← Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
Victory Church: Paul Daugherty
A TALE OF TWO WORSHIPPERS | PAUL DAUGHERTY | WORSHIP SERIES PT. 3
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Jesus.
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Come on, everybody, say worship. Well, we are finishing the year in a series on worship. And if you got a Bible, I want to go to Matthew, chapter two. Come on, Jesus. I want to talk to you about the Christmas story in terms of worship. And I want to title this message A Tale of Two Worshipers. A Tale of Two Worshipers. Now, the word tale does not mean that this is a fake story. I looked it up to make sure before I titled this sermon. I was like, I don't want people thinking I'm calling the Christmas story a tall tale or something. A tale could be fictional or it could be true. And the story is all about a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Something that hooks you in and captivates you with wild consequences for someone in the story, good or bad. And when I think about the story of Christmas, it's an amazing tale, right? I mean, this story has captivated people for thousands of years now. And it's a story that back probably a long time ago, hundreds of years ago, a thousand plus years ago, people would sit around a campfire and they would talk about this Christmas story with their family, with their children, amongst their parents, right? They would ask questions, they would talk about the characters in the story. And I don't know about you, but I love Christmas time. I love this season. My kids and I, we've been sitting down. We watched Miracle on 34th Street. We watched Home Alone. We watched the Grinch. I mean, we watch how many all been watching the Christmas movies, the Hallmark movies, the hot cocoa, the Christmas lights. I like all of it. It is a little bit hectic, though. It's a little bit stressful. There's a lot of neediness in this season amongst me, my wife and my children. And it's almost like the needs amplify in the winter season. Like, people just need more, right? They need more attention, they need more love, they need more affirmation. And when I look at the Christmas story, it's a story about worship. It's a story about needs and wants and who's going to get the worship, who's going to get the adoration. And by the way, worship is more than a song. As much as I love what our band does every single Sunday. And I love that we sing and we lift our hands and sometimes we'll bow down and sometimes we'll shout. All of those expressions are great expressions of worship, but worship is so much more than that. And what we're gonna find out through this story is that worship really is a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle of obedience. Someone asked me recently, they said, are you going to talk about Advent leading up towards Christmas? I said, yes. I typically do these last several years. And so this week I started thinking about what was Advent all about on the church calendar. It was this anticipation, this expectation, this waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. But not just the first coming of the Messiah. It's the reminder that he's coming back again and his second coming will be greater than his first right. That Jesus will come much more stronger than he came the first time. The first time he came as a baby in a manger. The second time he's coming back riding on that horse, y'.
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All.
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He's going to rapture his church. He's going to lead us into triumphant victory. But when I look back on that season in Advent season, and we think about why we light the candles in our house, that candle of Advent, there was four weeks that the church would set aside leading up towards Christmas. And the first week was the candle of hope, reminding us that our hope is not in the government. Our hope is not in a president. Our hope is not in ourselves or our last name or the economy. Our hope is not in a person on this earth or our hope was in Jesus. It was and it is and it always will be. And for the church, this is our reminder at Advent that we wait and we keep the hope alive. That flame in our house, I think about the flame across the street that hasn't gone out for 50 plus years at oral Roberts University on the top of the prayer tower. That flame that reminds us of the Holy Spirit, but it also reminds us of hope. That our hope is in Jesus. The second week of Advent is the candle of peace, reminding us that he is our wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of peace. In our house, we light that candle and we remind ourselves our peace doesn't come from getting everything. Our way doesn't come from silence in our house. Cause our house is very rarely silent. Our house is not a silent night. It is a loud, chaotic night. And I think about even when Jesus was born in Bethlehem and the donkey around him, right? And the sheep and the. I mean, the chaos that was going on in Israel and everything that was happening that he came and he brought peace in a world of chaos, that he is our Prince of peace. The third week of Advent, that third candle is the candle of joy. And we're going to pick up in the story right now in Matthew chapter two, where there is this experience of joy that happens leading up towards the arrival of the Messiah. Matthew, chapter 2, verse 1. As Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, right? These Magi, these wise men, they came to Jerusalem and they said, where is the one who has been born? King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose. And we have come. Look at this. To worship who? We've come to worship him in the midst of all of the craziness that happens in our life, in the midst of all of the needs and the wants and the things we gotta do at Christmas time, sometimes we can forget what it's all about. Y'. All, Christmas is not about us. It's not about our kids. It's not about our toys. It's not about the lights and the movies and the hot cocoa. Christmas is about worshiping Jesus. And what we're going to find out in this story is that, like, worship is happening. It's not a question of if you will worship. It's a question of who you'll worship. We're going to look at the tale of two worshipers. But there's a lot of worshipers in this story. From the wise men to the shepherds, to Mary to Joseph, to Herod, to everyone in this story is a worshiper. The question is not, are you a worshiper? The question is, who or what are you worshiping? These wise men came to worship him. Now, these were the wisest men who lived in their time. No offense. They were probably wiser than some of us in this room, right? They were not called the idiotic men. They were called the wise men. They studied astrology, they studied science, they studied mathematics, they understood how to solve the world's problems. And they started thinking, what is the wisest thing we could do with our money, our time, our energy, our focus, our attention? What should we fix our adoration on? Worship is about value. What is the most valuable thing we could do with our lives? Maybe we could spend our lives focused on screens. Screens, iPhones, right? You think you're not worshiping when you are glued to that iPhone. But I'll tell you, like, worship is where you put your focus. You go, I love Jesus, but it's hard for me to put my iPhone down in church. I just gotta have that screen in front of my face. I'm calling everybody out today. I love Jesus, but, you know, I'm probably gonna be out of church for about six weeks there during hunting season. Cause hunting is way more important to me than Jesus. I love Jesus. But guys, it's soccer season and my family, we're in club soccer and our kids are the most important priority in our life and soccer is the highest valuable commodity in our home. So, so soccer is gonna take precedence over Jesus for six months out of the year? Soccer is number one in our. Volleyball is number. Who is number one in your life? The wisest men in the world decided that the most valuable thing they could do with their lives was not spend their time on screens or sports with their kids. It was all about bringing their all their offering to Jesus. You go, well, what does that do for me? Yes, in our self help society we are obsessed with what's in it for me. And there is a character in this story we're about to find out that had that same mindset. What's in it for me? How does this help me? How is this curated to my liking to make me a better person for myself? Me, me, me, me, my I, I, I. These wise men flipped the script. Instead of making Christmas all about them, instead of making life all about them. More money, more stuff, more materials. It was all about what can I bring to God? Because in Him I live and move and have my being if I can worship, listen, to worship God is, is actually to come back to life. When you worship yourself, you start to self destruct. But when you begin to worship Jesus, you start to resurrect, you start to come back to life again. And so these wise men, they decided, this is what we're here for, this is what we were created for. Everybody say to worship him. Now watch how Herod responds to this. Verse 3. When King Herod heard this. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the. If faith comes by hearing, I wonder what else comes by hearing. I wonder if jealousy comes by hearing. I wonder if fear and insecurity comes by hearing news reports, shootings, chaos, someone else getting the attention besides you stirring up the insecurity, someone else getting more focused. I think one of the litmus tests of worship is can you handle when the praise doesn't go to you, can you handle when the attention and the adoration is going to someone else besides you? Because as soon as King Herod heard this, he was disturbed. Disturbia in King Herod's palace, right? This guy, I mean he just couldn't handle. This guy was worse than Scrooge. Not only did he want to keep it to himself, he didn't want anyone. Did you guys know King Herod was one of the most insane, maniacal kings and there were three Herods Herod had a son that was like the one son he didn't kill because he killed some of his sons. He killed three of his sons, all because he was afraid they were going to steal his crown. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. If you are power hungry, if you are manipulative and deceptive and you want to try to keep the crown to yourself. Heavy as the head, yes. Obsessed and paranoid about who's going to steal your throne. If you are living with jealousy and insecurity. And this is where Herod was at. Herod the Great was known as the most insane, but also genius architectural kings. He built incredible buildings, right? But he killed his kids, killed his wife, killed his wife's father, killed anyone that threatened potentially to take his throne. And you might go, well, Paul, none of us are even close to that maniac, right? But if we have even just an inkling in our heart of making life about us, throwing fits when we don't get our way, worshiping ourselves, even though we may not say, I worship me and I live to praise me and I place me on the throne of my heart. Yeah, we're not gonna sing that. That sounds insane. You're like, that is so narcissist. Right? But it's the little subtle things we do. It's the things we do in church that we don't even realize. It's like, I'm not listening to this sermon. It's not for me. I'm tuning out on my phone. I'm on my apps. I'm doing what I want to do for me, Me, me, me, me. I'm skipping church next week. I don't want to go. It's end of the year. I just want to sleep in for me, Me, me, me. I just need me. I need me. I need self care for myself every single self care day of my life. You're like, dude, this Paul is crazy right now. I'm unhinged. All right, here we go. We're talking about the Christmas story. King Herod was unhinged. He was disturbed. And not just Herod. As the king goes, as the dad goes, so goes the house. Like, don't be surprised if your kids are self absorbed. If you're self absorbed. Model servant leadership model. Shifting the focus at Christmas time. We're going to read the story about Jesus. We're going to. We're gonna pray together. We're gonna give thanks to God for what he's already given us. Before we demand more toys, we are going to pause and give thanks to the Lord, that he has been faithful. He's Jehovah, he's Jireh, he's El Shaddai, he's Adonai. We live in a society that's entitled and demanding and telling God that he owes us stuff when he's already given us so much to already praise him for. And Herod was disturbed. Who's this king and whose throne is he sitting on? And why is he here? And go to the next verse. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where this Messiah was to be born. He was intrigued. He was interested in Bethlehem and Judea. Bethlehem, it's like a small, humble town. What are you talking about? Nothing great comes from Bethlehem. This is what the prophet had written. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least. In other words, like Bethlehem was known as, like this humble small town. But oftentimes some of the greatest miracles. We heard it earlier in the testimony from baptism. Oftentimes some of the greatest miracles come from the least expected places. And so this is the prophet prophesying that out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. Israel had lost true shepherds. And so Jesus was not only a true shepherd, he was the true shepherd. He was the good shepherd. And Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from the exact time the star had appeared. Right? Herod's trying to, like, deceive and manipulate and control the situation. He sends them to Bethlehem. I love that he thinks he's the one that sent them there. And, like, he's the one. I'm sending you guys. I am. You are my envoys. I'm sending you out. Go and search carefully for the child. And as soon as, like, he's controlling, he's like, as soon as you find him, report back to me, come back to me. Right? He's kind of a control freak. Right. And I want to just pause for a moment because we're talking about the tale of two worshipers. And I want to focus on Herod for a second because he's our first worshiper we're going to look at. And you go, I don't know if he's really a worshiper. He is. He is. He's a worshiper of himself. He's not a worshiper of Jesus. We see that because we're about to find out. He's going to commit one of the worst crimes in Israel. It's called the massacre of the innocents. The massacre of the innocents. You can read about it even in Jewish history books. People who don't believe in Christianity and Jesus are denying historical facts. Not only was Jesus historically documented outside of the Bible, as someone who lived and was born and caused a massive disruption in Israel, but during his time there was a maniacal king who actually lived. And I've been there in 2023, I actually walked around with a Jewish tour guide who showed us where King Herod the Great lived and what he did and what he built for himself. Some of this stuff is still standing. Archaeology have found like stuff that was there from 2000 years ago during Herod the Great's time. Herod the Great really lived and he committed one of the worst crimes, killed tens of thousands of babies, two and under. Any male that was two and under threatened by a baby trying to steal his crown. How paranoid and insecure do you have to be that you would kill a baby? And yet our nation signed laws decades ago killing millions of babies. Threatened by what? This baby might cause a disruption to my life. This baby might be an inconvenience to our plans. Lord, forgive us for the abortions that have happened in our nation. God values life from the womb to the tomb. He values life young and old. He values the life of a hundred year old man in our church and a baby that's in the womb, someone 12 weeks pregnant. God values life. And the moment that we stop valuing life, we start becoming like Herod and we start worshiping ourselves. Well, I'm in control of myself, my body, my life, my choice, what I want, my will, my way, my kingdom come. Yes. And you know how Herod's life ended? Let me tell you the tale of the first worshiper. Herod worshiped himself, killed people around him trying to protect his throne. Died a very young death. And you know how he died? He got an infection from within, itching across his body, a parasite in his body. And y', all, it started in a very rough place that I can't say on stage. And eventually it got so bad he started convulsing and he lost his breath. Because when you don't give the breath back to the one who gave it to you, you lose it when you like. Do you understand when we sing that song, it's your breath in my lungs.
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So we pour out our praise. Pour out our praise.
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It's your breath in my lungs. Don't you remember who gave you those hands, those feet, the breath? When you don't give the worship back to the one who gave you your breath you lose the breath. You have. Herod lost his breath, and he died. And you go, well, he still had a legacy. He still had a throne in his name. Yet his son did worse things than him. And his son died a young death. We actually did an Easter play about it last year. My brother John wrote a great script explaining the story of Herod the Great and his son and what happened to his son. And then the next, the grandson killed James, right? So Herod the Great couldn't kill Jesus. So his son tries to kill Jesus, kills him. Jesus raises from the dead. Spoiler alert. Jesus wins, Herod loses. But then that Herod dies, and then his son, which is the grandson of this king, Herod the Great. These guys just named each other after themselves, and it's all, you know. But anyways, Herod, who kills James, the half brother of Jesus, in Acts, chapter 12, he dies a crazy death, right? If you read it, he's eaten by worms. You know what I'm talking about, Ron? Isn't it the worms that destroy him? Or dogs? Is it dogs or worms? Worms. We got worms. All right, that was a dumb and dumber quote. All right, here we go. Let me define worship for you. Let's talk about the definition of worship. Worship. Throw it up here. It's to show reverence, adoration, devotion, honor, and love for something or someone, some deity. So this is worship, adoration, devotion, honor and love. In a way, you can worship your family just by giving them a ton of love and affection and attention. And it's not bad to love your family. It's not bad to be devoted like God wants us to be devoted and loving and sacrificing. No greater love than this than a man would lay down his life for his friends. But how much more greater love that Jesus laid his life down for sinners, strangers, people who hated him, Right? So there's something beautiful about sacrifice for your family. Honor, devotion, reverence. But you need to determine who's at the top. Like this. Last week, I was watching the top charts on Apple Music, and I just wanted to know, like, what was the top song? And it was interesting. I did a little study on songs that were 100. They were the hundredth song of the year five months ago, and they started climbing the charts. And so they went from 100th song out of all the songs to 90th to 80th to 50th to 40th to 30th to in the top 10 songs in America, y', all one of the top songs this year. Globally was a Christian song by Forrest Frank, you ways better. Christian music is having a revival right now in the world. More people are listening to Christian music in this time in history than any time before. A lot of atheists are listening to Christian music. And it's funny because they know who Forest Frank is and they know his song. They like his songs on TikTok. They're finding out about who Jesus is through his music. But I thought it was interesting how these songs are climbing the charts. They're climbing the charts. I went to the Christian genre of music, and I was interested at, like, the Christian music of what's climbing the charts. And Brandon Lake had a song, Elevation had a song, like Phil Wickham had a song. And some of these songs at 1.6 weeks ago were high up on the chart, like 30th or 40th or 50th. And now they're in the top 10. And the top 10 is, like, the most coveted place to have your song, because that top 10 is gonna get a lot of attention. It's gonna get a lot of, like, streaming, downloading. Everybody's listening to it, talking, sharing it with their friends. But the most coveted spot on that top 10 is. Is the number one spot. And it got me thinking about us in this room. I wonder what in your life has been climbing the charts to the top 10. I wonder who or what has been stealing your worship. Like, maybe 10 years ago, golf was like 100th on the list, but recently it's been climbing the charts. It's in the top 10. If you were to look at, like, if your banker was to pull up all your transactions in the last year and go, here's where you spent the majority of your money. Coffee has climbed the charts. It's now in the top five of how much budgeted money you set aside for Starbucks, right? And then let's see what else is on that top 10 list. You know, your favorite hobby, your favorite gym, the presents you buy, the clothes you wear, all of that stuff. What's been climbing the charts for Herod, it was himself. Himself just kept climbing the charts. He just stayed in that number one spot. He sat on the throne of his heart, and it destroyed him. It destroyed him. And it got me thinking, like, we need to recognize that worship is happening on an hourly basis in our life, not just at church. It's happening every hour of the day, and sometimes we forget that it's happening. I want to show you some pictures of worship that's happening even right now across the world. Just a couple pictures of worship. People will paint their bellies, they will stand in line for hours to worship. Some of their favorite, they will raise their hands. Some of you that are like, I'm not a hand raiser in church, let me watch you watch an OU football game at your house on the couch, right? Or Dallas Cowboys, come on, I know it's tough, right? Some of you will stand in the freezing cold, below degree temperatures in the snow. But don't ask me to come to church when it's 25 degrees outside. It's a little too cold to get out there. Some people will stand for Taylor Swift. They will make their own T shirts and cry emotional tears. The Swifty fans, they're obsessed. Some dads out there are so obsessed, they will scream at rest. They will get into fights for their kids, right? And they will shout and they will yell and they are passionate, passionately devoted and committed to do whatever they can for their favorite team or their favorite person or their favorite thing. They will stand and they will worship and they will praise and they will pay. And y', all, I was part of a group like this, the maybe Maniacs. We used to paint our bellies at Oral Roberts University. We would go to games, we would shout, we would raise our hands, we would scream, we would study the stats of players and we were like the biggest, bestest fans. But let me show you a couple other pictures. That's Will Ferrell shouting at some movie. But some of us are worshiping this right here. We just got our phones out. It's like full focus, full attention right here, right? Leaning in, leaning in. And so like you go, well, that's not really worship. That's just passion. That's just devotion. That's just excitement. That's just attention. That's just, that's just obsession. That's worship. Now watch what happens here in this story. The wise men, they go to search for Jesus in verse nine, after they heard the king, they went on their way and the star led them to where they saw and it arose and it stopped over the place where the child was. In verse 10, when they saw the star. I love this. And verse 10, when they saw the star, they were overjoyed. Now this is like the third week of Advent. The candle of joy, Jesus fills every void in my heart. Jesus is my joy. Jesus is the greatest place I'm going to find joy. Jesus is the greatest source of sustainable joy. Happiness comes and goes, whatever happens to me. But the joy that comes from Jesus, it's sustainable. It is a consistent source that I can go back to. And this Advent season I want to remind you, Jesus is your joy. When you're feeling depressed, when you're feeling overwhelmed. A bottle's not going to fix it. Like another relationship is not going to fix it. Another job is not going to fix it. More money's not going to fix it. A new house won't fix it. But coming back to Jesus, the Messiah, he is the fulfillment of the void that you've been searching for. And people out in the world, they sing the song that you too sing. I still haven't found Found what I'm looking for. I have found what I'm looking for. It's Jesus. He fills my soul. He fills my heart. Bono, I'm glad you asked. Jesus is the one that you're looking for. And the fourth week of Advent is the week of love. And that's the week we're in right now. We remind ourselves that as we worship Jesus, we're filled with his love for God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting. The wise men, they were filled with joy because they knew he was their salvation. He was the reason that they were alive. And watch this as they're filled with joy. On coming to the house at this moment, they see his mother Mary, they bowed down. Worship has an expression. You saw the pictures of people that were raising their hands, shouting and y'. All. I'm all about saying that worship is a lifestyle because it is. But I, I think throughout our lives we need to make sure that we are publicly praising the Lord with a voice or with an expression, with our hands or with our mouth. That we are publicly saying Jesus deserves the glory and praise. And I'm cutting up my cool card, I'm throwing it away. I don't care what anyone thinks. I'm a hand raiser, I'm a bower. I like. If you're going to do it for ou, you better do it for Jesus because oh, you lost the other night too soon. I forgive them, but they broke my heart. Jesus won't break my heart. Jesus won't do what ou did. Dallas Cowboys, I like that team a lot. How bout them Cowboys. But they let me down every single year. This is our year. It's what we've been saying for 20 years since Troy Aikman. All right, Jesus won't fail you. Jesus won't fail you. Well, why should I bow down for him? Will you Give more love and attention to our president sometimes than you do to Jesus. Why should I worship him? What kind of value is he going to add? What's the value add of bowing down and worshiping and raising my hands? What you value starts to show up in your life. And the more you value certain things and teams and stuff and materials, it starts to show up in your identity. And it not only says a lot about who you are, it starts to define your character, it starts to define your moral compass, it starts to define your personality in a way, you almost like become identified with that thing you value so much. So if you're going to value anything and anyone that's sustainable, that's consistent, that will never let you down. The wisest men in the world, they chose Jesus, and their lives were defined by who they valued. Their story today is still told 2,000 years later that they spent that entire time bringing their treasures. Like the best return on your investment is the kingdom of God. Store your treasures in heaven where moth and rust cannot, like thieves, can't break in and steal. Seek first the kingdom of God and all these other things will be added unto you. Friends, this is worship. What we bring to the Lord, this is worship. And this is where they found their identity. Go to the next verse. They were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod. This is where we start to find out what's about to happen, that Herod's going to kill these people out of a fear that he's losing his throne. Now I want to go to one more worshiper before we end today. Go to Luke 1, verse 26. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, the town in Galilee. I want the keyboard to come out to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. Virgin's name was Mary. You know the story. The angel says, greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Watch this. Mary was greatly troubled. It's almost as close as the response of Herod when Herod heard from the magi a messiah was to be born. The word was disturbed. Herod was disturbed. He was disturbed out of fear that he was about to lose his throne. He was disturbed from a insecure paranoia, like threatened, like mindset. Mary was troubled because she was thinking, I'm a nobody and the greatest angel that serves in heaven that answers to God has just showed up at my doorstep. Her troubled state was not from a place of threatened or paranoid or insecure. She was like, who Am I that God would come to my house? Who am I that God would talk to me? And what kind of greeting, calling me a favored woman? It was a humble response. God opposes the proud. A tale of two worshipers. You're either prideful or humble. God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. The angel begins to speak to her. Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son. You are to call him Jesus. He will be great, be called the son of the Most High. The Lord will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. Mary says, how can this be? I'm a virgin, right? She's not questioning if God can do it. She's questioning, how are you going to do it, God? The angel says, the Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. Let me say something. Mary had this revelation in this moment that she's not the main deal. She's not the one that needs to be worshiped. Just a word to any denomination out there that grew up worshiping Mary. Mary was never the deity that we were supposed to worship. Any church you grew up in where it was, like, all the focus was on Mary. Mary was just the delivery. I think about how our family, we like pizza, we order pizza. The delivery guy, he's not the main thing. We're not there. Like, he's not. Thank you, delivery guy. You've given us what we need. Even the box. The box is not the main thing. Doesn't matter what color the box is. We, like, hungry Howie's. It's a yellow box. Sometimes we'll get Mazios, right? Or, you know, you got the brown boxes, some of the red boxes, some people got blue boxes out there. Doesn't matter what the color of the box is. The box is just the box. It's the pizza. And Mary realized I'm just a box. Like, I am not the main thing. The bread of life is about to flow through me. The one that people really need is Jesus. And this is why every time I get up on stage, I'm like, God, I'm just the delivery guy. Doesn't matter what the box looks like. I just want to make sure people get the pizza this week. I want to make sure I give them the meat, the bread. I want to make sure that they get, like, you know, the three meat pizza. I want sausage, pepperoni, and what's another meat, bacon Chicken, whatever. God, just give up. Like, get me out of the way and deliver what you need to deliver. And some of us, we've made it all about us. And when you make it about you, it stirs up the insecurity. But when you make it about Jesus, you're allowed to just get out of the way and say, okay, God, I gave the people you. And that's what they needed all along. And that's what the angel said. The Holy Spirit will overshadow you. The Holy One will be born. Son of God, Right? I love how Mary responds. Elizabeth is going to have a child in her old age. She who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail. Nothing is impossible for God. Let me remind anyone in the room that needs a miracle. Nothing is impossible with God. I love how Mary says, I am the Lord's servant. A tale of two worshipers. One came to be served. One came to serve. Jesus said, I didn't come to be served, I came to serve. Mary lived as a servant. She set the example as the mother of the son who came to serve the world. She said, first, I am the Lord's servant. Moms and dads, grandparents. If we will take this approach, I promise you we will raise up true worshipers. We will raise up kids and families that carry a legacy that is the world doesn't revolve around us. We are not this materialistic, obsessed with ourselves, self absorbed, always on our screens, always distracted, always add, you know, just can't handle paying attention to Jesus. And we start raising up families that we go, man, Jesus is the main thing. And if we can focus on him, that's what matters the most. May your word be. May your word to me be fulfilled. The angel left her. Now I want to go further. Go to the next verse. Mary has this moment with Elizabeth. Go to the next verse. Elizabeth experiences this like, leap for joy. John the Baptist is inside Elizabeth, this womb. It's incredible. She's like, Mary, at the sound of your voice, I felt this leap on the inside of me. You need some friends that make you leap on the inside. You need some friends that stir up the dreams inside of you. They go, paul, what's your vision for next year? What are you thinking about? What are you praying for? I want to get an agreement with you. I love that that's our church, that this is a house where we make babies leap on the inside of the dreams inside of you. Right. It was a house of miracles. It was A house that was stirring up hope in God. And I love this. In a loud voice, she exclaimed, blessed are you among women. Blessed is the child you will bear. And then Mary begins to respond. Go to the next verse, verse 44. As soon as this. Oh, next verse. Sorry, we're getting there. Next verse. There we go. There we go. There we go. This is what our production was called, the Magnificat, the song that Mary sang to God. This is the tale of the second worshiper. She made her life about Jesus. She made her life about God. My soul glorifies the Lord. Watch what she says next. My spirit rejoices not in myself, not in my position, not in my title, but in God, my Savior. Where do you find your joy? For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on, all generations will call me blessed for the Mighty One. For the Mighty One has done great things for me and holy is his name. So let's look at a contrast real quick of Mary and Herod. What was the difference between these two worshipers? Mary was humble, and you could just screenshot this if you want. Herod was prideful. Mary was filled with faith. Herod was filled with fear. We saw that. Right? Sorry for my terrible lines that I'm drawing there. Mary was filled with love, right? She just loved God and she loved people and she just loved her family. Even people that gossiped about her, she still showed love. And loving people that are easy to love, that's easy. Loving people that are hard to love, that's worship towards God. Herod was filled with hate, right? He hated hated people. If you build your life around hatred, everything eventually is going to destroy itself. You can't say, I worship God, but carry hatred towards a brother or sister. Jesus said, if you have hatred or bitterness in your heart towards someone and you go into the temple to worship him, he said, you might as well walk back out of that temple, make things right with the person you have hatred towards, then come bring your praise offering towards the Lord. Why? Because our heart is a true reflection of our worship. If you have hatred towards someone now, you might go, well, Paul, they won't even listen to me. I can't even reconcile with this person. They've ghosted me. I can't even have a conversation with them. Then deal with it in your own soul. Deal with it in your own soul. Forgive them. You go, well, can I go to heaven and still hate them? No, because in heaven there's no hatred. So you need to get rid of the hatred Today you need to bring it to the altar and say, God, I forgive them. Go into Christmas with love. One of the greatest gifts you can open this Christmas is the gift of forgiveness. Open it up, Mary. Open that gift up. Mary was surrendered. Herod was stubborn. Now, sometimes I can be a little bit stubborn, and anyone else that can be a little bit stubborn in this room where it's like, kind of know what I want, you know what I'm saying? You're not going to change my mind. I kind of know what I believe. I'm kind of stubbornly committed to what I think is best here. And recently, we had a moment with our kids where there was some stubbornness happening over about whether they were going to wear a Christmas sweater for an event. And it was like, all right, you know, the more you resist this, the more consequences are going to happen, because we will bring the rod of love that helps discipline and train a child up in the way they should go and not depart from it. Right? My parents did this to me. We used to stuff socks back there in some books and magazines to make it more padded. Sometimes giving my kids ideas over here, my parents would be like, pull the books out and they'd give us a spanking, Right? Why? Because stubbornness eventually leads to consequences. Herod was so stubbornly committed to his way, my way or the highway. When you live like that, you lose out. Mary just surrendered. Best thing we can do in life is surrender. Mary had a here to serve mentality. Herod had a serve me. Give me this, give me that, give me this, give me that. We see this even in our houses. This is why we gotta challenge ourselves and go, hold up. That's the way of Herod. There's a line in the sand, right? Here's the line. We're starting to become a little bit more like this family. Let's stop. If you're a college student, you're living by yourself in Tulsa right now. If you're a young adult or single or you've walked through a hard situation in your life and you find yourself alone this Christmas, challenge yourself. Whoever you spend Christmas with, if it's by yourself or with others, challenge yourself. Which side are we starting to lean towards? Because we need to come back this way. This is the way that's gonna lead to life. Your only path forward is humility. I'm telling you right now, this is a prophetic word for someone in this room. The only path forward is humility. You're not gonna make it in this next season if you hold Onto your ego. Your ego is gonna be what takes you down. Until you bring that ego to the altar and say, God, I want you to climb the charts this Christmas. I need you to get back into that number one spot on my throne. I need you to sit on the throne of my heart and be number one Herod. Mary had a willing to be inconvenience. She said, I'll go through it. Nine months of pregnancy, I'll go through it. Having a baby in a manger with donkeys and sheep around, I'll go through it. If it's for God's purpose and God's glory, I'm in. Even if it's uncomfortable. You will never be a world changer if you don't allow yourself to be uncomfortable. If life is all about comfort, you're not really following Christ because Christianity is free, like salvation is free. But following Jesus is going to cost you something. It's going to be inconvenient at times. It's going to be uncomfortable. Herod was resistant. Herod was resistant to anything that would make him inconvenienced, anything that would make him uncomfortable. He was insecure, he was self absorbed. It was all about him. Mary worshiped God. That's the bottom line right there. Tale of two worshipers. Herod worshiped himself. Mary found peace with God. Herod was constantly paranoid, couldn't sleep because of everyone around him. And what did it lead to? The final results of all of this. Herod lost everything. Mary gained everything. Herod self destructed. Right. Lost all of it. But Mary worshiped God and she built a lasting legacy of faith. I want you to stand your feet all over this place as we finish this service going into Christmas this week. My prayer is that you and I would bring whatever we need to bring to the altar. Now, there's two groups of people in here that are, that are in the place of Mary. And I think all of us in this room can respond to this moment. You either find yourself in a moment where it's like I have walked through a year that has been a mixture of good, bad and ugly. Valleys and mountains. It was the best of times and the worst of times. At times. What are you gonna do with that? You can either hold onto that, hold onto your fear, your cares, your worries. You can try to hold like it's gonna weigh you down. It's gonna get your spine out of alignment. You're gonna need a chiropractor for the next year to deal with all of those burdens you keep holding on to. Or you could come to the Great physician and you could say, this year, I'm carrying some things into Christmas that I probably need to lay down. Some hurts, some attitudes, some attitudes. My wife, she used to sometimes say to me, check your tude, check your tude. Check the attitude. Attitude check, right? Some of us are carrying attitudes because we're holding on to burdens, cares, wounds, scars. Some of us are holding on to trophies. Some of us are holding on to a crown. You got your Burger King crown where you can have it your way, right? You need to take off that paper crown and lay it at the altar. Say, man, everything good in my life came from God. If you don't give him the glory, you're going to lose it. If you don't give God the breath he gave you, you'll run out of breath. Give it back, bring it to the altar. Some of you were betrayed this year by people. Some of you were deeply hurt by some friends in your life, family members that let you down. If you hold on to that and go, I'm not going down to that altar. I never go to altars. It's for people that need hope, need Jesus. You need Jesus, man. We all need Jesus. We all need hope. We all need peace. We all need forgiveness. We all need grace. If the wisest men in the world found themselves bowing at the feet of a baby, what's holding you back in 2025 from finishing this year? Just saying, God, I surrender. I give it all to you. I think there's a second group in the room. You need a miracle. You need an impossible situation to become possible. How did it happen? For Mary, the impossible became possible when she chose to worship God. When she said, here I am, Lord, I am your servant. I'm all yours. Every part of me in the heart of me, every category in my life, I bring it into the submission of you, God. Whatever you want to do, you can do it. When you do that, God can do anything. So I want us just to close our eyes, bow our heads across this room. If you find yourself in any of those places where. So we're going to worship for the next five, ten minutes, and then we'll dismiss. But if you find yourself in any of those spots right now, just do an examination of the altar in your own heart. Your heart is an altar right now. Self examination time. Is there any part of you that has been drifting a little bit across the line? When I drew the line in the sand between Mary and Herod, is there any part of you that you go Yeah, I need to bring that back to the altar. I need. There's some things I need to lay down at the altar. I need Jesus to take the top charts again. I need him to be the top priority in my life. I need to shift my worries and my fears and my cares and shame and hurt and anger and pride and ego. I need to bring it to the altar, whatever it is. Or maybe you find yourself as the person that needs a miracle. Bring God into that situation. If that's you, I want you to just raise your hand all over this room from the front row to the back row. Yeah. Hands going up. I'm gonna ask you to leave your seat. Come and find a place at this altar. Let's just worship. If you want to just get right with God today, come and join us. If you need prayer for healing or a miracle, come and join us. Let's just make this a moment for worship right now. Come on. This is the candle inside your soul right now. God's been longing for your praise. He's been longing for you to just put him first. He's been longing for you to lay down your ego. And he's been praying for this. He's like a father in the stands saying, come on, son, just surrender. Come on, daughter, just surrender. Just bring it. God says I'm the only one that can satisfy you. I'm the only one that can fulfill you. Yeah, let's just worship. Here I am. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to lay it all before you, God.
- [44:14]
A
Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together. All together. Oh Lord, I love together. Oh Lord, I need all together. Wonderful to me.
- [44:34]
B
Here I am.
- [44:35]
A
Here I am to worship. Lord, I worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say you're my God. You're all to die together. All together. Love me. All together Wor. Just give it to him. Just give it to him. In Jesus name.
- [45:10]
B
Lord, I thank you for your healing. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your grace. I thank you, God, that you never give up on us. You never let go of us.
- [45:19]
A
Your faith together lovely. All together, worthy. All together. Wonderful to me said I'll never know how much it cost to see my sin. Upon that it's I know that I'll never know how much it cost to see my s. Upon that I'll never know. He loves you.
- [46:03]
B
He's for you.
- [46:04]
A
He's with you.
- [46:05]
B
He's never going to leave.
- [46:06]
A
Never going to forsake you never going.
- [46:08]
B
To fail, you never going to abandon.
- [46:37]
A
Here I am to bow down Here I am to say that you're my God. You're all together lovely all together worthy all together wonderful to me sing Here I am to worship Here I, I Here I am.
- [47:15]
B
Still with you, still for you all together.
- [47:24]
A
All together wonder all together, all together you're all together lovely all together, all together wonderful to me. O come let us answer oh come let us answer O come let us, Let us adore. For he alone is worthy For Jesus.
- [49:05]
B
Christ.
- [49:09]
A
The Lord we give you all the glory. We give you all the glory we give you all the glory. So turn your eyes upon Jesus look for in his wonderful face and the things of earth will grow strange.
- [50:24]
B
In.
- [50:25]
A
The light of his glory and grace.
- [50:31]
B
Turn your eyes upon Jesus.
- [50:36]
A
Your eyes upon Jesus. He's worthy, he's holy look for it is wonderful. I surrender all and the things of earth will go strangely Tim in the light.
- [51:07]
B
God, I just pray for the amazing people of victory that are here this morning, watching online. I pray that this would be a Christmas season of healing, forgiveness, God, just mental healing, emotional healing, relational healing. I pray for no drama this Christmas. No division, no strife, no dysfunctional things happen. I pray God for reconciliation, reconciliation. I pray for restoration. I pray for healing in homes, God, healing in people's bodies, healing in people's minds, healing in people's hearts. I pray for the person that's feeling lonely right now, God, that you would just be a comforter to them this Christmas, that they would know that they are not alone. I pray for the person that's battling depression right now. I pray, God, that you would heal his mind. Heal her mind, God, I pray that she would find peace and joy. He would find peace and joy in you. I pray, God, that your favor would rest on homes this Christmas, that your face would shine on your church, that we would experience, God, just your grace. That we would just find ourselves sitting around that that moment, God, in our houses, in our apartments, dorm rooms, God, just giving thanks to you, just overflowing with praise, thanking you for this year, thanking you for your son, thanking you you on Christmas day. God, I break off the scarcity mindset, the fear filled mindset, the carrying it all on your shoulders mindset, that we would cast it all on you, that we would feel lighter this Christmas because we have found our peace and our hope and our joy, God, and our love in you. Just pray this with me. Say, Jesus, you deserve the glory. I worship you. I give you my heart. I'm all yours. Every part of me, in the heart of me is yours. I repent of sin. I receive your mercy, your grace, your salvation. You are my savior, my Lord. My soul magnifies the Lord. And I humble myself before you. Have your way in my life, your kingdom come, your will be done. In Jesus name, amen. And amen. I love you. God loves you.