Out of Nowhere

The Kid from nowhere changes how you see your situation.

[Scripture Reading]

1)For today’s message, let us turn to the Gospel of Luke 2:1-7. I’ll read the first verse and everyone the other and then we will read the last verse together. Now, let us all rise for the word of the Lord.

Luke 2:1–7 (NIV)

2)1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.

2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)

3 And everyone went to their own town to register.

4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.

3)5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,

7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

Amen.

[Welcome]

Good morning PW, and welcome the First Advent Sunday. Let us greet one another by saying, 4)“Jesus is coming!” That is right guys, Jesus is coming and to celebrate his coming and his birth we celebrate this season as 5)Advent. Does anyone know why we call it an Advent? The word Advent comes from the Latin word, 6)Adventus; which means to come. Not only are we waiting for Christmas but we are also waiting for the return of our Savior. So through this season, we are celebrating not only Jesus birthday but also what he has done for us as our savior. I truly hope and pray that you all be filled with Joy that the birth of Jesus Christ gives us.

[Sermon]

Last week, I went to EM to fill in for Pastor Steven. I didn’t preach, but I went to preside worship. I think it was just over a year since I preached there so the EM members didn’t see me or hear me for a while. The next day, I met one of the EM members that was there in service, and what she said shocked me. Her small group members, they were saying that I was losing my Aussie accent. I know you all don’t really care for my accent but, this is like the only thing that makes me peculiar to stand out of the crowd and hearing that I was loosing my uniqueness, I felt the sense of crisis in my life. And do you all know what I did to regain this uniqueness that day? I went on youtube and typed in 7)Bluey and I watched about 2 episode of it. It helps just then, but now, I would need to try much more harder to maintain this accent. Probably would need to start seeing crocodile hunter. But anyways, I love my upbringing. I loved my experience living in Australia. I love a lot of the things there. 8)All the creepy crawlies, all the 9)big odd animals, 10)driving on the other side of the road. But what I love most out of all things that are lovable is the 11)weather. The weather it is gorgeous there. Right now, it is about 79 degrees. This beautiful flower called the 12)Jackaranda is at full bloom. It is the best time and best season to visit Sydney. So, I recommend to you all, if you ever going to visit Sydney or Australia, I strongly encourage you all to go in November and December. Actually, I think it will be a great experience to visit Sydney during Christmas.

The Christmas here in the states are pretty straight forward. 13)The Christmas trees, the snow, cold weather. You see everything that you would see on media making it so predictable. But Christmas in Sydney Australia, it is something you can’t even imagine. On Christmas day in Sydney, it would usually be the 14)best day to go to the beach. It would be about 100 degrees average. Nice sunny weather perfect for swimming. So, for me as well, after the Christmas Worship Service my mates and I would drive down to the beach, fire up the barbie and would eat hot dogs and steak drinking coke looking into the stinking hot skies. 15)We would have our board shorts on with a santa hat and enjoying the nice weather. You guys might say that, it would never feel like Christmas, but the first thing that comes into my mind when I think of Christmas is this memory of my time in Australia. It is so different. We’re all celebrating the Birth of Baby Jesus, but the way we do it is different. Guys think about it. Misseltoes and Hot Chocolate, Christmas trees and snow, it has nothing to do with Jesus. But these things come into our mind for it is the things we see. It has become a stereotype, of our lives but just seeing what others think on the other side of the world just shows that it is all an image that was set by people.

Question, why am I bragging on about the Australian Christmas? Is it because I miss it so much? Yes I do but that is not the main reason why. Is it because I want to show that I am different from everyone here? Nope. Because, nothing in this world can be defined according to one persons point of view. The worldly view does not set a norm that we need to live by. Meaning that the way you see life and this world is only your opinion. And in today’s scripture God commands us to see this world in his stance and his views.

16)In Luke chapter 2, the author illustrates the situation before the birth of Jesus. Historically, Jesus’ parents, they went to their home town in Bethlehem why, to register themselves for the census that was commanded by Caesar Augustus. But what a inconvenient timing. Mary was just about to give birth. But out of all the time in the 10 months of pregnanacy why did she had to give birth then. Why God? And where was Baby Jesus put? In the manger. I just want to clarify it for everyone, Mary did not give birth in a stable. If you look into the Israelites houses, they had their animals to live inside with them. So, Jesus and his family was inside the house, but because it was packed, Baby Jesus needed to be put in the manger. Any ways, why was he born there? To fulfill the prophecy. To let all the people know that the savior is to be born. Let’s read Micah 5:2.

미가 5:2 (NIV)

17)2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Amen. Jesus was the Messiah. Jesus is the savior. It was already set. For this baby boy to be the savior of mankind, Jesus had to have been born in Bethlehem. To fulfill this prophecy, Joseph and Mary had to have been there in Bethlehem. Do you guys know what happened after? The shepherds came, the magis came, then after Joseph saw a vision, he traveled through other different countries and went back to Nazareth. Out of nowhere, and literally from nowhere came the messiah. Because, the town that Jospeh and Mary lived was in the middle of nowhere. Nazareth didn’t even make it on the map before the birth of Jesus. Out of nowhere came Jesus into this world and like that this baby boy became the savior of the world. Jesus was like any other baby boy that is born in Hackensack hospital, who was birthed by Doctor Joseph Chong. But the difference was that God had sent this baby, his one and only son to be the messiah. And that changed everything about him. Also, through baby Jesus, that small town called Nazareth became one of the most famous city of the world. In John 1:46 it says, 요한복음 1:46 18)“46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.” It was a looked down place. But through the birth of Jesus the whole town changed to be a place that the Messiah lived till he was 30. Like so, this Kid from nowhere, he changed everything. He changed the world, he changed history, he changed anything that had relevance. And he changed me and he changed everyone.

In the beginning of the year, I met one of my mentor Pastors. I don’t think he thinks of me as his mentee, but his ministry and his life challenges me. There he told me a story of his first born son. Saying that he is being enlisted in the Korean army. Nothing special about that right? But what he said afterwards really made me think. He was only 21, and before being enlisted, he was serving as a missionary in Mexico for 2 years. So straight out of high school, he did not take the College entrance exam. He did not get into college but instead he received missionary training and went to Mexico as a missionary. Is it a normal path that a 19 year old would take? Nope. But because he received his calling to serve the people in Mexico from Jesus, he went. No questions asked. Think of all the inner conflict. I’m a pastor but, I would have never made a decision like that. Why because my future and my career is important. But for my mentor’s son, that was not something that was important. The calling from Jesus was the most important thing and no matter how different the life is going to be to other people, Jesus in him changed the way he sees life, changes the way to see his situations in life and made him decide to dedicate his young age, his passion to God. He is a special case, but I hope his life challenges all of us here.

It would be great if you guys could do the same. Go out into the places that Jesus sends you to be a missionary. But before we get there, I want all of us to acknowledge that Jesus changes how we see our situations first. Jesus despite being the son of God, he came into this world in a baby’s body, just like all of us. But his birth in Bethlehem showed who he was and through his transition from a boy to a messiah he changed the history of the world. He changed a looked down on city to the center of history. He changed something that was ordinary to something great. Like so, as Jesus disciples, he can and will do the same for us too. When we trust in the lord, when we acknowledge the goodness and greatness that he is going to do in our lives, our way of seeing our lives situation is going to change.

If you are struggling in life, see that struggle as a opportunity to see Jesus work in your life. If you are struggling to make choices for your future, Jesus is going to change your thoughts and mind so that you will make a choice that is going to change your life. If you are struggling because of the standards of the world Jesus is going radically change your mind so that you will live according to the visions that Jesus is going to show you. Why? For the kid from nowhere is going to change not the situation but the way you see that situation. And that is going to bring you the biggest change in life. In this advent season let us remember and wait for the Jesus who is going to change the way we see our lives in his views. And through that I hope it brings everyone the radical change from being normal to extraordinary. Let us pray.

Dear heavenly father, we thank you for gathering us here on this sunday and for teaching us that the kid from nowhere changes the way we see out situations in life. Lord, we are a failure according to this world. I have no money, no fame, no knowlege. But lord, that has no value to us, for we seek the changes that the kid from Nazereth gave to us. We are extra ordinary for you are with us and for we live according to your visions. We thank you and in Jesus name we pray, amen.

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