Mary: The Fear Of Obedience

Great. So glad to have you with us today. Again, if you're new with us, I'm sorry to put you on the spot, Christina. I told her to come up here last minute, and she was like, so it's all good. Okay, cool, cool.

But yeah, if you're new with us, fill out that connection card. We'd love to connect with you, give you some information about the church and what's happening at Salt. I am super excited about Christmas. Christmas is, y'all had too much turkey, didn't you, this Thanksgiving? A lot of you are still on the road.

Thank you guys who are online today. We're so thankful that you're with us today. Give us a thumbs up, a shout out, wave your hand. Let us know you're there. I'm looking at you.

I hope you're enjoying yourself and your holidays. We still have a lot of people traveling even during this time, you know, coming back from being with families and things like that. But we are excited about Christmas. In fact, excuse me. In fact, we have some ways that you can invite people for Christmas.

So here, here we got Christmas at Mocha is happening. You like our little...is our video not working? Oh, okay. Oh, look at there.

All right. So here's what we want to do. We're going to have two services this year, guys. We're going to have a 9-15 and an 11 o'clock service, okay? And we want to fill up those services.

Obviously, social distance fill it up, okay? I mean, that's why we're doing two services because we know that there's going to be some social distancing and things like that here this Christmas. But here's some ways that you can invite somebody at Christmas. We've got these Christmas invite cards here. They're very easy.

You can keep them in your wallet. You can keep them in your pocket. A great way to invite somebody. We've got 2,000 of these cards back there. We want you to grab a bunch of them.

Put them in local businesses. Hand them out to people. Let people know about Christmas at Salt. Because here's what's going to happen. We're going to have all kinds of things going on, guys.

We're going to have selfies with Santa. We're going to have, like, cool candy shooters or something like that, like cannons for the kids. I mean, it's going to be really, really, really fun. We're going to have the Christmas music. We're going to have the candlelight and all that good stuff.

You know, all the traditional stuff. But come out for Christmas. We want you to invite. This is a great time. Guess what?

This time of year is the time where somebody will come to church as you invite them. And if you want, if you've been praying for someone to come to church for a while, in fact, I want you to think about that person that you have been asking to come to church or you've been thinking about to come to church for a long time. And I want you to begin to pray for them even during this season. And I want you to take one of these invite cards and carry it to them and invite them to Christmas at Salt. This is, like, the chance for them.

This is eternity, guys. This is not just a good time, although we love to celebrate Jesus and we love to party out Jesus. You know, we like to party around Jesus at Salt Church. But more than anything, we care about eternity. We care about heaven.

We care about people who don't know Jesus. And this is a great way to invite them. Also, we've got another thing coming up, and that's December 13th. We're going to have pictures and pastries. I better get that title right.

Pictures and pastries are happening. We'll have professional family pictures. You guys, I'll be here for that. We'll have some photo sessions set up outside the area right here. You'll be able to come through.

And while you're waiting, get some nice brunch items, pastries, and things like that we're going to have for you. So, exciting season, guys. Real exciting season. I'm excited about it. So, grab these connection cards, these invite cards.

Also, we have signs. How many of you have yards? How many of you have busy intersections around your house? Okay, you need to grab some signs. We've got some yard signs as well.

We'll have those available. We'll just... Go over to the Welcome Center. You'll see them there. You can grab some, take them home with you.

Let's invite some people to church this Christmas, guys. Let's do it, okay? All right. So, we're beginning a new series this week, and it's Christmas time. So, I figured what better time to start a Christmas series is Christmas time, right?

Right after Turkey Day. Next week, we'll probably have a Christmas song kind of in the set. And then after that, we'll have, you know, some Christmas trees and things like that around here in the next week or two, trying to amp up Christmas and things like this. So, but we want to talk about, you know, what does Christmas really mean, and how does that work for us, and how does that apply for us? Guys, if you wouldn't mind, could you cut down the mic just a little bit?

I'm hearing myself come back, come back in the room. Thank you. So, we're calling this series Hark, and Hark is an Old English term meaning lend an ear or pay attention or listen. Listen up. I've got something to say.

I think about the Charles Wesley song, Hark the Herald Angel. It brings up a lot of thoughts about Christmas. You know, Hark, listen. The Herald Angel sings, right? And in this series, we want to take a look at several different perspectives of the Christmas story.

This will be a three-week series where we look at different people that surround the Christmas message, and God is calling them to Hark, to listen. I've got something for you. I've got a message for you. And if you listen and if you obey that message, I have something for you. So, we want to look at that in this season, just kind of take a look at those things.

And a lot of us, the reason we don't respond to what God is calling us to is ultimately fear. We deal with fear. It is fear. It's a fearful season right now. We have a lot of people that aren't coming to church, aren't going out, didn't even visit.

We had some families cancel their Thanksgiving this year. Some of you are examples of that, right? Your family was planning a big event, and they canceled it this year. There's a lot of fear. There's fear.

And I think it's a good season to talk about fear and talk about how to fear not. Because what God calls us to do is fear not. So, this week, we're going to look at the virgin girl named Mary. Next week, we're going to look at the husband of Mary, Joseph. Both of these people were visited by angels.

And the angels had messages for them. They had a message for them. And what do they often do? Fear not, right? So, we're going to talk about those things.

Let me ask you this. Have you ever had one of those annoying people in your life that just won't give up? You know, you see them on... Okay, somebody laughed. You see them on the phone, you know, and you're like, Oh, no, they want something from me.

So, you send it to voicemail. Or you see them in the grocery store, you're like, I'm going to this aisle, you know, try to avoid them, try to get away from them. Because you know they're going to want something from you. Every time you talk to them, they always want something from you. They always seem to be the people that...

It's never just about knowing them or hanging out with them. There's always something underneath. There's always some kind of ploy. But we seem to be a bit hesitant. And in the same way, we think about...

Isn't it interesting that we do that with God? You know, we try to avoid Him when He's saying something. In so many ways, it comes across the same way. We're a bit hesitant. We like the idea of heaven.

We like the idea of eternity. We like the idea of all the blessings that we get from God. But when God calls us to give 100% of what He has for us, if He calls us to do something all the way, we're just a bit reluctant, right? Well, you know, God, you're calling me to that. But why do you always want something from me, right?

All right. It seems that we do that with God. And it comes down, really, to fear. I've heard it said that faith or fear is the absence of faith. But what if fear is actually faith misdirected?

It's misdirected. It's put in the what if. See, faith in faith itself is just faith. But we always place faith. You can have faith in anything, right?

But if faith is misdirected, if faith is put in the what ifs of life, what if I? What if I? What if this happens? What if the economy fails? Then it becomes fear.

It's redirected faith. Faith is misdirected and placed on something that is fearful. And that's where fear is putting our faith in the worst case scenario. Paul talks about this to Timothy in 2 Timothy. He says, For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

And we can learn a lot from a young teenage girl named Mary about fear. So this week I want to talk about the fear of what God may be asking you to do. The fear of what God may be asking you to do. God may be asking you to do something. And are you ready to take the step?

The fear of God, what God may be asking you to do. And there's a lot of reasons why we're fearful of following through with what God would have us to do. But I want to give you two things today. First of all, God's plan is often inconvenient. God's plan is often inconvenient.

It inconvenience us. It interrupts us. It disturbs our plans, right? When God calls us to do something, it is often inconvenient. Look at Luke.

If you have your notes, by the way, you can actually go to our Bible app or Bible.com and pull up the events and follow along with Scripture if you would like and put your notes in there. But it says this, In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent an angel, Gabriel, to Nazareth, a village in Galilee. Now let me just stop right there and talk about angels for a second. When we think about angels today, in a modern context, a lot of people think of angels as these little innocent babies that have eaten too much and sit on clouds and they pluck a harp.

Or they're just innocent, prayerful, winged people. But angels in the Bible were often fierce. At God's command, they could take out entire cities. But yet, at God's command, they could come down and protect the most innocent of child. So these were not innocent little beings.

These are fierce beings. And as this angel visits Mary, we see that she was probably shaking in her robe, to be honest. So here we are. She was engaged to be married to the man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, Greetings, favored woman.

And the Lord is with you. Confused and disturbed. She was confused and disturbed. Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. Excuse me.

Having a little trouble this morning, guys. Give me a... So let's just think about this for a minute. Mary. Let's just consider Mary for a second.

She was probably anywhere from 14 to 16 years old. According to Jewish tradition, once a girl came to puberty, she was betrothed to a man. Her parents actually chose. Her family would choose another person for her to be betrothed to. So she was probably around 14 to 16.

We're not sure. We're not for sure. But we're pretty sure that she was very, very young. Go on, Go. And she was excited about the life to come.

Can you imagine a 14 to 16-year-old girl today getting ready to be married and what she's thinking about? She's probably practicing the new last name that she's going to have. She's probably thinking about her wedding and what dresses and the friends and the events and the times they're going to have. She's thinking about what she's going to name her children one day. This is not a girl who's expected to be visited by an angel, but that's what happens.

So her life was disrupted at that point. An angel shows up and disrupts her life and her future completely changed. Interruptions. Interruptions happen. But what if the interruptions are actually God's invitation?

What if an interruption in your life is actually an invitation for something greater and something better that God has for you? Think about Abraham. Abram, in a land comfortable, the land of Ur, had lots of money, was comfortable, and God interrupts him and asks him to change his entire life. Pack up everything and go to a land that he had never been before, a people that he had never been a part of, and change his entire world. I think about Moses at the burning bush.

He's simply tending sheep. He's minding his own business. He's enjoying being just a sheep herder, a shepherd, and here a burning bush appears, and God says, you're going to leave here and go and save my people in Egypt. Think about Saul of Tarsus as he's going down the road and is visited by Jesus Christ himself in a vision. Saul is going, minding his business, of course, persecuting Christians, capturing Christians, thinking he is pleasing God, and Jesus disrupts his entire world.

I believe that many of us shake off interruptions in our lives and mess out on the invitations that God has for us, mess out on something special and something new and something even better. I think of my story 18, 20 years ago as I was sitting in an office in Raleigh, North Carolina, had my plans, had my goals, had my visions for my life, my own life, when I heard the voice of God tell me that I was going to be a minister. Changed my world. Changed everything. Interruptions happened.

Interruptions happen all the time. God calls us, and what if those interruptions are caused to something greater? Some of you may have your own stories. Maybe you were interrupted by someone who continued to invite you to church. You were going along your life, you know.

You have your Sundays. Your Sundays are your day off, and somebody kept bugging you because that's what salt people do. They bug you, and they get you to church. They invite you over and over and over again until you come to church. And you decided one day, okay, I'll disrupt my plans, and I'll come to church that Sunday.

And something happened in that service. Something in the song. Something in the message. Something got you and sparked something inside of you, and you were changed forever. Maybe you've been disrupted by God.

You had your plans going somewhere. Maybe you're saying, I got a, this person popped in my head. This friend of mine popped in my head. I need to go and see him or see her. And you went, and you visited them, and you're like saying things, and God's putting stuff in your head, and it was the right moment.

They really needed a friend to talk to that day, and you were just there at the right moment. God interrupted your day so that you could help somebody. Maybe you were interrupted about serving in salt, you know, one day. You were like, I don't have time to set up and break down. I don't have time to serve four-year-old kids, you know.

I don't have time for that, but you felt God interrupt your life, right? And you said, okay, I'm going to make a commitment, and I'm going to help church. I'm going to help the church, and it is the best hour of your life. You enjoy it. You're around people you love and around people you want.

You want to be around, and you're growing, and you're thriving as a result. God often disrupts us. It inconveniences us. It's not our plan. And this is what it says in verse 30.

Don't be afraid, Mary. The angel told her, for you have found favor with God. Oh wow, favor with God? I found favor with God. I found favor with God.

But little did Mary know her plans would be much different than she expected. The plans that God had for her. Which leads me to my second point. God's plans or God's purposes are often different than our plans. God's purpose for you, God's plan for you is often different than your plan.

Here's what it says in verse 31. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. And he will be very great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David, and he will reign over Israel forever. His kingdom will never end.

So on the one hand, you know, she had to be thrilled about the favor that she is chosen by God. But on the other hand, she's probably thinking, oh my goodness, I'm a virgin. What will this mean? You are often stoned for things like this. If you aren't married and you have a child out of wedlock, this was a cause to be stoned to death.

What would Joseph think about this? Would he believe? Can you imagine that conversation? You know, like, Joey, I've got to tell you something. Yeah, I'm pregnant.

What? But it was the Holy Spirit. It's the Holy Ghost. It's the Holy Spirit. That would be a very strange conversation.

I imagine that was going through her head often, you know. Luckily, an angel visited Joseph, but that's for next week. But think about that. She was interrupted. Her wonderful life that was to come.

Her two and a half kids and the dog and all the things that she had expected. And here she is, conceived with a child from the Holy Spirit to be the Son of God. A disruption. Because his plans are higher than our plans. And his thoughts are higher than our thoughts.

Our plans are plans, but his plans are so much greater than our plans. And if we obey and listen and trust him, he's got something greater for us. Little did she know what her plan would be. Although she was favored. I think about that word favored.

When we think of favored, we think of blessed, right? And when we think of blessed, how do we think of it from our standpoint? Having abundance, right? Having abundance. Material things and love and all these things that we have.

But here we see a girl who's favored. And little did she know that she would have to flee to Egypt. That hundreds of children would be martyred because of her child. And that one day he would grow up. And one day he would teach.

And one day he would preach. And one day he would be persecuted. He would be hung on a cross. He'd be tried for something he did not do. He'd be nailed to the cross.

And he would die before her. Favored. Favored. That he would then again rise from the dead. And prove that he is God.

And that many would be saved. And today we have one of the greatest movements. The greatest movement in history. And we are a part of that movement today. And that's the church of Jesus Christ.

Upon this rock I will build my church. And even today we know that name, Mary. Mary is a pastor of Jesus Christ. Mary, the mother of Jesus, millions of people even today talk about her, and who she is, and the favored one, but it wasn't her plans, it was God's plan for her. God's plan.

It wasn't her plan, but it was the greatest plan. I'm sure some of you have stories of God interrupting you. Some of you may have lost a job in your past, but it gave you an opportunity to say, hey, you know what? I wanted to do this for a long time. I have this opportunity, and you started a company, or you started a small business, and you're doing better and thriving more than you ever, and you said, why didn't I do this years ago?

See, sometimes the plans don't seem good, but ultimately, there's something greater because you've had the opportunity. Maybe some of you have been in a relationship. Maybe that relationship went south. You know, you're like, oh, this is the person that I'm supposed to be with. This is the person God has for me, and that relationship failed, and later on, you ended up meeting that person, and you cannot believe that you even thought of marrying the person you were going to marry before, but now you know that you have somebody that you can serve beside, and walk with, and thrive with, and be blessed with, and God has just done an awesome thing because your plans, we're different than God's plan.

See, God is inviting you to something greater, and His plan are often not our plans. It's like eating at Olive Garden your entire life, and Olive Garden is good, right? Olive Garden is good. If it's the only thing in town, it's great. I love Olive Garden, but then one day you go to El Giordano's, and you discover what real Italian food is, right?

And you're like, wow, what was I missing my entire life? It's like going to Chick-fil-A for the first time, and you're used to Wendy's chicken sandwiches, you know? And then you eat God's chicken, and you're like, where have you been all my life? Sometimes our plans are not God's plans. Miranda and I were in line the other day at Chick-fil-A, and there was a guy in front of us, and it took him about 15 minutes to order, and we were like, what is going on?

This is Chick-fil-A. I pulled up to the guy that was taking the order. He said, they had never been here before. I said, whoa, they're in for a treat then, aren't they? The next thing I know, they're getting like bags and bags and bags of food.

They're like, wow. Our plans are not often God's plans. I remember when I first went to, we're not going to theaters much these days, but I remember when I first went to the reclining theater. How many of you have been there over in the Red Mill area? And I've always been okay with it.

Like these theater seats are nice, you know? They rock back and forth, and they're nice, and it's comfortable, and it works for us, right? But then I go to Regal, and not only do they have seats, these guys lay way back, and they have, you have like this much space in between the other person, and you have this like cup holder, and I mean, you can kick up. You feel like you're in the living room. It's amazing, and I, and now when I go to another theater, I'm like, this is just not going to do it for me because I've already experienced something so much greater.

See, my plan was, oh, the rocker is okay, but God showed me something else greater, and that's a theater that I can live. So God's plans might be a nice recliner seat rather than the rocker you're settling for, because God's plans are not often our plans. His plans are greater. Sometimes God is inviting us into something greater than it seems to inconvenience and interrupt us, but his plans are not our plans. And Even at times, it seems impossible.

If you look on in Scripture here, in verse 34, it says, Mary asked the angel, but how can this be? I'm a virgin. How can this be? This is impossible. This is totally impossible.

Look, physically, this cannot happen, God. But it goes on to say, but there's going to be a time when God's going to interrupt you and do something and ask you to do something, and he's going to make the impossible possible. Because our God is a God of the impossible. He can do the impossible. You're probably, God's probably asking you to forgive someone that hurt you in the past, and you're like, there's no way they hurt me.

It's impossible, God, but God may be calling you to that. Maybe he's asking you to be more generous than you ever have been before. Well, I don't have the money, God. I don't have that kind of finance. I can't do that, but he's going to ask you to do it.

Or I don't think I can heal my marriage. I think it's impossible, Lord, but God may be calling you to give it a good shot and trust him with the impossible. Or maybe there's a child, a relationship that you've had with a child that you never felt like could be mended, but God's calling you to call up that daughter or that son or that relationship and heal that wound. Maybe that's what God is calling you to do. Maybe it seems impossible.

How can it be possible? But God can make it possible. Maybe you have a friend that is sick, and there's no way that they can be healed. The doctors say there's no hope, but you're called to pray and keep believing and keep praying and trust God for the impossible because he, in fact, is a possible God. He can make the impossible possible.

Amen? Verse 35 says, and the angel replied, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. And it goes on to say in verse 37, for nothing is impossible with God. We know a God that can make things happen.

Nothing is impossible with God. Can you believe that with me today? Nothing is impossible with God. Nothing, absolutely nothing. And you've got to believe that.

And you've got to trust that. If God's calling you to do something that you're fearful of, believe that he can make the impossible possible. So perhaps you're here today, and God is inconveniencing you, and he has a plan for you. He's calling you to do something impossible. Let me ask two questions here.

First of all, what is God asking you to do or believe? What is God asking you to do or believe? Maybe he's asking you to start a ministry. Maybe he's asking you to fix or heal a relationship. Maybe he's asking you to go back to college.

Maybe he's asking you to reach out to someone who's far from God. Maybe he's asking you to do that. What is God asking you to do or to believe? And secondly, what's your response? See, it's one thing to know what he's asking you to do.

It's another thing to know how you respond. So write this down. Outcome is God's responsibility. Obedience is yours. Outcome is God's responsibility.

The impossible is God's responsibility. Don't worry about that. But obedience is yours. What he's calling you to do, your obedience is the most important. You may be asked, how is this going to work?

I don't know. I don't have the resources. I don't know how to do this. Don't worry about it. The outcome belongs to God, the obedience is yours.

When we started Salt Church, we had no money and no people, and God called us to do this, okay? And we obeyed God and did it. Trust God with the outcome. Be obedient. Be obedient to God.

Obedience is yours. There's going to be a time in your life where God is going to call you to do something, and you're going to have to make a decision to be obedient. Don't talk yourself out of it. Don't talk yourself away from it. Don't throw in the what is.

What if I don't have this? What if, how am I going to do this? We can talk ourselves. We can exaggerate ourselves out of anything, but God wants to do something. Maybe it's starting a small group, a salt group here in the church.

Well, I don't know how. I don't have the time. But I feel like you're calling me to do it. But I feel like you're starting, I see some young families in here I can reach, or some singles here I can reach, or whatever it might be. And God may be calling you to do something like that.

And you've got to be obedient and trust God with the outcome. Maybe God's calling you to start tithing. You're like, I don't make a lot of money. But God says, you need to start tithing. Or maybe he wants you to give a big in-year gift this year, and you're just like, I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I feel God's pulling me to do this.

You've got to trust God with the outcome, and you just be obedient. Maybe God's calling you to adopt a child or foster a child. Maybe he's doing something like that, and you've never thought about it before. Trust God. Be obedient.

And trust him with the outcome. We can learn a lot about surrender from a 16-year-old teenage girl 2,000 years ago who seemed that this thing that God was asking her to do was impossible. And here's what she said. Mary responded, I am the Lord's servant. You know what she did?

She reminded herself who she was and whose she is. She is a child of God, a servant of God, and I trust God for the impossible. Although it will be hard, although I don't know what's going to happen, I'm going to get through it because I am a child of the Most High, and his plans are better than my plans. His thoughts are way higher than my thoughts. His purpose for me is way better than my purpose.

It's way, way, way better with him because of his purpose for me. May everything, and this is what she says in verse 38, she says, may everything you have said about me come true. Come true. That should be our confession. May everything you have said about me come true.

I have no fears of the plans you give me. I have no fears of the things that are happening around me. If you've called me to it, Lord, it will be done because I am a servant of the Most High, and the outcome is yours. Obedience is mine, and I want to obey you. So I pray today by the power of the Holy Spirit that he would give us, that he would give you the courage, the courage to take that step of obedience, the courage to walk that step of obedience today.

God has given Salt Church an amazing vision, and it takes people who are willing to be obedient. It takes people who have a desire to change the world for the glory of God, but they have to be obedient with what they've been given. So my prayer for you as we're in the spirit of prayer right now, will you commit to praying and obeying? Are you ready to take that next step, that next step of obedience, trusting him with the outcome of being obedient on your part? Will you be willing to take the next step?

I'm just going to ask this to raise a hand. Who's willing to take the next step with me? Who's willing to take the next step of obedience? Who's ready to take that next step? God, I pray over all these hands raised today that you would just begin to speak to them clearly about your plan, about your purpose, about what you have for them, God, because I know you've got magnificent, outstanding, beyond this world, purpose for their lives, and we're praying for that over them today, God, that we have miracle workers here in this room because they serve a God who is an impossible God that makes the possible impossible, the impossible possible.

We're believing that today in the name of Jesus. We have world changers in this room, and God, you've got plans beyond what they can even think or imagine. In that same spirit of prayer, there might be some people here today that have never taken the first step. Maybe you've never even made a decision for Jesus. Maybe you've never chosen to make Jesus your friend and your savior.

Maybe you've never been 100% in. Today's the day. Today's the time's the time. The time's now. Are you ready to make Jesus Lord of your life today?

You can make him Lord of your life today. You can just pray this and believe this with me today. Let's pray this together. Father, I believe that you are the son of God and that you died on the cross for my sin, that you saved me from my sin. So today I receive you in my life.

I receive you in my heart. I give you my heart. I give you my life. I'm 100% in today. I walk with you from this day forth in the name of Jesus.

Amen. Can y'all just celebrate Jesus this morning? I know, I know there's a, I know there's a weak crowd in here because it's our after Thanksgiving, but I want to, I want y'all to just shout it, shout it out to the rooftops. Thank you, Jesus, for salvation. We thank you, Jesus, for your love.

We thank you, Jesus, for your glory. We thank you, Jesus, that you're getting ready to do amazing things in our church, in our life. It's Christmas season. We're going to see life change. We're going to see hearts change.

We're going to see the power of God move. Now it's happened, Lord, in your name because we are your children. We are your people. We are, we are the Mary's. We are the Joseph's.

We are just simple people, but you can do amazing things by the power of your name. Amen. Hallelujah.