Worship and Happenings at Pilgrim this coming week
Sunday, Dec. 19th. @ 6:30 PM Childrens Christmas Program followed by Birthday Party for Jesus
Tuesday, Dec. 21st @ 7:00 PM Choir Practice
Friday, Dec. 24th @ 9:00 PM CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE
Sunday, Dec. 26th ALL DAY >>> STUFF THE TRUCK <<<
Sunday, Dec. 26 @ 9:15 AM Sunday School Opening
Sunday, Dec. 26th @ 9:30 AM Sunday School
Sunday, Dec. 26, @ 10:30 Worship


BIRTHDAYS THIS WEEK
Sunday, Dec. 19th ...Pat Jolly
Monday, Dec 20th ... Mackenzie Hughes
Tuesday, Dec. 21st ... Shelia Ward
Saturday, Dec. 25th ... Butch Everhart, Don Mize & Jesus Christ

THIS PASTOR’S VIEWPOINT
For the week of December 19, 2010

Have you been to the mall lately? Of course you have, you must have been because it looks like everybody has been there shopping. If I didn’t see you in the mall then it was definitely in one of the bigger department stores. Maybe I saw you in Sam’s Club, crowded in with the thousands of others, each of whom seemed to be trying to empty the shelves. Joy to the world was not in anyone’s thoughts, nor I suspect, was peace on earth, good will to men. It was all about getting what you wanted before someone else got the last one.

A couple of weeks ago, as I crossed the parking lot into Sam’s I watched a man headed for his car with two, yes, two shopping carts, each practically over-flowing with what had to have been gifts. He was pushing one and pulling the other and looked like a little choo-choo. I’m not sure, but I think it was his wife right behind him with another cart full.

I couldn’t even begin to guess how much he had spent in there and I still wonder what part of his total Christmas shopping was represented by that one stop at Sam’s. I also wonder how long those gifts will last; will all of those presents still be in service or even wanted this time next year? Will any?

What impact will those gifts have upon the recipients? Will they be returned and exchanged for something else? Will they even remember who gave it to them a few years down the road?
All these thoughts came to mind as I read 1Timothy 2:6 (NLT). Paul writes, “He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” Now there’s a gift that no one will ever match. God gave his Son, who inturn, gave his life that we might know the joy and freedom that comes through that gift alone.

Can we give a gift as precious and lasting as eternal life? Why then, do we try to out spend God? Indeed, is there anything that we can give that can even approach God’s gift?

Yes, we can tell others about the salvation gift. We can donate a Bible to a shelter or a nursing home. We can visit in the hospital and tell others of the wonderful gift of life that can be theirs for the asking. It doesn’t take a shopping cart to carry the most precious of all gifts; it takes only a caring heart.


SERMON

Nothing Is Impossible With God

Sermon Text: Luke 1:26 38

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to 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.”

In January of 2002, a hospital in London, England, mistakenly sent letters to over 30 unsuspecting patients informing them that they were pregnant. The hospital’s computer system, which normally is used to send form letters telling people that their operations have been postponed, was in the hands of a clerical worker who hit the wrong key.

And so, instead of informing patients about a rescheduled procedure, the computer sent identical form letters telling the recipients that they were “great with child.” Among the recipients of the letters were six elderly men.

Can you imagine the surprise of those six men? “Your doctor at Such-and-Such hospital is pleased to inform you that you are expecting a baby!” Quite a shock, to say the least. Some of the women were probably surprised as well. “How can it be?” some of them may have asked. “That’s not possible! I think I’m going to be sick!” There was possibly some high anxiety in the homes of some women patients who received this letter.

Don’t you think Mary, the mother of Jesus, experienced troubling thoughts when the angel of the Lord first appeared to her? Mary was a virgin engaged to be married. She had never been with a man even the man she was to wed.

But one day, an angel of the Lord appears to her and announces, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Having an angel appear to you is surprise enough, but his message is a stunner.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what Mary was doing when the angel appeared to her. She may have been deep in prayer at the time, but it’s doubtful. Women of that era didn’t have a lot of time to spend in spiritual contemplation. They were up at the crack of dawn baking bread and drawing water and cleaning the house and spinning yarn and mending clothes and grinding wheat and caring for children. Most likely, Mary was engaged in some boring domestic chore when the angel appeared to her.

The Lord chose to enter an ordinary life in an extraordinary way.
Luke records, “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 be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.’ ”(vs. 29-33, NIV).

It’s a story that never grows old. It thrills us every year with its simplicity and yet great beauty: “A virgin shall conceive . . .”

The impending birth of a child is a source of both joy and apprehension in most households. Will it be a boy or a girl? Will he or she be healthy? Who will the baby look like?

There are many superstitions and old wives’ tales that claim you can predict a child’s destiny by some physical characteristic at birth. According to a book of superstitions collected by Alvin Schwartz, here are a few indicators of your child’s destiny:

• If you have a bald-headed baby with big feet, it will get straight A’s.
• If it has a big mouth, it will be a good singer.
• If it has big ears, it will be generous.
• If it has curly hair, it will be lucky.
• If it is born on a Sunday or on New Year’s Day or during a full moon, or if it has a full set of teeth when it arrives, it also will be lucky.
• But if it has only one tooth, it will be a vampire.

Was the baby Jesus bald-headed, big-eared, or born on a Sunday? Who knows? Mary certainly wouldn’t need to use superstitions or old wives’ tales to tell what Jesus would be.

An angel told her before he was even born. “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”

Author and Pastor Bruce Larson tells of how one mother’s prophecy shaped her child’s destiny. Don Morgan lost his mother when he was a small boy. Many years after her death, a family friend shared with Morgan the details of one of his mother’s last conversations.

The friend had asked, “Are you worried about Donny?” And the mother replied, “He’s going to be all right. He is going to serve God all the days of his life.”

Don Morgan was too young to really know his mother. No one had told him that this was her prediction for his life. How could she have known that he would become a pastor? Had God given her a special vision of his future? Morgan says he will never know the answer to that question on this side of heaven.

It is interesting to note that the angel refers to Jesus as “Son of the Most High.” There are many names for God in the Bible. There is El Olam, the God of Eternity. El Shaddai, God the Provider. Yahweh Shalom, the Lord is peace. But the angel identified Jesus, the coming Messiah, as the Son of El Elyon, the Most High God. This is a name of greatest power and glory.

It is almost as if the angel is saying to Mary, “The God of Anything-Is-Possible is speaking to you!” And the angel reinforces this message when he reminds her that her cousin Elizabeth, who was infertile and well past childbearing age, is also with child by God’s power. The conclusion to the angel’s message is: “For nothing is impossible with God.”

When you hear those words, how do you respond? Most of us nod our heads and smile. But do we really believe it?

Some of us, perhaps, have family members who are not believers. We have been praying that they will come to know God. But do we really believe that will happen? Hear the word of the Lord: “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Some of us may have loved ones who are trapped in addictions. We no longer recognize them as the people we once cared about. We pray for their restoration, but we’d be surprised if they actually kicked the habit. “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Some of us have lost our way in life. We’re not sure what we want, but we know it is not what we’ve currently got. We yearn to believe that there is more to life than constantly running like a hamster on a wheel. But do we believe that God has the answers for our life? “For nothing is impossible with God.”

Mary’s greatest qualification for being chosen as the Mother of God’s Son was her faith in God. When the angel told her that nothing is impossible with God, Mary believed him. It’s that simple. In spite of her poverty, in spite of her humble station in life, in spite of the Jews’ current oppression by the Roman government, in spite of the fact that Mary was a virgin she still believed that God could do exactly what God said God would do.

God works through those people who have faith in God and respond when God calls. Nothing else about them matters.

Abraham was too old, Moses lacked eloquence, Joseph was the youngest kid and he had a prison record, Ruth was a working-class widow, Rahab was a prostitute, David was a simple shepherd, Simon Peter had a temper and every last one of them experienced a transformed life when they put their faith in God. God chose them because they believed in God and they responded when God called.

Someone once said that one sign of spiritual maturity is, “the quiet confidence that God is in control, without the need to understand why He does what He does.” Mary had that kind of faith. She believed in God’s promise and she accepted God’s plan.

Think about it. “God, I’ll do anything You ask me to do, only spare my wife and children.” Could he not trust his own family to God?

He began to realize that his lack of surrender was choking off his relationship with the Lord. Once he surrendered his life entirely to God, his joy and faith returned. David Wilkerson became a successful evangelist, the founder of Teen Challenge, and the author of the best-selling book The Cross and the Switchblade.

In this Christmas season, Mary gives us the perfect example of how to say “YES” to God. Just for a moment, Mary is given a glimpse of eternity. Salvation has come, not just for the rich and powerful, but for the poor and oppressed. Salvation has come, not just through an earthly kingdom, but through an eternal kingdom. Salvation has come, not just for the Jews, but for the whole world.

Just for a moment, Mary experiences God’s vision for the redemption of humankind. How does she respond? “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” There is no more perfect way to say “yes” to God’s plan. She saw the vision, she accepted the promise, and she was included in God’s plans. That could be the story of every person who seeks to follow Jesus.

Evangelist Alan Walker once told about a girl who had a rich and lovely voice. She was singing in the choir of a church in East London. Her fame spread until one Christmas she was invited to sing one of the lead parts in “Messiah” at the Queen’s Hall.

One of her closest friends went to this girl’s teacher, asking whether he thought her friend was equal to the task.

Here was her teacher’s response: “If she tries to remember what I have tried to teach her,” he said, “and merely tries consciously to follow the rules of correct breathing and voice production, she will break down. But if she can forget everything and think only of the wonder of the message she is singing, she will be all right.”

The night came. At last she stepped forward and began singing, “I know that my Redeemer liveth.”

The music flowed in great beauty from her lips. She forgot the audience and the occasion, and sang as one who knew the meaning of it all, sang in the strength of the living Christ whom she knew and who was in power within her own life.

As she sang, the audience was strangely moved. That night was one to be remembered. Why? Because she was not trying merely to follow directions or obey a set of external rules; she had found a Spirit of power, within.

This Christmas season, you and I can experience power within our lives by saying “yes” to God’s plans and purposes. “Nothing is impossible with God.” Open your heart fully to Jesus, the Immanuel, God with us.

May Christ be born, or reborn, in you today.

Amen