12-9-18 Sunday Worship

Let's pray before Andrew comes up. Our Father in Heaven, your name is majestic you are Majestic I probably love you by the way ichnology was the one and only true God the great and awesome. I'm probably your all-powerful all knowledgeable your present everywhere. And follow your ways are so much higher than our ways and father all those things all good things and all things just mentioned all the time. And if I do you're the Alpha and Omega we praise you this morning we worship you. I'm probably just pray we can always realize that this at this time probably isn't here is a privilege. It's an honor to come together to to worship you to praise you to lick you up and how to encourage each other or service where we're about to hear your word dispense to us through our hearts. Are we pray for Andrew as he comes off as you would speak but a powerful and effective message this morning that the things he has prepared. He'll remember all those things and he'll deliver them to us in a very effective way and that would reach our hearts. Probably pretty huge. He'll hold nothing back. That's good for our souls this morning. They would all have the effect of furthering your kingdom this church your kingdom here on this Earth that was speed the coming of Christ. My father thank you for that at that time that we're about to have in advance. We thank you for the what we've had so far the service and we thank you for what's about to happen? Cuz we know what's going to this is all good. And by the way, we pray for all of that. I will always remember the the grace of we receive through through Jesus while I see you sacrifice is all for smaller and we realized we are all to be a little christs. We're Christians and we want to become better Christians where we failed father forgive us. Are we do fail? We're not perfect we strive for that but we ask your forgiveness, but I just saw him just publicly thank you for the way you bless my life and for your given my wife another completed year of life this day where you blessed me if there's a great family with the great church. Very thankful for that. And please please Lord as we go through the remainder of the service bless it to be glorifying to you and edifying and encouraging to us is in Jesus name we pray. Amen. Before Andrew sermon. I thought I went out into the woods that a little bit of camping. Just me and him and my dog and on. Oh, was it Wednesday nights? We we had hiked about 11 miles that day with all of our stuff in our water and stuff like that. That's not really part of my sermon. I'm just proud of it. I'm just thought I'd let you know. We are we were tired or our backs are hurting worse or and so we get to the campsite and with a little bit of daylight. We have left we gather up a bunch of firewood. We start a fire and he's setting up his camp and I'm laying out by that in front of the fire and I I was comfortable so I lay down on my sleep pad and I'm a pull my my sleeping quilt over me and my dog comes and Cuddles up beside me and lays down on laying there just looking up at the sky and if the sun goes down I'm staring up at the stars. Just just thinking about how vast all about is and sometimes we we forget how small we are when we're here in our business and our lives. Can you get out there and you look up at the stars and you really start to feel a little bit insignificant and that you think about if if you could travel at the speed of light, so if you could travel 671 million miles per hour. That's the speed of light write 671 million miles per hour. If you could go that fast, it would still take you like a hundred thousand years to get across our galaxy. Like that's how she would do that. And then if you think that scientists suspect that the observable universe has something like 2 trillion galaxies in it roughly the same size as ours and so a hundred thousand years to going the speed of light 671 million miles times 2 trillion ends up being a number was like 17 zeros behind it. I don't even know what to call that number. Okay. We are so small. Our planet is like a speck of sand a grain of sand in a vast huge desert and I say that not so that you will spiral into some nihilistic depression it when you when you start thinking about all those I say that because We get ready to transition this year. I into 2019. We start talking about our vision for next year. We start time out what Riverside Church of Christ is going to do and your role in all of that and when we lay out our Ambitions and our hopes and our goals and and we can't see the vision for the church to jump on board. I want to I want to get rid of any idea that that's only for some special and Elite few admits our congregation. So I'm going to do everything I can as we begin to talk about the Christmas story to make you realize how small you are and how God works in people just like that. This is not a sermon about you being unique. It's not a sermon about God using some unique thing about you because if there's one thing that I could go back to her Esther series and point. That God used her beauty to get his will done but he didn't do it because she was beautiful. He did it because she was faithful to him and that's what's so interesting is that God will strengthen you give him not because you're strong but because you're faithful to him, so it doesn't matter how small you are. It doesn't matter how how your life is but a wisp of vapor according to Solomon and scripture. God uses the small he uses the insignificant and he uses the weak to do big things in his name. So for the next few weeks, we're going to unpack Luke Chapter 2 for you. We're going to talk about the birth of Jesus in the Christmas story and I want you to see how Jesus comes into the world cuz it's not a story about a god being born into royalty through a line of kings and queens. It's not a story of God Rockstar Facebook. People it's a god. It's a story of simple servants. Doing the will of God by whatever means necessary and we're going to see a God that comes into our world through a simple birth. They're simple people through on small little people to do his great big will in the story of Jesus's birth. And so let's begin. in Luke chapter 1 And get a little bit of a background for us.

Where to begin and verse 26 in the six months of Elizabeth's pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth a town in Galilee to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. You've never heard of these people before because they haven't mattered yet in scripture. In fact, if if God didn't kick Mary out to be the person that would that would bring Jesus into human form on this Earth You would never have heard of Hershey's simply not that important by worldly standards. Okay. She's a young girl most Scholars that say she's probably 14 15 years old. Wait, we don't know much about her other than she is a good faithful girl who loves God and we're going to see that in the text this morning and she's engaged to a man who's probably quite a bit older than her a man named Joseph and and they're from this small no name town that no one really cares about a town that easily gets overshadowed by all of the other towns in the area. I it's it's not a trade Hub, but it is sort of a place for blue collar workers to work their trade and then to serve the bigger towns in that area and it's from this small town it from the small people that the only thing that we can tie into significance whatsoever is that they are Jewish people that happened to be the descendants of David and now they don't seem to be that important descendants and I think that's the point. Okay. This is this is not King Joseph that we are talking about. This is not Queen Mary. We're talking about their simple blue-collar ordinary people like a lot of us here this morning and if we're being honest with ourselves, like all of us here this morning and it's through them that God is going to pick them out and do big things through them through us a simple person from a simple Place who who seems to have a simple life. She's a good girl. She's engaged to a good guy and he works at a simple trade and they they they love God and they serve God and they followed on and they keep his Commandments and they keep his law and they they aim to be Bond Servants of God. The text says that they want to be faithful loyal followers. We will see in the text. And so they're just good simple godly people that God uses to absolutely change the world as they knew it in that time. They've been waiting for a profit for 500 to 800 years. They've been waiting for someone who is going to come into the world and bear the iniquities of the world on his shoulders and godson's and God himself in the form of his son through simple people's. I'm not just going to give you a prophet. I'm bringing you the Messiah and he's coming through her through this young girl that none of us would ever have known about or care about if it wasn't for God doing his will through simple people.

The virgin's name was Mary and the angel went to her and say Greetings you who are highly favored you who has received the Lord's Grace if we get a little bit closer to the to the Greek we see that translated that way you who's receiving favorable Grace when it was translated from its original language into the Latin Vulgate. That's the way it is. It is that translated greetings you who are highly favored the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words. I heard one preacher say it this way. I think it was very odd. He said if you want to know if you've encountered an angel is sometimes you hear people say, you know that person had to be an angel of God one of the ways you can check it is where you terrified because that always seems to happen in scripture. Right? I thought that was an astute observation when I heard him say that greatly troubled is the natural response to having an encounter with one of God's God's Messengers with one of the angels that word Angel translate stuff to messenger. She's greatly troubled at his words and wonder what kind of greeting that might be. But the angel said to her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God. The question is why? She's not Samson. She doesn't have Supernatural strength. She's not Esther. She doesn't have some insane Beauty. She's she's not David a man after God's Own Heart that seems that to be that man of of passion and conviction. I mean, what does she have you have to wonder how does she of all people obtain God's favor and argue. It's the same way you do it. It's the same way that any of our a Bible characters in scripture do it and you turn to the Hebrews chapter 11 and you see it just the list of people and what they did because of their face Joshua made the walls of Jericho Fall by face. You see character after character after character listed of what they did because of the face that they have in God the god uses not big people not powerful people not the the spiritual rock stars. Not the preaching celebrities. Not the the wisest Among Us not the most talented Among Us. Not the wealthiest Among Us. God uses not the most gifted God uses faithful people to do his will he says you have found favor. And if you're wondering how did she find favor? We're going to see her character come out in the text. I believe it is she is faithful to him. She says you will conceive and give birth to a son and you were to call him Jesus which is our transliteration for for yahshua. Which means God say he's going to be called Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and there's two ways to take that Son of God was kind of a a common thing to someone who just born and can sort of dedicated to God but the meaning here is that which the juice have been talking about for the last five hundred years that God was going to send them a messiah that he's going to be the son of the most time. There's not going to be anyone else like him that this simple little girl would give birth to the son of the most high.

The Lord God will give him a throne of his father David and he will reign over Jacobs descendants forever and his kingdom will never end and she says how will this be since I'm a virgin how would this be? You would be any of our responses, right? If an angel showed up to you and said the next great world change the thing that's going to enter us into the next Covenant internet dispensation is coming through you all of us would be like, I don't think so. I've gone crazy my medicines mixed up. I need to figure out what's going on. How can this be? Right that would be anyone's reaction, but she has another reason she's sitting here going have a child. Give birth. How do you plan on working that out. Every time I once I marry me at me and Jose, I mean I'm a virgin. she says the holy spirit will come on you and the power of the most high will overshadow you so the Holy One to be born will be called The Son of God. It's worth pointing out around the Christmas time that the thing that separates us from the the liberal theologians. The liberal Christians in in Liberal churches teaching liberal theology is we believe in this we believe in the Virgin birth and the resurrection and those two things together make a Conservative Christian of conviction. That's it is Up For Debate and all the other stuff we go back and forth on but this happened there was a day and time when God came into the world Through a young virgin girl the Immaculate Conception and so they go on and in the end they talk about how this is going to to to happen and and they talked about how this relates to to John the Baptist and his birth through Elizabeth and in all of that. And as we continue on you have any more vs. Are we going to chapter 2 after this? Okay perfect says she says associate he says all of this store and then she sitting there you can imagine she's overwhelmed. She's bewildered at she's a little bit confused it if if God came through and said you're going to have a child and it doesn't matter what you did to to have or to not have that child. It's happening because the spirit is working in your life. You would be overwhelmed right? That's a whole different kind of pregnant nausea that she's probably going through in this moment and yet look at her answer she says I'm the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled. She says I'm faithful to you. You're my God and this idea of servant your your translation might say bondservant and in the original language, there is something like slave girl. I'm your slave drive. I have no Authority here. I don't question you when God gives an order I do it. That's just that's just what I do and I can't offer much to God. I can't offer Richards again. I can't offer wealth of God, but I can follow him and I can offer obedience when I can give myself to him. So I got I don't know what I have to offer you. But whatever it is. It's yours. Whatever you ask it's done. I am your slave your will you motivate me? I'm reminded of when when Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 for the love of Christ motivates us or compels US your translation might say, what are you motivated by? What are you a slave to because if it's God if it's his will the message here is gone. Does Big World rocking life-changing things through simple people that are motivated by his will and they're willing to stay. Look. I have no Authority gets you whatever you say. If you say it's going to happen is going to happen. If you call me somewhere I'm going if you if if I speak in your word. I'm supposed to live a certain way. I'm living that way. If I see in your text, I'm supposed to set aside certain things in my life that I'm attracted to that. I shouldn't be I'm getting rid of it. I am I'm yours. I am your servant. To those people Romans chapter 8 verse 28. He says God is working out all things for good to those who are called according to his purpose and it's not that God sometimes does good things for everyone. It's the God all the time does good things for some people you see that some preachers are preaching that and I know some Churches have that idea of the Gospel. That's not what it says. It says for those who are called according to his purpose those who are willing to do what Mary says and say may your word be fulfilled. I will be done not my own for I am your servant. It's not about me anymore. It's about what you were doing with my life. I'm called not according to my own purposes not according to my own strength and not according to my own ambition. I'm called according to your purpose and he says I'm working out all things big things little things political thing. Nominal things small little instances in your life and life changing moments where the world evolves because of your work. I'm working out all things for good for those who are called according to my purpose. Mary has a purpose and when I read this and I learned about Mary, I don't know what else she has. I don't know what she has to offer. But I know she's faithful to him. She knows her purpose and she's willing to let God use it. This town chapter 2 we go on a little bit further in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This is interesting because we don't have a lot of historical evidence of this happening before. Okay. So this is a new thing that the current ruler at sets in the place at this time, and we know that it happened several times afterwards and we know the other countries are doing it, but we don't see it happening. Until this one happens. He says that all the world should be registered there going to be a census. We've got to take it and attendance. If you will this was the first registration when this guy was governor of Syria. I'm not going to try to pronounce it and all went to be registered each to his own town in his own town being like where you come from right like some of you live here in Lafayette, but you come from somewhere else and you would have to sojourn back to be registered where your family is from. And so Joseph also went up From Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary. So Bethlehem is where they have to go because he's a descendant of David and that's where his family is from and so he's traveling back to Bethlehem. To be registered with Mary his betrothed who was with child and while they were there the time came for her to give birth and we just saying if you didn't know the story somehow, we just sang it and in the last song that we sing the first verse of she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him and swaddled him and laid him in a Manger because there was no place for them in the end. Let us talk about this just wrong cuz I wanted you to see something that that just blows my mind when I read this text that God bins is the will of the government force in order to work in the lives of God's Little People Mary and Joseph God's got a big will and a big flan and he's doing it through small people, but he's willing to turn the decision of a government. He's willing to bend the ear of Kings in order to do his will for God's Little Do you see that there but we we see in Proverbs chapter 21. Let me flip there in Proverbs chapter 21.

Verse 1 the king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes. See God is in control of everything. There's not a government Force. There's not a politician in office. There's not some secret power that got it cannot use as he chooses to exercise his will and his will here in Luke Chapter 2 what we saw I believe his will is pretty clear that gone calls up simple people from a simple Place remember in John chapter 1, I believe it's like verse 41 somewhere around there and John chapter one there. They one of the disciples calls his buddy to follow after Amy says we found the the the the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth and and he replies can anything good come from Nazareth? This is not an influential Place Mary and Joseph are not influential people and yet God is using these people to do something. That's a little bit too because what we see in Micah chapter 5, let me turn there and Micah chapter 5.

inverse 2 The Prophet says but that's for you Bethlehem too little to be among the clans of Judah from you one will go forth for me to be ruler in Israel his goings for Thor from long ago from the days of Eternity. Therefore. He will give them up until the time when she who is in labor has borne a child right there in Bethlehem. You see a prophesized in Mica hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus that Jesus was going to be born in Bethlehem and yet God uses simple people from a place that nothing good comes out of he's using Mary and Joseph and now God has to solve the problem of getting Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem. And you see a Matthew that there's a reference of another prophecy that Jesus had to be from Nazareth and sew-in in Matthew's gospel. And so he solving that by making them born out of Mary and Joseph. And yet now he has to somehow get them to Bethlehem. And so he says I know I'll just I'll just cause the most powerful civilization in the world to make a law that it's going to affect everyone also that Mary and Joseph can do my will. I mean huge that it's not it's not government's using people to accomplish the government's will its God using governments to accomplish his will for small people. Sometimes we worry about who's in office. Sometimes we worry about what's going on in our nation. Sometimes we worry about the things that we see going on in the news and then we open up our Bible and we see story after story about God's a lookout use any of that to work out all things for good for you who are called according to my purpose. You're not a slave to them. They are a slave to God and working for You that is the promise in the story of Mary that God will use big things for small people for his glorious will answer when you read that. The thing that I Come Away with this, I don't know if I want to be the government in the story might like I don't know if I want to be the powerful person or the important person or the influential person or the special person or the gifted person or whatever. I don't know if I want to be that guy. I think I want to be the simple person. I think I want to be the small person that ends up glorifying God just by saying God. I'm yours. I just want to be your servant whatever you do with me. That's what's going to happen because I want to bring Glory not to myself but to you and to those people. He said that's called being called according to my purpose and I will work out all things for good God's good in your life when you are called according to his purpose.

Worth it to be special orally talented or to seek after welder to do that's why I just want to be his right. I just want to be like like Mary just as young I don't want any young girl the bear with me this young this young girl. Who seems to have an idea of what's going to happen with her life? And then God comes in and says I've got something so much bigger than you can even imagine. She says I'm yours. I don't get it. I don't understand it. I might have to risk everything but it's worth it to serve you God your will be done. You ever notice Mary and you see this a little bit in Joseph's reaction in the gospel of Matthew. You see how this works out. But marry her reputation is forever ruined by this we know this because there's a couple of times in Scripture that we released kids the children's church. I hate having a sensor the stuff there's a couple of times in scripture where they refer to Jesus. This is what you call someone who doesn't have a father right and it is sort of a tacky name and they refer to Jesus as this because they don't believe Mary story, right and you wouldn't either by the way. I love your neighbor turn to you and said I'm pregnant but don't worry. It's God's right. It's not my boyfriend's right. None of us would buy it right her reputation is forever ruined. They didn't buy it then they accuse Jesus of being fatherless because they don't buy it. There's a certain rabbis who in the guarana have written commentaries. And as you read these commentaries on the Jewish talmud they refer Did Jesus as this Prophet who's the son of a another word for a woman who's promiscuous and sleeps around? Okay language when they were for the Jesus now keeping the Jewish rabbis weren't clever enough to deny Jesus. They knew he was real. They knew he existed they knew that he died on the cross, but they'll still insult him and say that he died fatherless that his mom slept around Mary's reputation was forever ruined by this and yet she served God anyway, not just that but her marriage could have been ruined by this. She somehow has to walk home and explain the Joseph. I'm pregnant. Hold on. I'm pregnant. It's not yours. Not anyone else's either. It's God's right and that's a hard sell and there's even a moment where we're gone has to intervene and send an angel to talk to Joseph because Joseph getting ready to leave or Joseph's going to divorce her is going to is going to send her away. And because he's a good godly man. And he loves God's all he's going to do it quietly. So as not to hurt her reputation any further than it would have been so then maybe she can remarry. Maybe she can have some semblance of a decent life. She's he's going to do it discreetly sort of send her away and and in break off this engagement within that time if you were engaged you had to have a decree of divorce to even break off an engagement, even though they weren't officially wed. Yeah, and so he's going to divorce her quietly it until God intervenes. So not only did it ruin her reputation and almost ruined her marriage and let's keep in mind that if he did. Decide to do it quietly than the punishment is she could be stoned to death. Mary is risking her reputation. She's risking her family and she's quite possibly risking her life to bring Jesus into the world for your sins. Mary is sacrificing so much for our sake so that God can work in our lives through his Spirit through the sacrifice of Jesus because she's willing to say God, I'm Yours. Faithfulness, I'm deep faithfulness that says I'm not addicted to stuff. I'm not trying to be somebody I'm not I'm not trying to to do my will on serving God no matter the cost. As we get addicted to our Comforts we get addicted to our status and as a result you say a whole lot of people who believe in Jesus and very few people willing to serve Jesus very few willing to people willing to say no without sacrifice. I'll have a sore back for for working at the church on on one of those days when we're moving chairs or something like that skit, let me brag on one of my members real quick and I apologize in advance. Most of you won't know who I'm talking about. He'll know that I'm talking about him. I apologize again. We had we had one of it and there's a reason I'm I'm singling him out. Okay, one of our guys came up Saturday during The Fosters children's a gift giveaway that we did. And his he grew up in a in a children's home in so he he wanted to be involved. He said man. I know a little bit about what those kids are going through. I just love to be here and just be a part of what y'all are doing. We're like, hey, that's great come along and then we got done and then it was time to put in all the chairs and and clean up and move all the tables and do all that kind of stuff which turns out is a lot of work the chair that you're sitting on now, it takes a lot of effort to move these things in and out and I didn't quite realize it until until I jumped in there and was doing all that with him. It was it was me and a handful of other guys. And what would amaze me is there was a lot of guys that were doing it and in the end it's the guys that were doing this but the ladies were doing all kinds of other stuff that I wouldn't want to do. So don't hear me just seeing off the guys there were a lot of us doing it. But what impressed me about this one member is that he's one of our newest members in the church. Okay, and it's amazing to me that a lot of you have been members for years. And having served like that. Okay. Well if it feels bad that you're getting your toes stepped on by a brand new member who's working circles around you fix it be will it say God use me? I don't care if I have to sacrifice. I don't care if it hurts. I don't care if I lose friends. I don't care if I miss a paycheck. I don't care if it's if it affects my ego, I don't care about the police myself below other people that I secretly think are beneath me use me to do your will For Your Glory

I'm convinced a lot of Christians think that either one you're too special or you're not special enough while the other like that. Like I'm above it or something. You think they got only uses certain esteemed special Christians that I want to make sure that honored that are our prayer earlier that I that I don't hold back. Okay, I want it first. Let me tell you that you're not that special and I know that some of you think you are and and that's that's our faults, right? If you are my generation and Below you've been raised in that idea of like you're special and you're unique and your gift in you can be anything and you can do all of that stuff it and I understand the idea of that but can we as a church get away from the idea that we're supposed to be something special so that God can use us. It's not God calling up The Talented individuals, it's God calling up simple. Small people Blue Collar people from small simple places that are willing to say God whatever your will is I'll do it. I'm your servant. That's all it is what we find out what I think this is interesting is when we raise people up to be smart or gifted or unique or special what we see what we have studied and see is that these people kind of think that they already have it, so they're not as hungry as other people. We see a decrease in and motivation. We see that they tend to be less successful than other people and in this is an interesting thing and there was a whole some doctor named like to have love or something like that. I'm did this entire study where he tracked gifted people with a really high IQ for years and years and years and years to see what would become of them and then at the end of the study he, concluded not much that there was some very average people with average intelligence winning Nobel Peace prizes, and these guys were maybe you're on a hedge fund or or or maybe you generate some Well for yourself and then you die in the no one cares to Generations later, right? Like it. It's not those guys that are winning the world and changing the world and and helping Humanity as usually just average people that are hungry for change. Get rid of the idea that you're special and unique and talented and gifted and embrace the idea that God called you to be less than other people. I hope that drives you. I hope that gives you a hunger and I hope that makes you not so risk-averse. That's another one of the things that people who insulate themselves because you are entitled and you were unique are willing to take the risk to make change that we need and guys listen to me. I love this church and I love this community, but there's things that must change for God's will to be done. I'm not saying we're going to like bringing in a rock band that kind of change I'm saying look there are some attitudes of service and some attitudes of being a disciple of Jesus that we have to get on top of and develop and change in order to glorify God and do his will and truly be less self-serving and more influential in our community. In other words. We have to we have to get Rid of the idea of jettison the idea that were special in order to get rid in order to embrace the idea that we are servants and there's a whole community of people that need to be served. I need the gospel to Jesus. I would also like you to get rid of the idea. That the that you're the normal one in the bunch. It's almost 50% of people that will be diagnosed with some sort of mental illness weather big or small almost half of us. Okay, that's just the ones that are diagnosed again. And so that means that when you think about the weird insane person that you don't really like to be around during the holidays, but you got to like go spend time with like it's some family gathering. There's probably someone that exist in the world that feels that way about you. Okay that we are all a little bit off for rocker and that's okay. That's okay because look it's those people that do stuff. It's those even say, you know, what my cheese is falling off the cracker a little bit. I don't have it all together. It's only by the grace of God that I'm anyting. I look at some of y'all met my father-in-law use my favorite example of that cuz he has Tourette's syndrome and he has obsessive compulsive disorder and he has restless leg syndrome. And yes, that's just the the mental stuff you had in the diabetes not bombs and all the other stuff in the guy's just a just a weird mess and is an amazing servant of God and I guarantee you guys and not to give glory to him because he'd be the first to tell you it's all God and not him but I guarantee you he has a more productive Ministry than I do and I would I would I would issue that challenge anyone here, right? The guy works circles around me for God and accomplishes more than I think possible because my sane ordinary in the Box thinking is just too small compared to someone who's willing to embrace his weirdness and braces craziness and braces messiness embrace the messy weird people around you and say God use people like us Keep in mind that Lincoln struggled with depression. MLK attempted suicide a couple of times when he was a kid Gandhi attempted suicide in his life World Changers, no struggle. They know hurt and they're comfortable saying I don't have it all together. I need to be used by someone greater than myself. I would say get rid of the idea. That you've got it all together when it comes to your theology at one of the things that that we make a mistake of doing this because we kind of think that all of our beliefs are rights that we've got it all figured out and it's all that it's the church down the road that's messing up it that's got it wrong. I was listening to a 2-1 Christian apologist talking about the days of of of Hardeman lecturing the whatever Presbyterian guy he lectured against this Church of Christ giant lecturing against the denominational sex and trying to to show them that they were wrong and what's so interesting about that is that at his University at Freed-Hardeman, they study the book on his debates. Okay, and they go through them and they show why he was right and why he was arguing for the good find what's so interesting is at the Presbyterian University. They study the same book with just as much energy, but from the other side Reuben while they were right and everyone thinks they're right and no one's growing because all we're doing is arguing I knew I won.

Once Christian Brother who goes to a different Church talked about how you know all the Church of Christ people he meets he says man, there's something about the way you baptized cuz you guys come out of the water arguing you guys come out of the water by you're so convinced that you're right that you will only work with other people if they agree with you 100% what happens if something called the confirmation bias against something that happens in our head and what we do is when we set ourselves down a course when we come up with the conclusion, we will make other decisions that reinforce that decision because it makes us feel right? Okay and so weak we gather around people in our lives that agree with us and we like and share the Facebook post that we already agree with and we talked and dialogue with people that agree with us and we read books a people that agree with us or so emphatically disagree with us that we can talk about how wrong they are writing. So what happened is all we do is confirm what we are. Already think we believe without ever considering the idea that maybe we're still learning that maybe God is big enough to teach us something that maybe we're not as smart as we think we're embrace the idea that maybe some of your beliefs are wrong. That's okay. Watch what God does with a humble heart that says God. I'm coming to your table to feast and to learn from your word teach me what you have to share. I would say to it. It's as we continue on in this thought.

One thing I thought was interesting. I heard someone say that you're not as safe. As you think you are that the person next to you is more likely to kill you than a stranger or terrorist. That's just a statistical fact go ahead and look around at your spouse or your friend or your church buddy. They are statistically more likely to injure life than then some other than a stranger or a robber or murderer or a or a terrorist or or some other countries military threat if it's if you're going to go that way it's probably going to be someone in this room. Okay, that is a statistical fact. Okay, you're not as safe as you think you are. Your beliefs are in the sound as you think they are you're not as sane as you think that you are you're not as gifted you're not as special as you think you are. I would say to here's another fact, you're probably not going to achieve what you want to 30% of Americans. I think it's like 29 point something percent of Americans believe that they are that they will become a millionaire that that means those Are millionaires okay 30% of us believe that we can one day achieve becoming a millionaire and that it's that it's a Chiva bullets within our lifetime and something like 3% of non millionaire Americans actually achieve it. Okay, sometimes our dreams are a little bit unrealistic. Sometimes we focus on the wrong stuff. We put our eggs in the wrong basket because we've been fooled into this idea that we are the important ones. I say all of that not to make you feel bad a little bit cuz it's fine. Okay a little bit to make you feel bad cuz that's fun for me. I know but not I say all of that look real eyes realize first that you were small. That your life is short. And then second realize that that's exactly the kind of people that God works through. Not the smart people who say look what God will do with my intelligence The Humble people that say look what God will do when I put my faith in him when I'm willing to be like Mary and say God, I don't understand. I'm confused. I'm a little bit scared. I'm terrified. I'm risking everything but I'm your servant. I'm your slave that I will be done.

What I find most interesting is that if you're not one of those people, maybe you are the big shot. Maybe are the important person that'll still use you. But he will use you to accomplish his will there people like me through small people don't don't confuse. It guys don't think that God's not powerful enough to use the people around you that God's not powerful enough to use the government. Don't don't catch yourself saying, you know, that sermon just wasn't very good. That's why I just it's like God's not somehow powerful enough to pierce your stubborn heart through a flawed guy like me. OK Google can do it's God's big enough to open you up in our worship. No matter how simple our worship is. God is powerful enough to teach you something through a sermon no matter how simple or inarticulate the sermon is. God is strong enough to carry you through your hardship. No matter how big that mountain looks on the other side of it God. Working out all things for good to those who are called according to his purpose your problems aren't that big? They're not that unique and they're not so much that God can't work them out for you. God wants to accomplish big things and hear me our elders and me. We want to accomplish big things. We want to serve God in a big way. I can honestly say that there's an air of discontentment among the leadership at Riverside because here's the thing it's not that we feel like we haven't done a we feel like we've been gifted a lot of good godly people in a community that needs Good Golly people and we've been made responsible for his word and a lost and hurting communities that we have so much and yet we're doing so little with it. The discontentment is not that you're not enough the discontentment is your exact. What God needs to work in this community and somehow we haven't done it yet. Okay, and I know I know that God is working. I know that God is accomplishing his will I'm just saying we're not done yet. I'm saying there's more to do I'm saying the Harvest is right. We just need workers that are willing to show up and say God is not my will it's yours. I'm not nearly important enough or big enough to impose my will on you. I'm just saying I'm your servant. I'm faithful to you work in me and God will move mountains. God will enforce laws. God will change government degrees to work his will through small people like us what a beautiful thing that God has made us small and chooses to work through us. Anyway, I want to close a little differently instead of a traditional invitation. I just want to go to God in prayer and it's in an effort to get all Focus away from us and just put it on God's it if we can if we can just take it all away from our response and what we're supposed to do and what God needs of me and just put it back on gonce got I want you to work. I want to see your glory. I'm not that big. I'm not that special. I'm not that important. It's all about you. Then I believe God will be glorified in the sermon. So if you will join me in prayer God we come to you. Thankful that you work in our lives. Humbled because we feel like we don't deserve it. We know that you are holy and that you are powerful and that you are Mighty and in your great big universe. We don't always understand how we fit. We don't always understand what we have to offer you and yet we know that you use us not because of our talents but because of our faith and so we asked you God make us Faithful Servants of your will help us as a church and as a congregation work your will and not our own we know that you will change the world through small people and so help us be happy and content with being a small person with a big purpose and a big mission God. We pray all of this in your name. Amen. If God can do big things through small people then he can do big things through short sermons.