Live Free with Josh Howerton - Letting Thankfulness Become Your Song | Ep. 233 | Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Episode Date: December 27, 2023

Luke tells us that Mary sang praises to God when she found out she was to be the mother of her Savior. She was so full of gratitude that it came out in song. When was the last time you were so overwhelmed with thankfulness that you couldn’t help but share it with others? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive. Hope that you're having a great holiday season. Maybe you're getting to have a break from school for a while,

or perhaps you've got some vacation time saved up and you're able to break the normal routine. Or maybe you're right back at it. Or maybe because your circumstances right now, you really haven't been able to enjoy this time like other people. Wherever you are and whatever is going on in your life, know that there really is joy because the Lord has come to be with us. You know, I can't imagine how much tension and stress surrounded the birth of Jesus.

I heard about a young dad who was just flying in his car trying to get his wife to the hospital before he was afraid she might give birth in the front seat. Panicked, he calls the hospital to give him a heads up. So I'm bringing my wife in right now. Please be ready. I'm driving as fast as I can. I'm on my way. And a calm nurse says with a smile in her voice,

Well, sir, you need to slow down and you need to calm down. Is this her first baby? He says, no, this is her husband. you know, magnified his stress by a thousand, and you got the birth of Jesus. We talked about that scene in previous episodes, but in the midst of all that craziness, it says this in Luke chapter 2 verse 19, but Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. She just said, this is a moment.

This is a moment I never want to forget. You know, there's that Christmas song that asked the question, Mary, did you know? I think she did. Not all the details, but she knew that hope was lying on her chest, and she treasured the moment and pondered the goodness of God. Yesterday we talked about soaking in the moment, moving through life at a slower pace, saying, oh my, more often, drinking in a sunset, studying the laugh lines on an old woman's face, or dancing with a child, or savoring each bite of a piece of three-day-old pumpkin pie, just soaking in the moment with gratitude and awe.

There's another thing I've been learning from this courageous girl. I'm learning not only to soak in my moments, but to sing over my moments. Look what it says right after she gets the news that God has chosen her to be the Savior of the world's mom. It says this in Luke chapter 1, verse 46 through 48. She was filled with the Holy Spirit and sang out exuberantly. I'm bursting with good news.

I'm dancing the song of my Savior, God. God took one good look at me, and look what happened. I am the most fortunate woman on earth. And this song goes on and on through Luke chapter one, as what has come to be known as the Magnificant of Mary. Just this song, a spoken word, it just flows out of her joy and gratitude. And when I read it, I think to myself, man,

I want to sing more. I used to work at a place called Ponderosa Steakhouse. Some of you guys remember that back in the day, I was a teenage guy working there, and things were going pretty good in my life. I'd given my life to Christ. They had a girlfriend, things were going pretty good, and I would come to work every day singing. And I remember one day this grumpy old manager pulling me aside.

He says, hey, bro, come here for a second. Enough with a singing, man. Can't you come in here in a bad mood? I thought, well, okay, I'll try, you know. Well, fast forward many years. My son Derek, who is a great singer, really good musician. He's in high school, and he's in his room and he's writing a song. And I don't know whether they've ever lived with a songwriter or not,

but when someone's writing a song, they do the same lick like over and over and over and over and over and over again. And he's got his electric guitar cranked up trying to write this song, and I'm trying to study in the other room. And finally, I just got up from the table and I walked in there, opened his door. I was about to say, turn this down. and I caught myself. And I went, oh, my goodness, I have turned into Ponderosa guy. I'm like that grumpy old manager.

And I caught myself and said, hey, man, what are you right? Man, that sounds awesome. Crank it up. But I closed the door, though, wow, wow. What did I almost do? I hope that when Derek is on top of the world, he's singing. And I hope when the world's on top of him that he's singing. You know, sometimes people ask me,

hey, well, I'm trying to figure out God's will for my life. And a lot of times I'll take him to this verse from First Thessalon. Lawyers chapter 5 which says be joyful always pray continually give thanks in all circumstances for this is god's will for you and christ jesus that's god's will for your life that should be joyful always pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances you ever been in the presence of greatness or just go man i don't even belong in the same room with this person maybe if somebody that hits a golf ball 400 yards off the t-box you're going what am i doing on this te box or maybe you're in the room with somebody's really really smart and in this board meeting and they're saying all this stuff about the future plans.

You're going, wow, I can't even care of this person's briefcase, you know. That happened to me. It was a moment that I'll never forget. I was leading worship one time at the church. And I was leading worship with this girl named Melissa, and she was amazing. I mean, one of the greatest worship leaders I've ever been on a stage with. And I just thought to myself, what in the world am I doing here? Man, you need to just sit down and shut up and let her lead the whole thing.

because I don't even belong in the same space with this amazing girl. Now, you need to know this about Melissa. Melissa has cerebral palsy and everything she says comes off a machine where she types it in. She's extremely bright, but she types it in on a machine on her chair, and that's the way she was able to talk. And she's not a great singer, but, man, she's a singer. And she sang with such worship and such joy and such a spirit and such a smile. that it just made me think, man, what am I doing up on this stage with this girl?

She understands what it means to sing over your moments. She understands what it means to be joyful always, to give thanks in all circumstances. And I thought to myself, man, I got to whine a lot less and sing a lot more. And I hope this day finds you singing, treasure, ponder, unwrapped the present at the moment, soak in it, sing over it, and I'll see you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services

on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out? For more information about all digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lake point.compt.com. Church slash daily drive.