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.' 'I am the Lord's servant,' Mary answered. 'May it be to me as you have said.' Then the angel left her. At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!' And Mary said: 'My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.'

-Luke 1:26-41

Jesus was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and was born of the Virgin Mary.

-The Christian Creed

Enlightenment: “A European intellectual movement emphasizing reason and individualism.”

The deaths because of a materialistic world view far outnumber those that came as a result of religious fanaticism.

  

Point: The west sees itself as rational, scientific people.

European classrooms categorially claim:

Science and miracles cannot coexist. We must choose one or the other.

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If I’m in a hotel and I put a hundred pounds in the drawer on the first night and a hundred on the second night – so 100 plus 100 is 200 – and on the third morning I wake up and there’s 50 pounds in the drawer, what do I conclude? That the laws of arithmetic have been broken or the laws of England? Well, of course I conclude the laws of England have been broken. I’ve been robbed. But why do I conclude that? Because the laws of mathematics have not been broken. The mistake is to think that the drawer is a closed system of cause and effect and therefore there’s nothing outside it that could come in and feed something in or take something out. Mathematics cannot say to the thief, 'Stop, stop, you’re about to break the laws of arithmetic!' That’s absurd.

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"It’s our knowledge of the laws of arithmetic and in the more general sense, it’s our knowledge of the laws of nature that enable us to recognize a claimant for miracles."

  

If you didn’t know that dead bodies stayed in the ground, well the resurrection of Jesus would be no big deal. But the point is, in the world of the New Testament 20 centuries ago, they knew the relevant laws of nature and that’s why they recognize the miracle. When people say today that science and miracles clash, well, no.

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"If there is a god who created the universe and has it running on certain recognizable laws, he’s not constrained by them. He’s not a prisoner of them. He can feed a new and a special event in and our knowledge of the laws will help us recognize that."

  

So you need both things. You need a universe that does run on laws in order to recognize the hand of God when he gets involved. I don’t see a problem here.

-Dr. John Lennox

Point? 

There is never a time in history where there are not major obstacles to believing the creator of the universe came into a girl’s womb to be born as a human being.

  

Has knowledge and wisdom and education proudly eliminated the power and willingness of God to do things in my life that are immeasurably more than I could ask or imagine.

  

  

1 - She Questions.

How will this be since I am a virgin?

-Luke 1:34

God is like the sun, you cannot look at it, but without it you cannot look at anything else.

  

2 - She accepts.

I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.

-Luke 1:38

This is a special kind of heart that hears God, counts the cost, but considers the great adventure to be worth any price paid.

You will never know what it is to experience the supernatural until you do something that requires it!

  

  

3 - She seeks community.

  

'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!' 'But why I am so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?'

-Luke 1:42-43

  

4 - She moves Forward.

  

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

-Luke 1:46-47

Would you recognize and affirm God’s supernatural intervention, when it occurs?

Miracle: An extraordinary welcomed event that is not explicable by natural or scientific law and is therefore attributed to a divine agency.

“Divine Intervention.”

  

Christianity is about God’s willingness to supernaturally intervene in our lives for the rest of our lives.

  

1 - Acknowledge the Supernatural.

  

What is explained away often goes away!

The Lord said to Gideon, 'You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against Me, my own strength has saved me.'

-Judges 7:2

2 - Pray for the Supernatural. 

  

Knowing and seeing that God is using you for eternal purposes is of far greater value than granting you a peaceful, pain-free, easy life.

  

3 - Look for the Supernatural everyday of your life.

  

  

Believe again! Acknowledge, Pray for, look for, anticipate!

  

  

  

  

   

What are you main take-aways from this message?