Luke 1:26-38 (NIV) 26 God sent 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 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 be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name 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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon 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 barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”
“The kingdom is established in our surrender.”
The Way in a Manger.
Isaiah 9:6–7 (NIV) 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end... Jesus was given to Govern It’s on his shoulders
The Preeminence of Christ Colossians 1:15-22 (NLT) 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.
Jesus rules over all dimensions of our timeline: Revelation 1:8 (NIV) “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”
1. Our Past He rules over all that was. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 (NIV) 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
Hebrews 8:12 (NIV) For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
“Jesus dealt with our past so that we could have a future.”
2. Our Present He rules over all that is.
A. By being with us:
Matthew 1:23 (NIV) “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”--which means, “God with us.”
2. By leading us:
Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
3. Our Future He rules over all that will be.
Isaiah 9:7(NIV) The increase of his government and peace there will be no end….
Hebrews 10:23 (NIV) Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
“In Him, we can live in freedom from our past, be present in the present, and be hopeful for the future!”
