Paul Daugherty - The Moment That Changes Everything
Summary
This sermon looks at the birth of Jesus in Matthew 2 and contrasts Herod’s proud, fearful reaction with Mary’s humble, faith-filled response—both got «troubled» at the news, but one led to destruction and the other to receiving the impossible. The preacher stresses that the moment everything changes isn’t just Jesus being born, but how we respond to Him with our hearts. He ends saying true wisdom is worshiping Jesus, and surrendering in humility opens the door for God to do miracles in our lives.
The Moment That Changes Everything
I want to preach a message to you called «The Moment That Changes Everything.» How many of y’all remember some moments in your life when everything changed? The moment you got married, the moment you had your first child? How about, most importantly, the moment you accepted Jesus in your heart? So if you have a Bible, go to Matthew Chapter 2. Yeah, and the warm, fuzzy message will be on Christmas Eve, so come back on Christmas Eve, and we’ll have a nice candlelight communion service with carols, and I’ll share the Christmas story, and it will be a beautiful service.
Matthew Chapter 2, verse 1. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem. They said, «Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and we have come to worship Him.» Isn’t it interesting that these wise men, who had wealth, they had wisdom, they even had status and power, and yet they were coming to worship a baby in a manger? If you want to be wise, worship Jesus. If you want to be foolish, worship yourself. If you want to be wise, fix your eyes on Jesus. If you want to be foolish, fix your eyes on yourself.
Herod vs. the Wise Men
We see a contrast even between the wise men and Herod: the wise men were searching for the Messiah to worship Him; Herod was so obsessed with himself, his ego. What I loved in the Christmas production last week was the way they portrayed Herod. I’ve always thought, you know, what was Herod like? Two years ago, I went to Israel. In fact, it wasn’t two years ago; it was a year and a half ago—the month before Hamas attacked Israel. That month before, I remember being on a tour with my mom and a group from Victory, and it was such a special moment. My mom and I took a picture in the Sea of Galilee; we went swimming in the sea where Peter walked on the water next to Jesus and drowned, and Jesus lifted him up. But we were out on that sea, and then we went to the Mediterranean Sea, and while we were there, the tour guide said, «Over here is the marina that King Herod built.» I was like, «What?»
The tour guide said, «King Herod—not the Herod that was king when Jesus was crucified, but King Herod, the crazy king who committed the slaughter of the innocents.» I’m listening to this, and I’m like, «What are we talking about?» I’ve heard this in the Bible story, but I didn’t hear it through the lens of someone who was Jewish and someone who grew up in Israel. I mean, the tour guide we were talking to had grown up in Israel, studied in Jerusalem, graduated from a university there, was 50 years old, and had been doing tours for 25 years. He was smart; he knew all the history. He said, «Let me tell you about this king. He was one of the most evil and nastiest kings you’ve ever heard of. The stuff that he did: he killed his own sons and daughters. He was so threatened by anyone, so paranoid that anyone was going to take the throne, take his kingdom, that he even killed his own kids because he was scared they would try to steal the throne from him. But he also was a genius.»
I was like, «What?» They said he was an architectural genius. He actually built a marina 150 feet out into the Mediterranean Sea. He poured concrete, and this was a time when there were no tractors—right? John Deere didn’t exist or whatever stuff—the Caterpillar tractor—none of that—this is 2,000 years ago. This man figured out a way to pour concrete 150 feet deep into the Mediterranean Ocean and built this marina. We were standing on the ruins that were actually still intact there near Tel Aviv, Caesarea by the sea. We were standing just a year and a half ago on the ruins, and there was still a foundation of Herod’s marina. He said this man was very smart, but he also was very power-hungry. He was constantly wanting more power and wanting more people to like him. He was upset; he thought he was a god.
Herod’s Troubled Heart
So when Herod asks the wise men, «What are you doing here?» they said, «We’ve come to search for the one who has been born King.» Look in verse 3; it says, «When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled.» Everybody say «troubled.» I want to do a fourfold process of Herod and Mary to outline their lives and their responses, which reveal their hearts because your response reveals your heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
We’re going to look at their lives in contrast, and then we’re going to take some notes together. Note-takers are history makers! All right, so the first part for Herod was the announcement of the birth of Jesus. And you know what? We’ll worship again at the end, and we’ll come back into worship. The announcement of the birth of Jesus was the first disruption to Herod, but the second part of Herod’s journey was his response. In verse 3, it says he was troubled. «TR» in the Greek is «tarasso.» It means agitated; it means restless. «I can’t sleep. This is keeping me up at night.» It stirred King Herod; it stirred him up with anxiety, fear, panic attack, distress.
Now, the interesting thing here is we’re going to see this same word later on with other characters, but in this case, for Herod, when he was troubled, it wasn’t from a place of openness to what God wanted to do; it was from a place of «What is God trying to mess with in my life?» Any of us who get troubled when God’s trying to stir us up to surrender—troubled, agitated, frustrated, anxious—it reveals something inside of us.
And then the details of Herod’s response. The next thing he does in verse 4 is he calls the chief priests together, and he says, «Tell me more about this Messiah of yours. Tell me about this Messianic prophecy that Israel has been talking about for hundreds of years.» And they say, «Well, the prophet said he would be born in Bethlehem.» So Herod starts kind of scheming—right? His master plan to take out the next king that’s trying to take his kingdom. He says, «Go search for this child.» He tells the wise men, «Go search for this child, and then come back to me so that I too may go and worship him.» But we know Herod wasn’t going to worship him. We know everyone in the palace knew this man was not trying to worship Jesus; he was trying to kill Jesus.
God’s Redemption of Egypt
And the angel warns Joseph; we see this in Matthew Chapter 2 that Joseph has another dream. He hears from God, and Joseph hears that God is saying, «Listen, Herod is going to kill you, so hide your kids, hide your wife, get out of town.» Come on, sometimes you got to do this. And he says, «Flee to Africa.» Isn’t it interesting that thousands of years before this moment, God got the children of God out of Africa, brought them out of Egypt through Moses? In one season, what was a curse to the children of God actually became a blessing thousands of years later to the child of God. Never burn bridges; you never know if you’re going to have to cross that bridge again.
Isn’t it interesting that God would redeem Egypt? Shout out to all my Egyptian friends in the room today; God loves Egypt too! That God would use Egypt as a hiding place, a refuge, a shelter. We were watching «Home Alone» the other night as a family, and I said something to the kids. I said, «Sometimes the place you’re most scared of, sometimes the character you’re the most scared of will actually become your ally against the burglars.» It was the woman—it was the old man in «Home Alone» one that this little kid is scared of, and in «Home Alone» two in New York, it’s the woman with the birds all around her head. Y’all know what I’m talking about? And his fear at first pushed him away from this character, like she’s the villain, when in fact, she was the one that rescued him from Harry and Marv. I’m just talking Christmas movies for a second.
All I’m saying is don’t count out Egypt. Don’t count out Africa. God used it to deliver Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Now, Herod’s response—let’s look at this. His first response was he was troubled, but his ultimate response would reveal his attitude when he found out he was tricked by the wise men. He goes on a rampage, and this is very crazy here. He kills every baby two and under. This was genocide; every Hebrew baby two and under. He begins to literally massacre—I mean, just kill all of these babies, and it all came from a place of pride and fear. His attitude was filled with pride and fear.
Anxiety and Attitude
How did he deal with his perceived trouble, his «tarasso»? He responded with pride and fear. Anxiety will either drive you into a fear-filled, prideful response, or anxiety will drive you to your knees in surrender to God. Trouble will either lead you to take matters into your own hands. If you’re from the family tree of Herod, if you’re in the line of Herod, you will take more control when you are afraid. If you’re in the line of Mary, you will release more control if you’re afraid, and we’re going to see that through her story. Your attitude is your mental conditioning system. It’s what determines your interpretation of events; it’s what determines your response to your environment. Your attitude determines your altitude. A bad attitude leads to a bad day.
I’m always challenging our kids: «All right! Let’s have a good attitude today! This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it!» There would be times as a kid where my mom and dad would say, «Paul, fix your attitude!» And I’d be like, «Okay, go clean your room.» I’ll clean my room, but on the inside, I wasn’t cleaning my room; I was upset. I was angry, right? You can do the right thing with the wrong attitude. Your attitude will determine ultimately not just your day but it will determine your response to life. Two people can experience the same event, the same condition, and have two completely different responses. It all comes down to attitude.
One person is devastated; the other person is motivated. Right? I heard this story about these scientists. They were studying the power of attitude, and they put one kid in a room with a huge pile of poop—like horse manure—and another kid was in a room with all these Christmas presents and stuff. And so one kid starts opening up all these presents, starts playing with a few toys, but then he gets bored with it, and he’s angry; he’s like, «Where’s my screens? I want screen time!» You know, and he’s throwing a fit; he’s already bored. The other kid, the scientists are watching, right, through the double-way mirror, right? They’re looking, and the other kid that’s in the room with all the horse manure is jumping; he’s laughing; he’s throwing the poop up in the air; he’s swimming through it. He’s having a blast; he’s so— I mean, he’s just having so much fun!
And the scientists are perplexed, and afterwards, they asked the kids, «You know, why did you have so much fun, and this kid was so bored in this room full of all these presents?» And the other kid said, «Well, I thought with all that horse manure, there had to be a pony in here somewhere!» And he was having the time of his life! Here’s what I’m trying to say: your attitude will either lead you to devastation or motivation. What’s in your heart determines your ability to receive or reject truth. What’s in your heart determines your ability—you know, sometimes I wonder if every character in the Bible had the script written for them already. We get to read this 2,000 years later, and we’re like, «Well, maybe God planned for King Saul to lose his mind and throw spears at David.» Well, maybe God planned to harden Herod’s heart to want to kill thousands of babies.
No, I don’t think God’s plan was for people to commit terrible crimes. I think man makes his own decisions because God is so good; He’s a gentleman. He gives us the power of free will. «Well, I don’t know; God controls all of our decisions.» No, God knows what we’re going to do, but He gives us the power to choose. He wouldn’t be a good God if He made all of our decisions, if He preconditioned all of—pre-planned all of our choices. Instead, He allows us to choose, and what’s in our heart determines our ability to either receive what God wants to do.
Your Personal Belief System
The moment that changed everything: Jesus is born, but Herod rejects it. What a new king is in town, right? His response was just an outward revelation of what was going on inside of him—the five elements of our personal belief system. What was going on inside of him was that his personal belief system was being revealed, and all of us in this room have a personal belief system, whether you’re Mary or King Herod or the wise men to the shepherds. We all have a personal belief system.
It’s made up of, one, our social environment. Being born even in America has shaped a little bit of the way you think. Wherever you were born—I know our church is a melting pot of many different nationalities and ethnicities, which I celebrate. I’m so thankful we are a multicultural, multiethnic, diverse church! Come on, Jesus! Where you’re born, the friends you have, «Show me your friends, and I’ll show you your future.» Your crew determines your view. Your social environment impacts your belief system. Surround yourself with foolish people, and you start leaning towards foolish decisions. Surround yourself with insecure people, and you start thinking, «You’re not pretty enough, you’re not handsome enough, you’re dumb, you don’t know enough, you’re unworthy, you’re weak, you’re powerless.»
Your social environment starts impacting your personal belief system. Then it’s authority figures—the people that speak into your life: teachers, coaches, parents, moms and dads. The people that set the rules for you, the people that set the boundaries for you, the people that correct you, the people that discipline you, the people that disciple you. These authority figures, they start shaping your personal belief system.
And then it’s your self-image; it’s the way you see yourself. If you see yourself as not that good—we were playing a game the other day with our kids, and one of our kids made a mistake in the game, and he was really hard on himself. He goes, «Oh, I’m so stupid!» I was like, «No, you are not!» I was like, «You are smart! You know, maybe some of the other siblings were like, 'I don’t know, that was kind of dumb.'» You know, they didn’t say that, but I could tell we were all kind of wondering, you know, why he made that decision in that game.
But I had to remind him, «Hey, you’re smart! You’re a mighty man of God! You are wise.» And he’s kind of looking at me, smiling, like, «You think so?» I was like, «Yes! Yes!» Let me help you, but yes, what was I doing? I was trying to change his self-image because if we let kids determine their self-image, pretty soon they start changing their gender, their sexuality, and everything else. How important is this message? It’s shaping America right now; it’s shaping the world right now; it’s shaping the church, and it’s shaping you. You just don’t see it yet.
We don’t realize how important it is for us to ponder. The Bible says that Mary pondered these things in her heart. What did she do? She reflected, she ruminated. She allowed the candle to burn a little late at night as she would think about, «Why did Joseph stay with me? He could have left me. Why did those wise wealthy men bring gold, frankincense, and myrrh? And why did that king, who has so much power, get so threatened by a baby? And why did those shepherds tell us that they heard from the angels?» And she pondered. We don’t do enough pondering in church—just thinking, just going a little deeper in Scripture and going, «I wonder.»
I wonder if I’m not always the hero of the story. I wonder if I’m not always the victim of the story. I wonder if sometimes, even as a Christian, I allow Herod’s thoughts to get in my mind. Isn’t it crazy? You can have Jesus in your heart and still have thoughts that aren’t from God. If we’re really honest, we’ve all been there. If I could put your thoughts on the big screen, the thoughts you had this week, you’re like, «Don’t put them up there; don’t put them up there!» Everybody needs blinders right now.
But you can love God but still have areas in your life that you are being sanctified. I’m so thankful for the mercy and the grace of God. But it’s here that we find our personal belief system. It’s our self-image; it’s the repetitious information that we hear over and over—the podcasts that we consume, the articles we read, the newspapers we read, the news we listen to. Another school shooting and another terrorist attack over here and war over there and kids over here and this going crazy—the more I listen to that, the more afraid I am and the more fearful I am that something bad is going to happen to me. Where does that come from? It comes from the repetitious information I’m consuming.
And the last part of my personal belief system is my experience—what I personally experienced. I’ll never forget one Christmas I got a bicycle, and I was so excited to ride this bike. I went down my mom and dad’s street, and I’m the youngest of four siblings, so I had seen my older brother ride a bike; I’d seen my older sisters ride bikes; I’d seen my parents ride bikes. And everything in my personal belief system was telling me, «I can ride a bike.» So I start trying to ride this bike, and you know, I’d had the training wheels before where, you know, it helps you balance the bike, but this was a bike with no training wheels.
And I was like, «Okay, it’s time for me to become a big boy, graduate from training wheels.» So I’m riding this bike, and my dad’s out on the street; he’s like, «You got this! You got this!» And all of a sudden, I see this car driving about 100 feet away from me. It wasn’t coming at me, but I thought he was coming at me. And all of a sudden, I start shaking, and I don’t know what to do, and I just collapse; I crashed that bike, and I had a strawberry on my knee. I had so much blood coming out, and I was so mad. I was like, «I hate bikes! Bikes are terrible! Bikes hurt people! I’ll never ride a bike again! Bikes are bad; they’re from the devil!» You know, and I’m like shouting and stuff. And my dad was like, «No, Paul, bikes aren’t bad!» I was like, «No, bikes are stupid!»
He was like, «Bikes aren’t stupid!» I was like, «What are you saying?» He was like, «I’m saying that I want to help you!» He was helping me overcome my personal experience, which was convincing me that I couldn’t ride a bike. Why is this important? Because it makes up our response to life. Your personal belief system will determine how you respond, even in a message like this. Because you might sit there and go, «Yeah, I’ve experienced church before; I’ve experienced being disappointed by God before, and I’m not trying that again.»
And it’ll talk us out of the impossible; it’ll talk us out of the miracles. You either allow these five things to determine your belief system, or you believe in the Word of God. The Word of God is higher and stronger than all the things that could shape my belief system. At the end of the day, this trumps everything. This is greater. Listen—and sometimes the other five things might agree with this. Sometimes you might be blessed with authority figures that are going to challenge you to believe in the impossible. Thank God for godly mothers and fathers and coaches and teachers, and thank God for a social environment of friends that will push you to believe in the miracles of God.
But sometimes you’re surrounded with nothing but negativity, and that’s when you’ve got to stake your hope and your trust in God’s Word. If God said He can do it, He can do it. If God wants me to have it, I can have it. If God has a plan for my life, no demon in hell can stop it. No curse from the enemy can stop the blessing that God has on my life. God’s Word supersedes it all.
Mary’s Response
So let’s look at the other character, Mary. Luke Chapter 1. We looked at Herod; now let’s look at Mary. Luke Chapter 1, verse 26. It says, «Now in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, from the house of David.» I think that’s interesting—from the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary, and having come into the house, the angel said, «Rejoice, highly favored one! The Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.»
Now watch Mary’s response in verse 29: «But when she saw him, she was troubled.» Where did we see that last? That was Herod’s response. Look at Matthew 2:3: «When Herod heard about this king, he was troubled.» It’s actually the same translation in the Greek. Mary’s «troubled» is also «tarasso.» It’s this feeling of agitation, anxiety, stress; «What’s going on? Why are you talking to me?» She’s a teenage girl, and this angel is telling her that God’s favoring her. And her first response is «tarasso.» She’s like, «What? What are you talking about? What’s going on here?»
But it would be her later response that would ultimately determine her receptivity to what God wants to do. In other words, it’s okay to first feel afraid; it’s okay to first feel maybe concerned, stressed. But don’t let that write your story. Mary would allow the angel to speak into her. Watch what the angel says next to her, and this is the fourfold process for Mary: Number one, the announcement of the birth, number two, her response—she’s troubled—and number three, the details.
Watch the angel says, «Do not be afraid, Mary.» When the angel said, «Do not be afraid, do not be distressed, do not be anxious, ” he was actually saying the same way that Isaiah the prophet says in Isaiah 26:3. Look at what the prophet Isaiah says: „But he will keep him in perfect peace; you will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you.“ The reason I wanted to have this candle burning is because it’s a reminder to keep your trust in God. Across the street at Oral Roberts University is a prayer tower. At the top of the prayer tower is a flame that has been burning for 50-plus years.
But a flame that’s been burning longer than that flame is the flame that, when Jesus entered the world, John said, „The light entered the darkness, and the darkness could not overpower it.“ And that light is so powerful; it burns bright today, and that light is our hope in Jesus Christ. And that light is our reminder that I can have peace that passes all understanding regardless of what crazy things happen in the world. I prayed this week when I heard about the school shooting—another one that happened this past week. My heart began to break, but my light didn’t go out. My light stays strong because my hope and my trust are in God. Am I afraid? No. Do I sometimes feel fear? Yes, but I find my peace in the one who sits on the throne above the earth.
Peace in the Chaos
Last week, I was in the house, and Ashley was having brunch with her sisters for her birthday. So our babysitter had just gotten over to the house to help with the kids, and I was still there, and the kids were getting a little rowdy. And our youngest was screaming and crying, and then the next one was screaming, and then the next two were in a wrestling match, and the dogs were barking, and the mailman was dropping off the bills. It felt like a country song—like something—everything was going wrong that could go wrong. The babysitter was not yet settled in, and they were taking care of their stuff, and I’m there, and I’m like, „This is crazy!“ I was starting to feel „tarasso"—troubled, all the agitation and the anxiety and the stress.
And so I walked outside, I breathed in the cold 38-degree weather, and it just helped me. And then I sat in my car, and I was like, «God, sometimes it’s not always peaceful.» And the Lord said something to me; the Lord said, «Paul, you have way more to be thankful for than you do to complain about. Go back in and hug those kids, and hug those barking dogs, and pay those bills and recognize that life will never be perfect, but you can still have peace, because peace is an internal thing; it’s not an external thing.»
And I walked back in the house, and it was still loud, and the dogs were still barking, and the bills were still there, but I had peace. I was genuinely okay. We were just having a good time, and I realized nothing changed externally, but something changed internally. Some of us need to remind ourselves we can change on the inside even when things don’t change on the outside. And when you change on the inside—this is why I wrote the book «Mind Games.» Shameless plug for «Mind Games, ” my book. If you need a last-minute Christmas gift, pick it up from the bookstore; it’s on sale on Amazon. But I wrote this book because scripturally, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the Bible teaches that everything happens in here before it happens out there.
As a man thinketh, so is he. As a woman thinketh, so is she. Fix your thoughts on things above. Take captive of every thought—every anxious thought: peace that passes understanding when you don’t know what to do, when you’re anxious, when you’re worried, and the battle is between the ears. So the angel says, „No, Mary, don’t let fear write your story; don’t let anxiety push you away from God’s purpose; don’t let stress talk you out of God’s steps.“ And the angel says, „For what God is about to do in you will be from heaven.“ And He’s writing your story, and this son that will be born through you will be the Most High, and His kingdom will never end, and you will call Him Jesus, and He will rule on the throne of David, and He will have kingdom and dominion power.
By the way, the kingdom of God includes the resources of God. When you surrender to His kingdom come, you open yourself to His resources, helping you with the things you can’t do. Mary was poor—like when you look at Mary in the Bible, I don’t know about you, but I got two girls that are dressing up as princesses all the time. When I look at Mary, I see Belle from „Beauty and the Beast.“ I see this girl out of the fields—a little town filled with little people. I don’t know if those are the words—waking up to say, „Bonjour, bonjour, there she goes!“ I don’t know the words, but the point is, I see Belle; I see beauty in the beast. I see this girl who comes from a poor family, poor home, but she’s humble; she doesn’t have all the power like Herod, but she’s about to become more powerful than Herod.
You don’t have to be born in a wealthy home; you don’t have to be born in a powerful family to step into God’s purpose and plan. Mary was overlooked by everyone. Mary was not on anyone’s radar, but she was on God’s radar. And I just want to say to someone in the back row, you are on God’s radar! God sees you in the back of section C. God sees you in the back of section B. God sees the children in children’s church right now. God sees the teenagers in our youth group. God sees the teenagers in Bixby High School and Jenks and Union and Broken Arrow and Sapulpa and Sand Springs and all the T—God sees all of us!
And God’s not looking for perfect, powerful people; He’s looking for humble, broken people—people that will just say, „God, if you can use anybody, you can use me. I’m a vessel for you to work through. May it be unto me!“ This is what the angel says because Mary says, „How in the world is this going to happen?“ And the angel says, „The Holy Spirit will overshadow you.“ I want the band to come out. The angel answers in verse 35, „The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you. Therefore also, the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age. This is now the sixth month for her who was called barren, for with God, nothing will be impossible.“
Friends, we serve a God of the impossible! We worship a God of the impossible! When Jesus entered the world, everything changed—it was the impossible becoming possible! I don’t know the rest of that song, but He can do it; He can do it!
Mary’s Humble Attitude
All right, the fourth part of Mary’s process is her attitude—her attitude; this would be her ultimate response. Look at this: how did Mary deal with her „tarasso“? How did Mary deal with her stress? How did Mary deal with her anxiety? How did Mary deal with her perceived fear? She dealt with it through humility. Her response in verse 38 reveals her heart. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. She says, „Behold, I am the Lord’s servant.“
She says, „Behold, I’m here to serve!“ You either have a „Here I am, look at me“ mentality or you have a „Here to serve“ mentality. „God, I want to glorify you with my life.“ One is the family tree of Herod; the other one is the family tree of Mary and Joseph in the Christmas story. Mary responds with humility, and her response shows her belief in God, her trust in God’s plan, and her desire to fulfill God’s purpose.
A real quick synopsis of Mary and Herod’s heart: I want to just look at a contrast so you can see it clearly. Mary was humble; Herod was prideful. We see that, right? Egotistical, narcissist—too big for his own britches—believed his own press. By the way, all of us in this room are one step away from stupid! Merry Christmas, and keep the change, you filthy animal! I’m just kidding. Y’all are like, „I’m never coming back here again!“ Okay, stop! Please come back! Please don’t leave me! Don’t you go dying on me!
I remember this because a leader once said this to me: he said, „Paul, you’re one step away from stupid.“ I was like, „Is everybody else, or just me?“ He was like, „Just you.“ He goes, „No, we all are!“ Dude, he’s like, „We all are!“ I said, „Well, that doesn’t make me feel confident!“ He’s like, „I think that’s the part that God wants, though. I think God wants you to have a healthy point of view, a balanced point of view—a view that you realize without God, I’m nothing. And even with God, I’m capable of doing some stupid things if I’m not careful. Therefore, I must remain in this place where I fear God more than I love what I want to do.“
Jesus said whoever sows to the flesh reaps nothing; there’s no profit for anyone who sows to the flesh; it’s just destruction. And the interesting thing about Herod is Herod believed there was a God. He actually tried to get close to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. He also believed there were Roman gods and Greek gods, and he believed that the Israelites had a God that was real. He just believed God was one of the gods, but he was so obsessed with himself; he was so prideful. And if we’re not careful, we can start to lean into this mindset and this life that the world revolves around me and that people are here to serve me, but they’re not.
Jesus said, „I came to serve, not be served.“ Mary shows us a reflection of how to let Jesus live in our hearts, and I’m not saying that we should live like—I mean, we should ultimately live like Jesus. But these characters right here just give us a glimpse of—I mean, Mary ultimately allowed Jesus to grow inside of her, so she turned her heart into a home for the Lord. And I think God wants you to turn your heart into a home for the Lord.
I think God wants you to turn your heart into a home for the Holy Spirit. Paul said our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. So how do I make my home a place where He wants to dwell, where He can be glorified? Mary was humble; Herod was prideful. Mary was filled with faith, so she believed once the angel said, „Don’t be afraid.“ She believed nothing is impossible for God. Herod was filled with fear—fear, anxiety—the fear wrote his story.
Mary was filled with love; she loved God, she loved people, she loved Nazareth, she loved Bethlehem, she loved Joseph. Ultimately, we would see her love all the way up to the moment where she would watch her baby grow up and go to the cross. But Herod was filled with hate; hate would drive Herod to kill thousands of children. Mary was surrendered; she was surrendered to God’s plan. Herod was stubborn; he was stubborn. How many y’all know some stubborn people?
Don’t look at them if you’re sitting next to them right now! Like, „This girl right here is so stubborn.“ This guy—the truth is, all of us get stubborn sometimes. We just think, „I know what’s best for me, and you don’t. You’re not changing my mind; I’m convinced of my ways, and I know I’m right.“ But that honestly is a spirit of pride. Stubbornness never allows you to apologize. Stubbornness says they’re going to apologize first. They’ve got to do the first, and I’m not moving until they move. Stubbornness will keep you at a distance from the manger.
Mary had a „here to serve“ mentality; Herod had a „serve me“ mentality. „Bring me more grapes; bring me—you know, do more for me.“ Mary was willing to be inconvenient for God’s purpose. She said, „You can change my plans; you can change my agenda.“ Some of us want God to do things for us like Amazon Prime. We want it when we ordered it on our doorstep immediately, like Uber Eats—we want Him to deliver it to us, and we don’t want to have to get out of our pajamas. But God’s plans require sacrifice.
God’s plans—I mean, Mary had to lay down her son, and God would lay down His son, and Jesus would lay down His life, and all the disciples would eventually lose so much of their materials to follow Jesus. But on the other side of their sacrifice was the reward. Mary—oh, and Herod was resistant to God’s purpose. Mary worshiped God; Herod worshiped himself. Mary was at peace with God; Herod was paranoid by everybody.
The Results: Destruction vs. Blessing
What are the results? Let’s finish it right here. The results: Herod’s results are that he sowed to the flesh, and he reaped destruction.
Pride comes before a fall, Proverbs says. Pride leads to destruction. You want to ruin your life? Live with pride. Never apologize; never own anything from a place of recognizing you did something wrong or you could have done something better. Don’t be teachable; be the most hard-headed, stubborn person, and you’ll end your life soon. That’s the pathway to destruction. Conceit and arrogance ultimately destroy a person. Mary, on the other hand, the results of Mary were humility—not that she was allowing people to walk over her or just submit to anyone and everyone, but she submitted to God.
In her humility, Jesus says, „God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.“ In her humility, the results were she received the impossible. She received blessing and favor and promotion and mercy and God’s power. Herod was power-hungry, and he lost all of his power. I heard—I saw an article the other day—are these people—is this a power grab? A power grab? You know, all these stories floating around on the internet about the politicians of our day that they do this to grab more power? And I started thinking, anyone who’s grabbing for more power ultimately will lose it.
Mary was releasing power, and she actually gained Spirit empowerment, and that changed her life forever. And she writes this song right after this all happened; she starts writing these words. You know, she’s out in the hills; she’s singing, „My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has seen my lowest state, and now all generations will call me blessed. For He who is mighty has done great things. For He who is mighty has done great things.“ She starts singing to the Lord: „His mercy is on those who fear the Lord.“
You want God’s mercy and grace? Come to Him broken. You know no one can say she was part of David’s family tree. And when you think about David, David was not a pure person all the time. He committed adultery and murder, and yet God said this man was a man after My own heart. Through this family, it wasn’t that they had no sin in their family; it’s that they were broken.
God desires a broken and a contrite heart; He will not resist a humble person. God resists the proud, but brokenness is God’s love language. This is—I just come here and say, „God, I need You. God, I’m hurting. God, I’m stressed out. God, I need Your mercy to become stronger in the areas You’ve called me to be stronger. Lord, You said that Your strength is made perfect in my weakness, and Your grace is sufficient for me.“
The invitation to the manger is to come humbly and lay down your power and your pride and your control and your agenda and to find His peace and His mercy. And when you do, you receive the impossible. She says this. She says, „He scattered the proud. He scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He’s brought down the mighty.“ How the mighty have fallen! He’s brought down the strong and powerful leaders, but He’s exalted the lowly people. He fills the hungry with good things. Stay hungry, church! Y’all are like, „Yeah, we’re going to eat McDonald’s right after this, bro!“ No, I don’t mean physically hungry; I mean spiritually hungry!
He sends the rich away empty. What does this mean? Jesus’s first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, He says, „Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.“ If I’m honest, sometimes I feel like—I don’t know a whole lot. Y’all are like, „We know; we listen to you every week, bro.“ Okay, I got it. I got it. I know most of y’all know way more than I know. You are smarter than me; I get it.
But I actually like thinking like that—even if I was to go to school and learn a whole lot, I want to stay in a place where I don’t think I know it all, because it’s there that I’m hungry. I got that dog in me—roof, roof. I want more! I want to live with a hustle; I want to live with a grind. I want to live with a thirst for more of Jesus. I want to live thinking that I don’t know it all; I haven’t figured it all out; I’m not winning all the time. I need to keep growing, and I need to stay teachable, and I need to keep learning.
I need to have the eye of the tiger. I need to stay in the ring and keep practicing, and I want to keep becoming who God’s called me to be. Because the second you graduate from the school of brokenness, you start becoming more like Herod: „I figured it all out; I know everything.“ And you become stubborn and stale, and church becomes a religious activity for you. I’d rather be like Mary. I’m young and sometimes I don’t know it all—most of the time I don’t—but I’m learning, and I’m growing, and I want to stay here, and I want my heart to be a Beth.
Surrender at the Altar
I want you to stand to your feet all over this place. The moment that changed everything was the birth of Christ, but the moment that changes everything for you is your response to it. Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection have the potential to change everyone in the whole world, but some of us in this room have allowed hurt and wounds and reactions of others and personal experience and the death of a loved one—maybe the death of your father, the death of your husband, mother, wife, son, daughter, a doctor’s report, painful things you’ve walked through—to talk you out of believing for the miraculous.
Maybe even the school shooting this last week and world events have distracted you from living with that candle of faith, that candle of hope. Just as Mary surrendered, and it opened up the impossible for Mary, if you will surrender, it will open the impossible to become possible for you. If you need a healing, God can do it! If you need a miracle, God can do it! If you need a prodigal son to come back to God, a prodigal daughter, God can do it! If you need reconciliation in your marriage, in your family, between you and one of your family members, God can do it.
If you need healing in a relationship, if you need peace in the chaotic times you’re living in, God can do it! If you need joy, God can do it! If you need love to heal the hurt and the hatred inside you, God can do it! If you need forgiveness or you need to forgive somebody, and it feels impossible to do it, God can do it! In the last service, I called up a man named Kerwin, and if we have his picture, throw it up on the screen. Kerwin came up on stage; he was so happy, so excited. He said, „I came to Victory exactly one year ago this weekend.“
He said, „When I came, I had just gotten out of a crisis because I tried to commit suicide.“ And he said, „I was addicted to meth; I was drunk; I was homeless; I was living in my car, and things were not good in my marriage.“ And he said, „I sat in the parking lot of Victory for two days waiting to experience my first church service.“ He said, „I came in, and Pastor Paul was preaching about mind games.“
And he said, „It was just the message I needed to hear because I’d been battling depression for a long time, which is why I was wanting to take my life.“ But he said, „I came down to the altar; I surrendered.“ He said, „I talked with you right there, Paul—right there!“ And I was like, „Yes, sir! I remember!“ And he said, „Right there, we talked.“ And he said, „God got ahold of my heart.“ He said, „I stand here today one year sober, one year clean; I haven’t gone back to meth or drugs or alcohol! Come on, Jesus!“
It gets better! He said, „I’m living in my own house now; there’s my wife right there. Our marriage is strong again! I graduated from discipleship track, and I’m going back through discipleship track. In fact, I’m going to go through discipleship track every year of my life!“ He starts laughing, and he says, „Not only am I clean, not only am I sober, but I’m happy!“ He said, „Oh, I’m so happy!“ He said, „I’m thankful; I’m joyful.“ You could just see it on his face as he was talking. He was like, „Depression is gone! Suicidal thoughts are gone! Fear is gone! Shame is gone! The addictions are gone!“
The moment that changed everything for Kerwin was not when Jesus was born; it was when Kerwin surrendered to Jesus. He said, „I had known about God; I had been to church before, and at one point in my life, I had probably even prayed the sinner’s prayer. But that moment, one year ago this Christmas, was the moment that changed everything when I truly surrendered.“
And I think God wants to do something in your life today. With heads bowed and eyes closed, if you’re here right now and you need to surrender, as you were listening to the contrast of Mary and Herod’s heart, you know there are some areas in your life that you need to get back to that place of humility and surrender and brokenness before God. Maybe you’ve known Jesus; maybe you followed Jesus; maybe you would even call yourself a Christian, but if you’re honest, there are some things in your life that have gotten dry; some areas in your life where you have gotten stubborn, and you have not surrendered to God’s plan and purpose.
If that’s you, I want you to raise your hand. Today’s a great day to release control and say, „God, I’m ready for Your peace that passes understanding. God, I’m ready for Your joy, Your love, Your hope, Your forgiveness.“ Secondly, you’re here today and you say, „Paul, I’m not right with God. I need to repent, and I need to receive His mercy and grace. I need to let Him be Lord of my life.“ If that’s you, lift your hand. Today is your day to get right with God, to receive His mercy and forgiveness and His salvation, His grace.
Lastly, you’re here and you say, „Paul, I’m saved, and I’ve been doing my best to follow after Jesus the best way I know how, but when you started talking about how Mary opened her heart up for the impossible, I need God to do the impossible for me. I need a miracle; I need a breakthrough.“ Maybe in your finances, maybe in your health. Maybe you’ve got a doctor’s report. Maybe you’re here right now, and you need a miracle in your marriage or a miracle in a relationship, and you’re just asking us to pray and stand with you. If that’s you, I want you to raise your hand. I want to pray for people that need miracles or breakthroughs today. Today, you can open your heart up with receptivity to say, „My heart is open; my mind is ready to receive all that God has for me.“
If you raised your hand for any of those or you want to just come and join me at this altar, we’re going to worship for a few minutes, and we’re going to allow the Holy Spirit to overshadow us to do what only He can do. Come and find a place at this altar. Come and bring it to the altar. Bring the hurt; bring the wounds; bring the fear; bring the insecurity; bring the pride; bring the sickness; bring the doctor’s report; bring what the enemy has been trying to taunt you with-the hurts, the distractions- the enemy has been telling you it’s never going to change; it’s impossible. The impossible today can become possible when we bring it to God.