SPEAKER_01: And please we're going to read in our passage.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got your Bibles, encourage you to grab those.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to read this myself.
SPEAKER_01: I know you want to read with me, but I read faster and you know we'll just we'll make it we'll make it work.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 1, we are continuing in the going through Luke and Acts, and we are starting in verse 39.
SPEAKER_01: So if you'll listen as I read, please, Luke chapter 1, beginning in verse 39.
SPEAKER_01: Now at this time Mary arose and went into a went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
SPEAKER_01: When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she cried out with a loud voice and said, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
SPEAKER_01: And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?
SPEAKER_01: For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And Mary said, My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has regarded he has re had regard for the humble state of his bond slave.
SPEAKER_01: For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
SPEAKER_01: For the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name, and his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: He has done mighty deeds with his arm, he has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
SPEAKER_01: He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble.
SPEAKER_01: He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent away the rich empty-handed.
SPEAKER_01: He has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers to Abraham and his descendants forever.
SPEAKER_01: And Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned to her home.
SPEAKER_01: Could you pray with me, please?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Please be seated.
SPEAKER_01: I am so grateful for what Pastor Adam shared earlier, and that was spot on to what we're trying to do this year.
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're connected.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's it's easy um to kind of get in our own little bubble and our own little world and think that it's all about what's happening around us.
SPEAKER_01: But the faith that we hold so dear, we didn't make this up.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't start last week.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't start with the industrial revolution, it didn't start with our language.
SPEAKER_01: This has been going on for centuries, two centuries, uh century, two, two thousand years, two thousand years we have been living the faith of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And to think that the same people that are written in Scripture, and this this helps me whenever we talk about things like this, these folks in the scripture, they didn't walk around with a glow around them.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have, they didn't have bubble wrap, uh, they didn't, they didn't, they didn't like float instead of actually walk on the earth.
SPEAKER_01: They had they had blood, they had flesh, they had eyeballs, they had hair, they had body odor, they had everything that we have.
SPEAKER_01: They were just like us, human.
SPEAKER_01: And there was so much that we get to glean, and sometimes we kind of put them over there and we think, well, that was them.
SPEAKER_01: But I so appreciate the the reality of this.
SPEAKER_01: And the same is true for the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Mary was blessed, and she even said it in her praise that she would she would be called blessed, but she was very human, just like every other human on the face of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And what I want to do this morning is I want to start.
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna be four things in the next few chapters, four things that deal with praising our Savior, praising our Lord.
SPEAKER_01: And we're gonna start with Mary's praise, the praise of Mary, and we're gonna take it in in context.
SPEAKER_01: We'll start with what she has to say, and then others will be praising God in the weeks to come out of our passage out of Luke.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to, I want you to see what's happening here.
SPEAKER_01: The scene is Mary coming to her her relative Elizabeth, because the Gabriel earlier, we talked about this a few weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: Gabriel has visited Mary, said that your your relative, um, nothing is impossible with God.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 36 of chapter 1, your relative Elizabeth has has also conceived a son in her old age, and she is called who was called Baron, is now in her sixth month.
SPEAKER_01: So the story hasn't finished.
SPEAKER_01: We're still talking, we're still in the same same context.
SPEAKER_01: Gabriel telling Mary that the child is about to be born, the the virgin conception, the birth of a real baby on real earth in real time that is fully God and fully man, and the Messiah has fully come.
SPEAKER_01: All of that, all of that happening.
SPEAKER_01: Now we we set the stage, we set the scene for what's going to happen next.
SPEAKER_01: The angel Gabriel has told Mary that she is going to have the baby, the Holy Spirit is going to help with that.
SPEAKER_01: This all is working together, nothing is impossible with God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, verse 39.
SPEAKER_01: Mary comes into the house.
SPEAKER_01: She rose right after Gabriel talked to her, went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah.
SPEAKER_01: So she's heading toward Jerusalem, where Elizabeth and Zachariath live, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
SPEAKER_01: But just so you see why we're we're keeping this passage together, you scoot down to the very last verse that I read just a moment ago in verse 56, and it says, And Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned to her home.
SPEAKER_01: So we're all in the in the sense of this is Mary in Zacharias, or in Zechariah, depending on your translation, and Elizabeth's house.
SPEAKER_01: There, she's staying there, and this is what happens when she gets there.
SPEAKER_01: So here we go.
SPEAKER_01: Come to the passage.
SPEAKER_01: She comes into the house, and Elizabeth in verse 41, when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, that that was common.
SPEAKER_01: The younger would would greet the older, the elder, and they heard the greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: And she cried out with a loud voice, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
SPEAKER_01: And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?
SPEAKER_01: For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy, and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now, before we move past this too quickly, I want to I want to kind of draw your attention to something I think is very, very profound.
SPEAKER_00: Mary gets a visit from the the angel.
SPEAKER_00: Elizabeth.
SPEAKER_01: We knew that the Spirit of God was going to be on him.
SPEAKER_01: But here's where we have to keep this in context: real people, real life, real living.
SPEAKER_01: Mary and Elizabeth are a part of a generation that is a part of a generation after generation after generation that has been waiting and waiting and waiting for the Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Four hundred years.
SPEAKER_01: And they have now, now, all of that waiting, all of that, maybe this year, maybe this time, maybe, maybe, maybe, not a few years, not a few decades, not but four hundred years.
SPEAKER_01: Their grandparents, grandparents, grandparents, grandparents, grandparents were kind of still thinking about it before their grandparents told them this is going to happen someday.
SPEAKER_01: And now it's here.
SPEAKER_01: Everything they've been waiting for, everything they've been anticipating, everything they've been eager about, now it's here.
SPEAKER_01: This is not just a few verses of, well, that was nice.
SPEAKER_01: They got excited.
SPEAKER_01: They're happy.
SPEAKER_01: The Spirit of God, as of prophesying, showing us the truth, telling us the truth, had been silent for 400 years.
SPEAKER_01: And now Elizabeth and John the Baptist, and talk about doing your job before you even come out of the womb.
SPEAKER_01: Elizabeth and John the Baptist are the first ones to say the Messiah is here.
SPEAKER_01: This is so cool.
SPEAKER_01: You've got a little baby inside the mother and Elizabeth praising God for what God has done.
SPEAKER_01: He said he was going to do it.
SPEAKER_01: The prophecy had been throughout the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: We knew it was coming, but now it's here.
SPEAKER_01: Today, right now, here he is.
SPEAKER_01: And so what Mary does, moving into this, is called the Magnificat.
SPEAKER_01: It's the first word in the Latin hymn, the song, where she praises God for what he is doing, for who he is.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason that we're going to talk about this is that the same God who saved 2,000 years ago is the same God who saves today.
SPEAKER_01: The same God who promises is the same God who fulfills.
SPEAKER_01: The same God in the gospel gives us that.
SPEAKER_01: So I want us to look at this praise, this song, and I want us to think about it just for a few minutes this morning.
SPEAKER_01: Mary's song, excuse me, when you look through it, it's going to look a lot like a number of Old Testament passages.
SPEAKER_01: There are going to be a lot of references, and there are going to be a lot of points where you say, Well, wait a minute, didn't so-and-so say something, if not exactly that, et cetera, et cetera.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I love about this.
SPEAKER_01: It's saturated with the Word of God.
SPEAKER_01: She isn't just saying something off the top of her head.
SPEAKER_01: She has praise that is rooted in God's Word.
SPEAKER_01: And so she has learned this.
SPEAKER_01: And remember, she's a young teen.
SPEAKER_01: She's not very old.
SPEAKER_01: She's learned this, and she's able to communicate it in a way that gives him the glory.
SPEAKER_01: So let's let's let's get to the singing.
SPEAKER_01: Let's get to the song.
SPEAKER_01: So if you want to kind of put it in perspective, if you're taking notes, and I hope you are, and excuse me, I'm not asking you to take notes.
SPEAKER_01: I got to do a commercial break.
SPEAKER_01: Hang on.
SPEAKER_01: Sorry, just a parentheses.
SPEAKER_01: We don't take notes so that you can go home and say, hey, look at the outline that the pastor made up.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't this wonderful?
SPEAKER_01: You take notes for your walk with your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: You you go through and you say, okay, Lord, what do you what are you teaching me through your word that I can learn, that I can glean, and I can help my walk with you and help other people's walk with you.
SPEAKER_01: Because what God does in all of his sovereignty and all of his wisdom and all of his timing is he gives us his truth so that it can bless us and it can bless other people.
SPEAKER_01: So you don't take notes just for the sake of taking notes.
SPEAKER_01: You take notes so that it'll go from the point of the pen to the brain and stay there for a little while.
SPEAKER_01: Otherwise, it's in one ear, out the other.
SPEAKER_01: I may be the only one, but I don't think I am.
SPEAKER_01: You can listen all day and not take anything home.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're taking it for your prayer time and your study, that's why it is.
SPEAKER_01: End of commercial, back to the passage, here we go.
SPEAKER_01: When you talk about the song that Mary sings and the praise that she is giving, there's one word that keeps coming.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, it's it's pretty common throughout the rest of the songs, the praises as well, but it's really mercy.
SPEAKER_01: I want to show you what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 50, the the kind of the middle of the song, she says, And his mercy is upon generation after generation, is mercy.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's sometimes confusing to get you've got the words mercy and grace, and how does all of this fit and where does it all put together?
SPEAKER_01: But especially in the context of this song and the praise of Mary, when we're talking about mercy, we're talking about God in his covenant said faithful, steadfast love, reaching down to a people who are hurting, who are suffer suffering, who are miserable, because they are in anguish, and in their suffering, his mercy comes down and relieves them, heals them, rescues them.
SPEAKER_01: The reason I'm saying this in terms of the context, you look in verse 50, and then you scoot down a little bit in verse 54.
SPEAKER_01: She's gonna finish it toward the end saying, He has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is where we're going, and this is what it's about.
SPEAKER_01: Magnify the awesome mercy of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna set the plate, so to speak.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna I'm gonna try to go through this just in a few minutes and kind of give you an idea of what this this song is about.
SPEAKER_01: But I've got to I've got to do a little pause and I've got to make sure that you and I are on the same page with this.
SPEAKER_01: You see, if it's if it's just Mary's song, then we can just leave it on the page.
SPEAKER_01: If it's just something where we talk about who she is and what she did and how this worked out for her, well then that's fine.
SPEAKER_01: And and good for Mary and good for Jesus and good for Elizabeth, and it was a great story, and yay, God, and move on.
SPEAKER_01: But if you and I take just a moment of inspired hesitation, of a pregnant pause, and we were to ask God in our heart of hearts, Lord, am I seeing your mercy right now?
SPEAKER_01: Am I cognizant?
SPEAKER_01: Am I aware?
SPEAKER_01: Am I am I fully conscious of the fact that I am just even here by your mercy?
SPEAKER_01: That even in the midst of my suffering, not in my sin, that's a whole different conversation.
SPEAKER_01: It's a good one, and we'll deal with that later, but not today.
SPEAKER_01: But in my hurt, in my pain, in my anxiety, in my anguish, do I recognize the fact that your mercy is never failing?
SPEAKER_01: Do I hear you?
SPEAKER_01: Do I see you?
SPEAKER_01: Do I worship you for who you are?
SPEAKER_01: You see, there are so many ideas of who God is.
SPEAKER_01: There are so many interpretations and ideas and opinions and viewpoints and philosophies.
SPEAKER_01: And I think part of what makes this story, this encounter, this true life event so powerful is that for everything that Mary was faithful in and trusting in and the scripture that she relied upon, she realized that her interpretation of God was spot on.
SPEAKER_01: Because she was using his word to define who he is.
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, whenever the fog clears, the mist dissipates, the confusion goes away, you see him for who he is and his glory and his mercy toward you.
SPEAKER_01: So let's let's look at the song.
SPEAKER_01: We'll break it up in just a little bit here, just two parts.
SPEAKER_01: We'll start in verse 46.
SPEAKER_01: If you're if you're not there with me in your scripture, I encourage you to to look in your Bible with me to keep it in front of you, as well as the Bible and the pewac in front of in front of you there.
SPEAKER_01: Mary said, My soul exalts the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Now, just a few moments earlier in verse 45, Elizabeth had said, Blessed is she who believes that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: She is being, she's been honored because she has by faith believed what the angel said to her.
SPEAKER_01: She is now, she is now pregnant, she is about to have the will have the baby, but first comes John, and as she is getting this confirmation that she has done what she's supposed to do and she's going the right direction, we have other witnesses coming alongside of her.
SPEAKER_01: Now she says, My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior.
SPEAKER_01: That sounds wonderful.
SPEAKER_01: But you can't force this.
SPEAKER_01: You can't, you can't you can't force worship.
SPEAKER_01: You can't you can't say, Okay, well, I guess it's a good time to rejoice in God.
SPEAKER_01: This is a response of a heart that has already turned toward her.
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me keep going in the passage.
SPEAKER_01: It says, For he has had regard for the humble state of his bond slave.
SPEAKER_01: For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed, for the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name, and his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: Notice with me in verse 49, just real quick, for the mighty one has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
SPEAKER_01: Part of what makes worship so mighty and so important to magnify who God is, is the fact that you realize you're not worshiping yourself.
SPEAKER_01: We're not worshiping Mary, we're worshiping God, the mighty one, verse 49.
SPEAKER_01: He has done great things for me.
SPEAKER_01: And holy is his name.
SPEAKER_01: To understand who it is that we're talking to.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not suggesting this morning that if you've got a cold heart or you're indifferent or your worship is lacking, that you just got to prime the pump and hope your emotions kept catch up with your actions.
SPEAKER_01: What I'm telling you is that one of the reasons that we have such a uh a roadblock, uh a hindrance toward our heart, toward God, is we spend so much time looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
SPEAKER_01: Let me let me tell you what I mean.
SPEAKER_01: A telescope, let's just start from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: A telescope.
SPEAKER_00: I should have brought one up here.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have one, so it would have been really hard.
SPEAKER_00: Through the big end, right?
SPEAKER_00: Everybody with me?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, nod or grunt or something, please.
SPEAKER_01: Just please help me here.
SPEAKER_01: You look through the small end, and I I I did some research on this.
SPEAKER_01: I I studied it a little bit actually, and I I I understand the refraction of the light and how the magnification, so the through through the eye piece, and then how it impacts your eye, your vision, as you see through the big piece and the light, and it comes through and it does all that thing.
SPEAKER_01: So you go through the light, the small, small hole, small hole, big hole.
SPEAKER_01: What happens when you look through the wrong end of a telescope?
SPEAKER_01: It's completely opposite.
SPEAKER_01: You look through the the big part of the telescope, instead of seeing a big area and having more clarity, it gets really fuzzy, and everything gets kind of smaller, and it doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_01: What happens when we go into worship and we do not rejoice in the Lord and we do not consider his mercy is we are we're looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
SPEAKER_01: We're focusing on us.
SPEAKER_01: We're focusing on me.
SPEAKER_01: We're more interested in what what can God give me?
SPEAKER_01: What can this what can this church you serve me?
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if you meet my qualifications.
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if you you you meet my expectations.
SPEAKER_01: We're not in it for you.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't about you.
SPEAKER_01: This isn't about me.
SPEAKER_01: It can't be.
SPEAKER_01: That's not worship.
SPEAKER_01: And so what Mary was doing is she was she was turning it the right way and saying, just pause for a second and realize our people have been waiting 400 years for the mercy of God to be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: We are oppressed, we are in captivity, we have we have these people who are taking over for us, who are in charge of us.
SPEAKER_01: And now our Messiah, our Savior is here, his mercy is here.
SPEAKER_01: This is this is what she's saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just summarize this in two phrases, and this is the first one.
SPEAKER_01: God is mindful of me.
SPEAKER_01: He hasn't He hasn't forgotten, God is mindful, He hasn't left the building, He hasn't ignored me.
SPEAKER_01: The first blank.
SPEAKER_01: Understanding that who am I?
SPEAKER_01: Who are our people?
SPEAKER_01: Why would He why would He even take the time to notice me?
SPEAKER_01: Why would He consider us?
SPEAKER_01: But He has blessed us.
SPEAKER_01: We tend to think, especially in this culture, it hasn't changed over the years.
SPEAKER_01: We tend to think that if you've got a load of money, that means God has blessed you.
SPEAKER_01: We tend to think that if you're healthy, that God has blessed you.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna I'm not gonna get into the weeds on that, but when you get right down to it, when the scripture talks about blessing, it's talking about fulfillment, it's talking about security.
SPEAKER_01: There are people who are poor as church mice who are very blessed.
SPEAKER_01: It's so much deeper and so much broader than just how much is in your bank account or your physical status.
SPEAKER_01: When you understand that to be blessed by God is to have an assurance and a joy and a confidence and a rejoicing in him that that goes beyond anything temporal, finite, that's just here and now.
SPEAKER_01: When you have that blessing, in that relationship with him, who am I that God is mindful of me?
SPEAKER_01: But he is.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we we take the route or we we get the idea that that God is so big and he's so other that there's no way he knows me.
SPEAKER_01: I've got some great God-given truth comes from his scripture.
SPEAKER_01: He made you.
SPEAKER_01: Not only did he make you, he knows every hair that's numbered on your head.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll just go ahead and throw in the joke, some will counts them more than others, I get that, et cetera, et cetera.
SPEAKER_01: But he knows every little thing of you.
SPEAKER_01: He knows you better than you know you.
SPEAKER_01: He knows what's going on in your brain.
SPEAKER_01: He knows how easily distracted you are, he knows where where you you get discouraged, he knows where you get down, he knows where you get up, he knows under he understands all of that.
SPEAKER_01: He get he gets it, he gets you.
SPEAKER_01: You don't think your parents understand you, you don't think the people understand you?
SPEAKER_01: He understands.
SPEAKER_01: He understands who you are and why you are and what you need.
SPEAKER_01: God is incredibly mindful of you, he understands the temptations.
SPEAKER_01: He understands the struggles.
SPEAKER_01: He understands the provisions.
SPEAKER_01: He understands the sufficiency of his word and his provision to help you through the temptations.
SPEAKER_01: Instead of getting more focused and looking at the minute, instead of seeing the insignificant and calling it bigger than it really is, we get back to the right side of the telescope and we see things for what they really are.
SPEAKER_01: And just like Mary, we look up at God and say, Wow, in all of your creation, in all of your sovereignty, in all of your majesty, generation after generation after generation after generation, you are mindful of me.
SPEAKER_01: Not to boast, not to flaunt, not to tell other people I'm Jesus' favorite.
SPEAKER_01: We don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: But to say he knows you and he loves you.
SPEAKER_01: There's too much scripture, there's too much truth, there's too much proof in the Word of God to suggest that He doesn't know every part of you, and He died so that you could live.
SPEAKER_01: That's mindful of you.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so God is mindful of me.
SPEAKER_01: That's that's the first part.
SPEAKER_01: This song is not about Mary, it's about God.
SPEAKER_01: It always has been, always will be.
SPEAKER_01: Holy is his name.
SPEAKER_01: So let's pick up the song again.
SPEAKER_01: We'll start in verse 50 where we start stopped a moment ago.
SPEAKER_01: Read it again.
SPEAKER_01: And his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: He has done mighty deeds with his arm.
SPEAKER_01: He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart.
SPEAKER_01: He has brought down rulers from their thrones, and has exalted those who were humble.
SPEAKER_01: He has filled the hungry with good things, and they sent and sent away the rich empty-handed.
SPEAKER_01: He has given help to Israel his servant in remembrance of his mercy.
SPEAKER_01: When we understand what he's doing here, what she's talking about, there have been so many examples through the Old Testament, so many references to where the mighty have been humbled by God, Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4, for example, understanding that to claim that you are divine, that you have all of the answers, that you're the king of kings, whatever it is, and to be able to bring you down a few notches.
SPEAKER_01: But as she's doing this, she's clarifying that this God who is mindful of her is also mighty to save.
SPEAKER_01: Not just that he loves us, not just that he has the wisdom and the love to provide for us, but he also has the sovereignty and power to help all of us get to him.
SPEAKER_01: He is mighty to save.
SPEAKER_01: Not by wealth, not by worldly popularity or power, not by any any means other than his mercy coming to us.
SPEAKER_01: When you try to get to God any other direction, any other route, any other way, any other map, it's not going to work.
SPEAKER_01: You've got to come to him his way.
SPEAKER_01: And by his mercy, he reveals your need for him.
SPEAKER_01: And so even, and I was reading about this last week, even those who she's referencing, those who were in power in the years before, in the in the history of the Old Testament and the history of Israel, you read about these kings and why God humbled them.
SPEAKER_01: He didn't humble them because he woke up one day and said, you know, it's a good day to be mean as king.
SPEAKER_01: God didn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: That's not his way.
SPEAKER_01: The reason that he humbled them is because they, in their arrogance and their evil and in their sin, they were not seeking him.
SPEAKER_01: And the best thing for them was to seek him, his mercy.
SPEAKER_01: In their need, he is the only one who can truly provide.
SPEAKER_01: So when we understand the mercy of God, that God is both mindful and mighty, that he can and he will, that he has both the character and the competence that he wants to save and he is able to save, it unleashes everything for us.
SPEAKER_01: There are no hesitations, there are no barriers, there are no walls.
SPEAKER_01: He is all in all.
SPEAKER_01: He is worthy of our worship, our praise.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Mary is doing.
SPEAKER_01: See, all the things that I thought, all the things that I was trying to figure out, all the things that I wanted to get a right image of who God is, all of it comes to fruition when I see him for who he is by going to his word and getting it from him to understand who he is.
SPEAKER_01: Do you worship God?
SPEAKER_01: I hope you do.
SPEAKER_01: I really do.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not just saying that you know because you're here, it's a good thing.
SPEAKER_01: But even coming here, I want you to come here for the fellowship.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to come here for the encouragement.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to come here to be the body of Christ because that's what the Bible tells us to do.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to be in covenant, I want you to be carrying the commission, all of the things that the Bible tells us to do.
SPEAKER_01: But I got to tell you, if we don't get the worship down, everything else is going to be pretty, pretty silly.
SPEAKER_01: It's not going to work.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't hunger and thirst to shout to the Lord, if you don't want to lift up your hands, to give him all that he deserves and more, there is no more, he deserves all, but you get to this point where you see what he has done, and you can't believe how good God is.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Mary's experiencing.
SPEAKER_01: That's the praise.
SPEAKER_01: And honestly, that's that's exactly what you and I are called to walk in day after day.
SPEAKER_01: But let's be real, let's be honest.
SPEAKER_01: We don't always feel it.
SPEAKER_01: We don't always we don't always live there.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe sometimes coming to church, I'm about to pull back the curtain from the wizard of oz.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe sometimes going to church is not what it's always cracked up to be.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe, especially on a cold, cold morning, you just as soon just stay home.
SPEAKER_01: Have fellowship with with Sister Sheets and Brother Pelato.
SPEAKER_01: I I I understand all that, but I want to I want to show you something.
SPEAKER_01: Turn with me to James chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: James chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: James is writing to a church that has gotten a few things out of order: faith and works and understanding what it means to be a follower of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And there were some fights, there were some quarrels, there were some issues happening in the church.
SPEAKER_01: And he starts in chapter 4 saying that the reason for that is what's going on in your heart.
SPEAKER_01: And then he really fleshes it out beginning in chapter 4, James chapter 4, verse 4.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now I want to read that verse again because there's a lot here, and I'm I'm not going to unpack all of it, but enough that hopefully we can go from here and you can do the search, the study on your own.
SPEAKER_01: You adulteresses.
SPEAKER_01: So adultery is where you're breaking covenant, and he's not talking about marriage, he's talking about your relationship with your Savior.
SPEAKER_01: You're acting unfaithful.
SPEAKER_01: Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
SPEAKER_01: You can't be in both places.
SPEAKER_01: You can't live for the world and live for God simultaneously.
SPEAKER_01: One versus the other.
SPEAKER_01: You can't serve both.
SPEAKER_01: Since therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
SPEAKER_01: Or do you think that the scripture speaks to no purpose?
SPEAKER_01: He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us.
SPEAKER_01: When He saves us, He owns us, and He protects us, and He's jealous of us.
SPEAKER_01: So He is incredibly mindful of us, and He wants to continually help us and guide us and protect us.
SPEAKER_01: But the passage isn't done.
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot more, but let me just finish with verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: James chapter 4, verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: But He gives greater grace.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore it says, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a worship issue this morning, I'm going to be bold enough to say you've got a pride issue this morning.
SPEAKER_01: If you've got a problem with rejoicing and understanding and appreciating the mercy of God, you're looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason it's so fuzzy and so small and everything looks so far away is because you're looking at it all the way wrong.
SPEAKER_01: The world is upside down.
SPEAKER_01: To be mindful, him being mindful of us, of him being mighty to save, is realizing that he does what he does, not to be vindictive, but with purpose, because when we are self-sufficient, when we are proud, whenever we have our own schemes and we want to do things our way, he is not glorified.
SPEAKER_01: But when we humble ourselves before him, his grace is much more than enough.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 1, in the praise of Mary.
SPEAKER_01: He has given help to Israel, verse 54.
SPEAKER_01: He has given help to Israel, his servant, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.
SPEAKER_01: What Mary is doing, keep that on the screen for just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: What Mary is doing is she is saying, I'm not an isolated event here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a part of history.
SPEAKER_01: What has happened with Abraham and all the generations since, the descendants, because by righteousness, by faith, he has declared righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: All the things that have been happening, the promises to Abraham, Father Abraham, all of that is being fulfilled right here and now, and it's going to continue to be fulfilled.
SPEAKER_01: The mercy that he has toward his people is not stopped.
SPEAKER_01: As a matter of fact, it's being demonstrated by this little baby inside of her womb.
SPEAKER_01: Genesis chapter 12, verse 2.
SPEAKER_01: I will make you a great nation, speaking to Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: I will bless you and make your name great.
SPEAKER_01: And so you shall be a blessing.
SPEAKER_01: And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse.
SPEAKER_01: And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.
SPEAKER_01: I know it's tempting to think that when you are born, you are so incredibly unique that nobody ever anywhere, ever, anywhere understands you at all.
SPEAKER_01: I know the temptation to think that that you are so special that there is no connection with anybody else.
SPEAKER_00: You know, your parents needed Jesus just like you do.
SPEAKER_01: And your grandparents needed Jesus just like you do.
SPEAKER_01: And we don't we don't come on an island whenever we are created, we are born.
SPEAKER_01: We come created by God, needing Him, and then come to an awareness, waking up of realizing He has ordained, planned, patterned, prepared for me to see and receive Him.
SPEAKER_01: God is mindful of me.
SPEAKER_01: And the same God who is mindful is mighty to save.
SPEAKER_01: Mary saw the real thing.
SPEAKER_01: And she couldn't, Psalm 34, she couldn't keep her mouth from praising the Savior, the Lord, the God, who was taking care of his promises to Abraham, continuing them on.
SPEAKER_01: So let me finish with Luke chapter 1, verse 50.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 1, verse 50.
SPEAKER_01: How do you know if your image of God is correct?
SPEAKER_01: How do you know if your impression of God is correct?
SPEAKER_01: Is the culture or the tradition or anything else keeping you from understanding who God is?
SPEAKER_01: You go to his word.
SPEAKER_01: Mary believed God's word and she was blessed because of it.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 50, Luke chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: You and I can take this to the bank.
SPEAKER_01: You and I, his promise is all yes in Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: You and I can look at a verse like this and say, Lord, is it possible that after so many years, so much time has passed since the writing of Luke chapter 1, is it conceivable that I can still claim the promise that your mercy is toward me as I fear you?
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
SPEAKER_01: You came into this sanctuary suffering.
SPEAKER_01: If you came into this sanctuary with issues that are that are weighing you down, and you don't know what to do with them, you've got you've got turmoil on the inside, and maybe you're keeping it all to yourself, maybe you're letting a few people walk with you in this.
SPEAKER_01: I gotta tell you, according to the Bible, his mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him, and his mercy is for the miserable.
SPEAKER_01: Those who need salvation, those who need healing, those who need release, those who need peace.
SPEAKER_01: His mercy is available right here and right now.
SPEAKER_01: In just a few seconds, and I don't mean minutes or hours, I mean seconds.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have you stand and we're gonna we're gonna pray and you're gonna be dismissed.
SPEAKER_01: And after after you are dismissed, after I finish the prayer, pastors and deacons are gonna meander back down here.
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna swat around like lost puppies, not knowing what to do, but they're gonna be here.
SPEAKER_01: And what they're doing, whether you know it or not or realize it or not, is they want you to come talk to them because they're very lonely people.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, that they want you, they want you to know they're here for you.
SPEAKER_01: We want to talk to you.
SPEAKER_01: And it may be that you need some prayer this morning, and we want to pray with you.
SPEAKER_01: We want to encourage you, we want, we want to help you by going to the scripture.
SPEAKER_01: His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear him.
SPEAKER_01: But see, that may not be everyone.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you may may say, well, no, I don't need to talk or pray with anyone right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'll deal with this in my prayer closet.
SPEAKER_01: And that's okay.
SPEAKER_01: But some of you may need that, and that's why we won't be here, and we want to be here for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you'd stand with me, please.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna dismiss us in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I thank you for who you are, and I thank you for what you've done, and I pray for the individuals here this morning who they needed this because you knew that they needed this.
SPEAKER_01: You you put all the pieces together, and now you're providing the answers, your way for your glory, your mercy, right now.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, I pray for the the boldness to to pray, to to ask, to talk with pastors or deacons.
SPEAKER_01: And I pray, Lord, that all of us praise you from the depths of our being, our souls, for how great you really are.
SPEAKER_01: In Christ's name we pray.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: You're just missing.