This week we'll take a look at Joseph and Zachariah.  Unlike Mary and Elizabeth, these men first respond to God's plans with fear and a lack of trust.  Joseph plans to quietly release Mary from their marital agreement, preserving both of their reputations and saving her life.  No one can argue Joseph isn't a kind man, but God has totally different plans for his life than he imagines.  An angel appears to Zachariah in the Holy of Holies and gives him the news that God is going to give him a son through his wife, Elizabeth.  Zachariah and Elizabeth are old; how are they going to have a son?  In the case of both of these men, God's plan for them is dramatically different than their plans for themselves.  However, He who promised is faithful!  God is going to fulfill the promises He has made.

This week we'll take a look at Mary and Elizabeth.  The Jews awaited the arrival of the Messiah for centuries. After 400 years of silence, Mary is the one God chooses to fulfill His promise through? This isn't what anyone expected! Yet, here she is, pregnant without a husband, said to give birth to the Son of God. Is this for real? She is the temple which houses God Himself for nine months in her womb, but she is also the beautiful representation of God's plan to allow men and women to be temples of the Holy Spirit (God's presence) after Christ's resurrection and ascension.  Similarly to Mary's story, Elizabeth is also given a seemingly impossible destiny: give birth to a son at an old age.  God uses her to fulfill the prophecy in Malachi 4, which states that a prophet like Elijah will return.  God uses two unlikely women in His overarching narrative of redemption to keep the promises He made generations prior.

Final installment of the Basic Series focused on Leadership.

This week we are looking at what people believe about the Word. The popular belief is that the Bible is something of a legend, a cultural narrative that doesn't directly relate to us today. However, just because we have grown up believing something (or grown up in a culture that generally holds certain beliefs), doesn't make those beliefs wrong. The Bible is God's Word incarnate, just as Jesus is God incarnate. John 1 talks about Jesus as the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. Scripture is veiled Deity, just as Jesus is Deity who veiled Himself in human flesh.