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Advent - Love | Pastor Kami Palmer | Faith Church · Faith Church Podcast

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This morning, we have been, this Advent season,
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which I know many of you haven't because of the
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weather, been out. I hope you took, if you have
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not gotten a devotional, we still have a few
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days left before Advent ends. I did take them
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to the coffee shop so that people could easily
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pick them up there. So those are there if you
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need one to end out your Christmas season. But
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our focus for this Advent has been pilgrimage,
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journeying. Because this is not our home, right?
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We are pilgrimages, pilgrims. And in Psalms it
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says, Blessed is the man whose heart is set on
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pilgrimage. And so our focus for this Advent,
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as you can see the different weeks, we started
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out Advent with hope, with Mary journeying to
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visit Elizabeth, her cousin. And then we moved
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to joy. The Magi, the wise men, had their journey
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of worship. And then the last week was a week
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of peace with Mary and Joseph traveling to Egypt
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to a place of peace and safety. And so today
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we're ending it out with the week of love. And
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we're going to look at another group of people
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that encountered love coming down. And so we've
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been talking and singing today about... Love
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coming down, that was Jesus, right? And we see
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that in 1 John 4 that says, this is how God showed
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his love among us. He sent his one and only son
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into the world that we might live through him.
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This is what love looks like. Love coming down
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in Jesus. And so today... How many of you would
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say, I have been touched by that love come down,
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right? Yes. So I wanted to read you a brief story
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of a missionary in the 1840s. And his name was
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John Getty, and he left the pastorate of a church
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in Canada to take his wife and two small children
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to the South Sea Islands to begin a mission work
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there. After a voyage of more than 20 ,000 miles,
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they arrived in New Hebrides Islands. I know,
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I think that's supposed to be two. Twenty seems
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a lot. The island chain was filled with cannibals.
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More than 20 crew members of a British ship had
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been killed and eaten just months before the
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Gettys arrived on the mission field. Okay, all
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you young parents. With little kids. Can you
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imagine taking your children on the mission field,
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much less a mission field where they are cannibals?
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You got to know that you're called. They faced
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the difficulty of learning a language that had
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no written form and the constant threat of being
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killed. Slowly, at first, a few converts came,
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and then soon many more received the gospel.
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Getty continued his ministry faithfully, including
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translating the entire Bible into the native
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language. Can you imagine not being able to read
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your Bible, not having it in your language? I
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can't even fathom what that would be like. But
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there are, even today, cultures where that is
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the case. He planted 25 churches. For many of
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those years, Getty labored with little help and
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little word from home. But God was faithful,
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and in the pulpit of the church Getty pastored
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for so many years stands a plaque in his honor
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which says, when he landed in 1848, there were
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no Christians here. And when he left in 1872,
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there were no heathen. Isn't that good? Let me
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tell you the story of another group of evangelists,
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the first evangelists. This was a group of shepherds.
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Because you might say, well, I could never do
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that. I could never be a missionary like that.
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This is why I like the shepherds. The shepherds
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are a little more relatable for me, right? The
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shepherds were a bit of a nomadic people because
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they had to travel with their sheep from place
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to place to find food. And in Israel, in Bible
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times, this was such a huge part of their economy.
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Just for a reference point, have any of you raised
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sheep in here? We had one person for a while.
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Yeah, they're noisy, aren't they? They're noisy
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sheep. In Israel, Job, how many of you love the
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book of Job? I think I had one new believer that
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started in the book of Job. I was like, no, let's
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move you off of the book of Job. But Job at the
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end had 14 ,000 sheep. How many did you have,
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Catherine? Highest was 27? Yeah. 14 ,000 Job
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had. I'm just imagining the noise of 14 ,000
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sheep. King Solomon, at the temple's dedication,
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he sacrificed 120 ,000. Can you imagine the smell,
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the flies? You think that God's aroma that he
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receives has got to be this beautiful, sweet
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smelling. That would be a stinky smell. But it
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was a sacrifice. And so God's not afraid of what
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comes out of you. Right? He received the sacrifice
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of 120 ,000 sheep. So shepherds were essential
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to the economy of Israel, but they were considered
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lower on that social platform. I love, how many
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of you like Bear Grylls? You guys follow Bear
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Grylls? Oh my goodness. Do you guys know who
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Bear Grylls is? Okay, so this week you need to
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go and watch Bear Grylls. He's an outdoor, he
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was a British special unit guy, like hardcore.
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Like the stuff he does, he teaches you how to
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survive in the wilderness. So he did a series,
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he's a Christian, on diving into the Holy Land.
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And so he walks you through the Holy Land. And
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so in that series, he interviews a shepherd.
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And, you know, shepherds are unique individuals.
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I just don't think anybody could go be a shepherd.
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It's a very isolating job. It's you and some
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sheep. You're living on goat's milk and dried
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meat. They're kind of, in my mind, like lighthouse
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keepers. If you visited a lighthouse, I feel
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like more of you have done that. Lighthouse,
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yes? Yeah. We visited a lighthouse in Maine.
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And they are a unique breed. They are assigned
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that job. It is on the end, right, into the ocean.
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The wind, like you could like lie on the wind.
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It would hold you up. And in that kind of weather,
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that constant wind and cold, they had to garden
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to grow their food. They had to be a self -sustaining
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people. And it's interesting to me because It
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is very common amongst light keepers that for
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generations, their sons and their sons and their
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sons, they all will take up the cause of being
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a lighthouse keeper. And so I find them to be
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a unique breed of people. And I think shepherds
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are like that as well. But I feel like we can
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relate to shepherds, and Jesus often brings that
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comparison to the good shepherd, right? And us
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as the sheep. And so I feel like their account
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of evangelizing will be a little easier for us
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to identify with. And so let's look, Lila already
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read part of it, but let's read in Luke chapter
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2, starting in verse 8, the account of the shepherds.
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And there were shepherds living out in the fields
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nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.
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An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the
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glory of the Lord shone around them, and they
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were terrified. Well, wouldn't you be? If suddenly
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the angels of heaven were surrounding you, you
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might be a little terrified. But the angel said
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to them, Do not be afraid. I bring you good news
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that will cause great joy for all the people.
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Today in the town of David, a Savior has been
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born to you. He is the Messiah, the Lord. This
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will be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped
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in cloths and lying in a manger. And then suddenly
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a great company of the heavenly host appeared
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with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory
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to God in the highest, and on earth peace to
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those on whom his favor rests. When the angels
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had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds
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said to one another, let's go to Bethlehem and
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see this thing that has happened, which the Lord
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has told us about. They're kind of like, you
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know, on the side of the road when there's an
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accident and everybody pulls out their phone
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to record it, right? I'm just like, why? What
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are you going to do with that video? I don't
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understand, but there they are videoing things.
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And so, you know, I feel like the shepherds would
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be pulling out their phones to video this occurrence.
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So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph
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and the baby who was lying in the manger. And
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when they had seen him, they spread the word.
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Everybody say that. Spread the word. They spread
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the word. What were they doing? They were testifying.
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They were sharing their story. All who heard
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it were amazed at what the shepherds said to
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them. But Mary treasured up all these things
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and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds
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returned glorifying and praising God for all
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the things that they had heard and seen, which
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were just as they had been told by the angel.
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So when the shepherds saw the Messiah, the Lord,
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Their immediate response is we need to go and
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tell someone. This is not news to keep to ourselves.
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Love has come down. We must tell someone. Now
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listen, all of us in here have said we have been
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touched by love coming down. And so my question
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for us today is what is our response? Is our
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response to hide it under a bowl, like in Matthew
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5, it says, do people with a light hide it under
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a bowl? No. The response is to tell, to let the
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light shine, to let the love shine. And so today,
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I have just two directives that I want to share.
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And the first directive is this, tell your story.
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It's as easy as that. You don't have to be a
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missionary called to go to an island full of
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cannibals. I'm not saying he won't call you.
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It would give me no greater joy than to send
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some of you off to the mission field. As much
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as we love you. You don't have to be a missionary.
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going off to an island full of cannibals. You
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just have to tell your story. It's as simple
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as that. A few weeks back, for our Thanksgiving
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service, we walked through Psalm 107. And at
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the very beginning of that chapter, we touched
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on it briefly. But this is the source of our
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first directive. Psalm 107, verse 2. Let the
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redeemed of the Lord. How many of you have been
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redeemed by the Lord, right? Let the redeemed
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of the Lord tell their story. I know, the New
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King James says, say so. But I like the NIV because
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it says, let the redeemed of the Lord tell their
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story. Tell your story. Those he redeemed from
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the hand of the foe. Have you been redeemed from
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the hand of the enemy? Yes. And so let the redeemed
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of the Lord tell their story. You have a story
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to tell. You have a story. You have encountered
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love coming down. You have a story. I love that
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this word tell, it has all kinds of different
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levels of telling. You can speak it, you can
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shout it, you can declare it. But what you get
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from that is that it's definitive. Listen, you
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may not be able to debate theology with the smartest
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people. You may not understand everything that's
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in the, you may not have even read all of the
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Bible yet. You may be so new on your journey.
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That's okay. That's not what the verse tells
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us to do. Debate doctrine, does it? It just says,
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redeemed of the Lord, tell your story. It's that
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easy. It's that simple. It's that uncomplicated.
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Now, I have a little rhyme for you. Okay, are
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you ready? We're going to see if you can figure
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out this rhyme. Loftily poised in the ether capacious,
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strongly resembling a gem carbonaceous. Did you
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get it? You need me to read it one more time?
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Scintillate, scintillate, globule vivific. Fain
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would I fathom thy nature specific. Loftily poised
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in the ether capacious. strongly resembling a
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gem carbonaceous. Anybody have the interpretation?
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What? We got star? Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
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how I wonder what you are, up above the world
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so high, like a diamond in the sky. Do you see
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how we can overcomplicate something? I felt that
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way when I first started working on my master's
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degree because I didn't have an undergraduate
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degree. The first, like, article or book that
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I had read, I had my phone next to me so I could
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look up what these words meant. And I would read
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the word and I would be like, right, Derek? Like,
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why can't you just say that? Why does it have
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to be so complicated? I get it if you would just
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say it, but they use all these lofty terms, right?
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Listen, this sometimes we overcomplicate telling
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people about Jesus when all he's really looking
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for is us to tell your story. Tell your story.
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So here's what we're going to do. We're going
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to have a little training 101 right now from
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the Apostle Paul in Acts 22. Okay, so go to Acts
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22, starting at the end of verse 2. There are
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three things that Paul includes when he's telling
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his story. Okay, now if you've done any reading
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of Paul, you know Paul can be very long -winded.
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Paul has so many run -on sentences. It's like
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a whole paragraph that's one sentence. Paul is
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a wordy guy. But when it comes to sharing his
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story, it's pretty simple. The first thing he
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does, he tells who he was. All right? And so
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we find in verse 3, I am a Jew born in Tarsus
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of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. I studied
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under Gamaliel and was thoroughly trained in
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the law of our ancestors. I was just as zealous
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for God as any of you are today. I persecuted
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the followers of this way to their death, arresting
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both men and women and throwing them into prison,
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as the high priest and all the councils can themselves
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testify. They can tell you how I killed Christians,
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he's saying. I even obtained letters from them
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to their associates in Damascus and went there
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to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem
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to be punished. This is who the apostle Paul
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used to be. It's who he was. He was a murderer
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of Christians. Dragging them out of their homes.
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In the first account that we see of Stephen,
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the first martyr, who was overseeing that? The
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Apostle Paul. And so this is very simple. Number
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one, he says, this is who I was. Here's number
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two, part two of his testimony. This is the part
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where it's his conversion account, his conversion
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story, his turning point. Damascus Road. Yeah,
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some of us like to lead Jesus on a chase too,
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don't we? Why don't you give him one of those
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little cutout cookies off of the tree in there
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that Alexandra made? He'll enjoy that. Some of
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you adults might enjoy it. Okay, so who he was.
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And now his conversion experience, his turning
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point. About noon, in verse 6, as I came near
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Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven
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flashed around me. I fell to the ground and heard
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a voice say to me, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute
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me? Who are you, Lord? I asked. I am Jesus of
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Nazareth, whom you are persecuting, he replied.
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My companions saw the light, but they did not
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understand the voice of him who was speaking
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to me. What shall I do, Lord? I asked. Get up,
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the Lord said, and go into Damascus, and there
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you will be told all that you have been assigned
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to do. My companions led me by the hand into
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Damascus because the brilliance of the light
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had blinded me. A man named Ananias came to see
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me. He was a devout observer of the law and highly
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respected by all the Jews living there. He stood
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beside me and said, Brother Saul, receive your
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sight. And at that moment, I was able to see
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him. This was Paul's conversion experience, right?
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He went into that experience as Saul and then
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fell to the ground because the light of Jesus
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was in front of him. And suddenly, Suddenly,
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he became a new man. Now listen, your turning
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point with Jesus, your conversion experience
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may not have been as dramatic as a Damascus Road
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experience. It may have been. For a lot of years,
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I kind of was timid about sharing my story because
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I didn't have a dramatic turning point like that.
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I wasn't freed from drugs or alcohol. I didn't
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have anything great like awe -inspiring like
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everybody was like, oh, yeah. I didn't have that.
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I had who I was, a young Catholic girl that even
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in my limited understanding had a heart toward
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God to the point that I, as a young child, was
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considering becoming a nun. And then my dad had
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that radical turning point experience. And we
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came into an Assembly of God church. And I didn't
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have, in fact, I remember being at camp one year,
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and it was Salvation Night. They have, like,
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Salvation Night, Holy Spirit Night, you know.
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And so first night's Salvation Night. We got
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to get all these kids saved at the beginning
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of camp. And I remembered them saying, you need
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to come up and say the sinner's prayer. And as
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a young Catholic, I'm sitting back there saying,
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I don't know the sinner's prayer. I know an awful
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lot of other prayers I memorized for grade at
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school, but I don't know this prayer. How am
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I supposed to pray this prayer? I don't know
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this prayer. You know, I never, and even now,
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people will look back and say, on this date,
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I gave my life to Christ. I had no date. I have
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no date like that. We just kind of started going
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to the church, and I flowed right into, got filled
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with the Holy Spirit, loving Jesus. It was just
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like this smooth transition for me. But I've
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been following Jesus ever since. Never once have
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I walked away from him. And so your conversion
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experience, your turning point may be very dramatic,
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but it also may be very simple. It doesn't matter.
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One moment I didn't have Jesus, the next I did,
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right? Tell my story. And then the Lord really
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later showed me that my conversion experience
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was the freedom from the law into relationship
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with Jesus. And I'm convinced that it is the
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greatest testimony because it's the most deceitful
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thing, the law, when you are... It's all about
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the outward, right? And I was saved from the
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burden of that. That was powerful when I realized
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this is my testimony. And so who you were, your
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conversion, your turning point experience, and
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the third part of the testimony was who he is
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now. And in verse 14, he said, the God of our
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ancestors has chosen you to know his will. So
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this is God speaking to him. Actually, it was
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Ananias and then God speaking to him. The God
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of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will
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and see the righteous one, Jesus, and to hear
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words from his mouth. Isn't that good? You, Paul,
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have been set apart to see the righteous one
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and hear his words. You will be his witness to
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all people of what you have seen and heard. And
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now what are you waiting for, Paul? Get up, be
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baptized, and wash your sins away, calling on
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his name. And then the Lord said to Paul, Go,
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I will send you far away to the Gentiles. This
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is who he is now, a missionary evangelist. And
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so it is very simple, your story, who you were,
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what Jesus did, and what you are now, who you
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are now. This is your story. If we think about
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Paul, who he is now, who he was after Jesus,
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he himself wrote this, that he was flogged by
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the Jews five times with 39 lashes. He was beaten
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by Roman rods three times, pummeled with rocks,
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shipwrecked three times, adrift on the open sea
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for a night and day, traveled hard year in and
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year out, forded rivers, fought off robbers,
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struggled with friends and enemies, endured risky
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conditions in the city, wilderness, and storms
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at sea. Betrayed by people he thought were dear
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friends, served hard labor, was often lonely,
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sleepless, hungry, and freezing cold. felt the
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constant weight of responsibility for supporting,
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training, and encouraging all the churches. That's
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weight. And he experienced deep desperation.
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I list all of that because what Paul endured
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after his conversion is what gives his testimony
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the weight of truth. Would he have endured all
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of this? If he wasn't positive that the one who
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stopped him on the road to Damascus was Jesus
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himself. Who would endure that? Nobody. Why?
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Why would you endure all of that? If you weren't
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convinced that Jesus had changed everything for
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you. And when you're convinced of that, nobody
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can debate you out of anything. I know the one
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who has saved me. And you can talk about all
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kinds of things, but I know him. I've seen him,
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and I know him. And that's my story, and I'm
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sticking to it, right? And so Paul knew this
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is no fictional story. So my question is, how
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convinced are you of your story? How convinced
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are you? You might say, I am not a missionary.
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I am not Paul. But can you be a simple shepherd
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who tells what they saw, who tells what they
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experienced? Can you tell your story? Let the
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redeemed of the Lord tell their story. The angel
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declared, I bring you good news that will cause
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great joy for all the people. This is why your
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testimony is needed, why your story is needed.
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What you have received should be cause for great
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joy for all people. But how can it be joyful
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for other people if we don't tell our story,
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right? And so here's altar call number one. This
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week, part of your end of your Advent time, if
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you have never sat and thought out your story,
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I want to encourage you to take a few moments,
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15 minutes this week, and write your story down.
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Just to, if there's something that happens in
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your mind, it'll make it easier for the telling
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if you just write your story down, who you were,
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how Jesus changed you, and who you are now. Write
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it down. Look at how simple it is so you're ready
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to tell somebody, okay? So that's, your altar
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call is at home this week doing that. Okay, so
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directive one was what? Tell your story. Directive
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number two is live your story. Don't tell your
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story if you're not living your story. Nobody
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wants to hear your story if you're not living
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your story. That will do more damage for the
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kingdom than if you just would not say anything.
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And so 1 John 4 says it pretty straightforward
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in verse 20. Whoever claims to love God yet hates
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a brother or sister is a liar. This is a person,
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this is just an example of a person that is not
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living their story. They claim they love God,
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but to love God is to love people because God
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loves people. Here's an account of a woman that
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has lived her story that I found fascinating.
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I love reading about the war and what happened
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with Jewish people. And so this is an account
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of a Hebrew lady who once told how seeing another
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Christian's faith converted her. She was fleeing
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the German Gestapo in France during World War
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II. She knew she was close to being caught and
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she wanted to give up. She came to the home of
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a French Huguenot. A widow lady met her and said
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that it was time to flee to a new place. This
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Jewish lady said, it's no use. They will find
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me anyway. They are so close behind. The Christian
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widow said yes. They will find someone here,
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but it's time for you to leave. Go with these
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people to safety. I will take your identification
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and wait here. The Jewish lady then understood
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the plan. The Gestapo would come and find this
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Christian widow and think she was the fleeing
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Jew. The Hebrew lady said, I asked her why she
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was doing that, and the widow responded, it's
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the least I can do. Christ has already done that
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and more for me. The widow was caught and imprisoned
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in the Jewish lady's place, allowing time for
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her to escape. Within six months, the Christian
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widow was dead in the concentration camp. Later,
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this Hebrew lady accepted Christ as her Savior.
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This lady wasn't just telling her story. She
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was living it. Love had come down to her, and
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she was giving out that love. When you know where
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your eternal home is, you can do things like
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that. She was more concerned with this woman's
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eternal destiny because she knew her eternal
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destiny, right? This is living your story. She
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believed her story. She lived her story in the
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same way that Christ did. He came down to a crucifixion,
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bringing us into eternal life. I was in a Bible
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study with one of the ladies this week, and we
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were talking about baptism. And as we were working
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through the verses, our conclusion that we came
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to is that more important than the act of baptism
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itself, because what is baptism but to declare
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to everyone, I'm a follower of Jesus. I'm a disciple
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of Jesus. But we concluded that even more important,
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because a lot of people get baptized and then
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walk away. We concluded it's more important to
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live a baptized life, right? What is a baptized
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life? The life that continually dies with Christ
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and is resurrected with him. That is the life
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we want people to see. We want people to see
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us tell our story and live our story. So you're
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going to tell it and you're going to live it.
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And so the team's going to come back up here,
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but in Matthew 5, verse 16, we referred to this
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earlier, and I want to circle back around to
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it. Verse 16, let your light shine before others,
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that they may see your good deeds and glorify
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your Father in heaven. Listen. Let your light
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shine, tell it, and then let them see your good
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deeds, live it. Tell it and live it. This is
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the goal. This is what the shepherds were doing.
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They saw it, and it changed them, and they went
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and they told. And so we're in a week where many
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of you are going to be with family members, and
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some of that will be really great, and some of
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that might be really hard. Don't just tell them.
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You got to live it in front of them. This is
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the week. You may not be with them for another
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six months or so. And so in this time that you
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have this week, this Christmas week, I want to
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encourage you to tell your story and to live
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your story before your family, before your friends.
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We're going to take up the declaration of Psalm
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107, and the spirit of the shepherd. And we're
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going to tell our story this week. Love came
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down so that we could give love out, right? The
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only way that the love that came down can give
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it out is through you and I. We are the hands,
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we are the feet, we are the body of Christ. And
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love goes out through you and through me. Amen?
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And so, My goal for 2026, we're coming up to
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that very quickly. And my goal in 2026 is to
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tell my story as often as I can. I love this
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phrase, each one win one. What would it look
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like if each one of us won one person to Jesus?
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Let's be a people that... tells the story, and
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lives the story. Amen? And so this morning, here's
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what we're going to do. We're going to go out
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as we came in, and the team is going to lead
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us one more time and go tell it on the mountain.
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And as we sing that, let it just be a moment
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of declaration for you that, God, I maybe have
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been putting my light behind a little bit of
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a bowl, but I'm going to be like that lighthouse
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keeper, and I'm going to buff the windows. I'm
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going to buff the light and make sure there's
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nothing to block the light, right? Anything that
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I've been hiding behind. Listen, we are a Pentecostal
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people. That isn't so weak as much as we love
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to get touched by the Lord, and many of you were
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being touched by him today. We have been filled
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with his spirit that we might be a people that
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tell it and live it. This was why he gave the
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Holy Spirit, that we would have boldness to tell
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and live it. And so as we stand this morning,
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let's just, as we sing this, let's make it our
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declaration before the Lord. Lord, listen, it
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was never the intention that the church, us,
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whatever that is, be the ones to do it. Our job
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is to equip you to do it. Right? And part of
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that is evangelist. Part of that is telling people.
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And so let's, you know, loosen up and just shine
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the light and be the light and live it and tell
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it for people that need the good news that we've
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received. And so Candice and Ben, let's declare
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it as we finish up this morning.