 So my name's Amy. I was just, I want to share a little bit about my own personal story, my own personal testimony and how the Lord has done a great work in my life through this personal way. So I grew up in a Christian home. Pastor Wayne was a pastor my whole life. I grew up in the church pretty much born, I was born on Easter and my dad gave his message that same day, Easter morning. So I I know what it was like being told about the Lord from a young age and I felt like I really had a tender spirit towards him. As so many kids do, which I love so much how the Lord uses family to raise up kids in him to share that truth about him. About the Lord and as a young child I gave my heart to the Lord probably about five five or six years old. I remember being, I remember writing my first song about the Apostle Paul when I was like eight. Actually it was a rap so that's kind of cool. But I also knew that I had a rebellious heart and a rebellious nature inside me. I could sense that from a young age. I remember stealing money from a girl when I was like 10 years old. I just like remember it vividly in Sunday school. Like that's so I mean pastor's kids, I carried the stereotype pretty much of the rebellious nature and that was just in me. That was nothing that you know it wasn't church's fault or my family's fault for you know not exposing me to the world. I was in me, I was in my heart. And so I knew that I knew that God, I knew that I had to find my own relationship with the Lord. I had to choose Him and open up my own heart to Him as I got older, as I became my own person, became an adult woman, somebody who had the mind to make that choice. So an important part of my testimony and how the Lord has worked in my life, I want to compare with what I do today for work. I'm a nurse in the ER and so I see a lot of patients come in of all many various issues and needs and sicknesses and problems that come upon them without announcement. And the three things that I've seen is that patients come in in a very vulnerable state in a very large time of need. They come just as they are. They don't plan it. They don't prepare. They don't get all looking good for it to come in. They just come because they have to come then and they trust. So they're vulnerable. They come as they are. They have a need and they trust that we're gonna do what it takes to take care of them. What we're gonna meet their needs and they 100% have to put their trust in us. So in my own life, I've seen this take place as I was growing up and in my high school years, I grew up pretty much a big tomboy. I had three brothers, an older brother who I very much admired and wanted to be twins with and cut my hair like him and wore his clothes and you know, everyone asked if I was a boy and my mom tried to put pink boots on me and dresses with apples and all this weird stuff. But I didn't appreciate that. But you know, now I dress a little more girly but at the time, you know, I was I just identified more with that and I was really into sports. I ended up having a very successful basketball career, played all through high school and college, played professionally over in Europe for a year and had a tryout with the WNBA after college. That was a huge passion and it was a huge piece of my life just because it opened up opportunity to get school paid for. I loved it. I had a passion for it and I was good at it. And in that time, I found myself in relationships where I became confused about and just trying to search out my sexuality. So I in high school was the first time that I fell into a homosexual relationship with another teammate that I had, somebody who wasn't a Christian. You know, I just found myself real connected to people that weren't necessarily in my Christian circle. And again, that's just like I love being friends with all kinds of people and I think we all should. I don't think we should all be stuck in kind of our our own Christian community, although that is what God uses to strengthen us and be there for each other. But I sense that I, you know, how to I want to I want to be in different types of circles. So I found myself in this relationship and and then from there, you know, that kind of began my struggle in the homosexual lifestyle. So through high school and college and at one point in college was in a relationship with a gal for over a year and really loved her and was very much like wondering if this was who I was. If I was gay, if God, you know, made me this way and just struggling with those questions that I think people just face because you think that this this feels right to me, I feel happy. But at the same time, I felt I felt that unrest in my heart and that disturbance of my peace. And also in my relationship with the Lord, I felt not that he didn't love me. I knew that he loved me. He kept me. He kept a tender kind of my heart tender towards him. I never hardened it in the way where I walked away from my faith and I'm so so grateful for that. And that's only by his grace. But you know, I knew he loved me, but I knew that he wanted me to walk away at some point. So I had to be vulnerable before God. And at the time when I was first struggling, it was really, really hard. And I was dishonest a lot about it. I tried to, I wasn't totally honest with my friends with myself. Really, you know, lied a lot about it and then came to a place where God really broke me down and really had, I had to be honest with myself. I had to be vulnerable before God and know that he knew me well enough to know that I was going to go through this, but also know that I had the strength through him to walk away if he was give, if he was putting that tug on my heart and he was. And I think that God does that through, through his Holy Spirit, through, through that conviction. So I was vulnerable before him. I had to see my need just like somebody when they come in to see us in the hospital, they have to choose to see it. If they deny it, you know, they won't come in to get help. And I had to see that for myself. Just like I was saying, growing up, we all have to choose the Lord at some point for ourself. It's nobody can choose it for us. People can obviously be a huge influence in our life. And that's how, you know, we all have a story of how somebody has shared the Lord with us. But I had to see that need within myself. And I think that specific issue today and issues of sexuality in general and just identity and who I am and who I was born as and who I was created to be, you know, people think that, oh, just do what makes you happy or do what those desires that you have, don't suppress them. You know, and I think to a certain extent, like, there is some truth, but God created us and he made us his masterpiece, you know. And if we want to follow him, we have to trust that our identity is in him and not in something even like that. Even in your sexuality, which is extremely important, it's a piece of you, but it's not all of you. That's not all of who I am. Just like when somebody comes in with the need, that's not the only thing that is about them, you know, and God knows that God knows how to meet those needs in his best way, which is why he did create marriage and he did create a way for those needs to be met for us, for us to have abundant life in him. And then the trust factor, I had to really, so once I made the choice, I knew I had to walk away. I still struggled, you know, at times and I still fell fell back into a relationship and even to the point where I was like, what? Like, I was, I don't know. I, for me, it was just like, it's not like it was a temptation everywhere, but in certain situations, I was just like, it would kind of catch me off guard and that's how sin is. You know, we can't just think, oh, we're above it and oh, God just, you know, all of a sudden you're healed from this thing. I mean, that's not necessarily true. It requires dependence and faith in him. And even if you struggle with something that you think like, oh, this is me, you have to choose to say, Lord, but you said that this separates me from you. You said this is, this takes, this strains our relationship. And I've seen that a lot with people that I know, you know, that God slowly but surely becomes more distant in their life to a point where he doesn't factor in anymore. And I think Satan uses that with certain sins and lifestyles and different things just to pull people away because it just happens over time. You just can't deny it, you know, so you have to keep that conviction from the Holy Spirit and make that choice. And you have to trust that God will meet your needs in those ways. You have to be patient and trust. It's not just this some immediate, you're healed from this thing. You know, God is constantly restoring us and our broken identities and, and, you know, what we want to do in our flesh to make us more dependent and have more faith in him. You know, and so over time, over, over some years and stuff through, you know, just giving this to the Lord and stuff, you know, he brought a man into my life. And it's not even totally about that. People are like, Oh, you know, how can Amy be straight now? She, she was gay. She's always going to be gay. And it's like, well, you don't know what God's about. It's not even about that to me. Yeah, those are, those are innate desires. And I need to constantly be on guard and have good boundaries in my life and, you know, continue to surrender things that could be stumbling me. But it's about God providing and his provision and faithfulness in my life to where he did meet that need through one, one special person that he knew would be a perfect fit for me in that way. He knew I had a desire to be intimate with someone and have a, a partnership and, and a marriage and to have a family and all that stuff. He knew that. And also, all I had to do was stay vulnerable, come as I was and trust him. I don't, you know, people can be struggling where they're at and, and they can still surrender it to the Lord. They might not be like totally over, you know, walk away from it at that point. And that's where we come in as the church, you know, to love people and to walk alongside them in issues such as that, you know, you can't just say, come on, turn from it. It's wrong. It's, it's bowed out every verse. Although those truthful verses in God's word are so great and it's so important. I would never try to downsize the importance and impact of God's word, but also that's where love comes in. He says, without love, anything that we do is nothing. It's worthless. And that's where we have to walk alongside each other when people are navigating through these kind of issues and be sensitive and gracious and also pray for the spirit to do that work in their heart and, you know, you can't force it. That's somebody's personal choice that they have to make. And I just believe that God wants to restore in those communities and sexual identity and, in other types of real deep inner issues that people are going through and hopefully bring people to an understanding that our identity, when they choose to follow the Lord, that our identity is in him and it's not in anything else. Everything else falls into place as we seek with our lives to serve him, to put him as the king in our life where he needs to be. And then every other desire and part of who we are, emotional, physical, spiritual, mental falls into place with him because he's faithful to us and he loves us so much. So I know that he's done that in my life. I've seen how he loves to do his greatest work in the times of people's greatest difficulty, whatever it might be, something that's happened to you or something that you've chosen. It doesn't even matter. He does his greatest work when we just surrender that to him, are vulnerable, come as we are, see our need for him and just trust and wait on him to do that in our life. So that's a little bit of my story. I appreciate you guys listening. We're going to spend a few minutes here in closing to look into God's Word. Turn to Luke chapter two. What we're talking about today is that God is faithful and we're talking about how he redeems things and he redeems people. He especially loves to rescue people out of their bondage and their darkness and brokenness and messed up lives. That was us. That may be you still. Jesus wants to take Humpty Dumpty, put him back together, but make him brand new. He wants to heal our lives and change our lives. Even music, he can redeem. He did it throughout the Jesus movement. It's interesting, back in the 1600s, you know there's always been winter solstice type celebrations. There's always been that. Dating back thousands of years. We don't even really know when Jesus Christ was born. Doubtful that he was born on December 25th. That's a day we choose to acknowledge the incarnation of God. Think of that. That's worth celebrating. That's amazing. But people used to celebrate Saturnalia. And they've been having these winter celebrations, including Christmas for a long time. In the 1600s in England, the winter celebrations became so riotous and so raucous. There was so much drunkenness and violence that the Parliament of England actually closed down winter celebrations. They enacted laws saying you can't do it because it got so dark and so bad. But then God was working. God was working among real Christians who loved the Lord and Christmas carols began to be written. And these songs started coming to light and they started praising God for Emmanuel, for the coming of Christ. And these Christmas carols became a part of praising God for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, the Savior of the world. And it became this thing that changed people's winter celebrations. And the Parliament just realized, you know, people are having these celebrations and they're so full of peace and joy and they decided you can do it again. Why? Because Christ changed it. Christ changed it. That's why we should keep Christ in Christmas. What do you think? Now, Luke chapter two, Luke two one, Luke's version of the birth of Christ. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered for the census to be taxed. This census first took place while Corinius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth into 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 wife who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. Heavenly Father, you invite your Holy Spirit to speak to us in these last minutes of this service using your word, God, right where people are at, touch their hearts, speak to them, open them, each of us even more to what you have for our lives. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So Jesus' birth took place when Rome's greatest emperor was in power, Caesar Augustus. His original name was Caius Octavius. He was Julius Caesar's favorite nephew. He was a very, very powerful emperor. It is said that he changed the city of Rome from a city of stone to a city of marble. And so people were impressed by this man as such a powerful being. They said he should be called Augustus, which means reverence or of the gods. And so here the ruler of the Roman Empire, who's sort of viewed as a god, was in power when the true God was born as a man in a little village hundreds and hundreds of miles away. Of course the Jews were so opposed to the Roman oppression and to go from your present town to the city of your heritage to be registered for taxes. Oh, I mean they hated the Roman taxes, kind of like we may feel about the IRS. But you know God even uses oppressive obnoxious things to work on behalf of his people. In fact he causes all things to work for good to those who love him and are the called according to his purpose. And God's purpose was that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, will be born in a little town of Bethlehem because seven years, seven hundred years earlier Micah the prophet had said, but as for you, Bethlehem, afraid of too little to even be numbered among the clans of Israel, from you one will go forth to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth were from long ago, even from the days of eternity. And he will be the one who will shepherd Israel. That was God's plan, but they lived in Nazareth, but God took an emperor who is a mere pawn in his hand. Presidents are pawns in the hand of God as far as his ultimate plan. They're not the ones that can change our lives. They can't save our lives. They're not our protectors and our providers. God is. Amen. Yes, and we have a calling to love and serve him, let him care for us and us do his bidding and bring out his message. When he looks down on this earth, he's looking at the church, his bride, his people. You know the guy that was really the one who was really running the show was that little baby in the womb of that woman riding on the donkey 80 miles over mountainous territory to get to Bethlehem and she was, you know, ready to give birth when she got to Bethlehem because that's God's timing. It was his plan. It's surprising she didn't give birth on the way down with the bumpy ride that they were on. Kind of like Amy jumping around like, you know, hey, that's my grandson. Watch out, you know. Really? But it is inspiring to see a pregnant woman jumping around, isn't it? She's fairly athletic. Okay, but listen, people, sometimes obnoxious things are going on around us. Things that are oppressive, things that what's going on. Lord, we don't understand it, but you know what? This we know, he loves me and he has a good plan for my life. The plans he has for me are not for harm and evil, but he said to Israel, put there for good and to give you a future and a hope. And the same is true for us who believe in Jesus. Amen. So we can trust him and see what he will do because he is faithful. He needed to get that family down to the city called the house of bread because the bread of life was about to come out of the oven. Amen. And we all needed to partake. That's the bottom line. Speaking of food, he was taken and placed in a manger when he was born. That's nothing but a big food bowl for animals. When you go to Israel, like David has gone many times, I've gone many times. The manger is like a stone that's been carved out. It's a big stone thing. It's not those little wooden things, but it's a big stone thing. They took him and they put him there where the animals would eat. You'd think, wow, why a stable? Why not the room at the end? And then it says they put him in the manger wrapped in swaddling clothes. Now most of you gals, after you give birth, they'll take the child, eventually you take the child and you swaddle them. You wrap them tight because they need that sense of security and comfort. They've been in a tight place and they come out and here's the great big world. Ah, you know, I mean it is a little freaky out here. Come on. And so they're swaddled and they feel, make them feel comfortable and good. But you know, it's interesting the swaddling cloths it says. That word is used by Dr. Luke and it's the same word. It's actually a medical word that also means bandages, bandages. And it was also the word that was used for wrapping the dead when someone died. It's kind of a hint of why Jesus came. Because he came to a hurting world. He came to a world filled with spiritual death. And he was wrapped but he came to bring not a bandage but the cure. The cure for our illness. To the illness of sin which was breaking and destroying our life and had brought death and he came to die. Amen? That's why he came. He was the only person ever born for the purpose mainly of dying. Because he came to pay the price. The wages of sin is death. Every one of us will either die eternally without God or we'll put our faith in the one who died for us. And we'll be given the gift of eternal life by him. That's our choice and he wants you to receive that. That wonderful gift. He wants to make you whole. The great physician like Amy said so well. Coming in just as you are. Vulnerable in need trusting that the great physician is the only one who can heal you. Doctors can't heal every aspect of your life. Thank God for their talents but the great physician, he's the great healer. Now one last thing and to me this is the most interesting part of this message and maybe you haven't heard this. It could be a new concept but it talks about the inn. We all know about that. It says that he was laid in a manger verse seven because there was no room for them in the inn. So they came, they asked for a room and they didn't get it. Now this room that they were seeking may have been a place with the long Bible history of hospitality because a thousand years before Christ when King David was king of Israel, remember his son Absalom conspired against him and stole his throne and so David fled from Jerusalem and he went across the Jordan River and he hid in the land of Gilead east of the Jordan 60 miles away. Now while David was there he made a close friend with a guy named Barzali. And Barzali was this tremendous wealthy old landowner, a Gileadite and he took David in. He befriended him. He said, I'll take care of you. I'll supply your needs and the needs of your men and your cabinet. David was so appreciative of being taken in. Well when David was re-enthroned as king of Israel he asked Barzali, okay I'm going back to Jerusalem and re-establishing my throne and the cabinet. I want you to come with me. I want you to be a vital part of my inner circle but Barzali is 80 years old. He likes his home in Gilead. He doesn't want to travel you know to some place and and you know he's 80. When you're 80 you kind of want to be comfortable. And and he's like no I don't want to go but here's an idea. My son, Chimham, he needs a good job and I'd like you to consider him. Would you take him in my place and he can be part of your cabinet and he'll be a loyal devoted person. He's got a lot of talents. He just needs an opportunity. Will you take him in? And according to 2 Samuel 19 this whole story, read that. David said okay I'll take your son Chimham and Chimham from then on became part of David's inner circle. Now sometime later we know that Chimham built a lodge or an inn. He built like a hotel near Bethlehem and he called it Gareth Chimham which basically means Chimham's inn. Evidently that same spirit of welcoming, of hospitality, of caring for the needy, he established it as a lodge for traveling people that maybe we're going through you know difficult travels and different things and they could stay there and they could be refreshed and relieved. It's interesting because if we fast forward then 400 years in Jeremiah's time. Jeremiah during the time when there was such turmoil and captivity from the Babylonians, he was taken to Egypt and they stopped at this place. Chimham's inn and he we know was the weeping prophet. He didn't have much relief in his life. I mean he started with the church of thousands and the more he preached the less people there were. He got it down to zero. Now that hasn't happened to David so we really praise God for that. It hasn't happened to me but he had this difficult calling because they were called to be exiled. To be taken away because they were so rebellious. But he stopped at that inn and it says that he received refreshment and blessing in Jeremiah 417. Now it's interesting that the name Chimham means pine and it's kind of just interesting in passing. Not pine in the sense of a tree but pine in the sense of sadness, pining. Now you pine for someone, you miss them. Maybe they've left, they're gone, whatever you're pining away. That's what it meant and while Jeremiah was pining and sad, he received comfort and refreshment. It's very possible that 600 years later that same inn may have been the one that Joseph and Mary came to looking for a good reception. It had that reputation for hospitality, for a welcome. She needed that. She was nine months pregnant. Joseph I'm sure pleaded with the innkeeper. Please don't you understand? Look at her she's pregnant. I mean we she's about she's in labor man. He'd help. Oh sorry. Don't have any room but there's a place for animals out there. There's the stable. Try that. You know the innkeeper it's possible because this happens in that part of the world where descendants take the occupation of the one before them. It could have been a descendant even of Chimham and Barzillai who said no we don't have any room. Unfortunately he didn't really show the same heart that his forefathers had shown and that's not uncommon. Just because someone's a believer and loves the Lord doesn't mean their descendants or their family is going to have that same attitude. Now a person might say well how could he give them a room there was none available. Don't you understand Wayne? All the rooms were taken. Wait a second. Wait one minute. There was one room and that was the innkeeper's own room. He could have given them his room. Barzillai would have given his room to David and he did. Chimham would have done it and think if this innkeeper would have done that and in his own room his own part of the hotel his little what do you call it you know apartment would have been the birth of the king of all kings and the savior of the world. Think of that. Think if if he would have opened his door and said okay yeah you can have ours I'm getting plenty of money because of all these other people I'll find another place and you know but you can have ours it would have been his house where the angels would have come and and said behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy for unto you this day is born in the city of David a savior who is Christ the Lord glory to God in the highest end on earth peace and good will to he would have done it right there in his house in his room in that place the glory of the Lord would have filled that place and shown all around about his family and he would have been the first witness of the Christ child but instead he says oh yeah no sorry I you know we we're all filled but there's a stable for you no wonder the first witnesses were shepherds all of it happened in the middle of the night he needed comfort he had his warm bed but the greatest event in history was happening without him even knowing it not far from his doors he didn't have any room for the Lord of glory but what wonders he missed out on when they had been directed right to him right to his doorway I think it's something challenging to think about you know because God brings opportunities our way every day in fact the Bible says you know if you take in the hungry if you take in thirsty people if you share a cup of cold water or you know a meal or something but someone in need if you if someone's in prison they're in bondage to something and you say here's how you can be free and Jesus uses you to help free the captives you've done it to me he said you've done it to me he didn't want to be bothered but he missed out I don't want to be cheated out of the wonders God wants to do in and through my life these are opportune times we're in you see the room that Jesus wants today it's not just any old room he wants your room he wants your heart number one and he wants yes your house he wants your life your family he wants your space to show his glory this is the exciting life this is the joyous life I don't care how old you are I'm 65 and I believe God still has great things for you amazing I don't care how young you are God is doing stuff and he'll do it in and through you now you may not know him yet you may not know this God of wonders you know whoever the innkeeper was he thought no I don't I can't this is bad timing it's not convenient you're going to alter the whole thing here yeah your life is going to become an altar buddy that's how it is when you have Jesus he does alter your life but it's for good it's for joy man he had listen to this by grace are you saved through faith God's grace his love not of yourselves it's the gift of God not of worksless anyone should both for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepares beforehand for you to walk in that's the exciting life you open your heart by grace you receive salvation as a total free gift and then he has a life that blows your mind a life of opportunity of blessing of joy because you're making room for him and he is there to do amazing things now not every day's a thrill a lot of times it's just steady walking with it but you never know and I would say every day he's prepared opportunities for you to walk in to share but you have to keep alert this guy was blinded to what was happening he missed it I don't want to miss that I don't want my life to be wasted I don't want the biggest and best opportunities that might come along for me to say no you know here let the sheep have that no wonder those cattle were lowing so hard you know the sheep buying and everyone praising out in the stable what an amazing time this guy I think he's an example to us God has things for us let's open our hearts open our houses open our lives fully my family by God's grace and God's grace alone every single one of them loves Jesus is following the Lord and serving him they had their days of wild oaths God brought him back in the fold and they he will for you have faith trust him pray for them kids they're gonna come back but show them by your life that it's worth it your life is still 100 for him don't tell him how great the Lord is when you're 20 for Jesus they don't see it so the Lord is calling us to open up and give ourselves fully