Advent - Hope w/Scott McConnell

All right. To get us into this morning's message that will be led by Scott, we're

gonna go ahead and turn to the scriptures right now. We're gonna read

from Luke chapter 1 verse 26 through 38. And we have a tradition here at the

Luke 1:26–38

house just to be present with the scriptures, so however you may, some may

stand as we read the scriptures, but we just commit to being present to God's

Word. So Luke chapter 1 verse 26 through 38. Now I'll be reading from the NIV.

Luke 1:26–38

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel of

Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named

Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to

her and said, greetings you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Mary

was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting

this might be. But the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary. You have found

favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call

him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High. The Lord

God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over

Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. How will this be? Mary

asked the angel. Since I am a virgin. The angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come

on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to

be born will be called the son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to

have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in

her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail. I am the Lord's servant,

Mary answered. May your word to me be fulfilled. Then the angel left her.

You may be seated. Thank you so much, Chris. I enjoy to have other people read

some of the scripture because I'm gonna be talking quite a bit. My name is Scott.

I've been coming here to the house for about three years. I use a power chair, so

I usually stay tilted back pretty far. I take lots of drinks of water, and I stay

bundled up pretty warm, but guess what? I blend in today. Usually even when it's

90 degrees, I'm still wearing a hoodie and have a hat on, but today I fit right

in. So some people have been asking me how I'm doing and with the weather, and I

said, actually I'm okay. I blend in with the crowd and I'm already prepared. I

stay prepared year-round for the cold weather. Well it's good to have you with

us today. At first I want to go back to the two minutes for one question. What

are some of the interests that people have that you may have mentioned?

Bowling. All right, very good. Now most of us know a little bit about bowling. How

many of you, raise your hand if you would, if you know what a turkey is in bowling.

Okay, some of us, some of us probably don't. So where I'm going to go is a lot

of the things that we're interested in. If someone who's really into them is

talking about it, you might get lost. You might not know exactly what they're

talking about. So bowling has its own words, its own interests. How many of you

have your own bowling ball or your own bowling shoes? Yeah, down to just a couple

of us, right? Used to, yes. How about another interest? Adult coloring, yes. Yeah, so you

can have certain pencils, certain shades, all of those things. There's a couple of

people here today that love to bake bread. My father-in-law Bob and his friend

Robert are back there and those guys could talk about bread for hours and

starting your sourdough and all of those things. So it's an interest that's

developed pretty far. If you look at another area of interest, a lot of people,

young people on social media, one of the acronyms on there, I want to see if

anybody over here knows it, OOTD. Outfit of the Day. So if I sent you a picture and

said, oh this is your OOTD inspo, a lot of us would have no clue and I had to look

it up. I'm not that cool. But yes, it has its own, the whole TikTok world in that

has its own language. The last one I'll say is hair. Did you know there's four

different hair types? A lot of you may not, some of you do, and then those four

different hair types, there's three different letters. So you might be a 3B

or a 2C and the reason that becomes important is because for some people

they need to know what hair products to use, what hairstyles to use to keep your

hair healthy, depending on that. That became important for us with our daughter.

She has 4C hair, which means that we really have to be careful and smart how

we take care of it. Now does anyone know what hair type I have? Type beautiful.

I warned my wife I was gonna use that joke and she just rolled her eyes. I could

tell, I could tell in her eyes, please don't, but she knew if she asked me if I'd just be

even more likely. So there it is, there it is. There are lots of different areas of

interest that we enjoy to talk about and we enjoy to read and sometimes it's in

more serious things though where people are using language, you're talking, that's

hard to follow. If you ever been in a doctor's appointment or maybe been

watching something medical on TV and you don't know what they're saying,

sometimes we need to see neurologists and things for our daughter too and

there are a lot of times I have to stop them and say, okay translate please

because you just used a bunch of words and we need to know about the doctor's

office or some of those things, health stuff. Now another place I find that

people can be talking and some people have no real understanding of what's

going on is church. Sometimes it's like you come in and someone's speaking a

different language that you don't know and you know they're speaking the same

language as you but they're using words and talking about places and talking

about things that even if you've been in church for a long time may not seem

familiar or may not make much sense and church is hard because you're supposed

to know all the right answers. If you ask the question you you might feel a little

bit embarrassed so it can be tricky and some of the verses that we read today

could be a little bit tricky. It's called that passage is called the

Annunciation. It's where Gabriel comes to Mary. He announces the hope of Jesus

birth. It's an exciting passage. It's so important but there's a lot of things in

there that if we really think about them we might say huh? Jesus is going to sit

on the throne of David. That might be about as familiar as OOTD to those of us

who don't know what it means. Okay so we have a painting up here that I want you

to look at. This is from the 1440s and this was actually painted on a wall. It's

called the fresco and it's of Gabriel coming and announcing to Mary the good

news about Jesus. It's if those of you who are online you you can't see it right

now or if you'd like to look it up I should have put the name up here but I

didn't it was painted by someone called Fra Evangelico so FRA EVAN GELICO.

There's lots of cool history around it but we won't go there today. If you'd put

up the verse now please Kathy. Alright here's where we're gonna really zone in.

This is what Gabriel said that we just read but this is the part we're gonna

focus on. It says you will conceive and give birth to a son. This is Gabriel

speaking to Mary. He will be great and will be called the son of the

Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will

reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. Now for Mary

and for the people reading or hearing this this was really good news. This was

hope but for us there's some things in here. There's Jacob, there's a kingdom,

there's son of the Most High, there's him having the name Jesus is important but I

want to focus in on what arguably is the most important God but the important

part the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. You could go

ahead and take that down and just put why don't we put the pretty picture back

up there. I'm gonna grab a drink.

Why not take a big drink? Now David, who was David? Now sometimes we get our

characters mixed up in the Bible and almost all of us do this. David is the

same one when you think of the story of David and Goliath. I won't ask for hands

anymore of who knows but probably most of us have heard of David and Goliath.

David was the boy, the shepherd, who threw the rock at the big giant and won the

battle, the underdog. A lot of times in football or in sports you'll hear this

is a David versus Goliath. Okay so you hear that saying in different parts of

our world, of our lives. So that David later became the king which was a very

surprising thing. He did not come from a royal family. Now he became in many

ways a very good king. He was very good at defending Israel and helping Israel

gain more land and he loved God very very much. Now he was far from a perfect

king. He made many very very bad mistakes. He was, he dealt with lust, he committed

adultery and it had terrible consequences on his family. So we don't want to say

that David was all good and the people then knew that but they did choose to

focus on the good. The Psalms that he wrote, he was a great writer, he was a

singer, he played instruments and so as time went on and his son Solomon, some of

us may have heard of him, was also a good king and wrote the book of Proverbs but

after that things really went downhill. There was a war and the kingdom split

into two and they even fought each other. David, the kingdom that he'd been over,

split into two kingdoms and they fought each other and other countries fought

them and they lost a lot of battles. They also, the kings which were David's sons,

many of them, were not good kings. They chose to worship other gods and that had

very negative consequences. So they thought of it in a lot of ways. If King

David was here, these were the good old days if you will and things went

downhill for a long period of time. Now when Mary was there and Mary's time, that

was a thousand years after David. A thousand years later they still remembered

King David and they still remembered the good that he did. Now when we think back

a thousand years, just for fun, can anyone think of anything that happened

between the year 800 and 1200? I'll give us a 400 year window. 400 year window

between 800 and 1200. Can anybody think of something that happened?

Fall of the Roman Empire. Yep, maybe a little bit prior to that, maybe 700s.

Great Schism, yeah, where the church broke apart and I'm not even looking for

specific answers. I'm just, I was just curious what people would come up with

because we with our Google machines and our cell phones and all of those things

would have such a hard time naming something that happened a thousand years

ago, but they still remembered King David. They'd written these things

down and they'd remembered them and at the time of Mary, it was a thing

that someday God would send a Messiah, someone to be king and be on the throne

of David again. Someone would be that good kind of king that would put things

back the way that they were supposed to be. That would bring hope, that would

bring mercy, that would bring generosity. The kind of king that would help the

poor, the kind of king that would not abuse their power and so they hoped for

that. They looked forward to that and that's what we find here in the angel

Gabriel's words to Mary. Her son was going to sit on David's throne. He was

going to be the king that brought the good news and set things right. Now

although she would have known about the throne of David and about that hope, it

also would have been confusing to her. One, she was still a virgin and so the

idea of her being pregnant was a confusing thing to her. The idea of her

son being a king would have been confusing. She was not royalty nor

was her fiance David and so there are a lot of things in there that didn't

exactly add up but the idea that she got was that she was going to have a son who

set things right, who brought hope and I'm going to, one of the ways that we

know that is because after she went and saw her cousin Elizabeth, John the

Baptist's mom, Mary sang a song and it's one of my favorite passages of Scripture

and so I'm going to have my wife Tashiana come up and she's going to read

the song that Mary sung a short time after Gabriel made that announcement.

Let's give Tashiana a hand just because it will annoy her.

Who's paying for marriage counseling? All right so Mary's song is found in Luke 1

46 through 55 and it says, 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 arms

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought

down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the

hungry with good things but he has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his

servant Israel remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants

forever just as he promised our ancestors.

Yeah let's give her more more yeah.

You may have heard of love languages. Tashiana and I's main love language is

annoying each other and we're at 16 years and going strong so 17 in March it's

working somehow some way. So there's three themes there that I want to focus

in on when Mary sings this song of what she understands that this son that she

will have will do. The first one is mercy over revenge. That this son this would

son of David who would sit on this throne who would be king would bring

mercy over revenge. The second one humility over pride. That the humble

would be lifted up and that those in power would be cast down. And the last

one is generous over greed. Generosity over greed. Three things mercy, humility,

generosity. That was the hope that Jesus brought. That is what they had been

looking forward to. Someone who would bring about those things. Now Jesus was a

different king than people expected. He didn't sit on a literal throne. He didn't

have the power of an army. He didn't use those things. He chose to win people's

hearts and he chooses to rule in people's hearts. And how does he choose to

rule? Through mercy, through generosity, and through humility. Those are the

things that Jesus brings. And I want you to start to think for a moment which one

of those speaks to you this morning. I want you to pick one. One thing of that

hope. The humility over pride. The mercy and forgiveness over revenge. Or the

generosity over greed. I recently found myself facing some of these things. Some

decisions that I had made with good intentions hurt someone that I really

cared about and loved. And so I realized that and part of me my pride kept

crept up and said yeah but you didn't mean it. You didn't mean it and it would

be hard. Asking for forgiveness is hard. And who knows this person might choose

this opportunity for revenge or letting me have it back rather than showing

mercy. I could get my feelings hurt back. And isn't it hard when you admit that

you hurt someone's feelings? You have to deal with that awkwardness, those

different things. But I realized in that moment what I needed to do and I needed

to apologize. And I was so grateful even in that moment. Even as I felt some of

the sadness of how I'd hurt this person. And I felt the sadness of having to go

and ask for an apology. Because I knew without Jesus that wouldn't be possible.

Because without Jesus I choose pride over humility. I would rather keep myself

intact. And without Jesus I'm more worried about others taking revenge

than I am hoping for mercy. And knowing that God will have mercy on me whether

the other person does or not. But I knew I knew I was able to do it because of

Jesus. And so I went and I asked for that person's forgiveness and they were so

kind and so loving. And they knew my heart. They know they knew I didn't mean

to be hurtful. But it still meant a lot to them. That I thought about how they

felt. And that I acknowledged that. And that what I had done could have been

hurtful to them. And it was such a sweet moment because that person loves Jesus

too. And so I knew that in that moment even though something that had been

sad in one way had happened. That Jesus was king through it. We could see Jesus

in that moment overcoming pride, overcoming revenge. Last example I'll

give is that I think of the foster kids. That will be blessing through and I are

you doing announcements Pastor Greg? And Pastor Greg will share a little bit more

about that. But that our church chooses to be generous and chooses to give to

bless kids that are in the foster care system around this time as well. If Jesus

had been a king that had sat on a normal throne his kingdom might have lasted for

who knows 30 years 40 years. But as the king that he is 2,000 years later look

what we're doing today. We still remember him. We still read the book. We still see

the art. We still remember. That's hope. And that's the power of the type of king

that he is. Now at your tables and some of you are I see some of you are solos.

Maybe you can join another table or talk to each other. We're just we're gonna do

this very quickly. But I'm gonna pray and I would invite somebody at each table to

share one of those things that's meaningful to you and maybe why. Either

mercy or humility or generosity. One way that that speaks to you. Everyone doesn't

have to go. If your table talks about what you're gonna have for lunch after

church no one will know. But I want to give you the opportunity to do that and

for us to share some of that hope that Jesus gives today. Let's pray. Father I

thank you so much for this day. I thank you for the mercy and hope and

generosity that you bring. I thank you that you're more powerful than revenge

or pride or greed. And I thank you that you help us to grow past those things as

well. I thank you that the throne of David meant making things right. Someone

fulfilling the hope of what could be. And we still remember that throne of David

3,000 years later as Gabriel said it to Mary. That it stood for things changing.

For things being the way that you meant for them to be. Please help us this

moment as we take a moment to share at our tables. To share just for a moment

something that you're doing or that we connect with. In Jesus name, Amen. So maybe

somebody at your table wrote it down or maybe they have a good memory. We have

mercy over revenge, humility over pride, and generosity over greed. And I'll just

give about 60 seconds for somebody to share and then I'll I'll check in. So go

ahead.