http://bible.com/events/6761259
Here Comes Heaven – Our Place

Luke 2:1-20
Often we invite Jesus into our story, asking Him to bless what we are doing. The truth of Christmas is Heaven is interrupting our story. It’s not inviting God to join into my story, but rather God inviting us to enter into His story. 
The reason the shepherds are so important in this story is because they most clearly represent us.
-By society’s standards, they were not considered exceptional or significant.  

Bottom line: 
Christmas means He came for you.

Jesus is the Savior of all, but often we think that means everyone else except me.

The shepherds help us clearly see that Jesus is the Savior of all, even the ordinary, the outsider, the excluded.

Jesus’ divine interruption is truly a divine invitation….
Christmas means He came for you.

https://www.bible.com/events/6704550

Here Comes Heaven (The Dream)Often God’s plans for our lives are much different than what we imagined for ourselves, but they are ALWAYS better! Thank you for joining us today for our third message of this season of Advent!Last week’s truth: Your greatest interruption may be your greatest opportunity.

Matthew 1:18-25

This series addresses the fact that God intervened in the world through the coming of Christ the Messiah. God didn’t just interrupt history, he interrupted people.In marrying a woman who is already pregnant, Joseph is being asked to do something that would have been socially unacceptable. This interruption was not just surprising or confusing, it was shameful.The bottom line:Sometimes what you have planned isn’t what God has purposed.

Here’s what we know about Joseph:

He was a righteous man

His capacity to love overwhelmed his temptation to be bitter

He was open to hearing from God•Ultimately…he obeyed-He allowed his plans to be interrupted-He trusted God enough to obey
Perhaps the Christmas story asks whether this is true of us today.

The question today is not…-will it be easy?-will it be convenient?-will it make sense?
The question today is…-will I obey?

http://bible.com/events/6631328
Here Comes Heaven – The Interruption

Luke 1:5-25

The Christmas story is not a story of convenience, but rather a story of interruption. 
God intervenes not always according to our plan and our timing.

Bottom Line:
Your greatest interruption may your greatest invitation

God was not just intervening into the lives of Elizabeth and Zechariah, He was setting a course of events that would ultimately lead to the Messiah. 

God intervenes and Elizabeth becomes pregnant
-this shouldn’t really be possible
-this would be laughable to many

God intervenes and Zechariah is silenced
-this is a consequence for his lack of faith, but it is also so much more
-this protected the news from Herod who would feel threatened by the news of someone preparing the way for the Messiah
-this forces Zechariah to depend fully on God

Our posture in response to interruptions is often like Zechariah’s:
I. Fear
    1. “When Zechariah saw him [the angel], he was startled and was gripped with fear.” Luke 1:12
    2. While fear is a logical response, it cannot be our default response, especially for those who are in Christ.
II. Doubt
    1. “Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” Luke 1:18
    2. Fear and Doubt are ultimately about putting my focus on ME. Instead God is intervening and inviting me to put my focus on HIM.

Our posture in response to interruptions should be: “Come Jesus”

In the midst of uncertainty, invite Him in.
He keeps His promises. He doesn’t bow to human rules and expectations. He is not limited by time and circumstance.
Even in the interruptions we can say, “Come Jesus”.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free, 
From our fears and sins release us, 
Let us find our rest in Thee:
Israel’s strength and consolation
Hope of all the earth Thou art, 
Dear Desire of every nation
Joy of every longing heart.

Other passages to consider:

Luke 1: 67-80 NIV

Luke 1: 67-80 The Message

END

http://bible.com/events/6296809

Here Comes Heaven (The Waiting)

John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Christmas is the divine breaking into the mundane.
The ordinary interrupted by the extraordinary.
His kingdom entering into our reality.
“Here Comes Heaven”

You didnʼt have to experience the first Christmas to know that Christmas was coming.

Micah 5:2
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

The challenge is the promise of God with us came with silence.
(From the end of the Old Testament to the birth of Christ was a span of silence lasting 400 years.)

That of waiting that inspired these lyrics:
O come, O come, Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

What are you waiting for?

“HOPE?”
You are surrounded by brokenness and feel defeated

“ANSWERS?”
You canʼt make sense of the circumstances around you

“RELIEF?”
Youʼre not sure how long you can go on like this

“WHATʼS NEXT?”
Godʼs plan seems foggy and Heʼs not showing you the next step

“I DONʼT KNOW?”
You feel stuck, like youʼre going through the motions, or like something is missing.
Youʼre waiting and youʼre not even sure on what.

We canʼt understand a God who doesnʼt speak how we want, or when we want. We believe, in the silence, that God is absent.

The bottom line:
“The presence of silence is not the absence of Presence.”

Luke 1:30-33
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him 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 Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

This Christmas, the challenge for us in our waiting…

1. STOP
In a world where we default to busy and where our norm is to run from silence, it is critical that we learn to stop.
More than likely, You will not worship this Christmas on accident.

2. WAIT
Yes, we continue to wait. But we donʼt wait on God, wait with Him.
The same God who sent Jesus in the midst of silence is with you in your waiting.

3. TRUST
Even when nothing is happening, something is happening.
“But when the set time had fully come, God sent Jesus” -Galatians 4:4.
The same God who kept his promise then will continue to keep His promise now.

The bottom line:
“The presence of silence is not the absence of Presence.”

Matthew 1:22
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

1 Peter 1:19-20
It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

https://bible.com/events/5923141

Praying in Jesus name ultimately means we pray like Jesus prayed, presenting our requests to God the Father but asking that His will would be done not ours. – Pastor AdrianPray Like It Matters: With His Passion
Luke 22:42-44

PRAY EARNESTLY/FERVENTLY

With passionate intensity; with sincere + intense conviction; seriously

Acts 12:1-16

PRAYING LIKE IT MATTERS IS NOT ABOUT RATIONALE AND FEELINGS, BUT RELATIONSHIP AND FAITH

Obedience always comes before freedom
IT IS ABOUT RELATIONSHIP NOT RATIONALE, FAITH NOT FEELINGS.
Matthew 7:7

PRAY LIKE IT MATTERS – KEEP KNOCKING

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