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Episode Transcript
Well that word Messiah that word messiah would make the heart
began to beat a little faster.
For every person in Israel, when that that word was spoken
Messiah, the anticipation, the excitement, the the the the the joy, the the possibilities, the Oh, if only, if only, if only.
(00:33):
Oh, the heart begins to beat and begins to beat a little bit faster.
What do you think it was like when Mary heard those words?
We're going to open our Bibles today to Luke chapter one.
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Luke chapter one.
I did some um Googling this week.
You guys ever do some searching on Google?
And I decided to ask Google, who is the most famous woman in the history of the world?
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And so I typed that in and I got some answers like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa, Madame Curry, Queen Elizabeth.
Didn't like the answers I was getting.
So I went to AI and asked the same question.
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Who is the most famous woman in the history of the world?
And I got similar answers and a few different answers and didn't like the answers I was getting.
And so I change from my phone yeah, my phone to my computer
(02:04):
I don't remember.
Maybe I set my computer and changed to my phone.
So I asked the same question in my phone.
And I thought maybe I would get different answers.
And sure enough, this time I got an answer.
Mary the mother of Jesus at number ten
(02:28):
on the list.
At least she was included in this list.
She hadn't been included before.
So again on my second device, I don't remember which one was first, I typed it in again.
in AI and asked for a list and she was not on the list.
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I was a little bit disappointed.
I mean, in my mind, Mary was a rather important woman in the history of the world.
In fact, in my mind, she is probably the most famous woman in the history of the world.
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I mean, you can pretty much ask anybody anywhere if they know Mary the Mother of Jesus or have heard of Mary the Mother of Jesus, and they'll say yes.
And then I got to thinking about, oh, but Dale, you're thinking from your Christian perspective.
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I was a little bit disappointed with my search because I had preconceived ideas.
But I still believe that Mary is one of the most important women, one of the most famous women, one of the most important women in the history of the world.
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But the reality is, even when we open our Bibles, even when we look at Scripture, there's not much recorded about Mary.
I mean when you when you open the Bible and you start reading there in the in the Gospels, Matthew chapter 1, you're introduced to to Mary, you find out a little bit more about Mary and Luke chapters 1 and 2.
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when it's talking about Mary there with the the birth of Jesus.
We find out a little bit more about Mary when uh she takes Jesus to the the temple to to dedicate Jesus.
She is mentioned again at the wedding of Cana as
The woman who has faith in Jesus to solve a problem that is there.
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We hear a little bit more about
Her when Jesus goes to Nazareth and the people there say, Isn't this Jesus?
The carpenter's son?
Is not his mother Mary?
And his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas
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We'd know him.
She is mentioned yet again when he is preaching and he is inside a house and he is told, Look, your mother and brothers have come.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record that Mary is is at the cross.
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We find out there at the cross that her sister is with her.
And some of the other ladies that are there.
And they observe and watch Jesus die.
And they observe where he is, his body is taken down, and where he is laid in the tomb
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And then we see in Acts chapter 1, Mary is there with the disciples after the resurrection
That's basically what we know about Mary.
She is predominant there at the birth of Jesus, but the rest.
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To the gospels doesn't focus on Mary very much, doesn't add a whole lot to our our understanding of who she is and why she should be famous
It shouldn't surprise us that she is not talked about.
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After all, the gospel is written about Jesus
Focus on him and his ministry.
It is not focusing on Mary.
But I'd like for us to look for just a moment this holiday season to think about Mary when she heard those words.
Messiah.
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You're there in the Bible, Luke, chapter one
Come down to verse twenty-six.
It says now in the sixth month
The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David.
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The virgin's name was Mary
And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women.
Gabriel shows up in the house where Mary is.
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You can imagine her thrill, her excitement when this angel appears in her presence.
May have been similar to the story previously about Zechariah when he was in the temple when an angel showed up when he was there.
(08:03):
The words that came out of the mouth of the angel, highly favored one.
What does that even mean, highly favored one?
We have an understanding of what it might mean.
But a highly favored one?
What did it mean when Mary heard those words?
The Lord is with you.
What did it mean when Mary heard that phrase, the Lord is with you?
(08:28):
Where?
How?
Why?
When she heard the phrase, Blessed are you among women, how am I any more blessed than any other woman here in Nazareth?
I mean my guess is she did not have full complete understanding.
In fact the next verse 29 tells us something similar to that.
(08:52):
says, but when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.
I mean, she was probably fearful that an angel was there in her presence.
I get that thought from the next phrase that comes, because the angel says, Mary, don't be afraid.
(09:15):
But think about, it says she
What kind of a greeting is this that the angel is giving to me?
I don't understand why he would say these words.
Highly favored one.
Blessed are you among women.
She is contemplating that, and the angel begins to speak again.
(09:37):
Verse thirty It says The angel says to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus.
and he will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
(10:05):
I mean, this is good news that's coming from the mouth of the angel.
This is something that the people in Israel have been anticipating.
This is something that should be exciting.
This should bring joy to her heart.
This is what every person in Israel has been waiting to hear.
This is what every woman has been the desire, the prayer from their heart, even from the time of Eve.
(10:33):
Is this the promised one?
And Mary is hearing this
This word, it it should have brought joy to her heart, the eager anticipation that has has been inside not only her, but
all of her people.
For generations it has been there.
(10:55):
They have been looking forward to this moment.
And now the angel has proclaimed it has come.
And Mary's question is (11:08):
How can this be since I do not know a man?
I mean I read this and I just I just love Mary.
I mean to me this is her her her her her innocence
(11:29):
Her practicality.
See, she's not thinking about high theology.
She's not thinking about Old Testament prophecies.
She's not thinking about
The Messiah coming, she's thinking about, I don't understand.
Angel, can can you enlighten me a little bit?
(11:51):
I haven't been with a man.
I am a virgin.
How is this possible?
The angel answers for her.
35.
The angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you
(12:11):
And the power of the highest will overshadow you.
Therefore also that holy one who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
The Son of God, the Son of God
(12:34):
I wonder how that phrase rolled off the tongue of Gabriel as he said it.
The son of God.
Wow, this is it is amazing.
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I mean, as the the angel describes what's going to happen here, how the Holy Spirit is going to do this.
I mean
All I can say when I read those that phrase there is that that that sentence is there.
(13:16):
Wow.
I mean, I don't understand
This is incomprehensible.
I mean, I wonder what was going through the thought process for Mary as she heard those words.
(13:41):
Mary, you're going to be pregnant.
Now, oftentimes in our day and age, when a doctor says that, there is some
some excitement, some joy, some eagerness.
There there may have been some anticipation for something like that.
But in that day and age, for her
(14:02):
An unmarried young female in that day and age
This was a problem.
According to her understanding, the letter of the law, she could be stoned to death.
(14:27):
I mean, in our day and age, maybe there's not much problem with being pregnant out of med wedlock.
It doesn't have the stigma that it used to have.
Maybe we've gotten over that.
But in that day and age.
Or maybe she understood the prophecies.
Maybe she was thinking prophetically.
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Maybe she had studied the book of Daniel.
Maybe she understood.
That the fullness of time had come.
Maybe she understood the Daniel's time prophecies.
That this son was going to be God in the flesh
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The creator God, the God that created all things, is going to lay aside his divinity, and he is going to come in flesh and blood.
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Maybe we should stop just a moment.
And ponder that God came near
Sometimes I think at this holiday time we get too busy.
We get wrapped up in in in shopping and and going here and and partying at this party or or doing that activity and we
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We don't do not ponder what we are celebrating.
God
In the flesh because he loves us
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The angel went on with with Mary and says, It will be a miracle.
Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son, at her old age, and this is now the sixth month.
And for her who was called barren, for with God nothing is impossible.
I mean, the angel recognizes that what he has said to her, she must be thinking this cannot happen.
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And so he she he reassures her with God, nothing is impossible.
I want you to notice Mary's response.
Verse 38 (17:07):
Then Mary said, Behold the maidservant of the Lord.
Let it be to me according to your word.
Some people wonder why Mary is so famous.
Some people wonder why Mary was the mother of the Messiah.
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I'm gonna tell you you can find the reason right there in that verse.
Let it be to me according to your word.
She realizes that this was going to seriously impact her life.
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Things were going to be different for her from this moment forward.
And she says, let it be according to your word.
I am the servant of the Lord.
I'm the slave of God.
I will do whatever needs to be done
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Mary's response was full of faith.
She could have said something like, Oh yeah, we plan on having children when we when we get married.
She could have said something like, Oh, I that's not the kind of life I want.
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Choose another blessed woman.
Choose another, O favored One.
That's not the lifestyle I want to choose.
I don't want to go forward in in that direction
You know, sometimes it's easy to be a Christian when things are easy, but when things get difficult.
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I mean, she probably understood the difficulty that she was going to face, pregnant, outside of wedlock.
Would Joseph even have her?
What was going to happen in the town in which she lived?
This was a small country town.
It wasn't the big city of Jerusalem.
What was going to happen to her?
And she says, let it be according to your word.
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I am the servant of the Lord.
I mean, this sounds very similar, very similar to the words of Jesus when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And he said, Not my will, but thine be done.
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I wonder where he got that phrasing from.
Or where did she get it from?
Mary said, Behold, the maidservant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.
This holiday season, what are you thinking about when you contemplate the Messiah?
(20:25):
Christmas.
Are you willing to say those same words?
I trust God, not my will, but God's will be done
I mean, what is God asking you to do?
What is he asking you to surrender?
Is he asking you to give up your bad attitude?
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Is he asking you to give up the living situation which you know is not according to his word?
Is he asking you to pour out those bottles that are in your cabinet that you know is not healthy for you?
Is he asking you to be faithful with your finances?
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Has he called you to step out in faith and do something, go somewhere?
Speak to someone that you have not even thought about, you have not even imagined that you would do such a thing
Can you say the same words that Mary said?
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Let it be to me according to your word.
I am the servant of the Lord.
Two things I want you to ponder today.
Number one God came near, God in the flesh
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Came to this earth.
Wow
God is wanting to do the impossible in your life and mine
Are we willing to surrender our lives to our Messiah?
(22:25):
Joy to the world.
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