Hello, good morning. If I haven't met you, my name is Elon. Justin shared that um that his family was kind of sick this week, so from time to time, um, you know, we're family, we help each other out, and I just I'm here to help him out. So yay for me. Um I hope you're doing well. I'm excited about this morning. Um I I wanted to start off with an honest question, and you can feel free to participate if you would like. Um, is there anybody uh like me out there who may just get a wee bit stressed around Christmas time? Okay, yeah, we're clapping for that. That song, it's a wonderful time of the year, the most wonderful time of the year. I don't really feel that way. If I'm being honest with you, I'm not trying to start off like, you know, in a negative tone. Because the truth is, is every single Christmas season, it comes, and at the very beginning, I have this pep talk with myself. And it's the same thing every year. It always has been. And I always say, Elon, keep the main thing, the main thing. Focus on God, focus on your family, like this is what this season is all about. And I start off pretty good. And then it just never fails. You know, you get all these invitations to the different parties and the different events and asking you to come to this and come to that, and I say yes every single time, even inside when I'm like, no, don't say yes. And I keep saying yes, and so I'm exhausted. And and then I always go over my budget, and it's not because I'm careless, it's because I grossly underestimate how expensive this time of year is. You know, and then by the time Christmas is almost here, I'm counting down the days till Christmas. Oh, yes, I am. But for it to be like over, because I am exhausted, and and that's just the honest truth. But I will tell you, I do snap out of it. Um, I always do, and and it's always because of the same thing. When I look at my children, I look at my kids, and you know, if you have kids, or even if you're around kids ever, it does not take looking at kids very long, anticipating Christmas, before you kind of get in the spirit too. Because they fully anticipate Christmas with this amazing expectation that no matter what, it's going to be awesome. My kids wake up every single morning and they're so excited about Christmas. And honestly, it's not tied to what they get or don't get, never has been. But the result of their expectation, it blows me away because they are never disappointed. Christmas comes every year, and they are never disappointed. They are never, they are never, ever disappointed because they are expecting. And I may not do well with expecting, you know, Christmas, but I am good at expecting. Okay, you can clap. I'll, yes, that's good. You know that term for moms who are pregnant, they're expectant mothers. I really, in preparing for this message, it's actually really dawned me for the first time. Oh, wait, now I get what that means because I am expecting that at the end of these 10 months, because it feels like 10, it might be nine, but it's 10. At the end of these 10 months, that I am expecting the child's gonna come. Okay, there better be a child that comes at the end of this. But I feel like my experience in having babies has very much been an example of expectancy, even more so, maybe, than some people, because my husband, Tab and I, we never find out what the gender is of the baby. And that adds, you know, torture and excitement. And we didn't find out with our first two. I've got two daughters, and we didn't find out it was wonderful and it was a great experience, so we were like, we're gonna do this again, we're not gonna find out. So in my mind, I play out these scenarios of what this baby's gonna be. And so I envision and I think, oh, if it's another girl, oh, I'll have three little girls, and I have all the girls' stuff, and I know about little girls, and I love little girls, and that will be so awesome. And and then I think of my poor husband because he's like this manly coach, and and I just see him braiding hair for the rest of his life, you know? And there'll be moments where the girls and I are like in full-on feminine estrogen moment of like arguing, crying, or vying for Tab's attention. And he doesn't know, but I'll glance over at him and he has the look of sheer terror. And then he looks at my stomach, and I know he's thinking, if that is a girl, then I it's four to one. There's no hope. You must have a lot of girls. Yes. It's it's true, but but you know what? He surprises me. Tab surprises me because just like last weekend, he comes blasting in the bedroom. So Rachel and Lila and I are laying in the bed watching a movie upstairs. All of a sudden, Tab comes running in the door and he goes, Okay, Daddy's nail salon is open for business. I know, girls, don't we go, aww? Because I was, I was like, oh, that is so sweet. And then I'm like looking down at my toes, which I have not been able to reach for a couple of months, and they look like it. And I'm thinking, well, does the offer, does the offer stand for me? And I I think he kind of paused for a minute, like, well, let me take a look and see what I'm dealing with before I commit to that. Um, but here's the thing a girl, awesome, totally excited. Okay. Then I think about a boy, and I don't have a boy. To have a son would be awesome. It'd be awesome. I watch moms and their sons, and there's such an awesome relationship that I see them have with them. And of course, there's the father-son bond, and I can just picture tab in the front yard throwing the ball with our son, and that's awesome. And then I think about my daughters and a little boy and two bigger sisters. That could go one of two ways. They could they could prepare him very well for marriage and for being an incredible husband to a wife one day, or they could destroy him, they could ruin every chance of success in relationships for him. So I need to be praying. I need to be praying. Will you pray for my if this is a son? But here's the thing: it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Boy or girl, it doesn't matter. And you know why? Because I am expecting that, regardless of the gender of what this baby is, it is going to be awesome. It is going to be an incredible experience. I am going to be blessed beyond measure. I am expecting that. I believe that to be true. I'm expecting that the love that I have already, which I can't even imagine getting bigger, I expect it's going to get bigger. I expect that God is going to bless my socks off. I just do. I believe that. And I and I love that God gave that to me because the story of Christmas, it is expectation in its essence. It is expectation, it's anticipation. We think of the Christmas story, the story of expectancy. You know, we we talk about Christmas every year at Christmas time, and we have all these different kinds of angles that we can take it from, but today we're gonna take the story of Christmas from the angle of expecting God. And we're gonna look at the story, the classic story, the Christmas story of Jesus coming through the perspective of the wise men. Okay, so the wise men, they're also called the Magi, so I might go back and forth calling them the same thing. They are the same, they're the same. Magi, the wise men, they were these wise, wealthy foreign men who were advisors to foreign kings in other countries. Okay? Now I know that the moment that I say wise men, you're probably like me, and you have this picture in your mind of the nativity scene, right? You have the three wise kings, uh, wise men with each holding a gift gold, frankincense, and myrrh, which are really significant. Then you've got the angel of the Lord, you've got you've got Mary and you've got Joseph, and you've got sweet little baby Jesus. And then you've got the shepherd, and you've got all the animals, right? I have that picture in my mind, you have that picture in your mind. Well, here's the thing that's crazy it's not accurate. It's not accurate. Actually, for starters, there's absolutely no way that Mary looked that good after having a baby. I've had two children, and that is not possible. And it's way too calm. Can you imagine moms with a baby, a brand new little precious baby, no germs, and all these animals around your baby? I mean, I know that was her first child and everything, because we know if we have more than one child, then we're like, oh, animals, you can lick their face, it's fine. They're our second, third, you know, it's no big deal. I just think about that and I'm like, there's no way that's true. But in all seriousness, actually, there's something about the wise men. There's actually two realities about the wise men that that I want to remind us of today. And the first one is that actually, there probably were more than three wise men. Maybe even significantly more, maybe even up to several dozens more wise men than what we might be picturing in our minds. Um, so so the the wise men come to town, and the the reason that we can bet that there's more is because they created quite a stir. See, King Herod, you know, the crazy guy who who wanted to eliminate Jesus, he was paranoid and evil. He he hears the stir in town of all these men coming and asking, where has the king of Jews, where is he? And so that perks his interest. So there had to be a good number of these of these wise men coming into town because of the stir that they created. But the other thing, the other reality about these wise men that that we don't get from the traditional nativity scene that we're picturing is the fact that they actually were not there at the birth of Jesus. They weren't, because they were actually traveling to Jesus. See, the wise men, they were from thousands of miles away. It likely took them up to two years to reach Jesus. And and the way that they knew, the reason that they knew that that Jesus had been born was because of a star. Because a new star that had popped up in the sky. And I, I mean, think about that for a minute. All the stars in the sky, are you are you gonna notice when a new star pops up? I'm not, and I know my husband wouldn't, because he doesn't even notice when I get my hair cut. But these wise men, they noticed. They were paying attention, they were looking, and and you know what? They followed that star for all that time, expecting Jesus. Now that is expectation, that is anticipation, because that's not just hoping, maybe. Like if I was looking for a specific gift for one of my kids for Christmas and I finally found it at this little mom and pop shop like a couple hundred miles away where I had to drive two hours to get there. You better believe I am not gonna hop in the car and go drive without making sure indeed this place exists and indeed they have what I need. I'm gonna call them and I'm gonna make sure they have it, and then I'm probably gonna bite over the phone, and then I will drive there to go pick it up. But these wise men, they left everything. They left their families and their homes, and they likely went on this dangerous journey following this star. But you know what? They expected that at the end they were going to reach Jesus, and they did. And these wise men, they got to experience the living God in person. They got to worship Jesus Christ Himself. They probably got to hold him in their arms. And what that tells me is that the people who expect the most from God are the ones who experience the most from God. They are the ones and see these wise men, they were expecting God to show up for a long time. See, you and I, we we read the Old Testament, and it's really easy for us to get to the end of the Old Testament, which is Malachi. I flip that one page into the New Testament, which is Matthew, which we when Jesus comes, it's so easy for us to flip that page, it takes like a quarter of a second. But what we need to remember today is that quarter of a second for us is really four hundred years of silence from God. 400 years, these people had not heard from God. There was never a time in all of history where there was more anticipation, more expectation, expectation, and more of a need for Jesus to show up, and boy, he showed up at exactly the right time. 400 years, I can imagine what people must have felt. They must have been like, well, is God gone? Have you ever felt like that before? Where is he? Has he forgotten about me? Because I feel like I've been waiting forever. They must have felt that way. Have you have you ever felt like he's forgotten about me? I imagine that they must have really questioned their faith. Maybe it's just been a waste of time. Because look where it's gotten me. Have you ever felt that way? No, you're waiting forever. But see, these wise men, they were seeking and they were believing, and because of that, they got to experience, they got to experience Jesus Christ. I think about this story with my daughter Lila. She's my youngest, she's three. You may have seen her running their foot, screaming down the hallway. Um, she's born on Christmas, actually, so she's gonna be turning four, but I'm holding on to three as long as I can, although anybody who has a three-year-old knows that four needs to come quickly. Anyway, sorry, that was just a moment for myself. Um but anyway, so we took her to Disney on Ice, and um, I'm so sorry to like talk about this because I feel like we talk about Disney on Ice, we hear about it all the time, and it's gonna about to get worse, okay? Um, because she's obsessed with frozen. And if you're like me, you're just like freaking frozen. I'm just like so over frozen. I'm so sorry. No, no fault to frozen, but I'm just over it. Anyway, so Tab and I, we surprised them with these tickets to go to Frozen or to go to Disney on ice. And Lila was really, really young the last time we went. She was a baby, so she didn't remember anything about it. But she expected that Frozen was going to be there, Olaf and Chris uh uh Christoph and Elsa and Anna. And and the moment that we told her that we were going, she's like, Oh, are they gonna be there? Are they gonna be there? And there wasn't like you know an advertisement that they were gonna be there, but surely Disney on ice, like they would be frozen would be there, right? But we couldn't guarantee it, so we just said, Well, surely, surely Frozen will be there. Yes, Elsa and Anna will be there. And um, so she ran and got her Elsa dress on, and we were in the car and ready to go. We get to Phillips Arena and we're waiting. It hasn't even started yet. And she's like, mommy, daddy, when is when is frozen coming out? When is frozen coming out? And so I didn't want her to be disappointed, even though I thought they would be there, and I'm just like looking around, like searching and like for any sign that yes, indeed, there will be some Elsa and Anna action going on in Phillips Arena. So I'm looking around and and I finally look up and I see up really high up in the rafters, it looked like there were these props that they looked like they were frozen pieces of ice. So I was like, okay, I look over at Tab and I'm like, I think we're good. He's like, Oh, okay, I think we're good too. So we're like, Lila, I'm sure they're gonna be there. We didn't tell her because we were afraid that maybe it wouldn't, and so we didn't want to set her up, but we were like, yeah, surely they're gonna be there. Um they're gonna come out. All right, the show starts, and every single scene that happens, and Frozen's not there, Lila's like, is Frozen coming out? When is Elsa coming out? When is Anna coming out? Finally, the girls had to go to the bathroom, which I was so glad about because we needed to take a break. And I come back and Tab is on his phone, and he's like, hey, I just went on this comment thread, and all these parents are talking about the grand finale of this Disney on ice, and it's frozen, and I'm like, oh, sweet, that's awesome. There was a little part of me in the back of my mind that was like, but that was not from the official site. So what if what if they got it wrong? And so, so the whole time, you know, this this was only at the halfway point. So Lila continues and continues and continues. Okay, so fast forward to the end because you know what's gonna happen. Yes, indeed. Indeed. The the the finale was amazing, frozen, and everybody came out and it was amazing. I wish you could have seen Lila's face. I wish I had videoed it because she literally was like, Mom, Dad, it's frozen! They are here, and she was so excited, and we were excited, and the level of excitement that Lila had was directly related to her level of expectation. It was because you see, frozen had to show up. They just had to. She expected them to, and and our experience was so amazing. And you know what? When we when we expect God to show up, it greatly increases our ability to notice him working all the time. That was true for Lila, it was true for the wise men, and it is true for you and me as well. Her experience was directly related, it was directly connected to that expectation. And so the the question is like, how do we how do we wait expectantly? Because it feels like 400 years sometimes, doesn't it? It feels like we've been waiting for 400 years. As I was praying for today, I just kept thinking of everyone who would be here. And I thought, I I'll bet you that every single solitary human being in this room is waiting on something. I'm no different. I'm actually waiting on a couple of things. And I'll be honest, I've been waiting for a long time. I'm just like you. I might be up here, but I'm I'm in process and I'm trying to figure it out just like you, and I'm waiting on God. And I'm hoping and I'm expecting. But the truth is, is sometimes it feels like he is silent and like we're traveling thousands of miles, not knowing if we're going to find him at the end. And to be even be more honest with you, I was really uncomfortable about this message all the way. Well, I'm kind of still, but that's okay. But yesterday I was like, Lord, will you give me what I'm supposed to because I want us to walk away with something we can like hold on to and apply to our lives, and I wasn't feeling that all the way up till yesterday. And I prayed and I'm like, God, surely there's something. And I was standing in my kitchen. I wish he wouldn't have waited so long because it was really uncomfortable. But I was standing in my kitchen yesterday afternoon and he just right in my head. He he told me, Elon, if if you're looking at this story from the perspective of the wise men, then why don't you be like the wise men? So I took a second look and I started thinking about it and praying about it, and he just revealed two things to me that the wise men did, the wise men were, that it just it just changed my heart overnight. And I just I want to offer it to you today, to us. Because I'm talking to myself right now, too. The reality is that these wise men, they did two things that I believe if we hold on to and if we believe them, and if we apply them in our lives, that it's going to change everything for us. The first thing about these wise men is that they believed the prophecies that they were hearing about Jesus. The prophecies are like the Old Testament. So essentially they were believing the word of God to be true. And see, you and I, we have an advantage on those wise men because now we have the Old Testament and the New Testament. What that tells me is that you and I have got to believe God at His Word. We must believe His Word in the Bible to be 100%, 100% truth, 100% of the time. Now I'm gonna get fired up here because I I am convicted. When God just silences me for a minute, he always, always loves me in this way when I'm questioning him, and I do often. I do, God, I don't understand. I know you're moving, but I don't feel you. He always tells me, Elon, you either trust me or you don't. I don't know if you're like me, but it's like, okay, God, I I trust you with this, and I, and I trust you with this, and I trust you with this, and I trust you with this. And I wouldn't necessarily admit that or even think that in the moment, but the reality is that's how I'm living, that's how I'm believing. Is I'm trusting God with part of me and not all of me, but the reality is, is we, you and me together, we have got to decide. Justin talked about being decided, making the decision that we are going to believe, so that when those storms come, when the doubt comes, when the uncertainty, when the situation comes, that we will not waver in our faith of believing God at His word. Listen, none of us need to look very far back over our shoulder in our past. No matter how checkered, no matter how broken, no matter how no matter what it is, no matter what mistakes, no matter what much how much we doubted God, no matter what we feel about ourselves, we don't have to look very far back to see that God was working. Because God is always working, He is always working no matter what we see with our eyes or what we're feeling in that moment. He does not change. He does not. That's why verses like Romans 8.28 are so important. And we know that God causes every everything, everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose. There's a reason that this is one of the most quoted scriptures of all time. That's because it's true. God is not the author of the bad things going on in your life. You hear me? He's good and he's only good. He is not the author of the bad things in your life, but he takes those bad things and he can work them for your good. He loves you and he loves me. He is our Father. He has a good plan. His plan is for our good. It's it's verses like Isaiah 64, 4 that says, For since the world began, no ear has heard and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him. It's the waiting, isn't it? It's the waiting that's the hardest part of the human experience. It is for me, anyway. It's the waiting. But this scripture, if we hold on to it and we believe God at his word, then we can believe that yes, indeed, no matter how long I wait, that God is. Working for me, and he is working for you. He is working for us. I know some of you feel like you can't wait anymore. You need God to do something and you need it now. I know, I know, I know that there are people feeling that way right now, and I just want to offer you this scripture that I have written everywhere in my house. I didn't really actually remember reading Micah 7-7 before, before preparing for this, but really it was perfect timing because I, like I said, I'm waiting, I'm waiting. And now I have it written everywhere and I have it underlined and right here in my notes. I'd show it to you. It's it's bolded. Certain words are bolded because it is convicting, and I want to say it together in our hearts that we believe this. Listen to what Micah says, but as for me, as for me, I will. I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Those wise men, they saw that star. I'm convinced they saw that star because they were seeking, they were seeking Jesus. And there's a difference between seeking and looking. Because with looking, we give up. We give up when we feel like we haven't found what we need to find in the amount of time that we should find. But with God, we're we're never we're never gonna get what we want as quickly as we want. Because it's God and He operates in his own timetable, and it's perfect timing, by the way. It's perfect timing. But those wise men, they sought the Lord. The Bible tells us to love God with all of our heart, our soul, our mind, and our strength. But but he also wants us to seek him with that same kind of intensity, to seek him with everything we have. Because it's because of that seeking that they noticed this single star come up in the sky. It's because that they were seeking that they were led to the Savior of the world, that they got to experience God. What I didn't share with you about this story with my daughter on Disney on Ice is that the whole time that she was asking me and Tab, you know, when when is Frozen gonna come? When is Frozen gonna come? When is Frozen gonna come? When is Frozen gonna come? I kept finding myself saying, Lila, honey, they're probably they're gonna come, but listen, let's enjoy what we're watching right now. Look at this great scene, and look at that great scene, and look at her costume, and oh, that was such a pretty turn, and oh, look at this. Like, let's enjoy this moment, and I'm telling you the truth. The reason I this came this story came to mind is because God was talking to me. He was saying, Elon, you're just like Lila. You're so focused on what you want me to do, you are missing out on what I am doing right now. God is working right now. If we want to experience what the wise men experienced, the real living Jesus, then we gotta notice God working here and now because He is. He is. We gotta seek Him with everything that we have. I think it's Jeremiah 29, 13, and talks paraphrase, basically he says that those who seek me with all their heart will find me. I don't have time to doubt anymore. Even in my doubt, I gotta hold on to this truth because God's never let me down. He's never let me down right now. He is he's not letting me down. And I know that's true for all of us because we're all of his children and he loves us all the same. And I can just imagine what an incredible Christmas this can be for all of us and for our families. If we will believe God at his word, a hundred percent, no doubt. If we will believe that with all of our hearts, and if we will just stop for a minute and notice what he's doing right now, he's not only gonna bless us this Christmas, he's gonna bless us in the year to come. And I don't know how it's gonna turn out for all of us, but I know that God is working for us right now. And I want to be, I want to be the kind of person who expects God to show up. And that when I do, it's because of that expectation that he does, and that I don't miss it. And I just I want to invite you to do that with me. Let's do it together and let's hold each other accountable. Let's do this together. We're a family, and I'm thankful for you. I'm so thankful for you, and I'm so thankful for the many relationships that I have formed in being here. I love this church. This is my home. There's nowhere else I want to be. We're together, and we're his. We can trust him. Let's own it, let's hold on to it, and let's enjoy it because he's good. Let's pray. Father God, thank you. You amazed me. Thank you, God, that your truth is true. It's a hundred percent true, Lord, and and sometimes we're just slow to let it sink in because we are focused on what we're seeing around us, God. We're so focused on our fear. God, but but you're God. And you're so big and you're so good, and you are our father, and a good father loves his children, and and we we receive that right now, God. Help us to open the hands of our hearts right now to receive the love that you are generously and continually pouring down right in this moment, God. Let us just be here for a moment and just receive God's love. Let's just do that. Let's just experience God's love right now. Lord, I receive your love for me. Your love for me has nothing to do with anything I do or don't do, anything I've done or haven't done. You even love me in my fear and doubt. And I thank you for that, God. And I thank you for for coming to this broken world. For being born so humbly in the situation that you were when you didn't have to. God, I want to be like those wise men. I want us all to be like those wise men. I just want to believe that you are going to show up. I want to expect you, Lord Jesus. Father, help us to take you at your word. We need your help. God, we we need your help to be strong, to be faith-filled. We need it. We cannot do it on our own, and thank God we don't have to. I just ask, God, that you just help us to believe you at your word, God, with no shred of doubt. 100% trust, because you are a trusting Father. Thank you. Lord Jesus, and I pray, God. Oh, Father, please make us sensitive to your spirit and everything you're doing. Help us to not miss out, God, on everything you're doing right now. Please, God, open our eyes in a way that we've never opened them before. Help us to experience your presence and then everything that you do, even in the midst of awful circumstances, even in the midst of pain and doubt. All of our brokenness, Lord, just in this moment, help us to recognize and look for and experience you. God, I thank you because you never give up on us. And you're so patient. And we don't have to wait 400 years. Because you aren't silent. Help us to be aware, Jesus. Father, I thank you. I thank you for everything that you do, for everything that you've already done that we're walking into, Lord. Help us to experience, to expect, to anticipate, Lord, to have joy and peace. We receive this right now, God. Right now, in this moment, we receive it with open arms and open hearts. And we thank you, God. We thank you. Thank you for being real. We give every bit of glory and praise and worship to you, Jesus. Thank you. Thank you. Amen.