ADVENT 2019 | Wk 1: “Hope”
Elizabeth Wilkes | 12.01.2019
Message recordings available at: https://vimeo.com/element3
1:
2:
Advent: “arrival”
How do we prepare for an arrival?
3:
Gospel: “good news”
Good news must really be good news for everyone.
4:
Luke 1:26-33 CEB
When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. When the angel came to her, he said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.”
5:
Matthew 1:19-21 CEB
Joseph her husband was a righteous man. Because he didn’t want to humiliate her, he decided to call off their engagement quietly. As he was thinking about this, an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
6:
Expectation, reality, hope.
Expectation
- Engagement, marriage
Reality
- Unexpected change of plans, confusion, fear
Hope
- “Don’t be afraid”
7:
Luke 2:3-7 CEB
Everyone went to their own cities to be enrolled. Since Joseph belonged to David’s house and family line, he went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to David’s city, called Bethlehem, in Judea. He went to be enrolled together with Mary, who was promised to him in marriage and who was pregnant. While they were there, the time came for Mary to have her baby. She gave birth to her firstborn child, a son, wrapped him snugly, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the guestroom.
8:
Where can you find hope?
Is there an area of your life where you need hope?
Do you have expectations that are keeping you from embracing reality?
The gospel of Jesus tells us we can find hope despite our circumstances.
THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS.