Welcome to the podcast of the White Church in Adelaide, South
Australia. Excellent.
Well, as. Justin mentioned we heard around
the blood of Jesus last week. We're going to be talking a
little bit about, you know, this story in Luke with, with Mary in
the birth of Jesus. So we've sort of come full
circle. We're back to the start and now
we're going again. And I think it's funny because
we're going to continue to do that forever.
Talk about his birth, talk about his death, talk about everything
in in between. Talk about the church.
Talk. You know, it's just like this.
There's no new, new things that we're going to be talking about
here. Jesus has given us, you know,
his word and and through the. Apostles, He's given us all that
we. Need to know in the scriptures
and and his Holy Spirit's with us and he's leading us and
guiding us but. You know it says that the Holy
Spirit will remind you of. The things that I've said and so
we just continue just to to go through the word of God and and
just to ask. For greater revelation.
Of, of the truth of these things and what it means.
And so I'm believing and trusting that even this morning,
you know, this is, these are things that we've heard many
times, but I'm trusting that we're going to be receiving a,
a. Greater revelation of who?
Christ is and, and what he's come to do and and these things.
So Lord help us to do that. We open up our.
Hearts to you, Lord. We can't grow.
Ourselves, Lord, we can't, you know.
Seek revelation through, studying through.
Understanding the words on the page.
Lord, it's your Holy Spirit that.
Reveals the son to. Us and it reveals yourself so.
We seek you. For that today, Holy Spirit,
that you would reveal yourself, and that we would come to know
you in a greater way. And so Amen so.
So we we read the the story here with the kids.
I mean, we could have just left it at that, right?
That was that's pretty good stuff.
So I'm not going to go for too long.
So just relax. This is not going to be a long
sort of sermon. So, Luke.
One verse 26. Is where we're going to pick up
this morning and I'm just going to start reading some verses.
Here Luke one verse 26 it says now in the sixth month the Angel
Gabriel was sent by God. To a city.
Of of Galilee named Nazareth. To a virgin.
Betrothed of a man whose whose name was Joseph.
Of the House of David and the. Virgin's name was.
Mary and having. Come in, the Angel said to her.
Rejoice, highly favoured one, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was
troubled, and at his saying, and considered what manner of
greeting. This was when the Angel said to
her, Do not be afraid. And then the Angel said to her,
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God, and
behold, you will conceive in your.
Womb and bring. Forth the Son, and shall call
his name Jesus. He will be great and oh, and he
will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will
give 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.
Then Mary said to the Angel, How can this be, since I do not know
a man? Then the Angel answered her, and
said to her, That the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Highest will over shadow you.
Therefore also the Holy One who is to be born will be called the
Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth, your
relative has also conceived a son.
In her old age. And this is now the 6th month
for her who? Was who was called.
Baron, For with God nothing will be impossible.
Then Mary said, Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it
be to me, according to. Your word.
And the Angel? Departed from her.
When you think about the virgin birth, it's what an what an.
Unbelievable miracle, that is. You know that a child.
Would be born to a woman. Who had never been with a man,
never been married that causes. A lot of problems I think for
you know for the. Situation.
It's not going to get into that stuff now, but when?
You actually consider what we're reading here for Joseph and for
their families and for like. It's just, it's amazing.
And we believe that that's true, right?
You know when I mentioned some? Of these things to unbelieving
people, you know. Sometimes maybe not this.
Exact scene. They would say, do you actually
believe that? And.
You go. Yeah, I do.
That is an unbelievable. Thing right there that we've
read. But it is true.
Right. We do believe that.
And we believe it because what we know in here, there's a I
just know, like it's one of it's like, you just know that, you
know, like I just, I don't question this anymore.
I believe this to be true. I've seen it in the scripture.
I hold the scripture as true. I believe what it says.
And I'm sure us in this room could say the same thing.
We just, although we can't, can't understand these things.
We just believe them because they are true, because it's
God's word and we, we know that it's trustworthy.
Amen. So we just believe.
But it is amazing. Like it is unbelievable to the
things that we read in the scripture, but we choose to
believe. We trust God and Mary.
Trusted the Angel that spoke. Imagine that.
Imagine being Mary and having this Angel come and say to.
Her you're going to have a son and.
Not just any son, like you're going to have a son and he's
going to be like the Most High and you know, he's going to be a
king forever and all of these. Things.
And Mary just believes, she says, according to your word,
let it be. So this is, I think this is just
testament to the sort of person that Mary was and Joseph as well
when you read the story, God chose special people.
For that privilege, you know. Which is just amazing.
But. Mary asks a very obvious.
Question of the Angel and of God.
She says how can this be? Since I don't know?
I haven't, I don't have a husband, I haven't known a man
intimately. How on earth could?
I have a son. It's a pretty obvious question
to ask. Can I say that it's OK to ask
God questions? Like it's OK to ask God
questions? God asks hard things of us.
God tells us impossible things and it's OK to ask God.
You know, God asks us to, you know, Jesus told this rich man
to give everything away and come follow me.
We're, we're told to be generous and share things and give things
away. Those are hard things.
God asks hard things. You know, God asks us to forgive
people no matter what, like no matter what people have done,
you must forgive. That's a hard thing for God to
ask of us because you don't want to in your in our heart of
hearts, we don't want to forgive.
This is a hard thing that God asks.
God says fear, not fear not over and over again in the Scripture
we're told not to fear, don't be fearful.
That's a hard thing. It's like, you know God, how am
I supposed to fear? Not when I feel scared, right?
Like I'm feeling scared right now.
I'm feeling fear and you're telling me to fear not how on
earth, God. This is a question that we could
ask God. How am I supposed to not be
scared God there. There's a difference between
asking God how and telling God you can't.
You know Mary didn't say no, that's not.
Possible. I can't do that.
She. Said you know.
How God? And so when we're faced with
impossible things that God's asking us to do, there is a
difference between me saying God, I can't.
Forgive. Because you're saying I won't
forgive. You're saying I'm not willing to
forgive so it's OK to ask. God help me to forgive or show.
Me how to forgive or how on earth can I forgive?
But let's not just stamp our feet and say I can't do that.
You know, this is not the example.
That's. Mary, that Mary's given us here.
So God, God's answer to. Mary is the same.
Answer that God has for you and I when we seek God with hard
things like how is this supposed to happen?
How am I supposed to do this? The answer that God gives her,
the Angel says, says the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the highest will over shadow you, and then he
says, therefore therefore you will have.
A son. Therefore, you'll give birth.
To the King. And so that's our answer as
well. When we face hard things, when
we say, Lord, you know when your word says to me that I can live
free from sickness. And when you know, when you read
Psalm 91 and it says that you know he's going to over shadow
you and, and be bring you under his wings and all these things,
then it's like how God, I'm sick, I'm weak, I feel weak, I
don't feel strong. How God am I going to overcome?
How am I going to be healed? How am I going to live well?
And it's the the power of the Holy Spirit that comes upon you
that will. Empower us to walk out the.
Things that God's calling us to do, the impossible things of
God. It's the same answer for us.
God doesn't. It's always by God's power and
provision that we can do what God's asking us to do.
And God will always provide what is needed for us to do what he's
calling us to do, right. I think about, you know, I think
about our Christmas lunch, you know, we talked about we.
Sat around and we. Talked and we we counted the
cost of how much is this kind of cost to do and.
We came up with a. Figure and all of the money's
there through through generosity and people's giving all of the
money that. We we came up with a number.
Justin did the math right. We have that money.
We have more than that money. And that's because when God asks
us to do things, God provides and he is faithful, right?
And we can depend on him and trust him.
And I think that's just a wonderful thing.
And so I said this was. Going to be really short and it
is going to be short. So there's there's one more.
Thing that I just want to touch just out of this story that
we've read, why is the Virgin? Birth important.
And I would say that to believe that Christ Jesus came from the
seed of men, like if you believe that he was just born of Joseph
and not of God, we'd be denying Christ dearly.
We'd be saying that he was just a man from man, as you and I
are. But that is not the Jesus that
we serve. The Christ Jesus that we serve
was born of God. He's divine.
He always has been. He always will be.
Jesus is God. You could say that clearly,
right? Jesus is God, Jesus is Lord.
We serve one. God in three persons.
That's what we believe in this church.
That's what the Scripture teaches.
It's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy.
Spirit. Jesus has always been the Son of
God. This is one of those things that
it's it's hard to. Wrap your head around.
The. Things in.
The word of God. That that.
You know, it says that Jesus was slain before the foundation of
the world, the. Lamb that was slain.
Before the foundation of the world, before there was even a
world. Like try and wrap your head
around that glass. Like there's things that we just
can't understand in our own. Understanding.
But we know that it's true. So Jesus has always been the.
Son of God. John 858 says that Jesus said to
them most assuredly I say to you, before Abraham was I am and
the the Pharisees, and that that they.
Knew what? He meant by that, you know, I, I
speak to people and they say that Jesus never claimed to be
God. Yes, he did.
And the ones that that led him to be killed, they understand
what Jesus was saying. I am he was saying I am I am.
This is making reference to the burning Bush.
Jesus made it very clear who he was and it matters who Jesus is
to us, right. We have to have a a accurate
understanding of who Jesus the. Son of God is.
In our hearts, we need to believe on the right.
Jesus, I guess is what I'm saying.
So are we convinced that Jesus is Lord today, that he is God
Almighty? Because he is.
And people say, you know, I hear things even Hillary heard this
week, people would say, you know, that people that don't
believe in God or whatever they say, well, I believe in Jesus.
Like I believe he was just a good teacher or he was an ethic,
a good ethical guy. He was just a good man.
But that's not what Jesus thought.
That's not what Jesus said. That is not who he said he is.
So for someone to say that Jesus was just a good teacher, well,
you're you're saying that what he said was a liar.
So you're Jesus is a liar is. What you're saying so?
He's not a good. Person in your understanding
he's a liar. He's not a liar and he's not
crazy. He said what he what he said,
and he meant what he said. Jesus is is God.
So he wasn't just a good man. He was Lord God.
Almighty Amen and God calls Jesus his begotten Son.
In John 316 it says this is. A very well known verse.
I'm sure we've all heard it, John. 316 For God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
So begotten just means of God, you know, like I've begotten
sons and they're of me. There's a piece of me in them.
They've they've come from me. God, Jesus came from God.
This is this word begotten. But it also says that that the
that the let me read it again. It says for God so loved the
world that he gave his son, his only begotten son.
He gave his son. He was already a son.
God gave him, his gave us his son and Isaiah 9 says the same
thing. I'm just helping us to
understand that Jesus has always been a son and he was given to
us. God gave us his Son.
Isaiah 9 says the same thing. In verse 6 it says for unto us a
child is born. I love this scripture.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
God gave us his Son to be born. On the Earth.
And you and I were lost sons and daughters.
We weren't born sons of God. You know, just because God
created mankind, it doesn't mean that when you and I were born
that we were sons of the Most high, sons of God.
It doesn't mean that the Scripture teaches that we were
lost sons and daughters. This is why Jesus had to come.
This is why the only begotten Son had to come.
And do what he did. To save that which was lost, I
come to save that which was lost.
This is why sons that to become a son and daughter, we need to
be born again, because we were born of Adam, we.
Were born of the. Seed of man.
Right, not like. Jesus.
Jesus was born. Of the Holy Spirit.
And so we need to be born again. The Spirit of God needs to come
and live inside us for us to be considered sons and daughters of
of of God, John one verse 12 says but as many as as.
Received him to. Them He gave the right to become
children of God to those who believe in His name.
So we became children. We received the right to become
sons and daughters. Through what?
Through faith, through believing who Jesus is, through believing
that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was born of the holy.
Spirit and that he lived. And died and shed his blood for
you and I that's the privilege, you know, through the blood of
Jesus, that is the privilege that we can take a hold of that
we have we take a hold of the right to become sons and.
Daughters of the King, through what Jesus?
Did that's a fantastic. Thing.
Like, I couldn't say. Enough words to express.
How wonderful it is to be lost and to be found and to be, you
know, to be in death and to be born again through Jesus,
through the blood of Jesus. Amen.
Gosh, we've got so much to be thankful for.
Behold what manner of love the Father have bestowed on us that
we should be called children of God.
I hope that's stirring up excitement in us to know that we
have something very, very special, something more special
than anyone could ever have. And if we can't get excited
about that, I don't know that we understand the.
Truth of the Gospel. Because.
I get excited about things. Like I get excited about, you
know, I like playing with RC cars and stuff.
Like, I don't get excited about that.
But this I get. I become alive when I think
about what? Christ has.
Done for me. You know we could.
Get excited about many things about our kids and and about
God's blessing. It's exciting to be blessed by
the Lord, but this thing to know that He has died for us.
And. That we are alive in him forever
should. Just.
You know, we shouldn't have to stir each other up to be able to
praise the Lord. Amen should be bursting out of
us when we catch a a heart revelation of this.
It's an amazing thing that we have.
And so we celebrate Christmas. Christmas is the birth of the
Saviour, Jesus, the Son of God, and we worship him as Lord God
Almighty. That's how we worship Jesus as
God. You are Lord, you are King, you
are Lord God Almighty. Amen.
But there's much to be distracted away from.
In this season. From that, you know, there's
this is a busy time of season we've got.
Dinners and we've got people and we're buying.
Gifts and just. Go to the shops and just try and
keep your head together. At the moment it's.
Nuts. But anyway, we're.
There's so many distractions. But we need to hold fast to what
this means to the to what this season is all about.
Because he is. All about.
Him and so let's not get distracted in all of the stuff
you know, let's not be working so hard to create a a nice space
for our family and running around stressed and all of these
things that we miss the point of what we're doing.
We're coming together to celebrate what Christ has done
and so don't be overwhelmed with work.
You're working and and preparing and all those things.
Trust the Lord for peace. These things don't matter, guys.
You know, we're, we're going to come together and we're going to
surf here and there's lots to do.
And it sounds weird that I'm saying this, but we're going to
be busy. But we need to center ourselves
on who Jesus is and do this well and love one another.
This is an amazing season for us, but we can't.
Lose sight of who he. Is because this is all we have.
It's all we have. We're going to take nothing out
of this world. Nothing.
All of the. Things that we think matter, we
can't take them with us. You know, if we're if we're
doing what Jesus has called us to do, we're going to take
people with us. We're going to raise our
families well and our family is going to be with us.
We're going to make sure that we've done everything that we
could to make sure that people around us come to know him.
But that's all the only things that are going to come with us
are going to be people that receive him as Christ and Lord.
We do have a big part to play in that.
But I will close with Isaiah 9. I'm going to read the whole
thing. I love this.
Maybe can we just stand to our feet while I read this just to
let's just honour the word of God in this place.
Isaiah 9, verse 6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his
name will be called. Wonderful Counsellor, mighty
God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, of His increase, and
of his government and peace there will be no end upon the
throne of David and over His Kingdom, to order it and
establish it with judgement and justice.
From this time forward and forever, the zeal of the Lord of
Hosts will. Perform this.
Isn't that amazing? Let's just, I'm just going to
pray. Let's turn our hearts to the
Lord. Lord Jesus.
We thank you, Lord, that you are no mere man, that you are Lord
God Almighty. We thank you, Lord, that you
laid it all down and you came and you were born and you lived
and you died and you rose again according to the scriptures.
Lord, you shed your blood. That.
The that the sins of the world could be forgiven and of your
Kingdom, Lord, there will be no end.
And we thank you, Lord, that we stand in this place today as a
part of your covenant family, sons and daughters of the Most
High, a part of your everlasting Kingdom.
And it fills us with joy, it fills us with hope, and it fills
us with peace. And Lord, we pray that all of
those things would flow in US and through us this Christmas
season, and all of the people around us would.
Experience who you are. Give us boldness to speak your
truth and Your word and your gospel.
God, we pray that we would see Your mighty arm of salvation in
our midst. This.
Christmas season, Lord and. That you would be glorified.
You would be lifted high, our amazing God and King.
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Excellent.
All right, I'm going to head back to Justin.
He's going to. Cool.
Thanks, Dave. Just a few different things that
just popped out to me. Then obviously as we come into
the season, if God is asking something of you, ask how, don't
just say, I can't say God, how will this happen?
But it's also that reminder of like merit, the story of Mary
and Martha, like Martha, you're busy with so many things, but
one thing is needed to sit at Jesus feet.
I just pray this this Christmas season, all of us would find a
place at Jesus feet. We just sit there and we're kind
of go, wow, The wonder of who you are, the wonder of what you
came to do, the wonder of how you were born.
And and that incredible story, an impossible story.
But as Mary said, with God, all things are possible.
Amen. Amen.
Thank you for joining us for today's message.
For more information about The Way Church, please visit
ourwebsite@thewaychurch.com dot AU.
Have a blessed day.