00;00;00;24 - 00;00;23;09
Speaker 1
Hey, welcome to the Project Church podcast. My name is Caleb Cole. I'm the lead pastor here at Project Church in downtown Sacramento, and we're so glad that you came to hear this word. We believe this is going to encourage you, build you up, and give you life. So get ready to receive a message from God.
00;00;23;12 - 00;00;31;22
Speaker 5
I love Christmas. In fact, I put on my Christmas suit for you today. I hope you like it, but you don't. I don't care because I like it. So Merry Christmas for me to you.
00;00;31;25 - 00;00;52;24
Speaker 5
And, who are my Christmas people in here? You love Christmas? Like, over the top. Over the top. You put your tree up in, like, July. I'm just kidding. That's over the top. Our family, we love Christmas. And, around, I would say the time where people start celebrating Halloween. I start celebrating full go Christmas. Christmas music, eggnog flowing like it is.
00;00;52;24 - 00;01;07;19
Speaker 5
It is Christmas time come October in our home. And there's one tradition that we started over the last 2 or 3 years that is a new family tradition of ours. Do you guys have family traditions for Christmas? You do these every single year. Oh, there's one that we started and it's right around the time when people are celebrating Halloween, right?
00;01;07;22 - 00;01;27;22
Speaker 5
Getting into our festivity spirit that we actually go on a vacation around this time of year to a place that's already celebrating Christmas early. That's how much I love it. And so this year, excuse me, a couple months ago, we got on a flight. Last month, we got on a flight in November, and we flew with our twin boys, both under the age of three, to New York City to celebrate Christmas early.
00;01;27;22 - 00;01;40;16
Speaker 5
Now, if you haven't done Christmas in New York, I don't know if you've done Christmas at all yet. But we get to New York, and I find one thing every time I get to New York and it's, you know, when you gotta get somewhere, you don't you don't just hop in an Uber or a taxi. It's going to take forever.
00;01;40;16 - 00;01;57;20
Speaker 5
There's traffic. You certainly don't rent a car. If you go to New York City. There's there's one mode of transportation that you gotta get on. If you want to get around the city and you want to do it fast. Now, I'm not saying this mode of transportation is clean or even necessarily safe. All the time, but the subway system's never been on the subway systems before.
00;01;57;26 - 00;02;10;21
Speaker 5
Yeah, yeah. These things, you know, they are what they are, but they get you from point A to point B. And I remember we were, one of these days, anybody's got young kids in here. You're going to feel my pain in a moment. We got two kids under the age of three and we were on a subway system.
00;02;10;21 - 00;02;25;17
Speaker 5
My kids were well past their naptime. Now, any parents in here that had young kids, you know that when they're past their naptime, it's like World War three happening right in front of you. Tears. They're throwing stuff. They're like melting down. Their bodies go limp. It's a whole mess. And I'm on the subway and this is taking place now.
00;02;25;22 - 00;02;48;13
Speaker 5
I can just feel the piercing judgment eyes on me from the people around me, because I can't control my kids. And. And my kids are having this meltdown. And finally we get to our destination. My kids are throwing a fit, the doors open up and it is a packed subway. So my wife gets off with one of our sons before me, and it's everything's happening so quickly that she forgets to put her hand back and hold the doors.
00;02;48;15 - 00;03;07;14
Speaker 5
And they closed. They closed. And I've got Beckham who's emotional Sydney kids church, you know, he's got a he's got an anger problem. We're working with. Pray for it, pray for him. And, they get off and my son is already hysterical. And now he's scream crying like you were cried so hard you were convinced you had asthma.
00;03;07;16 - 00;03;27;08
Speaker 5
Like, that's what's happening here. He's crying so hard. And then he adds this into his crisis. I lost my mama. I lost my mama. And I'm just to everybody else. I'm just some random dude with a child screaming. I lost my mom and I'm walking through the subway. I can't control this kid. I'm like, here's some candies. Anything I can do to help you out?
00;03;27;14 - 00;03;45;26
Speaker 5
And you just screaming, I lost my mom. I'm like, man, they're gonna roll up in here. They're going to arrest me, and this is my son. I'm gonna get arrested because he lost his mom. And when we were far apart on this journey. Thank God for life. 360 and find my friends. I'm tracking my wife down through the the streets of New York City and the further apart we were.
00;03;45;26 - 00;04;07;02
Speaker 5
My son had so much fear and so much anxiety, and he was crying. He's throwing a fit. But the closer we got when he finally saw his mom and his brother, the tears stopped, the fear stopped and he was happy again. And praise God he took a nap. But the further the perceived distance between me, us and his mom caused fear.
00;04;07;07 - 00;04;29;19
Speaker 5
But the closer we got there was there's peace and there's joy again. And I just sense that in 2025 that there's a lot of people that when you don't see that God is working in your story and in your situation, in your life, and it feels like God is far from you, what it does is it creates something that you experience called fear or anxiety or worry or stress.
00;04;29;19 - 00;04;46;27
Speaker 5
These things don't come out of anywhere. It just comes from this place where you think God might not be in this. God might not be hearing my prayers. God might not be working in this thing. In fact, I think the one thing that we see people have fear over the most, especially in years like this, is you got fear that God, I don't know if you're working in our government.
00;04;47;00 - 00;05;05;27
Speaker 5
This government is broken, president broken. I don't see where you're in this thing. And because you don't see God working in the government for you, you have fear over what could happen. You have fear over how it can affect you, affect your family, affect your future. Maybe for some of you, it's your relationships. You've had some turbulent times in your relationships.
00;05;05;27 - 00;05;26;17
Speaker 5
You're trying to figure out, how can I restore this relationship? Can there be forgiveness? Can we move past this broken trust? And because you don't seriously necessarily see God working in your relationship, what it does is it causes you fear. We start thinking, maybe I'm going to lose this relationship. Maybe this person is going to leave me like the last person didn't, because you don't see God working in your situation.
00;05;26;19 - 00;05;44;01
Speaker 5
What it does is it causes you great fear. But the Christmas story, friends, for you and for me was it. God comes close to us that Jesus left eternity to enter divinity, to come sit with us, to walk with us, to know us. And because God's close. The good news of the Christmas story for you and I is very simple.
00;05;44;08 - 00;06;10;14
Speaker 5
There's God's proximity to you that creates peace inside of you. Some of you you've been walking through this whole year and you would say, I haven't been experiencing peace. I haven't felt this piece of the Bible talks about that. The preachers here talk about. I've been experiencing fear and anxiety and worry, and I don't know what's going to come from this, but can I tell you that it's the reality that God is very near to you, and because he's near to you, peace can happen inside of you.
00;06;10;17 - 00;06;23;23
Speaker 5
Today I'm I'm going to hope to show you this through the story in Luke chapter two. If you got your Bibles, turn to Luke chapter two. We're going to be reading verses one through seven. And if you bring your Bible, that's okay. We'll have it on the screen behind me. If you don't own a Bible, yo, check it out.
00;06;23;23 - 00;06;42;22
Speaker 5
Project church got Bibles for you. We'd love to hook you up with one for you. Leave. Come talk to somebody on the prayer team. We'll get you a Bible. But Luke chapter two, what's happening here is you got to understand the the setup to what's happening in Luke chapter two. In Luke chapter two, we're going into this moment where the Israelite people are experiencing 400 years of silence.
00;06;42;22 - 00;06;58;24
Speaker 5
Have you ever felt like you prayed? You're like, God, I don't know if you heard me. You ever felt like that before? The Israelites are literally walking through. So if you read your Bible, the Old Testament ends. There's a blank page in there. It goes in the New Testament. And what this signifies to you and is there is 400 years of silence.
00;06;58;26 - 00;07;20;13
Speaker 5
God wasn't speaking of pastors, prophets, evangelists. He wasn't speaking to people. Imagine coming to church on Sunday morning. Pastor Caleb jumps up. He goes, I'll be honest, I got nothing for you today. God wasn't speaking to me this week. The Israelites are in 400 years of silence and they are desperate for a move of God. And there's only one thing that they can hold on to that's carrying them through these silent times.
00;07;20;13 - 00;07;45;27
Speaker 5
One word from God. And it's what Isaiah the prophet said in Isaiah chapter nine, verses six and seven. We've been talking about the last few weeks. Isaiah prophesies and he says this, for to us a son is given, to us a child is born. Pastor Kenneth, talk about this last week. And then he says this next line. He prophesies that of the greatness of God's government, it would or he says, the government will be on God's shoulders in the greatness of his government and peace.
00;07;46;00 - 00;08;07;00
Speaker 5
There would be no end. Won't be honest. When's the last time you heard the word government and peace in the same sentence? It's been a while. And they're in this moment where God's not speaking. They're hanging on to the word that God would be in control of the government. But if they're honest, they probably felt like God was anything but in control of the government.
00;08;07;02 - 00;08;21;24
Speaker 5
And I think today people quite the same thing, too. They're like, I don't know if God is in control of the government. This thing is chaotic. It's broken. We're doing weird things. Things are changing all the time. I don't know if I believe in this person. I want to trust this person. And there is chaos when it comes to government.
00;08;21;24 - 00;08;40;19
Speaker 5
And that's exactly what the people of Israel are experiencing. And we go to Luke chapter two, and this is where we pick up in verse one. It says this. It says, in those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Now, this was the first census that took place, like Cornelius was governor of Syria, and everyone went to their own town to register.
00;08;40;19 - 00;09;11;10
Speaker 5
So Joseph, he also got up and he went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and lineage of David. Verse five, he went up there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him, and was expecting a child. And while they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son, and she wrapped him in cloth and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
00;09;11;10 - 00;09;34;22
Speaker 5
If you're taking notes today, the title of my message is Closer Than You Think, closer Than You think. I believe this is because the government is on God's shoulders now. Even in chaos, God is still in control. And I want to encourage you today that wherever you find yourself in this journey of life, whatever chaos, whatever season, whatever storm you're in.
00;09;34;24 - 00;09;58;27
Speaker 5
God is in control. We see right off the bat that the Israelite people are living in a time of chaos. Why? For Israel, they had their land. And what happened is this this powerhouse country of Rome. They come in and they overthrow the government. And now they're they've overthrown Israel and they're occupying Israel. So Rome has its own government infrastructure in Israel, and they're completely in control.
00;09;58;27 - 00;10;17;12
Speaker 5
Their king is this guy named Caesar Augustus and Caesar. The Bible shows us that he's a pagan emperor. And what this means is that he did not have the same values that the Israelite people had. He didn't worship Jesus. He didn't worship God. Sometimes you have fake gods and all these different temples. And so his values were very different than the Israelites.
00;10;17;12 - 00;10;42;16
Speaker 5
Not only is he is Caesar a pagan emperor, but Caesar was power hungry. He wanted everybody to know that he was in charge, that everything that was enacted, everything that was taking place, it was the due result of his leadership. And the very first thing that Caesar does in Luke chapter two, we see it says that Caesar issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.
00;10;42;19 - 00;11;00;16
Speaker 5
Now we read this and we go, cool. Yeah, like that makes sense. We gotta know who lives where and how cities are growing and what's going on. But what you maybe don't know is that the reason why Caesar enacted this is that he wanted to have full control of the country. Everybody had to get up out of their normal, mundane, ordinary days and life, and they had to travel all the way back to their hometown.
00;11;00;16 - 00;11;19;24
Speaker 5
For some, it was close. For others, it was a far distance to travel, and they had to go travel back to their hometowns and report everything that they owned and everybody that lived with them. And he did this so that he would know how he could properly tax all the people. Caesar wanted to know how much money he could get from the people, so that they would know Caesar is the one that's in control.
00;11;19;24 - 00;11;39;22
Speaker 5
And as I'm reading through Luke chapter two, it becomes really apparent to me that the Israelites must have felt like the government was using its power to force. It was forcing its power on the people. But when I read it, I see that God was using this bad situation and to fulfill his plan. You see, I think there's a lot of things in life, if we're honest, that it feels like we were forced into.
00;11;39;24 - 00;11;53;11
Speaker 5
I think there's a lot of things that bad situations and even good situations in life that a lot of this came in. I feel like I was forced into this season for some of us, and I be I feel like I was forced into this financial season of I got a lot of pressure on me. The bills are mounting.
00;11;53;11 - 00;12;07;11
Speaker 5
I don't know how I'm going to pay them. Maybe you lost your job. You haven't been able to find a new one and you say, man, there's so much pressure on me and I have so little resources. And you say, man, it was it was my employer. It was these people in my workplace that made me lose my job.
00;12;07;11 - 00;12;22;21
Speaker 5
And you could point your finger at man and say it was their fault, but I think sometimes God's working in the details. And while you might have financial pressure, I think God's trying to teach you, God dependents how to rely on him as your provider. How to rely on him is the one that will meet every single one of your needs.
00;12;22;26 - 00;12;41;00
Speaker 5
Maybe for others you. It's not just the finances, but for some of you, maybe what you experience is relationship problems. Maybe you are the person that if we're honest for a moment, you say the very thing that comes to your head, it just comes out your mouth immediately. And so you gotta ask for forgiveness all the time. But the result of that is it's damaged relationships.
00;12;41;02 - 00;12;57;10
Speaker 5
Maybe on the other side that somebody has broken your trust. And now there's relationship problems between you two, and you don't know how this thing's going to work out. You don't know if there's going to be healing in your relationships. And so we might be able to point it in and go, it's because they broke my trust. Or maybe you gave a point of yourself and said, I said some things I shouldn't have.
00;12;57;10 - 00;13;19;04
Speaker 5
I, I did some things I certainly shouldn't have. And you could point the finger at people say it's because of them or it's because of me. But I think even in that situation that God's trying to do something called spiritual maturity inside of you, he's trying to teach you that, yes, you might have done something or said something that you shouldn't have, but what he's trying to grow in you is a person that is slow to speak and quick to listen.
00;13;19;06 - 00;13;33;26
Speaker 5
God's trying to teach you in every season of your life, whether you are where you want to be right now or you are far from it, God's trying to show you that he's working in the details of your life, and whether you are where you are right now because of what you've done or somebody else has done. Listen.
00;13;33;26 - 00;13;57;15
Speaker 5
Hear me loud and clear. You are not where you are right now because somebody forced you to be there. You're there right now because God is trying to fulfill his plans in your life. Rome was a bad government system, and yet somehow God blessed it and he used it to work his good plans through it. I remember about seven years ago, my wife and I, we got married almost ten years ago now in three years.
00;13;57;17 - 00;14;12;17
Speaker 5
And in that marriage, we were helping a church plant that was brand new to the city. We had three years there. We help them build this church. They got a building. We celebrated Easter in their third year. It was incredible, an awesome journey. And then I started feeling like God was calling me into full time ministry. For the first time in my life.
00;14;12;19 - 00;14;31;09
Speaker 5
And so I had this friend. I'm like, man, if a position ever opened up at your organization, my answer is yes. And some of us, it's like we say yes without even praying about it. I'm like, my answer would be yes. A couple months go by and he goes, hey man, I got this great opportunity for you. He said, you're going to be a youth pastor at this church, and you're also going to oversee all the campus ministry teams.
00;14;31;09 - 00;14;44;19
Speaker 5
Now, this to me at 23 years old, was a dream job. I was like, heck, y'all, I want this. I said, hey, let me just be a little mature and pray on it. I already knew my answer, but I'm not going to pray on it. You know what I'm talking about. Some of y'all, if you do something good, y'all, I'm going to pray on it.
00;14;44;20 - 00;15;00;25
Speaker 5
No you're not. You're going to say yes in a few days and act like you prayed on it. So I'm like, let me pray on it and actually spend some time praying on it day by day. I began to feel God distancing my heart from it, and this was the very thing that I wanted. So I had to call my friend.
00;15;00;25 - 00;15;19;18
Speaker 5
I said, man, I'm I'm so sorry. This is the greatest opportunity I think, that I'm honestly going to get. But God is telling me I can't take this job. And I had to turn him down. And it created some friction. A couple a couple weeks later, I end up on staff here at Project Church, and three months into my time here at Project Church, I get a call from that very friend.
00;15;19;21 - 00;15;36;26
Speaker 5
He said, Sam, I'm so glad you were listening to the Holy Spirit. He's leading you because now that Covid has happened, this is 2020, he said. Now that Covid has happened, we actually had to lay off every single person in that department and you would have been one of them, he said. I'm so glad you listened to the Holy Spirit when he told you no, because it didn't make sense then.
00;15;36;26 - 00;15;52;27
Speaker 5
But it makes sense now. And people all want to help you today, friends, to see that it doesn't always make sense the way that God wants to lead you. We gotta tell you, God is always working in the details. Can I take it a step further? God is way ahead of you when it comes to planning. Some of you, you got a great plan for 2026.
00;15;52;27 - 00;16;11;28
Speaker 5
God's way ahead of that, and obedience is always going to bring greater blessing than the open door that you open on your own. And I remember in this moment of thinking, God, you are working in the details. And not only are you working in the details, but you're protecting me from things that I don't even see. You're providing for me when I don't even know it.
00;16;12;02 - 00;16;32;02
Speaker 5
You're working when I don't see it. Because even in chaos, God is in control. And we see this even in Genesis chapter 15, there's a man named Joseph. Joseph, long story short, has a dream. He tells his brothers his dream. It irritates them and their brothers sell their own brother into slavery. And then he gets thrown into prison.
00;16;32;02 - 00;16;50;14
Speaker 5
He gets lied about, gossiped about, and eventually he gets promoted. In this long, crazy story from going from a prison. So now he's number two in all of Egypt. He's just under Pharaoh. That's the only person above him. And then his brothers finally come because there's a famine that's here. And they said, sir, we we, we need food.
00;16;50;14 - 00;17;08;18
Speaker 5
And they don't recognize that it's their brother Joseph that they had sold into slavery years and years before. And there's come this moment when they finally realize that this man, they were asking for food, his name was Joseph, and it was their brother. And they begin to repent. We should have never done this. We're we're so sorry. It was a bad mistake.
00;17;08;18 - 00;17;31;13
Speaker 5
We were young and dumb and we did things we wish we wouldn't have. And he says this line back to them that reveals that God works in the details. He said, no, no, no, no, no. He said, you intended me harm, but God meant it for good. It can I just remind you in this room that because God works in the details, that even the things that the enemy has meant for evil, God will use for good?
00;17;31;17 - 00;17;47;27
Speaker 5
Some of you, you've questioned God. How can anything good come out of my infertility? But you don't know? On the other side of it, the testimony that God is producing. Some of you you don't know, man. Losing this job, it makes no sense. It's where I want it to be. But you don't know that God is aligning things to bring you into a better job.
00;17;47;29 - 00;18;09;14
Speaker 5
And I believe that for anybody who follows Jesus, everything he brings you to next, it's only ever better than the last thing that you had. So Joseph says, you know, it wasn't you. It was God. And God meant it for my good. And even the evil that they were, that Mary and Joseph were having to endure on this journey to fulfill the census.
00;18;09;14 - 00;18;31;02
Speaker 5
You see, the Bible tells us this, that Mary and Joseph, they had to get up, they had to leave Nazareth, and then they had to go to Bethlehem to register as a couple. Now, I don't know if you realize this, but at this point of the scriptures and in the journey of Mary and Joseph, Mary, the mother of Jesus, she's nine months pregnant.
00;18;31;04 - 00;18;55;00
Speaker 5
And this journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, theologians will tell you it is an 80 mile journey. Yo, my wife's been pregnant. I get her to walk a mile. Nine months pregnant is a prayer request, you know, 80 miles and Joseph's like, yo, I know this is probably, it's probably weird timing, but, we the car is not working.
00;18;55;02 - 00;19;23;17
Speaker 5
The camels aren't water, so we gotta. We gotta walk 80 miles, and they say it was a good progression for a woman nine months pregnant to walk eight miles. That was kind of pushing it. So theologians will tell us that Mary's journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was a ten day journey, eight miles a day. Can we just for a moment acknowledge that this had to be an uncomfortable situation, uncomfortable for Joseph to even ask it because he was obviously risking his life by saying, I'm not stupid.
00;19;23;19 - 00;19;49;18
Speaker 5
And it was risky and uncomfortable for Mary because she could go into labor at any point. And I'm thinking to myself, man, Joseph must have been thinking, man, this is the wrong time. This is the wrong time for this census to be enacted. It's the wrong time to ask her to walk this far. But in life, there's never a good time for the hard journeys of life, is there for some of you in the room, if we're honest, that you're walking through a season of infertility, you haven't been able to have children.
00;19;49;18 - 00;20;04;00
Speaker 5
You've been trying to. And it's gut wrenching as you've been praying. You've been asking God for a child, but you have not been able to do it. There's never a good time to go through infertility. Is there some of you that you lost your job this year and you've been applying and you've been working and you've been taking any odd job?
00;20;04;00 - 00;20;22;29
Speaker 5
You can't just to make ends meet. There's never a good time to lose your job. And what I found that the reality of life is oftentimes we think this to ourselves. This isn't a good time, but if we're honest with ourselves, there's never a good time for the difficult journeys that are presented to us in life. I had a difficult journey recently.
00;20;23;01 - 00;20;37;19
Speaker 5
As we're on our way back from New York City. If you've ever flown with toddlers, you know the wrestling match that this is. My kids we had, we unfortunately, you know, we go economy southwest. So that means that if you're going across the country, you gotta have a layover. You're gonna you're going to get somewhere. You have to run to your next stop.
00;20;37;19 - 00;20;57;03
Speaker 5
And so my kids were completely tired of being on planes at this point. We're on our way back. We're in Saint Louis trying to get ready to go back to Sacramento. And this is an empty plane. I go, Praise God they're not going to bother anybody. They can scream in the back. It'll be great. Except somebody decided to sit right in front of us and my kids are losing their stuff at this point.
00;20;57;06 - 00;21;16;03
Speaker 5
They're shaking the seat in front and they're kicking it. There's throwing stuff around. I'm like, it's like a demon is coming out of my kids. Pray for it. And this lady is getting upset. I'm like, I'm not even mad at you. I'd be upset to like, empty plane. Like, this should be like, just get up and move. But she endures in the entire four hour flight, and we're on this flight.
00;21;16;03 - 00;21;33;14
Speaker 5
And the reason why my kids are getting so upset is because we're moving. But it doesn't look like we're actually making any progress because as you look outside, the scenery looks the exact same for hours and hours and hours. And they were getting upset because we hadn't made it to our destination yet. They just didn't know that we were still moving.
00;21;33;16 - 00;21;48;17
Speaker 5
And I found this principle to be true for you and for me in life, that oftentimes we are so impatient in the life, the process of life, the journeys that you and I walk through, because we have this vision of this thing that we're believing God to do. And when we don't make it there in our timeline, we get frustrated.
00;21;48;17 - 00;22;05;23
Speaker 5
Have you ever thought to yourself that the very thing that God has so much of, we got so little of and it's called patience, and I found it to be true in our lives that we might not just be a, flight for you, but maybe the reality is you're getting to the destination that you're hoping to get to.
00;22;05;29 - 00;22;27;22
Speaker 5
That you're moving and you're making progress. You just don't always know that you are. And I need you to see this today, that God is working in your life, even when you don't see it. God is aligning things. He's opening doors for you. He's protecting you. God is working in the details. He is a way making God whether you feel like it or not.
00;22;27;25 - 00;22;46;09
Speaker 5
And this is the exact moment that the Israelite people find themselves in, that they're making progress, that they just don't know. This is exactly where Mary and Joseph find themselves in. And today, I think there's something to be said of patience. I think that patience, if you can develop this in your life, defeats discouragement. Just no no, no no no.
00;22;46;12 - 00;23;05;07
Speaker 5
I know I'm not there yet, but I know God's working. I know I haven't seen it yet, but I know God's spoken it to me and everything that he says, his word, his promises always comes to pass. But I need you to understand that with this thing called patience, patience is a problem to your problems. Patience does not mean that you will have no problems.
00;23;05;10 - 00;23;28;07
Speaker 5
Patience just reminds your soul. God's in charge and God's working. And while I'm waiting, he's working. And while there's chaos all around me, he's in control. Patience just reminds you to center your soul in the truth that God is intertwined into your story. And this is exactly where Mary and Joseph are having to find patience on the journey of life.
00;23;28;07 - 00;23;50;27
Speaker 5
Having to trust God in the details. You see what looked like a problem, the census, having them get up and go back to this 80 mile journey back to Bethlehem. What looked like a problem was actually God fulfilling his plan. You see in the details maybe what we haven't seen before. This is fascinating to me. As I studied, they're on their journey back to this city called Bethlehem.
00;23;50;29 - 00;24;15;09
Speaker 5
But let me take you back 700 years before the birth of Jesus. I will say 2700 years from today. There was another prophet called Micah. And Micah is also found in the scriptures and in Micah chapter five, verse two, Micah prophesies this, and he says, Bethlehem, though you are small, out of you will come the ruler over Israel, Mary and Joseph.
00;24;15;09 - 00;24;33;28
Speaker 5
Like God. I don't know why we had to go back right now when I'm nine months pregnant, all the way back to Bethlehem. It doesn't make sense. But then you read Micah chapter five. You go. This makes perfect sense that 700 years before the birth of Jesus, that he chose Bethlehem, the place where David and his lineage were from, to give birth to the Savior of the world.
00;24;33;28 - 00;24;36;26
Speaker 5
Because Micah said, Out of Bethlehem will come the Savior.
00;24;36;29 - 00;24;38;01
Speaker 3
Of the world.
00;24;38;04 - 00;25;02;01
Speaker 5
And I think that it's incredible that God is beginning to align the stories in the prophecies of where Jesus would be born. But the Bible shows us something really interesting about Bethlehem. Bethlehem was a city on the map that was that was small. It was overlooked, but it was chosen by God. And as I was preparing, I just felt in my spirit to ask you this morning, what's your Bethlehem?
00;25;02;03 - 00;25;25;24
Speaker 5
What's the place in your life that you thought to yourself, man, nothing good could ever come out of this place. You don't know my family, pastor. Generation after generation after generation of addiction and brokenness and all these things. You don't know. How could anything could come? How could anything good come out of my family? Maybe it's the season that you're walking through of, of singleness, and you're like, yo, what good could come out of this place?
00;25;25;24 - 00;25;44;22
Speaker 5
But what you don't know is God's developing great integrity and character on the inside of you. I want to ask you this morning, what is the Bethlehem in your life that you said, man, this is small. It's insignificant. God could never use this case. What I found about the heart of God is that God delights in using the very things that you and I dismiss in life.
00;25;44;24 - 00;26;06;13
Speaker 5
I've seen that so many times with even the people that you can write off that God uses the seasons. He said, man, nothing good can come from this place. And God says, no, no, no, that's your greatest testimony right there. I want to help you reframe this in your mind that the very thing you said, nothing good can ever come out of this place is that oftentimes the very thing that God wants to use.
00;26;06;16 - 00;26;23;21
Speaker 5
I remember four years ago, many of you maybe you know this my journey before four years ago and you can come back up, but four years ago, my wife and I had our first born son. His name was Maverick, and I remember two months into his life, he has his last breath on October 6th, and he joins Heaven.
00;26;23;23 - 00;26;46;24
Speaker 5
And it was the most difficult part of my story and my journey of life. My first born son is no longer with me, and I remember December time four years ago, God began to speak to me and he began to remind me that he has more for me. Even though I was in a season that was disruptive, disappointing, disheartening, he said, I still got something great for you.
00;26;46;26 - 00;27;02;18
Speaker 5
And he spoke these words to me. He said, I'm going to give you a double portion where the where there was pain. I'm going to give you a double portion. He said these words, I'm going to give you more than you ever had before. So I wrote these words out of my notepad, my notes that more than before I met with my friends, I said, I don't know what this means.
00;27;02;18 - 00;27;19;18
Speaker 5
I'm going to tell you so you can hold me accountable. More than before I started writing a book that you're called More Than Before to talk about how God's promises always prevail. And I just kept reminding myself this word because sometimes in life, if we're honest, all we have from God is the word, don't we? And this is exactly where faith.
00;27;19;23 - 00;27;24;10
Speaker 5
Faith is. Easy tell you need it.
00;27;24;12 - 00;27;43;28
Speaker 5
And I held on to these words. I told God, I said, I don't know what good can ever come out of this story. I don't know what good can ever come out of this situation. And I remember to the one year birthday of what would have been his first birthday for Maverick. Two days after that, we found out we were pregnant with twin boys, and I wrote back on that word.
00;27;43;28 - 00;28;00;03
Speaker 5
I said, God, I will never doubt again your words, even though I don't always feel it and even though I don't always see it. God, I know you're faithful all the way to the end because even what looks bad and even what looks evil. And when you say nothing good can come out of this place, I want to encourage you today, friends.
00;28;00;05 - 00;28;16;29
Speaker 5
God can work his greatest miracles at your worst messes. And this is a moment for me that I look back. I said, God, I don't know what good can come out of this. And God said, just give it to me and watch what I can do with it. But I found in this moment, as I'm getting ready to close, what I found is that how you wait matters.
00;28;17;01 - 00;28;32;06
Speaker 5
Did you know this? Some of you you've been waiting on a promotion of your job, but you show up with the worst attitude every day. Like God's going to bless that attitude. Come on now, some of you, you've been waiting for God to answer a prayer. But in the meantime, you just been gossiping. You ain't been in the Bible.
00;28;32;06 - 00;28;49;23
Speaker 5
You just been doing all the things that you should. And you think God's gonna show up and bless that. But how you wait matters. Did you know that in Scripture there's only two times that Jesus was ever impressed? He was impressed when there was a great amount of faith, and he was impressed when there was a lack of faith.
00;28;49;25 - 00;29;16;29
Speaker 5
But where there was a great amount of faith. The scriptures show us that Jesus did signs, miracles and wonders more than you could ever imagine. But where there was a lack of faith, the Bible tells us that he wasn't able to do any miracles there. I want to encourage you today that in the middle of your story, that in the middle of your journey, that you would wait on God with faith and expectation, God, it doesn't make sense.
00;29;17;02 - 00;29;21;08
Unknown
I don't know where you are. I don't know how anything good can come from this.
00;29;21;08 - 00;29;48;15
Speaker 5
But because your word is truth, I'm choosing to believe the truth of your word over the lies that the enemy wants to get into my mind. You know I said this before, but Jesus, he wants your heart. So oftentimes the enemy will do his best work in your mind. Some of you have this. You have you. You have been persuaded by God of his promises, but it has been diluted in your mind because that's where the enemy is met.
00;29;48;15 - 00;30;06;27
Speaker 5
You. And sometimes the very best thing you can do. I mean, I don't know if I've ever heard God before. Can I give you a really practical tip? This is the Word of God. Speak this thing out. Say it. Read it. Don't just read in your mind. Read it out loud. And then those lies that are in your mind speak those out to.
00;30;07;00 - 00;30;26;15
Speaker 5
And you're going to find that the things that the enemy is speaking to you and in the quiet times, because be honest, they're dumb and they don't make sense. But you start speaking God's word out. You start holding on to that truth. You're gonna start seeing that faith can rise even in your waiting season. So my last point today is didn't just comfort.
00;30;26;18 - 00;30;47;29
Speaker 5
God's always directing. You see, Mary and Joseph, they had this 80 mile journey that was uncomfortable. But then they show up in the city of Bethlehem, and you would think that the Savior of the world would be greeted with a five star, hotel resort, pools everywhere, poolside service, room service, all three complimentary of the King of Kings.
00;30;48;01 - 00;30;51;22
Speaker 5
But he shows up in the Bible, says.
00;30;51;25 - 00;30;55;28
Unknown
That there's no room available for them at the end. Imagine turning away a.
00;30;55;28 - 00;31;10;13
Speaker 5
Nine month pregnant woman. Good luck. You did. There's no room here in this hospital. No room in the hotel. There's no room for Mary and Joseph and soon to be Jesus at the inn. So they get turned away. It says that Jesus.
00;31;10;16 - 00;31;15;10
Unknown
He was born in a mansion. No.
00;31;15;12 - 00;31;24;12
Speaker 5
Jesus is born in a manger. And I think this is significant for you and I, because Jesus was born in a place that was messy.
00;31;24;15 - 00;31;30;27
Unknown
Stinky, ugly, messed up, not prepared.
00;31;30;29 - 00;31;45;28
Speaker 5
Maybe that's your life. Messy, stinky, not prepared. Not put together. And Jesus is born in this place to show you and I that God meets you right.
00;31;45;28 - 00;31;51;09
Unknown
Where you are. Because no, no, you got to understand that religion will tell you to do all.
00;31;51;09 - 00;32;11;14
Speaker 5
These things, check all the boxes and then you can come to God. But I don't find that when I read this, what I find when I read this is that when you're at your worst, when you've done all the things that you should never do, God meet you in that place. I don't know if you've experienced before, but I want a family of four.
00;32;11;15 - 00;32;27;10
Speaker 5
We go to Costco all the time, and, I love the food because I can feed my whole family for, like $3 and 16 sets is incredible. So my kids are just snacking on a hot dog. The other day, I see this person wheeling a cart, and in the cart there's a vacuum cleaner. This thing's got to be 20 years old.
00;32;27;10 - 00;32;44;25
Speaker 5
This thing is dusty, musty, crusty. It's broken down. Ain't no way this thing works. See him bring it up with him in his pocket. See the guy put there. Sit down on it on the table. I can scan it. And all of a sudden I see the lady Costco worker open up her jaw. Money. Give this man I go.
00;32;44;25 - 00;32;47;09
Speaker 5
What in the world is she doing?
00;32;47;11 - 00;32;54;13
Unknown
Ain't no way he just bought that thing. This thing so, so broken. She gives the money, as they call it. What's going on? She's like.
00;32;54;14 - 00;32;55;25
Speaker 5
It's a Costco return.
00;32;55;25 - 00;32;57;14
Speaker 4
Policy you're talking.
00;32;57;14 - 00;33;00;25
Speaker 5
About. She said they'll virtually take anything back. It doesn't matter.
00;33;00;25 - 00;33;06;02
Unknown
How broken it is. Doesn't know how long you've had. It doesn't matter how it looks, how it appears. Doesn't even matter how it smells.
00;33;06;02 - 00;33;22;10
Speaker 5
They'll take it back as long as you got the receipt right there. And the hot dog line at Costco. The Holy Spirit spoke to me, said, self, that is just how my love is for you and all of humanity, that it doesn't matter what you look like, it doesn't matter what you sound like. It doesn't matter what you've been through.
00;33;22;14 - 00;33;40;03
Speaker 5
It doesn't matter how long you've been gone. My love for you is so great and so scandalous that I'll take anybody back at any point. Because God meet you in your worst mess, in your worst situations, when you don't have it all together, he takes you back just as you are in the receipt that you and I carry.
00;33;40;06 - 00;33;51;10
Speaker 5
It's the receipt that all your sins have, all your mistakes. And you know what Jesus did on the cross for you? He paid your debt. You don't have any bills to pay anymore. This is the love of God for you and for me that even.
00;33;51;13 - 00;33;58;15
Unknown
When we've done it on our own, his arms are open wide to welcome us back. And I'm closing this. I'm.
00;33;58;18 - 00;34;17;02
Speaker 5
I'm thinking, man, this is this is the love of God. This is what he came for. He wasn't just born in a in a manger, but show me a lot of clear. Jesus was born for you and I in a manger. But biblically, he died for you and I on a cross. But he didn't just die for you and I.
00;34;17;04 - 00;34;18;25
Speaker 4
He died as you.
00;34;18;27 - 00;34;37;21
Speaker 5
He died as your sin. He died as your mistake. He took on the penalty of everything you've ever done. And his arms stretched wide on the cross, exposed his heart to remind you that my love for you is greater than anything you can ever do. You can come today. You can come next week. You come next year. But I think friends, that today is the right day.
00;34;37;24 - 00;34;55;13
Speaker 5
But you got to hear me because I think the ending of Isaiah chapter nine, verse seven, which says of the greatness of my government, there'll be no end. I think that's a moment that all of us need to come rally around, because our government is broken, because it's led by imperfect people. It looks a whole lot like the church led by imperfect people.
00;34;55;15 - 00;35;14;07
Speaker 5
And Jesus was not prophesied about in Isaiah, Isaiah chapter nine, because he was going to come and he was going to heal the government. Isaiah's prophecy was to remind you and I that God came to heal humanity, not governments. God came to heal souls, not systems.
00;35;14;09 - 00;35;16;16
Unknown
And what I found is the only thing that has a.
00;35;16;16 - 00;35;39;24
Speaker 5
Possibility to cure your soul and a cure my soul is this thing called grace that in spite of all you've done, and all the places you've been, that you're still looked at and you're still loved and you're not looked at for your past, but you're looked at because Jesus paid the price for you on the cross. Did you know that when God the Father, he sees you, he doesn't see your past?
00;35;39;26 - 00;35;58;05
Speaker 5
He didn't see your sin. You know what he sees? He sees Jesus, the one who stepped in for you. And the only thing that will transform your soul is receiving the free gift of salvation that Jesus paid for on the cross. And when you receive this salvation, I love to talk about it because it's not like you got to sit around like, I got to change this.
00;35;58;05 - 00;36;15;02
Speaker 5
I got to stop cussing, okay? For some part, I got to stop doing this. I got to stop looking at this. I got to stop treating people like this. You know, what happens is it's the invitation. What grace is, is the invitation to follow Jesus. And as you follow Jesus, months go by, you're going. People start noticing that you're not talking like you used to.
00;36;15;04 - 00;36;37;03
Speaker 5
You're not thinking like you used to. You're not acting like you used to. And everything begins to change and stop because you're trying the greatest thing that you can do. January 1st, 2026 I'm I love your plans. And I love the the things that we put down in our agendas. The greatest thing you can do if you haven't done it is receive the free gift of salvation and then follow Jesus and everything will begin to change.
00;36;37;03 - 00;37;00;20
Speaker 5
Not in your own works, just simply because you're beginning to follow the one that makes you whole. And what happens when you do this? Check it out. This is where I close. What happens when you do this is incredible because Jesus did not come to heal the government. He came to heal you. And because he came to heal you as he does that, it's transformed people that transform governments.
00;37;00;22 - 00;37;07;27
Speaker 5
It's people who get healed that can heal systems. We don't need more pastors in the office and political spheres.
00;37;08;00 - 00;37;13;14
Unknown
We need people that say, hey, the Great Commission in Matthew 28 need 19. It's for all of us.
00;37;13;16 - 00;37;29;29
Speaker 5
It's not for the one that gets up to the prayer room at 6 a.m., or the one that's reading their Bibles is not for the pastors or the leaders. It's for each and every one of us. Do you want to know what's your purpose on the earth? Is your purpose on the earth is to go therefore into all the world and to preach the gospel.
00;37;30;02 - 00;37;56;16
Speaker 5
That's all of our call. And as you take this on, there's no government, there's no infrastructure, there's no system that if transport people get into that they cannot change. I'm calling us today to be a people that we don't look at the government, we go, man, I got so much fear. I have no idea what's coming, but rather to say, I've got a calling, a purpose and a mandate to step into those places and to be the light of Jesus, to see them change and transform.
00;37;56;23 - 00;38;23;29
Speaker 5
That's what you carry, and that's what's happening in this story. He's trying to show us that we don't have to have fear. In fact, the enemy is this that when you allow God to govern your life, when you allow God to govern your soul, everything begins to change. And when you allow God to govern your life and starts by receiving his free gift of salvation when he begins to govern your life, what happens is Isaiah chapter nine, verse seven of the government.
00;38;23;29 - 00;38;52;12
Speaker 5
He says of the greatness of my peace, there will be no way. Come on, who needs more peace today in your life? Whatever season you're in, wherever you might find yourself today, God wants to give you peace. The Christmas story is that Jesus left eternity. He came into humanity, and he came to give you peace. Why? I said at the beginning, because it's God's proximity to you that produces peace inside of you.
00;38;52;14 - 00;39;10;28
Speaker 5
I want to pray for you. If you would mind closing your eyes all over the room you came in here today, and maybe you've never given your life to Jesus. Maybe you have at one point before, but you've walked away. You've done it on your own, and as a result, what you experience is fear, anxiety, worry, maybe even torment.
00;39;10;29 - 00;39;25;10
Speaker 5
Today you say, I, I want to give my life to Jesus and experience the peace that he offers. If that's you, would you put up your hands? I know who I'm praying for. Come on across the room. That's you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Come on. You need peace in your life. You want to give your life to Jesus today.
00;39;25;10 - 00;39;50;17
Speaker 5
Come on. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. Anybody else? Anybody else? Would you repeat this prayer with me? Say Jesus. Thank you for your love, that it wasn't about me coming to you, but you came to me. And today I'm choosing you. Thank you that you died on the cross. You forgave my past. And you're to change my future.
00;39;50;20 - 00;40;02;26
Unknown
I'll place my life into your hands. I'm yours forever. In Jesus name. Could you say amen. For we put our hands together. That's incredible. What a great decision. Come on. We stand up.
00;40;02;26 - 00;40;18;23
Speaker 5
To our feet in here, and, we got we got a little bit of time and I think the 40 niners play this afternoon. But who really cares? They're going to lose anyways. And, I mean, that's the biggest laugh I got all morning.
00;40;18;26 - 00;40;20;16
Speaker 5
Today if you came in here.
00;40;20;19 - 00;40;42;01
Unknown
And and you need more peace in your life. I don't know what you're looking at. I don't know what you're fighting through, but what I know is this. They've said it like this. Let's stop the storm that sinks the boat. It's when the water from the storm gets into the boat. You think said. And I think God wants to give you peace, that you might make it through what you're going through, that you say, I need peace in my life and just put up your hand for you need peace.
00;40;42;01 - 00;40;42;15
Speaker 5
You need peace.
00;40;42;15 - 00;40;58;25
Unknown
Leave those hands up. You say, God, I need peace in my life. I need peace of my relationships. Any peace in my workplace? Jesus, what hands lifted. We thank you that you're a God, that you give good news. Today I pray for the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, to fill every heart and every march in Jesus name.
00;40;58;27 - 00;41;04;25
Unknown
Let's worship.
00;41;04;28 - 00;41;08;07
Speaker 1
Thank you for being a part of our online community here at Project Church.
00;41;08;08 - 00;41;11;19
Speaker 2
We hope that this message and the whole service bless your life.
00;41;11;22 - 00;41;27;27
Speaker 3
Yeah. And if it did, we want to ask that you would do something for us. First of all, if you're not already subscribed to our YouTube channel, be sure to subscribe. Like this video. But also, we would ask that you would consider financially supporting what God is doing through Project Church. You can give in a variety of ways.
00;41;28;00 - 00;41;43;06
Speaker 3
You can text project to 97,000. Right now. You can give to our Church Center app, or you can give on our website project church.com/give. Thanks so much for being a part of our online community. And once again God bless you guys. We'll see you soon.