The Promise of Christmas
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What do I want them to know? God fulfill His promsies
Why? It gives us HOPE and JOY
What do I want them to do? Trust the Promises of God
Why? It gives us HOPE and JOY
ME/WE
Have you ever had someone break a promise to you?
Have you ever had someone break a promise to you?
- Have you ever had a friend say don’t worry I got this, don’t you worry about a thing and then come to find out a couple days later they didn’t do the thing they said they would do.
Or maybe it is on a minor scale your spouse promised they would do a small chore or project around the house and it is a week later and the BATHROOM is still not clean or the SCREEN DOOR is still not fixed
Maybe for you it was a work place that said you would receive a raise, we are going to give you a raise and you they really just said to keep you at the company....they was never a thought on their end to ever give you a raise....they just wanted to dangle a carrot in front of you
Maybe for you it was a promise of a relationship. Some one said they would never leave you…they would always be there…then they found someone else or didn’t care to be with you anymore and that relationship is GONE..
HOW DID THE BROKEN PROMISE MAKE YOU FEEL?
Did it make you feel it was the most wonderful time of year?
NO, BROKEN PROMISES elicit ANGER and DESPAIR
When your friends does not come through with their promise, they don’t do what they said they will do you....
WE GET ANGRY
WE BECOME IN DESPAIR OR HOPELESS
What we come to realize is PROMISES are a BIG DEAL…they are not insignificant
- and the BIGGER THE PROMISES THE BIGGER DEAL IT IS.....and also the opposite is true when it comes to promises.....WHEN A PROMISE IS KEPT.....it does not bring ANGER and DESPAIR, but HOPE AND JOY
Some of us have GREAT JOY and HOPE because PROMISES have been kept and not broken....
TENSION
BUT WHAT about God, what about God and promises? “Does God keep His promises?” Is His Word sure? Or does He do as good as humans do, keeping them sometimes and not other times? Or can God keep His promises as long as the conditions are right? If everything is perfect then the promise will happen.....
The question before us today that has existed through all of history is all of humanity
How you answer this question “Does God keep His promises has a direct impact on your faith.” How you answer this question “Does God keep His promises has a direct impact on your faith.”
For some the answer will lead to a have a HUGE faith, others a medium faith and for others it will lead to no faith.
SO HOW DO WE KNOW IF GOD KEEPS HIS PROMISES? Look at His track record…Let’s examine who He has handled promises He has given.
The place we are going to today is a go to is the beginning of the Christmas story because the Christmas story starts off with a promise. A promise given to a couple not a couple named Mary and Joseph, but a promise given 2000 years before Mary and Joesph.... AND IT IS A PROMISE GIVEN 2000 years ago that has a direct impact on our lives today.......This promise that is so unbelievable, incomprehensible, not possible promise.
What was this promise? That affects this couple’s lives and how does it affect us ?
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
What does God say to Abram?
First, God says Abram I want you to leave your home country....wait!? What God!?! You want me to leave my country, everything Abram’s has ever known, leave my family behind to go to the place that you will show me…God doesn’t even tell Abram the place He is taking Him....to do something like this is like losing your “life” everything you have ever had....there is not cell phones or emails or cars to turn back....once you were gone you were gone…you left everything behind
Second, I am going to make you a GREAT NATION, and your NAME GREAT, SO GREAT THAT THROUGH YOU THE WHOLE EARTH WILL BE A BLESSED.
WOW, ON A SCALE OF PROMISE THAT IS A BIG PROMISE. YOU WILL BE A GREAT NATION and THROUGH YOU FAMILY LINAGE YOU WILL BE BLESSING TO WHO WORLD....can you imagine if God said that to you?
That is unbelievable
NOT only is PROMISE ITSELF UNBELIEVALBE there are 2 other unbelievable parts of the story
Was Abram a full fledged flower of God?
No
And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.
Wait God calls Abram, not when he is walking with God, not when he has this stellar “walking with God resume” but when he was not walking with God.....whoa
But is this not like God?…He so often calls then equips....
-when does God call Paul? When he is walking with God? NO when against God, persecuting those who were Christians…
when did he call me to be a pastor? When I was walking with God? No when I was living least for God...
- .the same with the 12 disciples you would not pick the disciples to be the 12 disciples…they were not the model students.
He equips the called....we see this in Abraham’s life....He is a man cited over and over in the NEW TESTAMENT as a man of tremendous faith…but he started off as a baby in his faith
Some one needed to hear that today
Some of you might be thinking God cannot use me because look at me....God throughout the Bible has always chosen the least likely....
IF GOD CALLED YOU TO IT HE WILL LEAD YOU THROUGH IT
2. Second unbelievable thing: God tells them that through Abram he would him GREAT NATION and that they will be a blessing
- But we have a problem here…What’s the problem? Did Abram and Sarai have kids? NO, NO problem God will get them working on that.....they are a young married couple, right???
No, Abram was 75 years old and Sara was 65 years old....that’s the age you become a grandparent…not a parent.
Can you imagine if God came to you came to you at 75 or 65 years old about this GREAT unbelievable promise who you would respond? Of being a great nation and that through them the whole world would be blessed.
- Did they say God said it, we believe it, that settles it, we are done?
NO, Let’s look at how they responded to this PROMISE
o No, they responded like many of us respond when hear from God,
WE SEE THEM RESPOND IN THREE WAYS, ways that many of have probably responded to God…these are no particular order
1. One of the ways we see Abram respond is with a HALFWAY faith.. We see in Gen 11:31 that Abram starts to move forward, starts to leave his home country....starts to journey forward....moving towards the promiseland away from his family....but then he stops halfway in Haran and does not reach Canaan....he starts to go, but then stops.....God I’ve done enough… how many times have we done this? God I know you told me to do that thing and I partially did it.....is this what God wants from us a partial faith? NO, God says to Abram I did not call you to go partially to where I called you but all the way…God nudges Abram along
Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there.
God says that is not it…you need to keep moving....God is slow to get angry
2. We see how Sarai responds…and how did she respond?
how might you respond if God told you when you were 65 that you were going to have a kid?
Would you have said, “ I believe it!” I am going to have a kid! Praise God.... probably not....you most likely might have did what Sarai did, laugh.
That’s a good joke....funny....not possible remember I am 65 years old, past the age of child barring
But God is so gracious to her and says
Gen 18:14
Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.”
§ God responds to Sara I am the God of the impossible, nothing is too hard for me
God speaks to her and she moves forward.
3. Response is that they DOUBTED they heard God correctly
Why?
Why would they DOUBT WHAT GOD SAID? OR WHAT CAUSE THIS DOUBT TO RISE?
THE MISUNDERSTANDING or the DISSONANCE, THE DISCONNECT we HAVE OFTEN HAVE BETWEEN GOD’S TIMING and our TIMING....
WE THINK WHEN GOD GIVES US A PROMISE IT IS FOR TODAY....BUT IT’S NOT FOR TODAY AND MANY TIMES IT IS NOT EVEN FOR TOMORROW OR MAYBE THIS YEAR
WE SEE MOSES WAIT 40 YEARS
JOSPEH WAIT 13 YEARS
PAUL WAIT 3 YEARS
I EXPERIENCED THIS WITH MY CALL TO PLANT A CHURCH IN AN URBAN CONTEXT…I RECEIVED THE CALL IN 2012 AND DID NOT SEE THE FULFILLMENT OF THE CALL UNTIL 2017…I KEPT WALKING DOWN HALLWAYS AND HAVIGN DOORS OPEN AND SHUT
ONE OF THE THINGS WE NEED TO RELIZE WITH OUR INSTANT CULTURE....IS SO OFTEN
Between the Promise and the fulfillment of the Promise there is SEASON OF WAITING…
WHY? - I DO NOT HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS BUT I DO NOT
1. 2 PETER 3:9 GOD’S TIMING IS NOT OUR TIMING
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2. IT is THE GROWS YOU UP FOR THE NEXT SEASON season where God asks us to continue to trust Him, continue to believe in Him, rely on HIm, grow in Him
THIS IS WHERE WE FIND ABRAM AND SARAI…they are in the season of waiting. And it starting to get hard and long and they are starting to DOUBT THAT THEY HEARD GOD CORRECTLY....
They do not arrive here in the first year or second year of 5 year
BUT THEY GET TO THE 10 year with no child and they think maybe we did not hear God correctly....maybe we need to put this in our hands.... (anybody thought this way?....maybe I need to circumvent what God said)
So Sarai suggests in Genesis 16 maybe what God wanted you to do was sleep with our servant Haggar and have a child that way....Abram says good idea…and low behold a child name Ishmal comes and it brings chaos....This is not what God wanted or planned....God did not say through Haggar and Abram but through Abram and Sarai their family....
What does God do with this couple? They half believed, they laughed at God’s promises, they take matters into their own hands.... does God kick them out??? Say we need a new couple??? NO.....God said my promises are not based on your faithfulness or lack of faithfulness but on mine....God is compassionate, gracious slow to get angry, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
it is at this point that they hunker down and say we are going to believe you, fully believe you as much as sinner person can believe.
In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”
They waited 15 more years, Abraham is 100 Sarai is 90…and the birth of their son Issac happens....25 years after the promises
CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT???? 100 and 90 years old
What God said would happened, happened…but it was the beginning of the promise…they were not a nation or a blessing just yet…THIS IS BLESSING IF FOR US WE HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE BLESSING YET
Then for the next 2000 years we watch God fulfill His PROMISE TO ABRAHAM that through Abraham’s line that they would be nation and a blessing to the nations.
Issac is born and gives birth to Jacob
Jacob gives birth to 12 sons and the youngest Joseph, daddy’s favorite and his other brothers did not like so they decided to kill Joseph, but at the last minute Rueben said let’s not kill him instead let’s sell him into slavery to Egypt....we have not even left Egypt and it looks like the promise is over…we are not even out of the book Genesis the first book of the Bible and it looks like the Promise might be done...
BUT GOD RAISES JOSEPH UP IN EGYPT WHERE HE COMES SECOND IN COMMAND OF ALL OF EGYPT....THEN HAS A ENCOUNTER WITH YEARS LATER WHERE JOSEPH GRACIOUS FORGIVES HIS BROTHERS AND SAYS WHAT YOU MEANT FOR EVIL GOD TURNED FOR GOOD.
THEN WHILE THEY ARE IN EGYPT THEY START TO MULTIPLY…THEY ARE NOT A NATION YET…BUT THEY ARE GROWING AND THIS SCARES PHARAOH....TO THE POINT HE ENSLAVES THE PEOPLE OF GOD…PROMISE DONE AWAY WITH, RIGHT?
NO, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT GOD RAISES A REDEEMER NAMES MOSES AND HE GOES TO PHARAOH AND SAYS GOD SAYS LET GOD’S PEOPLE GO PHARAOH SAYS NO…HE LIKES THE FREE LABOR..HE LIKES HAVING SLAVE…God gives him chances to change his mind but he refuses over and over until the 10th plague comes and he lets them go..
It is at this point they become a nation
Moses leads them to edge of the promiseland
Joshua leads them into the promise land…they are becoming a nation
Then David becomes king and before David is king Goliath comes to stop the nation of Israel…but God uses him to defeat Goliath
Then David’s son Solomon becomes king and they nation grows and grows
BUT THEN SOMETHING HAPPENS SOLOMON FOLLOWS AFTER OTHER IDOLS....
1 Kings 11:4
For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father.
This is not good
1 Kings 11:11
Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
Then what you watch for the next 1000 years the nation of Israel get torn apart.
The Edomites comes, then the Assyrians, Bablyioans, Perssians come and tear them apart....and people are thinking the PROMISE IS DONE....it is over
BUT GOD KEPT SENDING PROPHETS TO REMIND OF THE PROMISE…He sent them Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, Zechariah…we read a
For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.
God keeps sending the prophets to remind of the promise
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Then we get to 0 A.D. and when the nation of Israel is almost gone away....they are occupied by Rome…on the verge of annihilation. THE PROMISE MUST BE OVER BUT THEN WE READ Gal 4:4 it is one of those BUT GOD MOMENTS, TIMES
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
BUT WHEN THE FULLNESS OF TIME HAD COME....2000 years after the promise that the world be This Son is the who has come to be the blessing to the world. He has come to save the world…God is fulfilling His promise
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
God fulfills His promise.
God has come to bless you
God has come to redeem you
God has come to be your God
God has come to bring reconciliation between you and God.
YOU
I do not know where you are with God today, but I do there is a message God wants to say to you today....God is the God of the PROMISES....HE fulfills what He says he will do
GOD FULFILLS HIS PROMISE
God will
ALL the general promise of he will meet
God will fulfill it in a general way and in a specific way.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Immanual God with us
A Psalm of David.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
God says trust Him…He will lead you though
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
HE MEETS YOUR SPECIFIC PROMISES, WHATEVER GOD HAS SPOKEN TO YOU
KEEP TRUSTING HIM
