Weekly Message / Prayer Request

Acts 2:42 Men’s Fellowship

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."

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."

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

Luke 1:26-37 NIV

One of the most difficult tasks I continually struggle with as a Christian is to look upon God as a limitless, unrestricted, infinite God having control over everything which will come to pass in my life.

At times during moments of uncertainty or trouble, I fall into this mindset of fitting God into this box around my life containing set parameters, set time and space, with the week already planned out on the calendar. If God is going to do something miraculous, it will be within this box called ‘my life’ and will fit in nicely within these predetermined set parameters.

But as a Christian, I continue to find out that God is not restricted by any box. Instead the miraculous happens on a daily basis somewhere and that everything that God does is limitless, unrestricted, and infinite in His existence.

Here in the gospel of Luke is the foretelling of the birth of Jesus by the angel Gabriel. In this passage, God shares with us His infinite power by explaining that Mary is going to give birth to a child, the Son of the Most High, even though she is a virgin. This probably did not fit into any set parameters that Mary almost certainly had in mind. In fact, Mary’s first response was from a mindset of limited possibilities when she asks the angel ‘How will this be since I am a virgin?’

However, God made it clear that He is not limited by anything or restricted by any space or time. In fact, the birth of Jesus happened just as the angel Gabriel foretold. And the words the angel concluded with ‘for nothing is impossible with God’ rang forth once again in the life of a believer.

For God has shared with us His authority over all things since the beginning of time. The prophet Jeremiah heard of God’s limitless and infinite power when he purchased a field in Jeremiah chapter 32:

“Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘I am the LORD, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?” Jeremiah 32:26-27 NIV

Nothing made sense to Jeremiah on why he should buy the field because everything was going to be handed over to the Babylonians. Yet God was making an everlasting covenant with His people and even though nothing made sense by human wisdom, God’s infinite power was going to use this purchase as an assurance that in due time He will bring His people back home to the land He promised.

May this Christmas season be one where we learn to see God’s limitless power in our lives. May we have faith that will allow us to say like Mary, ‘I am the Lord's servant… May it be to me as you have said’ (Luke 1:38) or to like the prophet Jeremiah, ‘I knew that this was the word of the Lord; so I bought the field’ (Jer 32:8). May this be a season where we do not limit God’s potential in our lives by seeing Him through the parameters of any box.

Through prayer God will expand our knowledge of Him and will allow us to see incredible things God has done in our life and the lives of others. Then we will be able to testify His glory to a world which needs to hear the true meaning of Christmas…


Prayer requests

David – praise for daughter hearing the Word, pray that the Lord will bless others through His work in David

Ernie – praise for continued strengthening of wife during current health episode, pray for the health of wife

Kelcy – pray for Judy Sticklers mom Dorothy who has pancreatic cancer

Tim – pray for health and that any medical issues be resolved in the coming weeks

Mark – praise for fellowship with wife, pray for upcoming transitional period of new addition to family, pray for humility with hearing the Lord’s will

Carmine – pray for a friend in Boston (Paul) who has been recently laid off

Craig – pray that family will come to know Jesus, pray that God will appoint him where He desires, pray for people involved with recent flooding


***Pray for relationship building throughout the Northshore Christian Church

Continued prayer needs

Dick – pray for health and strength during current illness, praise for job opportunity, pray that strength will be provided for new job

Ramon – pray for strength in his daily life, pray for the continued healing of wife

Gary – pray for strength in working with IRS, praise and prayer for staph infection, pray for stepdaughters in their struggles

Norman – pray for daughter with clinical tests this week trying to determine cause of seizures

Chad – pray for continued seeking of purity in his life

Larry – pray that the marriage ministry will begin to make a larger impact on the Church

Michael – praise for Michael finding a Church in Alabama for himself and family

*** pray also for the men’s ministry in developing Godly leaders


Future Meetings

Please make note of our schedule. We have two meeting scheduled back-to-back weeks after Christmas. I felt it was important to continue through the holidays because many need even more encouragement and brotherhood this time of year because of the stresses the world tries to burden us with.

Please make note that the next meeting will be at Starbucks in Everett. It is a great opportunity to take this ministry out into the world and to shine our light into the darkness… In 2008 we will return to the Fireside room. Here is the upcoming meeting schedule:


Wednesday, December 26th, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting at the Starbucks on Evergreen Way at the intersection of 75th in Everett (call Mark for directions)

Wednesday, January 2nd, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting with the location to be determined at the December 26th meeting

Wednesday, January 16th, 7:00-9:00 pm, regular meeting in the Fireside room at Northshore Christian Church


Challenge

May we find peace and power within our inner being in order to build unity throughout the Church…