SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: This is how it starts, gang.
SPEAKER_01: This is how it always starts with God.
SPEAKER_01: He just takes regular people.
SPEAKER_01: From regular families with the regular drama happening here.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys are in love right now.
SPEAKER_01: You're dating, you're thinking about marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are starting a new job.
SPEAKER_01: Or some of you are struggling with an issue.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you found out you have cancer.
SPEAKER_01: That's where God shows up.
SPEAKER_01: He shows up in just those times in our lives that are very, very normal.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to come in and invade that situation to begin to bring a new grace and a new love and a new hope and a new faith in our lives.
SPEAKER_00: At The Road, our vision is to raise up wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For more information on The Road, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you are encouraged by today's message from Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.
SPEAKER_01: Well, turning your Bibles to Luke chapter 1, and we're calling this today the Mary Miracle, and next week the Mary Miracle, and I'm going to take a different little slice of my view as it relates to Mary and how it affects us today.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is an amazing story.
SPEAKER_01: It's one that we overlook so much of the time that 2,000 years ago, this angel came to Mary, who is this peasant girl in an inconspicuous town, an inconspicuous country, and chose her.
SPEAKER_01: And chose her to bear the Christ child.
SPEAKER_01: And it's an amazing story because it actually, though it really happened, I mean, physically and historically, this story is not just a story.
SPEAKER_01: It has been proven archaeologically and historically to have really happened.
SPEAKER_01: There is a principle running through this story that affects all of us today that God wants to do and God wants to conceive and God wants to birth in you, each one of you, in this coming year, a miracle.
SPEAKER_01: Not a physical miracle in anywhere close to what we see with the Christ child, Jesus being born, but He wants to plant a vision.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to plant a passion.
SPEAKER_01: He wants to plant a healing in your life, not unlike what we see in the life of Mary.
SPEAKER_01: So we're calling it the Mary Miracle.
SPEAKER_01: So look at verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: Luke chapter 1, verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: Now, Nazareth is like this dinky town even today.
SPEAKER_01: It's about 50,000 people in the hills there of the southern part of Galilee, which is part of the three parts of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: If you've ever been to Israel or you've looked at maps in the back of your Bible on Israel, there is Judea, there is Samaria, and in the northern part, there is Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the southern part of Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: And it's a nothing town back then.
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty much nothing now, except for tourism.
SPEAKER_01: And the reality is that nowhere in the Talmud and nowhere in the Old Testament is Nazareth even mentioned.
SPEAKER_01: So some of you know I'm from Georgia, you know, and you can catch that little accent there.
SPEAKER_01: And I was born in Decatur, Georgia.
SPEAKER_01: Who's even heard of Decatur, Georgia?
SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, thank you.
SPEAKER_01: You can raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: That's great.
SPEAKER_01: Four people.
SPEAKER_01: Four people know where Decatur is, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Um, and so, you know, it it's an amazing story because Mary is poor.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody in Nazareth was poor at that time.
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a there's a neighboring town of Sareth nearby.
SPEAKER_01: Uh historians will tell you that uh Joseph couldn't have even gotten his instruments in Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: He couldn't have gotten his chisel and his hammer and his saw and the things that he used as a carpenter in Nazareth, because Nazareth didn't have it.
SPEAKER_01: You had to go four miles north up to another town to even get your instruments for his job as a carpenter.
SPEAKER_01: So it's an inconspicuous, tiny little town.
SPEAKER_01: Comes to a poor peasant girl in Nazareth, and Gabriel shows up.
SPEAKER_01: Gabriel, I mean, he's he's the man.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he's the man angel from God.
SPEAKER_01: This is not Clarence.
SPEAKER_01: This is not Monica.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, this is Gabriel, you know, and no Irish accent.
SPEAKER_01: You know, he comes in, he's got whatever, he's got a heavenly accent.
SPEAKER_01: And he gets in there, and this is the protect, many believe Gabriel's the protector of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: So Gabe shows up when it's a really, really important mission.
SPEAKER_01: And so these angels show up.
SPEAKER_01: And almost every place in Scripture where angels show up, they have to say, fear not.
SPEAKER_01: Because they're not sissy little angels like we hung on our Christmas tree last night.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, someone gave me, and I meant to bring it today, but I forgot, but someone gave me in the early days of the road this super cool dude, angel, that's when you walk in our house, he's right there, and he's got a sword on his back and he's got boots on.
SPEAKER_01: He he's really got some packs and you know, chestels, you know.
SPEAKER_01: He's the man, he's like this.
SPEAKER_01: Big, massive one.
SPEAKER_01: That's Gabriel.
SPEAKER_01: So that so when angels show up, they they say, fear not, because they're kind of scary.
SPEAKER_01: They're big, they're massive, they're on a mission, and so Gabriel shows up to this little peasant girl.
SPEAKER_01: To a virgin, betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Of the house of David, the virgin's name was Mary.
SPEAKER_01: So this is Yosef and Miriam in their trade language of that time, Joseph and Miriam.
SPEAKER_01: And what's so cool about this is that the angel shows up in the midst of a drama, a drama that's already unfolding of a young peasant girl and a peasant guy.
SPEAKER_01: He's probably 25.
SPEAKER_01: We believe that Joseph was probably Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph was 25, because the custom of the times was that the man got uh situated in his job first.
SPEAKER_01: And they, and you you got your you you you had your hobby that then became your trade, and with that trade became your livelihood, and you began to provide uh an income where you were now ready for a wife.
SPEAKER_01: But the woman was often very, very young.
SPEAKER_01: So, so Mary was probably around 15.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's from somewhere between 21 and 25 years old, and it was an arranged marriage.
SPEAKER_01: So when I was, Liz and I were living for many, many years in Japan, you had arranged marriages.
SPEAKER_01: But the in a lot of times in Japan they say was it a love marriage or is it an arranged marriage?
SPEAKER_01: And the distinction wasn't quite like that in Hebrew culture.
SPEAKER_01: Growing up in a small village like they were, and probably Joseph being a distant relative of Mary and so forth, they had already noticed a relationship at the well or at the family reunion when everybody's eating, you know, cupcakes and stuff, and these guys are talking.
SPEAKER_01: And so it was not just a arranged marriage, it was also a love marriage.
SPEAKER_01: And so they probably did love each other, but not the same way we would.
SPEAKER_01: They've never been together, except for some brief conversations.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, dating, you know, came later out of Europe, but the whole idea of dating wasn't at that time possible, and they weren't allowed to be together.
SPEAKER_01: So this angel shows up to a peasant woman in a dinky little town in an inconspicuous country.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way God starts everything.
SPEAKER_01: No kings, no prince, no wealthy landowners involved in the entire Christmas story, except it's kind of like bad guys.
SPEAKER_01: But this is how it starts, gang.
SPEAKER_01: This is how it always starts with God.
SPEAKER_01: He just takes regular people from regular families with a regular drama happening in your room.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you guys are in love right now.
SPEAKER_01: You're dating, you're thinking about marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are starting a new job, or some of you are struggling with an issue.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you found out you have cancer.
SPEAKER_01: And that's where God shows up.
SPEAKER_01: He shows up in just those times in our life that are very, very normal.
SPEAKER_01: And he wants to come in and invade that situation and begin to bring a new grace and a new love and a new hope and a new faith in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: So he shows up to this woman, this 15-year-old named Miriam.
SPEAKER_01: And then, church, verse 28, is one of the most powerful verses in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We overlook it.
SPEAKER_01: It's just this phrase.
SPEAKER_01: If you've been a Christian a while, you've gone through Christmas a few times, you've read verse 28, hundreds of times, maybe, and maybe it means nothing.
SPEAKER_01: But every word and every phrase in verse 28 is locked and loaded with meaning.
SPEAKER_01: We could spend three or four hours on verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: So let's start right now.
SPEAKER_01: No, only kidding.
SPEAKER_01: But look at verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: Look how the angel starts.
SPEAKER_01: It's the only place in the Bible where we have an angel starting off with, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Usually angels start off with fear not.
SPEAKER_01: Because the person they're showing up to is so freaked out over this massive, scary-looking angel.
SPEAKER_01: But Gabriel comes and he says, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: And he says to you, and he says to me, this Christmas, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: And he's going to tell us why.
SPEAKER_01: Why we can rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Because I don't know about you, but I know about me that this can be the most busy, frustrating, stressful time of the year.
SPEAKER_01: Does anyone agree with that?
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you're always thinking, oh, did I get this person again again?
SPEAKER_01: And you always think about what you didn't give.
SPEAKER_01: Is there enough presence under the tree?
SPEAKER_01: Okay, who's coming over?
SPEAKER_01: How are we going to do dinner?
SPEAKER_01: How are we going to do breakfast?
SPEAKER_01: How are we going to do Christmas Eve?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, we do this every year.
SPEAKER_01: And then before you know it, you forget, oh, it's about Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Who's He?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, that's that thing, you know, on the wall.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: A Savior comes.
SPEAKER_01: But we get busy, don't we?
SPEAKER_01: We get stressed out.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want you to rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Starting today, guess what?
SPEAKER_01: Everybody doesn't have to have the perfect present.
SPEAKER_01: They don't.
SPEAKER_01: We got way too much anyway.
SPEAKER_01: Some of us need to just quit giving gifts.
SPEAKER_01: Like slip them a slip them a 50.
SPEAKER_01: You know?
SPEAKER_01: Seriously, go buy your own stuff.
SPEAKER_01: You know, because you never get the sizes right.
SPEAKER_01: And don't you always have to have the tags?
SPEAKER_01: You gotta have the bag of tags.
SPEAKER_01: Because they go out and they come back in, and it's too tight.
SPEAKER_01: Or it's too loose.
SPEAKER_01: Or you are of the age where you don't even know what the styles are anymore.
SPEAKER_01: You got your 16-year-old daughter, bell bottoms.
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you right now, not good.
SPEAKER_01: That's not a good move.
SPEAKER_01: Take it from me.
SPEAKER_01: I know.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: So let's start rejoicing today.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, for the next two weeks, remember that Pastor Steve said, rejoice when you're standing in line.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, don't go shopping on the weekends.
SPEAKER_01: That's really dumb.
SPEAKER_01: Go during the weekdays, beat the crowds.
SPEAKER_01: Get in and get out fast.
SPEAKER_01: Rejoice, highly favored one, highly favored one.
SPEAKER_01: So he says to Mary, you're this is what it means.
SPEAKER_01: This is literally what caru, where we get the word caris, where we get the word grace, actually literally means in this form, you're my favorite.
SPEAKER_01: Mary, you're my favorite.
SPEAKER_01: I have had my eye on you.
SPEAKER_01: You're my favorite.
SPEAKER_01: You're my favored one.
SPEAKER_01: And I don't know how many of you in this room feel this way, but I can tell you what, I was on a lot of athletic teams.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of athletic teams through the years where I was not the favored one.
SPEAKER_01: I was the favored one to the bench, but I wasn't the favored one on the field.
SPEAKER_01: Now I felt I felt blessed to have the mom and dad that I that I had, and they were they did the best they could to love me.
SPEAKER_01: But I don't know about you, some of you never even had that.
SPEAKER_01: You didn't have any sense of favor even in your own home.
SPEAKER_01: Well, there's a God who favors you.
SPEAKER_01: And there's a God that looks down at the Marys of this world and the Yosef's of this world, and he says, You're favored because of my grace.
SPEAKER_01: For by Karis, Karu, for by grace you've been saved through faith, not of yourself.
SPEAKER_01: It is a gift of God, not as a result of your works.
SPEAKER_01: You can't work your way to heaven, you can't earn his favor.
SPEAKER_01: You can enjoy his presence, but you can't earn his favor.
SPEAKER_01: God says to Mary, you're my favorite one.
SPEAKER_01: God says to us this year, you're my favorite one.
SPEAKER_01: He's not done.
SPEAKER_01: It's like you can see this trembling peasant girl.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Rejoice, you are favored, the Lord is with you.
SPEAKER_01: Now turn in your Bibles or flipping your phones to Ephesians chapter 1 and listen to this amazing verse.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians 1, 13 says, In him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, at the time of Mary, the Holy Spirit only came upon certain special, missionally driven people that God had his favor on.
SPEAKER_01: But today it's different.
SPEAKER_01: When we put our faith in Christ, you receive the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: You have the presence of God with you wherever you go, whatever you do, even in sin, and we all sin and we all blow it and we all make mistakes, and when we do, this Holy Spirit's right there.
SPEAKER_01: Now you're quenching the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: His power can't be manifested through a life of sin, but we can confess it.
SPEAKER_01: We can face our sin, we can ask God's forgiveness, we can repent, and we can be refilled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: So, so when you go shopping, when you're at work, when you're a parent, when you're a student, the favor of God and the presence of God is with you if you'll acknowledge it.
SPEAKER_01: It's there, it's right there.
SPEAKER_01: Now you may not be experiencing it.
SPEAKER_01: Mary probably wasn't experiencing it, because we're going to see her reaction in just a moment.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is, is we have that favor today, and we have his presence with us wherever we go.
SPEAKER_01: Gabriel's not done with her yet.
SPEAKER_01: So, first of all, he says, rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: Second of all, he says, You're my favorite one.
SPEAKER_01: My presence is with you.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, probably one of the most controversial verses in the Bible, as far as Protestantism and Catholicism goes, blessed are you among women.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are you among women.
SPEAKER_01: Has there ever been a passage where there have been doctrines that have taken off to such a degree in the Roman Catholic Church, in certain Orthodox churches, of almost a veneration of Mary to the point of worshiping her and praying to her?
SPEAKER_01: Well, on the other side is the other extreme where nobody ever mentions Mary.
SPEAKER_01: The reality is that she is blessed among women.
SPEAKER_01: She is the most blessed among all women.
SPEAKER_01: She had the privilege of nine months of carrying Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: There's no doubt that that's special.
SPEAKER_01: But men and women, the Lord says that about us too.
SPEAKER_01: He says, You're blessed.
SPEAKER_01: You're blessed.
SPEAKER_01: All kinds of statistics out there about how many, how many Christians in America.
SPEAKER_01: Some say, some stats say 90% of people in America are Christians.
SPEAKER_01: We got a really messed up religion if 90% of America is Christian and we see what's happening in America.
SPEAKER_01: So only God knows who really is a true born-again believer.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're born again, you're blessed.
SPEAKER_01: Eulogio is the Greek word here.
SPEAKER_01: It has this idea of a eulogy, it has this idea of a blessing on your life.
SPEAKER_01: And here's a better word: destiny.
SPEAKER_01: Destiny.
SPEAKER_01: Men and women, you have a destiny.
SPEAKER_01: So many never discover it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's discover it in 2018.
SPEAKER_01: Let's discover our destiny.
SPEAKER_01: So you'll be introduced on Christmas Eve to a new phrase across the back of the stage called breakthrough.
SPEAKER_01: Because the theme God's given us for 2018 is breakthrough.
SPEAKER_01: And many of us in this room need a breakthrough.
SPEAKER_01: Anyone need a breakthrough?
SPEAKER_01: Raise your hand.
SPEAKER_01: Some area of your life you need a breakthrough.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 28 is for you to start the year.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 28 is for you.
SPEAKER_01: You are favored.
SPEAKER_01: You have the power and presence of God.
SPEAKER_01: You are blessed.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to start walking in it.
SPEAKER_01: And here's why we don't.
SPEAKER_01: Here's why we don't.
SPEAKER_01: Same thing with Mary.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 29.
SPEAKER_01: But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying and considered what matter of greeting this was.
SPEAKER_01: For the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
SPEAKER_01: Fear is the big obstacle, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: Fear's the big struggle.
SPEAKER_01: I think fear, for me at least, is related to disappointment.
SPEAKER_01: I fear trusting God.
SPEAKER_01: I fear taking that risk by faith again because I feel like I'm going to be disappointed.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just safer.
SPEAKER_01: It's just safer to just kind of stay back, play the cards right.
SPEAKER_01: You know you can win at, you know, at this.
SPEAKER_01: But but man, if I if I take a risk here, if we step out of, I feel that way right now.
SPEAKER_01: I'll just be honest with you.
SPEAKER_01: I felt that way when I mentioned Pastor Adil.
SPEAKER_01: When I said when I when it came out of my mouth,$30,000, I went, oh, I wish I could just grab that back and put it right back in my mouth.
SPEAKER_01: I want to walk by faith and not base my decisions on fear.
SPEAKER_01: How about you?
SPEAKER_01: Mary had to discover that.
SPEAKER_01: Mary had to get a grip on that.
SPEAKER_01: Mary had to find that, and I think that was why God called Mary to do what she did.
SPEAKER_01: Because God could see into Mary's heart, and he saw a faith and a simplicity in her that he knew he could trust and he could count on, and so he came to Mary.
SPEAKER_01: And men and women, when we become a people, and we'll never be perfect at this, we'll never be totally fearless in everything.
SPEAKER_01: But as we become more faithful and more fearless in our life, there becomes a new womb, a new spiritual womb within you that God Can birth a vision.
SPEAKER_01: God can start to give us faith for breakthrough like we've never had it before.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's what happens next with Mary.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 31.
SPEAKER_01: And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son.
SPEAKER_01: And you shall call his name Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He will be great.
SPEAKER_01: He'll be called the Son of the Highest.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
SPEAKER_01: And of his kingdom there will be no end.
SPEAKER_01: The fountainhead of the miraculous, everybody listen, the fountainhead of the miraculous is Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The fountainhead of the miraculous is not you.
SPEAKER_01: You're just the womb that God wants to conceive a miracle in.
SPEAKER_01: Mary had nothing special about her except that she believed.
SPEAKER_01: She was willing to believe.
SPEAKER_01: She was willing to take what Gabriel said to her, trust in it.
SPEAKER_01: That's all she did.
SPEAKER_01: She didn't change.
SPEAKER_01: She could have won in her high school the award for being Miss Ordinary.
SPEAKER_01: Everything we know about Mary is she's ordinary, and she's a nobody, except she's a somebody in God's eyes, and you are too.
SPEAKER_01: Every one of you in this room have a particular way of looking at things and talents and skills and gifts that only God could have given you, and he wants you to experience the fountainhead of the miraculous in your life.
SPEAKER_01: That you've got a story to tell a year from now of what God did, a breakthrough in your life that is unique only to you.
SPEAKER_01: Don't give up.
SPEAKER_01: And don't quit.
SPEAKER_01: And don't compare.
SPEAKER_01: The uniqueness of the calling upon Mary is the uniqueness of the calling upon us.
SPEAKER_01: We as a church shouldn't compare.
SPEAKER_01: You as an individual shouldn't compare.
SPEAKER_01: You're unique to God, and your vision, instead of being this way and this way, and this way and that way, should be this way.
SPEAKER_01: Looking to Him to give you the fountainhead of the miraculous, which is Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus can heal that cancer.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus can heal that marriage, and Jesus can heal those relationships, and God can bring a breakthrough in your life if you will become a conduit of his power and his presence and his favor flowing through your life by believing in him, not in yourself.
SPEAKER_01: There's way too much preaching these days about believing in yourself.
SPEAKER_01: I don't believe in me.
SPEAKER_01: When I look at me, it's not a whole lot better than it ever was.
SPEAKER_01: And if it's up to me, I'm up to no good.
SPEAKER_01: But I believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: I believe in him.
SPEAKER_01: And he came and he was birthed in a common cave, in a common manger with some common animals and some common shepherds, because the Lord wants us to know that's where the fountainhead of the miraculous is, is in the common.
SPEAKER_01: And if anybody votes for being common, then you now become a candidate for the miraculous.
SPEAKER_01: The fountainhead of the miraculous.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have been blessed by today's message.
SPEAKER_00: To connect with us further, visit theroad.org.
SPEAKER_00: If you are walking through a difficult time, we want to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Go to theroad.org, click on the ministries tab, and go to our prayer page to send us your prayer request.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for tuning in today, and be sure to listen to the next edition of The Road with Pastor Teacher Steve Holt.