11-29-10 Kevin Goins - Advent 1 Do Not Be Afraid To Hold On To Hope

Advent 2021:  Holding on to Hope
Luke 1:26-45 
I (Luke 1:26) “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.  The virgin’s name was Mary.  The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.’  Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”  

 First, we need to be _________ to God’s message of hope.

A. Luke doesn’t say Mary was troubled because an angel spoke to her; what troubled her was the _______________.  Nevertheless, she was open to ___________ the message.

B. That is why when Medieval artists portrayed the Holy Spirit coming to Mary to enable her to conceive the Messiah, they pictured the Holy Spirit, as a dove, entering Mary through her ___________________.

 John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
  
II (1:30) “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the House of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.’”

 Second, we need a ______________ from God.
 
A. Gabriel doesn’t say, “Mary, you are highly ____________________.  He says, “You are graciously ________________.”

B. The message of Christmas is that the gift given to Mary has also been given to ______.

(Colossians 1:27) “It is Christ in you that is your hope of glory.”
(Galatians 2:20) “I have been crucified with Christ.  I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

III (1:34) “’How will this be’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’  The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God.  Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God.’”  

 Third, we need something to believe in which is _________________ ourselves.

A. People have a hard time with the virgin birth, but their doubt is m__________________ because virgin birth is nothing compared to i________________________. 

B. If Mary had been told that she and her husband Joseph were going to have a child who would be Israel’s Savior, then they would have been forced to believe in ___________________________.

C. There would have been no hope in that message, but only s______________, and w________________, and feelings of i_____________________________.

“‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So, the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God…. For nothing is impossible with God.’”

IV (1:38) “’I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered.  ‘May it be to me as you have said.’  Then the angel left her.”

 Fourth, we need a willingness to __________________.

A. Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve….”  Like s_________, like m_____________.

B. Selfish desires have ________ power when life seems hopeless, which means hopelessness keeps selfishness in check.  For this reason, God cannot take away our hopelessness until we are willing to a_______________ our selfish way of living.

V (1:39-45) “At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.  When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.  In a loud voice she exclaimed:  ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear.  But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.’”  

Fifth, we need h___________________.

A. Mary took the favor God had poured out on her and she did not h________________ it, she poured it out on o______________.

B. Mary was the most favored woman in human history, but she played the part of a w_________________ servant, and that is humility.

VI Would you like to hold on to hope while our world is being severely tested?  Mary shows us how:

 (1)  We must be ___________ to hope.

 (2) We need to understand that hope is __________ something we can create.

(3) We must see that hope is a ___________ and we must receive that gift through _____________.

(4&5) To keep us from becoming proud and self-centered, we need to receive hope as _________________ and we must practice ________________.