God Wants You

Around this time of year, all hear stories about angels and big miracles, but can sometimes wonder: does God still show up today? Yes. Sometimes in miraculous ways as talk about next 3 wks, but also in little ways that help us big time at just the right time, like in Debbie’s case.

Often in moment need most, God will speak to our hearts through Bible, HS, or another person. But did you know that there are many times God may be wanting to use us to help others or to show his love to others through us?

Sometimes God shows himself to you, and sometimes he shows himself through you.

As look at Mary…want you to consider in what ways God been speaking to you, and how he’s asking to be shown to others through you.

pray

Luke 1:26–30 ESV

Luke 1:26-

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And 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 call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 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.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Hearing from God can be scary.

Luke 1:31–37 ESV

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 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.”

Luke 1:31-

Nothing is impossible with God…even when it seems like it is.

Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait and home to nearly 2.4 million people, sits on an inlet of the Persian Gulf. Life changed for many of the residents of the city when oil was discovered in 1936. As people began to make their home in the city, the need for clean drinking water became greater. So in the 1950s, a desalination plant was built, turning salt water into fresh drinking water. is desalination plant was a big deal and made the city even more livable.

Kuwait City, the capital of Kuwait and home

to nearly 2.4 million people, sits on an inlet of the Persian Gulf. Life changed for many of the residents of the city when oil was discovered in 1936.

As people began to make their home in the

city, the need for clean drinking water became greater. So in the 1950s, a desalination plant

was built, turning salt water into fresh drinking water. is desalination plant was a big deal and made the city even more livable.

Fast forward a few more years to 1964. A freighter named the Al Kuwait carrying more than 6,000 sheep sank in the harbour. The ship had to be raised before the toxins from the sheep would affect the tanks of the desalination plant, threatening the source of drinking water for thousands and thousands of people.

The ship had to be raised intact. If the hull ruptured, the toxins would pollute the water. The sunken freighter was a disaster, but an even bigger disaster was on the horizon. In the ensuing days, nobody could come up with a plan for how to do this.

even bigger disaster was on the horizon. In the ensuing days, nobody could come up with a plan for how to do this.

A Danish engineer named Karl Kroyer made a suggestion. They would pump millions of small styrofoam balls into the sunken ship. Since styrofoam was buoyant, and would displace the water, the ship would rise to the surface.

But Karl Kroyer didn’t get this idea from his degrees or his studies in Engineering. He got the idea from the Danish edition of Walt Disney’s comics where Donald Duck and his nephews funneled ping pong balls into a sunken yacht. He gured if ping pong balls could raise a ship in a cartoon, styrofoam could raise a sunken ship in a Kuwaiti harbor.

So engineers injected stryofoam balls into the hull of the ship, raising it to the surface and averting an even bigger disaster. —> This guy did what seemed impossible ‘cause he saw it in a cartoon… When God is telling you to do the impossible: you’re hearing it from the One for whom nothing is impossible!

Luke 1:38 ESV

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Are you willing to do what Jesus enables you to do?

Action Step:

Consider: how has God been showing himself to you? How is he asking to show himself through you?