WEBVTT 00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:05.040 Well, I uh third week of Advent. 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:09.759 Uh Brad preached the first week of Advent, second week of Advent is the third week of Advent. 00:00:09.919 --> 00:00:15.919 Advent is the season leading up to Christmas, different seasons of the year on the church calendar. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.960 Um some of you are familiar with that from your background, some of you aren't. 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:21.760 And so Advent is this season leading up to Christmas. 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:29.280 I I got y'all a present today, uh, Christmas present, but we're gonna wait on it till later. 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:31.920 Sorry, Scott, if I disturb your station. 00:00:32.079 --> 00:00:34.159 Scott took over the stage, apparently. 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:37.679 Um we're gonna wait on this, but I got your present. 00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:39.439 It's Beyonce tickets. 00:00:39.520 --> 00:00:40.479 No, it's not Beyonce tickets. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:42.240 Okay, it's not Beyonce, don't get too excited. 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:45.200 Uh it's something else, but I didn't buy it. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:47.359 Uh so that's a hint. 00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:48.560 I didn't buy it. 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:54.640 And it's for all of you, although I'm just at some point I'm gonna ask one of you to open it on behalf of everybody. 00:00:54.799 --> 00:00:56.320 I'm just gonna leave it there. 00:00:56.560 --> 00:00:58.799 Okay, so don't let it bother you too much. 00:00:58.880 --> 00:00:59.840 It's just gonna sit there. 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:01.039 We're gonna come back to it. 00:01:01.119 --> 00:01:02.560 First, we're gonna talk about Mary. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:12.879 And so Mary, Jesus' mom, Jesus' mama, Mary was a Jewish girl, probably around 13 or 14 years old, when this whole Christmas story develops. 00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:17.040 This angel comes to her and says, it's a crazy story, right? 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:22.799 Miraculous, and says to her, Greetings, O favored One, the Lord is with you. 00:01:22.959 --> 00:01:27.359 This is actually how Christy, um, when I wake up in the morning, it's how Christy greets me. 00:01:27.680 --> 00:01:30.239 I walk down the hallway, and that's what she says. 00:01:30.319 --> 00:01:30.959 I heard it this morning. 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:32.879 Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:37.200 Uh so this scene is called the Annunciation. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:42.319 There's an announcing to and toward Mary, right? 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:46.879 It's God saying to her, You are greatly favored. 00:01:47.120 --> 00:01:49.120 You are greatly favored. 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:52.000 And this is not normal, so she's afraid. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:55.040 It's not normal to hear an angel speaking to you. 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:57.760 It's not normal to hear this. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.599 You're greatly favored. 00:02:00.319 --> 00:02:05.280 This is not a thing that we hear all the time, although we're all wanting to hear it all the time. 00:02:06.640 --> 00:02:08.800 So she's thinking, I'm guessing. 00:02:08.960 --> 00:02:13.120 I'm guessing on some level, she's thinking, I'm favored? 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:14.879 Like I have no resume. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:16.719 I'm not religious elite. 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:23.120 I'm a lowly 13-year-old girl who's about to get married. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:26.000 I mean, like, people don't know who I am. 00:02:27.439 --> 00:02:27.759 Right? 00:02:27.919 --> 00:02:32.879 I mean, she's just she's like any other 13-year-old girl or boy, or heck, any of us, right? 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:34.719 Like, we just all want to be favored. 00:02:35.199 --> 00:02:36.879 Favored by anyone. 00:02:38.479 --> 00:02:40.800 And mostly favored by God. 00:02:42.639 --> 00:02:49.919 And then she hears this voice from an angel that says, You are greatly favored. 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:58.800 See, it's God's word to her, and this is the defining announcement for the core of her being. 00:02:59.039 --> 00:03:00.479 This announcement. 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:08.560 And the text says there in Luke 1, and our text this morning is based on the Book of Common Prayer centuries ago. 00:03:08.719 --> 00:03:17.199 These texts were assigned different weeks coming up to Christmas, and so that Isaiah 35, which Janine read, and this Luke 1, these are preset for us. 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:18.800 That's what we're following, these weeks. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:26.080 And so, in this Luke story of the Christmas story, the text says, uh, this angel saying, Hey, don't be afraid, you're favored, don't be afraid. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:27.360 Um, don't be afraid. 00:03:27.520 --> 00:03:30.639 But by the way, you're gonna bear a son, so don't be afraid about that. 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:33.439 You know, never mind that you're a virgin, but don't be afraid of it. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:34.479 Call him Jesus. 00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:41.120 He will be the son of the Most High, the throne of his father, David, he's gonna reign over the house of Jacob, his kingdom will have no end. 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:43.599 And so he's saying, Hey, this is the Messiah. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:53.840 All these promises, these prophecies that have been occurring in your people and in your scriptures for a very long time is coming through lowly you. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:04:00.000 And she's got to be thinking, I'm about to get married. 00:04:00.639 --> 00:04:05.520 I'm in a culture where if you're you're not a virgin, you're not getting married. 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:14.719 And I'm marrying Joseph, Joe, down the dirt path, and we're gonna go camping on the lake for our honeymoon, and everything was gonna be good. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:16.560 And now this? 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:18.720 And how can this be, right? 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:19.920 So say, how can this be? 00:04:20.079 --> 00:04:20.720 I'm a virgin. 00:04:20.800 --> 00:04:21.839 How could this even happen? 00:04:22.079 --> 00:04:23.680 How could this even happen? 00:04:24.160 --> 00:04:31.839 The angel says, Well, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:40.720 So that the way in which the Messiah will come will be incarnation, a miraculous coming of God into humanity. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:41.920 Some of us believe this. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:44.399 Some of us believe this sort of almost easily. 00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.399 Like you just have this gift of faith. 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:52.639 Some of us wrestle with this all the time, over and over again. 00:04:53.279 --> 00:05:01.279 And I've just been praying this week that even as we hear this story, that we would just have, we would have just new faith in the incarnation. 00:05:01.360 --> 00:05:07.519 That if there is a God of love, how could he best show us he loves us? 00:05:07.759 --> 00:05:11.120 Except to incarnate himself into our world. 00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:14.800 And she responds to all of this. 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:15.600 A lot of news. 00:05:15.759 --> 00:05:18.240 There's a lot to take in for this 13-year-old girl. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:23.040 And she says, Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word. 00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:28.000 It's like her saying, Okay, I'll trust you. 00:05:28.959 --> 00:05:36.079 So, like I said, Mary's a part of this tribe, this people group, and they believed that they had been chosen by this one true God. 00:05:36.160 --> 00:05:38.000 And this was very different than all the other tribes. 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:42.079 Many other tribes in the ancient world, they were creating gods. 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:43.199 And they had lots of gods. 00:05:43.360 --> 00:05:46.639 A God for this and God for that, a God for the rain, God for the sun, God for the soil. 00:05:46.720 --> 00:05:53.279 They had all these different gods, and a lot of times it would manifest itself into some statue or something, you know, something that they made. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:56.160 But this tribe, Mary's tribe, believed something differently. 00:05:56.319 --> 00:06:10.079 They believed they had been chosen by one true God, and that this true God was spirit, and that this true God should never be manifested into a statue or an image. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:22.240 And they believed that this God would one day come amongst them and be with them and experience their world, and then in humility die for them. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:26.560 And that he would give to them despite their weaknesses. 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:33.120 And this people group, this tribe she was a part of, if you read this story, I mean, they're like uh, they're like us. 00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:45.279 I mean, they're just kind of flailing about, like, like kind of have their act together at times, then other times the marriage isn't so good, the tribe's not so good, they're losing the battles, the integrity's not so good. 00:06:45.600 --> 00:06:49.279 And despite this, that God would come into their people. 00:06:50.560 --> 00:06:55.600 And so this promise is developed that the Messiah will come. 00:06:56.720 --> 00:06:59.360 And so into this context is Luke chapter 1. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:02.240 This is the context that Mary hears this promise. 00:07:02.399 --> 00:07:04.879 So when she hears this promise, she knows what this is about. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:06.560 She's like, oh, this is the Messiah. 00:07:06.720 --> 00:07:12.399 Like, I didn't expect it coming this way, or he coming this way, but but so this is wow, this is it. 00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:15.040 And so then she goes and she visits her cousin Elizabeth. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:22.399 Elizabeth is an older lady, she's past the age of having children, so she's barren, and yet she's pregnant as well. 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:31.120 And so her child becomes John the Baptist, Mary's child becomes Jesus, and Mary is so moved by this vision, this experience. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:36.160 She's having this gal chat with Elizabeth that we get her bursting out in Psalm. 00:07:36.240 --> 00:07:37.920 It's called the Magnificant. 00:07:38.319 --> 00:07:40.319 And it's in Luke chapter 1. 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:41.439 And it's a poem. 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:45.279 She's pulling from some Old Testament references, but it's her own poem. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:48.639 And maybe she sang it, maybe she said, maybe it's like a spoken word thing. 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:49.519 I don't know. 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:53.360 But it is an outburst, a reaction. 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:55.279 So we're going to work our way through this. 00:07:55.600 --> 00:07:56.639 It's in your bulletin. 00:07:56.879 --> 00:08:00.240 Luke chapter 1, verses 46 and 47. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:08.720 And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. 00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:09.759 So a few points. 00:08:09.920 --> 00:08:14.879 Point number one: joy is the response to good news. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:18.879 Now, joy is not always the response to good advice. 00:08:19.439 --> 00:08:20.399 It's not, right? 00:08:20.560 --> 00:08:23.839 I mean, advice sometimes can be good, and you come away from it, you're like, that's great advice. 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.720 And sometimes you come over and you're like, they think I'm a moron. 00:08:26.879 --> 00:08:31.759 Or you come away from it and you go, like, oh, I've been failing at that that long. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:32.960 I didn't even know. 00:08:33.039 --> 00:08:36.720 But now that advice has shown me, I've been failing at it that long. 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:46.960 Or advice over time can be good to start, and then later it becomes burdensome as you realize you're not doing real well, you know, aligning yourself with the advice. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:54.720 But good news is different because news is something that has been done, accomplished, it's happened, right? 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:55.600 That's what the news is. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:56.559 What's the news at night? 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:57.519 What's the news at night? 00:08:57.679 --> 00:08:59.120 What's happened already? 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:04.960 So something that's already happened, and then coming to you and saying, hey, here's what's happened. 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:08.480 And joy is the reaction to good news, right? 00:09:08.559 --> 00:09:13.759 Like after years of trying, and then you hear, we're pregnant. 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:17.039 That's man, that's that's good news. 00:09:17.360 --> 00:09:19.279 Gilmore Girls is on Netflix. 00:09:19.600 --> 00:09:20.159 Some of y'all? 00:09:20.639 --> 00:09:21.120 Good news. 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:23.919 There's a new Magnum PI coming out. 00:09:24.159 --> 00:09:25.840 Good news, some of us, right? 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:26.720 I love the car. 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:28.799 Brad has a pair of the shorts, by the way. 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:30.639 He likes to wear the shorts around. 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:31.759 I like the car. 00:09:32.960 --> 00:09:33.919 Good news? 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:35.679 We know good news. 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:37.440 She said yes. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:38.720 Good news. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:40.000 It happened. 00:09:41.200 --> 00:09:42.799 Verses 48 and 49. 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:47.440 For he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:51.919 For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. 00:09:52.240 --> 00:09:52.799 Why? 00:09:53.120 --> 00:09:56.639 For he is mighty, has done great things for me. 00:09:56.799 --> 00:09:58.240 For he who is mighty has done great. 00:09:58.480 --> 00:09:59.120 That's why. 00:09:59.360 --> 00:10:01.679 And holy is his name. 00:10:02.080 --> 00:10:06.399 So the reason why, you know, blessed Mary is not like, oh, she's so great. 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:08.639 You know, she is so holy. 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:09.679 She's so wonderful. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:11.759 No, it's like she's so lowly. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:17.360 And God was so compassionate and mighty to look upon her. 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:26.159 And so here's point number two joy, joy fruits from God's goodness, which is known in your lowliness. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:31.039 Joy fruits from God's goodness, which is only known in your lowliness. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:36.720 We can keep reading and make sense of this as Mary just keeps going. 00:10:36.879 --> 00:10:38.879 She keeps expounding on God's goodness. 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:43.840 Verse 50, and his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:45.840 He has shown strength with his arm. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:48.399 He has scattered the proud and the thoughts of their hearts. 00:10:48.639 --> 00:10:53.279 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:55.440 I mean, that's good news. 00:10:55.600 --> 00:10:57.679 If you're tired at all, that's good news. 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:00.480 He has filled the hungry with good things. 00:11:00.879 --> 00:11:03.759 That's pulling back from that Isaiah 35, Janine read. 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:07.360 And the rich he has sent away empty. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:17.440 He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his offspring forever. 00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:22.000 So God's not partial to the rich and to the proud. 00:11:22.320 --> 00:11:28.559 This is another way of saying God doesn't just go to lunch with people who have their acts together. 00:11:29.679 --> 00:11:40.080 Or better put, God doesn't just go to lunch to people who pretend like they have their acts together because I think I've said this, I've said it over and over again. 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:45.519 I've had enough lunches and enough coffees to know none of us have our acts together. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:49.200 It's just some of us are better at dressing ourselves up. 00:11:51.600 --> 00:11:56.639 And it is such good news to go, oh wow, so he exalts those of humble estate. 00:11:57.120 --> 00:12:03.360 So when we when we're just like Mary, just humble, like the pretension's gone. 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.320 And this is such good news because God is not won over. 00:12:08.559 --> 00:12:12.000 He's not won over by us having our act together. 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:14.159 He's not won over by our wallet. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:15.759 He's not won over by our weight. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:17.919 He's not won over by our moral standards. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.759 He's not won over by our contemplative prayer for the poor. 00:12:21.919 --> 00:12:25.039 I mean, all those things could be great, but he's not won over by that. 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:26.720 That's not what wins him over. 00:12:26.960 --> 00:12:31.279 What wins him over is his own love for us. 00:12:31.759 --> 00:12:35.519 So the thing that wins him over is not your love for him, but his love for you. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:37.440 That's the thing that wins him over. 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:40.399 This is why this is incarnation. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:45.279 And this is why we're secure. 00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:46.240 Right? 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:52.000 Because God's favor to you, God's favor to Mary, you are greatly favored. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.279 It wasn't based in how much she loves him. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:59.759 It was based in the fact that he's coming toward her. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:01.600 And he loves her. 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:11.360 This is what the incarnation is about, for love for us to know that comes into the world and eventually leads to the cross, right? 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:18.159 Jesus the Christ, who lives amongst us, experiences our world, teaches us, and then leads us to the cross. 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.799 And at the cross, the ultimate place where we see all of our shortcomings. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:30.480 That gap between who we should be and who we are, which we all know in so many ways, that gap is put upon him. 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:33.200 And God says, I'll make the whole thing right. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:35.120 I put upon you my righteousness. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:37.120 I will pull you toward me. 00:13:39.120 --> 00:13:39.919 There's joy. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:40.879 That's good news. 00:13:40.960 --> 00:13:41.840 It's not good advice. 00:13:41.919 --> 00:13:42.720 That's good news. 00:13:42.879 --> 00:13:43.360 That's news. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:43.919 It's been done. 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:44.720 It's been accomplished. 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:45.679 News to you. 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:48.960 And so joy is the reaction to that news. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:55.120 Martin Luther, the theologian in the 1500s, he said this about this passage. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:14:01.919 The stress should not be on the low estate, but on the word regarded. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:07.120 Mary's low estate is not to be praised, but God's regard. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:20.960 As when a prince gives his hand to a beggar, the meanness or the means of the beggar is not to be praised, but the graciousness and goodness of the prince. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:25.759 So I gave money to my children this week. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.960 There's Christmas shop at the elementary school. 00:14:29.200 --> 00:14:41.279 They go to the elementary school Christmas shop and they buy presents for me and Christy and Mimi and Graham's and Grain Grand and a couple cousins and different people, some friends. 00:14:41.440 --> 00:14:54.559 And so I give them money, and then they go to the Christmas shop and they buy me a gift with my money. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:14:56.080 Right? 00:14:57.039 --> 00:14:57.360 Right? 00:14:57.440 --> 00:15:01.519 So I give the gift that supplies the means to create the gift that comes back to me. 00:15:02.399 --> 00:15:03.519 This is how this works. 00:15:03.679 --> 00:15:04.320 And it's great. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:05.200 It's fantastic. 00:15:05.279 --> 00:15:05.840 I love it. 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:07.039 I love that gift. 00:15:07.279 --> 00:15:08.879 It's a fantastic gift. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.200 It's better than anything I could go buy. 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:20.240 And in their security in our family, they don't manically walk around depressed about their means or their credit or their inability to gather money, right? 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:21.759 They're not depressed about any of that. 00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:29.200 Rather, they speak, they speak about my great ability to give them a$20 bill. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.399 Like this is the glorious act. 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:34.559 Luther goes on. 00:15:34.960 --> 00:15:39.600 You must not only think and speak of lowliness, but come into it. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:42.320 Sink into it. 00:15:43.279 --> 00:15:44.879 Utterly helpless. 00:15:46.080 --> 00:15:48.639 That God alone may save you. 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:52.159 See, none of it's good news unless you get there. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:15:57.840 Or at any rate, should it not happen, you should at least desire it and not shrink. 00:15:58.000 --> 00:16:01.600 For this reason, we are Christians and have the gospel. 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:03.120 Gospel's good news. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:12.080 We have this good news that we may fall into distress and lowliness, and that God thereby may have his work in us. 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:19.039 So point number three, we embrace our lowliness, but we sing of his goodness. 00:16:20.720 --> 00:16:34.399 Most of this poem, this magnificent, you look at it, she's referring to her lowest state, but she is reacting out of that and just seeing, speaking of his goodness, of God's goodness in general. 00:16:34.559 --> 00:16:36.399 So we visit our lowliness. 00:16:36.559 --> 00:16:39.360 We constantly visit our lowliness. 00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:50.080 We need to face it, we need to see it, we need to experience it, we need to smell it, we need to live in it, rest in it, sink in it, we need to know it and claim it and confess it and repent of it. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:53.360 We need all of that to know ourselves. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:58.399 And only then is there any good news from outside of us. 00:16:59.200 --> 00:17:09.279 Only in some measure of honesty about our condition are we ready to receive some sort of love from outside of us, a righteousness from outside of us. 00:17:14.079 --> 00:17:18.480 This week I was just thinking through a few different ways I'm experiencing that. 00:17:19.359 --> 00:17:23.599 So in meetings, I get defensive. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:26.480 I get defensive because I'm prideful. 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:30.480 Because I have the best ideas. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:36.319 And everybody else's ideas are a little bit under me, and I'll entertain you, but really I come in with the best one. 00:17:36.880 --> 00:17:38.079 And there's pride there. 00:17:38.240 --> 00:17:40.960 And I talk first because I'm selfish. 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:45.039 Because I got the best idea I've been thinking about all week, and I'm ready to go. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.599 And I need to. 00:17:48.880 --> 00:17:50.559 There's insecurity there. 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:52.240 That I'm like that. 00:17:52.400 --> 00:17:56.720 There's there's an insecurity, and I need to, I need to know that. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:18:00.000 I need to, I need to rest in it, I need I need to get to know that a little bit. 00:18:02.240 --> 00:18:06.000 Can I actually ever be free from it having control over me? 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:06.640 And it's sin. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:08.000 Let's just go ahead and call it what it is. 00:18:08.079 --> 00:18:09.839 It's selfishness and pride, it's sin. 00:18:10.319 --> 00:18:18.720 It's me self-saving myself out of my own insecurity rather than going, yeah, that's me, and that's not healthy, it's not helpful, it's not loving my neighbor, it's not good for me. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.039 And I need to confess it. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:22.240 I need to repent of that. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:24.480 That's not the right way. 00:18:24.559 --> 00:18:25.680 I need to repent of that. 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:30.880 And in that, it's not depression of my lowliness. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:35.519 Because in your lowliness, you're found by his grace. 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:37.119 It's the only place you're found. 00:18:37.200 --> 00:18:38.960 You're not found anywhere else. 00:18:41.119 --> 00:18:54.480 In the fourth century, Saint Gregory of Nysi wrote, What was achieved in the body of Mary will happen in the soul of everyone who receives the word. 00:18:56.400 --> 00:19:04.240 What was achieved in the body of Mary will happen in the soul of everyone who receives Jesus. 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:09.039 Which brings us back to our gift. 00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:13.279 Who would like to open it? 00:19:13.680 --> 00:19:14.720 Anybody opener? 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:16.480 Need a thank you. 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:18.000 Thank you, Izzybani grown up. 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:19.440 We need grown up for it. 00:19:19.759 --> 00:19:20.480 Very sweet. 00:19:20.640 --> 00:19:21.359 You were ready. 00:19:21.599 --> 00:19:22.400 Maybe you can be a helper. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:23.279 You want to be a helper? 00:19:23.680 --> 00:19:25.440 Okay, why don't you come be a helper? 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:26.559 Um, all right. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:28.480 And who who would like to open? 00:19:28.640 --> 00:19:29.680 Kristen's gonna open. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:35.839 Are you well first off, are you um my granny sort of like worked the edges and tried to save the paper? 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:38.160 Alright, we want a tearer. 00:19:38.240 --> 00:19:38.720 That's great. 00:19:38.799 --> 00:19:39.519 We need a tearer. 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:41.519 Okay. 00:19:43.759 --> 00:19:47.920 Alright, so um, Izzy, can you help Kristen open this? 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:50.720 And we're tearing here. 00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:52.559 This is the goal, to tear. 00:19:53.119 --> 00:19:54.720 Find a place to tear here. 00:19:56.240 --> 00:19:57.119 You better like it. 00:19:57.759 --> 00:19:58.319 Wow, you know. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:19:59.920 It's for everybody, it's not just for you. 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:00.960 And you can't take it. 00:20:01.039 --> 00:20:04.000 Well, you can take it home, but for a while you can't like hold it or anything. 00:20:04.559 --> 00:20:05.680 For a while I can't hold it. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:06.640 What is in here? 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:08.559 Get in, get in there, Izzy. 00:20:08.799 --> 00:20:09.359 Get in there, Izzy. 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:17.039 Oh, ooh, ooh, okay. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:20.799 Okay, okay. 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:21.680 Hold on, hold on. 00:20:22.319 --> 00:20:22.720 Hold on. 00:20:23.359 --> 00:20:23.599 Yeah. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:25.200 It's it is exciting. 00:20:25.680 --> 00:20:26.880 Okay, we're not done. 00:20:27.039 --> 00:20:27.200 Okay. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:29.519 Izzy, thank you, darling. 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:30.319 We sit next to mom. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:30.960 Kristen. 00:20:31.279 --> 00:20:32.640 You just hang right there. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:35.920 Sam and I we we Sam and I didn't rehearse this part. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.000 We're just gonna see what happens here. 00:20:40.319 --> 00:20:42.559 See what happens here, see if I can do this. 00:20:43.039 --> 00:20:44.880 Not not Beyoncé tickets. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:45.440 I'm sorry. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:59.200 That was that level, Sam, somebody. 00:21:02.480 --> 00:21:04.000 Sam needs a ladder. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:23.200 I I didn't really I didn't really find it this week. 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.160 Um Amy made that. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:27.519 Would you read it, Kristen? 00:21:27.759 --> 00:21:28.240 Will you read that? 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:29.839 That's your people are greatly favored. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:30.559 Will you yell it? 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:31.759 You are greatly favored. 00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:36.400 Can I sit down? 00:21:36.559 --> 00:21:37.119 Yeah, you can sit down. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:38.000 No, please stand up. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:39.839 Stay, you're gonna stay out the rest of the time. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:44.480 You you can take it home, but it's that's for everyone. 00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:59.279 Because in the grace of God, in the work of Jesus, you are greatly. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:01.119 Favored. 00:22:02.559 --> 00:22:04.319 And that is the banner. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:08.319 That is the banner over you. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:10.720 There's no other banner over you. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:15.519 It's what happened to Mary. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:18.559 I do not think Mary was perfect. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:24.079 I don't think somebody who's perfect speaks about herself in a humble, lowly estate. 00:22:24.960 --> 00:22:28.960 Rather, she was lowly enough to receive this banner. 00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.440 In our sin, we can live by a whole bunch of different banners, can't we? 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:36.240 We can live by a whole bunch of different words. 00:22:36.640 --> 00:22:39.519 A word of shame, a word of merit. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:44.799 But this is the word of God to you. 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:50.000 Though imperfect in Jesus, you are greatly favored. 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:54.799 And to experience Christmas is to experience this: the Christ. 00:22:56.480 --> 00:23:00.319 Into lowliness, incarnating himself. 00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:06.000 Not just 2,000 years ago, but to incarnate himself into your lowly estate. 00:23:06.160 --> 00:23:06.720 Right now. 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:07.599 Right now. 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:08.559 Today. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:19.359 And see, this is it's only some of you, you're not even getting it right now, but because it's only good news if you're at the break point. 00:23:20.400 --> 00:23:21.759 If you're tired. 00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:24.319 If you're exhausted, if you're finished. 00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:34.079 If you've tried all the other stuff, you tried all the identity curation and formation and manufacturing, and you're just like, oh, this is exhausting. 00:23:34.240 --> 00:23:37.039 Or you did the religious merit thing, and it's exhausting. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:44.480 Or even within the Christian world, like just like you're trying to uphold your standing with God by your works, like that's exhausting. 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:53.200 And then the fullness of Jesus' work and the fullness of this banner, that you are greatly favored, and it's a banner that doesn't go away. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:24:05.279 Finally, your soul could feel its worth that's not tied to what you do, but simply who you are and the fact that God loves you. 00:24:07.599 --> 00:24:11.279 And at some point, all those other words they just have to start falling away. 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:18.079 The great thing here is the thing that makes us favored is not us, it's the gift. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:18.799 Right? 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:26.319 So the regard of God, the regard of God to announce to you the favor is the favor. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:32.319 It's not a favor like with a back end, like, hey, you know, remember that favor I gave you? 00:24:32.400 --> 00:24:33.920 It's not one of those. 00:24:34.960 --> 00:24:39.039 It's like, no, I'm I am favoring upon you my favor. 00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:42.559 You are greatly favored. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:48.319 So, my brothers and sisters, you are greatly favored. 00:24:48.559 --> 00:24:53.440 May you hear that from your lowly estate and may you sing of his goodness. 00:24:53.599 --> 00:24:55.119 Let's pray together. 00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:18.400 God, thank you for your goodness to us, and that you come to those of us who are broken and exhausted, no matter what we look like or where we've been, and that your banner over us is favor. 00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:31.839 And we praise you for the great security we have, the great relief we have, because of the work of Jesus that is fully sufficient. 00:25:33.839 --> 00:25:38.799 May our lives be great worship and honor to you. 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:39.759 Amen.