The Fear of Hopelessness

Let's put our hands together and praise the Lord for citing the ministry. One of the missions of our church is not just to build and grow our church, it's also to bless the city that we get to be a part of. And because of your incredible, absolutely incredible generosity over the last couple of years, we were able to give a half million dollars to get that ministry, re-city, off the ground, get that started, help get them into a facility. It's a ministry that's grown up right here out of our church and is now operating in one of the most strategic places of need. And that is all entirely because of the way that you have responded so generously over the last couple of years to the mission of God. Another one of our missions is to see the gospel spread throughout the world. So each Christmas we try to give a gift of three or four hundred thousand dollars to the International Mission Board, which is the agency through which we send most of our church planners overseas. Just this week I got a note from one of our team leaders in India, a guy named Jesse, who said this in his report.

Listen to this. This year our team has trained hundreds of national partners in a year-long biblical studies program. We meet monthly with these men for teaching on the Bible, their families, how to be fathers and good husbands, and also church planting. In order to graduate from this program, the men are required to not only pass the exams, but three of their disciples must also pass the same exams. And they have to also start new churches, two new churches, excuse me. So before we let them graduate, they have to start at least two new churches. That's taking it up a level that wasn't required when I graduated seminary, but that's pretty awesome. In one district in the eastern part of our state, 18 of these program graduates have started 62 new churches in the last three years. You say, how are we going to get to a thousand churches in our generation, which is our goal as a church, to plant a thousand churches? It's this way right here.

He says, we are seeing the book of Acts happen again right here in central India. Here's my question when I read that. Isn't that the kind of thing that you want to be a part of? Isn't that the kind of thing that you want to know that you're is the ministry and the legacy of this church? Well, December is a time of year when people are always really generous to our church. And so because of that, we end up giving a lot of money away to places like the International Mission Board. We're hoping that by the end of December, we can get to $33 million in what we've called our all-in giving over the last couple of years.

But if we can go beyond that amount, we're going to give the first hundred thousand dollars beyond that amount to the International Mission Board as an additional gift in addition to the already three or four hundred thousand we give to them so that we can see more things like this happen. So again, Summit Church, I want to challenge you. And by the way, if you're a guest, I'm not talking to you at all.

If you're not a Christian, I'm definitely not talking to you. But if you're a part of the Summit Church, I want to challenge you to think about being involved generously in the mission of God this December. I want to challenge you to set a benchmark for yourself, for your family. My family does this every year. We say that the largest gift we want to give to anybody at Christmas time ought to be to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because while we love to give gifts to each other and we do that, we know that really the ultimate gift that was given to us, the reason we have Christmas, is because of what Jesus gave to us. And so we want to respond to Him by giving the largest gift we give to Him at this time of year. So I want you to ask God to help you set a goal to help grow in the generosity of your spirit, your love for the mission during this season. Another thing that your generosity has made possible, we have coming up in about nine or ten days, and that is Christmas at the DPAC.

I hope that you are ready for this. Three people are ready for it over here on this side of the room that I'm in. There are two kinds of people at the Summit Church. There are those of you who have been to this in the past and you have already invited 10 to 15 people to come with you for this year. Then there are those of you that have never been, which is the only reason you're not in that first category. I do not have to persuade people that have been to come and bring people. They're the ones who are back there taking stacks of tickets, like 40 and 50 high, and we're like, hey, calm down a little bit, let some other people invite people too. But if you have never been to this, I'm telling you, I can brag on it because I have very little part of it. I mean, I preach the gospel in it, so I have a part, but the actual programming I don't have a lot of part of.

It is phenomenal. You do not want to miss it. So grab that December 23rd and 24th.

Tickets are free, but you'll need to get those, okay? If you got your Bible at all of our campus locations, I want you to take them out now, and I want you to open them to the gospel of Luke, the very first chapter, Luke chapter one. We are in a short series called Do Not Be Afraid, in which we're looking at the three fear not statements in the gospel of Luke that surround the birth of Jesus. Luke is, the gospel writer, is showing us in these statements, listen to this, he's showing us how the birth of Jesus addresses some of our most primal fears.

Christmas, which is a time of joy for many as it should be, for others is a time when the fears and hurts of their life tend to come to the surface. So last weekend, Pastor Chris talked about how the birth of Jesus dealt with the fear of disappointment. He talked about how Zachariah dealt with the fear of disappointment, so that was our focus last week, the fear of disappointment. He also talked about the fear of snakes, if you recall that. I don't know if you saw this last Sunday night, but the Discovery Channel had on a special about a guy who zipped himself up in a special Teflon suit so that he could be the first human being swallowed alive by an anaconda. Just out of curiosity, anybody else see that besides me?

I thought, how awesome to go home from church after that sermon and then to see a special on this very thing. I'm a pretty adventurous guy, but even I look at that and say, who does that? Who thinks this is the mark that I want to leave on the human race, is I want to be the first man swallowed alive by an anaconda. An anaconda, of course, is the largest snake in the world.

It can grow to be up to 35 feet long and can swallow a 350-pound animal whole. Watching this last Sunday night reminded me of something that I shared with you a few years ago that supposedly appeared in a Peace Corps manual that trained volunteers who were going to serve in the Peace Corps in the Amazon region. Now, I cannot verify the veracity of this. It may be more of an urban legend, but supposedly the instructions that were given to Peace Corps volunteers in the Amazon gave them the protocol for what to do if you were attacked by an anaconda.

All right, so this is good to know. Here's supposedly what it said. Number one, don't run. Don't run. They say the anaconda is fast enough to catch you. I say, let the anaconda prove it. And by the way, if I'm with somebody else, I don't even have to outrun the anaconda. I just gotta outrun that dude, all right? No greater love.

No greater love. Number two, lie supine and keep arms close to your side and your legs together. Number three, tuck your chin in. Number four, the snake will come and begin to nudge you and climb over your body. Number five, do not panic. If there were ever a time that God had designed the emotion of panic for, it would be this situation. Number six, the snake will probably begin to swallow you from the feet in first.

Probably. Do not try to resist. At this stage, it is especially important not to panic. Number seven, the snake will begin to suck your legs into its body.

This will take a long time. You must lie perfectly still during this whole process. Number eight, when the snake has reached your knees, slowly and with as little movement as possible, reach down, take your knife, and very gently insert it into the snake's mouth between its mouth and your leg. Then suddenly rip upward and sever its head.

Number nine, be sure you have your knife. So there are good fears and there are bad fears. Good fears, like this one, save your life. Bad fears paralyze and destroy it. Well, last weekend, Pastor Chris showed us how Zacharias' fear of disappointment immobilized him, causing him to disbelieve the promises of God and almost miss entirely what God had for him, for his family, and ultimately through him, the blessing he was wanting to bring to Israel and the world.

This weekend, we're going to look at a very similar fear, one felt by the Virgin Mary herself, but one that she, unlike Zacharias, would overcome. It is the fear of hopelessness. So first, let's get a definition of hope so that we're all working from the same page here. Hope, in the Christian sense, is the expectation of future blessings and the confidence that the best is yet to come. Hope, in the Christian sense, is the expectation of future blessings and the confidence that the best is not behind you, but the best is in front of you.

Based on that definition, I would say that we have many people in our community this weekend who are living without hope. We have people who are asking, am I ever going to be happy again? Maybe you've suffered some setback in your job. Maybe it's been in your health or your career, and it just feels so final. You wonder if there's anything left to look forward to. You've gone through a divorce, or this is the first year that you're going into a Christmas season with your family looking completely different than it has in times past, and you're just saying, are the best parts of my life behind me? Is all this anticipation I had when I was a child or a teenager or a college student of all that life was going to bring to me, now it seems like a quick and very dull dream. Is it all behind me? Are the best days behind me? Recent events in our nation have made many people doubt whether there's any hope for justice or real harmony in our society.

These are all really legitimate questions. In this message, you're going to see how Mary faced and overcame the fear of hopelessness, which we all have, and how you in her example can overcome hopelessness too. Luke chapter 1 verse 26 is where we're going to be, so let's read it here together. And by the way, when I say that, I mean I read you. Sit there and listen.

I clarify that because I've done this before and had like four people start reading with me and it was kind of awkward, but just listen. Verse 26, in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. He came to her and he said, greetings old favored one, the Lord is with you, but she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God.

Here's the first question you ought to ask of this text. Why is Mary troubled? Why is she afraid? Well the obvious answer would seem to be that she just saw an angel. Angels in the Bible don't appear as the chubby, harmless looking adolescents floating around in togas with toy bows and arrows that we like to depict them as in pop culture. Angels in the Bible are towering majestic warriors who whenever they show up their first words are always, wait, wait, wait, don't die, don't die.

That's how impressive they seem to be. So maybe it's that that scared Mary is that she's seen the angel and that's why he says do not fear. That's a good explanation and I'm sure she was overwhelmed at the sight of Gabriel but did you notice that's not specifically what the text said she was alarmed at. It says very specifically she was alarmed at his saying, not his appearance, at his saying. What was it that he had said to her? What was the greeting?

Well it was calling her oh favored one. Who am I? She asked for you to show up on all your heavenly glory with all of your attention on me telling me that I'm somebody special. I was trying to imagine what this would be like. Imagine if in the middle of this service at whatever campus you're at suddenly in through the doors and the exits came several dozen secret service agents and they start looking around and scanning the crowd and eventually one looks up at me and he says I'm sorry pastor to interrupt but we're looking for blank and they insert your name in that blank and they say we have a matter that the president of the United States wants to speak with so and so it is a matter of urgent national security.

Your response to that is uh who am I and why am I so essential to national security. That is something like Mary is feeling at this moment. Who am I that God would send his top secret service agent to tell me that I'm somebody special. Listen for you to understand that you are under the gaze and under the direct attention of the almighty God is frightening and that's what Mary felt at that moment. Verse 31 behold you will conceive in your womb and you will bear a son and you will call his name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the son of the most high and the Lord God will give to 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. Mary said to the angel how can this be since I am a virgin. Now here's your second question. Is Mary's question there a question of doubt?

Kind of. She says uh I'm a virgin and virgins generally don't have babies God. Isn't this the same kind of question that got Zachariah in trouble? You remember last week Gabriel had told Zachariah that he and his wife were going to have a son. The problem of course is that is that Zachariah and his wife are both octogenarians and Zachariah's response was like uh God uh I'm no spring chicken and my wife I mean she's old and for that question Gabriel put Zachariah in the time out for nine months where he couldn't talk.

Remember? Look what happens to Mary verse 35 the angel answered her the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you therefore the child that was born is born will be called holy the son of God and behold your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son and this is the month with her six month with her who was called barren for nothing will be impossible with God. Zachariah got put into time out Mary got an explanation. Why? Did Zachariah just get the grumpy angel is that what it was? No it's the same angel Gabriel maybe he hadn't had his morning coffee yet he's in sort of a bad mood he's kind of a hair trigger and bam he just no of course not it's because there are two different kinds of doubts both ask questions but there's bad doubt and there's good doubt there's a kind of doubt you see that grows out of disbelief it is proud and defiant it looks inward at itself in bitterness and it says to the promises of God there's no way this could be true that was Zachariah then there is the kind of doubt that grows out of a humble wonder it stares upward with awe and it says how can these things be true I don't understand God but I want to understand and I'm willing to learn that was Mary Tim Keller calls this the difference between dishonest doubt and honest doubt dishonest doubt he says is proud and lazy it responds to God's revelation by simply saying that's impossible or rolling his eye its eyes and saying in the more contemporary phraseology that's just silly and then it just turns away those statements of course are not arguments they're just assertions dishonest doubt he says is closed-minded it refuses to consider the possibility of a being whose purposes and power are far beyond its own comprehension by contrast he says honest doubts are humble because they lead you to ask genuine questions not just put up a defiant wall you see when you ask a real question it puts you in a position of one humility and two vulnerability humility you are admitting that there are some things that you may not understand that you are admitting that there are some things that might be beyond your comprehension to understand which is why you're asking the question vulnerability when you ask a question you just might get an answer and what if that answer contradicts you what if it shatters your categories what if that answer demands things from you that you feel like you're not ready to give yet honest doubts are open to belief you see if you're really asking god from humbled out for insight into who he is and what he does he just might give it to you can i tell you what's awesome to me in answer to mary's honest humbled out the angel gives to her one of the greatest most faith-producing statements to me in all the bible luke 137 nothing is impossible with god i cannot tell you how many times that phrase has bolstered my faith in the midst of situations that verse has come to mind and i have said nothing is impossible with god here's what's awesome listen do you know the only reason we have that statement in the bible is because mary asked that honest doubting question what that means is that when you ask god with humble doubts not only will god enlarge your faith if you ask it from a position of humility not only will he enlarge your understanding he will probably give you understanding that will bless all the people around you because he's going to give you insight into the wisdom and the promises of god that you're going to use to share with others it's like i've often told you doubt is like a foot that's poised right a foot that's poised you can either go backwards or you can either go forwards it is true that doubt can drive you backwards into unbelief but it's also true that doubt is what drives you forward into the deeper understanding of love for god and faith in him you can't walk forward until you pick up your foot so the problem is not your doubts the problem is listen the problem is the heart behind those doubts the problem is don't let anybody ever tell you the problem is the doubt the problem is that when you ask the doubt with a proud and very bitter or very proud and defiant heart that is not open to the possibility that there is a god that is far beyond your comprehension you need to understand when you come to god that you are dealing with a god who is all wise all powerful and you ought to present your question with the humility that being in the presence of that kind of being requires verse 38 mary said behold i am the servant of the lord let it be to me according to your word and then the angel departed from her mary then composes a song in which she rejoices in the promises that god has made to her so using mary as our example let's talk about how we overcome the fear of hopelessness three things i think you should have seen in that story the first one drives the rest so we're going to spend a little bit more time on it number one understand and embrace the favor of god understand the favor of god the angel starts his command to mary to not fear by announcing to her that she has the favor of god that is important because it's going to be the key to everything else so what is the favor of god what does that phrase mean to you i heard a tv preacher very recently talk about the favor of god in his life it's him getting a good parking space at the mall during christmas time and he was telling a story about going to the mall and you know what it's like that you have to park six miles away from the building he said right as i pulled in he said somebody right next to the handicapped spot pulled out and i pulled my car in and i just said that's the favor of god that's what it means to have the holy god smiling upon you and jesus loves me is that what the favor of god is maybe the house that you've always wanted goes into foreclosure and you're able to buy it for a steal your kids are getting straight a's every time you smile your teeth gleam is that the favor of god is that how you think about it well think for a minute about the situation that mary is in she's just been told that she's going to be pregnant with no husband in a culture where this is not only frowned upon it's punishable by death the man that she loves joseph it's probably not going to understand the situation and will probably leave her she's already poor if joseph leaves her and doesn't have her killed she'll be destitute she might have to beg i mean if she really had the favor of god why wouldn't the angel just a stroke or a check and that's what i would the conversation i would have had after this one i'm like hey why you're here how about the next lottery numbers you know just gonna slip those to me and then we'll you know then i'll really have the favor mary doesn't have any of those things mary is financially insolvent she has a ruined reputation her most important relationship with her fiance is just falling apart yet she rejoices in the favor of god how because the son will be born to her the son an angel says whose name you will call jesus because he will save his people from their sins what if her main problem you see was not her finances what if it was not a bad reputation what if her primary problem was a severed relationship with god what if the reason that she didn't have joy what if the reason she didn't have purpose had nothing to do with the size of her bank account or the status of her marriage what if it had to do with where she stood with god and what if that son would come to set her right with god you see the fact that her pregnancy essentially puts her under a curse of death is given as a symbol to you and me of what jesus was coming for you and i like mary is now we were under the curse of death because of our sin the son that was born to mary basically says you're under the curse of death but i'm going to grow up and i'm going to die in your place to us he says you're under the curse of death i am born to a woman i am born to a race that is under the curse of death because of their sin but do not fear because i will one day take your place that's why we say here at the summit church that the gospel in four words is jesus in my place to understand the gospel you don't get religious you have to understand the idea of substitution that jesus would live the life that you were supposed to live and then he would die the curse of death that you were supposed to die in your place on the cross and what the author of the gospel of luke is screaming to you from the very beginning is that from the pregnancy itself jesus's life and ministry would be about taking your place and about substitution i love my favorite painting on the birth of christ i think it's by rembrandt is a is a um you've got the the manger scene and you've got the uh the uh the shepherds who have come to worship and the light source in rembrandt's painting is coming from behind and um one of the one of the shepherds is on his knees and he's got his arms outstretched in adoration of the baby jesus and the light makes his arms outstretched arms make this it's very faint but you see this shadow of a cross fall across the manger and what he was showing was that even in the very birth itself the idea of the cross of jesus taking our place has been built into the story because that is how god is giving her favor by saying i will restore i will restore to you the um the the relationship that god wants you to have the son the angel says well not only will he save his people from their sins he's going to rule from the throne of david to the jew that's verse 32 to the jews david's throne symbolized the restoration of worldwide peace and blessing a condition the jews called shalom shalom means universal peace we long to see the curse removed from the world the birth of this baby says you have pain i will reverse that pain by sitting on the throne of david which is the throne that gives shalom and my bible right reading this week if you're reading along with us through the bible read the bible rdu then you read this too joel chapter two god makes a promise to israel and i love it uh into chapter two he said i will restore the years that the locust have eaten the locust were the judgment of god and what god was saying is not only am i going to forgive your sin i'm going to give back i'm going to multiply to you everything that this fallen world has taken from you joe um joe uh in the bible after he suffered for so long the very couple verses at the end of the books as his last days were filled with god restoring to him sevenfold what he had lost that is not a promise to you that if you just hang on long enough that you're going to retire wealthy that promise is not about this life at all it's saying that eventually if it's not in eternity but not before eternity god will restore to you everything that this world has taken from you you have pain he will reverse it isaiah 60 verse 4 of when i read recently that just when i think about some of my friends and the situations they're in just brings me to tears isaiah 60 verse 4 god promises israel says your sons and daughters that were carried away we're going to be brought back to you on the shoulders of the strong ones and i don't understand all the imagery here but what i do know is it means is he's promising them you some of you've lost sons and daughters and there's nothing in life more tragic than losing a son or daughter and he's telling them not only am i going to forgive your sin but one day but maybe the strong ones represent the angels one day you step foot in eternity and god brings them back carrying them and everything that you lost on earth every ounce of pain that you went through god reverses it and he restores to you that peace that fullness that you have always craved that is what it means for him to sit on the throne of david it means that bodies destroyed by disease will leap and run in perfect health reputations that have been ruined are restored wrongs are made right in the words of the great author j r r tolkien who wrote lord of the rings the way he said it is in that day all the sad things will become untrue that's weird phraseology and he chose that weird phraseology on purpose because what he means is that is that it's not that we'll forget that these things happened it's not that god will rewrite history it's that the feeling of loss and permanent damage will be removed and restored to us and what's more talking says is we'll see that god was actually using that pain for our good it is because mary went through these things it is because she went through this unjust death sentence because she went through hardship that seemed impossible because of that she got to understand jesus and what he would go through she got to understand more of who he was and how he would save so god took her hardship and god reversed it he used it for good all the sad things in her life became untrue and if you walk with jesus he is doing the same thing we have pain he will reverse it you have disappointment he will erase it in verse 36 the angel brought back up elizabeth's barrenness why bring that back up now that's got nothing to do with mary's situation why well remember pastor chris last week talked about um for in israel for a woman to be married and to die bare and represented the ultimate disappointment in life to bring back up this story in that context is saying that the birth of jesus is god's answer to erase our deepest disappointments by the way do not miss that the birth of jesus is surrounded by two miracles of pregnancy they both mean something very important to jesus's life and ministry that jesus was born to a virgin means that the power to save would not come from man it would come from god so god did not have a human father for his savior god himself was the father because salvation cannot be accomplished by any human being no matter how hard they try it's a gift from god that's why the angel said this baby will be called holy because he's not from the human race he's got your blood in him mary but he's going to be of the fun of the most high because only god can save that god also surrounded the birth of jesus listen with a pregnancy with an older barren woman is god's way of saying your deepest disappointment i am going to erase that disappointment a lot of people have a what we now call a bucket list you know what that is right you know list of things you want to do before you die i've got one standard stuff on it i want to hike the inca trail streak at the super bowl i want to i want to meet nicolas cage and star on the left behind you know series just things that are on everybody's list right well the idea behind a bucket list is that i need to do these things before i die because yolo right you only live once and what if you die without experiencing these things you've lost your one shot for some what they would put on that list is not glib at all it's not a trip to the grand canyon it's not jumping out of an airplane what's on that list is getting married having children being financially stable being pain-free i have a bucket list i don't think there's anything wrong with having a little harmless bucket list but i just don't take my bucket list that seriously why because in the resurrection under the reign of the son of david every disappointment that i faced in life will be fulfilled there is no disappointment that i went through there is no ruined reputation there's nothing i missed out on that god will not restore and multiply in abundance i will restore he says what the swarming locust have eaten the sons and daughters you lost in this life will be brought again from afar and once again joel says my people will eat and be satisfied and they will never again feel disappointment and they will never again be put to shame we have pain he will reverse it we have disappointment he will erase it we yearn for justice he will restore it we go through seasons like the one we've just gone through with ferguson missouri and now what's going on in new york city and a lot of people ask is there ever going to be justice some people say well where's the justice for the families of the victims other people say well where's the justice for the police officers and their families that perfect justice that we crave will be restored when jesus rules from the throne of david that is not to excuse our not working for justice now we should and we must it just means that down here justice will always be imperfect sometimes even terribly skewed maybe you say maybe you look around you say why do the wicked always seem to go unpunished why do those who are hypocrites why do they prosper maybe it's personal to you maybe you've been wrong maybe it's a a spouse or somebody in your family or a business partner that has wronged you and you say where is the justice where it's everywhere is it ever going to come the angel says to mary mary have hope the son has been born who will sit on david's throne like i told you i know that for many of the christmas season represents a time where they feel pain and loss and injustice and disappointment more acutely hope is the expectation of future blessings and the confidence that the best is yet to come that hope is found in embracing the favor of god given to you in christ and what is the favor of god it is the assurance that jesus christ has paid for all your sins he has restored you as a son and daughter to the almighty god that god could not love you anymore than he does right now because jesus suffered in your place that god has promised that one day he will erase every disappointment he will reverse every pain that he will restore justice and that he is right now working in your life for good taking the bad things in your life and using it for his glorious plan that's the that's the favor of god god's favor is not always easy it was not easy for mary if sometimes it includes a lot of difficulties but his favor is always good because it brings to you all the promises and all the presence of jesus which is eternal life itself which leads me to number two you doubt with faith you doubt with faith once you have the favor of god you know that you can doubt with faith you should ask questions but you should be open to answers you should stare upward in wonder at the size of god and in all of the promise that he's given to you in christ you ought to meditate on that phrase in the midst of any doubt nothing is impossible with god the way that you do that is thinking about the size of the god that you're talking to sometimes i i just get overwhelmed reading the first chapter of genesis the third verse i think where god says let there be light because sometimes i just stop i'm not even i'm not a scientist i'm not hyper educated and all the scientific stuff but i think about just the complexity that would be in those four words let there be light in those four words he invented quantum physics in those four words he came up with a whole wave particle thing none of us really understand in that in that word let there be light he invented the complexity of the atom he stretched out the universe as far as all of its millions and billions of light years sometimes i look up into the sky and i think about the size of the universe and then he created this with a word and i think how big is this god how high must his understanding be how great is his power how sure is his word and then my heart will say nothing is impossible with this god which promise of god do you have trouble believing which promise do you feel like to use pastor chris's analogy from last week which one do you feel like is junk mail you're the kind he said junk mail you get this mail yeah you're gonna be a millionaire and you don't pay attention to it you just throw it away which promise of god feels like junk mail to you is it psalm 23 6 that surely goodness and mercy will follow you all the days of your life you will dwell in the house of the lord forever is it isaiah 43 2 that when you pass through the waters they won't overwhelm you when you walk through the fire you will not be burned is it romans 8 28 that all things are working together for good to you who love god and are called according to his purpose is it romans 8 32 that if god did not spare his own son he will not also now freely give you all things which of these promises seems like junk mail to you you need to look into the face of your situation and then turn in doubt into the face of the almighty god and say nothing is impossible with god if god did not spare his own son he will not also not freely give me all things so listen doubt it's okay pick your foot up but doubt with faith now i know you say well that sounds to me like a contradiction how do you doubt with faith those are the opposite things no faith is the posture of the heart behind the doubt the doubt is good in fact faith is expressed in doubt he's saying pick up your foot ask your question but do so by leaving room for an almighty god whose answer might be bigger than you and then pick up your foot and stare at him and wonder and say god i don't understand but i'm ready to understand and i'm ready to search your word for the answer number three surrender at all surrender at all the angel even though he brought really good news demanded full and total surrender from mary i'll give you a good example of this he tells mary what jesus's name will be parents usually name their own kids right that's a really important symbol it's your child you want to choose a name that represents something you love you know from the past or something you want for the kid in the future the angel says nope not this one you're not going to call the shots with this one and see that's a really important symbol because what it means listen to this is that if you're going to have the blessing of jesus in your life if you're going to have the favor of god in christ you got to fully surrender to him and let god call the shots even in your most intimate relationships and even in your deepest dreams mary's response behold i'm the servant of the lord let it be to me according to your word servant means i have nothing it's all yours it's all yours let it be to me according to your will and your word means i don't call the shots anymore i just want what you have for me you see you can only be in one of two positions in relationship to jesus you're either in full surrender or you're in rebellion you cannot negotiate your way into the favor of god but most people try to do that god i'll be good so that you'll give me this god i'll i'll go to church so that this will happen god i'll give this money so that you'll bless me this way god i'll shape up here so that i could earn your favor there was a guy in the bible who tried to negotiate for the favor of god his name was saul saul was told by god to destroy everything in a certain city but saul didn't want to because that said he was rich so what saul did is he took all the plunder and then he took about half of it and he sacrificed it to god and because his reasoning is well god's getting him he's getting a lot of sacrifices and that makes god happy and then i also get mine and samuel comes from god to saul and says saul what you've done is to god like the sin of witchcraft it's like satanism god does not want your sacrifice god wants obedience so you cannot negotiate your way into the blessing of god there's only one posture you can ever have and that is complete and total surrender you're in one of two postures right now in relationship with the lordship of jesus hear this very clearly you are not you know i'm doing pretty good you are either totally surrendered or you're in complete rebellion there's only one deal that jesus will make he will give you all of himself for complete control of your life there is no other negotiation that he will have do you want the favor of god in your life do you want hope hope is found and knowing you have the favor of god given to you as a gift in christ you see i don't know what situation you're in maybe you're in a very merry-like situation what i can tell you is that if you have opened up your heart to receive christ if you have fully surrendered yourself to him then everything that the angel said to mary applies to you so you can believe it and by the way don't just give mental assent to it don't just nod your head and say yep i got the favor of god in christ do what mary did ponder it there's a little phrase in the next chapter let me jump there real quick luke 219 i love this mary treasured up all these things treasures she put value on them she pondered them in her heart until it reshaped her whole life and she burst into song even in the midst of poverty even in the midst of destitution even when her most important relationships were crumbling she worshipped with joy because she pondered the value of these things and she esteemed them to be a treasure i heard an example this week that i just thought summarized my relationship with god it's this imagine if a relative or imagine if a lawyer contacted you that a relative that you had never heard of had died and the lawyer said he'd wrote you into his will he's left you some money and i went ahead and saw to it that it got deposited right into your savings account well you've never heard this relative so you assume it's just a token amount maybe a couple hundred dollars at most so you just don't even go check the bank account um you're a young father and a young father and you're trying to make ends meet and you're barely scraping by and you're trying to take care of your family and one day about five years after this you go to this savings account because you haven't accessed in a long time and you pull up the savings account and you realize that there are hundreds of millions of dollars in this bank account for the last five years you've been barely scraping by you've been driving a beater car you've been trying to barely make ends meet all the while you've got hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in that bank account and i saw that i thought this is exactly where i am with the favor of god that's been given to me in christ i know it i believe it but i don't ponder it i don't understand it and my prayer is god help me to know what i already know help me to feel what i know to be true god i want this to become such a treasure in my heart that it reshapes all of my thinking until my disappointments and pain even though they're real i'm not trying to brush them aside but even though my disappointments and pain are real they seem so so small in the weight of the treasure that i have in you until worry seems silly because of what i the treasure i know that i have in the riches of christ until the injustices that have been committed against me seem rather trivial and meaningless because of the esteem that i've been given by god in christ until freely i let go of everything in my life and i can say with mary that in christ i can give up all that i have because in christ i already have all that i need until i ponder the riches of what he has given me so that in my hour of being under a death sentence in my hour of destitution when my relationship fall apart i can worship with the same glorious song that she did and i can say bless be my god who has given me salvation who will never leave or forsake me and in whom every promise of god is yes in christ jesus you want to know a prayer that you ought to pray in the christmas season it's that prayer there it's what i would call mary's prayer in fact i'm gonna give it to you and give you a few minutes just to soak in it behold i am your servant let it be to me according to your word can you pray that to god total surrender i'm your servant just all i want let it be to me what you have said i embrace your favor in christ and i know that nothing is impossible with you i could not think of a better season to pray honestly whether you're a believer or not whether you're a believer in christ or not that's i could not think of a better prayer to pray going into this season why don't you bow your heads if you would in just a minute i'm gonna put that back up on the screen for you and give you a couple minutes in it but first i imagine there are some here maybe many who have never you've never received christ personally the good news i get and privilege to deliver is that what the angel said to mary he says to you it's startling old favored one i knew you before you were in your mother's womb and i appointed this day and i appointed this day and i sent my son to die on a cross to suffer the punishment and the shame and the penalty for your sin the son is born to you if you will receive him you have to surrender to him you have to acknowledge that he is the lord lord but if you'll do that all the favor of god all my favor will be yours in christ if you've never done that might you do that at this moment lord i believe and i receive just say it to him in your own words i believe and i receive and i surrender i'm gonna put these two phrases back on the screen here some in church at all of our campuses i want you to spend a few moments with it pray it and then our worship teams will come at all of our campus so no they'll lead us from here