Great is our God, huh?
I might get Jimmy swaggered on you.
Oh!
It's like this, and I need a hanky.
But truly great is our God.
We're going to be in Luke chapter one,
and we're going to look at Mary's song.
And it's just a few verses.
We won't be long today.
You know, I don't know.
Why is it that church services has to be 45 minutes to an hour?
I mean, one of the greatest sermons Peter ever gave was like five minutes.
And thousands of people got saved.
It's just our way of putting God in a box.
Have you learned?
It's pretty hard to put God in a box.
And I don't know about you, but I keep having to get a bigger box.
And so we're going to look at these few verses, verses 46 through 56 here in the first chapter of the gospel of Luke.
And I do got to clarify one thing I had mentioned.
We talked about babies in the womb last week and the whole abortion issue.
and I'd mention that if you've had that in your past,
that it is something that's forgivable that God can redeem that and use that for good in your
life. I've seen him do it over and over again in many women's lives.
But one gal said, yeah, but you didn't say where to go or who to tell.
So I got reminded that the nest, part of their ministry is,
post-abortive care.
And they have a great ministry there.
So if that's you and that applies to you, please feel free to contact the nest.
And the director, Janelle, over there, I know her well.
She's a dear sister in the Lord.
So because God wants to heal us up.
And a lot of times because we're broken and because we've made so many mistakes in our
life, we stay crippled.
We stay shackled by those things.
and the Bible says, you know, Jesus said he came to set the captives free.
And so you have an opportunity to be set free.
And they can help in that area.
Anything else, I mean, the prayer team will be here after service today.
And you need prayer.
Just to please feel free to come forward and be prayed for.
And so we're going to look at Mary's song here.
And that's what it says in my Bible, my David Jeremiah Bible,
the little caption of over these verses.
is Mary's song.
It's also called the Magnificant.
And there's four songs in the Gospel of Luke here.
And they're all kind of about this first advent.
The first one is Mary's, obviously, Mary's song.
And then there's Zachariah's song called the Benedictus.
And we're going to see that later.
And then there's the angel song in Luke chapter 2.
the glory and excelsis.
And then fourthly, Simian song there when the Christ child is brought to the temple
to be at his dedication and circumcision.
So some powerful things.
Songs are powerful, right?
They're powerful.
I mean, and they're even more powerful when they're done well.
thus that's why you may see less of me and more of my my get but but also there is
songs that aren't so good right I mean I used to be a head banger right right listen to
ACDC and highway to hell I remember my mom walking in a room one time
We're all sitting there banging away, you know.
My mother goes, what in the world are you guys listening to?
Does it saying highway to hell?
We said, yeah, she goes, that's not very uplifting.
Well, mom.
Okay.
And you guys have all been there, right?
You remember this.
We don't listen to the words, Mom, we just like the beat.
Baloney.
right? I was on a highway to hell. No stop signs, no speed limits. No buddy's going to slow me down.
It was just a highway to hell. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. It was just going 9-0.
But these songs, and when you read through the Psalms, and I remember back in the Maranatha days, when they began to put music to the old Psalms that,
David wrote many of them. He was the great songwriter. And they put music to the Psalms and you would sing
them. And it's a powerful thing to sing scripture. And that's what Mary does here. She's singing
scripture. And repeating scripture back to yourself, it's really good. It's alive.
And so we're going to look at this. Mary was moved to her core.
right? By this truth that was coming her way about the Messiah, about this baby that she was going to bear,
being a virgin. And so let's go ahead and read. We'll just read the whole passage. It's pretty short.
And Mary said in verse 6, my soul magnifies the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior.
For he has regarded the lowly state of his maid servant.
For behold, henceforth, all generations will call me blessed.
For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the
mighty from their thrones and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his
mercy. He has spoke to our fathers to Abraham and to his seed forever. And Mary remained with her,
that is Elizabeth, about three months and returned to her house. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for
for this word and for this song, Lord, and all the details of it, Lord, that Mary had truly written
your word upon her heart that she might not sin against you. And yet, Lord, she realized that she needed
a savior. Lord, I think there might be people here today that realize they need a savior.
They need somebody much bigger than themselves to direct their lives and to be at the home.
And so I pray for those, Lord. I pray that they would surrender.
render to you and yield their hearts and their souls, their spirits, Lord, to the God of heaven,
the one who created it and has its best interest at heart. Lord, would you teach us as we look at this
passage of scripture today? And Lord, just truly, it's filled with words of life. And may we
experience that life in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And so Mary, she's filled with words of life.
And may we experience that life in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. And so Mary,
starts off with my soul magnifies the Lord. She's, she's overwhelmed at the, the words that the angel had spoken to her,
where he said, rejoice, highly favored one. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.
I mean, how would you like to have that message coming right at you, right? About you.
And yet, I think we're all, that's a possibility. It's, um,
it's usually up to us.
Right? And you remember how that last part that we looked at where Mary said,
may it be unto me according to your word, just totally yielded and surrendered.
And she was, her spirit was just filled with life.
Ephesians 5 chapter, Ephesians chapter 5, verses 18 through 20.
It says, and do not be drunk with wine.
in which is dissipation, but be filled with the spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to
God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Her heart is welling up. She's, that's why we
sing. We got something to sing about, folks, right? And I'm sorry, I don't, I'm sorry, I don't
get people who don't want to sing.
I got this grandson that is two-year-olds.
He's two years old.
He is a singing machine.
He's singing these little praise songs all the time, and I'm hearing him.
And then his cousin, who's a year old, he's a singer too.
I just can't tell what he's singing.
I don't have the gift of interpretation.
But all he's a singing.
And
because it comes from like down here somewhere, right?
When you, you understand your God and you, his spirit bears witness with your spirit.
And like Mary, we say, my soul magnifies the Lord.
It literally means that word magnify, making God great in your heart.
making God great in your heart. Have you done that? Is God great in your heart? Or you're kind of, kind of keeping him out here somewhere?
It's the idea of, it's like vital breath that you have to have this. Pastor Steve was just telling me he's going to teach. He's going to teach.
And in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 here this next week. And, um, this next week. And, um,
It talks about the, the uncumly parts in the body.
But those uncumly parts inside your body are vital, right?
Some of them, if you don't have them, you don't live.
And so it's that vitality, that spirit that, that, that connects with the one who has, who has quickened us, who has made us alive spiritually.
and maybe you're spiritually dead today.
And you need to be made alive.
You need to be quickened.
You'll have an opportunity to do that as we close.
Or even as we're going through the service,
you just crying out to the Lord.
You know that you know that you know.
Maybe God's already spoke to your heart.
I remember one time a guy come up to me after a service,
he says, you know, that first few minutes, the Lord touched my heart.
and I was just hoping that you would hurry up and shut up so I could talk to you about it.
Because I don't know what God's doing, right?
God may not do anything.
But he might be knocking on the door of your heart even right now.
And you know that you know that you know that God's calling you to himself.
Maybe God's calling you to himself for a certain work.
That maybe he's been whispering in your ear and you've kind of been putting it off.
I know that's happened to me. I had to get thrown on my head for him to get my attention.
It was clear. I'll never forget it. It's clear back in 1992. I had my best year rodeo and ever,
1991. And I thought, I'm going to go do it again. But the Lord's going, no, Scotty, I got something
different for you. I want you to do a rodeo bob camp. And I had gone to a in 1991, I had gone to a
rodeo Bible camp in June.
And I tell people it's the greatest three days of my Christian life.
Because I went there and I'm going, God, can you use me?
And I was in a tent with six or seven teenage boys that were just punks and sinners to the bone.
We went nicking and tippin.
Does anybody know what?
If you know what Nican is tipping is, raise your hand.
only one. Well, no, I think there's two or three. Yeah. You know, we went naked and tipping, right, which I wasn't
supposed to do because I was supposed to be a leader. Not a very good leader. Bad, bad counselor.
But the Lord had ministered to my heart and he was telling me, no, you go and you do this.
And I thought, no, I'm going to go rodeo. So I go, and I always had to practice. I went to the practice pen.
And I get on this bull.
I didn't really want to get on him.
He was kind of a bucker.
And sure enough, man.
That dude just flipped me up.
And there was a one-point landing right on my noggin.
And fire shot down both arms, thought I broke my neck.
And the Lord goes, do I got your attention now?
See, the Lord knows how to get your attention.
Oh, boy.
And if he's trying to say something to you,
I'm telling you, you know, say, here am I, Lord, because he can make it kind of harsh.
Because he's much more concerned with your soul than your physical well-being.
Right?
God is much more concerned with your soul than your physical well-being.
And so I said, yes, Lord, he got my attention.
and life's never been the same. And I had, did I have to give something up? Yeah. But I was going to have to give it up anyway.
You can only do that rodeo thing for so long. I just got through watching the national finals
rodeo. Those guys get to be 31, 32 years old. They're old. Right? They're ancient.
In fact, the young kids call them old men when they're 31, 32 years old. I remember I was 29 and they'd call me an old man.
And so it's, it's fleeting.
The things in this life are fleeting.
But God has something much more glorious in store for us.
And so first she says, my soul magnifies the Lord.
I've made the Lord great in my heart.
And then in verse 47, and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior.
This is a powerful verse.
doctrinally, right?
Because Mary is recognizing here.
Her spirit is rejoicing that she has a savior.
She's acknowledging, I need a savior.
Where some people elevate Mary to a place of an canonized saint or a or deity.
No.
She was a sinner like you and me.
She had fallen short of God's glory.
And she was well aware of that.
It's amazing how many people.
I'm not aware of that at all.
Well, I'm not a sinner.
What?
You just sinned by saying that.
Right?
Because that's a lie.
Because we've all sinned and we've fallen short of the glory of God.
Mary had this incredible, and we're going to see it how many times she references
the Old Testament through this song.
She had an incredible understanding of scripture and who she was.
Right.
A proper self-view in Christendom is very important.
How you see yourself.
I'm a pretty good guy.
Not.
And she knew that God was her savior
because of her understanding of scripture.
Listen.
Listen, the most, the more of God's scripture that you have in your heart, the more sane you are.
I'm convinced.
I'm convinced of it.
The more of God's word that you have in your heart, the more sane you are.
The less of God's word that you have in your heart, the more sane you are.
The less of God's word that you have
right? It brings a sanity and a reality to our psyche. In fact, that's the word that's used here
when she says, my soul. She's saying my psyche. In my mind, I'm magnifying the Lord because of who he is.
In light of who I am. Because why? Because I need a savior. And so she had read the Old Testament.
In Isaiah, chapter 45, verse 21, it says this. It says, tell and bring forth your case.
Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time? Have not I the Lord. And there is no other God besides me, a just God, listen, and a savior.
there is none besides me. This is God. This is 700 years before Jesus is born. Who's our savior? God is.
Right? And God here in this first Advent season, this Advent season that we celebrate, the coming of the
the Messiah, the coming of the Holy One.
is salvation.
But it's always been with the godhead.
Always.
God's always been the Savior.
People get confused.
Well, is Jesus our savior or is he God?
Both. He's both.
Right?
God, our savior.
In fact, I don't know if you've seen it or not.
They found this mosaic.
I think it's called the mosaic of Magetto.
They just found it.
And it declares that Jesus is God on this mosaic.
It's 1800 years old.
You can look at it.
It's in the American Bible Institute, I believe, here in America right now.
It's on display.
And it was found in the valley of Magiddo where it's quite interesting.
the war of Armageddon is going to be fought there in the valley of Magiddo.
And it declares that Jesus is God.
But Mary acknowledges this, right?
No doubt she read Josea 134.
Yet I am the Lord your God ever since the land of Egypt and you shall know, no God,
for there is no savior besides me.
This is scripture that my friend Michael Dodge went through the book of Isaiah,
and he brought out all these scriptures that talks about the Savior being God.
In the Old Testament.
And he shares them with his LDS friends.
And that kind of tips them over a little bit.
Because they have a warped view of who Jesus is.
right? They say he is a spirit brother to Satan.
No, actually he created Satan. Satan is a created being.
Jesus has always been. Right? So there's a huge difference there that needs to be established when we talk to our Mormon friends.
And Mary had this understanding of what she was and who God was. Think about it. She probably read.
Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14.
She knew this in her mind that the virgin shall conceive.
And then what about nine six?
For unto us, a child is born.
Unto us a son is given.
She probably had these going through her mind and her heart.
She was ready to receive that message from Gabriel when he came to her.
And here she sings about it.
verse 48, it says, for he has regarded the lowly state of his maid servant.
For behold, henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed.
She actually prophesies Mary does in her song.
Right?
That he's looked, I know what I am.
Do you know what you are?
Really?
Do we know what we are in light of really who the God of heaven?
evidence. I think to have a good understanding of that is, is, it's really important.
Because a lot of people think way too highly of themselves. You know, Paul tells us in
Galatians, for if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. He
Galatians chapter 6 verse 3. It's a good scripture to put to memory.
If anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, what's that?
Right? That's that sin of pride that just, it just consumes us.
So she was in awe that.
that God would look upon her, this woman who her and her espoused husband, Joseph, didn't have a pot or a window, as they say.
Right?
Some of you're old enough to know what that actually literally means.
They didn't, right?
And he regarded her.
It means he showed her favor.
So much that every generation will call me blessed.
For here it is, 2,000 years later.
And every time you pass by a nativity, who do you see?
Mary.
For 2,000 years, God has been,
bringing her to the forefront at Advent season.
And the world, everyone, every generation will call her blessed.
And so it is true.
And to keep it balanced, right, is just so important.
She is blessed.
She is favored.
Above most women.
Don't out look forward to this.
this giving birth to the Messiah.
But she was also a fallen creature like us.
And so therefore, you and I can identify with her.
And God has plans for you, just like he did for her.
I lean on the scripture in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 quite heavily for my own life.
Where it says, for you see your calling, brethren,
That not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.
Why is it? Because there are none.
There are those who think they're wise. They think they're noble.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise.
And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty.
and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things
which are not to bring to nothing the things that are. That's how God works. And when we see
ourself that way, we're closer to the heart of God. God has looked on all of us. He knows.
our lowly state. He knows your condition. He knows my condition. And some may say, well, hey,
pastor, just speak for yourself. You know, I've done quite well for myself. You know, I'm providing for my
family, have a good job. My 401 got a boost when Trump got elected. Right? I have everything I need.
Really?
We were talking the other day about wealth and having stuff, you know, rich is having a...
Think about this.
What if you had millions and millions of dollars?
But there was nothing to buy.
You think about...
Oh, wow.
I mean, that's about the weight of monetary things.
have for us. It's empty. It's just just this empty hole. That God has so much more for us in the depths of our soul.
And so I think of the rich young fool. And I didn't know if I was going to share this or not.
But I got to share it. It's found in Luke chapter 12 and starting in verse 16, excuse me.
And, you know, the dude was just kind of trusting in his stuff.
You trust in your stuff?
How many have you just realized, stuff is really a pain in the neck?
I mean, the more you got, the more headaches you got.
Stuff is just like, do I have to, you know, it's a pain.
But Jesus tells this story about a guy who, his stuff kind of happens.
a hold of him. It says, the ground of a certain rich man healed a plentiful. And he thought within himself,
saying, what shall I do? Since I have no room to store my crops. So he said, I will do this. I will
pull down my barns and build greater. And there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will
say to my soul. So you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease. Eat,
drink and be married. But God said to him, fool. This night, your soul will be required of you.
Then who's will those things be, which you have provided? So is he who lays up treasure for
himself is not and is not rich toward God. You're going to die. And then Solomon says,
somebody who hasn't worked a day in their life is going to get your stuff.
Notice.
What did Mary start this song out with?
My soul.
Does what?
Magnifies my stuff?
No, it magnifies the Lord in her heart.
And that's the contrast, right?
Between the rich young fool,
I will say to my soul, take your ease.
God hasn't called us to a life.
of ease in this life.
Right?
He's called us to hard things.
To get outside of ourselves, to forget about ourselves and do what?
Like the old song says, to magnify the Lord and worship him.
So Mary has this incredible insight.
Right.
Her song resembles that of Hannah.
when Hannah was barren and felt as though she was despised by her husband when the other wife was very fertile and having babies and Hannah didn't have any.
And she asked the Lord.
And the Lord gave her that baby.
And she too was grateful.
She realized that it was a gift from God.
Verse 49, it says, for he who is mighty has done great things for me.
and holy is his name.
He who is mighty.
She recognizes God's power, right?
And also that his name, it's holy.
It's set apart.
The name of God was set apart in her heart.
Does the Lord have your heart?
Think of that.
Think of that holiness.
Steve and I were just talked and he reminded me when the Lord Rocked
's world.
I don't know how many years ago.
but he said, Pastor Rick was in Revelation chapter four.
And he quoted what the hosts there, the living creatures were saying there in Revelation
chapter four when they said, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, Stephen said, I didn't even know what
what that meant, but I was overwhelmed.
I was just a puddle.
When he said, holy, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty who was and is to come.
He's great.
Do you believe that? Right? You have to remind yourself of that. Why? Because we forget. It's terrible that we forget these things.
How great and mighty our God is. And yet we get sidetracked and we're running down rabbit trails and chasing after things that we shouldn't be chasing after.
But Mary realizes that God's doing this.
Eight times she says he has.
God has done this.
Eight times it says that in these 10 verses.
And so verses 46 through 49, Mary recognizes what God has done for her.
Verses 50 through 53, what God has done for us.
So let's just read it there.
Verses 50 through 53.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the low.
He has filled the hungry with good things.
And the rich he has sent away empty.
The things that God has done for us, first and foremost, he's shown mercy.
The mercy of God.
It's been said that mercy, the definition of mercy is not getting what you deserve.
Right?
I get blessed when people tell me.
I say, how you doing?
Doing better than I deserve.
right? Because really, when you have the mind of Christ Jesus, when you're filled with the word of God,
you realize, wow, this God of ours, he is full of mercy for those who fear him, who fear him.
Now, I heard a guy, well, I listened to R.C. Sproll. I don't know if you ever heard of R.C.
He's with the Lord now.
And a great preacher.
And he said, when it talks about fear,
it's not like the fear when you see a lion.
Oh, no, there's a lion.
But he said it would be the fear of seeing a lion
and having a barrier between you and that lion.
Kind of like when you're at the zoo.
You see that lion.
Now you don't scream in fear.
Unless a lion jumps the fence.
Right? You're thankful for that bear. You have a healthy respect of what that lion can do to you.
What can that lion do to you? He can eat you. Right? He can eat you.
Now, growing up, I had a healthy fear of my dad. A real healthy fear of my dad.
Right. Now, when my dad walked through the door, oh, there he is.
I didn't do that, but I'm just thinking, I've seen this man in action.
I know what he could do to me, right?
I know what this, this person could tear my head off physically.
I know he could do that.
That's what I feared.
And at a greater level, what about God?
You know what God could do to you?
Do you see what God did to people throughout the scripture?
Whether he sent snakes and bit people?
Or whether he opened the ground and swallowed them up?
Or whether they just dropped dead like Anonis and Safira.
To those who fear him, he shows mercy.
I don't know about you, but I don't know about you, but I,
I ask for the mercy of the Lord quite often.
And it's a really, really good thing.
No doubt Mary had read through Deuteronomy where it says,
for the Lord your God is a merciful God.
He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers,
which he swore to them.
God loves his covenant.
That's why that new covenant in the blood of Christ Jesus is so powerful.
He loves his covenant.
and he wants to show mercy.
We just have to do our part and fear him.
Or in the New Testament, Titus 3, verse 5,
he saved us, not on the basis of deeds,
which we have done in righteousness,
but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration
and renewing by the Holy Spirit.
Right?
So powerful.
Verse 51, he puts down the proud.
God opposes the proud.
The scripture tells us, but he gives grace to the humble.
Are you humble today?
Folks, that's why it's so important to read.
To read God's word.
I ain't got time.
you don't have time not to, right?
Read it, absorb it, let it, let it temper you, let it grow you.
And he puts down the mighty, but he exalted the lowly.
No doubt Mary had read the stories about Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh and Senechereb,
these worldly kings that God just.
I mean, Nebuchadnezzar, why God did not just kill him?
Because Belshazzar, he didn't get the same treatment as Nebuchadnezzar.
God showed Belshazzar, or excuse me, Nebuchadnezzar mercy.
Belchazer, he's just a dead man.
He was the one that Daniel told, hey, Belchazer, there's something going to happen tonight.
Because the God who holds your breath in his hand, you've offended him.
and you have not humbled yourself.
And God goes, I'll take that breath.
Thank you.
And he's dead.
Nebuchadnezzar, he makes him go crazy and eat grass for seven years just like a cow.
Brer.
But he's put down the mighty.
Those were Nebuchadnezzar was called the King of Kings in those days.
They can't stand against the God of heaven.
Who do they think?
think they are.
But he exalts the lowly, no doubt she had read about Joseph, the slave boy in Potterford's
house that ascended to the throne.
Or Daniel, the teenager, captive, that was very powerful in the Medo-Persian Empire.
or the shepherd boy who became King David.
She knew that God could do anything with her life that he wanted to.
And so it is with us.
You realize God can do anything with us that he wants to.
It's just that he has this desire for us to to humble ourselves.
And when we do so, he can draw close to us.
and he can feed us with the bread from heaven.
Like Jesus talked about there when in verse 35 through 40 of John chapter 6,
because it says in verse 53, he filled the hungry with good things.
And Jesus said, I am the bread of life.
He who comes to me shall never hunger.
And he who believes in me shall never thirst.
But I said to you that you have, you have seen me and yet you do not believe.
Some of you have maybe seen the works of God.
Maybe in somebody else's life.
Right?
That's a really hard thing to argue with.
I changed life.
Right?
I've seen a lot of people changed over the years.
And that's a powerful testimony.
And what you and I have been witnessing here just recently with the nation of Israel.
And the stuff going on in Syria, that's just wild.
That's, that's bizarre.
But God's, God's doing stuff.
Our job is to put all that we are, all of our weight upon who he is.
Versus 54 and 55, it says,
he has helped his servant, Israel, and remembrance of his mercy.
He's doing that today. Right? He's doing that today.
When in the Old Testament, when it says, talking about Jerusalem, it says that God sends a fire around, like a ring of fire that can't be penetrated by.
enemies. How is it as you look at that nation on the map? How is it that all the surrounding
nations that are three, four, five, six times bigger and would like to annihilate this little
tiny piece of, they can't do it. They can't do it. That in itself should inspire faith in us. And
Mary points this out here where it's it. He is how. He is.
helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy.
God's been merciful to Israel just like he's been merciful to you and me.
It's the same God. It's the same mercy. He has the same passion for you and I.
Why? I have no idea.
And I think Mary was in that same place,
absolutely overwhelmed with the mercy of God.
But in reality, she was seeing the promises of God being fulfilled.
As it says in verse 55, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his seed forever.
The promise that he gave to Abraham is a promise that he gave to Abraham is a promise that.
that you and I can claim as well. Why? Because it's just faith. Abraham walked by faith.
Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Do you want righteousness in your
life? Then you have to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to walk by faith.
Because without faith, it is impossible to please him.
Deuteronomy.
Chapter 5, verse 10.
But showing mercy to thousands of those who love me.
And keep my commandments.
God kept his promises to Israel through the seed of Abraham as a savior that will come.
He's going to come and he's going to save you.
He's going to save you from your sin, the bondage of sin.
He's going to save you from the penalty of sin that we all deserve.
And he's going to offer you eternal life.
Jesus is a type of Isaac in that he was the promised son.
God kept his promise.
And he's going to keep this word that Mary received in her heart.
Now, we don't know.
We don't know if Mary stayed there until John the Baptist was born.
It doesn't appear so.
She was getting back.
You think about that.
As you read through this, you realize, wow, John the Baptist and Jesus were only six months apart in age.
Both of them left this earth in their 30s.
what you would call the prime of life.
I tell people my prime was 36.
I was a late bloomer.
But, folks, the bottom line is, it's not about this life.
It's about the one to come.
And in this life, it's a preparation process.
Right?
We're walking through this life.
Our pilgrimage, the Bible calls it.
our sojourn. And we're getting ready. We're getting ready for heaven.
And God's going to give us all kinds of opportunities to do things like we see Mary.
She gets to travel and she proclaims to Elizabeth and Zachariah, what God's doing in our life.
That's all we got to do. I think it was St. Augustus that said, love God with all your heart.
and do what you want.
Right?
Because when you love God with all your heart,
I just about said the F word.
When you love God with all your heart, right?
He's going to direct your life.
He's going to show you where to go.
He is going to give you a future and the hope that he has for you.
And that's where your soul is satisfied, not in the abundance of things.
right?
We know that Mary and Joseph were extremely poor,
simply because of the offering that she brings there in Luke chapter 2.
Birds.
That's what she brought us an offering.
Only poor people did that.
But boy, she was rich in faith.
Amen?
May it so be of us.
Let's pray.
Father, thank you.
Thank you for this morning.
for this servant girl who is an incredible witness to us.
Lord, I just pray for anyone here today who has not come to you by faith.
Knowing they don't have all the answers, but they know they need something much bigger than
themselves.
And you tell us it's who it is.
Lord, that you came in the likeness of sinful man.
and yet without sin.
And paid that sacrifice, marred more than any man on Calvich cross for each one of us.
Lord, would you just minister to those hearts, Lord,
and that they would confess with their mouth of Lord Jesus and believe in their heart
that you rose from the dead.
Lord, and that anyone who would put their faith in that incredible act of love,
Lord, would have everlasting life, eternal life.
It's a thing.
All of us are looking for life.
Lord, we just look forward in the wrong places so often.
May we find ourselves this Christmas season looking for life.
And none other than the life giver.
The inventor of life.
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
So, Father, would you go with us this week?
Help us to, Lord, as we focus on this advent of you coming,
and Lord, knowing that it was just the beginning and that you're going to come again.
Lord, may we get excited.
And may we find ourselves walking by faith and not by sight.
Lord, we pray for the peace of Israel and the peace of Jerusalem.
And all this going on over there, Lord, we pray for our loved ones here.
I think of all those who are sick and hurting right now, Lord, that you would just be with them
and draw them close to yourself, Lord, that you would touch.
and heal according to your will.
And Lord, help us to be able to accept results, Lord, even the ones we don't understand.
And so, Father, we just, we're overwhelmed by how great our God is.
And truly our soul magnifies you in Jesus' name.
Amen.