Advent - Joy w/Robyn Messerly

morning church I was very thankful that Greg

asked me to speak on joy I had the privilege

to speak last year and I did kind of have that

feeling that I still had more to say so thank

you for the opportunity once again my name is

Robin if you haven't met me or don't know anything

about me, just a little history. I'm a Moliner

at heart. I went to Moline High School. I'm very

much involved in dance and theater my whole life.

I went to Black Hawk College. I married my high

school sweetheart. We have two beautiful girls,

Clara and Grace. You might know Grace as hope

or faith or peace or something other than Grace,

but yep, she's mine. I worked at Circa 21 for

a handful of years. I taught dance full -time

for a handful of years. Moved out to Viola about

nine years ago and was fortunate enough to start

a business out there, a rec center, and I work

at Blackhawk Bank and Trust as well, so I keep

myself nice and busy. and obviously I'm here,

and this is my favorite place to be. So I've

got some books. When Greg asked me to speak on

joy, I was like, okay, so people like to read,

and I see that there's a lot of insight that

can be found from books. So I picked up this

book, Lisa, I don't know, Turkhurst? You guys

can tell me if it's Lisa or Liza. I'm not really

sure either. But what happens when women say

yes to God? So I grabbed that book and I found

some really nice nuggets that I wanted to share.

I always like having a devotional that is something

really short that I can use to start my day that

doesn't take more than a couple minutes. So currently

I've been reading Jesus Listens by Sarah Young.

So I'm going to be referencing that a little

bit as well. And obviously the good old Bible,

the B -I -B -L. We're going to be in Luke 1 and

John 1 today. I'm going to start in John 1, and

we'll be reading verses 1 through 14. So if you

have your Bible, you can open with me, or you

can simply listen along. And we do have a tradition

of standing, so if you'd like to stand with me

while I read, you're more than welcome. If you're

comfortable sitting, you are fine there as well.

John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,

John 1:1

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning. Through him

all things were made. Without him nothing was

made that has been made. In him was life, and

that life was the light of men. The light shines

in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood

it. There came a man who was sent from God. His

name was John. He came as a witness to testify

concerning that light, so that through him all

men might believe. He himself was not the light.

He came only as a witness to the light. The true

light that gives light to every man was coming

into the world. He was in the world, and though

the world was made through him, the world did

not recognize him. He came to that which was

his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet

to all who did receive him, to those who believed

in his name, he gave the right to become children

of God, children born not of natural descent

nor of human decision, nor of a husband's will,

but born of God. The word became flesh and made

his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,

the glory of the one and only, who came from

the Father, full of grace and truth. Let us pray.

Dear God, we thank you for today. The chill in

the air does not touch the warmth that you put

in our hearts. And I thank you, God, for the

day that you've created, the joy that is free

to all. I pray that you would bless our time

here together, that your spirit would move within

us, speaking through me and touching those that

need to hear your voice today. In Jesus' name,

amen. All right, you may get comfy. So the word

became flesh. God's people were waiting for him,

and they thought he was coming with a sword in

his hand, ready for war. But he came as a child.

He came as a baby who needed cared for. He needed

his diaper changed. He needed to learn how to

walk. He needed a mother. So let us begin by

considering the actions of Mary. It's recorded

in Luke that the angel said to Mary, Do not be

afraid. You have found favor with God. To which

Mary responded, I am the Lord's servant. May

it be to me as you have said. And as Mary was

able to experience God as a newborn baby, Caring

for him, teaching him to walk, teaching him to

talk, watching him grow and learn things. It

says in Luke 2 that Mary treasured up all these

things and pondered them in her heart. And it

reminds me of the line in the song, Mary, did

you know that when you kiss your little baby,

you kiss the face of God? What a beautiful picture

to keep in our minds. And what a joy it is to

know that God the creator speaks to me. I have

never seen an angel with my eyes. My ears have

never heard an audible voice that I know to be

God or an angel speaking to me. But I see him,

and I can hear him. Mary received a visit from

the angel, and the words were encouraging and

confusing. But her response is beautiful. I am

the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have

said. In this book I'm reading, Women Who Say

Yes to God, Lisa said, we do not fear what our

obedience will cause us. Let me start over. We

need not fear what our obedience will cause to

happen in our life. We should only fear what

our disobedience will cause us to miss. Right?

Isn't that good? What would Mary have missed

out if she said no? Right? Dave touched on this

a little bit in his message last week, but let's

go ahead and read Mary's prayer in Luke 1. And

Mary said, My soul glorifies the Lord, and my

spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has

been mindful of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

for the Mighty One has done great things for

me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those

who fear him from generation to generation. He

has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has

scattered those who are proud in their inmost

thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their

thrones, but have lifted up the humble. He has

filled the hungry with good things, but has sent

the rich away empty. He has helped his servant

Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham

and his descendants forever. as he has said to

our fathers. So are you in a practice of saying

yes to God? As a dancer, I'm fully aware of the

need for practice, right? And as an instructor

and a choreographer, it's something I require

of my students to practice their skills. When

they come to class, we do the same warm -ups

week after week so that we build these muscles

so that they become second nature. Developing

a skill of any kind takes practice. So if you're

not currently in a practice of saying yes to

God, get in the habit. With practice, saying

yes to God will no longer be a discipline of

your heart, but rather a delight of your life.

Say yes to God before you even know what it is

that he wants you to do. As Lisa said, you never

know how God will use you until you let him.

So I didn't really see... myself being a children's

ministry director but here I am I'm doing it

and honestly it is one of the most rewarding

duties that I have the pleasure of doing and

I just simply said yes to God's promptings and

let him guide me from there. I always enjoyed

working with kids and I feel that God has put

a passion within me to make sure that kids feel

seen and heard and loved so teaching children

was never something out of my comfort zone. But

to carry that title and to have that responsibility

seemed a little bit beyond me. But I have learned

that with God, I don't need to possess all the

skills to do what he asks of me because he is

my source and my provider. Now, I 1 ,000 % never

saw myself standing up on a Sunday morning and

sharing a message with people. I do not feel

that I am learned enough or took the proper training

or anything like that. But this is my fourth

time standing in front of you all. And all I'm

doing is listening and following what he asks

of me. And he has yet to let me down. And then

even better is I become closer to him when I

say, oh, this is beyond me. I really need to

rely on you. to make this happen, and he always

does. So if you find yourself this morning or

another time in your life where you're looking

for joy, right, you're looking to find that joy

in your life, I think what we need to do is identify

what's distracting you from connecting with your

creator. Do you have treasured God moments stored

up in your heart like Mary? I know that when

I'm normally a happy person and I'm an optimist,

so it doesn't take me long to get there, but

I still have days when I feel down or I'm troubled

about something or life is hard. But it's in

those moments that I know I can pull out all

of these beautiful moments that I've shared with

God. And my perspective changes as soon as I

fix my eyes on him, the author and perfecter

of my faith. I've these treasures because I've

said yes to God. I am the Lord's servant. Use

me as you will. And it's in the times of weakness

and despair when I have called that he has answered.

I know I'm not the only cancer survivor in the

room today, but what a beautiful time that was.

As hard as it was to go through these treatments

and make myself walk through those doors. He

was so close. I felt like I could touch him.

I felt like I could hear him. And those are treasures

that I have forever now. And I'm better now,

and that's great. And those are all reasons to

give praise and thanks. But even more so are

the moments when I was weakest and he was strongest,

that those are beautiful treasures that I have.

Thanks to Gary, I started watching The Chosen.

I remember I first started watching the show,

and I was like, whoa, I need to, like, fact check,

because I don't want to put anything in my brain

that's untrue. And so I stopped. Didn't even

get all the way through the first episode. And

then Gary was like, hey, we're going to do a

study. And I was like, oh, cool, let's go check

that out. And then I sat in this room with, you

know, a handful, a number of people from this

congregation, and I was like, okay, I feel like.

If you guys are all good with that, I should

be good with it too. I think we're okay. You

guys vetted it for me. So thank you for that

because I'm really enjoying just the applications

that you can take or the understanding of what

it was like in that time that we just can't tap

into in the world we are today. So it's been

really great. If you haven't checked it out,

I totally recommend it. One of the really big

takeaways I've had so far is from the season

one finale. So they start with Jacob, and he's

like, yep, this is the spot. And he starts tapping

in, and he's building this well. And they don't

know why they're building it. God just told him

to do this, so he just did it. And it turns out

that that is the well that Jesus meets the Samaritan

woman at generations later. And the takeaway

is that the purposes of God are not always for

our understanding. God is calling us to listen

and obey. His purposes are not always for our

understanding. We're just to serve faithfully.

Maybe we get to see the effects of the work,

and maybe we don't. But our work is for God,

and he gets to choose how to use it. And I think

that we find joy having the opportunity to participate

in the divine nature. Just to have the opportunity

to work alongside him. We can find that joy.

So this is week three of Advent. And as we're

reflecting on joy, let's bounce back to John.

It says, there was a man sent from God whose

name was John. He was not the light, but he came

to bear witness to the light. And this is true

for us too. There was a man sent from God whose

name is Robin. There was a man sent from God

whose name is Connie. There was a man sent from

God whose name was Dave. So just make sure everybody's

paying attention. I'm going to say that one more

time, and everybody say your name out loud, okay?

All right. There was a man sent from God whose

name is? Yes. We are not the light, but we are

here to bear witness to the light. and letting

the light of Christ shine in your life will bring

you all the joy you seek. Our treehouse kids

sure did a great job of reminding us of just

this simple truth. Jesus is the light, and I'm

going to let him shine. So I do want to... share

a prayer from my Jesus Listens devotional this

morning. You can take whatever attitude of prayer

that is for you. You can journal. You can close

your eyes. You can open your hands. But if you

would open your hearts with me as we pray. Dear

Jesus, help me to lead a victorious life by living

in deep dependence on you. I used to associate

victory with success. not falling or stumbling,

not making mistakes, but being successful in

my own strength made me vulnerable to going my

way, forgetting about you. It is through problems

and failure, weakness and need, that I'm learning

to rely on you. I realize that true dependence

is not simply asking you to bless what I have

decided to do. It involves coming to you with

an open heart and an open mind, inviting you

to plant your desires within me. Sometimes you

instill a dream in me that seems far beyond my

reach. I know that my own resources are inadequate

for attaining such a goal. Thus begins my journey

of profound dependence on you. It's a faith walk,

taken one step at a time, leaning on you for

strength and guidance. It's not a path of continual

success, but a way of multiple failures. However,

each failure is followed by a growth spurt, nourished

by increasing reliance on you. I want to enjoy

the blessedness of a victorious life by deepening

my dependence on you. In your joyous name, amen.

So what if instead of grumbling about our problems,

we took an attitude of thankfulness? What if

we made friends with our troubles by thanking

God for them? The counterintuitive act opens

our mind to the possibility of blessings emerging

from our difficulties. And moreover, when I bring

God my prayers with thanksgiving, my anxiety

diminishes and his peace that passes all understanding

guards my heart and my mind. It's a daily prayer

of mine to just say, Jesus, may the light and

love shine through me. But in order for me to

do this, I must take time to bask in his presence,

asking to be transformed into his likeness and

willing to follow where the spirit leads, even

when it makes no sense. So let us be reminded

today to connect with our creator and to be his

light in the world. All right, so lastly, I don't

know, did you guys know that this is the last

year for the almanac? Yeah, if you didn't know,

I'm sorry to break the news, but it's the last

year of the almanac. So says enough people in

Mercer County that I believe it to be true. If

you need a copy of The Current Almanac, you can

find one for free at Blackhawk Bank and Trust.

I was flipping through it, and this is what I

found. There was a recent study published in

Psychological Science that revealed breaking

into a genuine smile, one that engages the muscles

around the mouth as well as those around the

eyes, reduces your heart rate after a stressful

event. The lead author of the study said, whether

you feel happy or not doesn't matter. The muscle

activation alone does the trick. So just think

about that. If you go through your day and you

smile at those you encounter, your family, your

friends, some colleagues, a stranger, there's

a high likelihood that they're going to smile

back and you're offering them the same benefits

that you yourself are receiving. And it doesn't

cost you anything. And you don't even have to

mean it to make it matter. All right. That is

all I have for you guys today. Thank you so much

for being here. I hope you enjoyed the kiddos

as much as I enjoy working with them every single

day. It truly is a delight to spend my Sunday

mornings with them. They're amazing kids. And

it gives you kind of hope for the world to come,

right? All right, Merry Christmas everyone.