It’s December.
Is it beginning to feel a lot like Christmas?
Do you like this time of year?
December, possibly one of the most wonderful months of the year!
and possibly one of the most stressful months of the year!
December, what more could you want this month than the opportunity to go Christmas shopping,
actually Christmas fighting might be a better description,
fighting through the crowds of caffeine fueled, adrenaline filled people hunting for those special bargains in the pre-christmas sales.
You know the bargains I’m talking about -
the stuff that seems like a good deal now,
but on December 26th,
in the Boxing Day Sales will cost a tenth of the
pre-Christmas price.
December and Christmas Shopping,
forget about the stress of finding the so-called bargains;
what about the stress that comes from making sure you get the right gift for the right person.
When you bought them something similar last year, did they REALLY like it or were they being polite.
So many people celebrate Christmas -
I grew up in a Jewish household.
We celebrated Christmas.
Well, by celebrate I mean we sent cards,
we exchanged gifts,
we pulled crackers and groaned at the jokes,
Mum cooked a Christmas Pudding that nobody ever had the intention of eating after we ate turkey to our limit and beyond,
Brussel Sprouts made their annual appearance on the table, and came back for a repeat visit during the Queen’s Speech.
And Dad would open a bottle of Baileys so that my Jewish Granny could have “just the one” - one bottle that is...
Christmas, wrapping paper, tinsel, trees, baubles, lights, music, food, family, candy canes and crackers.
Christmas, everything you would expect Christmas to be. Except - it was Christmas without Christ.
Jesus is the reason for the season, yet so many people celebrate Christmas without Christ.
In the “Celebration” of Christmas many chose not to celebrate what Christmas is really all about.
In many traditional churches this time of the year is called Advent.
Advent is simply the time before the coming of Christ to earth and this month in our Fresh Fire Series we are thinking about the Holy Spirit in Advent, Christmas and Healing.
Actually this is our Final month, month 12 in our Fresh Fire Series.
12 months. It doesn’t feel that long does it.
We have been on quite a journey so far haven’t we.
In January we looked at “the Spirit in the World Today”
February was The Spirit in the Old Testament
March The Spirit in the History of Israel
April The Spirit in the Writing Prophets
May The Spirit in the Life and Ministry of Jesus
June The Spirit in the Teaching of Jesus
July The Spirit in the Book of Acts
August The Spirit in the Everyday Living
September The Spirit in the Ministry of Believers
October The Spirit in the Ministry of the Church
This month we have been hearing about
“The Spirit in Supernatural Demonstrations”
And now, as I said, for December our focus will be:
The Spirit of Advent / Christmas & Healing
12 months of teaching about who the Holy Spirit is
What the Holy Spirit does, and what the Holy Spirit enables us to be and do.
Has this series of sermons made a real difference in your Christian Life?
Have you gained a greater understanding of who the Holy Spirit is?
Have you experienced Him doing more in your life?
Has the Holy Spirit enabled you to be more the person that God has called you to be?
Have you allowed the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you?
After nearly a year of preaching - is there a real difference in your knowledge, in your understanding, in your experience of the Holy Spirit in your life?
The purpose of the Fresh Fire series was to do more than give us a head knowledge of the Holy Spirt, the purpose was for each of us to experience more of the Holy Spirit each day.
And young or old, male or female, each of us need to allow the Holy Spirit to fill us, move us and empower us.
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This morning, the message the Lord has laid on my heart is an Advent message -
we are going to to consider an event that took place before the incarnation of Christ.
There is more to Advent and Christmas than the story of Jesus birth.
There is life changing truth by God’s Grace and the Power of the Holy Spirit we should share with others.
Let me draw your attention to Luke Chapter 1,
and an angels visit to the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah.
And let’s consider how this event relates to the promises of God in your own life.
Luke 1:11-20; says
11While Zechariah was in the sanctuary, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the incense altar. 12Zechariah was shaken and overwhelmed with fear when he saw him. 13But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John. 14You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, 15for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord. He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth. 16And he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and he will cause those who are rebellious to accept the wisdom of the godly.”
18Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure this will happen? I’m an old man now, and my wife is also well along in years.”
19Then the angel said, “I am Gabriel! I stand in the very presence of God. It was he who sent me to bring you this good news! 20But now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.” (Luke 1:11-20 NLT)
Let me put these verses into context for you -
Zechariah is a priest in the temple and it is his turn to serve.
Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth are old and in a culture where children were considered to be proof of God’s blessing they had none.
But regardless of their physical age, God still has a purpose for them - and regardless of your age, God still has His purposes for you.
From all of the available priests, only specific priests were chosen to serve in the Temple at specific times.
Some Priests were only selected once in their lifetime to serve in the Temple.
They might wait most of their lifetime to be chosen, and they would have trained for that moment their whole life.
God chooses a special moment in Zechariah’s life to communicate with Him and an angel of the Lord appears standing at the right side of the altar of incense.
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Have you ever wondered why God uses different ways to speak to His people?
The Bible tells us that there are those He spoke to directly, those He to through an angel, and others He spoke to through dreams and visions.
Why different ways for different people?
Because different people listen in different ways...
When God speaks to you - He God speaks to you in a way that you can understand.
God will choose the most appropriate way for His message to be delivered to your heart, your mind, your spirit.
The usual way that God speaks to us is through The Bible - His Word.
He also speaks to us by the Power of the Holy Spirit.
For Zechariah, God spoke to him in the way that would be sure to get him to listen. God sent an angel.
And the message God had for him was so important God wanted to make sure He got his full attention.
Zechariah was given specific information that would affect more than just him,
more than his family,
more than the nation of Israel,
the information would affect the whole world.
I’m not sure how you would react if an angel appeared in front of you,
maybe you would be like Zechariah and react with fear.
So, Zechariah listens to what the angel says about his wife Elizabeth.
Can you imagine the thoughts bouncing around inside Zechariah’s mind.
OK, I see an angel.
That’s different.
That’s not what I expected.
The Angel is speaking God’s word.
He is speaking to me.
The scriptures say this has happened to other people.
It happened to Abraham and Sarah.
But that was then and this is now.
It’s happening to me!
Why is God doing this for me?
Is this really happening?
We know that he was sceptical about what was happening to him.
In verse 20 the Angel says to him, now, since you didn’t believe what I said, you will be silent and unable to speak until the child is born. For my words will certainly be fulfilled at the proper time.”
And of course he was silent until the child was born.
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Let’s think about the message itself for a moment,
The message was for Zechariah but it wasn’t about him.
The words of the message were about John and they also spoke about other events to come too.
The angel also reveals how people will respond to John’s message and that many will rejoice at his birth John will have a special calling.
Friends, God has also placed a call upon each of our lives, we are called to love God and serve God, not so that people will rejoice about what we do, but so that God will be glorified in us and through us.
Whatever ministry God has called you to in this church, your priority, your focus needs to be on pleasing God, not making people happy.
If our focus is only on doing what we feel like doing - them there is a distinct possibility that we could actually ignore what God wants us to do.
God wants us to step out of our comfort zones and so often we don’t want to leave them.
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Verse 15 tells us he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
Is your primary focus to always please God? or do you please yourself and others first?
How far down your list of priorities is God?
How far down your list of priorities is loving God?
How far down your list of priorities is serving God?
How can your primary focus be to always please God?
By believing his word and then acting on it.
By being faithful to the work that HE has given you to do.
If you are in a place where your priority is to please people more than you please God it’s time for you to change.
It’s time for you to step back and reevaluate the position God has in your life.
Later in his life John the Baptist would say about Jesus, “I must decrease; He must increase.
The angel is clear that John would be great… not in the worlds eyes but in the eyes of the Lord.
What is it that makes John special in God’s eyes?
The simple answer is his obedience to God’s purpose, direction and command of his life.
He was also filled with the Holy Spirit.
Now this was before the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out for all believers,
But here is an example of when God sent the Holy Spirit to do a specific work in a specific individual before Pentecost.
Throughout the Old Testament there are examples of how the Holy Spirit empowered. God’s people.
The Holy Spirit enabled John to powerfully preach the gospel… to lead people to God.
Just as John was filled for a purpose so are you.
The Holy Spirit enabled John to share the truth with others, to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God.
It is the same Holy Spirit that empowers us to proclaim to the world that Jesus is coming back.
Just as the enabling power of the Holy Spirit was active in John’s life - it is also active in our lives.
God is at work in our lives. The work he calls us to do may be different but the power is the same.
In the power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist came to proclaim the advent of Jesus, the coming of the Lord.
And we know Jesus is coming back, and we have the Holy Spirit, and in the Power of the Holy Spirit we should be proclaiming the second advent, the second coming of Jesus to a broken and sinful world
Are you doing that?
Are you telling others the truth about who Jesus is?
Are you sharing the truth that He is coming back?
Are you proclaiming the truth that there is a Heaven and there is a Hell?
Are you speaking by the power and enabling of the Holy Spirit?
The Great Commission Jesus Himself has called us to follow is to - “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all”
Jesus told his disciples that they were not to worry about the words they would use when they stood before people or kings
Jesus told them in John 14, 26 the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you…
Just like John the Baptist - we have a message to share - the gospel - the good news
Like John we are filled with the Spirit to speak by the power, by the inspiration of the Spirit, by the leading of the Spirit.
Friends, every day is one day closer to Jesus return.
The second advent of Christ is coming.
But today is the day to allow the power of the Holy Spirit to flow in your life.
This month, as we think about the Holy Spirit in Advent, Christmas and Healing,as we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour,
allow the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit to flow in your life.
God loves you and wants you to fully experience His power in your life.
You may find time to do many things in your life, but what you need to find time to do is
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you become the person God wants you to be.
Ask the Holy Spirt to give you a Fresh Fire for God.
God wants you to be filled with power.
He wants you to do great things for him.
He wants you to do great things for His Kingdom.
He wants you to use the gifts and talents He has given you.
In your own strength, in your own power, you may have trouble talking to others about Jesus.
Maybe you worry about what to say,
maybe you are worried about what not to say,
maybe you are a little afraid of failure.
Allow the power of the Holy Spirit to work in you and through you and God will take care of the details.
Allow the fresh fire to change you, to empower you, don’t limit what God can accomplish through you.
