Luke 1:5-7 “There
was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named
Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of
the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they
were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances
of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was
barren, and they were both well advanced in years.”
As we come into the
“Christmas” season, our church started an “Advent” Sunday sermon series tilted
“Jesus Christ is coming to Town.” Pastor Kyle mentioned how we can be “good”
people, doing good things, but there seems to be one thing missing. This can be
true for the holiday season also as we can have a Christmas image like some
Hallmark movie, where everything is merry and ends up wonderfully well. But,
reality is not always like that. We can tend to think that if we do everything
“right” in obedience to God, then all will go as it is supposed to, when it is
supposed to, but that is not always the case.
Pastor Kyle gave us three
lessons from the forgotten side of obedience to consider. (1) Unfulfilled hopes
and dreams can actually lead us closer to God, if we are open to it. We all can
identify areas in our life that are not moving as we had hoped they would, even
though living righteous before God. We need to flip our unfulfilled hopes with
a tender heart that looks and sees the Lord’s goodness and love towards us,
rather than life’s problems that have us blaming and making excuses. Turn your
criticism into comfort.
Psalm 27:13-14 “I
would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness
of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; be of
good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!”
(2) God has a plan. God is
there; He is patient with us and is 100% good. There is a power when God’s
people pray and we must always seek the Lord. We cannot see the “big picture”
of what God has planned and is working out, but we know that God is good and
working towards His good purposes to reveal in His timing. Luke 1:11-17 “Then an angel of the Lord appeared to
him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And when
Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him. But the
angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and
your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name
John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at
his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord,
and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with
the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of
the children of Israel to the Lord their God. He will also go before Him
in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to
the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make
ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
Let's continue Pastor Kyle's message on faith and obedience in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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