1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,000 Well, good morning. My name is Gregg. I am one of the pastors here if we've never met. 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:10,000 I would love to meet you, I'd love to buy you a coffee, something like that, hear your 3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:15,000 story. I really like to get to know people, like to talk about Jesus if that's something 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,000 that you're interested in talking about. I would love to do that. 5 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:24,840 As has been established, we are in the second week of Advent. Advent is the beginning of 6 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:31,840 the global church calendar. It sets the path as we walk through the story of Jesus toward 7 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:37,400 the cross and Pentecost and then eventually the largest part of the calendar year is just 8 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:42,200 ordinary time. You'll notice the colors change. It's green for a lot of the year because it's 9 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:47,040 just reminding us that we are people of this earth, that God has so much for us to do in 10 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:54,040 the ordinary time. Last week, Scott brought a message about hope and today I'm bringing 11 00:00:54,040 --> 00:01:01,040 the message about peace. I'm going to jump right in. If you want to grab your Bibles, 12 00:01:02,540 --> 00:01:06,540 we're going to be opening to Luke chapter 1. Luke is in the second testament, the newer 13 00:01:06,540 --> 00:01:11,540 testament. It goes Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts. If you see any of those, you know you're 14 00:01:11,540 --> 00:01:15,540 in the right neighborhood. There are Bibles on the table. You can use a digital Bible 15 00:01:15,540 --> 00:01:21,540 as well if you would like. We have a tradition of giving the scriptures our full attention 16 00:01:21,540 --> 00:01:26,540 as we read the passage in the context of the message. One of the ways we do that is by 17 00:01:26,540 --> 00:01:31,540 standing together as we are able, but you're more than welcome to sit. Let's give the scriptures 18 00:01:31,540 --> 00:01:42,540 our full attention. Luke 1 starting in verse 8. Luke 1 verse 8. Once when Zachariah's division 19 00:01:42,540 --> 00:01:50,540 was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by Lot according to the 20 00:01:50,540 --> 00:01:56,540 custom of the priesthood to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And when the 21 00:01:56,540 --> 00:02:03,540 time for the burning of incense came, all of the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 22 00:02:03,540 --> 00:02:08,540 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of 23 00:02:08,540 --> 00:02:14,540 incense. When Zachariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said 24 00:02:14,540 --> 00:02:21,540 to him, do not be afraid. Zachariah, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear 25 00:02:21,540 --> 00:02:30,540 you a son. You are to call him John. Let's jump to verse 18. Zachariah asked the angel, 26 00:02:30,540 --> 00:02:39,540 how can I be sure of this? I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years. Let us 27 00:02:39,540 --> 00:02:46,540 pray. God of every tribe, every tongue, every color, every nation, we thank you for the 28 00:02:46,540 --> 00:02:52,540 scriptures that they have persisted throughout the millennia that we still have them to read, 29 00:02:52,540 --> 00:02:57,540 to consider, to learn from. I pray that today whatever you have for us to learn, I pray 30 00:02:57,540 --> 00:03:03,540 that it would stick, that it would become part of the framework of our faith, that our 31 00:03:03,540 --> 00:03:11,540 faith would grow and become stronger as we become more like your son Jesus. Amen? Amen. 32 00:03:11,540 --> 00:03:25,540 Alright, so Zachariah and really all of Israel had been waiting for a messiah. For hundreds 33 00:03:25,540 --> 00:03:30,540 of years there was this concept that a messiah, that a leader would come along and would free 34 00:03:30,540 --> 00:03:38,540 them from their oppressors, would begin a season of eternal peace. In Zachariah and 35 00:03:38,540 --> 00:03:46,540 Elizabeth we know they were waiting personally for their own child. Long past when people 36 00:03:46,540 --> 00:03:54,540 in their season of life would have been having kids. And that parallel is on purpose, the 37 00:03:54,540 --> 00:04:02,540 waiting. The waiting for a messiah, the waiting for a child. The scriptures are reminding 38 00:04:02,540 --> 00:04:11,540 us on purpose that when we wait longer than we think is possible for something earthly 39 00:04:11,540 --> 00:04:20,540 and physical, that it shapes what we think God can do with the heavenly and spiritual. 40 00:04:20,540 --> 00:04:29,540 In this story we can see that the waiting has given Zachariah a level of pessimism. 41 00:04:29,540 --> 00:04:37,540 This last week on my Facebook page I posted a real simple thing, pessimism is poison. 42 00:04:37,540 --> 00:04:49,540 Zero comments. When the angel Gabriel says to Zachariah, your prayer has been heard, 43 00:04:49,540 --> 00:04:54,540 your wife will have a son. It doesn't say that he smiles, it doesn't say that he breathes 44 00:04:54,540 --> 00:05:01,540 a sigh of relief, it says that he questions whether it's possible. And this isn't the 45 00:05:01,540 --> 00:05:08,540 first time that this has happened either. In the Bible, if you're familiar with more 46 00:05:08,540 --> 00:05:15,540 of the story in the Bible, this actually echoes the story of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham and 47 00:05:15,540 --> 00:05:23,540 Sarah are the mother and the father of the Israelite people and more than 1800 years 48 00:05:23,540 --> 00:05:29,540 earlier the scriptures say that God told Abraham and Sarah that they would have a child in 49 00:05:29,540 --> 00:05:39,540 their older years. And Abraham said this, to God. Can a child be born to a man who is 50 00:05:39,540 --> 00:05:47,540 100 years old? Can Sarah give birth at the age of 90? What did Zachariah say to the angel? 51 00:05:47,540 --> 00:05:56,540 How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years. The waiting 52 00:05:56,540 --> 00:06:06,540 is parallel. The promise from God is a parallel. Whether it's God or an angel, it is a pretty 53 00:06:06,540 --> 00:06:14,540 normal response when we're told that something we've hoped for, asked for, prayed for, for 54 00:06:14,540 --> 00:06:24,540 years and years and years is finally on its way to wonder if it's true. To ask big questions, 55 00:06:24,540 --> 00:06:33,540 maybe even pessimistic questions. Cindy and I, we were pretty young when we started having 56 00:06:33,540 --> 00:06:38,540 kids, I think at least by today's standards, people are waiting longer and longer. I was 57 00:06:38,540 --> 00:06:42,540 26 and she was 22 and we found out that we were, well she was pregnant for the first 58 00:06:42,540 --> 00:06:51,540 time, I know this modern thing, we had a baby, she had a baby. And an angel didn't tell us, 59 00:06:51,540 --> 00:06:59,540 a pregnancy test did, but we were fortunate. We know that we're fortunate. We didn't have 60 00:06:59,540 --> 00:07:10,540 to try for years. Eugene Peterson translates the word blessed in the message as lucky. 61 00:07:10,540 --> 00:07:21,540 Zachariah and Elizabeth, so many others, had to wait. But I can relate to Zachariah at 62 00:07:21,540 --> 00:07:28,540 least a little bit, because it felt like when we found out in that season of being pregnant 63 00:07:28,540 --> 00:07:36,540 for the first time, there was a lot of uncertainty. Just months before we became pregnant, this 64 00:07:36,540 --> 00:07:45,540 is back in 2004, we had just left our job at a church, a paid job. We left a paid job 65 00:07:45,540 --> 00:07:56,540 at a church and we started working as volunteers. I was a full time volunteer, worship pastor 66 00:07:56,540 --> 00:08:05,540 at a church and we sold our house. And we moved into the basement of the pastor that 67 00:08:05,540 --> 00:08:10,540 we were working with, because that was the only way that they could pay me. There was 68 00:08:10,540 --> 00:08:20,540 the promise of next year. And that's when two major things happened. One was that we 69 00:08:20,540 --> 00:08:29,540 became pregnant. Second, the senior pastor of the church at large changed their mind. 70 00:08:29,540 --> 00:08:35,540 They decided that the ministry that we were helping start was no longer needed. Where 71 00:08:35,540 --> 00:08:45,540 would we live? What would we do? We had a baby on the way. Jen, you remember, you were 72 00:08:45,540 --> 00:08:55,540 there. It is amazing how when people here on earth make and change plans that it can 73 00:08:55,540 --> 00:09:04,540 leave us thinking that God has changed his promises. But God was still working. We just 74 00:09:04,540 --> 00:09:12,540 had to figure out what faith looked like now. We'd had the faith to sell the house. We'd 75 00:09:12,540 --> 00:09:17,540 had the faith to quit the job. We'd had the faith to move into the basement. We had had 76 00:09:17,540 --> 00:09:22,540 the faith to say, yes, we'll start that thing. But we had to ask, what does faith look like 77 00:09:22,540 --> 00:09:31,540 now? I remember when we went for the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. We were in 78 00:09:31,540 --> 00:09:39,540 this dark little room and they had the screen and they had all the equipment and gel on 79 00:09:39,540 --> 00:09:46,540 Cindy's baby belly. And the nurse asked us what we wanted to know. We wanted to know. 80 00:09:46,540 --> 00:09:57,540 She said that we were having a son. Man, the way that I remember it, I felt like God surrounded 81 00:09:57,540 --> 00:10:11,540 me in that room. I went out into the hallway. I left the room because I needed to weep. 82 00:10:11,540 --> 00:10:18,540 Because I had no idea what our future was. I had no idea what it held. There was so much 83 00:10:18,540 --> 00:10:27,540 uncertainty, but something about that moment, being told that I was having a son, it just 84 00:10:27,540 --> 00:10:44,540 swept over me. I felt seen. It felt like God still knew where we were. In that same season, 85 00:10:44,540 --> 00:10:51,540 we took a trip up to Minneapolis to visit a church called Solomon's Porch. The pastor 86 00:10:51,540 --> 00:10:56,540 there, Doug Padgett, he set us up to stay with a couple from the church. As we talked 87 00:10:56,540 --> 00:11:02,540 to them, they talked about how they'd really been through the wringer. They talked about 88 00:11:02,540 --> 00:11:08,540 how they had a new word for faith. We were sitting at the table there in their kitchen, 89 00:11:08,540 --> 00:11:14,540 in their dining room, and saying, we have a new word for faith. We said, what is it? 90 00:11:14,540 --> 00:11:26,540 They said, bravery. In the midst of not knowing what was next, in the midst of plans falling 91 00:11:26,540 --> 00:11:32,540 apart, but knowing and believing that God was still with us, we'd already picked out 92 00:11:32,540 --> 00:11:41,540 a name for our son. He was going to be named Brennan Reed Hampton, but instead, we gave 93 00:11:41,540 --> 00:11:52,540 him the name Brennan Brave Hampton. Not just as a sign to him for his life, but to always 94 00:11:52,540 --> 00:12:01,540 remind us to be bold, to remind us that faith requires bravery in the midst of uncertainty. 95 00:12:01,540 --> 00:12:10,540 If you fast forward, when Brennan was just 15 months old, we took a pretty brave step. 96 00:12:10,540 --> 00:12:16,540 We moved to Colorado Springs so that I could go to a one-year school of worship at a church 97 00:12:16,540 --> 00:12:23,540 out there called New Life Church. And just two months in, again, we're living in a basement, 98 00:12:23,540 --> 00:12:29,540 a furnished basement, two months in, it came out that the senior pastor at that church 99 00:12:29,540 --> 00:12:37,540 had committed adultery, was abusing methamphetamines, and he was fired. Now, very suddenly, 100 00:12:37,540 --> 00:12:44,540 this whole faith as bravery idea looked a lot like foolishness in disguise. When we saw 101 00:12:44,540 --> 00:12:51,540 the way that so many of the leaders and pastors there set their hearts on the line to care 102 00:12:51,540 --> 00:12:57,540 for the church, to kneel in prayer, to stand for goodness and faithfulness, we watched 103 00:12:57,540 --> 00:13:06,540 as so many people faced one of the greatest challenges of their lives with grace and humility. 104 00:13:06,540 --> 00:13:14,540 Did they know exactly what they were doing? No. They had no clue what they were doing. 105 00:13:14,540 --> 00:13:23,540 At the same time, I could see what kind of character that they had as they walked through it. 106 00:13:23,540 --> 00:13:31,540 In the midst of all that chaos in Colorado, we became pregnant with our second son. 107 00:13:31,540 --> 00:13:37,540 And we knew after naming our first son Brennan Brave that we could not name our other kids 108 00:13:37,540 --> 00:13:49,540 normal names. And so, once again, we began looking at what faith meant now. Faith meant 109 00:13:49,540 --> 00:13:56,540 honor and respect. Faith meant being trustworthy. Faith meant being a person of your word, being 110 00:13:56,540 --> 00:14:09,540 full of kindness in difficult moments. And so we named him William Noble Hampton. 111 00:14:09,540 --> 00:14:15,540 And then, if you fast forward a few years, William was born in Georgia, and then we moved 112 00:14:15,540 --> 00:14:21,540 back to Colorado from Georgia, and I was hired on at that same church after they had gone 113 00:14:21,540 --> 00:14:25,540 through everything. New Life Church. Now, by then, Brennan was about five and a half, 114 00:14:25,540 --> 00:14:31,540 Liam had just turned three. I had been hired on at the church. We felt like, all right, 115 00:14:31,540 --> 00:14:38,540 our feet are under us. It's okay. It's time for us to begin growing the family. 116 00:14:38,540 --> 00:14:43,540 And we were, again, fortunate enough to get pregnant when we tried. But this pregnancy 117 00:14:43,540 --> 00:14:50,540 ended up being really different. For the first time, the doctors were telling us that there 118 00:14:50,540 --> 00:14:58,540 might be issues. The placenta wouldn't attach. Scans found small bubbles in the fetus's 119 00:14:58,540 --> 00:15:12,540 brain. Cindy spent a lot of that pregnancy in a bed, on bed rest. There was a real chance 120 00:15:12,540 --> 00:15:23,540 that we would either lose this boy or he could be born with serious medical issues. So here 121 00:15:23,540 --> 00:15:34,540 we were again, wondering what does faith mean now? As we looked to Jesus, we kept coming 122 00:15:34,540 --> 00:15:43,540 back to this feeling over and over and over again that we could trust him. That no matter 123 00:15:43,540 --> 00:15:54,540 what happened, he was the truth. No matter what. So not only to give our child the path 124 00:15:54,540 --> 00:16:00,540 to follow, but to give ourselves a reminder, we decided whatever happened, this little 125 00:16:00,540 --> 00:16:09,540 boy's name would be Wallace True Hampton. Cindy stayed on bed rest. Bubbles disappeared. 126 00:16:09,540 --> 00:16:15,540 And we were very fortunate that Wallace True was born a healthy little boy. And then if 127 00:16:15,540 --> 00:16:22,540 you fast forward just one more time, a few years later, we felt like God wanted us to 128 00:16:22,540 --> 00:16:33,540 move back here from Colorado to plant a church. At the same time, Cindy said, can we try for 129 00:16:33,540 --> 00:16:42,540 one more baby? I promise if it's a boy we can be done. But I really want to try for 130 00:16:42,540 --> 00:16:53,540 a little girl. And so we did. And the doctors told us that she had all the same issues with 131 00:16:53,540 --> 00:17:04,540 this pregnancy as the last one. All the same risks. All the same medical issues. So we 132 00:17:04,540 --> 00:17:11,540 thought back through living a faith that is brave, through choosing a faith that is noble 133 00:17:11,540 --> 00:17:20,540 trusting that God is true. And in those moments we thought after all we had experienced, what 134 00:17:20,540 --> 00:17:31,540 is faith right now? We thought if faith in God is anything, it is wisdom. So no matter 135 00:17:31,540 --> 00:17:45,540 what her name would be and her name became Adleria Wise Hampton. And wisdom is personified 136 00:17:45,540 --> 00:18:00,540 as wisdom as a woman. Yes. Thank you for editing my sermon. The love of my life. Now some of 137 00:18:00,540 --> 00:18:04,540 you may be wondering what does any of this have to do with Advent? What does this have 138 00:18:04,540 --> 00:18:14,540 to do with Zechariah and Elizabeth and peace? Because you're brave, noble, true, wise. Well 139 00:18:14,540 --> 00:18:19,540 I left something out when we read the passage earlier. See immediately after Gabriel tells 140 00:18:19,540 --> 00:18:26,540 Zechariah, you're going to have a son and you will name him John, and immediately Zechariah 141 00:18:26,540 --> 00:18:34,540 questions how any of this could happen. It says that Zechariah lost his voice. It was 142 00:18:34,540 --> 00:18:42,540 nine months later when it was time to name his son. Everyone wanted to know what to name 143 00:18:42,540 --> 00:18:46,540 this child. Everyone in the family was saying his name will be Zechariah after his father. 144 00:18:46,540 --> 00:18:56,540 His name will be Zechariah after his father. Zechariah grabs a pad and he writes down his 145 00:18:56,540 --> 00:19:03,540 name will be John. It says immediately he regained his voice and he began singing a 146 00:19:03,540 --> 00:19:10,540 prophetic song about what this son of his would be in the world. How this son of his 147 00:19:10,540 --> 00:19:18,540 would lead the way for the son of heaven to shine on the darkness and on the valleys of 148 00:19:18,540 --> 00:19:32,540 death of the earth and to set their people's feet in the path of peace. Nine months earlier 149 00:19:32,540 --> 00:19:40,540 Zechariah had one idea about faith, about what faith was now. On the day that it was 150 00:19:40,540 --> 00:19:48,540 time to name his son, he had a completely different idea of what faith was. And that 151 00:19:48,540 --> 00:20:02,540 was the word peace. The cherry on top of it is the word peace. Far path as Hampton's to 152 00:20:02,540 --> 00:20:09,540 be brave and noble and true and wise has taught me anything about faith. It's that there 153 00:20:09,540 --> 00:20:17,540 is no greater peace than the peace that is found in following Jesus. Whether it's to 154 00:20:17,540 --> 00:20:24,540 move to a house and live in a basement. Whether it's to move to Colorado and live in a 155 00:20:24,540 --> 00:20:30,540 basement. Whether it's to move to Georgia where you don't know a single soul with a 156 00:20:30,540 --> 00:20:34,540 pregnant wife that will give birth to our second son in a place that we didn't know 157 00:20:34,540 --> 00:20:40,540 anybody. Or if it was to move back to Colorado without the job yet, believing that it would 158 00:20:40,540 --> 00:20:47,540 happen. Or when you're working at a really great church in a really great town in a 159 00:20:47,540 --> 00:20:54,540 really great state, believing that God was calling you back to a place called Rock Island. 160 00:20:54,540 --> 00:21:03,540 There's no greater wisdom because there is no greater peace than following in the path 161 00:21:03,540 --> 00:21:15,540 that Jesus sets. The path of peace. My hope for you this Advent is that you'll take a 162 00:21:15,540 --> 00:21:27,540 moment and ask what is faith now? What is faith now? And if I can suggest something, 163 00:21:27,540 --> 00:21:38,540 if you cannot think of anything else, let it be peace. Let it be peace. Let it be peace. 164 00:21:38,540 --> 00:22:01,540 Amen? Amen.