Pointing To The Hope

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Pointing To The Hope</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id420.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Beginning of Hope Realized"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id422.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Arrival of Hope"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Pointing To The Hope, </B><A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Lk+1:39-80" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U><B>Luke 1:39-80</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Berean Bible Church, </B><B>December 14, 2003</B></div> <bR> <div>      Humanly, most of us are consumed with a focus upon ourselves and our own concerns. We struggle with (or gladly give in to) our self-importance and our pride. Consider Christmas "competitions" -  who has the best holiday decorations, the best holiday party or special event, the best holiday musical presentation, the best holiday gifts (given and received), the best holiday dinners. Who gives the nicest cards, or cards sent to the most people . . . or cards received from important people.</div> <div>      Christmas reminds us that it is really not about <I>us</I> after all. We should stop kidding ourselves. The story of Christmas is a reminder of our year-round, lifetime role as followers of Christ - what function do we serve in God's kingdom? Let's examine what function Elizabeth and Zechariah and John and Mary fulfilled?</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. The people surrounding Jesus at his birth pointed to the importance of Jesus.</B></div> <div> A. <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Lk+1:39-56" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Luke 1:39-56</U></A>: Mary and her song.</div> <div>      1. Vss. 39-45, Elizabeth and her child (in the womb) pointed to Jesus (in spite of the joy Elizabeth had for her own child).</div> <div>      2. Vss. 46-55, Mary's song. She points to the mercy God gives to the poor and humble. Through this child, God would bring the offer of salvation to all the world.</div> <div> B. <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passage=Lk+1:57-80" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.biblegateway.com/bible?passag"><U>Luke 1:57-80</U></A>: The birth of John and Zechariah's song.</div> <div>      1. Vss. 57-66, The birth of John. His role would be to point to Jesus (see vss. 76-79).</div> <div>      2. Vss. 67-79, Zechariah's song. It answers the question of vs. 66, "What is this child going to be?"</div> <div>           a. Vss. 68-75, The salvation story.</div> <div>           b. Vss. 76-79, John's role in the story. He was the forerunner of Jesus. He would go ahead of Jesus to call people's attention, not to himself, but to Jesus! Question: did any angel's announce your birth? That's reserved for "important" people, right? Angels announced John's birth, yet he pointed on to Christ as the One who was important (see John 1:29-31, 35-37, 3:28-30).</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. Our role as Christians is to point to Jesus, the Savior of the world.</B></div> <div>      The people surrounding Jesus at his birth were focused on the importance of Jesus, the Savior. So must we be. Be a reflection of Christ - in your speech, your character, your relationships, your actions. Let Christ live his "earthly" life through you. We are storytellers - and we tell the story in how we live, in the words we say, in the attitudes we possess.</div> <div>      What are some ways we can do this? Offer <U>forgiveness</U> (like at family gatherings). Express the love of Jesus by <U>serving people</U> in mundane ways. Offer to God your heartfelt <U>praise and thanksgiving</U> - talk more about God than about yourself. <U>Pray</U> and tell God you depend totally on him. <U>Tell</U> people about what <U>Jesus</U> has done in your life. <U>Model</U> to others what it means to be a follower of Christ - a person of grace and obedience to God's commands. </div> <div>      Finally, <U>slow down</U> your pace of life - you are not the Messiah. Wayne Muller wrote, "`I am so proud to be busy.' We say this to one another with no small degree of pride, as if our exhaustion were a trophy, our ability to withstand stress a mark of real character. The busier we are, the more important we seem to ourselves and, we imagine, to others. To be unavailable to our friends and family, to be unable to find time for the sunset, to whiz through our obligations without time for a single, mindful breath, this has become the model of a successful life." How important we often think we are. Slow down and rest in Jesus.</div> <bR> <div>      The story of Christmas reminds us that it is not our job to point out our own importance, but to point out the one who really matters - the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, Immanuel - God with us.</div> <div>      A recent news release told of a Charlotte, North Carolina, woman who set a world record while playing a convenience store video game. After standing in front of the game for fourteen hours and scoring an unprecedented seven and a half million points on the game called "Tapper," the woman was pleased to see a TV crew arriving to record her efforts for posterity. She continued to play while the crew, alerted by her fiancé, prepared to shoot. However, she was appalled to see the video screen suddenly go blank. While setting up their lights, the camera team had accidentally unplugged the game, thus bringing her bid for ten million points to an untimely end! The effort to publicize her achievement became the agent of her ultimate failure. The more important we try to make ourselves, playing our important games of life, the more God laughs (or cries). Point to the one who really matters.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2003, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>