Linden Road Church
The Call of CHRISTmas - A Call to Prepare (2)
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Linden Rd Presbyterian Church
160 S Linden Rd, Mansfield, OH 44906, USA
Sunday 10:00 AM
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The first Call of Christmas…is a Call to Prepare.
William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone 1830’s.
first telegram to be sent via an electric telegraph system.
On January 11, 1838, Samuel Morse
1933 Western Union, the American telegraph company began offering singing telegrams as a way to make receiving messages more enjoyable and even fun. George. P. Oslin was the public relations director of Western Union at the time that is credited with this new twist for receiving messages.
The first Call of Christmas…is a Call to Prepare.
William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone 1830’s.
first telegram to be sent via an electric telegraph system.
On January 11, 1838, Samuel Morse
1933 Western Union, the American telegraph company began offering singing telegrams as a way to make receiving messages more enjoyable and even fun. George. P. Oslin was the public relations director of Western Union at the time that is credited with this new twist for receiving messages.
The fact that nothing is impossible with God is one of the most hopeful statements of reality found in the entire Bible.
What is your “impossible” this Christmas that the Lord wants to remind you is not impossible with Him?
What if your call is like Mary’s: a call to provide God space to take up residence within your life and begin to work?
What might you ask God to produce in you as you answer His call this Christmas?
Will you provide all of who you are to all of who God is?
What is your “impossible” this Christmas that the Lord wants to remind you is not impossible with Him?
What if your call is like Mary’s: a call to provide God space to take up residence within your life and begin to work?
What might you ask God to produce in you as you answer His call this Christmas?
Will you provide all of who you are to all of who God is?
Wherever you are this Christmas, God can use you
to be a part of His plan
and to do His will.
to be a part of His plan
and to do His will.
The more things change,
the more things stay the same.
the more things stay the same.
“The Lord is with you.”
The Call of Christmas is a reminder that the Lord is with you. The call of Mary is a call to provide.
The Call of Christmas is a reminder that the Lord is with you. The call of Mary is a call to provide.
The theological truth being: Mary by herself could not produce a son, but God could give her one whose name, Jesus, means “God saves.”
the gospel: humans cannot produce their own salvation, but God can and has chosen to accomplish it for all of humanity.
Mary’s call was a call to provide what God had decided.
She provided herself, and God would do the rest.
the gospel: humans cannot produce their own salvation, but God can and has chosen to accomplish it for all of humanity.
Mary’s call was a call to provide what God had decided.
She provided herself, and God would do the rest.
God never gets tired or frustrated with our honest questions.
The Call of Christmas is wrapped in the activity and working of the Holy Spirit.
‘overshadow’ episkiazo (epi-ski-azo)
- carries the sense of the holy, powerful presence of God.
‘overshadow’ episkiazo (epi-ski-azo)
- carries the sense of the holy, powerful presence of God.
The word episkiazo is used again in all three accounts of the Transfiguration to describe the overshadowing of the cloud in Matthew 17:5 cf., Mark 9:7 and Luke 9:34.
“That the overshadowing or covering which Luke speaks of here in verse 35 is not static but active. It is creative and productive. It causes Mary to conceive a child. Such activity by the Spirit of God moves back to the creation account in Genesis 1:2 where the Spirit of God is stated as being present and hovering. “ ~ William Hendriksen
The Call of CHRISTmas for Mary is a Call to Provide.
“The Holy Spirit will come upon Mary, enabling her (as the Spirit always does) to do and be more than she could by herself. But at the same time, the ‘power of the Most High’ will overshadow her. This is something different: God Himself, the Creator, will surround her completely with his sovereign power.” ~ N.T. Wright
“The Holy Spirit will come upon Mary, enabling her (as the Spirit always does) to do and be more than she could by herself. But at the same time, the ‘power of the Most High’ will overshadow her. This is something different: God Himself, the Creator, will surround her completely with his sovereign power.” ~ N.T. Wright
“Many interesting parallels between the angelic announcements to Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, and Mary found in Luke 1. In each case the angel Gabriel appeared and announced the birth of a son who was to play a crucial role in God’s plan; a son who was named by the angel and who was to be born under unusual circumstances.” Robert Dean
Parallels
Zechariah & Mary
▪Gabriel - Birth of a son
▪A son named by angel
▪A son born under unusual circumstances
Differences:
John Jesus
Messenger Messiah
Old Age Virgin Birth
Conception
Abraham/Sarah Creation
Priest of God Servant of the Lord
Both were troubled & afraid
Struck Dumb<----------------->Believed
The angel told Mary of Elizabeth’s conception in her old age in verse 36 and used words reminiscent of God’s words to Abraham and Sarah; “With God, nothing will be impossible.” (cf. v.37 and Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”)
Mary responded with trust and submission to God’s will in verse 38 because she believed what the angel reminded her of in verse 37.
Parallels
Zechariah & Mary
▪Gabriel - Birth of a son
▪A son named by angel
▪A son born under unusual circumstances
Differences:
John Jesus
Messenger Messiah
Old Age Virgin Birth
Conception
Abraham/Sarah Creation
Priest of God Servant of the Lord
Both were troubled & afraid
Struck Dumb<----------------->Believed
The angel told Mary of Elizabeth’s conception in her old age in verse 36 and used words reminiscent of God’s words to Abraham and Sarah; “With God, nothing will be impossible.” (cf. v.37 and Genesis 18:14 “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”)
Mary responded with trust and submission to God’s will in verse 38 because she believed what the angel reminded her of in verse 37.
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