Message Title: Vulnerable Deity! (Advent Series: All In/Skin In The Game)

Numbers 24:17 

“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.

Dec 1st Message Title: God In Christ (Vulnerable Deity)

Series: All-In (Skin In the Game)

Vulnerable Deity!

oxymoron: a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly." [means: Sharp/Dull]

Awfully Good examples!

Assistant supervisor; a little pregnant; actual reenactment

Advanced beginner; Bitter Sweet; Calculated Risk

Countless Numbers; Detailed Summary; Civil War

Clearly Misunderstood; Found Missing; Jumbo Shrimp

Minor Miracle; Only Choice; Growing Smaller

vul·ner·a·ble: adjective

1. capable of or susceptible to being wounded or hurt, as by a weapon: a vulnerable part of the body.

2.open to moral attack, criticism, temptation

1595–1605;  < Late Latin vulnerābilis,  equivalent to Latin vulnerā ( re ) to wound + -bilis -ble; see vulnerary

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, (Colossians 1.19)

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, (Colossians 2.9)

Then he said, "Look, I have come to do your will." He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. (Hebrews 10.9)

Aim: Help FO’Lifers receive a revelation of the immense love of God which was demonstrated via the incarnation and all its inconveniences. The wonder of Christ’s crucifixion is stifled if one doesn’t fully explore the beauty of the incarnation.

✔Historical Context:

• Hebrew nation was created out of Abraham’s family...God needed a family
• Israel kept misunderstanding its “specialness” to God hence lost their national, spiritual and personal treasures.
• Prophecy came forth that David’s seed would restore all this

✔400 Years of Silence between testaments

✔God appears without entourage or a security detail

• God enters our world the way every individual has EVER entered (Got dirty!)

• No special allowances...no royal bloodline...no amenities...no prenatal care. (9 mos)

• No special birthing suites...no medical amenities...same care as everyone else! (Worse)

• When birth announcements finally comes...it’s announced to hired hands (close kin)

✔Messiah is threatening & threatened

• Strangers, foreigners, Gentile royalty came to worship because of what they saw... 

• Herod is threatened and wants blood...(He knows who this is. He uses the bible to attempt murder on Messiah)

**Shepherds, Herod, Anna & Simeon each had a revelation of God’s arrival...(There were different responses).

Human birth of a virgin [GOD IS HUMANIZED]

Manger delivery among the animals, the poor, the detested [GOD IS HUMBLED]

Refugee & Exiled in Egypt [GOD IS AT RISK]

Foreign Dignitaries Followed Messiah’s Star [God’s Kingdom would be Universal]

Sign of God pursuing the poor and lost [GOD IDENTIFIES W/ THE POOR]

Sign of desire for our fellowship still [GOD PURSUES US FOR FELLOWSHIP]

Sign of Heaven’s full investment in Earth’s restoration [GOD HAS A PLAN THAT WE’RE A PART OF]

Challenge:

Israel’s great joy and Identity Marker was that she was chosen and loved by God. Messiah would come from her lineage. What does it now mean to you that Christ is now the protection over all those who believe in Him? What does it mean that Christ chose you? What does it mean that God has skin in the game and that Christ is committed to your life & calling?