Pulpit Message Introduction for Dec. 2

Pulpit Message Introduction for 1st Sunday of Advent
Christmas is coming. Are we anticipating it with hope or are we enduring it with despair? Look at Mary. She has so much to teach us about real hope. The mission God chose her to fulfil was not an easy task. What she went through was incredibly difficult. She was just a teenage girl from a poor family who lived in an obscure village in a tiny nation. Then one day an angel came to her with a message from the Lord: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold you will conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great. He will be the Messiah, the Son of God, and the Saviour of the world…” And all this was going to happen when she was still a virgin. It was a tough situation for Mary. If we were she most of us would have asked the Lord to find someone else to do this job. But not Mary. Her answer to the angel was a model of real faith and real hope. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant; let it be to me according to your word.” Here in Mary we see the powerful witness of Christian hope.

講壇信息介紹
聖誕節快來臨了。我們是用一個仰望的心去期待它，還是一個失望的心去應付它呢？請看馬利亞。她給我們一個很好學習仰望的功課。上帝給她的差使是一個不容易的差使。她所經歷的是不好受的經歷。她是一個十多歲的女孩子，在一個小國窮鄉長大。一天天使帶來上帝的信息，對她說：“馬利亞不要怕！你在神面前已經蒙恩了。你要懷孕生子，可以給他起名叫耶穌。他要為大，他要做彌賽亞，是神的兒子，是世界的救主。。。”而這一切事成就是要在她還沒有出嫁之前發生的。這是一件令馬利亞最難接受的事。如果我們是她，很多人會叫神另找賢能，我就無能為力了。但馬利亞並不是這樣。她的回應能夠顯出真信心和真仰望的品質，她對天使說：“我是主的使女，情願照你的話成就在我身上。”在馬利亞身上我們看見了基督徒仰望神最有力的見證。