Advent wk 3 JOY

Luke 1:26-33 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.”

The angel came and told Mary there was JOY inside of her. Real JOY that would be given to the WORLD!!

Church my hope for today on this third Sunday of Advent… Celebrating the arrival of our King is that you will see that:

JOY is an unconquerable gift.

Happiness is an emotion that can disappear as quickly as it rises to the surface. Joy, however, is a choice.

We have a choice. God gave to us a joy that is unconquerable.

We can choose to live in an attitude of resentment, anger and fear or we can choose to pursue the joy that God gives.

The joy that comes from God is what gave is what brought trust to Daniel in the Lion’s den.

It’s who came to Shadrach Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace.

It’s what opened the servant of Elisha’s eyes to see the army of the Lord surrounding the army of the enemy in front of him.

It’s what gave David strength to go against a giant.

It’s what gave Job in the midst of his afflictions the ability to still hold his ground and claim the truth about his Creator.

All throughout biblical history there are these moments, these circumstances that do not make sense. It doesn’t seem possible that you could enter into them with any type of joy…

And yet over and over and over again… We see people do these extraordinary things… With a confidence that could only come from God…

And it’s all over what we call the “Christmas” Story!

Joy is trusting when you want to doubt.

Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:4.

Imagine the trust that Mary… who was a young unwed teenager… had to have...

Who’s going to believe her story? How many friends is she going to lose?

What will her parents think? What will Joseph think?

We are all fooling ourselves if we think what she walked through was easy…

IT WASN’T… And there probably has been for you, and there will probably be more times when things come your way… That you have a decision to make...

And that decision is to TRUST JESUS, or to obey all of the what ifs that lye in front of you.

Church, with Jesus we don’t have to do it all for everyone.

We get to trust in Jesus to do the heavy lifting. The key is trust.

Mary didn’t know what was going to happen… But her focus was not on the what ifs…

RATHER… her focus was on her trust in the God who called her.

Joy is receiving what you want to reject.

Can you imagine how the innkeeper would have felt if he said to Mary and Joseph, "Of course you can't stay in that stable! We find joy in making room for people in need.

But he didn’t… They were sent off… And went to a stable where Mary gives birth to the Savior of the world in a places that is made for animals…

Sometimes we get put in positions where we have to make a choice. And we know that one of the choices is going to be very inconvenient for us...

It’s going to put us out of our way… It’s going to cost us something… It’s going to make something a little harder for us...

Can I challenge you with something?

That emotion… is of our flesh… The enemy wants us to be all about ourselves… but when we are all about ourselves… The truth is we are also never satisfied.

What I have found over and over and over again… is that when I do what God wants me to do… Even when I don’t want to… That 100% of the time… Not 50% of the time… but 100% of the time… It ends up a blessing even when I don’t see it that way in the moment.

And not just for whoever needed the help or time… But for me. God blesses me through this…

I often think about the verse in Hebrews: "Don't neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2).

NOW… I want you to hear me… I said… when I do what God wants me to do…

God doesn’t want you or me to do everything. You can’t do everything. I can’t do everything…

BUT… when you know God is nudging you… AND my guess is that most of us know that feeling of God nudging us…

It’s doing those things that are blessings and bring blessings…

so Joy is trusting over doubt, receiving what you want to reject, and…

Joy is celebrating when you want to fear.

What's the first thing angels say to humans? It's standard protocol. In just about every single encounter the angels say: "Fear not."

I can hear Jesus instruct His most trusted angels. "OK, let's go over this again ... Most of the people that I'll tell you to speak to will be scared out of their minds!

So let's practice the greeting one more time." Then the angels would all say in unison, "Fear not."

Now I know some of us are like… whoa whoa whoa, wait a minute.

How do we do that? How do we celebrate something we fear?

Let me share something with you…

Again throughout the span of biblical history… God has asked people to do things that scared them out of their minds…

Moses to go up against Pharoah, Esther to risk her life before a king, Ruth to leave all that she knew… the list could go and on…

Your probably thinking… Ok, I get it, I see… but how do I celebrate this?

What you have to learn to celebrate is that the GOD of the UNIVERSE has asked you… out of the 7 billion people on the planet earth… TO DO SOMETHING...

And if He has asked you to do something…

This is like being picked first on the playground in grade school!! Which I never was… and I’m still working through my emotions on that…

BUT NOW… I am and YOU ARE… being picked all the time… To do something for the God of the universe… whom we know is the one who holds all of time and space together.

SO YES… train yourself to get excited when God asks you to do something! Even if it’s something hard, scary or outside of your comfort zone...

Because if God is asking you… He knows you can do it.

Mary… set this example… She celebrated what she had to fear!

But she needed that reminder just like we need that reminder… In Luke 1:30 “And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Church I want you to understand why you can be joyful…

God is not looking for ways to scare us into faith. He drew near to us to relieve the worries we have about death and what comes next.

Jesus wants you to know that He's going to take care of you no matter what happens.

One of the names that He was called long before he ever stepped on this world's stage was Immanuel meaning "God with us."

No matter what you go through we can whisper this simple truth: "Jesus is with me." Think about it.

He is with you in your greatest victories and your most humiliating defeats. Jesus is with you at all times in all things.

So many people are so busy being or worrying about who they should be that they have forgotten who they are...

For those of you who KNOW JESUS… YOU HAVE BEEN GIVEN JOY… and if you don’t know Jesus… this JOY is offered to you.... and because of that…

Isaiah 54:17 No weapon formed against me shall prosper

Deuteronomy 28:13 I am the head and not the tail

Psalm 18:2 Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my Deliverer

Psalm 20:7 Some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of the lord.

Romans 8:37 We are more than conquerers to Him who loves us.

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Job 13:15 Though he slay me I will trust in Him

Psalm 27:1 The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear?He is the strength of my life whom shall I be afraid?

YOU CAN CHOOSE JOY TODAY!

Mary’s response to what has happened to her speaks volumes of her trust being more powerful than her doubts.

That she was willing to receive what she easily could have wanted to reject.

AND… that she celebrated what she had to fear…

Listen to her response when the angel is done speaking to her…

Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word. Luke 1:38.

Church Mary chose JOY and so can you…