GOD WITH US! - PEACE
This morning, we're going to be in Luke chapter 1.
Clear. Some of this off right quick. It's getting to be a polyp here.
The thing with Pulpit sweet, we have this table here but the thing with poop heads, is that nobody ever saw him was that there were shells on the inside and you could just throw everything on the inside. So about three times a year for you would have to clean off the shelves because there would be all these notes and everything piled up on the inside of it.
Luke chapter one this morning.
Christmas. Tom is really one of my favorite times of the year and it's this time. We're that there's two times of the year where we're kind of everything that we do in the life of the church kind of collage together. And the one of those times is Christmas at the birth of Christ that that the Messiah has come the one, who's going to bring us freedom one that gives us Hope Has Come and and so we celebrate. But then also Easter that we celebrate Easter Resurrection Sunday because Christ came but Christ also sacrificed himself on the cross for us so that we can live in relationship with God. Freedom, from CNN and forgiveness and and so, just just a reminder this morning that Christmas always looks toward the cross. That Jesus came with a purpose in mind, that that God's plan was for Jesus, to always go to the Cross. That's, that's, that's part of the celebration of Christmas that here, we are a sacrifice is needed, and nothing can atone for sin. So God sends the sacrifice needed, so that people can have a relationship with him. And the profoundness of that is this is that it's nothing that we can do to get that, it wasn't on our part. It wasn't something that that we did and human efforts. But it was God himself. Who said, I want to have a relationship with my people and I want them to approach me with hole in this. I want them to approach me out without sending. I want them to have freedom and so I'm going to provide what they need in order for them to have a relationship with me. We said that nowhere else in world, religions sweet. We don't see that. We don't see that in Islam. We don't see that in Buddhism. We don't see that in Hinduism, but we see that in Christianity. That Jesus came. We see that in Judaism, we do see that that they're, they're still searching for a messiah. The Messiah has come the one who the statistical probability of Jesus meeting every single one of the requirements. And we have documented proof that he did that.
It's significant that that he would do that. Give you a background this morning, 26, Luke 1:26 just kind of give you a little bit of a background. Is that, is that this is what we call the intertestamental. So that means that we waked nicknamed it, the age of silence. And so, that means that there was no riding profits during this time that there was no one whatsoever. That that usually the prophet God would speak through the prophet in the and the prophet would relay the message to the people in in in right down the word of God in. This is the proclamation of God for the people of God, is what it what would happen for prophets. And so we find that for four hundred years previous to this, there's been no riding prophets. Now, there might have been that there's, there's a tradition that it in a there's a there's a small Jewish tradition that that talks about a righteous teacher. Prophet talking about a righteous teacher but that's a very small population. So for the majority of Jewish people, they heard nothing about the Messiah coming. They heard nothing about. Sticking to his people. And so was silence happened. And during this time of of Silence, this age of Silence, we see that God's people made their way out of Exile, back into their Homeland where they were supposed to be and but things were just a little bit different. We find that, even though they're in their Homeland during this time they're not control, they can't control their Homeland. That's that's like that's like saying okay you've you've bought this property here.
But you can't put a house on it. You can't you can't drill a. Well you can't put a barn. We can't have any livestock. You just need to mow it every two weeks. Would that be nice? I'm going to find the grass that you can't mow that that, you know, doesn't grow really fast his AstroTurf. That's exactly what that's what we need in our house. Imagine that. Do you have this land in your, like, I'm home. I'm home. This is my home over here, but you can't control it. You, you can you can be there, you can sit down, you can put up a tent but that's all you can do. It wouldn't really feel like your land or your home right. You, you would feel rich and that's what's happening for the Jewish people with this time. They are, they are controlled by Roman Roman Empire and so there's Roman influence that's happening that they are, they still want their oppressed and some of them probably are some of them just kind of run their mouth a little bit. That's why they're feeling depressed. But here they are, they are they want to control themselves? Again they want to say that we are the people of Israel that we are. The people that that God that that God has given this land to. We want to be in our home. We want to we want to have this place again but they can't do it because the Roman Empire is controlling them roam for their part, they could care less about the Jewish people during this time. I could care less, but they let their have their own courts. They could do all kinds of punishment, but they couldn't do death. They let them practice their religious festivals that they even provided security for, for all these different festivals that would happen in Jerusalem at. And so, while they, they, they were oppressed and they had control, there was still quite a bit of Freedom that they had to worship.
It's in this kind of background. Here we come to chapter one.
starting to verse 26, this morning, if you would stay with me for the reading of the word,
Now I'm the six months, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the city and Galilee called, Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David and The Virgins name was married and coming in. He said to her, greetings favored. One, the Lord is with you, but she was very perplexed at this statement and kept on what kind of a salutation. This was, what kind of greeting. This was the angel said to her, do not be afraid. Mary for you, have found favor with God and behold. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great. And will be called son of the most time, and the Lord will give him the Throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And his kingdom will have no in Mary said that the angel, how can this be since I'm not a burger since I'm a virgin Angel answered and said to her, the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy child shall be called The Son of God and behold even a relative Elizabeth has also conceived the sun in her old age and she who was called Barren is now, in her 6-month for nothing will be impossible with God. And Mary said they hold The bond servant of the Lord, may it be done to me according to your word and the angel departed, her foot spray. Lord, Jesus. We thank you this morning for your word and Lord, I pray that you would help us as we apply it, briefly this morning. I pray Lord, that you would give me the words to say. And when it's time to be quiet, I pray that you would let me be quiet. I pray this in your wonderful name. Amen, maybe see. You didn't This morning or can I start a new series? It's called God with us. Emmanuel. His name Shall be Called Emmanuel. That's what. That's what the angel will tell Joseph. He will be called Emmanuel, that means god with us. And so, just kind of a little bit of background on that area is that we're looking at this area of Nazareth. OK, is. So I'm going to tell you all this different information and it may seem like none of it really connects together that. But it's just stay with me. Okay, just stay with me. I have ADD. So I understand if you got a DD you're probably going to go, what in the world are you doing? Where are you going to stay with me? Just a little bit until we got this town Nazareth, and Nazareth Nazareth. It's the small rule area and we're told that it's probably that Tom had around 500 people or less in it. So it was a very small town. I lived in, I live in a town of 700 people, a password in town of about 700 people. And we had one flashing caution light that everybody ignored caution light at end of town and that was it one intersection in the Dollar General store on 700 people in. So that's even smaller than this. That it is 500 people, small town. So with that everybody would have known at everybody else you've ever grown up in a small town. You understand what I'm talking about? You, you knew people with family drama. You knew what was happening in their their household and you knew about your neighbors over here. Where are you and your other neighbors over here can probably tell you while they were arguing, it was kind of small town of stuff going on there. Everybody has familiarity with everyone else at Nazareth. It's not a political region, so it had no claim or steaks. If anything important politically Nazareth, it was not in the economic Center. So, It's not somewhere that Merchants would have been to trade. There was no trade that would have happened. It was all Agricultural and so it really had no importance when it comes to any kind of religious practices. Nobody went there for a festival. Nobody, you know, if you got to Nazareth, you were probably lost. I mean, that's that's what dads are there. This is, this is a secure town in the middle of nowhere. And what we find is that Nazareth here, who has little significance little importance. And then we're fond of that. Not only is Nazareth in this insignificant. Small portion that nobody knows about it's in this area called Galilee and so we would say, it would say Galloway's almost like a state, almost like a region in a way. And so gallantly in itself is in the northern part of present-day Israel and and Galilee was Jewish, but it had a little bit of Roman culture and so they were a little bit but they were what we call that they like Judaism but they also had some Roman Tendencies as well. And so they they kind of empathize with the government here and there on some things they were some Roman influence. Galilee was considered to be a place that was not sophisticated. These were your country bumpkins. These were the ones that these were the people that, that you wouldn't necessarily. If you have an a question and you needed to answer, you wouldn't consider them smart enough to ask a question to they they were they were in that sounds terrible. But now that it's come out It sounds terrible. They were considered a considered less sophisticated than those in Judea and so you have this insignificant place, okay. Jesus said that Mary is, is a, is a Ian and one of our observations this morning is this, is that God shows up in ordinary places. So what does that mean? That being said that when we talked about Nazareth being ordinary that there was nothing significant about it? That means that God the presence of God can show up in your living room today. If he can show up in your work he can show up. And if you drive a tractor he can show up in the cab of tractor. I can't tell you how many people have told me the story I was driving my tractor and I got because the Holy Spirit, the presence of God came into the cab of the tractor that and that's something that I got sanctify going down the road at 12 at night here, I surrender take it all 12 at night, coming home from work and and significant place. If you ever been in a Nissan Maxima You know, it's an insignificant place. It's not ordinary Jesus today, he shows up in places that we least expect. He shows up in jails, he shows up outside of abortion clinics, he shows up in drug infested areas, he he shows up in farms and shows up in, and he can show up in your house and we have church in the park and he shows up there sometimes, but that, that he can, he could come into ordinary places. And here's the thing, when God comes into ordinary places, he does extraordinary things. it's so today it is a reminder to us that when we say, he shows up in ordinary places that God does not have a geographical boundaries,
What's that mean? That means he's a stupid dog and, and he was fixing his, his that he had a perimeter. And he says, I'm about ready to that to get this thing fixed. And we're going to put that collar on that dog. So the dog doesn't get out and sent that way at new with the boundaries of the property were here. So you think God is not bound by specific areas or places?
One of the revivals that we're seeing right now is in the middle of Africa and Asia Minor.
That's a heavily populated Islam area. We're just speaking the name of Jesus could get you killed but Jesus is showing up the people in dreams and the presence of God is creating is going and moving among communities, and people come to know him and mass numbers. Why is that? Because even when people say God you're not welcome here in this place. He says it doesn't matter. I don't know what the boundary is and here's the encouragement for us today is that if you've been praying for someone and you've been saying the Lord go and meet with that person in that place in their life, you can be encouraged that just because they shut the door on the place. Doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit isn't going in and saying, come to come to me, come to me.
God shows up in ordinary places and does extraordinary things. Nothing that we look out this morning is this, is that we look at Mary.
We look at Mary, we sometimes have this cultural lens that takes place because because in our American has lens, we say people don't get married until they're at least 18. people that live in long then they got married, they got married young, you had kids young, you need them to work and take care of you and that 50 you can
That's a little morbid. I apologize. Tell Mary, she's home. She's likely between 12 and 14 years old and this was a common age. We would look at them and be like that, that is ridiculous that she would even let her parents would sign off on that was very common and that Tom between 12 and 14 for betrothal to happen. Now, I'll come back to that in a minute. But but think about this, that the god comes and says I'm going to bring about our Redemption for my people and I do use you. Marry and so Mary is 12 to 14. She's gone and so God can use young food. But he, he also used a woman, She had no legal standing. She didn't have any Authority, she would go women in that time were depending upon their husbands for food and provision, and if their husbands were terrible husband, they just had to deal with it. The other day, I did not have a voice in public life, she was a woman so it was totally different and then when we find that she's betrothed and that's the little bit stronger than engagement we we have a 5-year and 10-year engagement and the world around us right now. But roll thing is a little bit higher than that but it means that it had this a legal standing that went behind it. And so when they were betrothed, Mary and Joseph basically came together and said we have this intention to get married. And, and we're going to do it no matter what. Then so will their betrothed and and kind of the custom, was it that Tom is that the, the husband would go and they got betrothed. Husband would go, and he would build the house and he would make the furniture and it, and he would, he would get all his Affairs in order. So that that when it came time, He got all that done, he would go back to his wife's family where she was staying and she said he would take her and it was sent ahead to the groom is coming. The groom is coming and everybody would get together and that's when the wedding would take place.
For us Americans. That's very inconvenient. We need save the dates. We need, we needed in the calendar. We, we need to know ahead of time. But when they were ready, they were ready. He was think about Joseph. If it, if he was, he was making the furniture built in the house and all that that he would have had to do it. It would have taken almost a year and in some cases a betrothal to happen and there's this waiting and there's this expectation and and we find that that that that's what Joseph would have been doing. Mary would still have been with her parents.
It's very likely that Mary and Joseph had not seen each other for months. So, here we find that that with Patrol.
The only way to get out of it in this culture is legal divorce. You take place. They would have had to legally get divorce.
It was legally binding. If it's a no longer wanted to be with control, they had to go through this legal divorce in the way that that took place as they had to go between in front of the priest. And they had to go in front of the community. And the husband would have it was hard for women to divorce, but it but Mosaic law, kind of made a way for men to divorce and there's two thoughts of divorce in in Jewish Society. During this time. The first one is that, that it was adultery only that, that they could divorce for adultery. And then there was another section of Judaism that said that said, it was whatever, there was this loose interpretation of Deuteronomy that that that says that men could divorce because they they found something that was offensive in their wife. And so you had those two different thoughts and Judaism at that time. And so it was, it was this thing that that when they go before the priest in the community, he would bring the, they call it to get the, the kind of the, the summons, the the document that shows. Everything that that he had against her and he represent that to the priests and the priests would read it out. And and he would say that there would be the ceremony that took place and the husband would tell the wife, I divorce, you are divorce you, I divorce you 3 times and and then they would be divorce. They will be declared legally divorced, and they get would be ripped in half, and that meant that the marriage was severed that, that, that they would no longer be married. But with that, It brought this shame to the woman.
Mary Not only was she betrothed. She was expected to be sexually. Pure That pregnancy outside of marriage and in this culture in this Jewish culture led the shame for it for Mary. She would always have been considered someone who was unclean and unworthy. She had what she would have, she would have almost it would have been like, she had a mark against her and, you know, maybe would have the, the, the, the Snickers in the the The Whispers in the background, every time she went to the well, every time she was out in the community never marry. Remember what she did?
Pregnancy outside of marriage. Almost always led to divorce of those that were betrothed. It brought shame on the family and very possibly in some very strict Jewish communities. They would have had legal punishment, stoning death, although it wasn't really practice during this new testament. Tom here, like, pick and choose who they who the prosecutor
We found that that Mary, she's visited by an Angel.
I want to take note. Keep in mind, Mary? Okay, keep them on. Mary. We have the angel angels always appear in several different ways. There's this Divine commission that takes place that they give this greeting.
Let's go back over here. We get we get this greeting here.
Do not be afraid. Mary for you. Have found favor with God. There was always noticed how. There's always fear.
What if we look at the biblical view of an Angel? You can read about that Revelation there. There's the biblical view of Angel, it's not necessarily this little cute white wings. Being that we say.
It's a scary, a scary image. That there's this kind of this brightness that comes along with it. There's the the eyes that everything that if you were confronted with an m with an angel, you would be afraid as well.
There's always figure and then there's reassurance Angels always say do not be afraid and then they tell you about their Divine commission, I have come with a word from the Lord God. And then they give the Devon Proclamation. Here's the word of the Lord.
This morning.
We can be encouraged. That God uses Ordinary People.
God uses Ordinary People. Mary was common. There was nothing significant about Mary now. She did have this lineage. That was important.
She wasn't rich.
Church, history, makes us think that she really wasn't from nobility. And she probably wasn't part of any kind of religious delete her family at the time.
But she was willing to be used by God.
This morning. I do want to one of my kids came home this weekend. They were talking in school about about the count of Marion and everything that happened with Mary. And and, and somebody said that, that she had been forced one of the kids at school and said that she had been forced into this.
No, this this morning Mary was not forced. Mary Mary was told and here is her response. She said and she said behold the bondslave the servant of the Lord may it be done to me according to your will She was willing to be used of God. An instacart processes through that. How would this happen? And we're told that the holy spirit will make it happen. The holy spirit will come upon you that that means the Holy Spirit, you're going to have no part in this if you are the best. So he basically says, Mary. You're the best. Going to be used to bring about the miracle and you are the best. All that's going to bring about Redemption to the people, but you are the best. So everything here is going to be done by the power of the Holy Spirit. The holy spirit will come upon you. Now, where we hear that phrasing packs to the Holy Spirit, came upon the people. In the upper room, what does that mean? They rested upon them? The Holy Spirit. Did I do something miraculous in upper and he did something miraculous for Mary there and then we had this praising at this freezing here. The power of the most high will overshadow you and if we if we kind of look over culture just a little bit, we have to read it in a little bit of their culture here. Is that if we overlooked this phrase we miss out on this huge image that happens because this very same phrasing is used in Exodus when it talks about the presence of God filling the Tabernacle the overshadowing that happens. And so went when the angel says the Holy Spirit, the the power of the most high will overshadow you. It means the same as it was in the Tabernacle that the power of the most high God is going to come down and dwell among you.
The significance of that is this is that is that the presence of God no longer dwells in Tabernacles and no longer dwells in tents in the desert and no longer dwells in particular places. But the presence of God dwells among his people but the presence of God has come down in the presence of, God wasn't with that significant because the presence of God, dwells among Ordinary People
this morning.
You may think.
God, can use me.
I have a past. I've done some things. I'm not proud of. My family, I don't come from the right family, I'm not from the right area.
I serve in this foreign land, Illinois. I had a, I had an accent.
And sometimes I didn't understand when I was preaching because of my accent.
You may, you may say all this and you may make excuses over and over again. But know that God uses those who are willing. The ordinary. The seemingly insignificant, you would think that your insignificant he can use you. But you got to be willing.
Behold the slave of the Lord. May it be done according to your word. His phrasing would basically be so be it. We were we were pronounced that we would say it. This way would say, Lord, I'm your servant, Amen. Let It Be.
he will use you if you were willing to be used this morning,
Turn off the races that God requires full surrender. It wasn't a Mary's plans. I definitely wasn't in Joseph's plans. Three, dining counter. He was distraught.
But she says, I am the Lord's servant, may your word be fulfilled, whatever you want. God, Here I am. Use me. Phil Haney. I'm not in control. You're in control.
This morning, have you surrendered? To the Lord this morning.
Are you in control? Are you willing?
You would stay with me this morning.
The reminder is this is that God uses. Ordinary People. In ordinary places.
So he can use you.
And that profound this morning. But he can use you that he can bring about his Devon plans and purposes for you. Are you willing? Are you surrendered? What spray?
Lord Jesus. We just thank you for the stay that you've given us and we thank you that we had an opportunity to worship you this morning or I pray that you would remind us this week that you show up an ordinary places and you use Ordinary People to do what you called them to do. Lord, I pray this morning that there will be people, they're fully surrendered this morning. I pray Lord, that that you would give us opportunity this week to reflect and Lord, I pray that your will would be done in this place, Lord. I pray that you would give us a blessing. Lord help us to be good Witnesses this week. Give us opportunities. Give us courage, give us boldness and Lord when that time comes help us to be obedient. Or we love you and we praise you. We pray all this in your wonderful name and the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. You're dismissed.
