"My soul glorfies the Lord and my spirit rejoices on God my Saviour". This is Mary's words as she reflects on the news from the angel Gabriel that she will give birth to the Son of God. Are these words true for you? When God comes into your life, things change, and not always in the way we expect. When Gabriel visits Mary, she does not know her own outcome, but she remembers what God has done in the past and what that shows about Him, that she can believe for herself. Mary is full of confidence because she has a relationship with God in whom she can trust. As Christians, we too can have this confidence of God's ultimate control over the events in our lives if we allow His presence to be the main focus. We need to magnify God and put the focus on Him rather than ourselves.

Zechariah doubted the news told to him by the angel Gabriel, that his wife Elizabeth would give give birth to a son. He was not able to speak until after his son's birth and through his obedience to God, was able to speak again when he indicated that his son was "to be named John". This passage is Zechariah's praise to God. It had been over 400 years since a prophet had mentioned the coming of the Mesiah and now Zechariah knows that God has not forgotten His people and His promise fulfilled. John is going to prepare the way for the coming of the Mesiah. Christmas is about the truth that God has finally visited us through His Son, Jesus. What does Christmas mean to you?

How does the fact that God loves you result in you loving others? Does it change your view of other people or do you view others in the same way, in your own strength? What does it mean to show Christ's love? The answer is found in Luke 10:27, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbour as yourself'. To show Christ's love in this world is to act like Jesus when He was on this earth. The challenge for us is to look for opportunities to show Christ's love by caring for others.

To know Christ means having a deep and intimate relationship, and it is continuous. Our goal, direction and purpose for the rest of our lives is to know Him. Do we have a vibrant, alive, growing relationship? Or is it a cold, informational, dead relationship? We get to know Jesus by sharing in His sufferings and dying to self. We do it by letting go, forgetting past sins and failures and persevering. We’re not just pressing on for Jesus, but pressing into Him.

Jeremiah tells us that those who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him, will be blessed, but those who put their trust in men will be cursed. The challenge before us today is where are we putting our trust? God's own people had lost their way and put their trust in idols - a path that was to lead them to destruction. Jeremiah tells them that their only hope is putting their trust and confidence in God. Do we travel the road that trusts in this world, which has no hope, or do we go along the path that leads to eternity with God? What does it mean to trust in God? We need to trust in His love, trust in His word, trust in His promises and trust in His plans for our future.