From the message, "The Fear Nots of Christmas"

The first "fear not" is to Joseph, Fear Not the Incomprehensible.

The second "fear not" is to Mary, Fear Not the Impossible.

III. FEAR NOT THE SUPERNATURAL—THE INCREDIBLE

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid (Luke 2:9).

Look at the story from the stand point of the Wisemen and the shepherds. The Wisemen saw the star. The angels came to the shepherd. Both of these are supernatural phenomenon’s. But the angel said “fear not” the supernatural—the seemingly incredible.

God spoke to each group in their language. To the Wisemen He spoke through a star because they were studiers of the stars. To the shepherds He spoke through angels because they were very religious and believed in angels. They would not try to explain it away.

John Updike's novels still capture the young American mind. Back in the mid-sixties, when his writing first came into popularity, some interesting paragraphs were written about him in Life magazine which gave a clue to his power as a writer:

“What particularly surprises Updike’s peers, most of whom ceased being practicing Protestants somewhere during their years in high-school young people’s groups, Ts his churchgoing. He really goes; he actively believes. For this he has many reasons, most deriving from his intellectual heroes, Soren Kierkegaard and the Swiss theologian, Karl Barth, whom he quotes as having said that ‘a drowning man cannot pull himself out by his own hair.’ Updike interprets this to mean ‘there is no help from within—without the supernatural—the natural is a pit of horror. I believe that all problems are basically insoluble and that faith is a leap out of total such times one has nothing but the ancient assertions of Christianity to give one the will to act.”

God works in the realm of the miraculous.

A few years ago I was in the holy Lands and our guide brought us to the place where Jesus fed the multitudes and he explained the miracle by saying that all the people brought bread and shared with each other and that this was the miracle. He, of course, by-passed the supernatural explanation.

Those who know me well know that I love watermelon. I was eating a piece of watermelon some months ago and was struck with its beauty. I took some of the seeds and weighed them and found that it would require some 5,000 seeds to weigh a pound. And then I applied mathematics to a forty-pound melon. One of these seeds, put into the ground, when warmed by the sun and moistened by the rain goes to work; it gathers from somewhere two hundred thousand times its own weight and, forcing this raw material through a tiny stem, constructs a watermelon. it covers the outside with a coating of green; inside of the green it puts a layer of white, and within the white a core of red, and all rough the red it scatters seeds, each one capable of continuing the work of reproduction. I cannot explain the watermelon, but I eat and enjoy it. Everything that grows tells a like story of infinite power. Why should I deny that a divine hand fed a multitude with a few loaves and fishes when I see hundreds of millions fed every year by a hand which converts the seeds scattered over the field into an abundant harvest? We know that food can be multiplied in a few months’ time. Shall we deny the power of the Creator to eliminate the element of time, when we have gone so far in eliminating the element of space?

God works in the realm of the supernatural.

The miracle of the feeding of the multitude took place on the Sea of Galilee.

If you were to take the Sea of Galilee out of the Holy Land its most pleasing physical feature would be gone. If we were to take the Sea of Galilee out of the gospel narratives much of their charm would be gone. (Healing of the centurions servant-woman with an Issue of blood—Jarius’ daughter—the wild man of Gadera—twice He calmed it—and on this occasion He fed a mu1titude and afterward He sent them into a storm-then He came walking saying “peace be still.” Lord if it be thee bid me to come—Jesus said come—He gave Peter an invitation to the supernatural—anyone can stay in the boat and play it safe but don’t be afraid to step out on the wave where God dwells.

We often hear it said that the day of miracles is past. But every true Christian is a miracle, born again by the Holy Spirit. Of course I mean real Christians, not just church members. If you are what you have always been you are not a Christian. The Christian life is a miracle, Jesus living within the true believer. He is not just our Savior and Lord but also our Life.

God has many miraculous things for His people, but so many miss them.

1. I do not know what Jesus had for the rich young ruler, but he missed it.

2. The blind man would have missed receiving his sight if had not washed in Siloam. The question Jesus had for that man is the same one for everyone with a need, “Do you want to be healed?”

3. The man with the withered hand would never had been healed if he would have refused when the Lord said, “Stretch forth thy hand.”

God is not a natural being but a supernatural being. We don’t relate to Him in the natural but in the supernatural. You don’t really see what He can do until you step out of the boat and let the waves be your highway.

I have never received God’s Spirit—this is a supernatural experience. You can believe God for it.

I have never worshipped God in freedom. Worship is the way into the supernatural.

I have never won a soul—this is a partnership with the supernatural.

I have never interceded—this is the language of the supernatural.

God is saying fear not the supernatural—the incredible.

Fear not the incomprehensible!

Fear not the impossible!

Fear not the supernatural—the incredible!