[0:00] Before we get back to Luke 1, I want to take you through the verses through the New Testament. I think it's very important for you to realize who Mary was. And by looking at the majority of the verses about her life, I think it will help you.
[0:11] Brother Brett, if you wouldn't mind putting the picture of the stained glass picture on the screen. I like stained glass windows. There's a Methodist church not far from here. And me and Brother Sunjaya James were there one time.
[0:22] It's now a Hindu temple. And he raised his hand and he says, Do you mind if I tell you why there's a lamb and there's a cross in your windows? And it was one of the best moments I've ever had talking about stained glass windows, explaining what it said there.
[0:34] But here's a picture that would be common to see one of Mary in stained glass. And just like when I take a picture of my daughters, they often want to see the phone and say, Dad, I don't really prefer this picture.
[0:46] Dad, I don't want this picture. I think it's important if you'll show the next picture. As we look at this, we look at the life of Mary. I think you need to see that she's an example of faith lived out as a human and as a person who was not divine, that wrestled and struggled with problems, who depended upon God, and who worshipped Him.
[1:06] I thought about getting one of our teenage girls to play Mary today, but I don't think any of them would want to do that and stand up here the whole time. But look at the verses as I read these to you as it talks about Mary.
[1:16] In Luke 1, it doesn't start with the genealogy as some of the tellings of the nativity do. But you know what I love about a genealogy? And I know it's difficult in our Bible reading at times, but if nothing else, take this away from a genealogy, is that the story of Jesus did not start at once a point of time, but it's grounded in history.
[1:37] It really happened. And so the genealogies remind you that this isn't just a stained glass story, some kind of make-believe, but this Mary was a real person who lived a life of faith and that Jesus was born of her.
[1:52] The song that we sing, I don't know that we sing it, I remember singing it when I was younger, Love is when God became a man locked in time and space without rank or place. But there is a time and place in which He was born, and He was born here of Mary.
[2:07] And so Mary is at a position of what we've read where she still has to wait upon the response of Joseph to know how he is going to respond to the news. And then in Luke chapter number 2, they're still going to be poor when they go to offer a sacrifice, and they're going to offer the sacrifice available to them because they were poor of two turtle doves.
[2:29] And then when they go into the temple, and the Holy Spirit led Simeon in Luke chapter number 2 to go there, Simeon, it will say in 2.34, And this is what Simeon says to Mary about her son, Yea, a sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
[2:59] As Jesus will die upon the cross, she will suffer heartache as a mother would. And so she does not have it easy. She is not perfect.
[3:10] But she wrestles through this life of faith, trusting God, and being misunderstood. It says that Jesus said in Mark 6.4, Jesus said, A prophet is not without honor, but is in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
[3:23] That's when he walked up one day, and they said, It's not that it's the carpenter's son, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Judas, and Simon, and his sisters, being misunderstood. That Mary would have lived a life that would have been misunderstood by family and friends that are around her.
[3:38] Before the cross, there's three references to Mary. And I think we see something about her in these references. We see her attitude, and we see her reverence for her son, Jesus, knowing that Jesus is God.
[3:53] In Luke 2.48 and 49, Mary was amazed, and it says, And when she saw him, they were maids, and the mother said to him, Son, why hast thou dealt with us?
[4:04] Behold, thy father and I have sought for thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it thou sought me, which do you know not that I must be about my father's business? I don't know if it ever lost her mind, or ever went out of her mind, that her son was headed to a cross, and that he was there on a mission.
[4:21] But right before his teenage years, there was this reminder that Jesus was here upon a mission. Then we get to a wedding in John chapter number two. And Mary comes to her son and says, Mother, Jesus saith unto him, Thou have no wine.
[4:33] And Jesus looks at her and says, Mother, don't you know that it's not yet time? That it's not time for me? And that, never being disrespectful, but correcting his mom, and his mom receiving instruction, because she knows that he is the son of the Most High.
[4:50] That the Most High became the Most Low, and was born of her as a virgin, but he still remained deity, and she was not God, and she needed that instruction.
[5:01] And then in Mark, there's the mans that are upon Jesus, and Jesus is so busy, it said that he didn't have time to eat, and then Mary, and they come to him, and his answer to them, and he says, verse 33, Who is my mother and of my brethren?
[5:14] And he looked round about them, which said about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren. That must be a difficult thing for Mary, because in one sense, she's raised him, she sees him unlike anybody else's perfection.
[5:30] We know the perfection of Christ, but she has all these times with him, headed to a cross, and knowing it's coming soon. And then Mary would watch as her son would die.
[5:40] Others would be screaming wicked taunts and insults at her. Her sense of injustice being done to him must have been profound. After all, no one understood Jesus' absolute sinless perfection better than Mary did.
[5:54] John 19, 26, When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by, whom he loved, and he said unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother.
[6:05] And from that hour, the disciple took unto his own home. What an incredible example of somebody honoring their mother is there when he said, you're going to be taken care of.
[6:17] And one of the things that he accomplished there upon the cross. So Mary is not to be adored, as to be worshipped, but she is certainly to be admired.
[6:28] Not to be venerated for her faith, but her faith should be replicated in every one of our lives. I won't place an age upon her. Some say as early as 12 or 13. It appears they're not driving yet, because I hear they ride a donkey, so I'm guessing they're not driving yet.
[6:43] But I would say that she would certainly have been in the youth ministry, late middle school, and in high school. And that's incredible, because in her life, and in her upbringing, being so saturated in the word, that her response was so filled with the word, and her obedience was so quick, that she would have been well prepared for this time in her life that was coming.
[7:06] In Luke 11, 27, and somebody that had some confusion about where the blessing was on her. They said, And it came to pass, and he spake of these things. A certain woman of a company lifted up her voice and said, Blessed is the womb that bear thee.
[7:20] But Jesus said, But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. And that's where Mary's blessing was upon, that she obeyed the word of God, and she kept it.
[7:33] And so the response was, It's not the blessing upon your womb, but she is human as anybody else, and she gets to be a handmaiden and a servant this way. But the blessing upon Mary's life is that she heard the word, and that she obeyed it.
[7:46] That's available to every one of us in here today. She was human, and Jesus is God. She provides an incredible example of a person who was blessed because she heard the word of God, and she kept it.
[7:57] Jesus was the object of her worship. Jesus was the one she recognized as Lord. Jesus was the one she trusted in everything. Mary's own example seen in Scripture teaches us to do the same thing.
[8:09] So as we look at these two scenes of Mary, where she hears from the angel, then she goes to Elizabeth, and then she bursts out with this song, I want to show us a few things that we should admire about her life.
[8:19] And the first is this. Admire her faith that caused her to be willing to obey in the face of so much unknown. Mary had been raised in a poor family. When the angel had come last time, when Gabriel had come the time before, he had came upon a temple and had given a message.
[8:37] Now he's going to Nazareth, which is to go to the outskirts of town and go a little bit even farther to find them. And this is his job. Two angels are mentioned in the Bible by name. We have Michael, we have Gabriel, one of them we find fighting in the Bible, and then apparently Gabriel's in charge of birth announcements.
[8:53] But I don't feel bad for him, all right? It's not a bad gig, all right? And so last time he gave a birth announcement, and this time he shows up, but in a different place. Where does he come to find Mary? But it's in a home where there would be poverty in the outside of town.
[9:08] And she hears the angel say, for with God nothing shall be impossible. And not two chapters later, not at the end of the New Testament, but immediately her response was, verse 38, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.
[9:28] Decisions like that aren't made in a moment. They're like as Daniel says in 1.8, that he purposed in his heart. You know that he's going to make a decision. Mary's upbringing brought her to a point that when she knew that she had heard from God, she was able to respond in such humility and say, Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be upon me according to thy word.
[9:47] She says that before a lot of answers are given. She says that before, there's still so much unknown. Because she was answering God. Mary believed, and Elizabeth says, when she was filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth says, And blessed is she that believed, in verse 45, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told.
[10:07] She says that Mary believed. There's a difference here, right? Zacharias, he asks a question, and then the angel says, Well, you're not going to speak now for the next nine months.
[10:18] But Mary asks a question, and it's different. Because belief isn't opposed to asking questions, but there's two different types of questions that we're being asked here. One of them is, Are you sure this is going to happen?
[10:30] And the other one was, Mary was, How is this going to happen? I believe you, but I am a virgin. I have never been with a man. You say this is going to happen. How is it going to happen?
[10:41] And so, the answer is given there to her. It speaks of her virtue. It speaks of her faith that is here. Belief doesn't mean we don't ask questions, but we ask in faith, believing that He is, and He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
[10:56] The Bible tells us, 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9, that the eyes of the Lord go to and fro across this world, looking for people with a perfect heart, one that is complete towards them, so that He could show Himself strong.
[11:06] And on that day, the Lord had found in Mary a person whose heart was given to the things of God, who knew the Word of God, who that when an angel would say, all things are possible with God, would respond with, here I am, your handmaiden.
[11:22] That ought to be a challenge. Parents, think about that for a moment. Preparing their kids for their greatest ministry in their teen years, to respond to the Word of God like this.
[11:33] We see the humility that is in her response. What manner of salutation should this should be? What manner of salutation? The teenagers know this. I like the Greek people.
[11:43] Let's see if any of you, anybody knows how I like the Greek people. Anyone want to say it? How about it, right? I always, when I see that, I think I get that from Kentucky, but nobody that I know back in Kentucky says it. It's personal to me.
[11:54] So sometimes when I see people, I say, how about it? And everybody responds with, what kind of manner of salutation is that, right? They're like, what does that even mean? Nobody knows what to do with it.
[12:04] And I know that because sometimes they greet me with that. I'm like, I don't know what to do with that either. That is not a very good introduction. So it wasn't like, hey, I don't understand your accent. I don't understand what you're saying when you come to me.
[12:15] But it was like saying, what manner that you would say that I am being blessed of God and that I'm going to receive God's favor. The immediate response is humility. It's that what manner is this that you would come to me, that you see me here.
[12:29] She knew that she was not worthy of worship, but she was going to be blessed and favored of the Lord that is there. She also knows, verse 47, so important, and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior.
[12:45] She knew that she was in need of a Savior. Sherry, you probably wanted to know how long I was going to go without bringing up the song, Mary, Did You Know? Sometimes I like to pretend like I'm too cool to enjoy that song because she did know, right?
[13:00] We all know. But what did she know? Did she know that he would walk on water? Probably not. Did he know that he would rule the nations? She did. Did he know that he would make the blind see?
[13:12] She probably didn't know it, but maybe she expected it. Did she know that that child that she would deliver would soon deliver her? I believe that she did. In Mary, we see a very full and robust understanding of Jesus, the Messiah, that was available.
[13:29] And it's in such contrast, right? We have the Pharisees and we have the Sadducees and they're seeing all these things that Jesus do and they never understand what's going on. But this young teenage girl whose family raised her knowing the Bible, whose mind and heart was saturated in Scripture, she said that this would be her Savior, that she knew she was in need of a Savior and that this child would be a Savior.
[13:51] It's absolutely incredible. People with a great faith still need each other. In verse 39 and 40, it says, And Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste in the city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth.
[14:08] I want the focus there upon Mary arose in those days immediately. Brother Brett, if you'd show the picture of Mary and Elizabeth that I found, who knew it was available, right?
[14:18] You know, most people don't even look for this kind of stuff, right? But there's a picture of it here and I just, I love it just to see that here. There's many places you would love to be at in the Bible, but this one's just got to be phenomenal, right?
[14:31] Elizabeth had just heard that God was going to the impossible in her life and now she has went away and then Mary immediately takes off and God in His love and grace towards her and His kindness says, I'm going to send you to another person of great faith and when you share this story, you together are going to rejoice.
[14:51] You know, this is what we're experiencing right here together when we meet together for church. People that have heard from God who are living lives of faith get to be with other people that are living great lives of faith and just get to rejoice together.
[15:04] And I think that picture does a great job at it. Just uncontrolled laughing and Elizabeth being filled with the Holy Spirit says, who am I to get to have the mother of our Savior, of our Lord coming to us and to celebrate what is happening here.
[15:18] So what prepares a heart for such a great response of obedience? It's living a life that is saturated in the Word of God. Mary is so steeped in Scripture that when she breaks out in praise here in a moment that the words that come out naturally to her lips are the words of Scripture.
[15:36] The Psalms that Mary sings are those of numerous references to the law, to the Psalms and to the writings and to the prophets. In verse number 46, Mary says, Mary having the opportunity to have read about Hannah and Leah and Ruth and all the heroes to her growing up and knowing the Scriptures.
[15:57] Mary says in verse 46, Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord. The words of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2, 1 are, my heart rejoices in the Lord, my horn is exalted in the Lord.
[16:10] Horn being that object of strength. Psalms 34 says, my soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. Mary goes on to say in verse 48, and he has regarded the lowest state of his handmaid.
[16:24] Hannah said in 1 Samuel 1, 11, and she vowed, a vowed, and said, O Lord of hosts, that thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thy handmaid. Psalm 36, 1, 23 says, who remembered us in our lowest state for his mercy endureth forever.
[16:39] Mary knew of the prophets. Verse 47, she says, and my spirit has rejoiced in God. My Savior Isaiah said, have I not? I the Lord, and there is no God else beside me, a just God and a Savior, and there is none beside me.
[16:52] Then David today spoke about Leah. Leah says in Genesis 30, verse 13, and Leah said, happy am I for the daughters will call me blessed. Mary says in her song, for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
[17:07] She talks about the history of Israel. She understands how God had exercised his mighty arm in verse 51. He had showed strength with his arm. He had scattered the proud and imaginations of his heart.
[17:17] She even gives an understanding of the Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 12, 3 that says, I will bless them that bless thee and I will curse them that curse thee and in thee all the families of the earth shall be blessed when she says, and he spake to our fathers to Abraham and to see him forever.
[17:34] She understood the word of God. Her mind had been saturated in the word of God and just like it says in the Bible, out of the abundance of her heart her mouth spoke. I know those aren't direct quotations but if any of you are in school, if you ever turn your paper in and they use a program called Turn It or Turn It In or whatever, right?
[17:52] Some of you teachers may use it. Mary is definitely guilty of some plagiarism going on here, right? There would be red marks all over the paper to say, Mary, you know where this source came from. Mary, you know these words had come from somewhere.
[18:04] Her natural response was just to speak in Bible terms. The way she knew how to respond was to say, I'm being blessed just like it had been promised to us. Incredible. Incredible.
[18:16] How do I get to a point where my kids would respond in a moment with just an outflow of Bible is I have to saturate their lives with the Word of God. I have to make sure they have every opportunity.
[18:28] They've got to know where their one of this is so that they can know where their one of book is so that they can be around the Word of God and that's a problem for us, okay? Knowing where those things are. But every opportunity they have, I just want the Word of God around them so that when God speaks and He does, that they respond and they say, they respond in such an incredible way.
[18:48] It's just amazing to me. How does she put together such a beautiful song in such a quick amount of time because she had been studying such beautiful songs for so long and we see it in the Bible out of the abundance of her heart.
[18:59] Remember the words of Jesus in response to why Mary was blessed. Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the Word and keep it. That's what Mary is doing. What if we steep our minds and heart in Scripture and die day and night so that the words and thoughts of Scripture fill our mouths as naturally as they did in Mary's?
[19:16] I can tell you that there's times that the words of Scripture don't come out my mouth and my immediate response. Something that comes out of pride or comes out of a hatred in my heart that shouldn't be there that the Word of God would push out and would make room for.
[19:30] So your objection about me, I do not hear from God through the angels. What do you think you're doing right now? Alright? No, I'm not an angel. I see where you're going with that, right? I'm not an angel. But what is it you think that we're doing when we get together?
[19:41] What is it you think you were doing in your life group this morning? What is it you think you were doing yesterday when you opened up the Word of God and you read? You were reading the words of God as delivered unto you no more but no less than as if delivered from an angel unto Mary.
[19:59] And every one of you were called upon to make a response to it. Either a response in faith like Mary did and said, I'm going to move forward or to deny it. And an unavoidable and a wonderful outflow of living a life saturated in the Word is a spontaneous and beautiful moments of worship as we see.
[20:18] Let's look at the song in which he would sing. And here I admire her expression of worship in her song and in her life. It says that in her inner life my soul doth magnify the Lord.
[20:30] My soul, it was personal in her inner heart the adoring of praise that is in the essence of what real worship is. This internal response to who God is.
[20:41] In Amos, it speaks about what worship isn't. It says, in Amos 5, 21 and 23 it says, I hate and I despise your feasts and days and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings I will not accept them.
[20:54] Neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take away from me the noise of thy songs. That worship wasn't something that just happens in the outward. It wasn't just something as she began to sing.
[21:06] It wasn't just in the melody what she was doing. It was not just in the outward but worship starts immediately in a person's response to the word of God who says, God that in you all things are possible and because of that I am your handmaiden and you can do whatever you want.
[21:22] That response was worship to our God. Understand that God had done something specifically for her that He is worthy of being worshipped and He can't be induced by certain instruments or types of instruments or by stained glass or outward things but it's a matter of our heart.
[21:39] But then she understands it's for her. Verse 48, they have regarded the lowest state of His handmaiden. She saw herself as a servant. And then when she speaks to herself in verse 48, this isn't a point of pride and humility.
[21:51] She says, Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Over 2,000 years later, here we are and we're saying, Mary, you are blessed. And why was she blessed?
[22:03] As Jesus said, because she heard the word and she obeyed and that's what God's blessing was upon her life. Third, she spends most of her time in this song describing God in general.
[22:17] If there was ever a person who knew that worship should not be directed at them, it was Mary. Isn't it? We've looked at the majority of the verses about her but if there was ever a person who wanted to point to Jesus and that He was worthy of worship, it would be Mary.
[22:33] It said in verse 51, He has showed His strength. Verse 52, He has put down the mighty. Verse 53, He hath filled the hungry with good deeds. Verse 54, He has helped His servant Israel.
[22:43] He hath done these things and it's because of Him that we should magnify His name. Psalm 69 verse 30 says, I will praise the name of God with a song and I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
[22:55] Not just Mary, not just David, but you and I should magnify the name of the Lord. He hath done great things. It is His strength. This is the type of life that Mary was living.
[23:07] This is the song that she would sing in a world that is so much about ourselves that promotes self-centeredness, that promotes us receiving and taking and thinking what is best for us. But Mary is the direct opposite of that.
[23:20] She says, I'm going to sing a song and it's not going to be about me. Man, if anybody had an opportunity for pride, right? I think about the small things that I've ever done for Christ and how big a deal I have made out of them.
[23:33] But Mary, who will carry Jesus, says it's all about Jesus. It's all about Him. Any night, anything that she ever did, any sacrifice, was nothing here. She recognized that Jesus for who He is.
[23:45] And so there's seven reasons I was pointing out two years ago. I want to go through them very quickly that would lead Jesus, that would lead Mary to type of worship that were said about Him. In Jesus, there is none that is more human.
[23:56] How shall this be? Being said, I'm no, not a man. There was none that was more human than Jesus. He was fully human. And she said, I don't know a man, so there cannot be Him.
[24:07] There was none that was more human. Verse 35, there also shall, this holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. There is none that is more divine, that He was a completely God, 100% man, 100% God.
[24:20] And He shall reign over the house of Jacob because there is none that is stronger. And His kingdom shall be no end. There is none any longer. When you think about Him being of the house of Jacob, you say, well, that's kind of, that's not a big area.
[24:33] You know, He's over the house of Jacob. Well, when you're the last standing kingdom, you are the greatest, right? There's one that will last forever of the house of Jacob. That is who she is going to worship. And that's who we worship today because only a very few of us, our names are ever going to be remembered in history, but none of us will be forgotten in eternity.
[24:52] And that I find myself hidden in Christ and that I am part of His kingdom and that He will rule and reign for all eternity of the house of Jacob and that in Jesus here, there is none that is any longer.
[25:03] And that is so wonderful. Mary could be confident of her eternity. She didn't know what was going to happen in the days to come, but she knew that this child was of the house of Jacob and there would be none longer. There is none pure.
[25:14] Therefore, also this holy thing that shall be born is called the Son of God. Shall call His name Jesus, none more needed. Jesus being the name that God gave them the name, symbolizing that this is my son, didn't give them the opportunity to name it, that this is Yeshua, this is Joshua, this is that God saves.
[25:36] There is none more needed than Jesus and then there is none more worthy of admiration. In verse 32, He shall be called great. Mary knew these things about Jesus and because of that she worshipped.
[25:48] Mary knew it and then after the death of Jesus, Mary appears one more time in the Bible. The last verse in Acts 114, this is what it says. They're in the upper room.
[26:00] This gives you a very good understanding of how the first church has viewed Mary. While there wouldn't have been statues placed upon her, how they would have thought that to be a disrespect to the life that she lived that made much of Jesus.
[26:11] But look where she's at in Acts 114. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brethren.
[26:24] She's with the church in the upper room and she's praying and she's making supplication. You know what supplication is? The action of asking or begging for something earnestly or humbly.
[26:37] It doesn't just say they were praying but it says that there's a supplication. What do you think that they're praying for? What do you think they're in the upper room praying for? I think I know what they're praying for. The promise to be delivered.
[26:48] What are they waiting for? The fulfillment of a promise. John 14, 18 when he says I will not leave you comfortless but I will come to you with supplication.
[26:58] They're praying for the arrival of the Holy Spirit. They're praying that God will be with us as he had been in the day in the incarnation of Jesus and there is Mary with them making supplication and saying God we need you.
[27:10] We need your presence. And there she is with the church waiting for the arrival of the Holy Spirit that indwells every one of us as believers that we have that today.
[27:23] Such an opportunity that we have being dwelt by the Holy Spirit so her mind was saturated in the word and that produced a heart that was ready and a mouth that was ready the same praises unto the Lord.
[27:36] What an example we're given. Maybe there's times that we want to deify Mary and make her untouchable as divine because when we think about her as a human it sets such a contrast to the life that we often live.
[27:50] She lived a life of faith in God's word and she responded to God's word and because of that it says she was blessed. This life of faith should be lived in the life of every one of us.
[28:02] And here's how I had to answer that question this week. Thinking about some 15, 16 year old girl who has to respond to the word of God and she responds in humility she responds with scripture and she says your handmaiden is here.
[28:18] And I think about your teenagers and I think about my kids and I say how do we raise up a generation of kids that are so saturated in the scripture who want to obey the word of God who will live blessed lives because they obey the word of God and the answer is simple but very convicting because that's how I live.
[28:36] That I live my life saturated in the word and so when I'm called upon to give a response I just answer with words of scripture and when I'm certain that the word of God is speaking rather from an angel or from his written word that he gave it to me I turn and I say hey I'm your servant you just tell me what you want to be done and I'm here to worship you.
[28:55] That's how we live a blessed life. Those are the blessings that were upon Mary and they're available to every one of us and being indwelt today by the Holy Spirit that he has come and he lives here among us.
[29:08] How wonderful and what a great story. Here in a moment I'm going to pray and as I pray the piano player she'll come. I don't know your heart and you don't know my heart today but I would love to introduce you to the Jesus of this story.
[29:21] The one that he goes on he lives a perfect life and then he goes and dies on a cross between criminals even though he's not because he was dying for your sin he was dying for my sin.
[29:32] It ought to be the easiest thing in the world for us to acknowledge that we're sinners but it's so hard because they acknowledge that we're truly sinners. We all acknowledge that we make mistakes right? But the Bible calls us one something much bigger which is to say that we have defied the laws of God that we were born sinners and then upon choice we have decided to transgress the laws of God and because of that there's a penalty in which that needs to be paid but it was paid by Jesus who lived that perfect life and you should follow the example that Mary gave and you should reverence and you should worship Jesus Christ the Son you should have faith in the Son and what he has done for you.
[30:11] So we'd love to have an opportunity to take God's word with you and show you that. So as we pray if you don't know him today if you'll raise your hand I'll have an usher come to you take you to my office where nobody was at if there's a man or if there's a woman and answer that for you.
[30:24] But many of you if most of you in here profess to be a believer as I do today what a challenge from her life right? What should we be expecting as we prepare our kids? We shouldn't make the standard of this world our standard and just say we have to do slightly better than that.
[30:39] And as a teenager they could be so full of the scripture that their immediate response would be one of obedience and worship. There's coming a time where we're not going to be around and our kids are going to make decisions and they're not going to be and we're not going to be there to make that decision for them.
[30:54] But you know what's going to be the response? It's going to be the response of what they have believed about God from his word. So we have a short amount of time to prepare them because God does still speak today in his word.
[31:05] And he sends us on errands around this world and to do certain things and to minister with other people and through the Holy Spirit we can hear from him and we can be obedient to him. That's the type of blessed life that we should all desire to live.
[31:18] Heavenly Father we thank you for your word inspired and perfectly held and preserved for us today to read and today we have read about Mary a person that you looked upon and you chose to show yourself strong and Father you most certainly showed yourself strong in her life.
[31:36] The blessings of obedience to the scripture are so clear in her life. Lord this is the type of blessing that I've won upon my children and upon their children is to be a person that responds to your word.
[31:50] Lord I pray right now for someone in here who has never responded to your calling of salvation. With every head bowed and every eye closed and crispened place could I plead with you the day.
[32:00] If you've never put your faith and trust in Jesus you do not know if your faith is placed in him please allow us to honor to show you from God's word how that you can do that. Would you raise your hand so I can have someone come to you and take you and show you from God's word that Jesus Christ is God and that he died in your place.
[32:20] Well now I'll speak to the Christians as this scripture spoke to me. Let's live a life of faith and simple obedience to his word. Make that a conviction of your life. If you'd like you can come to an altar make that decision with the Lord if not do so in your seat but most certainly be obedient to what he has told you to do in this time.
[32:39] Heavenly Father as we continue to pray Lord I pray that we will all make commitments to your word to saturate our minds and hearts in scripture. Lord if there's someone in here today Lord that you are calling upon to do something that you have showed what they want I pray that even before they know everything that they would turn to you Lord and say that they are your servant and they are ready to respond.
[33:03] Continue to pray at the altar in your seat and here in a moment you can stand and sing with Stephen. nice sand to be with you on B and anything I want to say let's went class