1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,880 Welcome to the River City Church podcast and a message by our 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:07,960 lead pastor Jason Powers. Our prayer is that this message 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:12,240 would inspire and encourage you, build your faith and point you 4 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:14,760 to the life changing love of Jesus. 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,640 May you enjoy the goodness of God as you follow Him today. 6 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:21,280 In our house. Our my oldest son, Jackson is 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,800 home from college and I see several other college home 8 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,880 people and it's such a different deal. 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:30,320 Automatically when the kids come home, it's like my house just 10 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:33,000 feels different. There is like a a piece that 11 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,200 settles just knowing that all the chickens are in their roost, 12 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:37,680 right? And we saw a little bit of that. 13 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:40,040 Last week we talked about joy. We've been talking about 14 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:43,240 preparing room in this holiday season for the coming of the 15 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:45,240 King, right? Like for Jesus to come. 16 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:47,960 And we talked about preparing room for hope. 17 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:51,120 And one of the things about hope is like, I don't when Christmas 18 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,640 comes. The point of hope isn't that we, 19 00:00:53,760 --> 00:00:55,520 you know, the lights turn on. Oh, hey, hope. 20 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:58,920 The point of hope is we feel afraid. 21 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:01,520 But what? Christmas does what Jesus does 22 00:01:01,520 --> 00:01:04,599 is points us to a time when all things will be made new, when 23 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:06,360 all things will be set right. So that we don't. 24 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:08,400 Have to be afraid. The same thing with peace. 25 00:01:08,560 --> 00:01:12,480 What we saw last week with Joy was Mary having received this 26 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:18,440 crazy the virgin will be with child, and the child is going to 27 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,880 be the king, the Messiah, the one who had been promised 28 00:01:21,880 --> 00:01:25,720 literally in the Garden of Eden. And Mary's just freaked out. 29 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,080 And so she runs to her cousin's house. 30 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:31,000 Cousin Elizabeth. And what we find is in that 31 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:34,400 connection and in that community, in that relationship, 32 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,680 Mary and Elizabeth both experience the coming of joy, 33 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:41,920 the beginning of joy in that place. 34 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:45,440 And so as our kids come home and our kids are all around, we see 35 00:01:45,440 --> 00:01:48,400 that we prepare room in our place for joy and. 36 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:53,000 What we're going to see today is the next part of that passage. 37 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,960 Last see last week we saw Mary and Elizabeth come together and 38 00:01:55,960 --> 00:01:59,560 we saw Elizabeth recognize this thing that God was doing in Mary 39 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,240 and she said, Mary, this is the mother of my Lord that has come. 40 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,600 And this was the first prophecy, this prophetic inside as she 41 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,080 sees this is my Lord and the John the Baptist in her womb 42 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:13,600 left with joy and Mary and Elizabeth was filled with the 43 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:16,440 Holy Spirit. And what we have today is a 44 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:18,640 poem. If you look in your Bible and if 45 00:02:18,640 --> 00:02:20,800 you read it in, you know, and you read it in the context, it's 46 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:23,360 indent, right? It's set off lines. 47 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:26,440 Anytime that you look at that, anytime that you see a passage 48 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:30,960 that's like that, you can know it was either a song or a poem 49 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:34,680 of some kind. And So what that means is that 50 00:02:34,680 --> 00:02:39,160 what we're going to look at today is a prophecy from Mary. 51 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:41,840 We saw a little bit of a prophecy from Elizabeth. 52 00:02:42,200 --> 00:02:45,520 We saw a prophecy from John the Baptist in utero. 53 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:47,240 Remember, he leapt. In A room. 54 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:52,440 And so today we're going to see a prophecy come from Mary. 55 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,040 So before we jump into the Scripture, before we jump into 56 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,280 the passage, we've got to talk a little bit about. 57 00:02:57,280 --> 00:02:59,720 What is a prophecy and what do we? 58 00:02:59,720 --> 00:03:02,120 Do. With prophecy when it comes. 59 00:03:02,280 --> 00:03:06,600 Because a prophecy isn't just telling the future right? 60 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:07,960 It's not just. Right. 61 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:09,920 Like the Cowboys are going to win the Super Bowl or something 62 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:10,880 like that. That's not. 63 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,320 That's wishful thinking. That is hope that is going to 64 00:03:14,320 --> 00:03:18,360 disappoint someday, right? That's not prophecy. 65 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,080 What prophecies? And we saw this last year in the 66 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:22,600 meeting when we talked about the Revelation. 67 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:25,400 What prophecy is it is a declaration. 68 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,760 It gives it an insight. And prophecy is a declaration of 69 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,000 what God is doing. So when you go back and you read 70 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,560 about Jeremiah and Isaiah, the message of the prophets was God 71 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:41,200 is at work in this place. And the reason he tells us that 72 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:45,560 God is at work in this place is because he wants us to get 73 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,320 involved in it. The point of pointing out what 74 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:51,080 God is at work is to say, hey, he's doing good things, you 75 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,960 should get in line too. And that puts. 76 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,320 The responsibility on us to say yes or. 77 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:00,640 To know so as we read Mary's prophetic utterance, say it's 78 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:03,320 called the Magnificat and we're going to read it's because 79 00:04:03,320 --> 00:04:07,480 there's very early she talks about her soul magnifying the 80 00:04:07,480 --> 00:04:08,640 Lord. We're going to talk about that 81 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:11,360 and we're going to look at that. But before we get on this, it's 82 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,800 important that we come to this the right way to this passage, 83 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:17,320 because it's very easy to get this. 84 00:04:17,959 --> 00:04:21,959 Really wrong, right? So what do we do when we come to 85 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:24,760 a prophecy? These set off poems that are 86 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,040 supposed to show us God's word. The first thing that we do is 87 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:32,800 slow down. There are multiple readings. 88 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:35,160 You can read it right on the surface level of what it says, 89 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:37,240 but there's more underneath that's going on. 90 00:04:37,240 --> 00:04:38,840 So we we slow. Down. 91 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,040 We need to humble ourselves. We need to realize that God got 92 00:04:42,040 --> 00:04:45,720 this message out into the world because He wanted people to hear 93 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:48,520 it. He wanted people to be impacted 94 00:04:48,520 --> 00:04:50,200 by it. He wanted people to touch it. 95 00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:52,920 And sometimes when we look at it, when we stand far back, we 96 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:54,440 just go, Oh yeah, I know what that means. 97 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,600 And we just moved on. Especially something as familiar 98 00:04:57,600 --> 00:04:59,560 as this. If you've been around the church 99 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,520 for a long time and you've seen this, we're familiar with it. 100 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:04,800 We may even be able to quote it from memory. 101 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,200 And sometimes it's so it loses its teeth. 102 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:11,840 But if we humble ourselves and move in to listen, the prophecy, 103 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:16,360 this prophetic word that comes to us might just have an impact 104 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:20,840 on our hearts and it might just change things. 105 00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:24,760 And again, we should expect that God wants to change things. 106 00:05:24,840 --> 00:05:27,760 We should expect that God wants to change our attitudes, our 107 00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:31,000 hearts, our responses to other people, our responses to 108 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,160 ourselves, our responses to him. We should expect that. 109 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:37,320 And so some, but but we don't, we don't like that. 110 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:38,480 I mean, I want him to change you. 111 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,320 And make no mistake, you would not believe how much I go home 112 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,360 and pray Lord, change him just like, and then he's like, well, 113 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,320 how about you, Jason? I'm like Lord. 114 00:05:47,120 --> 00:05:50,880 I pray for them. That's enough, Lord, right now 115 00:05:50,880 --> 00:05:52,920 you're busy, right? We'll come back to me at a later 116 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,240 time, right? So I want to warn you in advance 117 00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:01,920 about a couple of things to be careful for a couple of impulses 118 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:03,960 that might come up as we read this passage. 119 00:06:03,960 --> 00:06:07,440 The first one is defensiveness. You might read this and get a 120 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,040 little insulted that Jesus would talk about you. 121 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,080 I sort of know like Mary and and and Elizabeth, they, they didn't 122 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:15,600 know you. They did not know your 123 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:17,920 situation. This is not to you. 124 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:22,840 But what I would say is the point of a prophecy is to point 125 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:25,280 out a space where there's distance between what we're 126 00:06:25,280 --> 00:06:27,880 doing and what God is doing. And so if you begin to feel a 127 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,400 little bit of conviction, if you begin to little bit like, hey, 128 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:32,680 now you're reading my mail a little bit, my encouragement 129 00:06:32,680 --> 00:06:35,960 again is humble yourself, slow down, back up and go. 130 00:06:35,960 --> 00:06:39,480 What's that about? What's going on in my oh, what 131 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:41,680 am I supposed to do? Because the point of conviction, 132 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,040 the point of that thing is alignment. 133 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:46,520 The reason, it's like, you know when your call wheel starts 134 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,320 doing this, the point of doing this is to get you to go to the 135 00:06:49,320 --> 00:06:51,920 Firestone so we can fix it so you can ride without. 136 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:54,360 The bump, bump, bump, right? It's the same thing here. 137 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:57,360 If we read something in your heart, it feels like a dagger in 138 00:06:57,360 --> 00:06:59,440 your heart. Instead of just going, Jason, 139 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:01,200 why you're offending me? I'm like, I don't like to start 140 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:04,680 going God. Is that the cause of a bump in 141 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:07,880 my life? Is that a speed bump that I keep 142 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:09,240 running into? And what can I do? 143 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:12,200 So the first thing to be careful of is defensiveness. 144 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,120 Jesus isn't mad at you, but boy. Does he want to save you and me 145 00:07:17,880 --> 00:07:20,520 and us? The second impulse that we need 146 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,320 to be careful of is rushing to application. 147 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:26,240 Where we sit back and just go. I know exactly. 148 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,080 What this is about, and this is about them and this isn't about 149 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:29,040 me. And so now I'm. 150 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,040 Praying for all of my friends who this comes to and who this 151 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,160 deals with, but it never does me right. 152 00:07:34,240 --> 00:07:38,160 What I want us to do in this time is let the story work on 153 00:07:38,240 --> 00:07:42,560 us, because when we come to the King, when we come to Jesus, we 154 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,840 don't come perfect. We don't come without need for 155 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:47,920 growth. Now listen, we come covered in 156 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:49,920 grace, right? Like when you stand before the 157 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:53,800 Lord, the Lord never says you don't have anything to work on. 158 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:56,200 When you come to the Lord, he looks at you and says, we. 159 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,720 Will take as long as it takes to get that right. 160 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:04,920 Let's walk together. So don't dismiss this. 161 00:08:05,440 --> 00:08:09,320 And don't run too quickly to apply it and to write it down in 162 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:13,360 your life and to make a change. Move slowly and let it work on 163 00:08:13,360 --> 00:08:15,320 us. And in order for us to read this 164 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:17,880 story well, we even have to be aware of our. 165 00:08:17,880 --> 00:08:19,480 Filters. I know right now you're 166 00:08:19,480 --> 00:08:21,360 wondering, like, are you ever just going to tell us the 167 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:24,240 freaking story? I am. 168 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:31,560 But listen, what if the truth wrapped up in this is too 169 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:36,360 seismic to step in tenderly? What if this is not a pool that 170 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:39,320 you just jump in head first because there's something that 171 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:42,280 God has been trying to get out into the world and get out into 172 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:44,200 our lives since the very beginning? 173 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:47,160 And what if the entire systems that we live in and the entire 174 00:08:47,240 --> 00:08:51,480 systems that we're a part of are aligned against this message 175 00:08:51,640 --> 00:08:53,400 getting in? And what if everything that 176 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:56,440 we've done and built apart this kind of resists this? 177 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,560 And so we have to like we have to be aware of what's going on 178 00:08:59,560 --> 00:09:03,280 in us as this comes right. So here's the key question for 179 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:06,080 us to ask as we come to some of these passages, really a lot of 180 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:09,080 these passages that we get a question that we ask ourselves 181 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,280 when you're dealing with your kids, when you're dealing with 182 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,280 your spouse, when you're dealing with a cranky Co worker or a 183 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:16,760 cranky boss. Here's a question to contemplate 184 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,120 for your life, for you as you sit at home, when you think 185 00:09:20,120 --> 00:09:22,680 about the fights and the struggles and the arguments that 186 00:09:22,680 --> 00:09:24,320 you get. And here's the question, is it 187 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:28,840 more important for us to be right or to get? 188 00:09:28,840 --> 00:09:31,360 It right do. You hear what I'm saying? 189 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:39,320 Are we just trying to win arguments so that we are more 190 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:44,440 right than the other guy? I'm not saying you do or don't. 191 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:46,160 I'm asking a question. This is always, this is always a 192 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,280 good thing. Like, is it more important to me 193 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:53,360 that I just be when when you get stand before somebody and they 194 00:09:53,360 --> 00:09:56,840 have a different perspective on reality or a different view on 195 00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:01,200 something, on different view on economics or on football or on 196 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,920 tennis or on the price of tea in China or whatever it is. 197 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:07,240 And they come and they have different information for you. 198 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:10,680 What's your first response? Do you argue with them? 199 00:10:10,680 --> 00:10:15,240 Do you begin presenting your point, or do you consider at the 200 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:23,720 outset that you could be wrong? I think of this Dumbledore and a 201 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,280 famous line from the book where he said. 202 00:10:26,600 --> 00:10:30,120 I think I'm right. But I could be wrong. 203 00:10:31,040 --> 00:10:34,200 And there's power of. Humility in that perspective 204 00:10:34,200 --> 00:10:36,920 which we come to these things. Because the way that we come to 205 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:39,680 this passage of Scripture, the way that we read this 206 00:10:39,680 --> 00:10:44,200 magnificent that Mary said, we read this as 21st century 207 00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:45,720 people. We live in a technological, 208 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:47,960 we're on the other side of the industrial revolution. 209 00:10:47,960 --> 00:10:50,160 We have all of these things that they didn't have. 210 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:55,600 We are 21st century Americans. The word freedom means something 211 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:58,600 to us that it doesn't necessarily mean to others. 212 00:10:58,680 --> 00:11:00,960 And we can stand next to each other arguing. 213 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:04,080 About what freedom means, without ever understanding what 214 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:07,840 they mean by freedom, or what Jesus means by freedom, or what 215 00:11:07,840 --> 00:11:12,200 you mean by freedom. We're 21st century Americans 216 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:16,200 from New Braunfels, TX. A town where things grow, a town 217 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:19,720 where things are flourishing and expanding, but also a place 218 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:24,080 where it's expensive to live. It's hard to find a house that 219 00:11:24,080 --> 00:11:25,720 is affordable in time. Where do? 220 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,960 We work, we are a recreation place where people come to play 221 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:32,800 and have fun and have a good time, and that's not a bad 222 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:35,520 thing, it's just a thing that we have to contend with. 223 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:40,240 As part of our story and our reality and the tendency as we 224 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,800 read these things, as we tend to go to one kind of or more of 225 00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:47,080 these areas as we errors, as we have our kind of our headset 226 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:48,960 right. The first thing that we do that 227 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:51,120 as we come to these things. We tend to interpret these 228 00:11:51,120 --> 00:11:53,360 scriptures. Our filters tend to tell us that 229 00:11:53,360 --> 00:11:55,680 when we come to this stories and the things that it says, these 230 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:58,440 are things about our private spirituality. 231 00:11:58,440 --> 00:11:59,680 Like it doesn't matter so much out there. 232 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,640 These are just things for me to work on and I can go to to my 233 00:12:03,640 --> 00:12:06,080 job and do what I want. And it doesn't affect my, it 234 00:12:06,080 --> 00:12:08,720 doesn't affect the way that I spend my money or the way that I 235 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:11,400 that I talk to people or the way that I deal with my neighbors or 236 00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,000 the way that when I'm an HEB and somebody does something 237 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:18,600 unthoughtful towards me, My private spirituality is my own. 238 00:12:18,600 --> 00:12:22,680 And it doesn't have to affect. You in any way, lovingly, 239 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:28,520 graciously. The reason many people like the 240 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:31,640 kind of spirituality that doesn't affect other people is 241 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,920 because if we're honest in the dark of night, it doesn't really 242 00:12:34,920 --> 00:12:36,880 affect us that much either, does it? 243 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:39,840 Spirituality is supposed to make a difference. 244 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:43,440 It's supposed to change. Our actions have consequences, 245 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,040 and so if we're not following Jesus, we won't begin to look 246 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,760 like Him. If nothing changes in our lives, 247 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,560 then nothing changes. The other side of this is like 248 00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:54,720 the social gospel, right? Like when you talk about. 249 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:56,440 How do we fix the world? Right? 250 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:58,320 Like like some people just say, oh, it's just a sin. 251 00:12:58,320 --> 00:12:59,400 Problem. It's in the heart. 252 00:13:00,360 --> 00:13:02,360 Some people will just say, oh, no, like the problem's out 253 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:03,360 there. Like if you're going to help 254 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:04,720 people, like you got to solve other problems. 255 00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:06,480 You like you got to feed them and you got to you got to 256 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,040 provide houses for them. You got to go all the way and 257 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:11,320 say, so is the problem just in the heart? 258 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:14,160 Or is the problem the programs and the systems and the things 259 00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:15,360 that we do right? Like what? 260 00:13:15,480 --> 00:13:18,880 Like is it just does character the only thing that matters or 261 00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:22,120 does character matter at all? Is it enough to just give people 262 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,760 food? Do you teach a man to fish or do 263 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:29,240 you give a man a fish? You can do both. 264 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:34,840 You can give him a fish so he's not hungry, and then you can 265 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,120 teach him a fish so he won't be hungry tomorrow. 266 00:13:37,640 --> 00:13:40,560 And there are all kinds of ways that we can move, that we can 267 00:13:40,560 --> 00:13:42,840 move into this, right? And what I want to say is like, 268 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,480 as you begin to feel these things, like maybe these 269 00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:47,440 convictions or this humility, you read it, you just like, 270 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,800 maybe I'm a part of this thing that I wasn't sure that I was a 271 00:13:50,800 --> 00:13:53,000 part of before. What happens, what we call that 272 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,080 is humility. When you begin to see yourself 273 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:58,880 in a right relationship to Jesus, when you begin to 274 00:13:58,880 --> 00:14:04,480 realize, like he is holy and I'm not, he is good and I'm not. 275 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:08,840 He loves my enemy and I don't. As long as I walk around and go, 276 00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:10,920 yeah, me and Jesus, we're almost the same. 277 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,720 He loves all the people that I love and he hates all the people 278 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,000 that I hate. What happens then is our 279 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,920 intentions are right. Our desires are good to be 280 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,080 aligned with Jesus. But the problem is, we can have 281 00:14:23,080 --> 00:14:28,080 great intentions and still subtly try to get Jesus on our 282 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:30,760 side. Jesus, you don't like these 283 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:32,080 people either? Look at the bad. 284 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:37,360 Things that they're about if we're. 285 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:39,320 I love y'all so much and this is hard. 286 00:14:40,520 --> 00:14:43,080 If we're going to read the scriptures, the prophetic, the 287 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:46,200 hard ones, the good ones, the ones that transform and change 288 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,760 all that, if we're going to truly follow Jesus from the deep 289 00:14:49,920 --> 00:14:56,600 passages and scriptures, we have to stop using this to affirm my 290 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,920 worldview. I have to stop looking at the TV 291 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:04,560 1st and then making this fit into that. 292 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:08,520 I have to start here and go, however uncomfortable it may be 293 00:15:08,520 --> 00:15:12,120 for me in the moment. My purpose in life is to align 294 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,600 my life to this and that's all of it. 295 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:19,680 My money, my marriage, my kids, my sexuality, my free time, my 296 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:23,320 hobbies, all of it. Who I am, what I do comes back 297 00:15:23,320 --> 00:15:28,440 to Jesus in this story. And so now that we're halfway. 298 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,320 Through the message and I haven't talked about the passage 299 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:35,320 yet. Let me pray for us to have open 300 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:41,400 hearts as we read this passage and let us remember that we are. 301 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:46,560 Wait a minute, not just we are. May we remember that our enemies 302 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:53,320 are badly broken. Grace and peace to you Luke 303 00:15:53,320 --> 00:15:59,400 chapter one, verse 46. Remember Mary said or Elizabeth 304 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,480 says that the baby in her womb is left and she's been filled 305 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:08,320 with the Holy Spirit and Mary says my soul magnifies the Lord. 306 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,920 That's where this that's why we call it the that magnificate 307 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,840 right from the Latin phrase. Now that word magnify, you think 308 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:20,320 like makes bigger, right? Mary does not make God bigger. 309 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,600 God is already as big as He is. You think about a magnifying 310 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,560 glass, right? If you have a magnifying glass 311 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:27,560 and you're trying to look at something and it's around the 312 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,080 edges, it's all blurry and stretched out, right? 313 00:16:30,160 --> 00:16:33,520 So how do you use a magnifying lens to magnify something? 314 00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:40,000 You put it right in the center. Mary says my soul magnifies the 315 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:41,320 Lord. Some translations you have to 316 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:45,600 say my soul praises the Lord. The idea is Mary sets the 317 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:49,000 Father, sets the Lord right in front of her, right in the 318 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,680 center of her story. He magnifies the Lord and my 319 00:16:52,680 --> 00:16:56,400 spirit rejoices in God my Savior. 320 00:16:56,400 --> 00:16:59,120 So this is joy. This is that thing that she's 321 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,120 experiencing the presence of God in her in her midst, her cousin 322 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:06,160 Jesus, John the Baptist, This whole thing she says I 323 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:11,839 experience joy and now she tells us why, because he has looked 324 00:17:11,839 --> 00:17:15,440 with favor on who on Mary. Now let's Mary. 325 00:17:15,440 --> 00:17:19,720 Describes herself on. The humble condition of his 326 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:20,960 servant. Mary is a. 327 00:17:20,960 --> 00:17:24,520 Teenager, likely 13 or 14 years old. 328 00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,800 Mary lives in the 1st century in Israel, one of the most 329 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:33,240 religious cultures in the history of the world. 330 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:39,640 It was not OK in the 1st century Nazareth for a 14 year old 331 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:42,720 unmarried teenager to be pregnant. 332 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,080 It was not OK. She was. 333 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:49,240 Subject to death under the Law of Moses. 334 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,520 That's the situation. Where this comes out of I praise 335 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:57,560 the Lord because he has seen my humble condition. 336 00:17:57,560 --> 00:17:59,600 Now, Mary didn't say she's going to go back to Nazareth and 337 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,480 everybody all of a. Sudden is going to be OK with 338 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:03,600 it. Nothing about her situation has 339 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,520 changed. But the difference is Mary now 340 00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:10,560 sees this in light of what's in the center, which is the Father, 341 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:13,280 which is God. She magnifies him and puts him 342 00:18:13,280 --> 00:18:15,640 in the center. See, the problem is we want to 343 00:18:15,640 --> 00:18:19,080 be in the center, and I want to put my experience in the center 344 00:18:19,080 --> 00:18:21,560 of the magnifying glass. And then when all the stuff 345 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,120 around here goes wonky and screwing, oh God, what are you 346 00:18:24,120 --> 00:18:26,120 doing? He's like, that's not how it's 347 00:18:26,120 --> 00:18:30,120 supposed to look. Move it so that he's in the 348 00:18:30,120 --> 00:18:35,560 center, He's looked on, He's looked with favor on the humble 349 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:38,520 condition of his service. Interestingly enough, in 350 00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:41,720 whatever the place that you are humble in this world and 351 00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:45,240 whatever place you are humble in this moment, wherever you just 352 00:18:45,560 --> 00:18:48,120 acknowledge and recognize that you don't have the strength or 353 00:18:48,120 --> 00:18:50,960 the courage in this moment to get out of it in that place. 354 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:53,640 I want you to hear the eyes of the Lord are on you. 355 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:58,080 He sees what is humble. He sees what is. 356 00:18:58,120 --> 00:18:59,640 Yeah, what's going on, right. So it's humble, it's 357 00:18:59,640 --> 00:19:03,280 conditional. Surely she says from now on, all 358 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:07,360 generations will cause me, call me blessed because the mighty 359 00:19:07,360 --> 00:19:12,040 one has great, has done great things for me and his name is 360 00:19:12,040 --> 00:19:16,000 holy. So Mary, what she's doing now is 361 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:19,960 defining her life in terms of God's action. 362 00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,280 She defines her story now in terms of what God is. 363 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:30,200 Doing what defines your life. The move, the relationship, the 364 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,040 finances. The picture what, what is it? 365 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:36,480 Are you able to look in your life at the movement of your 366 00:19:36,480 --> 00:19:39,720 life since the beginning, from the day, from whatever point 367 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:42,920 that you desire, whatever point that you are you able to look at 368 00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:46,280 the movement of your life and go, I see God here. 369 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:50,280 If not, listen, I want you to know that's hard. 370 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:51,840 It's a hard thing to do on your own. 371 00:19:51,920 --> 00:19:54,600 You're not supposed to do it on your own. 372 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:57,560 Find somebody who has been walking with the Lord and just 373 00:19:57,560 --> 00:20:00,520 ask them, do you see God in my life? 374 00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,520 It's a fair question. Now, if you're out there and you 375 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:07,440 are a follower of Jesus somewhere, start looking. 376 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:10,280 Wouldn't it suck if someone came up to you and asked you that 377 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,480 question? You're like, I don't really 378 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:17,200 know. Let me see where do you see it? 379 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,640 What does the activity of God look like? 380 00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:22,520 Does the work of God in our lives look like victory and 381 00:20:22,520 --> 00:20:25,120 lifting us up and making us strong and making us powerful 382 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:29,360 and let us letting us win and overcome and do all that? 383 00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:32,640 You know, Mary says her humility, her grace, the 384 00:20:32,640 --> 00:20:35,600 position and her position in this story is when she puts got 385 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,960 like a like the hub and a bike wheel where all the spokes. 386 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:41,360 Where all the things come to that holds the whole thing 387 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:44,120 together, Mary says. I have done that, says God. 388 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,440 From this point, because of all the things that happened now 389 00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:49,040 God, you're the main character and my story. 390 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,160 God, when I get sick, it's about you. 391 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:52,920 When I get healthy, it's about you. 392 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:54,360 When I go to work, it's about you. 393 00:20:54,360 --> 00:20:56,320 When I talk to my neighbors, it's about you. 394 00:20:56,320 --> 00:20:57,760 When I fight with my. Spouse. 395 00:20:57,760 --> 00:21:00,360 It's about you. When I'm afraid for my children, 396 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,640 Lord, it is about you. You are in the center, you are 397 00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,280 in the middle, and all of this is ultimately coming back to 398 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,160 you. And it's not about Mary denying 399 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:10,640 reality. Mary doesn't suddenly go, I'm 400 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:14,800 not pregnant anymore. Everybody's ideas have changed. 401 00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,360 Listen, this is the most important thing that we can 402 00:21:17,360 --> 00:21:19,080 hear. It doesn't matter where your 403 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,240 life is right now. It doesn't matter what you're 404 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:23,280 wrestling with or walking through. 405 00:21:23,400 --> 00:21:27,960 The power of God is right next to you, waiting to be put in the 406 00:21:27,960 --> 00:21:30,200 middle. Will it look different? 407 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:33,320 Oh, oh, sure, because. You're not God. 408 00:21:34,360 --> 00:21:38,560 But I know the point is if us, if most of us found ourselves in 409 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,640 the position where Mary was in this situation, we would run and 410 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:44,280 hide and we wouldn't tell anybody and we would probably 411 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:46,760 feel guilt and shame and fear and anxiety and a 412 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,880 discouragement. I mean, imagine, put yourself in 413 00:21:49,880 --> 00:21:50,760 that. Place. 414 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:53,960 But here's where the story gets good, and here's where it 415 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:55,600 begins. Because this is a truth that's 416 00:21:55,600 --> 00:21:59,120 applicable to you. I want to especially acknowledge 417 00:21:59,120 --> 00:22:02,640 you if you're lonely, if you're afraid right now, if you feel 418 00:22:02,640 --> 00:22:06,600 abandoned and isolated and left alone and discouraged and you're 419 00:22:06,600 --> 00:22:09,160 looking. For a way, for any way to make 420 00:22:09,160 --> 00:22:13,440 your story come alive means something, Have hope. 421 00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:15,960 And what I want to tell you is that God's love fills people and 422 00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:20,880 places that we most often avoid. God gets involved in the life of 423 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:24,000 Abram before he was anything. And he says, Abram, I'm going to 424 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:28,640 make you a nation. He found Abram when he was old, 425 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:32,120 passed the ability to do what he was going to do. 426 00:22:32,120 --> 00:22:36,600 And God met him there and made something of him there. 427 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:42,560 He went to Moses, Moses who was a criminal, who was a murderer. 428 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:46,240 He was criminal and he was a foreigner in his land. 429 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:50,200 And God went to Moses and says, Moses, you are the one that I 430 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:52,960 want to lead my people out. Moses was a. 431 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,680 Herding sheep. On the backside of a foreign 432 00:22:56,680 --> 00:22:59,880 nation and God went all the way to find him and said, you're my 433 00:22:59,880 --> 00:23:01,720 guy. What about David? 434 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:06,080 David was the forgotten son of a shepherd out in the field. 435 00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,560 The prophet had to remind dad, do you have any other kids? 436 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:14,040 And dad was like. David, go get David. 437 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:19,000 David The. King and Mary, humble teenager 438 00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:23,160 in a backwater hamlet of the Roman Empire, carrying the Son 439 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,800 of God. At the time, Mary wasn't the 440 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,960 best person in Nazareth. She wasn't the most. 441 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:30,680 She didn't sign up for all the pairs. 442 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:32,960 She wasn't the most righteous, the most holy. 443 00:23:32,960 --> 00:23:35,480 She wasn't we're. Just told that she was young. 444 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:39,920 And she was there and she was a virgin, and God chose her. 445 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:42,360 And I just know. Here's the problem. 446 00:23:42,360 --> 00:23:47,680 I do everything in my power in my life not to be seen as poor, 447 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:53,400 not to be seen as weak, not to be seen as small, not to be seen 448 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,520 as ordinary. You know what we fight about 449 00:23:56,520 --> 00:24:00,160 more often than not? Those things, they said 450 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:04,240 something mean to me. They're probably meaner than you 451 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:07,680 can imagine, and they're probably more right than you 452 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,200 like to admit. And what if that's not the 453 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,120 point? We confess every time we get 454 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:13,080 together. We're what? 455 00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:16,080 We're badly broken. And then people pointed out to 456 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:16,800 us, we're like. Heck. 457 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:19,920 No Own it. Put your name on it. 458 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,920 The reason we fight is because we want to be seen as something 459 00:24:23,920 --> 00:24:27,720 other than we are. We want to be seen like God, but 460 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:29,880 the question that confronts us at Christmas time is that what 461 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:34,000 if God's love is best understood and appreciated in our needs and 462 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,960 in our weakness? Seeing the West, we value 463 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:40,520 strength. We value. 464 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:42,080 Position. It's not just the West, it's. 465 00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:43,840 Everywhere. It's humanity. 466 00:24:44,040 --> 00:24:46,040 We value winning, We value victory. 467 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,000 We value strength. We value being over other 468 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,680 people. And the temptation here, right? 469 00:24:52,680 --> 00:24:54,400 As we talk about Mary and her humility, right? 470 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,840 The temptation that we run into is to like over spiritualize 471 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:01,200 poverty, right? Like, we have new stuff, big 472 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:02,520 stuff. We just go, oh, yeah, well, I'm 473 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,720 poor because I don't, I don't like feel very good today. 474 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:09,800 But just know this Mary was not symbolically poor. 475 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:16,720 Make no mistake, in the town of New Braunfels, there are people 476 00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:23,320 who live here who are not symbolically poor, and there are 477 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:27,440 those of us in here who aren't symbolically poor. 478 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,520 We're not poor in any stretch of the imagination except the way 479 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:31,680 that we often feel about ourselves. 480 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,160 And it's not just about financial poverty. 481 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:37,160 Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit. 482 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:40,320 Those who know that they don't have a prayer, Those who know. 483 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,160 And if I have to stand before Jesus and it's him and me, he 484 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,360 wins every time. He's right and I'm not. 485 00:25:45,880 --> 00:25:48,720 If it comes down to an argument over why I did what I did and 486 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:51,160 why I should have done what I did, he wins every single time. 487 00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,960 That's what humility is. That's what a poverty of spirit 488 00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:54,840 is. To just go. 489 00:25:55,040 --> 00:25:57,720 I don't have enough to stand on my own. 490 00:25:57,840 --> 00:25:59,320 I'm not good. I don't make it. 491 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,160 I'm I'm too harsh. I'm too, whatever it is. 492 00:26:07,600 --> 00:26:09,840 Whether you can see like the, the, the temptation here is you 493 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,920 just go, Oh, well, I'm I'm like actually poor. 494 00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:14,560 Like I don't have enough. Like there's not. 495 00:26:14,560 --> 00:26:18,520 This isn't about me like it is. The. 496 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:20,960 Question is not at Christmas time. 497 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:23,960 The question is not whether we have a lot or a little. 498 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:27,320 The question at Christmas time is, is Jesus in the center of 499 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:30,960 it? Do you use your riches for the 500 00:26:30,960 --> 00:26:35,000 Kingdom, or do you use your riches for something else? 501 00:26:36,040 --> 00:26:39,120 Do you use your? Poverty to be a victim? 502 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:43,880 Or do you in your poverty continue to see yourself as 503 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:49,000 favored by God, not with everything, but with enough to 504 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:55,080 give? How you relate to your stuff 505 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:00,520 will affect how you relate to God because Jesus said you can't 506 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:02,760 love God and they called it Mammon, right? 507 00:27:02,760 --> 00:27:04,640 It's stuff. It's it's your truck and it's 508 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:08,360 your house and it's your hunting lease and it's your boat and 509 00:27:08,360 --> 00:27:11,120 it's your all of the things, right, Your big purse and it's 510 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:12,840 and it's. All of the things and he says 511 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:14,880 like you, you, you, you're, there's, there are different 512 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,040 roads. You got to go down one road or, 513 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:18,920 or the other. And he doesn't say that you 514 00:27:18,920 --> 00:27:21,440 can't have stuff. He's saying that if you love 515 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:24,640 your stuff, you will get rid of everything else for that. 516 00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:28,640 Whatever stuff may be and stuff may be, reputation stuff may be 517 00:27:28,760 --> 00:27:32,280 people saying good things and nice things about you, but 518 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:35,760 whatever it is, however you relate to your stuff outside 519 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:37,560 will affect how you relate to God. 520 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:41,080 And then when God is in the center, as God moves to the 521 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,360 middle of that magnifying glass, things start to get clear. 522 00:27:44,480 --> 00:27:46,760 Because here's the reality. God has integrity since the 523 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:49,960 beginning, since garden, since the moment that he said let 524 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,840 there be light, God's character hasn't changed. 525 00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:56,640 The reason that we trust him isn't because like we think we 526 00:27:56,640 --> 00:27:57,960 figured out. The reason we trust Him is 527 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,920 because He has always proven to be faithful. 528 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,760 Look, verse 50, He says this. His mercy is from generation to 529 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,400 generation. Listen, God's posture towards 530 00:28:08,400 --> 00:28:12,680 human weakness has always been mercy. 531 00:28:14,040 --> 00:28:17,680 God's posture towards human weakness has always been mercy. 532 00:28:17,760 --> 00:28:21,040 Now, here's the problem. If I am the main character in 533 00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:23,960 this, if I am the main character in the story, do you realize 534 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:25,960 what's going to happen? You're going to spend your whole 535 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:28,240 life feeling like God is opposing you. 536 00:28:28,440 --> 00:28:30,840 Because if you're in the middle of the story, you go, why can't 537 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:33,480 I have this vacation? And God says because you've 538 00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:35,960 taken 4 vacations in the last five years and you're not 539 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,400 content, the secret's not in Wyoming. 540 00:28:40,760 --> 00:28:44,040 The secret is in here. Well, God, my car broke. 541 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:46,120 Down. You abandoned me no, now you're 542 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,760 going to have to like share you're going to have to have a 543 00:28:48,760 --> 00:28:56,320 carpool. My air conditioner went out. 544 00:28:56,920 --> 00:28:58,880 You're going to have to ask for help. 545 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:03,680 You're going to have to get, oh, we don't have any grocery money. 546 00:29:03,680 --> 00:29:06,840 You're going to have to go to the church and let them help you 547 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,760 and take care of you. You're going to have to share 548 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:14,880 that with your small group. But if I know that this is his. 549 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,280 Story. If I know that my weakness and 550 00:29:17,280 --> 00:29:20,840 my law and and my lack is an opportunity for Him to show His 551 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:23,760 benevolence and His goodness for me, then I am able to wait. 552 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:26,920 And the truth is that God's love doesn't change. 553 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,920 It hasn't changed. We can't redefine it just 554 00:29:29,920 --> 00:29:32,080 because we have a different cultural moment. 555 00:29:32,160 --> 00:29:35,040 We can't redefine what it means to say that God loves us, that 556 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,400 he has care for us, just because things have changed, because we 557 00:29:38,400 --> 00:29:41,040 don't live in the 1st century anymore. 558 00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:45,240 God's love is not angry. God's love is not judgmental. 559 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:50,800 God's love does not also affirm your every desire and. 560 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:56,880 Instinct without consequence. God does not say you're OK, I'm 561 00:29:56,880 --> 00:30:01,400 OK, He says. I am God and I am holy, and I 562 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:07,920 will transform you as you follow me in every generation. 563 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:12,680 God's love. Looks like faithful, patient, 564 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:19,720 restorative, merciful love in every generation. 565 00:30:20,680 --> 00:30:25,600 That person that you hate, that person who's your enemy, that 566 00:30:25,600 --> 00:30:29,760 person who hurt you this week, God's love for them is faithful, 567 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,160 patient, restorative, and merciful. 568 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,800 So I guess the question that bears asking in this moment is, 569 00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,560 do we believe that that kind of faithful love is being expressed 570 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,000 in God's world? As you walk out and you go to 571 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,160 HEB and you go to the store and you watch the news and you go to 572 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:49,200 the places, do you believe that God's faithful love like. 573 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:51,200 That is being act out in the world. 574 00:30:51,400 --> 00:30:54,360 If not, what would happen if that kind of love did start to 575 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,440 get played out? What if all of a sudden got like 576 00:30:56,480 --> 00:30:59,080 Thanos snapped, right? And all of a sudden God's 577 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:03,760 perfect, faithful, restorative, patient, merciful love was just 578 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:05,600 everyone. If that kind of love were to 579 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,320 happen, whose life do you think would be disrupted first? 580 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:13,480 Who would feel that kind of pain and that kind of change? 581 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:16,240 First? Mary tells us in verse 51, she 582 00:31:16,240 --> 00:31:19,360 says this, He has done a mighty deed with his arm. 583 00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:23,280 Now, when you read about God's arm, right, His strength, His 584 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:27,560 arm, His might, always, always, always in the Israelite 585 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:30,200 imagination. They're thinking about Egypt. 586 00:31:30,320 --> 00:31:32,680 With a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. 587 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,160 He delivered his people from the grasp of Pharaoh. 588 00:31:36,280 --> 00:31:37,840 And you know what the point in Pharaoh was? 589 00:31:37,840 --> 00:31:39,360 You know what the problem with Pharaoh was? 590 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:43,160 Pharaoh worked them like dogs. They were slaves with no break 591 00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:46,160 and no rest. So. 592 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:50,400 We do the exact same thing. We just call it workaholism. 593 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,440 We just call it on saving to buy more. 594 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,520 Like we just all the time, we never have a rest. 595 00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:00,280 We never do all these things right and so. 596 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,240 In the mighty hands, talking about exodus, about leading out, 597 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:08,840 he has done a mighty deep. He has scattered the proud 598 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:10,600 because of the thoughts of their heart. 599 00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:12,880 He has toppled the mighty from their. 600 00:32:12,880 --> 00:32:16,760 Thrones and exalted the lonely he has satisfied the hungry with 601 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:19,920 good things and he has sent the rich away empty. 602 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:22,440 So I just want to kind of highlight this and unpack this 603 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:24,880 out and maybe some of it fits in your life and maybe some of it 604 00:32:24,880 --> 00:32:26,560 doesn't. The first thing that happens 605 00:32:26,560 --> 00:32:29,400 with this love, right? Love changes the way that we see 606 00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:31,800 ourselves right. What does it say in verse 51? 607 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,320 When he has done a mighty deed, he's scattered them because of 608 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,960 me, right? So what he does is he begins to 609 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:41,240 move us slowly off of the center. 610 00:32:41,240 --> 00:32:43,560 When he talks about the thoughts of the proud, right? 611 00:32:43,640 --> 00:32:47,040 What Pride does is say I'm the story. 612 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,520 Pride is not. It's not thinking more of me 613 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:53,000 than about you. It's thinking of me more than 614 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:55,840 thinking of you. So humility isn't thinking less 615 00:32:55,840 --> 00:32:58,360 of myself, it's thinking of myself less. 616 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,720 But when I'm in Pride, I wake up every moment and I think, how is 617 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,920 that going to affect me? When I go to the store and 618 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:08,800 somebody's walking too slowly, I think about how that's affecting 619 00:33:08,800 --> 00:33:12,000 my day, not about the poor lady's Bursitis. 620 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:14,600 That is making her right. She's probably in terrible pain 621 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:15,960 right now. I don't think of that. 622 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:21,240 And So what God does gently and slowly but persistently, is move 623 00:33:21,240 --> 00:33:25,680 us off of the center. And He does that by revealing 624 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,440 the pride in our hearts, right? So what? 625 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:33,080 Pride does is it rejects obedience because what pride 626 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:36,400 does is want to be the boss. And here's the problem. 627 00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,720 Here's why pride never works. Here's why I'll handle my money. 628 00:33:39,840 --> 00:33:42,040 I'll make decisions about this Here's the thing. 629 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,360 Because the. World will never cooperate with 630 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,040 you being the boss. Do you know why? 631 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:49,440 Because they want to be the boss. 632 00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:53,400 You're on their territory. This is why we fight, because 633 00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:55,640 everybody wants to be the boss. The boss of what's good and 634 00:33:55,640 --> 00:33:56,840 what's right and what comes right. 635 00:33:57,000 --> 00:33:58,600 And So what? Humility steps back. 636 00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,400 Humility stands out and goes, I am so broken. 637 00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,640 Like I don't have any. Business being the boss. 638 00:34:04,640 --> 00:34:06,400 We people are fine. When they just go like, yeah, 639 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,480 well, somebody ought to do it, but it's not me because I'm not, 640 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:10,920 I'm not good, right? See, that's humility is what 641 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:15,800 comes when pride collapses. God's desire isn't to humiliate. 642 00:34:16,199 --> 00:34:19,840 People, God's desire isn't to. Humiliate you, But I do want you 643 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,400 to know God's desire is to reveal to you just how 644 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,560 self-sufficient you aren't. Your bootstraps that you have 645 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:30,679 pulled yourself up by were given to you at birth. 646 00:34:31,280 --> 00:34:34,560 When you were born in the United States, your bootstraps were 647 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:36,880 handed to you. Thank you Lord for the 648 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:38,840 bootstraps. I didn't earn them. 649 00:34:38,840 --> 00:34:41,679 They're not mine. And so when we realized that 650 00:34:41,679 --> 00:34:44,239 what we have and what we have to look forward to in the in the 651 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,280 moment like this is the moment that I don't have to worry about 652 00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:48,800 what's coming. I don't have to see. 653 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:50,120 You know why? Because I know that I can't 654 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:52,560 control the world. I can't control the economy. 655 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:54,120 I can't control what happens right now. 656 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:59,360 What I can do is be in this moment with him, utterly 657 00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:02,600 dependent and lavishly appointed by God. 658 00:35:02,720 --> 00:35:04,360 We have enough. We're be able to get here. 659 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:08,160 We have friends who can bring us and care for us and tend to us. 660 00:35:08,240 --> 00:35:11,520 But if we insist on being the story, being the center of the 661 00:35:11,520 --> 00:35:13,600 story, we should look just. Like it says here, we should 662 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:17,240 expect to be scattered, you should expect the world to not 663 00:35:17,240 --> 00:35:22,800 play that game. And So what we do is we let go 664 00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:26,880 of the future. You can have dreams for the 665 00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:29,680 future, but if you try to make God, if you try to insist that 666 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:31,960 God fulfill all of your dreams, you may be disappointed. 667 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:34,880 But in humility, we can go. I will live and enjoy this 668 00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:38,360 moment to the fullest of my ability, trusting that when that 669 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:39,960 day comes. He will be. 670 00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:43,720 Filled with every good things because I've tended to him now. 671 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:45,480 But the only way that that happens. 672 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:48,440 Is if we see ourselves as we truly are badly broken. 673 00:35:49,960 --> 00:35:52,280 Are you in that place today? Can you acknowledge that? 674 00:35:53,280 --> 00:35:56,760 Look, I haven't been following God because I've been trying to 675 00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,680 be God. That's the second thing. 676 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:03,120 Love changes how power works, right? 677 00:36:03,120 --> 00:36:06,160 52 says He's toppled the mighty from their Thrones, and he is 678 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,480 exalted, the lonely. This is good for us today to 679 00:36:09,480 --> 00:36:11,080 acknowledge and understand. Are you listening? 680 00:36:11,360 --> 00:36:15,080 God is not neutral in this world to how power is used. 681 00:36:15,080 --> 00:36:21,280 Let me say that again. God is not neutral to how power. 682 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:26,680 Is used in this world. God lifts up the weak. 683 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:31,680 God lifts up the poor. I'm not guessing. 684 00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:33,960 He says it. He says it in the Old Testament, 685 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:35,440 and he says it in the New Testament. 686 00:36:35,600 --> 00:36:41,560 Find that which is weak and ugly and bruised and downcast and 687 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:46,880 lost and afraid and lonely and ugly and replaceable and 688 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:50,040 forgettable, and in that place you will find God Almighty 689 00:36:50,360 --> 00:36:54,200 stooping to lift up. It is the God who goes to the 690 00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,240 what's the thing? The Manger with a pregnant 691 00:36:58,240 --> 00:37:02,480 teenager to comfort her. There were no Pharisees. 692 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:05,000 There were no priests. There were no religious leaders 693 00:37:05,120 --> 00:37:08,240 at the birth of Jesus. There were humble teenagers, 694 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:11,720 blue collar workers and foreigners who had crossed 695 00:37:11,720 --> 00:37:14,400 boundary lines to worship the king. 696 00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:21,480 Everyone else was too busy. God is not neutral. 697 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,360 To how we use power and let me tell you this, you may sit there 698 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,400 feeling like you're weak and like you're small part of God's 699 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:30,720 image in US is dominion. You remember it says he created 700 00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:32,320 us in his image, male and female. 701 00:37:32,440 --> 00:37:35,360 He created them and then what he said, he says go have dominion, 702 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,160 go lead the earth. So here's the thing, you have 703 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:41,000 power. You have authority in your 704 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,600 children and your marriage, at your work, wherever you go. 705 00:37:43,600 --> 00:37:46,280 The question and and sometimes you just like that's the victim 706 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:48,840 thing, like I'm just a nobody. That's not humility, that's 707 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,840 pride. God has said go get to work and 708 00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:53,960 you said I can't. Because I'm small, Because I've 709 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,560 got a bad story. Because I've got you. 710 00:37:57,560 --> 00:38:01,200 Haven't read the book? Find the person whose story is 711 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:04,520 worse than yours. They're all worse than yours, 712 00:38:05,080 --> 00:38:07,760 and God doesn't use perfect. People. 713 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:11,360 He uses fallen people. And you have been given dominion 714 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,600 by him. The question isn't whether you 715 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:16,320 have dominion. The question is whether you are 716 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:18,800 using it. Some of you are so worried out, 717 00:38:18,880 --> 00:38:20,760 worried about trying to change Congress. 718 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,440 You're ignoring your kids. They're growing up lonely and 719 00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,800 afraid. Turn the TV off and go to dinner 720 00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:31,360 with your family. Use your power to do good, to 721 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:35,400 point to people. Do your words, do your actions. 722 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:38,360 Does your online presence make small? 723 00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:43,560 People feel valued or do you make other people feel small? 724 00:38:44,480 --> 00:38:49,080 My pastor talked about verse 52 and he said this right. 725 00:38:49,080 --> 00:38:51,600 He got lifts, you know, lifts up and exalts. 726 00:38:51,600 --> 00:38:54,440 He said everybody, this is you and this is me and this is 727 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:59,560 everybody. Everybody will be exalted and 728 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:05,680 will be humbled. You get to decide by whom and in 729 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:08,400 what order. Lift yourself up. 730 00:39:09,040 --> 00:39:10,920 Go for it. I hope you get everything that 731 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,640 you've imagined because it's going to have to last you for an 732 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,680 eternity. My house breaks down. 733 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:18,640 It's like 4 years old. It's already falling apart, 734 00:39:18,640 --> 00:39:20,080 right? I don't think it's going to last 735 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:22,640 a million years. And if that's the most important 736 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:25,480 thing, then that's not. It the people that I got 737 00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,240 married, the people that stood next to me at my wedding that 738 00:39:28,240 --> 00:39:31,680 were in my wedding, one of them is still in my life. 739 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:34,800 Everything changes. What are you building your life? 740 00:39:34,800 --> 00:39:37,240 Around It's not going to be here. 741 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:40,680 Doesn't last forever. Unless it's Jesus, unless it's 742 00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:44,080 the king, unless it's Christmas, a mighty king and a humble 743 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:48,880 major, It doesn't work. Love changes how power works. 744 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:54,000 And I just want us church. The world is watching how we use 745 00:39:54,000 --> 00:39:56,640 power and the power that we celebrate. 746 00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:01,280 They watch. If we tell them that our King is 747 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:06,200 mighty and sovereign and good and lifts up the humble and 748 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,680 cares for the weak, and that Mary and Joseph, as soon as the 749 00:40:09,680 --> 00:40:13,200 baby was born and the foreigners were left, they became 750 00:40:13,480 --> 00:40:17,480 foreigners and a foreign land, refugees and migrants. 751 00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:20,800 As soon as we realize that and we begin treating people like 752 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:24,680 that, our power becomes a reflection of the goodness of 753 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:27,360 the King. Love changes how our power 754 00:40:27,360 --> 00:40:28,960 works. Love changes what? 755 00:40:29,160 --> 00:40:31,760 Satisfies us. Are you content? 756 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:35,640 Do you have enough? If you don't have enough, you 757 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:38,800 will never have enough. I'm not saying do you have 758 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:40,880 everything, I'm saying do you have enough? 759 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:42,200 You had enough to get here today. 760 00:40:42,200 --> 00:40:45,280 You're going to have enough to get back wherever you're going. 761 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,120 Even if that's a ride from somebody else, you have enough. 762 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:51,240 But the problem is if we are discontent. 763 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,280 If we walk around thinking I just need a little bit more to 764 00:40:54,280 --> 00:40:55,960 get there, I just need a little bit more money, a little bit 765 00:40:55,960 --> 00:40:57,800 more time, a little bit more relaxation. 766 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:00,200 I just need a little bit more. If we always just need a little 767 00:41:00,200 --> 00:41:02,440 bit more If we are. Discontent. 768 00:41:02,560 --> 00:41:05,480 You are in the center of your magnifying glass. 769 00:41:05,480 --> 00:41:08,920 Your love is magnifying yourself because you think you are 770 00:41:08,920 --> 00:41:11,320 entitled to something that you don't have. 771 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,560 In this great reversal, Mary says I've got trouble that's 772 00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:18,280 coming, but in this moment I have enough. 773 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:20,760 Who's the main character in your story? 774 00:41:21,480 --> 00:41:24,080 If you are the main character, you will never have enough. 775 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,720 There will never be enough. But if? 776 00:41:27,720 --> 00:41:32,120 Father is the main character and your life is his opportunity, 777 00:41:32,120 --> 00:41:34,680 your canvas for him to paint goodness on the world. 778 00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:36,880 Then you'll have enough. And you may not have as much as 779 00:41:36,880 --> 00:41:39,640 me, or as much as him, or as much as someone else, but he 780 00:41:39,640 --> 00:41:43,840 will meet you in this moment today, and it will be enough. 781 00:41:43,960 --> 00:41:46,840 This doesn't negotiate ambition. This doesn't negotiate you 782 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:48,800 wanting to do something and go somewhere. 783 00:41:48,880 --> 00:41:52,520 What this what this negates is greed, but this negates is you 784 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:56,000 saying I need more to be OK. I need more to feel OK. 785 00:41:56,000 --> 00:42:00,000 It negates consumption and it and it negates the system that 786 00:42:00,000 --> 00:42:03,120 says those things are most important. 787 00:42:03,240 --> 00:42:06,440 And let me just be entirely clear here, verse 54. 788 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:10,080 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy to 789 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:14,280 Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he spoke to our 790 00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:15,920 ancestors. This thing that Mary's 791 00:42:15,920 --> 00:42:18,280 experiencing isn't new. This has been the story since 792 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:21,960 the beginning. Jesus is the perfect expression 793 00:42:22,080 --> 00:42:25,200 of God's eternally faithful love. 794 00:42:25,440 --> 00:42:27,240 Jesus said it in John chapter 15. 795 00:42:27,240 --> 00:42:29,640 Greater love has no man than he lays down his life for his. 796 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:32,040 Friends and he said, I call you friends. 797 00:42:32,440 --> 00:42:36,040 And within a few hours he had allowed the Roman Empire and 798 00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:40,600 fundamentalist religion to hang him on a cross and murder him. 799 00:42:40,720 --> 00:42:43,320 And then in Galatians chapter 3, Paul writes. 800 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:47,160 To the Gentiles who live by faith, all the promises of 801 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,640 Abraham are theirs as well. And So what do we? 802 00:42:49,680 --> 00:42:51,600 What do we get? We get provision, we get 803 00:42:51,600 --> 00:42:53,760 blessing, we get an eternity with Him. 804 00:42:53,920 --> 00:43:00,040 God keeps His promises. Are you ready to receive them? 805 00:43:02,200 --> 00:43:06,480 How do we receive that? How do we walk by faith? 806 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:09,160 The first thing we have to do is we have to confess I've. 807 00:43:09,160 --> 00:43:13,520 Been at the center of my story. I've made all of this all about 808 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,200 me. And then what we do is what the 809 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:20,040 word repentance is, is literally it's choosing someone else to be 810 00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:21,640 in the center. Lord, I'm just going to move it 811 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:23,520 this much now. I'm not in the center. 812 00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:25,840 Lord, You're in the center and keep me in that. 813 00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:28,480 That's what happens. Listen, Mary stayed with 814 00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:33,720 Elizabeth about 3 months and then she returned to her home. 815 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:38,680 I know what you're thinking. Centering Jesus is hard. 816 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:41,240 And the reality is, I don't want to. 817 00:43:41,240 --> 00:43:42,240 Me too. I get it. 818 00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:46,360 I don't want to do that either. But look, Mary gets these 819 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:47,800 promise. She has this experience, and 820 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:51,520 then she goes back home to the difficult parts where people 821 00:43:51,520 --> 00:43:53,280 don't understand, where they don't see her. 822 00:43:53,760 --> 00:43:57,960 And the point here is that we are transformed as we go, this 823 00:43:57,960 --> 00:43:59,440 realignment. We're talking about putting 824 00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:01,040 Jesus, and it's not a theoretical thing. 825 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:02,520 It's not just things that you think. 826 00:44:02,520 --> 00:44:06,400 It means actually reorganizing. It means that we have to 827 00:44:06,400 --> 00:44:08,880 actually face our fear if we want to have peace. 828 00:44:09,200 --> 00:44:11,880 It means that we can't, we can't numb it anymore. 829 00:44:11,880 --> 00:44:14,360 It means we have to stand there and look at it and watch God 830 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:16,800 walk us through it and find the peace. 831 00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:20,360 It means that we have to actually build relationships if 832 00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:23,520 we want to experience joy. It means we have to actually 833 00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:26,880 slow down the things that we do if we want to experience peace 834 00:44:27,480 --> 00:44:30,920 and in all of those. As you do those things, as you 835 00:44:30,920 --> 00:44:33,160 walk by faith, as you say, I'm going to slow. 836 00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:36,600 Down what happens as you begin to experience Jesus in the 837 00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:43,760 after, not before because of not as an invitation to and so my 838 00:44:43,760 --> 00:44:45,600 invitation for you. Here's maybe today you're here 839 00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:48,280 and you've never followed Jesus. You've been around, but you've 840 00:44:48,280 --> 00:44:51,120 never said maybe your story is I've been in the center of my 841 00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:53,680 magnifying glass for my whole life. 842 00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,480 Today's the day I want out it. It really is that easy. 843 00:44:58,960 --> 00:45:01,440 Prayer is talking to God as if He's in the room because He is. 844 00:45:01,440 --> 00:45:02,960 And you just say God, I don't want to be in the center 845 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:05,240 anymore. I have screwed this up and I am 846 00:45:05,240 --> 00:45:07,240 ready for you to restore it and make it all new. 847 00:45:07,240 --> 00:45:10,760 I move out, you move in, I'll do what you say. close your eyes. 848 00:45:10,760 --> 00:45:14,600 Will you close your eyes for me? I just want you to have a moment 849 00:45:14,600 --> 00:45:17,360 of peace to make that decision today. 850 00:45:19,440 --> 00:45:22,360 And maybe you have never made that decision before, but today 851 00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:24,640 you just say I want to be out and I don't know anything else. 852 00:45:24,640 --> 00:45:26,560 I don't know how to do any else, anything else with that. 853 00:45:26,560 --> 00:45:29,480 That's OK. Just make that decision today. 854 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:34,680 And maybe you've been following Jesus for a long time, but you 855 00:45:34,680 --> 00:45:36,920 realize, but slowly but surely, maybe he's disappointed you, 856 00:45:36,920 --> 00:45:39,440 Maybe he's hurt your feelings. But slowly but surely, you've 857 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:43,600 gotten into the center of your glass and you need, you need to 858 00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:48,880 move back out. Jesus, I ask that you would love 859 00:45:48,880 --> 00:45:53,200 us well as your church. We thank you for your grace. 860 00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:55,280 We thank you for your peace. We thank you for your goodness 861 00:45:55,280 --> 00:45:57,440 and your hope. We thank you for the way that 862 00:45:57,440 --> 00:45:59,920 you love us. We ask all these things in your 863 00:45:59,920 --> 00:46:02,160 name and for your glory. Amen. 864 00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:05,320 Thank you for joining us today. River City Church is all about 865 00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,040 experiencing and expressing God's love in our lives and 866 00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:10,720 community, and we hope that you've been able to experience 867 00:46:10,720 --> 00:46:13,360 that today. As grateful as I am that you've 868 00:46:13,360 --> 00:46:16,640 spent this time listening in this morning, this podcast is no 869 00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:19,680 substitute for full participation in a local church. 870 00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,240 I love it when River City people listen to other pastors, but it 871 00:46:23,240 --> 00:46:26,320 is those who show up week after week, faithfully giving their 872 00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:29,160 support and time and resources that make all of this possible. 873 00:46:29,760 --> 00:46:33,040 If we can help you get connected to a local church, pray for you, 874 00:46:33,280 --> 00:46:36,360 or support you in any way, click the link in the description and 875 00:46:36,360 --> 00:46:38,480 let us know. If you'd like to financially 876 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,280 support the ministry of River City, click the give link on our 877 00:46:41,280 --> 00:46:44,480 website in the description. Don't forget to subscribe and 878 00:46:44,480 --> 00:46:46,200 don't forget to share this with your friends. 879 00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:49,200 Thanks so much for listening. May the Lord bless and keep you 880 00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:50,800 in all grace and peace.