Realizing The Holy Moments

REALIZING THE HOLY MOMENTS

TEXT: LUKE 2:8-20

THEME: STOPPING TO ENJOY THE HOLY MOMENTS IN LIFE

In the Star Trek Movie, Insurrection there is a type of people who can slow down time. These people have the ability to stretch time out. So instead of a minute seeming to be a minute, time would slow to provide the opportunity to completely enjoy the moment. This must seem very nerdy to many of you, but I must confess I am a huge fan of Star Trek. But I am a bigger fan of experiencing the moments in life. This is why this scene in the movie touched me. There was a part of me that wanted to slow down life. There was a part that wanted to embrace the moments of my existence. If you are like me, time seems to go too fast. The greatest moments of our life seem to never last long enough. And moments were made to be remembered. Memorizes are precious to us. This is why I truly desire to slow my life down to drink deeply of the precious moments in my life.

Maybe you feel the same way? A lot of you have mentioned how important it is to enjoy our children while they are young. Many of you have said that I need to treasure the time I have with my small kids because as you say they grow up so fast. How many of you here would have loved to stop time for the most important moments in your life? How many of you would love to go back in time and stop for a second to take in the moment that you were experiencing? This is what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about stopping to enjoy the holy moments in life. Would you not be happier if you did this more often? Think about the enjoyment from life if you truly started experiencing life instead of just living it or going through the motions. Instead of allowing life to pass you by, imagine stopping to live life to the fullest. Imagine how great your life would improve if you stopped living it, but started to feel it. With the busy world that we live in, we must develop the ability to stop and smell the roses. This is what life is all about. We must learn to live in the moment. Some moments are bigger than others. There are important times in life that we cannot simply allow to past by. This is why we desire to take pictures. We want a record of the moment. We do not want to forget the times we spent together or the big times in life. Just imagine if you never took pictures of your graduation, or wedding, or baptism. You would never imagine not taking pictures for the family reunion. Our pictures are the markers of the memories. This is why it is important to enjoy the special moments in life.

Fortunately, the Bible teaches us how to drink deeply of these holy moments. Here is an example of a special moment in life or you can say the history of man kind. Luke 2:8-20 “And in the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields, and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. "And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths, and lying in a manger." And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." And it came about when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us." And they came in haste and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. And when they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.”