Do You See What I See: A Look at “Good News” | 2017 Dec 10

It’s always neat to see when God ties the special into the message, and it’s amazing how often that works out.  It is just such a blessing to have bro. Philip as part of our staff here at the church.

My name is Roger Dawson and I am the youth pastor here and associate pastor at Vansickle. And, it is my privilege to fill in this morning for Bro. Roger as he is away on vacation this weekend and for the next few days, as well.  Continue to be in prayer for him, that God would refresh him and renew him, and we look forward to what God has been sharing with him and putting on his heart these last few days.

My wife warned me over the last few days that I needed to be prompt through my introduction so that we could get through the message, because I always have that struggle of trying to make it through, rushing through to the end of it.

Anyways, I love this time of year. I love the Christmas season. I always enjoy when we come to the church and the church is all decorated with Christmas trees and different Christmas decorations.  We have an outstanding committee that takes care of that, Mrs. Cindy and Frieda, and several others as well.

We’re blessed to be able to enjoy those things.

I find that people usually fall into 1 of 2 extreme spectrums when it comes to the Christmas Season.  Either you are ready for Christmas music and decorations to begin, like in October, or perhaps even August… or you put it off, and put it off, and put it off, and are almost a Grinch about it.  And, it’s for a lot of different reasons.  And then, there are a lot of people of course that fall in between somewhere.

But why is it, why is that we as people see things differently?  I don’t know if you’ve figured it out, but it’s not just Christmas that we see things differently about.  It’s a lot of different subjects, a lot of different things that we come across.

I got to thinking about some of the different reasons, and it reminded me of an old golfer.

Arthur is 90 years old. He’s played golf every day since he retired. One day he arrives home looking downcast. “That’s it,” he tells his wife. “I’m giving up golf. My eyesight has become so bad that once I hit the ball I can’t see where it goes.”

His wife sympathizes and makes him a cup of tea. As they sit down she says, “Why don’t you give it one more try, but take my brother with you.”

“That’s no good” sighs Arthur, “your brother’s 103. He can’t help.”

“He may be 103”, says the wife, “but his eyesight is PERFECT.”

So the next day Arthur heads off to the golf course with his brother-in-law. He tees up, takes a mighty swing and squints down the fairway.

He turns to his brother-in-law and says, “Did you see the ball?”

“Of course I did!” replied the brother-in-law. “I have perfect eyesight”.

“Where did it go?” says Arthur.

“I don’t know. I can’t remember. I’m 103!”

There are a lot of different reasons that we might see things differently.  It could be that our eye sight is failing, or we just can’t remember.  There are lots of reasons as to why we might not see things the exact same way.

It could be our background experiences, our education, our own ambitions — all of these things tint the way we see the stuff that we experience.

I’ve got a test for you this morning that I want to run through.   I’ve got 5 different images that I want to brush through real briefly, if you will, and ask, “What do you see?”

Test #1, what do you see? Do you see a dog or a bird?  Some of you say both.  Had I not shared what to look for, you might have been there a little bit longer trying to figure it out.

Let’s go to the 2nd image.  What do you see first?  Do you see a frog? Or, do you see a horse?

Let’s try the 3rd one.  What do you see in this image? Do you see an old man and the front of his face, or do you see a woman and the back of her head?

Let’s try a 4th.  Do you see the profile of a man, or do you see two Hispanic people who are standing in the street?

And then, this last one, if you will… Are there 4 blocks there, or are there 3?

Are you sure about that?

I ran through those this morning to show you that we all see things differently.  Some of you saw a frog first, while some saw a horse first.  Some saw an old man first, and some of you saw a woman.  Interestingly enough, some of you saw things differently even from the person right next to you.  Why was that? Was it your angle?  Was it the distance you were away from the screen?  What was it that painted or tinted your experience of those images?

What if there was a way for us to all get on the same page, and all see the same things when it came to the things of God, especially to the subject of Christmas?  Listen, during the Christmas season, people are all over the spectrum when it comes to their excitement or their feelings and emotions about Christmas.  It may be because you’ve lost a loved one, and it may even this time of year that you lost them.  And so, as you come together for the holidays, you’re reminded about family and the fact that some of your most cherished family members aren’t going to be there.

I know that hurts, and that it’s sad to bring up, but it could be what paints your perception of the season.  It could be that, it could be the hustle and bustle of all the holiday preparations.  Sometimes we just struggle to make it through all of these different things.

But as I said just a moment ago, what if we could look past all of that and see the things that matter the most?

I don’t know how many of you can remember going to the movie theaters, long, long, ago, years ago, when you would go in and they would give you the 3D glasses that were red and blue, much like what’s up on the screen.  Why did they give you those glasses? Because when you put those glasses on, as they projected the movie or the image, there were actually 3 different images that you were viewing.  Two of them were different colors than the others.  You had a standard image, a red image and a blue image.  Your eyes began to interpret things differently and put it together in a certain way in your mind.

What if there was a way (like those glasses) that made things jump out off of the screen for us? What if there was a way, that God could take and make all of us see the exact same thing, and [the important things in life] stand out, jump off of the screen or pages for us?

Listen, Scripture speaks in multiple places about how we see things, or maybe even how we don’t see things.

In Matthew 13:15-17, Jesus says “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”  Very simply, Jesus is saying, “Hey, there are people who can see, but they’re not seeing?”

EZEKIEL 12 continues this same thought; God speaks to Ezekiel, “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.”

In Mark, again Jesus relates, “Do you have such hard hearts? ‘Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear?’ And do you not remember?”

This brings us to our message today.  When you go to the gospels and when you open up the Christmas story, what do you see as you read through those passages?

Today, I’ve entitled our message, “Do you see what I see? And it’s a look at the “good news” that we read about, especially in Luke 2, but also in Matthew 2.  So, if you have your bible, I am going to encourage you to open up to Luke 2 and you might move your bookmark over to Matthew 2, as well.  And we’re going to spend some time reading over these passages.

As your turning there, let me share Galatians 4:4 with you, because it’s so neat how God put history together and that at just the right moment Jesus came into the world.  That’s what the apostle Paul is saying in Galatians 4, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son …” But not everyone was excited about his coming.

Today, I want to look at these two different stories that will help us shape the way that we look at Christmas, and not just these stories, but I want to look at the responses that each person had as they saw the birth of Christ.

First, you read in Luke 2 about the “Announcement to the Shepherds”, and I’m excited to open up this passage of scripture. There are some really neat things, if you’ve not read this story in a while.  And so let’s start in verse 8, if we can. I’ve got it on the screen, if you don’t have a bible. Follow along.

“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping what over their flocks by night, and behold an Angel of the Lord stood before, and the glory of the lord shone around them and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all people. For there is born to you this day, in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the lord.  And this will be the sign to you, you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host, appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on heaven and on earth, peace to those on whom his favor rests.  When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, let’s go to Bethlehem to see these things which the Lord has told us about.”

As you read these couple of verses, try to get the big picture of what’s taking place. Okay? As you can imagine, these shepherds had an everyday, normal life that they were accustomed to.  What did the life of a shepherd look like, particularly as they watched over their sheep through the night?  Probably very boring, unless there was a predator that came and they might need to take care of.  But this night was unlike any other thing they had experienced before, because it wasn’t a predator that woke them out of their peace and clam. No! It was an angel of the Lord; a messenger that was sent to bring forth good news.  So their quiet night is immediately interrupted, an angel shows up, and check this out, it says in the scripture, that the glory of God encompasses all around them!

You have to imagine their eyes in this experience, their jaws must have hit the floor, and their eyes would have been like saucers!  And the angel delivers a message.  As he delivers this message, notice 3 important details about it — a “what”, a “who”, and an “about”.  What is the message that he brings? It is good news of great joy.  That’s the “what” that the angel brings.  The angel brings good news of great joy.  You need to, if you don’t have that passage or that part underlined in your bible, I would encourage you to do so, because that phrase paints the rest of scripture — good news of great joy.  Good news –  the Gospel is Good News, and you’re going to see in just a moment what the Gospel clearly is.  But understand this, the angel brings a message.  What’s the message, it’s good news first… and it is a message of Great Joy.  So, that’s the “what”.

But for “who”… who is this for?  Well, Luke explains very clearly the angel’s words — this is a message of good news and great joy for who — you remember at Christmas time how you have all of these gifts around the tree… how do you know who the gift is for? You have tags on them that designate that such-and-such gift goes to this person, and is from this person.  If you imagine this as a Christmas present from God, you’ll see that it is a gift for the whole world, from God himself.  It is a Christmas gift of good news of great joy… for all the world, from God… but what’s it “about”?

It’s about a savior who is born for you this day.  This is an awesome passage!  These things, these revelations that the shepherds received – as I said, it would have overwhelmed and shocked them.  First experiencing the angel, the glory of God, and then hearing what God was doing.  It was awesome!  But notice what Luke 2:16-18 says, after the angel appeared, gave the message, then notice their response, “so they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby who was lying in a manger.  When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them”.

Real briefly, I want to point out what the sign was that they were told to look for. Don’t get it confused with Matthew 2, where the Magi followed the star; the shepherds didn’t have a star to follow.  The sign for them was going to be a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, which was lying where? In a manger.  So this was the sign for them.

Now in Bethlehem, understand that at this time, there would have been numerous babies that would have been wrapped in swaddling clothes, but what made this one special and unique was that he wasn’t in a home; he was in a stable. That’s very important — because where would the shepherds have known to look, what would they have been familiar with? All of the places that dealt with livestock, because that’s what their lives revolved around.  And so they go, and when they find it, they are overjoyed. And then, they go and do what? They tell everyone what they found, and what the angel had told them, and what God was getting ready to do. A savior’s been born! Notice again, their response.  How did the people respond?  All who heard it were amazed! They were amazed!!  They were amazed, excited, overwhelmed, and in awe of the things that God was getting ready to do.  Life that was still and quiet and normal was about to go out the window, because God was born on planet earth! This is the Christmas story, “Today in the city of Bethlehem, a savior has born to you, who is Christ, the messiah, the Lord.”  They were all amazed!

The second story that I want to look at is the “Quest of the Wise Men”, the magi as some of you have heard it.  It’s in Matthew 2, we’re going to start out in verse 1 and go through 3, but I want to point out some different things as we’re reading through this story.

Matthew 2:1 reads, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.  When king Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all of Jerusalem with him.”

Herod then summons the chief priests and all of the scribes to find out where the messiah was to be born.  He’s told according to the prophets, it’s Bethlehem.  How did they know that? If you have a foot note in your bible, it’ll tell you — that’s in Micah; in the book of Micah, you read about where the Messiah was to come and where he was going to be born.  So, Herod knew this information, but the thing he did not know, was “When?”  When was the messiah born? When had this king come to earth? So, notice what happens in verse 7, “Then Herod called the magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.  He sent them to Bethlehem and he said go, and search carefully for the child, and as soon as you find him, so that I too may go and worship him.”  Verse 9, “after they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star had seen when it rose, went ahead of them, until it stopped at the place where the child was.  When they saw the star,” notice their response — “they were overjoyed.  On coming to the house, the saw the child with his mother, and they bowed down and they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.”

Now listen, I don’t have a lot of time to break down all the different details of this story, but I want to point a few things out that are important for our understanding.

I know that traditionally, we say that there were three magi or wise men.  Why do we say three? Because there were three different gifts.  There could’ve been more, there could’ve been less.  We truly don’t know how many there were.  What we do know is that they were from the east – most likely from Babylon, or the area of Persia.  Now, here’s something that I want to ask, “Why did these wise men come in search of Jesus?”  Why did they come? They said very clearly, where is the one who has been born king, why? We have seen his star, and we’ve come… to do what? Worship! My question is, how did they know?  How did these gentiles know to look for the coming of God?  That’s an important question you’ve got to think about? How did they know to look for God and his kingdom? How did they know to look for the Good News?

Well, if you remember your biblical history, centuries before this moment in time, Jerusalem was invaded by Babylon, and then again, later on, it was invaded by Assyria.  When Babylon conquered a nation, they came in and killed off any potential threats, and often took those who were skilled workers, those who had any value or consequence, as captives to be exiled into their own nation.  You see this in the Book of Daniel; that is what you read concerning Daniel, and then with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  What happened with those men?  They were taken from Jerusalem, and they were forced to live in a foreign nation.

Understand this… Daniel was a man of God, and God showed him many great revelations. And here’s the really neat part you need to understand – what if God used Daniel to disciple a group of men, and teach them about the ways of God, and teach them that there is one true God. His name is Yahweh, and you need to worship and look for Him.

There’s a scripture in the book of Numbers that actually speaks of the coming of the messiah, the king. It speaks of a scepter [a king or messiah] that’s coming, but when the prophet Balaam receives this word… it says it’s not yet, it is far off.  So, Daniel knew this verse and could’ve taught it to these men, and asked them to be in wait.  What was going to be the sign of this, it was going to be a star.

We don’t know exactly what the celestial event was or looked like.  There’s speculation, but that’s all it is… is speculation.

But here’s the thing: They saw it, and then they begin their journey.  It could’ve taken up to two years. How do we know this? Because when Herod asks the Magi when the star appeared, they tell him it was two years ago.  We’ve been on this journey now for two years.  And we’ve come and we’re turning Jerusalem upside down looking for the messiah.  Where is he?  Well, I know the location, Herod says, but I didn’t know the time.  He’s been born in Bethlehem, go… and when you find him return to me and let me know, so that I can go and Herod says worship, but that is not his intention… because he knew that Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, was going to be a threat to him.  Why would Herod have been afraid of this baby?  Well, because of his own agenda.  See, Herod was not the divinely appointed king, which God had put in place.  No, he wasn’t divinely appointed at all.  He assumed that title, and told people that, but that’s not who God had as his king. No. The true king was born that night.  Two years later, the Magi find him and they present their gifts.

Now, notice… how do the people respond? How did Herod respond when he heard this good news?  Herod was disturbed, and not just Herod himself, all of Jerusalem.  They were all disturbed.

Why was it that in one group they were amazed and astonished, and then in another group they were disturbed?

People respond to different things in various ways because of many different reasons.  It could be agendas, motivations, or even our own needs.  So, it brings up this question, “What do you see when you look in the manger?”

When you look at Christmas, when you look at this time, what do you see?  Are you amazed and excited and just in awe of what God is doing? Or are you disturbed because maybe God is going to upset your agendas, he’s going to turn your world upside down? You see that is what it means for God to come to earth.  That’s what it means for God to be Lord over our lives, is that we give Him rule and control over every area of our heart and our lives.  What do you see when you look into the Manger?

Listen, I know that the angel said to the shepherds, this is great news of great joy, for all peoples… but yet, here now, in Jerusalem, Herod is disturbed, and all of Jerusalem with him.

I thought this was great news, why did they respond in such a way?  Well, listen, perhaps it is because of where they were and what they knew about themselves.  Jesus says very clearly in Luke 19:10 that the reason that he came was to seek and to save the lost.  In Luke 5, Jesus answers and says to them, “Those who are whole, don’t have a need for a doctor, it’s only those who are ill that are in need of a doctor.”  That’s who I’ve come for — those who are broken, those who are hurting, those who are in need.

In Matthew 9, the writer says, “But when Jesus heard that, he said to them, those who are whole, they don’t need the doctor…” … again echoing that same sentiment.

In Matthew 15:24 we read, I’m sent to the lost sheep of Israel. For the son of man has come to seek and save that which is lost.

What do you see in the Manger?  What do you see?

This morning I want to encourage you, that as you look at the Manger to lay your agendas aside, lay your fears, and your worries down… surrender them to the Lord, and then you’ll have the capacity to see and not just see, but also live.  This is so important, so huge for us to understand.  Herod saw fear, or a threat, or a challenge to his throne.  This morning, I say there’s 2 ways for us to see Jesus — we can see him as savior and lord, or we’re going to see him as a stumbling block to our own plans, our own lifestyle; someone who is going to mess things up.  So, again, I say… what do you see when you look in the manger?

For Herod and all of Jerusalem, when they looked at the Manger, they didn’t see Joy. What they saw was terror.  They saw a threat.

What did they miss out on when they looked at the Manger? They missed out on one huge thing – the Joy!  They missed out on Joy!

So, we’ve got to ask a question this morning, “what is joy?” What is joy?  There’s a lot of talk about what Joy is.  Not just in biblical circles, or Christian circles, but there is talk even in psychological and social circles about what Joy is.  There’s a lot of debate, and there’s not a lot of agreement on a set definition of what joy is.  You can look in a dictionary and find one definition, and then look up in an encyclopedia another.  There’s a lot of talk about what Joy is.

Well, I want to give you an illustration here in just a moment that I came across from someone named John Piper, who is a bible teacher, and professor at a seminary.  You may have different feelings and opinions about John Piper, but his writings here on this topic are interesting and I want to share them with you.

Speaking on Joy, John Piper says, “One of the marks of the difference between an idea and an emotion or feeling is that you don’t have immediate control over your feelings or your emotions. What he’s saying is that “You can’t snap your fingers and decide to feel something.”  You may know what I’m talking about…  like sometimes when your down, you can’t just snap your fingers and all of a sudden make yourself feel better.  You don’t have control over how you feel or how you … are responding, how your emotions are.

Then he uses this example of a bear.  I don’t know how many of you enjoy going camping and what not, but imagine if you were to go camping, and then all of sudden, there in your tent, you see a silhouette that is a huge Grizzly bear.  What do you do in that moment? Do you stop and think for a second, okay, that’s a grizzly bear; grizzly bears can be dangerous, and so the way I should be feeling in this moment right now is, I should be feeling fear and dread and terror.  Do you have to tell yourself to feel those things? No! They just happen.  When something stands before you, when you experience this thing, it causes a response in you.

Now, emotions are not to be controlled in that way. We can’t tell ourselves to fear, to love, to rejoice.  That’s not how our emotions work, per se.

But still, there is a lot of confusion on what Joy actually is.  Is it an attitude, a feeling, an emotion? Well, let us look at this this morning.  All three of those things, because truly I’ve heard all of those things, really, that Joy is a little bit of each of those.

Jack Wellman who is a writer for a ministry called Patheos, he says this… “Joy isn’t like happiness which is based upon happenings or whether things are going well or not. No, joy remains even amidst the suffering. Joy is not happiness. Joy is an emotion that’s acquired by the anticipation, acquisition or even the expectation of something great or wonderful. It could be described as exhilaration, delight, sheer gladness, and can result from a great success or a very beautiful or wonderful experience, like a wedding or graduation but the definition of joy that the world holds is not nearly as amazing as biblical joy, but joy is also gift.”

The fruit of the spirit is love, … joy … peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  It’s also a gift.

I want to give you a way that you can understand what Joy is, and maybe it’s best if I just start here: You know that God says in Genesis, let us make man in our own image.  What is the image of God? He is Father, He is Son, He is Holy Spirit.  He is a trinity.  In the human existence, you can find that there is a trichotomy, if you will, where we are made up of three things: mind, heart [or] body and soul.  You see this in the great commandment, when Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.”  That shows us that we are made up of all these different parts. And the way that I see it, is that each one of these different areas effects us, and here’s the really neat thing — that the deeper you go, the more that that encompasses or envelops the rest of us.  For instance, when we feel something in our soul, that overflows from our soul to the other areas of our body and mind.  Let me illustrate or share this with you real quick.  There’s a difference between emotions and feelings.  Emotions are the things that we know up here [in our mind], a mental response to our experience. For instance, if you stand at the grand canyon, you have an emotional experience standing there at the grand canyon. Why? Because it is such an awesome experience and you’re overwhelmed with appreciation and awe.  What is it that you’re experiencing? This is an emotion that your experiencing here (in the mind), but your feelings are the response of your body.

Think about it this way, when you are sad, what does your body posture do? You slump over.  You get down cast.  You feel weighted.  Why does your body respond that way? Because your mind is having this emotional response, and your body is just following suit.  Listen.  Why does it work that way?  Because we are a trichotomy.  And so again, I ask the question, what is joy?  Is it Feelings? Emotions? or Choice?  Well, it is feelings, and it is emotions, but I want to insist that it is also a choice.

I said just a moment ago, that Joy is a fruit of the spirit.  In other words, it is something that we can choose to walk in [with the Holy Spirit’s help].  Now listen, this is important for you to remember, and I want to share a couple of illustrations that will prove my point, but one of them is when Jesus says this — Love (When you think of love, you have an emotional response toward somebody. Now think about this), when Jesus says, “Love your enemies.”  Do you have that same response, that same feeling? No! Why? Because we are a trichotomy… of body, mind, and spirit.

But still, Jesus says, even though you don’t feel like it, “Love your enemies, do good to those that hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.”

Jesus, he endured some things, obviously… and the writer of the Book of Hebrews, in chapter 12, says this… it says about Jesus, “For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross.”  Listen to me this morning, did Jesus look at the cross and just get excited about going to the cross? No! You read the gospels and it says that He is agonizing over this experience. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He is sweating drops of blood and he even asks God, if there is any other way, please take this cup away, because I don’t want to have to go through this.  But the writer of Hebrews says that Jesus did this for the Joy that was set before Him. Was He excited about this? Was He overjoyed at this? No! So, what was this joy that Jesus experienced then? I want to give you if will let me a new definition of what Joy is… Joy is choosing to see the God story in all of life — the good and the bad, and it’s trusting that God is working all things together for good, especially for those who love him, who are called according to His purpose.

That applies to the good times and the bad times.  Now, listen to me, don’t walk away from here and say that Roger D said, “You just need to feel better about life.”  No. I’m saying that you need to put on these special glasses and look at life through this lens, because some of you are looking at things in a certain way, and it’s blinding you to what God is doing.

Do me a favor if you will.  Take your finger and put it out in front of you like this. Alright? Now take that finger and bring it right here immediately in front of your nose and focus in on your finger.  When you focus in on your finger (you can stop… it’s a funny picture seeing everyone do that, though)… when you did that, what happened to everything else around you.  When you are zeroed in right here, what happens to everything else? It’s a blur, right? You miss out on what is going on around you, when you are so focused, right here.  Our perspectives too often are right here, right now, my life, and what’s going on in me.  Jesus says you need to put on these glasses and trust that I have a plan in place.  You see when Jesus looked at the cross, here’s the amazing part of that, He wasn’t looking forward to the pain and the torture and just the judgment of God falling on Him for bearing the weight of the world’s sin… no! He wasn’t looking forward to that, but what He was looking forward to was what was on the other side of that, which was the redemption of all mankind… as they trusted in Him and God’s work.

And so, you can look at it this way, here’s a real simple way, and maybe you’ll write this down, I don’t know… but God gave this to me.  I think it’s interesting.  Your circumstances can paint your experience, or your experience can paint your circumstances.  Do you see the difference between those 2 things? That your circumstances, they often paint the way that we perceive our experience, but as you grow and mature, your experiences, especially for the believer, your experiences teach you… no, there’s more to this.  Let my experience paint my circumstances that are going on.

So, even when I don’t feel like it, even when I’m depressed, even when I think about my dad who has gone on to glory and I miss him, and my brother who has passed away, and I miss him, and that during this season, I won’t think of them… and just feel sad.  Instead, I can look at God and say, God is amazing and he is doing an awesome thing [which I get to be part of].

So, what did Herod and Jerusalem miss out on when they looked into the Manger? They didn’t see Joy. They missed the joy.  They only saw what they were blinded by!  They saw their fears, they saw their terrors, they saw their world flipped upside down, and they didn’t like it.  But God says, if you trust Him, then you’ll learn to experience a joy that you cannot even begin to imagine.

Many of you know that I was born and raised in Houston, and that I go back to mom’s (she still lives there) and I go back with the family every now and again to visit with her.  There’s a radio station there called KSBJ. It is an amazing radio station. You don’t realize how good something is until you don’t have it any more.  Whenever we go down to Houston, we’ll turn it on KSBJ and listen to the radio.  Last year, they started a campaign that was called their Choose Joy campaign.  And they did that again this year, and I think it’s an amazing thing.  They encourage their listeners during the Christmas season (and not just during the Christmas season, you could apply this all year long) this pledge. They encourage their listeners to live by this:

I need joy.

And when I keep my eyes on Jesus, I have joy.

When I lose it, I will choose it.

I choose joy.

Listen, what is joy? Yes, it’s a feeling. Yes, it’s an emotion. Yes, it is a choice.  This Christmas season, what do you see when you look into the manger?  What do you see when you look into the manger? My encouragement to you today would be, “Do you see what I see, because what I see when I look into the manger is good news.”