Christs Birth Announced to Mary

Luke 1:26-38

Imagine as you read , being Mary, just a teen and being visited by the angel Gabriel She must have been frightened. When Gabriel see's her concern and says: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. " She must have been blessed knowing she has favor with God. 

But how confusing for her to hear she will give birth to a son. "How can this be since I do not know a man?" She must have wondered what Joseph and her parents would think. What would happen to her, to be pregnant without a husband during that time in Israel?

John's Birth Announced to Zechariah

Luke 1:1-25 

Remember how Abraham and Sarah were unable to have children and got very old. But, the Lord said to Sarah, 'Is there anything too hard for the Lord?'. I wonder if God has a surprise for Zechariah and Elizabeth. Let's see. 

Read Luke 1:8-12 in your own Bible. Put yourself in Zechariah s place as he walks into the temple, perhaps the air is heavy with the scent of frankincense and light is filtering through the haze. There is a sense of holiness and of the glory of God is thick. 

Imagine seeing the glory of a real angel from heaven. Usually people are so amazed that they are afraid. How would you feel if an angel came to you with a special message? The angel Gabriel had a joyful message for Zechariah.  

Does God care about me?

Do you remember the shepherd boy named David, that we read about yesterday?. He spent a lot of time outside in the fields while he tended his fathers sheep. He played music on a harp and wrote songs, that are called Psalms. Later the shepherd boy became a great king who was chosen by God to lead His people Israel. At some point in David's life he wrote the following Psalm (song). I can imagine him on a hillside, bedded down with his sheep, looking up into the night sky, amazed with it's vastness and glory. By comparison he must have felt so small and insignificant.

"When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers,
the moon and the stars, you set in place-
what are people that you should think about them,
mere mortals that you should care for them?"
Psalm 8:3-4

Samuel and the King

I Samuel 1, 16

As we saw yesterday, the Lord said to Sarah "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" With in the year, 90 year old Sarah miraculously had a son. Many years later there was a woman named Hannah who longed to have a son. She went with her husband to Shiloh for a sacrificial meal. During the meal, she got up to pray. She was in deep anguish and was crying bitterly. She made this vow to the Lord: "Oh Lord... if you will look upon my sorrow and answer my prayer and give me a son, then I will give him back to you. He will be yours for his entire lifetime..." I Samuel 1:9-12 NLT  The priest Eli was watching her and assumed she was drunk  But Hannah told him how she was praying out of great sorrow. Eli said to her..."May the God of Israel grant the request you have asked of Him." vs 17 The Lord remembered Hannah and when they got back to their home, she got pregnant with a son and named him Samuel. When the little boy was weaned she took him back to Shiloh and gave him to the Lord. He would belong to the Lord for his whole life.

Little Samuel grew up to be a mighty prophet of God. During the time he was born, messages from God were rare. Samuel began hearing from the Lord even as a young child. (I Samuel 3). When Samuel grew up the people of Israel decided they wanted a king. He tried to persuade them not have a king, by telling them all the ways a king would control them, but they wanted a king like the other nations. Samuel told the Lord what the people had said and the Lord replied, "Do as they say, and give them a king." Samuel found a king for them named Saul and anointed him as the king of Israel.

Abraham's Promised Son

Genesis 15- 22

A long time ago, there live a man named Abram. He had a wife named Sarai. They were disappointed because they did not have any children. Now they we getting very old and Abraham wondered who would inherit his belongings and his blessings from God. Abram cried out to God: 'O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since You have given me no children;... a servant in my household will inherit all my wealth.' And then the Lord said to him, 'No your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.
Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him,

'Look up into the sky, and count the stars if you can. 

That is how many descendants you will have.'
 And Abram believed the Lord, 
and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith." 

Genesis 15:1-6 NLT

Evil Multiplied

Summary of how evil multiplied shown in Genesis chapters 4- 12: 1-3... 2 Chronicles 16:9, Hebrews 11: 8-10

When Adam and Eve made the decision to eat the fruit; they chose to disobey God. Once they ate the fruit, evil entered into their hearts and marred the goodness God created them to have, when He made them in His Own image. And when they had their first two sons evil was passed along to them as well, in the attitudes of their hearts. Every human being has a choice... will I trust and follow God or do things my own way?

Along with evil came great tragedy and sorrow. Adam and Eve's son Cain killed his brother, their son Abel. Cain was then banished and Adam and Eve were left with no sons. Imagine their grief. They had no idea what the consequences of  accepting good and evil would have on their life. We choose between good and evil, but we can not choose the consequences.

However, God in His mercy allowed them to have another son; Seth. When Seth had his son Enosh, it says that "..men began to call on the name of the Lord." Genesis 4:26 NKJ

Even though Adam and Eve and their descendants could not live forever, they did live for a long time... up to 969 years... Certainly enough time to get into a lot of trouble. The spread of evil continued and the result is the darkness that Isaiah was talking about from our first Advent post A Great Light will Shine.  But, God was always searching the hearts of the people he created, hoping to find a person whose heart was loyal to Him, who wanted to walk with Him. Read More by clicking below:

Man's Fall

Genesis 2,3 NLT

 After God created man and woman; He placed them in the Garden of Eden and God warned them:

  "You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden - except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.'" 2:7,8, 15-17

"Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame." vs 25  The man and his wife lived a perfect life of beauty and no shame in the garden. They could eat fruit from every tree, except one.

Now here comes trouble: