The Mystery of Christmas
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever tried to figure out a mystery?
Have you ever tried to figure out a mystery?
Life can be unpredictable.
How did we get here? Christmas special with Walton’s
Priorities change when chaos ensues!
Mary and Joseph’s lives became an adventure in faith and unpredictable.
Certainty can definitely become an idol to even God’s people.
Love and faith are at home in the mystery of the Godhead. Let reason kneel in reverence outside.
A. W. Tozer
Webster defines mystery as something not understood or beyond understanding
I hope to visit you soon, but just in case I’m delayed, I’m writing this letter so you’ll know how things ought to go in God’s household, this God-alive church, bastion of truth. This Christian life is a great mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some things are clear enough:
He appeared in a human body,
was proved right by the invisible Spirit,
was seen by angels.
He was proclaimed among all kinds of peoples,
believed in all over the world,
taken up into heavenly glory.
Do we need to have a religion, we can completely figure out?
1. Mysteries create an uncertainty in us, a longing for predictability.
1. Mysteries create an uncertainty in us, a longing for predictability.
Psychologists say, we want to make our lives understandable and predictable.
Christmas chaos may be fun for a day, but we definitely seek order most days.
But truth be told it is the chaotic ones we remember most.
2. The only predictability we have is God’s Word!
2. The only predictability we have is God’s Word!
From the very beginning
telling you what the ending will be,
All along letting you in
on what is going to happen,
Assuring you, ‘I’m in this for the long haul,
I’ll do exactly what I set out to do,’
Forever, O Lord,
Your word is settled in heaven.
Your words are a flashlight to light the path ahead of me and keep me from stumbling.
3. The life of faith is not being able to predict how every day, week, and year will go, but knowing the One who holds the future.
3. The life of faith is not being able to predict how every day, week, and year will go, but knowing the One who holds the future.
And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
4. We become arrogant and self sustaining, which is an illusion of control.
4. We become arrogant and self sustaining, which is an illusion of control.
Driving in Asheville in snow
This Christmas surrender yourself to the mystery of God, He was manifested in the flesh!
This Christmas surrender yourself to the mystery of God, He was manifested in the flesh!
"God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him." - Andrew Murray
“Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold by common sense – and leap into what He says…Christ demands of the man who trust Him the same reckless spirit…that is daring enough to step out of the crowd and bank his faith on the character of God." - Oswald Chambers
Uncertainty and the stress of it, will continue to increase until we surrender to the mystery of Godliness- Jesus Christ!
Uncertainty and the stress of it, will continue to increase until we surrender to the mystery of Godliness- Jesus Christ!
There is a Light that shines in the darkness!
To receive the light, you must yield to the light!
How would you forecast Christmas if you could?
What if it is in the unpredictability, that God wants to meet us?
What if the mystery is what gives us that Christmas feeling?
How would you forecast the plan for redemption if you could?