Welcome to the Daily Blade. The word of God is described as the sword of the spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

All right, welcome back to the Daily Blade. We are going to do a deep dive this week into Luke chapter 2. And I know what you're probably thinking: isn't Luke chapter 2 the preeminent text on Christmas? And yes, it is. And you may be thinking, well, isn't Christmas over? Well, no. I mean, I want you to think about Christmas Day from Mary and Joseph's perspective. We're going to look at the perspective of the shepherds. You see, the way they experience Christmas is Christmas was not the finish line, Christmas was the starting line. Listen, I'm pro-Avent. I think it's really cool that we pre we would prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas, but a part of the shadow of Advent is that what we do as American or Western Christians is we prepare and we prepare and we prepare for the incarnation of Christ. And then on that Christmas day, we do all the things. We read Luke 2, we've seen all the movies, we've been to the Christmas Eve services, we open the presents, and then we just move on with our lives getting ready for the new year. Well, that is not how it worked in the first Christmas in Luke 2. You see, um, especially the shepherds, from their perspective, they really had no idea that Christmas was coming, and they didn't just get ready for it, celebrate it, and it was over, but it was that moment that changed everything. So that is the perspective in which I want to look at Luke 2 as we move into the new year. Luke chapter 2, beginning of verse 1, says this In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Corinius was governor of Syria, and all went to be registered, each to his own town. And 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. Here's the first thing I want you to know that Christmas tells us is that God is in control of your life. God is in control of every detail of your life. You see, Caesar Augustus thought he was a big deal because Caesar Augustus thought he was the Lord of Lords and King of Kings. That's what he would call himself. And he thought he was in charge. And little did he know he was but a small bit player in the grand narrative of the birth of the true King Jesus. You see, Romans 8 28 is still true that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. And so, as you walk into this new year, as we're walking out of Christmas, there may be some circumstances in your life and they feel like they're out of control. Or you may look into your future and you may not be able to see a clear path. Well, I've got some very good news that God is never surprised. God has never sat up in heaven and thought, you know what I just thought of? Because he has already pre-thought all the thoughts that have ever been thought. That God is in charge. God is in control. And the good news of the gospel is that God is at work in all things for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. So oftentimes the things that we think are interruptions to our life are actually God's plan to get us to go exactly where he would have us to be for the future. You see, you see this all throughout the Bible. Like in Joseph in the Old Testament, the code of many colors, Joseph. He goes through all kinds of hardships in his life. His brothers turn on him, they beat him up, they sell him into slavery, he's he's sold as a slave. Potiphar's wife accuses him, he ends up in jail, falsely accused. And then one day he finds himself, through obedience, he finds himself as the senior vice president of Egypt itself. And his brothers come gathering around him. And then eventually, when he reveals himself to his brothers, he says these words Am I not in the place that God would have me? What you intended for evil, God intended for good. And so no matter what you are going through, a part of what Luke 2, a part of what Christmas tells us, is that God is in control. And one of the things that we do oftentimes as modern-day Christians is we ask God to remove from us the very thing He gave to us because it's uncomfortable. You see, years ago, I think I've told you this before, every years ago, I was coaching my son's football team and they were working out in the gym and nobody was working hard. We live at the beach, so everybody was doing curls and abs. This was a football team. We needed to be squatting, deadlifting, bench pressing, heavy, power cleans, those kind of things. And I screamed out, everybody wants to be strong, nobody wants to be sore. You see, sometimes God has put us into that gym for us to go through pain because he is developing something in us. In fact, James, the brother of Jesus, says that we should consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds. Why? Because God is preparing you, sharpening you, developing you. And so it's one thing to be able to look over your shoulder at Romans 8 28 and look in the past about how God has been in charge and control of your life. But maybe this year you will look into the future. And when you face trials, like when Caesar Augustus calls the whole world to be registered, and you got to take your pregnant wife, put her on a donkey, and go all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. What looks like a trial was actually God ordained and orchestrated to accomplish God's will. And the same God of Christmas is the same God today that He's still got the whole world in his hands. I hope when you don't understand your circumstances, you'll trust the sovereign savior over your circumstances.

Amen. Stay sharp.