Speaker 1: 0:00

One of the things we've been doing these last couple weeks is talking about waiting for Christmas, and one of the things we wait for when it comes to Christmas is a Christmas miracle. So what Christmas miracle are you waiting for? Maybe you just need a miracle to get through Christmas. You're just not a Christmas person. While everybody else is loving the craziness of the season, you want to just end it so you can go back to life as normal. You probably feel like a little bit of this picture right here. Take a look. You're like that house on the right just said ditto. You know what? Whatever Ditto, they actually did more lights than I did this year. They at least put lights up. I'm not sure if you're a light person I normally am, but this year I'm just like whatever ditto.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Maybe you're waiting for a different kind of miracle this season. You're waiting for a miracle just to survive the people you have to interact with in your family. I'm going to just have a moment of honesty and don't raise your hands, please. How many of you have a time limit for how long you can stay with your family at Christmas? Maybe you're more spiritual than I am and you don't. How many of you are sitting next to the person that you have a time limit for. I just want a moment of confession here. Several years ago, I went to my parents' house for Christmas, and I don't know about you, but no matter how old you are, when you go back into your family of origins house, it's like there's this time machine where you warp back into your 13 year old self. Now I got to preface what I'm about to say in that I love my parents. I think they're amazing people, I love my brother, I love my grandmother, who passed away, and so I just need to say that because of the story I'm about to tell.

Speaker 1: 1:47

But one of the things we love to do at Christmas at my household is play board games, and we decided to play this game called Speed Scrabble. And for those of you who are wondering what Speed Scrabble is, it is a game from Satan himself. There is no redeeming value of Speed Scrabble. Never play it, it's not worth your time. But here's how it works you all get a certain number of letters and you have to make as many words as possible in two minutes or less, and it gets very intense. So we started this game, and my family is extremely competitive. So there we were playing speed Scrabble. It was getting more and more intense.

Speaker 1: 2:25

Our Christmas spirit had turned evil and my dad, who was a stickler for rules, started calling out everybody on their word, saying well, that's not a word and you did this wrong. And then my brother who's just my brother was just being annoying, as he always is, and my mom wasn't saying anything, but she was giving that mom stare. You know, the mom stare is like you all. Better stop whatever you're doing. And my grandmother, my grandmother who is a saint, who was a saint her entire life. My grandmother, who led huge ministries around the United States. My grandmother who prayed for me three hours a day and that's not an exaggeration who prayed for me three hours a day. My grandmother, who I thought was more like Jesus than anybody else. My grandmother was cheating and I don't mean a little bit Like she was cheating bad. She was adding 50 points to her score when she didn't even know how to string letters together. And so my dad's calling out the rules, my brother's being annoying, my grandmother's cheating, my mom's staring at me. And so I did what you should do I took my letters, I threw them across the table and I said I hate playing games with you all. I ran up to my old bedroom. I slammed the door, I jumped on my bed and I cried. I was 25 years old and some of you are right there with me.

Speaker 1: 3:40

You need a miracle to survive the people and maybe the board games this Christmas. You need a miracle to survive the people and maybe the board games this Christmas. And my guess is there's maybe another miracle. You're waiting for A bigger one. Maybe you're desperate for your financial situation to turn around. Maybe you're desperate for your health or somebody's health that you love, to get better, and maybe you're desperate for your adult kids to come back to you. Maybe you're desperate for your parents to finally understand you and be proud of you. Maybe you're desperate for that relationship that is broken to mend. Maybe you're desperate for this feeling of hopelessness and anxiety and worry that keeps you up at night to go away. You're desperate and you're waiting for a miracle. Here's the good news about Christmas desperate and you're waiting for a miracle. Here's the good news about Christmas that God can and still does perform miracles in our lives.

Speaker 1: 4:33

And while we may know that there's another problem, many of us feel like we've been waiting for so long for that miracle. We're just waiting, and waiting, and waiting. I mean, let's be honest, we don't like to wait. Waiting feels like torture. One of the traditions I used to have with my kids when they were little is that I would allow them to open one present before Christmas. And so it was December 22nd one year and I told my kids they could open one present, and my other kids were fine, but my three-year-old son, micah, was struggling with this, because I told him you can only open it after dinner and you tell that to a three-year-old and that's like torture. And so he started to go over to the present before dinner and just stare at it. And then he started to feel it and it's no joke. He took it and during dinner he put it next to his plate. I think he even hugged it at one point. He thought we were making him cruel for waiting. We're the same way. We think God has a present out there for us and we eye what we want, but we can't handle the waiting part. We think God is cruel for making us wait.

Speaker 1: 5:38

We're not the only ones who've felt this way, as we saw last week that God's people, the Jews, had to wait. They'd been waiting for a Messiah to come for 400 plus years. They waited and they waited and they waited and still nothing. They wondered if they'd ever get to open up that present. They thought that God was cruel to them. In fact, many gave up on him. You could picture it this way they were caught between two points in life the not any mores, not any more over here, life isn't like what it used to be and the not yet over here. The thing that they want to come, but it hasn't happened yet. And they're caught in the middle, in the middle between not anymore and not yet. Just waiting and waiting and waiting.

Speaker 1: 6:32

See, over here were the stories of God's greatness to them, of how God parted the Red Sea for Moses, how God told them that they would be as Genesis says and you see it up on the screen here. Genesis says I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you. All the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you. They were the chosen nation over here. They were loved by God. They were the called out people of God. God was performing miracles and miracles and miracles. That was then. That was not anymore. Those are just stories. Now their once proud nation wasn't proud anymore. Their once chosen nation didn't feel like it was chosen anymore. Now, as we saw last week, rome ruled. They were nobodies, and I'm not going to repeat everything we talked about last week. I encourage you to go online and listen to it. But let me just remind you of a few things of the reality of that first Christmas.

Speaker 1: 7:33

See, the Jews had lost their culture to the Greeks, and then the Romans, and they were told that their God was not God, that Caesar was God. They were broke. They were taxed 50, 60, sometimes 90% of their income. They often had to sell their family land just to meet those demands. They were persecuted. In fact, persecution and crucifixion became a sport for the Romans. They just tried to twist bodies as much as they could to see who could twist them the most. Crucifixion and torture was such the norm that King Herod's orders to kill all the baby's boys at the time of Jesus was so small compared to all the other stuff the Romans did that it's hardly mentioned in historical accounts.

Speaker 1: 8:16

And when they looked at what God did in the past, when they looked at their reality of their present, they said that's not anymore, it's not anymore. It's not anymore. And they told God had promised them that he'd bring a Messiah, that God would restore them, but they hadn't seen anything. There wasn't any sign of that. So here they were, stuck between not anymore and not yet, waiting, and waiting and waiting, and the longer they stood there waiting, the longer they didn't get an answer. They're not yet turned into a not ever God. I don't think this is ever going to happen. God has forgotten us. God won't ever do a miracle in our lives.

Speaker 1: 9:02

Maybe that's where you feel like you are too. Maybe your career was flying high, you were finding success, you were doing great things, you were on top of the world, but not anymore. That's not happening anymore. You're in between jobs now and you keep getting rejection letter after rejection letter after rejection letter, or you, just as many people do do these days, just don't hear anything from the people you apply to. That's not yet, and the longer you go without that dream job, the longer you go without their career that you want.

Speaker 1: 9:34

You're not yet turned into not evers. Or maybe your marriage was once a fairy tale. You used to laugh, you lost, used to love him or her. You guys are so good together, but then stuff happened. It's not anymore and you're hoping for things to turn around. You've been praying for things to turn around, but the more you pray the worse they seem to get. It's not yet. And the longer you wait and the worse things get. You think that not yet is not ever. Or maybe you've been at one point in your life going strong for God. You were so in touch with him, things were changing in your life, but then that struggle, that addiction, that sin that you have, whatever it is, it came back. It's still there and when you once felt close to God, when you once felt you were on track with him, it's not anymore. And you've tried to change you really have but it keeps coming back and back and back and you're not yet. The more it comes back, it turns into a not ever. Let me ask you, where is your not yet turned into a not ever? Because when it turns into a not ever, there's some dangers that you face, and the first danger is this is that you can turn bitter and cynical. You can turn bitter and cynical.

Speaker 1: 10:52

A few years back, I challenged the church that I was leading to learn how to wait, and the way I challenged them I said this week, what I want you to do is, when you drive, I want you to drive one mile per hour below the speed limit and you can't go above it and just tell me how it goes. And most people didn't even try, but one guy did and he wrote me this email. Now I want to read it to you. I love it. He said, jason, I tried, I really tried, but driving the speed limit was an experience that I'll never forget and one I'll never repeat soon.

Speaker 1: 11:24

I work in Whitewater, so I thought this would be easy. You know back roads, country highways, sunny sky, pumpkin latte in the cup holder, a talk station on the radio how could it get any better? But I was passed in front of Field Park, yes, in a clearly marked, no passing zone, rudely tailgated throughout the drive on Highway E and again on Highway J, and voted number one by at least two of my fellow commuters, and that's before I even reached Whitewater. On the way home, I decided to avoid my fellow man by driving Bluff Road. On the way home, I decided to avoid my fellow man by driving Bluff Road. Actually, it usually has very, if any, traffic. Usually I was honked at, tailgated again and finally pulled off the road to let a pickup truck go by.

Speaker 1: 12:06

I don't mess with pickup trucks. I certainly trust God to get me where I need to be, but I'm pretty certain he doesn't want me thinking the things I was thinking. Yes, I prayed the whole way. Well, the whole way, but not the whole way, but you get the picture. But I was praying for things like God please keep me safe, god please don't let them recognize me, and God please let a cop be around the corner so they can get these blankety-blank-blank people a ticket. Not quite the direction you were intending, right? So I decided to read through the Bible chronologically over the next year, instead of going the speed limit and if you see me speeding, please know it's to get home and to do my daily readings. I love that.

Speaker 1: 12:44

And while we laugh at that, it's no laughing matter when we wait and wait and wait and we just turn cynical and bitter towards God. In other words, the waiting game has gone on so long that we think not only does God not see us, god just doesn't care about us. He doesn't answer our prayer, our not-yets have become not-evers and we become angry. We don't believe good things can happen. This happened to another person in the Christmas story Last week, what we saw in Luke, chapter one, the story of Mary.

Speaker 1: 13:20

And Mary had been waiting, like the Jews, for hundreds of years for a Savior to come. And then Gabriel, this angel, came and told her Mary, you're actually going to have the promised Messiah, you're going to give birth to Jesus. And she accepted that, she embraced that, she believed that. But in Luke, chapter one we see another story, side by side with Mary. It's the story of a man named Zechariah who was being told that he would also have a son, john the Baptist, who would be the person, the forerunner of Jesus. But, unlike Mary, his response wasn't to embrace, to have hope in it and believe that God had answered him after all these years of waiting for a child. No, his response was to be bitter and cynical, to challenge it. I mean, if anybody should have believed in Zechariah, look at what Luke says about him and his wife Elizabeth. It says this in Luke, chapter 1, verse 5.

Speaker 1: 14:10

In the time of Herod and remember, herod was just a disaster of a person persecuting the Jews In the time of Herod, king of Judah, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife, elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commands and decrees blamelessly. In other words, if anybody should have embraced waiting, it was them. They were doing what God had asked them to do. They were obeying, following him, teaching people about him. So you would think verse 7 would say this and because of that, god gave them three great sons who became leaders in their church and their schools. They were on the sports teams, they were on the honor roll. Their parents were so proud of them. But it doesn't say that they were on the sports teams. They were on the honor roll, their parents were so proud of them.

Speaker 1: 14:58

But it doesn't say that. It doesn't say and it says but they're doing all these good things, but verse 7, but they were childless. You were doing all these good things, but you're unemployed. You were doing all these good things, but you're unemployed. You were doing all these good things, but you're depressed. You were doing all these things for God, but you're still single and you don't know why. You were doing all these good things for God, but you're broke. They were doing all these things, but they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive and they were both very old. Now, being childless is hard enough, but in that culture it was seen as a curse, and so they waited and waited for God to answer and they got. Luke says very old.

Speaker 1: 15:53

Somewhere along the way, zechariah is not yet became a not ever. And we know this because of the next verse. When the angel tells him, look how Zechariah responds. He says this in verse 10 or verse 18,. How can I be sure of this? I'm an old man and my wife is well along within years. In other words, gabe, I get it, I hear you, but I've been waiting too long. People have given me that line so many times. I just don't believe anymore. My not yet is a not ever. And Gabriel actually calls him out on it Verse 19,. The angel said to him I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news. And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time. In other words, zechariah, what happened? You used to be so strong. I promised that this would happen, but you forgot. If you follow the story and I encourage you to read it this week Zechariah is silent until his son, john the Baptist, is born, and then he finally gets it.

Speaker 1: 16:57

You see, when our not-yets turn to not-evers, we turn bitter and cynical. The second thing happens when our not-yets turn to not-evers is that we can medicate our pain. We medicate it. Psalm 37, david writes this Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. But then, in the next verse, he adds this Refrain from anger and turn from wrath. Now catch this. It leads only to evil. See, david understood the reality that when you're between your not anymore's and your not yet's, and your not yet's become your not ever's, that you want something to feel good. God isn't giving you what you want, so you need something to give you what you want to validate you. And when that happens, we turn to evil. And as I say this, I say this not as somebody who's trying to condemn you, but as somebody who did this himself.

Speaker 1: 17:51

Some of you know my story a bit. I've shared it with some of you before. But my not became a not ever, and when I was in that not ever, I decided to medicate it. I was hoping in the not anymore, that my marriage would turn into something that it was supposed to be, but it wasn't getting any better and, as you know, I had a lot to do with that. I was hoping for these things to turn around in the church I was leading, but it wasn't happening. It was not yet, was becoming a not ever, and I didn't know what to do. And instead of finding healthy solutions, I went sideways and I medicated. I started to find solace in an image on a screen, and what gave me momentary pleasure eventually destroyed the things I loved the most my career, my finances and, worst of all, it deeply hurt the people I loved the most. It's a pain I'll always have to live with the rest of my life.

Speaker 1: 18:51

How are you medicating as you wait? I mean, let's just get real honest right now. What is it that you turn to to make you feel good, to escape, when you're not yet to become not-evers? I'm not saying yours is as extreme as mine probably isn't, but maybe you just have an extra drink each night. Or maybe, instead of medicating through something that's seen as bad, you medicate through something that's seen as bad. You medicate through something that's seen as good. You, you work extra hours to make yourself feel good, or maybe you just medicate by scrolling for endless hours on on tiktok reels and you don't even know how much time you spent, until three hours later, just to escape whatever it is you need to escape, so are you medicating? See what happens when our not-yets become not-evers not only can we turn bitter, not only can we medicate, but the final thing that can happen is that we try to go back to our not-anymores when God doesn't seem to be answering.

Speaker 1: 19:50

We long for the past. We long for the thing that we used to have. We want to go back to the day we were healthy. We want to go back to the feeling of being a success. We want to go back to when we were emotionally strong. We want to go back to when relationships were good. We want to go back to when our finances were secure. We want to go back to the moments we felt like we were close to God.

Speaker 1: 20:10

But the thing about the not anymore is that they're not anymore. They don't exist anymore. And God comes, comes and says these you can't even look at anymore, these are not part of your life anymore. In fact, isaiah, who foretold of Jesus, would also say this in Isaiah 43, verse 18 look at it. Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am doing a new thing Now it springs up. Do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams, in the wasteland. If you're looking back, you're not anymore. I'm just telling you they don't exist anymore. It was a season and it was a season and you can be proud of that season. You can look back and fondness of the season, but that season doesn't exist anymore. God is saying you have to move forward. You have to go forward. Don't dwell on the past, because here's the good news as you go forward, you'll realize the point of Christmas, and it's this. It's that we don't have to wait any longer for our not yet God's miracle is not yet. God's miracle, even though you may not realize it, god's miracle is right now. It's right now.

Speaker 1: 21:29

John's version of the Christmas story tells this very clearly. In John 1,. John writes this the word Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Oh, I love the messages. Paraphrase of it the Jesus became flesh and made his dwelling among us. I love the messages, paraphrase of it. The word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. And God, this Christmas, is saying I've moved into your neighborhood, I'm right now here for you.

Speaker 1: 21:50

The miracle you've been waiting for is here. You've been waiting and waiting and waiting. Your wait is over, but here's the deal. The miracle you want may not be the miracle you get we talked a little bit about this last week, but we need to go back to it. The miracle you want may not be the miracle you get.

Speaker 1: 22:13

This is the case for the Jews. They wanted a king who would ride in with a sword, overthrow Rome, restore their nation back to political power. Instead, they got a baby born in a manger into scandal and poverty. Instead of calling people to war, he called them to peace and love. Instead of calling people to power, he called them to service and humility. It didn't seem like the miracle that they wanted, but it was the miracle they got. John writes this later in that chapter. Jesus was in the world. He was in the world and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. In other words, what they got was not what they wanted. Let me ask you have you missed the miracle that god has for you right now? Because what you're getting is not what you wanted? Because the miracle still exists. A miracle is still there.

Speaker 1: 23:11

A friend of mine, shelly, understands this. She have been praying for so many years for God to heal her from her chronic pain. She has terrible thyroid issues and other issues. The miracle she got wasn't the miracle she wanted. She wrote this to me. She said Jason, my physical pain ranged from chronic soreness to excruciating, debilitating pain where I could not get out of bed for two or three days and was grateful for pain medication that knocked me out.

Speaker 1: 23:37

So I didn't have to feel the pain I could endure no light, no sound, no smells and very little movement. I had to be alone. I could do nothing, couldn't talk, or my face and the sides of my skull would feel like it was being crushed. Out of a good estimate of the days of pain I suffered for over a decade, I literally missed months of time with my daughter, husband, friends and other family members because I was isolated in my room. A few years ago, I learned that God doesn't always take us out of our pain, but he sure will be there to hold us through it. When my symptoms first started years ago, I prayed to be freed from them, but I learned that I needed to pray for God to get me through each of the worst days, and I felt his presence and I thanked him for being with me while I lie, hurting more than I ever imagined was possible.

Speaker 1: 24:24

And she talks about medical bills, panic attacks and some severe infections that she suffered where she thought she might die, she continues. The panic attacks were bad. I couldn't take meds to make me sleep through them. I found a Christian book, though, on managing the attacks and fed my heart through God's word several times a day. I still have Bible passages written on note cards next to my bed. Those passages got me through hell and back and still give me the strength and tools I need to fight Satan's attack every day. I'm doing much better now and my body systems seem to be getting back into balance. I hold my hands up and ask the Holy Spirit for more healing, and I praise God that I can actually move. It wasn't the miracle she wanted, but God gave her a miracle to get through the pain.

Speaker 1: 25:10

So here's the thing about miracles Even if they're not what you want, the miracle God gives you, the miracle that's right now always brings you life. It always brings you life. It always brings you life. A little earlier, john would write this In him, jesus in him was life, and that life was the light of all people. Then he goes on and says To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. In other words, john is saying the miracle you want is right here in front of you and it's alive. That's waiting for you to grasp.

Speaker 1: 25:43

Yes, I know you may be waiting for that specific answer, but God's miracle this Christmas has come and it is here, and so I really do hope God gives you the miracle you want. I hope God heals whatever it is he needs to heal want I hope God heals whatever it is he needs to heal. But even if he doesn't heal that physical ailment, maybe the miracle he wants to give you is peace and endurance. That's a miracle. That's life. I really hope God gives you the exact job you've been dreaming of. I've seen him do it countless times before.

Speaker 1: 26:14

But that miracle may not happen, but maybe the miracle he has for you and I guarantee you it's a miracle of finding a new purpose, of loving people, for going after the things of God, for allowing heaven to come down to earth in your relationship that's true fulfillment, that's a miracle, that's life. That's right now. I really hope God restores that broken relationship. I really do. I've seen him turn marriages around. I've seen him restore relationships between parents and kids.

Speaker 1: 26:42

I pray that God gives that to you. But even if he doesn't right now, the miracle he has for you is to know that you are loved, no matter what anybody else says. If you embrace that, that's the greatest Christmas present you could ever embrace. See, wherever you're at, whatever miracle you're longing for, there is always one standing right in front of you at Christmas, and it's Jesus. And while he may not give you exactly what you've been waiting for, he gives you something so much more A life of abundance, a life filled with his love. So the question is will you receive that miracle this Christmas? It's not yet, it's not ever. It's right now and you don't have to wait any longer.