Loading Content...
Share a Link to this Message
The link has been copied to your clipboard; paste it anywhere you would like to share it.
CloseRyan Sim - December 3, 2013
Tuesday - Study It - The Night That Changed The Religious
"The birth of Christ is the central event in the history of the earth -- the very thing the whole story has been about." -- C.S. Lewis We’ve introduced God’s big story in previous challenges using a six act play analogy. In Act 1, God created the world, his masterpiece, like a director’s great script. In Act 2, humans threw away the script, and the play went terribly wrong. In Act 3, it becomes clear humans can’t get back on script ourselves. In Act 4, God steps onto the stage of this world and begins to bring the world back on script. In Act 5 he invites us to improvise with him in a way that makes sense of all that happened before, and arrives at the ending God wrote – the kingdom of God. Act 4 is the turning point of the whole thing. The moment a director steps onto a stage, the audience is shocked – no one would have expected the director to become part of the play. But in God’s big story, there were clues – God had been writing the script this way all along. The prophet Isaiah spoke these words for God 500 years before Jesus’ birth: Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good (Isaiah 7:14-15 ESV) Immanuel means God with us. See the hints here? He’d be born of a virgin. Both things would normally be impossible. But now in Matthew 1:18-25 you’ll hear echoes of that Isaiah prophecy in a story you’ve probably heard before. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25 ESV) Matthew saw it so clearly, and named it. We see it so clearly in retrospect. We may even like to think that if we met this person, we’d have recognized him as God. This is God, walking on earth! He fits the predictions so clearly…in retrospect. But so many didn’t see it at the time. Yes, he was visited by shepherds and later by Magi, and caught the attention of at least one despotic ruler, but he was mostly ignored until he was 30 years old. That happened even though he fit around 400 prophecies written and propagated long before he was born. He made sense of them like he made sense of this one we’re focused on today – God with us, born of a virgin. This doesn’t seem to have been a particularly important passage to observant Jews before Jesus was born, even though it’s of great interest to Christians afterwards. Yes, it referred to a new king being born in the royal family descending from David – that was important. The word virgin in this passage is hard to translate from the original Hebrew – it could be as general as a young woman, or as specific as one waiting to be married any day – even though both implied sexual virginity as the cultural norm when young and unmarried. Even then, those who’d studied these prophecies best, the scribes and Pharisees of his day, considered him a traitor and false teacher, not their God with them. I saw an interesting TED Talk (see extra video link) that explained how often experts are wrong. Alan Greenspan predicted uneneding economic growth right before a major recession, for example. But looking back, we see how wrong those experts were, and the same here. So what happened here? Why did the experts get it wrong? Question: Why do you think the religious experts missed that Jesus fit the prophecies and predictions? Reminder: We have a great Christmas event coming December 14th, 2013: The Original Christmas Party. Hope you're coming!
From Series: The Night that Changed Everything | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio
More Messages Associated With "God"...
Day 2 - The Big Story Act 1August 8, 2012 |
||
Day 6 - The Big Story Acts 5 and 6September 4, 2012 |
||
Day 7 - Is there a God?September 5, 2012 |
||
Day 8 - How Does God Reveal Truth?September 6, 2012 |
||
Day 9 - Why The Bible?September 7, 2012 |
||
Day 11 - Who are we?September 9, 2012 |
||
Day 12 - Free WillRyan Sim - September 10, 2012 |
||
Day 13 - A Life Centred on GodRyan Sim - September 11, 2012 |
||
Day 14 - Alienation from GodRyan Sim - September 12, 2012 |
||
Day 26 - The Importance of Shared FaithMarriage Course - September 12, 2012 |
||
Day 16 - Replacing GodRyan Sim - September 14, 2012 |
||
Day 18 - The Consequences - 3 and 4Ryan Sim - September 16, 2012 |
||
Day 19 - The Problem of EvilRyan Sim - September 17, 2012 |
||
Day 46 - Praying for our childrenParenting Children - September 29, 2012 |
||
Wednesday - Change It - Pure in HeartDecember 19, 2012 |
||
Friday - January 4 - GodJanuary 4, 2013 |
||
Tuesday - Study It - PerfectionApril 16, 2013 |
||
Wednesday - Change - PerfectionApril 17, 2013 |
||
Thursday - Act On It - PerfectionApril 18, 2013 |
||
Monday - A New Idea - KnowingJuly 1, 2013 |
||
Tuesday - Study It - KnowingJuly 2, 2013 |
||
Wednesday - Change It - KnowingJuly 3, 2013 |
||
Thursday - Act On It - KnowingJuly 4, 2013 |
||
Friday - Reflect - KnowingJuly 5, 2013 |
||
Monday - A New Idea - Neighbours MatterSeptember 9, 2013 |
||
Tuesday - Study It - Neighbours MatterSeptember 10, 2013 |
||
Wednesday - Change It - Neighbours MatterSeptember 11, 2013 |
||
Thursday - Act On It - Neighbours MatterSeptember 12, 2013 |
||
Friday - Reflect - Neighbours MatterSeptember 13, 2013 |
||
Thursday - Act On It - Becoming Like FamilyOctober 24, 2013 |
||
Monday - A New Idea - God in WorshipNovember 11, 2013 |
||
Tuesday - Study It - God in WorshipNovember 12, 2013 |
||
Wednesday - Change It - God in WorshipNovember 13, 2013 |
||
Thursday - Act On It - God in WorshipNovember 14, 2013 |
||
Friday - Reflect - God in WorshipNovember 15, 2013 |
||
Tuesday - Study It - The Night That Changed The ReligiousDecember 3, 2013 |
||
Wednesday - Change It - DisappointmentApril 9, 2014 |
||
Thursday - Act On It - DisappointmentApril 10, 2014 |
||
Friday - Reflect - DisappointmentApril 11, 2014 |
||
Monday - Death is Coming for JesusApril 14, 2014 |
||
Tuesday - Death is Coming for JesusApril 15, 2014 |
||
Wednesday - Death is Coming for JesusApril 16, 2014 |
||
Thursday - Death is Coming for JesusApril 17, 2014 |
||
Wednesday - 2014 Status Update - God in WorshipApril 30, 2014 |
||
Jesus: God in the Flesh - MondayDecember 15, 2014 |
||
Jesus: God in the Flesh - TuesdayDecember 16, 2014 |
||
Jesus: God in the Flesh - WednesdayDecember 17, 2014 |
||
Jesus: God in the Flesh - ThursdayDecember 18, 2014 |
||
Jesus: God in the Flesh - FridayDecember 19, 2014 |
||
EPIC: Moses & The Burning Bush - MondayMarch 16, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Moses & The Burning Bush - TuesdayMarch 17, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Moses & The Burning Bush - WednesdayMarch 18, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Moses & The Burning Bush - ThursdayMarch 19, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Moses & The Burning Bush - FridayMarch 20, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Red Sea - MondayApril 20, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Red Sea - TuesdayApril 21, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Red Sea - WednesdayApril 22, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Red Sea - ThursdayApril 23, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Red Sea - FridayApril 24, 2015 |
||
Day 24 – Testing The Claims of JesusRyan Sim - June 10, 2015 |
||
EPIC: Son of Man - WednesdayJune 24, 2015 |
||
God Is...Generous - MondaySeptember 14, 2015 |
||
God Is...Generous - TuesdaySeptember 15, 2015 |
||
God Is...Generous - WednesdaySeptember 16, 2015 |
||
God Is...Generous - ThursdaySeptember 17, 2015 |
||
God Is...Generous - FridaySeptember 18, 2015 |
||
God Is...One - MondayOctober 12, 2015 |
||
God Is...One - TuesdayOctober 14, 2015 |
||
God Is...One - WednesdayOctober 14, 2015 |
||
God Is...One - ThursdayOctober 15, 2015 |
||
Jesus is.. Perfect - MondayJanuary 25, 2016 |
||
Jesus is... Perfect - TuesdayJanuary 26, 2016 |
||
Jesus is... Perfect - WednesdayJanuary 27, 2016 |
||
Jesus is... Perfect - ThursdayJanuary 28, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Worth Following - WednesdayFebruary 3, 2016 |
||
Jesus is... Teacher - MondayFebruary 8, 2016 |
||
Jesus is... Teacher - MondayFebruary 9, 2016 |
||
Jesus is... Teacher- WednesdayFebruary 10, 2016 |
||
Jesus is.... Teacher - ThursdayFebruary 11, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Rejected - MondayFebruary 15, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Rejected - TuesdayFebruary 16, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Rejected - WednesdayFebruary 17, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Rejected - ThursdayFebruary 18, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Transfigured - MondayFebruary 22, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Transfigured - TuesdayFebruary 23, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Transfigured - WednesdayFebruary 24, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Transfigured - ThursdayFebruary 25, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Worth Following - MondayFebruary 29, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Worth Following - TuesdayMarch 1, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Worth Following - WednesdayMarch 2, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Worth Following - ThursdayMarch 3, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Love - MondayMarch 7, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Love - TuesdayMarch 8, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Love - WednesdayMarch 9, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Love - ThursdayMarch 10, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Forgiving - MondayMarch 14, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Forgiving - TuesdayMarch 15, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Forgiving - WednesdayMarch 16, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Forgiving - ThursdayMarch 17, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Crucified - MondayMarch 21, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Crucified - TuesdayMarch 22, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Crucified - WednesdayMarch 23, 2016 |
||
Jesus Is...Crucified - ThursdayMarch 24, 2016 |
||
We Are...Changed People - MondayApril 4, 2016 |
||
We Are...Changed People - TuesdayApril 5, 2016 |
||
We Are...Changed People - WednesdayApril 6, 2016 |
||
We Are...Changed People - ThursdayApril 7, 2016 |
||
We Are...Messengers - MondayApril 11, 2016 |
||
We Are...Messengers - TuesdayApril 12, 2016 |
||
We Are...Messengers - WednesdayApril 13, 2016 |
||
We Are...Messengers - ThursdayApril 14, 2016 |
||
We Are...Free - MondayApril 18, 2016 |
||
We Are...Free - TuesdayApril 19, 2016 |
||
We Are...Free - WednesdayApril 20, 2016 |
||
We Are...Free - ThursdayApril 21, 2016 |
||
We Are...Healers - MondayApril 25, 2016 |
||
We Are...Healers - TuesdayApril 26, 2016 |
||
We Are...Healers - WednesdayApril 27, 2016 |
||
We Are...Healers - ThursdayApril 28, 2016 |
||
We Are...Generous - MondayMay 2, 2016 |
||