Countdown to Christmas: HOPE

Countdown to Christmas: HOPE

This series is going to be called Countdown to Christmas…to Celebrate the Advent Season…

The Idea of Advent (which means Coming…or more specifically Preparing for His Coming where that was the first time or the second coming of Christ. ) centralizes on a few words:  Hope, Peace, Love and Joy.  Advent begins in with the Dark…while Candles are lit during the Advent season…ending the season in Light…

Luke 1:5-45, 5 During the time Herod ruled Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to Abijah’s group. Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, came from the family of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth truly did what God said was good. They did everything the Lord commanded and were without fault in keeping his law. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth could not have a baby, and both of them were very old. 8 One day Zechariah was serving as a priest before God, because his group was on duty. 9 According to the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to go into the Temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 There were a great many people outside praying at the time the incense was offered. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah, standing on the right side of the incense table. 12 When he saw the angel, Zechariah was startled and frightened. 13 But the angel said to him, “Zechariah, don’t be afraid. God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give birth to a son, and you will name him John. 14 He will bring you joy and gladness, and many people will be happy because of his birth. 15 John will be a great man for the Lord. He will never drink wine or beer, and even from birth, he will be filled with the Holy Spirit. 16 He will help many people of Israel return to the Lord their God. 17 He will go before the Lord in spirit and power like Elijah. He will make peace between parents and their children and will bring those who are not obeying God back to the right way of thinking, to make a people ready for the coming of the Lord.” 18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that what you say is true? I am an old man, and my wife is old, too.” 19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand before God, who sent me to talk to you and to tell you this good news. 20 Now, listen! You will not be able to speak until the day these things happen, because you did not believe what I told you. But they will really happen.”

 

Let me pick up the story in verse 39 when Mary finishes her conversation with Gabrielle the Angel.  

39 Mary got up and went quickly to a town in the hills of Judea. 40 She came to Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the unborn baby inside her jumped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 She cried out in a loud voice, “God has blessed you more than any other woman, and he has blessed the baby to which you will give birth. 43 Why has this good thing happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 When I heard your voice, the baby inside me jumped with joy. 45 You are blessed because you believed that what the Lord said to you would really happen.” NCV

Christmas time truly is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  As we begin to pull all the boxes down from the attic to decorate, the atmosphere is filled with expectation.  For Jonna and I we usually spend time reminiscing over each decoration because most of them are attached to a memory.  It’s interesting how we change so many things during this season…even if they are temporary changes.

• We change our Clothes…you know there are some sweaters you would never wear if it weren’t for Christmas
• Our language changes this time of year…
• Our Food Changes…there are foods you eat this time of the year that you do not eat any other time.
• Our Music changes…
• Our movies and tv shows…as much as Hallmark desires us to watch Christmas movies year-round…it just isn’t going to happen on mass scale

All these changes are in anticipation of Christmas.

We even change our attitudes during this time of the year…

I. Breakthrough
a. My prayer after the Christmas season…that you end the year in a Powerful Breakthrough…we serve the God of the Breakthrough and we struggle for those breakthroughs…my heart is that whatever breakthrough you need, you will find during this Christmas season.  
b. God will always fulfill all of His Promises…but God is not obligated to fulfill your potential.  You and I have to cooperate with God for our Potential to be Achieved.  Often times a Prophetic Word is speaking more to your Potential than to your Destiny…. Potential means we have to work with the Lord…Destiny requires we wait on the Lord.  
c. We must Grow in Favor.  Love is equal, favor is not.  Jesus grew in favor and wisdom with Man and God.  Often times we get angry and frustrated but it’s because we don’t have the favor to accomplish the dream given to us.  
d. Joseph in the Old Testament…had a Dream…a God given Dream…but then spent many years growing himself, his character, his favor and wisdom to walk in the Dream.  The dream from the beginning of the story to then end never changed…but Joseph sure did.  
e. FAVOR ON PREACHING:  While I’m speaking this morning and because of Favor…God will give you a Word of Counsel over your life through a word preached but in an issue that was never addressed.
f. That’s why people will come up and say, “Pastor you said this or that…and I didn’t…just the Favor of God on my life and on your life…aloud you to hear that word of Help and Counsel.  

First Sunday of Advent is HOPE

II. Doubting but Not Defeated
a. If we truly are going to address Hope…we must Address Hope’s Adversary…DOUBT!!!!

“5 During the time Herod ruled Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to Abijah’s group. Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, came from the family of Aaron.”

b. Zachariah is in the Temple…Burning incense, which is Worship…
i. So, Zachariah is in the Temple Worshipping
1. But His worship is going through the Motions
ii. So, Zechariah is in a long lineage of Priests…not just any priests but in the lineage of Aaron…
iii. Now we may look to criticize Zachariah for his doubt…but at least he was Present and Serving…He Showed Up…
1. The Fastest way to start defeating doubt and building hope is simply by Showing Up
iv. Let’s be honest…He had reason to doubt…God had given a promise…but then God hadn’t spoken again for 400 years…a few sparse miracles had been attributed to God but for 400 years God had not spoken…Now a Word Comes from an Angel while Zechariah is serving.  
c. Zechariah Doubted What Gabriel Said
i. A Promise of a Son after waiting for so long…
ii. God made so many promises, now what?
iii. How many times have we done this very thing?
1. Doubt his promises
2. Doubt his purpose
3. Doubt his goodness
4. Doubt his love
5. Doubt his forgiveness
6. Doubt his return
d. Resolving the Doubt issue:
i. “Without faith it is impossible to please the Lord.”
1. Activate Faith against Doubt.
2. Serve God regardless of feelings, logic, reason, or others…(FAITH)
ii. Hope kicks in even in the Silence of Zechariah not being able to speak….

Transition:  Jesus never got mad because of doubt, but always encouraged others to believe…

III. Hope Deferred

Prov 13:12, 12 Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. KJV

Zech 9:11-12, “As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you. NKJV

a. The word hope is in the bible 129 times and most of the time it means to be in expectation or to wait patiently on something from the Lord…
i. What Should Happen
a. Desires should build hope
b. Desires should also build faith…when you receive a promise from the Lord out of His Word it should build faith…” Hebrews says,
c. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for…the evidence of what I have not seen yet!”
ii. What Desires of Hope should not do is make you feel as if you are in a Prison?
a. What kind of Prison…I would ask…a prison of frustration?
b. Hope deferred makes the heart, soul sick
• So, it becomes a prison of worry
• A prison of fear
• A prison of anxiety
• A prison of confusion
• If not careful it can make you literally sick
c. We cannot allow the enemy of our soul to cause us to become weary in well doing and steal our hope and faith in the Promises of our heavenly Father…
• What Hope has made you sick…look at the other portion of Proverbs 13:12 – but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.  
• Who knows you may have the seedling of a tree of life before you and are about to give up on it…?

Rom 4:18, 18 Who against hope believed in hope , that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. KJV

The Word Hope here is Elipse. The cool thing is that both words are the same in the Greek…meaning one expectation must concede to another expectation!  Zechariah was in this place of Hope Sickness…but One expectation overtook the other and Elizabeth gave birth to a Product of Hope…John!

IV. Make Hope Kick

Luke 1:39-45 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.” NKJV

Hope causes you and I to feel as if we are expecting something or carrying something.  I pray you are carrying a Hope in Your Soul from God!

Whether it be:

• A promise
• A Word
• A Blessing
• An Expected Miracle
• A Vision
• A Dream
• Maybe a Dream for your family or your children…
• You should have spent enough time with God that he could deposit something in your spirit…to impregnate you with purpose and promise…
• You may be like Zechariah…you just have been faithful…Showing Up!!!

Transition:  But here is my point…

Who do you hang out with…who do you seek to hang out with…who will you travel to see…?

Who you hang out with should make the baby kick…make the dreams in you leap…Do they Build Hope?  

• Some people we hang out with have the ability to hinder the baby’s growth in us…
• Sort of like when you really are pregnant…you need to eat the right foods, take the right vitamins, and be in the right environments…
o If not, it can harm or even abort the baby…

Who do you seek to hang out with, those people should make the vision grow, the promise become more real…the Word come alive and Hope kick inside of you…

• The company you keep really matters…
• To hang out with certain people may cost me time, effort and even money to treat them to dinner…but the cost always makes my dream become a closer reality…Hope Grows and Kicks!

VI. Closing

a. Elizabeth was filled with Hope…Not because Mary Showed Up…but Because of Who Mary was Carrying. ​
• I pray we carry Jesus to a World looking for Hope this Christmas Season…
b. I Pray this Christmas Season we Deck our Halls with Hope…not just any hope…but a Great Hope…Which is Jesus Christ.
c. Hope isn’t a strategy…but it is fuel for your strategy…
• It keeps you going when others quit…
• It’s a quiet confidence that things will change
• Confident expectancy. In the Bible, the word hope stands for both the act of hoping (Rom 4:18; 1 Cor 9:10) and the thing hoped for (Col 1:5; 1 Peter 1:3).
d. Pray for Hope…
• Possibly Your Hope is being overwhelmed with Doubt…that’s Okay.
• Is it time for your Soul Sickness to turn into a Tree of Life?
• It’s time for Hope to Kick…

 

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