Did You Notice? | CJ Ward

[00:00:00] Foreign. [00:00:08] Church. We are thrilled you decided to listen to our teaching on your favorite podcast app. If you made a decision to follow Christ today, would you let us know by visiting? Yes.newlife gillette.com Here is this week's teaching. [00:00:27] Good morning. [00:00:29] Merry Christmas guys. It's almost here. I'm so excited. I hope that you're I feel like a child every year at Christmas. I love it so much. We're going to be in Philippians Chapter two. If you got a Bible, open up there. Philippians Chapter two. We are going to start reading in verse five. While you're turning there, I want to say good morning to everybody joining us online. Wherever you're watching, from all across the state of Wyoming, over at the prison, from the jail, wherever you're watching from, we're glad that you're here. Glad all of you in the room are here as well. So Philippians chapter 2, starting in verse 5, here's what it says in your relationships with one another have the same mindset as Jesus, who, being in very nature, God did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. [00:01:20] Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. [00:01:36] Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Let's pray. [00:01:56] Jesus, we love you. [00:01:58] We love you. We're so glad that we get to be here to worship you, that your presence is here with us now. God, as we look at your word for the next few minutes, if there's anything that we talk about that's my opinions. Would you reveal that to us so that we can see it and let it go? My opinions are not what matters today. But if there's anything over the next few minutes that's faithful to your character and consistent with your word, would you plant it in our hearts that we become like you, Jesus? [00:02:29] That's why we're here. [00:02:31] We love you. [00:02:33] Amen. [00:02:35] You guys are going to make fun of me about this, but I'm going to tell you anyway. [00:02:40] Every time I see a pronghorn, I feel like I'm at the zoo. [00:02:45] Every time I think they are so cool. I know most of you guys are thinking once you hit five or ten of them with your car. You're not going to think they're that cool anymore. I think they're so cool. Did you know that a pronghorn is not actually closely related to any other animal? We call them goats. They're not goats. They're not antelope. They're not anything, actually. Biologically speaking. Their closest living relative is a giraffe. Isn't that cool? There is a tiny fragment fast short necked giraffe in the Menards parking lot. [00:03:13] That's really cool and I think it's exciting. I think you should be excited about it too. I get it. You guys grew up around them. You've seen them your whole life. You've hit them with your car, so they're not that interesting anymore. There's a phrase for this. Have you heard this phrase before? [00:03:28] Familiarity breeds contempt. You ever heard that phrase? The more you see something, the less you care about it, the more annoying it is. This is why the same thing that your brother's girlfriend loves about him is the thing that drives you nuts about him. Right? Because she thinks it's cute. But you've seen it since you were five and it's gotten really annoying over time. Familiarity breeds contempt. [00:03:51] I am not familiar with pronghorn. I've lived here for a year and a half. I didn't grow up around him. I grew up where there are trees everywhere. You know what? I don't care about seeing any more of trees. I've seen them my whole life. I grew up watching western movies. My dad showed me John Wayne and Clint Eastwood and Dances With Wolves. Every time I drive across Interstate 90, I'm like, Tatanka, tatanka. [00:04:14] Some of you haven't seen Dances With Wolves, so you don't know why that was funny. [00:04:18] I just love it so much. I love pronghorns. Feel like these exotic animals. I don't think I would be more excited if I woke up tomorrow morning and there was a hippo in my yard. As if there's a pronghorn in my yard. Because I just. I feel like there are these cool exotic animals and I get really excited every time I see them. There's another way we could say this thing that we're talking about, right? Familiarity breeds contempt. When something's not normal to you, it stands out. Here's what we could say. [00:04:45] We don't notice things that are normal. [00:04:50] You don't notice things that are normal. You don't notice the menu at your favorite restaurant unless they take your favorite thing off the menu, right? Then you notice. You notice everything. You don't really notice how your close friends are behaving until they start behaving differently. And then you notice because their patterns have changed. We don't really notice things that are normal, but when something's abnormal, we can't help but notice. It stands out to us. [00:05:18] I love Christmas. I said that earlier. I absolutely love the Christmas season. I basically grew up in, like, a cheesy Christmas Hallmark movie in the month of December every year. And you're thinking, what does that mean? Here's what it means. I. My dad's a pastor, and every year we would do a Christmas tree lot as a fundraiser for the church. And I lived in the parsonage next door, so my yard was a Christmas tree lot. [00:05:39] Every day in the month of December every year, we'd walk outside and there'd be Christmas trees everywhere. Yeah, there'd be Christmas trees everywhere. There'd be lights everywhere. [00:05:48] Hot cider and snacks and hot chocolate. And Alabama Christmas Volume 1 playing over and over and over again. Listen, you can take your Mariah Carey and have a merry Christmas. We're listening to Alabama and Lee Greenwood in my house. [00:06:02] We'll love it. But every year, I would go outside my house, and it was families looking for Christmas trees, just like holiday magic. [00:06:11] Loved it. And I love everything about Christmas. [00:06:14] I love Christmas being the same way every year. I don't want a new, innovative way to celebrate Christmas. I want to go to the same house. I want to eat the same snacks. I want to listen to the same songs. I want the same decorations. I want Christmas to be Christmas. [00:06:29] But I have this concern. [00:06:32] My concern is that especially us American Christians, where Christmas is part of our culture, celebrating the birth of Jesus is part of our culture. There are light displays and music in the. In the grocery store, and it's all around us. I have this concern that Christmas has become normal. [00:06:54] And we don't notice things that are normal. [00:06:59] We don't pay attention to things that are normal. [00:07:03] We sing the same songs every year. [00:07:06] We go to the same places every year. We hear the story, we see a manger scene, and it's part of the decoration, so we don't really notice anymore how absurd the story of Christmas actually is. [00:07:19] I actually think there's something in us that knows this. We kind of know that there's something we're supposed to be paying attention to at Christmas that we don't do a great job of paying attention to. I think that's why every year it seems like, as Christians, we Get really frustrated about something, you know, red Starbucks cups, things like that. We know we're supposed to be paying attention to something, you know, and we want to keep Christ in Christmas and remember the reason for the season. So we know we're supposed to be doing something, but we haven't noticed yet what it is, and it becomes normal. So here's what we're going to do for the. For the rest of this morning, we're going to walk through Philippians chapter two. This passage we read, that's not traditionally a Christmas passage of scripture. It's not the Christmas story, but it describes to us in clear detail exactly how absurd and ridiculous and scandalous and remarkable and abnormal the story of Christmas actually is. Are you ready? [00:08:14] All right. Here's where it starts. Who being in very nature, God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage. [00:08:26] I don't know if I'm supposed to say this in church or not, but if I were God, I would want the perks, wouldn't you? [00:08:36] I would want the perks if I could control everything. If I was the creator of the universe, I would want the perks of being the creator of the universe. I would. I would definitely want that. Like, I think that's normal. In fact, I think that's how humans operate. I'd be pretty surprised if you, Jeff Bezos one day said, you know what? I don't like being able to do anything I want or buy anything I want, anytime I want, forever. Right? That would be surprising if he didn't want the perks of his power. That's how we operate as humans. We actually understand this to the point as a culture, that we've learned to hack generosity based on the perks. Here's what we do. We understand that people who have power and resources generally want the advantage. They want to take advantage of the resources and power they have. That's normal. So here's what we do. We say if you make a large donation, we'll name a library after you. [00:09:31] If you give a lot of money, we'll put your name on a plaque. [00:09:35] If you do something really generous or kind or heroic, we'll build a statue. We'll post it on social media. We'll make sure the world knows how kind and generous you are, because it will work to your advantage to be seen. Seen as kind and generous and to be recognized. So use your power, even in kindness, for your own advantage. [00:09:57] But that's not what Jesus did. [00:10:01] Jesus had literally all of the power is omnipotent that's the theological word. All powerful. Nothing can affect him physically. [00:10:13] He cannot be harmed. He cannot be controlled by anything else. He cannot be contained within anything. He is beyond time. I don't know how to explain that to you because I don't know what it's like to be beyond time. But God is beyond time. He has no beginning and no end. He is the very definition and essence of what it means to have power. But instead he chose to not use his Godness for his own advantage. That's crazy. [00:10:44] That's not normal. That's not how people use power. The theological word we're talking about here is this one. It's incarnation. [00:10:52] Incarnation means God became fully human while still being fully God. Can you explain that? No, I can't explain that, but that's what we believe. God became human, Creator now contained within creation in some mystical way. Creat second person of the Trinity. Fully God now becoming fully human. It doesn't make sense. But it's not just that. It's not just that. Jesus chose to not have the perks of being God. It goes beyond that. And the only way I can think to explain it is a very cheesy analogy. But you're just going to have to roll with me. This is a Christmas village. Who has a Christmas village in their house? Anybody? I love Christmas. I told you, I love everything about Christmas. I love Christmas villages. [00:11:36] Let me say something obvious. [00:11:38] I am bigger than this Christmas village. [00:11:43] I could not be contained within this village. That's not surprising. I'm actually in complete control of this village. I can move stuff around anytime I want. I could pick this up and break it if I wanted and it wouldn't affect me. It might make me sad, right? There might be an emotional effect, but physically this being destroyed would do no harm to me because I'm in complete control over it. I can move things around anytime I want. I can leave it alone or I can be completely involved in it. It is under my control. And compared to this village, I have complete power. [00:12:20] I have all of the power. This village has none of the power. Now here's what I want you to imagine. I want you to imagine that instead of being in charge of this village that I decided to pull a honey, I shrunk the kids and move into the village that I said, you know what? This thing that I made that I'm in complete control of, I actually want to live within it. Because that's the thing before right now, nothing that could happen to this would harm me. [00:12:50] It wouldn't affect me. [00:12:52] It has no influence or control over me. But if I live in it, all of a sudden, every, everything about it affects me all of a sudden. How it goes affects how I go all of a sudden. What harms it harms me. The capacity to feel pain and, and give up control is now something that, that I have done if I live inside this. That's what Jesus did. When we say he who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used for himself, but rather lowered himself. That's what we're saying. What we're saying is the one who could not know death, pain, restriction, physicality, any limitation voluntarily became completely limited so that the thing he made now had the power to do him harm. [00:13:36] That's not normal. [00:13:40] That's not how people use power. That's not how stories go. Let me just get this out of the way now. If you go onto YouTube, you'll find people who are trying to say the story of Jesus is just some variation of ancient creatures, Greek or ancient Egyptian mythology. That's absolute garbage. That's a lie. There is no other story in which God chose to not be God, but give up the authority and power of being God, somehow being God and human at the same time so that he could save the humans that betrayed him. That story does not exist anywhere else in human history. [00:14:12] Some people are thinking, no, Buddha did that. No, Buddha didn't do that. Buddha didn't give up his power and authority, but voluntarily. Buddha was a rich guy who realized money didn't fulfill him. So he became a poor guy and he realized being poor wouldn't fulfill him. So then he sat under a tree and decided, maybe that will fulfill me. That's the story of Buddha. It's not the same as Jesus. [00:14:32] This is the only story in human history where this happens. [00:14:37] It's the only one. But it doesn't stop there. It goes on. [00:14:42] Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant. Being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. [00:14:53] He made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant. Mark chapter 10, verse 45. Jesus says about himself. He says, I didn't come to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. Not to be served, but to serve. I want you to imagine something. Imagine you go to lunch after church today. You walk into the restaurant, sit down at the table, the waiter comes up to you and says, hey, I'm so and so. I'll be taking care of you today. And you say, you know what? Actually, you have a seat. I'm taking care of you today. [00:15:22] You say, I'll take care of the dishes. I'll take care of the food. I'll do all of that for you. I'm going to serve you today. [00:15:30] That goes against why you even go to a restaurant, right? No one goes to a restaurant to help somebody else. You go to a restaurant so you don't have to do the dishes and you don't have to cook the food to be served. That's why you go. But if you think about it that way, you're getting into the ballpark of what Jesus did. He had every reason to be served. [00:15:51] He doesn't owe anyone anything. [00:15:53] But he came to serve. [00:15:56] Imagine if the President of the United States decided to work at McDonald's, but not, like, for an afternoon with cameras around, like, actually decided to work at McDonald's, like, decided, I don't think I want to be president anymore. [00:16:08] I'm the most powerful man on earth. I'm the most influential man on earth. I'm the only human that if you showed my picture to almost every human on earth, they would recognize it. But actually, I'm going to change my appearance and cut my hair and change my clothes and I'm going to go work at McDonald's because I would like to know what it's like to live in obscurity and make minimum wage and just see if I can get by on minimum wage like some of the people that I serve. [00:16:31] Can you imagine that? [00:16:32] No. [00:16:33] Because that's not normal. That's not how we use power in our world. That's not how you or I would use power. [00:16:42] That's not how you and I use the resources that we have. But that is what Jesus did. [00:16:48] He took upon himself the very nature of a servant, saying, I don't need you to serve me, and I will serve you instead. He didn't just become human, he became a servant as a human. That's crazy. [00:17:07] But it's what he did. But it doesn't stop there. [00:17:11] It goes on by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. [00:17:21] Let me say something else that's obvious. [00:17:23] God can't die. [00:17:26] That probably doesn't surprise you. [00:17:29] A few years ago, I started having heart palpitations. Really crazy heart palpitations. My heart would start. Would double in speed every once in a while, just for a few seconds, and then it would go back down. And I could feel it all the time. Which, when you start feeling Things like that. You know, that hearts are pretty important. [00:17:45] Makes you a little nervous. So I went to the doctor and they did a bunch of tests. They made me wear a heart monitor for a while. Which. The funny thing is, if stress and anxiety is causing your heart to go crazy, putting a monitor on your chest to remind you every day that your heart's going crazy doesn't help the stress and anxiety, actually. [00:18:03] Anyway, they did all the tests and they said, your heart's fine. Lay off the coffee and learn how to deal with your stress a little bit better. Because I was drinking coffee like it was water at that time. They said, lay off the coffee and your heart's not doing anything wrong. But I realized, and I'm not trying to sound morbid here, that was the first time I had ever seriously thought about death. [00:18:23] Because, you know, we all know our hearts are pretty important. When your heart's not doing what it's supposed to do, it causes you to think about things. What if the doctors come back and say, actually, this is a big deal and there's not something we can do to fix it. [00:18:37] What if. Because I don't know exactly why my heart's doing this. What if it happens in the middle of the night while I'm asleep and I don't wake up? [00:18:43] What? It was the first time I had been a rock climber and, you know, in the outdoors. My whole life, I'd thought about death, but it was all this hypothetical accidental thing that would come. All of a sudden, you know, a rope might break, and how are you going to plan for that? But all of a sudden, death was real. [00:18:59] And I say that to say this. [00:19:01] If I had the choice between dying and not dying, I'm going to pit not dying. [00:19:11] I'm going to pick not doing that. I would choose staying alive. And I know we have hope in Christ heaven, eternity with Jesus forever. We will be resurrected. Everything will be made right. We do not have to fear death. I understand all of that, but still, if you said, cj, there are two options in this option, you get resurrected, but you have to go through the fear and pain and all of the things of death, but you're still going to get resurrection. And in this option, you get to just skip. You get to skip all the death and go straight to heaven. I'm picking that option. I would choose not to die. [00:19:44] Becoming obedient to death. [00:19:47] God doesn't die, but he chose to. [00:19:53] No one made him do it. He didn't have to do it. He chose to do it. He became obedient to death. He's the only being that has ever existed that never even had to consider what dying would be like. [00:20:09] But he chose to experience it. [00:20:13] But not just that it goes on. [00:20:17] Even death on a cross. [00:20:20] We don't have anything in our world that reflects what the cross was like. [00:20:25] The electric chair is not like the cross. Electric. A lethal injection is not like the cross. Even a firing squad is not like the cross. The cross wasn't just capital punishment, execution. The cross is what the Romans did to make an example of their enemies. They didn't crucify just everyone. They crucified people who were political dissidents, who were rebels, people who stole from the empire, things like that. They crucified people they wanted to make an example of. So what they would do is they would strip someone naked and hang them on a pole outside of town, just off the road, so that everybody who walked that road had to watch what happens to Rome's enemies. [00:20:59] So they wouldn't try it again. [00:21:00] They wouldn't want to be like them. They made an example of the people they crucified. That's why they used crosses. [00:21:09] He became obedient to even death on a cross. [00:21:14] That's absurd. [00:21:17] That's scandalous. There's no story like this. It doesn't exist in the human record for a story to be like this. Every story that's similar is mimicry of the story of Jesus. It's a retelling of the story of Jesus. The reason why you watch a movie today and you see things that sound a little bit like this is because they're all trying to tell this story over again. Because it's the most important and profound and surprising and absurd story that's ever been told. In fact, it's so crazy, it's one of those things that's so crazy, it's true. [00:21:48] And if this is true, if this is true, then what that means is that God loves you more than you could ever imagine. Because he didn't just share your life. He didn't just share your shame. He didn't just share your guilt, but he shared the death that we deserve but couldn't do anything about. He is the only one who never had guilt, but he chose to die a guilty death. He is the only being who has never done anything to be ashamed of. But he put himself in the place to feel every ounce of shame. He. He is the only being that deserves to be completely worshiped and completely glorified for eternity. But he became a servant instead. There's no story like this. And if that's true, then everything is different and everything has changed. And that's what we're celebrating at Christmas. When you see a manger scene, it's not a cute adornment to remind you of the holiday. It's not keep Christ in Christmas. It's God became human and died and rose again so that all of history could change. And the enemies that offended him and attacked him and killed him could be reconciled to him and become his family again. That's the reason for the season. That's what's in a manger scene when you look at it. It's not decorations. [00:22:59] It's crazy. [00:23:01] Have you noticed it? [00:23:05] Have you noticed it? [00:23:08] Have you noticed that there's no story like it? [00:23:13] Has it become normal? [00:23:17] Has it been lost in all of the lights and songs and eggnog and everything else? [00:23:23] Or have you noticed? [00:23:27] Have you ever had an experience in life that changed you? [00:23:31] Maybe you can't explain why. You saw something, you experienced something and you're just different now. Maybe it was when your child was born, or maybe it was seeing your spouse at the other end of the aisle. Or maybe. I don't know. Maybe it was when you walked up on the first good buck that you killed. I don't know. [00:23:46] You're laughing like that's a joke. But it changed me. So the. The other stuff changed me too. For the record. Don't. Don't be mad. The other stuff did too. But that changed me. I had an experience a few years ago like that. [00:23:58] My wife and I went to the Grand Canyon. We went on a road trip for our 10 year anniversary through the Southwest. And we spent a night at the Grand Canyon. We camped in the Desert View Campground, which is on the far eastern section of the Grand Canyon. We went at sunset and we sat on the eastern edge of the canyon and watched the sunset in the west. You could see almost the entire canyon. And we watched for hours, probably three hours. [00:24:20] From the very first moment the sun touched the horizon until the last speck of light left the sky. We watched it. [00:24:28] I took a picture of it. [00:24:31] This is not what I saw. [00:24:35] That's a picture of what I saw, but that's not what I saw. [00:24:38] I can't tell you what it was like. [00:24:40] I can't describe it. I know it sounds ridiculous. You'll make fun of me for this too. [00:24:45] I am not the same person. After watching the Grand Canyon at sunset, every possible color in the spectrum of light lit up the canyon. As. As the light echoed down the walls and reverberated and the sun came back up off of the river into our eyes. And the California Condors circled above us. And the dust from the desert lit up the sunlight like. Like beam lights at a concert. It was incredible. And it changed. And every time you would look up, it would be slightly different. And every time you would look up, it was like you were looking at the same picture, but a totally different picture. And it was like I felt every emotion and no emotions at the same hours. I said almost nothing. And that should surprise you. It was. [00:25:31] It was crazy. It wasn't. It wasn't normal. [00:25:35] It changed me. I'm sure. I cried. I don't really remember. I told my friend Jesse about this. He went to the Grand Canyon a couple months ago, and I said, you got to stop here and do this. And he said, you want me to stop at cry like a baby points, huh? [00:25:47] I said, that hurts my feelings, but yes, I do want you to stop there. [00:25:51] He didn't. [00:25:55] There are some things that you see to experience. When you notice them, it causes a reaction. [00:26:01] There's nothing you can do about it. [00:26:03] When you actually notice, causes a reaction. [00:26:11] What I want to know is, have you noticed Jesus? [00:26:16] Have you noticed who Jesus actually is? Is, or has it become normal? [00:26:22] You know. You know, we do a lot as Christians of trying to change the behaviors of the world around us. Act different. Don't do that. This is what we do at Christmas when we get angry about things. Don't say that. Don't. Don't say this. Make sure you say this. We try to control people's actions and their behaviors. But the thing is, controlling someone's actions and behaviors doesn't change them. Seeing who Jesus actually is is what changes them. As followers of Jesus, if we want the world to change, what they need to do is actually see who Jesus is. Because if they really see who Jesus is, if they finally notice that, I promise you, things are gonna change. Cause there's no story like it. When you see it, there's a reaction. That's why Paul goes on. The author of Philippians goes on. He says, therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every other name. Because what happens when you see what this is really about? [00:27:14] What happens when you see Jesus for who he really is? What happens is that he is exalted. There's no other appropriate reaction when you see Jesus for who he really is, is that he is exalted. His name is above every other name, every knee bows to him, and every tongue confesses that he is Lord. That's the reaction. It's called worship. Worship is the reaction. Worship is the proper exchange of emotions and affection in a relationship. Right? Worship is kind of the same as when a husband and wife say, I love you, you're beautiful, you're my favorite person on earth. You understand that if that doesn't exist in a relationship, the marriage isn't in a very good place. I can't tell you how many times someone's come into my office and they've said something along the lines of, I don't. I don't know how to show love because my dad never showed love to me. I don't know how to give love because my mom never said she loved me. Why? Because the proper exchange of love in a relationship, if that's missing the relationship's not healthy. Right? Worship is what happens when you actually notice Jesus and you give him the love and glory and adoration and praise that he deserves. That's the appropriate response to Christ. And here's the thing. Our worship tells us what we notice. [00:28:27] How I worship tells me what I actually notice. [00:28:32] If I notice how crazy and abnormal and remarkable and absurd and scandalous the story of Jesus is, then my worship is crazy and remarkable and absurd and scandalous. Because how could anything not deserve. How could the story not deserve it? How could Jesus not deserve it? [00:28:48] My worship tells me what I notice. [00:28:51] Now, look, I know there are a lot of us here, there are some of you here that you're thinking, cj, I'm an introvert. Because you're imagining worship and you're thinking, hands raised, crying, emotional kneeling down, standing up, dancing. Something like that. And that is absolutely part of worship. In fact, in scripture, there are multiple different physical postures of worship that the people of God are instructed to take as they worship. [00:29:12] But some of you are thinking, cj, I'm just. I'm not an emotional person. I'm not. I'm an introvert. That's not me. [00:29:17] So if that's what you're wanting, that's not going to be me. And that's fine. I get that God is not going to ask you to be fake or inauthentic in worship. [00:29:25] You know those videos where someone is deployed and they come home and their family meets them in the airport and the kids are crying and the wife's crying and the dog's crying and like, everybody's. Everybody's excited if I got deployed and my wife met me in the airport, here's how she would greet me. [00:29:45] That would be it. I'm the emotional one in our relationship. That also shouldn't surprise you. She is. That's just not her personality. So it wouldn't make sense for her to become very emotive and expressive in worship. That wouldn't be consistent with her character. Right? That would be fake. And God doesn't desire us to be fake. But here's the thing. A lot of us, if I can just be really direct, kind of call it like I see it, a lot of us, especially us dudes. Not only guys, though, especially as guys, what we say is, oh, that's just not really my personality. I'm not really the type of person that is going to, you know, sing along or lift my hands or something like that. But you'll go to Sturgis and you'll scream every line to the Nickelback song with your hands up because you know every single one of them, right? You'll go to a Taylor Swift concert and you're screaming before she even shows up. You're already. You'll. You'll. You'll kill an elk. And when you walk up on it, you will high five and jump and fist bump every single one of your friends and you'll be shouting, why? Because there's a reaction. Because you just noticed something really cool. You'll go to a football game, and you will come to that game head to toe in the colors of that team, and you will yell at the players, players and the refs and the other team and the parents of the sixth graders on that team. You'll. You'll yell at everybody because you notice something that matters. So I think for most of us. Let me just be honest here. For most of us, we're saying it's just not my personality to worship. And it's not true. [00:31:11] It's that we haven't noticed. [00:31:14] You notice the football game, you convince yourself that matters. [00:31:18] You notice the concert, convince yourself that matters. [00:31:24] But we haven't noticed how good Jesus actually is. [00:31:28] We haven't noticed that. This is the story that changed history. [00:31:32] This is the story that changes eternity. [00:31:35] So we hold back in this reserved thing as if Jesus doesn't deserve for us to be a little bit reckless and maybe be a little bit embarrassed in our worship, right? Well, if you fell in love with a woman, you'd be willing. If you fell in love with a guy, you'd be willing to be a little bit reckless, right? To do some cheesy things and be a little bit embarrassed. And we don't Ask anybody to do in church what's abnormal. [00:31:56] Actually, funny enough, it's the normal response to seeing something for what it is. [00:32:03] Have you noticed Jesus? [00:32:07] So we're going to close today with worship, and I want to ask you to worship authentic to who you are. [00:32:16] I just want to ask you to do something. [00:32:19] Don't think about who's standing next to you. [00:32:21] Don't worry about who's looking at you and whether they think it's silly or not. [00:32:26] What I want you to do is to think about Jesus, to think about what that story actually is, to notice it and to worship as the response to what you have noticed. [00:32:38] Let the goodness of the story dictate your worship of Christ, not what anyone else thinks of you. [00:32:48] Maybe you're here today and when you came in, you weren't sure if you believed any of this. Maybe you were sure you don't believe any of it. But maybe you're thinking, if that story is true, that I'm in. [00:33:00] If that's what actually happened, then I'm in. [00:33:04] Then I can worship that God. I can follow that God. [00:33:09] I can trust that forgiveness. If that's you, then I want you to take the card and there's a card in the seat back in front of you. It says next steps on it. I want you to fill it out and there's a box you can check that says, begin my new life with Christ. If you're watching online, you can go to nextsteps.church307.com do the same thing. Just want you to go fill out that card. Drop that card in one of the boxes on the back, on the wall in the back, or take it to the new Here desk. [00:33:32] Because today is the day. Don't wait until tomorrow. Don't wait until next month. Don't wait until the Christmas Eve service. If today you've decided you believe the story and you're willing to trust your life to Jesus to make the decision. Right now. [00:33:47] Let's pray. [00:33:49] Jesus, we love you, Jesus. May we never become bored by you. [00:33:58] May we never stop noticing how incredible and unexplainable and beautiful and extraordinary and absurd your love for us is. May we always be captivated and enthralled and excited by the truth of your gospel and your love. May it never become white noise or background noise or cliche or normal to us. [00:34:22] May we always give you the glory that you deserve, because you are the one who deserves the glory and you are the one who deserves the praise. And your name is above every name. [00:34:31] You are exalted Jesus, let us your people, exalt you as you deserve. [00:34:38] We love you. [00:34:40] Amen. Let's.