Worry and Worship: Ten Characteristics of God

Well, Merry Christmas Summit family. For those of you that are still in the gift-giving shopping phase of Christmas, I want to pass along to you, quite frankly, probably the best gift-giving advice I have ever received. And it's just simply to remember that a gift is one of the best ways you can tell somebody and show them how much you love them.

Because it's like this tangible thing that they can look at and you can say, this is how many dollars I love you worth. All right. So from Michael Scott to me to you.

Okay. Well, last weekend, Pastor JD kind of kicked off our Christmas season by dropping us in Luke chapter two this morning. We're actually going to go back one chapter to Luke chapter one. So if you have your Bible, go ahead and pull that out, turn it on, whatever you got to do. We're going to be in Luke chapter one. And we are actually going to read a part of the Christmas story that I imagine most of us have skipped right over. See, most of us know about the angel coming to Mary and how he prophesied that she was going to be pregnant. Jump straight to the birth of baby Jesus in the manger. And anyone that's ever been pregnant knows that it just ain't how it happens.

Amen. There's this whole nine months in between that anybody can testify that knows there's a whole lot that happens in there. And maybe this is just how my mind reads the Bible. When I read the Bible, I just I've got some strange questions.

I've got questions like Mary, you're pregnant with, you know, the savior of the universe. So did Mary have like morning sickness? Did she get cramps? Could she not find like a comfortable position to sleep in? Was Joseph up getting her water like every 20 seconds?

Because the last one just ain't cold enough or it's too cold or whatever. None of this has ever happened in my life, by the way. So I'll just digress before I get myself into trouble. Okay.

But anyways, I want to drop us right here in the middle of Luke chapter one and show you something incredible about Mary right here in between the prophecy and her pregnancy. As a worrier, as a worrier, you're somebody that's prone to worry. Okay. Some of you didn't even hear me ask the question because since the second service started, there's something you have been worrying about.

All right. Others of you, you're like, well, no, I'm not. I'm not a worrier.

At least I don't think I am. And now you're worried about whether you're a worrier and all you're doing is just proving my point right now. For some of you, your middle name is worry. If you were not worrying, you would not know what to do with yourself.

Okay. We worry about all sorts of things. We worry about our health right now. We worry about our jobs. We worry about our relationships. We worry about our kids. We worried about our finances.

The list goes on and on and on. Right this very moment, we said the word Christmas a bunch. And now you have been reminded of somebody you have forgotten to get a gift for. And so now you are worried about what you're going to get that person. Well, listen, if there were ever someone in the history of mankind who had caused to worry, it was Mary, mother of Jesus. And so there's a few things I think we know about her. But I just want to remind you just to get to know her a little bit and some of the reasons she has to worry. First, she is pregnant with the savior of the universe.

Again, we know this part. The angel comes along. He's like, hey, Mary, you're going to be pregnant.

It's going to be God. And she's like, hey, I know you're an angel and that sounds fantastic. I would love being pregnant one day. I love kids.

However, again, you're an angel. You might not understand this, but I'm a virgin and there's kind of this thing. And she's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like Holy Spirit's going to come upon you, yada, yada, yada. You're going to be pregnant.

She's like, OK, I guess that makes sense. And then he's like in minor detail, real small detail, maybe important for you to know Mary as a teenager. But you're you're going to be pregnant with God. So don't mess it up, Mary. So she's got this to be worried about. She's pregnant with the savior of the world. Number two, with this pregnancy is probably coming a bad reputation because she's not just pregnant, but she is pregnant out of wedlock. And so everybody's like, I mean, sure, she's engaged to that guy. She's betrothed to Joseph, but they don't live together, which means if she's pregnant, it probably wasn't with him, which means she's probably been running around on him. So she has her reputation to be worried about.

Last week, Pastor J.D. showed us that she was poor. So one more thing to worry about her finances. She didn't even have enough enough money to offer the lamb that the sacrifice offered.

So she offered two turtle doves. So she has finances to be worried about. And then last but not least, her marriage is up in the air. I mean, they got married real young back then. So so Mary's probably 14, 15, 16 years old when she gets engaged.

And then what happens to a woman when she gets engaged? She hops on Pinterest. She's dreaming up this amazing wedding.

She's scrapbooking. She's naming their future kids names. She's doing nice things like, nope, not Mary. Mary's busy trying to convince her fiance that she has not been running around on him. Just to get him to come back so that she wouldn't have to live forever lonely in a time where a woman would have been seen as damaged goods and she would have had very little way of providing for herself. So Mary has her marriage and her future to be worried about.

So here in Luke Chapter one, we are introduced to a poor, pregnant, teenage virgin with a bad reputation and a marriage that's up in the air who has been entrusted with the savior of the universe. You understand in Mary's situation here? If anyone in the history of ever has just caused to worry, it is Mary.

She wins the prize. So again, most of you know that an angel appeared to Mary, but right after the angel appears to her, what happens is she runs down to her cousin Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth is pregnant with this guy that we come to know as John the Baptist. So John the Baptist is in Elizabeth's tummy. And the second Elizabeth sees Mary walk in, John, knowing who she is, actually jumps in Elizabeth's tummy. So John's like Old Testament OG hype man. All right, this is who John is. And then Mary, what happens next is so crazy because Mary just bursts into a song.

Now you think in her situation that Mary would break down sobbing because of her situation, but instead she breaks out singing about her savior. And so we're going to pick up in Luke chapter one beginning in verse forty six. And why don't we do this? Why don't we at all of our locations, why don't we stand in honor of the reading of the word of God?

Let's stand. You may have already read it at your campus, but you can never get too much Bible. Amen.

If I stick to that, I can't go wrong. Luke chapter one, beginning in verse forty six. This is Mary's song. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, my savior. For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he is mighty. He who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

He's shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He's brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

He's filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever. God, I pray this morning that the words of my mouth and meditations of my heart would be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, my God, my rock and my redeemer and all God's people said, Amen and Amen. Before I came up here this morning, I asked my two year old, I told her, I said, Hey, Daddy's going to preach the Bible this morning. And she said, Why? I'm like, OK, I don't have time to explain that to you, but I said, Will you pray for Daddy? And she said, OK. And she said, Dear God, thank you for today. Thank you for the beef last night. We had steak last night. She said, and help Daddy preach.

Amen. And then she said, OK, Dad, you're good. So I've been anointed by my two year old, the prayers.

So out of the mouth of babes, it's going to be a great sermon. OK, I want to know, Mary sings. What was it that caused Mary and can help us to worship instead of worry?

What caused Mary to sing in the midst of her situation? Well, I think it would help if I frame this whole thing with kind of two ideas, I believe I know this is oversimplified, but I think there are two fundamental approaches that we can take to life. One, we're going to call it a bottom up approach. Bottom up, not bottoms up approach.

That's a whole different lifestyle, a whole different sermon. But a bottom up approach. The bottom up approach starts with you. It starts with your feelings and your emotions and your experiences and your circumstances, and then you project those onto God. So when things are really good in your life, you believe that God is really good. When things are not going so good in your life, you believe that that's a reflection of God and therefore God doesn't seem so good anymore. And the problem with this approach is that it just keeps you on this constant emotional and spiritual roller coaster. Like whatever you're feeling that day, again, is the emotion that you project onto God. So it makes God feel like he's kind of wishy washy, like he's changing every day.

You don't really know what to expect from him. The other approach and the approach that I hope we can leave here with today is what we'll call a top down approach. A top down approach. Top down approach starts with God. This approach assumes that God is who he says he is, according to the Bible. The Bible, which reveals God's character, his nature and his attributes. And the Bible tells us, dating all the way back to Genesis one, that God is good, that God is always altogether good, that he made everything good, that the plan that he is working out and has been working out since eternity passed and will continue to work out until the day he comes back is good. This approach believes that God does not change, that God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. And so what I believe is that Mary lived with a top down approach, that even though she is probably illiterate due to her life circumstances, most likely what has happened is she's been going to the synagogue and heard the scriptures taught and she has taken those scriptures. She has committed them to mind and to heart, and now she's going to live her life top down. So regardless of her circumstance, she says, Who is God?

What does the Bible have to say about him? What does it have to say about his plan and his purposes in my life? And she says, Now I'm going to choose to live in light of that. So I've said this before here, but I believe that the single most effective means of bolstering our confidence in God and his character is by spending time in the word, because to some degree, you can only trust God in so much as you know him and how much you know him is directly tied to how well you know his word. In the Old Testament, the prophet Jeremiah would say like this, he'd say, This I call to mind, and therefore I have hope.

I have hope because I have things I can call to mind. So Mary focuses on what she knows to be true about God, and because of that, she could not help but bust out and sing. And as Ella Fitzgerald, the first lady of song, reminded us, she said, The only thing better than singing is more singing. And so in Mary's song, I believe she identifies at least 10 characteristics of God that should bolster our faith in God and lead us to deeper worship of God. And we're going to hit these very quickly. I mean, we could do entire sermon series on every single one of these.

We're going to go just rapid fire. But what I hope you experience today, like Mary, is that as theology, the study of God becomes biography personal, as the study of God becomes personal, that it culminates in doxology as praise to God, as theology becomes biography, that it would culminate in doxology. All right. So the first characteristic of God to help us worse worship instead of worry is that God is Lord. God is Lord. We're just going verse by verse here. This is basic Bible study principles. OK, God is Lord. Verse 46. And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord.

Now, kids, where are my kids at? OK, what God being Lord means is that he's in charge. God is the boss.

So Mary looks at her life and her future and her reputation and her family and her potential marriage and says, you know what? God is Lord. He's in charge.

And I trust him. So I'm going to live top down and worship him instead of worry. Again, I've said this before, but what makes this so hard is that God's purposes do not always come wrapped in our preferences. Y'all ever notice how God doesn't seem to to check your calendar before making executive decisions about your life? It's because he's Lord.

He doesn't he doesn't have to. But when I can rest in the fact that he is Lord and remember that he is good. Then I can have peace because I'm reminded that everything that God does is good, that his plans are good, that his purposes for me are good. I'm reminded that God is good all the time and all the time. God is good.

That's right. So God says, Mary, I know you are planning a wedding. I know that's what you thought your plans were, but I'm busy planning to send the savior of the world to change the world. And so I just want to encourage you today, wherever you are, that whatever happens, I just don't want you to let your plans and your preferences make you miss God's purpose in your life, because I actually believe that today God wants to change some of your plans for the better. And so that can be cause for worry for some of you control freaks, because that means you don't know what's going to happen. You don't know what the plan is going to be. It doesn't make sense to you.

You would do things differently. Well, that can be cause for worship. Because God is Lord and he's in charge and he's good and he loves me and great is his faithfulness to me. And so I'm going to live in light of that and I will praise him for it and I will sing to him for it. Number one, God is Lord. Number two, God is savior. God is savior.

Verse forty seven. Mary says, And my spirit rejoices in God, my savior. Now, this one's really interesting because throughout history, there's been a whole lot of controversy around Mary and whether she was actually like this perfect and sinless human being.

Perhaps some of you grew up in in denominations like that. On the contrary, though, Mary not only recognizes her need for a savior, but that very characteristic of God is one of the characteristics that lead her to worship. Because, you see, just like you and me, Mary is a sinner in need of a savior. Again, kids, a savior is just a rescuer. A savior is a deliverer. A savior is a hero that when there's a problem, the hero, the savior comes along and rescues you from that plight. And in the Bible, God is the hero. God is the deliverer.

He's the rescuer. He has rescued us by sending himself as the savior of the world in the form of his son, Mary's son. And this son of Mary's was going to be born without sin, yet would end up dying for Mary's sin, but would then rise for her salvation. And so Mary starts her song top down by singing God is my Lord and my savior. She doesn't start bottom up with all her complaints toward God saying, God, God, you know what's going on? I mean, the dress isn't going to fit and Joseph is kind of freaking out. My parents are trying to figure out how they're going to explain this to my grandmama. And when I go to the synagogue by myself with a baby, it's not going to look so good. By the way, I'm like in junior high.

This seems like a bit much for me at this time in my life. And so what are you doing? No, she starts with who God is. She says he's the Lord. He's good. He knows best. He's my savior. He will get me through.

She sings to him. Number three, God is personal. God is personal. In verses 48 and 49, she says, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me bless for he who is mighty has done great things for me.

Now, this one, in all honesty, might be my favorite. And it's certainly one of the things that separates Christianity from other religions. It's the fact that our God church is personal. That means he pays attention to you. He knows you. He knows everything about you. He knows the good and the bad.

He knows the pretty and the ugly. He knows every thought you have ever had. He knows everything you have ever done. He also knows everything that's ever been done to you.

And still knowing all that, he still loves you. It's one of the reasons Mary sings so magnificently. Because the God of the universe knew who she was. God knew her.

Her. A poor, unimportant, peasant woman from Nazareth. But God chose her. He handpicked her to be the mother of Jesus. And in that, I think that Mary experienced what every human being wants to experience.

A sense of her dignity. See, God is personal and respectful, and he gives dignity to whom dignity has been taken from them. To the point that he adopts and calls you his son or his daughter. This is what our God does, church. This is what our God does, high schooler. If you have had dignity taken away from you, know that the God of the Bible is personal. And he sent Jesus for you in order to give you dignity back. So if you've been humiliated, or cheated on, or your parents have said horrible things to you, or maybe your father just completely left you and walked out on you, or you've been lied to or betrayed, or people have said devastating or denigrating or demoralizing things.

Maybe you've been beaten or molested or abused. Whatever it is, if you have had dignity taken away from you, God sees you, God knows you, he notices you, and in Christ, he chose you because he loves you. And if you believe that about him, you're going to have a different kind of peace. You're going to sleep differently.

You're going to sing differently. Number four, God is holy. Verse 49, Mary says, And holy is his name. Now, holy, holiness just means wholeness.

We're going to keep putting the hay on the very bottom where all the kids can get to it, OK? Holiness just means wholeness, perfection. God is lacking nothing.

He's perfect in every single way. And see, one of the problems of living in this world is that we actually get used to sin and brokenness. We get used to hatred and racism and immorality and idolatry and lies and deceit and drunkenness. But God being holy is never going to get used to those things. In a way that only John Piper can in trying to describe God's holiness, he says God is incomparable.

There's nothing like him, nobody like him. His holiness is his utterly unique divine essence. His holiness determines all that he is and does, and it is determined by nobody else.

His holiness is what he is as God, which no one else is or ever will be. And so we can try to call it majesty or his divinity or his greatness. But in the end, Piper says, our language simply runs out because in the word holy, we have sailed to the world's end of reverence and wonder and awe. And there may yet be more to know of God, but what that will be will be beyond words. And so we're just left singing with the words we do have to him.

Mary worships God because he is in a class all by himself, for he is holy. Number five, God is merciful. Verse 50, and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. At its most basic form, mercy is not getting what we deserve. You see, God withholds from us justice that we deserve as sinners and replaces it with grace, getting something we don't deserve.

That is mercy. Kids, again, this just means that God is the best at forgiving. God's the best at forgiving, that we keep messing up. We keep disobeying. We deserve to be punished.

We deserve a time out. However you want to say it yet, God just keeps on forgiving. You see, because he's holy, he had to do something about our sin because he's merciful. He wanted to do something about our sin. But then our next one, because he's powerful, he was actually able to do something about our sin. Number six, God is powerful. Look at verse 51. God has shown strength with his arm.

He scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the mighty from their thrones. So yes, God is merciful, but he is also mighty. He's sovereign, but he's also strong.

He's personal, but he is also powerful. Again, I think some of the best theology comes from our kids' songs, which says, my God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing that my God can't do. So Mary looks at God and sees this loving, merciful, powerful father for whom nothing is impossible. And see, when your God is all powerful, then there's no problem in your life that can be all consuming because now you have faith in the all-powerful one who has strength and lordship and power over that potentially all-consuming situation. He's so big, he's so strong, he's so mighty, there's nothing he can't do. Verse 51 says that his strong arm is reaching down into history and grabbing people and saving them and defending them and protecting them and securing them and embracing them and cherishing them. Because God is powerful, Mary knows that there is a God who is above her, who has actually gone before her, who now lives within her, who is always for her, so she bursts into worship instead of worry.

Because he's holy, yes, he had to do something about our sin, but because he's merciful, he wanted to, but it's because he's powerful that he's able to. Number seven, God is generous. God is generous. Verse 52, he's brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.

53, he has filled the hungry with good things. Now one of the things, if we took a step back for a second, one of the things that's actually terrifying about this passage is that this passage represents people who feel so rich and so full and so satisfied with the things of this world that they no longer are seeking after the Lord anymore. Verses 51 and 52 called them the proud and the mighty, the one that God brings down. And I don't know about you, but I can't help but think of Jesus' words later in Luke and then over in Matthew where he says, Jesus says, woe to any of you who think you have it all in this life. Woe to the rich, because if you think you have it all, well, it's all you're ever gonna have. But blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

See, Mary is certainly one who is of humble estate, certainly one who is hungry, but because God is generous, she can rejoice in her humility and her hunger and say, God, I know that you exalt those of humble estate and you fill the hungry with good things. Y'all, in a world, in this country where we just want things to happen so quickly, so fast. Some of you at the beginning of my sermon, you ordered something on Amazon and you're frustrated.

It ain't arrived at your front door yet. We want things to happen like this. But there's just something about hungering and thirsting and waiting that is actually glorifying and sanctifying because it forces you to rely on God.

And we can experience this actually in a good way, too. Some of you this morning are experiencing this hunger in a spiritual way. You're truly genuinely seeking after the Lord. You're doing the church thing.

You're reading your Bible. You're praying fervently, but it just doesn't seem like much is happening or changing in your life. It just doesn't seem like you're getting through to God. You're not getting his attention.

He's not doing anything about your situation. Listen, God is generous, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled. So if that's you, I don't want you to let the desire to be further along rob you from your joy of knowing that Jesus is with you today. I want you to remember who God is. I want you to remember that he's generous and that you will be filled. Number eight, God is just. God is just. Verse 54 says he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.

Now, God being just, shout out to Advent blocks, just means that he will come to make the wrong things right and make the dark things light. It means that in God's kingdom, the hungry will be fed. The poor will be housed. The needy will be cared for. The marginalized will be protected.

And here's how I know that. Just anecdotally, here's how I know how God cares about these things. It's the fact that God is about to change the course of human history. We're on the precipice of the most important three decades Jesus being born in the history of mankind.

All the promises, all the prophecies, the rescue mission is about to begin. And where do we find God on the eve of this happening? Here in Luke one, where do we find God?

We find him occupying himself. With two obscure, humble women whom the world would not have given a second glance to. Elizabeth and Mary.

Elizabeth is old and barren. Mary is a poor, young virgin. And this is where God is. Yet even in Mary's situation, Mary need not worry for she knows that God is just. That God is the champion of the poor and the oppressed and the despised. That he's a personal and generous God. The God who is the lover of the lowly. The God who cares for the helpless, the humble and the hungry. Mary knows God is just, so she believes that regardless of her search situation, that he is going to come to make the wrong things right and make the dark things light.

Number nine, going to land this plane here. God is faithful. God is faithful. Verse 54 says he has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers. It's referencing the Old Testament to Abraham and to his offspring forever. Again, Mary could have gone with her emotions. She could have gone, you know, bottom up. She could have said, God, what are you doing with my life?

What in the world is happening? But instead, Mary celebrates the God who has remembered her and the God who is faithful to his covenant. Because the promises that have been made to Adam and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, Jacob are now here in the fullness of time, as scripture tells us. See, all of us place our faith in something. So I want you to see God is faithful, but all of us place our faith in something, even worry to a certain degree. Worry is just another version of faith because worry is just placing your faith in the worst case scenario.

Okay? Worry unhelpfully asks the question, what will happen if? What will happen if nobody believes that I'm a virgin? What will happen if I have to raise this baby by myself?

What if the angel was wrong about all this? What if the economy falls apart? What if I lose my job? What if I never ever get married? What if I do get married, but I marry a jerk? And then what will happen if me and that jerk have little babies and they come out and they're little jerk babies? And every time I look at my little jerk baby, I'm reminded of the jerk husband that I married. Like, what if, what if, what if? How about this, though? I love your children.

Your children are not jerks. What if God is faithful? What if God really is for you? What if God really is merciful and loving and kind? What if God really is faithful to do what he has said he was going to do? Because if God really is the faithful one that the Bible says he is, then that's reason to worship instead of worry. God is faithful. Here's the last one.

Number 10. God is eternal. God is eternal.

Verse 54, God has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his offspring forever and ever. Listen, if God has been good, he will be good. Because God is the same yesterday, today and forevermore. Because God is eternal, it means he doesn't change. And so one of the extremely practical ways that we can choose to replace worry with worship is by looking at history.

Again, worry asks the question, what will happen if? History asks the question, what do I know to be true about God and what he has done in the past? And so when I pick this thing up, when I pick up the words of life, what I see, even in the midst of chaos, is that there was this guy named Abraham. And Abraham was really old and his wife was barren. They couldn't have a kid, but God gave them Isaac. And then came the nation of Israel with a bunch of promises for an eventual child that would be the savior of the world.

And even though the people constantly disobeyed God, he remained merciful and generous and faithful to the promises that he gave them and they continued to come to pass. And so just based off the Old Testament, based off God's history, I think he's good for all these things. I think he's good for the plan that he's been working out for thousands and thousands and thousands of years. I think based on this, that he is Lord, that he's savior, that he's personal, that he is holy, he's merciful, he's powerful, he's generous, he's just, he's faithful, that he is eternal.

So I think he's good for this. And Mary says, y'all, that's my God and I'm going to sing to him and I'm going to sing about him. Yes, I have no idea what's going to happen, but I do know who God is and I'm going to sing because my savior is worth it and because my savior is worthy. But most importantly, church, we sing because God came to live with us. See, in context, I hope you actually see the Christmas story is actually, it's pretty dark. It's kind of shaky as to what's going to happen. But what prevents us from reading this story in despair is that name, Emmanuel, God with us, because it's knowing God is with us.

That is the one thing, that is the one characteristic above all else that will lead us to worship over worry. For those of you that know, I have four kids. My oldest two are six and four. We have six, four, two and new.

Pray for me. But my oldest two, they're at that age. I mean, they know they know monsters aren't real. They know darkness can't hurt them.

Yet every once in a while, I mean, it's pretty rare. They're great sleepers, but every once in a while, as a kid does, they'll just have like a bad nightmare, you know, whatever. They wake up in the middle of the night. They're terrified. They're worried about what's happening. And they'll come creeping into mom and dad's room and usually they wake dad up. We all know not to wake mom up. They wake dad up and they're crying. I'm like, what's wrong, babe? And they're like, you know, whatever.

I had a bad dream. You know, it's helpful for me in that moment to get down on their level and to remind them. Hey, you know, you know, daddy, you know, daddy would never let anything bad happen to you, right? You know, daddy loves you, right? You know, daddy's stronger than anything that can come in your room, right? And they know those things. But what's going to help them is not me just saying, okay, you know, daddy's strong, loving, kind, merciful. He won't let anything happen to you. Go back to bed.

I'm going to sleep. No, no, it's good for them to know these characteristics about their daddy. But what they want more than anything in that moment is for dad just to be with them, to just be near them. And this is exactly, I think, what happens to us. I think it's the main problem most of us have. It's not that we think God is weak or evil or out to get us. In fact, we agree that God is holy and powerful and merciful. We do not doubt his goodness, but what we do doubt is his nearness. We often doubt that he is near, but y'all, that is precisely the doubt that God came to attack at Christmas by sitting his son, Jesus Emmanuel, to be God with us.

And that is more than anything else. That's the one detail that moves Mary to praise. See, Christmas is God's declaration that he is always with us. And that summit church is the good news that should lead us to great joy. If we saw God the way that Mary sees God, we would sing, too.

And it's because of Christmas that we can. So which approach are you going to take to life? A bottom-up approach? How's that been working for you? Constantly swayed by your feelings and your circumstances and your emotions?

Or top-down approach? Believing that God is who he says he is according to the Bible. Believing that he's Lord and Savior and personal and holy and merciful and powerful and generous and just and faithful and eternal.

But most importantly, that he is Emmanuel, God with us. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm actually going to pray here in just a moment, but I just want to leave you by yourself. We're actually going to put all 10 of these characteristics up on the screen wherever you are.

We're going to put these things up. And I just want you maybe you need to bow your head. Maybe you just need some time to yourself. And I just want to let the Holy Spirit move. I want to give you a moment to allow the Holy Spirit, you and the Holy Spirit, to just do some work.

I want you to focus on whatever attribute of God. Maybe you need to write one of these down. You need to investigate it further.

Maybe you need to ask an accountability partner or somebody else later on. Maybe this is the word, the characteristic you need to pray and ask God to reveal to you more about himself. I don't know what it is. I just want to let the Holy Spirit work with you on these 10 things. And then in a moment, at all of our locations, somebody will come and lead us. So let's pray.

God, thank you for your word. Would we feast on it? Would it fill us with great things? Would you open our eyes that we may continue to see the beauty and the majesty and the sufficiency of Jesus Christ, our savior? And because of that, would we be a people who grow in worship and a people who would sing with hearts like Mary to the God, God who is near us, Emmanuel, God with us. God, we pray, we ask, we rejoice, and we sing all these things in Jesus Christ's name. Amen and amen.