Friday night - Zou - 7-11 Shaker - 250 kids
. Don Pogoda
. Thomas Miller
. How Blessed are we?
Kids learned about Jesus and about right choices and they had so
much fun - awesome.
Today starts Christmas at Lakeview Church - I love Christmas
here . . . in fact I love it so much I've spent that last 17 Christmases here:
. Christmas at Lakeview is just the best.
. Music - warmth - Christmas
. Lights - apple cider - carols
. Magic - Velma's Diner - next week
Come back and bring some other folks with you (Sat. night,
9:39 - 11:11 - no empty seats) - not during Christmas . . .
Miracle story - Sharaya
Do something with me as we start. Think about a miracle you have witnessed in your life, for me 3 things come to mind:
. 21 years old and a near fatal car crash - protected by God
. 3 children were born
. My buddy Tony called me today - Kokamo, Indiana - his son Robbie turned 7 today. Robbie was born with a lot of physical health challenges - internal parts missing . . . but they prayed and God answered and Robbie turned 7 today - awesome miracle.
Think about a miracle you've witnessed in your life . . . Hold on to that thought as we go forward.
This year during the Christmas season we're gonna look at the characters in and around the Christmas story (in the bible) - and today we're gonna start with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth. A couple that really needed a miracle . . . . . .
I was thinking lots about miracles this week. Maybe it was because of what took place here on Wednesday night at Encounter - Wednesday night 8 people from our community got baptized they publicly declared their faith in Jesus . . . and told amazing stories of how He had changed their lives . . . Every one of those people told stories that were miracles really - about addictions being beaten by faith, . . . and relationships being made whole because of faith . . . . . . and about heartache and depression being healed, and confusion being cleared
up . . . . by a relationship with Jesus Christ - Amazing!
If you were at Encounter on Wednesday night you had the privilege of seeing 8 miracles happen right before your eyes . . .
I've been thinking a lot about miracles lately . . . (if it isn't the baptisms that's bringing that on) . . . perhaps it is the number of people among us that really need miracles to happen in their lives this Christmas. There are 100's of people here at Lakeview who are asking God to change a part of their our lives . . . And to restore what is broken and hurting in their worlds . . . and that's the word that best describes a miracle . . . restoration.
Lots of you are praying for a miracle of restoration this Christmas:
. For your marriage to be restored
. For your relationships to be transformed
. For your health to be restored
. For hope to be restored again to your soul or
. For your joy to be again a large part of your life
Well today folks . . . . . . I have a message of hope . . . as we head into
the Christmas season and this is it . . . That we have a God who loves to create miracles in our lives . . . He really does . . . and we have a God who longs to see our lives restored and healed and fulfilled . . . That's just who God is (wait) . . . . . .
so . . . I want to read you the first miracle of the Christmas story
(in the bible) . . . and it happens over a year before Jesus was even born . . .
Now, this is a story that most people skip over in order to get to the good stuff of Christmas. We want to read about Mary and Joseph and the wisemen and shepherds . . . but the Christmas story really starts here (a few pages earlier) . . . with Mary's Aunt Elizabeth and her Uncle Zechariah, the priest . . . . . . . and how they had a miracle of a baby named John who would spend his life preparing the world to meet Jesus . . .
Luke 1:5 - 25 Sit back - listen to this story
It all begins with a Jewish priest, Zechariah, who lived when Herod was king of Judea and with his wife Elizabeth. Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord's commandments and regulations. They had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and now they were both very old, very old.
One day Zechariah was serving God in the Temple, for his order was on duty that week. As was the custom of the priests, he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary and burn incense in the Lord's presence. While the incense was being burned, a great crowd stood outside, praying. (A ceremony that only took place once per year . . . )
Zechariah was in the sanctuary when an angel of the Lord appeared, standing to the right of the incense altar. Zechariah was overwhelmed with fear. But the angel said, "Don't be afraid Zechariah! For God has heard your prayer, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son! And you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice with you at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. And he will persuade many Israelites to turn to the Lord their God. He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah, the prophet of old. He will precede the coming of the Lord, preparing the people for his arrival. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will change disobedient minds to accept godly wisdom."
Zechariah said to the angel, "How can I know this will happen? I'm an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years."
Then the angel said, "I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was He who sent me to bring you this good news! And now, since you didn't believe what I said, you won't be able to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly come true at the proper time."
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah to come out, wondering why he was taking so long. When he finally did come out, he couldn't speak to them. Then they realized from his gestures that he must have seen a vision in the Temple sanctuary. Zechariah stayed at the Temple until his term of service was over, and then he returned home. Soon afterward his wife, Elizabeth, became pregnant. "How kind the Lord is!" she exclaimed. "He has taken away my disgrace of having no children!"
Now, just to set the tone of miracles a bit . . . the bible says that Zechariah and Elizabeth were old . . . in fact Zechariah describes himself as an old man and then tries to be little more diplomatic in how he describes his wife . . . he says - "she's well along in years." . . . (notice he didn't call her old . . . )
But certainly they were both well past the years of physically being able to have children . . .
In fact in Zechariah's mind it wasn't even reasonable to continue to pray about it anymore . . . . . . See, early on in their marriage he and his wife had prayed passionately for God to bless them with a child . . . and they had kept up that faith for year and years . . . (you gotta remember that in that culture having children was the very biggest part of life - nobody ever chose to not have kids , or even to only have only 1 or 2 . . . And you were looked down on as a woman if you had no children . . . ) and so Elizabeth and Zechariah prayed for God to bless them with a child . . . but that was many years before this . . .and Zechariah had long since stopped praying for something that didn't make sense anymore . . .
One other little side note about this story . . . . . . at the time of this
event . . . there were roughly 24,000 priests in Israel and just in Zechariah's division of priests there would have been 1000 or more . . . and . . . so for his division to be chosen out of 24 - is in itself remarkable and then to be the one out of a 1000 who would be chosen for that moment (to go into the Holy area by himself) (something that only happened once a year) . . . is remarkable . . . and again it just shows not only how in control God is of our destiny . . . but also how He loves to give us good gifts . . . and how he longs to surprise us with miracles . . . of answered prayer . . .
Lets dig in a little more here . . . and we'll see that fear and unbelief hold us back from seeing miracles in our lives . . .
If you notice the sequence of events in this story . . . Zechariah prays for years to have a child - then when he's old he gets chosen to go into the temple . . . then an angel tells him this amazing story about blessing them with a child who will in turn bless the whole world . . . and then what happens? Fear and unbelief set
in . . .
When the big moment happens . . . Zechariah becomes so fearful that he can hardly hear or comprehend what the angel says . . . and then . . .when he does hear the message - he doesn't believe it . . . he says, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years . . ." (fear and unbelief). See folks, fear and unbelief far to often stop us from seeing miracles in our lives . . . . . . and so the angel says to Zechariah . . . because of your words of disbelief . . . . . .
Now . . . you can just stop talking until this miracle actually happens - it's like the angel says . . . okay . . . you don't believe it . . . but it's gonna happen . . . so zap . . . now . . . just sit there and watch it and . . . say nothing for 9 months . . . and just watch what God does . . . And Zechariah . . . . when this is over . . . (after all that silence and when you can talk again) . . . maybe your words will be full of belief and expectation of God working powerfully in your life . . . instead of disbelief.
Okay . . . so . . . if fear and unbelief keep us from seeing miracles in our
lives . . . let's talk about how to shift that a little bit (expect the unexpected) . . . Here's what I think happened to Zechariah . . . I think Zechariah had settled into a bad routine . . . I think Zechariah at some point in his life - started just showing up to do his duty . . . spiritually . . . but he wasn't expecting God to show up at
all . . . He had settled into a routine . . . See, . . . he went into the temple to try and connect with God but was totally freaked out when God actually showed up . . . and . . . . . . he had prayed for years for God to bless them with a child but when it was actually happening he couldn't believe it . . .
So here was a man of faith who at least, in his mind, and on the outside, was doing all the right things . . . but he settled for something less than God wanted . . . He settled for accepting a routine that lead to unbelief . . . And his expectation level dropped . . . .
You know folks, We all settle into routines . . . especially in our spiritual lives . . . week after week we come into (worship) (the temple) - church and we expect the expected . . . we expect that we'll sing some songs and watch some video and hear a message . . . and great . . . . and we show up (week after week) but we don't really expect God to show up in an incredible unexpected kinda way . . . it's easy to fall into routines . . . And folks, when we settle for routines it breeds unbelief . . . and expecting only the expected is an obstacle to our faith . . .
I gotta be brutally honest with you for a minute (can you handle that?) . . . I had a tough week this week and what's more - I have had a really hard time getting excited about preaching at Christmas . . . I don't know about other preachers - but for 17 years in an row I've been telling you guys this Christmas story . . . and sometimes it feels a little like I've kinda said all there is to
say . . .and that there isn't to much left to tell . . . anyways - I was sorta internally whining about this all week . . . and so I procrastinated on doing this message - and I came in to work Friday morning needing a message but not to energized for
it . . . and really I was simply expecting the expected . . . I was just gonna come in here and write a Christmas message and slug through it and then do it next week and the next week . . . but . . . (that was not to be . . . )
Friday am - I began like I do every week - by asking God to speak to me as I write this stuff down (quick prayer because I was late getting at this) . . . . . . and what happened was amazing . . . (to me at least) . . . God showed up . . . and it was kinda like getting a 2 x 4 across the head . . . it was that unexpected, and that brutal . . . So I'm sitting there in the dark and I'm reading this story about Zechariah and I'm thinking . . . what a putz . . . he didn't even get it when an angel shows up - how can you be that dense spiritually and I was a little hard on old Zechariah in my mind . . . . . . and then it was like God said to me - Dean, (you know what?) I show up every time you ask me to - I show up every time this church gathers together - I showed up on Wednesday night during baptisms and I showed up Friday night at the 7 - 11 Shaker . . . and I showed up 1000's of times in individuals lives every week - people that are connected to this church . . . and . . . so I went, "okay . . . so you show up . . . great" . . . but I didn't connect the dots and so - as so often is the case . . . it was like God had to make it painfully
obvious . . . . (with a little punch to it) . . . He said, "Dean you come in here Friday morning (at Christmas) and kinda half heartedly started this message with a prayer and with very little faith . . . and you were surprised that I showed up . . . and I could just hear him say . . . check your attitude . . . Don't get into a
routine . . . don't just expect the expected . . . because I'm about a whole lot more than that . . . and if your gonna preach about miracles - you had better do it with some passion . . .
And I had this profound sense that I had not been expecting God to show up lately in any kind of powerful unexpected - surprising kinda way at all in my life . . . or in this church.
So . . . the confession is over and I'm here to tell you that God did what He needed to (I'm here to tell you that I am truly excited about Christmas at Lakeview) . . . . . . and I'm truly excited about speaking to you about the miracle of Jesus this Christmas and I'm totally out of the routine of expecting the expected . . . and I want to tell you that I' m expecting God to show up . . . this Christmas in power and I'm expecting God is gonna show up in ways that I can't even fathom .
And folks, here's the deal - I'm calling you to step it up on your spiritual expectation side this Christmas as well . . .
Don't come to church this Christmas and expect not to be moved by God - don't pray prayers that you don't expect will get answered.
Don't put limitations on your faith or on your circumstances . . .
See folks, we can't settle for only the picture we see for our lives, - we've got to try and see the picture God has for us . . .
We can't limit our expectations of God - we have to have great expectations from a Great God . . .
So here's the deal . . .
. Don't settle in this Christmas . . . shake yourself out of the routine you're in spiritually and expect miracles . . . and here's what that might mean .
It might mean:
. Don't accept a lukewarm marriage - expect that God can transform it into a passion filled and life fulfilling amazing relationship . . .
. Don't accept that you've chosen a career that is less fulfilling . . . expect God to do something extraordinary in your work life.
. Don't quit praying for your kid who is walking far from God or your spouse who isn't just interested in God . . . Expect bigger things . . .
. Don't accept unanswered prayers - expect them to be answered.
. Don't accept the place where you're at financially or emotionally or physically or spiritually (if it's less than God has for you) - but expect God to work a miracle in your life and through your prayers . . . Folks . . . . . .
Whatever difficulty you're facing right now (especially the really tough ones . . .) elevate your perspective . . . Don't give up . . . instead elevate your expectation above the circumstance you see . . . Listen to Hebrews 11:1 . . . This is what faith is "being sure of things hoped for and certain of things not seen . . ." I love that definition of faith and . . .
Folks, if we call ourselves people of faith we must apply that directly into our lives . . . we must be assured of what we hope and pray for, and we must have conviction of things not yet seen . . .
We've gotta elevate our expectations above what we can see and above what our experience tells us . . . See, it's not about what we can see . . . It's about what God wants to do . . . and folks, . . . what God wants to do in your life is simply bigger and better than the picture you have for your life . . . see . . . most of us here have good solid expectations for our lives . . . You wouldn't be here if you didn't . . . have good expectations . . . but folks - God has great expectations for you life . . . . . . .
So I was humming and hawing about what else to tell you about this story of Zechariah and his miracle . . . . . . I mean there's lots more stuff in here - about why they were chosen and what role their son would play in history and about how faithful they were as parents to raise John exactly as the Lord wanted them to . . . and about how this baby affected the whole story of Jesus . . . I mean - there is just whole lot of stuff in this story to learn . . . . But here's the thing I think God wanted to drive home to me . . . and maybe it's for you as well . . .
See in order for Zechariah to receive a miracle from God, he only had to do 3 things:
. He had to pray (he'd prayed for years to have the child).
. He had to shut up (and believe) (It was force on him but important).
. He had to stay out of God's way and just watch the miracle unfold.
That's it!
And so I have some advice for all of us from God as we start this Christmas season . . . If you want a miracle from God (this Christmas) I mean if you really want God to change something in your circumstance or surroundings or life . . . If you want God to restore something in your life that is broken - this Christmas.
Then my suggestion is this . . .
. Pray
. Shut up (and believe)
. Stay out of God's way (don't mess it up!). Just watch what God does . . .
And you know what . . . if you can apply those 3 things - you're gonna see miracles upon miracles happen in your life this Christmas.
So here's what I want you to do - I'm pretty excited about his . . . and pretty committed to these 3 steps . . . for us, during this season . . .
I want you to take out the yellow piece of paper you got when you came in tonight . . . and get a pen . . . and I want you to write out what miracle you want from God this Christmas . . .
Just write it down . . .
. Someone's name
. Finances
. Health/cancer/arthritis
. Depression
. Marriage
Don't sign your name unless you want to. And here's what I'll commit to,
(I'll commit to pray for your miracle) I'll pray for that miracle in your life leading up to Christmas. And here's what else I want you to do - write the same miracle on another piece of paper and put it somewhere in your life where your gonna see it every day . . . and do 3 things:
. Pray - everyday for that miracle
. Shut up and believe - even when it seems impossible
Watch what God does - don't get in the way . . . |
