Something Is Missing (12/01/19)

With Something is Missing Isaiah 7:14 and Luke 1:5-17

“The Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is WITH us’).”     - Isaiah 7:14                                                                                                                    

With—see Genesis 1-4, Exodus 33, Joshua 3, John 1, Matthew 28, Revelation 21

Is Something Missing?

            #1—CREATED FOR Relationship

v13, “But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.” 

“Loneliness may mean glory. Loneliness is a wilderness but through receiving it as a gift, accepting it from the hand of God and offering it back to Him with thanksgiving, it may become the pathway to God Himself.”                                                                          - Elisabeth Elliot

#2—FLOURISH IN Relationship

v14, “You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth”

Luke 5:16, “But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

“Whenever you feel lonely, you must try to find the source of this feeling. You are inclined to either run away from your loneliness or to dwell in it. When you run away from it, your loneliness does not really diminish; you simply force it out of your mind temporarily. The spiritual task is not to escape your loneliness, nor to let your drown in it, but to find its source.”                                                                                 - Henri Nouwen 

            #3—JESUS OFFERS Relationship

v16-17, “…he will turn many Israelites to the Lord their God. 17 He will be a man with the spirit and power of Elijah. He will prepare the people for the coming of the Lord…”

 

John 14:1-3, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”

 Final Thought: You can’t live for Jesus unless you live with Jesus.

 Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.”