If you're facing some of the most challenging and difficult times of your life right now, fear not. God still does miracles. Could you trust that He wants to do a miracle in your life?
If so, stay with me. We'll learn what He does and how He does it. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. The mission of these daily programs is to intentionally disciple Christians through the Bible teaching of Chip Ingram. And in just a minute, he'll continue our series, Peace on Earth. In this new teaching, we're walking through the four significant moments in the Christmas story where an angel appeared and declared, Fear not, and also looking at how the people who received these unexpected visits responded.
Today, Chip jumps to the famous character from Luke chapter 1. So let's settle in for his talk, Fear Not, God Can Do Miracles. Pull out your notes, if you will.
You're going to need them. We're going to do a little Bible study in the process. And as we do, let me just ask you this question. When someone says Christmas, just what comes to your mind? Anything and everything. Christ, families, food, Santa, elf, it's a wonderful life, getting gifts, giving gifts, shopping, Christmas expanded, Black Friday, now Black Friday week, Cyber Monday, pressure, stress, office parties. What am I going to get? What are you going to give? What are you going to do? I mean, Christmas just has so many, many layers, lights, trees, decorations, family conflict.
Oh, I better get back to the positive. Do you realize that until the fourth century, the early church never had any major celebration for the birth of Christ? Roman Catholic Church said, Christmas literally comes from the mass of Christ. It's a celebration of what we would call the Lord's Supper or communion, his life, death, and resurrection.
And then over the years, it began to spread and change and things were added. Here's the picture I want you to get. Imagine like I've got a three foot by three foot picture. And imagine this picture is the most beautiful, awesome, breathtaking picture that has ever been created. When a person looks at this picture, your jaw drops, you're overwhelmed by it.
You can't even take it in. And then someone says, you know, it's such a good picture. Let's put a frame around it because frames are right. They're supposed to give attention to that picture. And then someone else says, let's put another frame and another frame and another frame and another frame.
And then over a few hundred years, frame after frame after frame after frame, the picture that was so magnificent gets lost in all the frames. The Dutch were really into giving gifts. So that became a part of it. The British were about Christmas trees.
That became a part of it. Over and over we've put hundreds of frames around Christmas so that now it's a magical time of year. It's a fun time. It's a family time.
It's a festive time. And all the other things, by the way, none of them necessarily are bad, but they obscure, they obscure what it's really all about. And what I want to do by the grace of God in our time together is let you know the enemy has had a very, very subtle tactic to reframe reality. In the Apostle Paul's final letter, he writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3. And he lets him know that, you know, in the last days, and we're living in those, men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, grateful, and holy, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, haters of parents, arrogant.
And then he ends it with this, holding to a form of godliness but denying its power. And what I want to suggest is that's what's happened with Christmas. Believing the right things, having the celebrations, intellectually agreeing with this. And we can go to the Winter Festival. We can eat good food.
We can hope the Warriors finally win a game on Christmas Day, you know. We can be nice to people. We can do a few nice things. It's a celebration. People seem to be a little bit nicer.
We'll drive maybe a little bit nicer when people cut us off, but we can lose the power. If you had no concept of Christmas that's been frame after frame after frame after frame, the words around Christmas would be supernatural, powerful, power, hundreds of years of waiting, God taking on human flesh, rescue, miracle. The biggest miracle in human history is this.
It's bigger than the Big Bang. In a moment God spoke and the world came into existence, but in another moment he entered human history miraculously through an unlikely person and an unlikely place in a way that literally changed the whole world. That's what we've lost. We don't have expectations of miracles.
We can hold to a form of Christmas, but don't expect God to do anything big or miraculous in our life or anyone else's. You'll notice in your notes I put a fresh look at a familiar story and here's what I want you to do. I wanted you to look at the actual text, the passages, because I think it's hard to break through all those frames.
Here's the context. Galatians 4 says, in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son. That word fullness, literally when the world was pregnant, when there was a unique moment in history, all of the prophecies from all the way back in Genesis 3 when sin entered the world and there was a promise that the serpent's head would be crushed and he would bruise the heel of the Deliverer.
John the Baptist, who's now going to return the hearts of fathers to children and children to their fathers. All of this is happening in a way that God has orchestrated sovereignly. For the first time ever there's peace so people can travel. There's roads so they can go anywhere in the Roman Empire.
They all speak a common trade language in Koine Greek. There has been a dispersion of the Jews so there's synagogues all over the Roman Empire and in the midst of it, it's dark. It's cruel. It's ungodly.
It's immoral. Philosophies, religion, Judaism is bankrupt. People are desperate and people are hopeless and that's when we're open and that's when it says Christ came.
And then in Isaiah 61 it says he wouldn't just be some religion. There was going to be a person who's going to solve things. He's going to set people free. The blind are going to see.
The lame are going to walk. The good news is going to be preached. He's going to take the kingdom of mankind, which is me, me, me, mine, mine, mine, get, get, get, power, power, power. As Tormbe said, the world's history could be defined in one word, wars. From earliest times till today over power and land and politics and under the guise of ideology and religion, wars, wars, wars, but they're not just around the world. Wars and families, neighborhoods, marriages, right? And it's all about this kingdom of the way we think about life.
What will satisfy me if I get, if I have, if I control? And he came to flip all that around and supernaturally show us there's power, free to give, free to love, free to forgive, free to experience the God who made you and not be separated any longer. That's what Christmas is all about. The immediate context is there is a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph of the descendants of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And coming in, there's no doubt God is speaking. This is an angel. He said to her, greetings favored one. Good news.
The Lord is with you. But she was very perplexed at this statement and kept pondering the kind of salutation that it was. Now, the reason I want to dive into this is we've romanticized this whole story. You know, we've seen movies. We've seen nativity scenes. And the Mary that we have in our mind is this beautiful young woman, something over her head. There's violins playing in the background and the music swells.
The light is coming down. She's absolutely beautiful. She is so glad that she has been chosen by the Lord. And it's, you know, and it happened.
She's a teenage girl from a donkey town that's despised by other Jews. And that's why they said, no good thing can come out of Nazareth. It's an angel, not just an angel. It's Gabriel sent directly from God. And all we know at this point, we'll learn more in our next time together, is that Joseph has royal lineage from the house of David. So he's in the line.
The Messiah is going to come that way. And you've got a girl that's at max, 15 to 16 years old. We know that she was very, very poor. We know she's from a bad side of town, but there was something about her heart. There was something about her devotion. There was something about her openness that we'll see that God said, I'm with you. I have a plan. I want to use you. So I want you, can we get out of the romantic notion?
In fact, have you noticed what we call it now? The Christmas story. Oh, that sounds so sweet. It's not a story. That sounds like a myth, like a metaphor. It's not a metaphor. It's a actual moment in human history where God breaks through, where he says, I'm going to bring hope.
This is about forgiveness. This is about rescue. These people are lost. They're in bondage. They're killing one another. They're violent. They've lost sight of me.
They've become as religious and corrupt as anyone else. And he comes, and he's going to do a miraculous breakthrough. And he's going to do it through this little girl from a despised situation. And unlike the little hallmark in movies that talk about, well, you know what? We have a big problem, but magic happens this time of year, right? There's no Jesus.
There's no power. It's not magic. It's a miracle. You ever looked up what a miracle is? A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by any natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of divine agency.
In summary, it's an unlikely plan, a very unlikely person, and from a despised place. It's not a metaphor. It's a historical fact.
It's not a myth. It's an advent. You know the word advent? It means arrival. It's the arrival of God into human history for the first time with a promise that there's another arrival and that he will be coming back.
Well, I'm imagining that, as some scholars agree, that Mary perhaps was in a time of prayer, usually in the evening, and this angel shows up, and she's terrified. You're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll return you to Chip's message in just a minute. But first, let me tell you God is doing incredible work through this ministry all around the world. And if you'd like to join us, consider partnering with us during our year-end match. Every gift we receive until midnight on December 31st will be matched dollar for dollar. Join us today by going to livingontheedge.org or by calling 888-333-6003. We appreciate your generosity. Well, with that, here again is Chip.
So let's find out what happens. The birth is foretold, and it's a supernatural birth. The angel said to her, do not be afraid. Again, let's not romanticize this.
Let's not have the music in the background. Can you imagine, I mean, like being in your bedroom and just an angel? In Scripture, every time anybody meets an angel, they fall on their face and they're absolutely terrified for good reason. And this is one, like elite, sent from the very throne of God. And so he says, do not be afraid, for you've found favor with God.
That's the good news. But then notice, here's the plan. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And here's the second command. One is don't be afraid. Second, you shall call his name Jesus.
In Hebrew, it would be Joshua, meaning the one who saves, the one who rescues, the one who delivers. You're 15 years old, okay? Were they more mature as you and your average 15-year-old today? Of course, because that's when they got married, 15, 16.
I mean, it was a very, very hard life. And the only hope is, what you know is, here's a young woman who's fallen in love with a guy named Joseph, who's of a royal line. And her hopes and her dreams are around about a year from now or so, we're going to get married.
Right now, we're betrothed. And that was a legal situation in Judaism. And so there's a legal contract between this family and that family.
And for the next year, she's going to live at home, but they're considered married, except they don't sleep together and she doesn't come into his home until the time of betrothal is over and he prepares a place for them to live. And here's what we know about this child. Number one, he will be great. Number two, he'll be called the Son of the Most High. Number three, the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. Number four, he'll reign over where? The house of Jacob and Israel. How long?
Forever. And his kingdom, this new rule, this upside down way of give in order to get, of forgive, of peace, of humility. This is how God wants his people to work.
This is how to have right relationship with him and with each other. This upside down kingdom, it's going to go on forever and ever and ever. Mary, this child that you're going to carry is the Messiah. He will be called the Son of the Most High Divine.
He's entering and bringing his rule and his kingdom and deliverance and all the promises to Israel, the promises to David, the promises that God made, all of this is going to happen. And Mary, you're very unlikely, but you will be the one to carry it. Here's the question. How do you respond?
How did she respond? Mary said to the angel, great question, right? How can this be since I'm a virgin? I mean, I can't have a baby.
I've never been with a man. Notice the angel's explanation. The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Circle that phrase, overshadow you. For that reason, the holy child shall be called the Son of God. This word is used in the Old Testament when, remember the picture of the cloud of the Shekinah glory would come down on the tabernacle?
This is this word. In the New Testament, you remember when the Mount of Transfiguration and Jesus, Peter, John, and James, and it says a cloud came down and covered them, that word cloud coming down is this word. There's no context whatsoever of some sort of sexual interaction between God and Mary. It was his presence coming upon her that made him be both fully God and fully human. The writer of John put it this way, when the word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory. Glory is the only one begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. It goes on to say that Moses brought us the law, but Jesus brought grace and truth. And no man has seen God at any time, but he, Jesus, has explained him.
He came to explain the Father, to live a perfect life, and then to actually die, to break the power of sin, the power of death, the power of the enemy. And are you ready for this? Get ready. Lean back.
This might be shocking. God's goal is not that you become your best self. God's goal is not that he can improve you. God's goal is not that he'll be your little helper and maybe all your life will work out right and you'll have a great job and great relationships.
No, no, no. His goal is to give you a brand new life. And just as the Spirit of God took up residence inside her, he takes up residence in us when we turn from our sin and invite him to forgive us for our sin. This is a radical, powerful, supernatural moment. And then he wants to give her a little hope, right? He wants to give her a sign. I mean, this is crazy for anybody, but you're a 15, 16-year-old poor girl that really everyone thinks you're nothing from a nowhere place. And you're going to now be the mother of the Messiah? What's he say? Here's a little hope.
You know your Elizabeth? She's already six months pregnant. In other words, God's intervening. He does miracles and he's doing them now. And then he gives the reason, for nothing shall be impossible for God. Let that sink in. Can we pause for just at least a moment of application?
When you think of Christmas, you think at the very heart of everything, trees, lights, food, that way beyond it all is God speaking and saying to you personally, nothing is impossible for me and I care about you. What's the most impossible situation you're facing right now in your personal life? What is it? Your marriage?
You're walking with God, you're single and it's like, man, you ever going to bring that right person? Is it an addiction? You've tried it a bunch of times. Is it a secret? Maybe you need a job? Finances? Is it one of your kids that you say, wow, they are so far from where I hope they'd be.
We don't even talk anymore. Struggling with anxiety and depression and struggle and the whole world is about mental health issues that you don't know how to get your arms around. Here's what I want you to get. Nothing is impossible with God. Christmas is about power, miracles, supernatural intervention. All those other frames, they're not necessarily bad. They obscure that.
If you miss that, you miss not just Christmas, you miss Christ. And so notice what happens here. He says to her, for nothing will be impossible to God. And notice her response. First of all, she knows who she is.
And second, she has a grasp of who God is. Behold the bond servant of the Lord. You know what a bond servant is? All the different servants you could have, it's the lowest one in the household. You don't get to tell anybody what to do.
You just get to receive instruction. And Mary says, I don't understand it. It's perplexing. It's confusing.
It's overwhelming. But there's no doubt God is speaking this as an angel. And then before we go and again make her this Madonna hero, sweet, otherworldly, her mind is thinking, when I say I'm the bond servant of the Lord, be it unto me according to your word.
Here's what's going through her mind. This means I'm going to lose Joseph. I'm going to have incredible shame because no one's going to believe this is from God. I'm going to be isolated. I had dreams about me and Joseph.
I've given up my future. She came in simple faith and said, I don't know what you have for me, but whatever you have for me, I'm willing. By the way, she was positioned to hear God's voice and she was willing to obey it.
Can I tell you something? God delights to do all kinds of miracles. He has a very, very hard time finding even his own children that are positioned to hear his voice. American Social Society did research in the last year of Christians across America and their habits of being in God's Word on a regular basis. It's the lowest interaction with Scripture in any time in the history of America among Christians. And Living on the Edge, we do a lot with pastors.
We did a study, Barna, we had them do some research for us. We have pastors from various denominations, but all who identify as believing evangelical pastors, only 21% of them ever open the Bible except for sermon preparation. I will tell you that if you are not in God's Word, there is no power. It's not about trying hard or wanting.
It doesn't work. For almost 10 years at the end of many of our services, I stand down here in front with the team and people would come and share their story and I would cry with them and I would pray with them. And I heard stories of pain and difficulty and separations and drug addictions and all kind of pain.
We're all human. And in the most gentle way, especially the second or third time the same person would come, I would say something like this, would you help me just understand, here's all these issues we've talked about, we've prayed about. Talk to me about your time in God's Word. What I came to was the people with the greatest problems that stayed unresolved, they never got better, and they were not in God's Word at all.
It was just like a one-to-one correlation. I don't understand how it works. The Spirit of God takes the Word of God, He digested in your soul, He creates power and new desires, He transforms your mind, and He changes you from the inside out. And it's like a car that doesn't have any gas. No word, no power.
And this isn't like some guilt trip. This is like, do you want to just keep having a form of godliness but deny its power? Mary says, be it unto me how?
According to your word. This is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram, and you've been listening to part one of Chip's message, Fear Not, God Can Do Miracles, from our series, Peace on Earth. Learn more about this ministry or our many resources by visiting LivingOnTheEdge.org or call 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003 or LivingOnTheEdge.org. Well, before we go on, here's Chip with a quick word.
Thanks so much, Dave. We all know there's a lot of turmoil, division, fear, and confusion in our society right now. We need, and I don't mean this tritely, we need Jesus. We need truth. We need strong pastors and leaders and strong parents and grandparents equipped with the truth.
This fall, we taught a series called Caring Enough to Confront. We believe with all of our heart, the truth sets people free. And the only loving way to really help people is to actually teach what the Bible teaches in a loving and kind way. And so we address abortion, LGBTQ issues, and politics done the right way.
These are heart and life issues of people that are hurting and suffering. We've empowered the body of Christ to be strong and bold and caring and kind. This is what God has always called His church to be. If you care about our country, if you care about the next generation, will you pray about joining us on this year-end match so that we can keep God's Word going forth in a way that transforms lives?
Good word, Chip. So if you want to help us in our mission to teach God's Word unashamedly, let me encourage you to become a financial partner. Because between now and December 31st, every gift we receive will be matched dollar for dollar. To be part of our year-end match, visit LivingOnTheEdge.org, or call us at 888-333-6003. That's 888-333-6003, or go to LivingOnTheEdge.org.
Atlas Nurse Tap Donate. Well, with that, here's Chip with a few final thoughts to share. Thanks, Dave. You know, I'd like to talk with each one of you personally. I'd love to sit across from you, grab a cup of coffee or tea, and end the conversation at some point in time, just very, very casually. I would say, tell me a little bit about your relationship with God's Word. And when I asked that question, I asked that question to people a lot.
And the reason I do it as this is you can listen to a podcast, and you can go to church, and you can catch this sort of self-help thinking over here and over there. But Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. You know, I cited some statistics from the American Bible Society. What I can tell you is this. Most Christians are not in God's Word, not reading it daily, not looking for promises, not memorizing key portions where they struggle, not renewing their mind. And guess what? We have about the same problems, the same anxiety, the same depression, the same fears as everybody else.
And here's the missing ingredient. Yes, the Holy Spirit lives in you if you're a follower of Christ, but it's like having a car but not putting gas in it. The Spirit of God takes the Word of God and makes it the living Word that gives us power and grace to live the life that He wants us to. Can I encourage you, take fifteen minutes before your day starts. Open the book of Luke and read the Christmas story and during this season say, Lord, you told me your Word is vital for my life. I want to demonstrate that I believe that by getting in it each and every day.
You don't have to do it a long time, but if you build that habit, you'll see and experience the kind of miracles that we talked about. Thanks, Chip. Before we go, let me take just a second and tell you about a resource we've created to help you deepen your relationship with God in a practical way. It's called Daily Discipleship with Chip. Through this free video course, you'll learn to study God's Word alongside Chip one-on-one. For each series, you'll spend no more than ten minutes with Chip in a particular passage of Scripture. Then he'll challenge you to spend ten more minutes on your own.
It's that easy. You'll be blown away by how much you'll learn about God and His Word. So sign up for any of our Daily Discipleship series today by going to DailyDiscipleship.com. Have listeners tap Discipleship. You'll listen in next time as Chip picks up in our series, Peace on Earth. Until then, this is Dave Drouy saying thanks for joining us for this Edition of Living on the Edge.
