morning church I was very thankful that Greg
asked me to speak on joy I had the privilege
to speak last year and I did kind of have that
feeling that I still had more to say so thank
you for the opportunity once again my name is
Robin if you haven't met me or don't know anything
about me, just a little history. I'm a Moliner
at heart. I went to Moline High School. I'm very
much involved in dance and theater my whole life.
I went to Black Hawk College. I married my high
school sweetheart. We have two beautiful girls,
Clara and Grace. You might know Grace as hope
or faith or peace or something other than Grace,
but yep, she's mine. I worked at Circa 21 for
a handful of years. I taught dance full -time
for a handful of years. Moved out to Viola about
nine years ago and was fortunate enough to start
a business out there, a rec center, and I work
at Blackhawk Bank and Trust as well, so I keep
myself nice and busy. and obviously I'm here,
and this is my favorite place to be. So I've
got some books. When Greg asked me to speak on
joy, I was like, okay, so people like to read,
and I see that there's a lot of insight that
can be found from books. So I picked up this
book, Lisa, I don't know, Turkhurst? You guys
can tell me if it's Lisa or Liza. I'm not really
sure either. But what happens when women say
yes to God? So I grabbed that book and I found
some really nice nuggets that I wanted to share.
I always like having a devotional that is something
really short that I can use to start my day that
doesn't take more than a couple minutes. So currently
I've been reading Jesus Listens by Sarah Young.
So I'm going to be referencing that a little
bit as well. And obviously the good old Bible,
the B -I -B -L. We're going to be in Luke 1 and
John 1 today. I'm going to start in John 1, and
we'll be reading verses 1 through 14. So if you
have your Bible, you can open with me, or you
can simply listen along. And we do have a tradition
of standing, so if you'd like to stand with me
while I read, you're more than welcome. If you're
comfortable sitting, you are fine there as well.
John 1, verse 1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning. Through him
all things were made. Without him nothing was
made that has been made. In him was life, and
that life was the light of men. The light shines
in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood
it. There came a man who was sent from God. His
name was John. He came as a witness to testify
concerning that light, so that through him all
men might believe. He himself was not the light.
He came only as a witness to the light. The true
light that gives light to every man was coming
into the world. He was in the world, and though
the world was made through him, the world did
not recognize him. He came to that which was
his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet
to all who did receive him, to those who believed
in his name, he gave the right to become children
of God, children born not of natural descent
nor of human decision, nor of a husband's will,
but born of God. The word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,
the glory of the one and only, who came from
the Father, full of grace and truth. Let us pray.
Dear God, we thank you for today. The chill in
the air does not touch the warmth that you put
in our hearts. And I thank you, God, for the
day that you've created, the joy that is free
to all. I pray that you would bless our time
here together, that your spirit would move within
us, speaking through me and touching those that
need to hear your voice today. In Jesus' name,
amen. All right, you may get comfy. So the word
became flesh. God's people were waiting for him,
and they thought he was coming with a sword in
his hand, ready for war. But he came as a child.
He came as a baby who needed cared for. He needed
his diaper changed. He needed to learn how to
walk. He needed a mother. So let us begin by
considering the actions of Mary. It's recorded
in Luke that the angel said to Mary, Do not be
afraid. You have found favor with God. To which
Mary responded, I am the Lord's servant. May
it be to me as you have said. And as Mary was
able to experience God as a newborn baby, Caring
for him, teaching him to walk, teaching him to
talk, watching him grow and learn things. It
says in Luke 2 that Mary treasured up all these
things and pondered them in her heart. And it
reminds me of the line in the song, Mary, did
you know that when you kiss your little baby,
you kiss the face of God? What a beautiful picture
to keep in our minds. And what a joy it is to
know that God the creator speaks to me. I have
never seen an angel with my eyes. My ears have
never heard an audible voice that I know to be
God or an angel speaking to me. But I see him,
and I can hear him. Mary received a visit from
the angel, and the words were encouraging and
confusing. But her response is beautiful. I am
the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have
said. In this book I'm reading, Women Who Say
Yes to God, Lisa said, we do not fear what our
obedience will cause us. Let me start over. We
need not fear what our obedience will cause to
happen in our life. We should only fear what
our disobedience will cause us to miss. Right?
Isn't that good? What would Mary have missed
out if she said no? Right? Dave touched on this
a little bit in his message last week, but let's
go ahead and read Mary's prayer in Luke 1. And
Mary said, My soul glorifies the Lord, and my
spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has
been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for
me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those
who fear him from generation to generation. He
has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has
scattered those who are proud in their inmost
thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their
thrones, but have lifted up the humble. He has
filled the hungry with good things, but has sent
the rich away empty. He has helped his servant
Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham
and his descendants forever. as he has said to
our fathers. So are you in a practice of saying
yes to God? As a dancer, I'm fully aware of the
need for practice, right? And as an instructor
and a choreographer, it's something I require
of my students to practice their skills. When
they come to class, we do the same warm -ups
week after week so that we build these muscles
so that they become second nature. Developing
a skill of any kind takes practice. So if you're
not currently in a practice of saying yes to
God, get in the habit. With practice, saying
yes to God will no longer be a discipline of
your heart, but rather a delight of your life.
Say yes to God before you even know what it is
that he wants you to do. As Lisa said, you never
know how God will use you until you let him.
So I didn't really see... myself being a children's
ministry director but here I am I'm doing it
and honestly it is one of the most rewarding
duties that I have the pleasure of doing and
I just simply said yes to God's promptings and
let him guide me from there. I always enjoyed
working with kids and I feel that God has put
a passion within me to make sure that kids feel
seen and heard and loved so teaching children
was never something out of my comfort zone. But
to carry that title and to have that responsibility
seemed a little bit beyond me. But I have learned
that with God, I don't need to possess all the
skills to do what he asks of me because he is
my source and my provider. Now, I 1 ,000 % never
saw myself standing up on a Sunday morning and
sharing a message with people. I do not feel
that I am learned enough or took the proper training
or anything like that. But this is my fourth
time standing in front of you all. And all I'm
doing is listening and following what he asks
of me. And he has yet to let me down. And then
even better is I become closer to him when I
say, oh, this is beyond me. I really need to
rely on you. to make this happen, and he always
does. So if you find yourself this morning or
another time in your life where you're looking
for joy, right, you're looking to find that joy
in your life, I think what we need to do is identify
what's distracting you from connecting with your
creator. Do you have treasured God moments stored
up in your heart like Mary? I know that when
I'm normally a happy person and I'm an optimist,
so it doesn't take me long to get there, but
I still have days when I feel down or I'm troubled
about something or life is hard. But it's in
those moments that I know I can pull out all
of these beautiful moments that I've shared with
God. And my perspective changes as soon as I
fix my eyes on him, the author and perfecter
of my faith. I've these treasures because I've
said yes to God. I am the Lord's servant. Use
me as you will. And it's in the times of weakness
and despair when I have called that he has answered.
I know I'm not the only cancer survivor in the
room today, but what a beautiful time that was.
As hard as it was to go through these treatments
and make myself walk through those doors. He
was so close. I felt like I could touch him.
I felt like I could hear him. And those are treasures
that I have forever now. And I'm better now,
and that's great. And those are all reasons to
give praise and thanks. But even more so are
the moments when I was weakest and he was strongest,
that those are beautiful treasures that I have.
Thanks to Gary, I started watching The Chosen.
I remember I first started watching the show,
and I was like, whoa, I need to, like, fact check,
because I don't want to put anything in my brain
that's untrue. And so I stopped. Didn't even
get all the way through the first episode. And
then Gary was like, hey, we're going to do a
study. And I was like, oh, cool, let's go check
that out. And then I sat in this room with, you
know, a handful, a number of people from this
congregation, and I was like, okay, I feel like.
If you guys are all good with that, I should
be good with it too. I think we're okay. You
guys vetted it for me. So thank you for that
because I'm really enjoying just the applications
that you can take or the understanding of what
it was like in that time that we just can't tap
into in the world we are today. So it's been
really great. If you haven't checked it out,
I totally recommend it. One of the really big
takeaways I've had so far is from the season
one finale. So they start with Jacob, and he's
like, yep, this is the spot. And he starts tapping
in, and he's building this well. And they don't
know why they're building it. God just told him
to do this, so he just did it. And it turns out
that that is the well that Jesus meets the Samaritan
woman at generations later. And the takeaway
is that the purposes of God are not always for
our understanding. God is calling us to listen
and obey. His purposes are not always for our
understanding. We're just to serve faithfully.
Maybe we get to see the effects of the work,
and maybe we don't. But our work is for God,
and he gets to choose how to use it. And I think
that we find joy having the opportunity to participate
in the divine nature. Just to have the opportunity
to work alongside him. We can find that joy.
So this is week three of Advent. And as we're
reflecting on joy, let's bounce back to John.
It says, there was a man sent from God whose
name was John. He was not the light, but he came
to bear witness to the light. And this is true
for us too. There was a man sent from God whose
name is Robin. There was a man sent from God
whose name is Connie. There was a man sent from
God whose name was Dave. So just make sure everybody's
paying attention. I'm going to say that one more
time, and everybody say your name out loud, okay?
All right. There was a man sent from God whose
name is? Yes. We are not the light, but we are
here to bear witness to the light. and letting
the light of Christ shine in your life will bring
you all the joy you seek. Our treehouse kids
sure did a great job of reminding us of just
this simple truth. Jesus is the light, and I'm
going to let him shine. So I do want to... share
a prayer from my Jesus Listens devotional this
morning. You can take whatever attitude of prayer
that is for you. You can journal. You can close
your eyes. You can open your hands. But if you
would open your hearts with me as we pray. Dear
Jesus, help me to lead a victorious life by living
in deep dependence on you. I used to associate
victory with success. not falling or stumbling,
not making mistakes, but being successful in
my own strength made me vulnerable to going my
way, forgetting about you. It is through problems
and failure, weakness and need, that I'm learning
to rely on you. I realize that true dependence
is not simply asking you to bless what I have
decided to do. It involves coming to you with
an open heart and an open mind, inviting you
to plant your desires within me. Sometimes you
instill a dream in me that seems far beyond my
reach. I know that my own resources are inadequate
for attaining such a goal. Thus begins my journey
of profound dependence on you. It's a faith walk,
taken one step at a time, leaning on you for
strength and guidance. It's not a path of continual
success, but a way of multiple failures. However,
each failure is followed by a growth spurt, nourished
by increasing reliance on you. I want to enjoy
the blessedness of a victorious life by deepening
my dependence on you. In your joyous name, amen.
So what if instead of grumbling about our problems,
we took an attitude of thankfulness? What if
we made friends with our troubles by thanking
God for them? The counterintuitive act opens
our mind to the possibility of blessings emerging
from our difficulties. And moreover, when I bring
God my prayers with thanksgiving, my anxiety
diminishes and his peace that passes all understanding
guards my heart and my mind. It's a daily prayer
of mine to just say, Jesus, may the light and
love shine through me. But in order for me to
do this, I must take time to bask in his presence,
asking to be transformed into his likeness and
willing to follow where the spirit leads, even
when it makes no sense. So let us be reminded
today to connect with our creator and to be his
light in the world. All right, so lastly, I don't
know, did you guys know that this is the last
year for the almanac? Yeah, if you didn't know,
I'm sorry to break the news, but it's the last
year of the almanac. So says enough people in
Mercer County that I believe it to be true. If
you need a copy of The Current Almanac, you can
find one for free at Blackhawk Bank and Trust.
I was flipping through it, and this is what I
found. There was a recent study published in
Psychological Science that revealed breaking
into a genuine smile, one that engages the muscles
around the mouth as well as those around the
eyes, reduces your heart rate after a stressful
event. The lead author of the study said, whether
you feel happy or not doesn't matter. The muscle
activation alone does the trick. So just think
about that. If you go through your day and you
smile at those you encounter, your family, your
friends, some colleagues, a stranger, there's
a high likelihood that they're going to smile
back and you're offering them the same benefits
that you yourself are receiving. And it doesn't
cost you anything. And you don't even have to
mean it to make it matter. All right. That is
all I have for you guys today. Thank you so much
for being here. I hope you enjoyed the kiddos
as much as I enjoy working with them every single
day. It truly is a delight to spend my Sunday
mornings with them. They're amazing kids. And
it gives you kind of hope for the world to come,
right? All right, Merry Christmas everyone.