Passage: Luke 1:28-30
Notes
Four words we'll focus on this Advent Season: Hope, Peace, Joy & Love.
Our one hope for this series: That you'd see God do the Unlikely in your life so that those who don’t know Hope, Peace, Joy and Love would see the God who gives that!
BIG IDEA for today: Hope comes from God to us!
Three foundational truths we learn about Hope from the story of Mary:
- Hope from God is rooted in the Grace of God!
- Hope from God reminds us that nothing is impossible for God!
- Hope from God frees you to say OK to God!
Verses
{Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God!” Luke 1:28-30 NLT}{Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” Luke 1:34 NLT}{The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35 NLT}{Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” Luke 1:38 ESV}{“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 NLT}
Quotes
Noel Piper : “We are a people of promise. For centuries, God prepared people for the coming of his Son, our only hope for life. At Christmas we celebrate the fulfillment of the promises God made—that he would give a way to draw near to him. Advent is what we call the season leading up to Christmas.” (Treasuring God in our Traditions); Oswald Chambers : “Jesus Christ was born into this world, not from it. He did not evolve out of history; He came into history from the outside. Jesus Christ is not the best human being, He is a Being Who cannot be accounted for by the human race at all. He is not man becoming God, but God Incarnate, God coming into human flesh, coming into it from outside. His life is the Highest and the Holiest entering in at the Lowliest door.” (My Utmost For His Highest );
