accomplishing our salvation. that through the sacrifice of Christ, through his life, death, and resurrection, we have been given a way to know you and to love you and to walk with you, to celebrate you forever. God, so would you help us every step of obedience you're calling us into, every act of faith you're calling us into, big or small, in every way that it feels uncertain, in every way that it doesn't make sense, in every way that it feels costly, and that it hurts and that it's burdensome.

God, would you help us? Would you help us remember, and not only remember cognitively in our minds, not only remember as a fact, but remember deep inside of our souls that love of Christ that took him to the cross, that makes every sacrifice, makes every act of faith, makes every act of obedience totally worth it, and make total sense. God, we only love because you loved us first. We only follow you because you sent Jesus first. God, it's all you. We're just responding.

I was to remember this Christmas, this season of Advent, how beautiful and wonderful and crazy it was that Jesus came. that never ceased to be good news for us today, in this season, and every day. We love you. Praise things in Jesus' name. Amen. As the band's coming back up, we're going to move into a time of communion. This is a time of response where we actually get to celebrate each and every Sunday what Christ has done for us, to remember his ultimate sacrifice on the cross, on our behalf.

And so, take a piece of bread, which represents his body, we dip it in juice, which represents his blood, remembering and celebrating that if you are in Christ, if you are a believer, if you trust him, that this is for you, that he has died to make a way for you to be ransomed to himself. If you're not a believer, instead of taking communion, we invite you to take Christ, to believe and trust in his sacrifice for your forgiveness of sins that you can live forever with him. So let's take a second and we're going to pray and then we're going to respond through singing and communion. Matthew Chouclette Buckingham

Two Kingdoms

Transcript

It's good to see y'all this morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. This is the first week of our Give Series. And so every time around this time of year, as soon as Thanksgiving's over, we have a Give Series where we intentionally give money away. So Merry Christmas.

This is a wonderful time of year. Here we are meant to celebrate well. We're supposed to. One of the things in the Old Testament that I was thinking about a good bit from Thanksgiving and into this time of year, one of the things about the Old Testament that God commanded His people to do was to save money so that they could help the poor, so that they could take care of the priests and the temple who did not have an inheritance among them, but they were supposed to take care of the Acts of worship and what they were supposed to do as a nation, and they were supposed to save money so that they could celebrate.

There were times where they were supposed to spend money to feast, to enjoy the good things that God had given them, to celebrate how He had blessed and provided. And as we go into Christmas, this is one of those times where we get to do that. And Christians ought to celebrate, well, we should have some of the best food and some of the best parties. You should gain some weight. You'll lose it in January. I believe in you.

Look, I'm a Carolina fan. Good things always happen in the future. We'll get it together. It'll be nice. January us is going to crush this. Right now, let's eat some food and celebrate.

We're meant to do that, but the danger for us is that we would get so caught up in that, so caught up in the things that are right in front of us, what is tangible, what we can see, that we would lose the thread. We would lose that our celebration is meant to help us look upward. It's meant to roll up in praise. It's meant to help us see beyond the horizon. It's meant to celebrate something of great significance that has an eternal aspect to it. And if we lose that, then our celebration becomes very dull.

It's very earth-centered. It's just here and now, and we miss the point. And so in that tension, we always as a church have had a gift series where we intentionally try to celebrate well while reminding us and remembering together that we are eternal people with an eternal purpose and we want to give some money away. Rather than just having it all terminate here, we want to send some on ahead. We want to live as eternal people. And so we ought to celebrate well and we ought to be generous and give and remember the eternality of this season.

And so that's our hope as we do this, that we would help walk that tension well and that we would celebrate well and walk generously, live generously. And I didn't mean to just give all those t-shirts a shout out, but we would live as generous people as we move forward together. So I'm going to pray and then we're going to talk about this section of text we're getting to look at today. Lord, we pray that you would bless us as your people, that we would take this time to celebrate well. This would be a season of joy, of welcoming one another, of hospitality, of enjoying the good food, the good time that we get to have.

And we pray, Lord, that it would be a season of generosity, that we would not get so focused on what is right in front of us that we would miss the point. And so may we celebrate well and may we live well in generosity with an eternal hope in mind. We pray that as we study this scripture today, that you would help us grow in that and that you would bless this gift project that we're going to get to focus on this year. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn to Matthew chapter 2. So what we did, we're working through the book of Matthew.

We just skipped Matthew 1 and 2. When we started, we started in Matthew chapter 3 and we're going to look at Matthew 1 and 2 for the next four weeks as we celebrate Christmas because these are more Christmassy type passages. They deal with the birth of Jesus. And so rather than doing them first and then hitting Christmas again, we just said, we'll save that. We'll start. We'll do it out of order.

Some people probably appreciated that and some of you are probably frustrated by it. But now, Matthew 1 and 2 for the next four weeks. Today we're going to look at King Herod. Then we'll look at Joseph. Then we'll look at the wise men.

And so we'll read through some of the same passages together, repeatedly focusing on different areas. And hopefully it'll help us celebrate well and push us towards generosity. In C.S. Lewis' book, The Silver Chair, there's a prince named Prince Rillion. And he is captured by a witch who can also turn into a snake or a snake who also turns into like a beautiful enchantress witch lady. He's captured and she takes him underground.

So he was supposed to be the prince. He was eventually going to be the king over this wonderful kingdom that is joyous and welcoming and at peace that has good relationships between all the people. He was going to be the king over this kingdom. But he's captured and she enchants him so that he no longer knows who he is and he begins to serve her and she takes him underground and they begin to build an underground army. And the plan is with the underground army, dig a big tunnel, pop up in the middle of the kingdom that he would have been king over and overtake it. So he's actually working to try to conquer a kingdom that would have been freely given to him because he's lost who he is.

And there's this tension between this kingdom of darkness, this underground kingdom that's trying to conquer this kingdom of light, this kingdom that lives out in the sun and this story unfolds. They have to send some people to go try to find him and get him back. And as I read this, I realize that this has a lot of similarities to the actual world that we live in and what we meet in the scriptures as the Lord tells us what this was supposed to look like, that we were meant to be sons and daughters of the king, that we were meant to live at peace with one another, that he was going to freely give us all good things to enjoy and that we've been tricked. That the enemy of God, Satan, has blinded our eyes so that we only focus on what we can see and we actually fight, claw for what God would freely give us.

And we try to, as best we can, defend our own little territory and claim our own little kingdom. We're blind, we're living in a kingdom of darkness, and we're fighting for what God has openly, freely invited us into. And there's these two kingdoms that are at war. There's this kingdom that can only see what's right in front of it, and there's this kingdom that's meant to be more. And we're actually getting to look at some of that play out today as we look at two kings and how they interact with one another. So, Matthew chapter 2.

We're going to look at these two kingdoms and these two kings. And hopefully, as we look at this together, we will see that we get to make a choice, that we get to choose which kingdom we're going to live in and which king we're going to follow. Verse 1. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men came from the east, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. All right, so they come to Jerusalem where the king is.

Jesus is born in Judea in the area that the king Herod had jurisdiction. It's really interesting. He's born into the Roman Empire under the jurisdiction of the emperor and king Herod. Now, king Herod was ruthless and very politically savvy. He's one of the only people who in the Roman Empire gets to have the title of king. Most of them get titles like governor.

They get a title that clearly says they're underneath the emperor Caesar. And Herod gets the title king because he's politically savvy and he's ruthless. And the Jewish people were hard to manage and so the Romans were capitulating a little bit because they were having consistently difficult times with the Jewish people. And so, King Herod was an Edomite related to the Jewish people but not fully Jewish. So, when he wanted to make his run for king, he wanted to get this power from the Romans, he married a lady who was from the Maccabees. None of this is in the scripture.

I'm just giving you some background on here. When he did, when he married her, he got rid of his current wife and son. Just got rid of them so that he could move forward. after a time of being married with this lady, married to this lady, they had sons. She was well-liked, was growing in power. The sons were well-liked and were growing in power and so he eventually, over time, had her put to death and had his two sons put to death because he did not want to have anyone try to take away from him his position and he felt like his sons were a threat. Now, can you imagine that?

That he so could only see what was right in front of him that he had no desire for his sons to have a throne after him or for him to manage that well. He just saw everyone around him as a threat. He killed two of his sons. As he got older and sicker, seven days prior to his death, he had another one of his sons put to death. So he eventually killed three of his sons.

The emperor Augustus actually made a joke and it's funnier in Greek because it's a play on words. But I don't know Greek and most of you don't either. So I'm going to say it in English where it's not a play on words. But he says it would actually be better to be Herod's pig than his son. Because Herod's Jewish so they wouldn't have eaten a pig. But his sons were in danger.

So he said he'd rather be his pig than his son. Those words are similar in Greek. So he was ruthless. And so they come to him. And this is the king that Jesus is born under. They come to him.

The wise men come to him. They come to J. And it says, verse 2, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him. Okay, so it says wise men from the east. These weren't just like smart people.

Wise men was kind of this class of people that would have been kind of around a throne usually that would have given a consult to a king. So they're probably wealthy. They bring very good gifts which indicates that. So they most likely rode up on horses or camels. They were an entourage. They show up.

They go to the palace and they say, Where is the king who has been born? And Herod's like, You're 50 years late. Here I am. It took you a long time to get here. I'm the king. Like, he's the only king he knows of.

And so he, it says that they come to him and they say, Where is the king who's been born? King of the Jews. We saw his star when it rose. Meaning they studied the sky and they're saying creation has actually put on display that this king has come. Now if you know anything about Herod, you can imagine how excited at this news he was.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. I think had they had a better king, Jerusalem maybe wouldn't have been troubled. But when Herod's troubled, everybody's going to be troubled. But all of them are stirred up. What does this mean? Herod's troubled.

And it says this, And assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So he calls the people who study the Old Testament and he says there are prophecies about this. They said they've seen his star. They've said the king of the Jews has been born. Where is he supposed to be born? His immediate assumption is this is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one, the one who God's been saying over and over would come in the line of David who would set up a kingdom that will last forever.

This is the one who's coming. So he calls together his book reading, Bible studying friends says, tell me where he's supposed to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

That's surprising. That's an excellent response. So King Herod hears that the Messiah has been born and he gets together. The scribes, the people who have studied the Bible said, where is he to be born? He tells the wise men, go find him. When you find him, come let me know because I want to worship him too.

That's how a king ought to respond if you're the king of the Jews and the Messiah is born. You ought to understand who he is, understand who God is and say, my role now is to help facilitate this and make this go well. Seems very out of character for Herod but good for him. Verse 9, after listening to the king they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshipped him.

They saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshipped him. Then opening their treasures they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod they departed to their own country by another way. So God steps in and says don't go talk to Herod. Now when they

Had departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph that's Jesus' adoptive father we'll spend some time talking about him next week in a dream and said rise take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. I knew it!

When I went to college my younger brother got really into the TV show Mari and my parents had Teva and when I would come home he would have saved sections of his highlight reel of Mari shows and he would like have written down and he would have certain ones he wanted me to watch and so in college I got really into the TV show Mari I couldn't just say

That I had to blame it on my brother first but in Mari they do two things they do paternity tests which are always delightful to watch and they also do lie detector tests and so he'll read the results and so when Herod says this you can almost hear Mari saying the test confirmed that was a lie you had no intention of worshipping Jesus he just wanted to know where he was so that he could destroy him

Now follow the logic here let's think with Herod here for a second wise men come from another country and they tell you that the stars have moved and said king of the Jews has been born maybe you don't understand how they go about figuring that out I wouldn't but that's what they say we've come because we saw a star we're here to worship the king of the Jews

Now you don't know anything about this you don't know that there's been a king born you have no desire for this Herod's thinking okay I don't want another king I want to defend my kingdom I mean he wants to defend his kingdom so much so that he'll kill his own children like he then he thinks okay well if creation's involved probably

The promised Messiah from the Old Testament that God creator of the world has been telling us forever he was going to send so he calls together the scribes he says where is the Christ supposed to be born and his plan is kill the Messiah that's his plan it would make sense to me if he just thought this is nonsense like if it just said

He thought no don't know who that is like it would make sense to me if he just rejected it but he actually believes enough to say search the books tell me which city the Christ is supposed to be born in he understands enough to say this is actually the Christ this is actually the Messiah if the stars are involved it's him and then his plan is to defend his kingdom against creator of the world

Not a good plan that's his plan that's surprising to me but that's what he comes up with that's what he's going to do 14 and he rose that's Joseph and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod this was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt

I called my son just a quick tag we're going to spend more time on Joseph and the wise men in the coming weeks so I'm skipping a lot of things here because we're just focusing on Herod so if you're really interested in that come back we'll talk about it in the next couple weeks then Herod when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men became furious I mean it is in their name

They're wise so you should have seen it come and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and all that region who were two years old or under according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah a voice was heard in Ramah weeping in loud lamentation Rachel weeping for her children she refused to be comforted

Because they are no more so he sent to Bethlehem and the surrounding area and anyone any child that had not hit their third birthday any male child that had not hit their third birthday he had executed in our church family that would be eight children that area is not Bethlehem was not a big city it was not a huge area that it was covering but we're talking probably

In the 30 range and I can't even imagine someone coming to my home by presidential decree hand your son over I got a son who hadn't hit two yet he would be included in this he sent through an entire area and just slaughtered infants to protect his kingdom that's heinous it lines him up with Pharaoh who was doing this

To the Jewish people it's wicked but all he can see is the defense of what is right in front of him the enjoyment of what is right in front of him holding on to his power holding on to his position and having what he can see and touch and feel and he'll go to any length he can to keep it verse 19 and on says that when Herod died an angel came told Joseph they could go back

And they go back and there's two kings in this story and there's two kingdoms in this story and we've been reading ahead so we know what Jesus is going to be like and the type of kingdom he's going to have we've got King Herod and his earthly kingdom that he's doing anything he possibly can to defend and we've got Jesus who's a much better king with a much better kingdom Jesus comes and he starts to teach his disciples

About the kingdom of heaven and he talks about who's welcome who's brought in the weak the mourning those who are broken and hurting and far from God they're welcomed they're brought in we actually see as Jesus goes to the cross that he who was king who was ruling gave up his throne

So that we might have life and you have Herod who will take your life so that he might have his throne we have Jesus who will give up his position so that he can join us be crucified for us to welcome us in and Herod who will

Defend his position no matter what it costs you see Jesus consistently talks to his disciples and tells them to look beyond the horizon tells them to look to what they cannot see what is not right in front of them because

He is the king of heaven an eternal kingdom where there's joy where there's hope where there's life where there's fullness where there's all the good things we were meant to have and Herod's just fighting for what he can have right now and we get to

Choose because it's easy right now the kingdom of Herod and the posture of Herod see I read this and I think I'm not like Herod because that's the easiest thing to think I'm not like that I wouldn't do those things

But the reality is I'm closer and you're closer to being like Herod than we'd care to admit because it's very easy for us to be caught up in what affects me what do I enjoy what harms me what will mess with

My life and the good things that I have and let me defend it I think if you'd look back at some of my prayers and some of your prayers they're pleading with God to not mess with our territory to not

Take from us what we feel like he owes us to not encroach upon us that at some points we're actually talking to God and fighting against God in some ways the way that Herod was whoa whoa whoa whoa

Don't mess with that this is my zone that it's really easy for us to get caught up and worried about what we can grab and what we can have now and to miss what we're invited into to go back

To the story I told at the beginning we're we're the prince who can be tricked into fighting for what would be freely given to us who can be tricked into

Living a small underground life in the darkness with the hopes of tooth and nail clawing out what Jesus came to offer life joy hope position freedom fullness it's what Jesus talks

About one of the places Jesus talks about this a lot is money it's our gift series surprise do you know I was going to get the money do you see it coming Matthew Jesus talks about this in Matthew 6 he's talking about money he's talking

About possessions he's talking about how we treat what is in front of us how we treat our lives and he says this do not lay up for yourself treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal alright how much

Are we told daily lay up for yourself treasures on earth how much are we told daily through advertisement through our own thoughts as we see other people enjoying things the goal of life the good life the hope of life the way to win at life

Is to lay up treasures on earth earth I know I sing that sweet tune to myself all the time look at somebody oh that'd be nice wouldn't it be good if one day one day I'm gonna have

One day we'll we'll get one day that's the hope treasures on earth I could just have this Jesus just flat out says don't do that moth and rust destroy herod was was the

King of this because he did not even want to leave a legacy or a lineage to his children we at least can see beyond our last

Breath most of the time most of the time people who are laying up treasures for themselves are like my kids can have it when

I'm gone here is like nope because I think they're going to try to enjoy it while I'm here I just want everything to be

Great until I'm gone I read this week studying up on Herod and one of the last decrees he gave was that his military

Would go through the area of his jurisdiction when he died on the day of his death would go through the area of his

Jurisdiction and kill every first born son because he thought it was likely people would be happy if he died and so he said

Go kill every first born son he died they did not do that because it was crazy but that was his plan but we

In the spirit of Herod can get caught up in what can I have now what can I enjoy now what makes life good

Now that's the point Jesus says don't do that isn't it refreshing how clear Jesus is on stuff were you thinking about doing that

Yeah don't do that all that stuff is going to fail you you ever get something new you ever have like a really old

Ratty couch and the only thing that bothered you about it was that it looked gross maybe like it was real gross and you were

A little embarrassed by it you ever get a new couch and now you're stressed out over defending your couch like it's like either way like I have a ratty

Couch I don't want my guest to sit on that now I have a new couch well you can sit on it but you

Better sit on it right and don't go plopping down on it and put that a new TV you also probably need to go ahead and

Get a fire stick or a Roku or whatever because it was fine to have the little antenna sticking up behind your old TV I bought

My wife some mums and after I bought her some mums mums are flowers people seem confused I bought her some mums and after I

Bought some mums she was like we need to get a stand book there's a book called if you give a mouse a cookie

And it's about how said I'm gonna write a book called if you buy your wife some mums because I bought some $10 mums

It cost us like $60 it was the craziest thing that's how it is those mums are dead in my backyard now it's okay to have

Some enjoyment of things I'm not saying that it's wrong but he's saying don't have your treasure here that's some king hered stuff but

Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys where thieves do not break in and steal for where your

Treasure is there will your heart be also can I tell y'all a beautiful story a better story king hered finds out that the

Messiah is born and he says I'm king for such a time as this let's pave the way for the messiah let's do everything

We possibly can let's find him let's protect him let's get him ready if he's going to be the king of the Jews let's

Make a plan here and he moves out of the way and then one day when Herod dies he's welcomed into that messiah's kingdom

And he's offered freely everything he would have fought for that's a better story it's not the one we get but right now we're getting to

Decide where are we going to be which story are we going to be a part of are we going to lay up treasures here that are nice here they're nice

No doubt about it probably nicer in our day and age than any other time I read about King Solomon in the Old Testament it

Says that the Queen of Sheba came and visited him and it says there was no other time in Israel's history where there were

Spices in Jerusalem like when Solomon was there after Sheba came and I'm like I can get on every once in a while I

Sit at my house and I think Solomon would have loved to have these digs they're nice and we can enjoy them and they're

Meant to be enjoyed as we look at a good God who is above us at a horizon that is beyond the one we

Can see we're meant to see an eternity and put some hope in an eternity and be welcomed into the place where our heart

Has been all alone you're supposed to give your heart to Jesus give it to his kingdom and when you die meet Jesus and

Meet the king who owns your heart in the kingdom where your heart has been all alone that's what he says lay up for

Yourself treasures in heaven because where your treasure is there your heart will be that's true and we can send things ahead through sacrificing

Not in the way that we used to have to appease the way the sacrifices worked where you were appeasing to try to atone for your sin no but just giving

Some things up he talks in this section in Matthew 6 he talks about praying where nobody gets to see you he talks about

Giving where nobody knows about it he actually says it messes it up you're getting treasure on earth when you give and everybody knows

About it I'd love to see a hospital building that says hospital and you're entering in the east wing and not just the McDaniels

Owens wing because whoever does that whoever gets to give all the buildings that I went to school every building had somebody's name slapped

On it because that was the person who paid for it would be nice if it was girls dorm number two somebody was generous

Just for the sake of generosity but do you get to give without anybody knowing about it so that you're not elevated so you're

Not held up high you get to serve you get to pray you get to labor he says not even a cup of cold

Water that's given to somebody because if cold water counts kid city counts I mean that we get to serve so this time of

Year when money feels tight when there's a desire to use our finances to make everything around us good we say yeah do that

As you celebrate who Jesus is and we say don't forget we're citizens of a better kingdom and send some money on ahead move your

Treasure out from under the tree move your heart so when you meet Jesus that's where your heart will have been the whole time

We get to write a better story than King Herod wrote I get the honor of introducing our give series projects this year they're

A little bit different and we get to do something a little bit different this year than we've done in the past so I'm excited we've got a lot

Going on right now with us trying to move to Casey and so this is even more fun for us because there's a real

Part of me that was like we got a ton of things going on with Casey and a lot of things to pay for y'all been

In that building it is beautiful that we are getting to move to a facility where there's a roof and where there's space and

Where the Lord has just in some ways just promoted us elevated us because how long would it have taken us to actually pay

For a place even like that but you walk in there and you are like we got some work to do some cleaning some

Painting for those of y'all who miss the green carpet that used to be in here I have got good news for you that

Place is green green and for those of you who maybe are color blind it's brown it's nice brown but they've everything over there needs

Work part of me was like why don't we just put our efforts there and then it was like no why don't we do

What we're always supposed to do just give some stuff away just send something that doesn't have anything to do with us that we just

Get to bless and not really get to partake in we get two projects this year we don't usually do two we're doing two

And we're going to give some money a church one Sunday they are planting a church in Charlotte so we just went to them

They're part of the grassroots network we help train and send church planters they've been over at midtown getting trained up they're about to

Go out they're taking 37 people with them which sounds awesome that are going to move to Charlotte to help plant a church that's a

Way better way to plant a church than the way we did so I hardly encourage doing that method than the one we went

With worked out but it's not the best one 37 people already moving up there getting jobs trying to be missionaries in that area

And we just went and said hey how can we help you out and they said well we're going to move we're going to be groups

That's the grassroots network does that we send in leaders we send in groups people to just be missionaries in the area we're going

To do groups first and then at some point they're going to want to gather and we said okay can we help with the gathering

And they said yes so here's some gathering costs here's our plan for them like I said we got two this one's happening in

Charlotte the cool thing we're here's the plan if we can raise fifteen hundred dollars we will give them an iMac we'll give them

Fifteen hundred dollars they'll buy an iMac for their gathering so they'll be able to run some of the stuff they're going to do so

They're already being in groups on mission but when they gather together there's a few things they want to get and so if we get

Three thousand dollars we will get them an iMac and a sound board so that when they get started they already have that they'll

Be blessed with that from our church so that they can just get started and worry about spending their money in other places working

On some other things if we get five thousand dollars they will also get speakers so everything is included if you hit five thousand

It's iMac sound board and speakers because at three thousand dollars they got a sound board but nothing that sends out sound so at

Five thousand dollars that sound board does some stuff and if we're able to do seventy five hundred dollars they'll get all the music

Equipment they need we said what will it take for y'all to do a gathering and they said seventy five hundred dollars I love

That I love that they're way more worried about having groups be on mission having people be missionaries and they said when we get

Together we'll need some stuff but not a ton of stuff you'll notice they left off the lasers and the fog machine so it'll be

Good worship it won't be great but they'll have maybe they smuggled it in they just said all music equipment maybe it's in there

Maybe they got things that will shoot glitter I don't know so if we can do $7,500 you'll have the opportunity to give to

Give directly to this we can do $7,500 from our church family we will send them off with everything they need to as they

Get started and when it makes sense they'll have to find a location they'll have to pay some rent but they'll have the equipment

They need to gather together and make much of Jesus together in Charlotte and I think that's a really cool thing we get to

Do and we'll get to as we give money away give to the kingdom give to some speakers we'll never hear sound out of

Possibly that we'll never get to be a part of but we'll just get to know there's some people worshiping Jesus just like we'll

Get to worshiping all together later and we're going to help them do that that's the first one first ones in the U.S. it's

In Charlotte we're helping send out a church plant the second one is in Minya Egypt so we worked with 1040 Hope last year

To sponsor a church plant in Minya and we were actually able to raise their entire year budget plus buy tuk-tuk they came back

Later and said since we got all this covered can we get some money from our people and instead of doing a tuk-tuk can

We do a van or a bus and we said sure sounds great so they did that then we sent a team to Minya

A handful of our church family to help do a conference over there to help train and equip and encourage their the beloved of Jesus also if

You speak the language it's called habib yes nailed it it means the beloved of Jesus or those whom Jesus loves what he does

Is in Egypt it's very stigmatized frowned upon to have any kind of physical deformity anybody to be a paralytic or have any kind of

Physical deformity a lot of times Spencer was telling us this in a sermon recently that they're actually they just kind of keep them hidden family

Doesn't talk about them it's it's kind of a bad Mark on your family because people might assume that you have some kind of

Genealogy issue some kind of genetic issue and so that it's harder for you to marry off your children and it's very they're poorly cared

For and so what he does is he actively tries to find them share the gospel with their parents share the gospel with them help

Them see that they're loved by Jesus and get them to where they are cared for out in the open known about that's his

Ministry so if you show the next picture this is actually while our team was there they got to be a part of one

Of his small groups where he is they gather together they worship they share the gospel they enjoy being a part of life together

Cared for loved prayed for and the Lord is doing some really cool things there so here's what we're going to do they do

Quarterly gatherings four big events a year it is very hard for people in this situation to get around they often don't go out

They have a difficult time traveling so what they do is they do four a year where they have 3,000 to 5,000 people they

Feed them a meal they give clothes away they worship Jesus their hope is those who already know and love Jesus would have a

Place to get together and worship to get to praise out in the open together with a large group to make much of Jesus

Together their hope is they will help de-stigmatize having a disability so that more people will come out in the open and be welcomed

And get to share the gospel with them and their hope is that people who are not believers will come and they'll get to

Share the gospel with them and they're seeing some really great things 5,000 people their budget is $4,500 to get the space to have

Everything they need to have people come preach the gospel to have things to give away to welcome so we thought if we could

Pay for one of these so one time next year 3,000 to 5,000 people in Egypt would gather to praise Jesus and not have

To worry about the cost they would gather to worship Jesus they pay for two of them if we get $13,500 they'll pay for

Three of them if we get $18,000 they'll pay for four of them let's do $22,000 and tell them they gotta do an extra one

Our hope would be that we can give $4,500 to Pastor Jurgis so they can have one of these where they gather and our

Church family just got to tag in our hope would be that citizen church would gather go out send out as missionaries and when

It came time to gather they'd already have the money in the bank or they'd already have the equipment sitting somewhere they'd be ready

To roll they wouldn't have to worry about it that's our hope that's what we're praying for you're going to have the opportunity over

The next couple of weeks be here let's send our heart and our money on ahead let's pray God we thank you for your

Grace thank you for your love we pray that you'd help us to be generous as you have been generous to us that you

Gave up your life that we might have hope and forgiveness in the gospel and may all of us who are citizens of that

Kingdom live as if that were true