The Wonder Of Christmas Week 3

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Church. Go ahead and be seated. Go ahead and be seated. Let you bow your heads with me and let's pray. Heavenly Father, you are glorious and kind and wonderful in this Christmas season. Lord, help us to be planted on what is true about you. Lord, with all the things going on in the world, all the distractions going on in our lives, it is easy to lose focus on the main thing. And, Jesus, you are the main thing. So, Lord, give us your spirit today. Give us your spirit to give us faith. Give us your spirit for those who need encouragement. Give us your spirit for those who feel joyless. Lord, what we need is not an entertaining word from a. From a man. What we need is for the living God to be present, moving in our hearts today, moving in our hearts towards faith and trust and belief. So, Lord, as we walked in here, one way, let us leave in here, out of here, totally changed because you spoke. We need you to speak today, Lord Jesus. We need you to speak to our hearts, to our minds, to our circumstances, to all things, because you are in all things and above all things, work. [00:01:13] Speaker B: In all things according to your glorious will. We love you, Lord, and we thank. [00:01:18] Speaker A: You in Christ's wonderful name. It's who we pray. Amen. Amen, and amen. Hey, give it up for the worship team. One more time. Whoo. Love, love, love the worship team. Well, good morning, Christ Church. So happy and glad to be here. For some of you guys, you don't know, this is like returning home, y'. All. Like, this is like. It's just like, I was here for so many years. A lot of you guys saw me grow up. You endured a lot of bad sermons, and, you know, I don't know why you laughed, but anyway, you endured a lot of stuff. But, man, I love when I come back when I see there are so many new faces and different people that I haven't seen before. And I want you guys to know you guys are a blessed, blessed church, right? And you got some amazing leaders, and you guys are people who are filled with faith, and God is obviously doing a good work here at our west campus. Can we just say thank you, God, for the good work being done here? I mean, this is some good stuff, and I'm excited to see what I've been seeing. And I'm excited also today to continue in a sermon series that you guys started last week called the Wonder of Christmas. And what we're doing in this series is that, you know, again, you know, Christmas is here, families are coming into town. There's a lot of Things going on and it's easy to miss the point of what we are in, right? It is, it's just easy. And I get it, you got a lot of things going on in your life. Got a lot of things bombarding just your everyday. But what we want to do in this series is to direct our attention towards what is true. And that's Jesus Christ, right? To direct our attention towards who is true. And that is what God has done 2,000 years ago, sending his son for each and every one of us. So we're going to be planted out of Matthew. If you have your bibles out of Matthew chapter one. I'm going to go there in just a little bit in Matthew. But before I get there, this past summer my wife and I, we celebrated our 10 year anniversary. Y' all married? Come on. You know, it's just, it's been an amazing time, you know, I carried the whole thing, you know, and so, you know, she's not here, I can say that. But no, man, it's been amazing. We've been together for 15 years and you know, I'm not ready to give the marriage talk. Don't worry, today's not a marriage talk. I'm waiting for 20 years and for that. But man, we've been together for a long time and you know, there's one thing that is the thing that my wife still does today and who she will always be is that she's always been a natural planner. She's just always been a planner, right? She plans everything. Half the reason why my kids have the teeth, right? And it's just, you know, half the reason why my kids hair hasn't fallen out. Half the reason why, you know, you know, she is just a planner. That's just who she is, right? Right. She likes to plan ahead, she likes to think forward and all of that. And she does a little bit more planning than me. And the reason why I am alive today is because of her. Let's just be honest, right? Because of her planning, right? And deep down, all of us, we're all somehow some way, we're all planners. Maybe not to the extreme of others, but we all plan, right? That's just who we are, right? We plan our careers, right? We plan our finances, right. We have plans for our, for our families, right? What we want to accomplish, right? But can I just speak to this? I believe that most of our stress in our lives comes when our plans don't work out, right? A lot of the stress that happens in our lives, a lot of the frustrating Moments in our lives happen when your plans don't work out the way that you wanted them to. For instance, a lot of us see the truth is this. It's not that life is hard. It's just that things don't work out the way you desired it. For instance, a lot of you, you had a lot of plans earlier this year, didn't you? Right? It's going to be different in 2024. And here you are saying, all right, let's hit the restart button in 2026. Right? Because a lot of us, we didn't expect the things that have happened. For some of you, you didn't plan for your family to be in the predicament that it's in today. You didn't plan for your marriage to be where it is today. You didn't plan to be addicted. You didn't plan to be struggling. Those are things you didn't plan. You actually planned the opposite. Right? And I've noticed this, that when life doesn't go according to our plans, frustration turns into disappointment and disappointment turns into doubt. But I love Christmas. I love this time of year. Not because of all the singing. Don't get me wrong, I love the singing. Not because of all the presents. Don't get me wrong, I love the presents, especially receiving them. Right. I love it all. But what we desperately need to hear today and what Christmas, this story, this time that we're going to, this passage, I'm sorry, that we're going to read about, is going to speak to every single one of us loud and clear. [00:06:41] Speaker B: In what we all desperately need to hear. [00:06:44] Speaker A: And this is what we all need to hear. [00:06:46] Speaker B: Life will often feel unclear. [00:06:51] Speaker A: Say that again. Life will often feel unclear. Maybe you are sitting in that right. [00:06:57] Speaker B: Now, but here's what we're gonna learn. Even though life feels unclear and uncertain, God is never unsure. [00:07:07] Speaker A: That's where we're gonna. We're gonna read the totality of today's scripture and totality of today's passage. And really what the message of Christmas is going to remind us this. Yes, there are. Your plans are going to fail, but. [00:07:20] Speaker B: God is always at work. [00:07:24] Speaker A: I need you to know that there's never a moment in your life God is not at work in. Right, Right. And we're going to address this a little bit more. But here's what we fundamentally want to talk about. Christmas tells us this about God, that he is purposeful in his plan. He is present with his people, and. [00:07:45] Speaker B: He is powerful to save. [00:07:48] Speaker A: Right. Let's say that again. God is Purposeful in his plan, that he's present with his people, and that he is also powerful to save for us. So let's go ahead and read in Matthew, chapter one. We're gonna begin in verse 18. Now, I need you guys to know some of us, if not all of us, are very familiar with the early birth story of Jesus. Right. His parents, Joseph and Mary. And though this is a very familiar passage, what I love about the Bible, though it's familiar, it can still download new, fresh things and truths we need to hear. Right? That's what I love about the Bible. Right? Right. There's a lot of things you can reread. The Bible continuously gives you new truth. Right. Not that truth changes, but it just helps to unpack things you may have missed. So for a lot of you, you're like, I've heard this before. And listen, I'm asking you to be open with new ears and a new heart to maybe what God wants to say in this passage. Matthew, chapter one, beginning at verse 18, it reads like this. [00:08:57] Speaker B: It says this. [00:08:57] Speaker A: It says that now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been patrolled to Joseph before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Uh oh, something ain't added up. [00:09:19] Speaker B: Oh, I did that. [00:09:20] Speaker A: I can. Something's not adding up. Something's not right. Let's go on. It says, and her husband Joseph, being a just man, some of your translations say, righteous, being a just man, was unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her court wily. [00:09:36] Speaker B: Verse 20. [00:09:36] Speaker A: But as he considered these things very important verse. But as he considered these things, behold, the 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. Verse 21. It says, she will bear a son, and you shall call his name. Say it with me, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Verse 22. All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet. And it says, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel. Notice, two names were given, Jesus and Immanuel. And they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. Verse 24. It says that as Joseph went home. [00:10:29] Speaker B: And did as the Lord had commanded him. [00:10:33] Speaker A: Right. What I love about this passage is that it speaks of these grander truths, that God is purposeful with his plan, that God is present with his people. And he's powerful to say. But I do love that Matthew, the writer of this gospel, gives this perspective from Joseph's standpoint. Now Luke, in his gospel, he gives more of Mary's perspective. Right. Matthew's gonna give more of what Joseph has to say. Right. And there's a reason for that. But I love that it talks about a couple virtues that I want to look at when it comes to Joseph. Some things that I believe we can adopt in this Christmas season. Now, right away, we saw the tension, didn't we? The crisis. Mary is pregnant and Joseph doesn't know how it happened. Right. It's a weird situation, right? Right. Some would say Joseph is reacting because it wasn't going according to his plans. Right. He sees this situation. He sees this moment and he walks to the kitchen and Mary has a bump and he's like, wait a minute, what's going on here? You know, things aren't adding up, right. From the Holy Spirit. Like, what's. What is going on? He is. He is confused. He feels uncertain. Right. But the biggest thing is he can't see God at work. He can't see God at work in that moment at that time. Right. But I love what he doesn't do. And we're going to look at a couple things before we jump into the. [00:12:16] Speaker B: Main portion of today's passage sermon. [00:12:20] Speaker A: I love that it says, I believe that it's in verse 20. Can you bring up verse 20 for them? It says, after all this took place, right? [00:12:28] Speaker B: He says, but as he considered these. [00:12:32] Speaker A: Things, it's easy to miss that this word considered. Another way to say is that as he pondered, right. As he began to weigh the options. Right. You know what? [00:12:46] Speaker B: You know what? [00:12:47] Speaker A: Joseph, although he made the decision inwardly, he says, this is all weird. [00:12:52] Speaker B: I'm just going to walk away from this. He stops and reflects, Right? [00:13:00] Speaker A: You know what Joseph doesn't do? [00:13:01] Speaker B: He doesn't act impulsively. [00:13:05] Speaker A: Right. [00:13:06] Speaker B: He chooses restraint in crisis. [00:13:09] Speaker A: Now, can we all be honest? [00:13:11] Speaker B: We are often reactors more than we are responders. [00:13:16] Speaker A: Right? Here's the one thing we do when things aren't going our way or things aren't going according to our plans. We react to the moment. And this is how sometimes we react to the moment. We react to the moment by thinking the worst, don't we? Right. Our minds go to the worst. This is the worst thing ever, right? What's going to happen? Right. You know, or another thing that happens too. When things don't go the way we want them to, what do we do? We try to take control, don't we? Y' all are quiet this morning. That means the Holy Spirit is convicting you, right? We try to take control. Let me. Let me just fix this. Let me just take this by the horns and let me do it the way I want to do it, right? Let me try to inject my own opinion and inject my own strength and inject my own knowledge and power in this moment, right? But a lot of us, you don't realize when crisis hits, when we react, right, Rather than respond, right, what's happening in that moment, we've lost sense of. [00:14:27] Speaker B: Who was truly in control, right? [00:14:31] Speaker A: Because here's the reality. Here's the reality. [00:14:32] Speaker B: Fear reacts, but faith responds. [00:14:39] Speaker A: That's just. [00:14:40] Speaker B: That's the truth. [00:14:41] Speaker A: Fear. Because a lot of the reason why we react is because of fear. [00:14:45] Speaker B: We get scared. [00:14:48] Speaker A: If I don't figure this out, it's all lost. [00:14:52] Speaker B: But faith says, yeah, it's not going the way I want it to go, but God is working and I'm going to trust God in this. [00:15:02] Speaker A: Right? So for some of us, I want to encourage you today in this passage that God brings the most clarity to us when we. When we pause and reflect and we say, okay, God, we. [00:15:17] Speaker B: What do you want me to do? [00:15:19] Speaker A: How do you want me to respond to this crisis moment? How do you want me to respond in this moment that is uncertain? I know how I want to respond, but how should I respond? [00:15:34] Speaker B: What's the wisest thing to do in this situation, in this time, right? Because fear wants to dominate when crisis comes, but faith moves you towards something better, right? [00:15:48] Speaker A: And I love this story. I love that Joseph gives you and I this great model. You want to know how else Joseph gives us a great model? As Joseph is pondering upon these things, remember, the scripture says that he decided to divorce her quietly or he was unwilling to disgrace her publicly. See, according to the Old Testament, someone who was patrolled and if they were found unfaithful, right? It had serious consequences. Now, you got to remember Judaism, right? Their marriage, like marriage in Judaism, works very different than how we understand marriage, right? And engagement, right? There was a season where they would have. They would have been legally married, but they wouldn't have lived with one another, right? That's what had been called the betrothed season, right? And then later on, they would come and live with one another and move on, right? But. But they're not in that season yet. And according to Jewish customs, right? Joseph had every right to divorce her, but he didn't want to do it. [00:16:56] Speaker B: In a way that would bring her shame. [00:16:59] Speaker A: He found her to be wrong again. He doesn't understand. He doesn't have clarity yet. He'll get that in just a little bit. He doesn't have clarity yet, but he. [00:17:09] Speaker B: Chooses mercy over condemning. [00:17:15] Speaker A: Now, let me ask you a question. [00:17:17] Speaker B: How many of us, when someone wrongs you, are we quick to shame them? Yeah. [00:17:26] Speaker A: Right. You know how I like to shame people? [00:17:29] Speaker B: To send passive aggressive texts to them? [00:17:34] Speaker A: You know, if you would have just told me five hours ago, I could have just did this. You know how else I like to publicly shame people? Going on social media telling everybody how I feel? Yeah, right, Right. And here's the one thing that I know that's going to happen this holiday season. [00:17:53] Speaker B: Families coming into town. [00:17:56] Speaker A: The people that annoy you, the people you would have no problem publicly shaming, no problem telling them how. Right. And I think Joseph gives you and I this wonderful nugget that we can. [00:18:10] Speaker B: Practice this holiday season. And that's this. [00:18:14] Speaker A: I don't always have to listen. The best response is not am I right? [00:18:20] Speaker B: The best response is am I being loving? Right. [00:18:25] Speaker A: Right. And a lot of us, I get it, you know, when somebody wrongs you. [00:18:29] Speaker B: You want them to hear it, you. [00:18:30] Speaker A: Want it, you want them to know about it. But what we see actually in this passage is a wonderful nugget of the gospel. Though we are guilty, God extended mercy. [00:18:44] Speaker B: And what Joseph is doing, he's. [00:18:47] Speaker A: He's actually reflecting the heart of God. Remember, it says that he was a just man and the heart of God. Listen, God will always honor a spirit. [00:18:57] Speaker B: Marked with integrity, grace and gentleness. God will always honor you in that way. [00:19:05] Speaker A: Right. Listen, the one thing that we're going to be quick to do is to hold a grudge against people. You ever been so mad at someone that you're having conversations about and they're not even there? [00:19:20] Speaker B: Oh, man, this sermon is really hitting. [00:19:21] Speaker A: I'm sorry, you have a conversation in your head. You're never going to have that conversation with them one on one. You'll never say what you're going to say to them one on one. But you are good to say it in your head. Right? Right. And God wants you to give you. [00:19:38] Speaker B: A softened heart and a heart of mercy. Right. God wants to give us a heart of mercy. [00:19:44] Speaker A: And maybe that's what we can learn in this passage. But what we see here is that Joseph is confused as all get out. He doesn't know what's going on. Right. And then scripture again tells us that he considered these things. He began to ponder upon them. He began to wait and see. And just as he did, that, verse 20 happens. Look at verse 20. [00:20:07] Speaker B: It says this. [00:20:08] Speaker A: But as he considered these things, behold, the 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. Verse 21. He says this. She will bear a son, and you. [00:20:29] Speaker B: Shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. [00:20:38] Speaker A: Matthew, who writes this gospel, breaks off from this story and moves on to. [00:20:45] Speaker B: The metanarrative of this God at work. [00:20:50] Speaker A: Matthew uses this language called fulfilled. It's actually his favorite, favorite language in all of his gospel. He uses it several, several times. What Matthew does by using this word fulfilled, what he's trying to emphasize God's involvement. So here's how we can look at this. David. [00:21:14] Speaker B: I'm sorry, David. [00:21:15] Speaker A: Joseph, the son of David. Joseph is confused, but the angel tells him, don't be afraid. God is in this moment. Does that make sense? Hey. Hey. I know you don't know the plan. I know you want to just walk away from this situation. I know you just want to abandon ship. I know you just want to quit. I know you just want to give up on everything. I know you feel embarrassed. I know you feel cheated. But God is involved in this. God hasn't left this moment. As a matter of fact, God's purpose is being revealed. Matthew shows us God isn't reacting. He is revealing. What am I trying to say? What's going on here? Matthew wants you and I to know that there is every event that happens in our lives isn't random. There's nothing random that just happens to you. See, when I have my kids, you know, my wife goes to work and. [00:22:20] Speaker B: I have to have both the boys. I have to plan the day. [00:22:23] Speaker A: And if I don't plan the day. [00:22:24] Speaker B: Rightly, all things get bad. [00:22:28] Speaker A: For instance? For instance, and those with toddlers, you know this. You know, before you bring the kids, you got to make sure you get the kids home just in time so they don't fall asleep in the car. Because if they fall asleep in the car, getting them from the car to the house, it's over. You lost the war. Like it's just over. So you got to leave just at the right time. Right. But that doesn't always happen the way I wanted to. Right? Why? Because one kid wants to stay a little bit longer at the park, another kid poops himself, another kid throws up it's just all bad. I didn't plan for that. Right. All of that. But here's what Christmas teaches us. [00:23:07] Speaker B: God's not making things up on the fly. [00:23:12] Speaker A: God doesn't wake up tomorrow morning and. [00:23:14] Speaker B: Say, I don't know what to do about this situation. [00:23:18] Speaker A: Right? And what does this bring us? [00:23:20] Speaker B: This brings us to this real assurance and comfort that God doesn't react. He's always revealing his great purpose because he's always involved, right? [00:23:36] Speaker A: He's involved friends, right? Nothing here is random, right? And that's what Matthew wants to point. [00:23:45] Speaker B: Everything towards is this reality. He is involved, right? Which means this. When pain happens, God hasn't left you. He may have permitted it. [00:24:01] Speaker A: He may have allowed it. [00:24:02] Speaker B: He's not the author of it, but he's still involved. Why? Because if God is present, his purpose is alive. His purpose is alive for you and me. [00:24:17] Speaker A: And then he uses this word fulfillment for another reason. This is one reason, because this fulfillment was to say, everything God had determined. I'm sorry, God had planned it is pointing to Jesus. Everything points to Jesus. He is both the center and the climax of everything. And guess what, friends? [00:24:39] Speaker B: Everything still finds its meaning in Jesus. [00:24:44] Speaker A: Because life only makes sense when he. [00:24:47] Speaker B: Is our reference point. [00:24:49] Speaker A: Our identity and our purpose are best understood through him. And without Christ, life has no clear direction nor any final purpose. Because apart from Jesus, nothing holds together. Nothing holds together. And Matthew is pointing these things out using Old Testament language from the book of Isaiah, which was written 700 years before Jesus. 700 years before Jesus. 700 years. God determined. One day I will say, send a Savior. Send someone to intervene. Seven hundred years. And Matthew wants you and I to know what God had started. [00:25:36] Speaker B: He's going to complete it through Christ. Because all life finds its meaning and purpose in him. That's what he wants us to know. And then he says that. That you should take. [00:25:50] Speaker A: The angel comes to Joseph and says, you should take Mary as your wife. You should call him the name Jesus. Jesus in Hebrew is Yeshua, which means God saves. As a matter of fact, in this passage, the angel says he, Jesus will. [00:26:09] Speaker B: Save people from their sins. [00:26:13] Speaker A: See, when we think about sin, we often think that sin is doing bad things and saying bad things. But Scripture speaks about sin differently. Scripture speaks about sin as more of warfare our desires, at war with what God desires. It's more of what we call warfare. The things we want and the things we go after. I'm sorry. Versus what God desires for us. For instance, I love my job, but I also love my family. Right. And you would say those are good things. Those are good things. My job is great, My family is great. But you would say that it would be wrong to put my job, my family right. As a matter of fact, we would. [00:27:00] Speaker B: Call this disordered love. And that's what sin is. Sin is disordered love. It's just loving the wrong things, even good things in the wrong order. [00:27:13] Speaker A: Augustine said that sin is just disorder, love. [00:27:18] Speaker B: And here's the mission of Christmas. Here's what Christmas is, friends. See, Jesus, he didn't come to improve your life. He came to give you a totally new life. Listen, friends, Jesus didn't come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. That's the fundamental reality, friends. And here's what I need to hear about Christmas. Christmas is this Jesus not just taking my place, but giving me a new heart, giving me new desires. [00:27:57] Speaker A: Because the one thing that has been ruining my season of life isn't what people have been doing to me, but it's what I've been doing to myself. And what I need this Christmas season, what I need the miracle of God. [00:28:10] Speaker B: To do, is a work in me. It's a work in my soul, it's a work in my heart. [00:28:19] Speaker A: And it's very easy for me. And maybe I'm just talking about myself. I don't know your circumstance, I don't know your relationship with God. But sometimes I can just treat my relationship with God as God, just fix all my problems. I can kind of reduce God to just fix my circumstances. But I'm not very open to God. [00:28:39] Speaker B: Confronting my sin, confronting my pride, confronting the hate, confronting the bitterness, confronting the things. See, Christ came to make you and I new. And I still need that work today, friends. I still need that loving work from God himself today. As we finish, as we close. [00:29:10] Speaker A: This is the heart of what Christmas. [00:29:12] Speaker B: Means in Matthew, chapter one, verse. I believe it begins in verse 22. Bring up verse 22. For him. It says, this, this. [00:29:21] Speaker A: This all took. [00:29:21] Speaker B: Place to fulfill what the Lord had. [00:29:23] Speaker A: Spoken by the prophet, the prophet Isaiah. [00:29:26] Speaker B: Listen to this. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. Here's the beauty of Christmas. It speaks of hope. Christmas is all about hope. [00:29:54] Speaker A: That's what Christmas means. That's what. And here's the thing, friends, listen. Hope is essential for life. Am I right? Hope is just essential for life. There's a lot of things you and I can endure, and we've endured a lot this year. A lot of pain, a lot of disappointment, a lot of letdown. We've endured a lot. But we can't survive anything without hope. We can't survive anything without hope. Just as the body needs food to live, so our souls need hope, thrive. [00:30:29] Speaker B: And this is this hope of this Christmas season. Jesus never leaves. Jesus doesn't change. And Jesus never fails. [00:30:44] Speaker A: My son, my 3 year old, he's. [00:30:48] Speaker B: In his really cute stage where he. [00:30:50] Speaker A: Always needs a nightlight to go to bed. [00:30:52] Speaker B: It's so cute. [00:30:54] Speaker A: We have this little sound machine. It plays like the waves from the beach, you know, and all that. But every night he has to have the night light on. So I'm putting him in the bed and doing, you know, doing, you know, my, the bedtime routine, praying over him and, you know, and all this stuff. And so I'm like, all right, man, you know, give him his bear and turn on, turn off the lights. And I'm about to walk out and then my son screams, hey. I'm like, who you talking to in my house like that? You don't pay no bills to be talking to me like that, boy. You know what's wrong with you, right? And it's so funny, he says because he can barely talk because he's three, he says, turn on the nightlight. I'm like, what? Turn on the night light. And I turn on the night light. And I think about that moment, you know, the night light, it didn't remove. [00:31:52] Speaker B: The darkness, but it reminded him in some way that he's not alone. [00:32:01] Speaker A: I love about that moment is that the night light, it doesn't remove the darkness, but it reminded him that light. [00:32:10] Speaker B: Is present, that he can see. And here's this hope God wants to give us. It's a hope that is greater than just your circumstance. It's a hope that's in his presence. It's a hope that doesn't remove darkness, but it reminds you that you're not alone in darkness. [00:32:39] Speaker A: It's funny, I was telling my son about my sermon today and about this illustration. And my oldest says, so dad, is Jesus our nightlight? I said, well, your theology is kind of bad, but you know, we'll work on that. You're only five. Then I thought about that passage when. [00:32:55] Speaker B: Jesus says in the Gospel of John, he says, I am the light of the world. Anyone who follows me and believes in me will never have to walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. See, here's the truth, friends. Our plans will fail. 2026 may be worse than 2025. [00:33:21] Speaker A: I know you don't want to hear that. [00:33:25] Speaker B: Things may not get better, but God will always be present. And that's your hope. That's your hope, friends. And that's what Christmas wants to give us, is a hope that is unshakable, that is hope that is unmovable. A hope that is always present. And if God is present, hope is alive for you. Embrace that. We need that. [00:34:00] Speaker A: What I need for God is not. [00:34:02] Speaker B: To answer my plans. When I need God is to remind me that he's not near, that he's near, and that he never fails, he never leaves, and that he never changes. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, I pray that this great truth, the wonderful truth of your nearness, Emmanuel, God with us would be our great focus. Lord, there's a lot of us that are just so, so frustrated with just life in general. We're frustrated because what we thought is not happening, what we want is not happening. But give us a great assurance, not in our plans, but in your presence. You are with us and your purpose is alive. You'll never fail. And, Lord, let that be the very remedy of our broken, disappointed souls, that you are with us and you show that in Christ Jesus, the word made flesh dwelling amongst us, and you still dwell with us today. Help us, I pray. [00:35:34] Speaker A: Bless us. [00:35:35] Speaker B: I pray it's in your son's perfect name. Amen.