God Chooses to Love You!

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Welcome back to the Iron Saints Podcast with your host, Dan Willis.

Welcome back, saints. It's another day. It means it's time for another episode. I'm excited to continue on through Luke. Thank you again to all of you guys who have been listening online. It has been amazing to see the response to this. I am so thrilled that this is actually bringing some value and insight. People are listening to God's word and wrestling with this. Lots of great feedback, guys. Super thankful for it. But without further ado, we are going to get back down to it today. We're going to continue on in Luke. I'm excited to see where we go from here. Hope you guys are in for the ride. Let's get this done. So yesterday, guys, we took a look at the birth of John the Baptist. We looked to take a look at Zechariah's prophecy for the things that were to come as a result of John being born. And today I'm pretty excited because we're going to get into the birth of Christ. As well as just a little bit following, not too far afterwards, but as well as the birth, we're going to take a look at a few of the folks who showed up for the show. So it'll be interesting to see. As always, guys, I am reading from the ESV. We're at Luke 1, chapter 2 today. Finally made it to chapter 2 after a while, but reading from the ESV. As always, you guys can follow along wherever you are reading, whatever preferred translation you have. If you're driving or whatever, you guys can just listen because I will read it out for you.

So Let's go.

In those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, The time came for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In the same region, there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Christ our Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us. And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told to them concerning the child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told to them. And at the end of the 8 days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. So again, guys, this is one of the 2 accounts that we have, one of the 2 narratives of of Christ's birth, and one is in Matthew. And there's an awful lot of prophecy involved in Matthew because it's speaking largely to a Jewish audience that has the prophecies of the Old Testament. They kind of knew where they were expecting a king to show up. They knew the City of David. They knew we had, we had the wise men showing up to the event. This one's a little bit different, though. And as we had talked about with Luke, the book was largely written for the Gentiles, for the non-Hebrew believer that was coming to know Christ. Yeah. And I think that that's a really beautiful thing to consider as we take a look at the birth of Jesus. Where, where are the wise men, right? Where's all the talk of prophecy and Old Testament scriptures that foretold? It's not there, right? But what is there is we see heavens, the highest of the heavens. The angels are showing up and declaring the birth of God's Son. And you've got the lowest of lows being told and told to go see and proclaim the birth of their Savior that they may not have known otherwise. You've got the lowest of lows and the highest of highs gathered in the same place to celebrate Christ. It is a beautiful, beautiful message almost from the get-go. This is not a God for the Jews, not for the Jews alone anyway. This is for the Jews, the Gentiles, all with whom the Lord is pleased. Now, for most of us, we probably grew up as Gentiles. Some of you may have grown up in a Jewish household, but the reality is this doesn't extend as far as— sorry, I should say it doesn't stop simply at your Your religious background or your social standing. The beauty of this message from Go is Christ came as Savior to all. There is nobody that is more deserving or less deserving as a result of this. It is with whom God is pleased. God chooses who is his, who is not his. And it's a beautiful message of forgiveness, salvation, knowing a Father that didn't have to choose you but did choose you, picked you, crafted you, molded you, made you, loved you. Now, as men, I know when we talk about love, it gets all mushy-gushy and, oh, come on, we're men, we're supposed to be big, tough, strong guys. But the reality is this love and this assurance of a Father that has chosen us, has chosen to be near us, has chosen to love us, has chosen to pursue a relationship with us. It's a really beautiful, powerful thing. And whether you're on your highest high and appreciating God's love and mercy in a really powerful way, or you're in your lowest lows right now, Know that you are loved and you are loved by choice. God's not mandated to do it. He doesn't have to do it. He chooses to do it. He chose you. He chose to love on you. He chose to comfort you. He chose to walk alongside you. And even better than all of that, he chose to give you his own Son. It's a really powerful testimony right at the start of Luke. Christ has just been born, and already we know he has a love for all peoples in all places, regardless of, of, of race, color, or creed, he is there for you. Regardless of your social status, he is there for you. Regardless of what sins you may or may not have committed, he is there for you. It's a beautiful thing, guys. So that is it for today, gentlemen. I will be back tomorrow, but it will not be a scripture reading tomorrow. We will do scripture readings Monday through Friday. Saturday, what I'm going to try to do is break down new books, new movies, new music, anything that Is coming out either to theaters or to music listings, whatever, and just try to pull some value of it, share some great resources. Maybe I'll do a mix of a little bit of both if there's new movies and music and books that all come out at once. I know there's a bunch of great albums that are about to come out from some Christian artists. There's some great films in theater that I would love to give some insights on. So if you have any thoughts on that, what you'd like to hear on that Saturday episode, let me know in the comments. I do make an effort to read all the comments. As always, feel free to comment on any of the social media channels or write me an email directly. All of that is in the description of the podcast wherever you're listening to this. Have an amazing week, gentlemen, and weekend, I should say. And I will catch you guys tomorrow with a cultural episode. And then Monday we'll get right back into Luke. Have an amazing weekend.

Thank you for listening to the Iron Saints Podcast. If you are looking to share your prayer requests, check the description for social media or email to contact the show. Blessings on you all until next time.