Christmas 2014

When God Shows Up

When the blessing comes…

Is it {just} for you?

What if there's moreAnd we miss it?

Jesus shows upAt Christmas

Huge blessing

Because it's not contingentUpon our goodness

But his grace and loveIn coming to usAnd dying for us

God shows upGod blesses

Is it {only} about you? Is it {only} about me?

It has always been God's planThose who have been Shown grace

Would give Grace To those in Disgrace

The blessing was Meant to be shared

Zechariah and Elizabeth

- Priestly lineage- Righteous…blameless- Barren…advanced in yearsDisgrace

Angel shows up

Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard

…and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John

And you will have joy and gladness…

And you will have joy and gladness, and many will

rejoice at his birth

…he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah

…to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the

disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the

Lord a people prepared”

It's a blessing:You will have joy and gladness

It's a blessing:You will have joy and gladness

It's not just for them:…many will rejoice

The blessing was never meantTo terminate on me

But to flow out and bless others(Upward and Outward)

After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept herself hidden

…saying, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he

looked on me, to take away my reproach (disgrace)

among people”

Elizabeth has been blessedFrom Disgrace to Grace

Is it {just} for her?

The blessing was never meantTo terminate on me

But to flow out and bless others(Upward and Outward)

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth

…to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph

of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary

…the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God…

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end”

The blessing was never meantTo terminate on me

But to flow out and bless others(Upward and Outward)

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since

I am a virgin?”

Will there be DisgraceIn this?

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

You won't be married yetSo…Yes, "Disgrace"

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

In saying "Yes" to GodMary moved fromGrace to Disgrace

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the

hill country

Sermon Intermission:

Sermon Intermission:

I was wrong80-100 Miles

4-5 Days

…to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth

Elizabeth:

In the middle of a huge miracleFinally pregnant and full of joy

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby

leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the

Holy Spirit

…and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord

should come to me?

For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment

of what was spoken to her from the Lord”

2 Pregnancies:“The Lord has…taken away my Disgrace…”

Joy, Wonder, Laughing!

2 Pregnancies:“God has Disgraced me”

Doubts, Regret, Pain and Loss

It has always been God’s will: Those who have been shown

Grace (Elizabeth)

Would give it away to Those who need Grace (Mary)

Elizabeth is in the middleOf her own blessing and miracle

Elizabeth is in the middleOf her own blessing and miracle

Yet she focuses on MaryTo bring comfort and graceOut of her own grace

It has always been God's planThose who have been

Shown grace

Would give Grace To those in Disgrace

The blessing was never meantTo terminate on me

But to flow out and bless others(Upward and Outward)

Blessing has purposeBeyond the blessing itself

Could it be that we miss theGreater Blessing by consideringIt ours without seeking God 1st?

The whole of scripture…"What you've received

Give"

God...comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God- 2 Cor. 1:3-4

I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you

may be a blessing- Genesis 12:2

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked- Luke 12:48

Christ gave up everything to enter the world as a baby born to a poor family so that he might bless everyone

The blessing was never meantTo terminate on me

But to flow out and bless others(Upward and Outward)

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world- James 1:27

"The scandal of Christmas is that those of us who have been

given so much agonize over which gifts to give (and get!)

while others worry about their next meal"

Elizabeth, in the grace God has given, is filled with the Spirit

and confirms God’s Grace to Mary

Exactly what Mary needed

And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…"- Luke 1

The one who received GraceGave Grace

To the one who'd been Disgraced

When God blessesIt won't be {just} about me

But the gift will multiplyWhen it's shared

And that willingnessLeads to a greater experience

With GodAlways

The blessing was never meantTo terminate on me

But to flow out and bless others(Upward and Outward)

We praise God in the blessingsAnd seek him for

What to do with whatHe's given us

And…We are called to give GraceTo those in Disgrace

Christmas will passWe'll forget

And get a tax refund or raiseA relational blessingTime off from work

God, thank you! (Upward)

What should I doWith what you've give me?(Outward)

Q and A

Special Christmas Offering

Next Week10:30 Unified Service

PJ's!