← Lakepointe Church with Josh Howerton
Lakepointe Church with Josh Howerton
Joy That Lasts | Glad Tidings We Bring | Pastor Mike Breaux
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Hey guys, thanks for checking out this Bible teaching. Every week we release a podcast that corresponds to the sermon. It's like a little bit of a deeper dive where we hit some things that didn't make it into the sermon, some theological concepts. We talk about things that are going on in our culture and how to think about them from a biblical perspective. We call that podcast Live Free. An episode releases every Monday that corresponds to the sermon. If you would like to check out Live Free, just go to the Lake Pointe YouTube channel and look for the podcast tab there. We'll see you at Live Free. Now enjoy this Bible teaching.
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Hey, Merry Christmas. Welcome all of our campuses. Those of you that might be joining us online as well. Man, super grateful for you. Hey, my name is Bro and I get to be on the teaching team around this place. One of the real honors of my life. And man, I'm so excited about the Christmas services. I think there's 273 services that are scheduled across all of our campuses and every campus is looking beautiful and very festive. So thank you all the people that do all this work behind the scenes. And I know that the music and Josh's message are going to be moving and create room for God to work in people's hearts. Got fun stuff for kids, great hangout time with friends and family. Plus, Jesus is going to be right in the middle of it all. So you got to invite somebody to this. It's one of those can't miss weeks starting next Sunday. Man, I love everything about Christmas. I've been listening to Christmas music in my truck since the day after Thanksgiving. I listen to it all the way through the new year. I love the movies of Christmas. I love the decorations. I love the cookies way too much. I love the ugly sweaters. I love the parties. I love the kids. I love giving presents. I love hang time with family and friends. I love everything about Christmas. But this is my absolute favorite thing. Luke, chapter two. And there were shepherds living out on the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks. At night, an angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, fear not. Do not be afraid. I'll bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. And this will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Suddenly, a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests. When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened which the Lord told us about. So they hurried off and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in the manger when they had seen him. They spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen which were just as they had been told. Man, there's just nothing quite like the Christmas story. And when I read that announcement from the angel to the shepherds, I thought how sometimes you can hear like an amazing 17 minute TED talk, or you can hear a great 45 minute Josh talk, or you might read an incredible 500 page novel or see a thought provoking post on social media and it changes your perspective on something. But sometimes all it takes is like two words. I mean, think about it. There's power in some two word phrases such as thank you, I'm sorry, forgive me, you're hired, you're fired, you passed, you flunked. Sometimes two words can change your entire life. Such as, she's cute, just friends, date night, long kiss, head spins in love, marry me, I do, I'm pregnant, it's triplets, we're broke. Sometimes just two words can like change everything about your entire life. And in this passage, did you notice that there are four different two word phrases that literally change everything. Fear not. Good news, great joy, all people. The first thing the angel says to the shepherds is fear not. Now just a really quick word about angels. Just about every time they show up on the scene in scripture, the first words out of their mouth is fear not. That ought to tell you something about them. They are not cute little chubby cheeked cherubs on the COVID of a Hallmark Christmas card. Cause every time an angel showed up, it was not a precious moment. It was a super intimidating, even terrifying experience. Now we touched on this just a few weeks ago, how angels are described in the Bible as fierce protectors waging war against Satan and his armies. They're often described like dazzling and awe inspiring with faces like lightning and eyes like fire. I mean, when your opening line is fear not, there's a reason I don't know about you, but I've never opened with that. I don't need to. There's nothing scary about me. In fact, the number one thing people say to me when you meet me in the lobby, I thought you were a lot taller. I mean, that's just. Everybody says that there's a reason. It says the shepherds were terrified. And the reason is the glory of the Lord shown around them. To stand in the presence of the supernatural takes your breath away and makes your heart tremble. And when angels would say fear not, it was more than just a calm down, chill out, sorry I scared you kind of greeting. They literally would speak a word from God into the internal fear and insecurity of the people to which they appeared. I mean, all the way back in the book of Genesis. An angel appears to an old man named Abraham and says, fear not. God has chosen you to become the father of a great nation. An angel appears to a simple farmer named Gideon and tells him, fear not, you mighty warrior. God is going to use you to defeat the Midianites. An angel appears to the prophet Daniel. He's so afraid, he just about passes out. And the angel tells him, fear not. Cause God is gonna bring insight and understanding to you. God's about to reveal some things to you because of your humble pursuit of him. And Fear not is all around the Christmas story, an angel appears to an old man named Zechariah and tells him, fear not. Your prayers have been heard. You're gonna be a daddy. And he became the father of John the Baptist. An angel says to a frightened young girl named Mary, fear not, for God has chosen you to bear the Son of God. One appears to her fiance, Joseph, and says, fear not. Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Go ahead and marry the woman that you love. And to these shepherds, fear not, because I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. See, there's a definite pattern. Fear is followed by favor, and trembling is followed by truth. Now, we talked at length about fear and courage a couple of months ago, and Josh talked about it last week. If you missed last week, need to get online and check it out. It was so helpful. So we're not gonna hang there long, but you might remember Josh told us to remember three things when fear starts to grip our life. God is for us, God is with us, and God is overall working behind the scenes on our behalf. See, I've been learning in my life that courage comes from living life in the hands of God. That's where courage Rises from courage comes from living your life in the hands of God. Because we all get afraid sometime. We all have anxious moment. Fear is just a part of life. But we have learned out of all the commands that Jesus gives in the Gospels, the one he gives more often than any other is some form of the angels. Fear not. Do not be afraid. Don't panic. Take courage. Don't let your hearts be troubled by. Be of good cheer. Which tells me he knows we get scared, even terrified sometimes. And it tells me that he cares about that. He cares about our anxiety. He cares about our insecurities. He cares about our panic attacks. He's always calling us to lean into God and put our trust in our Father. See, courage comes from living life in the hands of God. And when you do that, daily fear and trembling give way to favor and truth. In fact, the Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the one fear that calms all other fears down. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of peace. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of security. It's the beginning of joy. I mean, these shepherds, they go from being terrified to glorifying and praising God. You see, God doesn't ignore our fear. God, he doesn't chastise us for our fear. He overcomes our fear with hope. That's why it says in 1st Peter 5, 7, cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. This literally translates from the ancient Greek, it matters to him about you. Cast all your anxiety on him because it matters to him about you. First John 4:18 says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love cast out fear. Perfect love cast out fear. That's why the angel said, fear not. Fear not. Because I got some good news. It's not fake news. It's not clickbait news, but it is breaking news. The God of perfect love has come down to be with you. So fear not. And what makes this news so good is the dark world had been waiting since the very beginning, all the way back to the book of Genesis. There's talk of a savior coming, the promise of a deliverer. In fact, pretty much the whole Old Testament is, he's coming. He's coming. He's coming. And now with this announcement, it's no longer just a promise. It's no longer just a prophecy. It's a person. Fear not. I bring you good news. God has not given up on humanity. God is not silent. The Lord has been working behind the scenes. He has come in the form of a baby. And his name is Yeshua. He will save the people. His name is Emmanuel. God with us. I'm thinking about thinking about Chuck Colson. I don't know if you've heard of Chuck, but Chuck was way back in the 70s, part of the Watergate conspiracy. Gave his life to Christ in prison. And he became the founder of Prison Fellowship. And there was a ministry they used to do, I think they still do it, actually, called Project Angel Tree. Some of you have probably even participated in that, where you take a child's name and you go buy gifts on behalf of their parents who might be incarcerated because they can't get out the shop. And so you take those gifts to the family from their incarcerated parent. And he and his wife were doing that one Christmas, and he was taking some gifts to this housing project in Washington, D.C. so he's got his hands full of these presents. He's walking down the street and he sees the apartment, and he kind of raps on the door a little bit. And a kid opens the door, lets him in. He walks in with all these presents, and this little boy comes running across the living room and says, what's your name? What's your name? He goes, well, my name's Chuck. I'm here to bring presents from your dad. He goes, what's your name? The little boy goes, my name is Emmanuel. And Chuck went, do you know what your name means? He goes, no, your name means God with us. About that time the mom comes home, the little boy goes running to his mom screaming, mommy, Mommy. God is with us. God is with us. God is with us. Chuck said he left the presence and walked down the street. As he was walking down the street, he could hear those words echoing in his mind. God with us. God is with us. God is with us. And he thought, that's the good news that changes everything for people. You know, during Christmas, we make our list, and we want more. Like how on this year's list are all kinds of smart gadgets like Apple's Pro 3 AirPods, Nintendo Switch Lite movie projectors for home theaters have really, really spiked. Some kids want scooters. I talked to a girl this morning who wants a puppy. Parents, I'm praying for you about that Yeti water bottles. There's a Gabby's interactive dollhouse that a lot of girls want. Cozy throw blankets, skin care products, sneakers, concert tickets. I mean, you name it, we all kind of got a list, right? But here's the truth. The more that we're after is all Wrapped up in less. You see, the good news is that not only did he come down to be with us and bring us life, he also came to take some things away. He came to take away all the wrong and sin in our lives. He came to take away the shame and insecurity. He came to take away the weight of our messy failures. He came to break strongholds and addictions that have ravaged our souls and our relationships. He came to wipe away our tears, to conquer our fear of death, to break every exhausting chain that holds us back. The more we're looking for is found in less. He comes to take things away so that we can be fully free. And if the Son sets you free, man, you shall be free indeed. And that is good news. I love the way Paul puts the good news in Romans, chapter three. He says, we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned. We all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God, yet God in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty of our sins. That's the good news. And that could happen to you, like today, like right now, because a savior has been born to you. To you. A savior who would grow up with his hands in wood and die with his hands in wood. He would voluntarily lay down his life to pay the price for the debt our sin had racked up. The innocent son of God, that baby in a manger, would grow up and take the wrap for everything, everything that we have done. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. And that is good news. And it's good news that causes great joy. Great joy. I was supposed to preach here just a few weeks ago, but I had to ask off, and Josh graciously let me off. Y' all got our friend Elise Strobel instead. So you came out way ahead. But the reason I was gone is I got to do the wedding of our oldest granddaughter. It was surreal. First of all, I'm thinking, am I old enough to have a kid getting married? And then I thought, I'm looking at her, she's standing in this beautiful white dress in front of me on the stage, and. And I'm thinking, weren't you just riding on my shoulders, like, three weeks ago? I see her as a four year old, you know, and they were both standing on her Name is Hayden and his name's Graham. And they're standing on the platform in front of me. Both of them are crying and I'm trying to hold together doing this moment. It was surreal. It was one of the great honors of my life to get to do that. It was. I can't even describe it to you, but they did a video at the wedding. You know, a lot of weddings they'll do like the. Here's pictures of him growing up and here's pictures of her growing up. They do that kind of video. But in the middle of it was a real video that was shot almost 20 years ago, like 18 years ago. And it was shot with a camcorder. Remember those things? Not a phone. It was like a camcorder. And we were living in the Chicago area and the family across the street had a bunch of little kids. They would always come over and play with our kids and stuff and. And they became buddies. So there's this little boy, he's four years old, his name's Graham, and Hayden is five years old. They're sitting on the steps together in this video and my daughter Jody asked Graham, hey, Graham, who you gonna marry someday? And this little four year old boy went, I'm gonna marry Hayden. And Hayden goes, I'm dying here. She rolls over and then she says, hayden, who you gonna marry someday? And she went, ron, some random kid from her kindergarten class. And Graham goes crazy. He goes, no, Hayden, no. Marry me, Hayden. Marry me, Hayden. And 18 years later, they stood right in front of me on a stage and it came up on the video. Sorry, Ron. It was awesome. It was just, it was, it was, it was like. It was a story like none other. It was so, so amazing. And they're living in Kansas right now. He's finishing grad school, she's teaching school. And I'm so proud of both of them. I can't believe how it all. Just how God wove it all together. It was so much fun and there was so much happiness and so much laughter and so much dancing. But it was. I don't know how to describe it to you all. It was just a lot more than that. Like I said about Mary here in Luke chapter two, I just treasured it all up and pondered it in my heart. And the joy I felt, man, it was so deep. I just thought about how all these different ministry moves we made, how God just wove our stories together, wove our families together. I sat there watching 30 of our family members out there on the dance floor having a Blast. And serving behind the scenes kind of to pull the wedding off. And thought how they truly love each other and how they loved Jesus Christ with all their heart. And I thought, man, I am such a blessed man. I'm so grateful for the solid foundation of God's grace that all of our lives are built on. My heart was. Is exploding with thankfulness. And I thought about how it's not joy that makes us grateful, it's gratitude that makes us joyful. It's not joy that makes us grateful, it's gratitude that makes us joyful. Cause when you embrace the good news, what he brings and what he takes away, when you know that you're forgiven, when you know that you're not forgotten, when you know that struggles and pain and heartbreak and sickness and disease and death does not get the final word in your life, it causes great joy. And the joy the angel was talking about here is not a temporary kind of euphoria, but a real, rock solid, eternal life holds you together through the hard times of life. And that kind of joy springs from a heart that stays grateful for the good news that has come into your life. You might remember a few months ago, we were teaching through the book of Nehemiah. When the people celebrate the accomplishment of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah reminds them, never forget this moment. It's the joy of the Lord. That's your strength, the joy of the Lord that's your strength. And I'm learning that that strength, it comes from a daily grateful celebration of who God is and what he has done for you. You see, that kind of joy, that great joy is not rooted in our ever changing circumstances, but in the unchanging character of the living God, that's what makes it great joy. Because when your life is grounded, when your life is rooted in his goodness and his mercy and his faithfulness and his grace and his kindness and his truth and his wisdom and his power and his stre, it changes everything about how you see and do life. The angel said, fear not, for I bring you good news that you were loved more than you ever imagined, that you are far more valuable than you ever thought you were, that the darkness will never rule in your life because a baby lion in a manger is the savior of the world. And that ought to cause great, great joy. So fear not. Good news, great joy. And the best part about it, it's for all people. All people. Like we say around Lake Point a lot, this is a church for all people. And these shepherd dudes, they really needed to hear These words, a savior has been born to you. To you. See, shepherds were hard working, blue collar guys with outdoor faces. They lived in rough terrain, lived rough lives. They spent long nights outside in the cold. They spent long days in the hot, scorching sun. They spent weeks away from home, even if they had one. They were typically gone for months at a time, especially during lambing season, which was in the spring every year. So keeping their watch over their flocks at night, that was a real thing for them. And these guys definitely got their steps in because they walked everywhere they went. They fought off predators like wolves and hyenas and jackals and the occasional bear and lion. They carried this rod, kind of like a short club that could fight them off. They carried a staff, kind of a long crook, where they would help with the sheep. And often they had a sling, you know, with stones, like think David as a shepherd, the slingshot. They slept lightly. They would lay across the door of the sheep pen at night, risking their lives for sheep that weren't even theirs. And the sheep that they watched were usually not like large commercial herds. Most were just mixed family flocks, like 20 to 100 sheep at the most. They birthed, they nurtured, they nursed, they cared for, searched for, and carried injured sheep. And a good shepherd knew every sheep by distinguishing markings, by their personality, by their behavior, by their responsiveness to his voice. See, shepherds didn't drive sheep like cowboys drive cattle. They led from the front, and the sheep would hear the familiar voice of the shepherd talking or singing, and they would follow along. Like Jesus said one time, my sheep, they know my voice and they follow me. And even though they were really good at their job, even though they were dependable and gritty and they held an essential role in kind of an agrarian economy, they were looked down upon as the lowest class of people. They were scrutinized, stigmatized as unclean, uncultured, unpolished, uneducated and unnoticed. They lived on the margins, literally and socially and religiously. They lived in community, slept in shifts, ate around a fire, shared responsibilities. And they were usually a tight knit, interdependent kind of band of brothers, kind of, kind of tribe, and living a largely outdoor kind of life, they were definitely connected to creation. I mean, when you're taking sunsets every day and you see sunrises, and you're watching the stars come out at night, and you're seeing storms roll in, and you're watching brand new grass sprout up from under rocks, you're keenly aware of the existence of a mighty God, and you know, his glory. And if you think of some of the psalms that David wrote as a shepherd, you can also see how they were keenly aware of their need for that God. Now, because they were always working, they weren't always the ones show up regularly at the local synagogue. And because they were always handling animals and walking through manure and touching blood and unable to bathe regularly, all of this made them ritually unclean by the religious standards of the day. So here's these guys. Working the night shift in the fields. They're smelling somewhere between a campfire and a middle school boy's locker room, and nobody's noticing them, nobody's watching them, nobody's talking about them, nobody's posting pictures of the shepherd life on Instagram. They were always left out, always on the outside looking in. Always lasts. And God looks out heaven's window and says, start with them. Yeah, let's start with them. I want them to be the very first to hear the good news. I mean, if we were writing a script for the birth of Jesus, the announcement comes first to political leaders or religious elite, to influencers, people with connections and clout. But God totally flips the script and says, ah, let's go with shepherds. Yeah, let's go with shepherds. And the angels are probably going, you sure about that? I just think it's so cool that the very first Christmas message was not delivered in a palace, but a pasture. The angel of God was announcing that the savior of the world had come for the lonely, for the overlooked, for the ordinary, the rejected, the outsider, saying that nobody's too small, nobody's too dirty, nobody's too broken, nobody's too forgotten, nobody's. Nobody's too far gone. This is good news for all people. You see, Jesus didn't come for perfect people. He didn't come for perfect people. There are none, by the way. He came for real people. People with scars and stories, people with failures and regrets and baggage and fears. Real people like you and me. Bethlehem shepherds were believed to care for temple flocks. They would tend to the lambs that were used in Jerusalem for sacrifices. And history tells us that often newborn lambs, particularly those that were born with no blemish, would often be wrapped or bound or swaddled in strips of cloth. It would keep them from injuring themselves, becoming deformed, also provide warmth and protection for them. The goal was to preserve, like the perfect lamb for sacrifice. You talk about some divine poetry that shepherds who worked with sacrificial lambs were told, you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lion in a feed trough. He is set apart as special, the perfect sacrifice, the savior of the world, the Lamb of God. And that's why they hurried, that's why they ran to see the good news that would cause great joy for all people, including them. You know, this Christmas season, not only will we experience the really moving candlelight services here, but you'll probably go to a few Christmas pageants at school or community. You see little kids. I love those plays where they dress up in bathrobes. And there's Mary and Joseph and shepherds dressed in burlap. They always make me smile. You might remember the story of the little kids Christmas pageant where one kid really wanted the part of Joseph, but he got overlooked and another kid got the part of Joseph. And that kid got assigned the part of the innkeeper. And he was not happy about it. He was really jealous of the little boy that was playing the part of Joseph. So he decided when the play would start, he's going to throw the whole thing off. So Joseph and Mary come to the inn, knock on the door. He swings open the door and says, come on in. I got plenty of room. And the quick thinking little Joseph goes, He took a step inside the door and looked around and went, this place is a dump. There's no way I'm bringing my wife in here. Come on, Mary, let's go to the barn and get the play right back on track. I love those. I love those little plays. And I love how Randy Alcorn reflects on all this. He says this as we gaze on nativity scenes and we smile at those gunny sack shepherds. Let's not lose sight of the striking irony. A handful of shepherds marginalized by the social and religious elite were chosen to break the silence of centuries heralding Messiah's birthday. Fear not. Good news. Great joy all people to look out heaven's window at a dark and dismal earth. What man once lost was found again. And hope was given birth In a smelly barn a baby born held by teenage hands. God showed up in just his way to fulfill his plan. You see, he heard us crying, pining, hiding, dying in our sin. So in unblemished love, God slipped into our skin and the word became flesh and the greatest became least. And swaddling clothes were wrapped around heaven's highest priest. O holy night, O night divine. When Jesus came into this world for your sin and mine A savior is born in a Womb. He was formed, Our flesh worn to comfort those who mourn, to calm the storm. To have his flesh torn. His name scorned. To wear a crown of thorns. Not the thing we want to see when looking in the straw at a manger, at a baby. But he came to save us all. Made human, became human. Forgave human, saved human. He is holy. Different, set apart. King Emmanuel, God with us. Yahweh, Prince of peace. He is the strength for the weak. He is refuge for the frightened. He's rest for the weary. He's the shepherd of the wandering. He's the healer to the hurting. He's the forgiver of all sinners. He's the Savior of the world. His name is Jesus. The name above all other names. The name who deserves all fame. The one who remains the same. Who took our blame, our shame, our pain. He is all. All knowing, almighty, all loving, all worthy, all righteous, all beauty, all truth, all grace. All swaddled small. And if we listen closely, we'll hear angels in one accord singing peace on earth and hope to all who will call this baby Lord. And Father, I'm so grateful for this story. So grateful that you came to Earth like we sang. You didn't want heaven without us, so you brought heaven to us. You came to be with us, to take away our sins so that we could live forever. And, Father, I just pray that somebody would grasp the reality of that today. That in their heart today they would say, I want to call that baby Lord. I need a savior. I need to be forgiven. I need to accept the gift that God has given me this Christmas, Father, I pray for that to happen over all of our campuses. And I pray that to happen all of our Christmas services, too. I pray that during this Christmas season, as we're flipping channels and watching crazy Christmas movies and doing all the fun stuff at Christmas, that we would realize this is the deal, that you came looking for us and you grew up and laid down your life so we could be free. Thank you so much, Jesus. It's in your name I pray. Amen.