Together For Support
Notes
Transcript
“All is clearly not well, We are a society in the grip of epidemics of anxiety, obesity and depression – It’s already clear that many of us are severely stressed by the struggle to keep up with the rate of change in our lives, and one of the consequences of that stress is anxiety.” - Hugh Mackay (Social Researcher and Author)
Joke about wrong room
Introduce : Good morning, incase you don’t know me I’m Mikey, the family life pastor here at Eagle LifeChurch.
Did you know that my generation is the most anxious in history? Some of the reasons for this are:
Living further away from family
social media
Pandemic stress caused anxiety rates to rise over 25% in the past two years, the largest jump in history
Inflation and financial uncertainty
Political turmoil
and a lack of hope is leading to a lack of peace
When I look at the world around me it seems like a very hopeless place, it’s hard to plant roots and build a life and assume that everything will be okay with everything going on, our society is so divided by
politics
economic status
Race
Gender
Religion
and Age
that it’s almost impossible to find strong friendships and relationships to share the struggles and joys of life with.
Series called Christmas together,
Today we’re lighting the second candle in our advent wreath, pastor talked about hope last week which was the first candle (light candle) and today, we’re talking about peace (light candle 2)
If you remember from last week, our core verse for this series is Galatians 4:4-5 Let’s read this together. Ready?
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Will you turn in your bibles with me to Luke 1:39?
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,
and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
The title of this message is Together for Support, will you join me in prayer?
Pray
Let’s turn right back to the beginning here, to Luke 1:39-40
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,
and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
Our first point today is Get Started.
1. Get Started
1. Get Started
You have to start. When God speaks GO!
Starting in ministry story, willing to submit to God even though it took a little bit of coaxing. Wasn’t very good at this, still working on it.
Mary went with HASTE, she travelled 70 miles by herself to visit with her cousin, Mary wanted to celebrate with her because of the blessing that they BOTH received.
Let’s turn back to what the Angel spoke to Mary just before this section. Luke 1:36-37
And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
The angel DIDN’T say Elizabeth is having a baby and you need to go to her. But the angel DID call her out for Mary. And Mary knew that she needed to go and see her even though it wasn’t a direct command.
Mary’s journey was 70 miles, however, for some of us today maybe that’s a 70 foot journey, the person you should be mentoring, the person who you should bring along this journey called life with you is just a row away from you, or a couple seats down, God’s given you the name but now clear direction and so we’re just waiting for the voice of heaven to come down and shout in our ear that we have to be in relationship with this person. Maybe it’s a 70 letter text message, maybe it’s someone we USED to be in relationship with but we’re holding onto an offence and so we’re not willing to rekindle that. Or maybe, it’s one volunteer application away, maybe God is calling you to get involved with the kids or youth in our church and you’re hesitant to jump in because of any kind of anxiety or fear or excuse you could make but there’s just one student that’s been waiting their whole life for you.
I believe that the biggest miracles in your life are sitting right behind one yes, and I’ve been praying that you commit to that yes today.
I have to ask, how often do we sit around waiting for a direct command from God instead of putting the pieces together for ourselves when God has already laid them out.
God isn’t always perfectly clear with us but when we seek Him he gives us the answers in his own way and Mary had to go, because she knew that Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant, and needed support, but Mary also needed support. So I want to share with you all that Support goes both ways.
2. Support Goes Both Ways
2. Support Goes Both Ways
Christopher Ward story:
starting going to him for mentoring as part of my credentialing,
strictly business
but ended up becoming a lifelong friendship where we both support each other as pastors,
and as people,
someone I can always go to to vent, share my struggles with, and get advice,
and it goes both ways.
We support each other due to our similar situations.
Let’s unpack this next section
Verses 41-45 if you’re following along in your bible
Luke 1:41–45 (ESV)
And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,
and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
In Bruce Larson’s Preacher’s commentary he worded it this way
How much we need other human beings to share the watershed moments of our lives. To be a Christian is to believe in a God who is the God of the impossible and to belong to a family of brothers and sisters who are there when you need them most. Because you belong to this family of faith, you have someone to go to who will listen to you when great joy or sorrow overwhelm you.
There’s 3 kinds of support that are clearly evident in this section of scripture. First up,
1. Spiritual Support
1. Spiritual Support
Mary’s visit led to Elizabeth’s being filled with the Holy Spirit. And it also led to Mary’s being filled with faith because of her cousin’s revelation.
2. Emotional Support
2. Emotional Support
Outside of the Spiritual support there was a lot of mental support happening, Elizabeth was able to affirm Mary and encourage her, she gave Mary so much mental and emotional support in this moment when she was probably riddled with fear and uncertainty.
Mary knew what she was going to be heading back to when she left her cousin. She was going back to a soon to be husband when she was pregnant and they both knew the baby wasn’t his. She was going back to a community that would condemn her for what had happened as she wasn’t married when she became pregnant.
She was going back to a family that would likely disown her for the disgrace she brought upon her family, and this would follow her for the rest of her life.
She was blessed among women but she was scorned among men.
and what I mean by that is that she was blessed by the gift and responsibility of raising the savior of the world but the world that her child came to save rejected Mary in the same manner that they would later reject Jesus.
3. Physical Support
3. Physical Support
And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Anytime Man is used in scripture as a generalization it’s referring to women as well. But simply put we get better when we’re together. The best place you can be is here, in a small group, and with other Christians who will build you up,
the place the enemy wants you to be is isolated, whether individually, as a family, or even isolated within your family. You HAVE to be here.
and trust me, I get the struggle, getting ready, getting out the door, making it to a service at the insanely early hour of 10:30 AM, being too busy to add just one more thing to your schedule so groups aren’t an option, turning down those lunch or coffee meetups with people because you just can’t be bothered, you just can’t keep up with extras because the unimportant has dominated your schedule.
But if you don’t make these two way support relationships NOW you’ll grow to regret it later. Who is around you that you know you should come alongside but don’t feel like you have time for?
This doesn’t just have to be here though, who’s the person you can get lunch with at work? Have you ever had a conversation with your neighbor? Invite them over! Do you know of someone that’s alone this Christmas? Invite them to celebrate with you.
One last thing before we move on, Elizabeth was WAY older than Mary, scripture says she was barren and ‘advanced in years’ and yet she welcomed Mary to participate in life with her. Who younger than you are you mentoring? I know that young people might intimidate you, their world is different than yours, but guess what! You’re living in it now, who in your life can support you and help you keep up? Maybe that teenager that you think you’ll be a huge blessing to will also bless you? I mean, who are you going to call when you don’t know how to use your new twitface, snapbook, or instareel app? And I mean, if you don’t know what Bussin’ means, ask your local teenager, they’ll help you keep up.
3. Don’t let your Second-Place Blessing Become A Second-Rate Attitude
3. Don’t let your Second-Place Blessing Become A Second-Rate Attitude
Don’t let your second place blessing be a second rate attitude!
There’s some really important truths about who you invite into your circumstances that are laid out here. And it’s REALLY important to invite the RIGHT people into the watershed moments of life.
Craig Groeschel, The pastor of Life Church says “Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.”
I want to remind you all, that whether you’re 6, 16, or 65, there’s still future for you, so it doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, this still applies to you.
there’s just two things we’ll look at here, if you want to hear more about people you should and shouldn’t include Pastor talked about “10 Christians to avoid” in our last series everyday saints, so check that out on YouTube or our website eaglelifechurch.org but anyway, first of all,
1. Elizabeth was NOT Jealous
1. Elizabeth was NOT Jealous
She didn’t look down on Mary upset that Mary got the Son of God when she only got the messenger.
And she had EVERY RIGHT to be jealous, she devoted her whole life to serving God and Mary was just her little cousin. She married a minister, there are many of you who are married to someone in ministry, whether it’s heavy involvement in the church or vocational ministry, and I’m sure it’s a burden, it’s challenging to support someone who supports so many people and are committed to their job as a lifestyle more than just work. It’s a HUGE commitment, and she was doing it.
God bless my fiance, not only does she have to put up with me for the rest of her life, but with my ministry also, it’s a sacrifice!
Elizabeth sacrificed her whole life and she was OLD, that’s a long time to be faithfully serving God. She got her miracle but her little cousin got a better one.
Maybe you put in all the work, you finally saved up for a nice down payment on a car or a house, the financing was good, and you finally got that dream car you wanted, but you show up to the family reunion and your cousin who isn’t living right and he’s irresponsible, shows up in a brand new tesla that he paid cash for. Suddenly your blessing seems like nothing, it’s easy to get jealous in these moments but Elizabeth was not.
and 2,
2. Elizabeth WAS an encourager
2. Elizabeth WAS an encourager
We talked about this a bit earlier. Elizabeth built up Mary’s faith knowing what Mary would go back to. She affirmed her, supported her, and believed her. The holy spirit came upon Elizabeth and her baby even prophesied to her by jumping for Joy in the womb. Elizabeth took this, heard from God, and shared this revelation with Mary.
Because of these things, Mary wrote and sang the Hymn known as the Magnificat
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
She PRAISED God because of her blessing, she was proud that God blessed her and chose her. The support of others,
the gifts that people are to us will always point us back to the goodness of the giver.
Mary was able to praise God in a BIG way due to the support and encouragement that she received from Elizabeth, and she was able to return home with a boldness and a faith that would not have been possible without the encouragement found in this season.
Her faith and willingness to seek out someone experiencing a similar thing as her led to deeper faith and confidence in the goodness of her God.
Can I have the band come back up?
And really quick can you all give a round of applause for our students, they sound amazing this morning.
So all is not well.
Last week, pastor talked about loneliness and hopelessness, and the way these two things are connected
Sometimes, like Mary, we could be BLESSED with a hopeless circumstance, and we may feel alone in it,
All is not well,
but the people who we invite into these moments can support us and erase this hopelessness, they can build our faith and encourage us, and help us to face these situations with a boldness that can only come from Him.
The support didn’t magically fix her situation though, there’s no promise that you’ll be delivered from your circumstances, Jesus says that in this world we will have tribulation, that part is guaranteed, but the promise is that you’ll be given the strength to persevere through it.
Will you all bow your heads with me?
Can I have our elders and deacons come forward, and pastor brad.
There are some of you in this room with no hope and no peace, you feel lonely and you need support. I’m here to remind you all that we can only find our hope in Jesus Christ, but we need people in our lives to support us as well, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he did the miracle, but then he had the PEOPLE unbind him from his grave clothes and the paralyzed man was carried by FOUR MEN to be healed by Jesus, see, we need people to come alongside us in this journey called life. And some of you need that, some of you have been crying out to God for a friend or someone to come alongside you, if that’s you, In faith I want you to raise your hand,
I want to pray for you.
Pray
There are some of you that are holding onto bitterness or anger, and God is calling you to forgive today, he’s calling you to connect with that person that’s different from you and you’re afraid of what that looks like, He’s calling you to make a 70 foot journey for someone else. If that’s you will you raise your hand?
And if that’s you, I want you to pray this one with me:
Pray
Father,
I’m sorry,
I’ve been holding onto bitterness,
And I have been unwilling to forgive others the way that you’ve forgiven me
I ask that you come into these broken places,
And restore my heart,
You are a god of healing,
And I need that today,
I pray that you change my attitude,
To one of forgiveness and not bitterness,
I thank you for the way that you forgive me
And I pray that you give me the strength to forgive others
Amen
And some of you don’t know Jesus, you came here on a whim or you were invited by your weird neighbor or friend and you’re here, this might be the first time you’ve heard of the hope we have in Jesus, or maybe you’ve heard of him before but didn’t understand and today you want to make a decision for Jesus. If that’s you, I want you to raise your hand,
I want to pray for you too, but I want you ALL to pray this with me. If you’re comfortable praying out loud, pray LOUD so that us shy and quiet people can do it too.
Let’s pray
Jesus
I know that I’m a sinner
I believe you sent your son for ME
I believe that you are the God of the impossible
I believe that you came to the earth
to die for me
and forgive my sins
Today I turn from my sin
I invite you to come into my life
and be lord of my life
so that I may know you
Amen
The band is going to lead us in one last song, and while they do that, if you raised your hand today, don’t let it end there, as just a decision you made in the moment and you walk out this door and when life gets hard by Wednesday you forget about everything that happened here today, I want you to, in faith, get out of your seat, and come forward to pray with these amazing men and women of God in front of me.