Countdown to Christmas - Day 3: Meet Him in the Movement | Aggressive Life

Welcome to Aggressive Life. This is day three of the Christmas countdown. Remember, it's not what you think that changes your life. It's what you do that changes your life. So we're trying to look at the Christmas story to give us things that you might not have thought before, but so that that will lead to things you may not have done before. We're going to look at the shepherds again that we looked at on day one. Luke chapter two, verse 15 says this, 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. Shepherds are having just a normal, quiet night in the fields, hearing some sheep. I don't know if they're sleeping. I don't know if they're eating, but I think it's pretty, pretty calm. You don't want to be moving your sheep at night. If you're moving them at night, there could be a wolf over the ridge or something else that could kill them. You want to find a safe place and hunker down. So it's time just, the time of walking and feeding is pretty much over. And they get interrupted by angels. Very freaky situation. Angels tell them what's going to happen,

what's taking place. And then they don't really tell them like anything else. They don't tell them, here's when you need to lead to see the Christ child. They don't tell them, here's what you should take for your journey. They don't tell them, here's the best route to go to take the journey. They don't tell them, make sure you take this. They don't tell them you're going to be for X, Y, Z long. They don't give them a lot of information. It's like, hey, hey, this thing has happened. This thing has happened. And now they're going to go. I think many of us hear something from God and we want more and He's not going to give us more. And when I say hear something from God, I mean, you might read something in the Bible and say, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, yeah, that one hits me. That one I need to do. Or you go to a church and you hear some guy speak and you think, oh, that was just for me. It's like God organized that entire talk, the entire experience just for me. That one was for me. And the problem is we want more information. Okay, but now I got to do this. But how do I do that? Well, how do I do that if I don't have that handled? And how do I pay for that?

How do I structure it? And what if I do this wrong? And why don't you know? So we complicate things. Just start going in that direction. Just, if you have enough information to start going in the right direction, then you will have enough information to make a decision when something new comes up while you're going there. But don't have a paralysis of analysis just trying to have your spiritual Excel spreadsheet to make sense of, well, I can't have a kid until I do X, Y, Z. No, no, you can have a kid anytime. I did. It was very accidental. It wasn't planning on it. Well, I can't tithe unless I do. No, you can't. You can do it like right now. Like right now. That's why Malachi 3.10 says, trust me, you can do it right now. Well, you know, I really can't work out until like, and so I really take blood tests and figure out my body type. No, no, you really can't, like right now. Like right now, you can just go to the gym and do some stuff.

You can go right now. Well, I really can't share my faith until I read a couple books on the apologetics and how to argue. No, you can share it with what you know right now. This is what I know about God. Here's what He's done. So you know enough right now to take the next step that you need to take. And the shepherds knew enough to take the next step that they need to take, which was go in the direction of Bethlehem because the greatest thing that's going to happen in our lifetimes right here in this city is right now, let's not wait, let's go. That might be the case for you in your life right now. You never know when your moment's going to be. The way you're prepared for it is you're prepared to move regardless of what information you don't have. have. That's why it's called a walk of faith. There's a thing that we do that we don't have all the answers to. That's why it's called faith. We had all the answers and we're certain that it wouldn't be faith. Let's pray. Lord, I'm thankful for the example of the shepherds. It's easy for me to talk about this. It's not as easy for me to walk about this because we all want our certainties and our assurances. But we commit right now, God, to not delay in the things that you have put before us.

We do not want to delay and we don't want to complicate things that are actually pretty simple. When something's happened, we just go. We don't complicate it. So we want to meet you in this moment, in any moment you have for us this Christmas season. Thank you for them. Amen. So get moving. A couple of options for you. One, be on the lookout for any opportunity that God puts before you. Just do that thing. Opening a door for somebody, picking up a piece of trash, sharing something. Do that. Number two, scriptures say that after finding the newborn child, the shepherds returned to the fields, praising God for everything they had seen. Time to do the same. Perhaps something has happened to you the last couple of days. You just need to praise God for it. Just tell Him, God, you did this. I saw you do that. Thank you. You're good. Sing Him a little song. Tell Him thankful. Do a little gratitude jig, wiggling your tushy, whatever it is. Do something that is an act of praise and worship that says, God, I recognize you've done something and I'm thankful for you. You're worth it. We'll see you tomorrow for our final Countdown to Christmas. Thanks for joining us on this journey toward aggressive living. Find more resources, articles, past episodes, and more at bryantome.com. My new book, a 60 day devotional called The Five Marks for Man, 60 Days to a Powerful Life, along with all the other books in the Five Marks Library are open right now on Amazon. Be sure to leave us a rating and review wherever you listen to your podcasts. Then send an email to DIRT, that's DIRT, at bryantome.com

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