← City Light Church Las Vegas | Jabin Chavez
City Light Church Las Vegas | Jabin Chavez
A Faith that Echoes | Crystal Sparks | City Light Church
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A Faith that Echoes | Crystal Sparks | City Light…
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Hey, what's up to our online City Light family? Man, I love you guys so much. And we are about to jump into God's word. I believe this is going to be powerful. I believe it's going to be relevant. Really do honestly believe that God's going to speak to you. So I just want you to open your heart and believe with us that God is going to do something amazing through this sermon. Right now, in your heart, if you have not liked and subscribed and done all the things, if you would do that, that would be a huge blessing to us. As our media team tells me that it helps the algorithm, whatever an algorithm is, I guess we want to be on it. So I love you. Let's jump into God's word.
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Well, we are going to be in Luke, chapter one. Luke, chapter one. If you are flipping in your Bible, it is Matthew, Mark, then Luke in the New Testament. And Luke is one of the three synoptic gospels. Luke, I love that he. I love Bible tea. It's like one of my favorite. And Luke starts out his gospel by saying this. I thought it beneficial to give a good and accurate account of the life and ministry of Jesus. In other words, what he's saying is, Matthew and Mark did a bad job. So I'm coming to clean it up. And we're glad that he did. Cause we wouldn't have a lot of the stories that we now have because of Luke, like Luke gave them to us. And so Luke begins his gospel. We're going to be in something that's usually relegated to Christmas time. Normally, we don't even read this until that time of year. But I would like to have you consider that this passage is not just good for us in the Christmas narrative, but it's good for foundationally forming us, our theology. So we're gonna be in Luke, chapter one, verse 26. I'm gonna read quite a bit of Bible today. And so if you didn't read your Bible this morning, you just did it. You did it. All right. Luke, chapter one, verse 26. It says now, in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, and to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice, highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women. But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was. And the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Just side note, favor is always found. You don't earn favor, you don't deserve favor, you don't give your way into favor. You can't serve your way into favor. Favor is found every single time in the Bible. Even in Genesis, whenever it says that the world was especially wicked and that everyone had turned away from God. And then it says, but Noah found grace in the eyes of God. A lot of times we preach Noah that he was more holy than everybody else. But that's not what your Bible says. Because we. We think that God picks us cause we're better than everyone else. God does not pick you cause you're better than everyone else. Somehow he just finds you. And when he finds you, you find grace. You find favor. You find what you're looking for. Come on, somebody. Sometimes people try to say, I found Jesus. You didn't find Jesus. Cause to say you found Jesus says that he's lost. He was never lost. You were the lost one. You're not the hero of the story. He is. He's the rescuer. You're the founder. Do you see how those small things. It changes our theology. All right. Are we good? Where were we? What verse? 30. 30. 31. You want to do 31? Okay. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son. And you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the highest. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And and of his kingdom, there will be no end. Isn't it interesting how the story begins talking about a city that no one cares about? And God's vision is so big that it expands the whole world for generations. I want to tell you, God wants to do something big no matter where you are. Amen. It's bigger than what you can even comprehend. Then Mary said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man? We always try to meet God's promises with logic. We try to reason our way. The reason why the Pharisees never encountered God is because they wanted to reason their way into faith. You cannot reason your way into faith. And the angel answered and said to her, the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The power of the highest will overshadow you. Therefore, also the Holy One who is born will be called the Son of God now. Indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age and is now in the Sixth month for who? For her who was called barren. Just pause right there. The minute that God told Mary he's about to do a miracle in her life, the very first thing he puts her in is community. Meaning that your personal promise from God is connected to a communal identity. There is no such thing as a private relationship with God outside of the context of community. God works and sustains what he's promising to us through relationships. And it says this for nothing. For with God, nothing will be impossible. Impossible is always where God begins. If you're in a situation where it feels like it's impossible, good news for you. That's the number one ingredient in impossibility. Like, in a miracle. Y' all following me like I'm from the South. If you give me butter, I can cook you anything. Y' all ain't playing. Like, I use about a pound of butter. If it says 1, 6, 2 is better, like, I'm like, I can do anything. And I wanna tell you that with God, when it starts impossibility, just know that you have the number one ingredient for a miracle. A lot of people want a miracle, but they don't wanna be in the impossible. And if you're looking at a situation that looks impossible, just be of good cheer. You have the only ingredient required for a miracle that tells you God's about to show up. So then Mary said, behold the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word. And the angel departed from her. So then Mary saddles up her donkey and she rides across town. And. And she's like, I'm about to see. Is Elizabeth actually pregnant? Is this thing real? She knocks on the door, Elizabeth opens, and Mary busts into song. And it says this. My soul magnifies the Lord and the spirit has rejoiced in my God, my Savior. For he has regarded the lowly state of his maidservant. For, behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. And holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him. From generation to generation, he has shown his strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for forever. If you're taking notes today, and I hope that you are can you title this time together? A Faith that Echoes. A Faith that Echoes. You know, kids say crazy stuff. Are y' all following me? Like, kids, if I ever wanna know what's up in your house, I don't talk to you. I talk to your kids. Cause they tell me the truth. One time, we were getting ready for people to come over to our house, and everybody has, like, a closet or a room or someplace where you stick everything when people are coming over and any honest people in the church today. Come on, just tell the truth right now. Anybody have a junk drawer that just has everything? And, like, when you find out people are coming over, you just clean sweep straight into the drawer. One time we were having people over, and Braylee, my daughter, met them at the front door, and she decided she wanted to give them a tour. And she was like, this is our living room. This is our kitchen. And this is the closet where my mom hides everything when people come over. And I was like, braylee, Kay, don't show them that. No, girl, keep that thing shut. We don't show that to people. I love memes. And so I wanted to show you a few cute ones of some kids. Dad. Yeah? Stay up and help her with the baby. The baby. Does he, though? Does he? Next one. When you ask first grade class to write letters to people in a nursing home, time's almost up. I just need to know, like, did they pass that one out? I don't know how I would feel if I got that. I mean, I think maybe the teacher made that one disappear. How about this next one? This is what happens when they're too quiet. Come on. All the toddler parents know when the house gets quiet, you know something bad is going down right now. What about this next one? All the grandparents. Be, like, one little snack before you go home. Come on. All the grandparents, we love you. You hype our kids up on so much sugar, it ain't even funny. And we're grateful for it. Amen. Well, I'm gonna talk to you today about Mary's magnificent. What we just read at the beginning of our service is what theologians call the magnificant. It's the longest portion of Scripture where we have Mary's words recorded, which I think is so beautiful. And from it, we see the theology of Mary. Now, I would like for you to consider, as we begin this time together, that when God chose Mary to be the place where Jesus would grow, she wasn't just chosen as the womb that would carry him unto birth, but she was chosen to be the safe home where Jesus could grow spiritually and that God chose her. And we see here her theology of what she believed about God. And now I'm going to talk to you about the parallels between Mary's theology and the Book of James. Now, most of us know Mary as the mother of Jesus and that she was, but she was also the mother of James. Now, James did not give his life to Jesus, his brother, until after his death, burial and resurrection. So James was slower to come to faith. But what's amazing is, is that from the book, from the Magnificent, you can see parallels that take us into the Book of James, meaning that Mary's theology shaped James. So to the mother that is having a wayward child, and you're wondering if all the seeds that you planted on the inside of them, if they're ever gonna come to fruition, I wanna encourage you that in the Magnificent and through the book of James, I can tell you, yes, that she shaped who, how he saw God. And through shaping how he saw God, it changed everything. Now, I will use a lot of illustrations about mothers with children. The reason being is because our primary text is focused on Mary. But I will say that this message applies to the Father and it also applies to any person who's believing God to be a witness to those around them. And so I will say that we see Mary's theology. Now, theology, just that word. What does it mean? It means thoughts about God. Now, everyone is a theologian. The question is, how robust is your theology? How clearly do you see God? The atheist is a theologian. They have thoughts about God. The agnostic is a theologian, but are they seeing him rightly? Now, theology, when it's done well, should answer three questions. And it should answer our anthropology, our sociology, and it should result in a doxology. Let me break that down. So our anthropology is this. Why am I here? Why do I exist? Our culture is at an anthropological moment. They believe that they have no purpose. They believe that they are just here by happenstance. And the reason is because we have not yet seen God. Rightly, that the more I see God, the more clear I am about my anthropological state. I have the answer to why am I here? What is my purpose? What is my calling? What is my divine design? But then further sociologically, meaning how I do life with other people. So the answer for us as we're finding God, as we're seeing him more clearly, I am now obligated to treat the people in my world differently because my theology and my sociology are connected. They're not disconnected. Now, the result from all of this is a doxology, which means worship. So my response, the overflow. So I will just say to you that if you're in an anthropological moment, or you're in a sociological crisis, or maybe you feel like your docil stance is empty, could I implore you to consider that you have not yet seen God clearly, that the more clearly I see him, the more the overflow and the more clear the definitions of those three things become. Now, the magnificent gives to us very clearly Mary's theology. So the first thing that we see is that she had a care for the poor. She had an intense care for the poor. But in fact, she says this, that he sends the rich away hungry, but the hungry he fills and satisfies. And then we see this in the book of James. He talks a lot about. In fact, on the screen, I have the scriptures for you to be able to go home and study this on your own and kind of read them in parallel. Cause just side note that inside your pastor's message every Sunday is the spiritual nutrients for your spiritual formation. And that on Sunday morning, you're not receiving all the depth that God wants to do in that message. You're receiving it to a measure. But it's when you take those notes home and you begin to meditate on it, you begin to study it out on your own, and that you get greater clarity on what God's wanting to do. And you're allowing his words that he spoke over the congregation. Cause Pastor Jabin comes and he's coming with the word of the Lord for your growth. And then your study Monday through Saturday is allowing that word to shape you and form you. And so we see that she had a care for the poor. Now, in the book of James, James goes on, and he has so much to say about the poor and about the need to care for the poor. In fact, a lot of times we have heard the scripture said that faith without works is dead. Have you ever heard that scripture? And now a lot of times whenever we hear that scripture, we're thinking, usually the call to action is that we need to do a great step of faith. Or maybe we need to lift our hands in worship, or maybe we need to step out and do what God's called us to do. Whatever it may look like, maybe it's a declaration out of our mouth. Now, you can preach it that way, but exegetically, that's not what James is saying. What James is talking about, faith without works is dead, is that faith without works, the works he's referring to is the care for the poor. So he's saying that if you're listening to podcast after podcast, if you're coming to Sunday service after Sunday service, and you're not giving to the poor, you have a dead faith. So when you give to City Light, you're not giving to City Light, you're giving through City Light. Because this week, the hungry were fed because of your giving. Are y' all following me? And I don't wanna have dead faith. I wanna have active faith. So we've gotta have a care for the poor in our homes. We need to raise children that have a passion to reach people with the gospel, have a passion to care for the poor. My daughter was in school, and she came home one day and she told me, mom, there's a little boy at school and his shoes don't work. And I was like, what do you mean that his shoes don't work? And she was like, the bottoms of his shoes, they come off. She was in first or second grade. And so I found out his shoe size, and I was thinking, well, if he doesn't have shoes, he probably also doesn't have warm clothes. It was winter. So I went down, bought him all kinds of stuff, bought him sweaters and sweatpants and shoes and all the things. And I'm saying this story, to say this, that my daughter saw a need. And the theology of her home is sociologically, when I see something, I'm now responsible to engage with that need. And she came home knowing that our family would respond to that need. And I want to encourage you that when we raise kids, the goal of raising our kids is that we are raising them up to be the pastors of their schools, the leaders to their generation. Come on. They're set apart. And so when we send our kids to school, I. Literally, every week, whenever, every day, whenever we take them to school, we'd pray a prayer over them. Lord, I thank you for Braylee and Bear. God, I thank you that they're a light in the darkness, a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden. God, I thank you right now that they're the pastors of their school, a leader to their generation. Lord, I thank you for prophetic utterances that are coming out of their mouth. What am I doing? I'm framing up their sociological state fear. I'm connecting their theology with the world around them. And as parents, I want to tell you we need more kids that are bright lights for God.
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Hey, what's up, family? We're about to get right back into God's word. Just before we do, I wanted to thank so many of you who have helped us financially. Maybe you don't live in Vegas, maybe you don't even live in America, but something in your heart has been stirred to help us reach literally one of the most unreached places on planet earth. Las Vegas is the most unchurched city in the most unchurched state, Nevada, in all of America. And we're doing everything we can to reach more people with the gospel. And so to all of you who have ever given to our ministry, thank you. To you who maybe have not, but have been impacted by this house, by the teaching and preaching from this house, I want to ask you, would you consider helping us as we continue to bring the good news of Jesus to our region? You can go to citylightvegas.com and find all the ways to give there. I love you so much. I appreciate you. I'm praying for you. Let's jump back into God's word.
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The next thing is that we see Mary, and she had a testimony of the faithful. She continually said, generation to generation, she talks about Abraham. And in fact, James, he's talking not just to the church that he's presently at, he's talking to the generations that are yet to come. And he's continuously reminding the congregation about all the great things God has done. In fact, the whole book of James, it ends. And James is reminding them about the prophet Elijah in this. He's stirring them up at the testimony of the faithful. I want to tell you that why is church so important? Is because inside this room is testimonies that are lights to us when we're going through dark seasons. And I found in my life that whenever I'm going through a season, it feels like God's not moving. I go into rooms where he is moving, and it's in those rooms. Come on. That I begin to be encouraged. I want to tell you that right now in this room, somebody has had victory in the area that you're believing God for. Like, somebody's already had it. Somebody's already had it. I was. Brian and I, we were leading a community group, and we had 32 people in our house. And here we are. This one lady, she raises her hand and she's like, I. I've got a need. And. And she says, I just got diagnosed with cancer. And she names the type of cancer. A lady on the other side of the room goes, I had that exact cancer five years ago. God supernaturally healed my body. And I Just want to tell you. And they come together and they pray and God moved mightily. Now I want you to think about this, is that out of a billion people in the world, thousands of people in our city, thousands of people who come to our church, 32 people showed up at our house. And God providentially knew the testimony of that woman was going to encourage this person in her valley. But it wouldn't have happened if they didn't show up in the room. I want to tell you, we got grow night coming up this Thursday and you got to get in the room. Like some of you, I'm calling you right now like it's time, it's time for you getting on a serve team and you're serving in kids area. And all of a sudden a conversation begins to happen. Man, we're going through in our marriage. And the other kid team person goes, hey, we were there, but you know what? God did this in our marriage. And then all of a sudden their testimony inspires you to and believe God for your testimony. And it's getting in those rooms where God is already moving. Come on, how to read your Bible, Holy Spirit, come on, it's time for you to go all in. And maybe it feels like God's not moving in your life right now. Show up in rooms where he is and it reminds you of the testimony of the faithful. The next thing that we see in Mary's life is she had a continual surrender to the will of God. Her theology was shaped in just keeping giving God her yes. I want to tell you this Christian journey is predicated not just telling God yes one time, but it's saying yes over and over and over again. And we see this in the book of James. In fact, the whole back end of his letter, he just continually harps on the same point. We gotta just keep surrendering to God's will. Only he can bring rain, only he can bring justice, only he can defend us. And while I'm waiting for him, I just keep surrendering to his process. In John chapter six, it says that Jesus preached a hard message. And that day many of them left. And the reason why they left because they wanted a God they could understand. I want to tell you, don't leave when you don't understand. Anybody can follow when he's multiplying the loaves and fish. That's the cool stuff. But it's when he starts asking for your yes and it doesn't make sense. Reach out to that loved one, start that Bible study at work. Pray for that person in the grocery line. Y' all know what I'm talking about. And some of you feel like God stopped moving, but the reason why he stopped moving is because you didn't give him the last yes. He's still saying, come on, I'm still moving on that thing. And as we give him our yes, keep surrendering to his will, he moves up like only he can. You know, it's interesting. Jesus, he is on the cross. And all four gospels tell us different viewpoints of it. And I just want to say sometimes when we're walking with people on this journey, we walk them through some really dark seasons. But none of us have walked through a season like Mary. She sits at the foot of the cross and she watches her child as the wrath of God comes upon him. The sins of the world laid upon him. And in that moment, Jesus speaks out in Aramaic. Now, Aramaic is his native tongue. It would have been only he and his mother knew what he was saying in that moment. And what does he say? Well, he's quoting a psalm. Now, in early church tradition, they would have read the entire book of Psalms in its entirety every day. That's 150 chapters, y'.
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All.
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That's a lot in Psalm 119. It don't play. That thing's long. Try it. Put it on you version. Let it play. It's like a good 12 minutes. It's long. But I want you to think about this. That in his moment of his deepest pain, something came out of him that sounded like his mother. I want to tell you, your prayers matter, your worship, it matters. You're shaping those little lives more than you can imagine. And there we see that Jesus in his greatest pain, it resulted in his doxology as he's quoting the song, as his mom did. We see also his anthropological answer. He knew he came to be the lamb that was slain. And sociologically, we see that he's giving his life for, yes, the whole world. But may I zoom it in even further? His own brother that had yet to even accept the blood that he was shedding on that cross. We see that his theology, everything Mary was declaring the magnificent was the safe place for him in that moment. And then further, we see it full fruition in the book of James. Can I pray for you as we conclude our time together? God, I just thank you, Lord. I thank you for praying, Moms. I thank you for women of faith. God, I thank you, Lord. Let our praise be big. Lord, I thank you for any kind of insignificance that's crept in And I just say, lord, I thank you that God, you're just giving us a tenacity to stand. If you're first generation Christian like you're the first in your family to be saved, can you just lift your hand all over the room? Yeah, I'm first generation Christian. Just leave your hand up. Father, I thank you Lord that they are lights. Lord, I thank you that their life clearly demonstrates what it is to be a Christ follower. That their family sees God, Lord, they see the answer to why we're here. They see how to treat the world around them. And Father, I thank you that they see the way they worship, they see the way they give their lives. And Father, I thank you that as you've done for me, Lord, do it for them that they will get to see all their family won. To the Lord, I thank you God for a kingdom influence. And Lord, right now we pray for every lost son and daughter. If you're praying for a prodigal son, prodigal daughter, just lift your hands in the air, Father, right now we call them home. Right now to the prostitute out on the streets, we say come home in Jesus name. To the drug addict, God, I thank you that Lord, there's a holy hunger on the inside of him that no pill, no drink can satisfy. God, I thank you that you're breaking the yoke of addiction off of that prodigal son and daughter. And Lord, I thank you. Wherever they are right now, I ask for the angels of heaven to surround them, Lord, call them back home in Jesus name. And somebody who believed it said, amen. Amen. Come on.