Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro:

Good morning GracePointe!

I hope tat all of us can remember all the many ways that God has blessed you.

We have had the opportunity to sing to Him, to praise Him and to encourage others in our church family to do the same.

Thank you Sid.

Thank you for leading us this morning and the choir for helping lead us in making sure our focus and attention is on one thing....praising God!

And GracePointe, I love how we praise God.

Not just in song but in everything.

I love that we praise God in our humility to God and to one another.

We endeavor to be united in the spirit.

I see so many of us living out the truth that we are saved by God’s gift of grace…we did not earn or deserve it.

We turn and give that same grace to one another both in and outside our church family.

One way that I saw this was with Angel Tree this year.

(Cue Picture).

We were able to provide gifts for 43 children.

43 children were able to know that a church cares for them.

That we are praying for them.

That we are praying for each and everyone of them to come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

New Series - The Weary World Rejoices

We are beginning our new Christmas Series today!

(CUE SERIES GRAPHIC) The Weary World Rejoices in the first two chapters of Luke.

The last few years have created so many situations where…you have a plan…and then you have to pivot.

You create a new plan…and then you have to pivot.

Not just once…multiple times.

Each time, your body goes through an adrenaline spike....a little flight or fight mechanism happens....each time takes a toll on you.

Before this year, I thought I was built for being quick on my feet....being flexible and handling changes.

2020/2021 was my match....even us extroverts and creative types with all of our flexibility have limits!

Those limits have been tested.

We grow weary.

Weariness that hangs on you like a weight.

I was thinking about weariness a lot as we prepared for this series.

Weariness is not the same as exhaustion.

Being spent.

I have done some epic hikes and bike rides.

I did the Vernonia trail on my bike a few years ago…41 miles!

But that exhaustion at the end was a happy one.

I made it.

I did it.

Now let us sleep for days, nurse our wounds and eat carbs like they are going out of style!

What is weariness?

But that is not weariness.

In my opinion, weariness has a factor of unspent energy.

I have energy to give but what is the point.

Weariness is the physical, emotional, spiritual baggage that accumulates as we live out life.

The baggage that comes from all the situations…positive and negative but most importantly…they all require output and they all produce weariness.

Even though someone who has had great career as a football or basketball player…all kinds of positive experiences…and yet there is wear and tear on their bodies, countless hours of rehab, surgeries, and lingering pain.

Ecc 1:8 points to this reality as it says all things are full of weariness.

Weariness is in everything.

It builds up, sometimes fast and sometimes slow but it always builds up.

I love that God knows us but is not like us.

Isa 40:28 points out that God does not grow weary.

He doesn’t experience burn out.

Series Theme

God’s understanding is vast and beyond measure.

As we begin our series in Luke 1, we find that we all know the feeling of being weary.

Burnt Out.

Exhausted.

But Jesus Christ came to bring joy...to bring peace...to bring rejoicing to our weary souls.

As we look through the first two chapters of Luke, and build up to Jesus Christ and His birth, we find that because of Him....the weary world rejoices.

Turn with me now to Luke 1 as we look to a snapshot of a weary world that Jesus came into.

Luke is the longest gospel and considered beautiful in its writing.

We will start in Luke 1: 5-10

Let’s think about where we are in the grand story here.

It has been 400 years since God had spoke through a prophet.

400 years.

God spoke through Malachi and then…nothing.

So many generations.

So many people born, living, and passing away....imagine the weariness of a people who are clinging to the promises of God.

Before our passage even began, we have weariness.

We also have weariness as we look at the government as right off we see in verse 5 that King Herod was in charge.

Herod-Sly Fox

King Herod is the man in charge in the land of Judea.

The approximate range of his rule was about 30-35 years.

Herod is a self-serving guy who longs to be in power and will attempt to keep it, no matter the costs.

He executed members of his own family to stay in power!

Herod made it a point to befriend other political power houses .

Jesus refers to Herod as “that fox” Luke 13:32 Herod was self-serving and yet also Herod got a lot done.

He was known as a builder king.

Massive fortresses, ports, even restoring the magnificent Jerusalem temple.

It is even noted by some scholars that Herod would have built more self-aggrandizing…he would have built more statues, and buildings praising himself but he also had to please the pharisees, another powerful group that he needed to please to ensure rule.

The pharisees always looked down on Herod as he was a pagan, that is born in Palestine.

(Britannica)https://www.britannica.com/biography/Herod-king-of-Judaea

Herod the fox is charge.

He is king.

That sly fox is running the show.

Always looking to best himself.

Here we see right off in our story a glimpse of weariness.

Weariness that comes from SIN.

Weariness from SIN

For some of you today, you are experiencing weariness from SIN.

Just like Herod, you are using all your power to get more power…to accumulate, to self-serve.

The sin, the pride....ripples out causing all kinds of damage.

I want to be clear here because often, you and I like to vilify people.

This is not bound to Herod alone.

This is a direct result of SIN! Satan prowls around like a roaring lion but his influence is seemingly attractive.

Herod was duped just like all of us can be duped.

I just want to stop here and ask..Have you experienced what Paul says in Romans 7:15....not doing the next right thing but rather.doing the wrong thing.... ..do you resonate with this.

Do you resonate with knowing what the right thing is....but still doing the wrong thing?

Have you ever been beside yourself…yelling in your mind…and yet still doing the thing you detest…that you know God detests.

This weariness is felt in every culture, in every household, in every human being all over the world in life and through out the story of humanity after the garden.