Catégorie
📚
ÉducationTranscription
00:00 Well, it seems to me like there are more things
00:04 to be afraid of today
00:06 than there were things to be afraid of years ago.
00:09 Do any of you kind of agree with that?
00:11 It seems like there's more things
00:13 that are just weighing on the hearts
00:16 and the minds of people.
00:17 In fact, if I go back to when I was a kid, life was simple.
00:22 There were things to be afraid of,
00:25 but there weren't very many.
00:26 And what's interesting is there were kind of
00:28 unwritten rules of how you should handle your fears.
00:32 For example, I wonder how many of you can relate
00:34 to the unwritten rule,
00:37 if a closet door is open when you go to bed,
00:39 you are vulnerable as a kid, right?
00:41 Because if there's something in there,
00:43 they can just come out.
00:44 So you have to have the closet door closed.
00:45 No one ever told you that,
00:46 but you just know it's true, right?
00:48 Same thing with when you're in bed,
00:51 you can't leave a limb, a leg or an arm
00:54 hanging over the edge of the bed.
00:55 Why?
00:56 Because whatever is under the bed,
00:58 it's gonna pop and pull you under.
01:00 No one ever told you that,
01:02 but you kind of just would feel it.
01:04 And so you probably didn't do this,
01:06 but me, if I was a kid and I had to go to the bathroom
01:08 in the middle of the night,
01:09 I would stand up on the bed,
01:10 I would take a running jump over
01:12 just so the arm couldn't get me,
01:14 so I'd go to the bathroom,
01:15 check behind the shower curtain
01:18 to make sure no one was there,
01:20 come back in, close the closet door one more time,
01:22 jump into bed and keep everything in like this.
01:25 It was simple back then.
01:26 There were a few things to be afraid of,
01:28 but now I'm living in a grown up world with grown up fears.
01:33 How many of you know what I'm talking about?
01:36 You can type it online,
01:37 I'm in a grown up world with grown up fears.
01:40 A lot of people worried about the economy right now
01:43 because the economy is tricky.
01:45 Many people are worried about losing their jobs
01:47 or interest rates.
01:49 How in the world are younger people
01:52 or older people gonna afford a home?
01:55 I know a lot of people that are worried
01:57 about very significant health issues.
02:00 Many people very close to me.
02:02 Some of you, you might be worried about
02:04 the decisions that your kids are making.
02:06 Others of you, you're worried about
02:08 the decisions that you're making, right?
02:10 And then there are all the things outside of our control,
02:12 the war in the Middle East,
02:14 the next presidential election.
02:18 You might be worried that AI is gonna take over the world,
02:21 which could happen.
02:24 I wanna talk to you today about fear
02:26 and some would say this about fear.
02:28 They would say that fear is the opposite of faith.
02:32 That sounds pretty good, right?
02:33 Fear is the opposite of faith.
02:35 But I would suggest to you that fear is actually faith.
02:40 It's just putting faith in the worst possible outcome.
02:46 And I wanna remind you today,
02:48 if you are worried, if you have uneasiness,
02:51 like most people I do,
02:52 that fear is not from God.
02:55 In fact, 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us this,
02:57 "For God has not given us a," say it with me somebody,
03:00 "God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity,
03:03 "but God has given us a spirit of power
03:06 "and of love and of self-discipline."
03:09 God has not given us a spirit of fear.
03:13 So as we approach this Christmas season,
03:17 what I wanna do is I wanna show you
03:19 three different portions of the Christmas story,
03:23 one portion each week.
03:24 And we're gonna look at three different times
03:27 in the Christmas story that an angel of the Lord appears
03:32 and tells us, "Do not be afraid."
03:38 If you find yourself with some weighty concerns
03:42 on your heart today,
03:44 I believe God's Word's gonna speak to you.
03:46 The title of today's message is "The Unbearable Weight
03:49 "of Fear."
03:51 And with that, let's pray.
03:52 Father, thank you that your Word is living.
03:54 Thank you that you are with us.
03:57 God, we thank you that you have not given us
04:00 a spirit of fear, but build our faith in you.
04:04 Give us a spirit of power, God,
04:07 of love and of self-discipline.
04:10 We pray this in Jesus' name.
04:11 And everybody said, "Amen."
04:13 Those of you online, type it in the comment section,
04:16 "Amen," so that we'll know that you're with us today.
04:18 Luke chapter one is where we're gonna be.
04:21 In Luke chapter one, we're gonna see Mary.
04:25 And if you've been around Christianity at all,
04:28 we know that Mary is the mother of whom?
04:30 Mary is the mother of Jesus.
04:32 So we just know that.
04:34 But in this story, if we look at it just
04:37 from her perspective,
04:38 she did not plan to be the mother of Jesus.
04:44 When we're reading this story, she's just a teenage girl
04:47 who probably is dating what she considers
04:49 to be a very cute guy named Joseph.
04:51 She probably called him Joey.
04:53 Her name was Mary.
04:54 He probably called her Mary-Ber.
04:56 It's not in the Bible.
04:57 I can just sense it.
04:58 God just shows me things like that, right?
05:00 I'm just thinking.
05:01 So she's a teenage girl.
05:03 She's dating Joey.
05:04 And we know that very likely,
05:06 because this is true of most teenage girls,
05:08 they have some sort of a plan or a dream for their life.
05:12 So I'm putting myself in her shoes.
05:14 She is engaged to be married to Joey.
05:17 And she's probably thinking Joey's a carpenter
05:19 and he's gonna start his carpentry business
05:23 from the ground up.
05:24 And God is gonna bless it as it grows.
05:26 And we are gonna get married.
05:28 And she already has a date booked
05:30 at the Bethlehem Wedding Chapel.
05:32 And they're setting some money aside
05:34 for their honeymoon on the beach.
05:36 And they're gonna rent a very cute
05:37 little one-bedroom apartment.
05:39 And she's already got the colors picked out
05:41 of what she's gonna put in the apartment.
05:43 And they're gonna have about two years
05:45 of just getting to know each other and loving each other.
05:48 And then they're gonna try to have a baby.
05:50 And boom, they're gonna have a baby.
05:52 And she's already got a name for the boy baby
05:55 and a girl baby.
05:56 And the boy baby is gonna be Joey Jr.
05:59 And the girl baby is gonna be Mer-Mer,
06:00 or whatever it's gonna be.
06:01 She's got her plan, because that's what most people do.
06:06 Mary had a plan.
06:10 But God interrupted her plan.
06:13 Has God ever interrupted your plan?
06:18 Raise your hand.
06:19 Online, you can type, "God has interrupted my plan."
06:22 Why does God do that?
06:25 Why would He interrupt your plan?
06:30 We have to remember that even though
06:32 we think we're pretty smart, He's actually smarter.
06:36 And His ways are higher than our ways.
06:41 And that's why it's important to remind ourselves
06:43 that God's purpose is often very different from our plans.
06:48 God's purpose for our lives is often very different
06:54 than what we think is best.
06:57 And we see this in Luke 1, verse 26,
07:00 when Scripture says this,
07:01 "In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy,
07:05 "God sent an angel, Gabriel, to Nazareth,
07:09 "a village in Galilee, to a virgin named Mary.
07:14 "She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph,
07:17 "a descendant of David."
07:19 What do we see here?
07:20 That Gabriel appeared to her and said,
07:24 "Greetings, favored woman.
07:26 "The Lord is with you."
07:29 Now, that's pretty exciting.
07:30 An angel appears to you.
07:31 You weren't expecting that.
07:32 I'm like, hashtag blessed, this is fun.
07:35 But what did Mary feel?
07:36 Let's say it aloud, what'd she feel?
07:37 She felt confused and disturbed.
07:40 Confused, she wasn't planning this.
07:43 Disturbed, this is out of her comfort zone.
07:45 Mary tried to think what the angel could mean.
07:49 She's a teenage girl.
07:51 She has plans for her life.
07:53 An angel appears to her and interrupts her plans.
07:58 And what was she?
07:59 She was confused and disturbed.
08:02 Confused, like, wait a minute, God,
08:07 why in the world are you choosing me?
08:11 And if I'm like highly favored and you're choosing me,
08:15 what is it that you're gonna ask me to do?
08:19 Because I've got a plan.
08:20 But what's interesting to me,
08:21 and I like that it's worded this way in the Greek,
08:25 she's not just confused,
08:27 but Luke uses a word that's translated disturbed.
08:30 Not only am I confused, but I don't like this, God.
08:33 In other words, don't mess with my plans.
08:37 I wonder how many of you have ever felt like that.
08:39 Like you know what you want,
08:40 and you're going in a direction,
08:41 and then God closes a door,
08:43 or something comes in and disrupts it,
08:46 and you're thinking, God, I am a little bit confused,
08:48 but I'm also not happy about this.
08:51 I love that it's in there,
08:51 because sometimes we think that that's not really spiritual.
08:54 But that's just to be human,
08:55 to say, God, I don't understand,
08:57 and I'm a little bit concerned
08:59 that you're asking me to do something I don't wanna do.
09:01 You're taking me to a place that I don't really wanna go.
09:04 God interrupted Mary's plans.
09:07 And what I've discovered in many, many years
09:10 of studying God's Word,
09:11 and many, many years of watching God
09:13 work through lots of people,
09:15 I've discovered that what we call
09:16 God's disturbing interruptions
09:19 are often God's divine invitations.
09:23 What we call as an interruption,
09:26 God says, I may be taking you out of your plans,
09:30 but I'm actually leading you toward my purpose.
09:34 God, I don't get this.
09:35 I mean, like, this is what I had on my five-year plan.
09:38 I had it on my dream board, God.
09:41 You know, that dream board that I prayed about,
09:43 and I put everything on there,
09:44 this is the way it's supposed to be, God,
09:46 and I don't understand what you're doing.
09:49 You're interrupting my plans.
09:51 God said, no, actually, your plans weren't my purpose.
09:55 I'm interrupting you to take you to my purpose.
09:58 And we see this many times in Scripture.
10:01 God interrupted Moses with a burning bush.
10:05 And suddenly he's standing on holy ground,
10:07 and God says, I'm gonna call you out of where you were,
10:09 and you're going to deliver my people.
10:12 God interrupted David when he was tending sheep,
10:15 and said, I've got a much bigger assignment for you.
10:17 You're gonna be the next king of Israel.
10:20 God interrupted Saul while he was persecuting Christians,
10:24 and God sends a light from heaven and interrupts his plans
10:27 and said, hey, I have chosen you as my instrument,
10:31 my chosen vessel, to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
10:36 And God may interrupt your plans, what you think you want.
10:41 You knew you were gonna marry that person,
10:45 but God interrupts that plan
10:47 because he has something else for you now,
10:50 or someone else for you later.
10:52 You thought you were supposed to go to that school.
10:54 You've always dreamed of going to that school.
10:55 You've been wearing the jersey since early in your life,
10:57 and then you get interrupted and you can't go to that school
11:00 because God has someone for you to meet
11:02 or something for you to do somewhere else,
11:05 and he's taking you out of your plans into your purpose.
11:08 Some of you right now, you're watching a video,
11:11 and you weren't planning on watching it.
11:13 You had just watched one,
11:14 and suddenly YouTube recommended another one,
11:16 and here you are.
11:18 You had a plan, but God had a purpose.
11:22 Type it in the comment section right now, God had a purpose.
11:26 Luke 1:29 says this, "Confused and disturbed,
11:30 "Mary tried to think of what the angel could mean."
11:36 How many of you find yourself sometime interrupted by God
11:39 and asking, I wonder what God is trying to do?
11:43 I just want some details.
11:44 God, if you give me the reason, then I can take it.
11:48 If you show me what's going to happen,
11:49 show me the good that's gonna come out of this bad,
11:52 then I'll praise you and be much more willing.
11:55 I just need to understand, God, help me to understand.
11:59 And I wanna remind you that you don't have to understand
12:02 the plan to trust that God has a purpose.
12:05 (congregation applauding)
12:07 God is good enough and big enough
12:10 not to give you all the details.
12:13 In fact, there are some times where God's gonna take you
12:15 on a journey that if he gave you the details,
12:18 you would not go.
12:19 Because sometimes he has to take you through something
12:24 you would never choose to do something in you
12:29 that you could never achieve otherwise.
12:32 God, I just wanna know what this means.
12:35 I just really need to understand what you're doing.
12:38 But the truth is you and I don't have to understand
12:42 the plan to trust that God is good, that he's working,
12:45 and that he does have a purpose for us.
12:49 So the angel speaks to her in verse 30 and says,
12:53 what does the angel say?
12:54 Let's all say it aloud.
12:55 The angel says, "Do not be afraid."
12:59 If you prefer a more formal angel,
13:02 the King James Version angel says, "Fear not."
13:07 I thought some of you may like
13:09 a more formal King James angel.
13:12 "Fear not, do not be afraid.
13:14 "And Mary," the angel told her,
13:17 "you have found," what?
13:18 Let's say it aloud.
13:19 "You have found favor with God."
13:23 How many of you would say that you want favor from God?
13:25 Raise your hands, raise your hand.
13:27 I want favor from God.
13:28 What is favor?
13:30 I looked it up to see how different people defined it.
13:33 I'll give you their definition, I'll give you mine.
13:35 One commentary called favor demonstrated delight.
13:39 It's God's demonstrated delight.
13:43 Someone else said it's visible evidence of God's blessings.
13:46 I would just define it this way.
13:47 What is favor?
13:48 Favor is the undeserved blessings
13:51 God lavishly pours out on His children, whom He loves.
13:56 It's His visibly displayed lavish blessings
14:01 that we do not deserve that He just pours out.
14:04 Sometimes you're just going through life
14:05 and you're like, wow, that's the favor of God.
14:09 One of my favorite times
14:10 is I was traveling with Amy internationally
14:13 and we had a long flight, like 17 hour flight.
14:16 And we always would sit in economy class
14:19 because I could never see why someone would pay more
14:22 for business class.
14:23 And that is because I'd never been in business class before.
14:26 (laughing)
14:27 We're just sitting there waiting on this long flight
14:29 and they said, "Craig Rochelle, please come to the counter."
14:31 We came up to the counter and they said,
14:32 "You've been upgraded to business."
14:35 I don't know why.
14:36 I mean, did I have enough miles?
14:37 Did they love life shirts?
14:41 Was it a mistake?
14:42 I don't know.
14:43 The favor of God.
14:45 And when I walked on that plane for a 17 hour,
14:48 for my whole flight, we had turned right
14:50 and gone back to the prison
14:52 where you sit in this little thing
14:54 and they serve you jail food and you sit next to someone
14:58 and you gotta go to the bathroom,
14:59 but you can't 'cause you're stuck back there.
15:00 And it's like, hell will be something like that, I think.
15:05 This time we did not turn right,
15:07 but we turned left.
15:09 Hell's that way.
15:11 And if you've never been there, heaven is this way.
15:14 And we walked up and I had never seen this before,
15:17 but they don't just have seats,
15:21 but with the push of a button,
15:22 these seats turn into beds.
15:27 Beds where you sleep and they do crazy stuff.
15:33 They give you a scented washcloth
15:37 to wipe your face clean.
15:40 Your face isn't dirty
15:41 'cause you're not back there with all the dirty people
15:43 that are touching you all the time,
15:44 but you wipe it clean anyway.
15:46 And then they bring you out snacks nonstop.
15:49 They bring you out nuts
15:50 and your nuts just aren't nuts in a bag.
15:53 They're nuts in a bowl and they're actually warm.
15:56 They warm your nuts.
15:57 And that sounded weird.
15:58 I know it sounded weird, but that's what they do.
16:00 They warm the nuts that, nevermind that,
16:03 but I've never had that before.
16:05 And then they bring you a little thing
16:07 and then when you eat your meal,
16:08 they bring you an appetizer and a salad.
16:14 And you have choices between things like salmon, salmon,
16:17 and lasagna and all these amazing things.
16:21 And then they bring you a dessert
16:23 and then they bring you cheese plates after your desserts.
16:27 And then if you wanna sleep,
16:29 you've got little sleepy things for your eyes
16:31 and stuff for your ears and you can lay down
16:33 and they bring you a blankie.
16:34 And when you wake up in the morning,
16:36 there's a washcloth for you again
16:38 and breakfast for you again.
16:40 Favor ain't fair.
16:41 Sometimes you just get the favor of God.
16:46 And what's amazing about the favor of God
16:48 is this not just a nice seat on a plane
16:50 and it's not just material blessings or financial blessings.
16:54 It's just that sometimes people just like you.
16:57 People just, people bless you and people,
17:01 they show you favor and sometimes favor
17:03 is like really good relationships.
17:07 Sometimes favor is just being a part of a great church.
17:11 Sometimes favor is like having good health,
17:14 especially with what we eat in this world, right?
17:17 How many want the favor of God?
17:20 Mary found favor.
17:23 And if I'm Mary and I'm thinking God is giving me favor,
17:27 I'm probably thinking my wedding
17:29 is going to be a reality show
17:31 and it's all gonna be paid for.
17:33 Something like that.
17:34 God's gonna pay for my wedding and my honeymoon.
17:38 And what does the favor of God look like?
17:40 Verse 31 tells us this.
17:42 "You will conceive and give birth to a son
17:46 "and you will name him Jesus."
17:48 Wait a minute, I was gonna name him Joey Jr.
17:50 The favor is you're telling me I'm gonna be pregnant,
17:53 I'm not even married and you're already naming my kid for me?
17:56 Jesus, he will be very great
17:59 and he'll be called the son of the most high.
18:02 Okay, now she's getting nervous.
18:05 I'm gonna give birth to a kid I didn't choose,
18:09 one I didn't choose, that you named it
18:11 and he's gonna be the son of the most high?
18:14 When we just read the story and don't think like,
18:15 what's going through her mind?
18:17 This is not my plan.
18:18 "The Lord will give him the throne of his ancestor David
18:22 "and he'll reign over Israel forever.
18:24 "His kingdom will never end."
18:28 Suddenly she looks up and goes,
18:31 you have chosen me,
18:34 some little girl,
18:37 to give birth to the son of God.
18:40 I can't prove this, but I can almost guarantee you
18:45 she's thinking that's a little more responsibility
18:48 than I had planned for my life at this stage.
18:50 How would you feel about raising the son of God?
18:55 If you don't have kids yet, let me just warn you,
18:59 raising a baby sinner is difficult
19:02 'cause that's what they are, they're sinners.
19:04 If you don't believe in the sin nature, have a baby.
19:06 They're little sinners.
19:09 They'll sit there and you'll say,
19:11 is there a poopy in your diaper?
19:12 And they'll go, no.
19:13 I'll say, are you pooping right now?
19:14 No, and then they'll, mm.
19:16 And they're sinners, they just lie to you.
19:18 They're stinky little vomiting,
19:22 not sleep when you want them to sleep,
19:23 not eat when you want them to sleep, sinners.
19:27 You love them,
19:28 but raising a baby sinner's hard enough.
19:30 You're gonna raise the son of God in your home?
19:35 What do we know about God's favor?
19:38 Sometimes God's favor doesn't seem favorable at first.
19:43 Sometimes the favor of God
19:47 is not what you would immediately choose.
19:49 You're dating somebody, you think this is the one,
19:54 and suddenly it comes to an end.
19:57 And I go, this isn't what I wanted, God.
19:59 It may be the favor of God.
20:02 That one day you look back
20:03 and one of your biggest praise reports
20:05 is that you didn't marry the one that you wanted to marry.
20:08 But favor doesn't seem favorable in the moment.
20:11 Or you just know you're gonna get the promotion,
20:13 or you know you're gonna get the job,
20:15 and you don't get the promotion and you don't get the job.
20:18 And I go, and this is favor?
20:20 Doesn't seem favorable,
20:21 but you don't know that God has something different
20:24 or some other plan that you can't see just yet.
20:28 We had some friends years ago that couldn't get pregnant,
20:32 couldn't get pregnant, got pregnant,
20:34 they were so excited, God's favor.
20:37 And then in their pregnancy,
20:39 they realized that their child had Down syndrome.
20:42 And I go, this is not what we wanted, this isn't favorable.
20:48 And years later, they said there was no greater blessing
20:52 in their life than raising this Down child
20:55 who was one of the sweetest people that ever lived.
20:57 Sometimes God's favor doesn't seem favorable at first.
21:01 And the angel says to Mary,
21:03 you're gonna have a baby, in verse 34,
21:06 Mary asked, but how can this happen?
21:08 I'm a virgin.
21:10 How are we gonna get there?
21:13 Sometimes God will start taking you down a path
21:18 that doesn't make any sense
21:19 because you don't see the means
21:21 to get to where you think God wants you to go.
21:23 Mary's gonna look on and say,
21:25 hey, this isn't just impossible, this is like absurd.
21:29 I am a virgin.
21:31 I have never had physical intimacy with a man.
21:35 There is no way a baby can come from me.
21:37 There is no way.
21:39 And in verse 35 and 37, we see this.
21:42 And the angel answered her,
21:45 the Holy Spirit will come upon you.
21:48 And the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
21:53 Therefore, the child will be born.
21:56 He will be holy.
21:57 He'll be called holy, the Son of God.
22:00 Let's say this next part aloud.
22:01 And those of you online,
22:02 please type this in the comment section.
22:04 For, let's say it loud,
22:05 for nothing will be impossible with God.
22:10 Type it in the comment section.
22:11 Nothing is impossible with God.
22:15 Let's say it again.
22:16 Nothing is impossible with God.
22:20 Nothing is impossible with God.
22:23 The angel reminds us
22:27 that no matter what you're facing or what you need,
22:32 with God, all things are possible.
22:38 What's weighing on you today?
22:42 What are you worried about?
22:43 What are you afraid of?
22:44 Whatever it is, God can intervene.
22:47 I wanna tell somebody,
22:49 God can bring the right person into your life
22:53 at the right time.
22:54 God can do that all day long.
22:56 God can transform the wrong person
23:01 who's acting in the wrong way
23:04 into a person with the right heart
23:06 toward the things of God.
23:08 God can do a miracle in the life of the person
23:11 who is far from Him today.
23:14 God can provide and meet any need
23:18 that you have in your life right now.
23:20 God is a healing God,
23:23 and He can heal any sickness.
23:26 God is your Savior.
23:28 God forgives.
23:28 God can forgive any sin
23:31 that the devil continues to throw back at you,
23:34 saying you are what you did,
23:36 and God says, "You are not what you did.
23:38 "You are forgiven by the power of the risen Christ
23:41 "that is God."
23:42 (congregation applauding)
23:46 The person in your family,
23:49 the person in your life that is very far from God,
23:51 you think there's no way.
23:53 They're an atheist.
23:53 They're mad at God.
23:54 They hate God.
23:55 They'll never believe in God.
23:56 They're never gonna come to God.
23:58 God is so big by the power of His Spirit,
24:02 He can draw someone far to Him very, very quickly.
24:07 All things are possible with God.
24:11 So I believe the question
24:14 that God would like for you to answer is this.
24:16 What is God asking you to do or believe?
24:22 What is God saying to you today?
24:26 Like Mary, is He calling, is He interrupting your plan
24:30 and calling you to do something different?
24:33 Is He calling you to trust Him
24:35 in an area that you've been trying to control?
24:38 What is God calling you to do or to believe?
24:42 For some of you, it's like to start a life group,
24:45 to start a ministry.
24:47 For someone else, it may be to go back to school
24:51 or to reach out to someone
24:54 and to try to mend a broken relationship
24:56 and believe that God is a God
24:58 who restores broken relationships.
25:02 For some of you, God might prompt you to give something
25:05 and you think, "How could I give that?
25:07 "I need that or I might need that in the future."
25:09 Or God might prompt you to trust Him with a tithe.
25:13 I return back to you 10% of what you trust to me.
25:16 How can I do that?
25:16 God says, "You gotta test me,
25:18 "you gotta trust me to see my provision."
25:20 God might speak to someone
25:23 and lead you to break up with the person
25:26 that you're dating that is not honoring God.
25:29 But I've invested so much time in what's going to happen.
25:34 God is prompting someone to continue to believe for healing
25:39 when you've prayed and prayed and nothing's happened.
25:42 God may prompt someone here to witness to a friend
25:45 that you've witnessed to over and over and over again
25:48 and they continue to reject you,
25:50 but God says, "No, no, love them anyway.
25:52 "Keep reflecting my love."
25:56 What is God calling you to do or believe?
26:00 And an angel of the Lord tells a teenage girl,
26:05 "You're gonna give birth to the savior of the world.
26:09 "Fear not, do not be afraid
26:13 "for you have found favor with God."
26:16 And what does Mary realize?
26:20 She realized that she has a choice to make.
26:23 Does she continue on in her plan
26:27 or does she trust in God's purpose?
26:31 The angel says, "Fear not, you found favor with God."
26:35 And Mary realizes something that I hope that you realize
26:39 and that is this, that the outcome is God's responsibility
26:44 and obedience is ours.
26:49 The only thing that we can actually do
26:54 is to trust God's voice, to trust his word,
26:59 to trust his purpose,
27:00 even when we don't understand the plan.
27:03 And so what if we try
27:04 and how are we gonna control the outcome?
27:06 We can't control the outcome.
27:07 The outcome, that belongs to God.
27:11 Our assignment is simply to obey him.
27:14 And so Mary, who had a very real plan for her life,
27:19 comes to a crossroads.
27:20 God's asking her to do something
27:22 that she didn't have planned.
27:24 And her response is what I pray my response will be.
27:28 And that is this, in verse 38,
27:30 Mary responded, let's say it aloud, what'd she say?
27:32 She said, "I am the Lord's servant."
27:36 Type that online, if you're watching online,
27:38 type that, "I am the Lord's servant."
27:40 Let's all say it again.
27:40 What are you?
27:42 I am the Lord's servant.
27:44 May everything you said about me come true.
27:48 Would you mind saying that statement one more time?
27:51 Say, say, I am the Lord's servant.
27:53 I am the Lord's servant.
27:56 I wanna ask you a question just real sincerely today.
27:59 Are you?
28:01 (gentle music)
28:05 Do you really want God's will?
28:09 Or do you want your will?
28:11 All Christians are like, I want God's will,
28:13 God's will, God's will.
28:14 I don't know about you,
28:15 but I want God's will until it's different from mine.
28:18 Can I just say that?
28:20 Like sometimes like, no, no, no, God, I want my will.
28:23 And sometimes the biggest blessings
28:28 are gonna be on the other side of surrendering your will
28:33 and trusting God's purpose.
28:35 I am the Lord's servant.
28:43 I am the Lord's, my life belongs to Him.
28:50 Because of who He is, Jesus, the Son of God who never sinned,
28:53 who is perfect in every way,
28:56 who gave His life on the cross,
28:57 who rose again so I could be forgiven
28:58 because of what He did for me.
29:00 My only reasonable response is all of me, all of me.
29:02 What does that mean?
29:03 That means we lay down our lives.
29:07 Jesus said, you pick up your cross.
29:08 That means like I die to my plans.
29:11 You deny yourselves and you say, I wanna live for you.
29:14 I wanna follow you.
29:15 I wanna be your disciple.
29:16 I wanna show your love.
29:17 My life is yours.
29:18 I am the Lord's servant.
29:22 May it be done unto me according to your word.
29:25 So whatever you're facing today,
29:27 whatever is weighing on you today,
29:31 I believe God sent me to tell you
29:35 God has not given you a spirit of fear,
29:37 of power, of love, and of a sound mind.
29:42 And the same God that was with Mary
29:48 is with you at this moment.
29:53 So hear from heaven the truth of God.
29:58 You don't have to be afraid.
30:00 Fear not.
30:03 You have found favor with God
30:08 and the Lord is with you even now.
30:12 So Father, do a work in the hearts of all your people.
30:19 As you're reflecting today at all of our churches,
30:22 those of you online,
30:23 how many of you would say just in a moment of honesty
30:26 that there's something that's been weighing on you?
30:29 You're afraid, you're worried about something.
30:31 Would you lift up your hands right now?
30:33 In the comment section, you can just put it in your own words.
30:36 I've been worried about something.
30:37 You can even say what it is,
30:38 as long as it's not too personal.
30:40 I'm worried about a child.
30:41 I'm worried about my health.
30:43 I'm worried about the health of whatever it is.
30:44 Type it, type it in the comment section.
30:47 And now what we're gonna do
30:48 is we're gonna cast our cares on God.
30:51 This is what Scripture says to do,
30:52 to cast all of our anxiety, all of our cares on Him
30:56 because He cares about you.
31:00 And so whatever it is, you just say,
31:04 you can just say it quietly or say it in your mind,
31:06 I trust this to you, God.
31:09 I trust my future to you.
31:10 I trust my job to you.
31:13 I trust my marriage to you.
31:16 I trust my child to you.
31:18 God, I trust my finances to you.
31:22 I trust my gifts to you.
31:28 I trust my time to you.
31:31 The very thing that I'm afraid of, God, I trust it to you.
31:34 And now just very quietly,
31:37 you can type this in the comment section if you want,
31:39 just say it, I am the Lord's servant.
31:41 I am the Lord's servant.
31:46 May it be done unto me according to your word.
31:51 One more time, I am the Lord's servant.
31:55 May it be done unto me according to your word.
32:01 As you keep praying today,
32:03 some of you, you're gonna recognize
32:05 that you're really not the Lord's servant.
32:08 You're serving your own plans,
32:11 you're serving your own will.
32:12 And that's really, really normal in your life.
32:15 That's really, really normal.
32:16 You know why?
32:17 Because we're all born baby sinners, every single one of us.
32:21 We are born with a sin nature that separates us from God.
32:25 And so the Bible says that all of us, we're like sheep,
32:28 we've gone astray, we each go our own way.
32:31 That's just what we do, we go our own way,
32:32 away from God and try to do our own will.
32:36 But I wanna tell you about the Lamb of God.
32:38 His name is Jesus.
32:39 He was born of a virgin Mary.
32:41 Therefore, he was not born with a sin nature.
32:44 He was perfect in every way.
32:45 And that's why he's called the Lamb of God.
32:47 In the Old Testament, they would make sacrifices.
32:49 They would sacrifice a clean lamb
32:51 for the forgiveness of sins.
32:53 Jesus is the Lamb of God.
32:55 He was clean and perfect.
32:56 He was the sacrifice for the forgiveness of your sins.
33:01 How do we receive forgiveness?
33:02 We just step away.
33:03 Instead of heading to the right, we head to the left.
33:05 Instead of heading toward the things of hell,
33:07 we head toward the things of heaven
33:09 and say, "I wanna surrender to you."
33:12 We can't work our way to God.
33:14 We can't be good enough for God.
33:16 We just say, "I wanna be your servant."
33:19 When we make Jesus first,
33:21 when we make him the leader of our life,
33:22 the Lord of our lives,
33:23 Scripture says that all of our sins are forgiven.
33:25 Whatever it is that's weighing you down,
33:27 that you've done, you feel guilty for,
33:30 you feel ashamed of, God forgives it.
33:33 He makes you new.
33:34 And he fills you with his Spirit
33:36 so you'll never be alone again.
33:39 Today, wherever you're watching from,
33:40 those of you who say, "I need that."
33:42 I'm not turning right today, I'm turning left.
33:43 I'm turning toward the things of God
33:45 and I'm surrendering my life to him.
33:47 When you cry out to him, he'll forgive your sins
33:50 and he'll make you brand new.
33:51 Wherever you are, those who say, "I need Jesus.
33:53 "I'm ready to, I wanna be the Lord's servant today.
33:55 "I step away from my old life.
33:57 "I step toward him.
33:58 "I give my life to him."
34:00 That's your prayer.
34:00 Lift your hands high right now.
34:01 All over the place, lift them up and say, "Yes."
34:03 As we've got people today saying yes to Jesus,
34:06 calling out on him.
34:08 Online, you can just type in there,
34:10 "I am choosing to be the Lord's servant.
34:13 "I am surrendering my life to him."
34:17 Type that in the comment section
34:19 and wherever you're watching from,
34:20 would you just pray aloud today?
34:21 Pray, Heavenly Father.
34:22 I wanna be your servant.
34:25 I turn from my way and I turn to your way.
34:30 Jesus, save me.
34:32 Forgive me.
34:34 Make me brand new.
34:35 I die to myself.
34:38 My life is not my own.
34:41 I give it all to you.
34:43 Be the Lord of my life.
34:45 I am your servant.
34:47 May it be done unto me according to your word
34:51 and your will and your purpose.
34:54 Thank you for new life.
34:56 I give you all of mine.
34:57 In Jesus' name I pray.
35:00 Could somebody tell God, "Thank you."
35:02 Give him praise today.
35:02 Welcome those born into God's family.
35:04 (audience applauding)