Season of hope Part 5
God always keeps his promises
In this season, if you spend your time reading or watching the news it can at times seem like God has given up on us, on America, on the world in general but the Christmas season should be a reminder to us that God always keeps his promises…they may be unconventional in the way he keeps them but he can’t fail.
Let me share a few promises with you before we get into the story today
Genesis 3:15
Then the LORD God said to the serpent………And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
This is a promise about Christ and our future that a day will when even though Satan will field a blow on the messiah and cause his death ultimately the definitive blow will be in destroying the enemy and his works. Isaiah 11:8 tells us it will be so definitive that even a child will be able to play with a cobra and other poisonous snakes because God will restore everything but that is future what about now and what does this have to do with Christmas?
Good questions
Let’s look at the verse the angel gave Joseph last week
Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Joseph was given this verse as a promise God had given to Israel over 700 years earlier. We see it fulfilled in today’s verses but I’ll get to why both of these passages are important, later.
Let’s look at the story
Luke 1:26 – 38
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Can you imagine in the dailiness of your life, something like this happens to you. Mary was just a normal teenage girl, doing all the things girls did at this time. She was not anyone special but obviously she loved the Lord and was faithful to being who he had asked her to be
- God’s promises are fulfilled in those who choose to trust Him
- We are told Joseph was righteous and just and as we talked about him we know this wasn’t about being perfect but instead about relying on the Lord, trusting Him everyday
- We are told Mary was highly favored and blessed among women.
What do we know about showing that we are living a life like this? How do we show God we trust Him? ….We do what he asks…
Love God Proverbs 3:1-4
love people Matthew 24
Find wisdom – Proverbs 8:35
Walk and live humbly – 1 Peter 5:5
Be a giver – Genesis 4:4
I know these things aren’t easy to do always, but that is part of the reason we have the Holy Spirit as he will bring to remembrance all Jesus taught and He will lead and guide us into all truth. God has hundreds of promises in His word for us that even though they may be thousands of years old, they are still true today just like the promise to Mary….his name shall be “Immanuel” that means “God with us” we can stand on that promise every day….he is with us, standing for us, fighting for us, praying for us, leading and guiding us…it is tough in times like we are living in now but we must choose to trust him and sometimes we have to fight too…
sometimes we have to fight our own wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to trust Him..leads us to our next point…
What do we really know for sure? Do we believe that God can do anything?
- God’s promises are not limited by science, logic, or anything, but God
We serve a God who can turn water into wine, he can part the sea, he raised four people from the dead (himself included). The bumblebee flies only by a miracle not by science and so many other things…can he then create everything from nothing? Could he then have always existed? Can he cause a young woman who has never been with a man to grow and deliver a baby?
Luke 1:30-34
Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
I want to share with you a scripture that seems like it doesn’t fit here but allow me to explain
Romans 15:13
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
In point one, I challenged us to trust the Lord and as we are learning to do that Paul is saying because we trust him…God will fill us with a joy and peace that can only come from trusting him completely and then we will have a confident hope in the Holy Spirit…a confident hope for what….
We see here with Mary, God fulfilled a promise he made to Israel 700 years earlier and he did it in an impossible way…our challenge today is what seems impossible to us that we either want to see happen or need to see happen….God can
Eliminate all fear, worry and doubt
He can save your loved ones that seem especially impossible
He can heal every kind of disease
He will fulfill every dream he has ever given you
He will move the mountains to see you use every gift and ability and fulfill the call on your life
No person or circumstance can stand in your way
He can cause even your enemies to bless you and to be at peace with you
Anything else on your list….
The God who caused the earth to slow its rotation for Joshua to defeat his enemies, the God who feed 2 million people with quail in the wilderness, closer to home the God who created this nation as the land of the free and home of the brave, the God who put fear in the enemies who wished to kill me in Sudan…the God how blessed a virgin to have a baby who would save all of mankind that is who we still serve today
Just believe which leads me to my next point…what do the wisemen, the shepherds, Elizabeth and Zachariah, Joseph and Mary all have in common? They all said “yes” to God
- God’s promises are fulfilled through those who say, “yes” to Him
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
We need to start saying, “Yes” to the Lord all of the time….in fact I would like to challenge you to make 2021 the year of the “yes”
How many times has the Lord nudged you to do something, pray for someone, talk to someone, spend time with someone? To serve in some way, to give of your time, your talent, or your treasure.
Like prophecy, often the blessings of God are conditional, his love never is it is always unconditional but if we want to have eternal life, we have to choose salvation, if we want others to come to Christ we have to be obedient to pray and share, if we want to grow we need to read, pray, and live, if we want the Lord’s unlimited supply we must learn to be givers
God isn’t putting us in an awkward position he is merely challenging us to live out our faith out in front of people
James 2:18-20
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
James is saying anyone (including demons) can say they believe in God but if you really do believe you will show you belief, your trust, your love by not mere words but you’re saying “yes” shows your heart is right
God will always bless someone willing to take a leap of faith with him and say “yes”
We have seen the stories of everyone related to the Christmas story and the heart which each of them was God knew them, called them, stretched them, and they said, “yes” and he blessed them more than they could imagine
What does God want to do for you this Christmas season and for 2021? Will you understand God knows you, he calls you to change you, so if you are willing you will fulfill your purpose in this life and as you do you will be blessed and highly favored and the Lord will open every door for you, you could imagine and more….start today and believe for 2021