"Faith is not about everything turning out okay. Faith is about being okay no matter how things turn out.” (Anonymous)
26 In
the sixth month of [her relative] Elizabeth’s
pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to
be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said,
“Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.”
29 Confused
and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told
her, “for you have found favor with God. 31 You
will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called
the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor
David. 33 And he will reign
over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!”
34 Mary asked
the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
35 The angel
replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called
the Son of God. 36 What’s
more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used
to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth
month. 37 For the word of
God will never fail.”
38 Mary
responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come
true.” And then the angel left her.
39 A
few days later Mary hurried to the hill country of Judea, to the town 40 where Zechariah lived. She entered the
house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 At
the sound of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth’s child leaped within her, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 Elizabeth gave a glad cry and exclaimed to Mary, “God has blessed you
above all women, and your child is blessed. 43 Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? 44 When I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what he
said.” (Luke 1:26-45,
New Living Translation)
What you need to believe this Christmas…
1. Believe what God says about you. (See Luke 1:26-29 above) You will not
believe the task God has for you if cannot first trust how He sees you
(cherished).
A. You have found
favor with God. Your
viewpoint of life will change when you realize that you are royalty, the son
(or daughter) of the Creator of the universe.
B. The Lord is with
you. God
dwells inside of you. You do not have to face your challenges alone. He is with
you every step of the way.
2. Believe what God will do for you. (See
Luke 1:30-33 above) Believe the promises of God whether you understand them (or
not)
A. He will save us. So that one day we can be in Heaven with
Him.
B. His kingdom will
come. Day by day God’s kingdom is being built
on Earth.
3. Believe what God can do inside you. (See
Luke 1:35-38 above) God can uproot and eliminate bad habits in your life so you
can make a permanent change. Trust what He wants (and needs to do) in your
life. He has the real power source to make this happen.
4. Believe you can be a blessing to other people. (See
Luke 1:39-45 above) Do your best to repeatedly bring out the positive in other
people as you communicate with them daily.
To do this, you must walk by God’s faith and not by what you physically
see this Christmas.
Faith is an important gift that you can’t buy to put under your Christmas tree this holiday season, but we all need it. Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen. (Hebrews 11:1, The Passion Translation) Focus on Jesus, who is the reason for the season.[i]
[i] Inspired by the sermon “Stuff with Faith: Stocking Stuffers,” (installment one) Sunday November 29, 2020, Pastor Dave Jansen (CPG). All CenterPoint churches have returned to an online format because of the increase in COVID-19 cases in central Ohio. Sunday morning online services can be viewed at facebook.com/centerpointchurches or centerpointchurches.com/live.
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