Beth Jones - Sep 12 - 8:30 am

0:00Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile with your summer price forecast. Now, unfortunately, we're seeing rising costs across the country with possibility that big wireless hates you 100%. Now, over here at Mint Mobile, we're seeing sunny skies and dropping prices every plan to just $15 a month. Give it a try at MintMobile.com slash switch. Up from payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 month plan required, $15 per month equivalent to taxes in VZXtra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes and we slow in at work as VZC terms. Did you know that mosquitoes have killed almost half of all people who have ever lived? Today, people are fighting back. With support from the Gates Foundation, American scientists and partners around the world have developed a new generation of bed nets that can kill up to 90% of mosquitoes exposed to them, helping cut malaria rates in half. The result? A safer, healthier future for everyone. Visit Gates Foundation, partners of human potential. Search GatesFoundation.org slash mosquito to learn more.

1:00We're some C-Heroes and other C-Egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. Hey guys, this is Beth Jones and I am so glad you have tuned into the basics with Beth Podcast and I'm so pumped up about helping you get the basics of the Bible or as we like to say around here, get the basics, live the life and do the stuff. I know you are going to be so encouraged by today's podcast and I really pray you enjoy every minute. If you'd like to know more about the basics and what we're doing, just head on over to the basics with Beth.com to get all the deeds. And in the meantime, enjoy today's podcast. We're going to talk about this perversation that happened in the Christmas story. We're looking at all the characters in the Christmas story and kind of seeing what was their conversation with God.

2:00What was the perversation that happened? Today we're going to talk about some farmers and the wise guys, otherwise known as the shepherds and the wise men. So our main text for the series has been Psalm 55 17. It says, evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. And that's what a perversation is. It's just an ongoing conversation with the Lord, too way, by the way. We're not just doing all the talking. God's responding. God's initiating conversation. God's asking us questions. God's prompting us in our heart with things and we're responding to Him and there's an ongoing perversation. We've seen it so far in numerous characters in the Christmas story but now in our journey we're up to the shepherds and the wise men. So let's talk about that. Luke chapter 2, let's look at the story of the shepherds. And it came to pass in those days that the decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This census first took place while Quinn Harris was governing, governor in Syria.

3:05So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into Judea to the city of David which is called Bethlehem because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his patrol wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. She brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the manger because there was no room for them in the inn. Well we know that story. We obviously have heard that many, many times. But then in that reference point we now discover something about these shepherds, the very next verse, verse 8. Now there were in that same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night and behold an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shown around them and they were greatly afraid. And the angels said to them, do not be afraid for behold I bring you good tidings of great

4:05joy which shall be for all the people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord. So we'll stop there and talk about this just a little bit. So we have these shepherds out in the fields keeping watch over their sheep and they would take turns watching over the sheep throughout the night and it says that in the mid, they're just doing what they do. They're just doing what they do. Just living their everyday life just like you and I, just doing what we do. And this was one of those days where suddenly the angel of the Lord, most scholars think it was Gabriel. We've been talking about Gabriel in the last few weeks that Gabriel was the messenger angel. One of God's archangels many believe he's known as the messenger angel bringing words. Gabriel and a message from heaven had not been given. We talked about this last week had not been given for 400 years since the end of Malachi. We hadn't heard anything from the Lord in terms of a message from angels in terms of

5:08the living words coming down. Now God was busy obviously doing a lot of things getting ready for the Messiah to be born. The Roman Empire was expanding. Roads were being built. A lot of things were happening to be preparing the way for the Messiah to be born. But up until now we've not heard from heaven. Until this angel Gabriel has several appearances, one to Zechariah, one to Joseph, and Mary and now to the Shepherds. And the angel says, behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord. We're going to come back to that, shown around them and they were greatly afraid. And then the angel had this message. And the message is always the same. If you noticed, the angel always starts with, don't be afraid. It's all good. Don't be afraid. I know this is unusual. Don't be afraid. Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings or glad tidings of great joy and we'll come back to what he said. So let's just talk about the Shepherds for a minute. Because what can we learn? What does God want us to get out of this portion today concerning our prayer conversation

6:10with the Lord? Well a couple of things about Shepherds. I think for a lot of us, we have a more romantic idea of Shepherds because we've seen them in our manger set and we've seen them on Christmas cards and we have these images in our mind. Shepherds were not highly esteemed. They were considered a lowly person and a lowly occupation. They were often despised. They were uneducated. They could not testify in court. Shepherds could not testify in court. They were considered sort of the street people, if you will, dirty. They were around animals all the time. They didn't smell very good. There was even children like we know David, King David, back in the Old Testament was a Shepherd boy. Often times it was the work that children did. And if you didn't get an education and you didn't sort of come into some maturity, then you never left being a Shepherd. You just stayed as a Shepherd. So it was not a highly esteemed role at all. In fact, it was esteemed. But it's interesting, don't you think?

7:11And don't you think it's encouraging? Those who God decided to reveal that the Messiah had been born that night? Don't you think it's interesting? And here's the thing that we see that happened here. We've seen the angel about four times so far. So this wasn't the first time Gabriel had said something to someone after 400 years. Although it was within a short window. These guys were like fourth on the list. It's pretty good. Pretty good spot to be in. For these lowly people that seemed somewhat insignificant, seemed like... Do you hear that? That's how it means that summer is officially here. It means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shaped like a cartoon. But this summer, Mint Mobile has a better tree. Every plan, including unlimited, is $15 a month. And unlike Ice Cream, it won't drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture does anyone have any cash! Give it a try at minmoble.com slash switch. A front payment of $45 for $3.90 for $6.00 or $180 for a 12-line plan required. $15 a month equivalent to taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes me slow when

8:12network is busy. See terms. Did you know that mosquitoes have killed almost half of all people who have ever lived? Today, people are fighting back. With support from the Gates Foundation, American scientists and partners around the world have developed a new generation of bed nets that can kill up to 90% of mosquitoes exposed to them, helping cut malaria rates in half. The result? A safer, healthier future for everyone. The Gates Foundation, partners of human potential, search gatesfoundation.org slash mosquito to learn more. We're some C-Heroes and other C-Egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. If you wanted to announce something big, if you're going to announce the new iPhone, you're going to announce some major big announcement. Usually what people do is they go find the influencers.

9:13They hire a marketing company. We figure out a marketing strategy. We use social media. We think about mass media and all the different things to get the word out. That's how we think as humans. But you know, God always seems to have the exact opposite view. Have you noticed that? Have you noticed the irony of God's ways? They are not our ways. If you want to be great in God's kingdom, what do you have to do? Be a servant of all. If you want to be exalted in by the Lord, what do you have to do? Humble yourself. If you want to increase in God's kingdom, what do you have to do? Give away. I mean, everything in God's kingdom is like oxymoronic. So anytime you think, this is how you do it, just know it's going to be the exact opposite. Amen. Amen. So if we wanted to get a big announcement out, we'd probably do some big public relations campaign. But the way God wanted to get the word out about the Messiah being born that night is

10:15he went to these lowly, insignificant, nobody knows, nobody esteems, nobody cares about. You guys can't even testify in court. Nobody even likes your testimony. Nobody even respects your testimony. And you're the ones I'm picking. To spread the news, the initial news of the Messiah being born, that I hope for you and for me gives us hope. How many of you all that gives you a little hope? It doesn't matter your pedigree. It doesn't matter. You know, your background doesn't matter your success, status in the eyes of people. The interesting thing was about the shepherds. They were probably considered low in the world's eyes and in man's eyes, but in God's eyes, they were spiritually perceptive. So it's not always what it seems, is it? The Bible says, man looks on the outside, God looks on the heart. That's also a good thing to remember when you meet people and you're talking to people. It's a good thing to remember about yourself. The God's not looking at the outside. God's looking at the inside, the heart's the most important thing.

11:16Hey, I hope you are enjoying today's message and I wanted to interrupt this program to bring you a special announcement. I wanted to offer you a free book that will help you grow in your relationship with the Lord. Just click the free book button on the pray.com app or go to the basicswithbeth.com to get your free copy of the seven basics. These seven truths will definitely set you up for an intimate and successful relationship with the Lord. Now, let's head back into our regularly scheduled program. All right, so let's go back to our story here. So the glory of God shown roundabout, they were greatly afraid. They angels said, don't be afraid. I bring you good tidings of great joy. I want to just talk about that for just a couple of seconds. We've got lots to cover, so we'll get as far as we can.

12:18I bring you great tidings or good tidings of great joy. Do you know the gospel is good news? Like literally, that is the phrase, good news. I bring you good news. I bring you the gospel. I'm bringing you the angels are like, hey, we're bringing you glad tidings of good news. This is like really good news. It's great news and it produces great joy. The distinguishing mark of a Christian is joy. Turn out your neighbor smile. Say, see, I'm a Christian. So really it is. And do you know that distinguishing mark is shining more brightly these days than ever? Because you work with people. You have neighbors and coworkers and folks at school and fellow students and you have a lot of people in your world just like we do that don't have joy. They're not smiling. You stand in line at Myers. Just do a scan. Ever done that? You ever done a scan at Myers? It's like, hello, where is the life?

13:23It's in you. Let's keep looking at the story. Verse 12. This will be a sign to you. You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel in multitude. Now there's more angels. The whole heavenly host has to get in on this. Praise God and say, glory to God in the highest, vertical, glory to God in the highest and peace, good will toward men on earth. So it was, verse 15, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, they had to blink. Don't you think? Like, all right, what just happened? The shepherd said to one another, let us go to Bethlehem to see this thing that has come to pass which the Lord has made known to us. And they came with haste and found Mary Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. Now nobody told the shepherd to go. It was their automatic response. God said good things to them, good news to them. Glad tidings, great joy.

14:24And because of their spiritual perception, obviously they must have had spiritual perception even though it was a lowly occupation and despised, spiritually they were steamed by God. He visited them. And they must have had some kind of something, something happened because it moved them to go. It moved them. Let us leave the sheep to the middle of the night, we are watching our sheep. By sheep, we are going to bounce. We have to go see what has happened in Bethlehem. Listen, when you have a God encounter, we are talking about a prayer for station. We are talking about God's presence. We are talking about God's tangible presence, His illumination to you and I on the inside. When we have a real encounter with God, it moves you. You cannot be the same. They couldn't yawn and go, oh wow, that was crazy. I guess we better water the sheep.

15:24They couldn't be the same. And they never were. You cannot be the same. If you have a real prayer for station with the Lord, you just can't be the same. You can't be bored. You can't be unmoved. So they have to get to Bethlehem to see what is going on. Let's go see this thing that the Lord told us of. They got busy and went. They came with haste. They didn't have to wait four days. They just went. Found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in the manger. Now when they had seen him, beheld him, saw him, just a baby in a manger. But who was this baby? This was Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. This was a different baby. And when they saw him, they beheld him, from that moment, began to be transformed. Because I just say, what did they do about it when they saw him?

16:25How transformed were they? They made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Christ. Okay, let me just hit pause there. When we see Jesus, when we're having a prayer for station with the Lord, when He's real to us, do you know you can't help? But make it widely known. You can't help it. If the news is so good, I mean, how many of you, like Annie and Zach, got engaged this week. Do you know they did not keep it to themselves? It's all over Facebook. We're all posting. Oh my gosh. Why? Because it's big news. When God invades your world, you cannot help but make it widely known. I mean, how many of you remember when you got saved, when Jesus came into your life, your sins were forgiven. It was real to you. You had peace with God for the first time you walked around and you weren't all vexed inside. You're like, I don't even care what happens in my life. All I know is I have peace with God.

17:26I know my sins are forgiven. I know my name's written in the Lamb's book in heaven. I've got an eternal home in heaven. Yes, my job is still the same. I still live in the same house. I still have the same family. I had to throw that one in. Because some of you, you're not in a tough relational place. But there's something in you that doesn't matter because I have peace with God. I know Jesus. And I am now motivated to make it widely known to my sphere of influence. I mean, how many of you, when you got saved, the first people you wanted to know was your family? It had to be. It had to be. If you love your family, maybe you don't love your family. Then who were the first people? I mean, who'd you have to tell? Your coworkers, your neighbors, fellow student? Who did you have to tell? You had to tell somebody. You said, I didn't feel compelled to tell anybody, listen, if you didn't feel compelled to tell anybody that I want to challenge you this morning to get saved.

18:31I really do. I want to challenge you this morning to get the real thing. Maybe you got religion. Maybe you prayed some prayer. But it didn't hit you. It didn't mean anything. I want to challenge you. I want to encourage you. And you guys are in line too. I want to encourage you because the real thing moves you. A real prayer conversation with the living God changes where your feet go. You can't stay in the fields. Your feet moved to Bethlehem. You can't keep it to yourself. They made it widely known. They just blew up the social media internet. Oh my gosh. Angels appear tonight. A whole heavenly host. Glad tidings. Great joy. We don't even know what it means. We're on our way to Bethlehem. We'll tweet when we get there. Right? But there is an excitement. There's something. Listen, you may say, I had that. I had that when I first got saved. You can get it back. You got to stir yourself up in a prayer conversation.

19:33You got to talk to the Lord about it. Lord, stir me up again. What has happened to me? I've gotten so cold. It's become so common. It's become so religious. Now, let me just say this. We all go through seasons. Okay. Let me just say this. We all go through seasons where we have to stir ourselves up. Do you know there have been many Sundays. We're down here at our little table. Well, our big table. We're down here. There have been many Sundays. We're going through something or there's just a lot on our mind or whatever. And one of us is speaking. And we, as we're walking up the stairs, I'll speak for me. And I know it's the same with Pastor Jeff. But when I walk up the stairs, do you know, no matter what the week's been like, no matter what the day's been like, no matter what the morning has been like, no matter at that moment, walking up the stairs, I'm like, okay, Holy Spirit, here we go. Help me out. It's you and me. You've got to work for these people. So Holy Spirit, here we go. I'm stirring myself up. I might feel like Holy Spirit. I need a word. Forget these people.

20:34Amen. You've got to stir yourself up sometimes. We all go through seizes is what I'm trying to say. But in a prayer, you just tell the Lord that. Lord, I need you to help me. Stir me up. Get that fire back in my belly. And all the people said, verse 19, but Mary kept all these things which were told her and pondered them in her heart, verse 20, then the shepherds returned back to the sheep, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen as it was told them. What was the shepherds response in this prayer conversation? Because God is speaking all kinds of things to them. His presence shows up. The angels have like unbelievable messages to give them. What's their response? Their response was to praise, to worship, to thank, to glorify. There was nothing left. They didn't have anything else to say. So God, we worship you. You're amazing. Wow, 400 years has been silence. Your presence departed and now in the fields tonight.

21:37But more importantly, in our hearts tonight, a savior was born. The only thing we can do is praise you and worship you and glorify you. Some of you, I know that's a new thing for you, but I want to encourage you to. I remember, man, I remember the first time. Do you hear that? That's how I'm right. That means that summer is officially here. It means that grown adults just sprint into the street for a frozen dessert shaped like a cartoon. But this summer, Mint Mobile has a better tree. Every plan, including unlimited, is $15 a month. And unlike ice cream, it won't drip down your wrist or look nothing like the picture. Does anyone have any cash? Give it a try at minmoble.com slash switch. A front payment of $45 for $3, $90 for $6 months or $180 for 12-planned plan required. $15 per month equivalent to taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow and network is busy. See terms. The fact that mosquitoes have killed almost half of all people who have ever lived. Today, people are fighting back. With support from the Gates Foundation, American scientists and partners around the world have developed a new generation of bed nets that can kill up to 90% of mosquitoes exposed to

22:41them, helping cut malaria rates in half. The result? A safer, healthier future for everyone. The Gates Foundation, partners of human potential. Search GatesFoundation.org slash mosquito to learn more. Where some see heroes and others see egos, Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings. The end of jobs or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. To a church like this, you know, people were like hands up and worshipping and singing loud. And I remember looking around the room like, whoa, maybe you're visiting today and you're

23:41like, yep. I was like, whoa. Now I was a Christian. I had Jesus was the Lord of my life. But I was like, I was like, a locked up Christian. I was like a locked up Christian. Because inside I felt like love for the Lord and all these things. But I just didn't know how to get it out. And a couple of things happened to help me get it out. But I watched these people with their hands up and I would be like, hey, be bold, be bold, you can do it. You can do it. I'd be like, I'm seriously, I know a lot of you can understand because you've done it too. It's like you spent more time thinking about putting one hand up than you have thought about a lot of things. And then to do a double flapper, you know, whoa, we're flying. And then if you didn't want to be obvious, you'd be like, you know, play with your hair

24:41or something. So I know, but there's such freedom when you just throw caution to the wind. And you're like, you know, God, you deserve praise, you deserve honor, you deserve, you are God. And you have brought me great joy and glad tidings. And all the things we've been discussing here and even to whatever degree it's real to you yet, what is real to you is your sense of forgiven. Your name's been written in God's book. He's not holding anything against you. You've been made his righteousness, the Bible says. He considers you righteous. You're like, yeah, but does he know what I did yesterday? Yes, he does. And that's why Jesus died on a cross so that you could be righteous. And just those things alone should cause us to go, God, I'm just going to throw caution to the wind and forget about others around me, forget about how it was when I grew up, forget about what I thought about those people. I'm going to forget all of that. And from my heart to your heart, I'm going to worship you. I am going to praise you.

25:43And that will probably involve my arms. It very well could involve my arms, might even involve my feet. I might even have to bounce a little. I don't know how it is for some of you guys. I don't know how you stand there. I do not know how you stand there still. I've tried. I have. I've tried. I bet we visited churches before that was more stoic. And I'm like, oh, Lord, help me. Time me down. Just to pop. I mean, just to move. Just to be like, ah. Right? So some of you, what you need to give the Lord for Christmas, okay, I've got to say a funny story. Years ago, and I love it. I love it because I love who God's reaching. Years and years ago, the church was new and we were in our early couple of years. One of the guys that was coming to the church came to us that Christmas. He says, I've been praying about it. I've been really praying about what to give the Lord for Christmas. And you know, it's Jesus. It's his birthday. And I really want to give him a gift.

26:43And I've been praying about what to give him for Christmas. And the Lord has told me. The Lord has finally told me what to give him. He said, that's awesome. What did he tell you? He goes, well, he told me to quit smoking pot. And we said, that's awesome. And it's also awesome because you're one of the lead teachers with the two-year-olds. We don't know what those kids were taught. We apologize, parents. But we were thankful because it was so genuine. I mean, he was thoroughly thrilled inside that he was giving this gift to the Lord for Christmas. But see, maybe you need to do that too. I don't know. If so, just do it. Do it. And don't volunteer with the kids. But what I'm saying is, for Christmas this year, what you might need to give the Lord in this prayer conversation, you might need to say, okay, Lord, here's what I'm giving you for Christmas. From now on, men, women, kids, old young, from now on, I'm giving you worship.

27:50I'm giving you praise. I'm giving you thanks. I'm going to glorify you. Even in front of the congregation, I'm going to glorify you. Amen. Our time's up. And you're going to have to just figure out on your own what the wise guys would have done. All right, let me tell you. They did the same thing. They, when they saw Jesus, when they saw the child, they did the exact same thing. They fell on their faces and they worshiped him with gifts. They gave him gold, frankincense and mer. So it's all about worship. It's just about worshiping the Lord. We're talking about a prayer conversation this week. What's the point of the message? Worship the Lord. Praise and glorify and give him thanks and praise because he's worthy of it. He's been good to us. Glad tidings and great joy. Just that alone. She calls us to want to sing praise. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much for listening to today's message. I really hope you were encouraged. And if you were, I would love to hear from you. Please email us to let us know what the Lord is doing in your life.

28:54And don't forget to get your free copy of the seven basics book by clicking the free book button on the pray.com app. Also, if these messages are encouraging you, would you like to help us help more people learn the Bible basics? You can. By making a donation of any amount, you will partner with us and help us keep these programs going to people around the world. It's easy to become a partner. Just click the give button on the pray.com app or go to the basicswithbeth.com to make a donation. Together, we can continue to help people learn the Bible basics. So thanks again for tuning in today. I can't wait to see you right here on pray.com next time.

29:55Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile with your summer price forecast. Now, unfortunately, we're seeing rising costs across the country with possibility that big wireless hates you 100%. Now, over here at Mint Mobile, we're seeing sunny skies and dropping prices every plan to just $15 a month. Give it a try at MintMobile.com slash switch. Up from payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for 12 month plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes in these extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow in network is busy. See terms. Did you know that mosquitoes have killed almost half of all people who have ever lived? Today, people are fighting back. With support from the Gates Foundation, American scientists and partners around the world have developed a new generation of bed nets that can kill up to 90% of mosquitoes exposed to them, helping cut malaria rates in half. The result? A safer, healthier future for everyone. The Gates Foundation, partners of human potential, search gatesfoundation.org slash mosquito to learn more.

30:56We're some C heroes and other C egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. While others follow the noise, we follow the money. And more at bloomberg.com.