Pastor Gail Welcome
1. We needed to Change the PowerPoint entirely. Because we needed some help with our some of our songs. I’m really glad to be here this morning. I had cataract removal surgery on Friday, and logically I shouldn’t be here this morning. But I wanted to be with my family, so that we could praise the Lord. It is so wonderful to worship the Lord.
2. So, we’re going to read from Romans 8. I love Advent. It is such a beautiful time. Christmas often just becomes about gifts. But the thing is that when you’re with people that cannot buy gifts, or perhaps they never even had a gift, we remember so beautifully and wonderfully that we all have the opportunity, to receive the greatest gift that has ever been given and He keeps giving and giving.
3. What a treasure. What a treasure. What a treasure. We know the One whose love never ends. So, if you will read with us Romans 8:35-37, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”
4. I love this passage so much, because Paul draws attention to things that threaten to overshadow our love for God, and to receive His love to us. But this is the joy of Christmas, knowing that no matter what, no matter what, we are more than conquerors. Amen, because of His great love that endures and endures. So, today, we have the privilege as we worship Him, to just open our hearts to Him, to adore Him, and to cause Him to know, ‘I love You Lord. We love You Lord. We love You.’ Would you please stand with me. This morning Marina will do the Advent reading.
Marina Vernicou – Advent reading
1. We light the second candle of Advent. In the waiting of the coming of Jesus Christ. And I will read from Mark 1:4, “And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” The Lord and John were preparing us for this special time. Let us pray.
2. Lord, God, we light this candle, to thank You for Your Son and Savior, Jesus Christ, We who like sheep have gone astray, have found the way to You through Jesus Christ. We give You thanks and praise in Jesus’ Name, because He lives and reigns in Your glory and unity of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ Name Amen.
Pastor Gail
1. Isn’t it wonderful, that we know somebody that always finds the way. Have you ever been lost? When I first moved to Greece, people told me I would never know Athens, until I was lost at least 3 times. I’ve been lost more than 3 times. But you know with maps and GPS, and with the voice, before GPS, I always found my way.
2. It was interesting here in Greece. Sometimes, we will say that Greeks aren’t always friendly, except with their group. But when you’re lost, I tell you what, every time I’ve asked somebody in the street for help, and I remember one particular time, we stopped and asked a little old lady on the street for help. She reached over and grabbed the door handle to the car, and my first thought was, she’s too old to be a robber and with a very serious face, she told my little son, scoot over and she sat in the car. She said in very broken English, ‘I know, I know. Go, go’. And she started pointing, and so, she must know where we’re trying to go. And she actually went with us for several kilometers. ‘Stop’, and she never smiled, never said anything but ‘Go’ or ‘Stop’ or point, and she got out of the car. And I asked her, ‘Can we help you?’ Absolutely not. She wouldn’t let us take her back to where she came from. She went with us all that way, showed us how to get there, and got her own self back. That was my introduction to Greeks on the street that don’t smile. She didn’t smile but she helped.
3. When I think of that little old lady, I tend to think about Jesus, He does show us the way. And just like her, she didn’t expect us to take her back. All He asks of us is, “Love Me, because I give you My love”. And He also smiles in the car. He always smiles, and I love that about Jesus. He is the way when we’re lost, Amen. He always knows how to help us. And again, some of you may not know, but I had cataract surgery, so my left eye is really wobbly. But I’m glad to be here today.
4. When I woke up this morning, I think, well when all of us wake up, we woke up where suddenly South Korea was under martial law. We can wake up to news that in the country of Georgia, they’re having great political trauma. But during the Advent, let us pray as never before, that we remember the One, every morning, in each new day, that He is the answer. And He helps us to pray and help these people through our prayers. To love these people through our prayers, Amen.
5. So, could we stop for just a moment here and just pray for the world, that the Prince of peace, that those in the world, that are losing loved ones, that are dying of poverty and famine, that are suffering great fear that they will know, the Prince of peace, who drives away every fear. Could we pray right now.
6. Father, in the name of Jesus, we’re in this building today, agreeing with our brothers and sisters, that You are so faithful, Lord, You’re so faithful in Your love that You sent Your Son. Lord, we’re not in those places today that are suffering greatly, but Lord with our prayers this morning, we agree, and You said that where two or three agree, in Your name, You would be there, You’d hear our prayers. So, we pray Prince of peace, for those that don’t know You, that You would introduce Yourself, the people who do know but are struggling, that they would just call You and ask for Your peace to come right now. And we say thank You, that You hear our prayers this morning. In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Pastor Gail – Announcements.
Please watch the video for the announcements.
Pastor Billy Hellmark – Main Message
1. You know that we have had the theme of the Holy Spirit for a few months now. And today, we’re going to talk about the Holy Spirit in Christmas. It’s of course, the day or the season when we celebrate the coming of Jesus. And we have it so much in our minds that the Father sent His only beloved Son, but what about the Holy Spirit? Was He active in all of this? Or what do you think?
2. I think, the real heart of the message of Christmas is attacked at many times from many sides. For many of us who grew up in a very secular society, we think more of Christmas tree, presents, good food. But I think that even if we think about us that consider ourselves as Christians or religious, some of the things, some of the truth, some of the really important things about Christmas, sometimes we are ashamed to say that we believe in that. That Jesus is truly God, that He is truly man, the way that Mary carried that child, many don’t want to talk about that, because that’s not possible.
3. And others exalt Mary, I think that sometimes in our churches we don’t want to speak about Mary, because we are afraid that we will exalt her. And I think the truth is that she was a good, godly girl, lady. But she was a human like us, and those truths are important. And I hope that we will understand a little bit more about that.
4. I actually want to read from Luke 1:46-55, “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, for the Mighty One has done great things for me — holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
5. So, this was proclaimed by Mary when she met Elisabeth her cousin, and Elisabeth had blessed her because she was carrying Jesus. And it’s easy to think that this is Mary the divine person that’s just floating around and enjoying all the wonderful things of God. But it is important to understand that Mary was an ordinary girl, from a poor family, and she was in a very difficult situation. She was carrying a child and she was not married. And in those days, in this situation, she faced real difficulties.
6. She faced being pushed out of society, and actually faced with being stoned, for having committed adultery. But Joseph tried to protect her from public shame, and Joseph also had had a message from an angel as Mary had and it was from God. We’ll come back to that. So, Mary was probably not sitting down peacefully, composing this song. But we should see someone that is crying out to God, through her tears and her uncertain future.
7. Mary’s courageous song of faith and praise of God, was a radical worship of a holy God in a very difficult time. This song, or this hymn or this prayer, or whatever you want to call it, speak of a God who cares of those who are oppressed, those who are poor and those who are humble and how God will raise them up.
8. I’m not going to pinpoint any country, but in what I read, at least 3 countries, where there had been some kind of oppression, from military, or a foreign power, it was forbidden to publicly recite these words of Mary, because the rulers thought that this will inspire people to make uproar. But these were the words of Mary when she began to understand what God was about to do.
9. So, let’s look a little bit at the Trinity, because it is so important, that it’s hard to avoid in this. The Father so loved the world, that He gave His only Son. Jesus so loved, that He was willing to come to this world, to take on flesh, to become like us, and He was willing to lay down His life for us. And the Spirit, was there. He came and spoke the very words to Mary, that put the life of God in her womb. So, the life that came in Mary’s womb, was from God, was God, it was a miracle. We cannot explain it, we do not know how.
10. In the early church they were discussing about how they could understand Jesus. Then later they started to discuss how can we understand the Holy Spirit. Today, some people say, ‘Well, Trinity, it’s not in the Bible.’ And they are right, it’s not in the Bible. But there are many words, many sayings, that point to the understanding of who God is. And we usually say, ‘The Son, born of the Father, and the Spirit proceeding from the Father, they share the same nature, being of one essence or one nature.’
11. When we look at creation for instance, we know the Father as the Creator, but we also understand that the Son, Jesus, was active in the creation. And the Spirit. We see in the different actions, where one member of the Trinity is more in the forefront, but they are One. I don’t think that anything that the Father is doing where the Son is not a part of.
12. I can say in this way, and I think it’s better. We see that the different persons in the Trinity, are more prominent in different situations and events. In Christmas, of course, the Father, the origin of everything, we see here that He is sending His Son, motivated by love for this world. The Son, the Logos, was incarnated, putting on human flesh. He became man. Lived among us. Was crucified and buried. Paul says it like this, “He who in nature was God, made Himself nothing, by humbling Himself and becoming in human likeness.” (Philippians 2:6-11). The Holy Spirit, came upon Mary. We don’t know how, but imagine God with His Word, spoke this whole universe into being, could He not through His Word, speak the baby, Jesus, into life, into a womb. So, the Holy Spirit was active, the Spirit gives life, and Mary believed that miracle.
13. Some people make fun of the belief of the virgin birth. I’m sure that even in those days people knew how things worked. And they were trying to explain this away. And you can just imagine the pressure that Mary was under. Something had happened to her and she couldn’t explain either, and she was carrying the proof of that. But she knew that something had happened. She had heard the words of the angel. And thank God that the angel also visited Joseph. I’m sure that that made things easier for Mary.
14. We listen to the words that we read from Mary; we can understand how she was so amazed at what God was going to do. I can imagine that she was tempted to think, ‘No, I’m just imagining this. I don’t know what’s going on. I know this is impossible. It’s never happened before.’ But she believed. She trusted.
15. What we do know, because there’s a lot we don’t know, is that it says that the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. So, the One who was going to be born should be called the Son of God. And the wonderful thing with realizing that Mary was an ordinary girl. She was a good girl; there are many good girls. Look around you and you’ll see them. But she was an ordinary girl. Just like you and I. Well, we’re not girls, we’re good boys. She was an ordinary woman, part of humankind, with all what that means. And the seed that came into er womb, was from God.
16. So, the miracle, the most amazing that’s ever happened in history, as we know. I would dare to say that it is the most amazing thing that has ever happened, even if you include creation, is that God comes and takes on our flesh, our being. We were created to be like God, in His image. That doesn’t mean that we are God. But as you know, we messed it up, we sinned, and we lost the glory of God. But Jesus comes into humanity and restores this. He paves the way; He removes the sin and He becomes a perfect man. And He invites us to be in God, in Him.
17. God is One and He is Three. We can’t explain it. But part of that means that they are part of one and so much together, that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, the Holy Spirit is in the Father and they’re together. It is sometimes described as a circular movement, like a dance. And now through Jesus becoming one of us, we are invited into that relationship.
18. So, what happened on Christmas is something amazing. And the salvation that Jesus brought, I think it is best not to divide it into different parts. Christmas, we have this, we have Easter. It’s all part of one salvific movement. Without Christmas, Easter wouldn’t have happened. Even without the fact that the Holy Spirit was there with the divine impartation to Mary. Without the humanity of Mary, it would not have been possible in that place. It was possible because Jesus carried both the divine and the human., in one body. Therefore, we needed the Holy Spirit. And therefore, we needed an ordinary human girl, not a divine being from above.
19. I want to read from an ancient Christian hymn. A very old one, and I think it beautifully expresses the wonder of what happened. It goes like this: ‘Today is born of a virgin, He who holds the whole of creation in His hand. He is whose essence no one can touch, is wrapped in cloth as a new-born baby. God, who in the beginning established the heavens, lies in a manger. He who rained manna on His people in the wilderness, is fed from milk of His mother’s breast. The wise men were summoned by the bridegroom of the church to come and worship with their gifts. We worship the baby in the manger.’
20. I think it is very beautiful, and to imagine the One who holds the whole of creation in His hand, was born to a young virgin, in a smelly stable. And even He who is so holy that no one can even touch is wrapped in a cloth in the manger. The God who was there in the beginning and established the heavens, He lies there in the manger.
21. God, really humbles Himself through the coming of Jesus, leaving heaven and stepped down here. This is an expression of worship, and I think for us today, it’s so challenging but also so important, when it comes to how we respond to the message of Christmas. Are we embarrassed about what seems to be an impossibility and we play it down. And we don’t want to talk about the virgin birth. Or does it turn us to worship. To worship Him who created everything and stepped down.
22. Mary experienced a lot through her life, and it says that, ‘She hid those things in her heart.’ (Luke 2:19). She carried those things. She probably didn’t always know how to think about Jesus. But she had seen and she had heard and she had experienced things, that she hid and held on to. And it’s a good example for us. She is a good example for all of us. She dared to believe against everything that reason says. And to believe that she was a poor peasant girl that in Palestine, that was found to be with child outside of marriage. It’s probably one of the worst situations you could be in in those days. But she dared to believe that the promises of God would be fulfilled.
23. We know what happened around the birth of Jesus. I think, if it doesn’t lead us into worship, then there is something wrong with us. And there was a choir of angels showing up, that worshipped. There were also shepherds, and I think it also shows something beautiful that God cared about these ordinary men that were out with their animals, probably rough guys. God cared enough to reveal to them. And there were the wise men called from the east. They were not Jews. They were probably what we would call heathen or pagan, but they were seeking. They wanted to know the truth, and God revealed to them, that a King had been born. So, they also came to worship. So, we see that heaven, ordinary people like you and me, seekers, were all drawn into worship of the newborn King.
24. So, what should our attitude be? We can confidently speak about the Son of God, that came to us. He came from heaven above, born here, lived a life, a perfect life, facing all the challenges that we do, laid down His life for us. So, it leads us to worship, to worship the King.
25. The words of Mary speak about that God wants to lift up the poor and the humble. It is good news for the poor. But there is a chance for us who are not really poor, to get benefits as well, and that’s to humble ourselves. It’s especially good news for the poor. We can be poor in spirit. We should believe that God can use in the same way as He used Mary. That He can use the small insignificant things and people to do far beyond what we could imagine.
26. We should hold on to what was spoken, like Mary did. The work of the Holy Spirit was in a sense hidden, in what He did with Mary. And I think it is often true about the Holy Spirit; it’s hidden from our natural eyes.
27. I don’t know what’s going on in your life. Sometimes, I know, but most of the times, I have no idea. But God is at work in each one of you. In your heart, in your thoughts, in your situations; most of the time it’s hidden, and we need eyes of faith to see it and to understand it.
28. Finally, we should ponder in our hearts what the Spirit has spoken to us. Mary had heard the wonderful promises of God, and she hid it in her heart. But it also says, I’m not quite sure where, that there would be a sword that would pierce her heart. And of course, we can see how she followed her Son, and she saw what He went through and she lived her life holding on to these things in her heart, wanting to believe the promises. But then seeing what happened to Him. It must have been like a sword piercing her heart.
29. But it even took that; for Jesus to go through the cross, to see the promises being fulfilled. And you can’t compare it, but I will do it anyway. I think when God speaks to us, we have things hidden in our hearts, it’s not about what Mary carried in her heart, and we need to believe and trust God, but even for us it will sometimes be like a sword piercing our hearts and it will look like the promises will not be fulfilled, instead it will end with death.
30. But sometimes, the way to see God’s promises fulfilled, are going through them, death to ourselves; death to our will; death to how we want things to be. But what God has for us is in the end so much better, and there will be a resurrection. If not today, if not tomorrow, if not next week, one day there will be a resurrection.
31. So, praise God. Let’s worship our King in a song, and don’t lose the wonder of Christmas. Don’t make it into something much less than what it is. It is so much greater. Amen.
Pastor Gail
1. I love knowing the Holy Spirit, in that same chapter it says, the Lord tells Mary “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” (Luke 1:35) And I love what her response is, “I am the Lord’s servant”. (Luke 1:38).
2. Thank you, Billy. I am the Lord’s servant. The Holy Spirit is here to overshadow us and empower us.