Crossroads Community Church

December 3, 2014 · 0 Comments

We entered God’s sanctuary in reverence, our hearts were eager to worship Him. Bob lead wonderful choruses and read Psalm 34:10, Acts 4:12, and Deuteronomy 33:3. Pastor Don shared announcements and prayed, “ Dear Father God, we come before You with expectation, as we enter this joyous season we think about the many promises you have made and kept, we want our focus to remain on you, help us honor you in all we do as we prepare to celebrate You, In Jesus Name, Amen.”
Today we count 25 days before Christmas, many of us are preparing for this season anticipating the time we will share with family and friends. Some of us may even be a little stressed, but what if we didn’t need to be? This is why we observe the 4 weeks of Advent; it is about turning our focus on “Who” Christmas is all about. When we keep Him the main thing it relieves all the stress and it will be much more rewarding. Each Sunday we will light a candle to remind us of Jesus; the Hope, Peace, Joy and Love that He gives and on our celebration night we will light the Jesus Candle the Light of the world. We rejoice in preparing our hearts for the birth of Jesus for God gave a promise that a Savior would come, this is the hope for all mankind, (John 1:14). When we wait on God’s promises we wait trusting Him, we hope for His return, for Him to enter our hearts and surprise us daily. He encourages us to live through His Son, Immanuel who is God with us. This Promise was made by the prophet Isaiah and it came to pass.
How many of us receive Christmas cards or E-cards wishing us a Merry Christmas? What if you received one from an Angel? That is exactly what Mary received. God sent the Angel Gabriel to Mary a Virgin and he appeared to her to declare, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you! Don’t be afraid, Mary, You have found favor with God, You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 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. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” (Luke 1:26-33). As Christians it is so important to believe in the virgin birth because it is the proof of Jesus’ divinity, He is God incarnate who dwelt among us. In order to be a perfect sacrifice to save us from our sins and bring us forgiveness Jesus needed to be born of a Virgin being conceived by the Holy Spirit of God not an imperfect human father. His birth form a virgin was foretold and to believe so proves Jesus was who He said He was; the great I AM, (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:35, John 8:56-58, Exodus 3:14, Galatians 4:4).
The calling on Mary’s life was like no other, God knew her status of being pledged to marry Joseph, He knew her situation of need and her fears of the unknown, yet He chose her because He knew her heart, she was a humble, gentle and obedient young woman. Mary responded with grace and surrendered to what the Lord was asking, (Luke 1:34-38). How about Joseph, do you think this was what he was planning as a life with Mary? Yet God knew his fears and doubts, He also knew that Joseph was a good and righteous man, that he would do what was right and that he would raise Jesus well, (Matthew 1:18-25).
Beloved, what about us; what is God asking us to do for Him? Is He asking us to invite someone to church or share our testimony with a friend or simply feeding the needy? Whatever the calling God knows our situation, He knows our means and our fears and since we can trust His promises we can be certain that He will be with us to do what it is he has asked. The road of life is full of twists and turns but God’s ways are perfect and He calls us to a purpose despite what life throws at us, (2 Samuel 22:31-33) All through scripture God promised incredible miracles, many of which are giving children to woman who were the least likely to conceive, such as Sarah and Elizabeth, none greater than the Virgin Birth,(Genesis 18:10, Luke 1:18,;34-35). When the Lord calls us out of our comfort zone to do something incredible and even a little scary we ought to follow Mary’s example; believe, trust and obey. Hear the Lord’s promise, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand!” ……have a blessed week Beloved, Asherey Shalom!
To learn More visit www.shelburnecrossroadschurch.ca