The Christmas season can bring with it a lot of joy, but it can also bring with it a lot of stress. I'm not alone in this. I actually did some research in a 2020 Healthline survey showed that 60% of all respondents felt increased levels of stress during the holiday season. In a similar fashion of a vital smart surveys showed that 56% of people felt overwhelmed with just trying to keep up. I wonder how many can relate this morning and maybe it's a difficult situation or circumstance, maybe it is end of year, stress related to a business or financial stress with some bills that have come due or relationship, stress with some Brokenness or conversations that need to be had or stress over the fact of conversations that were had the unknown of the future or the the Brokenness, maybe physically or a struggle through something health wise. And it's another doctor's visit. It's another specialist. It's another trip to the hospital. It's another trip treatment. Maybe it's a loved one that we're worried about or doubts of. Am I good enough? Can I make it? And so we fill our minds with all these question marks that seem to be amplified during the holiday season and, and we almost find ourselves like grinding our teeth like it be right? Like you're gonna love it. Right? And like, like kids, this isn't the greatest time of year and then you walk. Ah, is it though? Is it the greatest time? I don't know. And we battle and we struggle. We have questions. And so what I wanna do today is I wanna speak into the stress of the holiday season and I wanna talk specifically about two ideas. This is an idea that God gave me a couple of weeks ago and I've been processing it and it's, it's really honestly helped me during this season and as it's been helping me, I hope maybe it'll help some of you. And this idea is really two seemingly paradoxical ideas. They sound similar but they mean very different things. And it's the idea of position versus disposition, position versus disposition. See a position over here on this side, just picture this side here. So this half of the room is gonna be the position. And so this half of the room is gonna be the disposition. And if you're in the middle, you just, you just have to choose. OK. So, um but this side here, if you think of the bucket or a definition of a position, it's really defined as a condition with reference to place, location or situation, it says everything that happens to you. It's the meeting, it's the email, it's the conversation, it's the sickness, the illness, the bills that need to be paid, the worry, the, the doubts, the question marks the feelings of, am I good enough? It's all of the stuff that you can put under the circumstance of life. And so for a moment, I want you to put everything that's going on or everything that you have all your expectations, all of your worries and questions, you're gonna put that in that bucket. But then on the other side, here, on this side of the room in this bucket is what we call disposition. So I know it sounds very similar to position, but the definition of disposition is the predominant or prevailing tendencies of one's spirits. In other words, it's one's mental and emotional outlook. So over here we have our position. This is our circumstance, this is a situation, this is everything external and over here we have. How do we feel about that? Right? This is what's happening and this is how we feel about what's happening. Does that make sense? Now, here, here is the thought process. I'm guessing, I'm guessing that most of what stresses you out actually falls into this bucket. It's, it's those bills. It's that unknown. It's the tension you feel in the relationship. Oh Man, is he gonna be at Christmas dinner? Is she not gonna be at Christmas dinner? What are we gonna say, what are we gonna have? What are we gonna do? Can we pay that? You know, it, I, I got the promotion but it's not what I thought it was. Ok. Now, what? It's the career move. It is the unknown. It is and, and everybody's position bucket is different. So, I don't know what's in your bucket. I don't know what falls into this. I don't know how you would describe your circumstances or situation today. But what I guarantee you is that every single person watching right now has a position bucket. But what I also know to be true is that every single person here has a disposition bucket. This is your mental and emotional outlook. And if you're taking notes, I want you to write this down. The key to finding the solution to stress in holiday season. Is this focus on your disposition towards God, not your position in life. Our focus over here is in our disposition towards God, not your position in life. Another way to look at it just real simply this disposition is greater and more important than your position. This position is more important than your position. Why do I say that? Because if you look throughout all of scripture, it is filled with characters whose position doesn't make any sense at all. Abraham and Sarah were way too old to have a baby. You think about other characters. Jacob was too mischievous to, to lead a nation, Leah who was not the desired one, but yet it was through her lineages. We end up with a team. David when he was selected. If you, if you're not familiar with the Bible stories, think David and Goliath, the Shepherd and the giant and the slang. Ok. Before all that went down, the prophet Samuel went to Jesse's house and said, hey, uh, we're gonna have a competition, kinda like we have the voice. We want you to line up. I'm gonna have a chair and if I like your child, I'm gonna hit it and turn around and you get to be king. Ok? Maybe that's not how it worked. But, but he did get this calling from God to go anoint the next king. And so he visits his house and so Jesse has all these sons and he lines them up and, and Samuel's going down and he's like, nope, nope, nope, nope. He's like Jesse. This sounds weird. But do you got any more kids? He's like, well, I mean, I got David but he's the youngest. He's watching sheep. You don't want David? Yeah. Yes. Yes, I do. Actually, so David's position was not one that you would think he would be king. Other stories. Jonah was disobedient and ran away. He was too scared to be a prophet. Naomi was a widowed refugee who was poor and had her daughter-in-law Ruth who they were just picking leftovers out of a field, not the best position. You go to the New Testament. Same thing who did Jesus choose to be his disciples, people whose position were fishermen and doctors and tax collectors and zealots. They didn't match. Paul was actually a persecutor of the church. He was not a preacher of the gospel. He persecuted antagonized and attacked Christian. His position was directly opposed, directly opposed to the other side. Think about the division within politics, picture someone being or running for president in one party and then turn around and then representing and being the spokesman for the other party. How would people feel about that? Now, his position doesn't make sense. And then you start to look at the Christmas story and we sing songs and we drink hot chocolate and you know, here in Arizona, we, we turn off our air conditioners, you know, the standard winter practices, we put a fireplace on Netflix and we just play that the Arizona fireplace. But if you look at the nativity scene, if you look at the Christmas story, absolutely nothing in the story makes sense. If you look at the Christmas story through the lens of the position, nothing in the story makes sense. Mary is, is too young, he's too young. Joseph is too poor, too common. The relatives that are involved, Elizabeth and Zachariah, they're too old people at the temple. Simeon and Anna. They're, they're, they're, they're too old to be relevant. Ok. The first witnesses of the birth of Christ. Well, they're the shepherds. They're not good enough. Well, the ones who are gonna bring him gifts, these are gonna be the Jewish religious leaders. Right. No wise men from another country. Well, at least he was born in the best hospital in the best city at the best time. No, in a small remote village in the lineage of David who we just talked about and then not even in the village, not in the hotel, not in a home, but in the stable and in the stable in the manger, like nothing in the story makes sense until you start viewing through the disposition lens and we start looking at the heart and attitude and response of the people and you see that it starts to come into view. And I've actually in just a renewed refreshed joy from this Christmas story because if nothing in the Christmas story makes sense, but they were joyful and had peace and had meaning that means that my life and my position does not have to make sense for me to have joy because you turn on the television, you look on social media. Uh I think one of the funniest things I saw was if you want something for Christmas, just shout what you want next to your partner's phone and then we'll start seeing ads on Google and Facebook for that item. Oh, now some of you are taking notes. OK. I see. I see where our audience is at today. No, that's a good idea. Ok. And, and online it's like, well, if you only had this, your Christmas would be great. But everything this world offers you is trying to fill this never ending position bucket. When if you look at the Christmas story, nothing in this position bucket makes sense. So let's look at Mary's example and see, ok, what did a Mary actually know? Why could she have everything in her life upside down? And yet she kept her faith. Well, before we jump into that, let's point out the fact that in Isaiah 7, 14, about 700 years before the coming of Jesus, the prophet said this. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel. So it's prophesized, it's predicted. And the Christmas story we primarily read in Luke chapter two and we're going to continue that on Friday night. But for right now, I want to focus in on Luke chapter one. We're going to pick up the story and we're gonna read through this. And Elizabeth is the aunt of Mary is pregnant. She again, she was too old. If you talk about positions, she wasn't supposed to have a kid, but then she has a kid and it's gonna be actually John, the Baptist who's connected to the Jesus story. And so we pick up the story here starting in verse 26 in the six month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee to the virgin, pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored. This idea of the favor of God is where we get our idea and concept of grace. This means that God didn't look down and say, ok, I'm gonna do a competition for who could be the best mom. And that winner gets to raise Jesus know that she is favored because the very grace of God and because of what God did and who God is not that she earned it. And so it says in verse 20 the angels went to her and said, greetings, you who are highly favored, the Lord is with you. Mary was greatly troubled at his words. That's the understatement of the universe, right? Remember she's a teenage girl, like if you've raised a, a teenage girl currently or in the past, like, well, like my, my daughter's five and I feel like I'm in trouble. But have you ever given something to a teenage girl and responded in the way Mary is about to respond? Ok, we're gonna say we're going to come back, come back to just a moment so clearly she was troubled and wondered what kind of greeting this might be verse 30. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God, you have found grace with God and you will conceive and give birth to a son and you are to call him Jesus and he will be great and will be called the son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. How will this be? Mary asked since I am a virgin? Well, the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the holy one will be born will be called the son of God. Says, even Elizabeth, your relative is going to have a child in her old age and she who was said to be unable to conceive in her six month. And then it says a great verse here, verse 37 that for no word from God will ever fail. And now this is where you're gonna see Mary's response. Verse 38 I am the Lord's servant. Mary answered. What like has any teenage girl ever responded to that? Like, have you ever given a chore to a teenage girl or said this is what we're going to do. This is what we're gonna do. And just, and she doesn't roll her eyes, she doesn't smirk, she doesn't repeat your words. This is what we gonna uh like back to you in a voice. No one ever does that. And then like, they don't come back with, well, I know everything mom and dad like uh like if you've ever given them a test to a teenage girl and says I am your servant. But this is Mary's response. I guarantee you. Mary's response is not from her position, but instead from God's promise because there's no way she can respond based on her position that way. But from her disposition, from the power and the presence and the purpose of God, she says, I'm the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled? And the angel left her. At which point, she texted all her friends. Oh my goodness. Can you believe my parents are the worst? No, she goes and says at that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea and where she entered Zachariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. This is uncle and aunt here. It says, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting the baby. When she was six months pregnant, the baby leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Isn't it interesting that the first person to worship during the Christmas series or in season was a fetus? This is actually one of the strongest verses and pictures that you have for the pro life stance because we teach here that that life comes at conception that that God has a purpose. From the very beginning for those that have walked through the difficulties of infertility or miscarriage or just challenges. Understand that there is a purpose in everything. And we see that the first person to worship was the unborn made in his image and Elizabeth who was too old to have a baby who was there and worship filled the Holy spirit. Then in verse 42 it says in a loud voice, she exclaimed, blessed. Are you among women and blessed is the child your bear? But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me. She doesn't refer to her as niece, but as the mother of God. And then she continues on and says, as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. I sometimes wonder why is it that we struggle to sing and worship God when an unworn baby in this story had no problem doing so. That means that you don't have to see to worship both literally and figuratively. OK. And then notice this verse verse 45. This is an incredible verse. She speaks this over Mary and says, Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her? How is it that Mary could have joy? Her focus was not on her position, but instead her focus was on his promise. You see that this is why it's important for us to focus on our disposition towards God and not our position in life because this will change. This is constantly changing. There's not a single person whose life can, will not be just dramatically changed in an instant next Sunday. So December 26th, we make it a rhythm that the last Sunday of the year we actually don't meet in person. So we give all our volunteers the Sunday off and, and what we do instead is that we post an inspirational story. And so this next Sunday, I want you to tune in online because we're gonna hear the story of a young man who just graduated college and in a moment's notice his life changed to battling cancer and you're gonna hear his story and overcoming that and walking through that and keeping his faith. And so that'll be online and then we'll be back in person on January 2nd. But see, Mary's faith was not in her circumstance, but in the God of our circumstance. And so let's take a little bit deeper dive. And what is it about Mary's disposition that we can know and learn from today? Really three things and it comes down to her attitude, it comes down to her affection and then her actions. So we have attitude, affection and actions. Another way to think of it is your head, your heart and your hands. And we're gonna see that in all three cases, Mary's disposition was different. First, there are no attitude, Mary showed humility. So she showed humility. Her first response to the news of Christmas was I am your servant. You know, the Bible talks about how pride is the root of all kinds of evil. So it makes sense that if pride is the antithesis to God, that then the way to experience God comes through being humble. And if you think through the story of Christmas, through the lens of humility, it starts to make sense that Jesus didn't come in big giant fanfare, but instead came in literally the most possible humble way, imaginable, unlikely people in an unlikely way in an unlikely location in an unlikely time. But in the exact time, in the exact way with the exact people that God wanted it to, and then Jesus lives a life marked by humility. In fact, Philippians chapter two describes the most humble person who ever lived was Jesus Christ himself, which is what led him to die on the cross. And so if you're walking through a season of stress right now, the first encouragement I wanna give you is to demonstrate humility that you don't have control of everything over here and that you don't need it to worship. Because that's the second thing when it comes to the affection of Mary, she really showed and expressed worship. She didn't wait for everything to get in line to begin worshiping. She had no idea what she was about to walk through and I just gotta be real being married for 15 years. My wife and I have been married for 15 years this week. And so that's awesome. And uh, and so it's been an incredible journey. And so as that, um loving healthy relationship, my heart also goes out to Joseph in that moment, I just picture walking 90 miles through the desert with a woman that's pregnant. Uh, Mary, are you? Ok. I'm fine. I'm fine. You, you don't, you don't sound fine, Mary, what do you mean? You didn't reserve a room ahead of time? But yet in the moment, Mary didn't know any of those things. And her first response was to worship. What that tells me is that you don't have to wait for the response to worship God in the now that you can worship before you get an answer, we don't have time, but she actually sings a song again. She's a teenage girl. What? Teenage girl walks through a difficult circumstance and comes back with? He's so good. I praise you like, right? Like, like you don't think at some point maybe I, I wonder a little bit. Maybe there's some nuance in there. Like did Mary give the angels like some eye roll? You know, like sure. What gives you the authority Gabriel? Right? I read something this week though that said if it was the three wise women, they would have come with food diapers and formula. And we've gotten there way sooner. We have started cleaning the stable in the home. Right? What a minute wise men are like here. What am I supposed to do with this? Right. Mary didn't wait for everything to be ok to or she didn't need her position because she had God's promise and that was enough. Then lastly we see that in her actions, Mary walked in obedience. Mary walked in obedience. You don't have to understand fully to obey immediately. Sometimes we're desperate for the plans and the details and God just tells us go and being a planner. I hate that but you don't always get those plans and the details and the outcomes and the positions. When guys are saying, do you trust me? Because Mary didn't just sit back and say, all right, God, it's your baby. You need to make this happen. Oh, they, they went to Bethlehem. They did the best they could with what they had and they obeyed. Do you want the solution to stress in your life? It starts by focusing on your disposition towards God and not your position in life. We'll end with this, you know, having three kiddos, you know, you end up talking about them a lot. All of this is sitting in the room here with us and uh get to embarrass them, which is great. And uh and if you have multiple kiddos, you know some of them are great eaters and some of them are not good eaters. Um, it seems true in our story, you know, I'm not going to name who it is, but this child happens to be 5, 11 and 13 years old. But, um, other than that, I don't know, I don't want to embarrass him. So, um, but that child so hated vegetables. I would pick the cilantro out of Chipotle rice. Like if it was green, like, wouldn't touch it, you know? And, uh, or other kids would eat and um and you give a kid a plate, right? And you're like, all right, you gotta eat, you gotta eat what mom and dad gave you and, and you give him that and say, well, what happens if I don't? Well, then you can sit there. But what you never hear happen from parents to kids is that you never make the child responsible for what is on somebody else's plate. They always say finish what's on your plate. I think God does the same thing. You are not responsible for somebody else's obedience. You're not going to get to heaven and be held accountable for somebody else's calling how somebody else responded to the same situation. You're gonna get up to heaven and God's gonna have this conversation with you and it's not going to be how other people responded. It's gonna be. Did you eat? What's on your plate? Did you walk in obedience? Did you show humility? Did you respond and worship? So, I don't know. What's on your plate? I don't know. And, and it's a lot, and I've had a lot of conversations of people who've lost loved ones and people who are in the hospital and people who are struggling and hurting and my heart goes out to you. And I wanna encourage you with this, that same unknown is in the very first Christmas. And if there is hope for them, there is hope for you and there's hope for me and that we can focus on our disposition and we can focus on the promise of God and we can walk in humility and in worship and in obedience. And if you do that church, I promise you this will be the best Christmas ever. Let's pray dear heavenly Father. Just thank you for who you are and what you've done. It's weird to take solace and peace in the fact that no one in the Christmas story had their stuff together that while everything seemed unlikely and unexpected and out of the ordinary, you were with them every step of the way and that the fact that you came to earth and your name Emmanuel literally means God with us. I asked that you would be with us this morning, that we would put our trust and faith in you and that we wouldn't focus on our positions in life and the struggles and battles. But instead in our struggles, in our battles, in our worries, in our doubts, choose to focus on your promises and your purpose and you, our savior, we love you God and we thank you for coming to earth and we thank you for coming in a humble way to show us the way back to you. We lift this church and this community up to you and your son. Then we pray.