Rev. David Holwick ZO
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 5, 1999
Luke 1:26-38
OPEN YOUR HEART TO GOD'S PLANS
I. Opening the door to your home can change your life.
A. Publishers Clearing House van.
B. Pastor David outside - with Police Officer standing by him.
[I assumed they would recognize this as a bereavement or
accident call. Instead, a trustee called out, "Don't
worry, Pastor, I would bail you out!"]
C. Gabriel's knock was even more life-altering.
1) Mary was caught totally unaware.
2) We tend to gloss over how disruptive this was for her.
II. God has big plans for ordinary people.
A. Mary was very ordinary.
1) She was not most beautiful, or richest or most popular.
2) We cannot even be sure she was most holy woman in Israel.
a) "Highly favored" could mean she deserved it. 1:28
1> Roman Catholics take this approach.
b) More likely, she is favored only in being chosen.
1> Note Ephesians 1:6, "his glorious grace, which he
has freely given us in the One he loves."
2> (only other occurrence of verb in New Testament)
3> Perhaps God chose her "at random" to emphasize his
grace.
B. God had some interesting plans for her.
1) She is going to get pregnant. 1:31
2) Her child will be the Son of the Most High (=God).
3) He will be the Messiah of Israel.
a) This is about as big as a plan can get for a human!
C. Examples of plans for people today.
1) (Girls in this church better not receive same plan.)
2) A pastor's call to the ministry.
3) Laypeople doing something significant in their town.
4) Do you think God has plans for you?
a) Do you know what the plan is?
b) How have you responded to it?
III. God's plans take precedence over our plans.
A. Mary had no inkling of God's plans for her.
1) (Neither did Joseph!)
2) Her plans must have been focusing on upcoming wedding.
3) She was not angling to be the mother of the Messiah.
B. Examples of God overriding our plans.
1) Local youth worker given till Dec. 31 to get out.
2) His attitude - this presents new opportunities for me.
IV. How can we know it is really God's plan?
A. God's plan for Mary was accompanied by a sense of his presence.
1) "The Lord is with you." 1:28
a) Recalls the greeting the angel gave Gideon to assure
him of God's help in the task he was given. Judg 6:12
b) Unlike Zechariah, Mary does not ask for a confirming
sign. 1:38
c) She only wants light on how God will accomplish this
wonder.
2) She continued to sense God's presence at critical times.
a) Appearance of Magi.
b) Wedding in Cana.
B. James Dobson lists four distinguishing features of real signs:
1) Scriptural.
a) They must be in harmony with the Bible - the entire
Bible and not just "proof texts."
b) God's plan for Mary fulfills Old Testament prophecies.
2) Right.
a) Impressions from God may be contrary to our feelings,
our prejudices, and our natural inclinations, but
they are always right.
b) Mary does get pregnant.
3) Providential.
a) God will open doors for us and we won't have to hammer
them down.
b) No question of the Providence involved in a virgin
getting pregnant.
4) Reasonable. #1809
a) We will not be asked to do absurd and ridiculous things
that are devoid of judgment and common sense.
b) Mary might fall a little short here!
V. God's plans require a response.
A. She humbled herself before God.
1) She calls herself his "servant." 1:38
2) Not that she has a slave-mentality, but she trusts
God enough to submit to him.
a) Later on she does same with her Son. John 2:5
B. "May it be to me as you have said."
1) What God wants for her, she wants.
VI. Is God knocking on your door?
A. God raises people up in each generation.
1) Most heroes of the Bible had daring assignments.
a) Moses, to deliver his people.
b) Gideon, to defeat Israel's enemies.
c) Isaiah, to preach God's Word in spite of opposition.
2) Each felt they were inadequate for the task.
a) And they were.
b) But God's help was more than sufficient.
3) Each obeyed God and is remembered to this day.
B. Your response has not be scripted.
1) This time of year many Christians try something daring.
In September 1960, Barb Irwin woke up one morning with six
hungry babies and just 75 cents in her pocket.
The boys ranged from three months to seven years; their sister
was two.
Their father was gone.
There would be no more beatings, but no food, either.
There was no welfare system in southern Indiana.
Barb scrubbed the kids until they looked brand new and then
put on her best homemade dress.
Barb loaded them into the rusty old '51 Chevy and drove off to
find a job.
The seven of them went to every factory, store and restaurant
in their small town.
No luck.
The last place they went to, just a few miles out of town, was
an old Root Beer Barrel drive-in that had been converted
to a truck stop.
It was called the Big Wheel.
An old lady named Granny owned the place and she peeked out of
the window from time to time at all those kids.
She needed someone on the graveyard shift, 11 at night until
seven in the morning.
She paid 65 cents an hour and Barb could start that night.
That night when little ones and Barb knelt to say their
prayers they all thanked God for finding Mommy a job.
And so Barb started at the Big Wheel.
When Barb got home in the mornings Barb woke the baby-sitter
up and sent her home with one dollar of her tip money -
fully half of what Barb averaged every night.
One bleak fall morning, Barb dragged myself to the car to go
home and found four tires in the back seat.
New tires! There was no note, no nothing, just those
beautiful brand new tires.
Barb was now working six nights instead of five and it still
wasn't enough.
Christmas was coming and she knew there would be no money for
toys for the kids.
Barb found a can of red paint and started repairing and
painting some old toys.
Then Barb hid them in the basement so there would be something
for Santa to deliver on Christmas morning.
Clothes were a worry too.
Barb was sewing patches on top of patches on the boys' pants
and soon they would be too far gone to repair.
On Christmas Eve the usual customers were drinking coffee in
the Big Wheel.
These were the truckers, and a state trooper named Joe.
The regulars all just sat around and talked through the wee
hours of the morning and then left to get home before the
sun came up.
When it was time for her to go home at seven o'clock on
Christmas morning Barb hurried to the car.
She was hoping the kids wouldn't wake up before she managed to
get home and get the presents from the basement and place
them under the tree.
Something certainly looked different, but it was hard to tell
what.
When Barb reached the car she peered warily into one of the
side windows.
(They had cut down a small cedar tree by the side of the road
down by the dump.)
It was still dark and Barb couldn't see much, but there
appeared to be some dark shadows in the car - or was that
just a trick of the night?
Then her jaw dropped in amazement.
Her old battered Chevy was full to the top with boxes of all
shapes and sizes.
She quickly opened the driver's side door, scrambled inside
and kneeled in the front facing the back seat.
Reaching back, Barb pulled off the lid of the top box.
Inside was a whole case of little blue jeans, sizes 2-10!
She looked inside another box: It was full of shirts to go
with the jeans.
There was an enormous ham for baking, and canned vegetables
and potatoes and bags of groceries.
And there were five toy trucks and one beautiful little doll.
As Barb drove back through empty streets as the sun slowly
rose on the most amazing Christmas Day of her life, Barb
was sobbing with gratitude.
And Barb will never forget the joy on the faces of her little
ones that precious morning.
Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December.
And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.
#5030
2) We have same opportunity with our gift tree for needy
families...
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Sermon is patterned after "Opening Your Heart's Door to God's Plans" in
"A Season of Wonder" Advent Spiritual Adventure from Mainstay Church
Resources, page C-74, December 1999.
Specific scriptural details are from The Expositor's Bible Commentary,
"Luke," Volume 8, by Walter L. Liefeld.
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#1809 "Answers to Questions," by James Dobson, Focus On The Family
Bulletin, page 2, January 1996.
#5030 "Angels, Once In A While," by Barb Irwin, e-mailed to me by
church member Cory Deermount, December 3, 1999.
These and 4,900 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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