“I am Gabriel - I stand in the presence of God.”
Move #1 – read text – Luke 2:1-14
Introduction:
Allow me to introduce myself. I am Gabriel.
I’m an angel. Now I don’t wish to boast but some people even consider me angelic.
Where I come from, “Star Wars” is small potatoes… I find those movies it a little boring actually. If they had consulted me, I could have helped jazz up the special effects!
I’m a courier… something like UPS … only bigger, faster and stronger.
I don’t deliver parcels and online purchases from Amazon… I deliver messages … messages from Heaven. From God himself.
This particular message was about the first Christmas… the long-awaited Messiah was ready to arrive.
** you see even the angels of heaven were beginning to wonder… when is the Messiah going to make his move?
…Heaven had sent plenty of prophets… only a few people listened.
Many of the prophets were mocked and even killed.
Now …finally, the story was beginning to unfold…
Hundreds of years of waiting were finally over!
And I had a lot of messages to deliver …
Move #2 --- --My first message was for a priest… named “Zachariah” (Luke 1:11)
Zach was a righteous and godly man… he had a wonderful wife and a respected position in society… but there was one large and unfulfilled longing… zach and Elizabeth had no children.
Now, Zachariah was an old man – and his wife, Elizabeth were still childless… some of you know what that’s like…
Some have never married…
So, you know how they felt…
The dreams had died… and no dose of positive thinking was going to be enough to change that fact – the calendar doesn’t lie.
Zachariah was waiting his turn to serve in the temple – this was a once in a lifetime opportunity…finally the moment came
The message delivery went like this ….
Luke 1:11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear.13 But the angel said to him:
“Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John.
14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked me… {the angel,}
“How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
{19 The angel said to him},
I stared at him…
“I am Gabriel.”
I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now ! you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, --- which will come true at their appointed time!!!”
Sometimes when we angels feel skepticism from people were trying to help …it gets rather annoying!
So, I just looked Zachariah…as if to say…
seriously, you don’t believe me…
“I’m…I’m Gabriel! … I stand in the presence of God!
And you have the nerve to question me!
… so…Yes… I’m not proud of it but yes… I pushed the mute button…just like you do with the TV – well I did that to Zachariah…I have feelings to you know!!
Ok… maybe I over-reacted…
Anyway…moving on…here’s what I told him…
Now I’ve delivered some heavy-duty messages in my day… but nothing quite this big…
Your son… born to you in your old age…. Will be given a special assignment;
• “he will go before the Lord” – his role is to set the table.
• he will turn hearts back to God
• he will make the people ready for the entry of the messiah himself. …The long awaited messiah.
• And…
• He will be a joy and a delight to you!
• He will be great in the sight of God!
• And… he will be filled with the Holy Spirit –even from birth!
Zechariah wasn’t too happy about losing his voice for 9 months – but I had to make my point – his name must be John.
Move #3 --Then I visited this young girl…Mary – (Luke 1:31)
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent (ME!) the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel {Gabriel} went to her and said,
“Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
{29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her,}
“Do not be afraid, Mary;
you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
I replied… (35) I answered… {The angel answered, }
“The Holy Spirit will come on 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. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
… “I have to admit I was quite surprised when I arrived in Nazareth.
She seemed so young. So innocent… she had no idea what awaited her.
As she quivered with fear, “I only hoped that she wouldn’t notice my own self shaking, that beneath my beautiful golden wings – I too was wondering why the future of the entire world rested upon a young teenage girl from a small village in such a remote place… amazing. (F Beuchner)
I told her the baby’s name was to be “Jesus” ---just like I had told Zachariah that his son would be called “John” – not “junior.”
Unlike Zachariah’s unbelief…, Mary didn’t protest… so I didn’t have to silence her tongue… that would be too severe a consequence since now she had so very much to talk about! … babies seem to cause that kind of reaction!!!
Move #4 (Complication…) but what to do with Joseph?…
How do I Break The News To Joseph???
I must Tell You, As A Messenger… This Was a Tough Assignment…
When Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant – he had every intention to divorce her… because he thought she had been unfaithful to him.
So, there was work to be done… my message had to get through to him!
This time…I decided to use a different approach… instead of appearing in broad daylight as I did to Mary… I decided to appear to him while he was asleep! … appear in his dreams… hoping it wouldn’t be received as a nightmare…
So one night, When Joseph was soundly asleep, I made my move…
(Matthew 1:18-19 and (20)“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
…joseph woke up from his deep sleep. He couldn’t sleep anymore that night…
He was relieved
He was excited
He was filled with joy
I like it when people believe my messages!!! … it makes the days’ work worthwhile!
Joseph quickly tossed aside his plans to divorce Mary and instead he fast-tracked the wedding.
And so, the 9 months unfolded… Mary visited cousin Elizabeth and stayed with her for 3 months…
Move #4 -– When The 9 Months Were Complete… The Night Of Nights Finally Arrived…
Then came the biggest night of all..
Mary’s baby was coming to full term…
Mary and Joseph finally arrived in Bethlehem for the census. It had been a long, slow and nervous journey from Nazareth in the north to Bethlehem in the south… riding on a donkey practically 9 months pregnant … can you imagine?
I was so excited I had the urge to sing… and God the Father gave me the green light… so, I summoned the choir… if you’ve ever heard a choir sing… you’ve never heard a choir like this one… it sounded like heaven itself!
But we needed an audience… who would we sing for?
We looked and looked and looked some more… I found a few shepherds on the hillside in Bethlehem…
Perfect!!!
…Jesus is going to be the “good shepherd”… he’s going to lead like a shepherd…
Choir, let’s sing to the shepherds about the “Good Shepherd!”
They all loved the idea…
But again my entry needed some planning… luckily, being a messenger I know a thing or two about delivery!
I made my entrance, with the glory of heaven providing a majestic glow in the night sky…
They were startled… who could blame them… I seem to have this effect on people… my arrival seems to always surprise people and leave them speechless…
I always tell them the same thing… “do not be afraid”… but it never works…
“I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all people. Today, in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. You will find him wrapped and warm and lying in a bassinet in Bethlehem General Hospital in the maternity ward. 7th floor.
That’s what I wanted to say… but it wasn’t so…
and so, being a messenger, I had to deliver the truth…:
he’s in a feeding trough – “a manger” sounds better…so Norman Rockwell –
but he’s actually lying in a feeding trough… right alongside the animals.
…it's a long story – a true story… heaven wanted it that way – to convey a message… this king was different from all other kings…he came with humility and he came to serve…he came to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world.
Then, right on cue… the angelic choir burst into song:
“Glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth.”
It wasn’t a YouTube video…and it wasn’t iTunes or Spotify… it was the real deal… angels love to sing…
Can I share a Little secret … up in heaven… we angels – when we have some time off …we love watching American idol…
and
{Move # 5} – … When news of Jesus birth reached King Herod… (the roman govt official) he Wasn’t Happy… in fact he felt threatened… he’s smarter than he looks. Herod wanted details about Jesus whereabouts and wanted him killed.
Herod worked for the Roman Empire… he was cold-blooded and he understood politics was a blood sport -- kill or be killed… so he instinctively decided anyone claiming to be a King was a threat – even a baby!
So I have to deliver another message for Joseph… ,
(Gabriel…) {an angel of the Lord} appeared to Joseph in a dream:
“Get up,”… “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
Wait it out… as a refugee family…
Some of you here tonight know what it's like to have to leave home because your very survival is in question.
Then… finally Herod died…another message to deliver…
…another dream…
Matthew 2:20 19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”
Conclusion: …So I have one final message to deliver – it's a message for you … God loves you! God wants you to know and believe the Christmas story and receive his gift – Jesus our Lord.
God sent many messages and miracles to deliver the gift of Jesus… will you receive God’s gift and believe in him?
It’s his birthday… join us in singing “glory to God in the highest – and on earth peace.”
The king has come! His name is Jesus – join me in worshipping him!!!
That’s the message of Christmas… help me deliver this message!
