12-07-25 | Sermon Prepare the Way | Luke 1: 5-25

He's going to make all things new. And so Advent does this for us. It trains us to wait. To ache. To hope. To trust. That the God who has come, and by the way, comes to you right now this morning. He's coming to you. He's beckoning to you. He's calling to you. That that same God will come again. This is Advent. [00:03:19] (28 seconds)  #AdventHope

And so, as we get into the text, we're in Luke chapter 1 today. You could say that Advent actually begins with a fearful person. with a person who's bringing that kind of emotion, doubts, disappointments, fears, into the story. They called him Zechariah. Maybe some of you have heard of him. And his fear and his doubt are much like our own. I think you'll find that you have some things in common with him. And through Zechariah, here's what Advent does. Advent teaches us how God meets fearful people with faithful promises. So, you're invited. We're invited to enter into his story. [00:05:59] (44 seconds)  #GodMeetsTheFearful

And here's the deal, okay? And this is an important theological point. The reality of a person who is justified by faith. In our case, faith in Jesus Christ. Your sin is covered and God doesn't count it against you. He sees his children, those who are by faith in Jesus Christ. He sees them as righteous, as blameless. You're justified. What's justified me? Just as if I had never sinned. Hallelujah. This is good news, someone. Someone say amen out there. [00:08:15] (38 seconds)  #JustifiedByFaith

And so, it becomes really easy. You can see this, right? You can see that it becomes really easy to let circumstances turn into disappointments. And then disappointments do this. They will eat away at the fabric of your faith. Eat away like moths. And instead of trusting God and believing God and His goodness, here's what happens. You doubt. And so when we're talking about Zechariah and Elizabeth, they remind us of this. Big reminder here. Do not allow doubt and fear and disappointment to defeat your faith. [00:13:41] (41 seconds)  #FaithOverDisappointment

Zechariah literally means God remembers. God remembers. In fact, when they called him, the people wouldn't have heard it like Zechariah, his name's Zechariah, but it means this. No, they would hear God remembers. That's his name. And Advent does this. Just like they were reminded that God remembers every time they said his name, Advent reminds us that God has not forgotten. People who are disappointed, people who are fearful, people who are doubting. Listen to this. God has not forgotten. He's not forgotten you. [00:14:48] (35 seconds)  #GodRemembers

So this can be true. It can be true that an insistence an insistence on evidence can keep you from believing God's promises. I want to say that again. It can be true that an insistence on evidence a demand for evidence can actually keep you from believing God's promises. The scripture tells us it's impossible to please God without what everyone? Faith. Faith. [00:20:01] (40 seconds)  #FaithOverProof

and so the enemy would love for you to question God's word he'd love for you to question God's promises and how much he loves you but God has a different intent in this moment and that is to heal he doesn't want to destroy Zechariah he doesn't want to destroy you and so if you've got fearsif you've got doubts if you feel like you're stricken with unbelief to any extreme or any degree today if you feel like you're being disciplined don't give up don't give up in despair and say I can't do this anymore Advent is here to assure you that God is patient with the people who are doubters and fearful and disappointedGod's with you [00:29:46] (46 seconds)  #GodIsPatient

and so here's the call today repent if you're in unbelief any degree disappointing you knowturn to God and say God I'm turning back to you oh God I trust you receive God's forgiveness through Christ I speak it over you now in the name of Jesus your sins are forgivenand learn to do this to put your hope all of it on nothing of this world and nothing in situations being resolved in the way you hope they will be resolved but your hope is in Christ and Christ alone [00:30:39] (33 seconds)  #HopeInChristAlone