Week 4 – Jeff Maness – May 12, 2019
When faced with uncertainty, the key to confidence is surrender. So many heroes of the faith in Scripture and throughout history were able to face their uncertainty with such confidence in God. So, what should we surrender in uncertainty
Even So: Uncertainty
Main Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:26-28 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!”
Luke 1:29-34 29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 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. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” 34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.”
Luke 1:35-38 35 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. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she has conceived a son and is now in her sixth month. 37 For the word of God will never fail.” (Some manuscripts read “For nothing is impossible with God.”) 38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
Servant (Doulos) = A slave or bond-slave.
Deuteronomy 22:21 21 The woman must be taken to the door of her father’s home, and there the men of the town must stone her to death, for she has committed a disgraceful crime in Israel by being promiscuous while living in her parents’ home. In this way, you will purge this evil from among you. This was an expression of resignation to the will of God, and of faith in the promise. To be the “servant of the Lord” is to be submissive and obedient. — Albert Barnes commentary The words here seem to show a kind of half-consciousness that the lot which she thus accepts might bring with it unknown sufferings, as well as untold blessedness. She shrinks, as it were, from the awfulness of the position thus assigned to her, and is able to say what her own Son said when His time of agony had come. — Charles Ellicott commentary
Luke 22:42 42 “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet (Even so…) I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Big Idea: When faced with uncertainty, the key to being confident is surrender.
Big Question: What should I surrender in uncertainty?
1. I should surrender my desires
Psalm 37:4 4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires. The reason those who delight themselves in the Lord receive the desires of their heart is not just because one causes the other, but because one shapes the other. Delighting in God shapes the kinds of desires that we have in our heart. — Pastor John Piper
2. I surrender my dreams
3. I should surrender my decisions
Psalm 119:5-8 5 Oh, that my actions would consistently reflect your decrees! 6 Then I will not be ashamed when I compare my life with your commands. 7 As I learn your righteous regulations, I will thank you by living as I should! 8 I will obey your decrees. Please don’t give up on me!
Proverbs 16:3 3 Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.
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