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Good morning, everybody. My name is Drew. I'm the pastor here at Hope Heights and I'm excited. Having some horns up here with the Christmas music is magical. And what a great morning. Also, I don't think I've ever been a part of a financial giving update where someone wore a Bob Ross T shirt. It's new. That's new. We need that cash. Aaron only wears old Bob Ross T shirts. Thanks, Aaron, for sharing that. We are praying. We encourage you just to pray with us for that and trust God for that. He's provided so many times and all the time. So we're excited to see what God's gonna do in that. I have one quick kind of announcement, but just let you know where we're headed. Today is our last day in the Book of Mark for a few weeks, for four weeks. And in January we'll kick it off again. But next week we're gonna start a little Christmas series. We're just gonna go through look at Luke 2, the classic story of Christmas with the angels and the shepherds and Jesus. And we're gonna. In that passage has this great. Last week I shared this passage is what I'm trying to memorize and really sink in and marinate in over Christmas season. But we're calling it good news, Great joy. And we're gonna look at what that looks like, what just Luke 2 tells us about life and maybe what the world is telling us that isn't necessarily true, but that the gospel does tell us that's true. So we're really excited about that. That'll start next week for four weeks. We'll do that. And next week's going to be great. Kids are going to sing and, and, and do a play for us. Should be wonderful. This week though, we are still in Mark and but I'm been excited about as well as Aaron about Christmas movies and Christmas music and one of the movies I was watching like clips of Christmas movies. I watched one that is a favorite. I don't know if it's a family favorite, but it's a Drew favorite. It's very nostalgic. It also takes place right here in the Twin Cities in the Mall of America. Is the movie Jingle all the Way? I'm sure it's all your favorite Christmas movies. Did everybody say that was their week? Cause this movie feels like Christmas to me. Not just that it's Christmas time in the movie, but that it's kind of chaotic. And it's a story of a dad trying to find this Turboman gift for his son and just can't do it. All the shenanigans that happen and laws that get broken, crimes that are committed. To find this Turboman. And Sinbad's in it and Arnold Schwarzenegger is in it, which is. They don't make movies together anymore. And so it's really. It's really amazing. So there's actually a moment in this movie that feels like my Christmas season in lots of ways. So I wanted to share that. Just a minute here. And this takes place in the Mall of America. So it's kind of our hometown of you. So enjoy this moment from Jingle all the Way. Arnold here is trying to find this toy for his son. And he heard it might be at the mall.

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Answer your first question. Yes, the rumors are true. We have received a small quantity of the action figure known as Turboman.

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I am not going to ask you people to be quiet again. Do you hear me? Now, here's how things are going to work. You will form an orderly line so that an employee can hand you a numbered ball. These balls will then be drawn in a standard lottery session to see who gets a doll. If you're not one of the lucky you, we have plenty of Turboman's fateful pet tiger booster in stock. We don't want it. We don't want it. And by the way, in accordance with the laws of supply and demand, the new list price on each figure just doubled.

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It's the bolts.

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One just to fight. Only me.

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I got it.

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I got it. I got him.

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He made me.

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I got it.

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I got it. I got it.

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He got jo. They got jo.

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Man.

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It's. It's a true story, too. If I didn't mention that before.

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It is I. The whole movie's just fun. Christmas fun. But I love this scene. This week we are jumping into a passage at the end of Mark 4. Jesus has just told all these parables. And now we get to see him in action again. And it's a story where they're in the sea and the storm comes up and it's just chaos.

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And I was just thinking of Christmas and that feeling of like, kind of chaos, kind of out of control even. Like you think you got something and then somebody maces you, right? You lose it. And all because you're trying to pursue a thing. Or it even feels sometimes like I don't even know what I'm looking for. But there's like something I'm chasing and I'm asking the questions of what could be and what has been and who will be there. Maybe in weeks to come. And that feels like it could cause chaos or at least waves or storms or things out of control. Or maybe I'm thinking of what has been this time of year. And this time of year brings up things that also aren't great, aren't good. It feels like mace in the face again. It feels loud. Or maybe it feels too quiet. It feels like there's a swirling, maybe that's connected even to finances this time of year. You think, oh, what a wonderful time of year. But so tied culturally to buying things and getting things that it's when we sometimes suspend the budget, we get the credit card. We feel that pressure, and it feels overwhelming, like there's a crowd that's swirling and pushing you into displays of toys, maybe just people pleasing causes kind of a swirl and a chaos and a storm and the sea.

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I had a moment this week where our car didn't start the day that was colder than I thought it was going to be. And we went outside, and my car didn't start. And I was sitting in my car in the cold, and it was going like. And I went, come on, Drew, you got this. As if somehow it was my fault or somehow I could work harder and make my car. The battery was dead. I had to charge the battery. But I just had a moment of, like, the swirl of all the things. And it was cold, and the car was still covered in snow. And I'm just in my car. Come on. It felt like the storm had come and the waves were splashing. And today Jesus gives us some great hope and a great reminder of why Christmas is sweet and why all the time Jesus is so, so sweet. And so we're in the book of Mark. We're at the end of Mark. And I'd love to read you this quick story about him and his disciples on a boat. If you'd stand up with me. We've been standing and reading these gospel stories. And so this is Mark 4, not 355, but just 35, verse 35.

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Holy cow. That would be incredible. That's why they have chapters. So this is Mark 35. Let me read this to you. It's this wonderful story. But imagine this. Feel it. What is it like to be there on that day when evening had come? He said to them, let us go across to the other side. Over this. On this lake, on the sea. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats are with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking. Into the boat so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern asleep on a cushion. And they woke him up and said to him, teacher, do you not care? We're not going to let a mic stop us. Come on, Drew, what are you doing?

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Someone else has done that in the room.

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So this story is pretty incredible. I'm sure you've heard this story. Maybe if you've been around church at all. It's the story of Jesus on the sea. And the storm comes up and they see him and he's sleeping. And of course, if that was you, you'd say, come on, do you not care that we're the water? It says it's filling the boat. Winds start blowing up and the waves get big and then they crash into our boat. How could you even be sleeping in this moment.

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The story shows us something really important about who Jesus is. But this story also points to a story. And in this moment, I think Mark wants us and even the way he tells the story wants us to remember another really classic story for the Jewish people. And it's a story that reminds us why Jesus has come and who Jesus is, which a lot of Mark, right, is letting us know the king has come and who he really is. And it's the story of Jonah. You might have been as even reading the story, remembering the story of Jonah. A quick summary of Jonah. Jonah was a. Is a prophet that we see in the book of Jonah. It's an easy one to find and it's short story, but it's a story of a man. Often we just hear the story that he was swallowed by a whale or a big fish. But the story is that he was called by God to go across, go over there to those people, just like Jesus and his disciples. And he was in a boat sleeping, and a storm came up. And all the people on the boat said, what's going on? And have we angered your God? And he is running away from God. And so they eventually he says, throw me in. Sacrifice me in the waters to calm the storms. And they throw him in to the sea and a big fish swallows them up. This is the drawings we always did as kids in Sunday school right of him. But then thankfully, after three days, the fish spits him out. And then he has a change of heart kind of in the fish and coming out and actually goes to these people in this place. He still actually really struggles to let these people. He sees them as really wicked bad people, maybe shouldn't be forgiven by God or healed by God or rescued By God. But he has this whole another episode of dealing with that. But it's this great story of a man who comes eventually and the storm is calmed by him giving of himself. Sounds kind of like Jesus, but even see how similar this is. I don't think Mark was just alluding this. He was really wanted us to see that Jesus is like Jonah. He's not Jonah, but he's like him. So let, really quick, let's look at these two, two passages and that kind of narrative, the story of what's happening here. A storm first arises and Jonah, it says, but the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest on the sea so that the ship was threatened to break up. And then in Mark we hear a great windstorm arose and the waves were breaking into the boat. So that that boat was already filling very similar stories even before this. We hear the story, right of the. They both are going across to meet these pagan, these non Jewish, non God worshiping people. And so they're both actually moving here after this. In Mark we see that Jesus goes to a place that isn't typically like a Jewish population. It's a different population he's gone to. He's actually going to the Gentiles, the non Jewish people, to tell them the good news. And that's what God is calling Jonah to. And then after that, after the storm arises, people become fearful, understandably, there's a storm, it's gonna eventually kill them. It's gonna overwhelm them. In Jonah we hear then the Mariners, not the team, the, you know, the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his God. If a boat of people going, God, whoever it is that they worship, please save us. And in Mark we hear, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? They wake Jesus up right there in the boat and they ask him, they cry out to him, do you not care that we're all going to drown? Then the rescuer is asleep in the boat. That's an interesting part of the story that I think in Mark. I think. I don't even know why he had to mention that. I think because he wants us to see him as Jonah or a better Jonah, it says, but Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had laid down and was fast asleep. And. And we hear the same about Jesus, but he was in the stern asleep on the cushion. So the storm arises, people become fearful what's gonna happen? They cry out and we see a rescuer, a person who's gonna calm the Storm asleep. Then the rescuer is questioned, what do you mean, sleep or arise? Call to your God, Teacher. Do you not care about that? You're perishing, right? They're calling out to Jesus. They call out to Jonah, what are you gonna do? Help us. So there is an act of God. So they picked up Jonah. They hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. They had to sacrifice Jonah. Jonah essentially gave himself right into the sea, and he's swallowed up. And Jesus doesn't get thrown into the sea. That's where the story kind of changes. He awoke and he rebuked the wind. Jesus stands up and he says, peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And then the result of that was those people were now in awe. Actually, both of the passages say now their fear went from fear of death in the storm to a fear like in awe of God. And so in Jonah, then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. They went, holy cow, the power of this God to calm the seas. If you're a sailor on a ship and the water's coming over and you can hardly even see out because the rain and the waves and the movement, and you can't even keep your balance, and then suddenly it's still, you are in awe of the thing that stopped that. And in the same way, in Mark, we see they were filled with great fear and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? The sea and the waves. The sea is a picture that we see all the time in Scripture as this chaotic disorder. This place even says pictures sort of as a hellish place, a broken place, a scary place, a place of death. And then it's often calmed. It's a place. We hear stories of people being thrown into the sea or the sea raging. It's this picture of this chaos. It's a picture of the Mall of America on Black Friday with Arnold Schwarzenegger, right? And Sinbad. It's just things grabbing for you and pushing you away and, can I even survive this? And in that, Jonah gives his life. But something's different about what Jesus does. This response is really, really important to this story. Jesus doesn't say, I'm going to jump in. And then there's a God who will take that, and he will calm the sea. Jesus stands up and says, I am God. Because he tells the sea to be quiet. And it does.

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It's remarkable. It's not just, oh, it's like the Jonah story. He's another Jonah. He's actually a better Jonah. He's actually the ultimate Jonah of Jonah's. He's God himself. And the people in that boat saw God again. They had seen these other amazing miracles where he healed people and cast out demons. And now they even see he even controls creation.

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Wow. And they're in fear of him. It's a story that reminds us, and Mark wants us to see again, this person that you're hearing these parables from. This person who's proclaiming good news, this person who's directing your life and what it looks like to have a good life, a healthy life, the life God's called you to. The one who's going to call us to say, lay down your lives and follow me. The one who says you can be uncomfortable and even suffering and still find joy. The one who's gonna say all these things to you and has said all these things. He's not just a Jonah. He's not just a prophet. He's God. He's our rescuer. He's come. Jonah is not Jesus. Right? Jonah is less than Jesus. Jesus is the greater Jonah. It's one of those beautiful moments in scripture where we see how much of the Jonah story and how much it's in the culture and in the hearts and the minds of people in this moment. Those disciples in that boat, they get to their side and they have a little campfire and they go, that reminds you of Jonah, right?

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But he's not Jonah. He's. I think he's God. It's this beautiful picture that we see over and over in scripture. Jesus fulfilling and showing that he's the great greater version of all these things. Tim Keller actually wrote a whole book about the story of Jonah. I'd encourage you. It's a short book, and it's wonderful where he unpacks how much the book of Jonah shows us the gospel. I asked him to wear this sweater. This is how you use AI you put it to color pictures and have it put on Christmas letters. He does say, these are real words. This is not from AI. Jonah shows God calming the storm. Mark shows Jesus doing what only God can do, calming the storm himself. One story points forward and the other reveals the true Jonah, the Lord of the storm. Only God can tame the deep. When Jesus does it, the disciples realize they're in the boat with the Lord of the Universe. Jesus actually tells us the same thing. Jesus is talking in Matthew, and the Pharisees ask him to show him some signs. They say then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, teacher, we wish to see a sign from you. It's actually one of those points in the Gospels where he's shown a series of signs that he's God. And they say, yeah, we'll believe you when you show us a sign. Even though he's already shown them many signs. And he answers them. He says, an evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. So they say, will you show us a sign? And he says, the people who want a sign are evil and adulterous. But no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condone it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here. They asked him for a sign, and he says, I've given you a sign. I'm the greater Jonah. Just like Jonah went into a fish for three days and came out the Son of man.

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Him, me, is going to go into the earth, the belly of the earth, for three days and raised from the dead. Now, Jesus isn't just. Isn't just a greater Jonah, like, oh, that's cool. You calmed this one storm with your sacrifice. He's saying, I have a greater sacrifice. There's a storm and a sea that's swirling and not just around you, but deep within you, which is so much harder and so much more deathly and so much more painful. And the weight of it is so strong. And he says, I'm gonna come and I can take care of that. I can say peace be still to the storm that rages even within your heart and your mind and your body. And I'm gonna do that by going to a cross and dying for you, for your sins, for that sin that's in you. I will die so you don't have to die. And I'm going to go into the belly of the earth and I'm going to raise from the dead and defeat that storm. There's a forever calming of a storm. In Revelation, we see all these great pictures of these calm waters. Jesus again controlling all those. It's this beautiful picture. This is why we're celebrating. We're singing songs and we're celebrating right now. Because the King has come.

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And taking care of the storm.

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Wiped it out. He's said, peace, be still. It's happened. I Think if we're not careful, we still just see Jesus as a Jonah, like, a really great guy or even just a guy. He is God. And he came to calm some. He can calm some storms, right? He becomes man. And don't see him like in the boat. In that moment, they said, whoa. Their fear disappeared from the storm, and it now turned in awe to God. He can and will eventually calm all storm. But he can. He has the power to do that and has through his death and resurrection. In Jingle all the Way. I know you're dying for this gospel connection to Jingle all the Way. You've all been waiting for this. Arnold. If you don't know the story, this is a bit of a spoiler, so be careful here. If you're looking forward to seeing this. Arnold actually, like, becomes Turboman. It's this insane set of, like, he breaks a bunch of laws. First time I ever saw this movie, my daughter said at the end of the movie, he goes, are they gonna go to jail? They broke a lot of laws. Like, well, it's the 90s and movies, as long as the end was nice, the police were kind to them. He actually becomes Turboman in the parade with Booster, his sidekick here. And he gets a Turboman for his son. It's the great. Oh, he became Turboman to get Turboman. And he fights off Sinbad, who dresses up like Dementor, the evil guy. It's this wonderful picture. But he then takes the suit off. He goes home. He's still like, an average dad.

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Generously give him that. But he gets the toy for that one moment, for that one Christmas, right? And then, like, January 26th happens and they go right back into life. He's not Turboman. He's not. His kid still has problems. Storms still arise in their home and in their hearts.

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Which. We love this story. I love this story because there's something about someone doing this. We get this little glimpse, this little, like, hint shadow of the gospel on the boat. In that moment, they fully saw the one who came to rescue them, who was gonna go into the earth, who was gonna come out the greater way, better than Jonah. Jonah.

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Jesus becomes human, but he doesn't become human. And then, like, we go back to the, oh, there's gonna be more storms. And Jesus, like, ugh, I thought I had it. I'll have to come back. He comes once and for all and goes into the ground, into the beast. Comes out alive. The ultimate storm. Swallowed by death and resurrects. He says, quiet, be still. To sin and death. I Feel overpowered by that. I feel the amount of times. Come on, Drew, you got this. The storm that's in me.

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Jesus says, I can say, be quiet to that. Come to. I have the power that. Come to me.

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Come to me. I want to encourage us here as we end our time in this passage. I have a really cool picture to show you. Stephen's working on it. This is storm right now. These are some great little illustrations built right into our. Thanks. Thanks, Stephen. Just Jesus. There we go. I want us to picture now. Let's get a little bit into. What does this look like in real life, Right? So that's beautiful, right? Beautiful. Drew, it's Christmas. Jesus has come. The king has come. We sing about it. It's glorious. But I still sit in my car in the cold and feel a storm brewing, right? I feel a volcano snooze in our house. We've said a volcano. Like, you feel it building and it's going to erupt. And you're like, I feel that. So I think because we forget who's who in the story, and so we get to continue to turn back to the one who's actually Jesus. This is Jesus. He's the greater Jonah. He's the greater. Of all the people you've read about in the Old Testament, he's the greatest. He's the King. He's a friend. He calls us. That we can have rest in him, that we can have quiet in him. That we can have stillness, that we can have strength, that we have life in him. And if I start thinking that those things all come from other things, then I start feeling the storm brewing. It's like the winds start blowing. And again, let's just look at the things that we see in this story, right? First, Jonah, If I start thinking, if I don't remember that I'm still just a Jonah who needs to be thrown and eaten, and I still am rebellious, and I still look at other people and go, they're. They're too far from God. Or they don't deserve this forgiveness. If I forget that I'm Jonah in this and I start thinking I'm Jesus, then the winds start blowing. It's a story that reminds us that we aren't the ones who actually calm the storm, but Jesus forever calms the storm.

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We're rebellious people who, when God says, go, there, we go. I'm going to go over here. And then God might have to stirs something up. And then you go, okay, I guess, yes, yes, yes. I'm with you. We cannot forget that we too are Jonahs. I think we can't forget that we're storms, that we also. And people around us often bring in the winds and the storms and the waves that crash. I think it might be easy to think of others as the storm. But we too. You're a storm to someone, not just even yourself, maybe to yourself the most. But we bring those in too. And so remembering Jesus even calms us in our moment of like, I don't want to be calmed. I want to crash into a boat. I want to throw some water on some people. I want to shake this up because they shook me up in that. He also can still us there. He can say, peace to your heart, to your mind. He can remind you that he's rescued you and saved you. He can remember, remind you that he's sovereign, that he has control. He can remind you that he can actually even.

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Bring peace and calmness and change and rescue those who maybe have even hurt you. Moments I find myself as the storm, as much as.

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Hit by the storm as storm. It's like two storms crashing into each other who cause more waves. And we need something outside of us. It's Jesus.

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Two more things we see in this, right? There's people in the boat too. It's not just the people with Jonah. There's people who are experiencing storm. And they're looking and saying, what's going on, God? And maybe even looking to us, what's going on, God? And I feel like I gotta save the day. I gotta be Jonah or at least and that person looking to someone else other than Jesus to throw into the sea. I go, I need you to save the day. I need you to bring peace to me. And in this situation, I need this thing. Maybe not even a person, but a thing to do. I need some, like, warm drink and a fire, or at least like a picture of a fire on my tv and a couple good friends, some good food.

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That'll do it. Ultimately, in my heart, the storms that rage in my life, I need much more than warm coffee and a fire. I need the one who actually can calm the storms. I get to turn again to him. I get to celebrate at Christmas. You've actually come to do this. And lastly, I had to add to the picture here. There's land away, right far away that they're going to.

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That is also us. I think in this story, sometimes the story of Jonah or even Jesus, I think, oh, man. Yeah. I'm one of those disciples who's following Jesus, who in the moment just got kind of overwhelmed by the storm, or I'm one of the people with Jonah and I'm trying to help just stop the storm. In all those stories, though, they're going to these other people who even in the way they talk about them are other, are pagan or not God worshipers. And those are also us. Jesus not only calms the storm, makes the disciples in awe, but they actually finish the journey on the calm sea and make it to people who before were told they're too far from God. And in the story, Jesus says, I calmed the sea so that I and my people could come to you and tell you this great news that you too are rescued. There's some real storms going on on that other side of the lake, on the other side of the sea. He's come to us to rescue us, and he had to actually even calm seas of other people to bring that to us. And he. He gets to use us even to do that. There's all these things going on. All those people, all those places, all that sea, all of that still around. Jesus, who is the one who calms the sea, who brings the rescue, who is the greater Jonah. Now think of the order of how things happen. A storm arose, Great fear came in. Fear, there's panic, there's irrational thoughts or even actions. There might be blaming of people. All those things happen, right? That's a very real human thing. And then who calms that? Jesus does. And so what does it look like in our lives to see that pattern and then turn to the one who says, be quiet, be still. Even that prayer, God, I need you to quiet me to be still. I want to end our time. I want to share the words of a classic Christmas carol. We're actually going to sing this today. This is God rest you married gentlemen. And I. I'm interested in this because I like the language in this is really cool. And no one talks like this. So I'm like, it's got to be old. So I want to share with you a little bit. This, this is really that pattern that we see in this story of there's like a storm around us and what do I do? I got to turn to the one and celebrate the one, worship the one, cling to the one. And not just the once, but every day, many times a day, I'm going to be in a store, maybe even at the Mall of America. If I from there feel that I even had to sigh thinking of the Mall of America at Christmas time, I might be in the midst of that. And in that midst, Jesus Right in that moment, I can say, I need you to quiet me. But this are words that were written a long, long time ago. They say it's one of the oldest Christmas hymns. There's actually a time in church history that there weren't Christmas hymns. They just always sang hymns. I mean, we always sing about Jesus being born and rescuing us, but there weren't specific ones. And this was written a long time ago. They're thinking 13, 14, hundreds. And in fact, it wasn't real popular. And one of the most popular groups early on, before it was like mainstream, were night watchmen in London. And so they say the story is that in the dark, in the night in London, these men would like, like, walk the streets and keep lanterns going and they would, like, watch to make sure, you know, stuff wasn't happening. So if you can imagine that, like, cold and dark, Londony British smells like British, which to me feels like a storm too. I don't know. They would walk around and they said it became popular for them to hum and sing this song all night as they walked around, because it would bring them peace and felt like it would guard them in the darkness. Is that not the coolest picture of this? They would sing these words out and then it started to become more popular. In fact, the original. This is the original words, but the original word, God rest ye merry gentlemen. The word rest isn't the word rest we use now like we use the word rest, almost like, take a nap. Like, God, we can take a nap. Because Jesus, it actually, the word meant keep you going or sustain. You said some would actually sing, may God keep you content in your spirit. Isn't that great? That's really what I want. I'm really. I'm looking for rest. But when I say rest, I mean, could you make me content in my spirit? And then Queen Victoria loved this song and loved Christmas carols and made many of them very popular and they started putting them in books. This is actually referred to in the Christmas Carol. The. The book. And there's a line in here that I'm not going to read, but it's the one we sing a lot. It's O tidings of comfort and joy, Comfort and joy O tidings of comfort and joy. And we can say that because the rest of this is true. So let me. I'm going to invite our worship team up and we are going to. I want to just read these to you. I want these words to land on you as almost. If you can imagine the disciples in the boat, the Storm is calmed and the stuff clicks and they go, you're the one who's come to rescue us. And they begin almost to sing this in the dark, in the night on a lake they say, God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas day To save us all from Satan's power When we were gone astray from God our heavenly Father a blessed angel came and unto certain shepherds brought tidings of the same how that in Bethlehem was born the Son of God by name. Fear not then said the angel Let nothing you affright this day to us a Savior was given from heaven bright to free us all those who trust in him from Satan's power and might now to the Lord sing praises all you within this place and with true love and brotherhood each other now embrace the wicked tides of sin and death Our Savior shall erase. It's really, really good news.

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We're going to take a time now. We're going to actually sing this together. First. I just want, you know, we're going to do now we're going to reflect. Use the. Let the gospel change us. We're going to respond. We do that through communion. It's an opportunity out in the hallways here at Hope Heights to take a cracker and some grape juice and remember that Jesus body was broken and his blood was shed and that he was put into the earth, the belly of the earth, but he rose from the dead. And so we take that every week. Our whole service builds to that so that we can remember that thing that changed everything that said, quiet, be still. So we encourage you to do that. You don't have to be a member here at Hope, just a follower of Jesus to head out in the hallway and do that by yourself or with others. Also, we'll sing. There's people who'd love to pray for you in the back of the room. And you can always give. We already shared about how you can do that. Let me pray for us and just consider this good, good news as we sing together. Lord, thank you for your kindness, your goodness towards us, your love in Christ. Thank you. That a much better Jonah came, whose name is Jesus, and said, quiet. And not just to some water and wind, but to all chaos and all brokenness and all sin and death.

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Lord, in the tides of sin and death because of you have been erased. And that's really good news. I pray we would believe that and it would change us. We pray this in Jesus great name. Amen.
