Series: Out of Control Christmas Pt4
Title: Confident Love
Text: Mark 10:45; Isaiah 53; selected
Date: December 22, 2024

The Big Idea: It is not what’s going on around you and me that makes Christmas feel ‘out of control’; it is what’s going on in you and me that does.

Mark 10:45 (NLT): "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Isaiah 53:3-6 (NLT): "He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. 4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrowsthat weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! 5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all."

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV): "God made him who had no sin to be sin(sin offering) for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

John 13:34-35 (NIV): “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

LOVE – IS – WORK

Luke 1:1-4 (NIV): "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. 3 With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught."

CULTIVATING CONFIDENT LOVE

1. Love ____________________________________________ attention to people.


2. Love _________________________________________________ what is true.

Luke 1:3-4 (NLT): "Having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I also have decided to write a careful account for you, most honorable Theophilus,4 so you can be certain of the truth of everything you were taught."

Luke 1:26-35 (NIV): "In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 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."

3. Love _____________________________________________ others to Jesus.

Luke 2:9-11 (NLT): "Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior —yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!”

LOVE – IS – WORK—BUT THE PAYOFF IS ETERNAL!