The Fight for Hope
Christmas is not about an event on the calendar but an invitation to live with deep joy and satisfaction regardless of your circumstances.
Advent is about hope over hate.
Surface-Level Challenges:
1. Control
Your desire for control will destroy your hope.
Being in control is an illusion.
"I am not in control."
Surface-Level Challenges:
1. Control
2. Comfort
3. Approval
4. Power
Advent: God came to earth in the womb of a virgin; He lived a perfect life; He died in our place – to give us hope.
Luke 1:26-38 NIV
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:28 NIV
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
1. The call of God trumps your plans and dreams.
Proverbs 16:9 JCV
9 A person can make plans, but the Lord determines what's going to happen.
1 Corinthians 6:20 NIV
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
God's ways are weird to us because we don't know what God knows.
Luke 1:31 NIV
31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.
Luke 1:29 NIV
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
1. The call of God trumps your plans and dreams.
2. What God says about you is all that matters.
Revelation 12:1-4 NIV
1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.
Galatians 1:10 NIV
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Acts 5:29 NIV
29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!
It will cost you to follow Jesus.
Joy isn't found in self-seeking pleasure but in self-sacrificing service.
Luke 1:38 NIV
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
1. The call of God trumps your plans and dreams.
2. What God says about you is all that matters.
3. The greatest comfort is knowing you are fulfilling God's purpose.
4. The success of Jesus's reign is already secure.
Hebrews 11:1 NIV
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
Luke 1:46 NIV
46 And Mary said:“My soul glorifies the Lord
Luke 1:51-53 NIV
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52 He has brought down rulers from their thronesbut has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good thingsbut has sent the rich away empty.