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This is the audio from the December 10, 2023 sermon, “Good News of Christmas: JOY”, shared by Tom Lemler at the Deer Run Church of Christ.

Text: Luke 1:26-56

Today I continued a series from the gospel of Luke as we gaze deeply into God’s Word to find the good news of Jesus shared with us by Luke the physician.  Throughout the month of December we will continue our Good News series with a look at The Good News of Christmas as found in the first two chapters of Luke.  Last week we looked at God announcing the time for the Messiah was at hand as He prepared Zechariah and Elizabeth with a message of a son who would prepare the way for Jesus.  This week we considered the joy woven throughout God’s message to Mary.  After Mary’s encounter with an angel of God, she went to visit her relative, Elizabeth.  Upon Mary’s greeting, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for joy.  The good news of Christmas is not only about God coming at the right time, as we talked about last week, it is about God bringing joy to the world.  As we consider how Mary come to know true joy, we find that we too can bring joy to the world when we share the good news of . . .

• Jesus: — (Luke 1:26-33)

  • While we often think of the “good tidings of great joy” being delivered to the shepherds on the night of Jesus’ birth, that message of joy first came to Mary as the angel announced to her that she would give birth to a son and give him the name Jesus!  At the heart of real joy is a foundation of Jesus.  The presence of Jesus in our life ought to not only fill us with joy, it ought to spread the light of joy into the lives of all we encounter.  When we live with the good news of joy, we live with Jesus at the center of all we think and do.

• Overcoming: — (Luke 1:34-37)

  • Sometimes the good news of joy brought to us by God’s Word appears to be both impractical and impossible.  While evidently not filled with the same doubt Zechariah expressed in his response to the angel, Mary’s response was one that revealed an awareness that this promise would not be possible in a normal or natural way.  Living with the joy of the Lord is only possible through the overcoming power of His Spirit within us.  As we gaze into God’s Word and discover how we ought to live in ways that represent Jesus, it becomes apparent that we must overcome our own nature to be used in a way that brings joy to those around us.  When we live with the good news of joy, we live a life that overcomes by the power of the Spirit and the Word.

• Yielding: — (Luke 1:38)

  • The response of Mary to the angel, and to God, is one of humility and a desire to yield to whatever God wants.  Even with uncertainty as to how God will overcome the impossible, she proclaims her willingness to serve Him not according to her plans or knowledge, but according to His.  It is by living this yielded life that John leaps for joy within the womb of Elizabeth because he recognizes the presence of Jesus within Mary.  When we chose to die to self and allow Christ to live within us through the power of His Spirit, the people around us ought to also be filled with joy because of Christ in us.  When we live with the good news of joy, we live a life yielded fully to the authority of God.

Today, how will you share the good news of JOY?