Advent wk 2 Unexpected Love

Advent is a season to remember the purpose behind Jesus arrival.

Last week Patrick reminded us of the HOPE we have because of Jesus… This HOPE that was promised long ago. Prophecies that were fulfilled...

God had a Plan,

God has a plan,

God is planning now  = Our HOPE .

Im excited to get into week 2… Let’s pray and give this time to God.

Christmas is a busy season…

BUT… Don’t allow the busyness of the season to control your thoughts, direct your time, and steal your heart.

Take time to pause and think on the what really matters this time of year.  Philippians 4 tells us what those things are: “the things that are true, honest, just, pure and lovely.” 

If we could sum up in one word…think on Jesus.  Jesus reveals God’s love.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

This season we need to find rest in the ADVENT because it fulfilled many of the promises that God made.

God came for us, God came for you, God is coming for us all and His only motivation is and was LOVE. Eternal love, AGAPE love. Unfailing – unstoppable LOVE.

When most people ponder the definition of love, it’s usually tied to emotion. It’s about how we feel.

And most often how we feel is based upon actions that take place. Both good and bad…

So the world’s view of love looks like this:

LOVE is defined by emotions based upon how we feel which is determined by actions both good and bad that come our way.

BUT... love by this definition is a very fickle thing.

Its determination is based upon what someone else does or doesn’t do.

This definition of love is very different for God’s definition of love.

You see, The Bible talks about God’s love being determined by who He is and not by what we do or don’t do at all.

Romans 5:8 “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

He loved us before we ever knew we needed Him.

He’s loved you since before you were born and there has never been anything that you could do to affect the love he has for you.

He loved you and I so much that what we are celebrating this season was put into place before time begin and is first promised in the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible.

All throughout the Old testament God made promises that He fulfilled with Jesus…

This morning in this season of Advent, I want to talk about 3 of those promises…

God’s  promises reveal His love...

They reveal His character.

They reveal how much we matter to Him.

Let’s dive into these…

God promised:

A Seed from a woman — Genesis 3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

What God promised is that from Adam and Eve one day would come one who would have the ability to crush the enemy.

The first promise of Jesus coming is found in the very beginning of the Bible…

And not only that He is coming, but that he will be an offspring of Adam and Eve’s…

Meaning He would come in the form of a baby… The fact that Jesus would come as in infant… that promise started right here…

Coming as an infant means…

He will know what joy and suffering are, what happiness and sadness are… He will experience friendship and betrayal…

But He will come with one ultimate purpose and that is to save mankind from the enemy.

And the amazing things is that Bible actually records Jesus entire lineage all the way back to Adam…

I won’t read it all to you but check this out with me…

God fulfilled His promise

Luke 3 speaks to the lineage of Jesus all the way to Adam

It starts off…

Luke 3:23 “Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,”

Luke 3:38 “the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

Why was this important? Because it was the promise being fulfilled that the curse is broken one day.

The enemy is going to be crushed.

It’s the promise that one day death would be defeated.

That mankind will have a way to be reunited with God…

And this is just promise number 1…

Let’s look at the next one…

God promised:

Born in Bethlehem, from the tribe of Judah — Micah 5:2 “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.”

God promised that Jesus would be born 700 plus years later in an exact town. He didn’t say somewhere around here or there… He said specifically Bethlehem…

God loves you so much that He didn’t want you to miss any of this. He wanted you to know exactly how this was going to happen…

So that you would know who Jesus is.

God fulfilled His promise:

Matthew 2:1 “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,” Luke 3:33-34 “the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham…

Born in Bethlehem… Bethlehem was a small town… Where 1000 years earlier give or take… another shepherd was born named David… It’s actually his great great, times a lot grandfather...

In fact it’s in the same fields where David watched over his sheep, where Mary and Joseph found their stable for her to give birth.

God is precise in His promises.

And when you thought it couldn’t get even more precise…

I mean seriously, God gave us his entire lineage all the way from Adam, gave us the exact place where He would be born…

And the third promise I want to share this morning is God told us what to watch for, or I should say who to watch for…

Look at the third promise with me:

God promised:

Born of a virgin — Isaiah 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Born of a VIRGIN… and guess what happens 700 plus years later?

There is a young girl who was recently engaged to man named Joseph…

A girl with a pure heart and a man with a deep love for God…

God chose them to be the parents of His Son…

God fulfilled His promise:

Mat 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. —Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

These 3 promises are a just a few of many and each are markers of LOVE.

Love that God started to reveal in Genesis and continues to reveal today.

Let me ask you a question… If someone makes a promise to you about something that matters and they break that promise, what happens?

The first time, we usually forgive them… Even the second time, or third time...

But eventually if someone keeps breaking promises… We simply just stop believing them.

Trust is broken.

How long does it take to earn back that trust once it’s been broken? The answer is that it takes a lot longer to rebuild the trust than it did to lose it. Right?

We’ve all had people break a promise in our lives… But God…

God has never broken a promise.

And not only has God never broken a promise, but he has also been very specific with what His promises are.

I said near the beginning that...

God’s promises reflect His love.

If they reflect His love… Remember that’s a love that has nothing to do with you or me…

It’s only determined by who He is…

Then we have to answer the question…

Who is God to us?

Before we answer that question, let’s back up and answer a different question first.

If God’s definition of love has nothing to do with you or me and nothing to do with what we do or don’t do… Then what is the definition of the Love God has for us?

God’s definition of His love for us is Agape.

Agape love is unconcerned with the self and concerned with the greatest good of another. Agape isn’t born just out of emotions, feelings, familiarity, or attraction, but from the will and as a choice. Agape requires faithfulness, commitment, and sacrifice without expecting anything in return.

Understanding God’s love for us now gives us the ability to answer our first question…

Who is God to us?

He’s the committed Father who loves us completely outside of who are or what we have or will ever do.

He’s the Son, Jesus, the Savior who was born to be the sacrifice for our sins so that we could be with Him for eternity.

He’s the Spirit that intercedes on our behalf constantly shaping and molding us to reflect God to the world.

And He is all these things to us because He loves us. Because He loves you.

Jesus is the unexpected love that everyone.`

He came before you knew you would need a Savior.

He came because He loves you.

He lived his life showing that He loves you.

He died willingly because of his love for you.

He rose again defeating the enemy proving his love for you.

He is the promise keeper and the lover of your soul.

Will you pray with me?