 Well, happy Christmas Eve to all of you. Jane and I and our family, we just want to just wish all of you just an incredible Christmas Eve and Christmas weekend. We had so looked forward to all being together. But as you know, in Michigan, you just can never predict the weather. But what I can predict is that this is going to be a beautiful and a significant Christmas for you and for your family. And we're so glad that you've joined us. Even if it is an online experience, the reality and the beauty and the power of Christmas is still close to us. And God is still drawing near to us in our living rooms and in our homes and gathered together. Maybe you're by yourself or you're gathered together with your family. It doesn't matter. Jesus is the savior of the world and he's meeting us wherever we're at. I want to draw your attention to a couple of scriptures today that will help us really draw near and frame what Christmas Eve is really all about and Christmas in particular. I've entitled this message, Waiting on Jesus. And I want to read two scriptures to you. The first one is Luke chapter two, the first seven verses. It says, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Curinius was governor of Syria and all went to be registered each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem. Because he was of the house and lineage of David to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth and she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. The second scripture that I want to read to go along with this, this Christmas Eve is Philippians chapter two verses six through 11. It's talking about Jesus and his incarnation in Paul's writing. And he said, who that's being Jesus though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped. But he made himself nothing taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God, the Father. You see both of these scriptures one before the birth of Jesus and the other looking backwards at the incarnation the birth of Jesus, the son of God. Both of these are speaking about one historical event, probably the most significant event that has ever taken place in the history of humanity. And it is the entrance of God, the glory of God the long-awaited one being born into history to save humanity from their sins. This is the incarnation, this is the birth of Jesus the redeemer, the Messiah of Israel the savior of the world the creator of all that exists steps out of eternity and into a moment within history in the most humble, in the most in obscure way and fashion that we could even imagine we can't even comprehend the condescension that took place when Jesus stepped into history and was born on Christmas day. What a journey that was. Mary and Joseph's journey was 70 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem but Jesus's journey from the throne room of heaven into a manger in Bethlehem was far greater. We can't even measure, we can't even describe we can't even begin to fathom the length and the sacrifice of that journey but yet Jesus made it and the reason why he made that journey is he came to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. You see that first Christmas there was not just God and man being joined together but there was heaven and earth because at Jesus's birth we see God and man we see the angels announcing his birth but the shepherds going to witness his birth. We see the stars in the heaven leading the wise men to where he was born but we see Jesus humbly wrapped up and placed in the depths of the earth. We see Jews and we see Gentiles recognizing that he is the king and we see darkness being eclipsed by a great light. Jesus the light of the world is born on Christmas day. What an immense miracle. What an incredible indescribable reality that has literally changed all of history and has changed the world and if you're a Christian it has changed you. But when we read this story and we read especially Luke's account what strikes me the most is that in verse number seven it says in the middle of this massive miracle in the middle of heaven breaking into human reality it says in verse number seven there was no place for them in the end. Think about that for a moment. Jesus makes this great journey across time and space. Joseph and Mary make this long 70 mile journey but when they arrive in Bethlehem there is no room for them in the end. Now sometimes when we think about that verse and we've heard it many different times and we think of in we're thinking of like the holiday in we're thinking of the comfort in or the motel six but the word for in literally means guest room. It's not a secular, it's not a separate entity it's not a business as much as it is that Joseph and Mary probably arrived in Bethlehem and either went to friends or acquaintances or more than likely family members that were of his extended family but when they arrived there there was no room in the guest room for them. Probably there's lots of different reasons for it but it probably had to do with the census that was being called because everybody had to go back to their hometown and so the city is packed out every space is maximized. I mean we're right now we're experiencing or we have experienced just a storm some people are calling wants in a decade storm and if you ventured out over the last couple of days and you went to Myers or you went to Walmart you recognize that when a storm comes or there's these moments of crisis people go and they max out they buy gallons of water they buy everything that's on the shelves they buy every battery that they can get their hands on and it's probably like that in Bethlehem at this moment where every space, everyone's guest rooms everyone's living room couch has somebody sleeping on it when Joseph and Mary arrive and Mary is very, very with child when they arrive in Bethlehem there's just no space. Sorry, hey we've got people staying with us maybe check down the street sorry we're packed out as well we've got far too many guests and they end up staying in the stable they end up staying in what would be the equivalent for you and I of a shed or a garage attached to the house where the animals are taking care of. You and I look at that inhospitality of them not having room for Jesus and we think how could you treat the son of God like that but in the moment we have to remember but they didn't know who Jesus was they just thought here's some extended relatives and it's a little inconvenient for us at this particular time maybe it was just the census maybe it was just the inconvenience because they didn't see the significance of Jesus or Joseph of Mary or the moment maybe it was the stigma because the rumor had spread that here's this woman who's still engaged to Joseph but she's yet nine months pregnant and we don't want that stigma attached to us and to our family or to our household we don't know the reasons for it but we know this that there was a lack of hospitality a lack of openness a lack of welcoming maybe we could say it like this there was a lack of waiting. Remember we gave you a definition of waiting that it's this sense of expectancy this urgency in order to receive the promise like a child at Christmas who can't wait until Christmas morning when he's able and ready and okay to open his presence and so they're up all night and thinking about it and asking when, when, when, when that's a picture of what it means to wait on the Lord or to wait expectantly for the gift and what we can be very sure of is that nobody in Bethlehem on that first Christmas was waiting for Jesus if they had been waiting for Jesus they would have made room for him. If they had known who Jesus was going to be they wouldn't have cared about the stigma. They would have inconvenienced themselves they would have made room no matter what else was going on but what's interesting as well there was no hospitality that was offered to Jesus and to his mother and Joseph his earthly father. Jesus is a perfect picture of heavenly hospitality. Of heavenly hospitality because while there was no room for Jesus in their homes Jesus abandoned his home and came in pursuit of us to welcome us into his family. Think about at Christmas time Jesus humbled himself. He humbled himself in a manner that we really can't even comprehend. Here he is he's the king who's used to sitting on a throne but instead he humbles himself and he chooses a manger. A manger is nothing but a feeding trough for sheep or for donkeys or for other animals but yet here is the son of God who allows himself to be placed into a manger a feeding trough so that he can come and feed us with the bread of life that we could never find on our own. Jesus allows himself to be wrapped in swaddling clothes these strips of cloth so that he could come and instead place robes of righteousness royal robes of righteousness on us even though our righteousness is as filthy rags in God's sight. Jesus ultimately humbles himself by being born of a virgin. Being born of a human young woman a virgin so that he can give us a new birth and an unstained eternal life that sin had taken from us and that we had willingly forfeited by our rebellion against God but yet in Jesus he allows us to be born afresh and anew with a brand new beginning with a brand new life and with an eternal hope. Jesus offers to us heavenly hospitality. It's as if the Father says, I'm making room for you to a world that said, I'm not really sure that I want the stigma attached. I'm a little too busy. This is an inconvenience. You know what I wonder? I wonder this. I wonder if in the years to come after Jesus's birth when he rises to influence, when he begins to preach the kingdom of God, when he begins to perform miracles and heal the blinded eyes and unstop deaf ears and cause lame men and women to walk when he began to raise people from the dead and multiply the bread and the loaves when he began to draw crowds because his words were with authority and he spoke words of life when he began to confront the religious power structures that were trying to put a barrier between God and man as Jesus begins to rise in influence and all of Judea and all of Sumeria and even all the way up into Syria and way beyond that began to speak and to whisper that I think this might be the Messiah, the Savior, the awaited one. I wonder if some of these people in Bethlehem remembered that first Christmas Eve and regretted not making room for Jesus. I wonder if they looked back and said, I wish I had allowed myself to be inconvenienced. I wish I had not worried about the stigma. What people would say about me and what people would think about me, I wish I had made room for Jesus then. You see the only thing that would ultimately eclipse the miracle of Christmas would be the miracle of Jesus' resurrection. When the stone was rolled away with Jesus who had just been crucified and died for the sins of the world would be raised back to life when a movement called the church and the way would begin to move throughout the streets of Judea and then to Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the world and the message of Jesus began to spread and to save and to redeem and to restore and put hope within people's hearts once again as they experienced the love of God. I wonder if there were those who wished that just as God had opened up his heart to them and expressed it by giving his own son. I wonder if there were those who wished that they had earlier opened up theirs. And today my hope for all of us on this Christmas Eve is that we won't wait. We won't wait until the next appearing of Jesus, his coming, his soon and his near return. I hope we will look beyond the stigma. Today we live in an hour where if you're going to follow Jesus you have to willingly embrace the stigma of being a Christ follower. Today if you're going to really follow Jesus you're gonna have to allow yourself to be inconvenienced. Today if you're gonna follow Jesus you're gonna have to recognize that storms come that there's always going to be busyness and things around us that we can fill our lives with that we can fill our homes with. There's always going to be other priorities but yet if we will open up our hearts and live lives of human hospitality that says, God, I wanna make room in my life. I wanna make room in my heart to receive you, to receive Jesus and to not just believe in him but I wanna follow him. I wanna yield to him. I wanna experience the salvation that Jesus came to give me. And today the Father is looking at you and you don't have to ever look back with regret. Today if you don't know Jesus you can just simply welcome him into your heart. Say, Lord Jesus, come into my heart. Be my savior today. Forgive me of my sins today. I've been waiting for you. Give me eternal life. I believe you are the Son of God. You came on Christmas. You rose on Easter and you're soon to come back to establish your kingdom. Sit on the throne of my heart today. In Jesus' name, amen.