Christmas at Fellowship Church
What’s Your Scene
December 24, 2017
Ed Young
The Nativity Scene is one of the most iconic symbols of the Christmas season. It’s impossible to go through this time of year and not see at least one or two. Yet, as visible as the Nativity Scene is during the holidays, we often miss the true purpose and power of it in our daily lives—the fact that God’s scene can change everything about our scene! In this message, Pastor Ed Young shifts our perspective on the Nativity and challenges us to ask ourselves what we truly see in the Nativity Scene.
Transcript
Merry Christmas to everyone. How are you guys doing? I love this cold weather. You know, I gotta have, this is just me, eight hours of sleep. I've got to. If I don't, I'll get sick. Well, today, though, something crazy happened. I got up at 3:30 in the morning. Now, for me, that's really early. So, I was like, all right, you're up at 3:30. What do you do? Of course, coffee. I love coffee. Anybody here love coffee? Any coffee snobs? Oh, I am. It's gotta be strong coffee. It's got to be strong coffee. Something about coffee I found out, and this really shocked me, the darker the roast, the less caffeine. The lighter the roast, the more caffeine. So the opposite of what I thought for many, many years. Anyway, had some coffee, walked into my office, got on social media. And I don't go through social media that much. I was just looking at, you know, different posts and comments and things, and videos. The crazy thing about social media is it's kind of a highlight reel. You know what I'm saying to you? It's like you see certain scenes about people's lives, and if you're not careful, you can pass judgment on the people based on the scenes. Like, whoa, British Virgin Islands over the Christmas holidays? Man. That guy's rolling. Must be nice, you know. Or, well, she got that ring? Are you kidding me? Look where they live, and look who they're with. Look at this celebrity, you know? Social media's crazy, because we watch scene after scene after scene, and really, it's not the scene. It's not the true scene of someone's life. But it's so powerful, we can get envious, jealous, like, man, competitive, and we always have that best, you know, look you know, when we're in a picture. Let me see that picture, let me see that picture, and then we'll post it if we look good. Doesn't matter if everybody else looks horrible. If I look good, I'm posting the picture, you know?
Well, I wanna talk to you just for a couple of moments about a scene, a scene. And this is a nativity scene, a nativity scene. Have you guys seen any other nativity scenes other than this one during the holidays? You probably have. Nativity scenes, the ubiquitous nativity scene. I didn't even know what a nativity scene meant. I mean, I knew the phrase, but I didn't really know the meaning behind it. A nativity scene comes a Latin word nativus, and it simply means a place or occasion for someone's birth. That's what it means. And of all places, the first nativity scene was presented in 12/23 in Italy. That shouldn't surprise anyone. All cool stuff comes from Italy. Cars and clothes and food, coffee. These shoes come from Italy. Now, this suit doesn't. I was hoping it did. It was made in China. I looked, right before I walked out. But man, my feet feel good.
