Faith

Ive never trusted Lizards, right from the gecko

What does a tick and the eiffel tower have in common? They are both paris sites

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Luke 1:26–38 ESV

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 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. 36 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. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 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.

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Week 2 of Advent, the theme of faith… through history the Bethlehem candle reminding us of the story of mary and joseph in Bethlehem and as we saw in Matthew 2 there was a prophecy that there would be child born that would shepherd his people… and its not just that story, but what will we do with all of this information…

Mary and Joseph are told to do stuff and they dont necessarily know what the outcome will be but they do it.

Archealogy shows us that Romans made this happen every fourteen years… two inscriptions in Antioch help to prove this is true...

So Skeptics dont need to be skeptical… Luke cared about history and he knew what was going on… Mary and Joseph didnt know what was waiting on them, but they went… its about obedience… the substance of faith. All of life comes down to the question of faith.

You move in faith and not sure what the outcome will be… and we think that if and when we step out in faith that god will give us a reward… and that isnt always how it works, but sometimes it is. Abraham and isaac…

Kicker...

SOmetimes what feels right is the hard thing to do… and that is the question of faith.. and as we Focus on Mary is she going to believe or not to believe.... are you going to receive or not receive what God has done for you… that is the real question… you can’t not have a belief and stayin the middle...

YEars ago C.S. Lewis said, “ I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sorty of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic- on the level with am an that says he is a poached egg - or else he would be of the Devil fo Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something else… but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us, He did not intend to.”

True about Christmas and Advent… skeptic… who is the essential person… not just Jesus,, Mary… not to be praised… but the angel says… you are pregnant… amnd she says… how can this be… I know how this works,,, and she is a skeptic and she says there is no way… and she wanted reason and asked questions… just like we do… faith isnt blind… it is informed.. all of us have faith in something, the quewstion is what is the content

THe angel answers and sayhs here is how it works… the holy spirit… and then mary gradually believes… and that is how faith works in us… its not instantaneously.... it takes a little bit of time to develop...

He takes her through a process… and thats what christianity says it is a process… it is life it makes it better and deeper… smoked meats…

Mary finally believes and accepts… and she is saying aI will do it… but not saying I get it all… but I will follow… and what I offer to many of you today is exactly what she did… I will submit to you Jesus in the midst of my fears and reservations and doubts.... and Christmas invites that in your life… faith… just the start....

Just like in baptism we dont expect to you have a perfect life… its the start of something...

She goes and visits elixabeth… and the baby jumps.... my soul glorifies… my spirit rejoices… shes IN in that moment.... that will be the case as some of you come along…and some of you arent rejoicing in it yet… but you are obeying… and Christmas and Christianity isnt just about it being subimissive but it is about it being GOOD… and better....

Mary celebrating.... do you ever feel like that… do you feel your faith… how does faith grow into joy… we believe but it should never just be our midn… thats why he didnt get a list of doctrines to beleive in we have to follow him… and live our way into it. We dont do it alone… we have help

Colossians 1:27 ESV

27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Its never real until it moves from something out in the world until its something that is IN you. You not only have faith in him… but you are faithful TO HIM

Matthew 23:23 ESV

23 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.

WE are a slave to something.... I will obey Jesus in all my ways

IN that community everyone would have thought she was unfaithful to God because she got pregnant… she would have been kicked out… maybe stoned to death… but she said okay, I’ll do it. Faithfulness to him…

Shoot to the left or right… becasue the audience or our team or coach… we dont want to look dumb even if we are right… and the crazy thing is we can see better than mary from our perspective better than her… how bad are we to not do the right thing becasue we are fearful of what people may think of us.

They dont know the truth

Some of you the light comes in but you throw the sheets over yourself because youd rather just keep doing what you are doing. And what it will eventually mean is you are in teh dark...

And there are people that believe in a lot of other things… and we are so glad that you are a part of this church and our journey… so many look to experts to heal their problems and fix the world...

Bertrand Russell “Man is the product of causes which had no prevision of the end they were achieving; that his origin, his growth, his loves and his beliefs, are but the outcome accidental collocations of atoms; That no fire, no heroism, no intensity of though and feeling, can preserve an individual life beyond the grave; that all the labours of the ages all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness of human genius, are destined to extinction in the vast death of the solar system, and that the whole temple of Man’s achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a universe in ruins.”

A honest faith decision

People think we can be our own light and create a better world… and Christmas says can you really.... and we look at this time of year as the most sentimental… and the reality is this is not sentimental and sweet… Christmas says if you arent a believer you are getting it all wrong.

“One of the functions of Revelation was to refurbish the Christian imagination. It recognizes the way a dominant culture, with its images and ideals, constructs the world for us, so that we perceive and respond to the world on its own terms… in its place Revelation offers a different way of perceiving the world which leads people to resist and to challenge the effects of the dominant ideology to open it to transcendence.” Richard Bauckham

What is the center of life… us… nothing.. or the transcendent.... What do we see in Mary and Joseph… the call on a life to do something they cant clearly see

Ephesians 5:2 ESV

2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

WALK.. doing it by faith… its doing it… hear a voice and live in accordance of that… we could have 16 years ago heard the call on our life and never left;..

And then in that… god would say we arent walking we are just sitting....

First verb in Genesis story fo abrham is go

Eugene Patterson says, “Abraham did not become our exemplar in faith by haing it explained to him, but by engaging in a lifetime of travel, life on the road, daily leaving something of himself behind (Self-soverignty) and entering something new (God-sovereingty)”

The question of life is that… and faith is a fight… sin the devil and the flesh oppose us...

“The life of faith is lived not on beds of ease and comfort but on the battlefields.” JI Packer

How do we be successful in the battle…we know the end and we keep going....

ANd the only reason we dont have that confidence… is we arent 100% sure he is going to give us the delight he promises....

SO we have to have success and reward now.... and that is the question of faith… do you really believe he is going to reward you....