Expecting - See God

In See God, part of the Expecting series, Tyler Lynde walks slowly through Luke 2:8–20 and invites you to recover a fresh vision of Jesus. He begins on a quiet hillside with ordinary shepherds doing ordinary work, because worship often starts in the middle of everyday life—on the night shift, at the table, in the carpool line. Into that routine, a burst of glory breaks through. Tyler reflects on the awe the shepherds felt, the kind of healthy fear that is not dread but reverence—the doorway to deep joy.

Tyler unpacks why the angel announces three titles—Savior, Christ, and Lord—and why we still need all three. Savior means rescue from sin and wrath, the exchange described in 2 Corinthians 5:21. Christ means the anointed One, carrying heaven’s authority to proclaim good news, set captives free, and heal the broken as in Luke 4:18–19. Lord means God in the flesh, sovereign over all, the One before whom every knee will bow. Worship isn’t a vague spirituality; it centers on Jesus.

He then lingers with the angels’ song: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace. The order matters—glory up, then peace down. When we lift our eyes and magnify God, we find what Romans 5:1 promises: peace with God through Jesus, which opens the way to the peace of God in daily life. The manger points to the cross; the Lamb of God does what Old Testament sacrifices could only foreshadow.

The shepherds’ response becomes a roadmap for renewal: hear, hurry, behold, and tell. They go with haste, find Jesus as promised, and spread the word so others can wonder too. Tyler shares a moving moment from early ministry when a young girl on the autism spectrum whispered, “Jesus, I see you,” and an entire room shifted from irritation to adoration—an unforgettable reminder that God loves to reveal himself to the overlooked.

If your worship has felt thin, Tyler offers a simple reset: create quiet, receive the word, go toward Jesus in prayer and community, and share what you’ve seen. Join the heavenly chorus of Revelation 5 and let glory rise so peace can descend—in your home, neighborhood, and church. Expect to see God again. If this message encouraged you, consider subscribing, sharing it with a friend who needs hope, and leaving a review to help others find it.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Theme Of Expecting
• 2:39 Reading Luke 2 And Prayer
• 4:40 A Child Sees Jesus And Hearts Change
• 8:11 Why Shepherds Receive The News
• 11:15 Ordinary Night, Extraordinary Light
• 14:22 Good News Explained: Savior, Christ, Lord
• 19:01 Open Heaven And The Angels’ Song
• 23:01 Worship Posture: Glory To God First
• 26:12 From Sacrifice To Peace With God
• 29:20 The Shepherds Seek, See, And Share
• 33:05 Lift Your Eyes And Remember
• 36:30 Prayer And Invitation To Respond

Transcript

Tyler Lynde: 0:02

I'm excited about bringing this message to you this morning. I love Christmas, I love Easter, I love anything that is connected to God, obviously, and also to family, and so this is one of those times of years. So if you want to, you can turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 2. We're gonna be reading the Linus. I'm sorry. I felt I thought I thought about playing the Linus thing from uh from Snoopy, you know, the where he gives the story of Christmas, but I will read it and give a little bit more reverence to the word this morning. But anyway, we're gonna be looking at Luke chapter two. We've seen so far in this series um called Expecting, it's all about the importance of praise and worship in the life of a believer, especially when it comes to our corporate meetings. And what we just experienced together is amazing. And I hope that we continue to grow in our desire to be expressive, to be um, to be thoughtful, to be focused, to be worshiping together as one as we gather together on Sundays. The more that we do that, the more that we're going to experience the presence of God. And we've been looking at some of the biblical songs that are related to the Christmas story and talking about worship from the from that uh those perspectives. So we've seen so far that true worshipers can expect to hear God like Zechariah did. That was great, wasn't it? And also we we've talked about knowing God like Simeon did and feeling God like Mary, the mother of Jesus, did. I think she could honestly say that she had the most unique experience when it came to feeling God as she carried Jesus in her womb. And today we're going to look at a group of people who came from a lowly background and their journey to see Jesus as he truly is. Who do you think those people might be? Good guess. Excellent. Uh, my hope for all of us is that our eyes will be freshly opened to these truths and that we will see the wonder of our Savior once again. Are you ready for that? Are you open to that happening this morning? So the title of today's message is Expecting to See God. Expecting to see God. Remember, we talked about the fact that worship is a revelation of who God is. It's where God shows Himself to us. And as we get to know Him more, there's a response that is fitting for such a God. And then also what comes out of that relationship, it is relationship, an ongoing relationship with God is the result of worship. So let's again read from Luke chapter two, verses eight through twenty. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angels said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased. When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart, and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them. Let's pray over the service today. Father, we thank you and praise you for your word. Your word is matchless, your word is perfect, and your word is written for the people that it was written to 2,000 years ago, and yet it applies perfectly to our day and time as well. And so, Father, we ask that you would open our eyes today. Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, that we might see you as you truly are. We thank you for doing that in Jesus' name. Amen. So when I was a young pastor in North Carolina, there was a family that came to our church, and the gentleman played the keyboards, and so he was part of our worship team, which was very small, very small room. Think about a room about half the size of the community room that was our church, and we met in a bank building. And so the front area was not a stage, it was just flat on the ground, and we had, you know, just the a few people that think it was a keyboard player and a singer, may have had one more instrument, a guitar, or something like that. And the family that this gentleman, the piano player, his he had a daughter, he and his wife had a daughter who was on the autism spectrum. And this was many, many years ago, and so that was kind of something that wasn't as common or that we that you would hear about as much as you would hear about it today. And so, because she was on the spectrum, she was not, uh she didn't necessarily know all the kind of social cues. And so sometimes during the service, while praise and worship was going on, her dad was playing the keyboard and she wanted to get near her dad. And so she would find herself down uh down front and uh stepping on microphone cables and you know, at times tickling the ivory in the wrong key. Uh and uh to be honest with you, there were quite a few people who were who were pretty pretty over it, kind of annoyed by this little girl, uh, not because of her, but because of the the behavior, if that makes sense, right? Um, and uh so this that's why the rest of what I'm gonna tell you was such a surprise. There was one service where her name was Jessica. Jessica became very quiet and very still, and she actually turned away from her dad and faced sort of the wall of the church. And she lifted up her eyes up towards the ceiling, and she began to say, Jesus, Jesus, I see you, Jesus, I love you, Jesus. And here this is a ten-year-old girl having this experience where the room grew silent. No longer were eyes turned to her with disdain, and no longer were the hearts that were there filled with any form of judgment or critique. Now we were all being challenged by our Savior who was choosing to reveal himself to this precious child. God wants us to see him, he wants us to see him as he truly is. And I learned on that day that we can't judge a book by its cover, and we can't say that one person is more worthy than another. God chooses to show himself in whatever way he chooses to do so. And she the veil between heaven and earth became very thin that day. And all of us were crying, and all of us, or most of us, found our our way to the ground with our knees bent as we experienced with her what it must feel like to see Jesus. And we all know the story. Joseph and Mary have made their way to Bethlehem, and there were so many people that were there that there was no room in the end, and so they were put into a stable that was meant for animals, and we know that Mary gave birth to Jesus, and she wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger that was meant for animals. And as that story, that part of the story is coming to a conclusion, we move to the second part, which we're going to talk about this morning. It's interesting to me that the first knowledge about the birth of Jesus wasn't given to the religious leaders of Jerusalem. Wouldn't you think that if you wanted to make a big splash, if you wanted to make something really apparent, if you wanted to broadcast something to uh to many, many people, that you would choose people who have some form of authority or some form of influence in the culture around. Uh, but God, in his wisdom, didn't choose to do that. He didn't choose to uh speak to those who were in Jerusalem, but he spoke instead to a group of shepherds on the hills outside of Bethlehem. Now you have to understand that shepherds were looked down upon in this culture. They were looked down upon and they were considered to be the outcasts of Israel by some. Why was that? Because there were weeks at a time where they would not be able to get to uh synagogues or to uh you know to the temple in order to uh to do the things that would cause them to be ceremonially clean, and so they were considered to be ceremonially unclean, and so they were looked down upon by many people within the culture. But how many of you know there's another side to this, and that is that God loves shepherds? All you have to do is remind yourself of the patriarchs of the Jewish nation. Moses was a shepherd, and God revealed himself to him in a burning bush. And what did he ask him to do? To go and set the people of Israel free from Egyptian bondage. Excuse me. We know that David also was a shepherd, and God anointed him and called him to be the king over Israel, right? And so we have all of these examples, and David himself wrote a beautiful song that many of us can quote, and it starts out, The Lord is my I shall not want. So David himself referred to our Savior as a shepherd. And Jesus in John, and we we read about this in John, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and they know me, and they will listen to my voice, and the voice of a stranger they will not follow. So Jesus himself is a good shepherd, right? Amen. So let's talk about these shepherds. Are you ready? Number one, the shepherds were busy living their everyday lives. This was not, there was nothing extraordinary. They weren't like, it doesn't say that they were necessarily praying or that they were having a spiritual moment. It says that they were taking care of the sheep at night. So to picture this in your mind, try to get that image in your head. It's nighttime, they're taking care of their sheep. We know that Mark from uh his, thank you, from his talking about shepherds. We know that they sing over them. We know that there's a lot of you know different uh, you know, vocal things that they'll say to the sheep to calm them. I'm sure there was some of that that was going on. Some of the shepherds may have been resting, leaning against olive trees or something like that. Just try to paint that picture in your head if you can. Some historians even point to the fact that these shepherds may have been the very shepherds who were caring for the flocks that would provide sacrifices in the temple. That would be interesting, wouldn't it? We don't know for sure, but there there is some historosity to that idea that it's possible that these shepherds were taking care of the sheep that were meant for sacrifice in the temple. It is in this simple setting that they first were given the opportunity to experience God, these shepherds. You see, we encounter God in our families, in our jobs, in our schools, at church. This is where worship begins. It doesn't necessarily begin, like I said, with some kind of uh, you know, big thing that's happening. Sometimes it happens in very small ways, but it begins in everyday life. Everyday life. Our relationship with Jesus and the way that we experience him should come out of a normative portion of our lives. So not only were the shepherds living their everyday lives, but the shepherds saw the light. Now picture this with me. There are no, there's no electricity. There are no jets in the sky, there are no satellites, there are no screens that they're lighting their faces with, right? There's none of that. They had oil lamps, possibly, and and and a fire. But beyond that, the skies besides stars and moon were completely dark, right? Can you picture that with me? I'm hoping that you're able to, those of you who are visual people, can can allow yourselves to sort of enter this scene as we talk about this. And all of a sudden, an angel of the Lord appears, and the glory of the Lord, which is the essence of God's character and nature, the glory of the Lord lights up the night, making it appear like it's day. Can you picture this? What do you think their eyes looked like? Biggest saucers, and probably some of this going on, right? Who knows what that experience must have been like? They had no clue. They had never experienced anything like this in their entire lives. There were no UFOs, there was nothing that was lighting up the sky. It was just them and the heavens, and all of a sudden, heaven began to reveal itself in the earth. In a very real sense, this was a living example of what was happening in the spiritual realm as well. The earth was covered with darkness at this time, spiritual darkness. It had been 400 years since God had spoken through a prophet, a major prophet, to the nation of Israel. And so all of a sudden, we have this angel appearing, the glory of the Lord coming with him, lights up the night sky, and this is an example or a something that symbolizes what God is doing in the spiritual realm as well. We can read about the prophet Isaiah, who had his own experience with seeing God. You remember that story? Where he saw God, and what did he do? He ran and jumped up in his lap and cuddled with him and gave him some cookies. What love, Yosana? I mean, I mean, God? No. No, he didn't do that. He fell on his face. He said, I am unclean. I'm a man undone. And God touched the coal to his lips and made him made him whole. And then he commissioned him to speak words that are so powerful. And even what we're reading about today, Isaiah was allowed to prophesy about. And in Isaiah chapter 9, verse 2, it says this the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. How many of you have seen the great light of Jesus Christ? And the darkness of your life has disappeared. That is our story. That is our testimony. So God begins to reveal his glory, and the shepherds feel the weight of it. There was a holy fear that came over them. There's a holy fear, and again, we talked about this last week. The fear of the Lord needs to return to the church of Jesus Christ. It is something that is essential. It is the beginning of wisdom and the beginning of knowledge. The fear of the Lord is essential. The presence of the Lord should be awe-inspiring and humbling. His majesty should evoke a healthy fear. A healthy fear, not a fear of destruction or a fear of punishment, but a fear that is a reverence and respect for the holiness of God. He is truly other. He is other, and yet he chooses to love us. The shepherds also saw the plan. They saw the light, and they saw the plan, and it says, And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. The angel quickly quenches their fear by telling them that there's a plan that's been talked about before, and it is coming to pass before their very eyes. This plan is about the good news for them and for all people. The good news of God for all people. So let's talk about that plan. The plan is good news of great joy. Great joy. The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is literally good news. How many of you know where to find bad news? Where are some places you can find bad news? Television, Facebook, Instagram, you know, all uh TikTok, all these places you can find bad news, but where are you gonna find truly good news? In the Word of God. Jesus Himself, the gospel of Jesus, is good news for everyone who hears it and believes it. We must believe it. Joy is produced by those who hear the good news of Jesus Christ and believe it. And this joy is unspeakable and full of glory. Again, my hope for you this week and every week is that you experience an outpouring of the joy of the Lord like you've never experienced before. I feel like we need it. The second part of this plan is the plan is found only in the person of Jesus. How many of you have found that you can talk about God with almost everybody and be fine? But if you mention the name of Jesus, something changes. Why is that? Because Jesus is the only way to the Father, and Satan will do anything he can to distract people from the truth. It's interesting how the angel strategically uses three different names for Jesus in this passage. And if you take them all together, it really gives us a full picture of the person and ministry of Jesus. So let's look at these quickly. First of all, he said Jesus is Savior. He is our Savior. How many of you are glad for that part? Come on. He is Jesus, the name Jesus literally means Savior. That's what it means. He came to save us from our sins and the just punishment that we deserve because of the sins that we have committed. Do you guys realize that because of the sins that we have committed in our lives, we deserve the wrath of God, which causes us to be separated from Him forever in a place called hell. That is the truth, and that's what we deserve. And yet, God, in his mercy, instituted and initiated this plan that gave us a chance to not have to live out that destiny. That's good news, friends. What a wonderful plan. So Jesus is Savior. He would do this, Jesus would do this by becoming sin for us and taking our punishment on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says it for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This is the plan, and this is the good news of Jesus Christ. We are able to be made right with God. We can have right standing with God, and we can be called children of God. What a powerful truth and what a powerful reality. So Jesus is Savior. Second of all, in this, the angel says that Jesus is Christ. Now, how many of you know Christ is not Jesus' last name? Like Lind is my last name. Christ is not Jesus. Maybe you didn't know that, and that's okay. I want you to know today that the name Christ means anointed one or Messiah. Christ means anointed one. It means that Jesus was authorized and deputized by all of heaven's authority to carry out the plan of the Father here in this earth. He was authorized, he was anointed, he was appointed, he was deputized, he was sent. All of those words that you could use to describe Jesus, he came bearing with him all authority in heaven and on earth to fulfill the task that he was at. So not only is his name nice, like Savior, but also he has the authority and the ability to do it, to save us from our sins. Luke 4.18, Jesus comes on the scene, and how does he describe himself in his first church service? And he did so well at this church service, they didn't applaud at the end, they tried to stone him to death. I'm praying and begging, and my wife is praying also that that is not the outcome of this message this morning. But if it is, he'll protect me like you protected Jesus, right? The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Jesus is speaking, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has anointed me, anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. How many of you can say this morning that you have experienced some of that? Some of that freedom, some of that healing, some of that restoration. Jesus was anointed and sent from heaven to do that. Jesus is the Christ. And finally, it says that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is Lord. He is God manifest in the flesh. And he is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is sovereign above all things. And just like the song that we sang this morning, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. And why will they do that? To the glory of God the Father. Jesus Christ is Lord. He's our friend. Absolutely. He's our guide and comforter through the Holy Spirit. Absolutely. But he's also sovereign and he's in charge. And let's not get that out of order. Amen? This is all part of the great plan that God was revealing to the shepherds. So the shepherds saw a great plan, but they also saw an open heaven. An open heaven, it says, and suddenly, how many of you know whenever you see the word suddenly in the Bible, something good is about ready to happen? And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. Picture this again. We have this one angel in the glory of the Lord and the light that was shining around him. And now all of the heavens are filled with angels singing this angelic song. Imagine. And these are just poor little shepherd boys taking care of some sheep, experiencing heaven coming to work. Amen. That's right. So again, suddenly it couldn't be it couldn't be held in any longer. A multitude, thousands of heavenly hosts appeared. It wasn't a choir of five or six or ten or twenty. There were thousands of angels. That root word there for multitudes means thousands. Many, many, many angels filled that night, become day sky. The supernatural realm is just as real, or dare I say, even more real, than the natural world that we see around us. Because the spiritual world is eternal. Right? It's forever. Now we tend to concentrate when we think about the spiritual world, we tend to concentrate on the dark side of it. Evil, Satan, demonic activity, what's going on in the world in that way. But I want to remind you that when Satan fell from heaven, he took one-third of the angels with him. I'm not a great mathematician, but if you do the math, what's left? Two-thirds of the angels remain, and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And by the way, if you didn't know this, I'm gonna spoiler alert. Jesus defeated Satan at the cross of Calvary. And he no longer has power or authority over us. He is a defeated foe. Right? But we know he's a defeated foe, and one day he will be locked up forever and ever. So when we think about the spiritual world, we are to be aware. We shouldn't be unaware of Satan's devices. The Bible teaches us that. But let's not forget, God is sovereign and his forces are larger than Satan's by a lot. So let's look at the angel's song for a minute. The angel's song shows the proper heart posture of worship. So beautiful the way that this all unfolds. It says, Glory to God in the highest. That's the first part of this. Glory to God in the highest. Now I know this as the eggshell song. You know what I'm talking about? In eggshell sees deo. Right? Miss Heather, is that the way you pronounce it? Here's our choir teacher. She's affirming. Sorry, I worked one joke into it, guys. I know we've been real serious. But that is the title that's been given to this song, Gloria in Excelsius Deo. So here's the thing we need to know about this. Worship is not about me. I'm so sorry that the worship culture, especially in America, has become largely about me. All my stuff and all of that. It's not wrong to sing about what God's done for us, but when it becomes like a consumer list, like a shopping guide for God, it bothers me. Does it bother you? Kind of gets to me a little bit. Worship is not about me. We are to bring glory and honor to God. As the West Minister Catechism says, the chief end of man should be to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. Worship, the posture of worship is not about me. It's about glorifying him. It's about exalting him, it's about lifting him up and praising him and adoring him. That is literally our highest calling and what every aspect of our life should be centrally focused on to bring glory to God. Listen to this. Every time we worship God, we join in with the heavenly choir. Every time we open our mouths to praise and worship God, we're joining in with the heavenly choir. And if you want some more of their music, you can find their their their uh what's the word for playlist? Thank you, in the book of Revelation. So let's look at Revelation chapter 5, verse 9, and look at one of their top hits. Is this on the top of your playlist? And they sang a new song saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priest to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them, saying, To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Right? Our interest should be his, and his interest is ours. He desires good things for us. God's heart has always been to have a great relationship with his children. He doesn't want to have broken relationships. He doesn't want to have uh, you know, cold shoulders and non-communicative uh, you know, stories about his kids. He wants to have a great relationship with his family. The problem is, it's a three-letter word. What is it? Sin. Sin has caused there to be enmity between God and man. And a holy God must punish sin in order to remain holy. The sacrificial system in the Old Testament was put in place to cover over the sins of the people. It could not remove the sins, but it could cover over. So there could be some semblance of right relationship with God, even through the old covenant in the Old Testament. But now, through Jesus Christ, there will be, there was, there, there would be, a once and for all sacrifice that would open the door for us to be able to repent of our sins and to put our faith, hope, and trust in Jesus Christ so that we might be saved and restored to right relationship with God. This is the story of Christmas and Easter and Thanksgiving. We should be thankful for this, in other words. You see, the Messiah came to be both the good shepherd and the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the sins of the world. The story of Christmas does not end in a manger. The story of Christmas ends on a cross. Jesus' life and ministry would fulfill the song of the angels as he would live himself to bring glory to God in the highest. That was his utmost aim, to glorify his heavenly father, to do anything that his father asked of him. And also that there would be peace on earth toward those with whom he is pleased. And who are those with whom he is pleased? He is well pleased with those, again, who have repented of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Romans 5, verse 1 says, Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have peace with God because of the, and then we also can experience the peace of God, which is the tangible presence of peace in our lives. But that we can't have the peace of God until we experience peace with God. Amen. Now, how many of you know we can't earn this peace and we don't deserve it? And like the song says, He gives it anyway, freely. And finally, the shepherds saw God. The shepherds saw God. That's enough. I've seen enough, I've heard enough. This is all of God that I need. But how many of you know the shepherds were not content to remain in an experience with God? They wanted God Himself. Let's not settle for an experience when we can have Him for ourselves. I'll take a relationship over an experience every day of the week. But I'd like the experience as well. We can have both, right? When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. They must see Jesus. Imagine what it must have been like to enter that stable. Go over to the manger that had been spoken of to them by the angel to look down. Jesus must have been cooing, right? Or cuddly, you know, just very sweet. I don't know, whatever image you want to get. But they stare into the eyes of their savior, Jesus. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. What an honor and privilege. And because they experienced this, they were so transformed by seeing God that they couldn't stop talking about it. It says, and when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child, and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. This is the passion of a new convert, somebody who has experienced God for themselves and is now wanting to pursue him even further and to pursue him to the point where they're sharing the message that they've received with everyone else around them. And that was only the job of the shepherds, right? No. That's the job of the sheep. Just like us. We get the chance. Like a new convert, like somebody who's passionate about salvation because they've just experienced being ripped away from the kingdom of darkness and being brought into the kingdom of light. Let us return to our first love and share that love with those around us at this Christmas season and always. Can we do that? You see, I have a question. Is it enough to see Jesus for ourselves? Or do we long for others to see him? Let's not let Thursday be just about the giving of gifts and the eating of pork and chicken and beef, whatever it is. Let's speak the name of Jesus. Let's speak the name of Jesus in our homes, around the table, in our neighborhoods. And it finishes by saying that they couldn't uh they they couldn't stop praising God for all he had done. It says, and the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen as it had been told them. They were so impacted by seeing God that their whole lives were transformed. And they couldn't and wouldn't remain silent. They were gossiping the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they also continued to sing the songs of heaven as they lifted up their voices to praise and honor the King. Here's the reality for us today. When we are struggling with worship, the reality is that our view of our Savior has become skewed, shaded, or hindered in some way. An encouragement to all of us. Lift up your eyes. Lift up your heads. And let's look upon Jesus again. The Bible says that when Christ returns, those are the ones he's going to be looking for. Those who have their eyes peeled and ready, looking for him. This verse that I'm going to finish with was also sung this morning. It's almost like God had a plan. Isaiah 9, 6. Maybe this was the song of the shepherds. Maybe they recalled their lives as young people and children going to the synagogue or to the temple and hearing the book of Isaiah read. For unto us a child is born. To us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called. Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Amen. Amen. Would you stand with me and let's close this morning? Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. My prayer for us is that a holy desperation comes over us, including myself. For more of God, for more of Jesus. I want to hear him. I want to know him. I want to feel him. And I want to see him. Because when I experience God in those ways, this life becomes so much better. And I became become so much less concerned about my own self and so much more concerned about him and his kingdom and the spreading of that kingdom. Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you for the powerful words that you've spoken to us and through us this morning. And Lord, I ask in Jesus' name that those who are here that have never experienced the peace of God or peace with God because they are not yet born again. I pray in the name of Jesus that you would cause them to see you. Open the eyes of their hearts. Lord, help them to see you for the first time as you truly are. Not a religious symbol or a you know something that they think about at Christmas and Easter. But Lord, we ask that you would help them to see you as Savior and Christ and Lord. And Father, I ask that as they see you, that they would cry out to you from their hearts and that they would ask you to forgive them of their sins and that they would put their faith, hope, and trust in you. And if that's you this morning, I just encourage you in this very moment, you don't have to wait. You don't have to wait till Christmas. You're here this morning for a reason. God brought you here. Call out to him right now in your own voice, in your own words, just some sentiment that, like I just prayed, just acknowledge to him your need for him. And I promise you, he will meet you right where you're at. We're gonna have people down here in just a minute that would love to pray with you, and we'd have a Bible that we'd want to give you and encourage you in your in your walk with the Lord. Father, I pray also for the rest of us who, for whatever reason, we've stopped looking up and we're looking around, and we're looking down, we're looking at our circumstances, we're looking at what's going on in this world, and Father, we need to see you again. Lord, we cry out to you, we ask that you'd cause the scales to fall from our eyes. And like Paul, that we would be filled with the Holy Spirit and that we would see you, Lord, like we did when we first fell in love with you. Father, restore unto us the joy of our salvation. Let this Christmas season be one of remembrance, where we look back on what you have done in our lives and help us, Father, to change our perspective just like you did with the shepherds. Lord, we know that you can do that with us. We ask you for these things. We ask that you would affect our families, our friends, our enemies, whoever it is, Lord. We ask that this would be a season of just an outpouring of your spirit where many men and women and children would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We thank you for it, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.