Fear Not: Hope is Risky Business - Worship Service
foreign [Music] thank you foreign we're so glad you're here will you stand up and worship with us this morning we're gonna let the name of Jesus High for he's worthy of Our Praise amen [Music] Jesus you came for the [Music] husband [Music] Jesus you came so come on bow before our savior come let us adore the one who came for us glory in the highest freeze the name of Jesus for our King is gone again for the outcasts the defeated for the week ly [Music] Jesus you came he'll come before [Music] us glory in the highest praise foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] we are alone is Worthy is [Music] adore [Music] the one who came for us sing Glory [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] known is [Music] Worthy has come [Music] on give him praise this morning collection [Music] worshiping Jesus Hallelujah the king is gone behold the King has come giving any inconvenience creator of the world breathing our air yeah behold what might has come the dark cannot contain it the savior of the world it's finally this is of course Oh Come let us adore him come let us adore him for he alone is Worthy [Music] he gave [Music] and go and see the empty too but he's not there for he is [Music] don't come inhale come on [Music] oh we'll give you all the glory we'll give you all the glory Glory we'll give you all the glory cry the Lord come on [Music] Praise Your Name forever [Music] [Music] [Music] oh come there [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] well I've been married to grow your promise is loyal [Music] from sea to Sequoia [Music] prolongs even greater oh you promise for me like you see I believe that my season will come [Music] and Lord I think [Music] and as i gaze I am blinding in the light of the overrideness and like a fire to the snow oh I'm renewed in your [Music] eyes [Music] [Applause] [Music] to bring degrees [Music] I believe that this easy come [Music] cause I can't see promise I couldn't see the future you're the goddesses and I'm just in the winter all I know of Hearts is that it's worth my patience then if you're not to work it kind of not to wait [Music] each other greatness is [Music] [Applause] [Music] a child [Music] [Applause] [Music] for your promise for me and I believe [Music] that it's easy to come [Music] [Applause] [Music] for the sake of us all from Bethlehem so [Music] IL grew calorie Sequoia [Music] some of us are praying this song we're not just singing it we're praying that I believe my season will come [Music] he's the god of Seasons he is he's the one determines those things but may we have the faith and the patience to stay faithful in the season that we're in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 verse one there's a time for everything a season for every activity under the heavens a time to be born and a time to die a time to plant and a time to uproot a time to tear down a time to build a time to weep A Time To Laugh A Time to mourn a time to dance I I don't know what season you're in season of dancing and singing praise God praise God a season of crying and Mourning he's the god of comfort would you just reach out to the Lord this morning God we reach out to you right now the season that we find ourselves in Lord some of us wish we were in another season oh God help us be faithful right where we're planted Lord would you just water the seed of faith that is in our hearts today may it take root and bear fruit Lord I pray this today prophetically over us that will Trace back some Miracles and some to this very moment oh God just a mustard seed of faith water it in Jesus name would you add your amen amen and amen what a joy to gather and worship together as a spiritual family if you're a guest warm welcome you're not here by accident hereby Divine appointment we believe that I hope and pray that you sense and know God's presence As We Gather in this place may he speak to you in a very intimate and personal way today uh we have a gift for you don't leave without grabbing it over by doc one on the way out gift from Laura and I that we want to put in your hands but before we do anything else sometimes you have to just celebrate what God's already done yesterday was unbelievable so here's the deal God has given us we're in a miracle the capital turnaround is a miracle many of you know the back story like we shouldn't own this we do and this is for the third and fourth generation but one way that we Steward It Is by blessing our community by blessing our city so we opened the doors yesterday and everything starts with a god idea right and so thanks to Pastor Amber and her vision for this thing called Christmas Village thanks to our lead elf Jody and the hospitality team and so many of you who came and decorated it's unbelievable isn't it you don't want to leave do you um and if you haven't put up your tree I I hope you're inspired to go home and do it um but so much cuteness yesterday 60 seconds you can grab a seat grab a seat and check this out here we go [Applause] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] hey two quick announcements one want to say thank you for your giving if you're a guest no obligation whatsoever but if you want to be a shareholder and what God is doing in and through National Community Church a couple of ways that you can give and you'll see those on the screen in just a extra thank you for your faithfulness and your generosity as we approach the end of the year we'll share some updates of all that God is doing in and through this church but thanks for your giving and then mark your calendars Christmas Eve we have two celebrations instead of gathering on Sunday uh Christmas day we'll gather Christmas Eve three o'clock five o'clock and it's going to be a super spec like you do not want to miss it and uh and so kids make sure you bring your parents and parents if you want to bring your kids that's great too hey this weekend we continue our Advent series fear not with Pastor Heather check this out and we'll Jump Right In [Music] foreign [Music] masquerading as an angel and I'm telling you she's been shaking up our world ever since she was born welcome to National Community Church right here at the Capitol turn around our Nova family our Lincoln family our NCC online anywhere family so glad that you're joining us this weekend if you have a Bible with you you can turn over to Luke chapter one or you can follow along with the scripture passages with the notes in our NCC app we continue the series today called fear not we're looking at the Christmas story through various fear not greetings that we see in the story fear not to Joseph to Mary to the Shepherds and today we look at a fear not greeting that comes to a priest named Zechariah so we're going to jump right in Luke 1 verse 5 when Herod was King of Judea there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah he was a member of the Priestly order of abijah and his wife Elizabeth was also from the Priestly line of Aaron 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 unable to conceive and they were both very old now last weekend Pastor Mark set the stage for us talking about King Herod and talking about the world of King Herod geographically politically culturally historically and it's into this world that Zechariah and Elizabeth come Zechariah the priest not to be confused with the Old Testament prophet of the same name and we learn that they're both of Priestly Origins Zechariah though is from the clan of abijah which means he's not part of the high Priestly ruling class in Jerusalem known as the Sadducees the Sadducees were part of the Priestly line that were aristocracy in Jerusalem they become the enemies of Jesus later in the story Zechariah is from a smaller clan that lives outside of Jerusalem but he will come in to Jerusalem periodically and regularly with his division to serve in the temple and we also learn from the text that Elizabeth and Zechariah are not just Pious because of their family affiliation or because of his vocation but specifically they are obedient they are faithful they are righteous the writer of Proverbs would say that Zechariah and Elizabeth walk in the fear of the Lord now that's that's a little hard phrase to deal with because we're in a series called fear not and yet the Bible also says we should walk in the fear of the Lord the most helpful definition ever given to me for what it means to walk in the fear of the Lord is that it means we reverence God and reference God and always say and do so we reverence god with a V meaning that we recognize he is King he is the one that gets to decide what is good and what is true and what is beautiful in our world and then we reference God with an F meaning we look to him as our Compass he points to True North he gives direction for our lives and we trust that when we walk in that way that all things work together for the good so we reverence God we reference God in Zechariah and Elizabeth walk in the fear of the Lord and when you walk in the fear of the Lord as Pastor Mark said last week you don't have to fear anything else but even though they walk in the fear of the Lord and they are righteous and they are obedient they're also walking in disappointment because despite their righteousness despite their obedience despite their faithfulness despite his role as a priest they have no children and they're very old now in this culture childlessness was seen as the disfavor of God it was seen as you have done something wrong and therefore God has withheld blessing from you there were some Jewish rabbis that even taught that barrenness was grounds for divorce so they're walking in faithfulness but they're also walking in tremendous disappointment and it's disappointment that comes from a few different places they're disappointed in their circumstances there's probably disappointment that comes from the gossip and the social view that is surrounding them and I'm sure they had to be disappointed in God zechariah's name means the Lord remembers Elizabeth's name means the oath of God or the god of promise and they probably had to wonder is that a mistake the Lord has not remembered us the Lord is not kept his promise to us this is 2 000 years old but I think we can all relate to this because disappointment is real disappointment in ourselves disappointment in our circumstances and our outcomes in the people around us even disappointment in God and if we live long enough even this season with Joy to the World Hope Has Come peace on Earth even in this season if we've lived long enough there is an ache that Catches Us because there's someone that's not at the table anymore or maybe there's someone that we longed to be at the table that we expected to be at the table by now that's still not there and so for many of us it's it's like that movie Inside Out when even our happiest memories are touched in some way by sadness and then for some of you it's it's it's even worse I mean Christmas can be a nightmare because here's what happens at Christmas we take all the difficult stuff and difficult people in our lives and put it all around the table together in a very compressed amount of time and the pressure builds in this pressure cooker in a way that exaggerates everything and everything is magnified and highlighted the situations you can't navigate the problems you can't solve the people you can't please the expectations you can't meet and it could be hard you're reminded of disappointment you face disappointment and what do you do when you feel like you have shown up to Play Your Part and God has failed to make his entrance hope is Risky Business in fact the the phrase how long shows up in so many prayers throughout scripture the Bible doesn't shy away from this idea how long how long how long I'm sick at heart how long until you restore me how long will you forget me how long will you look the other way how long will you look on and do nothing how long must I wait how long before you help Isaiah Jeremiah the psalmist ask all of them how long will this go on we all have our how long questions how long before I'm I'm happy in this marriage how long until I'm reconciled with my kids how long until you bring healing in my life how long before I get out of debt how long before my job makes sense how long how long how long how long before you restore the friendship the prophets ask how long the psalmist asks how long and you know who else asks how long kids kids ask how long last weekend we're going to Nashville for Thanksgiving and um and if I had a nickel for every time Sawyer asked how much longer I would own my own major league baseball team by now and so what we do to pass the time is we play games and there's only so much time you can spend playing I spy because once you've spied it you've already passed it and so we play a game called road trip scavenger hunt and everybody gets five cards and on those five cards you get five things that you might see on a road trip a stop sign a police car an emergency vehicle a purple car a tow truck those kinds of things and so we had been playing for quite a while Sawyer had five cards I had five cards we've been playing for a while and then Sawyer is I'm down to two cards I've got two cards I've got a yellow car in a tow truck I'm still looking for these things Sawyer has a motorcycle she's got one card left she's looking for a motorcycle and after seven several minutes by the way I want to tell you how rare yellow cars are I didn't find this car until the next day that's how long the game took me but here's the deal I won the game because Sawyer got so tired of playing she gave up she said I'm bored I quit I'm done I said are you sure like you're one card away it's a motorcycle she's like yes I am done Sawyer can be very dogmatic and dramatic if you couldn't believe that so I was happy to take her card up front with me and I said all right well I win by forfeit it's like I don't care what passed us at just that moment the motorcycle it was an awesome opportunity for a little parental life lesson don't go down on the last lap of the race don't stop keep showing up I know you're walking in disappointment I know you're asking the question how long but stay in the game how long see in the scripture what we find is that asking the question to God how long isn't the problem he's not offended by that he welcomes that conversation but giving up and checking out might mean that we miss the miracle that's waiting in the wings how long what do you do with your weight you keep showing up what do you do with your disappointment you play the long game what do you do when it seems like God is absent and Silent you trade the fear of the unknown for faith in the Unseen keep showing up in your how long Hold Steady hold tight in the face of disappointment that's what Zechariah did he kept serving he kept showing up he kept doing his duty with his division of priests and I know that Zechariah because of his faithfulness and because of his station knew that God could work a miracle I've got to believe that he believed with all his heart God would work a miracle and yet he decided to show up and worship even when he did not hope is Risky Business when you walk in disappointment do not fear play the long game and then we keep reading in verse 8. one day somebody say one day if you're online put in the chat one day one day Zechariah was serving in God in the temple for his order was on duty that week his duty that week just showing up continuing to do what God had called him to do as was the custom of the priests he was chosen by lot to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense while the incense was being burned a great crowd stood outside praying while Zechariah was in the sanctuary an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing to the right of the incense altar Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him but the angel said don't be afraid Zechariah God has heard your prayer your wife Elizabeth will give you a son and you are to name him John one day one day Zechariah is serving in the temple he is doing his daily Duty and God interrupts it with the Divine declaration one day One Day One Moment One conversation one decision can change the trajectory of Our Lives and sometimes it changes the trajectory of all history the angel shows up and says don't be afraid for God has heard your prayer now in the midst of that announcement did Zechariah think huh that took a minute I mean that promise is not coming a day late by a very conservative estimation if we believe they start really trusting God when when Elizabeth's 20 and now she's 60. it is 14 600 days late and yet one of the things that we learn is that one day's often come after many days of faithfulness Exodus 3 1 one day Moses was sending his flock after 40 years in the palace in 40 years out in the wilderness God finally shows up and gives him his calling Ruth 2 2. one day Ruth told her mother-in-law she was going to the field to glean the grain after grieving the loss of her husband after leaving the country that she knows after taking care of her mother-in-law finally the day comes when she meets Boaz first Samuel 17 17 one day Samuel said to David take this bread to your brothers on the battlefield and after years of faithfully tending the flocks David has given the opportunity with some stones and a sling to kill the giant Esther 221 one day as Mordecai was on duty he overhears a plot to assassinate the king and that sets Mordecai up it sets Esther up for them to save the entire Jewish people later in the story God honors Decades of long obedience in the same direction and one day the angel interrupts it says the Lord has heard your prayer you're having a baby and again in the midst of this good news like cue the angel choirs to sing Joy to the world right but even in the midst of this good news you know Elizabeth had on her medical record the same words that were on mine geriatric pregnancy I saw that on my medical record I was only 40 years old I wanted a second opinion not about whether or not I was pregnant but whether or not that was geriatric Elizabeth is facing a geriatric present uh pregnancy now if I'm Zachariah like it seems like from the text he isn't quite sure how to respond and can we really blame him first of all God hasn't spoken for 400 years and he's the first to hear it in 400 years and he's seeing an angel and he's being told he's going to have a baby and he's being told the Messiah is coming that's a lot to take in and here's what I wonder now granted I'm I'm reading into the text here okay I'm reading into the text with my own Human Experience but is it possible that Zechariah found it hard to believe what the angel was saying because our past experience with disappointment we have to cover up that wound we have to protect that wound and to dare to believe this promise means opening that wound back up for potential more disappointment so he asks for a sign see hope is is risky business because it means that we have to dare to believe again after we've already been through that after we've already dealt with that after we've already found ways to ignore it or medicate it or heal from it you're gonna have a baby but here's the deal one days don't just come after many days of faithfulness one day's also come In God's Time and in God's way Gideon had to downsize his army Damon had to dip in the Jordan the walls of Jericho came down after a series of Silent parades and then a shout it's not how they would have planned things this story is not the way that Zechariah and Elizabeth would have written it it's not the way they planned it and by the way we'll get to Mary and Joseph in the next couple weeks their story doesn't unfold the way that they would write it either the reality is advent is the story of two unplanned pregnancies Zacharias and Elizabeth came too late Mary and Joseph's came too soon and yet you know what God Called It the fullness of time because while Zechariah and Elizabeth were playing the long game and showing up and patiently doing what God asked them to do God was setting the stage for heaven to invade Earth God Is Watching as the political situation and the Roman Empire becomes perfect for the sending of his son he's waiting for these internal Wars of the Roman Empire to finally come to an end so that there's a civil peace that is not been seen in many many years he's waiting for the Greek language to be established as a Common Language across the Empire so that his message can be heard by every tribe and every people he's waiting for the first worldwide network of roads to be built so the missionaries of the early church can go out across the Roman Empire when Zechariah and Elizabeth were waiting and praying and being faithful and serving and trusting God was at work preparing the world for the arrival of his son and God's one day is not just any day it is the fullness of time and just again to drill down on this idea that God is very strategic and very intentional with what he does I want to share with you something I just learned this week okay can I do this this isn't actually going to add a whole lot to like an application point for you but I just want to share this because I'm so excited about it the birth of John the Baptist that we're reading about here Zechariah and Elizabeth's boy tracks almost event by event with the birth of the prophet Samuel Hannah and alcona's web brought a chart to show this in scripture and we're going to put it behind me so that some of you who get excited about this as well can take a picture you can take that home you can study it for yourself but I mean look you've got you've got two couples who are Barren that are crying out to God there's a promise that's given to them in the place of prayer there's a miracle child and and here's here's why I show this not just because I think this was kind of cool but first because God is always intentional and strategic with what he does and the writers of the biblical text are likewise brilliant Luke is telling us that just like Samuel was the prophet who came to prepare the way for King David so John is the prophet who comes to prepare the way for the son of David to step into his kingly rule and the second reason I show this is because this stuff makes me fall in love with the Bible more and more and more and if there's anything I want to be successful at when I stand up here is to awaken and all of us an insatiable curiosity for scripture so if this does that in a little way I just wanted to share it all right back to the story when you face the disappointment play the long game when you're given a promise that's seems too good to be true dare to believe again and then if you read ahead in the story you find Zechariah asks for a sign right this is too good to be true he asked for a sign he's given a sign he becomes mute for nine months can you can you imagine I'm trying to picture he comes out he comes out of serving the game of Charades he must have had to play to communicate what the angel had told him he's mute for nine months but something happens in those nine months and those nine months Faith grabbed a hold of him because when his mouth opened nine months later I want you to go home and read it for yourself for 14 verses what pours out of his mouth is prophecy he begins to prophesy that the Messiah is coming that the kingdom is breaking forth that God's rule is beginning to take root in the world and then he prophesies over his son dads dads prophesy over your kids there's something valuable that all of us as parents moms dads grandparents bring to our kids if you're a father in this room or you you act in the role of a father to someone would you get a word from God and speak it and pray it over your kids Zechariah grabs a hold of faith on the far side of disappointment and he passes it on to his son and he's not the only one that passes faith on when when Elizabeth is six months pregnant her cousin Mary shows up and Mary is pregnant and she's unmarried and she's probably scared and confused the first words out of Elizabeth's mouth blessed are you among women blessed is the child in her womb I am so favored that you would even come to visit me and after that encouragement from this righteous obedient faithful woman Mary immediately begins to sing The Magnificat could it be that it was Elizabeth's faith that it was Elizabeth's Proclamation that it was Elizabeth's encouragement that Mary for the first time was able to cut through the darkness of the moment to cut through the confusion to cut through the gossip and the social disfavor and see the good that was happening in her life Elizabeth allowed Mary to borrow her faith and it erupted into a song of Praise hope is risky business so for those of you that have found faith on the other side of fear would you look around and find someone else that needs to borrow it and give them the encouragement that they need in the moment I was a freshman in college it was a few hours after midnight on New Year's Eve I was sitting on the beach at Gulf Shores in Alabama I was on a deck kind of looking out over the beach and it was a season in my life when I was really asking God for discernment for guidance on on what he wanted in my life I was studying engineering but um I also I didn't know I loved missions and I loved theater and and I didn't know how all those things fit together I just knew that whatever I did I wanted God to be in it and so I'm sitting out on this deck and I'm I'm kind of just talking to God in the Silence of the night and and I felt like God it wasn't audible but it's one of those unmistakable moments in my life I felt like God said Heather would you just look down the shore would you look down the shore as far as you can see and I looked down and and I could see a pretty long way down I mean it's it's night it's pitch black but the shore is pretty lit and so I can't see that far down but I I can see pretty far down and I felt like God said Heather there's two ways to live you can live your life walking along the shore and that'll be in my will you can do that in my way you can do that and live a life of obedience and it'll be okay but then I felt like he said to me now I want you to look straight out across the water I'm like God I can't I can't see anything he's like no no keep looking out across the water and I couldn't see anything out across the water it was Pitch Black all I could see was the white of the Waves crashing into the shore and I felt like God's saying Heather you can walk along the shore and you'll be in my will in my way but if you really want an adventure you'll come out into the unknown if you really want to see Miracles you'll venture out from the shallows into the deep if you venture out there you get my presence and I have come back to that moment so many times in my life is I'm standing in a place of decision and wondering do I dare to believe again where do I take a step do I take the safe step down the shore or do I venture out into the unknown like when I'm leaving Capitol Hill and Engineering to go into Ministry and facing so much unknown and uncertainty when I when I risk when I risk feeling disappointment again with another round of fertility treatments when I walk in the the pain and the disappointment the sadness of just seeing friends walk away from their faith and then so many other moments that I I would not ever want to relive except for the fact and I this is what's so crazy in those hard moments is where I have most felt the presence of Jesus it's in the darkest places the most unknown places the places of disappointment that we sense his kindness and his goodness and his mercy and his presence hope is risky business Zechariah and Elizabeth both met God in the darkness and then saw his kingdom Break Forth and not only witnessed it they got to play a pretty significant role in it God still works in his timing Jesus didn't show up until thousands of years after the fall in the garden thousands of years after God first gave the glimmer of hope that one day your Offspring will crush the head of the enemy and he still does it in his way a king comes as a baby in a Manger to become a man on a cross to establish his kingdom on Earth Jesus came so that those who were walking in darkness would see a great light and the voice that cut through the darkness to hurl lights throughout the Universe At the beginning of time pierced through the darkness again and the Cry of a child that hope has come I want to invite you to just Embrace Jesus in a new way this season that's the story of Christmas that light shines in the darkness that hope comes in the midst of disappointment what step can you take just to embrace the Christmas story a little bit more to embrace Jesus a little bit more this season to believe the unbelievable to conceive the impossible to experience peace even the midst of the greatest chaos to trade fear of the unknown for faith in the Unseen face the disappointment but do not fear play the long game embrace the promise do not fear dare to believe again and when you have found faith on the other side of fear look around you find somebody else that needs to Bar your faith give it away God thank you that your light shines God thank you that Hope Has Come thank you that Joy is come to the world and for everyone that's here today um that just needs a reminder that you were good God I pray right now in the depths of their soul they would sense your presence they would sense your favor they would sense you are a good God who is still at work in the world for those who are here today that have no trouble believing that God is good and God does good for others but has trouble believing that for themselves would you remind them that you are the God who sees them and knows them and loves them and works all things together for good and God for all of us would you call us out of the shadow of the shallows call us out of the shallows and dare us dare us to venture out with you into the unknown where miracles happen where your presence is greatest God call us out of the shallows into the deep and give us the faith to do it in Jesus name amen foreign ers I will call upon your name and keep my eyes thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] your name [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] call me take me deeper than my feet could ever wonder my faith would be made strong in the presence of my savior Spirit lead me with my trust is without boards let me walk upon I don't know the doors wherever you would call me take me deeper than my feet could ever want to my faith would be made strong in the presence of my sins [Music] [Applause] call me take me deeper than my feet could ever [Music] stronger Spirit lead me with my trust is without [Music] me [Music] foreign [Music] and keep my eyes above the way When Oceans Rise my soul will rest in your embrace for I am yours [Music] peace on Earth and mercy mild Garden sinners reconciled is a line in A Christmas Carol that gives a picture of Jesus as God's Gift of peace to us Shalom is a Hebrew word that signifies peace or more than well and Jesus was the perfect example of Shalom lived out when you and I accept the Shalom the peace of Jesus we are reconciled and restored back to who we were always meant to be no matter what we face this holiday season we will be more than well so we're going to light the candle of Peace towards the Peace of Jesus that lights our joy as we anticipate the coming of Our Lord Alicia what does the scripture say John 14 27 I am leaving you with a gift peace of mind and heart and the peace I give is a gift this world cannot give so don't be afraid or troubled all right son let's go ahead and light the candle [Music] may God turn his face his countenance towards you and give you peace shalom [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music]
2022-12-13 23:54
